Manage To Engage | Businesses Grow When People Do

Imagine there is an iceberg between where you are now and where you want to go in life. Typically, we’re taught that the obstacle between you and your goals is a lack of knowledge or skill — but that’s just the bit of the iceberg you can see above the water. The real obstacle is underwater, unseen and generally not talked about. But the act of overcoming this obstacle is also the key indicator of an individual’s success and fulfillment, both in business and in life as a whole. In this three-part series, I will bring this obstacle into the light, addressing it and naming it, so that you can start confronting and, eventually, overcoming it. I’d love your feedback. http://getpodcast.reviews/id/1234688298 (Click here to leave a rating & review for the show on Apple Podcasts.)

To close our this series, I am going to take the concept of deep practice — a relatively easy concept to understand when put in the context of learning something like a new instrument — and help you connect it to the inquiry and meta inquiry required to grow as managers and people, which is a slightly more esoteric but incredibly valuable and fulfilling skill. I’d love your feedback. http://getpodcast.reviews/id/1234688298 (Click here to leave a rating & review for the show on Apple Podcasts.)

There’s probably no better argument against the very idea that talent exists than a talent show. Similar to the idea of an “overnight success,” we are really only seeing the byproduct of hours and hours of effort, failure, and persistence. Yet, our practical mind, audacious as it is, manages to convince us that the practice required to become “talented” or “an overnight success” isn’t rewarding. Finding what you’re talented at and pursuing that sounds so ideal, and the reality that these people are just well-practiced forces us to confront the difficult path to attaining what we want, whatever that is. So, you could say that deep practice has a branding problem. Being talented is just a sexier idea than being well-practiced. But, with a little bit of perspective, which I hope this episode helps you find, you can see how much more special it is to develop a skill or develop as a person through hours and hours of deep practice. I’d love your feedback. http://getpodcast.reviews/id/1234688298 (Click here to le

Over the next four episodes, I’m going to introduce you to a concept called Deep Practice. And to start, I’m going to address how we were conditioned by our parents and schools to attain knowledge… and that’s about it. This works when we’re being evaluated through papers and tests, but it’s a shallow form of learning that fails us in the real world. Because, while knowing about something is a necessary first step, most of life requires skill and awareness — and your knowledge about something just isn’t going to help you.   I’d love your feedback. http://getpodcast.reviews/id/1234688298 (Click here to leave a rating & review for the show on Apple Podcasts.)

Over the next four episodes, I’m going to introduce you to a concept called Deep Practice. And to start, I’m going to address how we were conditioned by our parents and schools to attain knowledge… and that’s about it. This works when we’re being evaluated through papers and tests, but it’s a shallow form of learning that fails us in the real world. Because, while knowing about something is a necessary first step, most of life requires skill and awareness — and your knowledge about something just isn’t going to help you. I’d love your feedback. http://getpodcast.reviews/id/1234688298 (Click here to leave a rating & review for the show on Apple Podcasts.)

In this episode, you’ll hear how one member of the call applies the self-reflective tools we discussed last week in their own life and relationship, which you can then use to model your own self-reflection.   Then you’ll learn how to apply these same ideas and tools as a manager so that you mentor others towards maturing beyond ego.   As you listen to this episode, remember the questions that we discussed last week from Byron Katie’s The Work:   What’s the thought that you’re holding onto? How do you react when you’re believing that thought? Who would you be without believing that thought?   Sit with those questions. Try to experience the version of you that comes up, the version of you that surrenders the egoic response. I’d love your feedback. http://getpodcast.reviews/id/1234688298 (Click here to leave a rating & review for the show on Apple Podcasts.)

At some point in your life, you have almost certainly experienced pain or suffering as a result of trying to get what you want. And as you learn from this pain, over and over again, you start to practice self-reflection; you start to realize that some part of yourself is steering you in the wrong direction.   This healthy distrust of yourself is a key moment in the maturation out of ego — it’s when you start to understand and experience the separation between yourself and your ego.   Today, you’re going to learn about some tools you can use once you get to this point of maturation, beginning with an exploration of Byron Katie’s The Work. I’d love your feedback. http://getpodcast.reviews/id/1234688298 (Click here to leave a rating & review for the show on Apple Podcasts.)

The ego gets a bad rap, but it’s essential to both our personal and societal development.    We should express gratitude for and acknowledge the good that our egos bring. Our egos got us where we are today. But we also need to understand that they will not get us where we want to go tomorrow, both as individuals and as a species   There’s a final stage of maturation that many people never see, maturing beyond the ego, but it isn’t talked about in any mainstream way. So, even if this is your first introduction to the concept, you’re probably a ways ahead of the curve just by listening to this episode. I’d love your feedback. http://getpodcast.reviews/id/1234688298 (Click here to leave a rating & review for the show on Apple Podcasts.)

This our last episode in this series about self-inquiry and not knowing, and today, I’m going to show you how to start creating a practice around not knowing. I’d love your feedback. http://getpodcast.reviews/id/1234688298 (Click here to leave a rating & review for the show on Apple Podcasts.)

In the last episode, I shared a conversation about how our education system is built on the knowledge deficit model. It’s the idea that whatever problem only exists because you’re missing some knowledge.   So, later in our lives, when we bump into a problem — whether it’s a problem with the world around us or ourselves — we first try to solve it by finding that little piece of knowledge that we’re missing. We look for blogs, podcasts, and books, accumulating knowledge just like we were trained to do in school.   But, eventually, after reality punishes us enough for our misguided beliefs about the world or ourselves, we wake up, we take the red pill — and now we’re ready to actually learn something!   You have to have this willingness to face reality before you can truly make inquiry a practice, and in this episode, you’ll learn more about why good managers need to sit in this space and how you can do that. I’d love your feedback. http://getpodcast.reviews/id/1234688298 (Click here to leave a rating &

In the last episode, I discussed how our schools and society condition us to put a premium on knowing.   Our identity forms around what we think we know about the world and ourselves, and we are afraid to reveal when we don’t know; it feels antithetical to our very being.   As a result, it becomes uncomfortable to sit and face the truth of not knowing — and most of us are never trained how or why to not know, so we just continue avoiding it.   In this episode, I’m going to show you what happens when you start undoing some of that conditioning from your childhood and sitting in the discomfort of not knowing. I’d love your feedback. http://getpodcast.reviews/id/1234688298 (Click here to leave a rating & review for the show on Apple Podcasts.)

You go to school. You’re presented with a whole host of topics that you know little to nothing about. Then, over the course of about twelve years, teachers repeatedly shove information down your throat, evaluating you based on your ability to regurgitate that information. Twelve years later, you know things. At least, you think you know the things that you were told.   You’re taught that you can overcome just about any problem through this process of knowing.   And you were lied to.   In this four-part series, my goal is to help you undo some of this conditioning and start a practice of not knowing — but, first, I want to share a story that will help illustrate the value of not knowing. I’d love your feedback. http://getpodcast.reviews/id/1234688298 (Click here to leave a rating & review for the show on Apple Podcasts.)

Sometimes, there really are systems put in place that make our jobs more difficult; there really is an external force causing some of our problems.   However, even in these situations, the solution is the same or similar to what we’ve been discussing over the past three episodes: you have to muster up the confidence or courage necessary to make yourself uncomfortable and talk to people about why those systems aren’t effective and how they should be changed.   It’s time to embrace real change at every level of your life and your organization. I’d love your feedback. http://getpodcast.reviews/id/1234688298 (Click here to leave a rating & review for the show on iTunes.)

We’ve spent the last two episodes exploring why the questions we ask when we are experiencing a problem are really just excuses – and how we can, instead, turn the mirror on ourselves to find real solutions through radical honesty.   It’s not easy. In fact, it’s downright uncomfortable most of the time. But it’s necessary... if you want to evolve as a person, at least.   Today, we’re going to learn how you can apply this as a manager of others and yourself, including a brief discussion on the origin of all mediocrity in the world and how you’re probably enabling it. I’d love your feedback. http://getpodcast.reviews/id/1234688298 (Click here to leave a rating & review for the show on iTunes.)

Last week, we talked about how most of us tend to use excuses to not just avoid real change, but subconsciously self-sabotage our lives. Today, we’re going to dig even deeper into the language of excuse and why we should endeavor to replace our excuses with “incuses.” I’d love your feedback. http://getpodcast.reviews/id/1234688298 (Click here to leave a rating & review for the show on iTunes.)

We spend our lives looking out into the world for solutions to almost every problem.   Need to lose weight? I’ll try that new diet that worked for my friend. Feeling overwhelmed at work? I bet there’s a good productivity app I’m not using. Didn’t like a new movie? They ruined my childhood.   We’re always looking outside of ourselves, making excuses instead of searching for solutions – when, really, we should be looking internally if we actually want something to change. So, today, we’re going to explore how our language reflects this tendency and what we can do to start moving towards something more honest and effective. 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, I asked you to consider where you are cluttering up your life in the name of busyness.   Now, what is the minimum that you could do to have the same impact? What is the minimum effective dose of your time and energy?   Your busy mind may try to convince you that this is an exercise in laziness, but that’s precisely the mindset and conditioning that we’re trying to get beyond – this is the kind of work you need to do to get beyond thrival and achieve flow, the fifth and final stage of engagement. 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, I made what may seem like a bold claim: busyness very well may be what destroys us as a species.   But I’m not exaggerating. Busyness makes you stupid; It clutters your mind, and when your mind is cluttered, you don’t think as effectively, you’re not as conscious, you’re not as aware, and you don’t take as good care of yourself.    We’re all just doing doing doing. It’s not healthy and it’s easy to see. There’s some acknowledgement of this in society today, as there’s an increasing trend towards scheduling time for self-care, but even that can be seen as a construct of our capitalist system designed to maximize the amount of time we feel like we are being busy and productive.   So, today, we’re going to explore why our relationship with busyness and time is not just ineffective but also unnatural – and how, ultimately, this causes many people to get stuck in thrival, without ever reaching a state of flow. I’d love your feedback. http://getpodcast.reviews/id/1234688298 (Click here

Over the next three episodes, we’re going to get back to the basics of busyness and recuperation.   We’re going to analyze why we, as individuals and as a society, put such a high value on being busy, both consciously and subconsciously.   Because when we tell ourselves we’re busy, I think we’re all just lying in an effort to make ourselves feel better about whatever it is we’re doing – the busy mind is creating an illusion of productivity when, in reality, most of us are practicing inefficiency in almost everything we do. 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, I asked you what management might look like when a parent wants their child to put away their laundry – a tale as old as time, or at least woven fabric.   Because, if your parents regularly remind you to do things, over and over, you will probably become a manager who nags their employees. The nagging from your parent made you resent them at the time, then later, you nagging your employees causes them to resent you   Worse than that, when you supervise someone, you are assuming the worst of that person – you are assuming they aren’t willing or able to change – and the only thing you get in return is the feeling that you’re exerting your power on another person. That exertion of control, then, only breeds more resentment and elicits more childish behavior.   So, in the end, supervision is a lose-lose scenario, which is why I’m going to offer you a solution – a tool you can use to transition from supervision to management, as well as an assignment that will help you contextualize what