Life Passion and Business

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Exploring the creativity of the human spirit with just five simple questions. Those questions give us a window to explore the journey and life story of people that look like they have it sorted.

Episodes

Sunday Oct 17, 2021

Shortcast : Seizing The Moment

Sunday Oct 17, 2021

This week my shortcast reflection is about the importance of seizing the moment and making the best of the journey. But more than that, it is about why this is so important now.

Back in the 1950’s men retired at 65 and had a few years pottering in the garden before keeling over after a lifetime of hard work. But life expectancy in the first world has increased significantly since then.

The interesting fact is that most of us will outlive our working years by decades. If we want that life to be interesting, meaningful and useful it is going to take some planning.

So, how will you or I stay relevant in a world that is constantly changing?

Life Passion & Business Podcast is about finding answers to life’s big questions through weekly interview with guest speakers. The Shortcast is my ongoing commitment to staying inquisitive and passionate about life with whatever is alive for me each week. Follow the links below to discover what else is on offer.

The Five Questions eBook: https://lifepassionandbusiness.com/the-five-questions
Focus Coaching: https://lifepassionandbusiness.com/focus-coaching/

Support The Podcast:https://www.buymeacoffee.com/lifeandpassion
Midlife Survey: https://lifepassionandbusiness.com/midlife-challenge/

Sunday Oct 10, 2021

Shortcast : Who Am I?

Sunday Oct 10, 2021

This week’s shortcast explores the question “Who am I?” and is a follow up to last week’s conversation around passion and work.

If you tune in regularly, you will be familiar with the conversation about bringing your passion to the work that you do. Last week I pondered the question about the need for this and came to my own conclusion.

It fits with the idea that no matter what we do in life, our passion and mission will always find a way out. It gets expressed because that is who we are and may be what we are here to do.

But what does a job look like if you are not clear about your mission or your purpose? And how do you discover what you are really passionate about when you are not sure?

I have been there and on some level I was resisting my calling for years. And yet when I took the time to do the work and answer the above questions I discovered that I had been following my passion and bringing it into my work all along.

This week I will take you on my journey of discovery and reveal the tools that I found most beneficial. I will share what I discovered and of course there is the usual invitation for you to take this voyage of discovery for yourself.

Here are the links I mention in this shortcast:

The 16 personalities test: https://16personalities.com

The Spark-E-Type test: https://sparketype.com/sparketest/

The Five Questions eBook: https://lifepassionandbusiness.com/the-five-questions
Focus Coaching: https://lifepassionandbusiness.com/focus-coaching/

Support The Podcast:https://www.buymeacoffee.com/lifeandpassion
Midlife Survey: https://lifepassionandbusiness.com/midlife-challenge/

Sunday Oct 03, 2021

Is Passion Required? : Shortcast

Sunday Oct 03, 2021

Are you passionate about your work?
Do you think passion is required to do a job well?
Should we even be considering chasing passion in a career?
Or should we save passion for our hobbies?

This exploration comes out of my conversation with this week’s podcast guest Shaahin Cheyene. On the programme he says that he is not passionate about what he does, and that he does not encourage people to follow their passion in their work.

I had mixed views about this, so decided to explore it in the shortcast by reviewing my own career. In this show I share my personal experiences and what I have learned from others.

Having revealed what I have discovered, I then offer some suggestions and exercises for you to explore your own passion and how it manifests in your work and hobbies.

The exercises are also available in writing on the website page:

http://www.lifepassionandbusiness.com/is-passion-required-shortcast

The Five Questions eBook: https://lifepassionandbusiness.com/the-five-questions
Focus Coaching: https://lifepassionandbusiness.com/focus-coaching/
Other Events and Resources: www.lifepassionandbusiness.com

Support The Podcast:https://www.buymeacoffee.com/lifeandpassion
Audience Survey: https://lifepassionandbusiness.com/audience-survey/
Midlife Survey: https://lifepassionandbusiness.com/midlife-challenge/

Sunday Sep 26, 2021

Grind & Punishment : Shortcast

Sunday Sep 26, 2021

Is grind and punishment your thing, or do you prefer something a little more gentle?

Grind and punishment is not some strange S&M kink, but it could be as damaging. This week I am exploring the other side of getting stuff done. The grueling push that can be addictive or even a form of self punishment.

I’m talking about pulling the all-nighter, sucking up the pain, pushing through and wearing that achievement like a badge of commitment to the cause.

For some it works, and there’s a whole culture and industry built around this idea that success, achievement and progress requires self sacrifice. So if that’s your thing and you thrive on it, good for you. I’m not here to tell you it’s wrong.

But it’s not for everyone. In fact for some it’s a point of shame and in this show I will explore some of the hidden messages around this mindset. Personally, I spent a long time trying to discover why I was different and feeling like a failure. What I discovered is there is another way. It’s kinder, less grueling and very effective.

So if grind and punishment is not your thing, some of the tips I offer might be the alternative you are looking for.

Events and Resources: www.lifepassionandbusiness.com
The Five Questions eBook: https://lifepassionandbusiness.com/the-five-questions
Support The Podcast:https://www.buymeacoffee.com/lifeandpassion
Audience Survey: https://lifepassionandbusiness.com/audience-survey/
Midlife Survey: https://lifepassionandbusiness.com/midlife-challenge/

Sunday Sep 19, 2021

No Excuses : Shortcast

Sunday Sep 19, 2021

Welcome to another Sunday reflection. Today’s topic is about excuses or, to be more precise, the lack of.

My guest on the next podcast is Steven Gerein. He’s just one of the many amazing young people I am having conversations with. These are people in their 20’s and 30’s who have already made the choice to step away from the success model and forge a path of their own and their stories are always worth listening to. (Links below).

But what has occurred to me this week, is how much life has changed since I was their age.

In my youth friends stepped out from the norm to go backpacking across the Andes or took a trip to India and other remote places before settling down to the expected career path.

The thing is these exciting trips into the unknown were much more serious back then. Thanks to the internet, today it is much easier to plan ahead and have a wealth of knowledge at your fingertips whenever you need it. In my youth communication was restricted to letter writing or landline phone calls. So making an urgent link back home was a challenge. You were very much on your own.

This also applied to stepping out of the norm to follow the path of personal development. Finding books and speakers required a challenging search and daring to talk about it with friends and colleagues meant being thought of as weird or going insane. Even now, only 10% of the world actively look to change their life, the other 90% are happy to take life as it comes.

So you, my friend, listening to this are probably one of the 10% and you are more privileged than ever before. In this conversation I talk more about the opportunities available to you. Everything you need is out there for the taking.

Links to the guests I mention in this conversation are available on the website:
http://www.lifepassionandbusiness.com/no-excuses-shortcast

Sunday Sep 12, 2021

Perks or Purpose? : Shortcast

Sunday Sep 12, 2021

This week’s topic, ‘Perks or Purpose?’ is prompted by I post I came across in LinkedIn about companies who are loosing staff at an alarming rate.

It’s a phenomenon that is being noticed by large organizations across the world who are employing some of the best in their industry. They offer incentives such as free lunches, ping-pong tables, beer on tap and all sorts of other wild perks that are aimed at luring people in and keeping them. In the past this seemed to work and yet now they are noticing it isn’t.

They are calling this phenomenon The Great Resignation and these companies are really surprised that people are actually looking for something more than salary and perks. I have to admit this makes me chuckle, because I don’t see this as a great surprise at all!

Given that we have just spent the last 18 months, mostly working from home with the threat of a global pandemic hanging over our heads, it seems really obvious to me that people would start questioning what they are doing and what makes life worthwhile. It’s something that comes up time and time again in the podcast and it’s something that hits many people when they reach a certain stage in life (better known as midlife crisis). When people are hit by a shifting moment they re-evaluate.

So what does make life worthwhile and how do we re-evaluate what we want? I hope you’ll listen in for my thoughts on this and some tips on how to move forward.

For links to the original report, the LinkedIn post and a list of Values visit:

https://lifepassionandbusiness.com/perks-or-purpose-shortcast/

Sunday Sep 05, 2021

Become What You Believe : Shortcast

Sunday Sep 05, 2021

“You become what you believe” is a quote from Oprah Winfrey.

The full quote is actually “You become what you believe, not what you think or what you want.” The reason it prompts this week’s podcast topic is because it is the question posed to viewers of a recent Netflix box set I have been watching.

Despite contrary belief, I do still enjoy a good box set on Netflix. So over the last couple of weeks my wife and I have been following Messiah. It’s the story of a man who is professed as being a Messiah and gains international recognition for performing miracles. The Oprah quote is carved into the table of a diner where one of the characters is sitting, and is the point in question for viewers to take away and ponder for themselves.

The reason I bring this up is because it ties in well with last week’s conversation with Nate Rifkin and the forthcoming conversation with Rich Morley that will be released on Wednesday. It is something that comes up time and time again in the podcast and in personal development. In researching this, I also notice that it is even raised in the bible: Matthew 9:29-30

This shortcast explores the power of belief and offers suggestions for changing our lives through changing our beliefs.

Sunday Aug 29, 2021

Approval : Shortcast

Sunday Aug 29, 2021

My conversation today is about the power of journaling and the importance of approval and validation.

As you may already know, I have a morning routine that includes writing. For me, this takes the form of asking questions and seeing what comes back. Recently I have been thinking about the Podcast and the direction it is going, and there was one question that came up and stopped me in my tracks:

Are you looking for approval?

The reflexive answer that came was:

I am looking to have meaning, to be of value to others in the world. So yes, I am looking for validation that I have a purpose here.

From this I suddenly realized how powerful validation is for all of us and how this connects back to seeking approval. It also demonstrates why I recommend journaling as a tool for accessing the deeper questions that can otherwise be left unrecognized and unexplored.

I hope you find my reflections and explorations helpful in your own journey and that you will consider validating what you learn from it.

Sunday Aug 22, 2021

The Difference We Make :Shortcast

Sunday Aug 22, 2021

The difference we make in the world is often through the little things that are so simple they are easily overlooked or considered irrelevant. I’ve talked about this before, but it’s always worth repeating, especially because a little thing I did three years ago became highly relevant when I bought a box of teabags this week.

Video Link relevant to this conversation:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTmO6CjxYT4

Sunday Aug 15, 2021

Let's Pretend

Sunday Aug 15, 2021

How good are you at pretending? I’m not talking about little white lies, I’m talking about the kind of Let’s Pretend… that children play, the imaginary role play that engages the imagination and sends them on a journey to who knows where.

When my son was small he would create elaborate stories with friends or with his toys. Often acting out things he’d seen on TV or watched adults do. It’s the way youngsters make sense of the world around them and ‘feel into’ what it would be like to be that person or character. It is such a powerful tool, it’s sad that most of us don’t think to use it in our adult lives.

However, it is used to some degree in coaching and personal development with varying results. The key, as I have discovered through personal exploration, is to fully engage the imagination so that we can bypass the mind’s logic and the ego’s cynicism.

I hope you enjoy this contribution about the power of pretending and find ways to use it in your own development.

Sunday Aug 08, 2021

Vulnerability : Shortcast

Sunday Aug 08, 2021

How vulnerable are you willing to be? Vulnerability gives us the opportunity to connect, but it also puts us at risk of failure and shame. Those were some of the things discussed in last week’s shortcast ‘Failure and Forgiveness’ so it seems apt to follow on with a conversation about daring to be vulnerable.

As a child I experienced ridicule and shame from a few ‘unenlightened’ teachers. It was normal in the 1960’s and 70’s, but sadly (as my son tells me) it still happens a lot in schools today. It taught me to build a shell around my emotions to avoid feeling vulnerable and made meaningful relationships difficult to find. My interest in performance in my 20’s is what turned things around for me. Learning to access my emotions through performance and acting classes gave me the courage to take it further in my personal life. Being vulnerable with friends and family has opened the door to rewarding relationships. In particular it has enabled me to connect and role model vulnerability with my son.

Another place where it’s risky to be vulnerable is in the world of media and politics. Having the courage to speak the truth publicly is the place where many of us feel most vulnerable. And what happens when what we thought was true isn’t. How many people have the courage to admit they were wrong? We see it a lot when people dig their heels in to defend a standpoint just to avoid being vulnerable and open to shame. But what happens when we dare to say I was wrong? This is where the riches are. This is where we create connections and build trust.

Speaking from experience, I can say being vulnerable is worth the effort. I hope you’ll join me in this conversation and explore your own experiences around vulnerability.

Sunday Aug 01, 2021

Failings and Forgiveness : Shortcast

Sunday Aug 01, 2021

Today’s Shortcast conversation is about two common ‘F’ Words: Failings and Forgiveness.

There are a number of reasons why these are on my mind this week. One, because a friend of mine competing in a major Iron Man challenge had to pull out towards the end of it. Another is the Simone Biles conversations that are spinning around in the news and social media this week. The third is the result of meeting up with some friends who are currently struggling to come to terms with a past failure.

The question is why is there such a stigma about failing? Babies fail all the time, and yet we don't criticize them for it. So where does it all go wrong? What happens in individuals and in society to turn failure into such a terrible thing? And why is it filled with so many emotive judgements?

Sunday Jul 25, 2021

Choices : Shortcast

Sunday Jul 25, 2021

Life is absolutely full of choices, so it is hardly surprising that we sometimes experience choice fatigue. The thing is that with every choice, there is a potential outcome; sometimes an infinite number of outcomes. And, it is a natural human tendency to procrastinate.

Maybe this is what keeps us stuck and why the simplest choices are the hardest to make and the decisions that lead to the harshest outcomes become the easier option.

The point is we don’t acknowledge how hard it is to break out of habits and stick to decisions that require consistent daily action, especially when there is no urgency to make the change.

Taking action to change something before it becomes unbearable requires a huge amount of will power, compassion, self love and forgiveness. It also means keeping sight of the bigger picture and making each step towards it easier to achieve.

Discover Life, Passion & Business:

Sunday Jul 18, 2021

Roles : Shortcast

Sunday Jul 18, 2021

As a follow on from last week’s shortcast, this week’s reflection is about Roles.

Last week I talked about Labels and how, when asked what we do, we mostly define ourselves by our job title. But there is so much more to who we are than that. I invited listeners to explore this for themselves and create new ways of describing who they are. Expanding on that topic, this week I am talking about the different roles we play in life and how we want to be seen or defined by them.

Roles can be defined in infinite ways and I have listed some of these below to help you define the roles you play. But mostly we accept these roles without giving them much thought. So this is an invitation to explore them more deeply.

Are we blindly accepting roles that have been defined for us?
Or are we choosing them more consciously?

By reflecting on this topic, we have an opportunity to engage in our various roles with more integrity and bring them into alignment with our mission, or purpose in life.

There are an infinite number of roles in life. Here are just a few to consider:-

Husband/Wife/Partner, Parent, Child, Friend, Lover, Comrade, Co-worker, Employer, Employee, Patient, Counsellor, Teacher (not just in teaching or counselling professions), Student, Customer, Team Player, Team Leader, Community Citizen, Helper (i.e. supporting others with health, life challenges etc.).

And the there are the more obscure ones like Driver; what role do you play behind the wheel of your car and Social Media; what do you share and what do you hide?

Ultimately the question is:-

How do you want to be remembered for the roles you play in people’s lives?
What do you want your legacy to be?

Sunday Jul 11, 2021

Labels : Shortcast

Sunday Jul 11, 2021

This week we are exploring the role of Labels. Why do we have them? Why do we need them? How do we use them and above all, are they serving their true purpose?

The convention in society is to use your job title to describe who you are. But is that who you really are, and what happens when you don’t have a job title. Do you cease to exist? Well obviously not, but it is an interesting point and for some people this loss of title can cause an identity crisis.

So how do we fix that? I am sharing my thoughts on the matter and inviting you to consider your relationship with your job title and other identity labels.