Good Life Project || Inspiration | Motivation | Happiness | Meaning | Success

There's that old line. When you're thinking about opening a restaurant, the three most important things are location, location and location.Edward Barnett agrees, but the way he chose the location for his first restaurant in what is now becoming a chain goes against nearly every bit of conventional wisdom and advice.Edward was on a mission. Not just to do well, but to do good. So, along with his partner, Karim Webb, he opened their first Buffalo Wild Wings restaurant in one of the toughest neighborhoods in L.A., Crenshaw, a place where violence, crime and lack of opportunity was a way of life.They wanted to offer a dining experience that wasn't available in Crenshaw. But, they also wanted to create a place of opportunity, jobs and community. A place where kids and adults alike could get off the streets, learn a trade and build a career. A place not just to work, but where they knew someone cared about them.Where everyone cautioned them and said they'd fail, they've succeeded. It's still hard at

We spend so much time trying to "acquire" people and things.In business, we talk about "acquiring a customer," like they're a commodity we're buying at the corner store and we even associate a price with each new person.In our personal lives, we often do the same, thinking about the effort it takes to find and start a relationship with a new friend, lover or partner, yet it feels wrong to call that friend or lover or partner an "acquisition," so we come up with gentler words to remind ourselves no human actually gets to acquire or possess another human.We use that word, acquisition, by the way, because it deludes us into believing "once we've got it, it's ours for life." Hahaha! So, silly!We all know, that's not even close to reality. We don't own anyone. Not for life, not for a year, a month, an hour or a moment. We are gifted with their presence, their investment of love and energy and time and more. And that gift is something that must be nurtured, grown, tended over time or else it goes away, and so do th

Born and raised in a family of Irish surfers, and named after a surf break, Easkey Britton is a renowned Irish pro surfer, five-time National Surfing Champion and one of the top female big-wave surfers in the world. She's also an explorer, artist and scientist with a Ph.D. in Environment and Society.On any given day, she may be traveling the world, getting towed into waves 10 times bigger than her, screaming down the face of walls of water that move like a steamroller, doing everything in her power to dance with the wave, rather than be crushed by it. Or, she may be researching the environment or bringing people to disparate parts of the world to come together and create social change around surfing.I had a chance to sit down with Easkey and learn about her lifelong love of the ocean and relationship with water. We explored surfing not just as a feat or an activity, but a metaphor for life and growth. We also talked about how she is using surfing as a form of social impact, empowerment and cultural educa

Ever wonder how to know when it’s time to hold, fold or change? At some point, we all end up walking into the fire. We feel the fierce heat of intense pressure, anxiety, uncertainty, challenge and frustration. Often, it’s self-generated, sparked by a project, company, quest or venture we’ve launched ourselves into. It’s not fun. But, […]The post When to Hold, Fold or Change. Walking Into the Fire. appeared first on Good LifeProject. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Mark Nepo is a renowned poet, philosopher, author, master storyteller and spiritual teacher.He has appeared numerous times on Oprah, his Book of Awakening was a #1 New York Times bestseller and his newest book, Inside the Miracle, explores how we can move through suffering with grace and resilience.As Mark shares in this wide-ranging conversation, his darkest moment came in 1987, when he was diagnosed with lymphoma, which then led him into three years of treatment that eventually brought him back to health, but also pulled him through a brutal, yet awakening experience in its own right.Somehow, out of that moment, he was able to reconnect with a deeper sense of spirit and emerge not just in a different place, but a changed man.We explore all of this, as well as his lens on God, spirituality, truth, expression, relationships and so much more. And, at the end, as a special offering, he reads two beautiful poems to close the conversation. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

We are wired to run from the unknown, to flee anything that leaves us in that raw, exposed place of uncertainty.When our ideas take us to this place, we feel it and many of us shut down. It stops our true genius from emerging and turning into breakthrough discoveries, products, experiences, brands, businesses and art.But there's another phenomenon that is even more alarming. And it happens when you take this idea and soul-crushing dynamic into larger organizations. Bosses, it turns out, have a hard time acknowledging other peoples' amazing, innovative ideas, too. The reason why and the implications are a bit scary, according to a recent study.If you keep offering great ideas to supervisors and getting knocked down, or if you're a boss who keeps asking for ideas and feeling like nobody's offering up good ones, you need to listen to this week's episode. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In November 2009, Bronnie Ware published a short essay entitled, Regrets of the Dying.It was a reflection on the years she worked in palliative care, taking care of people in the final days of their lives.She had noticed that the same basic set of profound regrets kept coming up, over and over again, as those in her charge would lie waiting for the end, often sharing the deepest parts of themselves.That short essay exploded online. It was shared, reprinted and read millions of times, leading to an international bestselling book, The Top 5 Regrets of the Dying, along with a frenzy of attention, travel and the start of a new career as a writer.Those regrets have since been discussed and deconstructed many times. They are important reminders of what truly matters in life.But, what about Bronnie?Who was this Australian artist turned banker turned palliative care-worker? What led her to do such soulful work, in a field so many others could never imagine embracing? What were the deeper drivers, hidden passions, big

You know the old question, "if a tree falls in the woods and nobody is around to hear it, did it make a sound?"What if we asked a similar question about pain, suffering, anxiety or any other "experience or emotion" that exists only in the space between our ears?What if many of the things we experienced throughout the day, whether good or bad, were less about what was happening to us, and more about where we focused our minds "while" it was happening to us?What if our reality was not just about circumstance or "thoughts," as is popular to offer in the world of personal development ("with our thoughts, we make our world")?What if reality was really about attention?In today's short and sweet GLP Riff, I make this very concrete, applying the idea to one of the most common pains out there, headaches. We talk about how shifting attention can profoundly change the way you experience pain, and potentially even eliminate it for a window of time. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Lodro Rinzler is that increasingly rare Westerner who didn't find Buddhism through a later-in-life quest for answers, he was brought up in the tradition of Shambhala Buddhism and has lived its teachings since he was a child, at one point even exploring the monastic path.That said, he's very much "of this world," deeply connected to the realities, demands, challenges and joys of life in a world that seems to be moving faster and faster and placing less and less emphasis on relationships, compassion and the deepest parts of love.His desire to share his lens on Buddhist wisdom applied to modern life led Lodro to eventually take his seat as a teacher, penning a number of wonderful books, the latest, How to Love Yourself (and Sometimes Other People): Spiritual Advice for Modern Relationships.He's also a co-founder of a very cool new center for meditation in New York City called MNDFL.In today's conversation, we explore Lodro's remarkable personal journey and what it was like being the Buddhist on the block as

What's more important for people to know, your face or your work?This question came up at a recent dinner with a few author/founder types.We were talking, in particular, about whether you should have your picture on the cover of your book, or something else.But, the conversation is really about something much bigger.It's about how you want to bring yourself and your work to the world.It's about how you want to become known and what you want to become known for.One of the big awakenings for me has been that, whether you lead with your image or your "personal brand" or not, if the quality of work you're creating is remarkable, people will want to know more about the person behind the work.That's what we're talking about on today's short and sweet GLP Riff. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Jadah Sellner and Jen Hansard are the founders of Simple Green Smoothies, a quest-driven company that has grown into a massive global community in an astonishingly short amount of time.They're also the co-authors the new book Simple Green Smoothies: 100+ Tasty Recipes to Lose Weight, Gain Energy, and Feel Great in Your Body.Just a few years ago, though, they were two young moms, struggling mightily to get by, on every level.Money was tight, they both "had" to work to help support their families. Jadah was acting in educational plays for schools and Jen was doing design work. But it just wasn't enough.Neither found any sense of deeper purpose or sustainable income in what they were doing, so they began to hatch a plan to work together to create a community for moms.They spent every extra minute trying to build an education website and community, but it just wasn't working. At the same time, Jadah was trying to figure out how to reclaim her health, but as a young mom, she wanted something fast and easy to

Today we're featuring a very special GLP Guest Riff with Lewis Howes.Lewis is the founder of the School of Greatness podcast and author of the new book, The School of Greatness: A Real-World Guide to Living Bigger, Loving Deeper, and Leaving a Legacy,At various stages in his life, Lewis has been an All-American, collegiate and pro athlete, an entrepreneur focusing on business development training, a salsa dancer, a professional speaker, spokesperson, investor, podcast producer and now author.With each new endeavor, he rises quickly to the top, even after being knocked to the ground more than a few times. Lewis wasn't just an athlete, he was one of the best in the country. He wasn't just an entrepreneur, he was the best in his category. When he set his sights on podcasting, same thing, he shot to the top.What's fueled that ability to consistently attain greatness? In no small part, it's his obsession with learning and skill acquisition.Always be learning!That's what Lewis is talking about in today's speci

Tom Kelley is a partner at renowned design and innovation consultancy IDEO.He's also a best-selling author, along with his brother, IDEO founder and Stanford d.school creator David Kelley, of a fantastic book called Creative Confidence. Beyond that, he is an Executive Fellow at the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley and the University of Tokyo. As a leading voice on innovation, Tom travels the world, speaking on how to tap the creative potential of individuals and organizations and create a culture of innovation.During his time at IDEO, he's helped the company grow from 15 designers to more than 600 innovators, working on projects that often make a global impact and lead to wide-scale paradigm-shifts. Even as an avowed entrepreneur, when I think about whether I could work with a larger company again, IDEO pretty much tops the list of dream places. Actually, it IS the list.In today's conversation, we take a step back in time. Tom shares how the freedom to play and experiment he had as a kid

We do the weirdest things to make people think we're worthy of their attention, or money.No matter what you do or where you come from, there's this little voice in most of us that just wants to be wanted. We want people to think we're worthy, we've got something really good to offer.For many of us, part of that equation is that we want others to see us as smart. If you're building a career around being what my friend calls a smarticle particle, it's pretty important. That's cool. But, here's where things often go off the rails. And, trust me, I'm speaking from experience.Not infrequently, that urge to be seen as smart enough, coupled with a wee bit of imposter syndrome (seriously, does anyone not have at least a touch of it?), leads us to want to say things in a way that make us sound smarter.Where a $1 word or phrase would do, we use (and often make up) a $10 word or phrase. Because, hey, preternatural sounds smarter than weird. Proprietary Multisensory Phased Metaphor Story-Architecture Persuasion Framework

Ever wonder what your mobile device is really doing to your relationships, your happiness...your life?Today's guest, famed MIT Professor, bestselling author and researcher on how technology affects the human condition, Sherry Turkle, has been studying questions like this for decades.In her new book, Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age, she looks at what phones and the technology that rides inside them are doing not just for us, but to us.What she reveals is beyond scary.Put your cell phone on the table when you're with someone else, she offers, you've just destroyed the possibility of deep conversation. Without even realizing it, everything gets superficial. You don't go deeper, because you want to be able to scratch the near-addictive phone-checking itch. And that's okay when the convo is light, but not when it gets real.We also talk about how apps and texting are destroying empathy and solitude and making it harder and harder to actually know ourselves and develop real relations

We love to judge. To gossip. To belittle.Not everyone, and not all the time, but enough for these feelings to fuel multi-billion dollar industries.Even if we never say it out loud, we derive a certain pleasure from others' misfortune. There's even a name for the phenomenon—Schadenfreude.We do it partly, because our brains are wired for comparison and social currency. And in part, because we're trained societally to determine our own value relative to others.Pile on the anonymity of the screen or the page and we've become a culture that not only judges, but determines the entire worth of a human, all too often, by their worst moment.We see it in the news cycle, in politics and Hollywood. But, we also see it in our towns, the local club, our own families and supposed friends.What if the value of your entire existence was judged by the meanest thing you've said or thought, or the biggest mistake you've made? What would that look like? How might it make you feel?What if, instead of reveling in the belittling of a

At first glance, you might think Amy Stewart had an obsession with gardens and bugs. She's written a series of bestselling books on the topic and had her garden of poison plants hailed as one of the 18 strangest gardens in the world by Popular Mechanics.Underneath that, though, lies a far deeper devotion, one that's fueled her since she was a kid. Amy Stewart is possessed by the craft of writing and storytelling. It's not so much gardens or bugs, it's the stories of people that arise out of those places and creatures that fascinate her. And the opportunity to tell them in her wonderful voice.After tremendous success as a nonfiction writer, Amy decided to do something most people in the industry view as a huge risk. Having built a large audience around her nonfiction creations, she stumbled upon a bigger story that had to be told. One of three beautifully colorful sisters who decided to take the law into their own hands, leading to an outcome nobody saw coming.But the story was old, the research was incom

What if one of the biggest pieces of "success advice" was wrong?There's a particular strategy that's become hot in the world of success and personal development. It's been hailed as the secret to accelerated results and success on a level and at a pace, that'd be near impossible without it.It's called "modeling." On the most basic level, the advice is to find someone who has done what you want to do, deconstruct everything they've done to get where they are, then do those same things yourself.Problem is, that can be pretty dangerous advice. It can and often does lead not to success, not to a good life, but to a whole lot of angst, anxiety and failure.Why that happens and what to do about is what we're talking about on today's short and sweet GLP Riff. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

So often, the way the world perceives us conflicts with the what we "think" we're saying and the way we want to be seen and heard.Truth is, so much of what we communicate all day long has nothing to do with the words that come out of our mouths.In fact, often the things we do, the way we move, the things we telegraph contradict the words we offer, leaving people with a sense of cognitive dissonance.Todd Henry is a master of cultivating the "voice beyond your spoken voice" or what he'd call your "authentic voice."A former touring musician and now a bestselling author and international speaker on creativity, intentional living and presence, he's spent years on everything from country music stages to stadiums, learning how to create magic night after night. What he'd eventually come to realize was, it wasn't the music that pulled him from ahead, it was the opportunity to teach, to see lightbulbs go on, to create magic and leave people changed.To do this on the level that made a real impact, though, he'd first ne

If you've been to the movies or watched cartoons, you've seen the word "Avatar" before. But, when we talk about building a career or company, it has a very special meaning.Your avatar is the person you're looking to help. The one you want and need to serve and elevate. It's your potential customer, client, diner, patient, participant, camper or student.If you want to build a successful career, experience or venture, you need to get to know your avatar on the most intimate level.You need to know her name, where she lives, her age, fears, desires, hopes, struggles, and influences. You need to understand a day in her life, then a week, a month, a year and a decade. You have to understand the conversations going on in her head, the language she used to talk to herself and the pictures she paints with her mind.It's hard work to get this detailed, but it's also make or break. It lets you serve, solve and build on a different level.But, here's the thing. The two reasons most commonly offered to "know your