Alchemy For Life - How to's, observations, and tangible doable solutions to reduce stress, get control, have more fun.

You do less, but you get more. Well, hey there. Welcome back. Do you have any limitations? Oh, yes, of course you do. Let’s talk about them. And I think your first reaction is, “Well, here we go. We’re going to explore how I’m not good enough at something or how I don’t even do a thing.” Nope, we’re not doing that at all. In fact, we are going to look at why limitations are so important and how they actually make a product, a business, and a person better. What is this? Real life? Yes, I’m here to tell you yes, it is. The Danger of Trying to be Good at Everything in 2026 I read a book a while back called The Myth of Excellence. And one of the things it says in the book, and I’m paraphrasing, is the best way to sort of destroy your business and go out of business is to try to be good at everything. Years ago, I worked at a firm that had that same motto. And they tried to be good at everything and tell all of their clients that they could do anything and everything that their clients were asking. And they couldn’t. In their quest to be good at everything, they were essentially good at nothing. The Success of the 10-Minute Podcast Constraint When I started this podcast—and we are approaching 300 episodes in 2026—when I started it, the very first episode, I set a rule for myself. I set a limitation and the limitation was I would keep the episode if it was just me to about 10 minutes. I have adhered to that and every so often I go over to maybe 11 or 12 minutes and then I apologize profusely. That limitation has helped me to have a better show. It has helped me to have a show that’s better because it forces me to be more concise, but it also makes my show very different. When people find out that my show is only 10 minutes long, they’re shocked. And they’re shocked in a very pleasant way. They’re like, “Oh, I can digest that. Oh, I’ll just go empty the dishwasher and listen to your show.” “Oh, okay. Wow, that’s it.” I’ve had multiple people come to me and say, “Oh, yeah. I listen to like seven of your episodes.” Wow. Like so that’s really a cool thing that limitation has been very advantageous. Defining Strategic vs. Self-Improvement Limitations At the time of year that this podcast episode is coming out is we’re we’re we’re ending the year and it’s when everyone is making New Year’s resolutions and saying they’re going to be better and this and that. They’re probably looking at limitations as something they’re going to overcome. And yes, there are certain things that you want to improve. You want to be better at weight loss. You want to be better at at consistency at this that the other thing. Yes. So, you’re sort of overcoming your scale and you’re saying, “I want this to be a seven when it’s only a three right now.” That’s fine. What I’m talking about are limitations that are typically self-imposed for a reason. If you’re running a business and you set limitations, you will find that very comforting. You will create a sort of comfort zone for you, your skills, your people, and yourself. You can do that for yourself as well where you have a limitation in something that you do whether it’s well when people ask for rides or they ask for favors I have a limitation of such and such and it can help you to maintain consistency and integrity and you’re kind of shaking your head right now going wait I never really looked at it that way it’s a positive thing yes it’s an absolute positive thing. Maintaining Professional Integrity with Time Limits Getting back to my use of it when I interview people and I am exceeding exceedingly grateful for the chances I’ve had so far with interviewing people. When I interview people, I always start it by telling them when I first approach them, I’m only going to use an hour of your valuable time, no more. I promise. And I’m surprised at how many of those people view that as they they act like this is a new thing. Like no one has ever approached them for an interview and said, “Here’s our time limit.” And there are obvious reasons for that, right? If you are running a show and you get somebody that you think is going to be really good, you want to squeeze every single delicious minute out of them that you can. So, you are actually doing yourself a disservice in their shortsighted view of it of saying, “Hey, I I told the guy it was only an hour, but he was willing to go longer. Darn it. Why did I do that?” Well, if he is willing to go longer, then you can go longer. And I had a guest that easily did an hour and a half and wanted to actually do more where I actually had to push back and say, “You know what? Why don’t you come back?” So again, a limitation simply related to the podcast and timing. And I want to stress again that these limitations, unlike self-improvement limitations per se, are self-imposed limitations that have to do with something that you think is a good thing. Like for example, this is not, oh, I’m just going to limit myself to have only one and a half cakes. No, I’m not talking about like limiting your eating and things like that. Those are just that’s a different concept. This concept is there’s a thing that I do or enjoy or or could do, but I don’t. The Business Advantage of Scarcity and Brand Recognition Getting back to the business again, if you’re a creator and let’s say you create 3D printed objects, you may limit yourself to things that are not so fragile or things that are small or things that are really easy to ship. Can you create and print the larger things? Absolutely. Are those high ticket items? Absolutely. Are those things that people request? Sure. But you may just say, “No, I limit myself and I don’t do those. Maybe if I do a a in-person fair somewhere, I may print those and bring those with me. But when it comes to my online store, I limit myself to only doing the little tiny things.” Could Chick-fil-A be open on a Sunday? Yes, but they limit themselves and they’re not open on a Sunday. Not being open on a Sunday costs them an estimated 1 billion with a B dollars of revenue, but they actually gain more than that because it gives them more brand recognition. It increases scarcity because people think, “Oh, I want, oh, it’s closed. Oh, I better go there on Tuesday then.” So, it’s a net gain for them limiting themselves of actually not allowing their customers to buy their products on one day every single week. Hobby Lobby is the same way and they both create a certain image in the mind of many consumers, an image that they cannot create without creating that limitation. Setting Social Boundaries to Protect Your Time and Energy If they say, “Oh yeah, we have morals and ethics and this and we want our people to be taken care of.” Sure, any business can say that. But a business that actually forces itself to be closed on a specific day can say that you too can create that perception. And I don’t mean just a perception like it’s false. I mean a perception in other people of your behavioral patterns by enforcing a limitation. You can present yourself as someone who’s very friendly to your friends and say, “Oh yeah, I’ll help out anytime. Just call me.” Okay, but a lot of people say that. But if you say, “If you want me to help you, let me know.” but you’re going to give me some lead time or I can’t help you. It shows them that you’re serious. It shows them that you actually are committing to helping them, but they are going to also have to come step up to you and say, “Hey, you know, I didn’t just think of this out of nowhere. I actually need help and I’m going to do some planning.” You know, do emergencies happen? Of course. But I’m saying by pushing back and forcing a limitation on your kindness in a way it can help people to say, “Oh, he’s actually serious about that.” Conclusion: Why Doing Less Allows You to Get More Banks, restaurants, retail, etc., etc. The list goes on. There probably isn’t a business out there that doesn’t have a limitation that they self-imposed. There isn’t a business out there that some of the people in a round table, CEO, CFO, what have you, see people, marketing, what have you, sat down and said “well you know we could do this right?” and the answer was yes but we’re not going to and we’re not going to because it is a limitation that we are imposing and there’s usually push back of yes but we’ll see this increase in revenue yes but it’s just not part of our brand or it’s just moving forward not something we really want to do. Imposing limitations on yourself, your business, etc. can be extremely valuable. It can be something that reduces your stress, reduces your time, energy, and resources. Again, it’s one of those things I try to introduce in these podcasts where you do less, but you get more. And it shouldn’t work that way, but it does. So, what in your life is something that you intentionally or unintentionally have realized you’re setting a limitation on? And if you’re a business owner, this may be something that is a 50-page document, your operating agreement. Or if you’re a person running a human being, yourself or your children, it may be something that you’ve just come to realize is something that you do. So, what do you do? What what do you not do and why? It’s something worth looking into. And again, if you’re using the CheckMark™ app, then this podcast will automatically have its own little worksheet built in that you can click and copy to your clipboard and then kind of go through the homework of this. And it’s not homework per se, but it’s something that is a really cool thing that allows you to kind of go through review of this episode. And I I don’t really know of any other podcasts out there that that try to give you a lot of good information in 10 minutes and that allow you to use a fun little app to go through it and say, “Oh yeah, yep. I did this. I did this.” And it’s much better at retaining and it’s kind of a fun interactive thing. And that, my friends, is my 10 minutes. Thank you. PS – See Top 10 things you can do NOW to be successful in 2026 for things you can do now for success. As a bonus you can snag the CheckMark™ ap for free for your phone and desktop that will help you to track, motivate yourself, and make being successful in 2026 just downright fun.

Getting unstuck Before you can move forward, you have to get unstuck a bit. Part of being stuck is worrying. Some people are really really good at it. Oh I’m sorry I’m raising my hand. Check out the how can I stop worrying episode. Sometimes life can get you really stuck. Circumstances can be such that you really just wanna give up. I feel you. And mental health is a delicate subject. If you’ve ever thought of truly giving up, check out depression and throwing away the container. You may be stuck because you think everything you’re doing is failing or you lament all of your failures as 100% your responsibility. If that’s the case, then the reverse is also true. You are also 100% responsible for your successes. Perhaps it’s time to start taking responsibility for those. That’s such an odd sentence isn’t it? If it feels weird to say that out loud then you’ll benefit from the episode taking responsibility for the good in your life. Sometimes being stuck isn’t necessarily running into a wall, but rather being at a place with lack of direction. And that can manifest as feeling like you don’t have the energy or desire to do something or you literally don’t know what to do. I created a simple and very effective way to find your way back and in the process get something as a gift to yourself. If you’ve ever lost your way, check out the episode called UPS, my secret for avoiding depression being more productive. Growing If you want to grow in 2026 you may have to learn. You may find that there are things you know quite well in fact, so well you take it for granted. And in doing so that can make it both a challenge to learn and a challenge to teach. If you adopt a beginner mindset in which you are completely open to learning, it makes it a very enjoyable experience to learn new skills and it’ll make you an excellent teacher. Check out the beginner mindset makes you a better teacher. On a related note—a lot of people equate success with productivity. After all if you’re being productive, it means you feel good about what you’re doing and you’re producing something that at the bare minimum makes you happy and is aligned with you and hopefully it’s also profitable. It may surprise you that this is one of the times in your life in which selfishness is a really good thing. If you tailor your productivity selfishly to what really makes you happy you’ll end up with a really good product and maybe surprised at how many other people enjoy the benefits of this specificity. Check out why selfish productivity may be the best productivity. We tend to present our success as milestones, but we forget we built those milestones layer by layer. If your goal is to do a certain thing, but you ignore the steps to get there you’re making it much more difficult for yourself than it should be. Everything we do in life is layer by layer. It’s iterative. You can learn a great lesson about this by listening to live your life iteratively Gaining control & Managing your energy Part of moving forward in 2026 is probably gaining some control. If you don’t have any control over your environment or yourself, nothing is going to happen. Every so often I ask myself a question that drives me crazy until I answer it… and that driving myself crazy usually ends up with me manifesting an entire book after much research and experimentation. This time it manifested itself in the form of an app that runs on both your phone and your browser. Check out what I figured out in the episode I think I found the perfect question. We are bombarded with social media and we tend to compare our successes to others. How can we not when everything from LinkedIn to Instagram shows us just how happy and successful everyone else is. But the energy you put in to showing off is energy you’re not putting into improving. Check out the silence of success and after it, you may not be putting more effort into being successful, but your effort will be more effectively applied to what’s best for you. All work and no play as they say. I actually started this podcast because I needed to learn what balance was in life. It was a comment from a psychologist I was visiting with my very young kids because of the turmoil of what was happening in the household related to the divorce. I wanted to make sure they were OK. “But what are you doing for you,” she asked. That comment truly sent me on the path to find out what life was made of and how to have balance.  If you go into 2026 thinking you are going to work yourself to death and make something happen, you need to consider feeding more to your brain and your soul than just work. The problem is that people who tend to be high achievers don’t wanna just stare at a wall or trash TV to relax they need to be equally engaged. If you’re one of these special people then check out engagement fiction for your type a brain. Bonus. More items: Subscribe to this podcast. It’s free, and only ten minutes. Spotify, iTunes Youtube and my mailing list. Get invited to my invite-only productivity app. The app is AMAZING. it’s a solid todo list with fantastic features you can use on your phone and your desktop. Hire me to do a seminar at your company. My seminars are two hours or half day, draw from 10 books and 300 episodes of knowledge. Like getting a teacher that comes with his own library. I also have patent-pending behavior mapping software. Hire me to be your coach. A 15 min call will see if we are a fit. It’s free, no obligation and we will only engage if you decide to call me back.

There’s such a stigma that we can’t even talk about it. Well, hey there. Welcome back. The Stigma of Private Worry What are you worried about? No, really. What are you worried about? Maybe you say nothing. Maybe you say, “Oh, the usual, you know, the things everyone worries about.” We deal with life and concerns and we take objective measures to reach goals in public. But then in private we worry and sometimes the worry doesn’t match our outward demeanor does it? Worry has a stigma to it just like suicide does. And I talked about this in my episode called throwing away the container. There’s such a stigma that we can’t even talk about it. We don’t even allow ourselves to talk about it. We wave it off as a few moments of weakness or we just think everyone feels the same way about this that or the other thing, but we don’t really address it for the most part. Now, you may feel that you have a worry about a certain thing and then you decide you’re going to take action. And when you do that, you actually feel a lot better. But it doesn’t happen often, does it? The stigma and guilt prevents you from really exploring it. And if you’ve noticed through a number of episodes and even my books, I tend to push really hard in the direction of, well, no, let’s just do that. Let’s feel that. Let’s let’s see what that’s like. Let’s not hide. Let’s not shove things into the dark recesses and not deal with them. Because that’s how they get their power. That’s how they fester and get stronger because we push them into a corner and we don’t deal with them. Saying It Out Loud: The Power of the “Third Voice” It’s typical for someone to feel bad and embarrassed if they say out loud to someone, I am worried about this because it almost feels so unnatural to just say it that way. And if you’ve read three voices, it means you’re saying it in your third voice. We like to say it in our second voice all the time, which is our inner dialogue and monologue. Because like many other things, fears, paranoia, and so forth, they sound silly when you say them out loud. Well, then why wouldn’t you say them out loud then? If it sounds silly and sort of dispels it. Here’s the contrast. This does not apply if we’re worried for someone else. If we think to ourselves, “Oh, I’m worried about Susan. And Susan being someone you work with or Susan being your daughter or your cousin or your sister. Now you’re concerned. Oh, that’s so much better. Well, I’m just concerned for her.” Well, it’s sort of silly for you to be worried about that. But I’m sure she’ll be fine. Yeah, I’m just worried about her. Aw, it’s really nice that you feel that way. It’s really nice to have all that empathy towards someone who isn’t you. Do you see how odd that is? If you’re worried about Susan, you may just have coffee with her and sit down and say, you know, how have you been? What’s going on with that? It’s you won’t even say I am worried about you because you know that’s a full paw. You’ll say, “So, what’s going on with Rick?” or “What’s going on with that thing that you were dealing with? How’s that going?” And then you’ll assess what you need to do, your empathy and your your advice and so forth based on that. If you’re born with male psychological genetics, you will think, “I’m hearing a problem. I want to fix that.” If you’re born with female psychological genetics, you will think, “I’m hearing that someone is hurting and suffering. I want to help them. I want to listen and make sure that they feel heard. But neither of these things is applied to yourself. And again, you may hear this and think, “Oh, okay. I get it that some people worry, but I don’t do this. This is not me.” And you know, if you’re true, if you’re accurate, then cool. Then good for you. I’m actually thrilled. If this is something that doesn’t apply to you, that you don’t find yourself in a in a corner or in a a self-perpetuating loop or something that rules your brain anytime it has free time, then you’re doing pretty well. Bringing Worry Into the Light But a lot of people aren’t. A lot of people experience this. And as with so many things, it’s something that we can deal with. It’s not something that’s part of the human experience per se. I mean, worry and concern and all that stuff and fear, yes, it’s all part of that human experience, but only to a degree. We can deal with the stuff that is, as I said, the loop or things that are shoved into the corner. We can bring them into the light. And again, how do we do that? As always, we raise awareness of it, which we’ve just done. So, here’s some thoughts on dealing with worry. And again, if you’re using the app, all these things will be in the project library, and you can just click on it, and boom, you’ll have these on your little clipboard. Cuz I like when you’re lazy. Sometimes I’m lazy, too. What if you just said out loud all of your worries? Like I’m a big proponent of waking up and saying I’m grateful for and then you list the things you’re grateful for. I do that in the morning. I stumble around half asleep and my feet hit the ground and I’m immediately saying I’m grateful. Your feet hit the ground, Mark. Don’t you have carpet? Sorry. My feet hit the carpet. I’m grateful. I love myself editing. Don’t you? The “Worry List” Exercise But what if you just wrote down I’m not saying first thing in the morning, don’t do that. I’m saying once you’re awake or whatever time of the day that you have a lot of cognitive ability and you’re and you’re clear-minded, what if you sat down and you made a list of everything you’re worried about? Not projects, not goals, not stuff you want to take care of, not even stuff you want to think about, but stuff you’re worried about. And isn’t it odd that those things may not be the same list? Isn’t it weird that you go, “Well, wait a second. The stuff I’m worried about is stuff I don’t want to deal with. The stuff I’m worried about isn’t even related to me. Like, I worry sometimes about this or that or the other thing. But what if you brought it into the light? What if you wrote it down? What if you made this list, looked at it, and then went back to it, and then noted how realistic each one of those was? What if you went back and you wrote a why next to it, like, why am I worried about this? Tracing the Origins of Our Fears And what if we took a page from my book BeCAUSE! and we tried to trace it back to where it actually comes from. If you grow up poor, you can have a worry about having enough money. Even though you have enough money, even though you have more than enough money, even though you have everything in place to keep you safe and comfortable and prosperous, you may still worry about money because in your childhood, that’s all you did. Do you not think that bringing that to the light could dispel that? that the monster that’s pushing you away from the pain of being poor, the pain of not having enough isn’t really needed because everything’s okay. Now, granted, maybe things aren’t okay. Maybe you are in a a downturn. Maybe you see a pattern and you really are kind of hard on your luck right now. And I’m sorry if you are. And so, the monster’s warranted and he’s doing his job to to protect you. But this can apply to so many things. And again, it gets back to the book Because where you pull it backwards and you say, “Well, what’s propelling me to feel this way. It’s it’s a self-reflection and can be a selfrevelation. I mean, the coolest thing from this could be you lit you literally listen to this silly 10-minute episode, then you write a bunch of stuff down and you go, “Oh my god, I’m not worried about that anymore.” The Goal: Just One Less Worry What if this one episode took away just one of your worries? just one no matter how silly it is because the silliness of a worry does not dictate its intensity. It does not dictate its effect on you. You can worry constantly about the silliest of things that have no business being in reality and it will hurt you and it will make you suffer. And as you know, one of my themes is I don’t want people to suffer. If there’s something I can do with my voice or my actions or something I create for them that can help them to not suffer, that is part of my mission with this podcast. So, think about that. Even if you don’t write stuff down, even if you don’t use my my productivity app and you click on the little thing and you get the nice little list that goes along with this episode, just leave this episode thinking about that. Feel free to listen to it again, but I hope you leave with one less worry. Outro And as always, thank you for listening. Take care. This episode is available in the Task Projects page of CheckMark™!

Well, hey there. Welcome back. Redefining Friction: Physics vs. Process What does friction mean to you? For most of my life, friction has just simply described a physics concept in which something rubs against something else in some way, causing a slowdown and causing heat. But now, and now is variable depending on what sector of work you’re in. Friction describes the same thing, but it’s metaphorically for processes. And you know, I’m all about systems and processes. Intentional Friction in App Design Here’s an example. In the new app I created that allows you to get stuff done. When you add to-do items, you can actually swipe them forward into the future. So, if you swipe it to the right, it appears on tomorrow. There’s also an arrow that you can hit to go to the next day and the next day and the next day. So, if you want to place something, let’s say a week ahead of time, you actually have to hit that button seven times. Friction. And people could say, “Well, Mark, what if I want to push something 25 days into the future? I have to hit that button 25 times.” Correct. It’s friction by design. I want it to feel like you are putting it off all that time because if I didn’t do that, you could just type in a date or use a selector to grab a date and go there. It’s gone for a month and a half. Well, if you’re pushing something that far into the future, it should really be a calendar item. But if you’re pushing something into the future, it should feel like you’re pushing it into the future. In building this app, I learned a lot about intentional friction. I learned a lot about removing it, which is what I always try to do in any process I create. But I also learned about where it’s actually appropriate. My Typewriter: Friction to Prevent Failure I have a vintage Remington number 12 typewriter. I actually wrote my first story on it. And no, I’m not that old because it was created in the 20s and 30s. Every key is connected to a rather slender, thin piece of metal that has a little hammer at the end that matches the key that you hit. When you hit the key, it swings upward and hits the ink tape and creates the image onto the piece of paper. Now, on a piano, the keys do something similar. They have hammers that hit strings. On a piano, though, all those keys and hammers are parallel. You can hit as many keys as you want and they’ll all hit at the same time and not interact with each other. Not so for the typewriter. If you hit two keys at once, they will try to meet each other at the very top and they can get entangled. There’s an old tale about the design of the keyboard, which is the modern one we use today, being designed so that you would type slower. It actually was a designed to intentionally create a lot of friction and slowing you down. Well, so the truth is it’s not exactly like that. Yes, it does slow you down, but the reason being is they tried to separate certain keys so that you wouldn’t easily hit two of the keys that would smash into each other. Again, intentional friction. Identifying Unintentional vs. Intentional Friction One of the most exciting things for me is that when I’m introduced to a process, a system, whether it’s a person and how they conduct their life and try to get things done or an actual business and their systems in place is when I find unintentional friction. I find something in place that slows something down. They go down an avenue. They go instead of going ABC, they go A X Z B and then they come back to C and and we’re able to remove that and say no ABC. See, no more friction. But you have to respect the friction that’s in place because some of it’s intentional. Now, some of it works that it’s worked itself into it to be intentional. And you can look at a process and think, well, that’s inefficient. We’ll just do this. But if you remove the intentional friction, you can find that the system will actually break. Why Some Processes Need to Be Slow: Divorce & Marriage Let’s use another fun example. Oh, let’s say divorce. If someone wants to file for divorce, they don’t make a phone call. And then the people on the other end say, “Hey, thanks for calling. Why don’t you guys just pop down? We’ll take care of that.” The friction that’s in place typically is that you fill out a bunch of paperwork and then they place something on the calendar and they sort of hope that you don’t show up for it because if you don’t it gets removed from the calendar and the divorce isn’t even happening. That’s intentional friction to make it harder for people to just say, “Yeah, I don’t want to do this thing anymore that I said I would do forever.” I’m not in any way, shape, or form disparaging people who have gone through a divorce, but that is the system in place, and it does make some sense. And the same, of course, is true for marriage, for getting married. Now, granted, you can do drive-through marriages in Vegas and so forth, but that gets to something that I talked about in my podcast episode called become ceremonious. And when you have a ceremony attached to something, it slows it down and it makes it more important. It creates more friction. And again, your mind might be saying, “Well, that’s not a bad thing.” No, friction is not a bad thing. It’s a neutral thing. Just like the monsters and unicorns you may have learned about recently. As human beings, we have speeds. We slow down. We speed up. And again, there’s a podcast episode on the the speed of your life. And many times we talk about that. We say slow down, you know, take time to smell the roses and all that stuff, you know, apply some friction. Apply some friction, slow down and do that. Applying Friction to Relationships and Work One final example is the sword and the sunflower. It has a lot of friction in it. It It is a slow read. It’s a slow read because if you pay attention, you get a whole bunch of payoffs. When I wrote it, did I say, “Oh, I’m going to put some friction in here.” No, that was just the way it was written. Let’s talk about you. You may have some business processes in place or a way the reason or the way that you cook the way that you do. Or when you approach relationships with someone, you may introduce intentional friction to slow down the beginning of the relationship. So maybe you can savor it and enjoy it and make sure it’s the right thing for you to do. This may be applied directly also to new hires at your company where there’s a certain amount of friction to make sure they’re the right person for the job or even when introducing a new task, a skill, responsibility to someone in your workplace. There’s some friction involved in that. And you may be thinking right now, wait a second, there’s no friction at all. People are kind of like floundering. Maybe this is why people are floundering. We just sort of let them go with that. we don’t push back a little bit or apply friction. And you’ll find the paradox of like slowing something down in that way or applying friction can actually make it a better thing. And that’s one of the eye opening things of really discovering the friction in your life is when you discover the things that are slowing you down or in place intentionally. This intentional friction I mentioned and how what a wonderful thing it is. Taking Action: Evaluating Friction in Your Life So, as always, we raise your awareness about something and then we say, well, what are we going to do about it? And I would say the what are we going to do about it part is you should look at your life and look for intentional and unintentional friction. the way that you deal with your kids, the way that you prepare prepare meals, the way that you deal with your spouse or loved ones or friends, the the way that things are done in your workplace, the stuff you have control over, and the stuff you don’t have control over. And you may find that you are intentionally going around friction that you feel unnecessary in your workplace. No, I don’t fill that out. No, we just sort of skip that form. It would behoove you and give you a much more enjoyable life to remove the unintentional friction and respect the friction that’s in place. You may even find that, hey, there’s a place in my life where I need to put more friction. Now, if that sounds crazy, you could say, well, it’s way too easy for me to run to the refrigerator and grab that stuff that makes me not so thin. So, if there was friction between you and the refrigerator, friction between you and accessing that, then it would be harder for you to overeat or go off your diet. Actionable Homework with CheckMark™ If you’re using CheckMark™, my productivity app, you’ll find this episode listed under the episodes list on the dashboard. And here’s something really cool. You know, I mention homework in these episodes a lot where you pause it or what have you. I really hope that people think about them later and so forth, but I can’t exactly expect people to like whip out a notepad or what have you. Now, you don’t have to. If you go to the project library screen, you’ll find the this episode and all you have to do is click on it and hit start project and all the homework or things you need to think about from this episode will automatically be applied to your clipboard. Boom. Instant actionable episode notes. pretty cool stuff. So, thank you for listening as always and take care of yourself and I will see you again. This had been entered into the CheckMark projects list!

The beginner mindset makes you a better teacher—and it's fun too! Well, hey there. Welcome back… to everyone who is an old pro at this podcast and those who are just beginners because at some point you are a beginner and we tend to forget that don't we? In fact, there's a phenomenon I would […]

It sounds like I'm talking about the surface dwellers and we're all the people who live underground. Well, hey there. Welcome back. The Discomfort of Partial Knowledge You may have figured out by now that I like to know things and I like to learn things. And I've probably figured out by now that you're […]

Transcript I think I found the perfect question. Well, hey there. Welcome back. The Perfect Question I think I found the perfect question. No, really. I found a question I can ask almost anyone. It will elicit a genuine, honest, thoughtful response. It's a useful subject. It's something that they think about regardless of what […]

I had both the pleasure in honor of sitting down with Joseph Mallozzi, the Executive Producer and writer for Stargate SG1, Stargate Atlantis, Stargate Universe, and Dark Matter in which he is the show Runner (he literally runs the show).   

Have you ever noticed that when there's something you really, really love and really speaks to you that when you look at the backstory for it, the person that created it said that they "selfishly" just made it for them? Here's why selfishness, like the comfort zone, gets a bad rap it doesn't really deserve

The invisible barrier you must cross to switch modes and why it fools you into thinking it would take too much effort to complete a task. Transcript Revisiting Multitasking and the Energy of Switching Tasks Do you multitask? Wait, we we already covered this. In a previous episode, we talked about how energy is really […] The post The invisible Barrier first appeared on Alchemy For Life.

What's your learning style? Do you know what your learning style is? Did you know you have one? For a long time I have known about the diferent ways humans learn. People not only have aptitudes (someone is good with mechanical stuff, or math, etc.) but also differ in the way they learn. Same resulting […] The post Learning styles and learning right in front of someone first appeared on Alchemy For Life.

Transcript What is Apathy? The Answer Might Surprise You Well, hey there. Welcome back. What's this episode about? Who cares? So, many years ago, I was with a few of my friends and one of my friends said, “What's apathy?” And my other friend said, “Who cares?” And it took a little while to realize […] The post What's Apathy? Who cares. first appeared on Alchemy For Life.

Are You Truly Available? The Critical Difference Between Time and Energy I'm going to ask you a simple question: Are you available right now? Of course, you're listening to this, so your immediate answer is “yes.” But are you? For years, I've talked about the constant negotiation between our time, energy, and resources. Today, I […] The post The Availability Gap: Why Your Energy Matters More Than Your Time first appeared on Alchemy For Life.

The CEO Mindset: Why a Fast Decision Beats a Slow Promise In the world of productivity and time management, we're often told to optimize our calendars and to-do lists. But what if the single most effective habit of top performers isn't about complex systems, but about one simple principle? A fast “no” is always better […] The post A fast “no” is always better than a time-wasting “yes.” first appeared on Alchemy For Life.

I find it quite illuminating to speak with people from all over the world. The power of our technology and interconnected world is that it allows me to have conversations I could never have. I had the pleasure of chatting with Jamyang in this week's podcast. Jamyang Loden Jamyang Loden is a monk from Bhutan, […] The post Mindfulness from Bhutan – my chat with a monk named Jamyang. first appeared on Alchemy For Life.

We deal with decisions every day. Many of the episodes deal with the decision process on both a grand and low level. Three Voices deals with how we communicate these decisions, work through them, talk to both ourselves and others about them. Going with your gut—the universal advice–is telling you to listen to your first […] The post The unnerving power of no first appeared on Alchemy For Life.

The Enduring Metaphor of Angels and Devils The metaphorical representation of a devil and an angel on a person's shoulders dates back to the 16th century1. Throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, this concept was prominently featured in plays and allegorical art. By the early 1900s, it had found its way into cartoons as a […] The post When the Devil Sounds Like a Unicorn first appeared on Alchemy For Life.

A primer on the book BeCAUSE! For those that have yet to read my new book because. Here's a quick primer. One day, I asked myself a question. If you could have anything you wanted, wouldn't you? We already know how to do most things and if we don't, we can Google them or talk […] The post Waking up to a Monster. Are you in Survival Mode? first appeared on Alchemy For Life.

I've done two podcast episodes on large language models. I recently spun up and installed a large language model locally on my computer and built a project around it. I'm an avid user of echoes from Amazon. I have had Grammarly kick in to spellcheck for me. I tell my phone to add an appointment […] The post A Dire Warning: the MIT study and ChatGPT first appeared on Alchemy For Life.

Helpful episodes Every year I create a list of the top, most useful and helpful episodes of the previous year. This year because there has been a lot of interaction on current episodes. I've decided to do a midyear pause and reflect if you will. Here are the top episodes in 2025 so far Manuel […] The post What episodes are notable in 2025 so far? first appeared on Alchemy For Life.

Speaking to the manager I want to speak to the manager. Rather, I want to speak to your manager. What do you think of when I say that? Do you think of the structure of your current employer? Do you make a joke that it's your cat? Is there a spouse joke in there for […] The post Hypnosis and speaking to your manager. first appeared on Alchemy For Life.

A philosophical question for you. Don't forget you can pause the episode to consider the question(s) as you move forward. How would you answer? Alchemy for Life™ podcast explores themes of experimental psychology, relationships, cognitive science, human behavior, mental models, consciousness, and psychological insights. We uncover hidden truths and ways to improve your life and […] The post Good or Evil? first appeared on Alchemy For Life.

Let's talk about non-local consciousness, who you're really talking to when you're on the phone, what happens to me and possibly you when something is put on the back burner, and wish a Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers in the United States, Brazil, Germany, India, China and Japan. The post Non-Local Consciousness first appeared on Alchemy For Life.

Getting energy and giving energy One of the things I've said from the very beginning is that a thing can give one person energy and take energy from another. in other words, one person's activity that energizes them could also really be draining for another. But that giving of energy is also taking energy. Nobody […] The post Meaningful Exhaustion and the energy transfer first appeared on Alchemy For Life.

The normal format for this show is to introduce you to something and raise your perception. Then we discuss it and you typically leave with homework. This time you are giving me homework. Let's talk about the importance of feedback and how each and every one of us has a struggle. What's yours? The post Question Mark – Oh how the tables have turned first appeared on Alchemy For Life.

We all know what it is. We have all done it. We've all had it done to us. Let's talk about when it's appropriate when it's not, and why it can be so frustrating. The post The Anatomy of Ghosting first appeared on Alchemy For Life.

Time is money You've heard that phrase and it is often accompanied by someone clapping, tapping their foot, or some other show of impatience. Chop chop, time is money. In our world of Time, Energy and Resources as separate entities, they are saying time is resources, aren't they? But it's actually more accurate to same […] The post Time is sometimes money but is always Energy first appeared on Alchemy For Life.

Fair & Square Here are the rules of the square and triangle universe. There are other rules but these are the most obvious. Listen to the podcast and tell me what you would do as a square. I'm looking for an answer… So what would you do? Are you a Square or a Triangle? The post The amazing, frustrating, daunting world of squares and triangles first appeared on Alchemy For Life.

A while back we talked about the importance of a catalog and your awareness of that. By revisiting that we are demonstrating (in a rather meta way) the importance of revisiting it. And let's add how that affects your facets too. Catalog A catalog covers anything and everything you do. This then gets distilled down […] The post Your Catalog and Your Facets first appeared on Alchemy For Life.

I like to apply analogical reasoning, You can call it conceptual metaphors. And if both of those are confusing, how about applying the concept of one domain to another. Still confused? For example, we talked about liminal spaces which don't look or sound right. But you can then take that into the emotional domain and […] The post Intellectual Injury—what the heck is that? first appeared on Alchemy For Life.

You are living in an era that is coming to an end. There was a time when all pictures were in black-and-white because that was the technology we had. Most people were fit, and men typically wore suits even at baseball games. Then pictures, had color, but it was of a not true to life […] The post Old Photos and Robots first appeared on Alchemy For Life.

I have a new book coming out. it's my 10th, and it's based on my take on the pleasure principle and what I believe is a layer just above it. It's what allows us to accomplish things that others do not. It's what prevents us from doing things that we think we should be able […] The post The pleasure principle and a new book first appeared on Alchemy For Life.

(and how it might help you tell your own story) Telling a story in an unfamiliar medium with constraints you're not accustomed to is a common theme in business. You may be the best story teller in your circle/medium/genre but if you need to tell your story outside of that it can be a challenge, […] The post What I learned writing a screenplay first appeared on Alchemy For Life.

Q&A and the answer (That's so meta) Have you ever helped a friend who has a question or a conundrum, and the answer was so obvious to you that you easily spelled it out for them? You felt pretty smart. You noticed at some point that when you've had issues you turn to others for […] The post Teacher, Teach Thyself first appeared on Alchemy For Life.

A tale of disconnected happiness or Benign Violation Theory. Allow me to tell you a tale of disconnected happiness. Perhaps you can relate? Helpful related (or referenced) episodes: Have something to say? Come talk about it on Patreon. The post Do you experience Disconnected Happiness? first appeared on Alchemy For Life.

Modes What mode are you in right now? You may intuitively know exactly what I'm talking about. Ever interrupt a conversation and the person changes their conversation style/demeanor? That's an example of someone switching modes. Are modes just putting a mask on, or being disingenuous? No, like so many things in experimental psychology, I look […] The post Dramaturgy, Role Theory and Modes first appeared on Alchemy For Life.

Meet Manuel Rendon, certified polymer science inventor and CEO of Timeplast, Inc. My first interview episode of 2025. Manuel joins the ranks of Scott Adams, the late John McAfee and others. 4d matter In the world of plastics, everything pretty much repels water. But what if you could create a plastic that truly dissolves in […] The post Manuel Rendon of Timeplast and 4d programmable matter first appeared on Alchemy For Life.

Welcome to 2025. As with last year, we are selecting the most helpful and useful episodes of the previous year. Of course I feel that all of the episodes are useful and helpful. Each one has a use, a point, and a tangible takeaway. Each one is a unique perspective on something you're familiar with […] The post Most useful and helpful episodes of 2024! first appeared on Alchemy For Life.

Resolutions—what works and what doesn't and why. It's really important that you don't repeat the same things that didn't work last time. You want to make this time to be different. Levels As we mentioned in the Labels episode, we like to label things because it's a shortcut. And that can make you dumber or […] The post Resolutions—what works and what doesn't first appeared on Alchemy For Life.

This is a separate article that goes with this podcast episode. it is not a transcript but rather an alternate summary of what the episode is about. NOTE: Depression, and worse (the meaning of “throwing away the container”) is a delicate subject. The truth is that all mental health is a delicate subject, as is […] The post Depression and throwing away the container first appeared on Alchemy For Life.

Guess who has this one?

Social Media and You If you're on social media, whether it's the Boomers Gone Wild of Facebook, the Graphic (in many ways) Instagram, the Millennial-Controlled Tiktok or the ‘business-oriented' Linkedin, you will see the kind of posts I'm about to talk about. Drawing a line in the sand… in your face Some people post things […] The post The Silence of Success first appeared on Alchemy For Life.

Exotic Cars When people purchase exotic cars, they are sometimes hit with something called deferred maintenance. As with many car buyers, they see the value of purchasing a car used. The positive of that is that they get a car they want at a dramatically reduced price. The downside is sometimes that they hadn't considered […] The post Deferred Gratitude and Exotic Cars first appeared on Alchemy For Life.

A new formula Here's an interesting concept for you, just when you thought you understood that life is made of three things: Time, Energy and Resources. But after ll, this is alchemy. Time, Energy and Resources Alchemy for Life™ has always been about life being three things. And we spend those three things on five […] The post Time and energy = space first appeared on Alchemy For Life.

What is Positivity? You may think that ‘positivity' doesn't belong with such states of being as OCD, Anxiety, ADHD and the others featured in this 13-part series, but I think it does because it is markedly different than the average person. Positivity isn't just being nice. Positivity isn't being positive blindly. It is a state […] The post Is Positivity just oblivious contentment? first appeared on Alchemy For Life.

Forced Emergency Responders and “Love Bombing.” Emergency Responders and the 2:00am call for a wooden spoon When we think of emergency responders, we think of paramedics and ambulances and firefighters and police. If you make widgets, no one is going to call you at three in the morning to tell you they desperately need a […] The post Forced to be an Emergency Responder and Love Bombing first appeared on Alchemy For Life.

What is OCD? Do I have OCD? OCD stands for obsessive-compulsive disorder. It shares a symptom with ADHD in which you can be caught in a repetitive loop because of anxiety and stimulus.  But it is different than ADHD. The reality of OCD  The reality of OCD often involves constant, intrusive thoughts and the need […] The post What is OCD? Do I have OCD? The Reality of coping with OCD. first appeared on Alchemy For Life.

Toddlers with chainsaws Are chainsaws bad? No. Should toddlers use them? No. We use chainsaws to perform a task, we don't give them to toddlers because it is dangerous to do so and the toddlers don't understand the balance of danger and functionality. Airbags, insurance and fire extinguishers, oh my! Does your car have airbags? […] The post Don't speak that into existence! first appeared on Alchemy For Life.

ADHD – Also known as Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. What is ADHD? Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. People with ADHD typically struggle with finding it difficult to focus. They are easily distracted in pursuit of stimulus. Sometimes the stimulus leads them to hyper-focus.  The reality of ADHD  The reality for many people is that ADHD is […] The post Psych Charm: ADHD first appeared on Alchemy For Life.

Anxiety – The feeling of stress, the activation of a fight-or-flight mode. Anxiety for some can be a fairly dull but constant sensation of having to attend to a problem—a nagging feeling that you need to take care of something. This can be from the demands of your job, your responsibilities as a parent, a […] The post Psych Charm: Anxiety first appeared on Alchemy For Life.

Gamification, Iconization and Tangibility Those are some crazy words. They're fun and I like saying them. But what do they mean? My history I have always enjoyed looking at things as a system. It was only relatively recently that I realized that was what I was doing. it was so natural and innate that I […] The post Gamification, Iconization and Tangibility. first appeared on Alchemy For Life.