Month: October 2019

Hello my friends, today my guest is Akshay Nanavati – author of Fearvana: The Revolutionary Science of How to Turn Fear into Health, Wealth, and Happiness. In this book, Akshay defines Fearvana as the bliss that results from engaging our fears to pursue our own worthy struggle.

Akshay has lived in Bombay, Bangalore, Singapore, Austin, and Eden Prairie, Minnesota because, hey, why not? So in this interview he shares his experiences, what he’s done with his life, including joining the Marine Corps, where he spent time sweeping in front of vehicle convoys to find explosives. He’s skydived, mountain biked, scuba dived, rock climbed, ice climbed, anything he says that forced him to face his fears.

In the Forward to his book, the Dalai Lama writes (and I love this, I get to quote the Dalai Lama), he says, “his book Fearvana inspires us to look beyond our own agonizing experiences suggesting means for overcoming our fears. I appreciate his sincerity and hope that others will find reason and the encouragement to see the positive side of their lives.” This interview is one that I think you’ll find pretty interesting.

SUMMARY
00:03:37 – What’s life about?
00:08:37 – Asking the Dalai Lama for his blessing
00:11:15 – The Ethos of Fearvana
00:23:58 – Two guys volunteering Marine Corps style
00:37:32 – Your past is a lie
0042:04 – Seven days in darkness
00:59:27  – The lightning round
01:07:57 – The writing process

LINKS –
**The School for Good Living receives commissions for purchases made through Amazon links in this post. **
FEARVANA: The Revolutionary Science of How to Turn Fear into Health, Wealth and Happiness
Darknessretreat.net
The Success Principles by Jack Canfield
Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl
Fearvana.com
Fearvanafoundation.org
Hammer Nutrition

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Brian is the founder and CEO of O2E Brands, Ordinary to Exceptional. 1-800-GOT-JUNK, WOW, One Day Painting, You Move Me, and Shack Shine. He’s also a regular contributor to Forbes.

Brian is a high school and a college dropout who has built what has become a nearly half a billion-dollar group of companies. Brian is also author of WTF?! (Willing To Fail: How Failure Can Be Your Key to Success. Brian talks about passion and if you don’t know exactly what you’re passionate about, how to approach finding your passion or not bothering and just making a commitment instead.

We talk about his company’s values, how he decided what they would be and the difference they have made in his organization. Brian shares about the inclusiveness with which he has grown his organization from the time it was called rubbish boys when it was really just himself. Brian also shares why he has his assistant lock him out of his own social media and email while he’s on vacation. If you have an entrepreneurial bone in your body, I think you’ll enjoy this conversation with Brian.

SUMMARY
 00:02:38 – What’s life about?
00:08:43 – Advice on clarity.
00:26:58 – Why did Brian write WTF?
00:41:47 – Racing to the conflict.
00:50:25 – Lightning round.
01:06:15  – A deeper discussion of the book writing process.

LINKS –
**The School for Good Living receives commissions for purchases made through some links in this post. **

O2E Brands
WTF?! (Willing to Fail): How Failure Can Be Your Key to Success
1-800-GOT-JUNK?
Brian Scudamore Instagram

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

In this episode my guest is AJ Jacobs – author, journalist, lecturer, and human guinea pig. AJ has written four New York Times bestsellers, with his writing combining memoir, science, humor, and a dash of self help. His genre immersion journalism, has also been called stunt journalism, where he goes deep into a particular topic or experience and then writes about it (sometimes for years).

Jacobs also writes for the New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, and New York Magazine. His most recent book and the one that we explore most in this interview is, Thanks A Thousand: A Gratitude Journey, where he endeavors to thank everyone who was involved in making his morning cup of coffee possible.

We also talk about his creative process. We talk about how he chooses the topics that he devotes years of his life to. We talk about how he finishes, how he gets books over the finish line and have them be good. I believe that you will take away at least one thing that will improve the quality of your life and help you to make a contribution to others. So please enjoy.

SUMMARY
00:03:21 – What’s life about?
00:13:27 – Origin Story
00:28:18 – How did writing this book change your life?
00:30:25 – Expressing yourself naturally
00:35:38 – Lightning round.
01:02:13 – The Creative Process
01:07:06 – Reaching the finish line

LINKS –
**The School for Good Living receives commissions for purchases made through some links in this post. **

The Year of Living Biblically: One Man’s Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible
Thanks A Thousand: A Gratitude Journey
TED Talk: My Journey to thank all the people responsible for my morning coffee
World Jigsaw Puzzle Federation
Walker’s Game Ear Muff
Twitter – @AJJacobs

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Erwan Le Corre is the acknowledged founder and leader of the concept of Natural Movement. He’s been called one of the fittest men in the world and a fitness visionary by Men’s Health magazine.

Erwan was born in France where he grew up with a black and white TV, no remote, no video games, no personal computers and no internet. His father encouraged him to run, crawl, climb, and jump. He was introduced to karate at 15 years old which taught him discipline, method, and commitment.

By the time Erwan was 19, he’d trained for seven years in both natural and urban settings – climbing bridges, balancing on high places, jumping on roofs, walking on all fours in the underground, swimming in cold water and practicing all manner of breath training and fighting techniques. At 27, he started a period of sailing, olympic weight lifting, rock climbing, long distance triathlon, trail running, and Jujitsu. At 33, he started researching European history of physical education, discovering forgotten training methods.  If you are not familiar with his work and you enjoy movement, you’ll enjoy this interview. 

 

 

SUMMARY
00:02:31 – What’s life about?
00:04:16 – What our world is missing.
00:17:06 – Poor relationship with father.
00:25:13 – The reason for his children’s names.
00:29:23 – Helping the homeless man in China.
00:38:40 – Climbing Notre Dame.
00:56:50 – Lightning round.
01:08:12  – Questions about the creative process.

LINKS – (In order of appearance)
The Practice of Natural Movement: Reclaim Power, Health, and Freedom by Erwan Le Corre
Erwan’s Website

 

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Today’s guest on The School for Good Living Podcast is David Burkus who says, “Show me your friends and I’ll show you your future.”

David was named one of the world’s top business thought leaders by Thinkers 50. He’s a regular contributor to Harvard Business Review, his work has been featured in multiple publications such as Fast Company, The Financial Times, Ink Magazine, Bloomberg Business Week, and he has a Ted Talk that’s been viewed about 2 million times!

I liked David from the moment I met him. He’s an interesting guy, very charismatic, he’s got a great message, and he knows how to entertain. We talk about weak ties, dormant ties, how most of us allow our networks to grow organically, but says David, we shouldn’t. David shares about the idea that networking is not necessarily about making new connections, but it’s about understanding the network you’re already in and making new connections as part of that. He talks about the idea of super connectors, people who have a disproportionately high level of connections with the network and how we can be ‘One’.

And as we get into the writing and the creativity section (the two things I love), you’ll hear him talk about work writing as a journeyman – just showing up and putting in the miles, so to speak. It’s a perspective he’s learned from Dan Pink. He also shares how writing professionally can be the inverse of earning a master’s degree, where instead of dropping tens of thousands of dollars writing some kind of a thesis that very few people read, publishers pay you! A fascinating individual and academic, but also a really practical guy, I present to you my friend David Burkus.

SUMMARY
00:02:24 – What’s life about?
00:05:47 – How do you introduce yourself?
00:08:19 – Who is Friend of a Friend written to?
00:24:40 – Facebook or Gmail roulette.
00:29:14 -Lack of connection through social media.
00:40:42 – Curiosity Conversations.
00:47:34 – Lightning round.
00:52:19 – $20 rule.
01:06:25 – TEDx comment.
01:13:21 – Phase 0 and first time authors.

LINKS – (In order of appearance)
BOOKS by David Burkus
https://davidburkus.com/

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS