How to Be FREE

One day, I was watching some videos (you know how that rabbit hole works) that led me to a video on this interesting sport.  I love water sports, and am frequently daydreaming this time of year about being in warm water.

Prime Hall and Don Tran of Deep End Fitness.I have no idea how that led to this video, but it was a team playing this weird underwater game of hockey/ultimate frisbee/survival thing.  It was the Underwater Torpedo League.

Underwater Torpedo was invented by two former special ops guys.  They used it to help training clients get better at breath holding and calm under stress.  But it sure looked like a blast of a time!  I filed it under “I’d love to do that!”

Fast-forward and I met these two guys.  Turns out they do more than just train some people.  They actually train professional athletes on a regular basis, including MMA, NFL, and even pro surfers.

Prime Hall and Don Tran are the guys behind the game.  But they are also performance coaches outside the pool.  They work with people about performing in life, using their F.R.E.E. Your Mind protocol.  Through their coaching, they help people reduce stress, perform better, and become better versions of themselves.

In this episode, Don and Prime discuss their protocol with me, so that you can make shifts toward higher performance in all of your pursuits.

RELATED RESOURCES
FREE Your Mind Info Website
Underwater Torpedo League Website
What Is Stress?
How To Deal With Stress
 

Beginning

Three years ago, at the age of 51, I walked into the jiu jitsu gym.  I wasn’t returning to some skill I learned when I was younger.  I was starting fresh.  As a beginner.  To be honest, I had some idea about what jiu jitsu involved… but I had no idea on how to participate.

I was a beginner!

The fact is, every accomplished person in every single field started the same way.  As a beginner.  It is an unavoidable part of starting anything and learning anything.  And at that point, you don’t even know all the things you don’t know!

Interview with Tom Vanderbilt, journalist and author of the book, Beginners.This is the first discovery of mastery.  The NOT knowing of everything.  So that you can start learning.  It is what the Zen masters refer to as “The Beginner Mind.”  It is the natural state of beginning, and a good mindset to nurture throughout life, even as mastery comes in other areas.

Which is why it is interesting that many adults hit a point in life when they are unwilling to start new, to become the beginner.  And unfortunately, that cuts off the path of growth.  It holds us back from new experiences and new learning.

My guest on this episode is Tom Vanderbilt, accomplished journalist and author, and intentional beginner.  His recent book, Beginnings, recounts Tom’s decision and path on learning some new skills and interests.  He decided to learn to play chess, draw, sing, juggle, and surf.  He even learned how to make a titanium wedding band to replace the ones lost learning to surf.

In this episode, Tom and I discuss the process of learning, the Beginner’s Mind, why we struggle to reengage with beginning, and how to do it anyway.  We also discuss the powerful advantage to the learning process, straight through adulthood.

Tom’s book is a must-read, since growth and learning are Thrive Principle skills for thriving people.

Listen in below.

RELATED RESOURCES
>>Tom’s Website and Book Info<<
Lessons Learned in Jiu Jitsu
MORE Lessons Learned in Jiu Jitsu
Even More Lessons Learned in Jiu Jitsu
Still Even MORE Lessons Learned in Jiu Jitsu
The Growth Mindset
Growth Mindsets for Tough Times
The Power of  a Challenge
Learn or Learn

 

Stressed Out? Here’s Why…

WhyWeStressThese days are filled with stress. The pandemic, politics, relationships, work, pay, weather. You name it, these are stressful times.

But what IS stress?

As much as we toss that term around, sometimes almost as a badge of honor, you may not think about what that term is REALLY about.

When we talk about “stress,” in everyday life, we are more talking about psychological stress.  Which is really just a term for something else.  Something we’d rather not claim.

But once we recognize what it really is, we can do something about it.  So, let’s figure out why we stress… and what we can do about it.

Listen below to this episode of the Thriveology Podcast to discover what stress really is… and what we can do about it.

RELATED RESOURCES
We ALL Have Fears
Your Thriving Body
Dealing With Anxiety
Dealing With Depression
Thrive Principles Book

Dealing with Election Anxiety

Dealing With Election AnxietyHasn’t 2020 been a doozy of a year?  Pandemics, weather, policitics… asteroids???  What else can happen?

A national election, of course (in the United States, anyway).  And not just any election.  It would be a doozy, too, any other year.

But this year??

According to a recent poll, over 70% of those polled in the States say that the election is a significant source of stress.  And 77% saya they are worried about the future of the US.

How do we deal with the Election Anxiety?  How can we keep from feeling the negative impact of the election on our emotional well-being?

In this episode of the Thriveology Podcast, I cover what causes the anxiety, and six ways to deal with it.  Listen below.

RELATED RESOURCES
The Coping with Covid Series
What CAN You Control?
My Books

5 Strategies for Better Sleep

When you can’t sleep.  5 strategies for getting better sleep.How are you sleeping?  If you are like the majority of Americans, at least one night a week, not well! And if you are like over 1/3rd of workers, you are not getting the recommended minimum of sleep.  Which is why more than 40% of people use some over-the-counter product to get to sleep (which does not include the number of people using a prescribed product for sleep).

Research is pretty consistent:  adults need somewhere between 7 and 9 hours of nightly sleep in order to be healthy.  More than 9 can indicate a problem.  And less than 7 can lead to health problems like obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure, and even diabetes.  It also has a psychological toll.

But if you are struggling with getting sleep, none of what I just wrote comes as a surprise… which is why you are trying to get the rest you need.

In this week’s Thriveology Podcast, I discuss 5 strategies for betting better sleep. Most are simple, but all are important, if you struggle to get the rest you need.  Listen below.

RELATED RESOURCES
Thriving Body series
End Your Day on a High Note
5 Ways to Shift Your Day from Stressful to Restful
Breathe for Health and Calm
Thrive Principles Book

Breathe for Your Health and Calm

James Nestor, author of Deep and Breath.It happens about 25,000 per day.  And for the most part, it is automatic.  But it is one of the few bodily functions that you can “take off automatic” and choose how you will do it.  And you might not be doing it optimally.

What is it?

Breathing.  Taking a breath.  Inhaling and exhaling.

I know, it seems automatic, right?  But you can choose to take a deep breath.  Or you can hold your breath.  You may breathe out of your nose.  Or you may breathe with your mouth (you may want to change that one… listen to the podcast for why).

Breathing one way can stress you out.  Breathing another way will calm you down (meaning, you can choose which way you want to breathe!).

Since you are currently reading this, we can assume you are breathing.  That’s a great start?  How about breathing BETTER?  That is a process that can take you down lots of paths.

On this episode of the Thriveology Podcast, I interview James Nestor.  A journalist and writer, James got interested in breathing from an ealier book, Deep, which focused on freediving (people going very deep for a long time, because they are excellent breathers).

His upcoming (and excellent) book is Breath.  It is a super-deep (and very readable) “dive” into breathing — why it is important, how to do it better, and what difference it makes.

When I heard about the book, I knew I needed to get James on the podcast, at this moment.  His book won’t be out until May (but go ahead and pre-order it!).  But with the pandemic, you need this information now.  So, I got him on!  And James offered some simple, easy ways to uber-breathe to help your health.

This is super important.  Take a listen below!  (Then order his book!)

RELATED RESOURCES
Breath – from Amazon
Breath – from Bookstore.org (they support local bookstores)
James Nestor’s website

Coping with COVID Series

The COVID Coping SeriesWhat a time we are living through in the world!  The COVID-19 pandemic has brought many parts of culture and the economy to a screeching halt.  Other parts are overwhelmed with the pace.

Frontline and essential workers are feeling the overwhelm of responsibility.  Most of the rest are feeling the overwhelm of isolation.

We WILL get through this.  That is what we, as humans, do.  We overcome.  We rise to the challenge.  We push through.  And we will do the same with this crisis.

But between here and there, we have to live.  We can move beyond just surviving.  We just start with surviving.  And we reach from there.

Over the past month, I have been releasing podcast episodes that focus on dealing with the COVID crisis, both in terms of thriving and in terms of relationships.

I have grouped them together here, so you can find them easily.  Some are from my Thriveology Podcast, and others from my Save The Marriage Podcast.

Here they are:

THRIVING-ORIENTED EPISODES:

Thriving in an Age of Panic

Stay Sane While Staying Safe

How to Hope in Tough Times

The Fear/Anxiety Contagion

RELATIONSHIP-ORIENTED EPISODES:

What Now? – Saving your marriage in the midst of a pandemic

Staying the Course in a Crisis (or 2)

Coping as a Couple Caught in COVID Quarantine

Time for a Relationship Reset?

Thriving in an Age of Panic

How to thrive in an age of panic — dealing with the corona virus pandemic without panic.When I recorded this episode of the Thriveology Podcast, it was almost another world.  Many people were still minimizing the novel coronavirus.  Even politicians were downplaying the severity and impact.

So much has changed.  Many, if not most, schools are closed to face-to-face instruction.  Many workers are working from home, where possible.  Lots of restaurants are only serving by delivery or take-out.  New guidelines suggest not being around more than 10 people… and that number may go down.

The world has changed, almost overnight.

It affects us all… making this episode just as important, if not more so.

We are going to have to define what it means to thrive.  That is what happens when it feels like every day is an attempt to survive.

Here is the good news:  humanity will prevail. We can thrive. Life WILL go on.  But it will never be the same.  Things will change.  How we used to do things will disappear, but new ways will appear.

I know these are scary times.  But we will get through this.  Together.

That’s what we do.

Lisen to the episode below.

RELATED RESOURCES:
CDC Information
WHO Information
Johns Hopkins Guide to Coronavirus
Check Out My Books to Help Thrive

The Vacation Effect — Even If You Don’t Leave Town!

Discover the Vacation Effect, how to hack your productivity and recover your life.  My guest is Denise Gosnell.Have you ever noticed what happens when it is just a few days before you head out for vacation?  If you are like most people, you go into “clear the desk” mode.  Things get done.  You become hyper-efficient.

Why does that happen right before a vacation?  Because it HAS to get done.  You want to leave with nothing hanging.  So, nothing gets in your way.

What if there was a “hack” that could get you that effect the rest of the time?  Would that let you work less… and still get the same amount done?

Denise Gosnell is a 3x successful entrepreneur.  As a successful attorney and entrepreneur, Denise had met all of her (financial) goals.  But when her house went up in flames… she realized that her (life) goals were not where she wanted them.  Sure, she had stuff… she had resources.  But she didn’t have the life she wanted.  In fact, she didn’t have time for it.

Until she made a shift.  Using business strategy and planning, productivity hacking, and prioritizing, Denise found she could be MORE successful with LESS time taken up by work.

And now, Denise shares that with others… whether you want more time from work or from home, you can find it, along with more life satisfaction, by tapping into the Vacation Effect.

RELATED RESOURCES
Vacation Effect Website
Why We Stress
Shift From Stressful to Restful
The Importance Matrix
Your Center Point
You’re Gonna Die

Still Even MORE Lessons from Jiu Jitsu

Jiu jitsu has taught me some (lots of) lessons… about jiu jitsu and about life.  In this episode, I reflect further on my jiu jitsu (and life) journey.Just a little over 2 years ago (exactly 2 years ago, as I recorded this episode of my Thriveology Podcast), I started studying jiu jitsu.  At that point, I had no idea where it would go.  I have a life-long interest in martial arts, but had not practiced since being a teenager (tae kwon do at that time).

I knew I wanted to try something out, to take on a challenge.  And it was winter… so maybe a way to get some exercise inside would make sense.  As soon as my kids (both adults) left after Christmas… and when I knew the new insurance policy was in place… I started.

It has been quite a journey!  I am just a few classes away from getting the first stripe on my blue belt.  My blue belt is now several months old… making me an advanced white belt!  Still, I am far from where I was when I started.

At several prior junctures, I have reflected on my learning process in jiu jitsu — and how it applies to life — so I thought it was time for another.

And if you missed the earlier episodes, they are linked in the Related Resources below.

RELATED RESOURCES
Lessons Learned From Jiu Jitsu
More Lessons Learned from Jiu Jitsu
Even More Lessons Learned from Jiu Jitsu
Growth Mindset
Gracie University
Gracie Jiu Jitsu Louisville (come join us!)