Manage To Engage | Businesses Grow When People Do

Today we look at addiction and change through the lens of a morning cup of coffee. We end up identifying with certain habits and routines related to our addictions, incorporating this assumption that it’s part of us. We say things like, “I’m a coffee person.”   And some of us also have this relationship with overwhelm – because, like anything else, being busy can be used like a drug.   So, for part one of our four-part series on Surrendering to Change, we’re going to look at the two primary ways that we can orient towards changing something in our lives. I’d love your feedback. http://getpodcast.reviews/id/1234688298 (Click here to leave a rating & review for the show on iTunes.)

To wrap up this series on letting reality win, I want to share a tool you can use to develop meaningful metrics for personal progress: The Parental Barometer. If you pay attention, you can learn a LOT about yourself, and what you think about yourself, from a quick conversation with your parents. I’d love your feedback. http://getpodcast.reviews/id/1234688298 (Click here to leave a rating & review for the show on iTunes.)

In the last episode we discussed how, through our choices, we create our own empowerment – this can be hard to realize, but it’s always true. However, this isn’t easy. It can require tremendous self-management to, in the briefest moment, overcome your negative thoughts and choose to do something, instead of reacting.   To continue our series on letting reality win, we discuss the techniques you can use to slow down and give yourself that opportunity to take control. I’d love your feedback. http://getpodcast.reviews/id/1234688298 (Click here to leave a rating & review for the show on iTunes.)

For part two of our four-part series on how you can let reality win (and stop getting in the way), we focus on the profound impact of making just ONE heroic choice – a choice in defiance of your shadow – every day. I’d love your feedback. http://getpodcast.reviews/id/1234688298 (Click here to leave a rating & review for the show on iTunes.)

There is no perfection in progress, and you’re never going to go anywhere trying to achieve it.   We like to tell ourselves the story that we aren’t doing enough, or haven’t gotten far enough. We like to focus on the one time we fail over the many times we take a small step forward. For some reason, we like to pursue perfection as a goal – and then we give up when we fail, but that’s not being fair to ourselves.   This episode starts a new four-part series on how you can stop getting in the way and just start letting reality win, beginning with your relationship to progression. I’d love your feedback. http://getpodcast.reviews/id/1234688298 (Click here to leave a rating & review for the show on iTunes.)

In the last episode, we reframed the Self vs Other problem as a conflict between your small self and your Big Self – your ego-driven needs VS your soul-level values. Today, to finish this four-part series, we go over an exercise that will help you self-manage your smaller self, leaving more room for your values. I’d love your feedback. http://getpodcast.reviews/id/1234688298 (Click here to leave a rating & review for the show on iTunes.)

Today we dig to the real problem at the root of the Self vs Other problem: the needs of your shadow (or your ego) versus commitment to your soul-level values.   If we really want to solve this millenia-old issue – and become better managers in the process – we have to kick the scapegoat out of the room, take a long look inward, and make ourselves accountable for the solution. I’d love your feedback. http://getpodcast.reviews/id/1234688298 (Click here to leave a rating & review for the show on iTunes.)

Today, for part 2 of our series about Self vs Other, we ask an important question: How is the self different than the other? We break down the metaphysical barriers between these concepts to find the universal connection rooted in our soul-level values. I’d love your feedback. http://getpodcast.reviews/id/1234688298 (Click here to leave a rating & review for the show on iTunes.)

This episode starts a new four-part series about one of the biggest sources of conflict throughout human history: the relationship between self and other. You can still see it everywhere today, especially in business.   In part one, we explore how this conflict plays into workforce hierarchy, resulting in The Game of Incentive. I’d love your feedback. http://getpodcast.reviews/id/1234688298 (Click here to leave a rating & review for the show on iTunes.)

This is the last episode in our four-part series on meaningfulness, and we are wrapping this topic up by exploring how you can facilitate more meaning in your business.   The best employees are those that resonate with your deeply held values, or your organization’s values – but sometimes there is a disconnect that needs to be managed before your employees are bought-in and engaged. We’re fighting years of conditioning on authority figures that have taught our employees that they are victims of “the man,” so it’s definitely not going to be easy – but if you can create and prioritize a connection, you can do it. I’d love your feedback. http://getpodcast.reviews/id/1234688298 (Click here to leave a rating & review for the show on iTunes.)

You might have heard the phrase ‘if you think what you’ve always thought then you’ll do what you’ve always done and you’ll have what you’ve always had’ – but I think there’s one more, earlier step: if you be who you’ve always been, then you’ll never change.   Continuing our series on meaningfulness, this episode focuses on how you can better align yourself with your soul-level values to create change at the level of being, and how you can begin cultivating meaningfulness in the people you manage. I’d love your feedback. http://getpodcast.reviews/id/1234688298 (Click here to leave a rating & review for the show on iTunes)

This episode is part two of a four-part series on meaningfulness. In the first part, we defined meaningfulness – and today we’re going to learn a process for creating it. I’d love your feedback. http://getpodcast.reviews/id/1234688298 (Click here to leave a rating & review for the show on iTunes.)

This episode starts a new four-part series exploring meaningfulness.   We all experience meaningfulness from time to time... but what exactly is it? For such a universal phenomenon, it can be surprisingly difficult to pin down. So in this series, we will break down this cliché and overused word to turn it into something more concrete and attainable – starting with a definition. I’d love your feedback. http://getpodcast.reviews/id/1234688298 (Click here to leave a rating & review for the show on iTunes.)

This is the final episode of our series on The Five Stages of Engagement. In stage four, Thrival, people tend to become high achievers and achieve financial success – but in doing so, they generally don’t find happiness. In stage five, Flow, we transcend success to find ease and fulfillment. I’d love your feedback. Click here to leave a rating & review for the show on iTunes.

This episode is part four of a five-part series on The Five Stages of Engagement. When we decide that life being “good enough” isn’t good enough – or we just get bored with the sameness of Security – we ask ourselves, “What else?” Asking that question is the door to stage four: Thrival. I’d love your feedback. Click here to leave a rating & review for the show on iTunes.

In part three of our five-part series on The Five Stages of Engagement, we discuss how you can get out of the patterns of Crisis or Survival to reach stage three: Security. At this stage, you’ve taken more responsibility for your personal power, and you understand your agency in what happens to you. Life is “good enough,” but is that enough for you? I’d love your feedback. Click here to leave a rating & review for the show on iTunes.

This episode is part two of a five-part series on The Five Stages of Engagement. Stage two is Survival – when we experience chronic, moderate levels of difficulty, and just getting through the day might feel like a battle. But even if feels like a challenge, but there is a way out. I’d love your feedback. Click here to leave a rating & review for the show on iTunes.

This episode starts a new series on The Five Stages of Engagement, a model we can use to identify our level of engagement with life and move towards a more engaged state of being. Today we are focusing on the first stage, Crisis, which is characterized by acute overwhelm, drama, and fight or flight response. We discuss its value in certain situations, and the problems associated with living in Crisis for an extended period of time.   Sign up for my new course, Accountability, Metrics, Money, and Shame: Get Better Results by Living in Reality: www.clearandopen.com/amms I’d love your feedback. http://getpodcast.reviews/id/1234688298 (Click here to leave a rating & review for the show on iTunes.)

This episode wraps up a four-part series about how to relate to problem solving productively, on a spiritual level. We examine a real-life case study of someone who is struggling to engage with problem solving and consider: Are you being courageous or cowardly? Is that fear holding you back? Are you thinking about your feelings, or experiencing them? Is there a lack of stillness in your life?   This recording came from the live teaching of the course called CLEAR the Issue, in which we discuss these and other issues around how you relate to problem solving. For more information about the many benefits of a Clear and Open Membership and how to get the help you need in conversations like this, as well as access to powerful online courses, go to clearandopen.com.

This episode is the third of a four-part series on how to relate to problem solving productively at an existential level. Is happiness one of your deepest values? What if it interfered with your ability to solve your problems? Paradoxically, what if your need to be happy is precisely what’s making you not? We talk about this and other issues around how you relate to problem solving in this final episode.