134. Matthew Gavin Frank – Passion, Travel, Diamond Smuggling & The Writing Life

All people have passion and curiosity, but Matthew Gavin Frank is notable for pushing these to the point of obsession – a creative, productive, compelling obsession.  He is the author of Preparing the Ghost and Flight of the Diamond Smugglers, among other works, and is a creative writing professor in the MFA program at Northern Michigan University.  Matthew’s work has appeared widely in journals and magazines around the world.  His writing has a personal tone to it, and it reflects Matthew’s own navigation of such influences on his life as travel, food, and even personal grief.  

Matthew Gavin Frank’s life has been filled with remarkable experiences.  He has lived in Alaska, worked as a sommelier and grape harvester in Italy, spent time on the orange farm in South Africa where his wife is from, lived out of a Coleman Cimmaron in New Mexico, and held dozens of different jobs.  He’s an accomplished cook and a travel addict, has learned through the past two decades how to live well in close relationship with another person, and is committed to fixating on and losing himself in all aspects of life – the simple, the complex, and the mystifying. 

I have been fascinated reading Matthew’s work and learning about his life and am excited for him to share about everything from the story behind his latest book, to his interest in birds, to the way he thinks about the world and living well in it.  This episode, in its breadth and manner of weaving through thoughts and ideas, also represents an exploration of my own creativity. I hope it will inspire and motivate those who hear to put their own creativity to work. 

“Life is about making a mess.” – Matthew Gavin Frank

This week on The School for Good Living Podcast:

  • What it might look like to put your creativity to work
  • Why Matthew thinks life is about making a mess and like an unlocked envelope
  • The reasons for Matthew’s high esteem of a very cold climate
  • Matthew’s advice to not skip breakfast and practice of writing on barf bags
  • When traveling, say yes to everything and pack rain gear
  • How bewilderment can help a marriage, and the need for engaging the affirmative
  • A sugar packet can change a life, and cold water can force a cry
  • Why Matthew doesn’t think making a career of a passion is necessarily a good idea
  • Why travel, exposure to diverse voices, and art are important
  • Why using money for experience is to be preferred overusing for material things
  • How Matthew’s writing process is like walking through a meadow
  • Questing after something is more compelling than the presumption of certainty
  • How grief spurred Matthew’s interest in carrier pigeons and diamond smuggling
  • Why Matthew isn’t sure what to call himself
  • Unexpected facts and words from his recent project, and how grief is beautifully small
  • Why Matthew is impressed by nuanced levels of human ingenuity bordering on desperation
  • How Matthew would advise people on writing a book or completing a creative project

Resources Mentioned:

Connect with Matthew Gavin Frank:

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Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of the School for Good Living Podcast, with your host, Brilliant Miller. If you enjoyed this episode, please head over to Apple Podcasts to subscribe and leave us a rating and review. 

Don’t forget to visit our website, like us on Facebook, and follow us on TwitterInstagram, and LinkedIn. And be sure to share your favorite episodes with your friends and colleagues on social media to inspire others to improve their lives and reach their full potential. 

133. Stephan Aarstol – The Five Hour Workday: Live Differently

Stephan Aarstol is the author of the book Five-Hour Workday: Live Differently, Unlock Productivity, and Find Happiness, which gives advice on how to live life to the fullest by cultivating more efficiency in fewer work hours. Stephan’s ideas have been shared in Fast Company, Entrepreneur, Forbes, and he’s also presented at Harvard Business School. Stephan holds an MBA in New Venture Management, was a guest on the television series ‘Shark Tank’, won an investment from Mark Cuban, and is now founder and CEO of Tower Paddleboards and Tower Beach Club.

In this podcast, Stephan shares the origins of the 8-hour workday and his experience shifting his own employees to practicing the 5-hour workday. He dives into how the experiment came to be, the percentage increase in productivity, the people who influenced Stephan’s career, and the importance of company culture. Listen as Stephan brings you along on his journey of how he shifted his views on life and work.   

“Time is the new money.” –Stephan Aarstol

This week on The School for Good Living Podcast:

  • The purpose of life and how to live to the fullest
  • The adventures that life can hold
  • How to look past the chaos and hardships of life
  • People who influenced Stephan’s life, career, and book
  • His experience on Shark Tank- the beginning idea, his pitch, and his career now
  • How to use your business to help people rather than to only make money
  • How Stephan helped grow his company
  • How the 5-hour workday increases productivity and creativity
  • The history of the 8-hour workday
  • Benefits of the 5-hour workday for employers and employees
  • How to rethink and innovate businesses to increase efficiency
  • How the 5-hour workday experiment unfolded
  • The impact of company culture
  • The biggest influencers and lessons learned on this 5-hour workday experiment
  • Stephan shares some of the daily routines his company practices
  • Stephan shares some book and travel recommendations
  • Stephan talks about developing habits, making relationships, and the truth about money
  • His routine in writing and the importance of good marketing
  • The process of Stephen’s book becoming a reality
  • Stephan shares advice and encouragement on finishing creative projects

Resources Mentioned:

Connect with Stephan:

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Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of the School for Good Living Podcast, with your host, Brilliant Miller. If you enjoyed this episode, please head over to Apple Podcasts to subscribe and leave us a rating and review. 

Don’t forget to visit our website, like us on Facebook, and follow us on TwitterInstagram, and LinkedIn. And be sure to share your favorite episodes with your friends and colleagues on social media to inspire others to improve their lives and reach their full potential. 

132. Marcus Whitney – Create and Orchestrate: The Path to Claiming Your Creative Power

Marcus Whitney is the author of Amazon bestseller Create and Orchestrate: The Path to Claiming Your Creative Power from an Unlikely Entrepreneur.  Early in his professional career, Marcus was a college dropout waiting tables seven days a week, but he taught himself to code, became an entrepreneur, and eventually became a venture capitalist.  He is co-founder and partner at Jumpstart Health Investors and he more recently launched Jumpstart Nova.  His work has been covered by The Atlantic, Fast Company and TechCrunch. Marcus is also a co-founder and minority owner of the Nashville Soccer Club, Nashville’s MLS team, and the producer and host of The Creative Power Podcast

I connected with Marcus through Nexus and I’m so glad I did! He joins me today to share openly about the challenges he has faced, overcome and to explain his inspiring life journey. Marcus talks about his experience becoming and being an entrepreneur and author; offers thoughts on how he thinks about the world, himself and the concept of story; and comments on the power that entrepreneurship, words and healthy self-care all hold.     

“If there is anything I’ve learned through the process of writing a book, it is that words matter, and semantics matter… [T]he world operates on precision.” – Marcus Whitney

This week on The School for Good Living Podcast:

  • How showing up for others and doing meaningful work are essential to life
  • Why it may be better to hold purpose statements loosely
  • How Marcus defines himself and what he’s passionate about
  • Why it is valuable to come to terms with challenges overcome and every version of yourself
  • How Marcus’ insight arises from personal experience and stories
  • Why prisons are dehumanizing and mentoring inmates brought concrete results
  • The power of reflecting on our lives and sharing our stories to inspire others
  • It’s Marcus’ job to spread the word about the power of entrepreneurship to others
  • How Marcus applies the four burners theory
  • How his eight core concepts, the concept of frameworks and inheritability, operate
  • Entrepreneurship is a sport and life involves a time budget
  • Words and semantics matter and the world operates on precision
  • What life is like, what t-shirt Marcus wears, and why he gave up alcohol
  • Insight regarding change, race, money and making relationships work
  • Marcus began his book five years ago as a Kickstarter project
  • How calling, Claire, a TEDx talk and leaving town helped with writing and editing
  • What resources may be helpful for a writer and ideas for marketing a new book
  • Marcus’ final advice for listeners to understand themselves and their lives

Resources Mentioned:

Connect with Stephen:

Subscribe, Rate & Share! 

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of the School for Good Living Podcast, with your host, Brilliant Miller. If you enjoyed this episode, please head over to Apple Podcasts to subscribe and leave us a rating and review. 

Don’t forget to visit our website, like us on Facebook, and follow us on TwitterInstagram, and LinkedIn. And be sure to share your favorite episodes with your friends and colleagues on social media to inspire others to improve their lives and reach their full potential.