ROTG Presents: Recent Episodes
Rob of the Green
If you’re of a curious disposition, have a positive outlook, are devoted to, or even have a passing interest in making yourself a little bit better (let’s set the bar low and aim for 1%) then I’m very hopeful you’ll enjoy listening to my podcast.
What a way to end the first run of Tuesday Night Book Club.
Great review on the book 'Strategic Doing: Ten Skills for Agile Leadership' by Paidi O'Reilly.
Having one of the authors of the book join was a bonus! Thanks, Ed.
We will be back in September. Have a great summer.
TNBC #tuesdaynightbookclub #bookclub #learning #community
Thanks,
Rob and Dec
The latest Tuesday Night Book Club Review is out now for your listen back.
The final TNBC of season one before we break for summer is on 24th May at 8 pm Irish Time.
You can sign up here https://tnbc2021.eventbrite.ie
TNBC #tuesdaynightbookclub #bookclub #learning #community
Thanks,
Rob and Dec
The latest Tuesday Night Book Club Review is Deep Work, written by Cal Newport, reviewed by Marianna O'Neill.
We're back on Tuesday 20th April at 8 pm. See you there.
You can sign up here https://tnbc2021.eventbrite.ie
TNBC #tuesdaynightbookclub #bookclub #learning #community
Thanks,
Rob and Dec
A deep dive into unraveling unconscious bias from the book 'sway' reviewed by Niamh McCartney is out now. Have a listen. I'm pretty certain you'll learn a lot. Thanks, Niamh. Great job. And a really positive conversation after too.
We're back on Tuesday 6th April at 8 pm. See you there.
You can sign up here https://tnbc2021.eventbrite.ie
TNBC #tuesdaynightbookclub #bookclub #learning #community
Thanks,
Rob and Dec
If you're interested in learning, career development, and culture, then this summary by Aoife Lenox on the book 'Range' from David Epstein is well worth a listen. It might inspire you to read the full book.
Great job again, Aofie. Welcome to the exclusive #TNBC double summarizer club (best name I could come up with).....thanks!
We're back on Tuesday 23rd March at 8pm. See you there.
You can sign up here https://tnbc2021.eventbrite.ie
TNBC #tuesdaynightbookclub #bookclub #learning #community
Thanks,
Rob and Dec
Another fully loaded Tuesday Night Book Club session is out now for your ears to enjoy!
Thank you Marianna for a great book review and for sharing countless tools and approaches we could use to help us make more time.
Check it out now.
We're back on Tuesday 9th March at 8pm. See you there.
Another wonderful Tuesday Night Book Club session is out now for your ears to enjoy!
Thank you Ashleigh Tobin for a great book review and so well read.
Check it out now.
We're back on Tuesday 23rd at 8pm. See you there.
Hi all,
Check out this week's episode of 1% Better with Allison Kreiger Walsh.
Allison is a dynamic corporate leader, philanthropist, personal branding expert, and much, much more. Her charismatic leadership and passion for bettering the lives of others, near and far, has inspired thousands of people across the country.
She currently serves as the Vice President of Business Development and Branding for Advanced Recovery Systems, a cutting edge, behavioral health care company based in Central Florida.
Previously, Allison held several executive and leadership roles in McKenna Walsh Consulting and Professional Management, and UF Health Florida Recovery Center at Orlando Health.
Allison has served on multiple local and national nonprofit boards and task forces including the National Eating Disorders Association, Eating Disorders Network of Central Florida, Project Opioid, and Orange County's Heroin Task Force Treatment Committee.
She is the founder of Helping Other People Eat (H.O.P.E.), a non-profit organization dedicated to the prevention and treatment of eating disorders.
Allison is an author, podcast host, and former Miss Florida.
She has been featured in national media outlets and publications including FOX News, Huff Post Live, and programs by Lifetime, PBS and NBC.
I hope you enjoy this and please don't forget to subscribe to the ROTG presents channel.
Be well,
Rob
Tuesday Night Book Club - Part 16
How Women Rise reviewed by Susan Manning.
Next one on 9th Feb - You can sign up here https://tnbc2021.eventbrite.ie
TNBC #tuesdaynightbookclub #bookclub #learning #community
Thanks,
Rob and Dec
Welcome to 1% Better and the interview with Venesa Klein.
Since 2007, Venesa Klein has helped some of the world's most successful companies build out the critical leadership teams that drive their success
As Partner at Calibre One, she successfully places C-suite and functional VP level leaders across a range of consumer internet, e-commerce, CPG, and category-defining technology companies. Klein also founded the company's Purpose-Driven Practice, which focuses on placing executives in growing organizations seeking to create innovation with meaningful impact.
Prior to joining Calibre One, Klein was the senior recruiter at MarketTools, a market research, and technology company, where she was responsible for full-cycle, international, executive recruiting across the company.
Klein was first introduced to corporate recruiting as a consultant at Google where she was recruited to build out their internal executive search function. She began her executive search career at The Pacific Firm, a premier Bay Area boutique firm.
Her practice concentrated on the recruitment of executives for venture capital funded start-ups and established high-growth companies.
Outside of work, Klein holds leadership roles within a number of animal welfare, environmental and educational charities. Her commitment to philanthropy and her two young children keep her quite busy.
I hope you enjoy this wide ranging conversation with Venesa.
You can find her at VenesaKlein.com
Also, if you'd like to join up to the Tuesday Night Book Club, you can do so by registering to the link here : https://tnbc2021.eventbrite.ie
And remember, at #TNBC, you don't have to have read the book beforehand!
Thanks for listening as always.
Best,
Rob
Welcome to Tuesday Night Book Club.
In this first review of 2021, we cover the best seller 'The Happiness Advantage'.
It was a great start the new season with a lovely group of mostly new members.
Enjoy the review. Let us know what you took from it. Tell your friends about TNBC.
We're back on the 26th January at 8pm. See you there.
You can sign up to it (and any of the others scheduled right up to end of June) via this eventbrite link: https://tnbc2021.eventbrite.ie
Also, do get in touch with me or Dec if you'd like to take one of the slots and share a summary of a book that rocked your world. For those joining for the first time, the book review typically lasts about 30 mins and then we have chats and discussion for another 20 or so. Should be all done in an hour!
And remember, at #TNBC, you don't have to have read the book beforehand!
Hi all,
Just a quick reflection on 2020, updates on plans for 2021 and sharing 3 pieces of sound advice that stood me in good sted.
Do check out the site for all the previous episodes - www.robofthegreen.ie
Sign up for the book club in 2021 - https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/tuesday-night-book-club-with-rob-dec-tickets-107330915658
Email me if you've any coaching questions - rob@robofthegreen.ie
Let's do this in 2021!
Best,
Rob
In this extra-special edition of TNBC, we provided a brief summary of well over 10 books that should give you more than a taste of what they are about. Check it out.
We're back in early January to kick it off again for 2021.
Happy Christmas,
Rob and Dec.
Welcome to the podcast – 1% Better.
I’ve talked to a broad range of successful individuals over the last 4 or so years doing the podcast. And everyone, I’ve learned something new.
Many entrepreneurs have been on the show too and investors. My guest today, Xander Schultz, is both of these. He’s also an philanthropist. Which is also not unique. But what is very different about Xander is his story.
I’m delighted to welcome Xander to 1% Better today.
After facing adversity early - his Olympic champion father Dave was murdered when he was just nine - Xander Schultz found purpose as an activist focused on maximizing the freedom of oppressed people and elevating changemakers.
As a tech entrepreneur in Silicon Valley, Xander was on the founding teams of two consumer social productivity technology companies Complete and Kifi, which was acquired in 2016 by Google.
Following his exit at Kifi, Xander committed his entrepreneurial and philanthropic efforts to social justice, co-founding the refugee aid organization When We Band Together with his wife Zoë.
They launched the organization after spending time volunteering on Lesvos in 2015.
The organization is dedicated to ensuring displaced people have community resources, safe spaces, and positive places where they can thrive.
Xander supports and leads initiatives that emphasize dignity and prioritize the most vulnerable.
Xander is the host of What We Don't Know Podcast WWDK) where he discusses issues that define our time with leading change-makers such as Rashad Robinson, Andrew Yang, and Baz Schreidinger.
In 2020 he founded “Defeat by Tweet” - a donation-based initiative raising money for the Justice Fund, Black-led political organizers in swing states, by using Trump’s tweets against him.
Xander’s two great projects right at this moment (TIMELY) are Defeat by Tweet, now having raised $2million dollars since launch in June to get Trump out of office, and When We Band Together, which is currently raising money to provide supplies to the 13,000 refugees displaced by the Moria Refugee Camp fire in Lesvos.
For more on Xander and to check out his podcast, go to defeatbytweet.org
Find Xander on Twitter - https://twitter.com/Xanderschultz
Heather Monroe, LCSW, is an integrative psychotherapist and founder of Monroe Wellness where she specializes in the healing of relational trauma.
In addition to a private practice, Monroe Wellness develops online courses and in person workshops centered around neuroscience backed practices that change our minds, our bodies and our consciousness.
For more on Heather, check out www.monroewellness.com
Keep on getting better,
Rob
Enjoy this one with Aoife.
Remember, at #TNBC, you don't have to have read the book beforehand!
Register for one of the upcoming book reviews here - https://buff.ly/2XM6lTB
Danielle Grant – of Your Mindset Mentor – Where peak performance meets consciousness
I really enjoyed this interview with Danielle.
Her story is an interesting one and her confidence and self-belief is infectious. She has some big goals - " I am on a mission to share my wisdom of spirituality and mindset with 1 million Entrepreneurs by 2025."
For more about Danielle, check out:
🎙PODCAST: https://www.themindvibe.show
✉ danielle@yourmindsetmentor.com
🌎 https://yourmindsetmentor.com
Enjoy!
Rob
1% Better – 3100 Miles Around a Park in Salzburg – Nirbhasa Magee Returns – EP188
Last year I talked with Nirbhasa Magee about his experience running the 3100-mile race in New York. Full details of that below.
This year, he’s running again. Only now, it’s in Salzburg. We caught up last week while he was running!
Have a listen and be sure to check out EP133 from last year to learn more!
Enjoy!
I recently found an article on the BBC website about a 3100-mile race that happens every year. It’s called a run to self-transcendence and as someone that is very intrigued in self-development, I wanted to learn more. And hopefully talk with one of the runners that attempted and, maybe even, completed it. Not only did I manage to find one, he’s also a fellow Irishman. His name is Nirbhasa Magee and his the guest for this episode.
Nirbhasa has been a meditation practitioner since his late teens/early twenties and through his practice, started to go for short runs with friends from the meditation group (Sri Chinmoys) he’s part of. One thing led to another. Before he knew it, he had moved on to marathons, ultramarathons, then 6 and 10 day runs and eventually the 3100 mile race.
In this podcast interview, Nirbhasa tells this story in detail, shares the benefits he’s gained from meditation and running and provides some hugely interesting insights from his journey so far.
Here is a summary and more about Sri Chinmoy (please excuse Typos):
•How Nirbhasa discovered meditation
•The key to a good meditation practice – even if it’s just 5 minutes per day – getting your foot in the door – this is the start of a building a habit
•Always noticing if he missed the daily quotient of peace and joy i.e. a short meditation
•Starting with a book ‘meditate like a master’ (or something of that name!)
•Noticing the difference in the day to day life even if the it wasn’t a ‘great’ meditation
•Finding deeper meaning and a feeling or pull of his being enjoying meditation
•An overview of the mediation practices used early on:
•Meditation Practice - Heart-Centre Mediations – Breathing and feeling the breath is coming from and leaving from the heart centre
•The difference between concentration on the mind and the heart!
•Finding himself coming out of heart-centre mediation with much more kindness on others and yourself
•Techniques are just like a city map – the same with the meditation techniques – you get to know your heart just like a city and after a while you can throw away the maps!
•Over time meditation becomes part of your being
•Reflecting on the changes and impact meditation has on Nirbhasa – not borne out of sadness or loneliness
•The one thing meditation has given him – a sense of fulfilment and purpose – not easily explained but more in a feeling
•Mediation has taught him to cherish the joy of doing things not just the outcomes
•Fitness & Running entered Nirbhasa’s life despite hating running originally
•Mediation helped to be in the right inner space when running – this happened quickly after he started running
•Getting into running longer distances more by chance running with others from the Sri Chinmoy centre
•Getting into the space running the right way – running along ‘eternities road’
•Just doing 1-2 marathons every year initially but becoming more aware of the ultra-running
•Hearing about much longer distances like the 6- & 10-day race and the 3100-mile race
•In 2012, Nirbhasa, stopped in New York, and went to support the 6- and 10-day race. The feeling he had from this gave him the motivation to sign up for it the following year – a huge sense of peace being there – this is something I could do!!!
•The 6- & 10-day races which are based on the most miles done in these days
•How the mind can be limiting which lead Nirbhasa to sign up only to the 6-day race
•The training plan for the 6-day race – having 2 great spiritual experience from the training itself –
1.Documentary – Spirit of a Runner on Vimeo – this lead to - The following day – an inner voice, why not move to the 10 day race instead
2.A Talk that moved Nirbhasa – from a Sri Chinmoy seminar – learning about her meditation life – “it’s got the stage where I just sort of exist” – this was a statement he didn’t forget – but didn’t know what it meant….Having 3 big projects with work before the race – making the commitment – training was to be priority #1 – this was key! As this went along…put the important things first, everything else gets done! Like being an observer watching things happen! – A huge change
•Dealing with misconceptions – that meditation is not accepting life’s responsibilities – but that is not the case - don’t what meditation is about
•How the attitude of Meditation today is about leading your life….meditation is a key part of helping you be happy to be able to do everything you need to do and still be peaceful and satisfaction
•Running & Training – avoiding injuries – lucky but also being able to connect into the issue and being able to find a workaround to overcome it
•The attitude that you take when training and running is very very important – if you’re not running the for the right reasons…this can lead to injury or overexert!
•There is a link between mental state and at which people suffer – when Nirbhasa runs, he must ensure he’s running from the right attitude – having a childlike consciousness when running!
•The experience doing the 10-day race first time in 2013 – another big revelation doing it – setting a goal of 500 miles as a target – expecting to slow down on day 3 as all others thought – but as the days went on, Nirbhasa kept going and didn’t slow down – having 2-3 cosmic experiencing during the race
•On the last day, after keeping a pace of 60 miles a day, decided to run all night on the last day and doing 91 miles on the last day, 622 miles overall and finishing 4th over
•The power of the mind – overcoming the limiting beliefs
•Meditation is about unlearning!
About the 3100 Mile Race
•3100-mile race around a single ½ mile block in Queens New York
•The 3100-mile race is the longest of several ultra-marathons and other running races founded by Sri Chinmoy.
•Not being allowed to run this unless you’ve done many multiday races before
•Only deciding to run this after completing the 10 day.
•60 miles a day is the average to run!
•Deciding to run it for the first time but taking his time to sign up so doing the 10 day race a second time around and doing 702 miles giving him confidence for the 3100
•The training gives confidence more than anything
•In 2015, in June Nirbhasa did his first 3100-mile race
•Trusting the Universe to provide a response - Dealing with major cross roads, putting the questions or issue out there, even by writing a letter, and then meditating. Leaving the decision to God or the Universe to sort out and letting it to see what comes back
•The notion of Spiritual Surrender – an ongoing and evolving process – not something that happens overnight
•The 3100 Documentary including other self-transcendence runs (link to the documentary here)
oIt’s a deep dive into Why people run and the spiritual exploration
oThe 3100 Run and Become
oFocus on Ash-Pri-han-nal – 14 times now 16 times?
oYuri – do you have to be a follower of Sri Chinmoy?
oRecord time -- 40 days - Ashprihanal Aalto has won the race nine times and participated 15 times.
oShamita – Austrian – dropped out after 1000 miles
oGyoman-san of the Monks of Mt. Hiei, Japan
oNavajo Runner included
•Nirbhasa’s experiences having run this 3 times over the last 5 years
oThe physical adjustment taking a few days
oThe mental adjustment starting to calm down and a much more natural meditative state comes
oStages during the race where meditation takes over and some parts of your being is having the time of its life!! That’s what keeps him coming back and get deeper every year
oComparisons with a silent retreat where the mind starts to calm after a few days
•The race itself is a very safe space of spiritual transformation – with everything being taken care of and you’re running letting off steam and being able to talk and express himself is very important – can share the experiences with different to a silent retreat
•From the 3 races Nirbhasa has completed, what stands out most?
oFrom the 2019 race, after 35+ days, hitting a heatwave in New York making the heat 41-42 Celsius – Nirbhasa kept running and was so exhausted at the end of that day – leading to heat exhaustion inside his stomach – leading to 6/7 days that lead to walking most of the time!
oThis lead to him learning to be happy no matter how he was doing – this is a key lesson – just to be happy no matter what!
oA second heatwave come some days later – leading Nirbhasa to keep pushing forward but getting a recommendation from an Aru Vedic doc and being able to run again an hour later – the benefits of grass in his shoe that helped it cool down
•To learn more about Nirbhasa and Sri Chinmoy check out:
•Video called “Seeker” with Snatak on google the video will come up – check this out
•This year, Nirbhasa after finishing the race, he felt he will do this every year
•Sri Chinmoy links - https://ie.srichinmoycentre.org/
More about Sri Chinmoy:
•Background on Sri Chinmoy
•Came to prominence
•About him – Chinmoy Kumar Ghose, better known as Sri Chinmoy[1] (27 August 1931 – 11 October 2007), was an Indian spiritual leader who taught meditation in the West after moving to New York City in 1964.[2] Chinmoy established his first meditation center in Queens, New York, and eventually had 7,000 students in 60 countries.[3][4] A prolific author, artist, poet, and musician, he also held public events such as concerts and meditations on the theme of inner peace.[4][5] Chinmoy advocated a spiritual path to God through prayer and meditation. He advocated athleticism including distance running, swimming, and weightlifting
Welcome back to 1% Better after a little while away ;)
This episode is one that I've been waiting to release for a few weeks. And here it is.
A lot in this one! So do enjoy....
We cover:
•Is Decision Making a Skill or a Competency
•The difference between a skill and a competency
•How emotions tie into decision making
•How to improve in Decision Making
•How Anne started to realise she was good at making decisions
•Having an interest in cognitive science and starting to understand the decisions making process deeper
•The grass is not really green….it’s how our eyes perceive it!
•Giving poker a go after her brother suggested she should give it a try
•Finding poker as a decision-making experiment
•In 2002, by chance, giving a talk to a group of students about poker and risk management
•For 10 years after, consulting in the space of decision making
•In 2012, leaving poker and fully focusing on consulting around decision making
•Do decision making skills tie into personality and genetics?
•Understanding how decision making aligns to the big 5 personality traits
•Open mindedness is very important to decision making – it can be developed.
•Decision Making is a teachable skill – it is not thought enough
•Decision Making in an absolute sense v a relative sense – this is a key question!
•Poker is always relative to the people you’re making decisions against
•Being very good at poker from the very start but this is due to the relative level of skills of the opponents
•Her brother was a world class player so getting coaching from him was impactful
•How her own decision-making rules and approaches started to form and develop
•Only after the 2002 talk, did Anne start to see the transferability of decision-making in poker can be used in business, life and other environments
•Poker started to expose cognitive biases – it exposed the cracks in our decision making
•Poker showed her how to become a better learner not just at the table but in life
•Talking about Risk and emotional control – the greater emotional state you’re in the greater the risk you could be willing to take on!
•Main biases:
1.The paradox of experience – in order to become better decision makers, we have to make decisions. The paradox is that
2.Resulting Bias – example…
What is your best decision in the last year?
What is your worst decision of the last year?
There is luck in how things turn out
3.There is a lose connection in the quality of the decision that worked out well and the one that didn’t
4.The Hindsight Bias Problem
I should have somehow known….
5.Memory Creep – we start to believe we did know it beforehand!
6.When we have an experience in our life, we tend to take bad lessons from it…
7.EG – Clinton strategy during the 2016 election – after the fact everyone said that her strategy was wrong and that everyone knew it at the time! But the fact was they didn’t……
•In real time, what should someone look out for to make a good decision?
1.Counterfactual Thinking – look at different outcomes that could have occurred – was it really likely that this bad thing occurred? The more we look at this in advance
2.What are the different ways it could turn out?
3.What are my preferences?
4.How likely are these things occur?
5.What is the upside and downslide of this happening?
6.Get other people’s perspectives on it – this is key!! Very often people see things more clearly than you!!
7.Get outside of your own mind – eg get data on the success of this type of decision – eg how many restaurants survive after 1,2, 5 years
•Get out of the inside view and into the outside view
•What role does luck play in decision making?
•If you’re a good decision maker, you’re increasing the chance and influence of luck
•You have to embrace and lean into luck to become more lucky
•Lean in and accept that luck exists. This is what’s it’s all about.
•Give luck a hug is great advice!
•The good luck that came Annie’s way after publishing her book – she can control this and that lead to luck!
•Not making a decision is making a decision
•Omission v Commission Bias – e.g. staying in an existing job or moving to a new role
•The value of positive thinking v negative thinking
•Naturally thinking in probabilities
•Key advice on how to make decisions faster and better
1.Make Better Decisions:
Being open minded and get more inputs on it
More information and improve the information you have – most of this in other people’s head!
If you want to know what people think, don’t tell them what you think first!!!
2.Faster – focus on impact and options:
What are the impacts of this decision – is it high or low?
Knowing the potential impact can lead to freeing you up to make the decision faster
EG – making a decision at a restaurant – knowing how much this decision had on their happiness….
The happiness test – what is the long term impact?
So think about the impact!!
For the options, if you can’t unwind this, then the decision might be more important
EG – Agile software – is there a two way or a one way door on this decision
•Do you use decision making in other areas of gambling?
•The metaskill is needed here….every decision you make is a bet!
•Annie asks you to check out the Alliance for Decision Education - https://www.alliancefordecisioneducation.org/
Check out more about Annie and go buy her new book: https://www.annieduke.com/books/
Website - https://www.annieduke.com/
Twitter @AnnieDuke
Enjoy this one with Niamh. A really great summary.
Remember, at #TNBC, you don't have to have read the book beforehand!
Register here for the next one - https://buff.ly/2XM6lTB
Tuesday Night Book Club with Sarah Healy is out now. Enjoy!
Remember, at #TNBC, you don't have to have read the book beforehand!
Register here for the next one - https://buff.ly/2XM6lTB
Join the offline convo on #Slack - https://buff.ly/2UknCSe
TNBC #Creativity #Community #Coaching #Learing #BookClub
Tuesday Night Book Club is @larrygmaguire sharing some personal learnings from the 'creativity'
Remember, at #TNBK, you don't have to have read the book beforehand!
Register here for the next one - https://buff.ly/2XM6lTB
Join the offline convo on #Slack - https://buff.ly/2UknCSe
TNBK #Creativity #Community #Coaching #Learing #BookClu
Sign up for the TNBK through EventBrite. We meet every second Tuesday. Next one is 1st Sept.
Get your virtual ticket here - https://buff.ly/2XM6lTB
Join the offline convo on #Slack - https://buff.ly/2UknCSe
I recently read the book ‘The Inner Game of Tennis’ by Tim Gallwey. It had been on my list for a while. It wasn’t just to improve my tennis game, it was to see what the principles were about. To understand what nuggets were in this book that’s been around for 30+ years yet still holds true. I wasn’t disappointed.
Around the time of reading it, and posting some insights from it, Jeffrey Lipsius connected in. He’s been using the approaches from the book not just for improving his Tennis game but to become a better sales person. He’s been so successful with this that he’s wrote a book about it, and set up his own program to teach others how to be an Inner game Sales expert. He’s been working with Tim on this over the last few years and it continues to gain momentum.
In this episode, we cover a lot. Here is a summary of the points discussed. Listen to the full show for more details.
•Who is Jeffery Lipsius
•Career journey – started this journey as a tennis player in college
•How the Inner Game of Tennis became a focus for Jeff
•Deep Dive into the key concepts from the book including:
oSelf 1 v Self 2
oConscious and Unconscious self
oNatural Learning
oNon-judgement
oLetting go v trying hard
oSelf-fulfilling prophecies
oSelf-talk and judgement
•Story of Jack in the book – Natural Learning….just observing what they were doing wrong…visualizing it and direct experience of it – feeling different so it must be new – if it didn’t it was the same!
•The Inner game are:
•Trust Thyself…
•How to communicate with Self 2
1.Ask for Results
2.Asking for Form
3.Asking for Qualities
•Trusting Self 2 – How to?
•Focusing on the seams of the ball to enhance the observation and focus
•Techniques & Habits
oThe Groove Theory of Habits
•The usual way of learning v the inner game way
•Mindfulness without ever saying it
•Applying this to Sales?
oWalking back through
oPreparing for the sales pitch/event/call
oGut feeling?
oNot over trying
•Applying it to anything
•Tools – visualization (never called it)
•Childlike approach
ohow do you get this
oWhen pressure is involved
•What is Self 1 saying when selling?
•Sales and Competition – Targets are key!
•Applying this to Sales
oConversation 1 = self 1 – how a sales person goes on with
oConversation 2 = the conversation going on in between the customers ears!
oConversation 2 is the most important one
•Biggest insights came from a sale that Jeff lost – he told the customer something he didn’t want to hear!
•Self 2 doesn’t respond to language
•How do you learn the customers language – through observation and asking questions?
•Tools and approaches to interact with self 2
oSetting the right environment
oA salesperson is the customer’s decision coach!
oCommit to learning and see there are 2 conversations going with a customer
oDoing your research on the individual – LinkedIn, online, etc
oAsk Questions of the client – what is their decision trajectory?
oThe goal of selling is buying – but the customer might have a buying goal?
•If the customer is not self-aware, they can’t know what needs they have – help the customer become more self-aware
•How do you work with a customer to become more self-aware?
oAsk more questions! These are the best tools salespeople have!
•The Coach doesn’t need control – you are asking questions to give the customer this control!
•The two sides of Trust – Outer and Inner trust
oOuter trust – customer trusting the salesperson
oInner trust – salesperson trusting themselves
oInner trust comes first!!!
•The Sales Person needs to have self-trust
•The downsides of being a pushy salesperson
•Positive Thinking & Positive Psychology?
•Question from LinkedIn – Future of Coaching?
•Jeffrey’s book is a story and a narrative
oLink to the book
•How to develop self-awareness – practice mindfulness and meditation
•Meditation helps require less approval from personal values
•Focus, attachment, letting go are covered in The Inner Game but not explicitly called out.
•How quickly have salespeople improved from taking the course – typically after one month this happen – feedback is important and getting support is key
•The formulae for performance which P = P – I
oPerformance = Potential – Interference
•Thoughts on the future of coaching
•Connect in with Jeff
owww.theinnergame.com – the inner game of selling
oJeffery.Lipsius@gmail.com
•Selling to the Point is on Amazon HERE
Tuesday Night Book Club #5 - Nine Lies About Work - Maura O'Toole
I hope you enjoy the listen to this live recording.
A slide deck from the session is also now available on our slack channel.
If you’d like to join the club, you can register for the next one taking place on the 4th August at 8pm on this link:
Register for it here – https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/tuesday-night-book-club-with-rob-dec-tickets-107330915658?ref=estw
Or join our slack group and channel. It's great fun!
Best,
Rob & Dec
Full show notes - check out the episode page on www.robofthegreen.ie or get in touch - rob@robofthegreen.ie
Tuesday Night Book Club #4 - Atomic Habits - Author - James Clear - Summary by Susan Manning
I hope you enjoy the listen to this live recording.
If you’d like to join the club, you can register for the next one taking place on the 21st July at 8pm on this link:
Register for it here – https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/tuesday-night-book-club-with-rob-dec-tickets-107330915658?ref=estw
Or join our slack group and channel. It's great fun!
Best,
Rob & Dec
Hi there,
This was one I recorded in late February but only getting around to release now.
It's an excellent panel discussion with the 3 authors.
The notes below are lengthy but cover off the main points. Enjoy!
Key takeaways from the interview:
•Knowing what you’re for and what you’re against
•Building High Trust Relations and focusing on Trust is so useful right now – for teams that don’t have this it’s showing up so much!
•Key Question – where does this passion come for wanting to help people?
oHard wired in this way and being naturally a helper
oHaving empathy intrinsic to her and embedded in her DNA
oWhen you find this overlap between meant to, love to, and make a living at
oHaving exposure to supporting and managing people from an early part of her career and developing a real interest in this – wanting to do the right thing for people
•Self-Awareness is at the core of everything as a leader and a human!
•We never get there….but we need to keep trying!
•Others view of you matches how you perceive yourself
•Self-awareness and how to build it within Teams…
•How Leaders can develop their own self-awareness and in others?
•The Spinach Analogy!!!
•We need to be able to give others insights that they are not self-awareness
•How do you approach a leader that think they are self-aware when they are not?
•Creating Curiosity as the key for the leader to be more self-aware!
•Tool – Look in the mirror – reflecting a different image of what you have!
•Using Data to bridge the gap of self-awareness – 360 Data or interviews with a Leader
•Data driven feedback is invaluable for developing the self-awareness of the team
•Tool – Team Assessment to find out trust about the leader and the individuals
Q – The idea for the Loyalist Team – where this idea came from?
•Based on a passionate believe that everyone deserves a great team
•Developed an approach that can be assible and felt that writing a book would extend this reach!
•Identified 4 different team types and lots of examples of each
•How they developed the model itself to give people a common language around the team types they were experiencing
•Team work, Candor, Accountability and Results as some of the stand out traits
•Testing hundreds and hundreds of teams and validated that there was the 4 team types that existed
•The emergence of the idea – a lot had been written leadership but not as much on teams
•What makes a good leader in a suboptimal team?
•The way people show up on a team impacts how other people perform?
•Observing teams and then developing teams
•The importance of data in team analysis moving the team from Saboteur to Loyalist
oFound % variance attributed to team leaders – 15%
oIf you’re enable to fully engage the full team – 70%
•Key point – get the whole team engaged
•Where does gut and feeling come into moving the team to Loyalist
•Exercise – Imagine the best team they were ever on?
oAttributes
oWhat was in there
oIdentify the key characteristics
oBuild out this list, this really reflects what YOU would want in a loyalist team
oWhat made it your best team?
oThere could be sadness in this…as they could go back a long time…
•Key Point - Teams are only as strong as the weakest link between any 2 people on the team – every single relationship matters and has to be strong
oThe leader has to see what is happening with the team
oAre they supporting, or competing with each other?
•The toughest part of leadership is to be able address these challenges between team members
•How does the Leader breakthrough this?
•Exercise – set up the safe environment & assuming positive intent
oCome up with agreements and team norms so the team can measure themselves against
oHave the team responsible for these and everyone has buy-in
oThis leads to self-management
•This is a key area for self-awareness comes in
•Leaders operating from the hub and spoke perspective – it’s not creating points of interconnection with the team
•Have the leader step back from being the hub – the whole team needs to engage
•Almost no one has this clear definition of the High Performing Teams – they have years of experience working on mediocre teams….you need the team to get very clear on what they expect from each other. Not from what they’re bringing from previous failed teams
•Teams need to be clear on what we WILL do instead on SHOULD to
•
•Self-awareness & Teams
•And one areas was with relationships & teams…and how Self-Awareness was key..
•There are lots of compelling reasons to build a better team. Great teams deliver stronger results, faster. They’re more innovative. They challenge you to learn more quickly and to be at your best. And, let’s face it — they’re simply more fun to work with.
•Self-Awareness is lacking was the key piece
•To build greater self-awareness, work to create a team of Loyalists around you, people who trust you, support you, and challenge you to be your best. Surround yourself with people who will speak their truth, even when it’s hard. And then listen. When you do, you will see an amazingly positive impact — on you, on them, and on the overall success of your team.
•How you can measure the team’s progress & how regularly?
•Tool – the 4 teams zone assessment – both reliable and valid
oUsed on over 800 teams – strong academic base assessment
oEvery team engagement is assessed and gives them a baseline (trispectivegroup.com)
oIdentify what are the 2-3 clear opportunities
oThis leads to creation of a team development plan
oCreate pulse points from that and do a retest 6 months later and see where things are at then – a very objective test
oEstablish which zone the team stands and then work towards to the next phase
oOver 6 months it’s possible to move from Saboteur to Situation/Loyalist
•How can teams stay High Performing once they get there?
oChanges to teams can impact the level they are
oConsistent conversations is needed
oOngoing partnerships are needed and leaders need to continue the conversation when the coaches are not there
•Motto/Manta - Never rest on the laurels and never fully satisfied attitude is key!
•Never take the view that they’ve made it…and that’s it…
•Ongoing development, ongoing self-analysis and setting new goals
•Example – highest performing team never spoke bad about each other – had to be fully honest with each other at the top and this had a huge impact all the way down!
•A small tweak at the top of the pyramid had a huge impact all the way down the organization
•Live roundtable feedback during team meetings and at leadership meetings – CEO would come in for feedback
•COVID19 and How teams work – what are you seeing?
•How can leaders enable / empower their teams to work?
oFocus on Trust and the Relationship
oTaking Time to check in with people
oEnsure you’re getting truth on the table
oAssume positive intent is key!
oStart with Compassion as a Leader…this is key!!
oTeam members are feeling anxious about missing out
oSimple ideas – quizzes, coaching techniques…
oAssume stress
oDon’t forget about personal lives
oReview your Operating Norms??? – are they still valid?
oIf you don’t have them…maybe start now!
oUnexpressed expectations that are violated are dangerous….make them clear!
•Living their own principles and being a loyalist team and it’s an ongoing journey
•3 key points that make them a loyalist team
oFinancial model – split 3 ways equally from the start
oHave each other’s back 100%
oHonest Feedback with Positive Intent!
Connect in with the team:
•Buy the book on Amazon.com
•Trispectivegroup.com
1% Better with Sean Swarner
Sean Swarner is a philanthropist, an author, and keynote speaker.He is a two-time terminal-cancer survivor who has dedicated his life to helping others reach their full potential
He was voted One of the Top 8 Most Inspirational People of All Time
Check out more on his sites:
www.seanswarner.com | www.cancerclimber.org
Enjoy this one.
Best,
Rob
Tuesday Night Book Club #3 – The New New Thing - Author Michael Lewis - Summary by John O'Sullivan
I hope you enjoy the listen to this live recording.
If you’d like to join the club, you can register for the next one taking place on the 7th Julyat 8pm on this link:
Register for it here – https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/tuesday-night-book-club-with-rob-dec-tickets-107330915658?ref=estw
Hi again & welcome to the series on Emotional Intelligence.
In this one on Self-Esteem, I cover:
0 to 1:30m - Introduction to what is self-esteem, Inner critic, imposter syndrome
1:30 -3:15 - The history of Self-esteem & where the movement began with Nathaniel Branden & Rosenberg
3:20 – 5:15 - What is Self-Esteem & the Self-Esteem scale – made up of Self-Efficacy and self-respect – tied to self-worth!
5:15 – 14:15 - Self-Esteem Theories, Maslow Hierarchy of Needs & the Inner Voice
14:15 – 17:00 - Where does self-esteem come from?
17:00 – 19:00 - Why is Self-Esteem important?
19:00 – 20:30 - What is the difference between Self-Esteem and Self-Confidence?
20:30 – 24:15 - Theories on Self-Esteem
24:15 – 27:00 - Examples of Low & High Self-Esteem
27:00 – 33:30 - 7 Benefits of Self-Esteem
33:30 – 39:00 - Self-Esteem and the Pathological Critic
39:00 – 56:00 How to develop and overcome low Self-Esteem
56:10 – End - How to measure Self-Esteem
Books & references mentioned:
Emotional Intelligence – by Daniel Goleman
The Self-Esteem Movement
A Free PDF of the Rosenberg’s Self-Esteem Scale is available here.
A Proven Program of Cognitive Techniques for Assessing, Improving, and Maintaining Your Self-Esteem
An Episode & Blog post that I put together about Self-confidence last year
Benefits - https://www.liveyourtruestory.com/11-benefits-of-high-self-esteem-confidence/
Why important - http://www.alwaysgreater.com/achievements/what-is-self-esteem-why-is-self-esteem-important
Measuring Self-Esteem - https://positivepsychology.com/rosenberg-self-esteem-scale-questionnaires/
7 steps to your core values
Podcast - https://robofthegreen.ie/episodes/corevalues-onepercentbetter-ep091/
Blog - https://robofthegreen.ie/2018/12/24/7stepstocorevalues/
If you’re interested in more details on what was covered in this episode, would like to explore your own Emotional Intelligence deeper, I’d be happy to discuss this further and look at coaching opportunities.
Please do get in touch via email at Rob@robofthegreen.ie or connect in over any of the social channels - @robofthegreen
Karim Nurani is an entrepreneur, investor, and chief strategy officer of Linqto, a leading platform providing liquidity in the private sector. He has 30 years of experience in new business development with a focus on strategy and business transformation.
As a visionary who can assess business models from the perspectives of both an executive and investor, Nurani is responsible for the formation and success of over a hundred startups ranging from mining to process manufacturing.
As a partner at Keiretsu Connect, and throughout his time with Bay Angels, Sandalwood Ventures and other entities, he has guided investors and new venture leaders to the launch and development of markets as diverse as IoT, GreenTech, CannaTech, AR and VR and more.
This was the first time in 1% Better history that we dived deep into Investing and I learned a lot. Karim is a great storyteller and has had a fascinating career journey so far. I hope you enjoy this one. Here is a high-level summary of what we covered in the episode:
•How Karim became an investor
•Being an investor is a double-edged sword and takes a long time to get there!
•Coming from Kenya and a background of struggle
•Growing up in a struggle – does this lead him to be an entrepreneurial?
•Having a great excitement coming from within from an early age
•Entrepreneurial – Born or Built?
•You have to go through the process to become a good one!
•Essential to build the skillset behind the Entrepreneurial spirit
•The Entrepreneurial spirit is always burning…it never ends!
•The discipline is to finish what you started and also when to call it off!
•Education in Kenya and then moving to Vancouver for University days
•Always wanting to travel but needing to be able to fund it!
•His first entrepreneurial experience selling Indian shirts in Vancouver – taking many lessons from this which was a great learning experience
oResearch is important
oPay attention to details
oBe ready to execute
•Internalizing these lessons from early days
oHaving a great memory of details from businesses
•Studying Economics and international trade and & Finance in Vancouver
•Gave him a real understanding of money and trading – very practical
•Advice – if you’re going to build a business you have to have an academic behind it!
•Trying a variety of jobs post college to get experience
•Where did the investing angle come from?
•Taking a role with an actual gold mine in Tanzania but not getting paid
•Getting the promise of gold
•Running the gold mine for 2 years
•What it means to be an investor?
•Sweat Equity – this was the start!
•Success is like a drug – you have to be able to measure it!
•Walking away from the experience of 2 years
•Success is….the ability to walk away from something and take away the lessons learned – from the Gold Mine Experience there was many!
oIt’s not always about dollars
•Next up - starting a Tex-Mexican restaurant in Kenya – made money from this
•A second restaurant – a wraps and smoothie bar…lost his shirt on this
•The relationship with fear? When young and unattached, there is no fear. Later in life, it sets in!
•From 2000 on, moved to the US and was a ‘working guy’ to meet the bills!
•Choosing the vertical to sell in Early Stage Start-up Businesses
•Karim understood how these worked from his experience
•This opened up many doors for Karim and introduced him to many investors and started to understand the psychology of the investors
•How are Entrepreneurs and Investors different?
•This depends on who’s money you’re investing and why?
•The psychology is different at every stage
•The 2 types of Investors
oAngel investor – you’re investing your own money – sometimes this is not rational
oInstitutional Investors – typical VC’s – other people’s money
•How can anyone become an investor? Different countries have different rules
oStart with Sweat Equity as an initial step into the world of investing
oPlaying a role for free and getting equity
oWilling to give time for equity
oDo some time and some cash investment – this is an option too
oKarim did both
•How does one find a company to offer sweat equity?
oSometimes this is done through connections
oAngelList is a site that can do this too
•San Francisco is a hot bed for start-ups and just walking into a bar/restaurant and find likeminded people to do this
•Finding Co-working spaces are great opportunities to find potential start-ups and investors
•Investing today – Pandemic times
oInvestment opportunities during a Pandemic?
oWhat’s different?
oWhat do you look at now compared to 3 months ago?
oHow do you see investing change in the coming months?
oRelationships at the core?
oWhat advice do you give to investors and/or start-ups?
oAreas that are full of opportunity now and into the coming months?
oHow has Karmin’s view changed over the last few weeks due to COVID19?
oBehaviours are going to change due to COVID19
oThis will completely define the future
oThis is having a huge impact on investors and their wealth
oThe only companies that survive are ones that have already a digital environment
oCompanies that haven’t done this are going to struggle
•Today survival is key!
•The importance of digital transformation will be key and has been key for the last few years
•There is no time now to think through this – it’s about taking action at rapid pace now
•In times of stress like now, teams will break down, so it’s vitally important to understand how the team will survive under the pressure
•COVID will pass but the team pressure will remain
•How does Culture come into it?
oTwo different aspects
1) Internal culture
2) Culture of the environment that you tend to be in – what is the culture of the investor?
Eg – how different this is between the US, Europe, and Australia
•The Virtual Investor Conferences and how these work
•What role / position stood out for Karim the most in his career so far?
Check out the links
•keiretsuconnect.com
•https://www.keiretsuconnect.com/calendar
•Karim Nurani on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/karimnurani/
We hope you enjoy the first of many Tuesday Night Book Club Episodes.
Starting the series off with 'The Power of Moments' from Chip and Dan Heath.
Join the TNBK slack channel here - Slack group - https://join.slack.com/t/robofthegreen/shared_invite/zt-8ofg7r9d-xTpoTVd~Rfce7gCUWU8bag
In this episode, I welcome back Josh Quigley to the show.
Our first chat was in Feb/March 2018. Now, two years on, I wanted to check back in with you to see what’s been going on since. As you will hear, it’s been an eventful 2 years.
We cover a lot. Here’s a summary:
•A quick recap on Josh’s background.
•Successful Young Employee,
•Suicide Attempt – 2015 - survived
•Video went viral…talking about it…5 years ago – Just on that – talking about mental health…a a lot of progress since!
•A Turning Point for you…
•Life since early 2018?
oCycling
oTravel
oDecisions to go, stay, write, and more..
oGoals of Health and Happiness of yourself and others
•Helping to inspire others…
•Detaching more from tech
•Spending a lot of 2018 up and down and trying to find his path
•On the 14th of April 2019, starting out on his 7th attempt to cycle around the world
•This time I never looked back and cycled 14,500 miles crossing the entire length of Europe, Asia, and Australia
•Achievements
•Learnings for you…
•Setbacks
oAustralia
oBike stole in London
•Breakthroughs
•Each time – learning from them?
•Disaster in Josh’s words:
oWith just 3,500 miles to go I was cycling across America when I was hit by a car.
o21st December 2019 – an angel on your shoulder!
o16k complete…
oKnocked. Off the bike,
oHit in Texas late in the evening
oThe list of injuries…
oLuckiest guy in the world!!
oBanned from flying
oAnother Turning Point?
oMore determined than before..
oResilience – what is it that drives you to go keep going
oMindset now…
oDepression?
oMentally – impact – resilience…get back up again
Now – May 2020:
•Recovery
•Training
•Goal setting – how has this changed
•Mindset
•Lessons learned
•Planning to complete the trip?
•Future plans
oProfessional cycling
oHow do your levels compare?
oWhat time would it take to get to this level?
Hi again & welcome to the series on Emotional Intelligence.
In this one on Self-Confidence, I cover:
•0 – 8:10 – The Introduction and definitions on Self-confidence, Self-Efficacy and Self-Esteem
•8:10sec – Self-Confidence & Confidence – Same or different and inward v outward
•11:15 – The role of Self-Confidence in Emotional Intelligence - Am I taking a strong position?
•18:20 – The importance of Self-Confidence, Benefits & links to Happiness
•23:30 – People lacking Self-Confidence leave clues & low self-confidence
•28:30 - People with High Self-Confidence & taking on a positive view
•31:30 – 9 Approaches on How To Develop Greater Self-Confidence
Books mentioned:
•Emotional Intelligence – by Daniel Goleman
Links to follow:
•An Episode & Blog post that I put together about Self-confidence last year
•Podcast - https://robofthegreen.ie/episodes/confidenceuncovered-ep112/
•Blog - https://robofthegreen.ie/2019/05/27/confidence-uncovered/
•Overall Self-Confidence Deep Dive - https://positivepsychology.com/self-confidence/
•Self-Efficacy - self-efficacy
•Practice Perseverance -- http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/psp/84/4/822/
If you’re interested in more details on what was covered in this episode, would like to explore your own Emotional Intelligence deeper, I’d be happy to discuss this further and look at coaching opportunities.
Please do get in touch via email at Rob@robofthegreen.ie or connect in over any of the social channels - @robofthegreen
This was the first live in a while and the first where we had a decent audience over zoom.
Thanks to all that attended.
A brief outline of what we covered below. Enjoy the interview.
What was the most recent thing you’ve learned that has been useful?
What was your earliest memory?
What did / do you want to be when you GROW UP?
Growing up, who was your biggest influence?
Up to the age of say 18 – is there a standout moment / choice / decision you made – that worked out or regret? What is it?
PhD – Higher Ed – Was that a big decision?
Innovation:
Alexander Osterwalder’s myths of Innovation
Learned skill v born innovative
Tools that can be used in this area?
You and COVID19 – as an innovator, thinker, lecturer,
How has this challenged your thinking
How do you avoid common biases?
What has changed for you?
Mindset
Habits / Practices?
What’s not?
General Wrap up:
What is your superpower?
Kryptonite
Questions from audience
Connect with Paidi on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/paidioreilly/
This one is definitely for the times we’re in where so many people are now back on the job marketing looking for work. It many cases, they have not had to ‘do up’ their CV/resume in a long time or have had to prepare for an interview either.
So, I thought it would be very worthwhile to have Lorraine Shine, Founder and CEO Career and Interview Success, to come on to the show and walk you through the entire process from start to finish.
Lorraine provides complete career management support from A-Z ranging from Career Direction/ Career Transition Coaching to the practicalities of CV updating and tailoring, Job Search Strategies and Interview skills.
While we tried to cover as much as we could in the time allotted, I’m sure you’ll still have some questions I didn’t ask. No worries. Lorraine’s details are at the end of the notes and how to connect in with her. We could also do a live Q&A follow up if that’s something of interest. Do get in touch.
Outlined below is the main sections and topics covered during the interview with Lorraine. I hope you find it useful and actionable.
About Lorraine & her coaching journey
•A bit about how you got into the field you’re now into?
•Your own journey to become an expert in this area
•A deep dive into the Self & Self-awareness
•Taking control of your own career and where you wanted to take it?
•Always focused on People
•Takeaways and learning from the coaching journey
•How Emotional Intelligence played an important part in her career
•Making the decision to go out on her own and set up her business
Key Point #1 – Get into the right physical & mental sides right
oThe importance of looking after yourself as you step into the job search process
oFocus on what is within your control – physically and mentally
oEnsure exercise is a daily priority
oMake sleep a key focus – even if you don’t have to commute or travel as much
oBuilding a routine is crucial
oBuild out a social media plan so you’re not being overwhelmed with too much information
oSetting yourself NOVID days
oMute WhatsApp Groups
oDelete Apps from your phones
oUse the Screen time reports
oSet competitions or gamify how little you spend on your social media tools
Key Point #2 – How to apply for positions and roles
•Make a simple plan for you
•Pick top 3 things – a level, industry, and website (where to go)
•Look at job websites that are relevant
•Set up email job alerts so you get updates daily based on these preferences
•Let your friends and family know you’re looking and specifying what you would consider in a role – they will be listening posts for you in your search
•Be specific in the information you share so they don’t make assumptions
•What are the best sites to look at?
oLinkedIn is the best – use this
•Don’t forget to tap into your network – ex-clients and colleagues
•Work on creating your daily of good connections / potential future colleagues
Key Point #3 – Getting the CV / Resume into good shape
•The CV hasn’t changed a lot over the last 18 years
•Job seekers are much more savvy in how they tailor their CV for a role and make them less generic
•It’s very easy to spot a generic CV – avoid this at all costs
•Look at the job spec and go through it with a close eye
•Spend time thinking about what the hiring manage might look for?
•Put yourself in their shoes!!!
•Only 20-30% stand out in general
•What is the recommended length of a CV? – depend on experience & role?
•What do employers regard as an impressive or stand out CV?
•What are the tactics to get your CV noticed?
•Cover letter? Or Cover Video?
•How to stand out?
•Cover letter that has graphics on it – showing skill levels in specific areas, etc
•Get someone else to do it for you?
•Consistent in font, size, structure – keep it simple, same font size, etc.
•Font size 10 is typical and only bold key responsibilities
•The recommended length of a CV – 2 pages or 4+ pages?
•This can depend on the amount of experience and you want to show case your experience
•How long should you wait for a response from an employer or agency?
o1 weeks for an agency
o2 weeks for an employer
•Try to keep in the positive mind frame even though you haven’t heard back!
•When following up, watch your tone, be very softly softly and just ensure you’re keeping communication lines open – ask a question if more information needed?
Key point #4 – Preparing for the interview – practice, questions, research!!
•Get as much information about the interview format as possible
•Review the job spec again and start to prepare questions you could get asked and create answers around this.
•Preparation – research on the company – what would you pick out? Not just spit back facts and figures…
•Know if it will be a behaviours or competency based interview?
•Use of the STAR method would be useful to prepare for
•Create scenarios
•Do mock interviews
•Get comfortable in the format of interview that will be held
•Don’t be afraid to ask for details of the format
•Be clear on examples that you have from previous experience
•Thinking through the experience you have and be clear on what the value was from it
•The ‘Tell me about yourself’ Interview Question? – it’s asked so much but so many struggles with it!
•Finding the balance on when to keep answers short and concise v longer and deeper responses
•Practice practice practice and create the environment if possible – do a mock interview with a coach
•Record the answers and listen back – this can be very powerful
•Asked about your biggest weakness? How to answer this…
•BE GENUINE and AUTHENTIC AT ALL TIMES
•What is the best way to approach competency/ behavioural type interview questions?
•What do candidates tend to fall down on at interviews?
•What skills and behaviours are highest priority for employers at the moment?
Key point #5 – closing remarks
•Don’t over relax at the end of the interview
•What questions you can ask depends on many factors
•Questions to ask in an interview?
•What works?
•In the interview – dealing with nerves / saying too much / too little?
•HAVE Questions prepared for your Interviewer – THIS IS KEY!
oA great opportunity to show your motivation and interest!
•Practice actively listening during the interview so you can ask useful questions
•Make it real time from the interview
•Researching on the interviewer before hand – knowing more about their background
•Researching on the company and how to answer questions on this?
Key point #6 – Interviews over Video conference?
•Interviewing from Home?
•A lot of companies are conducting interviews over phone and video conference at the moment. What’s the best way to prepare for these?
•Some people are comfortable already
•If not, prepare like you would for any other interview
•Ask for details of what is expected
•Practice over Zoom or Skype with a family member or Friend
•Ensure you have all the software installed and that they work
•Get more familiar with it beforehand – how you look and sound!
•Get clarity on the interview attire
•Have a backup way of connecting in – phone number, landline, etc
Key point #7 - After the interview:
•When do you follow up?
•Take time to make your own notes from the interview and make notes of questions, what you said, what you didn’t, how could it have gone better?
•Asking about the process
•How long do you leave it before checking?
•Connecting in on LinkedIn – yes/no?
•Send an email to the interviewer? Make sure it’s genuine?
Key takeaways
•Planning is crucial all the way through the process
•Put yourself in their shoes
•Look at different perspective
•Would I hire me?
•What key words and statements would stand out?
•What attitudes and behaviours should I show off!
•As a job seeker – do just one task each day – don’t get it all done at once!!!
•Keep a log of all the roles you’ve applied for, when, etc.
•Be very Planful!
Connect in with Lorraine
E-mail: lorraine@careerandinterviewsuccess.ie
Website: www.careerandinterviewsuccess.ie
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lorraineshine/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/careerandinterviewsuccess
Twitter: @LorraineShine78
Tasha Eurich, Ph.D., is an Organisational Psychologist, researcher, and New York Times bestseller. She’s the author of two awesome books (Bankable Leadership and Insights) and her TED talks have been viewed in the tens of millions of times.
So, I was thrilled when she agreed to be a guest on the show. It was without a doubt one of my favorite conversations I’ve had in this entire podcasting learning journey so far. The timing was perfect too as it aligns up excellently with the Me, mySELF, & EI series as we continue to deep dive into the area of Self-Awareness.
The interview is absolutely packed with insights Tasha has discovered from her own career journey as well as from the research she’s done for her books and from her consulting and executive coaching practice that she’s been running for the last decade.
I could have written a small book from the notes I took during the edit of this one but here are some of the key points & takeaways:
•Earliest Memory from the age of 6 with her mother following her around and seeing how much of a positive impact business and leaders can make on the people's lives…
•Having a very clear moment of discovering her life purpose – thinking of business psychology – moved to NY and took a small summer school course – the heavens opened up – knew straight away this was it!
•The role of luck in success, with Hard work & paying attention!!
•The power of paying attention
•First book – Bankable Leadership from 2013 – codify what she learned about leadership!
•Key learning - finding the tension between making people happy v driving results – most leaders had a preference
oA cool parent leader
oA trail of dead bodies leader
oDoing dozens of research to see best leaders are good at both
•3 steps to becoming a better leader?
1.Knowing one's self
2.Picking one thing
3.Practicing every day!!
•First Ted talk focused on this and the self-awareness piece emerged
•The rise of Self-Awareness and why it’s become so important
1.Know thyself has been there forever – philosophy
2.Really on started in the last half of 1900 – but not good research is done on it
•Business leaders started to look at self-awareness more in the last decade to deal with the speed of change
•Leaders can’t rely on what got them where they are today
•Why Tasha believes Self-Awareness is the Meta skill of the 21st Leader….
•The deep focus on data and research
•Ted Talk on Self-Awareness….
1.What
2.Why
3.How to get more of it!
•2 Types of people – those who think they are v actually are?
•The most surprising finding – survey 300 people…T=the more people reflect, the more self-aware they’d be?
1.In truth, it showed the exact opposite – less self-aware?
•Question – is self-awareness actually good?
•Introspection is not bad, it’s the HOW it’s done is the issue
•95% of people believe they are self-aware, 10% are!
•How can people start doing things differently?
•Finding 50 people that didn’t start out as self-aware but improved self-awareness – what did they do?
1.The Paradox that arose – feeling confident but also knowing more they could learn!
2.Paradox – Confidence and Curiosity!
•Self-compassionate curiosity – like exploring space…. there is always more to know
•Key lesson – a braver but wiser mindset
•Be open to recalibrating the mindset!
•Don’t put pressure on yourself from 0 to 60 overnight
•Everyday Insights to improve Self-Awareness is the key
•What patterns were uncovered with the 50 people that were more self-aware?
1.None based on demographics
2.A belief in seeing themselves clearly
3.A commitment to improving themselves daily
•Data showed – people who introspected were more stress and less happy / less control
•The more you introspect, the greater the negative results.
•When coaching a CEO – talk to 30 people that they are connected to – this is important to be all-rounded and learning about this person
•Leaders now more than ever need to bring their whole self to the role
•Example of a senior leader with family pictures visible
•How to deal with the discomfort of bringing in the whole self…
•The initial reaction of learning the truth doesn’t predict how successful we will be
•The short fire walk leading to the puppies and rainbows
•It’s all about making the small changes on a daily basis
Key Tools:
1.Have an internal understanding of who they are – internal self-awareness / Inside out…
a.Thinking about yourself too deeply can lead us astray
b.Practice – a daily check-ins
Ask yourself 3 questions?
•What went well today?
•What did not go so well?
•How can I be smarter tomorrow?
2.Self-awareness external / outside in
Tool - The Dinner of Truth
Question – what do I do that is most annoying to you?
•Get the feedback from this and how valuable this can be
•Actionable feedback
•A great experience deepening relationship
•Never as bad as you would expect
•How this works?
•The tool of emotional labour
•Coherence is key
Questions from LinkedIn
•TIME – 39:15
•Moria O’Toole – How can people who are not self-aware but think they are complete a self-assessment accurately
1.Book on Emotional Intelligence – people’s level of EI has improved over last 15 years….these are self-reported scores..
2.Limitations in how we assess ourselves when things are socially desirable
3.We are often not the best judges!
4.Our own evaluations are important as is that of theirs..
5.Living with the paradox is important!
6.LIVE WITH IT!
•TIME 42:45
•JOHARI WINDOW – UNKNOWN TO ME AND OTHERS
1.In the Coronavirus situation
2.When a crisis happens – you can find out what these unknowns are
3.What have you learned and others
Connect in with Tasha
•It’s not about me, it’s about them
•The free quiz – get a high-level view of their own self-awareness
•How Self-Aware are you – www.Insight-quiz.com
•New Book in the works with the working title ‘when bad things happen’
•Advice - Trust the process and see where it ends up
Photo Credit - Elena Seibert
Please do get in touch with me on Rob@robofthegreen.ie if you have any questions or feedback.
Hope you’re enjoying the series so far.
Up to now, we’ve covered a general primer on EI, an interview on SELF, and then 2 Parts on Self-Awareness (with another interview to come soon on this topic).
Now today – it’s all about self-assessment – and finding out what your EQ (score) or in this case the ECR is. It’s very important to get a baseline – where you’re at!!
My Guest is John Broderick, a Founding Director of Roche Martin Ltd.
John Broderick is a consulting psychologist with considerable experience in assessment, training, coaching and teaching in emotional intelligence assessment, leadership development and psychometrics.
He is a qualified trainer in a range of psychometric tools, the Emotional Capital Report (ECR) and ECR360, the MMPI-2, & NEO personality Inventory. Along with his Australian colleague and business partner, Dr Martyn Newman, he has spearheaded training in Emotional Intelligence, leadership and professional coaching in Ireland.
He is a founding Director of Roche Martin Ltd, a leadership development company. John has also worked for several years in third level counselling, research and development.
A registered member of the Psychological Society of Ireland and founder member of the Division of Counselling Psychology, he is also a member of the Coaching Psychology Group in PSI and the Irish branch of the Association For Coaching.
I was delighted to sit with John when he was in Cork in February and talked about his own Emotional Intelligence Journey and deep dived into the area of psychometrics and how these are used in emotional intelligence and assessing clients.
Topics covered:
The use of psychometrics in counselling psychologist in his early career
First discovering emotional intelligence in around 2001
Finding EI making so much sense when understanding it
A lovely complement to personality testing work John was doing
The model John was focused on the Baron EQ-I measurement tool / survey on EI – published in 1997
Looking at the factors, apart from IQ, that is enabling people get on well in life and helping them to be successful
Understanding the value of EI assessments
Benefits of EI assessment tools
The magic of using a measurement tool in a coaching engagement
It’s all about standing back from your own experience and discussing the results
Looking at the different competencies from the Emotional Capital Report
Graphs from Psychometrics help create a conversation
Key areas to focus on:
Having a solid psychometric - ensure the assessment meets rigours testing
Can you as a coach open up areas of conversation using the results – The ECR gives you a language to explore areas
The Language of EQi wasn’t well applied to Leadership – this was the gap that John identified
Paying attention to Emotions in the workplace has a huge benefit leading to success
A new psychology of leadership using Emotional Capital
The ECR was normed on Business People
How the 10 competencies were selected for the ECR Report
What were the key competencies that distinguished (using 145 papers & 6 PhD thesis used) – rationalized from 20 down to 10 skills – these became the basis of the report
How to interpret the scores from an Emotional Capital Report
Dealing with the anxiety from any assessment or test
Key to remove this type of conversation – this is about what you are trying to achieve
Define what you want to achieve first and then look at the competencies
Train coaches to build a conversation with a Coachee before seeing any result
Identify what are the areas of opportunity before looking at the scores/competencies
This is key – work on these first and then look at the report and see if there is a mapping (as it relates to the benchmark to others!!!!)
Eg – self-reliance – what does this look like when working well? –
Is this serving me well or working against me?
High scores can be just as much a deficit as low scores?
Take it back to what I’m trying to achieve….not about getting the high scores in every area!
These are skills that can be developed – paying attention to these and practicing them you will grow!
Eg – Relationships skills….high but don’t back themselves…
This can be challenging – relations
Empathy – being in the other person’s shoes
Improving and measuring Empathy?
Tuning into the emotions and actions of others
Being sensitive, and understanding the other persons experience
Empathy is the glue of relationships
What does low empathy look like? Not tuning in
Empathy and Self-awareness connected
Counselling psychologists are trained to listen
Building rapport, listening, and acknowledge other people
Being Genuinely curious about the other person’s experience
How can we show improved Empathy – measurement
Company engagement scores?
How engaged are employees?
Tracking the Pulse of the employees and customers
The Sky Study with RocheMartin – focusing on empathy
The Billion Dollar mistake – training for IQ!!
Emotional Intelligence underpinned by Trust
Any patterns emerging from ECRs that show skills that are lower than others?
Empathy and Relationships skills tended to be lower
Taking the ECR and when would they take it again?
Key to take the ECR and put the action plan into practice
Changing the brain is the key piece of work to be done!
Encouraging the client to create the plan
Action, Reflection and Action, Reflection
Website – www.rochemartin.com
If you’re interested in more details on what was covered in this episode, would like to explore your own Emotional Intelligence deeper, I’d be happy to discuss this further and look at coaching opportunities.
Please do get in touch via email at Rob@robofthegreen.ie or connect in over any of the social channels - @robofthegreen
Hi again & welcome to the series on Emotional Intelligence.
Hope you’ve enjoyed the intro and the discussion on self with Zelda.
Now that we’ve got Self covered, (go back and listen if you haven’t), I feel more clear on the discussion around awareness as it relates to self & the idea of emotional awareness.
Psychologist Daniel Goleman proposed a popular definition of self-awareness in his best-selling book “Emotional Intelligence,” as “knowing one’s internal states, preference, resources, and intuitions.”
In this episode, I cover the following key areas (with some rough timings).
0 mins to 3mins - Intro
3 mins to 6:40 mins – Extracts from books and articles
6:40 mins to 13 mins – What is Self-Awareness
13 mins to 18:30 mins – Examples of Self-Awareness
18:30 mins to 25 mins – Awareness v Self-Awareness
25 mins to 35:45 mins – Self-Consciousness
Books mentioned:
21 rules for the 21st century – Yuval Noah Harrari
Emotional Intelligence – by Daniel Goleman
If you’re interested in more details on what was covered in this episode, would like to explore your own Emotional Intelligence deeper, I’d be happy to discuss this further and look at coaching opportunities.
Please do get in touch via email at Rob@robofthegreen.ie or connect in over any of the social channels - @robofthegreen
Hi again & welcome to the series on Emotional Intelligence.
0 mins to 7:30 mins – Why it’s important and Benefits
7:30 mins to 12:30 mins – Why it’s so hard to be self-aware?
12:30 mins – 21.30 min – Concepts of interests
20:30 min – 28 min – Self-Awareness Examples
28 mins to 53 min – How to Develop Self-Awareness
53 mins to close – Wrap up
Books mentioned:
Emotional Intelligence – by Daniel Goleman
Tasha Eurich - Insights
Links to follow:
study
confirmation bias
Other Ways to increase Self-awareness – from article https://nickwignall.com/self-awareness/
https://hbr.org/2018/01/what-self-awareness-really-is-and-how-to-cultivate-it
Emotional Capital Report - https://www.rochemartin.com/tools/emotional-capital-report-ecr/
https://coachcampus.com/coach-portfolios/power-tools/corina-pall-self-awareness-vs-self-consciousness/
Kahneman – Self-awareness - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgRlrBl-7Yg
If you’re interested in more details on what was covered in this episode, would like to explore your own Emotional Intelligence deeper, I’d be happy to discuss this further and look at coaching opportunities.
Please do get in touch via email at Rob@robofthegreen.ie or connect in over any of the social channels - @robofthegreen
Hi again & welcome to the series on Emotional Intelligence.
As I was putting together the outline of all the areas of focus for this series, it became obvious that before going into self-awareness, self-confidence and all other aspects of ‘self’, it would be valuable to dive into what is ‘self’ in it’s own right. To have self understood first before going further was my goal with this episode.
Thanks for John McCarthy, head of Applied Psychology at UCC, I was connected with Dr. Zelda Di Blasi, and we recently recorded this one over zoom, all about ‘Self’.
About Dr. Di Blasi
Dr Zelda Di Blasi, MPsychSc, PhD, CPsychol (BPS) is co-director of the MA in Positive & Coaching Psychology. After completing her Masters in Health Psychology at University College Galway, founded by the Medical Research Council, Zelda completed her PhD/DPhil in Health Sciences at the University of York on the placebo effect and health care interactions.
Her interest in Positive Psychology evolved during her Post-Doctorate in Integrative Medicine and Health Psychology, when Zelda worked with Professor Susan Folkman at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF). A that time, she received a Teaching Fellowship from UCSF and San Francisco State University.
In 2006 Zelda took up her appointment as lecturer in the School of Applied Psychology in UCC, and later set up a Masters programme in Positive & Coaching Psychology, which she currently co-directs.
Zelda has diplomas in Contemporary Yoga and Modern Dance, and an Advanced Diploma in Personal, Leadership and Executive Coaching accredited by the ICF and the EMCC. She is a certified Health & Wellness Coach with the Institute of Health Sciences, a HeartMath Coach/Mentor, and a Strengths Provider with CAPP (Centre of Applied Positive Psychology).
--
During this interview we discussed:
Zelda’s background in Psychology and teaching
Doing her PhD on the placebo effect
How she discovered her interest for Psychology at the age of 18 and falling in love with the area
Zelda’s interest and passion for learning including Yoga, Mindfulness and Modern Dance and how this all connects in with the Mind, Body and Spirit
What is ‘the self’ and how does it develop?
Finding the answer to the question ‘who am I?’
How does ‘the self’ influence how we think
When is it formed?
Breaking down the self – what is it made up of?
The mirror test with a baby to show a sense of self has developed
Why we use it so naturally without thought?
Identity v Self – crossovers and comparisons
Self is more at the marco level
History of the self?
William James the first professor of psychology
Schools of Thought on it?
The role of Ego and how it compares to Self?
Value of Self-esteem, compassion and empathy
Emphasis on self-compassion more than self-esteem
The Self and spirituality
Is Self an Illusion? Or is it real?
Ted Talks worth checking out on Self
Christine Neff - The space between self-compassion and self-esteem
Daniel Gilbert – Talk on Happiness – affective forecasting
Biases that exist on self
the illusion of transparency – eg presenting and anxious about this – we are over estimating what others see in us
the spotlight effect – eg you feel like you’re on stage and with a spotlight on you – but the fact is people aren’t looking at you in that way – the cool v nerdy t-shirt example
Affective forecasting – what you think will make you happy or unhappy – turns out we are not very good
Durability bias – how will you feel if you get a promotion at work? How long will this feeling last? Not that long….for some more than others
Just being aware of these biases helps and focusing on the present!
How to get a better sense of self in the world we live in now?
Tools that you can use to better understand Self
The Best Possible Self?
4 days visualizing what this looks like for you
10 mins a day
Do it in a real relaxed space
Connect with the feeling
What comes up and what the image is?
What your dream or ideal self looks like?
Then devise the steps to take to get there!
Visualization tools & Vision boards
Taking one small step at a time
The value of journaling each day helps to learn more about self
6 minute journal
Morning pages (30mins)
The home retreat you have now!
Random acts of kindness
What Zelda is working on now – the Book on Pleasure!
How to Connect in with Zelda – email: diblasi@ucc.ie
If you’re interested in more details on what was covered in this episode, would like to explore your own Emotional Intelligence deeper, I’d be happy to discuss this further and look at coaching opportunities.
Please do get in touch via email at Rob@robofthegreen.ie or connect in over any of the social channels - @robofthegreen
Hi again & welcome to the series on Emotional Intelligence.
In this episode, I cover the following key areas (with some rough timings).
0 mins to 3min Why is EI Important
3 mins to 20 mins – Applied EI & Examples
20 mins to 23:40 – EQ and High Performance
23:40mm – 31:51 – EQ, Ego and Leadership
31 min to 45mins – How to develop EQ samples and Wrap up
Links to pieces references:
Books mentioned:
From the Book Ego v EQ - How Top Leaders Beat 8 Ego Traps with Emotional Intelligence – Jen Shirkani
If you’re interested in more details on what was covered in this episode, would like to explore your own Emotional Intelligence deeper, I’d be happy to discuss this further and look at coaching opportunities.
Please do get in touch via email at Rob@robofthegreen.ie or connect in over any of the social channels - @robofthegreen
Welcome to Me, mySELF, & EI - a podcast series helping you better understand, control & develop your emotions, and the emotions of others!
In this series introduction episode, I cover the following with rough timings:
0m to 11m –Why release a podcast on Emotional Intelligence
11m – 14m – The Story of Phinus Gage
14m to 16:30m – What is EI & EQ?
16:30m to 21:20m – Science of EI
21:20m to 26:31m – EI Frameworks
26:30m to 29:25m – IQ v EQ
Links to pieces references:
5W Public Relations,
Emotional intelligence
Books mentioned:
Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman
From the Book Ego v EQ - How Top Leaders Beat 8 Ego Traps with Emotional Intelligence – Jen Shirkani
If you’re interested in more details on what was covered in this episode, would like to explore your own Emotional Intelligence deeper, I’d be happy to discuss this further and look at coaching opportunities.
Please do get in touch via email at Rob@robofthegreen.ie or connect in over any of the social channels - @robofthegreen
Just a quick promo about the new series on Emotional Intelligence coming out on Friday next.
Darragh Greene is an Irish professional swimmer from Longford. He was the first Irish athlete to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics and will compete in the 100 meter and 200 meter breaststroke at the games.
In this one we cover a lot of ground and I was very keen to get an understanding of the focus, commitment, dedication and sacrifices that Darragh has made to get to the level he’s now at. As he says himself, he’s a late bloomer and if he keeps up the rate at which his improving and continues to shave off milliseconds and keep breaking his PBs, then he’ll be in serious contention next summer when the games come around.
I’ve listed below a summary of our conversation. Enjoy this one, folks.
Summary:
Moving from hard training to stopping due to COVI19
Preparing for the Irish trials but stopped
Pre-validation at world championships
Targeting 8 swimmers for Ireland at this Olympics
Why did Darragh specialise in swimming – after breaking his leg lead him to this
Why Swimming?
How big of an influence your dad was? (tried to get you to play in goals?)
Other influences growing up?
When did you start to see there could be something in it?
What was your approach like then?
Where are you on natural talent v working hard?
Taking other sports as distractions away lead
Influencers growing up coaches like Donal O’Neill
Being a late bloomer in swimming
Ben Higson as another influencer
Going all in
Was there always a high-level of discipline?
Sacrifices were key to start making progress
Once moved to the National Aquatic centre in Dublin made a big difference
Setting goals and achieving them within 10 weeks for the year
Breaking the Irish record
Gaining self-belief and confidence
Setting the goal to be the first Irish man to break 60 seconds
Setting big and mini-goals
Measuring every session with goals
The mental side of sport, tools and approaches used?
Loving the buzz of competition and rising to the occasion in real events v training
Dealing with what comes your way and having to deal with it the best!
Changing techniques, changing fundamentals of the stroke, making tweaks
Using Video Analysis, sports science
Working with Jan Olbrecht & bringing much more science to the training
Testing off lactate levels against times and using algorithms
Dealing with injuries and how to overcome them
Working on core, mobility, and using Yoga and Pilates to help with flexibility
Individual performance v teamwork
Hours spent swimming on an average day
Swimming and working on retaining the mind focused during the swims when they need to swim for 5km
Keeping technique in focus for the long sessions – how does Darragh keep this?
Breaking up the 5km into smaller sections and chunks
Dealing with Nerves and Stress
Preparation & keeping cool
Pre-race rituals and routines
Using Caffeine v other energy drinks
When bursting onto the scene, having a surprise factor and having nothing to lose
Performing better in some pools than others with Rome as Darragh’s favourite venue
Taking part in competitions internationally
Longer term plans – after Tokyo and beyond?
A passion for staying in professional sport after swimming?
The International Swimming League (ISL) and interest for the future
Setting goals for 2021, Tokyo and aiming for a second swim with a lifetime best!
Follow Darragh on Twitter at @GreeneDarragh
Thanks for listening!
Rob
Siobhan is an accredited psychotherapist, certified life-coach, experienced public speaker, trainer and best-selling author – The Burnout Solution
She helps people to overcome overwhelm, burnout and manage the demands of their personal and professional roles; learn how to embrace self-care and how to navigate living in a chaotic world; hone their authentic leadership style so they can make a difference and thrive in their work. She supports all clients to find meaning and purpose, manage life transitions; navigate complex personal and professional change and build their resilience and resourcefulness so they can achieve their full potential.
In this episode, Siobhan focuses on dealing with stress, burnout, building resilience and lots more.
Here’s a list of the topics discussed:
•How to manage yourself to avoid burnout before it happens
•Recovery from burnout is hardcore
•Burnout is not purely occupational
•Burnout can be related to a personality type
•Burnout from doing something you didn’t love is a myth
•Personality types – the introvert and extravert and the ambivert
•Teaching Emotional Intelligence to Kids
•Using alcohol to feel ok in social settings in her twenties
•Setting up the Ronald McDonald house in Dublin
•Being a terrible employee and not suited to the corporate world
•Feeling sheer exhaustion from being in an open plan office
•Researching for her book, she really fully understood herself at this time
•Honing in on the energy and how interactions can take her energy
•Knowing how to recharge at home in isolation
•Extroverts getting the energy from people
•What Siobhan did when she gave up drinking?
oStopping for November
oA tool she used that worked for her
oReplacing the glass of wine with a diet 7-Up
•Starting to study psychotherapy around the same time of giving up alcohol
•Deciding to become a psychotherapist as it allowed Siobhan to be able to work and be a single parent
•In therapy, talking about the back / past but deciding to study on coaching so they could now focus on the future and view of the world
•Bring both past and future to her coaching session – holding the client in a safe space
•Burnout can happen for any work, even if you love it!
•If you’re not minding yourself, you will burnout
•Stress is important – it’s when it becomes unmanageable it becomes dangerous
•The difference between Stress, Burnout, and Overwhelm?
oStress keeps you safe – this is very close to excitement
oBurnout where are cortisol – bodies get depleted of adrenalin and cortisol
oWith Stress, cortisol rises but then it reduces back down…burnout we are in continual stress
oWhere does dread fit into this?
•The power of language can be very impactful
•The 5 Whys technique
•Pushing ourselves to use positive language to help over
•Tools you can use to deal with these?
•The 4 Pillars/Corners to help you maintain resilience:
oSleep (the most important of all)
oNutrition
oExercise
oClutter
•Tuning into the signals and feelings of things that are not comfortable and understanding this
•Getting to the point where you’re feeling in control and manage yourself
•The draining impact of staying at a dinner late when you just wanted to go home!
•NLP exercise – How we learn?
•Creating a 12-week online course and learning a lot from this process
•Twistingthejar.com
•Social Media – Siobhan Murray
•For Siobhan's Speaker Bio please email siobhan@siobhanmurray.com
Declan is an experienced professional coach, trainer, and facilitator. His areas of expertise include high performance, leadership, mental toughness, career management, and team development
Declan brings a true passion for his coaching, offering a customised approach that targets the specific developmental needs of those with whom he works with.
Declan offers bespoke training interventions derived from a detailed Organisational Needs Analysis. These interventions include bespoke leadership and management development programmes; team development programmes; and personal development and self-awareness programmes for general staff.
Declan can cater for all organisational levels from C-Suite, Directors, Middle Management, New-to-Management and Graduates.
Declan’s approach is focused on developing a trusted partnership with his clients through a challenging but supportive, empathetic style. He fully believes in the power of people’s potential and his approach is centred on supporting his clients navigate and achieve their desired goals. He is particularly adept at helping to create a transformational shift in the mindset and behaviour of individuals.
Declan has a huge passion on people and performance. His goal and work is to help people and teams to solve problems, underpinning this work is developing emotional intelligence.
Declan has 4 main focus areas in his work. These are:
•Performance Consultant
•Leadership Development
•High Performance Teams
•Performance under pressure
During the conversation, we dive into a number of areas of interest from Declan’s journey with lessons learned, tools for achieving high performance, and tips you can apply to help you and/or your team grow. If any of the below summary points are of interest, you’ll want to hear more!. Links to more on Mindflick and how to connect with Declan at the end.
Key talking points we covered are:
•Always having a burning interest in people, people psychology and mindset, initially through a sporting frame
•Completed an Adult Education course in Sports Psychology which then lead to a masters in UCC in Psychology
•Having a passion for and loving to work with people, 1-1 or in groups…
•Where did this interest come from - Nature v Nurture and lifelong learning
•Reading autobiographies that were full of lessons of life experiences
•The importance of continuous learning
•Feeling imposter syndrome when starting his master’s degree in Psychology
•Seeking out rich learning experiences always and immersing himself in this world
•Making the decision to step out and go out on his own?
•What were the lessons learned from the early days of working for himself
•Developing a process for tracking learning
•With Coaching - the concept of non-attachment – knowing the process but not attached to any outcome….being clear on this
•Knowing your own preferences is key
•When do strengths tip over to become weaknesses?
•Developing self-awareness
oThe master’s program in UCC was very focused on Self-Awareness and this was a big eye opener
oVideoing coaching sessions and looking back on these that helped with self-awareness
oGaining a huge sense of who you were after this UCC course
•Using the Spotlight framework from Mindflick
•Trying to develop a sense of humility in individuals and teams
•Once humility is developed, now focus on curiosity
•At the top of the pyramid – allowing individuals and teams
•How to develop humility
•Behaviour styles frameworks using FLEX
•The key to making things safe
•Core principals of Spotlight – it’s a strengths-based tool
•Adaptability – being able to look at things from different frames
•Creating safety is key in a team environment
•Self-regulation and being able to judge the room
•The big 5 personality traits
•Spotlights is key on adaptability
•Personality is 70% of the environment
•Reinforcement sensitivity theory
•Evidence based practitioner is essential for the spotlight assessment
•Mindset framework within Spotlight – COPE
oContainment
oOptimistic
oPrudent
oEngagement
•The importance of practice in developing a mindset
•Profiling Teams with Performance and Improvement
•Spotlight Teams features
oLevel of psychological safety – key to high performance
oTeam dynamics of performance, engagement and effectiveness
oProvides a plan to take the team to the next level
•The COPE framework with a tech start-up example..
o4 optimistic mindsets and 1 prudent mindset – this helps keeping things balanced
•The vital need for psychological safety in the team – this is critical
•Asking a difficult question in the boardroom is like being evicted from the tribe!
•Making new habits stick in leadership teams
•Having healthy tension within the group is key but it comes back to relationships
•The power of being an outsider
•Seeing tangible benefits is always a key breakthrough
•Learning from assessments but not to box anyone into any frame – keeping loose and knowing the moving is ok
•Premature evaluation – placing limits on the relationships
•Key tools to use:
oA reflective log – making a log on a daily basis and developing as a result of this
oThe Empty Chair Exercise – making sure the team look at areas that aren’t being looked at
oDe Bono Thinking hats
oMaking Teams fall in love as a tool…. Trust Exercise – Professor Arthur Aron – Human Intimacy – 36 questions
Staring at each other in the eyes for 4 minutes without talking!
oProblem Cleaning & Pig wrestling
Problem Cleaning is a simple and effective process that enables people be more insightful, productive and impactful when dealing with the challenges that they face.
Starting to describe the problem from different frames..
•New developments from Mindflick focusing on
oSpotlightYouth
oSpotlightX
oSpotlightTeams – putting a metric on teams
•The most standout thing you’ve learned in the last 12 months?
oNon-attachment – confidence of delivering your
oPressure and Stress is a choice – managing yourself outside of this
oThe evolution of the reflection log – linking self-esteem to this ongoing and this is not sustainable always
oRest, Recovery, Reflection, Sleep, all are key – linked to self-esteem
oGetting comfortable with some things that land and some that don’t!
•Having a goal of making one person breath easier!
For more on Declan, you can find him on:
•LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/oconnelldeclan/
•Instagram – https://twitter.com/oconnelldeclan
•Twitter - https://twitter.com/oconnelldeclan
For more on Mindflick & Spotlight
•https://mindflick.co.uk/
If you enjoyed this one, I’d love to hear what stood out for you?
Charlotte Labee is an expert on Brain Balance and she’s been helping others get their brain in balance for the last few years. I was delighted to have her on the podcast to talk about exactly what the means and how you can take steps towards it.
Charlotte’s story is a very interesting one. From modelling, to entrepreneurship, to TV presenting and now building out a successful career in wellness. Like all of us, she experienced peaks and troughs. Success and setbacks. She has developed her own approach and model that helps and encourages people to experience immediate results. She gives lectures and training sessions in an accessible and enthusiastic way, using theory to support her practical experience.
During the interview, Charlotte talks about her life lessons, learnings, and turning points that have lead her to where is is now. A summary of the discussion is below:
•Building a large following on social media with her current Brain Balance work
•Tapping into wellness and brain balance
•Charlotte’s early life – becoming a model by chances made by life
•At age of 17, left for Milan to start modelling?
oExperiences at that time?
oMindset at the time?
•Taking opportunities that society pushed to her instead of what she really wanted herself
•Not paying attention to the signals that she was feeling inside
•Feeling really lonely and not having space for happiness
•Making the move from modelling to designing her own fashion label
•The business exploded quickly, and this took a bit her ‘self’ in this period….
•Realising that 90-hour weeks were taking their toll and impacting on her health
•The conscious brain was giving signs for months – her life was in disbalance
•The first big sign was when Charlotte was diagnosed with Cancer, not once but twice in her early thirties.
•This was following by her house burning down and then the business going bankrupt
•This led to a turning point and started her on the path to finding a balance after being out of balance
•Ignoring illness, emotions, and disbalance….kept going but this was wearing on her
•Developing bad habits that were very difficult to change
•Recognising the disbalance and then starting to look at new ways to deal with this
•Another scare when Charlotte lost power in her arm which was the last signal – this was the bottom and it was time to start building back up
•Taking steps from there to get back into balance
•The Vagus nerve and stress – the positive and negative side of it
•How does stress work for the brain and what is the function of it?
•Finding a huge interest in the functions of the brain – this lead to a happier place
•This ignited the learning and step by step it make her feel more like herself again
•Making small changes in her life – starting with food and noticing the improvements
•Then move onto the next step – sleep, social environment, and seeing what positives come from this
•Developing self-awareness of what’s going on in your brain
•Changing the neural pathways in the brain and the leads to the improvements in other areas
•Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP) tools
•Neural Cause Effect (NCE)
•Developing the Golden Growth Method Blueprint
oStep 1 is knowing how your brain works – this is key before moving forward
o85% of the brain is programmed in the first 8 years of our life
oUnderstanding what the rules of the brain are will allow you to change it
•6 step process in 60 days leads to big changes in your brain balance
•To change a habit, practice one thing 3-4 times a day every day for 4 weeks!
•Influence your brain in the right way!
•The Win Hoff method and learning from the Ice Man – the real proof that you can change!
•Learned something new in the last 6 months?
•Working on her own relationships and constantly changing
•Always be willing to invest and change the relationship
Now & the Future:
•What is a typical day like for you now?
•Is there anything you’ve changed your mind about in the lasts 6 months?
•How do you deal with fear?
•What is one action someone can take to improve / get better?
•What’s next for Charlotte
Contact Charlotte Labee
Charlotte Labee is by now one of the most popular speakers when it comes to the brain, health and a balanced lifestyle. In inspirational fashion, she uses clear and accurate theory to substantiate her own practical experiences while enthusing others to get the most out of life.
You can find her on:
•Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/charlottelabee/
•Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/charlottelabee/
•LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlotte-labee-4364a216/
Peter Kalmus – Making Climate Change Real & Learning from Coronavirus – EP155
Hello there & welcome to this week’s 1% Better interview. This is the First interview proper of S4. During the off season, following some Climate Change news, I noticed the name Peter Kalmus popping up regularly – when I read more about him, I was fascinated by his career story as well as his activism.
When we did record – 2nd March I think things were heating up on COVID19 with Italy getting bad but nothing yet in Ireland, and very little elsewhere in Europe and US. Things have changed since so it was good we had the opportunity to discuss Coronavirus and how we could learn from it in the climate change movement.
Please do share this one broad and wide….if you disagree or would like to add more to it, get in touch too.
Just to note, Peter was speaking on his own behalf and his views and opinions. I’ve shared links to climate activists groups at the end. But for now, here is a summary of the topics covered in the podcast.
Introduction
Peter Kalmus (born May 9, 1974) is a climate scientist, writer and climate activist based in Altadena, California. He is a data scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory as an Associate Project Scientist at UCLA’s Joint Institute for Regional Earth System Science & Engineering.
In addition to authoring articles about climate change, he is the founder of the website noflyclimatesci.org and co-founder of the app Earth Hero: Climate Change.
Topics covered in detail:
•Peter’s background – studying physics, programming on Wall Street and then following his quest of learning
•Astrophysics and getting a PhD in this area working on waves travelling through space and time
•In mid-2000s, taking a big interest in the climate crisis and the radical energy imbalance
•Inspired by Jim Hansen – one of the leading voices on climate crisis
•Moving into Earth Science with a post doc – switching fields which was a big deal
•Sitting on the side-lines during the discovery of gravitational waves but it was a worthy sacrifice
•Dedicating his life now to working to save the life support system of our planet!
•Now moving toward biodiversity and ecosystem breakdown
•Getting depression during an undergraduate in physics at Harvard so didn’t have confidence to go straight to graduate school
•Taking a year to get over this and working in New York during this period
•After 4 years, the confidence came back to apply for the PhD
•Depression almost leading to suicide during his time at Harvard
•In 2006, Peter’s first son was born, and this really was a big change in his life and had him start thinking much clearer on the suffering the planet
•Starting to meditate around this time has helped develop compassion more
•Emotional Intelligence v Intelligent Quotient
•Non-Human Intelligence and how smart tress are for example
•Feeling the darkness at the edges of Peters's consciousness and knowing how difficult this is…
•The Practice more than anything to develop EQ is meditation and having kids
•Vipassana meditation – observing the reality of change!
•Working and disciplining the mind to notice a change
•Bio-chemical changes creating sensations
•Climate Change being abstract compared to the Shark Bite Concern
•The tangible nature with the Coronavirus is more real whereas Climate Change feeling less real
•This analogy about fear - Read into why people are more scared of a shark bite than client change?
•People are responding now as they are in emergency mode as people now believe they could die but with Climate Change, people don’t believe they can die
•Would calling it pollution or waste – make it more real?
•Have we faced a similar challenge in the past and overcome it?
•Bright spots idea – anywhere doing it well and replicate this?
•Becoming an Activist is not a choice for Peter when he sees what is happening!
•How Peter takes action in his own life – flying less as a starting point
•Getting to a Carbon Free environment has to be the goal
•How quickly Coronavirus has managed to slow flying but Climate Change is not having this impact…
•The Coronavirus has been very useful for climate activists as they can look at this for new approaches to make it real
•How to make Climate Change more real and scare people now!
•3 Actions to make Climate Change more real?
1.Create more fear as the current approach is not working! Create more Fear!
2.Non-violent direct action – the house on fire analogy! Act like it’s an emergency and wake people up! The Greta Thunberg movement is a great start…much more is needed here. Civil disobedience – once enough people do this, behaviours will start to change…but it needs to be in mass numbers.
3.Taking Action to reduce emissions - Leading climate activists living our lives as this is happening now – again Greta Thunberg got a boat to the US and back. Activists need to stop burning fossil fuel and more. This will send a clear message to the public.
•Are scientists in general agreement on Climate Change?
•How to solve this challenge is still to be agreed on?
•Are there bright spots emerging?
•How can we get better?
•What actions can we take to reduce emissions?
1.Planning out – your day, week, month year – to make the change!
2.The Flying Less Movement?
3.Use the Earth Hero Apps – reduce our emissions
4.Become more conscious on what you’re using?
5.Burn less fossil fuel
6.Become activist – join the movement and take action!!
7.Lean in more…leads to more learning:
More on Peter
•The Earth Hero App – download this on all the App stores
•Web – Peterkalmus.net
•Twitter - @climateHuman
Become a Climate Activist
•Ireland – Stopclimatechaso.ie
•Friends of the Earth FOE.ie
•Plan-International.org
Welcome to the season 4 launch of 1% Better!
0 – 6 mins : Introduction
Hi there…and welcome to the start of the new season of 1% Better.
Now to say things are different to when season 3 ended or when I last shared an episode would be an understatement. A big one. In this launch show, I touch on what’s going on in the world as of the time of recording (18th March 2020) with COVID19, Coronavirus, and Social Distancing very much the words of the time.
I touch on everything going on in my head about what’s happening and also point to how we can start to adapt to this change in a more positive, proactive light! And how listening to podcasts can help.
I also talk about my hopes of talking with some experts on infectious diseases, research and work ongoing on tests and vaccines as well as talking with some that have recovered from the disease.
6 mins to 13 mins – Off-season Recording
During the off-season, I’ve been busy recording new shows, researching and creating content for more solo episodes and spending a lot of time putting together a new series within the show focusing on Emotional Intelligence. I also mention the 1% Better Community and how being part of this has helped me stick to my goals for the year so far!
13mins to 40 mins – Listeners’ Voices
The final part of this intro episode which is different! How have you, the listener, become 1% Better?
During the off-season I’ve been asking listeners to contribute some audio to the show talking about what they’re doing to become 1% Better (or more)! Here are just 5 that you might find interesting, inspiring, useful, and actionable. Remember…in this very strange time, it’s good to take action, set goals, and not just sit around waiting for thoughts to turn into negative emotions!
The clips come from:
1.Eoin O’Hanlon – Control the Small Things, let the big things take care of themselves
2.Jess Cohen – Stand Up Comedy & the 1% Better Community!
3.John O’Brien – Mindset & Running!
4.Seán McGillicuddy – Daily Meditation Practices, Sharing gratitude, Keeping your Head Up & Writing Poetry!
5.Darragh O’Riordan – Feeling better with cold water Swimming & the impact on work – COLD Water Swimming!
40 min to End
Finally, I close out this episode with a call to action. More of your stories please!! How are you improving from listening to this show or others? What actions are you taking?
If you have something you’d like to share, email me and we can arrange to get your recording in to me and out on another 1% Better from the listener episodes.
Email: Rob@robofthegreen.ie
Or Join the 1% Better Community
https://join.slack.com/t/robofthegreen/shared_invite/zt-8ofg7r9d-xTpoTVd~Rfce7gCUWU8bag
Thanks for being part of this. Stay safe!
Rob
Hi folks,
This is one from the 864 show I did back in 2018 that you probably haven't heard so releasing it now on 1% Better. Hope you enjoy. Details of the conversation below:
Cynthia Johnson is an American entrepreneur, marketing professional, SEO specialist, columnist and public speaker. She is a co-founder of Ipseity Media and previously served as the director of brand development of American Addiction Centers (AAC). She is currently member of the Forbes Agency Council and advisory board for the Millennium Alliance. According to Entrepreneur Magazine, Cynthia was one of the 10 Personal Branding Experts to Follow, in 2017
Her work has been featured in Entrepreneur, Forbes, Huffington Post, TIME, and several other industry specific publications.
Below is a summary of the questions and topics we cover in this 15 minute podcast.
Q1 30secs – What stands out the most?
•Entrepreneurship portion – learning so much from this
Q2 1mins – Born with or learned?
•It’s an energy that you develop and be exposed to
Q3 2mins – First venture?
•Suspended for selling coolade
Q4 3mins – Starting young? Less fear?
•Yes and no – you get in trouble for this – maybe there is something wrong!
•For Cynthia, it was more interesting and learned more
Q5 4mins – A big mistake?
•Get the ego out of the way!
•Have the moments when things are not going your way – you get the ego out!
•Arriving to a presentation not prepared for CFOs
Q6 6mins – Teaching to be better prepared?
•Know who you’re audience are?
Q7 7mins – Public speaking?
•Not fear – perform much better in front of 2000 people than 2!
•When others do what you do and have the same view
•Knowing the material is key – you can learn faster when you are presenting something new
Q8 9mins – Prioritize work?
•Focus on the short term goals?
•Long term goals – break them down in much smaller chunks
•Making sure you’re doing things for other people – look at these points of value add
•Balance time with being useful to self and others
Q9 11mins – Chasing people – what was the turning point?
•Speaking at a conference – that she attended before
•Someone mentioned
•A girl can stand up there and look pretty – but we need good content
•Slide deck that stood out and became the most downloaded
Q10 13mins – A favourite phrase?
•Sit back and be objective – the only way you’ll get to the next level is find out what other people think of you
•Poe’s LAW
Q11 14mins – Advice?
•Don’t quit, ask for the time off!
Get in touch with Cynthia via:
Twitter - @CynthiaLive or @bellviyinc
www.CynthiaLive.com
www.BellIvy.com
Hi all,
I’ve been delighted with the response from ‘the best bits part 1’ and have seen an increase in downloads on the selected episodes from last week as a result.
Now, just to reiterate, you should listen to every episode from Season 3 (and 2 and 1)….not just these 10.
Over the week, I was changing ones that should make this list but it’s a thankless task. Every person I chatted to have a story to share and a lesson learned that you will take something from. I mean that.
My reason behind this --- Pretty much before approaching any guest I ask myself – why do I want to talk to this person? If I can’t easily answer that….I don’t go further. If it’s not authentic and you can’t tell that I’m interested, then you’re not going to like listening. That’s my #1 rule. It hugely helps when compiling the questions too.
Anyway, here are the next & final 5 clips from season 3.
1.First up is psychologist and author Barry Schwartz 138. Author of ‘The Paradox of Choice’.
Barry Schwartz is an American psychologist, professor, author, speaker and researcher. Schwartz is the Dorwin Cartwright Professor of Social Theory and Social Action at Swarthmore College. Schwartz’s research addresses morality, decision-making and the inter-relationships between science and society. Barry Schwartz studies the link between economics and psychology, offering startling insights into modern life. Barry has millions of views of his Ted talks online.
The clip touches on a few reasons on why there is a bigger focus now more on purposeful and meaningful work? Working for purpose, not just to get paid! This is a very unstable attitude.
Link to the show - https://robofthegreen.ie/episodes/barryschwartz-ep138/
2.Rosanna Arquette from episode 124.
If you want to find out about her relationship with Madonna or other standard movie questions from her acting career, this is probably not the interview for you!
The 864 aims to understand a little bit more about the person, what they value, how they have been successful, deal with life challenges and other obstacles that get in the way and we stayed close to these topics in this conversation with Rosanna.
In the clip, Rosanna talks about Staying in Gratitude and not being in fear
Link to the show: https://robofthegreen.ie/episodes/rosannaarquette-ep124/
3.Brock Lewin 117
Brock Lewin is the found of very successful Coffee Roasting Business Badger & Dodo. Since his first shot of coffee in 1993, he’s been involved one or another in this business.
He set up Badger & Dodo in July 2008 in his in-law’s farm in Fermoy, Co. Cork and since then he’s been building up the business and brand across Ireland and beyond.
I’ve been very interested in the coffee explosion in Ireland over the last few years so was really looking forward to chatting with Brock about his learnings and experience in this world and having the chance to deep dive into Coffee, Business, Entrepreneurship, lessons learned, and lots more that might make for interesting listening.
In the clip, Brock talks about starting out in 2008 at the start of the downturn – this was a great chat with Brock on Coffee – making fresh starts and feeling like he had freedom to start out! – Good Coffee is recession proof!
Link: https://robofthegreen.ie/episodes/brocklewin-ep117/
4.Nirbhasa Magee 133
I recently found an article on the BBC website about a 3100 mile race that happens every year. It’s called a run to self-transcendence and as someone that is very intrigued in self-development, I wanted to learn more. And hopefully talk with one of the runners that attempted and, maybe even, completed it. Not only did I manage to find one, he’s also a fellow Irishman. His name is Nirbhasa Magee and his the guest for this episode.
Nirbhasa has been a meditation practitioner since his late teens/early twenties and through his practice, started to go for short runs with friends from the meditation group (Sri Chinmoys) he’s part of. One thing led to another. Before he knew it, he had moved on to marathons, ultramarathons, then 6 and 10 day runs and eventually the 3100 mile race.
In this podcast interview, Nirbhasa tells this story in detail, shares the benefits he’s gained from meditation and running and provides some hugely interesting insights from his journey so far.
In this clip, Nirbhasa talks about using Heart Centred Meditation
Link: https://robofthegreen.ie/episodes/nirbhasamagee-ep133/
5.Maysoon Zaid 141
Maysoon is a comedian, author, disability advocate, and self-confessed hustler. Maysoon has been facing into challenges in her life from the very beginning after being born with cerebral palsy. She was treated the same as her sisters growing up and never saw the disability as something to hold her back from following her dreams. We talk about her career, tap dancing, acting, comedy, work as an advocate for Muslims and Arabs in the US as well as her work helping people overcome the stigma with disabilities
She has a new audio book called Find Another Dream coming out through Reese Witherspoon’s company, Hello Sunshine. The book has been on the best seller list for weeks and is beating Donald Trump Jr’s book.
In this clip, Maysoon talks about never having bombed but aiming to get half the room to laugh!
Link to the show: https://robofthegreen.ie/episodes/maysoonzayid-ep141/
Sign up to the 1% Better Slack Community?
Sign up here - https://buff.ly/2JqM5Qh
So that’s it.
Season 3 done.
Between now and the formal launch of season 4, I’m sure I’ll put out some updates and perhaps some repackaged episodes of the 864 show that you might not have caught when that came out originally.
Please do keep checking the web site (hoping for it to be updated soon) for more
Follow on the socials – links on the site – or just search ROTG
Oh and I really would love to do a few live shows in the coming months…Cork, Dublin, Galway, Zimbabwe, where ever …..please do get in touch if you could host something like that!
Thanks to the 10s of thousands that listened in the last 12 months.
Now time for a small break….
Good luck,
Rob
Hi all,
As I bring the curtain down on season 3 of 1% Better, a season that included over 50 shows, and has been running for 11 months, I thought it would be a good idea to pull out some of clips from some of the stand out shows of the season. This wasn’t easy and in the end I practically picked them at random. I’ve decided to go for 10 clips over 2 short episodes.
I hope you enjoy it. Below has a short summary of each guest/interview and a link to the full episode on the site.
Thanks for support in season 3. Season 4 is already underway recording wise and deep in planning.
Here are the five from today’s show
1.Ma Anand Sheela episode 100
Ma Anand Sheela. Sheela came to prominence recently from the Netflix documentary Wild Wild Country. That’s when I learned about her. However many of you listening might have first heard of her back in the early 1980s when she was the secretary of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, latterly known as Osho.
The documentary blew my mind and I was struck by Sheela’s personality, devotion for Bhagwan, and then her own seemingly unending quest for power. When I watched the show, I thought how cool it would be to talk with her for the podcast. To learn more about her values, upbringing, what drove her motivations, and of course what life is like for her since the commune broke up and after her time in prison. When I managed to connect with her, tell her about the podcast, and invite her to be a guest, I was delighted when she agreed.
Episode Link https://robofthegreen.ie/episodes/maanandsheela-freedomgoalsacceptinglife-ep100/
2.Sir Steve Timothy episode 125
Steve Timothy is a comedian, online sensation, soon to be Author, Rapper, Satirist, and other titles. He calls himself a chancer and professional Tom-fool. Whatever you want to call him, he’s making a mark.
We connected a couple of weeks back, shortly after his sell out show in Cork, to talk about his career, struggles with anxiety, dealing with trolls, disability, love for Everton Football Club, creativity, business, Conor McGregor, and of course the character he and his partner, Sinead, are best known for, Farmer Michael and Kathleen!
Episode link https://robofthegreen.ie/episodes/sirstevotimothy-ep125/
3.Susan Winter – Episode 101
This is the first episode I’ve done that focuses primarily on relationships and, I can safely say, Susan is a guru and thought leader in this every changing space.
About Susan. She’s been a guest on Oprah, has a list of media credits that covers about every News show, magazine and paper that I’ve ever heard of, is a best-selling author (Allowing Magnificence and Older Women/Younger Men), she specializes in evolutionary forms of loving partnership and higher thinking, and is in high demand.
She’s just had over 10 millions view on YouTube where she posts short informative videos on relationship challenges and how to improve in your loving partnerships.
During the hour, we talk about everything on relationships from online dating, cultural challenges, and new terms like Bread Crumbing, Catfishing, and of course Ghosting! I’ve shared links to Susan site, and social platforms at the bottom of these notes.
I really enjoyed this one as you’ll probably detect from it and I learned a lot. I’m sure you’ll take something from it too that will make your relationships more than 1% Better.
Episode Link - https://robofthegreen.ie/episodes/susanwinter-relationships-onepercentbetter-ep101/
4.Motty Varghese – How to Sleep Better – Episode 114
I’m really interested in learning more about sleep, so I did some searching and it turns out we have a world-renowned sleep expert here in Ireland. In Dublin in Fact. He’s name is Motty Varghese. He’s a senior Respiratory and Sleep Physiologist in St James’s Hospital, Dublin since 2003.
We learn about Motty and how he got into this area and then I think I asked him everything I could think of about sleep.
You will be way more than 1% Better informed on Sleep after this.
Summary of what we covered:
•Where the passion and desire in the field of sleep
•Graduation as a respiratory and sleep physiologist & technologies
•Doing sleep studies for about 45millions people in India
•Working in Middle east and then moved to St. James in Dublin
•15 Years working St. James.
•Sleep Diagnostics and sleep problems
•Sleep Apnoea and Insomnia as the two main issues
•And then started to specialise in Behaviour sleep medicine
•Always had an interest in sleep medicine but not much in the area initially when he was growing up
•Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
Episode link - https://robofthegreen.ie/episodes/mottyvarghese-sleepbetter-ep114/
5.Susan Bennett Episode 107
Susan Bennett is an American voice-over artist. She is best known for being the female American voice of Apple‘s “Siri” since the service was introduced on the iPhone 4S. Susan and I connected a few months back and I was delighted when she agreed to be a guest on the show to talk about her career, overcoming fears, ‘coming out’ as Siri, the great fortune that has ultimately brought and how life has changed since.
Susan shares her story and provides lots of bits of advice from lessons learned over the last few decades from her successful acting, voiceover, and musical career.
Episode link: https://robofthegreen.ie/episodes/susanbennett-voiceofsiri-ep107/
So there you go….5 very interesting interviews, 5 different subjects, and lots of 1% Better insights and actions you could take onboard I hope.
As always, thanks for listening. Back next week with the second 5 clips and that will be it for a few weeks. Probably.
Thanks!
Rob
Mel Parker is CEO of Take the Limits off. He’s also an ex-Airborne Ranger in the US military and has been facing his fears all his life
I had the pleasure of meeting Mel in person last year as he delivered a day’s training on Emotional Intelligence. I knew straight away that he would be a great guest to have on the podcast to talk about his leadership journey.
His book, The Parker Principles, 10 Leadership Force Multipliers, is full of useful interesting insights from his experiences over the years. We talk about many of these in this episode.
Here is a summary of the topics covered in our conversation
•Mel’s background in leadership
•Growing up on a pig and tobacco farming
•Raised by a single mother and a very close connection with his grandmother
•Being ‘resource challenged’ and considered below the poverty link
•Having a grandmother with a tremendous amount of Faith!
•With enough hard work and education, opportunities could exist for anyone!
•Always believing there will be a better tomorrow – if you put in the time and efforts
•The role leadership has played in Me’s life
•Where did his grandmothers positivity come from – no clear but seemed to be inbuilt in her!
•She was wordily, full of common sense and could read people
•She was a veracious reader and taking this from her
•Dealing with fear from a young age and the relationship with this
•Always having danger growing up – he could get into trouble growing up and had situations where people didn’t know which way things would go
•Dealing with anxiety
•Reading books and getting motivated and inspired from this work
•Trifecta of hope
o1) Science Fiction as one – always a hero – leadership mentality
o2) Comic books – giving Mel a level of resilience – had to overcome great tragedy – teaching him that the pain and difficulty are just part of his ‘becoming’
o3) Faith of his grandmother
•Taking action from an early age – getting a public library card to read for free!
•Catching the fire and loving to learn
•Juxtaposition of Education & Leadership = Opportunity – this gave Mel focus all the way through
•Bicycle – Education = back wheel & leadership = front wheel
•Starting to conceptualize the leader idea or role from a young age – this become something he wanted to follow
•Getting into sports which allowed Mel his first taste or real leadership
•This led to it becoming a rhythm
•How taking on this role felt? Pressure but excitement and responsibility instead of fear!
•Developing a mentality to solve problems….this is what he’s at!
•Being in a crisis situation and thriving v being in a comfortzone and not being happy!
•Looking back and thinking about what I could have done differently?
•Always chasing the fire….this was part of his way!
•Leadership is universal and these fires can be put out in any industry?
•Moving his family 15 times in his career – this was due to promotions and bigger fires…
•Looking forward or back more? At the age of 50 this changed!
•Questioning is there more than the next big job?
•Mel’s mission changed after his 50th birthday…
•Becoming aware you have less life in front of you than you have behind you?
•Have Mel’s values changed overtime and what ones did?
•Oct 2016 as a big turning point when Mel’s grandmother passed
•His grandmother challenged Mel to stop living in fear on her death bed!
•Being challenged to write his book and start his own company!
•Facing fear and stepping away from his corporate pay cheque
•Starting to trust himself and moving forward!
•This pushed Mel to move and he started his company and started the book!
•Working harder and being happier now than anytime in his career
•Having control now and being able to say NO!
•Having a focus on family and being connected
•A change in identity moving away from the corporate world!
•Finding it difficult to give that up as he had built a life that he never had when growing up!
•Growing up with nothing, then not worried about bills every month, never wanted to lose this!
•Writing the book and how this was approached
•Believing that it was always important for Mel to share his leadership principles with his team – this is who he is!!!
•Anytime not living to these, you have permission to throw the flag
•The importance of calling out who you are and establish this!!
•Dealing with the “Who am I?” question
•This is what you can hold me accountable to
•The book was a way of telling the world who Mel Parker is and this how you can work with me
•He empowers his team to throw the flag on him if he’s not living these!
•What is a ‘Force Multiplier’ – added to a core force to make it more powerful – an army term
•Force multiplier can help amplify the leader that you are!
•Touching on some of the principles from the book including
oServant leadership
oTrust
oAuthenticity
•How leadership has changed and how the world has evolved
•People are the competitive advantage – what is the best way to maximize their output
•Coaching and Leadership
•Getting leaders to be more vulnerable?
•Working with leaders to let their team in more
•Micromanagement and trust
•Having relationships with North and South and East and West! This is key!!
•Listening and how to coach leaders to listen better
•The ability to receive is just as important as the ability to transmit – come out from behind your desk!
•Taking actions to create connection
•High Trust Organizations at the core
•Trying to build trust with better listening skills
•Gallop poles measuring institutions based on trust – 2 levels of high trust – the military have been at the top for the last 30 years..
•The hyper focus on character in the military
•A key takeaway on lessons learned through mistakes and failures that have been big successes?
•Learning a methodology to allow team members make honest mistakes – everyone gets a second chance – learning this from his very first corporate job!
Check out Mel’s site & book on:
•The site – www.takethelimitsoff.com
•Book – the Parker Principles – 10 leadership force multipliers
In this week’s episode I talk with Alexander Baburin, Ireland’s only Chess Grandmaster currently.
I’ve always had an interest in Chess – playing badly but the strategy, the history, and the focus required be a great chess player!
The podcast gives me a wonderful opportunity to talk with experts in their fields and I was delighted when Alexander agreed to come on and talk about the world of chess and his career.
Here is a summary of the topics we discussed during the episode. I hope you enjoy!
Summary Topics:
•The 10,000 hour rule and the Grandmaster
•Hard work v Talent
•Bounce, Matthew Zayed and deliberate practice
•Playing the Polgar sisters – 2 making grandmasters and 1 international master
•Women Grandmaster titles and full Grandmasters
•Growing up in Russia (Gorky)
•Discovering Chess at the age of 7 and being taught the rules by his dad
•Joining a Chess club in school and quickly realising this was something he really liked
•3-4 years later, becoming seriously hooked and starting to play 10+ hours per week
•Early practice was more just friendly games and less structured study and play
•Having a coach and getting play more structured
•What is the best use of your time when playing Chess seriously?
•What to do before the games and after the games
•Creating a Plan to help develop his game – similar to studying for an exam
•There are many topics to focus on to study in chess
•The coach can help very much with this work
•Studying Chess and the impact it had on academic life
•Schools being supportive of Chess and seeing this as a positive hobby/passion
•Chess teaching planning and discipline leading to better schooling
•Having Swimming and Basketball as passions in early years
•Tapping into the desire to win and do your best
•Getting into the ‘Zone’ when playing and everything else fades away
•Living his life and playing for years before realizing it would be a career
•At the age of 20, Alexander had to make a decision where to go next and this time was when Chess became an option as a career – a couple of years later, the boarders opening up, this helped Alexander pursue Chess as an option
•By 22-23, chess became something he would do for the foreseeable future.
•How Chess ranking works and the difference between National, International Masters and Grandmasters, getting a ‘rating’ and moving up and down rankings
•The big gap between IM and GM and reaching the GM level taking 5 year…
•How international competitions work and how to achieve a ‘norm’
•The Swiss System in Chess
•How quickly can someone achieve GM status?
•Looking at the speed at which kids have reached GM at the age of 14-15
•Getting to GM level in 7-8 years and aligns with the 10k hours rule
•Common traits with Grandmasters – coming all forms and shapes
•One common trait – Hates to Lose!
•Every loss is a ‘little death’ – psychologically very difficult
•Driven by the desire not to lose more than the desire to win!
•Developing resilience and dealing with frustrations…
•The role of luck or is it pure skill in Chess?
•Luck playing a role in his career and providing opportunities
•Controlling Emotions during a Game and approaches to keep them in check
•Snatching victory from the jaws of defeat
•How the style of play develops and changes over time
•Playing against ‘pieces’ or against ‘players?
•Chess players peaking at the age of 35 but now it seems to be younger – at 27/28
•The Indian summer is noticeable in many players – even up to the age of 60
•Alexander stopped growing as a player 20 years ago due to making a conscious decision to diversify – write books, coaching, etc
•The general level of play is increasing now compared to 20 years ago – at the club player level – but at the top level, less so
•The role of technology and how it’s changed the game of Chess in a dramatic way
•Making information and learning much more accessible
•Chess engines helping players learn much quicker – like a spell checker
•How technology has brought more cheating in Chess
•Watching more chess online has had a positive impact – it’s overall been a positive
•What advice amateur players could look at to improve their game?
•Coaching, Planning, studying games, and be consistent on a regular basis
•Having a plan is better than no plan!
•Training Sam Collins in Ireland to be a Grandmaster
Connecting with Alexander – you can find him on Facebook here - https://www.facebook.com/alexander.baburin.37
Email – Baburin@gmail.com
Excuse Typos – I tend to write show notes during editing
Shane McCarthy is chief marketing officer for military social media platform Sandboxx. He is originally from Kerry but is now based in the US.
I first met Shane in 2011/12 when he was running a student board for IT@Cork and knew he was destined for big things.
We connected in late 2019 and talked about Shane’s career and journey so far and to dive into some marketing advice, insights and tips that could be useful to you in your own business. I know I’ve taken away some good stuff from it. Hopefully you do to.
A summary of key points covered is below:
•Setting up a student board for IT@Cork
•The value of volunteering
•Studying BIS in UCC – a mix between Business & IT
•Finding a passion for social media and how to use it for business value from an early stage
•The Psychology of Marketing
•Setting up Twitter Hour back in 2012 for IT@Cork
•Experimenting with Blogging during College to build his own personal branding
•Trial and Error leading to better understanding of what works and what doesn’t
•How to make a blog post discoverable – back then & now!
•The importance of SEO in blogging – creating good content
•Creating a SEO strategy and having an SEO checklist before posting
•The value of Google Analytics to identify what to post about
•Looking to get ways on other blogs – this helps get clarity on the topic
•If you can write it or teach it, then you know it! This is key
•The power of feedback and taking onboard to help get better
•Moving from Engineering to Marketing shortly after leaving University
•Getting the opportunity to join a start-up with a focus on marketing
•Making the decision to leave a permanent role to join a start-up – how?
•Being able to juggle final year in college and working full-time for Sandboxx in 2014/15
•Working as Chief Marketing Officer for Sandboxx and what Sandoxx offers to members of the military
•Starting off initially with a letters service and then building on this
•Growing to 1.5 million customers and going from 0-50+ employees
•Reflecting back on the 5+ years with Sandboxx and major lessons learned
•Working 18-hour days and going from doing everything to being more strategic
•Building out relationships with government and brands
•Getting up to speed on military vocabulary and acronyms
•App Based Marketing requiring softer skills
•A standout mistake that provided a great learning
oGiving up on experiments too soon – not staying the course
•Learning from mistakes
•Using data and trusting your gut more when making decisions
•Being Irish brings an advantage when building relationships with customers
•The Psychology around marketing & how you can use this to your advantage with user personals
•Looking into User Personas and Empathy Maps to identify and understand customer preferences and choices
•The Elmer Framework & emotion logic
•The WIIFM concept – if you can explain the value and benefits to the customer, you’re onto a big benefit
•Paid advertising v Free Advertising – what to pick?
•Don’t be afraid to set aside a decent amount of money of your budget!
•Spend money and test out ideas yourself instead of paying it to an agency
•Be active and ask others for feedback and input to help with the early stages of what a customer wants
•Facebook and Google Online Tours and How To guides for analytics and using better tools
•Learn how to walk before you can run when marketing and test small first!
•Personal Development and Growth – how to find the balance
•Self-care as a priority
•Professional growth with key mentors and groups sharing in the space of marketing
•Personal growth – spending time meditating and taking time out daily basis
•Prioritizing sleep, eating, exercise and space time – all are tied in together
•Making the goals stick each day? Look at what is the one thing that might stop me from doing this!!
•Quote – “You don’t have to go for the run in the morning, you just have to put on your gear and stand on the porch”
•What have you changed your mind on or look at differently in the last six month?
•What is on the radar for Shane in the coming months?
Useful links
•A site - Moz – SEO --- https://moz.com/beginners-guide-to-seo
•Sandboxx.com
Connect with Shane – Shane McCarthy on LinkedIn
Welcome to 1% Better.
For those of you that have an interest in podcast production, creating video and audio content of high quality, you might have checked out one of Ray Ortega’s super helpful videos on his YouTube channel over the years. That’s how I found Ray and have been following and learning from him ever since. He is also the host of the Podcaster Studio & Podcasters Roundtable shows that go deeper in the world and industry of podcasting.
I was very happy to have him on the podcast to talk about his work, the creative flair, strengths and areas not so strong and share some great practice tips on how to be better at a number of areas.
It’s not only about podcasting, however. The message coming loud and clear from this is you can achieve great things if you’re willing to put the time and focus into it!
We covered the following:
•A passion for an Audio & Video Production
•Can a podcast be video?
•Setting up a Mix-Minus on a podcast!
•Starting out podcasting and having a desire of how to create a podcast
•Always share what you learn, as it helps with the learning!
•What makes a good podcast? Make sure it’s a real interest for you!!
•You will find an audience if you drill down into your area of deep interest
•If it’s not your hobby, then it’s not worth starting a podcast about
•If it comes from a true place of interest of passion
•The most important ingredient is you’re interested in
•Hearing about a ‘Podcast’ for the first time in 2005
•Listening to a show on apple’s platform which was the first podcast listened too
•The word ‘podcasting’ and where it came from?
•Big breakthrough moments in the podcast industry!
•Podcast growth – incremental v big moments
•Making a living from podcasting
•1 million download per podcast v niche shows
•Passions growing up – Video & Video Editing!!
•Creativity and Self-Expression through podcasting
•Balancing Creativity and Execution is a challenge
•Being a Professional Podcast Producer for a Corporation
•Work styles & being productive
•Balancing family life and passion projects
•The importance of taking time off
•Always having content to edit will keep things moving
•Consistency v High Quality Content
•Being aware of a streak….you can’t break the streak!
•Set yourself free!
•The key to staying podcasting is to keep podcasting and give yourself a break once a while
•Taking advice of not letting perfection overtake good enough
•Being a recovering perfectionist
•The host of a podcast is usually the worst person to be a producer of it
•Find the compromise between too much time editing v polishing
•Most important part of the production process
•Getting the recording right at the source – saving so much time on the other side
•Time is Money!
•Be willing to invest some $ at the start if possible
•Focus on baby steps when starting out!
•How to focus on discoverability and marketing!
•Tips for marketing!
oSocial Media is a fast-moving river – share the same content multiple times and give it a unique post or keyword every time
oResurface old content – just make it new context!!!
•Overcast Podcast – do some paid ads here and it would get more contents!
•What are biggest misuses of time and mistakes new podcaster make?
oCheck out Auphonic.com for some postproduction clean up
oThe Show Notes part of a podcast – make it work with SEO
•When releasing a podcast, be sure to prioritize links back to your site – this is key!
Want to know more about Ray Ortega - www.rayortega.com
Find him on @podcasthelper on Twitter & Instagram
Folks,
Final bonus episode of the holidays. A focus on some practical examples of how you can be more mindful.
Readings taken from the book 'The Miracle of Mindfulness' by Thich Nhat Hanh.
One of the best short books I've read on Mindfulness. Makes is very simple and some great stories.
You can get the book here
I hope it helps you in your mindfulness journey.
Anything jump out? Get in touch rob@robofthegreen.ie
Welcome to 1% Better and this episode’s conversation with Aoife O’Brien.
Before launching her own business, Empowerment Coaching, Aoife had a successful 17 years in the corporate world, working with global companies to solve marketing problems. She is passionate about empowering people to be happier at work, whether it’s a transition to self-employment, helping start-ups get clear and confident on where they are going, or working with organisations to ensure they hire and retain the right staff. She has lived and worked in Dublin, London, Perth and Sydney and is currently studying for a MSc in Work and Organisational Behaviour.
In her spare time she loves to travel – she has been to all 7 continents, and has travelled solo through most of the world, with camera in hand. She enjoys connecting with new people and trying new things, and keeps fit by doing yoga, and running.
In today’s episode, Aoife talks about making a career change, working on her core values, setting up a business, and her motivation to help others be happier at work and more empowered. We had a really good chat on a number of topics that you will be able to relate to I’m sure.
We discuss:
•Where the idea of being happier at work came from
•Giving up the day job to focus fully on coaching and empowering others
•Honest Conversations with Your Boss!
•When do you know it’s time to leave a job?
•Leaving a job and not having another job to go to!
•The time it takes to start building a business
•The truth in the Know, Like, Trust concept
•Seeing clients results as the huge driver instead of money
•Having a big blocker when deciding on a business name
•Working through the process of identifying her unique offering
•Empowerment is all about giving people the power to make the right decisions
•A loss of meaning and purpose in everyday life
•Going to mass and religion providing people with a sense of purpose and meaning in the past – now people are looking for this in other places
•Different types of commitment that people face
•Personal Core Values work – approaches used
oThink of what really bothers you and then flip it!
oStart just brainstorming words and then group them together
•The power of connecting with others and having fun!
•The Coaching Process and useful tools and approaches taken
•The whole life balance – taking a holistic view instead of just one area of life
•Working on self-limiting beliefs and how to overcome them
•Imposter Syndrome – gaining publicity and making this more visible to others and providing tips to overcome it
•The good side of having Imposter syndrome
•The importance of Ethics in Coaching
•Anyone saying they’re a Coach – which can be a problem for potential clients
•How to be more Resilient when the tough days come – remembering the positives and keep in mind it’s about serving others as motivating factors
•The learnings from podcasting so far with her own podcast ‘happier at work’ – just ask the question!
Book Recommended on the Show - Nancy Kline & Time To Think
Website: www.empowermentcoaching.ie
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/aoifemobrien
This is a bonus episode of 1% Better, kinda!
A few weeks back, I was a guest on the Follow My Lead Podcast with host John Eades. I thought it would be worth sharing out on 1% Better as a bonus episode. I talk about Emotional Intelligence and how important it is in leadership.
John’s been on my show twice and when he invited me on to his, to talk about some of the work that’s in my focus currently, was one I took with both hands.
Check out the episode and if you’re interested in what John does, you might like his first book – Building the Best – worth checking out on this site - https://learnloft.com/organizations/
Let me know if you enjoyed it? Especially around the Emotional Intelligence content.
Thanks,
Rob
What a great response to part 1 of this last Friday. Books really do have such an impact on people. So, I’m delighted to share this part 2 in both blog & podcast form today.
This blog just touches briefly on 5 books I read this year that had (and continue to have) a positive impact on me. And I’ll briefly outline why. The podcast episode goes a little deeper as I read an extract from each of the books. I hope you’ll enjoy both/either. All of the books will be linked to here or on my site.
So, taking up where we left off, here are the final 5 that make up the list. Let’s dive straight into them.
Shoe Dog – Phil Knight (link to book on Amazon here)
This is actually the only biography in the top 10 this year. Well the next one is a practical biography I guess but this fact tells you something about my reading preferences perhaps.
Phil Knight is the founder of Nike. And this book tracks his journey from the very start in 1962 right up to the early 1990s.
In truth this book is more than a autobiography. It’s content can help you learn so much about running a business, the challenges faced every day, hiring the best people, trust, relationships, and so much more. He combined his passion for running with business and tells this story year by year in the book
Bounce – Matthew Syed (link to book on Amazon here)
When it comes to talent and mastery, the then thousand-hour rule is something that has been talked about for a while and covered in a few many books and articles.
In this book, released a few years ago, Syed provides a mountain a lot of evidence to back up the hypothesis. He himself made it to the Olympics representing Great Britain at Table Tennis and is living proof that hard work can get you to the top.
It’s more than just hard work. There are a number of factors that need to be considered when putting in the 3 hours per day for 10 years, but it’s very possible.
As I have very high hopes for my 1 year old son, this book has given me a lot to think about. Jake - no pressure at all!
I’m looking forward to reading more of Matthew’s work in 2020.
The Power of Habit – Charles Duhigg (link here)
I mentioned in part 1 that the top 10 list is not really ordered in best to least good! However, I did indicate the paradox of choice would in the top 3. Another one that makes the top 3 is this masterpiece on habits from Charles Duhigg.
This book kept popping up over last couple of years and having a fascination around habits, I was keen to dive into it. It didn’t disappoint.
The story telling combined with science and experimental truths make this one a compelling read and one I took a crazy amount of notes and learnings from that I have been using in my own coaching work and daily habit analysis and formation.
It, like many of the ones on this list, help me understand the why and how of every day life that bit better.
The little book of Ikigai – Ken Mogi (link here)
This is one of the most recent books I read so might be a benefactor of a recency bias.
Through my own coaching journey, finding my purpose, values and knowing myself better has made life and how I live it so much more fulfilling. In many ways the message of ikigai and the pillars covered in detail in the book through stories made me realise I was finding my own ikigai through a different approach but very similar outcomes.
It’s a nice read and worth checking out. One that might hold some real value for you if you’re struggling with the existential question of ‘Who am I?’. A guest on the podcast recently, James Mofatt (link to episode here) found ikigai at a time when he needed it most. Worth a listen for sure.
Smarter Faster Better – Charles Duhigg (link here)
The only author with 2 in the top 10 so you could say it’s been a big year for Duhigg’s work (I don’t know the guy btw but would very much like to have him on the podcast).
To end with a book with the word ‘better’ in the title was not planned but now seems apt as the theme running through all of these is to improve.
Smarter Faster Better, while maybe not as impactful as ‘habits’, is still full of insights around how to be more productive, smarter with your time, maintain motivation and be efficient and effective.
Duhigg got the idea for this book as he was finishing up the power of habits. He was inspired by a colleague at The New York Times who was also a surgeon and seemed to have endless time to get stuff done. Duhigg was motivated to understand and share the secret sauce of being productive as a result.
Some great ideas in this and puts labels on many things you might already do – one personal favourite is disfluency which I talk about in the podcast version.
So that’s it. 10 great reads from reading in 2019.
I hope this is useful. It’s meant to be. To provide you with some potential reading for 2020 if not already covered.
Thanks for read & listening.
Do get in touch if you have one book you feel I MUST read in 2020. I plan to buy a few over the holidays and dive in!
Till tomorrow,
Rob
Sign up for the January Challenge on the 1% Better Slack Group - it's free - click here
Rob is a qualified Executive Coach (ICF) and has been Mentoring and Coaching over the last decade in various roles held during his career. In 2017, Rob launched the Rob of the Green Platform which hosts the 1% Better Podcast. Rob currently is a director of Project Management and Leadership Coaching at Dell in Cork, Ireland. Rob also publishes articles on productivity, leadership, goal setting, meditation, and other topics, like this one!
Connect in with Rob on the socials or via email on the links below:
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Subscribe to the Rob of the Green Newsletter Here
Last year, one of the most checked out shows….and good feedback on some of the recommendations. And it wasn’t planned.
This year, I thought it would be good to do it again. So….with some planning and tracking over the year, I kept the list.
Now here they are. In 2 parts.
Many of these influenced podcasts and in some cases, the authors became guests of the show. How cool is that.
So, I’ll read a little piece from each, like last year, a piece that I heavily underlined at the time so it must have been good!
Go out and buy these. Most of them are linked on the website – the books page – if these are you things…
Here are the first five. Enjoy!
1.Mindful Walking – Hugh O’Donovan (link to it HERE)
•One of the first I read in 2019 and interviewed Hugh shortly after reading it
•Liked the writing style
•A Great introduction to mindfulness and how you can practice it
•For me, it’s always useful to keep reading deeper into this subject and reinforce it’s value
•Example of a mindfulness practice you can do from the book
2.Recreate Your Career Story – Mary Butler
•An ex-work colleague and friend shared her work with me
•Was delighted to read this and found it full of useful tips and a solid approach to take when thinking about changing career
•Well written – a great sense of Mary’s personality coming through too
•Here’s a piece from it
3.21 Lessons for the 21st Century – Yuval Noah Harrari
•Discovered Yuval last year and was hugely impressed with Sapiens where he talks about the history of humankind – well worth a read
•This one as the title suggests dives into 21 different areas that are important for us to understand
•Liberalism, Globalization, Nationalism….
•But the piece I’m going to read is, to further espouse the value of mindfulness, from his experiences with the practice and how it’s impacted him!
4.Awareness – Anthony De Mello
•This is one I actually re-read and dip into on occasion in 2019
•It’s a guide to spiritual life
•It’s very different view on many of the every day subjects we look at or in many cases don’t examine
•There is one piece from it on ‘negative feelings towards others’
5.The Paradox of Choice – Barry Schwartz
•Had this on my shelf for a while and only got around to reading it in Sep this year
•I was instantly hooked on it – one of those reads that gives you so much to think about and makes so much sense – I love the idea of Maximizers v Satisficers
•Highly recommend this one –
•I was honoured to talk with Barry for the podcast a month or so back too and get a deeper dive into his mind and work
•You can listen to that here – https://robofthegreen.ie/episodes/barryschwartz-ep138/
•You can buy the book - https://amzn.to/2qeNS5p
•Here’s a piece from it
Maysoon is a comedian, author, disability advocate, and self-confessed hustler. Maysoon has been facing into challenges in her life from the very beginning after being born with cerebral palsy. She was treated the same as her sisters growing up and never saw the disability as something to hold her back from following her dreams. We talk about her career, tap dancing, acting, comedy, work as an advocate for Muslims and Arabs in the US as well as her work helping people overcome the stigma with disabilities.
She has a new audio book called Find Another Dream coming out through Reese Witherspoon's company, Hello Sunshine. The book has been on the best seller list for weeks and is beating Donald Trump Jr’s book.
We cover a lot during this interview and here is a summary of it:
•Facing challenges from the very start
•Dealing with Cerebral Palsy & how to approach life with the disability
•Growing up without any discrimination or bullying
•Feeling discrimination for being disabled when going to college
•Becoming an advocate for disability
•Her first advocacy work focusing on creating positive images for Arabs in America post 9/11
•Using the word disabled destigmatizes its it – there is no shame!
•Tap dancing on Broadway changing her entire life!
•How comedy emerged through her study of acting in college
•Starting to audition after college
•Signing up for a comedy class and finding a natural talent for it
•Now teaching comedy as it’s something that can be taught
•Being cast on General Hospital
•Writing Comedy every single day – no matter what – write jokes
•Don’t memorize jokes, more freestyle
•Using stable jokes that Maysoon knows works
•Making comedy as a conversation
•Get half of the room to laugh, the other half will be drowned out
•The evolution of her comedy and now knowing words matter
•In 2003, starting an Arab comedy festival, now 16 years on!
•Combatting the negative image of Arabs and muslins in media
•Inspiring others through the festival
•A Big break – Countdown with Keith Olbermann
•The inspiration behind the book Find Another Dream – not making the acting dream come through and switching to comedy!
•Know when it’s time to quit….when you don’t love whatever it is anymore!
•Dealing with fear?
•Planning ahead and what the future looks like?
•Being a hustler and always juggling many roles
•Who inspires Maysoon?
•Getting to know and learning form Adam Sander while working with him in the movie ‘don’t mess with the Zohan’ and seeing
•Maysoon’s book – Find Another Dream can be found on any online book store. You can get it through the site from this link -
You can find her book here - https://amzn.to/2ruhhJk
Maysoon’s website is https://maysoon.com/
James Moffat is an Entrepreneur and lives in Berne, Switzerland.
After a number of years working in technical sales and travelling across Europe, he had a turning in his life. Shortly after getting married and starting a family, this turning point came when he was blessed with twins. So now with 3 kids under 3, his job that required a lot of travel wasn’t viable. Adding to this, having little or no support in Switzerland, he need to have a career rethink and figure out what to do next. It was from here, James figured out his purpose, or his Ikigai.
James shares his story, lessons learned and hopes for the future with his business which helps Business Owners and aspiring Entrepreneurs take that leap of faith on their path to greatness, and how creating interactive stories with his kids has opened up a host of new opportunities for him.
The key topics covered are summarized below:
•Finding purpose
•The power of having a coach
•Learning about Ikigai & the 5 pillars
•The blue zones in the world matching to the Ikigai
•The area of Ikigai
•Pillar 1: Starting small → Focusing on the details.
Pillar 2: Releasing yourself → Accepting who you are.
Pillar 3: Harmony and sustainability → Relying on others.
Pillar 4: The joy of little things → Appreciating sensory pleasure.
Pillar 5: Being in the here and now → Finding your flow.
•The difference between living and existence
•Dealing with stress and depression
•6 weeks of coaching and tools used
•Figuring out WHO you are?
•The power of reflecting back to childhood to figure out who you are and what you’re good at?
•4 key areas – love, good at, need for, and earn money from!
•Remembering Storytelling as a passion when young and working to rediscover this
•The coaching experience being a very positive experience
•Making stories memorable
•Creating Interactive Stories to Business and Personal Use
•Coaching and personal change – takes time & hard work
•Finding a mentor in Kevin Harrington, an original Shark Tank member
•This lead to the idea of setting up his company, Visibility Impact.
•Creating a radio show for new businesses on radio in Switzerland
•Bringing storytelling and making it interactive with his son Tom
•Using creativity and ideas from talking with his son and developing new stories
•Creating the ‘Marvellous adventures of Tom and Dodo’
•Releasing audio books and now teaching parents the art of interactive story telling
•Developing a framework for the interactive stories and sticking to a specific theme
•Moving from Tease, Please, Seize to Connect, Communicate & Convert
•Using the same framework to assist businesses and entrepreneurs with their own Storytelling
•Focusing on the 3 C’s again and ensuring you’re reaching the desired outcome (convert) by connecting (creating the initial meeting) and then communicating the story to those that are your target audience.
•Telling stories that are engaging and leaving people want to know more!
•How do you get audience to buy from you? You need
oTo be visible
oTo be credible
oTo be authentic
oTo be trustworthy
•Combine these with your story and you’re onboard
•The power of the gut – the second brain – something we should leverage more!
More on James:
Founder / Visibility Awareness Stimulator
james.moffat@visibilityimpact.com
+41 79 454 56 62
www.visibilityimpact.com
This week's episode is a solo show looking back at some of the key leadership takeaways from across all the interviews I've done over the last 3 years.
Full show notes and links to the episodes mentioned in the episode page on the site www.robofthegreen.ie
Barry Schwartz is an American psychologist, professor, author, speaker and researcher. Schwartz is the Dorwin Cartwright Professor of Social Theory and Social Action at Swarthmore College. Schwartz's research addresses morality, decision-making and the inter-relationships between science and society. Barry Schwartz studies the link between economics and psychology, offering startling insights into modern life. Barry has millions of views of his Ted talks online.
I recently read his 2004 global best seller ‘The Paradox of Choice’ and was impacted by it greatly. So much of the research covered resonated with me and it was one of those reads that you can’t put down. What’s more interesting is that book is even more relevant today than it was 15 years ago when released. So, naturally I was delighted when Barry accepted the invitation to come on to the podcast and talk about his career, research, and latest work.
If you want to learn more about Barry and his work, I’ve provided links to his work at the end of the show notes.
To further entice you, here is a summary of what we covered.
•Which of the roles Barry plays is most interesting to him
•A life changing moment - taking a sabbatical in the early 1990s at Harvard to learn economics and evolutionary biology
•During this time, Barry started to write a personal narrative and found this process fascinating and it was the beginning of a book which ended up being a book (the Battle for Human Nature)
•Where did the plan to be a psychologist come from?
•Growing up in New York wanting to be a Baseball player, then a journalist
•Falling into his passion and the field of psychology by luck rather than design!
•BF Skinner’s field of psychology was the area of interest to Barry first – the psychology of learning field – How learning happens?
•Writing a text book on the psychology of learning
•Humans as creatures where everything we do is transactional
•Developing good arguments against BF Skinners theory
•What drives & motivates Barry
•Too much emphasis in psychology about collecting new empirical facts
•More interested in understanding these facts and the story of these together
•Using other’s research and tell a story that brings new understanding
•Barry’s core values
•The value of following your nose & not having a grand plan
•The way the workplace has evolved makes it harder for people to find work they have meaning in
•What is working for meaning now so mainstream and popular?
oLiving in good times but all it takes a major economic downturn and this can change things – this is a very unstable attitude
oThe Feminisation of the workplace - Women care more than men, and as Women form a larger % of the workforce, they demand that work matter!
•Emotional Intelligence – a slogan & how this impacts Barry’s work – when we want people to do the right thing – we rely on tools – sticks or carrots – instead of a desire to do the right thing because it’s the right thing!
•The Paradox of Choice – the relevance of the book still 15 years on
•Examples of how Netflix, Walmart and Amazon not fully learning the lesson
•Why are Netflix not taking on the advice in the book?
•People are acting against their own interests as they don’t understand the impacts
•The ability to rearrange a store online based on the choice
•Putting a label on the challenges people had with decision making
•Barry’s own key learnings from writing the book
oThe relation between Freedom & Choice
oMaximiser v Satisficers – so I started to reflect on a lot during reading
•Satisficing is not settling – it’s a standard and a choice to move forward
•Single most important thing – Good enough is almost always good enough!
•When to say good enough v seeking perfection?
•How age and good enough are linked
•Locus of Control & Freedom – how this ties into the decision making process
•How to select candidates for Ivy leagues schools? – make it a lottery?
•Nobody is willing to accept that important things in life happens by chance!
•The role of Luck in important things in life!!!!
•Current work & plans on the future – when all you have got is two kinds of jeans to choose from?
•Book Recommendations impactful on Barry?
oThe Economist Hour – Benjamin Applebaum – when the world started listening to economists and taking them seriously?
oRule Makes Rule Breakers – Michelle Gelfan
•One Minute Monday from Barry
oWhispering that Good Enough is good enough
oHow can I make meaning, not find meaning!!
Link to the Barry’s books
•Why We Work, Simon & Schuster/TED, 2015. (ISBN 9781476784861)[1]
•The Paradox of Choice - https://amzn.to/2qeNS5p
•Psychology of Learning and Behavior, with Edward Wasserman and Steven Robbins
•The Costs of Living: How Market Freedom Erodes the Best Things in Life, Xlibris Corporation, 2001. (ISBN 0-7388-5251-1)
•Learning and Memory, with Daniel Reisberg
•The Battle for Human Nature: Science, Morality and Modern Life
•Behaviorism, Science, and Human Nature, with Hugh Lacey, W. W. Norton & Company, 1983. (ISBN 0-393-01585-8)
•Practical Wisdom, with Kenneth Sharpe, Riverhead, 2010, (ISBN 978-1594487835)
This is an episode of the 864 from last year now being shared on the 1% Better channel.
Welcome to the 864. This one is with Mike Michalowicz. He’s a very well known Author, Podcast Host, Columnist for the Wall Street Journal and he’s even hosted a reality TV Show in the US. He’s a powerhouse guest to have on the show and I’m delighted share this with you.
Do check out the last 60 seconds after the chat with Mike for more info that might be of interest!
Links to Mike’s site & social media below:
http://www.mikemichalowicz.com/
He’s on Twitter @MikeMichalowicz
Thank you for checking out the 864 Podcast on RoboftheGreen.
Have a great day!
Rob
Jillian Schmitz is the one-woman dancing, producing, choreographing phenomenon turning burlesque in Hollywood (and beyond) on its head. She has created the all-male burlesque monthly "Man Show" at LA's Harvard & Stone.
I was delighted Jillian recorded with me to help me understand the world of burlesque better, dive into her career journey, highs, lows, and everything in between.
Summary of the episode below:
•Creating an All-Male Burlesque
•Responding to the #MeToo movement
•Capturing female desire with the male burlesque show
•Artistic value
•Attention to detail
•Explaining the origins of Burlesque
•Having humour, a transformation and a reveal in the Burlesque shows
•All Male Dance Show – in response to the women’s movement
•The recently you’ve started to have a new focus ‘Men’s Edition’?
•An All-Male burlesque review shimmies off the genre’s gender Norms
•Auditioning for the Pussy Cat Dolls and finding a big break after getting cut from this
•This led to an opportunity to start in a burlesque show – Lady’s in Lace!
•Developing herself as an artist during the following few years freestyling a burlesque piece and finding her niche
•Keeping a consistent Burlesque performance during these years
•Moving to LA at 18 without knowing anyone in the industry
•Seeing the Industry as a ‘6-month industry’ with every 6 months, a new crop comes in and willing to do more for less!
•Getting a little bit of your art in, you win
•Having the backbone of burlesque to keep her going
•The industry breaking your heart a million times over!
•Quitting every day in the industry but keeping going
•Creativity and throwing herself into the work to keep going
•The fear of being unable to work as a dancer if an injury ever happened
•A life changing experience after tearing her ACL in 2016
•Making a deal with God to get through a contract before having surgery and taking a 6-month break from work
•Taking a full 2 years to be fully back at pre-surgery strength
•Seeing this injury as a time to reflect and accept many of the challenges Jillian faced in her life – depression, eating disorders, and more
•Approaches Jillian used to unpack by reaching out for help!
•Daily practices to keep herself in a positive place
•Dealing with Anger, Fear, and Anxiety with Dancing and being Active
•Creating a Recovery Painting Book during this time off called ‘colour your recovery’
•Influencers that give Jillian strengths
•Coping mechanisms for anxiety and fear – trying to make it fun!
•You can’t lose anything you don’t already have!!
•Lying to herself about jobs that she didn’t get!
•Goal setting and meeting them!
•Management expectations and setting them too high!
•Taking your art and putting it on something else
•Advice to pass on – Get the money up front! & Follow your Bliss
•Book Recommendations:
oBig Magic - Elizabeth Gilbert
oChoose Yourself – James Altucher
•Dancing and appearing on Ted 2 and Tropic Thunder
To find out more about Jillian and her work & upcoming shows, you can go to:
•www.jillianschmitz.com
•www.lacasting.com/jillianannschmitz
•https://www.lamag.com/culturefiles/male-burlesque-mens-edition/
•Twitter – https://twitter.com/awaken2dream
•Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/jillianschmitz/?hl=en
Mark Anderson is the Culinary Director for Ireland at Gather & Gather and has long career in the food industry. Not content with just accepting the status quo, Mark has been looking at ways to incorporate a coaching mindset into food creation and working hard to develop a better always improving culture to his work and life. It was a pleasure to chat with him for this week’s episode.
A summary of the topics covered in this one with Mark is below.
•Where the passion for coaching and culture comes from?
•Starting out washing dishes at the age of 18 and working this way up from there
•Training as a Chef in DIT in Dublin thanks to his parent’s encouragement
•Getting the opportunity to travel the world as a chef and growing to love the work
•The job provides Mark with the opportunity to be creative, innovative and develop his skills
•Moving more into business catering has helped Mark develop his business skills
•Continually learning by returning college to study sport psychology and coaching
•Having a mindset of continual improvement is the key stone of his approach which means keeping our chefs up to date with market trends, visiting new suppliers, farmers markets, new restaurants, and partnering with market leaders in the industry to ensure we are leading specialists in catering
•In his current role, Mark’s Key areas include menu design and innovation during mobilisation periods, culinary development and training our many talented chefs at Gather & Gather
•Believing that the food industry in Ireland is at the tipping point and ready to break through!
•Blinds spots in personal and self-development – Boundaries & the use Language
•Simplify things – get your message across in a few words and sentences
•Understanding your principles and values and ensuring your boundaries are clear
•Empathy being the next Big thing!
•Empowering Team members -- Bringing Values setting into the teamwork in the kitchen
•How learning has changed over the year
•Picking up a lot of learnings from Gather & Gather’s customers in the business sector and applying these to the work in the kitchen
•The media portrayal of what it’s like working in a kitchen is very different to the reality – only ever experiencing a toxic environment in 2 kitchens over the years
•If the culture isn’t there, it’s very obvious – the restaurant isn’t busy!
•The positive impact reality TV shows focused on Cooking has had on the industry
•Always wanting to better himself
•The skillset that’s needed to run a kitchen is very broad – the cooking is the easy piece!
•How to create a better culture in the kitchen – tools and techniques
•Building a team dynamic in the kitchen are very similar to that on the football field
•Brining Innovation to work
•Dealing with Feedback to the Team – feedback is instant in the restaurant or kitchen
•Measuring success using food groups and having conversations that are real!
•Using visualization and key words on how you want a kitchen to look, sound, feel!
•Dealing with some of the big challenges & threats in the food industry
•Offering chefs the opportunity to carry on learning and growing. It’s one of the things I love best about this industry.
•Being inspired through his involvement in Arklow football club and learning so much through coaching that lead Mark to want to grow more
•Using the imaginary backpack with your skills and tools that can be useful in life
•Outside of the Day job running a speaking event!
•Stepping outside the comfortzone running with a full day Speaking event in Dublin with sport psychologists and fitness experts to share tips and approaches.
Learn more about Mark:
•Find Mark on LinkedIn
•Find Mark on Twitter
•Email Mark at AndersonMark1970@gmail.com
Josey Orr is a serial entrepreneur, consultant, and philanthropist. He is the Co-Founder of HUGS Wellness, a hemp-derived CBD brand based in Austin, TX, that is bringing a new standard of honesty and transparency to the CBD industry.
Formerly, he was the Founder and CEO of the denim brand Dyer and Jenkins and the CMO at BLDR Studios, a marketing consulting agency in Los Angeles.
His scope of work includes strategic brand marketing, photography, and storytelling. His work is accredited by working with major brands such as Bacardi/Dewards Whiskey, Sony/Extreme Music, Kodiak Cakes and New Age Beverage.
This is a broad ranging conversation with Josey being fully transparent about his successes, failures, drug and alcohol addiction and recovery. His experience and perspective on business, value creation, recovery, and the reasons why his new company, HUGS Wellness, is focused on making a difference in the CBD industry are all on show during the episode.
Here’s a full summary of the conversation:
•Learnings from his first job working for his father’s business
•Josey’s early realization that he never wanted to work for someone else and wanting to be his own boss
•Learning core business principles with customer feedback being of upmost importance and being a man of your word – dependability and staying true to your word!
•A lesson from his father – no ask someone to do something that you’re not willing to do yourself or have done already
•Drug & Alcohol addiction running in Josey’s family and after starting to experiment with both, he started to cross ‘invisible lines’ and then becoming addicted.
•The opioid epidemic in blue-collar America that impacted Josey
•Easy access to these drugs so it lead to an addiction
•Taking OxyContin and Heroin – OxyContin is just pharmaceutical grade heroin
•Getting sober in 2011 at the age of 20 with AA which worked for Josey but it’s not the only way
•Recovery was also part of Josey’s family and this was key on his journey
•Josey’s mother telling him a harsh truth and this led to a ‘moment of clarity’
•Being given the gift of willingness to hearing and listening to advice to people that knew more than Josey
•Moving to LA for recovery and this put him on a new path towards becoming an entrepreneur
•Inspired by Books – Seth Godin – Purple Cow and the 4 Hour Work Week
•Key Lessons learned through a series of business:
oAn online retail store for me – failed miserably with too much inventory
oStarting his own clothing company rather than selling others – learning a lot about digital marketing as a whole
oLearning to take some hits on the chin and getting back up and going again
•Entrepreneurship now being like a celebrity and how glorified it is now – this can overshadow that it’s very hard!
•Sobriety & Recovery very similar
•The relationship between entrepreneurship and recovery are very similar – both willing to make a change – how you can focus on helping somebody
•Value Creation is very similar in recovery and business
•In Sobriety your thought ‘you can’t keep what you have unless you’re willing to give it away’
•Business is similar – you succeed more in delivering value than what you can abstract from a transaction
•HUGS Wellness & the CBE venture – why now?
•2019 CBD’s huge boom in the wellness community due to changes in the federal laws in the USA
•Misconceptions in the CBD Industry – Addictive?
•The benefits of taking CBD.
•Why are people taking CBD?
•How it is used?
•Difference with weed – THC v HEMP?
•What deciding to go into this industry now?
•How to differential themselves from the rest in their marketing and promotions
•Hugs is all about self-care
•Giving away 1% of profits monthly to help others recover – giving back at the core!
•Spending time, money and effort on compliance which is a critical part of the business and to create more credibility
•Being a mission driven organization
•Focusing on the User Experience as a key value
•Transparency is another core value
•Other inspirational leaders Josey learns from?
o@Naval on Twitter
oPaul Graham
•Creating a work-life balance? Practicing self-care!!
•Taking breaks is not a weakness!
•Check out more about HUGS Wellness at www.hugscbd.com
•If you’re keen to purchase, you can use the discount Code – HUGYOURSELF at checkout!
I recently found an article on the BBC website about a 3100-mile race that happens every year. It’s called a run to self-transcendence and as someone that is very intrigued in self-development, I wanted to learn more. And hopefully talk with one of the runners that attempted and, maybe even, completed it. Not only did I manage to find one, he’s also a fellow Irishman. His name is Nirbhasa Magee and his the guest for this episode.
Nirbhasa has been a meditation practitioner since his late teens/early twenties and through his practice, started to go for short runs with friends from the meditation group (Sri Chinmoys) he’s part of. One thing led to another. Before he knew it, he had moved on to marathons, ultramarathons, then 6 and 10 day runs and eventually the 3100 mile race.
In this podcast interview, Nirbhasa tells this story in detail, shares the benefits he’s gained from meditation and running and provides some hugely interesting insights from his journey so far.
Here is a summary and more about Sri Chinmoy (please excuse Typos):
•How Nirbhasa discovered meditation
•The key to a good meditation practice – even if it’s just 5 minutes per day – getting your foot in the door – this is the start of a building a habit
•Always noticing if he missed the daily quotient of peace and joy i.e. a short meditation
•Starting with a book ‘meditate like a master’ (or something of that name!)
•Noticing the difference in the day to day life even if the it wasn’t a ‘great’ meditation
•Finding deeper meaning and a feeling or pull of his being enjoying meditation
•An overview of the mediation practices used early on:
•Meditation Practice - Heart-Centre Mediations – Breathing and feeling the breath is coming from and leaving from the heart centre
•The difference between concentration on the mind and the heart!
•Finding himself coming out of heart-centre mediation with much more kindness on others and yourself
•Techniques are just like a city map – the same with the meditation techniques – you get to know your heart just like a city and after a while you can throw away the maps!
•Over time meditation becomes part of your being
•Reflecting on the changes and impact meditation has on Nirbhasa – not borne out of sadness or loneliness
•The one thing meditation has given him – a sense of fulfilment and purpose – not easily explained but more in a feeling
•Mediation has taught him to cherish the joy of doing things not just the outcomes
•Fitness & Running entered Nirbhasa’s life despite hating running originally
•Mediation helped to be in the right inner space when running – this happened quickly after he started running
•Getting into running longer distances more by chance running with others from the Sri Chinmoy centre
•Getting into the space running the right way – running along ‘eternities road’
•Just doing 1-2 marathons every year initially but becoming more aware of the ultra-running
•Hearing about much longer distances like the 6- & 10-day race and the 3100-mile race
•In 2012, Nirbhasa, stopped in New York, and went to support the 6- and 10-day race. The feeling he had from this gave him the motivation to sign up for it the following year – a huge sense of peace being there – this is something I could do!!!
•The 6- & 10-day races which are based on the most miles done in these days
•How the mind can be limiting which lead Nirbhasa to sign up only to the 6-day race
•The training plan for the 6-day race – having 2 great spiritual experience from the training itself –
1.Documentary – Spirit of a Runner on Vimeo – this lead to - The following day – an inner voice, why not move to the 10 day race instead
2.A Talk that moved Nirbhasa – from a Sri Chinmoy seminar – learning about her meditation life – “it’s got the stage where I just sort of exist” – this was a statement he didn’t forget – but didn’t know what it meant….Having 3 big projects with work before the race – making the commitment – training was to be priority #1 – this was key! As this went along…put the important things first, everything else gets done! Like being an observer watching things happen! – A huge change
•Dealing with misconceptions – that meditation is not accepting life’s responsibilities – but that is not the case - don’t what meditation is about
•How the attitude of Meditation today is about leading your life….meditation is a key part of helping you be happy to be able to do everything you need to do and still be peaceful and satisfaction
•Running & Training – avoiding injuries – lucky but also being able to connect into the issue and being able to find a workaround to overcome it
•The attitude that you take when training and running is very very important – if you’re not running the for the right reasons…this can lead to injury or overexert!
•There is a link between mental state and at which people suffer – when Nirbhasa runs, he must ensure he’s running from the right attitude – having a childlike consciousness when running!
•The experience doing the 10-day race first time in 2013 – another big revelation doing it – setting a goal of 500 miles as a target – expecting to slow down on day 3 as all others thought – but as the days went on, Nirbhasa kept going and didn’t slow down – having 2-3 cosmic experiencing during the race
•On the last day, after keeping a pace of 60 miles a day, decided to run all night on the last day and doing 91 miles on the last day, 622 miles overall and finishing 4th over
•The power of the mind – overcoming the limiting beliefs
•Meditation is about unlearning!
About the 3100 Mile Race
•3100-mile race around a single ½ mile block in Queens New York
•The 3100-mile race is the longest of several ultra-marathons and other running races founded by Sri Chinmoy.
•Not being allowed to run this unless you’ve done many multiday races before
•Only deciding to run this after completing the 10 day.
•60 miles a day is the average to run!
•Deciding to run it for the first time but taking his time to sign up so doing the 10 day race a second time around and doing 702 miles giving him confidence for the 3100
•The training gives confidence more than anything
•In 2015, in June Nirbhasa did his first 3100-mile race
•Trusting the Universe to provide a response - Dealing with major cross roads, putting the questions or issue out there, even by writing a letter, and then meditating. Leaving the decision to God or the Universe to sort out and letting it to see what comes back
•The notion of Spiritual Surrender – an ongoing and evolving process – not something that happens overnight
•The 3100 Documentary including other self-transcendence runs (link to the documentary here)
oIt’s a deep dive into Why people run and the spiritual exploration
oThe 3100 Run and Become
oFocus on Ash-Pri-han-nal – 14 times now 16 times?
oYuri – do you have to be a follower of Sri Chinmoy?
oRecord time -- 40 days - Ashprihanal Aalto has won the race nine times and participated 15 times.
oShamita – Austrian – dropped out after 1000 miles
oGyoman-san of the Monks of Mt. Hiei, Japan
oNavajo Runner included
•Nirbhasa’s experiences having run this 3 times over the last 5 years
oThe physical adjustment taking a few days
oThe mental adjustment starting to calm down and a much more natural meditative state comes
oStages during the race where meditation takes over and some parts of your being is having the time of its life!! That’s what keeps him coming back and get deeper every year
oComparisons with a silent retreat where the mind starts to calm after a few days
•The race itself is a very safe space of spiritual transformation – with everything being taken care of and you’re running letting off steam and being able to talk and express himself is very important – can share the experiences with different to a silent retreat
•From the 3 races Nirbhasa has completed, what stands out most?
oFrom the 2019 race, after 35+ days, hitting a heatwave in New York making the heat 41-42 Celsius – Nirbhasa kept running and was so exhausted at the end of that day – leading to heat exhaustion inside his stomach – leading to 6/7 days that lead to walking most of the time!
oThis lead to him learning to be happy no matter how he was doing – this is a key lesson – just to be happy no matter what!
oA second heatwave come some days later – leading Nirbhasa to keep pushing forward but getting a recommendation from an Aru Vedic doc and being able to run again an hour later – the benefits of grass in his shoe that helped it cool down
•To learn more about Nirbhasa and Sri Chinmoy check out:
•Video called “Seeker” with Snatak on google the video will come up – check this out
•This year, Nirbhasa after finishing the race, he felt he will do this every year
•Sri Chinmoy links - https://ie.srichinmoycentre.org/
More about Sri Chinmoy:
•Background on Sri Chinmoy
•Came to prominence
•About him – Chinmoy Kumar Ghose, better known as Sri Chinmoy[1] (27 August 1931 – 11 October 2007), was an Indian spiritual leader who taught meditation in the West after moving to New York City in 1964.[2] Chinmoy established his first meditation center in Queens, New York, and eventually had 7,000 students in 60 countries.[3][4] A prolific author, artist, poet, and musician, he also held public events such as concerts and meditations on the theme of inner peace.[4][5] Chinmoy advocated a spiritual path to God through prayer and meditation. He advocated athleticism including distance running, swimming, and weightlifting. He organized marathons and other races, and was an active runner and, following a knee injury, weightlifter.
•In 1973, the New York Times wrote that Chinmoy was "revered in India as one of the few holy men to have reached Nirvikalpa Samadhi, the absolute highest level of consciousness"
I’m very much delighted to welcome back John Eades to the show in a first for the podcast.
John is the CEO of LearnLoft a leadership development company that exists to turn professionals into leaders and create healthier places to work. He is also the author of the upcoming book "Building the Best" due out on November 15th and is the host of the 'Follow My Lead' Podcast. Which I’m looking forward to getting my hands on.
In this one, we focus in on some specific areas that every Leader is focusing more and more on (or at least should be). Namely Culture, Innovation, & Talent Development.
John has a great way of sharing real life examples from his experience with leaders and shares many of these in this episode.
Here is a summary of the topics we talk through that might be of interest:
•John’s new book coming out and the process of putting this together
•The definition of Self-Discipline ‘the willingness and the ability to sacrifice what you want now for what you want more later on’ – pay the price now to get it later!!!
•The definition of Leadership – how this has changed or not?
•Inspire – breathing life into someone else?
•Empower – helping others make decisions – be courageous
•Culture and how to build this?
•What culture is and what it isn’t?
•Definition – the shared values and beliefs that guide thinking & behaviours
•Culture will evolve and is always changing
•You can’t steal other teams culture!
•There is no patent on Culture
•Changing culture for 100-year-old organizations – how do these change?
•Changing CEOs to help culture change – Leaders at the top give this direction?
•How quickly can culture change?
•Look for the clues --- Culture moving in the right direction leaves clues!
•Examples of clues to look for? Behaviours and Choices?
•Looking beyond the results as these can be cheated – Behaviours and Habits!
•Best leaders are really reliant on the core values – in an authentic way
•Finding Joy in the Journey – can we enjoy the journey that we are on?
•Work & Enjoyment and tied to Purpose?
•Example of Mortgage Team Leader that works on closing documents – finding a purpose here by taking pictures of the people’s lives they are impacting
•Examples of tools, exercises, rituals that help build culture?
oDefining core values that are in short phrases instead of just words!
oHiring and firing based on the core values being adhered to?
oAwarding players that are living out the core values not the best player!
oEmpowering the team to pick which player lived the values better?
•Creating the culture where everyone is valued!
•The need to belong is as important as food and shelter – community!
•The difference between being alone & lonely
•A leader has to do what is in the best interest of his club!
•Innovation & how this is tied to culture – one key word here is ‘failure’
•Innovative culture understand failure is part of innovation & how they talk about mistakes
•Failure is not final, failure is feedback!
•Courage, not fear, creates innovation
•Example - Callaway Golf example – Chip Brewer CEO & the Bad 3 Wood – being a courageous leader to stick with the vision – he knew failure is not final
•Talent & People – knowing people are capable of more?
•War on Talent – how are leaders approaching this war!!
•Talented people are attracted to real core values that are being followed!
•Exercising core values are key!
•Purpose, values, and opportunity as key differentiators
•The power of relationships – 1-1 relationships goes a really long way!
•Finding leaders that really care about their people – not worrying about getting to close to their people
•It’s ok and you should get close to people – you care about then on a deeper level
•When the offer comes in for x more $, it has a big impact when deciding to stay or go?
•Don’t underestimate the power of relationships to retain talent
•How Data is being used to identify the best talent v the emotional connection?
•Not eliminating candidates if they don’t fit into the Job description criteria?
•Sean McVeigh at 33 might never be hired if it was purely selected by data
•Bet on the Jockey, not the Horse!!
•You have to bet on people, that’s what is key – follow the heart & mind!
•Closing Question – what’s stood out in the last 12 months on Leadership?
oEvery Leader can get better and improve – working on self-awareness – do the work!
•Make the choice to invest in yourself – don’t wait on anyone else! Take ownership of your career and improve!
•The Bill Gate example who reads 14 books in parallel
•Ramp it up, how can you do more? How can you learn more!
•Deciding what color to make the book? Red v Blue!
•Being a leader is a great and important choice and we need more people make that choice as it has an impact on every part of your life
For more about John, you can go to:
•www.learnloft.com
•LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/johngeades/
The book can be pre-purchased here - https://learnloft.com/building-the-best-book/
Enjoy!!!
Vicky Shilling is a coach, helping wellness entrepreneurs turn their business ideas into reality. Vicky supports her clients through 1:1 coaching, online masterclasses and runs a thriving online community of health and wellbeing business owners. She teaches and lectures about starting a wellness business in both the UK and Ireland.
Vicky is also the co-founder of wellness and retreat brand The Reset and writes her own healthy living blog The Flourishing Pantry, which won Health Blog Of The Year 2019 at the Nutrition Health & Fitness Awards.
This is a really interesting insight to her journey so far as an entrepreneur and how she’s helping others on their own path!
Summary of the discussion:
•Growing up exposed to the world of classical music
•Working in the Music Industry but sensing a change was needed after a decade working in London & the UK
•Realising that looking after her own health and wellness had to become a priority
•Starting from my blog and sharing my own journey to find health overcoming IBS
•Introducing meditation and mindfulness into her routine to help with the IBS
•Out of looking at ways to be more healthy and eat better, the new world of wellness opened up for Vicky
•A move into the area of Wellness followed
•Moving to Ireland and starting out with a new community
•Getting comfortable with being an entrepreneur
•Building out her own brand and developing new skills
•A new mindset – this was the biggest challenge faced!
•Personal Development Tools used – 750words website & journaling
•The importance of having a coach herself
•The role project management, planning and focus plays in her business – Communication at the core
•Dealing with the voice inside your head
•Lesson learned so far!
•Coaching Experiences and Key Tools to use
oThe Model – Brooke Castillo – https://thelifecoachschool.com/video/video-the-model-part-1/
oCreating goals and breaking these down into small manageable steps
•Knowing that we can change our thoughts if we give ourselves a chance!
•Dealing with the Perfection v Good enough struggle
•Learning new skills and becoming a teacher to others
•Sales - Moving from being uncomfortable about Selling to be feeling less icky?
•Making Sales a conversation and listen more (coaching) – not about the hard sell!
•Social Media Learning & growing her network
oGetting clear on where your audience it?
oWhat do you enjoy doing and match that to your platform
oBuild a Know, Like and Trust factor into the work
•Creation of content and looking at ways how to reuse it
•Starting out with Podcasting and how to reuse content
•Biggest challenges you’re finding in business?
•Goal setting and discipline to help when working from home
•How to plan for the week and day ahead?
•Influencers and Mentors – keeping things simple as a key message!!!
•Dealing with Fear – for herself and helping clients? – What am I afraid of?
•Listening to her own advice is key
You can find Vicky and her brands online:
The Flourishing Pantry
Healthy living for busy entrepreneurs
www.theflourishingpantry.com
www.vickyshilling.com
www.thereset.me
1% Better – Ask Me Anything #1 – Episode #130
This is the first AMA (officially) I’ve shared after collecting questions over the last while touching on podcasting, coaching, and some other random ones. Listed below are the questions that I answer so if any of these are of interest and could be helpful, check out this episode. If it’s well received, I’ll look to do another few over the next while as I do have a lot more questions on the list to get through.
Do keep sending these in via the feedback page on the site, via social media channels, through email (rob@robofthegreen.ie) or via the Slack 1% Better community (join up to that via this link HERE).
If you have questions or interested in podcasting or coaching, get in touch too.
Ok. Here are the categories and the questions answers:
The Podcasting Questions
•How to find guests?
•What level of preparation & research do I do?
•Best Mic to use starting out?
•Best Platform or media hosting used?
•How to get the audio sound & volume right?
•Podcasts I listen to myself?
•Dream guests?
Start at 24:30m Personal & Professional Development
•Nervous in preparation?
•A favourite Saying/Quote ?
•How do I manage Time Management for a busy schedule
•For a newbie on the road of self-improvement / getting 1% better daily what should their first few steps be - which actions and resources ?
•The biggest learning / observation since starting 1% Better?
Thanks for listening. Please do share, rate, review, and subscribe to the show if you do like it. Without your help and word of mouth, the show and message will not grow. So thank you!
This week’s guest is one I’ve been looking forward to talking with for a while and it did not disappoint at all, in any way, whatsoever.
Daniel Abrahams is a sports psychologist, author, blogger, & podcaster (Sportspsychshow), former professional golfers and from following him on twitter has a very high level of curiosity and passion for learning, personal growth and figuring out why in many areas!
Dan is currently consultant Sport Psychologist to AFC Bournemouth in the English Premier League and to Ostersunds in Swedish Division One.
His passion is to de-mystify sport psychology theories, tools and techniques which enables him to provide a simple, powerful, fun, and engaging sport psychology consultancy that works.
Don’t take my word for it. Check out testiminonials from Eddie Jones - “Dan’s professional approach in his role as a Sport Psychologist would fit into any club or organisation” & Eddie Howe – “With his deep knowledge of sport psychology, Dan helps coaches understand the science behind high performance and the methods that underpin effective training”
Here are just some of the topics covered during the show you might be interested in learning about:
•Having a 1% Better Mindset – the small increments to get the small advantage
•Helping Sports Professionals find their nudges
•Focusing on the Adult Elite Levels
•How to help players improve
•The 1 to 5 Guy focusing on a 1% to 5% increase in performance
•Goal Setting Processes
•Life as a Professional Golfer
•Becoming aware of the mental game in his own head while playing golf!
•Performance being Paradoxical – less is more!
•Nature & Nurture Debate – Nurtured Nature as the most accurate term!
•Being Trait Anxious – a term in psychology where the nervous system impacts performance
•Representational Learning Design – Putting more Consequence into the practice
•Deep dive into Practice – the quality of your practice is key! Making Practice more like the game!
•4 Levels of Practice to create a RLD – 1) Technical Practices (lots of shots) 2) Routine 3) Adding in a Game/Objective 4) Nervous System (consequence)
•Firing your nervous systems and adding cortisol into your practice
•Having a Solid Mental Framework to compete with to improve your performance
oHaving specific objectives here
•Knowing what you want to achieve in the moment
•What are your performance moments to achieve well at?
•Mental Models & Mental Frameworks in Business & Sport!
•3 Key Mental skills for High Performance Mindset – getting these right!
oAttention – paying attention and manage distractions
oIntensity – activation
oPositive Intent – am I getting myself over with positive intent?
•The sweet between authentic and inauthentic – there are times for this in sport!
•The Game Face – being Authentic & Inauthentic
oWho you want to me?
oHow you want to go about your business?
oBuilt from memory, imagination and perception
•Game Face – you have to be an actor on the pitch!
1.What is your very best game? – tapping into your memory?
2.What is your dream game/meeting look like? – tapping into your imagination?
3.Illicit key words from players/professionals, eg – alert, alive, cool, calm, driven, etc…….goal is to get a mix of inauthentic & authenticity
4.Create a metaphor and a key player or animal to use here!
•The brain working in Metaphors – George Lakhoff
•Embodiment & Embodied Cognition – Cognition is dispersed through your body!
•The Confident Relentless Lion – Be, Do & Act – Who do I want to be?
•Extrovert v Introverts on the field & in leadership?
•Agreeableness and Competitiveness – Roy Keane with a Game Face!
•Leadership – Traits & Qualities – Servant, Empower, Inspire,
•The importance of people skills in sport today
•A Coach having 2 dials – Support & Stretch – e.g. Gareth Southgate’s approach with England!
•Experience and learning from Eddie Jones & Eddie Howe
•How can these tools can be applied to business & corporate environments
•Tools & Techniques you find very useful in 1-1 interventions & teams
•The Writing Process and the success of the books created – telling stories and make it simple
•Bob Rotella’s influence in Dan’s writing
•A listener question from twitter – dealing with the fear coming back from an ACL injury!
Books:
•You can check out the four bestselling books - 'Soccer Tough', 'Soccer Tough II', 'Soccer Brain' and 'Golf Tough'.
Connect in with you:
•Website – www.DanAbrahams.com
•Twitter - @DanAbrahamas77
Folks,
This is another 1% Better short (what was an episode of The 864) with the world famous Podcaster & Coach John Lee Dumas. It's a short one but full of interesting lessons from JLDs journey so far. The show notes from the original post last year are below. I hope you enjoy!
John Lee Dumas is the Founder and Host of EOFire, a top-ranked, daily podcast featuring interviews with today's most inspiring and successful entrepreneurs. John & EOFire have been featured in Forbes, TIME and Inc. Magazine.
During the show, we touch on:
Releasing Shows 7 Days a Week
Common Traits for Entrepreneurs – Focus!!
Follow one course until they get the success - Cut out all the fat!
Dealing with Negative Feedback with Empathy
Publishing monthly earnings from his business
Sharing mistakes and successes from the financial reports
Knowing when to shut down initiatives and have the courage to do it!
Stand out guests that John’s learned from!
Damian John – The power of broke – how to learn to hustle
Complacency – how to deal with that
Key Tips:
Be a person of Value, not as someone chasing success
If you want to Be, Do!
Do things that don’t scale – have 1-1 conversations to understand how they found you!
Link to JLD:
John Lee Dumas - https://www.eofire.com/
You can find John Lee Dumas on the socials
Twitter - https://twitter.com/johnleedumas
Instagram -https://www.instagram.com/johnleedumas/?hl=en
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/johnleedumas1
Please do let me know what you think via the feedback page or any of the socials – links below.
Casey Lynn Hancock is a self-taught artist and has exploded on to the scene in the last 2 years with her very unique paintings and distinctive style. I noticed her work through social media, connected and was delighted when she agreed to come onto the show to talk about her career, her passion, focus, style and her backstory.
Casey was in the military for a number of years in the US air force and only decided to pursue a career as a full-time artist.
Summary of the discussion:
•Growing up – always having a passion for drawing, mainly of animals.
•Originally being bad at drawing animals
•Having an innate passion for drawing from her earliest memories
•Being a perfectionist from her youth
•Not having art, creativity or design in the family
•Despite having a passion and an eagerness to moving into this world early on, her father was very against it as artist don’t make any money!
•Instead of art school, Casey joined the military and Lessons learned and principals take from the army – discipline, preparation, professionalism, integrity, and other core values – developed accountability and focus
•Expressing creativity through photography while in the military
•After leaving the military, deciding to dive into a marketing degree to develop these skills – still remembering having her father’s words in her head
•Working in Marketing after the military which also have helped in her current career choice
•Key learning and takeaways from the Corporate world – social media, marketing, understanding what people want to see!
•Time lapse videos being a big hit with her followers which was something she’d never have realised before
•Taking the step out on her own – what was the strategy before taking the leap?
•Planning, Saving, and having a clear plan!
•Having a 2 Year window to really start making progress
•Living well within her means!
•Telling her father 30 days after taking the decision to go out on her own
•Trusting her judgement and having an exit strategy if it’s not working out!
•Dealing with great months and slow months
•Once out, starting to build up her portfolio
•Not having the benefit of mentors when starting out
•Finding inspiration for some of the initial pieces of work
•Developing her own style, preferred colours (Teale is prominent) and approach
•A breakthrough piece that helped raise awareness of her work
•Experimenting and trying out new techniques
•The energy put into the work
•The importance of the design phase of the work – coming up with the concept as the most challenging part
•Playing with skin tones which is proving a big challenge
•Having no formal training, every day is a learning experience but using YouTube and other resources to grow and develop
•Practice a specific technique over and over in a deliberate way
•Working style & doing the work – focusing on big blocks of time
•Getting into flow and loving the process
•Painters Block – leaving work for days, weeks and somethings months before coming back and finishing it
•Perfectionism v Good Enough
•Quote – Perfection is the Enemy of Profitability!
•Time Management Approaches – Tracking hours spend on every piece ever done
•Breaking down work into earning per hours
•Dealing with Fear, Self-Doubt, and Judgement – The hardest thing!
•Promoting her work was the hardest thing compared to a product!
•Knowing this is the work she wants to do, just keep doing!
•Quote – Andy Warhol – Keep Creating! Keep doing the work
•Biggest lesson learned - Don’t wait until you feel like you know who you are before you get started!
•Don’t wait till you feel like you’re there! IT WILL PROBABLY NEVER COME!
•Enjoying seeing the progression & just start!
•Don’t compare your real life to someone else high light reel
Website – www.caseypaintings.com
Instragram - @caseypaintings
The article and episode I did on productivity a couple of years back got some great feedback. But always felt like there was more to cover. This is part 2! Listen and/or read the full post (link below to the written version).
Please like,share, comment!
Productivity Deep Dive - See blog post for full written version of this
https://robofthegreen.ie/2019/09/03/productivity-part-2-on-purpose-with-purpose
Steve Timothy is a comedian, online sensation, soon to be Author, Rapper, Satirist, and other titles. He calls himself a chancer and professional Tom-fool. Whatever you want to call him, he’s making a mark.
We connected a couple of weeks back, shortly after his sell out show in Cork, to talk about his career, struggles with anxiety, dealing with trolls, disability, love for Everton Football Club, creativity, business, Conor McGregor, and of course the character he and his partner, Sinead, are best known for, Farmer Michael and Kathleen!
The Summary of our conversation includes:
•Everton FC & support from the team players and raising the status of Everton in Ireland
•Social media following
•The realisation of selling out shows
•Preparing content and dealing with fears and pre-show nerves
•Goodwill from random people and begrudgery from Irish
•Dealing with online Tolls & Death Threats
•Authentically talking about life struggles and dealing with anxiety
•Mental Health Struggles - Sharing this, Making it Normal & de-stigmatisation
•Losing followers when sharing about anxiety and depression
•Not sharing these for likes and followers
•The origins of Farmer Michael and Kathleen & how it’s evolved
•The process followed for creating the content – using every day events
•Working through the bits with Sinead testing out content
•The reaction to followers finding out about Steve’s disability
•Getting support from Disability Ireland
•Dealing with a breakdown and using writing and rapping as an outlet hitting number 1 in the Irish iTunes Charts with the ‘most depressing rap song ever written’
•Moving out of the car onto the stage – coping with the anxiety with this
•Terrifying ideas and using flooding techniques
•Removing the choice of suffering with Panic and Anxiety
•Looking for the Panicky Steve back to be more comfortable
•The Material for the full hour+ stage show – manic and measured
•Crowd interaction and enjoying hecklers
•Future shows and selling out gigs across the UK and Ireland
•The Farmer Michael in all of us & future generations
•Innocence and Ignorance from past generations
•Working towards a release of their first book on Everton FC
•Building a Business behind Farmer Michael
•3 hours per day on social media to market the content
•Finding the balance with posting online
•Other influences in comedy and satire
•Influenced by others – Stewart Lee
•Getting Conor McGregor in the Car!
•How Sinead complements the overall work
•What’s coming next?
oBook
oGigs across the globe?
•How to connect in
•Website:
owww.stevotimothy.com
•Social Media @sirstevotimothy
All,
This is another episode of the 864 from last year that I'm now releasing on the 1% Better channel. It's a big name and a great chat.
In this episode, I talk with Rosanna Arquette.
If you want to find out about her relationship with Madonna or other standard movie questions from her acting career, this is probably not the interview for you!
The 864 aims to understand a little bit more about the person, what they value, how they have been successful, deal with life challenges and other obstacles that get in the way and we stayed close to these topics in this conversation with Rosanna.
What I did totally not stay true to was the 864 seconds duration piece. It’s more like the 1500 second podcast but it’s not every day I get to chat with Rosanna Arquette and the good stuff kept coming so I wasn’t going to break the flow!
Check out the high-level summary of the conversation below along with some book recommendations and links the 1% Better podcast, Newsletter and more.
Quid Pro Quo Alert:
Finally, thank you for checking out this episode. My only ask – if you do enjoy, it, check out previous & future episodes, consider sharing it out in your own networks. Any of these take just a few seconds and would mean a lot me.
Summary:
•Values that Rosanna developed from a young age from her Mother & Family
•Growing up in diverse community and schools
•Her Mother having a struggle with wealth when Rosanna started to do well
•Marching with Martin Luther King
•The Flint Crisis
•Staying Positive & How to Deal with this – working hard to be positive – this is very difficult
•When you stay in gratitude, you can’t be in fear!!
•Inspired by the energies of the youth and students!
•Focus on the Good and We shall overcome!
•Harvey Weinstein
•Cliché & Sayings to Live by - March for our Lives & No human being is illegal
•The Porn Industry – the impact this is having on young boys
•Trump, Putin, Sex Trafficking
•Twitter Clean-up & Losing 300k followers Bots
•Rosanna’s New Show - Sideswiped
•Transition from Acting to Directing
Book Recommendations:
•Mary Beard – Women and Power
•An Essay on Love and Cruelty – Jacqueline Rose
•Sex and Rage – Eve Babitz
•Witches, Sluts, Feminists – Kristen J. Sollee
•The Despair of Monkey and other Trifles: A Memoir by Francoise Hardy
•Please Let Me Go – Caitlin Spencer
1% Better tips:
•Write list for what you’re grateful for!
•Practice Gratitude
Please check out the 1% Better show and other content on www.robofthegreen.ie
Eoghan Quinn came to my attention a couple of months back. For a couple of reasons.
1)He gained nationwide news coverage as he was attempting to kite surf from France to Ireland (227 miles or 295 nautical miles)
2)Like me, he’s a type 1 diabetic and is keen to show the disease can be an enabler, not a disabler.
I was delighted to get him onto the podcast to talk about both in detail and a whole lot beside.
As you’ll hear, Eoghan is a very focused and motivated guy, keen to keep healthy, fit, not be held back by Type 1 diabetes and even more driven to inspire other Type 1 diabetics to do more and not be held back by limiting beliefs
Topics covered:
•One of his first memories as he was Diagnosed at the age of 4 and managing the disease ever since
•Remembering the panic in his mother’s eyes knowing they were going into a whole new world
•No history of type diabetes in the family
•Becoming a Coeliac at the age of 5 which added to the complexity
•Recalling his first diabetic testing kit
•Having a great doctor that supported Eoghan all the way through Primary School
•Always being active and leading a full life all the way
•Sometimes trying to ignore being a diabetic but changing the mindset and embracing the disease
•Dealing with the stigma around being a diabetic and overcoming the shame
•The psychological element of being a diabetic
•Embracing the technology and having a huge impact once doing this
•The Insulin pump being a life changing device
•Testing the body and testing the boundaries you can do as a Type 1 diabetic
•Realizing that Type 1 Diabetes is not your fault
•The impact being of a high glucose, acting fidgety and tired
•Turing Type 1 Diabetes into an Enabler
•Becoming addicted to challenges to push the limits
oBike Riding from Ireland to Gaza – 180km a day over 5000km
oBike Racing from Melbourne to Sydney in support of Aboriginal healthcare and diabetes
•Life expectancy without Insulin & having to pay for insulin in some countries
•The challenge of travelling with work as a Type 1 diabetic – the insulin pump works great for this
•The preparation into Planning to Kite Surf taking 8 months
•As the planning got deeper, the challenge became more and more real
•Getting support from Diabetes Ireland and other big brands
•Kite Surfing and the challenges of being a Type 1 diabetic
•Sending a positive message to other Type 1 diabetics that they can achieve whatever they want
•Using the Abbott Free Style Libre and the Insulin Pump to manage his diabetes
•Support from Ballycotton Sea Adventures
•Working with a Support team who are essential to the success
•Setting sail at the end of June but just failing short due to adverse weather conditions
•Managing the blood sugars during the challenge and keeping the level between 10 and 11 readings
•Planning for everything and controlling everything but the Weather
•Arriving into Cork meeting with 60-80 other Type 1 Diabetics and feelings great about the challenge
•Raising the awareness for Type 1 Diabetes by doing this challenge
•Research into new technology and advances like the bionic pancreases
•Learning about the ‘closed-loop’ artificial pancreases creator in the US and looking to get on the clinical trials here
•Edward Dimanino motivated to work on a solution after his son was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes
•Not expecting a cure of T1D ever but looking at technology as a management tool
•Huge advances expected in the next 5 years
•If you could listen to anyone in a podcast interview – Getting inside the head of a Manager of a Gaelic Football or Hurling Team
•Future Challenges & Plans!
To Connect with Eoghan and find out more:
•Croke Park in November – Event Type 1 Diabetes
•Twitter – @EoghanQuinn1
•Instagram - @EoghanQuinn1
•LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/eoghan-quinn-59b15437/
Michael Houghton is an Entrepreneur & Investor, originally from New Zealand and now living in Ireland. He is on a mission to become financially independent. Like many, he has grown tired of selling his time for money so started to look into ways at which he could work less, but still earn as much and enjoy more free time with his family.
After spending a lot of time planning how, he started to execute on his strategy and in 2018 he was able to cut down from full time to part time work as a freelance developer.
This was his first step towards freeing up my time and seeing a lifestyle change as a result of his decision to chase financial freedom. Since then he’s been continuing to work towards this goal and earlier this year set up his website – playingwithfire.ie where he transparently shares his investment portfolio and how much progress he is making. Michael also has started sharing his learnings and advice through his podcast and blog posts. All available from his site here
His ultimate goal is to build a portfolio that produces enough monthly income to cover my monthly expenses - at that point, he will be truly financially independent.
For me this was a very interesting conversation. I wanted to learn more about his approach and sacrifices he and his family need to make to realise this goal. I also was very interested in learning more about the Peer to Peer lending services he is using as well as other investments that he is making.
Here is a summary of the topics we covered during the interview. I hope you enjoy listening to this one and learn something new from it that might be of value.
Summary:
•Earning 12-15% interest with Peer to Peer lending with Minos.com
•Investment in forestry & Christmas Trees!
•Seeing an investment as an expense
•Changing the Mindset on investment – Earning for now instead of for retirement
•The Value of Compound Interest
•Passive Income to replace Earned Income
•Saving for the Future or your Pension!
•Setting up a Happiness Index
•Saving €3000 per month for 11 years to achieve the freedom he seeks
•Monitoring expenses on a daily basis and the challenge of this
•Changing the lifestyle now, not at 65
•The day to day struggle of managing the budget to attain this
•Tracking their expenses and knowing where their money goes.
•Tricks to prevent themselves living pay cheque to pay cheque.
•Reducing expenses that simply don't bring them happiness.
•Discussing the time VS money debate and focusing on giving ourselves more time
•Challenging the "I hate Monday's" attitude by working towards something bigger than just getting up and going to a 9-5 job.
•As a freelancer, charge for output, not time
•Getting people out of the "work / spend" cycle that leads us down the rat race.
•Building cash flowing assets one day at a time!
•Capital Growth Report -- Asset Classes
•Productivity and overcoming risk of burnout
•Being efficient and delivering outcomes instead of working on time!
•Setting up your own business in Ireland & how to manage Tax?
oKeep money in the company and start a pension – huge upside to this
oInvest the cash you have in the company
oOnly Pay Tax on your Profile in a Company – so deductions are less
•Freedom and Control as two key words and values that come up!
•Influenced by others?
•Dan Lok – Business influencer - https://danlok.com/
•Publishing Goals & holding yourself accountable
•The House as an Asset? Or your Greatest Liability?
•Aiming to have the passive income covering the mortgage
•House Hacking!
•Books – Robert Kiosaki – Rich Dad, Poor Dad - https://amzn.to/2MPMvTy
How to connect in with Michael?
Website - https://www.playingwithfire.ie/
Twitter - https://twitter.com/MyCoolHowTon
Check out Financial Independence Meetups in Dublin & Limerick on Google!
Nicole Ryan is a Business Founder at IGNITE, Managing Director of Alex's Adventure - The drug education program that's built around you.
Every episode of 1% Better tells a story. This week’s episode is that of Nicole Ryan’s story.
It began in Jan 2016 when my only brother Alex went to a house party in the Greenmount area, Cork City and took a synthetic substance believing it to be a less potent drug called 2-CP. Alex had thought he had done his research on the substance he was trying. He was 18 years of age and had a lot of plans for his future. Alex ended up taking a huge dose of the lethal drug known as Nbomb which resulted in him being brought to Cork University Hospital where Alex never regained consciousness and subsequently 4 days later sadly passed away after being pronounced brain-dead.
Alex changed the lives of 4 people by donating 2 of his kidneys, his liver and his heart but Alex’s story did not end here. Nicole wanted what happened to my family to never need to happen to another so needlessly again so she decided that Alex would change the world and she would be his catalyst and his storyteller.
She gave up her career as a Marine & Plant Engineer to come home and build Alex’s Adventure. Over the last 3 years Nicole travelled the length and breadth of the country visiting schools and delivering her workshop educating and sharing how our choices can impact our lives forever.
She has visited over 55+ schools, colleges & youth clubs and has delivered this workshop to over 5500+ students nationwide. From this life changing experience Alex’s Adventure was born. Nicole and her team developed a brand-new program that aims to not only help the students learn more about substance misuse and about the impacts our choices have on the greater community.
In this episode, we hear in more details how Nicole decided to take the chance with setting up Alex’s Adventure, what she’s learned since starting out, how the business has grown and evolved, how she is constantly pivoting, learning, and iterating Alex’s Adventure to be a better product.
I really enjoyed this one and know it’s one that you will enjoy listening to, as there are many stand-out takeaways from the interview.
Other topics covered:
•Being a realist but having to be strong for her mother
•Media and Empathy with the loss of Alex
•How Alex’s Adventure works and focusing on learning & key skills
•Dealing with Feedback
•Creating a Digital Solution
•Pivoting & Letting go of the original ideas
•Entrepreneur’s journey
•Learning to influence and sell
•Language, Additions and how we speak to young people
•The importance of Coffee Meetings
•Working on your strengths, weaknesses and working on growing
•Expanding her team with others that are adding value to the program
•Taking herself out of the mindset of working in her business to working on her business!
•The Importance of Social Entrepreneurship
•How to switch off and detach from the Business
•Standout Moment from Nicole’s journey so far!
•Mentors & Great Advice – Her Friend asked Nicole - The worth thing that can happen is nothing!
•If you knew one thing at the start that you know now?
•Next for Alex’s Adventure – looking at the 5 year map!
Get in touch with Nicole
Website - https://www.alexsadventure.ie/index.html
Twitter – https://twitter.com/nicoleclareryan
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicoleclareryan/
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/alexs_adventure_/?hl=en
Check out more details on www.robofthegreen.ie
1% Better – The 864 Rebooted!
I’m bring the 864 back but on 1% Better! All is explained in the Intro which I suggest you check out.
Here is details of the episode with Isa Nacewa
We're continuing the sporting theme (last episode with Irish International Football John Egan), but shifting code to Rugby this time. I'm delighted to be able to share this podcast with the Leinster legend Isa Nacewa.
Isa joined Leinster in 2008 and, over the next decade, in two stints with the province, won four Champions Cups, the Challenge Cup and 3 Pro-14 titles. He has been called greatest import to Irish Rugby if not European. He’s been not only immensely successful at winning trophies, he’s humility, lack of ego, and selflessness also very much stand out in the legacy he’s created in the game.
I talked with Isa couple of weeks back when in Ireland just for a few days during which time there was a testimonial dinner in his honour. It was a flying visit, but he still managed to squeeze in time for an early morning chat for the podcast.
As we recorded it in the morning, morning routines started off the conversation and we went from there. Rugby does get a mention but habits, behaviours, and mental strength are at the core of the podcast.
It was a real pleasure to talk with Isa. I’ve taken something (actually many things) of value from it that I can put into practice. My hope is you can too. Thanks to Mereula for helping make the connection.
Just before I hand it over, please do subscribe to the podcast wherever you listen to it. Helps with extending the reach as well as ensuring you get notified when the new ones come down. Check out the other show – 1% Better, sign up to the newsletter on robofthegreen.ie and take a minute to connect/send feedback/troll/etc
Ok. Over to the conversation with the great man – Isa Nacewa.
Topics covered:
•Morning Routines during & post Rugby
•Taking 3 Months off to mentally reset
•Developing an approach and philosophy to mindset early in his career
•Retiring in 2013 and the Mindset with this!
•Work as a Mental Skills Coach
•Learning how to adapt and adopt approaches
•Documenting and Tweaking Approaches
•Decision Making
•Negative Self-Talk
•The law of attraction
•Benefits of Mindfulness, Yoga & Meditation
Books Recommendation:
•The Monk who Sold his Ferrari – Robin Sharma
•Win Forever – Pete Carroll
Amy has amazing capacities with bodies and is a trained Massage Therapist, Thai Yoga Vedic Bodyworker, Dance facilitator and movement coach for adults and kids. She loves all forms of movement and have created her own specialty movement classes called ''Shine Movements''.
For a full summary of the episode and how to connect in with Amy, go to the episode page on
https://robofthegreen.ie/episodes/amyshine-ep119
Thanks for listening!
Deirdre O’Shaughnessy is an award winning editor and co-presenter of Cork’s leading daily talk show, the 96fm Opinion Line.
She appears regularly on RTE Today and has featured as a regular guest on Newstalk Breakfast, Tonight with Vincent Browne and RTE Morning Edition.
She has hosted corporate events for IBEC, Ulster Bank, the Insurance Institute of Ireland, Network Ireland and the Tax Institute of Ireland, and in the charity and community sector has worked with Social Entrepreneurs Ireland, the Simon Communities of Ireland and the Mercy Hospital Foundation
I was looking forward to sitting down with Deirdre and dig into how she prepares for interviews, understand how she deals with nerves, what her core values are and how she stays motivated. She didn’t disappoint in this hour-long conversation.
For a full brief summary of the topics covered, see below. I’ve also included book recommendations and links to Deirdre on Social as well as her website.
Enjoy this one & please do help me get it out to a wider audience.
Episode Summary:
•Preparing for an interview with Mary Robinson
•The importance of good questions
•Dealing with pressure in preparing for interviewing with Mary Robinson
•The process in preparing for interviews – not overly prescribing the questions
•Finding the thread and pulling at this
•Allowing for the audience to interact with an interview
•Refreshing to see interviews and talk shows that are unplanned
•Ordinary people sharing stories – this is the key focus
•Pulling the thread on the radio show with real questions
•The importance of emotion in an interview
•Tommy Tiernan’s ability to listen and showing up the traditional show format
•Dealing with emotions and nerves when interviewing people
•Learning from others in the interviewer world and taking something from each of them
•The joy of putting down the phone when working for private radio
•The approach to forming a great question?
•Taking advice from her Uncle to study in other areas before going into journalism
•Thinking on your feet all the time and being in the moment in the Opinion Line on 96FM
•The Family of Swans – a perfect example of going from mundane to absurd – the human connection
•Choosing Law based on a Celtic Tiger decision
•Having a passion for writing which then lead naturally into journalism
•Getting work experience in the Irish Times in 5th year and working at the Flood tribunal
•Great responsibility, experience in management and deadlines as the full time editor of the Student Union Newspaper in UL
•Getting a job with Galway Independent after blagging her way in the interview and working on courts – progressing to be the deputy editor
•Taking a chance & going for it!
•Being luck and working during the recession
•Freedom & Variety emerging as core values for Deirdre
•Lucky with the timing of the social media explosion and being at the forefront of social media in the newspaper
•Through Twitter connections, getting opportunities to work with Vincent Brown, Clare Byrne and others!!
•The media are always looking for something different – just being willing to push yourself through
•In Media, be willing to just say YES!
•Factors that make you successful
•Empathy as a key trait in media – the best tabloid journalists having huge empathy!
•Developing a thick skin and learning from experience.
•If she had her time over, some stories Deirdre wouldn’t do again!
•Establishing the line and reflecting back on what was learned!
•Media being unstructured compared the structure in Corporate
•Being comfortable working in the moment, being flexible and not feeling too bad if you do cancel on others!
•Doing the role Deirdre is meant to be doing!
•Side projects that allow for greater fulfilment
•Awarded the Simon cumber media award
•Broadening perspectives with projects abroad for charity – Rwanda and Cambodia
•Enjoying travelling even more when working!
•Ordinary People having the most extraordinary lives
•Goal Setting, Measurements and Success!
•The importance of reflection
•Job offers in the media world!
•Success = financially secure, side projects, variety and having a great work life balance
•Self-depreciation is key
•Having great faith in the bigger picture
•Don’t over index on the bad days
•Dead Dinner party guests that Deirdre would bring to dinner!
oAA Gill (food critic)
oQueen Elizabeth
•
Book Recommendation:
•Mary Robinson’s book – Climate Justice - https://amzn.to/2JdpYhg
•Factfulness – Book
Brock Lewin is the found of very successful Coffee Roasting Business Badger & Dodo. Since his first shot of coffee in 1993, he’s been involved one or another in this business.
He set up Badger & Dodo in July 2008 in his in-law’s farm in Fermoy, Co. Cork and since then he’s been building up the business and brand across Ireland and beyond.
I’ve been very interested in the coffee explosion in Ireland over the last few years so was really looking forward to chatting with Brock about his learnings and experience in this world and having the chance to deep dive into Coffee, Business, Entrepreneurship, lessons learned, and lots more that might make for interesting listening.
Just whet your appetite, some of the topics we dive into include:
•The history of coffee in Australia from post-world war 2 Italians bring it in!
•Coffee evolving over the 50 years up to the 1990s
•A flat white, a short white, and more!
•1st, 2nd and 3rd wave coffee
•Learning the roasting process
•Taking the leap of faith and setting up a coffee roastery in recession hit Ireland
•Brock’s Beans as an early brand identity
•The Badger and Dodo Brand
•The Coffee Tree image being used in the coffee world
•Marketing and Advertising
•Route to Market via Farmers Markets
•Quote - Luck is when preparation meets opportunity
•Quote – Good coffee being recession proof
•Refreshing the Brand!
•Cupping world champion and how to train the pallet
•Business Planning
•Why coffee is exploding in Ireland?
•Big breaks in early days of the business
•Leadership Style
•Graphic Design
•Strategy & Planning – rolling on a yearly basis plans
•The importance of business coaching
•Delegation – bring in people you can trust!
•Knowing what type of business you’re running – keeping it at a certain level
•Know where your limits are!
•Expanding the business to the USA – the amount of US tourists that buy it here and then keep buying it when they get home!
•Mistakes made and missed opportunities – not setting up a coffee shop in Cork when the opportunity was there in the early years – not playing to the home market!
•Brock and his own coffee drinking habits – Less is more!
•Advice for start-ups
•Work life balance
•What would Brock be doing if not for Coffee?
•Keeping Motivated – The essential need to travel aboard!
•Freedom & Trust at the core!
How to get in touch?
Website – https://badgeranddodo.ie
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/badgeranddodo/
Twitter - https://twitter.com/BadgerAndDodo
William Pullen is a psychotherapist and lives in London and developed a specific type of psychotherapy which is a fusion of running and psychotherapy.
I connected with William after seeing his TEDx talk earlier this year and wanted to learn more about how this can help you get more than 1% Better.
Using Integrative Psychotherapy, William aims to facilitate wholeness between the feeling, behavioural, cognitive, and physiological levels of functioning – in other words the whole person. This is done in part through looking at aspects of the self that you may be unaware of and making them conscious.
A full summary of our broad ranging conversation includes:
•William hitting a low point in his career working in TV and Advertising
•Feeling disconnected in this world that was superficial
•The Fast life style was too much and it led to a meltdown
•Depression and sitting at home turning 40!
•Starting out running and taking incremental movement
•Ambitions early in life – always wanting to work with young people
•A nicer kinder William and a more aggressive ego driven William
•Sport and the ability to move is hotwired into people for healing
•Trigger points leading to the meltdown – the warning signs were there!
•A toxic relationship forcing many changes of shape and form!
•Love and the struggle that comes with it!
•The cultural change and how it’s impacted love!
•The survivor mentality and learning how to look after yourself
•The goal and driving force to the lifestyle
•Managing to control urges and using running
•Creating a running therapy program
•Empathy Runs emerging from couple counselling training
•The Empathy Muscle – making space for someone else’s opinion
•Agreeing to share the stage of life with others is at the heart of Empathy
•Relationship Counselling and learning how to create a dialogue to escape the tit for tat game
•Active listening & Empathy
How to do an Empathy Run?
•Find someone you trust and like
•Arrange to meet
•Decide who goes first & who listens
•At the end the listener repeats back what they heard!
•Giving someone the freedom to talk about whatever they want to talk about!
•And swap roles
•Running helps you get into a narrative flow
•There is no sense that you are trying to resolve something – it’s never the job of the listener to solve or resolve things!
•There are no expectations – that’s key!
•The importance of pausing – 0.4 seconds is the normal gap!
•How to develop the pause – and the challenge of doing it!
•Practicing the Pause!
•Feedback on Empathy Runs!
•Writing a Book – the story about this!
•Approaching Penguin and a program combined with this
•Living a more authentic life and writing a book about this – being uncomfortable about authenticity as writing about it!
•Authenticity & Authentometer!!
Book – Run for Live – https://amzn.to/2FzJEts
Book – DRT - https://amzn.to/2X2k770
TEDx Talk - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sq6393AreD4
Website – http://dynamicrunningtherapy.co.uk/
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/williampullen/
Twitter - https://twitter.com/pullentherapy
Murray Newlands is a very interesting guy. The Huffington Post has listed him as one of the “Top 10 People to Know in the Silicon Valley” and the "British Marketing Guru".
He’s a marketing powerhouse, an entrepreneur, investor, business ddviser and Speaker. As we talked I quickly realized he had serious focus, and an ability to set and achieve goals. Without looking too far ahead.
He’s demonstrated over his career so far a real ability to deliver against his big goals, and learn along the way. Anyone that creates over 1000 blog posts in 2 years must have huge determination, a work ethic and self-belief.
Murray was a great fit for the podcast as he lives incremental improvement and has so many valuable stories and lessons taken from them to share in this conversation.
His latest focus has been with Turing, an elite placement company for engineers. As their Chief of Strategy & Partnerships officer, he is disrupting "the future of work" and the way companies hire remote workers and tap into global resources. The talent behind Amazon, Google, Facebook, Twitter and more have been vastly curated by Murray and the Turing team.
Full summary below. I hope you enjoy it.
•Goal Setting & Incremental improvements
•Having a child and how it made Murray reflect back on life and his habits
•Persevering through school and became a solicitor
•6 Years leading to a solicitor – hard work and just went with it
•Taking the approach of one day at a time!
•2019 – having a goal of getting fit – and losing 20 pounds in 4 months – taking each day at a time
•Applying tiny incremental steps!
•There is no overnight success
•How did Murray get successful – taking tiny steps and moving along
•Decide on what directions you want to go in and taking the first steps!
•The unexpected benefits from following the process
•The moments of success that stand out!
•Focusing more on what you are good at, not just what you’re not good at!
•Find out what you can do
•Spotting what other people are doing to achieve things?
•Look for others doing great things!
•Tool – a sheet with 200 lines on it & working out 200 times!
•Setting out goals and writing them out!
•Get visual when setting goals
•Telling others what you’re doing with goals
•Building Habits
•Taking a deliberate approach & figuring out the WHY!!!
•Getting a Visa to work in the US was a Goal for Murray
•Starting out writing 2 blog posts a day for 2 years!
•How to get 2 blog posts a day for a period
•Having to write a lot to get noticed – writing 500 to 1000 blog posts
•Thinking about what you are trying to achieve and how you want to get there!
•Tips to CEOs – with writing – is it your true value!
oDo out audio dictation and then give it to a professional writer
oIdentify your 10 ideas and get it out there
•What do I want to achieve and what is the best way to do it?
•How to maximize your value in the process?
•Find where the real value is?
•Look for other established platforms? – adding value to other groups?
•Resetting goals and pivoting in your career
•Building and Selling Start-ups
•The new emerging talent sourcing approaches
•Stand out traits of strong leadership
•Understanding of where you want to get to, what you need to achieve, and finding the right people to help you get there!
•You can’t be successful on your own!
•The cost of having someone negative on the team massively outweighs that
•Firing people who are not a good fit fast enough!
•Clear out anything that gets in the way
•Too many leaders see success and think it’s their success!
•Dealing with Intuition and following the gut!
•Follow the gut and set some goals as boundaries
•Relationship with Fear – excited about new projects
•Driven by fear and pushing yourself along
•If you stop pushing yourself, you will get bored!
•Take on a lot of what you’re afraid of so you can achieve a lot
•Best learnings from failures?
•Trying too hard to overcome things I’m not good at and not focusing enough on things that I am good at!!
•Not firing people fast enough leading to lots of difficult situations
•The Future Plans?
oHelping more people all around the world to be more successful
oTeaching his daughter new things
oLearning the fun of do new things!
•Advice – Try to keep the current job and start the start-up on the side
oYour first business on your own might not be successful, but if you don’t do it, you will not learn from it!
oMaking failures is ok! You will learn from it!
•US v UK mindset on failure?
oTry and give it a go!!
•Books to Recommend
oPlay Bigger: How Pirates, Dreamers, and Innovators Create and Dominate Markets
Connect in with Murray:
Website – MurrayNewlands.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MurrayNewlands
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/murraynewlands/
YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/futureofengagement/featured
I’m really interested in learning more about sleep, so I did some searching and it turns out we have a world-renowned sleep expert here in Ireland. In Dublin in Fact. He’s name is Motty Varghese. He’s a senior Respiratory and Sleep Physiologist in St James's Hospital, Dublin since 2003.
We learn about Motty and how he got into this area and then I think I asked him everything I could think of about sleep.
You will be way more than 1% Better informed on Sleep after this.
Summary of what we covered:
•Where the passion and desire in the field of sleep
•Graduation as a respiratory and sleep physiologist & technologies
•Doing sleep studies for about 45millions people in India
•Working in Middle east and then moved to St. James in Dublin
•15 Years working St. James.
•Sleep Diagnostics and sleep problems
•Sleep Apnoea and Insomnia as the two main issues
•And then started to specialise in Behaviour sleep medicine
•Always had an interest in sleep medicine but not much in the area initially when he was growing up
•Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
•Insomnia & Sleep Apnoea
•Insomnia and CBT as a non-medication way of sleeping problems
•CBT for Insomnia
•The 3 P model:
oPredisposed individuals
oPrecipitating factor
oPerpetuating factors
•Address the behaviours with Sleep
•Insomnia as a vicious circle
•Sleep and Genetics
•Women have higher chances than Insomnia
•The growth in the topics of sleep over the last decade
•Learning Memory & physical health can be improved with good sleep
•Circadian Rhythm & the Master Body Clock
•Sleep is a CS process
•Sleep and Melatonin
•Humans are solar powered
•Chronotypes – evening, intermediate and morning types
•Morning type people are the happier type!
•The importance of employers know what the chronotype of their employees!
•Waking up before the alarm goes off – a sign of their sleep need is met
•Early Morning Awakening Insomnia
•Sleep Apps – the value of!
•The best way to judge your quality of sleep is by how you feel!
•Sleep Apps leading to more anxiety about sleep quality!
•Don’t over rely on technology
•How much light and deep sleep should I get?
•How to get in to good sleep
1.How long was I aware before I went to sleep – get a consistent wake time!
2.The light exposed to before going to bed – 2 hours before you go to sleep – to optimize the melatonin
3.The Master Body Clock – not much control over this
•The best environment for a good sleep
1.Dark as a Cave
2.Quiet as a Cave
3.Cooler temperature
•Mattresses and how useful these are?
•Napping – General Rules – 30mins to 45mins to avoid REMS
•Best position for sleeping – sleep on the non-dominant side
•Sleep and Pain Tolerance levels
•Most common myths on sleep – no compensation for lost sleep!
•Sleep when traveling & jet lag!
•Exercise & Sleep – 3 hours between exercise and bed – core body temp is high
•Eating Late – Not eat for 3 hours before going to bed!
•Journaling – transfer thoughts from brain to paper!
1.Rationalize worries on paper
2.Make a to do list for the next day
3.Reduce the intensity of the mind
•Sleep and having a beginner’s mind!
•Every night is a new night – this is a key mindset to have for everyone!
•Be non-striving for sleep – you can’t force it
•Be Patient with the process with CBTi
•How does Motty manage his own sleep
1.7+ hours nightly
2.Sleep as much of the time you spend in bed
3.High sleep efficiency
•Sleep v Rest -- Bed is for sleep – not for rest
•Get up and leave the bedroom for 30mins
1.Reduces anxiety not falling asleep
2.Strengthens bed sleep association
3.Better opportunity when you do go back
•Don’t over research on sleep
•Optimize sleep hygiene habits
Get in touch with Motty on his work and consulting at www.sleeptherapy.ie
Charlotte is as survivor. As a survivor of alcoholism, sexual assault, rape, self-harm and a constant chain of trauma and mental illness.
She tells her story and share my experiences with the world.
We talk about suicide, depression, hope, and a desire to help others by sharing her own stories, experiences and idea.
Her goal “If I can save a life, or just make someone feel less alone, then I’m achieving my dreams.”
Her main topics of writing are mental health, depression, anxiety, and suicide. With the aim to raise awareness as well as end the stigma.
If you face your own demons, challenges or know someone close to you that is facing a hard time or feels like – they might find this very valuable and worth checking it out!
Summary of our conversation can be found on the episode page on www.robofthegreen.ie
This solo show is all about Confidence. The full blog post is available on the site - link here
http://robofthegreen.ie/2019/05/27/confidence-uncovered
Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed it, please do consider sharing it!
Best,
Rob
Hugh O’Donovan is a Coaching Psychologist, Lecturer, & Author of the excellent book ‘Mindful Walking’. He also been an Entrepreneur and was a member of the Irish Army for 23 years. During this episode, Hugh reflects on many of the stand out moments in his career and shares very valuable insights and practical tips that you could use to become a better version of yourself.
For me, some of the key takeaways here touch on discipline, developing awareness, giving yourself a choice, mental well-being and the idea of flourishing!
I would recommend you take out a pen and paper for this one.
Thanks for your ongoing support and listening. Hope you’re enjoying this as much as I’m enjoying sharing it.
A summary of topics covered:
•Improving Performance & Mood
•The value of Acts of Random Kindness
•Mindfulness and the evidence behind how it’s working
•Experimenting in Mindfulness
•The physical benefits of movement
•Learning the skills of focusing attention
•The curious thing about walking and how a natural mindfulness comes when you’re moving
•Incorporating Mindfulness into many things you do
•23 years-experience in the Army
•The importance of discipline learned in the Army and how mindfulness also invites you to approach things in a disciplined way
•Having a Busy mind – but building the awareness of these thoughts
•Leaving you with a choice to breath
•Behavioural changed in society
•The challenge of transitioning from the Army into Civilian Life
•Being in Business but not being driven to earn money!
•Losing a friend to a tragic event and identifying this as a turning point
•The importance of reviewing, reflecting and re-evaluating
•The Army being all about Service
•Values, Goals and Actions
•Congruent Goals & making sense of the path and direction
•How Hugh managed to get out of the business
•Moving into psychology and feeling like this was the right place
•All of us being psychologies as we are all trying to understand things!
•Positive psychology and the science of flourishing
•Martin Seligman and understanding the need for a rebalancing on mental wellbeing
•Focusing on mental wellbeing instead of mental illness
•Beyond Zero and flourishing
•The importance of Gratitude
•A negativity bias as part of the human condition
•Keeping a diary/journal to track the things you savoured from day!
•Rewiring the Brain & neuroplasticity
•How can you get people to buy into the practice of journaling?
•Keep yourself safe and avoid discomfort
•Mindfulness asking us to observe our experience and explore discomfort
•Appreciate comfort and discomfort
•Exploring the edges of own discomfort
•The writing process and what lead Hugh to write the book!
•An exercise to try – ‘asking yourself to writing a letter to yourself in the future’
•The secret of writing – sit down and write – 100 words a day x 365 = 36500
•Writing the book as being the best year of Hugh’s life
•The formal and informal practices of Mindfulness’s
•The manta of ‘showing up, slowing down, and noticing what comes up!’
•The invisible becomes visible when we do this!
•Taking the new attitude towards life
•The only time you know when you’re fully present? – aware of the breath – the only way!!
•Acronyms to help you remember approaches
oFORM = Focus, Observe, Reflection, Meaning (new) = FORM
oFARM = Focus, Act, Reflection, Meaning (new)
•The 7 pillars of mindfulness
•Mindfulness is not about performance, it’s about observing what is
•How the attitude towards mindfulness has changed over the last decade
•Concerns with how Mindfulness could be used to get more out of the system!
•The Finite System with finite resources!
•The economic system is about growth and there is tension!
•Changing mindsets and nudge people towards behaviours that keep us in a good place!
•Current work and research in coaching psychology
•Working with the HSE and the GLOW (goals for life opting for wellness) program
•Plans for the next book that promises to be ground breaking
•Other books recommendation:
oMark Willams & Danny Pennman – Mindfulness book
oMindfulness for Dogs
•Hugh’s website HODA is an Arabic word – can be translated as guidance and enlightment
Connect in with Hugh on www.hoda.ie
The Greg Herman Brand first began in 1995/96 and over the years, this has taken on many different versions and evolutions.
Greg was living in LA and then moved to Cambridge in the UK. It was here when fashion really started to connect with Greg. Around this time, Greg’s sister was struck down with Cancer and this had a huge impact on him. He realized that he wanted to carve out his own legacy and figure out what he wanted for himself. This made him take a step back and review the situation.
During the discussion, Greg shared very openly about his life, growing up, challenges, up’s, down’s and everything in between.
Full detailed show notes on the episode page on www.robofthegreen.ie
Rana Gujral is an entrepreneur, speaker, investor and the CEO of Behavioral Signals, an enterprise software company that delivers a robust and fast evolving emotion AI engine that introduces emotional intelligence into speech recognition technology.
Full Details on www.robofthegreen.ie/episodes
Dr. Binder is board certified by both the American Board of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery and the American Board of Otolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery. With over 30 years of experience specializing in cosmetic and reconstructive surgery, Dr. Binder’s Beverly Hills practice is one of the most experienced and most trusted in the country.
Getting to understand what it’s like to be a Plastic Surgeon in Hollywood was something I was very interested in diving into. Dr. Binder shares his unique perspective.
He talks about always making the Young Surgeons watch ‘Jiro Dreams of Sushi’, Discovering Botox and having the conviction to bring it into the market and having unwavering belief when he knew there would be push back, criticism and other detractors.
A full summary of our conversation is below:
•What’s it like working as a plastic surgeon in Hollywood
•Treating everyday like an epic day to fulfil a goal
•Early life Plans & Ambitions
•Admiration for his Uncle as role model growing up
•Medicine having a huge interest for Dr. Binder
•What are the characteristic that make a good surgeon
•What makes Hero the best Sushi chef in the world?
•The Importance of the Bell Shaped Curve
•The responsibility aspect was a draw to medicine
•Medicine is very much a rote for the first 4 years – learning
•Surgery then allows for some creativity where as medicine doesn’t
•Surgery and being able to think in 3D
•Listening and knowing what the Patience wants?
•Getting into the head of the patient before any surgeon
•Having issues with plastic surgery clinics – there is no cookie cutter way for surgery!
•Core Values of Tenacity, Hard work, and persistence
•Discovering Botox and pushing hard for 2 years on his own study to get this into mainstream
•10 year process to convince establish minds to use Botox
•Thinking outside the Box
•Where does the Tenacity Come from? Work Ethic
•Knowing you will have to make sacrifice to see through great results
•Answering the questions – does this make sense?
•Learning how to do facelifts 25 years ago?
•Having ‘Great Hands’ in Surgery – this is true and needed to be a great surgeon
•Duration of a face lift and how to stay focused for 5+ hours
•Focus & Getting into a state of Flow
•Preparation is key - dealing with the pressures of surgery
•Perfection v Good enough? – always striving for perfection – You have to!
•As the captain of the ship, you need to have everything in place!
•The importance of evaluating the Patient for realistic and unrealistic expectations
•The best piece of advice ever been given?
•Fear & Anxiety are the best friends you get?
•Managing both with Planning & Visualization
•If not Plastic Surgery, what else? Innovate Innovate Innovate.
Get in touch with Dr. Binder
Email – info@doctorbinder.com
Phone - +310 858 6749
Website: https://doctorbinder.com/ (contains a lot of rich content about Dr. B, his procedures, and press mentions with quotes)
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/doctorbinder/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/drwilliambinder?lang=en
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5Usa0lQ-zAsVUDqhQbht9A
Check out more details on www.robofthegreen.ie
Susan Bennett is an American voice-over artist. She is best known for being the female American voice of Apple's "Siri" since the service was introduced on the iPhone 4S. Susan and I connected a few months back and I was delighted when she agreed to be a guest on the show to talk about her career, overcoming fears, ‘coming out’ as Siri, the great fortune that has ultimately brought and how life has changed since.
Susan shares her story and provides lots of bits of advice from lessons learned over the last few decades from her successful acting, voiceover, and musical career.
Here’s a more detailed summary of the talk:
•One thing learned in the last week?
•An Earliest Memory – naturally drawn to certain things that would indicate what you’re going to do in adulthood
•Early gifts as a child indicating work later in life
•Getting a free grand piano as a gift & telephone
•Creativity and Introverted from an early age
•Not having the ‘Ta-da’ gene
•A line of demarcation in childhood
•Parents moving around a bit – this led to introversion * instead of coming out*
•The power of social media to help for introverts to communicate
•Starting a voice career by a happy accident
•Having no accident
•Getting a voice coach to develop the skills
•Learning the skill of a voice over actor
•Time required to practice as a voice actor
•Having a natural feel for the voice over acting
•The role of luck in her career
•Working hard and getting luckier
•Being curious and trying out new things
•Learning as a value
•Losing the process of learning new things
•Taking 2 years to revel herself as the voice – wanting the privacy
•A great life lesson – you have to take some risks
•How Susan was chosen as the first voice of Siri
•Working for Nuisance IVR Scripts in 2005 – recording these that then became the voice of Siri
•Concatenation and creating the voice of Siri
•Linguistic vocal coaching
•6 years later in 2011 finding out that Susan was the voice of Siri
•Taking a few years to accept and spin it to her advantage
•Face the fears and then so many wonderful things started to happen
•The unexpected happens and you need to make decisions, and this brings change
•Staying open minded and being able to adapt
•Decision Making – Automatic answer is no? do a rethink!
•Trying to get to yes!
•Getting to know yourself and find out why you are the way you are!
•How Susan worked on herself better?
•Overthinking and Introverts
•A typical day / week now for Susan
•Setting goals – customize every presentation
•Talk to the universe and do positive repetitions
•Advice to live by?
oTake some risks!
Books
•The Biography of Leonardo Di Vinci – Walter Isaacson
•The lost Man – Jane Harper
Connect in with Susan on:
•Website – www.susancbennett.com
•On Social Platofrms - @siriouslysusan
•Facebook - SusanBennettVoiceofSiri
Thanks for following - please do share this out with you nearest and dearest or sworn enemies.
Neil Seligman is an International Mindfulness Advocate and Conscious Visionary, Neil is dedicated to sharing the power of mindfulness globally, transforming lives, and inspiring excellence in all aspects of human endeavour.
He is the Founder of The Conscious Professional, the Author of 100 Mindfulness Meditations and forthcoming title Conscious Leadership, and the Originator of Soul Portrait Photography. As a sought after expert, Neil has worked with firms such as Netflix, Accenture, Linklaters, RBS, and Warner Brothers and has been featured by the BBC, The Mirror, Yoga Magazine, Psychologies, OmYoga Magazine, Attitude, Soul & Spirit Magazine, and more.
“Neil has a gift for reawakening consciousness.”
Check out full show notes with link on the site - www.robofthegreen.ie
Ian is a man of many talents. These include Sales, Marketing, Digital & Business Coach, Podcast Hosting training, and helping other improve. That’s why I felt he was a perfect fit and guest on ‘1% Better’.
We connected last year as we both presented topics on ‘International Podcast Day’ in September 2018 and we agreed to do an episode.
I didn’t mess around too much with this one as I dived straight into Ian’s Entrepreneurial Journey and it flowed from there.
As always, we cover a broad range of topics and share a number of practical tips, tools, insights that you could take something of value from.
Full details & summary here - http://robofthegreen.ie/episodes/ianfarrar-dealingwithburnout-ep105
Emma Pyne & Michelle Thorn are comedians, artists, and co-producers of a live comedy show called Throwing Punches, which is held once per month in LA’s Universal City.
The show brings together a diverse line-up of comics and is remarkable in that
every show has both up-and-coming comics and seasoned comics (including
some of the most successful in the field).
I was delighted to chat with both ladies a few weeks back about the art of comedy, dealing with fears, curating the show, the process of creating ‘bits’ and so much more.
As with every episode of ‘1% Better’ there are lots of useful takeaways from this one.
A summary of the show is outlined below.
•About Michelle
oGetting into acting & then comedy
oSharing a story with stand-up
oWhen you were starting out?
•About Emma
oMoving to LA in 2009 after 2 years in London
oA focus on TV and Film
oDoing more and more stand-up recently
oStand-up comedy giving her a voice
•How they met and started Throwing Punches?
•Both knew they were serious about putting a show together
•Identifying a gap in the market for stand-up shows inspired them to make a show that they’d like to see
•The Process of curating the show – getting the big name headliner and opener and piece in the rest
•Planning ahead and when this process starts
•Learning to be flexible
•Growing a show and attracting top talent
•Previous experience running Stand-up events
•Key learnings from the show creation that can be brought into personal life
•Control loosing, sharing responsibilities, and letting go!!
•Feedback on the show v your own performance
•Wearing the Entrepreneurial Hat?
•Learning from a Business perspective
•The goals for creating the show
•Comedian Hierarchy in Hollywood
•Headline Comics -- 10 years profession, 5 years on the way, less than 5 years are the babies
•Learning how to be persistence and keep pushing forward
•Time is key – no overnight successes and a safe place to fail!!
•12 years in LA to become an overnight success
•Creating a life as you work through the process
•Emma - Dealing with Stage Fight – The idea of not doing something is far worse from the fear of doing it!
•Nobody judges you as much as you judge yourself
•Dealing with Fear & Nerves
•Be worried if the fear ever leaves
•Reframing the thoughts – Excitement v Nerves – watch the language
•Getting to a place of excitement
•Creating a bit or a sketch – the process followed
•Learning how to create content and developing their own style
•Making it very personal & working out childhood through writing
•Using life lessons as a comedy gift
•Overthinking is part of the process working itself out!
•The Art of Journaling or just writing stuff down
•The 5 year barrier for comedians?
•Comics that explode on the scene
•Every single word counts when on stage – the amount of effort goes in to this is unseen
•Men v Women comedians
•Using the show as a tool to get on the radar
•How Michelle and Emma work together and make decisions.
•Being able to pick each other up when there are tough moments
•Dealing with the Fear! Pulling back from the edge…
•Motivation – The show as a driver – having the name and face on the internet!
•Less self-doubt as she’s got older
•How LA has changed in the last decade
•The importance of having a partner that gives you the freedom!
•Holding up both ends of the partnership
•Advice to live by!!
•Trust your gut & Be Yourself!
How to learn more:
THROWING PUNCHES: https://www.pikbee.me/throwingpunchescomedy
MICHELLE THORN: https://twitter.com/michelleathorn
EMMA PYNE: https://emmapyne.com
Jo Bhakdi is the founder of Quantgene,a company that combines precision genomics, AI and a new perspective on medicine to detect disease at early stages.
Bhakdi galvanized a network of world-leading scientists and engineers to tackle computational and clinical challenges in DNA sequencing to accelerate the pace of modern medicine, arming us with a tool that is changing the future of human health.
This is one of the most fascinating interviews I’ve done and if Quantgene delivers on its promise, which I believe they will, expect to be hearing a lot more about Jo Bhakdi in the years to come.
Check out the episode page on the site for full show notes summary - www.robofthegreen.ie
1% Better – Paddy Delaney – Financial Wellness & Advice, Investing & Planning, and making a difference! EP102
Paddy is a Financial advisor & coach. His purpose is to share ideas and insights that might make a positive difference. He’s definitely doing this with his total honest and authentic approach.
Growing up Paddy worked in banks during summer holidays from school and always had a keen interest in managing his own finances, not always very effectively he adds!
He talks about his journey in this space over the last 15+ years, the last few out on his own. He is now enjoy coaching and enabling groups & individuals to achieve the things that are important to them. As a Qualified Advisor, Retirement Planner, Facilitator & Coach, he gets huge satisfaction from helping others to achieve.
Summary of the topics discussed are:
•Always having an interest in Money & how to manage it
•Finance was always a focus
•Working in retail management
•Love for working with people and numbers
•13 Years working for ‘the man’
•Moving into Learning and Development in the space of Financial Services
•Stepping out from a secure job just after the birth of their third child to go out on his own
•The Psyche of Decision Making & struggling with making the ‘right’ choice
•Becoming a qualified coach and learning more about myself
•Holding himself accountable to make the move
•The importance of the business plan
•Cash Flow being key!
•Prepare, prepare, prepare for any transition you want to do!
•The Transparency Task Force and Trust parameters – Ireland’s only ambassadors
•Making people aware of different financial models
•What is an ‘independent’ financial advisor?
•Mixing EQ & IQ in the financial advice world
•Working on Purpose & the why?
•It’s not about the product’s, it’s about people’s lives
•Getting the customer thinking what is their priorities?
•Getting the Value and Benefit from the Products!
Rules to Follow in Financials:
•Biggest Mistakes We’re Making with our finances?
1. Get very clear on what your spending on – there is a big lack of awareness here!
•Limited options for compound interest
•Compound interest is only good over a long-term plan – 10-20-30 years!
•Adding to as you go – Pension is an example
•Saving regularly into an Equity Plan is key
•Sticking to the Plan!!!
•Buy when prices are low – this is the best time!
•Long term benefits and merits of investing
•Deposit account and Equity based bond
•Since 1925 – Equity fund has delivered 11% on average every year!
•What is the goal? Begin with the end in mind!
•Set it and forget it investments
•How Coaching skills have helped working with clients
•Stocks & Shares and being prepared
•Always coming back to the Goal – the plan or life event
•Risk Management - Why are people reluctant to change?
•Mortgage Markets – what’s going on there?
•Spending on household bills – switching?
•Entrepreneurial Relief – Tax benefits that might not be known
•Transparency on Fees – this is key to deliver value to client
•Following your own advice?
•If you’re going through hell, keep going? – the value of coaching working on yourself
•Standout Interview – EP100 with Guy Spear – Aqua Marine Fund – Superb Performance
•Investments Advice – Low Risk Funds? Begin with the end in mind!
oEg: 5% per year – take out the fees, etc – what is left?
Book Recommendation:
•Guy Spear – The Education of a Value Investor
•Dr. David Keane – The art of deliberate success
Value Investor - https://amzn.to/2HNW0B6
Art of Deliberate Success - https://amzn.to/2FCV0MB
Connect in with Paddy
•Check out Paddy’s site – www.informeddecisions.ie
•He’s on Twitter - https://twitter.com/idecisionsfp
Leadership Training:
•2 day workshop – the art of deliberate success
owww.artofdeliberatesuccess.com
Full Disclosure
This is for general information only and is not intended to provide specific investment or financial advice or recommendations for any individual. It is suggested that you consult your financial professional, or tax advisor with regard to your individual situation before taking any action! Obviously references to past performance are not intended to be forward looking and should not be viewed as an indication of future results. But you all this already!
Susan Winter – Relationship Deep Dive, Fate v Determinism, and ‘Bread Crumbing’ – EP101
Welcome to the show.
This week’s interview is with Relationships Expert, Susan Winter. This is the first episode I’ve done that focuses primarily on relationships and, I can safely say, Susan is a guru and thought leader in this every changing space.
About Susan. She’s been a guest on Oprah, has a list of media credits that covers about every News show, magazine and paper that I’ve ever heard of, is a best-selling author (Allowing Magnificence and Older Women/Younger Men), she specializes in evolutionary forms of loving partnership and higher thinking, and is in high demand.
She’s just had over 10 millions view on YouTube where she posts short informative videos on relationship challenges and how to improve in your loving partnerships.
During the hour, we talk about everything on relationships from online dating, cultural challenges, and new terms like Bread Crumbing, Catfishing, and of course Ghosting! I’ve shared links to Susan site, and social platforms at the bottom of these notes.
I really enjoyed this one as you’ll probably detect from it and I learned a lot. I’m sure you’ll take something from it too that will make your relationships more than 1% Better.
Check out the high-level summary of the topics covered below:
•Always having a passion for communication
•Beginning by interpreting others and then finding her own voice
•Author of Older Women and Younger Men
•Always looking to learn and move forward
•How to honour the process of curiosity – these will take us to new and fertile terrorist
•Adding new skills to the current expertise pool
•Look to expand the career rather than abandoning it
•Online dating discussed with topics like ‘Catfishing’, ‘Ghosting’ & ‘Bread crumbing’
•The Getting to Partnership Cycle has changed
•Dismantling the traditional archetype of relationships
•The psychology behind ‘Catfishing’ – why this is a thing?
•The ‘When Harry Met Sally’ situation
•Purpose & Goals of Relationships
•What was never needed in the past are vitally needed today?
•Clarity in the relationship and impacting on romance
•The Honeymoon Phase and the Glow of Perfection
•The importance of understanding oneself
•Working with Clients from different cultures, eg – Arab countries
•Cultural & Religious expectations with clients
•The main reasons relationships fail – expectation setting?
•Fate v Determinism are key
•The role of Intuition
•The importance of Timing
•How does Susan check in and self-manage?
oMeditation
oGoal Setting
•Following her own advice & self-coach
•Women as Combination locks!
•Valentines & ‘Galentines’ Day!
•Relationship structures & a la carte relationships
•Authenticity and relationships
•Most Important Lessons learned recently?
•At the end of the day, you’re going to be ok!
•Age and Wisdom!
•Cliché that you believe in?
oI won’t be less because you can’t be more!!
•What’s next for Susan?
Check out more on Susan across Social Media:
•Twitter - https://twitter.com/susan_e_winter
•YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8Jb8Z7yJS9mXqF37Dcm2HQ
•LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/susan-winter-033a433/
•Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/authorsusanwinter/
•Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/susanewinter/?hl=en
•Website - https://www.susanwinter.net/
Season 3 – Ma Anand Sheela – Freedom, Horizon Goals, & Accepting Life! EP100
"Failure is just another name for success" – Ma Anand Sheela
Welcome to episode 100 of 1% Better. Thank you for checking it out.
My guest this week is Ma Anand Sheela. Sheela came to prominence recently from the Netflix documentary Wild Wild Country. That's when I learned about her. However many of you listening might have first heard of her back in the early 1980s when she was the secretary of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, latterly known as Osho.
The documentary blew my mind and I was struck by Sheela's personality, devotion for Bhagwan, and then her own seemingly unending quest for power. When I watched the show, I thought how cool it would be to talk with her for the podcast. To learn more about her values, upbringing, what drove her motivations, and of course what life is like for her since the commune broke up and after her time in prison. When I managed to connect with her, tell her about the podcast, and invite her to be a guest, I was delighted when she agreed.
So many of the values and coping mechanisms were instilled into Sheela from a very young age! I wanted to talk to her about not just the Commune but life before and after that. She was very willing to share her story. I hope you enjoy. Here are the main topics discussed:
•Dreams and aspirations growing up
•Never planning to be a leader
•Youngest of the 6 children
•Her Father – Self-made scholar working with Gandi
•The importance of spirituality and religions growing up
•Values of freedom and being in nature were key
•Moving to the USA to study
•Choosing to work with ceramics
•Embracing the Culture on the East Coast – finding the freedom again
•Being guided by a feeling and having common sense
•Having a clear sense of who she was always!
•Never wanting to disappoint her parents
•Never having a real affinity with Meditation but just having a clear sense of herself
•Being left speechless after the first meeting with Bhagwan at a public discourse
•Participating in an experiment of communal lifestyle in 1973
•The initial commune experiment - 6 peoples living in an apartment for 3 months with no boundaries
•The Objective & Tasks from the Experiment
•Sheela's Feelings and Learnings from the Experiment
•Becoming the Secretary – Was this a Business?
•Life being very spontaneous with Bhagwan
•Projects were more Agile – not well planned
•Identifying and Creating Business Opportunities without a plan
•Starting to function as a bank!
•Setting up a restaurant and a coffee shop
•All new ideas run past Bhagwan
•Traits - Calm, Composure, Dealing with Conflict
•Having a practical mind, like her mother
•Every day was an emergency with Bhagwan
•Being an extension of his arms in the role of Secretary
•Tools to keep emotions in check – How did Sheela keep these in check!
•Guided Through Bhagwan – he would ensure she was able to say and do what she had to do!
•Never feeling fearful so never having to deal with this – her parents were never seen in fear!
•Creating the commune but never having a ‘horizon goal'
•Was moving from India to the US the right decision?
•Every Choice made was the right choice!
•Significant Learnings from time in Prison
•Patience & now being the biggest asset of her work!
•The Value of Time!
•Better at dealing with Stress!
•Handling Pressure
•Key Leadership Traits
•Be clear in yourself & what you want to do!
•Remain Open
•Respect the Team 100%
•Accept Mistakes
•Take Accountability
•Be Honest and teach the team to be similar
•Don't be shy of failure!
•Introspection
•Ruthlessly honest with yourself!
•The documentary ‘Wild Wild Country' – A perspective on the work
•Advice that sticks out form the years
•Accept life for what it is! Don't be burdened by life!
•Don't become judgemental
•Don't be cynical
•Learn from History not to create or repeat ugly events in life!
•Book recommendation:
•Don't Kill him – Ma Anand Sheela - https://amzn.to/2Hwoq2f
•Interesting Article :
oIrish Followers - https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/bhagwan-and-me-ireland-not-immune-to-draw-of-controversial-indian-guru-36801779.html
For more, check out www.robofthegreen.ie
Feedback - Rob@robofthegreen.ie
Thank you!
Neale Fenn is currently the Manager of Longford Town Football Club. He is an ex-Tottenham, Cork City, Bohemians, Dundalk and Shamrock Rovers striker to mention a few of his clubs.
We recorded this on a few months back, on the lead up to Christmas in fact, in the off-season and dived into Neale’s career, lessons learned during that period, and also talked in detail about his move into football management.
As a Longfordian, it was a great treat to chat with Neale, even if he is a Spurs fan.
We covered a lot in the hour and it was a great learning and insight into how Neale has been developing as a manager.
Topics discuss during the show include:
•Not having Management as part of his plan when playing
•Starting Coaching Badges toward the end of his career
•Assistant Manager Role with Layton Orient igniting an interest in Management
•Crisis Management in the role & having a low expectation
•Early Career & Big Breaks
•Ambitions growing up as Spurs and Enfield supporter
•Playing Organized football at Under 11s
•Scouted by Spurs and managing to keep moving up the ages with Spurs
•Absorbing football & practicing non-stop – love playing football
•Starting to stand out more as he moved up grades
•Having natural talent and more ability
•Confidence from playing well
•Having a belief in his own ability & knowing a great performance was in his own hands
•Leaving school at 16 after being offered the 2 year apprenticeship and know this was what he wanted to do
•Scoring goals and getting to the FA youth cup final
•Pressure having a positive impact on performance
•Learning from Les Ferdinand, Teddy Sheringham and Gary Mabbutt
•Memories of a first team debut against Man united at Old Trafford in 1997
•Contacted by Agents and getting boot deals thrown at him afterward
•The Dream Contract - signing a 5-year deal with Gerry Francis
•Dealing with an injury and keeping positive
•Playing for Ireland was a no brainer
•Regrets? Yes, many
•Becoming a training ground footballer so looking for new opportunities
•A new start with Peterborough
•Football is just a job? The love of the game always there
•Dealing with the mental side of the game while out of the team
•Moving to the League of Ireland – A surprise move?
•Making a big impact in the 3 years in Cork
•From Dundalk to retirement to Shamrock Rovers
•First ever interview for the Longford Town FC job
•Pithing for the job and waiting for the news!
•Leadership & Management Styles:
oPlaying the way he wanted them to play!
oMotivating players and balancing expectations
•Creating a philosophy that he believed in and where this came from
•Bending the approach when needed
•Balancing winning & possession football
•Learning from last season – trying to win every game
•Developing Patience and waiting for the right opportunity
•Challenges with recruitment, part-time football, facilities
•Approaches for preparation – video analysis once per week
•Qualities in other leaders?
oPat Dolan – knowledge of everyone as a standout
oPat Fenlon & Damian Richardson – determination
oMichael O’Neil – having the same view of the game
•Learning from others but making your own decision in the end
•The Book recommendation:
oA brave new world – Potictiono
Contact Neale:
•@NealeFenn – Twitter
•LinkedIn – NealeFenn
•The Coaching School - Path2Pro - https://www.path2pro.com/
Thanks for listening to the show!
Welcome to the new season!
New season, new logo, new guests, new, new, new. And lots of the same too.
In this introduction show, I cover a lot of what's been going on behind the scenes, reflect back on the last 2 years of the podcasting adventure, and outline what is coming soon!
High-level summary that might peak your interest:
Timeline of events since December 2016
What I've learned
Living the 1% Better Mindset
Clips from the first 4 episodes
The Patreon Set up
The 1% Better plans for the new season
Call out for your feedback!
Other stuff in the works
* More!
I hope this is an interesting look ahead!
As always, if you do nothing else, please do subscribe to the show and help me reach more of likeminded folks.
Thank you!
Inpursuitofbetterness
Hi all,
In this off-season bonus episode, I’m on the other side of the mic. I was delighted to be asked and really enjoyed sharing
With the podcasting adventure, I get to chat with so many very interesting people. On a rare occasion, the tables get turned and I'm on the other side of the mic (if that makes sense).
This happened last week when Larry G. Maguire was kind enough to invite me on to his live show to talk about creativity, along with a lot of other topics that came up (sleep, 5am starts, sub-personalities to mention just 3).
It's the longest and most in-depth interview I've done since starting out with the RoboftheGreen Project and it was great to reflect on it. If you're interested in hearing/watching it, you can check it out on Larry's YouTube site or his Patreon page. Larry is doing a lot of great work so go check out his content after too.
You can follow Larry on the links below too.
Thanks & hope you enjoy!
Larry on Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/larrygmaguire
Larry’s website & newsletter - https://larrygmaguire.com/subscribe/
The Audio version of the Blog Post on a journey to finding authenticity!
Links to posts mentioned in full show notes on the episode page.
Season 3 starting very soon!
Link to the Blog post and other links here - http://robofthegreen.ie/2019/02/13/jenny-from-the-block-the-illusion-of-authenticity
Season 3 on the way!
Enjoy.
Joseph McGuire – Understanding Face Reading & How it can make you Better – EP95
Joseph McGuire is a Face Reading Expert with over 30 year’s experience. Last year he released his first book, called Face Facts, which has been gaining great feedback over the last few months. I can agree that it’s a really concise and useful guide to understanding more about the face and the huge amount of information that one can gleam from it.
During this interview, Joseph talks about his own career, how he became an expert in this field, his fascination for the work, and so much more. I have summarised the conversation below and estimated times so you can review and check out the parts you’re keen on. I would recommend you listen to it all.
There is also a full video version on the site where you can see the face reading in action towards the end.
Conversation key points & timeline below with details on how to connect in with Joseph at the end:
Time – Topic – Learning
0m – Rob Intro
10m – Joseph Introductions
11m – Earliest Memory - Where did the deep fascination of studying the face came from!
12m – Studying Shiatsu & Facial Diagnosis leading towards building a career in this area
14m – Moving to Hamburg to teach facial diagnosis – bringing in non-diagnosis skills
15m – Face Reading with a 3000-year-old history and Eastern Origins
16m – Moving away from looking at the world as mechanical and more towards Eastern Philosophy (like Buddhism) – solid practical foundations – all about grounding
17m – Engaging Body and Mind Together – How to integrate this into practical daily life
17:30m – Tony Buzan & Mind Mapping as an influencer and a tool to use
18m – Using Mind Mapping to identify the name of Joseph’s organization – Clearsight Communication
19m – Using Mind Mapping to help with the writing of the book Face Facts
21m – Is this Facial Diagnosis based on Facts? It’s Empirical or just Intuitive?
22m – Dealing with Sceptics using random images of people from phones!
23m – A Standout Moment using the technique that was poignant with Josephs Father
25m – How to deal with situations when Joseph identifies health issues with random people
26m – You can’t help anyone that doesn’t want to be helped
27m – Standout teachers and influencers from his journey - Rex Lassalle & Lillian Bridges
29m – Magicians using Face Diagnosis work – the information that’s there is huge
30m – Intuition & how it aligns with Face Reading
32m – Using Meditation to resist bias and lazy thinking in face reading – System 1 Thinking
33:30m – Overcoming a Bias and Michael O’Leary – Looking for something interesting in the face!!
35m – Accepting others for who they are – authentic even if you don’t like it!
36m – Does Face Reading work for everyone?
37m – Reading Psychopath and Sociopaths and how diagnosis is not advised here
39m – The Eyes as the most impactful part of the face to read
40m – An interesting exercise – Cover One Side of the face & ask what message is coming and then cover the other eye – Right Side = Public & Left Side = Private side & eye
41m – Plastic Surgery and how this impacts Face Reading
42m – External Manifestation for an Internal Change
43m - 1% Better Tips for Listeners/Viewers
•Focus on One Area of the Face – eg Noses, Eyes, but one at a time!
•Ask yourself – What message are these eyes giving me?
•Eyes – Big round open eyes = be honest with them
•Eyes – Narrow – Clinically observing the world and if you’re of value to them
•Online Dating Benefits – Looking for insights from profile pictures
•Meditation Practices and Approaches used
•Using white noise to balance out when in mediation
•Sitting in seiza
48m – When meeting a client for the first time – how to deal with the information coming in – asking ‘what’s the most important thing here now!’
49m – Joseph Reading Rob – Listen in or watch to see how he did here!
•Perfectionist Tendencies
•Analytical & Delve deeply into things
•An Absolute need in me to explore things and bring curiosity to it
•I can put myself into a stress state can lead to procrastination
•There is a hunger for learning and getting it right
•Self-Awareness and Self-Understanding is very important to me!
•Charting my own course and being very independent
•Eyebrows - Before I start something, I’ll delve into it deeply and this is very important to me!
•I put myself under less pressure in my personal than professional life
•The Ears – depicting the 14 years of the life
•The Face – Rectangular & Oval face shape = associated with leadership and diplomacy
57m – A typical session lasts an hour
58m – Plans for other books in the coming years – keep an eye out!
59m – What would I be doing if it’s not this – A Dream Job? – Working as a Wilderness guide and Tracker
Books:
Here is a link to Joseph’s book –
Amazing Face Reading - Mac Fulfer
Connect in with Joseph on:
Website – www.clearsightcommunications.com
Twitter - https://twitter.com/clearsightj
Email – Joseph@clearsightcommunications.com
Phone – +(0)87-2461853
Thanks again for you engagement.
Hi all,
Have you ever felt like you’ve been here before? Had other lives? Well, if this is an area of interest, you will enjoy this episode.
Doug Buckingham is an Hypnosis and Regression Practitioner and Trainer, and currently run courses and workshops in the UK and overseas. As well as the courses and workshops, he has a private practice in Chalfont St. Giles, and has clients coming mainly from London, and also the Home Counties, nation-wide and often from overseas.
I’m fascinated by this type of therapy and alternative approaches. I like to keep an open mind and learn more about what works for some people. Doug’s work certinaly has a lot of variety and it definitely appears to be working and making many of his clients better. Maybe even more than 1%.
It’s another new topic for the podcast. One I hope you enjoy. Below is a summary of the conversation broken down by minute & topic. Full links to Doug’s site below.
Thanks for reading & enjoy!
Summary:
7:00m – Helping people get unstuck in their lives working with subconscious patterns
9:00m – Working with Hypnosis, Past Life Regression Reiki to solve problems
10:00m – Patterns & Types of People that Seek out Past Life Regression testing
11:00m – Working with people from 12 different faiths
13:00m – A Passion for Flying and becoming a Pilot growing up but not clear why?
14:30m – Discovering Doug’s past life as a Pilot – developing a fear of flying & starting to refuse to fly!
16:00m – Doing Past Life Regression Training & Triggering fears of flying!
17:00m – Realizing he was a Pilot in the first world war – he died!
18:30m – Critical Age as Triggers for Past Life Regression
19:00m – Having everything he wanted but without the happiness!
20:00m – The Impact of Matupitchu in Peru – The path change – This was the big triggers!
21:00m - Following his intuition for 2+ years and trusting himself!
22:30m – Getting the Chakras Fixed & Getting the Smoking Monkey off his back!
23:30m – Finding Hypnosis and practicing it for personal growth
25:30m – Working with Subconscious Mind & slowing down the brain waves
28:00m – Hypnosis working for everyone, as long as you’re willing!
29:30m – Relationships between Hypnosis and Meditations
30:30m – Deep dive into the Past Life Therapy and Regressions – Is this Real?
•Is it Ancestral Memory
•The Subconscious mind making up a story
•Collective Unconscious – Carl Jung
•Reincarnation
•The underlying commonality – there is a story sitting in the subconscious mind!
32:00m – Experience from Past Life Expression Sessions
•Digging into Doug’s Past Life Experience deeper
•Working with a client that had a past life on the Titanic
•Early Man Past Life & Middle Ages
37:00m – What about Future Life ‘Progression’ & ‘Other’ Lives!
38:00m – What happens then the person identifies the past life?
39:00m – Finding out the souls unfinished business to get closure!
41:00m – Colour Therapy Practice using intuition
42:00m – Sound Healing - Crystals & Pyramids!
44:00m – The Chakras & Sound Frequencies
45:30m – A learned skillset or a natural force? Following the calling?
47:00m – Dealing with and helping clients with illnesses and diseases
48:00m – Health systems struggling and alternative treatments are on the rise!
49:30m – Working with Multiple Sclerosis therapy
51:00m – New Skills and Modalities on the horizon – Sound, Relationship Issues, Money Challenges
53:00m – Working in person v remote and dealing with catharsis
54:30m – Work-life Balance, dealing with stress, and knowing where the limits are!
55:30m – Walking the Talk - Applying the tools and practices on yourself
58:00m – The Universe sends the right clients and working well with clients
59:00m – Book Recommendations:
•Gifts for your soul – Balboa Press – Doug Buckingham
•The 4 agreements – Don Miguel Hurise
•The Tao of Poo – all about not doing!
•The Celestine prophecy
Get in touch Doug:
Website - www.dougbuckingham.com
Facebook – Doug Buckingham
App - Hypnosis for Transformation
Hi all,
This is a solo show. It's a personal one and I hope the messages shared are of benefit to some of you.
If you'd like to read the eBook on Dry18 when it's out, sign up to the weekly ROTG Newsletter. Links below.
Listen now on apple podcasts - https://itunes.apple.com/ie/podcast/the-1-better-podcast/id1212137500?mt=2
robofthegreen site - www.robofthegreen.ie
Spreaker: https://www.spreaker.com/user/robofthegreen
GooglePodcasts - https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuc3ByZWFrZXIuY29tL3Nob3cvMjY2NjUyNi9lcGlzb2Rlcy9mZWVk
Newsletter - Sign up for our newsletter: http://eepurl.com/c1-GRD
The Dry18 final blog post is here - http://robofthegreen.ie/2018/12/28/dry18pavlovsdogctasdry19/
Thank you for listening!
Bernardo Cubria – Acting, Staying ‘Real’ in Hollywood, and Brutal Honest Feedback! EP092
Welcome to 2019. A great way to start is by listening to this episode with Bernardo Cubria. He’s an Actor, Writer, Playwright, Podcast & Lover of Guacamole.
And I caught up with Bernardo a few weeks back. It was a bit of a unique recording as you’ll hear. It could even lead to a whole new podcast series where I interview guests while their driving. Who knows!
Note – we had planned to do this on live video, but the recording wasn’t great due to Bernardo being on the move. We might get together again in the future to do a live stream. It all depends on the demand. Let me know if you’d like to chat with Bernardo!
I hope you enjoy the conversation with Bernardo. The summary of the key points are outlined below:
1:00m – Getting last minute auditions!
2:00m – ‘Give us a call if you hear anything?’
3:00m – Nerves for larger roles v the lottery of small parts
5:00m – Early years & dreams: Soccer & Politics
7:00m – An early interest in Politics
8:00m – Working in Activism & Amnesty International – Where this passion came from?
11:00m – Creativity in Poetry and writing
12:00m – Paralyzed in self-doubt, fear and defeat!
14:00m – Learning to be ok with No, constantly failing!
16:00m – Losing trust in yourself from auditions & not letting the hope get you!
18:00m – Philosophy, History, and Acting Classes in College – Theatre becoming the passion and it feeling like home!
21:00m – The fulfilment of being a Playwright more than anything else!
22:00m – The Process of Playwrighting – Learning by Doing!
23:30m – Using Wine to Access the Pain Places when writing
24:00m – Perfection v Good Enough! – Leaning on what other people think
25:00m – The importance of trustworthy friends that give feedback!
28:00m – New York shows and writing plays in a weekend!
29:00m – Getting Readings & Getting Produced – The Redhead is coming!
31:00m – The world reacting when you’re not caring!
34:00m – The Soul, Morals & Fake Conversations - Putting the morals aside in the Industry – Sensing the pressure to be part of Hollywood and hating it but having to suck it up!
36:00m – Authentic & pretending to be Authentic & Actors/Activist!
39:00m – Understanding the desire of wanting to be part of something!
40:00m – Perusing the feeling of spending time with only people you like!
43:00m – The Giant Void of My Soul!
44:00m – An Idealist and a Dreamer or not?
45:00m – Resilient and What makes Bernardo bounce back!
47:00m – The Enjoyment of Podcasting – Off and On!
Book/Plays/Documentaries Recommendations:
•Another World – Documentary
•Waiting for Godot – Samuel Beckett
You can find more about Bernardo on the links below:
http://www.bernardocubria.com/
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/pinchecubria/
If you’re reading this far, thanks for sticking with it. Have you subscribed to the show on your app of choice?
A 2019 goal is to explode in listenership – can you help by telling someone you know about the show?
Is the question of core values one you ask yourself?
If yes, you might enjoy this podcast. It's my story on how I've found a way to identify my own. And I outline the steps that you could use too.
If you want to read the article, just go to the blog page on the site (read) and check it out with some of the images referenced.
I wish you the best. Do let me know if you'd like to discuss core values with me further.
For the full details and a get to the blog post on this go to the episode page on the site
http://robofthegreen.ie/episodes/corevalues-onepercentbetter-ep091
Thanks,
Rob
Hi all,
This is somewhat of a bonus episode. One I had been planning to share for a while.
It's the podcast version of the talk I did for International Podcast Day back at the end of September.
More details are on the episode page here - http://robofthegreen.ie/episodes/podcastingtalesoftheunexpected-onepercentbetter-ep90
Enjoy & as always, please let me know if you enjoyed it.
Regards,
Rob
1% Better – Books that made me Better in 2018!
I love learning and reading books is a great way to do that!
This year has been one of the best years ever for reading.
I’ve scanned over the books that really stood out for me this year and selected 10 that I feel would be worth talking about, giving you some insight into, and why I feel they have helped me and, in turn, could help you.
Links to all 10 are on the Book page on the website. They’re a bit scattered over it but you can find them. Adding links below too.
On the website – www.robofthegreen.ie/books too
Ok, let’s get it started – please do enjoy. Let me know what you make if it!
Book 1 – Quiet - Susan Cain https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0307352153/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=robofthegreen-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=0307352153&linkId=4c85f29106a83225070b1b99f87a78f7
--
Book 2 – The War of Art – Steven Pressfield
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1936891026/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=robofthegreen-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=1936891026&linkId=ea8cebe84cc49ceb33602728dc8562af
--
Book 3 – The Art of Living – Sharon Lebell
https://amzn.to/2IQ92eZ
--
Book 4 – Switch – Chip & Dan Heath
https://amzn.to/2BEIOcj
--
Book 5 – Autobiography of a Yogi – Yogananda Paramhansa
https://amzn.to/2pNJFBS
--
Book 6 – The Inner Edge - Ronald W. Jue (Author), Richard A. Wedemeyer (Author)
https://amzn.to/2RjpjA0
--
Book 7 – The 25 Rules of Grammar
https://amzn.to/2LxaZhT
--
Book 8 – The Fifth Discipline
The Art & Practice of the Learning Organization
https://amzn.to/2V6jkNR
Book 9 – The Art of Happiness - Dali Lama
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1594488894/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=robofthegreen-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=1594488894&linkId=7c70ad16db1118d85a1965cfb6ec8d5d
--
Book 10 – Emotional Agility – Susan David
https://amzn.to/2Rjv5Bk
--
I hope this spurred you on. As I look back it’s touched on topics that I’m very focused on such as:
•Org Change
•Personal Change
•Emotional Intelligence
•Mindfulness & Meditation – Well being
•Writing & Creativity
•Physical, Mental, Emotional & Spiritual Well-being.
It’s been a great learning year. And I’m already looking forward to building on this in 2019.
Please do keep me posted on how you enjoy any of these if you do dive into them soon.
Thank you!
Welcome to the 1% Better Podcast. My guest this week is Nostalghia.
Nostalghia is an American Singer, Songwriter, Musician, and Poet.
In 2014, she released her first full length album, Chrysalis, and from there she’s started to take the music world by storm. Her music was featured in both John Wick movies and she appears on stage performing in the second installment of the movie.
Her following has been growing massively over the last few years and all this on an independent label.
When we caught up a few weeks back, I was very keen to learn more about her as a person, as well as an artist.
This was initially planned as an episode of 'The 864 podcast' (the other 15minute one I do) but we were only really getting started at that point so agreed to keep chatting. I'm very glad we did.
We get deep into what motivates Nostalghia, what it means to be fully authentic, core values of control and freedom, what her identity is, how life can go in slow motion, and a whole lot more. As you will hear, it’s one of those listens that hooks you in and keeps you engaged for the full show. I know it did for me!
We also touched on her new Album out this week called IMAGO. I have links to her site, music, where to purchase the album and more in the show notes. A full summary of what we talk about is below too.
Summary of the topics:
•0 minute – Introduction to Nostalghia
•7 minute – Defining Authenticity & what it means to Nostalghia?
not putting on an act on stage. It had to be authentic.
identification as an artist
figuring out who the person is beneath the artist
being True to Yourself!
•11:30 minute – What is Identity
o Breaking down the different parts of identity
•13:30 minute – How has changed now being more authentic
o Times pushing through & times stopping!
o The changes in the last year
o Moving back to her core!
•15:45mins – Freedom & Control as important values
•17:00mins – Values & Art saving her life & also destroying it!
o Connecting Purpose with the Music
o Never wanting stardom or fame!
o Finding ways to weave her deepest purpose into the music
•15mins – Only finding her voice in the early twenties
o Always knowing that art was coming for her!
o Teaching herself how to play piano
•18:45 mins – Finding Hope from what others might find despair
o Higher State of Consciousness – Yes, this is foreign but wait and see what comes!
o Realizing something was waiting for her!!
•20:30 mins – Having moments of Agony and Misery – gifts to keep going!
•22:30 mins – Connecting with Senses from an early age
o Making Friends with Trees and Plants!
o The Willow tree as her mother
•24:30 mins – Relationship with the Voice inside
o For a long time, this voice was very mean and very cruel
o Quelling it with Alcohol or other addiction
o Becoming clearer bodied
o Listening and Hearing the Voice – laughing at this!!
o Now listening is part of the experience – now it’s ok though
•26:30 mins – Decluttering the Mind Approaches
o Working with Plants 1-1 is a mindfulness practice
o Working with Plant spirit medicine
o The Doctrine of signatures
o The Rose as an example – A heart Protector and heart Healer
o Working with Plants through teas help slow her down!
o Using these with rituals have been able to slow Nostalghia anymore
o Something as simple as camomile tea can help!
o Plants and Homeostasis
•32:00 mins – Homeostasis – A state of balance
o The Music is always one step ahead
o Tracks on the New Album are one step ahead!
•33:30 mins – Feedback from Fans & Taking this on board
o Writing lyrics and being Authentic
o Not editing songs!!
•36:00 mins – Goal Setting, Targets & the Goddess Archetype
o Having Clear Goals
o Blocking out the world when focused on the goals!
o Overworking to the point exhaustion – recognizing this
o If Goals are beyond creation and enjoyment, then it’s not worth it!
o Chasing the Prize and making it just about self-worth!
•43:00 mins – Achieving the Goal & Not Enjoying the Moment!
o Chasing it again and again
o The addition of Goal Chasing!
o The Doing of Life is addictive
•45:30 mins – Not suffocating work into submission
•48:00 mins – Decision not to go for a label & how to be ‘successful’
o Creating a Pre-order & Pledge Campaign
o Having Fans engaged and involved to support the work
•50:30 mins – Positives not being with a label outweigh the Negatives
o Not having a pop singers voice & a Star is born
o Getting chased by major labels but not wanting to be in that mold
o It’s a blessing not going that way
o There are difficulties with both paths!
•52 mins – Being able to remain authentic & be the artist you wanted to be!
•53 mins – Info on the new album
•54 mins – Outro
Books:
• Goddesses in Everywoman by Jean Shinoda Bolen - Link:https://amzn.to/2E6m8Ew
• Gods in Everyman by Jean Shinoda Bolen - Link: https://amzn.to/2PpI27J
What’s coming in the near future:
• IMAGO – Record is out on 7th December
• Pre-order – PledgeMusic – Search for Nostalghisa
Her Website: http://www.nostalghiamusic.com/ where all links to her socials are available.
Thank you for listening!
Alistair is originally from Port Talbot, Wales but has been living in New Zealand for 20 years. He talks about his journey in the world of Rugby, from playing to video analysis work to coaching. He explains how his video analysis work got picked up by the New Zealand senior team very quickly and this lead him to an amazing adventure that spanned 3 world cups, 2 of which New Zealand won.
Alistair’s desire to become a full coach became a reality when he took over as the defensive coach for the Aukland Blues in 2016. He talks about the learning from this experience, and what he’s plans for the future are.
Alistair is currently an assistant coach of Samoa and also works for the NZRU as a high-performance coaching.
An awesome story and one that is loaded with useful 1% Better insights. Have a listen. Full summary below.
Timeline & Summary of the discussion below:
5 min - Alistair’s background and Quelsh!
7:30 – Rugby being a major focus growing up & getting advice from Dad & Playing Professionally for a few years
9:00 – Moving to New Zealand to Learn his Craft at the age of 21!
10:00 – Being the Best You can Be & Seeing how far you can go with Wellington
11:00 – Moving back to Wales but Injury striking and the Playing Windows Closed
12:00 – Play & Pause on Video - Focusing on Performance as a Player unconsciously
13:30 – Life in the Office Working World but having a passion for coaching & teaching!
14:00 – Coaching Opportunity in Ballina learning lots but still have the desire to play
16:00 – Moving back to New Zealand and starting on the Video Analyst Journey
18:00 – Monday Night Analysis for Club Rugby & Having a Moneyball Impact!
20:00 – Analysis work really opening up Alistair’s eyes to the game!
21:00 – Getting picked up by the full New Zealand Team quickly!
22:00 – Providing Analysis & Advice, not just data! The passion for rugby helped.
23:00 – Emailing an All Blacks Coach that changed Everything!
24:00 – Ask for Advice in an Email, not look for something else!
25:00 – Having a focus on a Growth Mindset which worked in his favour
26:00 – Working at Telecom in NZ and making a mistake – but always learning!
27:00 – A Value of Encouragement in the NZ Culture – Find ways to fix the problem.
29:00 – From the Coffee to full time working with the All Blacks within 6 months – Getting a standby call up for the first world cup!
31:00 – Working with Wayne Smith and a huge game changer for Alistair.
32:00 – The 2007 World Cup and the next year was a big learning for Alistair.
33:00 – Taking the role of performance analyst
34:00 – Building Trust with Players & Coaches with the skillset of the Game – working with Wayne, then with Graham Henry and Steve Hansen
35:00 – Moving forward into year 2 knowing he was going to be more than just an analysis coach
36:30 – Shifting from providing a Key Service to becoming a trusted partner with the players
38:30 – Becoming a real integral part of the Coaching Group – Learning and judging when to provide more than just analysis – All going in the same direction
40:00 – Role Changing massively from 2011 to 2015 – The Demand on Information
41:30 – Always knowing a move back to Coaching was the plan but when is the right time?
43:00 – Coaching Schools & Club in parallel to the Analysis Role
44:00 – Knowing the 2015 World Cup would be the End of that part of the story but the starting of another!
45:00 – Moving back into Super Rugby with Auckland after the World Cup and starting as a Defence Coach
46:00 – Building Plans, Programs, Strategies and How to Get Better Outside of the New Zealand Group!
48:30 – Stepping into the Coaching Game & Learning Fast!
49:30 – Noticing the difference between Club level compared to International Level
50:30 – Lessons Learned from 3 Years with Auckland Blues – How you deliver the message, finding your own coaching style and approaches
52:00 – Attaching coming naturally but Defence work needs deliberate practice
53:00 – Finding out Who am I as a Person, Dad, Husband, & Coach!
54:30 – Fact finding in the US with Chicago Cubs & Seattle Sea Hawks. - Michael Gervais as a great help!
56:00 – Living a Growth Mindset and Fully understanding yourself!
56:30 – Going in a different direction as a coach and deciding to leave the Auckland blue
57:00 – Understanding the philosophy and Resigning from the role!
1:01:00 – Identifying Key Behaviours & Values & Nailing your Personal Philosophy in 25 words – the Framework from Mike Gervais
1:02:00 – Building Relationships through Coaching – This is the Key!
1:04:00 – The mix of intuition and analysis – Experience and Feelings!
1:05:00 – Having the ability to see what’s important now!
1:07:00 – Organized Chaos, Goal Setting & Mind Mapping
1:08:00 – Knowing what to do with the information gathered?
1:10:00 – Social Styles of Learning – How your team Learn?
1:11:00 – DISC Styles of Learning – Knowing your type helps with your performance
1:12:00 – Vulnerability & Authenticity as Key Values
1:13:00 – Finding the Balance between Vulnerable and Strong!
1:1400 - Book recommendations
Start with Why – Simon Sinek
7 Habits of Highly Successful People – Stephen Covey
The obstacle is the way – Ryan Holiday
The Barcelona Way – Damien Hughes
Turn This Ship Around – David Marguet
Principles – Ray Dalio
Key Takeaways
Combining a passion
Voluntary work to see where it can go!
Getting to stay involved in the game doing the analysis work
Have a unique skill set
Always ask for advice not looking for something!
The New Zealand Mindset wanting to learn
The way you want to live your life
How to Respond!
Take away the fear and open up the growth!
Building Trust as the key!
Values and what relate most
Social Styles of Learning
Be Vulnerable
Moneyball Impact!
Lead Domino’s
Being the Best in World
Social Styles of Learning – Know how your team learns?
Working with Data & knowing what to do with it?
Connect in with Alistair on Twitter
The 1% Better Podcast – Bipolar Barbie – Finding the Balance & Building a life after the war – EP86
Bipolar Barbie is a mental health advocate. She tells her story through her writing, art, and rapping, and uses social media as a platform for this. She has built up a very large following on Instagram and recently has started to build up a following on other platforms.
During the interview, Bipolar Barbie talks very openly about this disorder, how it’s had a huge impact on your life, how she’s started to deal with it, and how she’s been able to use social media to inspire others that are suffering with mental health issues.
I was fascinated to learn about the disorder, how to manage it, the triggers and how Barbie used creativity to help deal with the challenges she faces. She didn’t hold back or disappoint. I am sure you’ll leave this episode more than 1% Better informed on this very serious disorder.
Time, Question & topic:
2mins – Who is Bipolar Barbie and Where this idea came from!
4mins – Not knowing who she is going to be from day to day. Similar to a Barbie Doll, she has so many different personalities.
5mins – Understanding Bipolar & How it Type 1 Diabetes could be compared!
8mins – Details of the disorder and the impact it can have on your day to day life
9mins – Impulse Control & How Bipolar blocks this
10mins – Bipolar and Dark Rain clouds
11mins – Bipolar and a faulty brain
12mins – How does one develop Bipolar?
16mins – Managing the condition and How to develop an approach to bring it under control
Overnight, it accelerated and gym and running every day became a norm
Taking 2 years to get a bipolar diagnosis from that point
20mins – Why it took so long to get a proper diagnosis – on average it can take 10 years to be fully diagnosed
22mins – Swapping and changing meditation to find something that works
24mins – The increased awareness of Bipolar but the disorder being around for decades
27mins – The episodes, frequency and durations
30mins – Maintenance and management of Bipolar – Routine is key!
31mins – Triggers that set off the disorder – Seasonal affected
32mins – The difference between Mental Health & Mental Illness
32mins – Introverts & Extroverts & Bipolar – Finding the Balance
36mins – Creativity as an outlet to keep the balance
39mins – Creating a movement with Social Media
40mins – What is a typical day for Barbie – Life after the war!
Writing
Reading
Rapping
42mins – If it doesn’t serve me, it’s gone!
43mins – Practicing Gratitude, Recovery is a Journey and keeping on top of it!
45mins – Being positive and forward-looking – Making friends to the Demons
Book Recommendations:
Change Anything - - https://amzn.to/2PIxYrp
Connect in with Bipolar Barbie on:
www.biporlarbarie.com
Instagram – the_bipolar_barbie
Aodan Enright – 1% Better
Welcome to Episode 85 of the 1% Better Podcast.
I’m very much delighted to introduce Aodan Enright as my guest for this episode. Aodan is someone I’ve taken inspiration from, admired and enjoyed getting to know over the last couple of years and was someone I’ve wanted to have on to the show from the very start. Now it's a reality. We both share a fascination for human performance and this conversation certainly lived up to my hopes and expectations.
Aodan is the Founder of Smarter Egg, where he works to help people: organisations, business owners, self-employed, high-calibre professionals. He’s an Executive Coach and works one-to-one with clients. Aodan also gives talks, plays the role of MC/Interview for events and runs events himself that align to his passion for personal development.
During this interview, we cover a lot of ground and it has lots of useful and practical insights that you can use. So I would recommend getting a pen and paper out and taking notes! Active learning required.
Below is a summary questions and answers as well as timings. Expect to see more and more Aodan out and about more in the coming weeks and month.
My asks to you – enjoy, learn, take action, and share this with others.
Summary:
0-1min - Intro & How to get to the point in posts/articles
1min – function of growing up and finding your voice
3min – Working with the inner voice – the best approach to fight with it?
4min – Curiosity and deep thinking from the early days
5mins – Thinking about Big Questions as a teenager
6mins – Getting more and more interested in Things!
7mins – The Arsenal Affliction and Good times!
8mins – Learning as a passion but not a big fan of school
10mins – Working in the Engineering Initially and having no plan!
11mins – Conforming in School
13 mins – Not seeing a career path in psychology or development
14 mins – starting to move towards people management and development
16 mins – Getting to know Thyself – Focusing more on why people behave the way they do!
18 mins – Six Sigma & Lean Thinking
19 mins – Pull & Push Factors as a turning point in making to the move to go solo!
21mins – The importance of Thinking Things and Reinventing Himself
23 mins – Returning to the Voice in the Head in the early days!
25 mins – Learning to take value from the network during Executive Coaching Training
28 mins – The Curse of Knowledge with opening up and reflecting!!!!!
29 mins - Emotional Intelligence and EQ being an underappreciated element of work today
30 mins – Understanding what to focus on next!
32 mins – The Ego of saying Yes and developing the ability to say No!
You’re better off going with someone else!
34 mins – Smarter Egg, the beginnings, the concept and how it’s grown.
36 mins – Biggest Successes – Satisfaction from connecting others
39 mins – Lessons learned – Overreaching
41 mins – Feeling & Intuition – Trusting the Gut – Pay attention of what’s screaming to you!
43 mins – All Data should be respected
44 mins – Coaching the Coach - The importance of verbalising everything going on in your head – there is more than one way of thinking/seeing/feeling
46 mins – Knowing when to delegate now – getting better at this! Courage needed here.
47 mins – A role that gives the greatest joy – designing and delivery of the solution.
49 mins – Do the same talk twice and the value of this.
50 mins – Quarterly Off-sites and Approaches taken – following the process
52 mins - Reduction in the % of people averting their gaze when talking about self-reflection. Meditation and Mindfulness
55mins onwards - 1% Better Tips:
Goal Setting – Running Life Through Projects
Getting Things Done (GTD) System – David Allen
Resilience about the habits we keep – Neil O’Brien
Conversations as a key tool to bounce back
Meditation – The ability to calmly put things into perspective
Anchor Problem – Holding you down!
Favourite Saying or Cliché – All models are wrong, some are useful
Book Recommendations:
Mindful Walking – Hugh O’Donovan - https://amzn.to/2CT2Na4
How to have a good day – Caroline Webb - https://amzn.to/2NRwvxd
Connect in with Aodan & sign up for his Sunday Morning Newsletter
www.smarteregg.com
Twitter - @AodanEnright
PLEASE DO LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK VIA THE FEEDBACK PAGE OR ANY OF THE SOCIALS – LINKS BELOW:
Email Twitter Facebook Website
YOU CAN SUBSCRIBE TO BOTH SHOW ON APPLE & GOOGLE PODCASTS APPS – JUST CLICK ON THE BELOW LINKS
http://eepurl.com/c1-GRD
Welcome to the 1% Better Podcast.
In this episode, I talk with Melissa McCarty.
Melissa McCarty is a multi-talented television host, national crime correspondent, and author known for her excellent ad-lib and live broadcast skills.
She’s been broadcasting live for fifteen years.
She's recently released her Memoir, The Making of a Crime Reporter, which tells her incredible story.
During our conversation, Melissa talks about her career, the inspiration for the book, her relationship with her brother (pictured in the book cover) and his struggles with mental illness. She very openly talks about her own life challenges growing up, the environment she was in, and how she worked very hard to built a career for herself in journalism, TV, and crime reporting.
She grew up in a crime-infested neighborhood, dropped out of high school, and went on to become a journalist. She also reveals that her brother Mikey turned to gangs and crime while suffering from addiction and mental health issues.
Just some of the main themes discussed include:
Mental Toughness
Planning & Goal Setting
Self-belief & Confidence
Dealing with Fear & the voice inside the head
The importance of influencers & mentors
Motivation and Drive
The process for writing the book
Future Plans
* Book Recommendations
Please do sign up to the newsletter for the show as I will be giving one lucky newsletter subscriber a free audile version of Melissa's book in the coming week. You can sign up to that here
Newsletter - Sign up for our newsletter: http://eepurl.com/c1-GRD
Thank you for listening. Please do get in touch and share the show within your own network.
Regards,
Rob
Hi all,
This is a special edition 1% Better podcast. I recorded this with Larry on Sunday 7th October as a live show to be streamed out over video also. We couldn't get it to work but will be posting the video afterwards. This is the audio version and it came out very well.
Larry is an artist, a writer, a podcaster, an amateur psychologist, and a very interesting guy. He is working on his book called 'The Artist's Manifesto' and we talk about this also.
During this episode we talk about perfectionism, social media, school, work, mental toughness, mindset, and a whole lot more! It's well worth checking out.
Follow Larry on Twitter - @LarryGMaguire.
His website is here: https://larrygmaguire.com/
David Hennessey 1% Better Podcast – The WONDER Technique
Welcome to the 1% Better Podcast episode 82.
My guest today is David Hennessey.
David is a professional speaker and workshop leader on resilience and success in the work place. He developed the W.O.N.D.E.R Technique which is a unique tool box of techniques and tools people can use to improve their lives. David has lived through a lot of difficult times and uses what he teaches. He has travelled to 23 countries and lived in 3 full time. If he is not with family and friends you will find him in the mountains. Contact David via TheWonderTechnique.com
During the conversation, we focus on resilience, personal development, and how to be better. I picked up a few new ideas and approaches from this chat and I’m hopeful you will too.
Below is a breakdown of the session and topics. At the end, there are links to David’s site and a unique offer to listeners of the podcast from David.
If you enjoy some of the ideas David shared, he will send you, at no charge a copy of '19 steps to reduce stress and increase your health and happiness' link to details.
Just jump over to David's contact page here and tell David in the subject line you are a listener of Rob's podcast and you would like the 19 Steps E book'.
Show Summary:
0-1Minute – Introduction
1 Min - the real French Kiss
•Feeling an experience of stress and anxiety after finding the car being damaged
•Learning habits to deal with stress
•Managing stress
5 Min – Developing Tools for stress management
•Dale Carenege book being something standing out at a young age
•How can complex things be made simpler
•Social Psychology Examples – putting lights higher up in Cars
•Spending time with a close friend that had cancer twice gave David the opportunity to develop some practices to deal with difficult situation
9 min – Curiosity
•Nearly accidently killing himself with a plug socket – being always into ways to make things simpler
10 min – Affirmations – Every Day in Every Way
•Dr. Emile Cuet? – Using Coaching and Affirmations to help people get better
•He knew there was a time of day that our brains are more receptive to learning
•Being in the beta phase and alpha phase
•Jose Silva – bringing your brain down into the Alpha state – bringing your body into that relaxed state
15 min – Anchoring – learning to hook yourself into a sleep state
17 min – Thomas Edison – Sleeping & Solving Problems
•Using Sleep to tap into the subconscious mind to solve problems
20 min – The story behind the WONDER technique
•Spending 13 months travelling and hiking
•This developed a big urge to formulate these ideas
•Started to organize the information and formalize the information
•Finding a word to describe it all – Rainbow first emerged
•WONDER thing became the word
25 min – The Story behind Water
•At book town in Westminster and the story of Julie and her headaches
•Drinking water helped solve these issues
27 min – Outside – Why this is so important
•We’re spending so much less time outside
•We need to be out in fresh air more!
•The positive blue light effects that come from being outside
•The impact of traffic air pollution – especially for runners/joggers
•Go for a walk the first thing of the day
31 mins – No worries with Thomas Edison
•Focusing on one solitary thing at a time!
•When making a decision, SHALT first
oSick
oHungry
oAngry
oLonely
oTired
•The 4 D’s – helping to make decision
oDelegate – if it’s not for you, send it to someone else
oDefer – don’t answer right away
oDo it
oDelete it – not for you
37 mins – Managing the state of Mind with 10 things to be grateful for
•Write down 10 things I’m grateful for every morning
•You’re programming your day on a positive note
•Use a pen instead of on digital – it sticks better in our brain
40 mins – Meditation & Techniques
•Don’t use Meditation apps – train the mind to meditation when you have nothing
•Finding your internal switch is essential when meditating
•You can start with the external trigger but you need to move into internal
42 mins – Control over the mind with Visualization
•Alex Honnold worlds best free climber example
•Visualising the entire climb before
•VIA – Visualization, Imagine, Action
•In your minds, when you want to do something, you need to take a real positive way
•Complete commitment to you goals with practice!
50 mins – Mental Challenges can be necessary pain & suffering
•You can’t avoid this transition to get to the next level
•Training your brain is essential and good for you
•You create your brain when you learn, and it keeps you fresh
54 mins – Moving toward an AI world
•Becoming more adaptable, creative and focused
•Having multiple careers in our lives so need to be able to adjust
•Apply lots of technique but it comes downs to practice and focus
57 mins – Analogy of an AI Girlfriend
•How would you feel to her being unplugged by someone else?
•How do we deal with the ethics?
•The impact this can have on your emotional state
60 mins– Acryonms are important and help to remember things
Recommended Books:
Sapiens - Yuval Noah Harari - link - https://amzn.to/2Q9DWBs
Homo Deus – Yuval Noah Harari - link - https://amzn.to/2OkAbvN
Get in touch with David:
Via LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hennesseydavid/
Via his Website: www.thewondertechnique.com
Please do sign up to the RoboftheGreen Newsletter on www.robofthegreen.ie
Quick check in podcast of what's coming up with some questions answered and what's going on with the show and RoboftheGreen in General
I was connected with Alex back in April via Samantha Kelly (thanks again Samantha) and we recorded this episode. As you’ll hear, he’s a very focused, driven, and ambitious entrepreneur that has a clear vision for the future.
Here’s a breakdown of the conversation with high-level topics discussed:
1min – All about Content Cal – Strategy & Offerings and what’s it’s all about
2min – Licensing of the tool to other businesses across the globe – they can use this internally. 31/2 years in business. A whirlwind journey. Investment and the journey.
3min – Types of companies that are slow to adopt? 500k companies created every year in the UK
•Social media is a very cheap way to enter the market
•Property businesses are a laggard
•Surprised what type of companies are still not onboard
•Consumer businesses jumped on it quickly
7min – Gary Vaynerchuck – Tackling Real Estate
•Sharing an office space with Vaynerchuck Media – online mentor
•So much money in property business – people managing these budgets – less flexible
9mins – How did he get into this world? What is his earliest memory?
•Growing up in Gloucester – country area – outside and being outdoors
•Deep thinker and why things happen from a very young age
12mins – Introvert v Extrovert?
•Now extrovert but younger – introverted
•From age of 15 – more social
13mins – What was the focus – An Entrepreneur from a young age?
•Around 14/15 – O2 Sim cards – from internet – sell them in the playground for £10 each
•Getting into Selling and working to find a way to make money
•Knew from Business at GCSE level that this is what he wanted to do – excited here
•Started his own business at 19 years in Uni – Connect, Design, Social Media Consultancy – managing local business
•Started CardiffBanter website
•21 years old – did some corporate experience for a few years
•Started social media agency at 23
18mins – Where did this come from?
•Exposed to this at a young age – did work experience with his uncle at 16 – small business
•His parents did have a big influence here too – focused him on hard work will get you there
•People have different risk appetites
•Easier now than ever before to start the company
•Starting young was low risk and wanted to go for it.
21mins – Fear and has it held you back?
•Was scared at the time of 23
•It was a real uphill battle in these years due to his age!
•It was hard to get credibility from that young age – clients had faith
•De-risked the position from a young age – brought in a partner in early one – to minimize the risk – he knows about sales
•Position the business to grow and sell it on --- that’s always the end goal.
24mins – Lessons and Mistakes:
•Early days, grew well.
•Didn’t bring Finance in early
•Write down what you know well and what you don’t well
•Business is a whole team effort – so many skills sets needed
•Not being afraid or nervous or have any ego attached – build management team
•Get the right experts in – things go faster!
•The owner or founder doesn’t listen to the advice – this is the main reason for failure
•Business should run without its founder – what you can own v can’t
29mins – Personal SWOT
•Most people never ever analyse themselves – take a pause!!
•Where are you goals at?
30mins – Self-awareness, EQ & Feedback
•Don’t avoid feedback
•It’s an alien concept – you can’t know it all
•You don’t always have to agree with it – it’s
32mins – Productivity & Time management
•Get up early – 6am
•Compartmentalize To Do lists – into 4 lists
•Email Rule – First thing in the AM and once in the Afternoon and then at end of day
•Educate yourself on how you work best – cut out distractions
•No magic – crack on!
•The Rule of 3
•Every January, do a reset for the year – takes a month to do it!
•Focus on the 3 things you don’t want to do first and get it done!
•Tough ones first
•Get up EARLY
39mins – Intuition
•Constantly using this – look at data but not as much as some!
•Go with the gut
•Be optimistic but impatient
•Being right with some big calls from the business and using intuition
•Often writing off a deal because it took too long but was wrong
42mins – ContentCal – Untapped Market & how it’s developed
•Lots of social media tools out there – automating the tools is an obvious thing that you can do
•So many businesses not yet tapped into these tools
•How Contentcal started – as there was not something that could merge a spreadsheet and scheduling – why can’t this be done in one place
•FTSE100 companies still spend a lot on traditional media
•Growth of social media marketing is still enormous
•Sky £200m a year on advertising – tiny % of that on social media
48mins – Emerging Trends in Social
•VR & AR, Experience Advertising will be big in the future
50mins – Getting started in Social Media:
•Google best channels for your industry – infinite blogs
•Don’t commit of being on every channel – just focus on one
•Use Hashtags all the time & research on the ones best to use
•It takes time & requires a little bit of budget – research it
54mins – Do not do!
•Don’t buy fake followers
•Don’t use tools to get followers and unfollow
•Find the right people you’re willing to work with!
•Don’t dive in without knowing a bit about it – just ask people!
•People want to help!
Book Recommendations
•Motivation focus – Arnolds Schwarzenegger – Total Recall
•Practical – Lean Start-up
•4-hour work week – Tim Ferriss
•The Daily Stoic – Ryan Holiday
•The Sales Acceleration Formulae
•Sapiens – Non business related book
Get in touch
•www.contentcal.io
•AlexPackham on all socials
1% Better with Meagan Duhamel
Quote:
'That part of my life is definitely complete' — Meagan Duhamel retires with 3 Olympic medals, 2 world titles
Meaghan is a 2 time world champ, 2018 Olympic Gold & Bronze Medallist, 7 time national champion, Vegan and so much more!
One of the stand out parts from this interview was her mantra ‘What can I do today, to be better tomorrow?’ – this is what the 1% Better podcast is all about!
During the individual pairs free skate at the 2018 Olympics, Duhamel and Radford became the first team to complete a quadruple throw jump at any Winter Olympic competition when she landed their throw quadruple Salchow.
During our conversation, we touch on a lot.
1% Better Takeaways:
Set your sight on a goal, do everything you can to achieve it.
Be ready to sacrifice so much as nothing comes for free or easy!
Hard work is key
Be open to change
Don’t get focused on the Result – focus on the improvement and personal best!!
Set the big goal but work on the day to day.
Bi in the moment.
Focusing on being better every single day instead of a bigger goal.
If you get scared to lose, that’s what you do. Because that is what you’re focusing on.
Focusing on the task.
Write guided scripts and record it in your own voice. Listening back to this was of huge help. It helped massively with keeping focus.
Summary of questions with timings below.
1min– Earliest memory – at the age of 3 at the golf driving range getting a whack from her sister!
3min– Skating from the age of 3 – the family were all very much into the Ice rinks – Meagan was very much following her older sister onto the ice.
5min –Competing against each other in the early years but to get to the elite level, Meagan wanted to move away from home to get this, her sister didn’t. This was the dividing line. This was the decision Meagan made at 14. It was set in her mind from 6 or 7 that the Olympics was her goal. Her dream!
7min – where did the level of self-belief and determination of going to the Olympics
8min - Having crazy dreams without the talent at the highest level. It was her hard work and determination was the key driver. Getting advice from a skating judge that she could have the potential and from there, her parents put their faith into her career.
10min– the belief was always coming from Meagan about her dream.
11min– Skating & sport was her pure focus and drive
12min – Sacrifices made at this time – moving away from home at 14! Living with different families and having to live 3 hours from home. This was expensive as is skating in general. Her parents both had two jobs.
13min – Progression and growth trajectory over the next few years was steady but slow! In 2006, attend the national championships. As a single skater, she finished 4th. This was a huge setback. This was a big time for reflection.
15min – Coming 4thwas a catalyst to drive her forward again. She then moved to Montreal and started to skate pairs.
17min – Change from single to pair skating – this was a pretty smooth transition as Meagan was ready for a change and she embraced it. Dealing with the challenge of team work and having to be right even if you weren’t felling right.
19mins – After skating with Craig for 3 years, they were focusing on Olympic qualification for the upcoming Olympics in Canada. Showing up at national they finished 3rd. Missing out again. This was a huge inflection point. It was a big moment for Meagan. However, a Coach, now Meagan’s Husband, believed in her and a new partner, Eric, as a team!
22mins – Early challenges with Eric, her new partner. Learning to overcome these on timing, size, athleticism. After about a month, they realized that they, as a pair, could do jumps and throws that no other team could! Both were good single skaters, and this was their strategy. The Triple Lutz was a jump that set this pairing apart and this would lead to their success.
26mins– 4 years of continued success as they built up to the winter Olympics in Sochi. Natural progression every year. Entered the Olympics, they thought this was their chance of winning. In the moment, Meagan was too focused on the result, instead of the personal goal. She felt she missed out on the great Olympic skate. A great performance.
In Skating, you can’t control the result. You are handing over control to the judges. Going into the 2018 Olympics, this was the change in focus.
29mins – Planning for the next Olympics. In fact, they started to plan day by day instead of a 4-year plan. Sick of living in this 4-year cycle. Now just putting one foot in front of the other.
Learning the Throw Quad Salchow. Focus on this for 2 years.
32mins– Fear of losing taking over. Still not sure they’d make it to the Olympics. This was the peak!! So, should they retire now in 2016. They had the great skate. So, another point of reflection needed. Meagan was regaining her motivation, Eric was losing his.
34mins– Sport psychology – changing the mindset. Still at the low in 2017 as a team. Felt lost and just not in the right place. Enlisted the help of a mental trainer. Focus.
35mins– Tools that were used to get the mindset in place.
37mins – Winning Gold & Bronze medal – showed up in the best shape physically, mentally, and emotionally. Going in as underdogs. This made them feel very comfortable. Both of them felt so calm and relaxed. They skated and let everything flow.
39mins– being able to turn off the brain during the skating and reaching a state flow. They felt this was coming. They had concerns what the judges were going to do.
42mins– Becoming a Vegan – How this came about and how the transition happened. Again, being very focused and made this as a career.
45mins – The future in coaching and health and wellness.
Phrase: Is there a saying / phrase to live by? --- Enjoy the journey, not the destination
Book:
MindGym – Gary Mack - https://amzn.to/2N5NQ9k
SoulMates on Ice – Meagan and Eric’s book out in the fall - https://amzn.to/2opSDog
Connect with Meagan
Lutzofgreens.com
Twitter - https://twitter.com/mhjd_85
Eben Alexander & Karen Newell - Near Death Experiences & Living in a Mindful Universe - EP21 S2
Welcome to the 1% Better Podcast.
This is another show of many firsts.
It’s my first with two guests on the other side of the mic/studio (virtual studio via skype).
It's my first interview with a #1 New York Times Best Selling Author in Eben Alexander.
I believe it's my first with someone who experienced a Near Death Experience (NDE) so vivid and long in duration (he was in a coma for 7 days where he was technically brain dead) that he was able to write a book about it called Proof of Heaven.
In the show, Eben is joined by his life partner, Karen Newell, who is the co-founder of Sacred Acoustics, which creates brainwave audio recordings that help you enter and engage your own consciousness in order to connect to inner guidance, achieve inspiration, improve wellness and develop intuition.
They are the co-authors of their most recent book living in a mindful universe which we also discuss on the show.
There is a full summary of the topics covered and questions asked below if you would like to review over it before or after the show.
What would be really cool? If you took a minute out to rate/review the podcast on iTunes (links below). I write that every week. I'm still trying to figure out the best way to word it for it to happen :)
Topics covered:
•NDEs
•Meditation
•Mindfulness
•Consciousness
•participatory anthropic principle – worm holes and black holes
•Putting awareness on the heart!! – activating stored emotional traumas
•The voice in the head – The annoying room-mate!
oAllow the higher soul take over
•Quantum Physics
•Beliefs – Limiting Behaviours
•Love, Compassions, Forgiveness,
Mins 0-2mins – Rob Intro & Background to interview
Q1 – 2mins – Eben – talk about the story that lead to Proof of Heaven?
•Neurosurgeon world view – Physicalism – this was how viewed
•The journey unfolded to show him this was not the way!
•November 2008 – into a Coma for 7 days
•Blessing of it all – Neocortex was destructed – extremely deadly case of bacterial meningitis
•What he witnessed was a far richer and more real and alive world – none of the scientific explanations work – this is why Proof of Heaven worked!
•The Earthworms Eyes View – the world he lived in during this time!!!
•Slowly spinning white light – imagery, meadows, lights, orbs, choirs,
•The awareness was far beyond anything he could understand!!!
•Impossible to describe this into words!!
•Guardian Angel – identity of this came clear 4 months later
•Message – you are deeply loved and cherished forever!!!
•Space & Time collapsing
•Deep Time then entered the core!!
Q2 – 9mins – Human Language couldn’t describe – was there feelings liked?
•NDE – Grayson scale – scored in the upper 2% every reported
•Atypical – Amnesic in his own life – no memories – starting with an empty slate!!
•Now wanted to read the NDE – but only after writing down 20k of this experience
•Still uncovering the lessons now
•Eben had a blank slate as he couldn’t remember anything before the coma
•Consciousness
Q3 – 12mins – Conditioned from when we’re born – within that world? Time & Space?
•Felt like months or years!
•We see as time in this material world – it’s not as the way it seems to work!
•Quantum Physics
•Participatory anthropic principle – worm holes and black holes
•We need to expand our models of understanding
•Deep Time – Past and Future existing in the NOW!
•We can get to these in deep meditation – our brain is just a filter!!
•Going within can be so crucial – this is why we can do!
•Karen Newell – Co-Author – Sacred Acoustic – Deep Transcendental States!!
Q4 – 16mins – Meditation prior to the NDE?
•Discuss this in Living in a Mindful Universe
•Chapel Hill in College – Parachuting team!!
•Initially wanted to play Rugby and do Jumping first!
•Parachuting – Silver Mind control – form of meditation – helped with Freefall formations
•He couldn’t see this role in other aspects of his life! He didn’t take it to school\
•1976 to 2011 – a gap – meditation started again and work with Karen!
•Using Sacred tones to revisit these states!
•Practice of going within
Q5 – 19mins – Coming out of the Coma – To write about this?
•First few days – Amnesia was gigantic – coming back – 7 days later – had no recognise of anything – all his scientist knowledge was long gone!
•Words & Language – days
•8 weeks – everything came back – more complete than before!!
•Assumed the NDE was way too real to be real!
•Memories are as shape and clear now as they were then!
•NDE memories are not at all like a drug effect – these are richer than a real true-life experiment – these don’t change over time!!
•Grayson – writing a study about his case - Dying to be me!
•Examples of others that had NDE – Case report – simply points out damage to Neocortex – but yet came back from!!
Q6 – 24mins – putting the book together – was there fear in sharing this?
•4 months after – realising who his guardian angel was
•He realised he couldn’t just bury this!
•He knew this was a big risk, but he knew what he discovered he couldn’t bury this!
•Starting to glimpse many scientists were also far along this pathway!
•Admitting we should be looking into this more!
Q7 – 27mins – Meditation and A Gateway into this?
•Meeting with Karen Newell
•The Brain Doesn’t Create Consciousness – why would anyone think that it does?
•Karen was on a different path – not looking at science as offering the truth!
•Science wasn’t answering the purpose questions
•Only know things for certain when you have the FIRST HAND Experience!
•This was something Karen could do using remote viewing, and she could create these experiences in her own life!!
•SOUND is a critical experience creator
•Focusing on the NOW moment!
•Creating Sounds – to help people get into the NOW moment – beyond the time and space of here now!
•Using the Binomials beats, etc
•This technology can help get out this!
Q8 – 32mins – Recommendations for those starting out – the best form?
•Searching for the best methods?
•We all have slightly different versions of what that is?
•Frustrations are very common
•The mind is our friend when we want to go to Harvard and get a PhD!
•But it’s not a big helper when we want to find out deeper feeling state!
•Deep state of meditation – much less about words – more about feelings!!
•Get the MIND out of the WAY
•Brainwave technology really helps!
•Listening to the sound helped bring into the expanded state of awareness!
•Tool – imagine the breath coming in and out of the heart!!
•Releasing these traumas – emptying ourselves from these old traumas
•The Voice in the Head – the annoying roommate is there!
•The lower brainstem – millions of year ago – part of evolution
•The sound frequencies are connecting into this part of the brain stem!
•A bigger effect at a much deeper level
•binaural beats
•Reuniting with the god-force
Q9 – 39mins – Is there a preferred way when using the beats?
•Recommended lying down
•Really want to make the body profoundly relaxed
•The mind / awareness is still alert
•Some caveats – if you fall asleep very easily
•Finding a relaxed position
•It can be done as a walking meditation
•Experiment and find what work best for them
Q10 – 43mins – Different Techniques – Benefits? Experience? How quickly?
•Cumulative effects can’t be stressed enough
•Can start to see improvement
•As we start to change – we just know who we are!!
•It can happen immediately
•Calmer!!
•The tones are having an impact
•TM – the standard – 20mins x 2 times a day
•20mins is a measurable impact – do it at least 4 times a week
•20mins is enough to start
•Develop the ability to stay in longer periods – start to interact with deeper states
•Longer periods – allow to go deeper!
•1 hour 15mins as a minimum is a good starting point!
•Example – Eben’s son with studying
Q11 – Silent Retreats – Using the Beats? For longer term!!
•Intensive works – 5 times a day x 45mins recording – more expanded states
•Weekend retreats!
•Can be very life transforming – get exposed to another side of yourself and the essence of who you really are!
•Teaching people to find out who they really are!
Q12 – Always on and always connected – looking for that!
•Escaping what is true and what is not true!
•We need to get a clearer view
Q13 – Consciousness – New Models
•New models emerging
•Living in a mindful universe
•Get rid of the materialist or physicalist universe
•Leading Fathers of Quantum Physics
•The mind is a reducing value
•Measurement Paradox in QP
•Come to the conclusions we live in a mental universe
•Free Will can have a tremendous influence on our life!
•Placebo effect – 30% shows this defies materialist model!!
•Medical world is stuck in Materialism!!
•Filter Theory!!
•We are sharing ONE Consciousness – Lots of examples here
•Changing our Belief!!! False Limiting!!!
Q14 – Intuition & Consciousness – Related
•The Mental Universe is us!
•No soul is left behind
•The more we can become more conscious of this, the more we can improve
•The inner essence
Connect in with Eben & Karen:
•Latest book – Living in a Mindful Universe
•www.EbenAlexander.com – 33 day journey – email each day from the book!
•The community of thinkers are engaging and is worldwide and growing daily.
•Sacred Acoustics's website (Karen's company): www.sacredacoustics.com
And people will want to have these:
Link to the FREE online course, 33-Day Journey into the Heart of Consciousness
www.ebenalexander.com/33days/
Link to the FREE 20-minute sound meditation, OM:
https://www.sacredacoustics.com/pages/free-download-sign-up
Davidji is an internationally recognized stress-management expert, corporate trainer, meditation teacher, and author of a number of critically acclaimed and Bestselling books
In December 2015, Davidji was named a Trailblazer in Yoga & Ayurveda by Spirituality & Health Magazine (http://spiritualityhealth.com/100trailblazers).
Early this year, I discovered Davidji through a meditation app and was instantly take by his voice, which has been dubbed the ‘velvet voice of stillness’. I’ve been listening to some of his guided meditations ever since.
So when Davidji agreed to come onto the 1% Better podcast to talk about his how journey, from corporate world to a life of purpose, fulfilment and happiness, I was more than delighted. We recorded it over skype and video and I could see Davidji was in a much more lush surroundings on the west coast of the US than I was as you can hear the birds signing!
Some of the key topics we cover during the conversation are summarized below. It’s certainly one of my favourite shows as I can relate in many ways to his journey.
I hope you enjoy the show. A breakdown of what we talk about with timings detailed below.
Timings & Topics:
1min – The velvet voice of stillness and how this came to be
2min – Earliest Memory – the divine principle of rebirth – keep dying to the past, reinventing ourselves is key. Davidji’s Mother dying at an early age. Getting the book Ulysses by James Joyce. Advise to keep journeying.
4min – Growing up & early formed values? – grew up in New York. Effort & Focus drilled into him from birth. Always been driven and had a vision. Not necessarily seeking money but wanting to be the best version of himself.
6min - Started to question his purpose & reason for being. 9/11 was a big impact on his view of the world. In the wake of this, everything Davidji believed turned out not to be true. He started to question the purpose? What will be his legacy? What is this all about?
10min – Was there a first tool or first step?
•Started to meditate in College – getting hit with a bamboo stick when a though came in!
•Over the years, practiced different forms of meditation, some lasting longer than others!
•More in corporate world, the practice then dropped away.
14min – Corporate world 20 years ago to now?
•Mindfulness in general, not just in work, has come a long way in 10 years
•Example of Oprah Winfrey, Richard Branson, Steve Jobs all meditate
•Working with the Dublin Gardaí (police force) last year
17mins – Deciding to leave the Corporate World & becoming the COO at Deepak’s Centre
•Left the Job and went to Oxford England with Deepak Chopra and learned meditation techniques – he realized after a few days meditation, he felt joy and lightness for the first time in years.
•Then headed to India in search of the guru and answers
•Went to Deepak in California and approached him about becoming part of the centre leveraging his business skills
•Every day, he them became a teacher of meditation and working in the centre’s business
•Finding the blend here and working in the centre for 10 years.
•In 2012, Davidji decided to move out on his own and start on a new journey with these skills
25min – Quid Pro Quo & The Perfect Job
•An energetic exchange in every relationship is key
•Be willing to serve at a certain level and be ready to receive it back
27min – Intuition & Big Picture?
•Our ability to take a step back and realize it’s not all about the step right now!
•Meditation helps you connect with stillness and see how the bigger picture fits into
•Daily meditation has helped Davidji see the world coming at him in slow motion
31min – The Sweet-spot, the space between our thoughts & the Gap
•You are not your thoughts
•We have 60-80000 thoughts per day!
•We are not our physical body
•Then who are we? We are the space between our thoughts – this is the place we can then truly find peace – This is the key!
•When you meditate, the more you get into the gap
•Cultivating our ability to witness – accessing beyond space and time!
•When you come back into the real world, you bring a small bit of this back
•Our next words and thoughts are just that little bit more reflective
•Bringing more purpose and stillness into the moment
38min – Ego comes up & how you can control this?
•Look at your ego – a sense of self
•That moment you have the impulse to respond – this will give you time back
•Do you have the patience to wait until the mud settles? – Lao Su?
41min – 21-day meditation technique and challenge with Steve Covey
•How this took off and grew
•Years later how this took another turn
•Making 21 days into the 40-day challenge
•The 40 days of transformation program for the last 5 years
45min – Does meditation work for everyone?
•Anyone can meditation and you can do it anywhere
•Be more mindful doing activities
•Pattern interruptions will help you be a better version of yourself
49min – Yoga Chitta Vritti Nirodha
•Explaining a mantra
•You will still have thoughts
•Oneness is the progressive quieting the fluctuations of the mind!
50min – Book recommendations
•Man’s search for meaning – Victor E. Frankl
oWe can’t avoid suffering but we can choose how we want to cope with it!
•Sacred Powers – Davidji
•The Mothman Prophecy with Richard Gere
•Steven Covey – 7 Habits of Highly successful people
1% Better Takeaways:
•Keep journeying
•Practice what you chose every day! Everything needs a daily practice
•Taking a 21-day challenge & a 40 day challenge
Connect with Davidji:
•www.davidji.com
In this live show, I discuss a wide range of topics including:
The story behind the Rosanna Arquette Episode
International Podcast Day
Upcoming show with Davidji
Podcast listening Apps & Stats
One Minute Monday
Blogging
Coaching
and lots more!!
Check it out
Maryam Henein is a filmmaker and writer and owner of Honey Colony. You may of seen Maryam’s documentary, Vanishing of the Bees (narrated by Ellen Page) that came out a few years ago. She is also owner of the Honey Colony which is a company that aims to put honesty back in the food supply.
Check out this live episode of the 1% Better Podcast. More details in the show notes after we go live.
Welcome to the show!
Paula has had quite a varied and fascinating career so far. From journalism, TV Production, Event Management, Human Rights Research, Life and Business Coaching, Authoring books developing Wellness and Social Media Influencing. She is also a Mother. She is originally from Sao Paulo, Brazil, but her career so far has brought her far and wide.
I connected with Paula earlier this year as I was interested in learning more about her career as well as her experience in the area of social media. As she has a following on Twitter of almost half a million, I was keen to understand her strategy and approaches to that.
While that was the original interest, as Paula talks through her career, I began to realize there was a lot more to her than just having nearly half a million followers on twitter.
During our broad ranging conversation, I learned a lot about Paula’s positive approach to life, her passion for learning and always looking to help others.
I recorded this interview on International Day of happiness (20th March) which was a fitting day as Paula does look towards finding happiness.
Just some of the key points we discussed include:
•Leading with a positive mindset
•Life challenges with an Autistic Son and how she’s worked to keep positive
•A career in TV & Communications skills
•The importance of team work
•Executive Producing Events including a Red Hot Chilli Peppers concert
•Dealing with the demands of performers
•Project Management & Event Management
•Taking on a new challenge in the area of Human Rights research in Kosovo
•Seeing first hand that atrocities that war can bring and how strong people can be
•Moving back to London and starting out in the area of Social Media and Marketing
•Developing Social Media Strategies in Facebook and Twitter while still early days with both platforms
•Training in Homeopathy
•Becoming an author in 2013 and publishing a series of books
•Having a busy mind and always looking for ways to be positive
•As a life & business coach, finding ways to help others via social media
•Fighting for her customers & followers rights though social media
•What a typical day looks like?
•Paz’s 2 main pleasures in life
oHelping others be successful through coaching
oCooking for others
•What does the future hold?
oConcerns about Brexit and how it could impact her future
oHaving a plan B, C, D & E
•Holding her Mother as her greatest influencer over her life!
•Advice that stands out from her past!
1% Better Takeaways:
•Learn to be happy - this is the biggest secret!
•The Theory of the 5 in Social Media
oHave 5 ideas online every day
3 from others
2 from you – 1 with business & 1 about you!
•Always have a Plan B
•Social Media advice from her experience so far
oConsistency is key across all your platforms – same picture, bio and header!!!
oFocus on Instagram is exploding – more video is great
oBuild out a strategy but be open to test out posts at different times
oUse of tools like Hootsuite can be very useful if you’re building a full on strategy
oTwitter is becoming a platform of complaints!
oThe use of Tor Project online for positive results
•Be genuine with your followers and engage with them
Connect with:
www.paulatooths.com
Twitter - @paulatooths
Hi all,
Welcome to another episode of the 1% Better Podcast.
I have the full show notes with all links to Colin on the episode page on my site here - www.robofthegreen.ie/episodes/ep39-colinobrady/
Thanks for listening,
Rob
Welcome to the 1% Better Podcast.
This week’s guest is John Murray. John is, primarily, a Headshot Photographer. But as you’ll hear from this conversation, he has many other strings to his bow. He’s been adding new skills and competencies over the years and is clearly a lifelong learner that has a passion for what he does.
John talks about the neuroscience and psychology of photography, how we read images, how we read each other, Duchenne smiles v squinch, what is the self-acceptance gap, picture avoidance syndrome (PAS), the impact and benefit mindfulness has had on John, and so much more!
Please go to the full episode page on my site for a detailed summary with 1% Better Tips and book recommendations.
The link is: http://robofthegreen.ie/episodes/johnmurray-ep17s2
Enjoy the show.
Welcome to the 1% Better Podcast.
Leah Olszewski has had quite the journey so far. She is an award-winning Entrepreneur, a Commissioned Officer in the US Army, holds an MBA & PMP and has just come through a very challenging couple of years personally. But, as you'll hear, she's looking forward to what the future will bring with focus and resilience.
During the interview, Leah talks me through the path life has had in store for her, touching on early years growing up, lessons learned at university, finally realising her ambition of becoming a commissioned officer, to becoming an accidental entrepreneur with her sister, and, in more recent times, dealing with domestic violence in her personal life. Thankfully, she's a very strong and determined lady and is now focusing on the next chapter in her journey.
You should listen to this podcast as it's always interesting, has many turning points and touches on so many valuable lessons that you can take something from.
A more detailed summary of the podcast can be found on the full episode page on my site with how to connect with Leah.
Link: http://robofthegreen.ie/episodes/leaholszewski-ep16s2
As always, thanks so much for listening in. I hope you enjoy the show.
This is just me testing out the live show features as I might look to do this a bit more in the near future!
John Eades is the CEO of LearnLoft, an organization focused on developing the modern professional. He is also the author of F.M.L. Standing Out and Being a Leader and host of the Follow My Lead podcast. He wants a world where every modern professional adds value to his or her organization and the world. He writes or has been featured on Inc.com, LinkedIn Pulse, TrainingIndustry.com, eLearningIndustry.com, CNBC Money, and more. He also was a professional Golfer which he says thought him how to deal with failure!
When I asked John to be a guest on the podcast, I didn't expect to discuss Garth Brooks' hit song 'Standing Outside the Fire', Soccer (Football) or Faith but it's amazing what comes up and becomes very relevant as these conversations unfold and this one was absolutely one of the best so far for that.
During this hour long conversation, we go broad and deep into John's career, learnings, turning points, faith, success, and so much more. A summary of the topics covered including the key 1% Better takeaways, and book recommendations are covered below.
I really hope you enjoy this episode as much as I did recording it.
Summary:
Earliest Memories growing up with his brothers and family
A Soccer Shoe/Boot incident at the age of 6
Discuss how soccer is growing but is not part of the DNA in the USA yet!
Sport being a huge part of John’s life growing up
Ambition was leading John to step on others to get where he wanted to get to!
Faith was always a strong part of John’s life
A Big Personal Turning point in John’s mindset with Faith being a bit part of this!
Realizing that he was thinking too much of himself – the moment was defining!
That lead John to start to think of others more and focused on this!
You become a combination of the 5 people you surround yourself with!
The Candle story– work on getting this brighter rather than dimmer!
The importance of Values
A learning switch go off in John after giving up professional golf
A meeting with the Author John Gordon that became a lesson in how to collaborate
The importance of being authentic
We’re all selling every single day, we just don’t realize it and it might not be for a product in exchange for Money!
Quid Pro Quo– find ways to help others and they will help you back
Golf – How to deal with failure and comparisons to baseball
The Garth Brooks song 'Standing outside of the fire' and how it inspired John
Facing Fears by standing inside the fire
How John has just kept going and stick with it even when it felt like others might not be listening
Biggest Professional Turning Point - Setting up a learning technologies company but 9 months in, it wasn’t working out!
After firing an employee, John realized that he was the problem from a leadership perspective.
This sparked the change to be a content company focusing on leadership
Knowing that leadership is about other people more than the leader!
This helped John realize that he had to trust others, not be in every decision and know that not everyone does it your way and that is ok!
This lead to John becoming very clear on his purpose – every day waking up being excited to learn and help other people learn about leadership!
How John defines success today - significance over success
Faith v Meditation and how they compare! Going beyond yourself is key
Don't stay in the middle - Taking a stand and believing in something but don’t stay in the middle
Defining leadership – Someone who’s actions inspire, empower, and serve others to produce an improved state over an extended period of time!
Key lessons shared:
Behaviours become habits, habits becomes results
Behaviours – consciously done
Habits – unconsciously done
Leadership Circles:
Top Two are Confidence & Drive = The Jackass Compound!
Bottom Two are Selflessness & Character = The Cordual compound = too nice
Surround yourself with people that are doing good things – it will lead you to good things!
Be Proactive and find people in your life that will help you!
Leadership - love and discipline are key traits to use!!
Buyer Alignment– Think of what you can do for the customer – Quid Pro Quo!
Build relationships – not hard selling
Learning from Failure with Golf – you rarely win!!
Stand inside the fire – push yourself outside the comfort-zone
Always focus on doing work that’s of value to you at the very least – if others find value in it, then great!
Know when it’s time to leave or if there are opportunities to change!
A failure can lead to a purpose to help other people
Ask yourself how you define success!
Practice Patience and be Proactive
Leadership – the key trait = Empathy at all costs! Jack Welch as the key leadership trait!
There are no bad teams, just bad leaders – Jocko Willink
Book:
The Energy Bus – John Gordon
Book : Two Chairs by Bob Boden
Connect with John:
www.learnloft.com
LinkedIn – JohnEades
Dermot Mannion has been the CEO of Aer Lingus, Deputy Chairman of Royal Brunei Airlines and President of Group Services at Emirates Airlines. He now runs his own consulting and coaching business, Dermot Mannion Consulting.
I was lucky enough to have Dermot as a classmate during the Executive Coaching Diploma we were on together at the IMI in 2016. Right from the start, Dermot was someone I, and everyone on the course, was impressed by. So, when I started the podcast in 2017, he was one guest I really wanted to get on the show. I was delighted that we could make that happen.
During this hour long conversation, Dermot brings us through his career and shares valuable insights and lessons he’s learned along the way. From his early career with Ulster Bank, to the CEO position with Aer Lingus, going toe-to-toe with Ryanair, and then holding the role of deputy chairman with Royal Brunei Airlines. He has had quite the career so far.
It's a fascinating show. I know you’ll enjoy it.
A high-level summary of the topics discussed are listed below:
Dermot’s interest in Coaching & Mentoring During his Career
Developing and Nurturing young talent as a key interest all through his career
Citing Sir Maurice Flanaganas a huge influence and mentor to Dermot during his time with Emirates.
Key Leadership skills - Listening & Humility as two key attributes
Growing up in Sligo and how moving to Dublin for College was a huge change
In Trinity in the 1970s, Dermot was one of the first wave of students from the West of Ireland
Being an innocent country boy moving to Dublin and being somewhat overwhelmed by the place for the first 3 years
Remembering Joe Duffy and Gerry Ryan as students in Trinity at the time
Beginning to feel comfortable in the University just as the course was coming to an end
First exposure to the Airline Industry while working with Ulster Bank
Finance was a good stepping stone to be successful in the Corporate world!
Always enjoying the soft skills and finding Finance a difficult solitary pursuit
Taking a role with Emirates and moving to Dubai
Dermot sensed that both the City and Airline were going to grow and develop into something very special
Describing his time with Emirates as experiencing a real time PhD course in the industry
Standout moments during his 15 years at Emirates
Learning a lot from taking on a lead role in the IT Department
Success, Mistakes and Learnings from both!
Coaching Young Managers to Present Projects & Business Cases in simple ways!
The power of PowerPoint when used correctly and distilling a business case to one page/slide
Max of 20 slides for PowerPoint!
The power of culture in organizations
Experiences of different cultures in Dubai and Brunei
Creating a space for individuals in organizations to be as creative as they can be
Working at Brunei Royal Airlines, Dermot was giving time to listen
Taking a measured approach to leadership in his first 100 days
Presenting yourself in listening mode is sending a huge message
Experiences during the CEO Role with Aer Lingus and spending 4 years that were the most tumultuous during the Airlines history
Selling skills and how this developed and connecting this to Presentation skills
Big takeaways from the CEO Role with Aer Lingus
Dealing with the Media as a big challenge
It wasn’t just enough to be doing the job itself. The External dimension was key too.
Managing the internal & external challenges as a huge challenge
Learning to turn off the radio on his commute so he could not hear about the AerLingus privatisation
Praying and how this helps to unclutter and still the mind!
Work-life balance and having the ability to switch off!
A typical day now for Dermot working in consulting and as an advisor
Working with ExpertDealCloser.com as an advisor
Two Guests that Dermot would bring to dinner – Oprah & Pope John Paul II
Key tips:
Coaching & Listening skills
Finance as a good stepping stone to be successful in the Corporate world!
Asking the dump question is almost the most intelligent question to ask!
Keep things very simple
With PowerPoint – One message on One slide!! Tell the Story!
As a Leader, bring listening and presence to your work and role
Stand out advice – The first thing to do in a crisis is nothing
It’s much better to make no decision than a bad decision
Join Toastmasters as a great skill to develop public speaking skills
Turn off your Radio in the Car – Get used to the Silence – an opportunity to think!
Always have Hope!
Books:
The Shawshank Redemption – Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and good things never die!
On LinkedIn - Dermot Mannion.
Donna Taggart is a Celtic singer and musician. Born in Omagh in County Tyrone in Northern Ireland she first came to prominence in 2011 when her acclaimed debut album Celtic Lady Vol. 1 was picked up by highly respected BBC Radio Ulster presenter Gerry Anderson.
Donna shot to fame in 2016 with over 27 million Facebook views of her video rendition of "Jealous of the Angels" which was written by Jenn Bostic in 2010. Since then, Donna has had over 150millions plays/listens/view across the social platforms and it’s rising day by day!
I was delighted to meet with Donna in person and record this episode of the podcast just before she played in the Ballymaloe Grainstoreback in April. We had a fun chat and got a lot into under 30 minutes.
The topics that came up during the conversation include:
Last time she played in the Grainstore at 39 weeks pregnant
Early Memories – growing up
Being reserved and sensitive so didn’t believe singing was her path
Becoming a teacher but Life having another plan
Developing Self-believe - 90% belief and confidence v 10% talent
Donna Husband helping her with confidence and believing in her talent
Recording a few songs and putting that out!!
Recording the first album in 2011, then 2013, then in 2016 the big breakthrough
Dealing with Fear and positives nerves
Going viral with 25 Million hits in one weekend
The Billboard Charts getting in touch overnight
How others are able to relate to it and so many people got in touch
Developing a friendship with Jenn Bostic
150million views across social medial platforms!
Touring and live performing
Moving from interpreter and recorder to now writing her own story!
Bringing her own life experiences to her writing
Big challenges of the tour – the beast from the east!
Plans for the next phase of the tour in the UK
Never getting carried away and having no diva requests
Advice to herself ten years younger – let go and believe in yourself
Influencers along the way! Husband, work, and others – Phil Coulter
Preshow superstitions – pray and asking for help! Let it go!
Meditation & Calm – destress and not becoming overwhelmed
Learn more about Donna:
Her website - DonnaTaggart.com
The UK leg of her tour started on 6thJune
Her new single – Guiding Light is out now here - https://itunes.apple.com/album/id1387136426?ls=1&app=itunes
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/donnataggartcelticlady/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TaggartDonna
Instagram: @Donnataggart
Just a quick note to say thanks for listening. There are a lot of podcasts to choose from and you picking this one means a lot to me. I know that sounds like a cheese-ball thing to say, but it’s true! I’m enjoying creating these shows, learning from them and I’m hoping that you are too.
To help me make the show even better, I wand & need your help. Your feedback is essential. So, please take a few minutes to get in touch (links below, or subscribe on iTunes and leave a rating or review).
If you liked this episode, share out the link via one of the socials. It will help me reach a bigger audience. If One Person gets something from the Episode that makes them 1% Better, I’ll be a happy man.
Finally, if you really love the show, and really want me to take it to the next level, I’ve set up a Patreon site where you pledge some financial support. That would be awesome. You will also get exclusive access to upcoming podcasts and article posts that are just for those that are Patreons.
Connect in with Rob on the socials or via email on:
Email Twitter Facebook Website
Hi all,
This week we focus very much on the power and importance of Communication, making Connections, building your Network and creating Communities. All of which my guest, Steve Lenox, does exceptionally well.
Steve runs his own consulting business, Lenox Consulting, and has offices here in Cork as well as in New York and New Jersey.
In addition to his busy consulting practice, Steve is the President of the Irish Network USA which is the national umbrella organization integrating the Irish Networks that exist in various cities across the United States. It allows members of the networks to connect with their peers and to develop relationships that will foster success in their business, economic, cultural and sports ventures. During Steve’s time here, it has grown to over 20 Chapters and has a mission to bolster business between Ireland the US.
During the conversation, which we recorded just around St. Patricks Day, Steve talks me through his career, lessons learned along the way and shares lots of advice from personal experience on how to develop and grow in business.
The topics discussed are:
Steve’s Irish American Background
Steve’s first experiences in Ireland as a student in Galway in the late 1990’s
Communicating at the core of all the work Steve does.
How Community & Communications are tied together
Always having a natural ability to talk with others and help build community
Early roles working for Senator Lautenberg in New Jersey and running his office on a day to day basis
His position of President of the Irish Network USA for the last number of years.
Focusing on Business Development, Public Affairs, Legislative Advocacy & Digital Strategy.
The difference between Statesmen v Politician
Making the decision to leave the political role to working for himself - When is the right time to do it?
Having a Mentor and Support to get his own career up and running
Having the skills to get his consulting business off the ground
Developing Business Contacts in both Ireland and the US as the Business started up
Committed enough to make produce
Core values– Honesty, Hard work, Trust, Loyalty
Control v Freedom – working this this and being able to develop this
Knowing that not every contract comes in and how to keep going!
Details on Irish Network USA – which Steve is the president of in the USA
Setting up chapters across the USA building this up
Different levels of energy required for different situations
Introvert, Extrovert and Ambiverts
Work-life Balance
Productivity and Approaches
Feeling your way through crisis and incidents
Making Difficult Decisions
Advice & Mentors – Don’t bring the problems, bring the solutions
Developing skills and approaches
Key 1% Better Tips:
Success – happy with work, paying the bills
Learning from early business mistakes
Networking & the desire to talk with others with purpose
Until someone says no, you keep on pushing!
Selling yourself and your reputation
Getting clear on the core values
Learning from the role as president – being able to accommodate different peoples personality
Delegation and know he can’t do everything
Recognising the difference between who you are in work, life and in different areas
Books Recommended:
Oliver Plunkett on Tamony Hall
The Godfather
Get in touch with Steve:
Twitter - https://twitter.com/LenoxConsulting
Website - http://www.lenoxconsulting.com/
Just a quick note to say thanks for listening. There are a lot of podcasts to choose from and you picking this one means a lot to me. I know that sounds like a cheese-ball thing to say, but it’s true! I’m enjoying creating these shows, learning from them and I’m hoping that you are too.
To help me make the show even better, I wand & need your help. Your feedback is essential. So, please take a few minutes to get in touch (links below, or subscribe on iTunes and leave a rating or review).
If you liked this episode, share out the link via one of the socials. It will help me reach a bigger audience. If One Person gets something from the Episode that makes them 1% Better, I’ll be a happy man.
Finally, if you really love the show, and really want me to take it to the next level, I’ve set up a Patreon site where you pledge some financial support. That would be awesome. You will also get exclusive access to upcoming podcasts and article posts that are just for those that are Patreons.
Connect in with Rob on the socials or via email on:
Email Twitter Facebook Website
Hi all,
In this week's episode, I have the privilege to share a conversation with Madeleine Black about her debut book, Unbroken. This is a story with real suffering, pain, and trauma. It is also one that has compassion, forgiveness, healing, recovery, and hope.
In the memoir, Madeleine tells her deeply moving, important and empowering story, as she discovers that life is about how a person chooses to recover from adversity.
At the age of 13, Madeleine Black was violently gang-raped. For years afterward, she lived in a state of shock, self-loathing and self-harm. It took her years to confront the buried memories and pain of the attack. When her own daughter turned 13, all these memories fully resurfaced. This time, Madeleine knew it was time to find a way to accept what had happened, find a way to forgive, and move forward with her own life.
In 2014, when Madeleine Black decided to share her story publicly for the first time, the reaction and response was one she didn't expect. So many women and men got in touch and explained how reading her story gave them courage and hope. Inspired by this, Madeleine kept writing her story, which ultimately lead to her memoir, which she openly admits was never her initial plan.
I hope you take something from this and I thank Madeleine for sharing this story with me and now with you. More details on the topics from the show below with links to books & how to connect in with Madeleine.
Advice & Tips:
Working through the Trauma, Exercises that she used that worked well.
Talking Therapy & Therapeutic Massage
The way in was the way out!
Advice – it’s never ever too late to find your voice, to go and get help. Give the shame oxygen, to be listened to, be heard and believed.
Check out the full Episode notes, book recommendations and how to connect with Madeleine on the episode page for this show on www.robofthegreen.ie/episodes
Martin Brennan is the Managing Director of Proactive Management, which specialises in Management Training, Team Training, Coaching, Train the Trainer, Course Design and Accreditation. He has delivered training at Board, Senior Management, Middle Management and Operator Levels. He’s also a qualified Occupational Psychologist.
I was introduced to Martin earlier this year (thanks Maria) as someone that would be a great guest on the podcast as so much of his work around coaching, values, self-improvement, setting and achieving goals align directly with what the theme of the show is. And I can 100% say he didn’t disappoint.
During the conversation, Martin bring us on a journey through his 30+ year career and shares insights, stories and very valuable lessons he’s taken onboard to help him grow and develop and is now sharing these for your benefit.
The one main aim I have for each episode of this show is to provide some value to you. I know I’ve taken some actionable nuggets from this show and I’m confident you will do. Also, lots of new book recommendations for list!
To give you a high-level summary, here are some of the topics we discussed:
Myers Briggs – Martin is an ENTJ
The upside of introverts and the value they bring
What lights Martin up the most?
The work that gives him the most energy
A group with a passion to achieve something
Growing up, working with people was always key
The boy scouts was a great learning
Developing a hunger for Training
Following his passion after facing a redundancy
Starting out on his own as corporate life getting in on Martin – time to go!
Quickly found that most successful people are also nice people too!
Coming from a family 14 and always being afraid of running out of money (he jokes)!
Fear v Excitement – with Excitement being strong
As the Business grew, every year that past, his belief grew!
Called back 98% of the time by clients he worked with previously - that's a positive sign
Knowing that there is no perfect moment to go out on your own in business.
Learning how to Sell your skills & services with 3 tips:
Have a genuine sense of your value & trade with that in mind!
Ask for the Business – get to a proposal & pricing discussion
Bring some of your conditions to the table – don’t discount yourself
Not being afraid to ask for the Purchase Order!
The Neuroses of Self-Employment – when trying to sell!
Resilience and the loneliness of self-employment
The Voice inside the head and dealing with this!
Lou Tice of the Pacific Institute – self-talk, affirmations, values relative to other people. Use Self-Talk to be on your own side!
The Power of Affirmations – Learn to be on your own side!
Meditation and reflecting – happy v restless in your own space!
The Brain moves you towards what you think about – Affirmations!
Business Turning Points:
Negative – losing £14500 invested in a coaching company in the UK
Positive – bringing out resilience as a result of this
Working with the IMI – Henley Diploma in Cork – making contacts here
Working with Big Companies – pay on time & learning for free!
Coaching Leaders & Emerging patterns from them:
Successful people value coaching & feedback more
Getting introverts to start blow their trumpets!
Experience seeing all types of leaders over the year!
How his style has developed over the years
In the early days, thinking he had all the answers
Now:
Harnessing the energy from others – they have the wisdom
Not having all the answers but have the energy to get them
Listening Better - Engage and listen from others to get the next questions
Encourage people to make up their own clichés
The power of personal clichés rather than ones from famous people!
People should look closer to home for influences!
Coaching v Mentoring and how it’s developed over the years!
Influences & Mentors during the year!
Martin’s mother as a huge influence & gave great advice:
If you don’t want to lose something, don’t risk it
You can tell people that you love them, but it’s best you show it!
Martin’s Brother Johnny was a huge influencer also
Lou Tice again had a huge influence on Martin – "Parents being Wizards to Children!"
Techniques from Lou Tice:
Flip Back & Flip Forward – Visualizing – What sense of joy or high!!
Bob Savage as an influencer & friend
Intuition, Decision Making and Logic
Intuition and Transpersonal Coaching
The Dangers with Coaching where many people are just jumping on the bandwagon!
Coaching is a privilege – don’t mess with the tools you have!
Coaching Contracts, Models, Ethics, Awareness, Responsibility and Measurements
Setting up the Contract with Clients:
Becoming more Awareness
Convert this into ability to respond
Measurement Results – going in the right direction
Learning from successes and failures
Confidentiality- this is huge!
Risk Strategies
Values and how to identify core values – tools to use
Value Proposition & Vision – Look at strengths
Ask 3 people what they think of you!
Advice – ensure clients tell their wives or partners that they’re going through coaching as it can result in a change in the personality
How to Measure Coaching Value – Qualitative and Quantitative
Quick Q&A towards the end:
Typical Day & Week
How to hold yourself accountable
Having a Passion and Discipline in Business
Work Life Balance
Stress Management over the years – learning how to manage this
Best piece of advice you’ve ever been given!
Success – Freedom & Helping People
Book Recommendations (links on the website www.robofthegreen.ie/books)
Lou Tice – Smart Talk for Achieving Your Potential
Eric Byrne – Games People Play (Transactional Analysis)
The 48 Laws of Power
Proof of Heaven – Eben Alexander
Connect in with Martin
Website - Proactive Management - https://alwaysproactive.com/
Martin on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/martin-brennan-48a73488/
Just a quick note to say thanks for listening. There are a lot of podcasts to choose from and you picking this one means a lot to me. I know that sounds like a cheese-ball thing to say, but it’s true! I’m enjoying creating these shows, learning from them and I’m hoping that you are too.
To help me make the show even better, I wand & need your help. Your feedback is essential. So, please take a few minutes to get in touch (links below, or subscribe on iTunes and leave a rating or review).
If you liked this episode, share out the link via one of the socials. It will help me reach a bigger audience. If One Person gets something from the Episode that makes them 1% Better, I’ll be a happy man.
Finally, if you really love the show, and really want me to take it to the next level, I’ve set up a Patreon site where you pledge some financial support. That would be awesome. You will also get exclusive access to upcoming podcasts and article posts that are just for those that are Patreons.
Connect in with Rob on the socials or via email on:
Email Twitter Facebook Website
Subscribe to the Rob of the Green Newsletter on the www.robofthegreen.ie website
My guest this week is 2009 World Champion in the 20km walk, Olive Loughnane. I was very much looking forward to chatting with Olive to get a view into what made her the highly successful champion that she was. So, naturally I was delighted when we connected back in February and she ‘walked’ (sorry) me though her career.
As a big sport fan, with a huge interest in performance psychology and how to get that extra 1%, listening to Olive talk about her gradual improvement over the years, having fierce determination and, of course, never giving up, was a real treat.
During the conversation, Olive shared stories that stood out during her journey and breaks down what the process is and what the key ingredients are to become a world champion. She almost makes it sound possible for the average person!
The topics covered include:
Being Originally from Cork and moved to Galway at the age of 4.
Spending school and her degree years in Galway
Earliest memories linked to the Moscow Olympics in 1980
Having a fondness and love for the outdoors
Always being very determined from a very young age
Starting out in Athletics at the age of 12
The Value of Volunteers & Influencers along the way
Cross Country was Olives first big event
Loving being part of a team
Having a draw towards the Walk as it was endurance based and technical –
Meeting Michael Lane – another volunteer and he was a big influence
Having ‘the Eye of the Tiger’, determination & tenacity
Sport is as much about the mental tenacity as it is about the underlying physical talents
Learning to set big Setting Big Goals
Setting high standards for herself & Control the controllable
For Olive, Sport Psychology was about taking a step back and relaxing and learning to go with the flow
Taking Calculated Risk taking
Being a Statistician and being very analytical in nature
Nominated Athlete of the Year in Leaving Cert marking a breakthrough point
Sacrifices didn’t seem so big and the high standards became the norm
Breaking down the steps taken to qualify for the Olympics
Logical and Planning
Breaking the Big goal into Medium goals and then smaller goals
Making it more manageable
Gradual building of confidence – short-term
SMART Goals being applied to getting to the Olympics
Where the Magic comes in with Goals – Realistic is the part that could be different!!
Plateaus in the career and dealing with these
In 2003-5 leaving some of it on the road by overtraining
Learning that her training plan needed to be managed more
Working with Sports scientists & listening to the data more
The Walk was an individual race but a team sport
Being very lucky to have a team of people around her
Overcoming from challenges and learning from these
Having to reach an Olympic standard again within 6 months the birth of her daughter or face a funding cut
10 days after having a C-Section starting to train again and full training 6 weeks later
Getting Burnt out in 2007 after training too hard too quickly
Still having the belief in 2007 that she could still do this – didn’t matter who believed it
2009 training – calming down and finishing 7thin Beijing gave her confidence
Knowing that the race in 2009 was her day in Berlin total belief this was the day for a medal
Seeing the calmness as the main difference – here to do the job! Visualization techniques – focusing on the process not the result
Sport is all about the process – and it is!
Intuition v Data & Facts
Control v Letting go with Goals
Life after retirement working with the high-performance committee of Sport Ireland
Career convergence with Analytical and Experience
1% Better tips:
The Value of Volunteers & Influencers along the way
Focusing on the process – awareness that the pain will come but being ready
Accepting there would be challenges, expecting them and overcoming them
Having positive mantras – my last 5km is always my strongest
Developing a calmness in competition – building awareness
Controlling the controllable
Developing a Goal System – using SMART & Heart!
Setting big long term goals, then medium term goals, then smaller shorter goals
Follow Olive on Twitter - https://twitter.com/OliveLoughnane
Just a quick note to say thanks for listening. There are a lot of podcasts to choose from and you picking this one means a lot to me. I know that sounds like a cheese-ball thing to say, but it’s true! I’m enjoying creating these shows, learning from them and I’m hoping that you are too.
To help me make the show even better, I wand & need your help. Your feedback is essential. So, please take a few minutes to get in touch (links below, or subscribe on iTunes and leave a rating or review).
If you liked this episode, share out the link via one of the socials. It will help me reach a bigger audience. If One Person gets something from the Episode that makes them 1% Better, I’ll be a happy man.
Finally, if you really love the show, and really want me to take it to the next level, I’ve set up a Patreon site where you pledge some financial support. That would be awesome. You will also get exclusive access to upcoming podcasts and article posts that are just for those that are Patreons.
Connect in with Rob on the socials or via email on:
Email Twitter Facebook Website
Subscribe to the Rob of the Green Newsletter Here
Mental Health, Depression, Suicide Awareness, Asking for Help and knowing that it’s Ok not to feel Ok are at the centre of this week's podcast conversation with founder of Cycle Against Suicide Jim Breen.
Jim Breen is the Founder and Chairman of PulseLearning (www.PulseLearning.com) and Chairman of Becloudsmart (www.Becloudsmart.com). Jim is also a Director at Cork BIC (www.Corkbic.com) and an Advisor to The Wheel (www.Wheel.ie).
He came to public attention in 2012 when he appeared on the TV Show Secret Millionaire. It was during his appearance on this show, while spending time working with a suicide awareness group in Dublin, that he hit a breaking point. Witnessing first-hand the destructive nature that depression and mental illness could bring during the show, he faced a tipping point of his own. One that he had to face head on.
As you’ll hear from my conversation with Jim, he’s been through a lot in the last 6 years. During this period, he’s been on his own immense journey, not only working through his own depression and mental health challenges, but also helping raise the awareness of the challenges others face that far too often goes unspoken. One very notable outcome of this is the charity cycle against suicide that Jim helped set up in 2013 on the back of his appearance on the show.
This is without doubt one of the most engaging and real conversations I’ve done so far in the two seasons. I’d highly recommend you give it a listen.
Areas covered during the show include:
How Depression, Anxiety, and Self-Harm are not sexist, racist, or have any other bias, they can attack anyone
Opening up about Jim’s own battle with Mental Health on this TV show
Knowing by talking about it, he would do something about it for himself.
Overwhelmed by the response from the public asking ‘how ‘can we help’
The Catalyst for Cycle against Suicide in April 2013
Progress made in Ireland in the last 6 years with Mental Health
50% of those that die from suicide had never asked for help.
Asking for help is a predictor of saving lives. This is the battle!!! 50% never asked!
The ‘I Am Here’ program launched in Australia on mental wellbeing in the workplace. Focusing on three steps.
Show you care!
Ask the question!
Call for help!
Mental Health in the workplace still highly stigmatized and is the last bastion of stigma! Telling your boss hasn’t been yet addressed!
Having an entrepreneurial mindset that helped deal with depression and the challenges
Discuss how Ireland and other developed countries are approaching mental health
Cycle Against Suicide success and the community element
The Wheel – the CEO Deidre Garvey – Spark Change – Change Agents
Three Truths on Therapy:
Skillset
Readiness
Chemistry!
Experiences with different therapists and progress made
Having a stronger resilience now than ever before
Instances of depression happen less often and, when they do, last much shortr
Key ingredients to being healthy - therapy, meditation, exercise, food, sleep, and little or no Alcohol
Doing v Being
No Regrets
Setting up PulseLearning at 29 - working more, sleeping less, pushing hard, it’s not the smartest way at all!
Now, with BeCloudSmart, spending 80% of the time coaching and 20% doing!
Being human -making mistakes in life and business that hurt now more than in the past!
Figure out what the lesson is, figure it out and how to do better next time round
The reasoning being the Cycle Against Suicide Concept and the deliberate thinking around this.
Observing, not reacting
1% Better Tips:
Switching the mindset – from I GET to rather than I HAVE to!!
Approach with Food:
The closer it is to the ground, the better!
Deliberately eat things that are not close to the ground some days!
Diminishing returns going clean completely all the time!
Experience with Depression:
It will pass! It comes and it goes. It will Pass! The feeling that you have right now, will pass. It comes and it passes. Knowing it will pass!
Meditation – Trying different approaches and using Insight Timer (App)
Advice
Take advice from people who have been on the journey rather than those that have not!
For every piece of advice, there is an opposite piece of advice – try and find counter truths – try to hold these close as you’re deciding what makes sense for you!
Try to get advice that is not the advice of the majority!
Success
This is all about being grateful to be able to take part in many things.
The journey Jim is on right now, he is getting a lot of purpose from this. He can apply these in the Wheel, or in other areas, he can help others.
Working on the wheel, the I Am Here campaign and working with schools
Books:
Book Switch – https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0385528752/ref=as_li_qf_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=robofthegreen-20&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=0385528752&linkId=a7424d35466ad1c74bd2548035cb350a
More about Jim:
Jim's career to date has been one of growth and purpose. After graduating with a degree in Engineering from the National University of Ireland, Galway in 1991, he successfully held senior management positions with the KOSTAL Group and Kleinhuis. In 2007, he was shortlisted for the prestigious Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award and his company, PulseLearning, won the Deloitte Fast 50 Award for the fastest growing IT company on the island of Ireland. He graduated from the Executive Development program at Stanford University, California.
A lover of sport, Jim is aformer international rower and winner of the British and Irish Senior Intervarsity's boxing championship. Nowadays, Jim runs, rows, swims, cycles and has completed a number of major marathons and an ironman.
Jim had the privilege of taking part in “The Secret Millionaire” television programme in 2012 (https://vimeo.com/61333005?ref=em-v-share). One of the projects that he visited was a Suicide Awareness group in Dublin which sparked his interest in mental health issues. As a result of this experience, hespearheaded the “Cycle Against Suicide” initiative (www.CycleAgainstSuicide.com).
Just a quick note to say thanks for listening. There are a lot of podcasts to choose from and you picking this one means a lot to me. I know that sounds like a cheese-ball thing to say, but it’s true! I’m enjoying creating these shows, learning from them and I’m hoping that you are too.
To help me make the show even better, I wand & need your help. Your feedback is essential. So, please take a few minutes to get in touch (links below, or subscribe on iTunes and leave a rating or review).
If you liked this episode, share out the link via one of the socials. It will help me reach a bigger audience. If One Person gets something from the Episode that makes them 1% Better, I’ll be a happy man.
Finally, if you really love the show, and really want me to take it to the next level, I’ve set up a Patreon site where you pledge some financial support. That would be awesome. You will also get exclusive access to upcoming podcasts and article posts that are just for those that are Patreons.
Connect in with Rob on the socials or via email on:
Email Twitter Facebook Website
Subscribe to the Rob of the Green Newsletter Here
Go with your gut is a phrase we’re all very familiar with. How it's tied into intuition and that feeling you get in your stomach from time to time, when you know something isn’t just right or that you’re very certain of a situation or decision yet can’t understand why! It’s fascinating and something I’ve been keen to learn more about over the years.
Ted Dinan is Professor of Psychiatry at University College Cork and a Principal investigator in the APC Microbiome Institute. His clinical activity is focused on treating patients with severe forms of depression.
Ted, along with two other professors in UCC, released a book called the Psychobiotic Revolution last year that has ground breaking research in the area of the gut and now it impacts your mood and overall mental health. The Psychobiotic Revolution has been hailed by the science community as a “game-changer”. The book explores the mysterious world of the gut – a “second brain” that weights around 2kg – and how to nourish our microbes. The book claims that by changing our diet to include fiber-rich vegetables, fermented foods, yogurts and pickles, we could help to alleviate depression and anxiety.
During this fascinating interview, Ted talks about growing up in Cork, his passion for medicine and, specifically, the brain, from the early stages of his career. He brings us through his journey to New York, London, Dublin and then back to Cork, and discusses the work and learnings he’s had along the way! Of which, there are many.
To give you a taster, some of the areas we discuss include:
•Fascination with Human Biology and how the Human Brain works
•Brain Biology influencing behaviour
•The Biology of Stress and how this could be altered
•80/90% of people with depression recover
•Look at how microbes in our gut influence the way we feel, the way we think and how we might best be able to modulate these
•Probiotics & Prebiotics
•The Psychobiotic concept
•Are there bacteria out there that can have this impact?
•Factors that cause depression
•Nootropics and other smart drugs
•CRISPR Technology
•How Psychobiotics could be available in 3-4 years
•The use of psychedelics in the treatment of depression
•Views on Mindfulness, Meditation and CBT
•Importance of Exercise
1% better tips & rapid fire Q&A:
•You are what you eat – focus on a healthy diet with lots of vegetables
•How to generate a wide variety of bacteria
•Vigorous Aerobic Exercise this has potent cognitive advancing capacity
•Aerobic Exercise is the most potent anti-depressant there is!
•Prescribing more and more exercise and diet in the treatment health problems
•The Japanese & classic Mediterranean diet – Suffer from less Depression
•Work-life Balance – Running, Reading, Family and Movies
•Managing Stress personally – Exercise regularly, Sleep more and Eat Well!
•Sleep & 8 hours per night
•Productivity and How best to get work done!
•Writing approaches – getting the trash out of your head!
•Decision Making – rationally work out the problem!
•Advice that stands out from Ted’s past – selecting a career path that gives you a good quality of life with a good life style!
•Try never to have a job that you fine a chore!
•Success – Being privileged and having a lot of fun along the way
Book Recommendations:
•The Psychobiotic Revolution
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/142621846X/ref=as_li_qf_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=robofthegreen-20&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=142621846X&linkId=6c9a6a625c2a89965548e4efca852e2f
•Guy de Maupassant – Short Stories
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MDP4KIA/ref=as_li_qf_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=robofthegreen-20&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=B01MDP4KIA&linkId=ce1c4dbbc3a3900ca9a4ad3998c3fc8c
•Albert Camus
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0679733736/ref=as_li_qf_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=robofthegreen-20&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=0679733736&linkId=4a0cc204fd0c8ed0334408e38f90d815
Connect with Ted & the APC Microbiome Institute:
Ted Dinan on Twitter
Via the UCC site
Check out the show notes on the episode page on www.robofthegreen.ie for more!
Welcome to the second and final part of the interview with Sarah Abbott. The reception from part one has been very positive. Lots of actionable tips shared and this one has even more. The show charted at #8 in the iTunes education chart at the weekend which was great to see it up there riding high. Great to know that new folks are checking out the show and hopefully taking some positive insights from each episode.
Last Monday I launched One Minute Monday. A new idea I’ve had to share one piece of wisdom on a Monday that lasts a minute. Check that out here.
But back to this week’s show. In part two we move on to new topics covering Leadership, the work of Robert Keegan around Leadership Development, Millennials and, towards the end, we wrap up with some of the regular questions on topics such as sleep, meditation, and more book recommendations. Here is a more detailed list of what’s in the show below.
Leadership:
•Is a Leader is Born or Bred?
•Anyone can become a great leader with self-awareness
•Hiring people that are smarter than yourself!
•Leadership Development and analogy with Children – Robert Keegan referenced
•Leadership Kryptonite – the balance between Arrogance & Ego
•Self-awareness as the one key leadership trait!
•Failing fast and being able to accept it!
•The Lominger Competencies
•The Power of People
Business Strategy and Planning in the VUCA world
•Developing the Strategy
•Sitting down and thinking about the future has got a little lost!
•Building Resilience to deal with the unknown
•How to Own and influence the strategy instead of waiting
•Putting on the CEO’s hat and taking control
•Citing the example of EMC working with UCC on setting up a cloud computing Masters – taking control!
•The case of thinking about the Future!
•Stat in 2013 – 75% of Apples revenue – products that hadn’t been around 5 years go!
•Asking the question of ‘doing nothing’ and what will the status be like in 5 years?
•Reviewing Talent Strategy
Millennial’s & Leadership
•What do they want from an Employer?
oHygiene factors
oCorporate Social Responsibility
oBeing in Control
oCoaching
oAutonomy on where and how they work
oInteresting projects
•Eagerness to explore and travel and try new roles more
•Get ready for their move – focus on the intake and transfer skillsets
•The benefits of the shorter cycle and higher turnover of employees
•Mentoring and Reverse mentoring
Rapid fires questions that touch on the following:
•Morning Routines – Key to be up before 7:30am
•The 3 big things to do that Day
•Meditation & Mindfulness – Time to Think & Reflect
•Decision Making Process – the battle of perfection v good enough
•The role of Intuition discussing the Myers Briggs Personality Test
•Seeking Mentoring and sharing Ideas to help clarify thinking
•Sleep & how it impacts the quality of the work
•Best piece of advice ever been given
•If you’re going to set standards, follow them first!
•Integrity is key
•Stand out Movie – Inception and how it has the layers of consciousness – ties it into Robert Keegan and the value sets!
•Success & words used to describe it!
•Carrying out a lesson learned review every week
•Focusing on 3 Areas – Coaching (the Act), Readiness for the Future (Strategy), Leadership Development
•Living the values of your company!
Please check out the full show notes on the episode page on the site www.robofthegreen.ie
All Links work there!!
Hi there,
It has been a very interesting week since the release of the episode with Josh Quigley last Friday. Thanks to all that connected in directly, commented on the socials, provided feedback and nice words. Something like 30,000 views on LinkedIn alone so that’s great. For those that checked out the episode, thank you. It’s very clear that this is a topic that needs more discussion & exposure so I’ll be returning to it again in the next few with a couple of episodes that I’ve already recorded. More to come.
To this week’s episode. We switch focus towards Management, Coaching, Leadership, Values. All subjects that my guest, Sarah Abbott, has extensive experience in.
I worked with Sarah during her time leading HR for EMEA at EMC and Dell EMC. Last year she set up her own venture, The People Practice, with co-founder Susan Manning.
Sarah is an Experienced HR Executive with a demonstrated history of working in the information technology and services industry. Skilled in HR Leadership, Executive Coaching, Group Dynamics, Leadership Development, Talent Management, Personnel Management, Employee Engagement, and Succession Planning. Strong internal consulting professional graduated from Tavistock Institute.
We originally planned to chat for about 45 minutes but the examples and insights that Sarah shared were so very rich and full of good learning, that we just kept going. So, I’ve decided to break the conversation into two parts, with part two coming next week.
In Today’s first part, some of the areas we cover include:
•Early memories and formation of core values & principles
•Growing up where Sarah’s mother helped instill a great self-belief
•Sarah’s early career, experience and lesson learned
•Ernst & Young experience giving Sarah her first role in HR
•Being fearless, taking chances, and having ‘what’s the worst that can happen’ outlook as long as it’s not life or death!
•Apple experience & learning from great leaders there in the late 1990s
•Leadership development programs that focused on value based training with a focus on a self-awareness, EQ, and networking
•Use of performance tools to show different sides of yourself
•The value of having a learning log
•Self-reflecting – make it part of your culture
•4 Week challenges of self-reflecting with a journal
•Developing the Art of Listening
•Freedom from having a healthy conscience
•Doing right by myself and do right by others
•Putting yourself on the edge of disparate communities & of different things
1% Better Nuggets Shared include:
•Focusing on what the ‘real question is’
•The difference between what I heard v what was said?
•The secret sauce is in the white space
•Deep dive into understanding the problem – before trying to solve – you will agree on the real question to be answered
•Asking the right questions
•Bringing a curiosity to the role
•The Tim Cook influence – having the ability to ask Killer questions to the core of what you’re trying to!
•Focusing on the core of what you’re trying to do!
•Values based learning
•Ask the question – if you did nothing what would happen?
Einstein - If I had only one hour to save the world, I would spend fifty-five minutes defining the problem, and only five minutes finding the solution.
Book Recommendations:
•Time to Think – Nancy Kline
•The Power of Pull – John Hagel, John Seely Brown, and Lang Davison
Connect with Sarah:
•The People Practice - www.thepeoplepracticegroup.com
•Sarah on LinkedIn & Twitter
Check out the DisruptHR Cork Event that Sarah & Susan are hosting on Tuesday 17th April in Cork. Details below.
•https://disrupthr.co/cork/
Just a quick note to say thanks for listening. There are a lot of podcasts to choose from and you picking this one means a lot to me. I know that sounds like a cheese-ball thing to say, but it's true! I'm enjoying creating these shows, learning from them and I'm hoping that you are too.
To help me make the show even better, I wand & need your help. Your feedback is essential. So, please take a few minutes to get in touch (links below, or subscribe on iTunes and leave a rating or review).
If you liked this episode, share out the link via one of the socials. It will help me reach a bigger audience. If One Person gets something from the Episode that makes them 1% Better, I'll be a happy man.
Finally, if you really love the show, and really want me to take it to the next level, I've set up a Patreon site where you pledge some financial support. That would be awesome. You will also get exclusive access to upcoming podcasts and article posts that are just for those that are Patron.
Connect in with Rob on the socials or via email on:
Email Twitter Facebook Website
Subscribe to the Rob of the Green Newsletter on the Website www.robofthegreen.ie
Hi there,
I’m delighted to share this week’s episode with you. It’s a conversation with Josh Quigley.
On the 2nd November 2015, Josh made a video that he shared on Facebook telling the story of surviving a suicide attempt. This video went viral and Josh’s life changed ever since.
Josh came my attention a while after that when he gained media attention for his plan to cycle around the world (50k miles) to raise awareness from mental health, depression.
Earlier in 2015 Josh attempted to take his own life. He hit a motorway barrier at 80mph. He somehow survived and literally walked away. The Movie Unbreakable with Bruce Willis came to my mind when he explained this story to me. He talks about what lead up to it and what life has been like since. A really fascinating story and one that is continuing to evolve. Even since I’ve talked with Josh back in January, a lot has happened, and his journey continues to keep me, and many others on social media very interested.
During the conversation, Josh talks about the days and the events that led up to his attempt. He was suffering from severe depression. Struggling with life. He believed that the pain of ending this life would be less than the pain he was feeling at this time.
Our conversation goes deeper into these events and the hours, days and weeks that followed. He realized that something special has happened to survive this. He realized he had been given a second chance. It’s now his job to do something with his life. What was to be his last night of his life, turned out to be the best night of his life. A turning point!
For the next number of months, Josh went back to his old life and kept the suicide attempt to himself and very close family. He had a conversation with his business mentor that was another big turning point. ‘What other excuses do you have Josh?’ was a question his mentor had for Josh that made him realize he was a victim and was blaming everyone but himself. So, he decided to take 100% responsibility for his life. He created a ‘life audit’ for himself and this helped him figure out how to live a better life! This lead him to start doing big things with his life that would have an impact not only on Josh’s life and mental health but on the lives of others.
The full show notes can be found on the episode page on my site - http://robofthegreen.ie/episodes/joshquigley-ep4s2
Follow & Connect with Josh:
Across Facebook, Twitter & Instagram – JoshQuigley1992
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshquigley1992/
Hi all,
Welcome to the show. It’s was my pleasure to talk with Emma O’Toole for this episode.
Emma runs her own successful Yoga studio/business in Dublin, cunningly titled Yoga with Emma (www.yogawithemma.ie), and I was introduced to her through Samantha Kelly, who I interviewed near the end of Season 1. During my conversation with Samantha, the subject of Type 1 Diabetes came up as Samantha’s daughter has the condition. As I also am a Type1 Diabetic, I was interested to focus more on it in a future episode. Thanks to Samantha, Emma and I were able to make it happen.
Why did I want to share this story?
Since my own diagnosis, I have been learning so much about it over the last 5 years. In general, I feel it’s not a well understood condition and also can be a stigma attached to it. Education around it and the signs that it might be developing can help with an early diagnosis. Also, making others aware that someone has the condition is key too.
I would guess that someone you know has type 1 Diabetes. And more are getting diagnosed with it now than ever. I was 35 before the condition kicked in. It was an adjustment for sure. It might be something you’re aware of but don’t know a lot about. So, I was keen to talk with someone that has been not only living with it but thriving. Emma fits that description. She has been successfully managing Type 1 for over 28 years.
During the conversation, we cover a lot of topics that provide a great insight into management of the Type1 Diabetes condition and how wellness, fitness and yoga can help. Of course, Yoga is not just a treatment to help with Diabetes but with every aspect of your life – mind & body!
It’s definitely worth having a listen to Emma’s story and our exchanges on how we manage it, identify triggers, always have jellies or sweets nearby and all other aspects of living a life with Diabetes.
Some of the topics covered:
The weeks leading up to her diagnosis in 1990
Getting wrongly diagnosed initially
Failing into a Diabetic Coma for 3 days due to record high blood sugar levels
Being very lucky that there was no organ damage after coming out of the coma
How her whole life changed once she was diagnosed as a Type1
Going into denial in the weeks and months after the diagnosis
Learning how to deal with the condition as a teenager
How far technology has come in the management of diabetes in the last 28 years
Developing systems for managing diabetes over the years
Never trying to hide the fact she was a diabetic and incorporate it into her lifestyle
Being discrete with administering insulin in public
The stigma around injections in her early years with the condition
Always calling Diabetes a Condition not a Disease!
The Mindset that Emma has – She controls it, not the other way around
How Diabetes has lead Emma towards a career in fitness and diet
She found Yoga as an outlet for her to really get a full workout.
Yoga made Emma very aware of her skeleton, muscles and organs and how she needed to manage every part of her body!
Finding out the cause and effect and how the mind can affect the body and, in her case, the diabetes control
Starting to teach Yoga and then, in 2012, setting up her own Business
Discussion on different types of Yoga and the benefits including:
Bikram Yoga
Yin Yoga
Hot Yoga
Asthanga Yoga
The battle of the Ego during Yoga practices
Meditation and Yoga
Sleep and Hypos and how the body and mind can wake you up!
The difference between Hypoglycaemic aware and unaware
The use of two types of insulin – short acting and long acting
Never be complacent with the condition – always be on the watch!
It’s not about winning against it, it’s about controlling it.
1% Better tips around managing Diabetes & Yoga practice:
Using meditation triggers like the red/stop light in traffic to bring you to the now!
Meditation as a tool to help with anxiety
Using Apps like ‘calm’ to help with meditation
Moving Meditation as the best form that work with Emma
Yoga postures that are good for back pain issues and disc challenges
Recommended frequency for Yoga sessions for runners
Yoga poses that can help runners stride and pace
Connect with Emma on the following:
Emma teaches Yoga to a broad spectrum and it’s clear she’s very passionate about it
For Emma, it’s about making it fun and enjoyable
Her approach is about finding out what her clients want to work on – being flexible to including these moves into the practices
Connect with Emma via:
Website: YogawithEmma.ie
Twitter: @Yoga_with_Emma
Instagram: Yogawithemma
Facebook: Yogawithemma
LinkedIn: Emma O'Toole
Just a quick note to say thanks for listening. There are a lot of podcasts to choose from and you picking this one means a lot to me. I know that sounds like a cheese-ball thing to say, but it's true! I'm enjoying creating these shows, learning from them and I'm hoping that you are too.
To help me make the show even better, I wand & need your help. Your feedback is essential. So, please take a few minutes to get in touch (links below, or subscribe on iTunes and leave a rating or review).
If you liked this episode, share out the link via one of the socials. It will help me reach a bigger audience. If One Person gets something from the Episode that makes them 1% Better, I'll be a happy man.
Finally, if you really love the show, and really want me to take it to the next level, I've set up a Patreon site where you pledge some financial support. That would be awesome. You will also get exclusive access to upcoming podcasts and article posts that are just for those that are Patron.
Connect in with Rob on the socials or via email on:
Email Twitter Facebook Website
Subscribe to the Rob of the Green Newsletter on the website - www.robofthegreen.ie
Hi all,
So, this really feels like the season is up and going now with the first guest interview upon us.
First off though, thanks so much for the great feedback for the intro episode. I really wanted to get a few updates out on all that’s being going on in pre-season. And for those that have listened in last year and have seen things develop and grow, I hope you got something from the plans for the next stage of the journey.
If you didn’t get to check out EP1, go back and have a listen! Linked here. And please do check out the Support page on the site where I have links to the Pro Bono coaching offering, Patreon (where you can support the show) and the Amazon affiliates link.
Ok, on to this weeks guest. It’s fitting that I’m releasing this rugby themed episode in the aftermath of the Irish rugby teams grand slam success (well done guys) as I am delighted to introduce Jonathan (Jonny) Holland.
Jonny is a retired Irish rugby who was making a serious impression with the Munster Rugby team in Ireland (that is a province in Ireland for those outside of the country ) before having to retire prematurely at the very young age of 25. Since then, Jonny has turned his focus to nutrition and wellness and is starting to build up a successful career in this space. As you’ll hear he’s applying the same focus, meticulous attention to detail and preparation to this new venture as he did in his playing career.
This was the first episode I’ve recorded for season two. Back in early January. It was a lot of fun hearing how Jonny story. It’s really only the first couple of chapters as he’s a lot of success ahead of him I’m very sure.
Please do hang on till the end of the episode so you can hear other updates.
The conversation is wide ranging. Just some of the topics covered include:
Health and Wellness
Earliest Memory – kicking a soccer ball
Having an interest in soccer and rugby from an early age
Rugby becoming his primary sport and focus but developing this in parallel to this career in university
Tony Mulcachy being one influencer and mentor for Johnny in his early stage.
Jostling positions between 10 and 12 and then landing on the number 10 position as he moved into College.
Gary Byrne and Ian Costello both helping Jonny in his early career
Practicing and finding a good technique that worked for him as he developed
The Mental Game behind kicking and examples of getting into flow.
Having the mantra of ‘not missing two in a row’ and this helped him massively
Working on positivity and battling the voice inside the head changing to ‘you always get the next one’
Considering his rise as a ‘slow burner’ rather than an overnight success as he broke into the Munster team – growing into the role
Sacrifices during university as he had laser focus on preparation for games
Having an obsession with the Process & Preparation
Having a desire for control and being focused on this
Superstition v the Process & Control
Full Debut for Munster and how it felt surreal
Starting games being easier than coming off the bench
Dealing with Pre-match nerves and seeing the difference between nerves v fear
Really enjoying a challenge in a game to get the anxiety out of the way
Describing his first injury that put him out for over a year which was his hamstring off the bone, which was described as one of the most injury you can get!
Dealing with the rehabilitation and having the strong and focused mindset worked to his advantage – citing this period as one where he grew as a person and professional
Taking positives from the period out – seeing it as a massive opportunity to become a man – working on his areas for development
Dealing with the realization that a full recovery from the injury wasn’t possible which lead to officially retiring in late 2016
Identity & how to reinvent your persona
Support and Advice from others over the last period – one with Donnacha Ryan jumping out as one
Realising that he had to find his own path and get over it his own way – using this mental strength and focus
Re-focusing on Nutrition which was something Jonny always had a big focus on as he was growing and developing – building himself up from being a smaller guy to a bigger guy
Developing his nutritional practice and being passionate about this area
Pancakes and Ice-cream before the game
The 1% Better Questionnaire Round: (43:20):
Time & Productivity Management Approaches
Batch Cooking & Multitasking while Cooking
Work-life Balance
Daily routines
Eating Meals at times during the day
Sleep Patterns and Connections to Food & Nutrition
Advice that he takes on board and gives to others
Core Values that Johnny adheres to
Success, Goals and Future Aspirations
You can connect in with Jonny on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook all on at @JonnyHolland10
Website: www.jonnyholland10.com
Just a quick note to say thanks for listening. There are a lot of podcasts to choose from and you picking this one means a lot to me. I know that sounds like a cheese-ball thing to say, but it's true! I'm enjoying creating these shows, learning from them and I'm hoping that you are too.
To help me make the show even better, I wand & need your help. Your feedback is essential. So, please take a few minutes to get in touch (links below, or subscribe on iTunes and leave a rating or review).
If you liked this episode, share out the link via one of the socials. It will help me reach a bigger audience. If One Person gets something from the Episode that makes them 1% Better, I'll be a happy man.
Finally, if you really love the show, and really want me to take it to the next level, I've set up a Patreon site where you pledge some financial support. That would be awesome. You will also get exclusive access to upcoming podcasts and article posts that are just for those that are Patron.
Connect in with Rob on the socials or via email.
Welcome to the 1% Better Podcast. This is Season Two. Episode One. It’s great to be back and have you here with me!
I’ve done my best to stick to a 25-minute Pomodoro inspired episode and I’ve tried to squeeze as much as I could into this timeframe. The aim is to give you an insight into what I’ve been working on in the background over the last 2+ months since wrapping up Season One.
As I release this episode, I have already over 12 shows recorded and in the queue for roll-out. I’m genuinely excited by the stories that I’ll be sharing in the coming weeks.
I launched Season One 12 months ago (a week earlier than this). In the year since, I’ve learned so much about this whole podcasting game and an awful lot about myself too. I hope you’ve taken something from some/many of the episodes last year and am excited to provide more 1% Better insights and ideas that you can apply in 2018.
So, with that, and extending one (or two) finger(s) in the face of the imposter syndrome, let me give you an overview of what’s in today’s show:
Moving platform from SoundCloud to Spreaker
Why make the move from SoundCloud
Link to the show on Spreaker – https://www.spreaker.com/user/robofthegreen
Be sure to follow on Spreaker too to get updates when new shows and/or live shows kick off
Plans for Live Shows on Spreaker in coming months
Website updates:
The Website has come along way (in my eyes at least in the year)
Check out the new Book Recommendations page
The Blog page is growing
Call for Guest Bloggers
Email me directly / fill out ‘Get in touch’ form if interested?
The Newsletter:
I set this up half-way through Season One and have 900+ subscribed so far
I will send out a newsletter around the release of every episode
Sign up here- http://eepurl.com/c1-GRD
Social Media
The podcast following has grown on all of the socials over the last year and it’s really helps get the message further afield. It’s also proven to be a great resource for new guests for the show. Some great ones already from Season Two came via twitter engagements.
If you haven’t connected on any of the socials, please do so by clicking the links on the right-hand side of the webpages. The more followers, the bigger the reach!
iTunes:
Whether you like it or not, iTunes is still the place where most people listen to podcasts.
So, the higher I get the show ranked on the charts there, the more people might see it and that could lead to more people clicking in.
If you are listening and liking the show, I would be delighted if you subscribed, rated (1-5 starts) and reviewed (leave a comment) on the show’s page in iTunes.
You can do that here: https://itunes.apple.com/ie/podcast/the-1-better-podcast/id1212137500?mt=2
Support – Help You
In the show, I talk about ways I want to further help listeners beyond the podcast. I hope the 1% Better podcasts continue to help listeners improve and get better.
An Idea I’m going to test out in the coming months is to offer some pro bono coaching – check out the show for more details.
If you, or someone you know, fits the criteria here outlined in the show, have them click on the Support page and on the Pro Bono Coaching Button to Email me.
I hope to provide some life/performance/career coaching to a couple of people per month and see this as another way I could give something back.
Support – Help Me
To support the show’s growth and ongoing improvement, I’ve set up a couple of ways that listeners that love what they’re hearing and would like to donate/contribute to its growth, can do just that.
Every donation that comes in will go directly into further developing the content, and production of the show, enabling me to make it better!
The two ways you can help are:
Option One - Patreon Page:
Here you can subscribe and donate a few dollars, euro, or whatever per month to help things get better!
For those that do, you will get exclusive access to content that are only for Patreon subscribers. Added just this week, I have a solo show on how to identify core values and an accompanying blog post there
Each month, I’ll be adding more audio and written context to those that sign up
Option Two – Buy via my Amazon Button:
If you’re buying one of the recommended books (or anything else) on Amazon, click through the Amazon Button on the Support Page.
You don’t pay anything extra and the Giant that is Amazon will make a small donation to the show. Not sure how small. Will let you know though if I get anything!
Giveaways!
Another idea/experiment here. I’m aiming to run a few giveaways/competitions during Season Two. It would be exclusive to those that listen and sign up to the Newsletter.
If any business out there wants to offer some prizes or giveaways, please get in touch directly with me – email: Rob@robofthegreen.ie and mark the subject – Giveaway!
THE PODCAST (direct link to SeasonTwo on the website here)
I’ve been recording since January and I’m very excited to share the new episodes
In the show, I share links to the first three interviews coming up over the next few weeks. These are with:
Johnny Holland the Ex-Munster fly-half. We had a great chat back in January. Talking about his career, dealing with retirement at the age of 25, life after rugby and go into details on Nutrition that you will definitely fine useful.
Emma O’Toole – runs her own yoga business – YogawithEmma.ie – she’s also a Type1 Diabetic for the last 30 or so years. As a Type1DB myself, I chatted to Emma about her journey managing this disease.
Josh Quigley – Josh rose to prominence a couple of years ago when he attempted to cycle around the globe to raise awareness for Mental Health – after a suicide attempt that changed his life. The full show is a great story. Here is just a small clip.
Others guests coming up include:
Olive Loughanne – on her career that lead to her World Championship Goal for the Walk
Ex-Aerlingus CEO Dermot Mannion
Ted Dinan – Professor in UCC focusing on the Gut & the Psychobiotic Revolution – all about how the health of our gut impacts our mood!
Experiments:
Other Show – I am also recording some shows for a new Podcast that is in the works
This one will be around 15mins long
More targeted on a set of tips/advice that can help you improve
Some weeks this might be just me others with guests
I’m looking at doing this live sometimes too
This will kick-off once we get Season Two up and running
Facebook live shows:
I have no clue how it could turn out but it’s worth trying it and seeing how it grows! To be able to see these, you would need to be following the Rob the Green Page and the 1% Better community on FB – so check these out! Links in the notes for this intro show!
Launch:
Today Friday – launch. I’m going to try for a Thursday/Friday Release over the coming months for the 1% Better show. When the second show kicks off – all going well – it will be a Monday/Tuesday! So lots of content!
So, there you have it. I hope this has tweaked your interest. I’m really excited to get going again. I thank you very much for taking the time to listen. Please thank yourself for making time to listen to the show. It shows you are interested in learning, improving and have the drive to get better. Even just 1% at a time.
Have a Great Day & Good luck!
Rob
Just a quick note to say thanks for listening. There are a lot of podcasts to choose from and you picking this one means a lot to me. I know that sounds like a cheese-ball thing to say, but it's true! I'm enjoying creating these shows, learning from them and I'm hoping that you are too.
To help me make the show even better, I wand & need your help. Your feedback is essential. So, please take a few minutes to get in touch (links below, or subscribe on iTunes and leave a rating or review).
If you liked this episode, share out the link via one of the socials. It will help me reach a bigger audience. If One Person gets something from the Episode that makes them 1% Better, I'll be a happy man.
Finally, if you really love the show, and really want me to take it to the next level, I've set up a Patreon site where you pledge some financial support. That would be awesome. You will also get exclusive access to upcoming podcasts and article posts that are just for those that are Patron.
Connect in with Rob on the socials or via email on:
Email Twitter Facebook Website
Subscribe to the Rob of the Green Newsletter Here
Become a Patreon Member
Hi all,
In this short catch up show, I chat a bit about what's in the works for season two of the show, chat about some 2018 goals and generally talk about stuff that's been going on since Season One ended at end of 2017.
Check out the full page on the www.robofthegreen.ie site for more notes and links to a few things mentioned.
Cheers,
Rob
Hi all,
Welcome back to part 2 of the ONE documentary where I followed the Irish Amputee Football team on their journey just before, during and just after the European Amputee Football Championships in Turkey in Oct 2017.
Please go to the episode to get the full show notes. The link is www.robofthegreen.ie/episodes/ep50-one-p2/
Thank you so much for listening.
Welcome listeners,
This is a slightly different episode to normal but it's still very much following the same theme as other 1% better shows.
For this two-part show, I've dipped the toe into the documentary pool for the first time. During it, I track the fortunes of the Irish Amputee Football Team as they prepared for, played in, and reflected back on their experiences from the 2017 European Amputee Football Championships that took place in Turkey in October. Ireland was one of 12 teams at the tournament.
The sound clip you can hear at the very start was from Simon Baker, who is very much responsible for bringing Amputee football to Ireland. In the six years since he helped establish the team in Ireland, they've gone from strength to strength and the team were looking forward to their first Euopean Championships.
So a little more background!
Back in April this year, I had to pleasure to chat with David Saunders for the podcast. David plays for the Irish Amputee Football team and told his story in EP16 - www.robofthegreen.ie/episodes/episode-16-david-saunders-on-beating-cancer-resilience-and-amputee-football/. That chat has been one of the most listened to episodes of the season. One of the main areas David talked about was his involvement in and passion for the Irish Amputee Football Team. Being a big football fan myself, it stuck with me at the time that the team was starting their preparations for the Euros in Turkey.
David & I stayed in touch over the summer and I reached out to him in August with an idea to do a documentary podcast about their involvement in the tournament in Turkey. The management and team liked the idea. So in September, I met with some of the players and co-manager, Nick Harrison, when I attended their final training camp in at UL in Limerick and recorded the footage you'll hear in this first part of the documentary.
In part two, which will come out in a few days, you'll hear from two of the players (David Saunders and Kevan O'Rourke) directly after groups and knockout games played during the tournament. Also in part two, I connected back in with David and Nick Harrison, again, to get some insights a few weeks after the tournament and talk about what the future holds for the team in 2018. It was a great experience all the way through and I’ve enjoyed putting it together.
In the introduction, I explain why I've named the documentary ONE.
I really hope you enjoy listening to the two-parter where I chat with a number of team members and staff as the journey unfolds.
To learn more about the Irish Amputee Football Association, you can connect in with them via the following links:
Website: http://www.irishamputeefootballassociation.com
Facebook:
In this very special episode of the show, I was delighted to sit down and chat with Neven Maguire.
Neven Maguire is one of Ireland’s best-loved chefs. The restaurateur and media personality is well known for his award-winning MacNean House & Restaurant in Blacklion, Co. Cavan. He is also an author and has a new Book out at the moment - Neven Maguire's Perfect Irish Christmas - which he was kind enough to give me a signed copy of!
I was struck by Neven's passion and energy during our 40+ minute conversation where we cover a lot about his career, life lessons, experiences, and so much more. Just to give you a taste, some of the topics we covered are:
•Earliest Memories growing up around Christmas with Family and Food.
•Always wanting to work with food and cooking from the age of 12.
•Being the first in his school studying Home Economics.
•A view on why Home Economics should be a subject for everyone in School.
•Pride of employing 65 people in his business in Blacklion.
•The value of hard-work at the core of everything Neven does.
•Giving his customers an amazing experience when they visit his restaurant
•Learnings from a number of restaurants from Belfast, to Berlin, and Luxembourg, taking on new skills along the way and making a lot of friends.
•The importance of influences along his journey.
•The Vision for MacNean house when he took it over in 2003.
•Management and Leadership style in the Kitchen.
•Treating his employees like a family and creating an environment for the team to prosper, grow and learn.
•His role evolving over the last few years.
•Becoming an Ambassador for St. James's Target Lung Cancer & working with Dunnes Stores as the Ambassador for Simply Better.
•Enjoying the media work and feeling privileged being on TV.
•Creating cook books and recipes that people can make at home.
•Sampling food in his own restaurant and being very proud of the experience.
•Cooking simple dishes at home with the family and replicating these on the tv shows.
•If not working in the food business, what?
•Passion for Football, Manchester United and People.
•Having a real passion for helping people and realizing how lucky he is with life.
•Training, Exercise and the importance of keeping active for the mind and body.
•Sleep pattern and running on 5-6 hours per night.
•Setting goals to get healthier and be on the road less in 2018.
•Best piece of advice given and shared.
•Views on Success.
•Celebrities who Neven would share dinner with.
•Death Row Meal.
I really hope you enjoy this episode. To learn more about Neven and MacNean House, check out the links on the episode page on the site here - www.robofthegreen.ie/episodes/ep48-nevenmaguire/
Have a great day,
Rob
In this episode, I talk with Samantha Kelly AKA Tweetinggoddess
Samantha Kelly is an Award Winning Social Media Strategist and a Dynamic and Engaging Speaker, Trainer and Author. She is also the founder of the Women Inspire Network. She has built a huge Twitter following and presence over the last few years and continues to go from strength to strength. I was delighted to get to talk to her and record this episode back in late October.
In our conversation, we cover a broad range of topics and learn a lot about Samantha’s approaches, focus, and of course we discuss twitter and how you could become more than 1% Better in the area of Social Media.
Please enjoy and SUBSCRIBE to my podcast on iTunes or wherever you listen so you don’t miss out on the full episode Monday or any future shows that come out!
Some of the topics we discuss on the show:
•A typical day and week in the life of a Social Media Strategist
•Planning for the week ahead
•The best times to tweet on a daily basis
•Getting Tweets from Mark Hamill AKA Luke Skywalker
•How to build relationships with influencers
•Using listening skills and helping others to make an impact
•Samantha recalls sending her first tweet & then figuring out how it all works
•Starting to follow people she liked
•Building a community of like-minded people
•The importance of putting out good content
•Developing a thick skin and becoming a leader!
•Type 1 Diabetes and how you can build a community around this
•Balancing your passion and work commitments
•Having a love for the ‘razzle dazzle’ and presenting at events
•How to set up your own twitter account and building a following
•Figuring out your branding, and your logo
•The opportunities with B2B and SMBs on Twitter
•The Regular 1% Better Questions touching on:
oEarliest Memories growing up
oEarly ambitions of being a radio DJ
oThe importance of influencers and mentors in her career so far!
oPlanning Goals using Vision Boards
oReflecting on achievements
oRecommendations on who to follow
Book Recommendation – Chicken Soup for the Soul
How to connect with Samantha & the Women Inspire Network:
Samantha on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Tweetinggoddess
Samantha’s website:https://www.tweetinggoddess.com/
Women Inspire Network:https://www.womensinspirenetwork.com
Thanks so much for listening and again, please SUBSCRIBE to the podcast! That would mean a lot!
Best,
Rob
In this episode, I talk with Shane Cradock. Shane has many roles. He is a Business, Life & Sports Performance Coach, a Consultant, a Public Speaker, a Playwright, an Author and a self-professed Messer!
From the very start of the conversation, we dived into interesting topics from Shane’s work life and personal journey. Shane very openly and honestly talks about some of the struggles and challenges he faced in his early twenties that changed his direction in life which has lead him to his life’s work of helping others.
In 1995, Shane had a change in direction and started to focus on doing what he enjoys, making an impact and taking action. Over the next few years, Shane worked towards leaving the corporate world and set up a practice in helping others.
Shane has become obsessed with learning and personal development ever since, improving his mental and spiritual awareness. He notes he’s spent over $300k on personal development over the last two decades.
Shane believes that we are only scratching the surface of what we can achieve and has had great experiences working with clients that have set outrageously big goals and visions and have realized them. The key is to give yourself the permission to dream.
Shane has released an updated version of his book called Inspire Me: Life Wisdom to Pass on! I was looking forward to him sharing some wisdom and 1% better practices that you could take onboard to help you improve and he didn't disappoint.
During the conversation, we touched on many topics including:
Becoming an obsessive learner
Influencers from the initial stages of his journey – Brian Tracy, Tony Quinn & Tony Robbins
The future of business and how this links closely with personal development
Mindfulness & Meditation practices including Transcendental Meditation (TM)
NLP (Neurolinguistics Programming) & Learning how to Clear the mind!
The power of the Mind which is an asset we don’t utilize fully
From experience, what are the Habits of highly successful people
The Benefits of Slow Walking to help calm the mind and relieve stress
The Difference and Similarities working with C-Level and Entrepreneurs
The Metaphor of the Rocks in the Jar & how to identify what is important and of value
Discovering the Vision & Meaning of Values
The power of setting the vision and giving yourself permission to achieve it!
Moving away for the Ego to the Eco!
The Power of Intention and Experience of higher forces out there!
The Development and Growth of Meaningful work and Spiritual Conversations in the Workplace
Bringing more meaning and purpose into the workplace for the workforce
Learning from Elon Musk’s Business Coach
Learning to Say No
Wrap up questions On:
A Typical Day
Sleep Patterns & Importance
Work Patterns
Blocking time for fun
Importance of having time to do nothing
Book Recommendations:
Awareness – Tony DeMello
If you’d like to know more about Shane and what he does, feel free to connect by:
Website – www.shanecradock.com
Twitter - https://twitter.com/shanecradock
Thank you so much for taking the time to listen. If you have, I'd love if you took another few minutes to subscribe, share, tweet, or tell another about the podcast. The more that hear it, the more chance of helping others get a little bit better!
Best,
Rob
In this episode, I go on location to meet with Lt. Cdr. Roberta O’Brien at the National Maritime College of Ireland. Roberta has made Irish Naval History a few times in her career, so far! She became the first female to join the Irish Navy when becoming a cadet in 1995. She went on to become the first female Lt Commander to take charge of the LÉ Aisling a ship in 2008. And that’s just a couple of the firsts that we talk about during the very interesting and enjoyable conversation we had back in October.
Another first for Roberta was when she played hurling with the boys’ team when she was in school. She learned a lot these skills from her brother and she took a great interest in the game, along with Tennis at a young age.
Growing up Roberta was big into sports but she always enjoyed studying so PE teaching was an early aim. It wasn’t until she was in Fifth year before a spark was ignited in the Navy when she heard a Captain of a Ship give a talk. From here, Roberta started to set her sights on joining the Navy. She always wanted to be on the operations side of the ship instead of being an engineer so she could ultimately take command of a ship.
Currently, Lt. Cdr. O’Brien is the Officer In Charge of Training School responsible for ensuring 43 potential and young officers are fully trained and equipped prior to taking up their first sea-going appointment.
Here is a view into what we discuss during this fascinating show:
•Learnings from a tough three months during cadet training school
•How the environment changed in the Navy from Roberta started
•Interpersonal Skills training that helped with EQ, Listening and Awareness
•Leadership, Management, and Marketing Training
•Psychology and Confirmation Bias
•Challenges in the first couple of years of training and some relationship challenges
•The Role of Mentors and Coaches during the initial years rising up the ranks
•Spending three years in NUIG studying Science
•Planning & Plotting out a path to the goal of commanding a ship
•Getting the opportunity, ahead of her time, to take command of the LÉ Aisling in 2008
•Some Key Decisions Made during the Command
•Life After Command – Finding new challenges, goals, and responsibilities to reset focus
•How Training & Learnings all come together during more recent roles in the service
•A Typical Day Now in the Current Role as Officer of Training of Cadets.
•A Deep Dive into the 1% Tips that Roberta Shares:
oSetting Goals, working on tasks, and prioritizing on The Nearest ‘Crocodiles’
oBeing a Night Owl to get Work Done
oHow to develop and remain focus and present – touching on Mindfulness
oJournaling and Keeping a Diary
oInbox Management
oSleep Patterns especially on ship time
oDealing with Fear of Failure
oIntuition and Decision Making – recalling some instances from the command on the ship
oCollaboration
oSuccess and its meaning
oAdvice – Given or Gives out!
oOne Person You’d Bring to a Dinner
I hope you enjoy the episode. Be sure to like, share, and give me some feedback!
Thanks,
Rob
In this Episode, I interview Andrew Montague.
Andrew is an Irish Labour Party politician and member of Dublin City Council. He is a former Lord Mayor of Dublin. He proposed the Dublin Bike Scheme in 2004 which was launched in 2009 and credited as one of the most successful public bike schemes in Europe.
During our hour+ long conversation, I learn a lot about what drives and motivates Andrew Andrew is the first politician on the show and it was a great treat to talk with him. You will very clearly see how much of a genuine, humble and warm guy Andrew is and I’m sure you’ll enjoy his story. What really struck me from the conversation was the real palpable reward that Andrew gets from his work in politics as he’s working on issues that are facing all of us. Andrew talks about launching his campaign to run in the next general election in October and discusses the official launch and working toward this goals and objectives with Social Welfare, Crime, Housing just to name three.
Some of the topics we covered were:
•Andrew growing up and having a huge interest in the News. With both his parent from Ulster, Andrew developed a keen interest in the Northern Ireland Troubles and talks about his interest in in the SDLP in those days with the likes of Austin Curry and John Hume at the forefront.
•Specifically getting into Politics with his brother in the 80s. But didn’t join the party until 2002 realising it was time to get involved.
•Talking to people canvassing and being willing to listen to the public. Successful Politicians have the listening skill.
•In 2004, Andrew was successful in his first campaign.
•Submitted the idea of the Dublin Bike Scheme in 2004 and this became his major focus in the coming years. Learning from the successful schemes in Copenhagen and other European Cities. Overcoming oppositions from other parties in the early stages. Andrew learned a lot from this. Winning battles during this period helped gained credibility.
•Reflecting back on the importance of having a champion/mentor in politics in the early stages of his career.
•Using & Developing Influencing & Negotiating skills to get things done!
•Passion for reading, learning, identification of solutions to problems in housing and crime. Being always on the look-out to tackle problems.
•Feeling like an Entrepreneur taking ideas and running with them.
•The Lord Mayor of Dublin Appointment and the Experience and Learning during the year that Andrew was Lord Mayor. It was an amazing experience but it’s 24x7 for the Year.
•What a typical day in the life looks like in Andrew’s current role.
•Dealing with Frustrations in the role but having patience and focus is key.
•We then get into some of the regularly 1% Better Questions on:
oCore Values.
oMentors.
oChanging Behaviors.
oTime Management & Productivity – Approaches.
oListening to Podcast but also giving the brain time to be free of distractions.
oImportance of Exercise and Fitness to keep a healthy mind and body.
oSpeaking & Presentations – Preparation, Practice, and Delivery.
oFlow & Being in the moment for Andrew
oAdvice that stands out during the career
oSuccess and Andrews view of this and how it ties into work-life balance
oInterest in Weight-lifting and how Andrew started into this area citing the health and mental benefits.
•Book Recommendations:
oBook – Tom Gash – Criminals: The Truth about why people do Bad Things
oCal Newport – Deep Work
oThe Happiness Advantage – Shaun Achor
Connect with Andrew. Andrew is active on Twitter – you can follow him on @MayorMontague
I hope you enjoy the episode. If you did, please give the podcast a like, share, follow, retweet!
Thanks,
Rob
In this episode, I talk with Niamh McCarthy. Niamh has collected Olympic and World Championship Silver medals over the last few years in the Discus in the Paralympic games.
During the conversation, she talks about how her life has changed since discovering a talent for the Discus.
The last few years have been a whirlwind for Niamh as you’ll hear and she’s setting sights on the future and the bar is high!
We discuss:
•Earliest Memory of painting rocks and being creative as young child
•Being part of a Skydiving group and attributing this to her maturity and growth in confidence
•Comparing the feeling of skydiving to the feeling of throwing a discus in competition
•Living in France between the ages of 9 to 16 and learning lots there
•Returning to Ireland and immersing herself in the Leaving Cert years
•Learning the Piano growing up and finding it as a good outlet
•Constantly learning to adapt
•The story about how a chance meeting and conversation with a local solicitor made the connection with a talent scouting event in Dublin for paralytic events
•Being Competitive always and hugely determined
•Stepping up training 3-4 times per week to prove herself
•Winning the first medal in Qatar at the world championships
•Focusing on training & going outside the comfort zone to achieve things
•Breaking Personal Bests
•Controlling & Staying Level headed in competition
•The Experience and indescribable feeling competing at the Olympic stadium in Rio
•Overcoming Injuries and Vertigo – going from not being a gym person to the Paralympic games
•Competing in London World Games, being overconfident and feeling stressed
•Acknowledging that the head and mental state let her down at the Worlds in London
•Reaching goals and meeting them – end the season on a PB getting over – 28:43 – the goal to get over 28 meters
•Adding the shot-put to expand her events to compete in
•Plans for Next Season with discuss goals for Tokyo
•Finish off in the last 20mins talking about a number of topics:
oFear & How Niamh approaches it – challenge herself
oWork-life balance
oOverthinking
oAdvice given and shared with others
oInfluencers and Admiration for other public figures
oA Passion for Medicine and How the Body words
oA view of what Success is to Niamh
If you’d like to learn more about Niamh, follow her on the Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook at the handle @NiamhMacDiscus
Hope you enjoyed listen. Don’t forget to SUBSCRIBE, RATE & REVIEW the show on iTunes and of course tell EVERYONE you know about it!
Credit to Paul Brady (pdbrady123) for the great picture of Niamh. See more of his pictures on @Pbrady123 on Instagram.
Thank you so much,
Rob
So, I've decided to do another solo run in this episode and confront the imposter syndrome (it's a think & I touch on it in the show) full on by talking about 11 practices I apply, some every day, and some for the bigger picture, that helps me get stuff done! Some are obvious, some might be new ones you haven't heard before, but all take discipline.
From time to time I get asked how do I manage to do the day job, release a weekly podcast, blog every now and then, exercise, and keep a few other balls in the air. My first two answers are I'm not married and don't have kids. That means I might have a little more time to play with. However, I do like to think I make good use of the time I have. I hope you enjoy the listen.
Feel free to reach out to me via the socials or email if you have some hidden gems of your own that you'd like to share. I do have another few that I didn't include on this show, so could release these in another episode or on the blog post of this on this topic in the near future. I was keen to get this first 11 out in podcast form and see what the reaction was like.
Thanks so much for listening. I'd be so grateful if you subscribed to the podcast and left a rating/review if you like it on iTunes.
Rob
In this episode, I share a great conversation with Podcaster, Author, Entrepreneur, and Lead-singer from the Band Sunspot, Mike Huberty. He hosts a podcast called See You On The Other Side with his co-host Wendy Lynn Staats. He’s from Maddison, Wisconsin.
The area of Paranormal, Afterlife, UFOs, Ghosts and Conspiracy Theories are of interest to me and when I heard Mike's podcast, I reached out to see if he'd be willing to discuss his career and share some fun stories from his journey.
Full Show Details check out the episode page on www.robofthegreen.ie/episodes/ep41-mikehuberty
Thanks,
Rob
In Episode 40 of the Podcast, I talk with Micheál O’Mathúna.
Micheál is a Journalist, Facilitator, Coach and is also the founder of The Health Zone, an organisation set up to empower and educate people to be healthier, happier and more authentic in their lives. He conducts one-to-one coaching, group coaching and delivers transformative workshops in various areas of health and wellbeing.
One of Micheál’s missions is to inspire, empower and educate people on all matters of health and wellbeing. He has a commitment and a passion for a healthy world. His mission is to build community and to inspire conscious awareness, positive change, and transformation in people’s lives. A significant part of this purpose is to create meaningful connections among people and empower them to live a life of health, happiness, authenticity and realise their full potential.
During our conversation, we focus in on a number of topics that are of great interest to Micheál and he shares openly his own personal journey over the years and the learnings he's taken from each experience along the way. There is a focus on health (both physical and mental), how to discover your authentic self, and many more interesting pieces.
Some of these include:
•Starting out his show on UCC Radio over 3 years ago and then setting up his own radio show/podcast
•Early Memories & interests in psychology and health in his teenage years and being fascinated about how people ticked
•Working in Construction and Sales and being “Successful” but always sensing that something was missing, not being happy or fulfilled yet ignoring to address it
•Using the Artist Way & the Morning Pages – a way to listen to your inner and authentic voice
•Spending 6 months in India training as a Yoga Teacher and meditation
•Learning to be true to his inner voice and connecting with his heart
•Returning to Ireland and completing a Masters in Journalism allowing him to develop skills in media
•The Benefits of a 10 day Silent Meditation realising all unhappiness is the result of comparisons
•Working out our problems in our body instead of in our heads
•Finding contentment & happiness in his work now through delivering courses, writing, and running events
•Standout Guests from his interviews so far and learnings from each one – Sri Mooji and Marianne Williamson - https://marianne.com/
•Themes coming up from the guests interviewed around authenticity and being true to yourself
•Core Values: Time to reflect on where you spend your time and connecting this to your core values
•Stress Management and connecting authenticity with stress management
•Fear of not realising full potential and not being true to yourself
•Consciousness and Awareness being key to allowing change to happen!
•The Morning Pages Process and staying with the process and practice
•Writing a book, the process and learnings on this to-date
•Morning Routines with Morning Pages, Yoga, Meditation
•Habits – Changing a habit to spend less time on social media
•Finding a flow state and being present
•Questions on Advice, Mentors, Influences, Decision Making and Success
•Preparation and Practice for a TedTalk given earlier this year in Cork
Full show notes and how to connect with Micheál are on the Episode page on the site - www.robofthegreen.ie/episodes/ep40-michealomathuna
Please share, comment, retweet, follow, and spread the 1% Better word!
Thanks,
Rob
Hi all,
Welcome to another episode of the 1% Better Podcast.
I have the full show notes with all links to Colin on the episode page on my site here - www.robofthegreen.ie/episodes/ep39-colinobrady/
Thanks for listening,
Rob
Hi all,
Delighted to be sharing this episode with you.
Full show notes of this episode can be found at www.robofthegreen.ie/episodes/ep38-norahpatten
Enjoy,
Rob
Hi all,
I believe we all have an interest in, or maybe even a little bit of wonder for Magic. Something about it for me, brings me right back to being young and remembering the first time I saw a trick performed. Most likely watching Paul Daniels on TV. When I saw Gerard Kearney perform earlier this year, I knew I had to try to get him to come on to the podcast to hear about his journey so far. I was delighted when he agreed.
Gerard is a a past champion of The International Brotherhood of Magicians (the worlds largest magic organisation), and is a native of Cork. He specialises in close-up magic and mind reading!
As you'll hear in the introduction, Gerard started out as a Actor (he played the role of Big Con in 'War of the Buttons' and later had a role in 'The Wind that Shakes the Barley') but once he saw his first trick, he was hooked and has never looked back. Gerard shows that practice, dedication, focus, and self-belief are key ingredients to becoming successful in this world, as well as having a talent for the craft. One that was obvious from his early days and noticed by Paul Daniels in a meeting with the legend in the 90's.
During the show, we touch on many break-through moments that happened during Gerard's journey so far. He talks about how he's developed his style over the years now with a main focus on Close-up magic. At the end of the show, Gerard performs a trick on me that I am still blown away by. And it does translate to a non-visual medium.
Some of the topics discussed are:
•Influences that Gerard had during his career including Paul Daniels, Bebel, & David Stone
•Always having a creative and artistic streak
•A typical work schedule
•Dealing with Nerves when performing in early days
•Bringing vulnerability to his performing which makes his magic stronger
•Being ‘in the moment’ when performing
•Winning awards but preferring not to compete
•Stand out moments from conventions he attended
•Designing new types and processes of magic and creating a new product for the Magic Market space.
•Approaches to productivity, deadlines and working in bursts
•Being his own hardest critic
•Performing under pressure and making the performance harder on purpose
•Putting more emphasis on the performance with Communication at the core
•Telling a story which brings people back to their own stories.
•Values including intuition, creativity and staying loose
•Bouncing ideas off close friends to help with decision making
•Success = Work-life Balance
Connect with Gerard on:
Book Recommended - The Amateurs magicians handbook – Henry Hay
Connect with Gerard via his website - www.corkmagician.ie
Email: Info@corkmagician.ie
Facebook: Gerard Kearney The Magician
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/corkmagician/
Thanks for listening,
Rob
This episode is one I’ve been really keen to release since recording it as I’ve been reading about what AI could mean to us in the short and longer term so had a bunch of questions to put to John. The ethics around AI is only something I started to consider about a year ago when I heard some of the considerations that need to be factored in when designing self-driving cars. When John agreed to come on to the show, I was delighted.
John C. Havens is Executive Director of The IEEE Global Initiative for Ethical Considerations in Artificial Intelligence and Autonomous Systems. The IEEE Global AI Ethics Initiative has two primary outputs – the creation and iteration of a body of work known as Ethically Aligned Design: A Vision for Prioritizing Human Wellbeing with Artificial Intelligence and Autonomous Systems and the identification and recommendation of ideas for Standards Projects focused on prioritizing ethical considerations in AI/AS. Currently there are eleven approved Standards Working Groups in the IEEE P7000™ series.
He is also a regular contributor on issues of technology and well-being to Mashable, The Guardian, HuffPost and TechCrunch and is author of the books, Heartificial Intelligence: Embracing Our Humanity To Maximize Machines and Hacking Happiness: Why Your Personal Data Counts and How Tracking it Can Change the World (both published by TarcherPerigee, an imprint of Penguin Random House). He plays a mean Harmonica and has been in a number of Movies and TV shows during his acting days.
During the conversation, John talks about being his early years growing up, being bullied in school and feeling this led to him becoming more introspective and creative. He was always into music and acting. These outlets were great for John’s creativity. In high-school, John joined bands and developed a very strong faith. He believed he would be a minister once leaving high-school and started to pursue this. It was during college, where John decided to following a career in acting. He noted that he met many actors during his career that were working towards a religious career and vise versa. He talks about working as a professional actor appearing on Law and Order. John was a geek all his life and had a key interest in technology.
John decided to move away from Acting when he had kids so he could stay closer to the family. He started out podcasting in 2005 as it was an option to tell stories. This gave him a voice and from there he started to do some talks on podcasting and moved into business development. This lead to other roles in PR. All the while, John was ghost writing books and articles.
We dig into Johns latest book – Hartificical Intelligence – and I ask john about his approach as he tells stories that help make some of the potential concerns and ethical considerations of AI very real.
Some of the very interesting topics discussed:
•Personality Tests and their value
•What is the Uncanny Valley
•Working on Mastery & Flow
•The next new wave of Media touching on Augmented and Virtual Reality
•Use of chips & sensors in the brain today and the future
•Techniques on how to identify our own Values
•What is Anthropomorphism and how it links to AI and Acting
•The role of ethics in AI – the self-driving car ethical decisions
•Dealing with Human Agency with AI – new technologies brings new challenges
•How AI is going to make people look harder at their own Value set?
•Closing Question – what’s the question nobody asks you but you wish they would?
John recommended the following Book Recommendations:
•Quiet: The Power of Introverts – Susan Cain
•Alone Together – Sherry Turtle
I encourage you to check out more details on the IEEE Global Initiative for Ethical Considerations in Artificial Intelligence and Autonomous Systems that John is working on and discussed by clicking here
To get in touch with John, he’s on Twitter – @JohnCHavens or visit John’s site http://www.johnchavens.com/
In this Episode, I talk with world renowned fitness and nutrition consultant Jenni Rivett. In her career so far, she was Lady Diana’s personal trainer for 7 years, she’s been an author, fitness journalist, and creator of many DVD’s on fitness. Jenni was once voted Britain’s top fitness trainer by the ‘Best of British’ publications.
During our conversation, we talk about Jenni growing up in South Africa where she attributes her passion for health and fitness to her Mother. Shortly after moving to the UK, Jenni had a stand out moment when she realised that office work wasn’t for her. She then decided to pursue a full time career in Exercise & Fitness.
In the early 90s, Jenni was invited to be a fitness presenter all around the UK, which was another big break. She was studio coordinator in Bodies in Chelsea and started to work with high profile clients like Liz Hurley, Imran Kahn, and Fergie.
We talk about how the opportunity to work with Lady Diana came and some of the experiences she had during this time, which Jenni describes as a great honour and privilege.
As Jenni’s exposure grew, she started to work more in TV and, with Lorraine Kelly, crated 2 fitness DVDs then in 1999 and 2000 and released a book called Jennergy: Fit, Firm and Feminine.
Towards the end of the episode, we get in to a series of questions and answers around many topics including:
•Zoning in on areas that women tend to have more problems or worry with.
•The role of Nutrition
•Which is more important, Diet or Exercise?
•Keys to long term weight lost
•How to have a cheat day every now and then
•Taking the initial steps getting fit again
•Programs for Women after having a baby
•The Power and Benefits of walking
•The 3 key components to exercise and get in the best shape possible
•3 Workouts per week to get in great shape
•HIIT Training & Cortisol Levels – not starting out with HIIT
•Eating before or after a workout?
•Vitamins & Supplements recommendations
•Meditation and calming the busy mind
•Sleep patterns and impacts on hormones in our body and appetite
•A New program that Jenni is working on called ‘Train like a woman’
•Focusing on the market of women and 35 or over.
It was great to get to chat with Jenni about her career and story. She’s very passionate and motivated about what she does. She says she’s in the best shape of her life. She certainly is doing something right.
If you’d like to get in touch with Jenni you can do so via:
Instagram - @Jennirivett
Facebook – www.facebook.com/jenni.rivett
Website – www.jennirivett.com
Hope you enjoyed the episode. Please take 10 seconds to tweet, share, like, or tell a friend. It can be your good deed for the day!
Thanks as always,
Rob
Hi all,
The podcast is 6 months old today. In this shorter episode, I share some learnings, ideas, magic, motivation and other plans for the future.
Back to normal format with interviews next week but wanted to share this one and hopefully you enjoy it.
Thanks for listening to all\some of the 34 so far. If it's your first, you have 50+ hours of content to catch up on.
Have a great day/week,
Rob
Denis Collins is an Renowned Visionary Thought Leader in Business and someone that likes to get things done. He is the CEO Smarter Dynamics, Former IBM Global Executive, Chairman of Smarter Senses (Shine Ireland), and widely acknowledged as a significant contributor to building /shaping the global brand/collaborative model in Munster. He has now been asked to help lead the National Strategy for economic growth in multiple regions via his IDA appointment to Chair IDA RDC (regional development committee). This is just some of the great roles and contributions that Denis has behind him. He's a New Yorker too. We chat about all of this and more during the show.
During our conversation, Denis talks about his Primary motivation of bringing together Social and Commercial that leads to greatest impact.
We talk about Denis’s background. Coming from New York originally, and his IBM career of over 20 years. When Denis was growing, he wanted to be NYPD cop. Finding a passion for computers, he joined with IBM straight from Fordham University, where he studied Communications and Business. Denis talks about Influences growing up and later in life.
Denis talks about his first role in IBM working in the data centre and reflects back on this as his career evolved. Knowing how the technology worked, helped him greatly when talking with CIOs later. This gave him skills to be able to partner with clients. During the IBM career, he took on many different roles and learned something from each, moving into Management and Leadership roles as he progressed.
We discuss his management style and approach to motivating teams. His focus is definitely more around Collaboration which became his primary approach. It’s his main one but he acknowledges that you need to be able to mix and balance them all of the styles to be successful.
Denis talks about his 3 Silos approach to leadership and collaboration. These are:
1. What is important for the company and address this
2. What is good for the client and/or region
3. What is good for the person doing the work?
If you can bring these together, you’re on to a wining approach.
We then go into my usual question and answers that touch on:
• Decision making approach that is very balanced with data and experience
• Learnings from mistakes - a great story from early in Denis’ career in a deal with Canada from his IBM days
• Habits – good and bad with pacesetting as a core trait
• Work-Life Balance – importance of finding this to recharge
• Finding time to manage your own career
• Giving and Receiving Advice
• Finding a way to live your life in the best way – Family, Parish & Country approach
• A view into what success means to Denis – health, wealth, happiness
• Book Recommendation - The Catcher in the Rye – JD Salinger
To learn more about Denis or possibly get involved in some of the initiatives that Denis is working on with the IDA, he can be connected on LinkedIn here - https://www.linkedin.com/in/deniscollins/
He encourages you to come with an idea from whatever field or location.
I hope you enjoy the show with Denis Collins.
What I'd really appreciate, if you enjoyed the show, is a retweet, a comment, a mention, a like, or any of the sharing you could do on your social networks so someone you know could enjoy it too. It's a free gift from you to them! And it helps grow the audience of the show.
Links of note:
Building & Leading a Relevant Global Cluster - https://youtu.be/7MsB2Hjuoik
Cheers,
Rob
In this Episode, I talk with Adrian Barry. Adrian is an Award winning sports presenter (PPI radio Sports Broadcaster of the year 2011), previously Sports Editor for Newstalk and, most recently, the Group Head of Sports Programming for Communicorp (which includes radio stations such as Newstalk, TodayFM, 98FM, and others). He’s regularly heard on Off The Ball, Ireland Number 1 sport show, and, of Most significance, he’s from Athlone, Co. Westmeath!
In our chat, Adrian very honestly and openly talks about his career journey so far. He explains he was not one that had a clear view of where he wanted to go during his school days, and almost picked Journalism by default. We talk about Career Guidance during the leaving cert and not getting a great perspective on what to do Next. Unfortunately, Polymer Engineer wasn’t of interest at the time despite it being the hot course. Adrian talks about his move to Hull University which was, as he says himself, an uninformed decision. He quickly moved to Glamorgan and got his degree from there.
After University, Adrian worked on a mid-morning magazine show for Midlands Radio 103 to gain experience doing a bit of everything. Over the next few years, Adrian travelled, gained life experiences in Australia and New Zealand to expand his horizons, and worked with Midlands Radio 103 getting his first taste in sports radio. Adrian was clear that he wanted to get travel and working abroad out of his system as he knew once he got into a serious role, he knew that he’d be fully engaged in that.
His first serious role was with FM104 and we talk about the funny interview experience in getting this role. Still, Adrian wasn’t fully sure the role was for him and left after 4 years to set up his own business. Which was a big move. One that Adrian learned a lot from. His concept was almost ahead of its time. The idea which is really only now taking off in radio. Timing was tough as it was late 2000’s and the recession hit. But we talk about learning so much through this experience. Which are skills that Adrian is now using in his current role.
Moving to 98FM, brought national success for Adrian, winning the PPI Sports presenter award in 2011. It wasn’t a definition of success in Adrian’s view. "It’s a lovely thing to have" Adrian explained, but that’s about it, aside from making his parents very proud.
From there, we go into details on his move into Newstalk at a time of great opportunity. Joining to initially produce and co-host the weekend show. As his role evolved over the last few years, he really started to feel part of something that he had an investment in and it's during this time, things started to fall into place. Adrian gives a great insight into how the show has continued to grow.
Towards the we touch on a range of topics that include:
Work-Life Challenge and how Adrian manages this
How his view of sport changes when you’re working in the business
Views on how Sport is presented on & how it’s hard to believe
Plans to produce honest reporting that are core to his values
Core values around honesty of conversation, ethical and genuine reporting
Belief that hard work doesn’t guarantee success – there is chance, luck and coincidence – but hard work helps!
What success looks like and what advice tips that stick – be yourself!
Taking responsibility for your own actions
Book Recommendations: The Club – Christy O’Connor
Podcasts Recommendations: An Irish Man Abroad – Jarlath O’Regan, 30 for 30 (sports)
You can connect with Adrian via Twitter at the handle @whosadrianbarry
If you enjoy the show, please subscribe so you can get all future episodes. Also, shoot me over a tweet, an email, a review on iTunes...I live for the feedback on how to make the show better!
Cheers,
Rob
Hi folks,
In this episode, I have a great conversation with Lorna Quinn. Lorna is an Actor (I’m going with Actor not Actress – we clarify why on the show) that has a built up a great portfolio of work over the last number of years since graduating from ‘Drama and Theatre Studies’ in UCC. She has been in Theatre (‘Private Lives’ most recently at the Gate), on TV (‘Fair City’ & ‘Love Hate’) and even on the big screen (‘Dare to Be Wild’). She’s also from Longford which is how I know her and how I was able to entice her to come on to the 1% Better Podcast We talk about her career, growing up, being in Longford girl-band AS3 (which is due a re-launch in the near future we hope– make it happen, Lorna). She was also voted Best Actress at the ‘Stellar Shine Awards’ in 2016.
Just some of the areas we talk about include:
Starting drama classes quite late, growing up in Longford & having great fun which helped Lorna grow in confidence
Joining the Longford Musical Society
Being in the Longford Girl Band, AS3, at 16 which gave Lorna another taste of performing
Applying for and getting a place on ‘Drama and Theatre Studies’ in UCC and bit by bit finding her feet in the class and the group
The monkey on the shoulder and keeping Matilda in control
First stand out/break through moment getting cast in the role of ‘Olive’ in ‘The Odd Couple’ in first year in UCC and again in second year, being cast in the role of ‘Margarethe’ in ‘Copenhagen’ by Michael Frayn. How this started to make Lorna believe there could be a career in this
Advice on reaching out to support services in College or in any stage of your life where you might need to chat to someone
Dealing with reviews and feedback and working on taking this onboard
Spending two years at the ‘Gaiety School of Acting’ in Dublin and learning lots!
Landing her first big lead role as ‘Jo’ in ‘Little Women’ at the Gate which Lorna sees as a huge breakthrough moment
The ‘Fair City’ role journey and the differences in acting for camera v theatre
Working at the Gate again under Michael Colgan and learning so much on the job there
Playing the role of ‘Eve’ in ‘Dare to Be Wild’ in Lorna’s first feature film
The story around winning the ‘Stellar Award’ for Best Actress beating competition that included Saoirse Ronan
Working with and learning from different directors
The importance of team work when on stage and with the crew at the Gate to create the team ensemble feeling
Lorna’s approach to preparing for a new role and how to get comfortable with the character through researching what was happening around the time the play or movie was set
Playing different roles and pushing herself outside the comfort-zone
How Lorna sets goals, plans ahead & makes decisions
Getting satisfaction ticking things off the to-do list and journaling
We talk about Advice and Core Values and what Lorna’s stand out values are
What Lorna would pursue if not in acting
How Lorna views Success
Recommendations on Books:
About Acting by Peter Barkworth
The Law of Attraction by Abraham Hicks
Actors Voices by Patrick O’Kane
You can connect with Lorna by the following:
www.lornaquinn.com
Twitter – @lornamquinn
THANK YOU Lorna for your time, story and help in making the episode such a great one.
In this episode, I talk with Grattan Donnelly. Grattan does a number of different things in his portfolio but mainly working with people using Coaching and Mindfulness. He works as part of a Danish company called Potential Project. Grattan also does training and facilitation. I met Grattan through the IMI Diploma in Executive Coaching. He delivers an 8-week course on developing mindfulness as well which is really highly fulfilling for him.
Grattan has always been fascinated by human behaviour and has always had a sense of adventure. Graduating from a B.Comm, Grattan was now free to follow his sense of adventure. He went to Australia for year and came back 12 years later. Grattan said it took him 53 years of his life to figure out what he wanted to do so that message is clear that it’s never too late to find this. We talk about values and one that is most prominent for Grattan is freedom and this matches well in his work. We talk about his journey during these 12 years travelling and many learnings along the way. Travel broadens the mind and the culture shock of coming home was memorable.
In 1998, he bought a training franchise for 30k and this made him face one of the big fears that Grattan had from a very young age, which was a fear of public speaking. Something so many of us can relate to. He talks how he worked around confronting this fear for a number of years. We dig into the idea of the opponent in his own head dictated how he operated. This was a real struggle but he keep at it. Looking back now, after learning how the mind works with Mindfulness, he has a different perspective. He’s comfortable with the anxiety now and can deal with it.
Then in 2006, when Grattan started the coaching qualification program. From here, he started to realise that he ‘loved learning’ and hated being taught and the cliché of Coaching changing your life became a reality.
In 2010, Grattan hit a wall and had burn out. This was a blessing in disguise as it got him on the path of Mindfulness. This part of the journey starts here and we deep dive into how the mind works, the number of thoughts we have every day, what we worry about, and the benefits of mindfulness. We touch on a number of techniques that you can use that can help you slow down and be more present.
Other topics touched on are challenges with our current systems, opening up with mindfulness, one-to-one coaching, being in the moment, self-awareness, triggers for mindful moments (like Crows), living on autopilot, dealing with ups and downs, accepting things for what they are, not being able to control everything.
I hope you enjoy the story that is packed with good messages Grattan shares from his journey. His clear message is to ‘just enjoy the journey’ and to ‘relax’ as nothing is under control and to get out there and start your mindfulness practice via a proper course. And hopefully you can apply a mindfulness technique when meeting new people.
Books –
1.Think to Think, Nancy Kline
2.Presence based coaching Doug Silsbee
Get in touch with Grattan here with Mindfulness and Coaching – potentialproject.com
Or directly with Grattan here for one to one executive coaching -https://www.linkedin.com/in/grattan-donnelly-b6ab3713/?ppe=1
In this episode, I talk with Evan Desmarais, who is a Comedian from Toronto. He’s been a comedian for around 10 years during which time he's been touring across the US, Canada, Australia and the UK.
This was a fun conversation as we talked through how Evan got in to comedy, modelling as a young boy and becoming a complete diva at age of 9.
Evan started to get into improv at high-school and really fell in love with this form of comedy. We talk about the structure, rules and games with improv. He had a big hero in Jim Carrey, also Canadian, so he was very keen to become an actor. In drama class in final year in high-school, stand-up was a part of the course and it was here Evan did his first stand-up piece. It was the start of his journey. For the first while, Evan says he was a terrible stand-up comedian. He tried really hard but couldn’t buy a laugh.
During the conversation we touch on a lot of stand out moments from his journey so far, we talk about hecklers, fear, and the impact if people don’t laugh. We touch on failing many times and becoming stronger, testing out new material, how this works and the process for creating new content. We go into some hilarious Heckler stories, some that worked out well and others that got into boarder line physical violence.
Towards the end we get into the 1% Better tips, where we touch on:
Productivity plans – To Do lists – getting satisfaction from ticking off small bits of work.
Setting goals and creating plans that are specific. SMART Goals.
Daily routines and what a typical day looks like now
Sources of inspiration and how to tap into new material which would his type of mediation
Never stop learning and always teach people!
Stand-up as a form of teaching and lessons of social aware
Revealing Secrets in Australia -- Being Vulnerable and being Strong
Making Big decision and learning from them. Feeling not making progress.
Travelling and putting on an hour long show!
Advice to live by!
Book Recommendations:
Born Standing up - Steve Martin
Why is that so funny - physical comedy – John Right
Favourite Stand up show:
Jim Jeffries – Gun Control
Bert Kreischer – The Machine
Ari Schaffir – This is not happening
Check out Evan’s show from Adelaide that we talked about, called BAD THINGS RIGHT REASONS here!
Follow Evan on the social networks - Facebook, Twitter & Instagram
Website - Eveandesmarais.ca
Evan is currently playing shows in the Edinburgh Fringe festival starting on August 3rd.
I hope you enjoy!!
Best,
Rob
In this epic episode, I talk with Anna Dolce. Anna is a life and business strategist, restaurant expert, hospitality zealot, writer and speaker. Her consulting and coaching work has attracted global clients in the restaurant, hospitality, retail, healthcare, real estate, professional sports, music and other industries.
We connected on Instagram after I took notice of her posts and video snippets. I then reached out to see if she’d be interested in recording a conversation and I was delighted that she agreed. As you’ll hear, it was a fascinating conversation. I’m probably biased but whatever!
We talked for nearly two hours and the time flew as Anna tells her story from growing up in Georgia while it was under the Soviet Union, becoming Miss Georgia twice a after being selected to be in a beauty pageant, moving to the US, firstly to New York and then to Florida where she talks about so much of the challenges, opportunities and lessons she learned over the last 15+ years. These all lead her to the path she’s now on of being able to help entrepreneurs create a life and business on their terms.
It’s a broad ranging story that touches on so much. Just a snippet of this includes:
Winning Miss Georgia twice and tasting national fame
Moving to New York with zero English and just $40
Becoming a Restaurant owner and learning the difference between ‘working on it v working in it’
Constantly facing adversity and adapting rapidly to new challenges
The value of Coaching and having a Coach
Core Values and how to identify these (sorry I can’t help talking about Core Values)
Focusing on your purpose and outcomes.
Being comfortable not knowing everything about everything
EQ & IQ in Coaching
Preparing for and presenting a Ted Talk
What a typical day for Anna now
Being your own boss v having a boss and how you develop your discipline
The concept of time and how to management
Meditation and how she approaches it
Sleep patterns
Self-talk and the voice in your head
Advice to start working on your mind and personal development
Taking massive action and then take more again
Some Books Anna recommends are:
So Good they can’t ignore you – Cal Newport
Grant Cardone – 10X Rule
Benee Brown – Daring Greatly & Rising Strong
Connect with Anna on Instagram (most active here) and Facebook and Twitter and also www.annadolce.com (site is currently being upgraded).
I hope you enjoy this episode. If you do, SHARE it on FB, retweet on Twitter or whatever you have to do get it out there :)
Best,
Rob
In this second part of the John Wall Interview, we go deep into his career of becoming an entrepreneur. I also go into the usual set of rapid fire questions towards the end of the show where to touch on many topics and habits John has. I have to say this part is more loaded with lessons learned and 1% Better tips than the first part. So definitely worth a listen in.
In the 75mins or so, we discuss and chat on topics including:
Planning on going out on his own
What makes a successful entrepreneur
Process the learning from your mistakes
Dealing with being Fired (twice in 9 months)
Modern living, Impacts the internet is having on our intelligence and thinking process
Risk Management & Strategy
Starting up pre-Celtic tiger, building the team and facing big challenges
Picking what you want to be famous for
Mix your passion and understanding of ‘something’ to be relevant to the market
Reflections from the career so far
Rapid Fire Q&A on trusting the gut, fears of losing it all, best advice, favourite books and lots more
Be Decent - have the courage to change your mind and keep trying
Importance of integrity which is what you do when nobody is watching!
Be honest and decent
John gives a great summary at the end and advice on how to be the best at what you want to do. Decide what you want to be famous for and go for it. Integrity is key!!
Book Recommendations:
Talent is Overrated - Geoff Colvin
The Startup Owner's Manual – Steve Blank
Get in touch with John Wall at Adalgo. Email: John.Wall@Adalgo.com
Thanks all & enjoy!
Rob
In this two parter, I talk with John Wall. John describes himself as a moderately successful entrepreneur but he’s being quite modest. He's had very interesting career and we go into this during the course of our conversation.
This was one of the first shows I recorded and still one of the most captivating conversations I’ve done. I’ve know John for a few years and asked him to speak at a PMI event about his career last year. That night, I had to cut him short (to the audience and my own misfortune). I didn’t think about a year later I’d be recording his story for a podcast but he was one of the first people on my list when I started out on this journey and he didn’t disappoint, as you’ll hear.
While my other podcasts so far have been about shorter, this one was so broad ranging and we went down some many interesting rabbit holes, I couldn’t resist keeping the recorder running. Rather than edit out so much great learning and stories, I’ve decided to break it into two episodes for your enjoyment. It’s one not to be missed for those that like a long form podcast.
We touch on so many great stories during John’s life to-date and some brilliant takeaways from each phase that you can use. After listening to it back (a couple of times), I keep finding new nuggets. If you’re in business, starting your own company, or finding times tough in either, I think you should invest time in to listening to this podcast.
In this first part, we discuss:
John’s early years, interests growing up, influences and fixing hoovers
Geeking out at university Life
Strawberry Fields and learnings from the first job
Studying in London in the 1980s and trips to White Hart Lane
2 Years in Kuwait - Cultural and personal learnings and Scoring Penalties
Return to European Life, the world of automation, process and safety learnings
3 Key learnings from time at Dupont in Luxembourg
Attention to Safety as a core principle and why
Learning not to react or not, hiring lessons and aiming for the 95%
A real 1% better tip to apply in your day — 4 things you should know for an interview / meeting / anything you want to do
I hope you enjoy and come back for part 2.
Thanks,
Rob
In this episode, I was delighted to continue the theme of nationally known guests that have a link to Longford, Sinéad Hussey is a multimedia journalist with RTÉ. She is specifically assigned to the 9 O’Clock news at RTE. She has been working in the media industry since leaving education, and has accumulated lots of journalistic experience.
She has a BA in arts with Spanish and Economics from Maynooth University, as well as a postgraduate diploma in Communications, Radio and Television from Saint Patrick’s College, Maynooth.
She started her career in the media in 2004 with Shannonside FM, where she worked as a broadcast journalist until 2006. She worked in North-West Radio in Donegal for a stint and then worked in LMFM in Drogheda. After this, she moved on to work with Newstalk FM as a broadcast journalist. Sinéad worked with Newstalk for almost five years, leaving in 2011. This was an amazing learning experience for Sinéad and during this she got to cover such an amazing array of event. She was frequently covering crime stories and this was great experience which set her up for a love of the cut and thrust of crime reporting.
When RTE News came calling, she had to take the opportunity as it was always her ambition to work with RTE. She started on the Foreign Desk. She then moved to the Home Desk and continued to progress over the following years covering topics ranging from politics to protests and court cases to sport which offers a great variety every day.
Sinéad’s talks about winning ‘DJ for a Day’ for Shannonside and from there, it started her down this path. Getting a lucky break reporting on a football match and things kicking off from there.
We talk about a typical day (if there is such a thing) reporting the news, the structure that is in place to put the 9 O’clock News in place, big breaks, never switching off, ambitions for the future, interests in specific news such as Crime, balancing work and life, growing up in Longford, and landing her dream job. Pushing yourself outside of your comfort-zone was something Sinéad touches on here. Sticking with challenging roles, determination and knowing it will be worth it in the end, working to deadlines and dealing with Pressure. Sinéad talks about not being afraid to take a chance, and pushing yourself outside of your comfort-zone. Keep at it. Hard-work is key. Be determined and work hard everyday.
It was a real enjoyable conversation with Sinéad. Thank you for sharing your story!
Enjoy the show and Keep on Keeping on!
Rob
Ben Pridmore is a three time World Memory Champion winning the title 2004, 2008 and 2009 . He achieved this by winning a 10-discipline competition in the World Memory Championship, which has taken place every year since 1991. He has also earned the prestigious title of Master of Memory. During our hour talk, I get a real sense of what makes Ben tick, his very humble, honest and humorous demeanour and I learn a lot about the world of memory!
He held the official world record for memorizing the order of a randomly shuffled 52-card deck, and has memorised a pack in a time of 24.68 seconds on television. We talk about how he does this and he gives out a technique that anyone can use. I’m currently practicing for fun as part of my monthly challenges. Besides memory sports he is famous for his mental calculation skills and took part in the Mental Calculation World Cup in 2004, 2006 and 2010. Ben says he has an IQ of 159 putting him in the genius range but doesn’t think too much about it and only joined Mensa to talk about it with Friends.
Like most memory experts, he creates a mental story, comprises a sequence of images in a variation of the Mnemonic Major System. Ben invented a technique, now known as ‘the Ben’ where two cards are represented as a three letter word by the first consonant derived from the suits, the vowel from the first card's number, and the final consonant from the second card's number. He explains this and how it’s helped in bringing down the time to memorize a deck of cards.
Ben is now very involved in bringing more memory competitions to other countries and using the internet for this. We talked about the possibility of getting some memory competitions to Cork or Ireland which Ben is open to. While Ben generally just uses his memory skills in competition, many of his friends that are applying these to their day to day lives with great advantage.
We talk about IQ v EQ, what’s it like to be a star in a music video, the good habits memory training can bring, advice on trying anything as we’re all great at something and lots more. We talk about the lack of performance enhancing drugs during Memory championships, and so many more really fun topics around memory. Ben also recites the first 50 digits of PIE on the show and talks about memorizing about a 1000 digits places per day in his training for a world record attempt to memorise digits of PIE (3.14...). He had memorised it to 50000 places or thereabouts before another memory athlete took the world record. We talked about the energy that is involved memorizing and how much of a state it can leave it you in after a many day competition.
Ben gives out some simple tips that you can use to help improving your memory toward the end of the show. I bring up an image of Claudia Schiffer in a bath of Milk. You’ll have to listen to understand! At the very end, we finish up talking about Ben being featured in the music video for DJ Shadow's single "Scale It Back" that shows his memory journey that he uses for his 52 times in the card deck.
Books and Documentaries recommended:
Use your memory by Tony Buzan
Moonwalking with Einstein – Josh Foer
Documentaries about the world memory championships in 2007 called ‘the mentalist’
Link to Ben on Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Pridmore
Link to Ben in video with DJ Shadow - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NL9ypNz9-mM
Check out the World Memory Forum and search for Ben online.
Veda Lady is a stunt queen, a drag queen, a club promoter, and a performer for the last 20 years. Working in Drag for most of this time. Veda has been performing a show called ‘Witchy Wednesday’ in the George in Dublin for the last 18 years and still loves doing it. We talk about being a wife/husband/domestic goodness and discuss how Veda has found a very good work life balance.
During the show, we talk about growing up, finding a passion for dressing up and pretending to be Sheena Easton at the age 5 or 6. Veda talks about being in musicals as a kid playing Danny in Greece but always very keen to get dressed up and perform. Veda describes how growing up Gay at this time in Ireland was very difficult and as Veda says you feel every single bruise growing up. But this only made Veda stronger and pushed through. It wasn’t an easy journey but there was no compromise.
Veda visited a friend in San Francisco and this was a seminal moment when things changed. Here Veda saw a performer called Steve Lady and her swagger and performance struck a chord. Veda brought this style back to Ireland and started to develop the act. The first big break came when Veda came second in the Alternative Miss Ireland Contest. Veda threw a fun/joke dramatic strop that worked in her favour and Veda’s persona started to get attention in the Dublin scene. The following year, Veda won the contest and this lead to getting the club night in the George. 18 years later, that’s still going strong.
Veda talks about work-life balance, well-being, happiness, a passion for sowing, writing songs, being creative and developing a ‘fishy’ style of Drag. We talk about how the persona has changed over the years and also how the scene has developed. We touch on how massively different this is to today’s ‘yes’ Ireland. Veda talks about stories that show how things have changed over the years from being judged to being embraced,in the most part, by the general public. We also talk about how the recession was have been a catalyst for this change in Veda's eyes.
We talk about Veda’s Grandmother in detail who was an amazing lady and a great inspiration who did fashion design and turned her sowing business into a clothes factory. We also talk about Veda’s father and a persona he created in his last days that was so empowering and as a farewell to Veda. We also chat about lack of emotional intelligence in young men that Veda sees as a challenge.
Some great lessons touched on are:
1) Do not let anyone take what you are away from you. Do exactly what you like to do, work at it, and it will work out. You can’t let go of who you are!
2) If you feel strong and brave enough to put something on fun and jazzy, just do it as you bring joy to others.
3) It’s essential to try to be different, not just ok but essential.
4) Learning to love. We talk about Ziggy, Veda’s dog, and how this responsibility really had a great impact and grounded her.
This was one of the most open, honest, emotional and fun interviews that I’ve done. It’s amazing to be able to talk with someone like Veda and share the story with whoever wants to tune in. That’s making all this worthwhile for me.
You can get in touch with Veda on the below social media links.
Facebook: Veda Lady
Twitter: Lady Veda
Instagram : VedaLady
** Full show notes on the episode page for this show here - www.robofthegreen.ie/episodes/ep22-declanfahy
So another week, another episode. This one is with Declan Fahy who is a Journalist that has worked for the Irish Times, the Daily Mirror & the Longford Leader. He is now a professor in DCU in Communications & Journalism, and a published Author with the book 'The New Celebrity Scientists: Out of the Lab and Into the Limelight'. He’s also a friend that I grew up with in Longford, which made it all the more enjoyable to record.
During the conversation, we talked about Declan being from Longford, but being born in Zambia as his parents were travelling and living there at the time. Declan talks about his love of books and reading from a very early age and this has stayed with him all the way through his life. How this lead him to a Journalism degree in DCU starting in 1995. We discuss Declan’s experience moving from Longford to the big smoke and how this took time to get settled in.
Declan talks about his first job in Journalisim at the Longford Leader after a very straightforward interview with Eugene McGee.
Declan took a class on the history and philosophy of science in 2nd year and really found a passion for this which set him on the path for specialisation where a lot of things seemed to click. In summer of 3rd year, Declan got a placement with the Irish Times and this was another key stage in his journey. Another great opportunity.
Next, Declan did a masters to study how science was communicated. Once this was done, Declan decided to do some work on the front lines and went back to the Irish Times for a period. Another big break came for Declan in the early 2000’s when the foot and mouth disease broke out and Declan was heavily involved in this over a 6/8 week period where many of his articles were front page news.
Declan then got to the point where he felt timing was right and moved back to DCU to do his PhD. During this stage, he learned a lot about himself researching and writing. Declan talked about the journey to get to the Final output of the dissertation and a 2 hour exam.
Declan then decided to move to Washington to teach Science and health journalism. This was a dream move. We talked about the process for applying and successfully getting the position.
There were so many great tips from this conversation. Productivity, getting more done, making time to get things done. Focusing on the top 3 things you’re working on. Hard work, perfection is the enemy of good enough, learning fundamentals, getting into the rhythm of work, writing on work and returning to it a few days later, developing a system and set of rules to write by, moving things along, getting feedback, the process of writing and Declan’s approach.
In the last ten minutes, we talk about work life balance, planning and logistics with a young family. Being a flow state, importance of exercise (cycling, Pilates, gym), nutrition, diets, book recommendations (of which there are so many great ones below), decision making, focusing on the important, Stoicism, and we wrap up with Advice on finding out what you like most. Find out what you don’t like early and try different things!
Declan can be reached on via the DCU website & via Twitter - @Fahydeclan
Book references:
•The New Celebrity Scientists: Out of the Lab and Into the Limelight.
Declan Fahy (2015) The New Celebrity Scientists: Out of the Lab and Into the Limelight.
•Tom Wolfe – The new Journalism, The right stuff
•Michael Crichton – Jurassic Park, the anadromous strain
•Todd Henry – The Accidental creative
•Cal Newport – Deep Work
•Dave Allen – Getting things done
•Neil Steveson – essay on writing and managing time
•Tim Caufield – The Cure for Everything
•Seneca – Letters from a Stoic
It’s not every day I get to interview a guest that would be considered a legend in Football circles. And if you have an interest in football, you’ll love this episode. Even if you don't, you'll still love hearing Bobby talk about his life story.
Bobby’s career included scoring goals. In the FA cup final and for England at Wembley. He narrowly missed out on the England team for the 1966 world cup and also played against George Best during his career. Bobby scored 202 goals for Chelsea and was their record goal scorer until just a few years ago when Frank Lampard broke it.
We talk about Bobby’s early days playing football in school. Literally playing with jumpers for goal posts in the local park. His talent was there from a young age and was playing at an under 15 level at the age of 10. He played as a left winger and as a centre forward in the early days. While playing for Hampshire, he got noticed by scouts and started to play for England schoolboy under 15s. This was a big break. Soon after, Chelsea came calling.
Bobby talks about signing for Chelsea at 15. Moving to London and dealing with home sickness at that early age. He talks about making progress in the team and settling in with the ‘cockney’ team members that made life fun. He describes the feelings he went through playing and scoring on his debut v West Ham United in front of 45000 people.
Bobby was made club captain in 1962 by manager Tommy Docherty after Chelsea's relegation to the Second Division. It was never a role Bobby loved but with Docherty adding new players Terry Venables and Peter Bonetti Chelsea made an immediate return to the top flight with Tambling as their top scorer as he was in their first season back in the top division.
Some of the fascinating topics covered are football scouting, George Best as the best player Bobby played against, team mates at Chelsea, challenges he faced, life after football, dealing with a new life in Ireland, advice, and stories from his career.
We talk about his England playing days. Bobby just missed out on the final 22 squad for the 1966 world cup getting to the final 28 before being cut at the final hurdle. He reflects on this, talking about sharing a room with Geoff Hurst and Bobby Moore in the build up to this. It’s a game of fine margins. He respected Alf Ramsey’s decision which you couldn’t really argue with as he guided the England team to the world cup.
Bobby talks about moving to Ireland, on advice of his former Chelsea teammate Paddy Mulligan, he first signed for Cork Celtic. Bobby played for a few sides in Ireland the later part of his career. He played for Waterford and a short spell with Shamrock Rovers. In more recent times Tambling continues to live in Crosshaven where he also manages the local Munster Senior League side. He very happily explains that he’s had as much fun coaching and managing the underage teams in Crosshaven as he’s had in any management role.
In 2004, Tambling had a suite named after him at Stamford Bridge, in honour of his status at Chelsea. He was recently named in the club's greatest ever XI, selected to mark the club's centenary.
Bob ends up with the best piece of Advice he’s been given. Something that sticks out from a young age. He also says the key to his success as a player was never giving up. Great tip to live by. We recorded this in April, when Chelsea were closing in an the league and just before the FA Cup semi final which they won.
I have to say Bobby was a total gentleman during the 90+ minutes we were talking. It’s so clear to hear he’s a very genuine and warm character. He was happy to give up his time to talk about his great career and story.
Enjoy!
Rob
In this episode, I talk with Cathy Walsh, a freelance artist or better described as choreographer and performer. She is originally from Cork but now is based in Berlin where she performs, and works on her art.
During our conversation, we talk about how Cathy got into theatre and dance growing up. She attended a degree in Theatre in UCC and during University really found her passion was for dance. We dig into how this arose, and the components involved in creating a piece of work.
Cathy talks about learnings that she’s taken from many of her experiences during her career so far including Dancing at the Wexford Opera festival, working at the Daghdha Dance School in Limerick for over a year, and we go into details about the Ponderosa movement and discovery organization which Cathy is currently very closely linked to in Berlin.
As always in the podcast, I look to find out what success means to my guest, what values, goals and inspirations drive Cathy, what advice she can share from her journey so far and talk about key moments where things changed or turning points that stand out over the last number of years. We discuss the benefits of feedback on her performance, how she constructs a piece of work, challenges with deadlines, facing fear, the role Virtual Reality could play in the future and lots lots more! We also talk about a piece that Cathy is currently working on and performing that focuses on the concept of Time.
This is a world that I’m not well versed in and was coming to this with a beginners mind so my questioning was basic but hopefully helped bring out some interesting points that you can relate to while listening.
Cathy is going to be back in Cork as she’s involved in the Midsummer Festival taking place in Cork in June. She is taking part in the Body Activities conference. She is conducting a workshop on the 19th June at 9:30am. Full Details here - http://www.corkmidsummer.com/programme/event/perforum-postgraduate-conference-body-activites
So if you’re curious about embodied practices, they can register and attend the workshops, talks, performance and/or film as part of the conference. 19th & 20th June.
Link to Cathy's site here on the aboutme/cathywalsh site. She will also Choreographing 'Dancing at Lughnasa' in the Everyman in Cork in August. Details here!
Thanks for your time Cathy!
Enjoy,
Rob
In this episode, I interview John Carey, of UFirstCoaching (www.ufirstcoaching.com), which is a Performance coaching and success company. He set up it up in 2002 and has been focusing on humans and teams working better. This has become John’s life work since then!
This is one where we get deep into performance coaching. Team Coaching. How to make marginal improvement that have a big impact. John bring a wealth of experience to this area and from the very start of this one, we get into human potential, how to improve, how we have survived and ways in which we can become better in any field that we’re involved in.
I met John at a PMI event in March where he talked about personal branding and improving yourself. He shared tips that night that we discuss here and also get into much more detail on strategies you can use to improve. Using Logic, which John calls as the religion of the 21st century, you can make big improvements quickly.
John talks about his work with the Cork hurling team in 2005 and 2006 where they lost just one game over the two years which was the all-Ireland final in 06. He talks about this experience and how he worked on a 1-1 basis with many of the players from a psychological perspective to get the best from them.
Some of the topics we go deep on are identifying and importance of core values, asking the right questions, how to listen better, getting out of your comfort zone, setting and achieving goals, gaining ‘freedom through commitment’, the negative voice in your head that we all have and how to deal with it, identity, the performance paradox. We talk about life is about having better quality problems. Some great topics.
John also recommends a few books that are worth a read. These are:
1.To Sell is Human – Daniel Pink
2.Legacy – James Kerr
3.Tools of Titans – Tim Ferriss
4.Smarter, Faster, Better – Charles Duhigg
If you want to get in touch with John you can reach out to him www.UFirstCoaching.com.
Again, this a great conversation. One of the best. I really hope you enjoy it. Please leave a comment on the site, or in iTunes. Share with your own friends, and teams.
Thanks to John for his time on this one.
In this episode, I talk with Nanci Creedon who is Irelands leading dog behaviour expert. She is a regular contributor to the RTÉ Today show, radio and print media and an award winning entrepreneur. We recorded the show in her Doggie Day Care center just outside Cork City and, as you’ll hear, it’s quite a busy place! The barking in the background adds great atmosphere to the show however!
Nanci has always been crazy about dogs but didn't see a possible career in this in her early years. When she finished her zoology degree, she set up a Dog walking and Pet Grooming business. The success here lead her to taking the big leap of faith and opening the Doggie Day Care in 2010 at the wise old age of 24! Since then she’s been working and studying non-stop and the business has gone from strength to strength. In 2013, She became the first certified Dog Behaviourist in Ireland and, also in 2013, Nanci opened Creedon’s college as well where she looks to share her knowable and experience to others that with to gain the Qualifications, the Knowledge and the Confidence to become employable, or self-employable, in the pet care industry.
Nanci certainly has an attitude where she doesn’t hold back, dives in and makes things work. She shares lessons she learned from setting up her own business, dealing with people, and learning on the fly in a sink or swim situation. We touch on the fear (which Nanci doesn’t seem to have), mistakes made and learning from these, opening new branches, decision making, ideas for the future and not holding back.
Nanci talks about her passion for learning and teaching, her plans for world domination and her plans to be president of Ireland one day. You heard it here first!!
For all you dog owners, Nanci shares lots of 1% Better tips for the dogs so definitely worth listen to and taking notes. We talk about the psychology of Dogs, and go into details on how dogs act and react to stressful events, the impact of cortisol on dogs after a scary incident, how you can bring them back to reduced stress level, the amygdala in the dog’s brain, fight or flight, and lots more. We talk about the 7 Dog years to 1 Human year myth as well as the challenge teaching an old dog new tricks!!
Thanks Nanci for the great high energy show. It was a really enjoyable conversation.
For more details on Nanci and the Doggie Day Care services she offers, check out the below links:
Website - www.nancicreedon.ie
Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/nancicreedondogbehaviourist/
Twitter - https://twitter.com/NanciCreedon_DB
In this episode, I talk with Eoin Tynan, who is the MD of St. Mel’s Brewing Company. Who, along with his co-founder, Liam Hanlon, set up the Company.
St. Mel’s Brewing company produce Craft beers and very tasty ones at that. Liam is a brew master by training and brought his biotech skills and Eoin brought this business skills to the table. They set up in October 2013 and started to produce May 2014 and with first sales June 2014.
When Liam provided liquid refreshments at Eoin’s wedding, they started to think about doing this seriously. From there, they started put the plan in place and things started to take shape.
We go into details about setting up the company. Juggling the day jobs, getting funding, and proving to investors that this a serious proposal. It worked and the started production in 2014.
We talked about building the business, distribution, creating new flavours, and marketing the beer. Since them, they’ve gone from strength to strength since them to the point at which now they’re selling Beer to US and Europe.
We touch on the size of the craft beer market in Ireland, how it’s grown, first big breaks, the process, and lots more great conversation around the future of industry and challenges with the big beer companies. We even manage to talk about Longford Town v Athlone Town FC at one point!
I know there is a huge interest in Craft beer in Ireland, and everyone have their ideas where this came from, so I tried to ask some questions that I hear on the street.
It was great catching up with Eoin and learning about their journey so far. Great to see the Entrepreneurial spirit alive and well in Longford.
During the conversation, we sampled all 8 of St. Mel’s beers purely from a research perspective. A great selection of Craft beers on offer from IPAs, to larger, to Brown ales, and more. I’m obviously biased being from Longford and a big fan of Craft beers, but they do make a great product.
It was the first podcast recording where I had a small audience so thanks to Myles and Mike for creating the atmosphere of a live show! And for your excellent pouring skills during the conversation.
Thanks Eoin for the time & for the beers!!
Enjoy the show!
In this episode, I talk with David Saunders. David is from Kerry, teaches in Cork and is a member of the Irish Amputee Football Team. He also is starting to give motivational talks on his journey, resilience and mental health.
In our conversation, David talks about his life growing up in Kerry and his interest in all sports as young boy. At the age of 11, he was diagnosed with bone cancer in his ankle which lead to an amputation. Only a year later, the cancer returned in the lower leg and a further amputation was needed. David talks through these extremely tough challenges and how he managed to beat cancer, stay positive, develop resilience and became stronger for it.
We talk about his work as a teacher and how he’s bringing mindfulness into class. We also go into details on how David got involved with the Irish Amputee National team, how the game is played, and hopes for the upcoming European championships in Turkey. We also chat about David recently starting to give talks on his own story and linking this to resilience, motivation and developing the discussion on mental health that is growing in Ireland. This is timely as it’s May and Mental Health awareness month.
If you’d like to connect with David to get involved in the Irish Amputee Football team or learn more about his story, you can reach out to him in the following ways:
Email: youngsaunders@yahoo.ie
Twitter: @DavidSaunder82
Website: http://www.irishamputeefootballassociation.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=irish%20amputee%20footbal%20association
Twitter: @IrishAmpFootball
Thanks for listening.
Oh yes, it's back by popular demand!!! The 1% Better VoxPop!!
After making its debut a couple of weeks ago, and (for the most part) being well received, it’s coming back for another airing (literally). This time round, we’re going full Project Management style with the show....and combining it with the 1% Better theme!!
I recorded this show during the PMI Ireland National Conference at the Aviva Stadium on May 4th 2017. This was an action packed conference with a great selection of speakers and over 350 attendees.
Project Management is something I think we all do in one way or another. We all plan a bit, take and manage risks, create To-Do lists and ultimately want to get value or benefits from what we do with our time & resources (sorry for all the PM lingo). So, to prove this, I asked a random selection of the guests a 1% Better question relating to Project Management!!
After much consideration and debate (with myself), the question I landed on asks to what one (or two things) do you (the guest) do from the world of Project Management that you bring into your day to day personal life that adds a little bit of value, organises the chaos and makes things 1% better! This was a bit of fun but it was interesting to hear the responses…some very similar and some quite different.
Overall it was a great day, lots of learnings from it and I was more than happy to do some 1% Better podcasting during the event for the PMI Ireland. As a member of the PMI-Ireland committee, I was playing a dual role but happy do so.
To learn a bit more about the PMI Ireland Chapter, go to the site here - https://pmi-ireland.org/
I hope you enjoy the PMI Ireland Vox Pop. If you do, please leave a rating or comment on iTunes or on the site (http://robofthegreen.ie/contact/)
Have a great day/weekend,
Rob
This is an episode of firsts for the 1% Better Podcast. It's the first conversation I've recorded with a Psychic Medium and Clairaudient. It's the first show I've recorded over Skype as Helfi is based in LA (sound quality is pretty good which is great as it opens up a whole new world of guests). It's a first for interviewing a guest as a result of an Instagram follow and, last but not least, it's the first time I've talked to anyone that talked with George Michael (while he's been living or dead). Needless to say, this was a fascinating hour long conversation.
During the conversation, we talk about how Helfi started to become aware of these 'gifts' from a young age. How her Mother and Grandmother had similar skills. We discuss her life growing up in Paris and initially working as a Journalist and a TV producer in France.
Around the age of 18, she started to read tarots cards and from there she started to tap further into the tools she had. She felt from then this was her destiny and purpose and she could help people with this. As she became more in tune with her purpose, she decided to pursue this full-time. This lead to her move to LA, and since then, she has grown her career and skills and helped clients from many different areas.
We talk about the movie Ghost, seeing into the future and the past, predicting the new French President (as I'm releasing this, Macron has just been named French President as Helfi predicted 2 weeks ago when we recorded the conversation), visits from George Michael, Patrick Swayze, her diet, fears, intuition, exercise, the challenges of being a psychic with respect to relationships, and so much more….we really got a lot into this hour.
Helfi also shared some tips that you can follow, advice on good and bad numbers to use….3 things to reach your goals!
This was a fascinating hour for me. It’s probably a bit like marmite. You will like it or not. I know which side I’m on and I’m very appreciative to Helfi for her time, openness, story and the short reading we did at the end. September is going to be a big month for me by the sounds of things and big rewards coming to me in the next 6 months. I’m looking forward to that.
Please check out Helfi's website - http://www.helfistar.com/ and the services she offers there.
She also posts updates daily on Instagram and can be found here - Helfi_Star
As always, I'd love to hear back on what you thought of this one. Certainly another take on being 1% better!
Thanks,
Rob
In this episode, I have an awesome conversation with Lisa Fallon. Lisa is the first team analyst for Cork City Football Club & the Northern Ireland National Team. She is also the Business Development Manager for Cork City FC and she also creates motivational videos for both sides in her 'spare time’!
I joke with Lisa at the start of the show that her twitter account can’t fit in all the roles she’s playing in her professional life. It’s true. She is one busy lady that is very passionate about what she does.
During our conversation we talk about:
Lisa's burning passion for football from a very young age. Football was part of her family from her earliest memory.
A big turning point, at the young age of 12, was when she watched the Liverpool v Arsenal 89 League decider with the Irish team and reminisces about talking with Frank Stapleton and Tony Cascarino during the gate.
Only a year later, she managed to win a competition to conduct an interview with Frank Stapleton via a radio competition and this only further contributed to her passion for the game.
From there, Lisa talks through her first job as a runner on sports stadium, moving to university in the UK, gaining and valuing her independence, and getting in to sports reporting while in the UK.
After college, she play professionally for a while still in the UK but after a period of time, she had a gut feeling it was time to return to home.
After moving back to Dublin, she applied took a role in Independent News and Media and worked here for over 3 years. This gave her a break in radio.
Lisa was watching games all her life, over 1500 VHS tapes, that she watched constantly, over and over. This, unconsciously, was developing Lisa’s analytical skills for the game.
In 2006, Lisa did her first coaching badge. After writing a piece for a sports website, about opponents (PAOK Salonika) of Shamrock Rovers in the UEFA cup in the coming week, she was contacted by their then Manager, Michael O’Neill. From there, things took off as Lisa explains.
Lisa gives a very open and honest account of her ambition, passion, love for football from such a young age. This love affair has continued right through. Football is the constant in her life as her Grandad reminded her when she was around 18 years of age and this has stuck with her.
We discuss her good habits, how she makes decisions, using gut and experience,
I know Lisa doesn’t give too many radio/podcast interviews especially none this long and in-depth so thanks to her for agreeing to do this. It was a great conversation and one I hope gives you a great insight into Lisa, her role and what makes her tick.
Please reach out to me if you have any feedback on rob@robofthegreen.ie
Share the episode on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or any of the popular social media sites.
Thanks again to Lisa for her time in recording the show.
Enjoy the podcast,
Rob
Hi all & happy Friday\Weekend!!
In this new spin off/pilot show of the 1% Better Podcast, I’ve decided to hit the streets of cities I visit and ask the locals what their 1% Better tip or advice would be to make you, the listeners, at least 1% Better. Over the coming week/months, when I visit a new city, I hope to capture the responses from the local folks to see if there are common trends and patterns that emerge and have a lot of fun while doing it.
In this first edition of the VoxPoP show, I hit the streets and the bars (mainly bars) of Nashville with my two good friends and co-hosts for the day, Cormac Breslin (credited with naming 'robofthegreen') and Stacey Knox (a natural with the mic).
Over the couple of days recording, we asked the good folks of Nashville what their one tip or piece of advice would be to the listeners that they could apply or take onboard to make themselves 1% Better.
I’m hope you’ll enjoy this fun short episode of the show where we get a very good a mixture of advice from many happy people enjoying the sunshine, music and fun of Nashville.
If you like this episode, please let me know as I have a lot more content from our on street interviews from Nashville that I could share in another short episode in the coming weeks.
I would like to thank Cormac and Stacey for their assistance and the folks in Nashville for being such good fun on the days. Hope you’ll enjoy it as much as we did recording it.
Also, just a quick note to say I have a bunch of new 1-1 interviews coming up with some really great guests that are taking the show to the next level for sure. Next one will be out on Monday.
All the very best,
Rob (ofthegreen)
In this episode, I have a conversation with Fabio Grassi. Fabio is an executive coach and teacher at the IMI and also runs his own companies, CoreIdeas and Geode, where he aims to Inspire meaningful change.
I think Fabio is one of the most interesting guys I’ve met in a long while and hearing his story and advice in recording this podcast only cemented this view.
He’s been a musician, an engineer, a chef, an officer in the Italian Army and touches on all of this during our conversation. All of these experiences in his journey provided valuable learnings as he explains.
He always had a passion for teaching, something ignited by the movie Dead Poets Society in the 80’s, and when he started working for IBM in the late 90’s, this desire resurface and it became very clear to Fabio that it was what he wanted to do. Within a year, he made this happen and his real educational journey started to move forward. He set his goal and his determination and drive made this happen.
This happened again for Fabio in 2006 when he moved to the IMI and started out his journey as a trainer and coach. Now he’s doing something that’s relevant, important and key to his need and want as a coach. As he explains, it’s challenging and exciting day by day. He’s finding enjoyment in helping others fulfil their purpose and meaning. Every person is different and Fabio enjoys this variety in the role. He shared his key tip which is a JEM. You have to listen to get the full meaning. ☺
Thank you Fabio so much for your time.
One point to note, Fabio and I both talk fast so you may want to run this show at half speed to catch everything ☺
Please connect with Fabio via LinkedIn (HTLM not supported on Soundcloud :(
The two books Fabio recommended were:
Richard Bach’s Jonathan Livingston seagull
Carly Jameson – The nibble theory and the kernel of power (humanity)
In this episode, I talk with Maria Kidney, the co-founder of Brighter Communities Worldwide (originally called Friends of Londiani) about her own journey.
Maria first travelled to Kenya in 2000 to climb mountains, and after a mugging incident in Nairobi she sought refuge in the Kenya Girl Guide Association. There she was inspired by the community development work done, and promised to return to Kenya again.
Maria has held multiple roles in Brighter Communities Worldwide since 2002 including Chairperson, Board Member, Project Leader for volunteer groups, Trainer of volunteer groups and Project Leaders.
We talk about early influences in school growing up in Cobh, the key takeaway from transition year in school that have stood to her later in life, studying Commerce in UCC and working in IT thereafter. She mentions learnings from Commerce and Management accounting that helped directly in setting up the Charity. Maria also reflects very fondly about her time on the J1 in the US.
In 2006 Maria was awarded the Junior Chamber of Commerce International Total Outstanding Young Person (TOYP) of the Year Award; and the Vodafone Passion of the World Around Us Award. In 2010 Maria was awarded the Cobh Person of the Year Award.
Enjoy the show :)
In this show, I talk with Pat Lucey, CEO of ASPIRA and Vice President of PMI Ireland Chapter. I’ve known Pat for a few years via the PMI Ireland Chapter and I targeted him early as I knew he'd have a great story. I was right. :)
During the conversation, Pat shares his story that started in Patricks Well in Limerick, where he worked in his father’s petrol\gas station, before moving to University to study electrical engineering, after having to give up on his dream of being an astronaut when growing up!
He talks about his part in the Berlin wall coming down while working in Germany in his first big role out of college. After returning to Ireland, he talks about his time in Motorola working with brick like Car phones before making a move into Project Management (by accident). After 17 years with Motorola, Pat explains, he took a chance and started up a business with a few colleagues becoming an 'accidental entrepreneur'.
Now, almost 10 years later, ASPIRA is still going strong and has sold software to every corner of the world. Pat certainly learned lots of lessons along the way and was happy to share these during our conversation.
Thanks again to Pat for his time and great story....Pat - sorry for the delay in releasing it to the world...it was worth the wait!
Enjoy,
Rob
Pat Rodgers is an ultra runner and endurance athlete. In this podcast, we talked about his many adventures over his career (so far) in the world of extreme physical challenges. This includes rock climbing expeditions while in College in France, to taking on the challenge of a solo kayak around the entire island of Ireland, attempting to climb Aconcagua in South America, to completing the Kerry Way 120 Mile run, the UTMB (which I learned during the podcast is the Ultra Trail Mount Blanc), and many other challenges along the way.
We focused a good section of the conversation around his most recent event, the Spine Race in the UK, where Pat completed the 268 mile race along the Pennines in January. This took 7 days to complete and is fascinating to hear how Pat planned it, endured it and completed it. He shared the journey and provided some great takeaways in this episode around motivation, pushing through pain, facing and overcoming the infamous Wall! Pat’s message is a clear one - don’t limit yourself or put up roadblocks to prevent you doing something you really want to. It’s inspiring in many ways and hope you find it a great listen. Pat’s motto is ‘give it a lash’ and this is very much what he puts into practice as you’ll hear. Don’t think about doing these things too much or look for all the reasons why you can’t do it, just go for it.
Thank you Pat for taking the time out to tell your story.
Enjoy.
In this episode of the 1% Better podcast, I have a fascinating conversation with Andrew McLaughlin. Andrew is a Programme Director at the Irish Management Institute (IMI) for Diplomas in Organisational Behaviour and in Executive Coaching. He is a hugely experienced executive coach and has worked with national and multi-national companies including Revenue Commissioners, Departments of Industry and Commerce and Defence, OECD and EU. Andrew is a Master Practitioner and certified trainer/ consultant of Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP).
During our conversation, we journey though Andrews career, his passion in developing human potential (his words and I love that), discuss how mindfulness, meditation, yoga, and exercise have always been very much part of his life and how he’s always been a highly curious life long learner in many areas of the arts.
Some of the great 1% better takeaways in this episode talk about NLP techniques like Anchoring and starting a daily Mindfulness practice to gain benefits to help you.
In our quick fire question round, we talk about sleep, coffee, habits, work life balance and other great snippets of information that you’ll really enjoy
I would consider him a jack of all trades and a Master of Many!!
This is a great episode. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
Rob
During this episode, I chat with John about his very successful and interesting career so far. We talk about his early days growing up in Cork, moving to Dublin for University, time spent in South Africa and Scotland, all providing him with great life experiences. John talks about setting up Zartis.com in 1997 and how it was acquired very quickly in a multi-million dollar deal. He gives his perspective of how he dealt with the challenges that followed with the .com bubble bursting, how he refocused and moved forward with other successful ventures in the years that followed. In the last 10minutes, we go into a series of questions around productivity, work-life balance, decision making and meditation.
I hope you enjoy the episode and feel free to give me feedback. Thanks again to John for his time and insights during the conversation.
In this episode, I chat with Oliver Kirwan, who runs (with his business partner Catriona O’Callaghan and team) Elite Event Management from their offices in Killarney. He is responsible for the Quest Adventure Series and Run Killarney to name just two in their stable. We talk about how the company started, how it's grown, and plans for the future.
We also talk about about ChiChung, work-life balance, sleep, good and bad habits, decision making processes, empowerment, intuition, advice, fears of regret, movies, goals, inbox zero, core values and more!
It's packed with 1% Better tips. I hope you enjoy the show. Feedback as always is very welcome!
Have a great day,
Rob
In this episode, I chat with Maeve Ahern O’Neill who is a personal branding expert and runs her own business called ‘thebrandingofme’ (www.thebrandingofme.ie).
During the conversation, Maeve brings you on a whirlwind journey which covers her school days with the Nuns in Cork, to getting advice from Gay Byrne in RTE, working in Fathers book emporium, to going back to college to study a masters in Digital Humanities, and then to starting up her own business focusing on Personal Branding.
You’ll hear lots of great advice from Maeve as she reflects on some of the turning points that came up during her career and how all of these have lead her to where she is now. She talks about having a work ethic that is key to her ongoing progress. Her responses to kick-backs and knocks during her career which all made her more determined to be successful. Never rest on your laurels, and work on your skill set and embrace the tools that are out there to help you build your online persona.
We end on some Q&A on managing the work-life balance, Productivity hacks, and the Spice Girls. We talk about Victoria Beckham for a bit which was of mutual interest.
Please enjoy the show.
Best,
Rob
In this episode, I talk with the Cork City Football Manager, John Caulfield, on his style of management and leadership, how he handled the transition from player to manager, and some of the challenges managing a team in the modern day where instant success seems to be what is expected. He provides an insight into his core values as a manager, dealing with conflict and hopes for the season ahead.
Please enjoy!
In this episode, I have a great conversation with Andrew Mangan.
So, Andrew is one of the reasons I started down the road of putting a podcast together. He has been running the Arsecast Podcast for 10 years (which currently has over 1 million downloads per month) and has been writing the Arseblog for over 15 years. We touch on a lot during the hour long conversation.
I hope you enjoy the hour conversation and please check out Andrew at andrewmangan.net or at the arseblog.com
Welcome to the first episode of the 1% better podcast. In this short episode, I share a bit of information about where the idea for RoboftheGreen and the 1% better podcast came from, I provide a short overview of me (not self-indulgently I assure you), my interest in learning and podcasts, what to expect in upcoming shows, and how to get in touch with me.