The Life:Optimised Show: Recent Episodes
The Life:Optimised Show
Dev Singh speaks with amazing entrepreneurs, executives and everyday leaders, to explore a variety of philosophies and strategies for optimising your business, leadership and life.
I've had many friends, inspiring thought leaders and incidental mentors on the show before, but I'm super excited to finally bring you a conversation with someone who was my coach for several months, over a very interesting period of my life. Matthew and I connected at a training event where he was guest facilitating, and his energy, insight and inherent thirst for spiritual evolution (his own and others) blew me away. I almost immediately knew I had to work with him.
It was a remarkably confrontational experience that forced me to ask questions about myself and explore depths of my mind that I otherwise was either oblivious to, or was afraid of falling into without a rope to climb back out of. The wealth of insight and development I got out of the guided self-reflection that came from Matthew's coaching was so powerful that I've been wanting to share its brilliance on the show since I first thought of producing it.
In this conversation, Matthew and I discuss topics and ideas around pretty much everything that motivated me to make The Life:Optimized Show happen. We talk about optimizing business, personal and professional leadership, and every area of our lives through a directed focus on self-actualisation whilst surrendering to letting life unfold as it needs to.
Although there have been some unforeseen breaks between episodes so far, I will be taking a deliberate break from releasing new episodes for a while, whilst I record and gather a bunch of exciting conversations for the second season of the show. I could not have had a better 22nd episode to wrap up season 1.
Is Suffering or pain necessary? What's the fastest way to create lasting change? How transformable is our life? How much wonderful can you take?
These are the questions Matthew Blom has been seeking out and answering for the last 15 years. He has studied the finest change modalities known across the globe from ancient wisdom to New Age discoveries: Buddha to Belief change, Meditation to Neuro-Linguistics, Matthew Blom now leads and transforms lives through the work of Family Constellations and Mind Re-Patterning, modalities that allow you to Honor What Is, Re-Solve what has been, and Embrace your genius and fulfillment in life.
He is a passion-based Entrepreneur Making a Living through Making a Difference. His favorite thing to do is to make this more and more possible for others.
His business is about designing our lives to have fulfillment in all areas of life: Our Health, Our Impact/Purpose, Our Wealth, Our Relationships, Our Family, Our Values/Spirituality, and Our Life Enjoyment.
As an Entrepreneur, he has seen many, many people with amazing, life-giving skills/training/abilities, be unable to make a living doing it. He’s watched them struggle through to hopelessness only to give up on their dreams and rob the world of their unique gifts.
You can learn more about and connect with Matthew at http://www.matthewblom.com.
In this conversation, my new friend Shawn Phelps, long-term student of the subconscious mind and author of one my new favourite books, joins me on the show to discuss clarity, purpose and the quest for "more", on the great story of our lives. I ask some philosophical and existential questions about self-discovery and mindfulness, and why the heck does it even matter? And Shawn shares her solid framework, and a ton more, that helps apply 20+ years of wisdom to the actual act of gaining more clarity to unlock a greater wealth of inner resources.
Shawn Phelps grows leaders by giving them clarity on who they are, why they’re here and how they can make a difference at their highest potential.
Shawn has studied the subconscious mind for 20 years, including 13 years of intimately studying her own subconscious mind through a daily meditation practice. She’s also an expert on story structures as an author and former business journalist, international backpacker (and freelance writer), corporate workshop facilitator, executive director of a children’s education charity (which she founded) and brand storytelling consultant.
She’s currently working on her second book, about a framework she created that helps people get more clarity in their lives.
You can learn more about Shawn on her website as well as learn about her Life Story Framework over at:
http://www.shawnphelps.com/ls-framework.
Oh and by the way, since recording this episode I read Shawn's first book, "Help Me Asia" and it's easily become one of my favourite light (but nonetheless warm, touching and profound) reads. You can check it out here:
http://amzn.to/1ql4PNL
James Goi Jr. is the internationally-published author of How to Attract Money Using Mind Power. James has been a life-long student and teacher of Truth and has written and lectured on metaphysics and spirituality with an emphasis on manifesting abundance.
James himself has had wonderful results using mind power to attract money, and shares many such stories in this conversation including:
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Going from $10,000 in credit card debt to debt free in a 4 to 6 week period using one simple affirmation.
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Using mind power techniques to go from his household being in $50,000 in credit card debt to receiving two six-figure windfalls within a three month period.
James' book is a serious work in which he quotes 160 other books. The U.S. edition is available worldwide through Ingram Book Company and foreign editions have been published by publishers in India (English), Lebanon (Arabic), Italy (Italian) and Mexico (Spanish) and are available in many other countries. He continues to write and has now written several more books which he will publish soon through his new "JGJ Press" publishing imprint.
For more info, visit http://JamesGoiJr.com.
What would it be like to spend an hour with someone who has personally coached and advised prime ministers, presidents (including Bush, Clinton and Obama), senior executives, sports stars like Andre Agassi and Monica Seles, and thought leaders all over the world?
In this episode, I'm in conversation with our most revered and accomplished guest yet, Dr Appu Kuttan, who in his 50+ years of world-changing service has had so many incredible accomplishments that I can barely list them all here. What I will say is that I've never been so quiet on the show before, as Dr Kuttan shares an incredible wealth of wisdom with an energy and enthusiasm that far surpasses my own.
This episode isn't just about Dr Kuttan and his work though - it's about how you can optimize every single area of your business, leadership and life by adopting more of a systems thinking approach. You'll learn what that actually means and how to do it in this episode, through some remarkable stories that Dr Kuttan shares from his own professional and personal experiences.
Really, this episode just covers optimizing so many different things that it's tough to pick a single category. You'll just have to hurry on and listen to the episode, and be sure to let me know what you think!
Dr. Appu Kuttan (born 1941, Kerala, India), is an Indian American philanthropist and the founder and chairman of the National Education Foundation (NEF), a global non-profit leader that provides disadvantaged students, teachers, employees and jobseekers top-quality tuition-free STEM+ (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math, English, Social Studies, Testprep, Information Technology, Business, Management, and Soft Skills) education, particularly in the United States and India.
He is the author of many innovative concepts such as MBS (Management By Systems) and Cyberlearning. He has written several books and articles, including Happy Executive —A Systems Approach; Nurturing Mind, Body and Soul and From Digital Divide to Digital Opportunity.
He has advised many national leaders, and mentored celebrities like tennis stars Andre Agassi and Monica Seles.
You can check out Dr. Kuttan’s book Happy Executive on Amazon here: http://amzn.to/1teQBBG
You can learn more about Cyber Learning and the National Education Foundation at http://www.cyberlearning.org.
Con Georgiou, aside from being a highly successful entrepreneur and leader in the startup space, is one of the most genuine, authentic and inspiring people I've ever met. On this episode, Con and I discuss the nature and culture of innovation in business - all the way from startups to global corporations.
We also talk about what an attitude and mindset of innovation, alongside the concept of "flow", means for your personal and professional development at an individual level, and what that actually means in optimizing your business, leadership and life at large.
Constantine (Con) Georgiou is passionate about Social Physics, the integration of the human condition with technology and how it can be best utilised to drive Group Flow and Innovation. He has a behavioural sciences background and over 20 years experience in the technology industry, culminating in his successful innovation consultancy, Velteo Pty Ltd. He believes that innovation is everyone’s birthright and that together Australia can increase its economic prosperity. He is now the CEO and co-founder of One Million Acts of Innovation Australia (OMAoI). OMAoI is a not-for-profit national incubator aiming to help Australia become a world leader in innovation. Through Open Innovation Journey's, challenges and events, OMAoI will establish a home grown culture of co-creation, safety and inclusion for all citizens and organisations, enabling them to lead from their current position and innovate the future together.
You can learn more about Con at http://www.congeorgiou.com.
You can learn more about One Million Acts of Innovation at http://www.onemillionactsofinnovation.org.au.
Despite leaving school at 15, by the age of 27, David was the Financial Controller of a $6 billion Merchant Bank. With a solid background in Merchant Banking, Finance and Accounting David was well established in corporate financial circles. David's passion for the dynamic world of the stock market led him to leave the corporate world and in 1997 David Novac and Kate Sheehan founded Wealthwise Education.
With many hard lessons learned throughout his 30 years in the stock market (including the 1987 crash), his expertise in global markets and future trends is renowned as being insightful and realistic. David has an international reputation and is a sought after keynote speaker on the stock market, including:
- Appearing as co-host on Sky Business 'Lunch Money' and 'Market Day'; an expert panelist on 'Your Money, Your Call' and 'Bonds Vs Equities' TV Shows.
- Having presented for Anthony Robbins' 'Wealth Mastery' and Robert Kiyosaki's (best selling author of 'Rich Dad, Poor Dad) 'Financial Intelligence' & 'Fundamentals of Investing' Programs.
Robert Kioysaki praising David's knowledge said, "David Novac is one of the best 'stock-pickers' I know. David uses a combination of fundamental & technical analysis."
David has also led many personal development and financial training programs for multinational corporations, and is incredibly passionate about the relationship between personal development, mindset and financial success.
Now, on The Life:Optimized Show, David shares his exclusive insights beyond what you'll typically hear about personal wealth and finance, including the realities of the global financial markets that mainstream media doesn't want you to know.
You can learn more about David at http://www.wealthwiseeducation.com.
We all feel like we're crashing close to rock bottom at some point or another in our lives. But what would it be like to feel so destroyed inside that you'd actually drive yourself, at full speed, into a telegraph pole, with every intention of not surviving that crash? And then what would you do if you did survive? On this powerful and punchy episode with my good friend, Simon Clark, we talk about his life leading up to his suicide attempt, his survival, and how he shifted his view after it to not only turn his own life around but embark on a mission to help many others suffering in a similar way. Simon is a true inspiration and about as down to earth as they come, both with his wisdom and his expression. If you've ever known anyone close to rock bottom, or have felt yourself stuck in your own shadows, you don't want to miss this episode.
Like many of you, accomplished author and happiness expert Simon Clark began chasing his dreams from a very early age. And like a large majority of you, when he first started he hadn’t quite worked out what it was he was actually chasing. Through decades of mentoring, managing, and leading people Simon knows happiness can be many things. So what is happiness for you? An award sitting on a mantelpiece? A collection of trinkets and toys? Is it the sum total of all your cash and assets?
With over 30 years of real life ‘at the coal face’ people management experience, Simon’s abilities in helping others obtain their ideas on happiness are radically different from ordinary goal setting run-of-the-mill coaching. Simon works with his clients and his audiences to show them how their happiness intertwines with the power behind their choices. He helps build a platform for a system that centres on aligning the person, perfectly, with their purpose.
Simon’s coaching skills have been described by his clients as direct, to the point, with an ability to cut through the BS and truly bring out the best in people. His style of combining the lessons from real-life stories with practical techniques allows him to connect with his audiences on several different levels. His empathy and compassion guide him toward the facts that lay hidden inside the hearts of everyday people.
Aside from being a certified coach in the ‘mBit’ methodology, an author, a husband, and a father of two teenagers, Simon is also a suicide survivor. He created his company “Shift Your View” to be an organisation dedicated to helping people see a clearer path toward their own happiness, and ultimately, their own success. This business represents his heartfelt mission of wanting to make a positive difference in the lives of others. His first book “Shift Your View: Seeing beyond and achieving even more” has already been hailed as the book people can’t wait to read.
Prior to his current role, Simon has had 16 years retail management experience, four years managing IT service providers, and over eight years managing his own businesses. His success in these fields has spurred him on toward his passion for making things happen.
You can learn more about Simon and "Shift Your View" at http://shiftyourview.com.
In this absolutely joyful and passionate episode, I speak with world-renowned trauma and anxiety coach, BarBara Whorely Crawford, to answer a heap of important questions about emotional self-sufficiency, and how to optimize your state of being for greater performance in your life, whether you're a single mum of four, or a special forces veteran dealing with a return to civil life. I ask "BB" some hard-hitting questions too, in what turns out to be one of the most fun yet profoundly authentic conversations I've had on the show yet!
Some of the questions we cover include:
How do you strip away the debris and crap covering up your authentic self? What is the real cost of trying to keep everyone else pleased with you? Why do people revert back to their old behaviours, even after seeming to have breakthroughs? How are some people seemingly always cheery and happy, and why are some people offended by this? What's more important: the coach or the coaching? How do you support someone in need of immediate counselling before they can get to a professional? How does the everyday person get in touch with their authentic self after getting used to putting on a facade for others? Why should we care about war veterans even if we don't support war? How do some of the world's most influential entrepreneurs and leaders network and build relationships?
BB Crawford’s passion is to train people how to focus on what they desire in their lives without the distraction of anxiety, stress or emotional overwhelm.
BB’s life experiences and successes include being the mother of 4 phenomenally happy, well adjusted, self-sufficient adult children. A top Leader for Weight Watchers International, Lead Executive Recruiter, and MotivACTional Speaker/Coach.
BB’s purpose began seven years ago when she learned the Anxiety Reduction Tools. She began working with Vietnam Veterans and returning Troops with amazing results. Vietnam Veterans were sleeping through the night for the first time in 35 years. OEF/OIF Troops symptoms of anxiety, anger and stress were reduced significantly. BB fell in love with the Military community. Training and coaching returning Troops, Veterans and their families became her main focus in life. In 2010 BB established her company Emotional Self Sufficiency (ESS). Creating ‘The ESSential Leadership Life Skills Training’. She does this at no cost to Troops as they have already paid the price in her eyes. BB funds her Pro Bono program by training and coaching individuals and companies in The ESSential Leadership Life Skills program. This is her life’s purpose to reduce anxiety, stress and emotional overwhelm in the world, especially for our Troops and their families!
BB coaches and conducts trainings in this work around the US, as well as in Iraq, Afghanistan, UK, Canada and Australia via Skype. Present and past clients: Central Texas Community College the ESS program for young adults entering college, Silver and Gold Medal Olympic Athletes, National Chaplain Training Center for the V.A. in Washington, D.C., on Fort Hood, Texas for Troops and families, Fortune 500 company executives, non-profit organization across the US serving Veterans and families.
Contact and Connect with BB Crawford: Skype: BarBara Whorley Crawford BarBara@esstrng.com www.emotionalselfsufficiency.com https://twitter.com/BBTheCoach https://www.facebook.com/barbara.whorleycrawford https://www.facebook.com/BBCrawfordMotivACTIONalSpeaker
After a hiatus, we’re back with the (sort of, kind of, not really) second season of The Life:Optimized Show, and I’m pretty excited to bring a conversation that goes deep into a duality that’s close to my heart. My recently discovered good friend, Josh Denning, joins me to talk about the complex (and sometimes corrupt) world of Internet Marketing and what drives certain entrepreneurs to succeed and some to fail, especially in marketing.
We also talk about the eternally mysterious question about the pursuit for success and fulfilment, both at a material and spiritual level. Josh shares a ton of valuable and practical insights about the digital marketing and online entrepreneurship world, as well as what you can do to get started very simply on your own path towards freedom lifestyle. And he also shares some golden wisdom about why you might not want to at all, and the spiritual and consciousness cost that can come with your chase for success in a fast-paced and constantly changing business world becoming more and more desperate.
Josh Denning is the founder of the Tropical Entrepreneur Show. He’s the mentee and protege of John Lee Dumas from Entrepreneur On Fire, and an avid student of Frank Kern, Dan Kennedy, Jay Abraham, Eban Pagan, Ryan Deiss, Perry Belcher, Earl Nightingale, Jim Rohn, Napoleon Hill, Dale Carnegie, Yanik Silver, Jeff Walker, Jeff Johnson, Mike Filsaime, much of the Nightingale-Conant Library.
Josh started online marketing in 2004; in an online MLM program called Pay It Forward for Profits “otherwise known as a funded proposal” created by Paul Birdsall and Joel Comm…. He built his first email list to 10,000 people, eventually joining the professional ranks of the digital marketing industry as a consultant.
In 2008 Josh joined a company called Experian Hitwise as a Digital Marketing Consultant. Hitwise was one of the first Australian digital marketing agencies, looking after campaigns for some of Sydney and Melbourne’s largest e-commerce and enterprise organisations.
From Hitwise, a year and a half later, Josh moved to Bruce Clay as an SEO Analyst, not even realising at the time that he had gone from the first in Australia to one of the first digital agencies in the world. This was a really great education in all aspect of digital business, and with Bruce Clay Josh got to work on major banks campaigns, the largest Telco in Australia, and the two largest eCommerce businesses in Australia.
From Bruce Clay, about eighteen months later in 2011, Josh started his own boutique digital agency with a buddy from high school, called Click Thru IQ, specialising in Click Bank launches, SEO, joint ventures, coaching and affiliate marketing. Their largest launch on Click Bank drove 26,000 unique visits in 2 days.
Click Thru IQ did several more launches after that; however an unexpected loss in Josh’s personal life caused him to hand that business over to his buddy and move on. Josh spent a year in introspection after that, including a month in a Buddhist temple where he learned to meditate for an hour to two hours at a time and began to understand life from deeper (or perhaps different) perspectives.
Finally after 12 months in introspection and with a new lease on life from the Buddhist temple; Josh purchased a one way ticket to Bangkok Thailand. Within a few weeks he met the women that is now his wife, and they married in a giant Buddhist wedding with over 1000 guests in her village in Southern Thailand.
A year later they formed a white labelling service for Western Australia’s largest digital marketing agency; providing fulfilment for SEO, Pay Per Click Marketing, Content Writing, Customer Service and Sales. Due to lots of hard work, previous experience, hiring the right people and luck on their side the Bangkok online marketing agency is now extremely successful, consistently having record, after record month in sales and results, and Josh embodies and lives the freedom lifestyle for himse
This is an in-between-isode (a term I've shamelessly ripped off from The Tim Ferriss Show). It's a relatively shorter audio-essay to check out in between my last episode and my next more long-form conversation with my next guest, which will be coming out very soon. Stay tuned, and in the meantime, let me know what you think of this!
You can read the full article here: http://bit.ly/1l1qr4b
What would it be like if you had a comfortable job in the bustling city of Sydney, Australia, surrounded by loving family and friends, and decided to one day - almost for no apparent reason - pack your bags and move to India indefinitely?
That's pretty much what my good friend, Michelle Rowan, did when she went from being a successful product manager to a digital nomad, travelling across the vastly diverse and extremely confronting social, cultural and political landscapes of India. You might be thinking, "Aah well I've heard plenty of stories from the hippy trail." except that Mishy isn't a hippy, and this story isn't from the 60s. It's as recent as less than 2 years ago.
So why then? Well, as Mishy herself explains in this episode, staying put and not growing as a person was even more frightening than venturing into a vast unknown to try and understand herself better, and then reinvent herself almost completely.
Mishy and I share a fascinating conversation about optimizing your personal leadership and life by shaking yourself out of your comfort zone, and she dishes out golden nugget after nugget of wisdom that is relevant and applicable to everyone, whether you're planning to escape to a mountain monastery in Dharamsala, or happy to optimize your life right where you are.
Mishy Rowan is a Sydney born artist currently residing in India and her mission is simple: to spread as much sunshine to as many people as possible through creative expression and random acts of kindness. As such, each painting aims to share a little bit of what yogi’s call ‘prana’ – life force. Her prana-packed colourful paintings fuse traditional watercolour techniques with stream of consciousness illustration.
Mishy, a student of anthropology, is endlessly fascinated with ‘the details’ and approaches art (and life) with infinite child-like curiosity. Mishy developed this intuitive and meditative technique out of a desire to surround herself with colour after being stung by a poisonous caterpillar in India (true story) resulting in emergency surgery. Whilst hooked up to an IV of antibiotics for two months and in what she calls “I can see through time” pain Mishy embraced the opportunity to focus on her creative side, painting every day until what was in her mind appeared on the paper in front of her, intuitively using colour therapy to support the healing process.
Like a rickshaw driver in Delhi’s peak hour traffic, Mishy moves from one stroke to the next, from moment to moment, focusing solely on the present movement to ultimately reveal a myriad of characters that lie within each painting, mirroring the chaotic and messy duality of existence, yet (much like Delhi traffic) finding harmony and balance, looking beyond ‘Maya’, the chaos, the illusion to unveil hidden treasures.
This style, a mix of watercolour and ink, influenced by street art, Jean Miró, Michael Leunig, Ken Done and Mirka Mora amongst others, enables Mishy to continue her nomadic lifestyle with the freedom to create anywhere and everywhere – from the foothills of the Himalayas to the café’s of Bondi, keeping creation social and public, harnessing the opportunity to inspire people to unlock their creativity and pursue their biggest dreams with the knowledge that (as they say in India) ‘everything is possible’.
With a background in digital media, Mishy also creates digital delights from artworks to interactive e-books.
You can check out Mishy's blog and see her amazingly unique artwork at http://talesandfails.wordpress.com.
You can also purchase Mishy's art in various forms at http://society6.com/Talesandfails.
Other Resources
Your Best Year Yet! by Jinny S. Ditzler http://amzn.to/1pHMnUC
Mastery by Robert Greene http://amzn.to/1pHMzDk
Mastery by George Leonard http://amzn.to/1pHMGP8
This is a preview clip from episode 12 with Michelle Rowan. Visit http://thelifeoptimizedshow.com or subscribe on iTunes at http://bit.ly/lifeoptimizedshow for the full episode.
This is a preview clip from episode 12 with Michelle Rowan. Visit http://thelifeoptimizedshow.com or subscribe on iTunes at http://bit.ly/lifeoptimizedshow for the full episode.
Dr Brett Hill is a podcast star, chiropractor, wellness coaches' coach and author of the life-changing book How To Eat An Elephant. He regularly appears on TV, radio and in print, and his media appearances, seminars, coaching and consulting have inspired thousands of people over the last decade to live a long, happy, healthy life full of energy and vitality.
In his early 20s, Dr Brett realised that it was time to make a change. He had been the kind of child who was always sick – not terribly sick, but not terribly well either. For as long as he could remember he had suffered from coughs and colds at least half a dozen times a year, he didn’t sleep well, was low in energy and not particularly fit. He realised that he had been doing the same things over and over again (including regular doses of antibiotics) and kept getting the same results. He decided to do something different.
Dr Brett realised that if he wanted better health he was going to have to make better choices. At the time he thought nothing of a lunch consisting of a pie, a pasty, a 1.25L soft drink and a chocolate bar. He would regularly go out and drink more than he should, and he did little to no exercise. Something had to give. Over the course of the next decade he gradually turned his life around. He started getting regular chiropractic care, cleaned up his diet, started exercising well and in the process he learnt what it takes to make real life-long changes to lifestyle and health.
In the process Dr Brett has been able to share his journey with his fabulous wife Rebecca and now their two gorgeous children Tom and Charlotte, who have inspired Dr Brett to take his message to the world in order to create a healthier environment for his family to thrive in.
Dr Brett’s websites, articles, videos, media appearances and books have inspired people all over the world to make drastic changes for the better in their life and their health.
You can learn more about Dr Brett Hill over on his website at http://www.drbretthill.com and check out all the shows The Wellness Couch has to offer over at http://thewellnesscouch.com.
You can also pick up a copy of Brett's book, How to Eat an Elephant, on Amazon: http://amzn.to/1oUSMew.
Other Resources:
http://www.marksdailyapple.com
The Paleo Solution: The Original Human Diet by Robb Wolf: http://amzn.to/1oV2aio
Grain Brain by Dr. David Perlmutter: http://amzn.to/1oUZqS3
Wheat Belly by William Davis MD: http://amzn.to/1oUZFN6
If you'd like to recommend some more resources, please leave a comment.
This is a preview from episode 11 with Dr. Brett Hill. To listen to the full episode, follow on http://thelifeoptimizedshow.com or subscribe on iTunes at bit.ly/lifeoptimizedshow.
This is a preview from episode 11 with Dr. Brett Hill. To listen to the full episode, follow on http://thelifeoptimizedshow.com or subscribe on iTunes at bit.ly/lifeoptimizedshow.
This is a preview from episode 11 with Dr. Brett Hill. To listen to the full episode, follow on thelifeoptimizedshow.com or subscribe on iTunes at bit.ly/lifeoptimizedshow.
This is a preview from episode 11 with Dr. Brett Hill. To listen to the full episode, follow on http://thelifeoptimizedshow.com or subscribe on iTunes at bit.ly/lifeoptimizedshow.
Can the beauty of love become corrupted to the point of becoming something as destructive as an addiction?
What compels some people to chase abusive relationships, and reject loving relationships?
What can we learn from the darkest recesses of a rarely spoken about sociological issue, to optimize our relationship with our selves and love itself?
Award winning Danish film maker, Pernille Rose Grønkjær, and I dive into these questions and talk about her experiences making the internationally acclaimed feature documentary, Love Addict. We discuss our mutually shared curiosity about the human condition, both in its infinite beauty and darkest shadows (sometimes with great overlap).
And we even dare to tackle such questions that perhaps can never truly be answered in a purely objective way - what is this crazy thing called love, anyway?
Pernille Rose Grønkjær (born 1973) graduated from the National Film School of Denmark in 1997 and has earned many awards and recognition for her documentary films and television productions over the past 15 years. Her international feature length documentary THE MONASTERY – 'Mr. Vig and the Nun' opened at The International Documentary Film Festival of Amsterdam (IDFA) and won the festival’s prestigious 1st price. With 11 awards and more than 60 festivals the world over THE MONESTARY has become an important milestone in the strong international brand that Danish documentary is today and established Grønkjær as a storyteller with a universal language and a cinematic vision.
Grønkjær's feature documentary "LOVE ADDICT - Stories of dreams, obsession and longing" opened at great reviews in her home country and had it´s international release at IDFA 2011. The film is now opening at festivals in the US and will be released in the commercial American-English market autumn 2012.
You can learn more about Danish Documentary and Pernille at http://www.danishdocumentary.com.
You can learn more about and watch Love Addict, and interviews with consulting experts, at http://www.loveaddictmovie.com.
This is a preview from episode 10 with Pernille Rose Grønkjær. To listen to the full episode, follow on http://thelifeoptimizedshow.com or subscribe on iTunes at http://bit.ly/lifeoptimizedshow.
This is a preview from episode 10 with Pernille Rose Grønkjær. To listen to the full episode, follow on http://thelifeoptimizedshow.com or subscribe on iTunes at http://bit.ly/lifeoptimizedshow.
This is a preview from episode 10 with Pernille Rose Grønkjær. To listen to the full episode, follow on http://thelifeoptimizedshow.com or subscribe on iTunes at http://bit.ly/lifeoptimizedshow.
This is a preview from episode 10 with Pernille Rose Grønkjær. To listen to the full episode, follow on http://thelifeoptimizedshow.com or subscribe on iTunes at http://bit.ly/lifeoptimizedshow.
[WARNING: This episode contains descriptions of graphic violence and may be very distressing or offensive to some listeners.]
What would you do if at the age of barely being a young adult, your entire life was turned upside down with a personal tragedy that was so extreme it caught the attention of national news media?
What if someone you loved, cherished and protected was taken from you and your entire sense of reality was completely ripped apart?
This is exactly what happened to Miami based Ted Ryce when at the age of 19, his 9 year old brother, Jimmy Ryce, was kidnapped, raped, tortured and murdered and his life was turned upside down. Ted's story, however, doesn't end there and is ultimately not a story of painful tragedy; it's a story of incredible resilience and infinite inspiration.
After enduring traumatic pain that most people can barely even begin to imagine, Ted ultimately persevered, claimed full responsibility for his own leadership, and optimized his life in ways that will leave you spellbound. Ted now works as a personal trainer with some of the most famous and influential people in the world.
On this episode of The Life:Optimized Show, Ted shares what inspires him to push through the pain and suffering anybody would have excused him for getting caught up in, and how he prevents himself from becoming self-absorbed and instead focuses a tremendous amount of energy on creating a massive impact on the world.
We talk about how he got through everything and forged his own journey and identity; and how everyone will inevitably face some form of personal hardship in their life, and how you can be better prepared for it and optimize your life in the process of doing so.
This is one of the most inspirational and motivating episodes yet!
Ted is a science nerd, an accomplished martial artist, and a personal trainer with 14 years of experience. Using exercise and nutrition principles that he learned from extensive study, he transformed from a skinny 150lb fast food eating party guy to an athletic 205lbs muscular physique.
In his 14 years of experience, Ted has trained celebrities like Ricky Martin and Robert Downey Jr, CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, professional and amateur athletes, and ordinary men and women who simply want to look better in their bathing suits. Ted’s highly motivating, yet non-intimidating personality makes fitness approachable for people of ages and commitment levels.
You can learn more about Ted at http://alphamanproject.com.
To learn more about and support The Jimmy Ryce Center For Victims Of Predatory Abduction please visit http://www.jimmyryce.org.
This is a preview from episode 9 with Ted Ryce. To listen to the full episode, follow on http://soundcloud.com/devsingh or subscribe on iTunes at bit.ly/lifeoptimizedshow.
This is a preview from episode 9 with Ted Ryce. To listen to the full episode, follow on http://soundcloud.com/devsingh or subscribe on iTunes at bit.ly/lifeoptimizedshow.
This is a preview from episode 9 with Ted Ryce. To listen to the full episode, follow on http://soundcloud.com/devsingh or subscribe on iTunes at bit.ly/lifeoptimizedshow.
This is a preview from episode 9 with Ted Ryce. To listen to the full episode, follow on http://soundcloud.com/devsingh or subscribe on iTunes at bit.ly/lifeoptimizedshow.
This is a preview from episode 9 with Ted Ryce. To listen to the full episode, follow on http://SoundCloud.com/devsingh or subscribe on iTunes at bit.ly/lifeoptimizedshow.
Have you ever wondered what your life would be like if you had gone down a completely different path to what you chose? Do you ever look at people who seem to have lived such an outrageous life, that you wonder what goes on in their head, and why they even bother? Do you wish you knew how to trust your instincts and live more true to your own expression, and not have to worry so much about what the world around you expects you to do?
On this episode, my friend from New Zealand, Dr. Sapna Samant, and I talk about our respective journeys away from traditional expectations, and pursuing a life that is a truer expression of ourselves, despite enormous amounts of pressure to confirm to a particular lifestyle or image. We also explore and reflect on ideas of optimizing your personal leadership to handle the seduction of becoming externally validated, and how people fall prey to materialism whilst never really enjoying what they actually achieve and attain.
Sapna opens up with her wealth of wide ranging experience, from being a practising GP to working in media, arts and journalism as a film-maker, back to a career in medicine. And I open up and share some experiences and insights from my own journey that I've never spoken about with anyone before.
This is one of most raw, open and honest conversations I've ever had so listen in now!
Sapna Samant was born in Bombay, India. After practising as a GP for nine years, she got very bored of it all, moved to New Zealand in 2001, and decided to explore other parts of her brain - leading to a Masters in Film, Television and Media Studies from the University of Auckland.
Sapna worked as a freelance producer for Radio New Zealand until 2009, produced her own show for Radio Live, produced and directed a documentary film, and produced and wrote a short film, revelling in her love for writing.
In 2012, with the encouragement of "we need people like you to be doctors", Sapna decided to try her hand at medicine again and sat the three exams required to requalify, clearing them all in her first attempt. She currently works as a GP in Cannons Creek, one of the most diverse, complex and poorest areas in New Zealand.
"This is my dream job as a doctor, because it is about serving people and not making money. When I worked as a doctor in Bombay it was all about net profit and that was one of the main reasons I was put off the idea of continuing as a doctor."
Sapna describes herself as a free-spirited soul, a wanderer, a dreamer, a deliberate exile. Blessed with excellent health, high education, a very good brain and abundant energy, she believes her karma then is to transfer all of it to this world for the betterment of humanity; the journey is to harness this force for optimum use while purifying it at the same time. The destination is unknown in spiritual terms but only death can be the end point in this life.
You can follow Sapna on Twitter at http://twitter.com/drsapna.
You can visit Sapna's blog at http://drsapna.wordpress.com.
You can read Sapna's short story published in Ingenio Magazine at http://www.ingenio-magazine.com/upside-down-by-dr-sapna-samant.
This is a preview from episode 8 with Dr. Sapna Samant. To listen to the full episode, follow on SoundCloud or subscribe on iTunes at http://bit.ly/lifeoptimizedshow.
What does it take to be successful across cultures? Why is this important in our increasingly global village? How should we act to connect cross-culturally, and what are the benefits?
In this episode of The Life:Optimized Show, my good friend and cultural intelligence expert, Charlotta Öberg and I dive into exploring these questions, and figuring out how to optimize your business and leadership with greater cross-cultural communication and connection, and how in this day and age this is not a novelty but an imperative.
We also talk about broader social issues like racism, xenophobia, multiculturalism and inter-cultural relationships - both in terms of the inevitable challenges and the abundant opportunities that come with living in an increasingly global village, and making an active effort to engage with different cultures, around the world and in our own neighbourhoods.
Charlotta Öberg has dedicated 15 years to responding to these questions, by equipping thousands of professionals around the world with Cultural Intelligence. She enables people who work across cultures, in multicultural societies and global business, to succeed and thrive. A sought after expert on cross-cultural matters, she is a keynote speaker, facilitator and writer. Originally from Sweden, she has lived and worked around the world, including Malaysia, China and the US. She now manages PRISMA Cross-Cultural Consultants, developing multicultural mindsets for organisations in Australia and beyond.
Most recently, Charlotta worked for the Swedish government as a cultural diversity advisor, where she was awarded an EU project on Cultural Competence and nominated for the annual Diversity Prize. She has also headed up the London office of training firm Aperian Global, now her international partner. Charlotta holds a Masters Degree in Social Science with a focus on inter-cultural communication, and is a certified coach. She enjoys living in the global village that is Sydney with her family.
You can learn more about Charlotta and her work at http://www.prismagroup.com.au.
In this episode of The Life:Optimized Show, I speak with my friend Deb Carr about her inspiring journey in life that has been scattered with traumas and hardships that would completely break and destroy many people's will to survive. Deb shares the lessons she's learnt along the way to optimizing her response to her difficult experiences and challenges, and as a result not just surviving them, but thriving in her business, leadership and life with great success.
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Deb Carr was born in Cardiff Wales to an Irish Father and Welsh mother. At the age of four her family migrated to Australia. Her father's work meant that they needed to travel a lot and as a child crossed the Nalabour Plains before it was tar-sealed. On this trip as a child of 6 she nearly lost her life.
At the age of 11 the family moved to New Zealand. Deb moved back to Australia when she was 19 and became a citizen in 1988.
When she was 37 Deb's life was turned upside when her brother committed Suicide. The impact and shock on her life was enormous and six months latter she was diagnosed with Crohn's Disease. Two years later her marriage failed and then life took on a roller coaster of events and hardships struggling to build her first business.
Today, Deb works as a blogger and Social Media Marketer and teaches others how to do the same. She has inspired many people with her story on how she survived through some very tough times which she puts down to Persistence, Courage and Self Belief.
In this episode of The Life:Optimized Show, I speak with Creativity Coach, Lisa-Maree Botticelli, about the social, political and business implications of creativity and art, the stigmas and expectations around these things, and how accessing and nurturing your creativity can actually help you in your business, leadership and life in many ways. Stick around for an amazing guided art-therapy meditation exercise in the last quarter of this episode too!
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Lisa-Maree Botticelli is a gentle force: a Creativity Coach, social activist, artist, photographer, curator, writer and humanitarian. Using the power of art, Lisa-Maree is re-writing Australian history by bringing to our awareness the need for everyone to express creativity in every day life.
Idealistic and socially aware, Lisa-Maree has emerged from the shadow of creatively stifling employment, to produce artworks of humanitarian triumph.
Lisa-Maree turned to making art and using her creativity, as a tool for healing, after suffering a huge loss in her life. She found expressing her creativity daily increased and optimised her potential, bringing her greater happiness and fulfilment in her life.
After taking retrenchment from work and finding more time on her hands, she began exploring her creativity and discovered this was the critical ingredient missing from her working life.
From her experience, being an artist and achieving financial success was not easy, especially compared with other careers. And yet, artists still have the same needs and desires, as other humans, in terms of survival and thriving.
She founded Pure Creativity Coaching to help others combine their creativity, with making more money, while making a difference in the world.
From her research and working with clients, Lisa-Maree found many people are unfulfilled in their money-making activities, working for an organisation can be creatively stifling and it's time to find more meaning from life, while being paid well, doing what you love.
In 2006 Anfernee left a treadmill job at an IT company, after a traumatic brain surgery experience, to pursue a life worth living. He’s lived in 3 different countries, launched a successful online marketing business that has trained over 1,000 business owners across the globe, and empowered over 200 students in Laos.
He currently teaches people how to live confidently and passionately at his Release Your Inner Confidence retreats and through his online community at Confidentpreneur.com. Anfernee has appeared on Network Ten, Vibewire FastBREAK and is a blogger for Huffington Post.
In this episode of The Life:Optimized Show, Anfernee and I talk about the practical and emotional challenges of transitioning from a traditional career-based lifestyle to the life of an entrepreneur. We discuss some of the things that don't usually get talked about, including the challenges and strain that come with balancing the need to appear successful with the desire to be honest and authentic even when you're struggling; we talk about the difference between confidence and ego, and how to keep a check on it; and we also talk about relationships and how confidence and entrepreneur lifestyle can impact them.
All in all, I enjoyed getting super authentic with Anfernee to make sure we dived deep into the psyche of a rising star, and there were some seriously profound highlights too when we started talking about our respective experiences with death and loss of loved ones, and how that's been a motivator in doing what we do. Keep your tissues handy, just in case!
David Sokol has been in the management workforce for over 20 years. In between a corporate IT management career in the insurance and finance sector and Regional management experience in the community services sector David spent 10 years as a counsellor, both in Sydney and in the Central West of NSW.
In his personal life David has lived a life that mirrors so many others in the community - two marriages, two daughters, and most recently his first grandchild.
But David's interest in working in areas of grief came from his own experiences - he is the first generation of parents who came to Australia as a result of the Holocaust when most of his extended family were exterminated, he has been retrenched a few times in his work life, and his second wife died of cancer when she was aged 34.
But David was so busy working and being a father he never realised how all of these life experiences and circumstances were adding up.
Then, in 2013, after his first trip to Israel, which turned out to be a very emotional trip, things began to fall apart for him.
Now, after 8 months on antidepressant medication he can talk about his recent experiences and how many men he has met along the way who were also seeing the life slide downwards - some of whom are still not at the point of going to the doctor.
David and I dive deep into a profound conversation about the stigma around mental health, especially amongst men, and how this manifests in the workplace in areas as seemingly diverse as business, leadership and personal relationships.
Rossco Paddison is the founder of Heart Centred Money Makers and is quite regularly referred to as the “Business Oracle”. He has helped hundreds of people to discover their true soul’s calling, package it and then monetise it.
When Rossco was five years old he was asked what he wants to be when he grows up. Instead of saying he wanted to be an astronaut, or any specific role, he simply said, “I want to save the world”.
After owning multiple 6 & 7 figure businesses he got his “wake up call” to what it really meant to be a human.
Enter the inception of Rossco’s love-child: “Heart Centred Money Makers”. He now spends his days helping others to heal their relationship with money, so they can heal the world with their unique gifts.
Rossco and I talk about the timeless debate of capitalism vs. ethical living, and we explore some really interesting things like how to consolidate making a lot of money with being a heart-centred human being; what capitalists can learn from hippies, and what enthusiastic activists might be able to do differently to have a bigger impact in their missions; and even Rossco’s attitudes towards and lessons in parenting his adorable 4 year old son.
Rossco opens up like he rarely ever does, and this interview may well have your mind on the verge of exploding!
Benny Fergusson started off in fitness, playing elite level volleyball, and through some very interesting adventures along the way that you'll hear about on the very first episode of the Life: Optimized Show, Benny went on to co-found the very first Cohesion Gym and the Cohesion Training System in Melbourne, Australia.
Benny and I talk about the importance of looking at the body as an integrated and cohesive unit, and how traditional approaches to fitness have often become outright dangerous and detrimental.
We also chat about how optimizing your mind and spirit goes hand in hand with optimizing your body, and the tangible effect that living with cohesive integrity has on your personal and professional life.
Now, welcome to the very first episode of The Life:Optimized Show.