Today we wrap up the series on Post Traumatic Growth with another unbelievable interview. Paul Meyer was at the top of his professional game when tragedy struck and changed his life forever. How he chose to respond is a model for all of us to aspire to.
Listen closely for our discussion on how it is possible to control every outcome of our lives if we choose. Also listen for the decision Paul made from his wheelchair, on a hospital skybridge while overlooking the city that changed the course of his recovery.
Join the Team
Get updates on the latest shows, book recommendations, and exclusive content.
I won't share your info with the enemy
My guest on this episode has learned some tremendously valuable lessons. Unfortunately he had to learn them in a way that no one should have to.
Listen to this story of grief, hope, and community.
Click HERE to visit the Sam Day Foundation that we talk about in the show
Fill in the blank: Post Traumatic ______________???
If you went with your gut, you answered “Stress.” Hopefully after listening to this episode, next time you’ll answer differently.
On this episode, I’ll try and convince you that Post Traumatic Growth exists, what it looks like (or could look like if you were open to it), and what you can do to make it more likely for you to experience it.
This episode is a continuation of #063 and a further exploration of why humans willingly risk their own life to save others’.
I received a question from a police officer a while back. Basically, he asked how he could explain to someone how it is worth it to risk one’s own life to save another. He said he knew it was worth the risk to him, but was having a hard time explaining it to others. This episode is my attempt to help explain why it’s worth the risk.
If you are doing your best, DON’T!
“Do Your Best” is generally regarded as good advice, but in this episode I talk about 3 reasons NOT to do your best.
A casual conversation about leadership, the challenges of a leader, how to serve when you aren’t in public service, what it means to “Be the One” and other topics.
Check out The Squad Room HERE
Welcome to Blitz Week. We’re doing 7 episodes in 7 days all on the same topic. This is #7 of 7.
For this Blitz week, we’ll be discussing why leadership training should be required for the new people in your organization. AKA Lead from the Bottom
Welcome to Blitz Week. We’re doing 7 episodes in 7 days all on the same topic. This is #6 of 7.
For this Blitz week, we’ll be discussing why leadership training should be required for the new people in your organization. AKA Lead from the Bottom
Welcome to Blitz Week. We’re doing 7 episodes in 7 days all on the same topic. This is #5 of 7.
For this Blitz week, we’ll be discussing why leadership training should be required for the new people in your organization. AKA Lead from the Bottom
Welcome to Blitz Week. We’re doing 7 episodes in 7 days all on the same topic. This is #4 of 7.
For this Blitz week, we’ll be discussing why leadership training should be required for the new people in your organization. AKA Lead from the Bottom
Welcome to Blitz Week. We’re doing 7 episodes in the next 7 days all on the same topic. This is #3 of 7.
For this Blitz week, we’ll be discussing why leadership training should be required for the new people in your organization. AKA Lead from the Bottom
Welcome to Blitz Week. We’re doing 7 episodes in the next 7 days all on the same topic. This is #2 of 7.
For this Blitz week, we’ll be discussing why leadership training should be required for the new people in your organization. AKA Lead from the Bottom
Welcome to Blitz Week. We’re doing 7 episodes in the next 7 days all on the same topic. This is #1 of 7.
For this Blitz week, we’ll be discussing why leadership training should be required for the new people in your organization. AKA Lead from the Bottom
This episode is the introduction to the first ever Work on the Edge Blitz Week. We’re doing 7 episodes in the next 7 days all on the same topic.
For this Blitz week, we’ll be discussing why leadership training should be required for the new people in your organization. AKA Lead from the Bottom
Today I answer two different questions:
The first question I asked myself. The second one came when I was interviewed on The Squad Room Podcast, HERE. I didn’t have a good answer then, but I think I do now.
JP Dinnell is a former Navy SEAL and currently the Director of Tactical Training Programs for Echelon Front, the leadership consulting company started by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin, co-authors of the New York Times Best Seller Extreme Ownership.
I met JP in New York while attending Muster 002 in May 2017, the leadership conference put on by Echelon Front. We talked then about him coming on the podcast and have been trying to get it scheduled since then. In the mean time, JP has become increasingly busy with Echelon Front.
Needless to say, I feel very fortunate to be able to have hooked up with him for this interview.
Listen in as we cover:
Connect with JP
https://www.echelonfront.com/
https://www.instagram.com/jpdinnell/
https://www.facebook.com/jpdinnell/
https://www.neversettleapparel.com/
https://www.instagram.com/never_settle_apparel/
This time of year you will hear a lot about goal setting. If you are listening to anyone talk about goal setting, it means you are probably not successful at goal setting. If you were you wouldn’t be listening.
If you are successful at achieving goals, then don’t waste your time listening to anything else on goal setting, including this podcast.
But if you have not had a good run when it comes to setting goals, maybe it’s because they way you’ve been taught to set and achieve goals isn’t right for you.
Most people who talk about goals use the SMART goals framework. And most people who try to set and attain SMART goals don’t get the results they want.
This is why I say SMART goals are stupid. But I realized I had been following a different goal setting system that I call DUMB goals.
Listen in to find out why SMART goals are stupid and dumb goals are better.
How should you decide who has enough credibility to listen to? What factors make a person’s opinion worth listening to? The better you get at determining who to believe and seeking out those believable people, the more believable YOU will become.
Many people use the words teacher and instructor interchangeably. I do too. I’m not too concerned with what word you use, but in this show, I use those two words to describe two different types of trainers. I greatly prefer to learn from and be one over the other. Listen in to see which is better and why.
I was listening to a podcast the other day and heard the phrase “Executive Presence”. For some reason, it peaked my curiosity so I looked it up. I’m glad I did. In this episode I’ll share with you what Executive Presence is, and why I was so glad to come across this concept.
You may think you are too old for potty training. Think again.
I came across a cool idea at a training I was at recently that I thought I’d share with you. It’s also an opportunity. Listen as I explain.
When planning your strategy, avoid finding the reasons it will work, and be sure to find the reasons it won’t.
I often hear leaders and managers talk about “The Burden of Command.”
I’m not sure I know what that is. I’ve had more opportunities to be “in charge” (for lack of a better word) of things lately, and kept waiting for this “Burden” to arrive, but it hasn’t.
I’m not sure that there is any more a “Burden of Command” than there is a “Burden of the Commanded.”
I’m curious to hear from you about this.
If you are looking for an Edge, for an advantage in your ability to Master your profession, there are only 3 areas to look.
Are you not focusing enough on one of these 3 elements of mastery?
You can be good, or you can get better. But you can’t do both at the same time.
We all have a choice to make. Are we going to be satisfied with our current capabilities, and do everything in our power to make sure nothing changes? Or are we going to expose ourselves to the risks involved in getting better?
Many times we say we want to get better, but the truth is we are perfectly satisfied with the way things are. In this show, we are going to talk about some of the signs that indicate you would rather be good than get better
The world is full of critics.
And if you are doing something important, rest assured that they will find you.
How should critics be handled? Should we completely disregard them. Should we bow to them and correct our course when we encounter them?
I don’t believe critics should get any of your energy unless they’ve earned it. I also don’t believe that critics should be disregarded. I just think they need to be screened.
In today’s episode I’m going to give you a screening tool that you can use to decide if a critic is worth paying attention to.
Your time on the job does not entitle you to anything. Your time on the job is worthless. What really matters is the amount of experience you gain in the time you have.
Many times people feel entitled to certain positions, opportunities, or advantages because they’ve been around for a long time. The opportunities, the positions, the advantages go to those with the most relevant experiences, not those with the most time on the job.
Do you really have ten years of experience or do you just have one year’s worth of experience ten times?
Seniority is not the same as experience. Today I’ll talk about ways you can get more experience in a shorter amount of time.
I love quotes. And this is one of my favorites.
If it can’t scare you into action, nothing will.
There was one thing holding me back from being the leader I wanted to be. I have a feeling this same thing is holding others back from being the leader they want to be.
I didn’t want to start leading until I knew there were people who wanted to follow me.
I realized that leaders almost always start with no followers, and if you don’t have any followers, that is not the obstacle to leadership, its the opportunity.
Pressure.
There is one secret to performing better in high pressure situations. Listen in to find out what that is.
As a high stakes professional, you don’t work in a black/white environment. There is no manual, no cheatsheets, no checklists, no flowcharts, and no “right” answers.
Today I’ll share 5 strategies I’ve learned that help you navigate the muddy waters of the dreaded “Grey Area.”
Are you passionate about your job?
My guess is that if you are relatively new to your job, you can honestly answer “Yes” to this question.
But if you’ve been around a while, it may be much harder for you to answer with a yes. In fact, the honest answer may be a resounding “No”.
But today I’m going to try and convince you that you actually ARE passionate about what you do.
Most people confuse being enthusiastic with being passionate. I did too for a long time. But now I know the difference, and I’m going to share that with you.
After listening, I’m betting that you’ll be able to honestly say that you are still passionate about your job.
Let me know what you think.
Good habits are highly overrated. In today’s show, I tell you why, and what we should be focusing on instead.
Have you ever looked at what someone has done or is able to do and think something like, “Wow, that person is just a natural.”
Me too.
But its a bad idea, for two reasons. I’ll share those with you today.
We’re all very different, but after years of working in a high-stakes environment, I’ve learned that there are several ways we are really similar.
In this episode I’ll expose 4 secrets about you that you may not even want to acknowledge about yourself.
Today we take the Work on the Edge Podcast on the road!
This is the final installment of the Humility Series. I’ll discuss a couple humility “hacks”, or why there aren’t any.
As a general rule, I think rules are stupid.
Except these 3.
These 3 rules apply to every situation, every time, all the time. If it doesn’t meet that criteria, it shouldn’t be a rule.
I
Listen to Part 1 HERE.
In part 2, we’ll talk about some of the ways that humility relates to our interactions with other people. Ironically, we sometimes forget that humility is more than just the way we think about ourselves.
We are all in a battle to remain humble. If you don’t think you are, you are losing the battle.
HERE is the link to the cool magazine app I talked about during the show. Check it out free for 14 days, its a no-brainer.
Humility is one of those things that is really hard to get right. Try too hard and it feels fake. Don’t try hard enough and you come across as arrogant.
In this episode we’re going to take a hard, critical look at what it actually means to be humble, and of course what it doesn’t mean.
We’re going to discuss why humility is important, how humility relates to the way we view ourselves, and I’ll tell you about the time I punched my grandpa in the stomach.
This is part 2 in a series on how to increase our personal capacity so we can better handle the “stuff” that life throws at us.
Listen to Part 1 HERE
This episode is all about getting bigger pipes.
We all could use a little more capacity in our life. In this episode and in Part 2, we’ll talk about some ways to increase our capacity so we can be better at handling the “stuff” life throws at us.
Here are the resources that I mentioned during the show: Sleep Smarter: 21 Strategies to Sleep Your Way to a Better Body, Better Health, and Bigger Success
Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain
Mark Sisson: marksdailyapple.com, The New Primal Blueprint:Reprogram Your Genes for Effortless Weight Loss, Vibrant Health and Boundless Energy
Awaken the Giant Within : How to Take Immediate Control of Your Mental, Emotional, Physical and Financial Destiny
Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise
On May 4th and 5th I had the privilege of attending “The Muster 002” in New York City, a leadership conference put on by Echelon Front, the consulting company owned by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin.
In today’s episode, I talk about the experience and give you my 4 biggest take-aways from the conference.
Also, I tell you how you can win FREE a copy of Extreme Ownership signed by both Jocko Willink and Leif Babin!
When I heard this, I literally almost fell out of bed. I looked at my wife and said “wow.”
Never before have words so accurately described what I aspire to.
In this episode, I’ll share with you these powerful words, and what they mean to me.
Everyone seems to think that “Delayed Gratification” is the key to sucess.
Everyone except me. I think it’s a terrible idea.
Mostly because it doesn’t work.
In this episode I’ll tell you why delayed gratification is for losers, and what you should focus on instead.
Listen to this short episode for a quick special announcement!
Follow Work on the Edge on Facebook
Follow Work on the Edge on Instagram
Am I a fake? Am I a fraud? Am I inauthentic?
I don’t want to be overly dramatic here, but the ideas I talk about in this episode are responsible for changing my life for the better.
They can change yours too.
There’s something inside of you that you may not know exists. But if you learn how to use it, your potential to impact the world is limitless.
Do yourself a favor, and learn how to use this tool which is inside all of us.
Remember the Cowardly Lion from Wizard of Oz? Turn out he was one of the first Edge Pros on the big screen, making a conscious choice to find courage.
You may be thinking that you already know what courage is and where it comes from. Its seems simple enough on the surface. But there are a few things that warp our view of what courage is that we need to be aware of.
Once we figure out what courage TRULY is (and is NOT), then we can set about figuring out how to have more of it in our lives.
Is it a bad thing to be selfish? Most people think so.
I don’t. I think we need to be more selfish.
When this episode is over, if anyone tells you you’re so selfish, you can smile, nod, and say “I appreciate that. Thank you for noticing.”
If you want to make a change of any type in your life, there’s only one thing you need. In today’s show, I’ll tell you what that is.
Here we have yet another in the “That’s a bunch of nonsense” series.
If you operate in a high stakes environment in some area of your life, and you are of the mind “If it’s not broken, don’t fix it” I have couple of strong words for you:
Lazy. Stagnant. Mediocre. Shortsighted. Likely victim.
Sorry, but sometimes we need to tell it like it is to open our eyes to something we are blind to.
If you’ve ever had the thought that you shouldn’t try to fix something that isn’t broken, listen to the show and give me the opportunity to change your mind.
Today is another of the shows that we break down a commonly held piece of “wisdom” into a pile of rubbish, similar to Best Practices, No “I” in Team, You are only as strong as your weakest link, and The Competence-Competence Myth.
Have you ever heard the advice to “Fake it until you make it?”
So have I. And it’s a terrible piece of advice.
In today’s show I’ll tell you why.
If you’ve been listening to the series on confidence, you may think that I believe having a truly resilient, beneficial source of confidence is easy.
I don’t.
Developing a useful framework for thinking about confidence may be easy, but actually putting it into practice is HARD. On today’s show, I talk about the specific reasons it is so hard. My hope is once you are aware of these traps, you can avoid them altogether, or at least get yourself out of it because you’ll know how it works.
What is one thing that nobody wants to be, but almost everyone is? You become it on accident but can avoid it on purpose.
Nothing like some ridiculous riddle to spice up a podcast description.
Just play the episode for the answer.
To date, the most downloaded show has been #006 I Screwed Up. I’m hoping this is because you all can relate, and not just because you want to hear me talk about how bad I screwed up.
But I’ll take it any way I can get it.
Today, I share a few more thoughts about mistakes that I’ve had over the last couple weeks.
Hopefully you find some value in the show. Thanks for listening.
Please SUBSCRIBE to the show so you never miss an episode.
The Competence-Confidence Loop is another of the nonsense ideas that we often hear and accept as fact, such as Best Practices, There’s No “I” in team, and A team is only as strong as it’s weakest link.
But as with all these useless notions, when you take a look at it from a different perspective, you can see that there’s usually a better way to look at things that is much more useful.
In this episode you’ll learn:
How many of these have you believed? How many of these do you currently believe?
I used to believe all of them.
Confidence is supposed to make you feel FREE, but I was a slave to my competence. This led me to believe a host of other things that were doing further damage to my confidence as well.
The worst part is, I wasn’t even aware I believed these things. Now that I’m aware of how I was thinking I can actually see the better way.
I hope that this episode opens your eyes to some things you may believe that are holding you back.
Today is the first in a series of shows where we will discuss one of my favorite topics, confidence. Confidence…It just ain’t what it used to be.
Confidence is something that so many people get so wrong. I got it wrong for a long time. But accidentally shooting someone in the face, on purpose, was the turning point in my life where I realized that the way we teach and talk about confidence is actually doing damage.
In todays show, we’ll talk about just a few of the reasons confidence is important and what it can do for you. Next episode we start into the nitty gritty.
P.S. There is a new fee associated with the Work on the Edge Podcast from here on out. I tell you what it is at the end of the show.
This isn’t a normal episode of the Work on the Edge Podcast. I didn’t really prepare for this at all. I just spoke off the cuff a little bit about some thoughts I had about the show and where I want to take it.
You see, I started this show initially to reach what I call High-Stakes professionals, people who work in careers where there are life or death type circumstances. But along the way, I have heard from several people are aren’t in one of these types of professions, and they were finding value in the show too.
I would no longer say that this show is just for people who work in high-stakes careers. But this show is definitely still for high-stakes professionals.
Here’s what I mean. Every area of our life that is important to us has high stakes. And anyone can be a professional. (See how I define professional HERE).
Work on the Edge is for anyone who is doing important work in some area of their life,(which is probably about all of us) and wants to become professional in that thing. It may be your job, but it may be your marriage, it may be your health and fitness, it may be in your finances, or it may be in some other role you play in life.
From here forward, we will be talking about lessons I learned while working in a high stakes career, and how they may apply not only to your high stakes career, but how it may apply to other areas of your life that you have identified as having high-stakes.
Please share this show with anyone who you think may be willing to become professional in some high stakes area of their life.
Facebook is a good way to do that:
https://www.facebook.com/workontheedge/
Thank you, and take care
Nick
Last episode, we talked about the Lead from the Bottom Pyramid and how it allows you to have influence and lead, even if you aren’t in a leadership position. This episode will discuss the bottom level of the pyramid, service, and give a different perspective on what it means to serve.
I think that we often times define what is means to serve too narrowly, which leaves many people feeling lost when it comes to coming up with ways to serve those around them. When you look at things you are probably already doing as actually acts of service, it adds a new perspective to it and encourages you to look at everything you do through the lens of service.
On this show you’ll learn:
RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THE SHOW Lead from the Bottom, Part 1
An Introduction to Work on the Edge
Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain
In Extremis Leadership: Leading as if Your Life Depended On It
Support the Special Olympics!
A few weeks ago, I got a question from a Work on the Edge Listener. On today’s show, I’ll take a crack at answering the question in true Work on the Edge fashion.
The question I got was this: How do you become authoritative without authority?
This is an excellent question, and one that many people would probably like an answer to. But in that question I sensed that there was actually a different question that the person wanted to ask but didn’t.
In the episode, you’ll learn:
RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THE SHOW: Help me be a Super Plunger!
WOTE Introduction Episode-Learn what it means to be a professional
In true Work on the Edge fashion, I will take another crack at debunking a myth that many of us hold about teams.
“A chain is only as strong as it’s weakest link.” This is another piece of cliche’ nonsense that many of us believe because that’s what we’ve been told. Work on the Edge is about challenging your assumptions to find the Edge, the advantage, in every situation. Instead of believing that our weak links are holding us back, I’ll propose that we should in fact be thankful for them.
On this episode you will learn:
RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THE SHOW When Pride Still Mattered: A Life of Vince Lombardi
Gates of Fire: An Epic Novel of the Battle of Thermopylae
Episode #006 I Screwed Up (Episode on Mistakes)
Episode #002 How to Avoid the Best Practices Trap
Have time to leave a review of the show? You can help me out greatly by doing that HERE.
Thanks so much, I really appreciate it.
On this episode, we are going to talk about the unique relationship that high-stakes professionals have with mistakes and failure.
Mistakes. Many of us would rather not think about them, let alone make some ourselves. In high-stakes situations, how we handle the mistakes others make, but more importantly, how we handle ourselves when we make a mistake are of huge importance. Working on the Edge is about creating an advantage, an edge, from every situation, even the negative ones. We are going to talk today about how high-stakes professionals should deal with mistakes
On this episode, you will learn:
RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THE SHOW The Rise of Superman-Steven Kotler
Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise-Anders Ericson
Intro to the Work on the Edge Podcast
Start with Why-Simon Sinek
Start with Why TED talk
Be sure to SUBSCRIBE TO THE SHOW HERE. And if you have a minute to write a review in iTunes, it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
On the episode of the Work on the Edge Podcast, we are going to talk about how to handle a crisis like a professional.
As a high-stakes professional, you no doubt handle a larger share of crisis than the average citizen. Along the way, I’ve picked up some tips on how to handle crisis situations from people who have spent the better part of their lives handling crisis professionally. I’m going to share with you what I’ve learned.
On this episode, you’ll learn:
If you would like the outlines that I use to prepare the shows emailed to you, put your name in the box below.
Please subscribe and review the Work on the Edge Podcast HERE
Feel free to contact me HERE if you have any questions or have an idea for a show you would like me to talk about
On this episode of the Work on the Edge Podcast, I am going to tell you why you should always be trying to keep “the man” down, and why this is important for high-stakes decision making.
It’s not what it sounds like, I promise. When I say “the man”, I’m using that as an expression to mean the person with the ultimate decision making authority. In high stakes situations, it is essential that we keep “the man” as low as possible for as long as possible.
On this episode, you’ll learn:
Be sure to get your your free audio book by clicking HERE or putting your name in the box below. I’ll also email a PDF outline to you in case you need something visual to refer back to.
On this episode of the Work on the Edge Podcast, we are going to talk about one of the biggest misconceptions about teamwork, the idea that there is no “I” in team.
We’ve all heard it, we’ve probably said it, and we may even teach it to our kids. The old cliche’ “There’s no I in team.”
At Work on the Edge, I like to take beliefs that we generally accept as true and really look into them and see if our beliefs are actually serving us in a useful way. As a high-stakes professional, you no doubt work closely with others, probably in a team environment. Doesn’t it make you all warm and fuzzy to believe “There’s no I in team”? Isn’t it a good idea to think that team is more important than the individual? I don’t think so, especially in high-stakes situations.
In this episode you’ll learn:
On this episode of the Work on the Edge Podcast, we are going to talk about the concept of Best Practices…and how sometimes they aren’t
It seems these days that many people and organizations are very concerned with making sure they are conforming to the recognized “Best Practices” of their profession. The reason for this is that people and organizations want to feel assured that they are doing things in the best possible manner and that they are not opening themselves up to liability for not following what others believe to be the appropriate course of action.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
On this episode of the Work on the Edge Podcast, we are going to discuss the differences between amateurs and professionals.
Many people, when they think of these differences will think of the number of mistakes someone makes being the difference between amateurs and professionals. This has nothing to do with it.
Many people will think of those who get paid to do something as professionals and those who do it for fun as amateurs. This is not the kind of professional I’m talking about either.
When you need to decide if the person you are dealing with is a professional or an amateur OR you are trying to move from being an amateur to being a professional yourself, this show is for you.
On this episode, you’ll learn:
Be sure to get your FREE audio version of my book “The Confidence Conundrum: How competent people are destroying their confidence and don’t even know it.” You can download it for free HERE
Listen in to the introductory episode of the podcast the hear what Work on the Edge is all about and if it’s right for you. The Work on the Edge Podcast is about the Mindset, Motivation, and Methodologies of High-Stakes Professionals.
In this introduction episode, you’ll learn:
If you have any questions or want to connect, feel free to contact me HERE