Forward Tilt by Praxis

That’s it folks! The 50th and final episode of the Forward Tilt podcast. Over the last 50 weeks, we covered one lesson a week. One way to get off the conveyor belt and take control of building your career and life. Now that Forward Tilt is over, Isaac gives his recommendations for more resources to check out. Links: Office Hours Podcast discoverpraxis.com Get a free copy of Forward Tilt: An Almanac for Personal Growth at discoverpraxis.com/forwardtilt

To short a stock is to sell it before you own it. You sell it today and agree to deliver in the future because you believe the cost will go down and you will be able to buy it at a cheaper price. When you put off tasks to the future, you are doing the same thing with your time. Every action you take has a cost, and when you leave for tomorrow what you could do today, you communicate a lot about the way you value your time. Topics Discussed: - Shorting your own stock - Opportunity cost - If you get better every day, the value of your time in the future goes up - Valuing future time less when you should actually value it more - If you can do it now, do it For a free copy of Forward Tilt: An Almanac for Personal Growth go to discoverpraxis.com/forwardtilt

We call it baby steps when you take small guarded steps forward. But babies take the exact opposite approach. They flail, take big risks, and learn as they go. When babies start crawling they don’t cautiously ease their way into it. They get up, fall down and crash into things. They’ll walk off the top of the stairs if you don’t have it blocked. Only once they take risks do they develop the skill needed to be more precious and safe. But they would never gain that skill if they didn’t take risks initially. The same is true for learning in adulthood. We want it to be safe, to ease our way in, but the best way to learn is to do what babies do and just go for it. In this episode: - Babies take risks, not guarded steps - When you start anything, don’t ease your way in - The power of taking big swings - We learn by taking “real” baby steps For a free copy of Forward Tilt: An Almanac for Personal Growth go to discoverpraxis.com/forwardtilt

There has been a trend recently of popular content creators online talking about how there are too many blogs, too many podcasts, and the world doesn’t need more. Apart from the obvious irony, they miss the most important value creators get from creating content. Sure there is a chance to grow an audience and monetize it, but much more powerful is the learning, signaling, and social capital value that you get from consistently creating content. Discussed in this episode: - The amount of content on the internet is doubling each year - Three values to creating and sharing content online. - Creating to learn - Creating to signal - Creating to build social capital For a free copy of Forward Tilt: An Almanac for Personal Growth go to discoverpraxis.com/forwardtilt

In this episode, Praxis Education Director, TK Coleman guest hosts to talk about creativity and HTML. Most people think of creativity and associate it with inspiration, living in cool neighborhoods, and eccentricity. But in reality, creativity is a lot more about hard work than it is about cool esthetics. Just like HTML is nothing without plain text, the cool and unique aspects we associate with creativity are nothing without hard work and the simple ability to get things done. Topics Covered: - The best creators are the ones who know how to get stuff - Why some “Creative” people don’t create results - Creating can be done anywhere at any time - Creativity is the HTML of handwork - Don’t ask “How can I become more creative?” For a free copy of Forward Tilt: An Almanac for Personal Growth go to discoverpraxis.com/forwardtilt

No one has ever been hired for their resume. At best a good resume will get someone curious to find out more about you, but it is the more about you—the background—that will get you hired.    Instead of a resume, what truly matters is your reputation. Your connections, friends, coworkers, and customers who know the type of work you do will open up new opportunities.      In This Episode:  - No one has ever been hired for their resume  - Why so many jobs go to people who know people at the company - Doing your current job exceptionally well is the best way to find new opportunities - Talking about what you love about your job - Build your reputation, don’t worry about your resume   For a free copy of Forward Tilt: An Almanac for Personal Growth go to discoverpraxis.com/forwardtilt    

Statistics can be very illuminating in aggregate, but individuals are not aggregates. If you only choose a course of action when statistics are in your favor you will never get where you want to go. In this episode: - Statistics don’t do the work for you - You are special enough to not go to college - Why shooting “low-percentage” shots can make sense - Individuals are not aggregates For a free copy of Forward Tilt: An Almanac for Personal Growth go to discoverpraxis.com/forwardtilt 

Whether is writing a blog post, creating a video, or making a marketing plan, if you sit around theorizing about the perfect way to do it, you won't get any closer to perfect. We like to imagine that the longer we have to do something, the more time we have to think and plan and edit the better the end result. But in reality it is almost never extra time that gets us great results, it is extra reps. In this episode: - An example from two groups of pottery students - Perfection is a byproduct - Mistaking a byproduct for a precondition - Art and Fear by Bayles and Orland (https://www.amazon.com/Art-Fear-Observations-Rewards-Artmaking/dp/0961454733) For a free copy of Forward Tilt: An Almanac for Personal Growth go to discoverpraxis.com/forwardtilt

This week on Forward Tilt, Praxis’ COO Cameron Sorsby guest hosts to share three key traits that separate great young professionals from the pack. In this episode: What makes a great caddy Learning soft skills Confidence, hustle, judgment For a free copy of Forward Tilt: An Almanac for Personal Growth go to discoverpraxis.com/forwardtilt  

The standard approach to getting a job is to go out to a business and with a resume and interview tell employers about your skills and experience. It’s the equivalent of saying “Here I am, I have skills.” It creates work for the business to figure out if those skills are relevant, legitimate, or even valuable and as a result, it doesn’t help you find the best opportunities. The better approach is to do the work yourself and come to a business with a pitch on how you will create value. Instead of writing about how you have SEO skills, send in an analysis and plan of the companies SEO. Instead of listing your excel skills, send in a spreadsheet you made that could be valuable for there work. Instead of saying that you can create value, actually create value and watch how many opportunities it will open for you. In this episode: - Product beats paper  - What a generic resume tells employers - How Brian Nuckols got his marketing role for Praxis with a value proposition - Pitching a guest blog post - Thinking from a businesses perspectives - The value creation mindset  For a free copy of Forward Tilt: An Almanac for Personal Growth go to discoverpraxis.com/forwardtilt

Vague general questions get vague general answers. If you are looking for valuable information create something first and get specific.  Whether it is advice on something you are writing or a business idea, you will be able to get a lot better feedback if you ask for opinions on a rough draft instead of an idea.  In this episode: Editing a draft vs. creating from scratch The rough draft mindset Producing before seeking help Theoretical problems For a free copy of Forward Tilt: An Almanac for Personal Growth go to discoverpraxis.com/forwardtilt

Level playing fields are important on a societal level, but when you are looking for places to invest your time and money, it's better to go where the field is tilted. This is obvious when you have the advantage, you maximize your chances for success and large returns, but even having the field titled against you can be better than a level playing field. In this week's Forward Tilt Isaac explains why an unlevel playing field is a great place to invest, no matter if you have the advantage or the disadvantage. In this episode: - Why level playing fields are good society-wide, but not on an individual level - The unlevel playing field for Praxis - When the field is tilted against you, it’s going to be a lot less crowded For a free copy of Forward Tilt: An Almanac for Personal Growth go to discoverpraxis.com/forwardtilt

Lot's of people are afraid of sales jobs because they don't come with a guaranteed monthly salary. The uncertainty of working for commission makes them nervous so they opt for the security of a salaried role.    But the job security they think exists in marketing, operations, or other jobs is a myth. No matter what role you are in, your job only exists so long as you create more than you earn. You need to create value regularly, or else that salary will disappear.    This isn’t a scary insight, it is empowering. It is the insight that allows you to view yourself as a company no matter what role you are in.   Even if you are working for only one employer, you are selling a service to a customer. The more valuable that service compared to the price, the more secure you will be.    In this episode: Terror of working in sales There is no such thing as a secure job Every job demands value creation every day Contractor vs. employee The post-job era You are your own company Link:  The End of Jobs For a free copy of Forward Tilt: An Almanac for Personal Growth go to discoverpraxis.com/forwardtilt 

Often we overlook our potentially valuable skills because we don’t know we have them. We don’t realize that the thing we find easy, others find hard. Or the activity we do as a hobby has a high market value. Finding out what you are good at and you can create value doing isn’t easy. It is a process that takes time and feedback. But the most common ways we expect to learn about ourselves are removed from real sources of feedback. To find out what we do best we need to get out into the market and start getting feedback. In this weeks episode, Isaac shares a story about a Canadian bagpiper who didn’t realize he had developed an incredibly valuable skill while pursuing his hobby. In this episode: - A Canadian bagpiper who stumbled onto a big business. - Tacit knowledge - Practice, practice, theory - The market doesn’t just help you discover what other people value, but also what you have. - Why do kids always do lemonade stands? For a free copy of Forward Tilt: An Almanac for Personal Growth, go to discoverpraxis.com/forwardtilt

Too many new employees are eager to get out of grunt work. They are right to want to focus on creating more value, but they miss the opportunity that grunt work provides.    On this episode, Isaac shares a story from a conversation with a CEO about a young employee asking for a raise.    He did everything well but made it clear he didn’t like grunt work. As a result, he didn’t make himself indispensable and didn’t get a raise. He was replaceable.    As you gain experience and make yourself more valuable, you will naturally have less grunt work to do. But by always remaining open to doing the work no one else wants to do will make you an incredibly valuable employee no matter where you work.    In this episode:  - Making yourself irreplaceable  - Founders are never to good for grunt work - Overlooking the opportunity that grunt work can provide - Everyone will see you getting coffee or watering plants - If you feel like you do too much grunt work, it’s on you to make yourself more valuable. It’s on you to prove that you can do more.    For a free copy of Forward Tilt: An Almanac for Personal Growth, go to discoverpraxis.com/forwardtilt

Tiny daily acts of creation have an immense compounding power. For Isaac, daily blogging started as a way to break out of a point of dissatisfaction. But the small decision led to a massive change and directly to the idea for Praxis. In this episode: Succeeding, but feeling dissatisfied. Feeling like something is missing. Taking on a daily blogging challenge. Creating leads to creativity Turning creativity into a discipline Why you should challenge yourself with small daily acts of creation. For a free copy of Forward Tilt: An Almanac for Personal Growth, go to discoverpraxis.com/forwardtilt

What people say they want is different from what they will actually go out and do. Economists call this the difference between stated and revealed preferences. Your opinions don’t come with a cost. But when you have to pay it shows what you truly value. For a free copy of Forward Tilt: An Almanac for Personal Growth, go to discoverpraxis.com/forwardtilt 

Whether you're building a business, writing a blog, or creating anything new, it can be easy to think about your customer or audience in aggregate. To work with your market in mind, instead of a particular person. One of the biggest inflection points in the growth of Praxis came when Isaac choose to focus on one particular customer. Not all the entrepreneurial young people, not a specific demographic, just sell and create a solution for one specific person. From a focus on one customer, you build a solid foundation for growth because you are focused on solving a real problem for a real person and not a vague aggregate. From focusing on one customer Praxis now can create value for hundreds of participants.  For a free copy of Forward Tilt: An Almanac for Personal Growth, go to discoverpraxis.com/forwardtilt

When creating something it is easy to focus on perfecting the small details. Whether it’s production value on a podcast, body positioning as a public speaker, or style as a writer, there are lots of small details to obsess over. But when you are starting a new project you can never lose sight of the most important aspect of anything you create, the content of the ideas. In this episode: - Handling imperfections as a creator - The content of the ideas matter more than perfect delivery - Lessons from running public speaking workshops For a free copy of Forward Tilt: An Almanac for Personal Growth go to discoverpraxis.com/forwardtilt

When something goes wrong in a customer service situation, some people will seize the opportunity to berate their server or make an employee feel bad. They use the moment to grab a tiny amount of power. But by using this opportunity to feel powerful, they are giving up what is best for them in the long term. They are giving up opportunities to get a better long term solution to momentarily feel important. In the case of restaurants, they are forgetting the free meal. In this episode: - Why people get mad at customer service employees - Don’t trade your power for attention - Don’t forget the free meal For a free copy of Forward Tilt: An Almanac for Personal Growth, go to discoverpraxis.com/forward tilt

“In a room of 100 strangers, seek similarities. In a room of 3 friends, seek differences.” Popular wisdom warns against creating a bubble of similar friends. You often hear that you should make a diverse group of friends. That you should seek to spend time with people with different world views. This advice is overrated and over esteemed. Instead, when deciding who you work and spend time with you should focus on similarities. But once you've found those people, you should emphasize differences.  On every successful team, there is internal conflict. From the outside looking in everyone seems similar. They have a similar mission, similar values, and a similar perspective on life. But within the group, the approach they take to reach their common goal is hotly contested. There is beneficial conflict, differences of opinion, and a regular clash of ideas. Successful teams work together because of the deep similarities in their ideal future, but they work well together by emphasizing the differences in how they want to get there.  For a free copy of Forward Tilt: An Almanac for Personal Growth, go to discoverpraxis.com/forwardtilt

Building a brand is important. So is sharing what you are working on and creating opportunities with marketing. But when you are working on branding and style you can’t forget about creating more substance. To maintain the balance between substance and style Isaac uses a simple heuristic. Two parts substance, one part style. For every one thing you are sharing and talking about publicly, you should be working on something else behind the scenes. If you are learning a language and creating and sharing content about it, you should be learning something else behind the scenes. In business, if you are marketing one feature, you should have at least one other feature that is just as good. This way there is always more to you than meets the eye. This way you are always over delivering. This way you are making sure that your product is so good and an experience so far beyond expectations, that your customers can’t stop talking about it. For a free copy of Forward Tilt: An Almanac for Personal Growth go to discoverpraxis.com/forwrdtilt

Willpower has limits. If the rewards or punishments are high enough, and you're in a situation long enough, you will eventually reach your limit. We live in a time where we have massive power to structure the incentives in our own lives. We can find new social circles, jobs, past times that have incentives in line with our values. You will be much stronger in life if you’re not swimming upstream; if your incentives are in line with your values it is much more likely you will live up to your ideals.  In this episode: Creating your own structural incentives Aligning incentives with values The incentives of politics The incentives of professors Who you need to please to get paid is who you will please  If it violates your core values, get into an environment when it is not incentivized You will be much stronger if you’re not fighting against the current For your free copy of Forward Tilt: An Almanac for Personal Growth, go to discoverpraxis.com/forwardtilt

What do you do better than anyone? It is a question you should be finding the answer to. You should be looking at your life and your work and asking yourself, what do I do better than everyone I know? Once you have the answer you have a path forward. A direction to take your life's work. In this episode: What is the one thing that you are the best in the world at? That is the question you need to answer, but how to you answer it? The big idea behind Praxis What Isaac best in the world at?  For a free copy of Forward Tilt: An Almanac for Personal Growth go to discoverpraxis.com/forwardtilt

“You can be fast and erratic or slow and steady.”    “You can have a small remote team, but it won’t work with more than five employees.”    “You can think quick and shallow or long and deep thought.”    The world is full of these common dichotomies and life lessons. Some are true and valuable, but many aren’t. Accepting them can close down real possibilities.     These lessons apply to certain people in certain situations. You need to figure out if they are true for you. You need to figure out what the trade-offs are in your own life.    Don’t take common wisdom on faith. Don’t accept that you can either have this or that. See if you can have both.    In this episode:  Not accepting common wisdom on faith Running a remote company How to approach dichotomies  Finding out the trade-offs in your own life  For a free copy of Forward Tilt: An Almanac for Personal Growth go to discoverpraxis.com/forwardtilt  

It’s good sales advice.   Ask clearly for what you want and then stop talking. It can be awkward to leave space. To just sit there. Our temptation is to fill it and when we do we talk our ask down.    It’s good sales advice because it leads to a clear answer; a yes, no, or something in between. But you will know the status, and you won’t be left interpreting what the answer meant.    But it’s more than just sales advice.    It applies in your daily life and the asks you make of others. And it applies to your relationship with yourself as a valuable tool for gaining self-knowledge and resolving internal conflict.    In this episode:  The value of sales experience  Ask and then shut up  Don’t say a thing after a dollar amount How to apply it to daily life Making clear asks of yourself Ask and then shut up as a way to self-knowledge Go to discoverpraxis.com/forwardtilt to get a free copy of Forward Tilt: An Almanac for Personal Growth.

Derek Magill guest hosts this episode of Forward Tilt to share a story from a recent conversation with an aspiring brewer and entrepreneur.    This was a college freshman with the goal of opening a microbrewery--in his first year of a four-year college program studying Political Science. Taking on debt and spending a massive amount of time attending lectures on political science, when his goal was to be an entrepreneur in the beer business.    Stories like this are not uncommon. There are young people on college campuses all over the country spending tens of thousands of dollars on annual tuition for programs that have absolutely nothing to do with what they want in the long term. But still, these students haven’t questioned the idea that college is a necessary prerequisite to life.    What if you stop before making the college decision to ask what if there is a better way? What if there is an alternative? And what if I can do it better myself?   In this episode: Political Science degree as a prerequisite to running a microbrewery Will college help you achieve your goals? There are other paths outside of four-year college degrees How can you learn, establish yourself, and make connections without taking on debt  Want more Forward Tilt? Go to discoverpraxis.com/forwardtilt for a free copy of Forward Tilt: An Almanac for Personal Growth

This week’s episode is inspired by a common question. When you find a job posting that you want, but you only meet some of the qualification, what should you do? In this episode: Not being the perfect candidate Job descriptions and Frankenployee's Tradeoffs when hiring Giving yourself permission to apply Househunting wish lists The only things that matter when a company is hiring For a free copy of Forward Tilt: An Almanac for Personal Growth, go to discoverpraxis.com/forwardtilt

From credit card security to sidewalk design, if you are creating something, you have to account for the patterns of the end user. Even the most well thought out, centrally planned, efficient and scientific plans will always fail if they ignore the patterns and tendencies of the end users. On this week’s Forward Tilt, Isaac explores some examples where human behavior can override planning and how to apply this lesson to life and entrepreneurship. In this episode:  Do credit card chips actually improve security?  Designing what makes sense to you vs. what works for people Metric vs. Imperial measurement  College campus sidewalks Emergent design  For a free copy of Forward Tilt: An Almanac for Personal Growth go to discoverpraxis.com/forwardtilt 

Investing in your personal relationships and connections will bring you more resources than other investment ever could. This week on Forward Tilt Isaac dives into the concept of social capital.  In this episode:  What is social capital? Why most people undervalue social capital  How to build social capital The power of good relationships when starting a business  Money is only a tool to get things you want  For a free copy of Forward Tilt: An Almanac for Personal Growth go to discoverpraxis.com/forwardtilt

Integrity is being undivided. It is definiteness of purpose and singleness of mind. To live with integrity, you need to understand yourself and then act in line with who you are. This isn’t easy. It can be hard to gain that much self-knowledge. Even when you have a deep understanding of yourself, there are many decisions in life that involve picking between imperfect options. Living with integrity in these situations is about making a choice and living with it. Not filling yourself with regret, or becoming a victim, but accepting your choices and learning from them when you don’t like the results. This week on Forward Tilt, Isaac digs into what it means to live with integrity and how you can practice it in your life. In this episode: - What is integrity? - Being in line with your self - Being of two minds - Reducing the things that matter to you? For a free digital edition of Forward Tilt: An Almanac for Personal Growth go to discoverpraxis.com/forwardtilt

What happens when you seize the opportunity to help a stranger? It could change your whole life. On this episode of Forward Tilt Isaac shares two stories about the power of small acts. First is a story of a spilled coffee in Starbucks that led to a kind act, that led to a friendship, that led to an introduction, that led to a bunch more introductions. Second is the story of an underground radio station in Poland. Both stories illustrate an important idea, that small everyday acts can have massive long term impact. In this episode:  The long-term effects of small actions Why it’s easy to underestimate the power of our network Polish underground radio Entertaining angels  Links: More detailed account of the blinking lights story For a free digital copy of Forward Tilt: An Almanac for Personal Growth go to discoverpraxis.com/forwardtilt

"What kind of ideas are you hanging around with?"  There are a lot of factors that impact who we are today and who we will become. Genetics, childhood experiences, conscious choices and the people we spend our time around all impact us. A popular maxim speaks to the power of other people's impact on who we are and says "you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with." It speaks to the power that our community has to influence our behavior. Thinking about the five people you spend the most time with is a valuable tool, but what happens if you zoom in on traits instead of people. Often the people we choose to spend time with embody similar traits. This may make for good conversation, but it can hold us back if we are trying to change. They may be great, successful people, but they might not embody the traits you want to embody. If you want to improve your ability to communicate excitement, but you hang around with laid back stoic people, you aren't likely to change. This week Isaac explores a way to think about the traits of the people you hang around with when you are trying to change. In This Episode:  A different spin on the average of five people maxim Why you should focus on your strengths The five traits you want to embody Questions to consider:  Who are the five people you spend the most time with? What traits do they each embody? What are the five traits you want to embody? For a free copy of Forward Tilt: An Almanac for Personal Growth visit discoverpraxis.com/forwardtilt

Forward Tilt Podcast - Playoffs    The motivation for great work should always be internal.    Doing great work shouldn’t be about impressing others or avoiding punishment, it should be about becoming the best version of yourself.    Great work is transformational. When you show up and do your best, you change who you are. That is why great workers are self-motivated.    The clearest example of this is when you are close to leaving a job. In the last few weeks, the consequences for slacking are low, and the rewards for hard work are little.    Most people see the drop in external motivation and start to glide. But for those whose goal is ascendance, this is just another time to do great work. Because those who are ascendant don’t do great work because of the rewards and punishments, they do great work for themselves.    Find out why on this week's Forward Tilt    In this episode:  - Kicking Ass 101 at the Praxis opening seminar  - Why you should kick ass even when you’re about to quit - Momentum and the playoff’s in professional sports  - Deschooling - Learning as a transformation 

You can think of your life divided into three main categories. Work, social life, and family or love life.  As an entrepreneur, you can only have two. With a 9 to 5 job you could probably balance all three, but if you want to start a company, the commitment is so large that you sacrifice one of these areas. But it’s not just an upper limit.  If your entire life is work, then you burn out. You don't just get to pick two, you have to pick two if you want to stay healthy as an entrepreneur.  In this episode: You pick two of three areas of life You not only get to pick two, you have to pick two Responding to burn out  For a free copy of Forward Tilt: An Almanac of Personal Growth go to discoverpraxis.com/forwardtilt

Doing great work isn't about being noticed. You don't owe it to customers, bosses, friends, and family to do your best. You owe it to yourself. You should go above and beyond for what it does for you. In any task you do, you can choose to be good enough, or you can choose to be great. You get to choose the standards you hold yourself to. You do great work even if others won't notice because you notice. You will notice if you didn't do your best and you will know you could have done more. This week Isaac shares a story from a job in his teens about learning this lesson from his Aunt.  In this episode:  Isaac's Aunt, Heidi Setting your own standards Constant incremental improvement You owe yourself your best work For a free copy of Forward Tilt: An Almanac for Personal Growth go to discoverpraxis.com/forwardtilt

Just because it’s justified doesn’t mean you should do it. There are a lot of things in your life and the world that you would be justifiably angry about. There are good reasons to protest, to debate, to get angry. But just because anger is justified doesn’t mean that it is helping you. You gain power when you move past looking for what is justified and move towards what is working and within your control. In this episode: A recent article by a Praxis participant attracted unexpected anger Justified anger The Great Divorce Working within your zone of control For a free digital edition of Forward Tilt: An Almanac for Personal Growth go to https://discoverpraxis.com/forwardtilt

A handwritten thank you note is an excellent way to build social capital, but its impact goes way beyond goodwill.  Regularly writing thank you notes will change the way you see the world. It transforms your narrative about the past, it helps you remember all the good things people have done for you, and it improves your life today better as a result. In this episode: Life lesson from a local pastor The pain of forced thank you notes Why thank you notes are valuable beyond the obviousMake up excuses to write thank you notes Why you should make up excuses to write thank you notes For a free digital copy of Forward Tilt: An Almanac for Personal Growth go to discoverpraxis.com/forwardtilt

There are people who are willing to sleep in their car to get what they want, and there are those that aren’t. This a useful heuristic for understanding people you want to work with, but it is also a powerful tool for understanding yourself. What are you willing to sleep in your car to get? In this episode: The sleep in your car test as a hiring tool What you can learn about yourself from the sleep in your car test Why are you pursuing the things you’re pursuing if you’re not willing to sleep in your car to get them? Sleep in Your Car Test Article: https://discoverpraxis.com/the-sleep-in-your-car-test/ For a free copy of Forward Tilt: An Almanac For Personal Growth go to discoverpraxis.com/forwardtilt

When you feel like you are held back by limitations, add more. You’ll be surprised by the sense freedom the extra constraints give you. It’s not always the case, but adding constraints can give you more freedom to create because they free you from making endless decisions. In this episode: Embrace the Shake TED Talk Getting job opportunities without applying Doing your daily tasks in half the time Writing a book in thirty days Parkinsons Law  To get a free copy of Forward Tilt: An Almanac for Personal Growth go to discoverpraxis.com/forwardtilt

When things are easy we don't grow. It is in moments of struggle, when everything is going wrong, that we are forced to take massive steps forward.  Once you recognize that the struggle helps you grow, then you can learn to love it. You can recognize that things going wrong is often not a curse, but a gift.  In this episode:  How going on probation at work was a massive growth opportunity for a Praxis participant Why daily blogging will forge you into a better person How to learn to love the struggle For a free copy of Forward Tilt: An Almanac for Personal Growth go to discoverpraxis.com/forwardtilt

You have a personal brand whether you like it or not. Call it a reputation if you prefer, but it is the feelings and associations that come to mind when people think of you. A lot of people feel resistant to working on their personal brand. They feel that it is slimy and inauthentic, but a good personal brand is about making sure that what you share and create online communicates who you are in person. That in a 30-minute search online people have an accurate sense of who you are and what is important to you.  When you resist and ignore your personal brand you let great opportunities pass you by.  In this episode:  Your personal brand is inescapable The personal brand workshop Praxis participant use How a good personal brand opens you up to opportunities The difference between the messages you’re trying to send and the message received by others For a free copy of Forward Tilt: An Almanac for Personal Growth go to discoverpraxis.com/forwardtilt

From podcasts to audiobooks, articles, and videos there is a massive amount of great content in the world. So much that you can fill every empty space with something.  You can listen to podcasts while you drive. You can read articles on your phone while you wait at the doctor and consume audiobooks during your walk on the beach. With so much great content available, you begin to feel that time spent on doing nothing is time wasted. We underestimate the value of doing nothing. Time spent in silence is one of the most powerful ways we can invest our time. In this Episode: Lenny Magill silent thinking habit Doing nothing isn’t wasting time Silence is the idea machine Cultivating time in silence A walk as a revolutionary act  For a free copy of Forward Tilt: An Almanac for Personal Growth go to discoverpraxis.com/forwardtilt

The ink isn’t dry on the past yet. You get to re-write it in the future. As humans, we depend on a narrative about the past and that narrative changes depending on what happens in the future. The perfect example of this is the narratives created around sports. A great season with a playoff loss changes what that season meant. A championship win after a mediocre regular season turns that season from a disappointment into a building block. The same is true of our lives. Success in your future turns failures into your past into building blocks while failure in your future will turn your past into confirmation that you couldn’t make it under pressure. This is the way humans work. Our lives are narratives. And it is up to you to write your narrative. When you have something in your past that is not the way you want to be; it doesn’t matter because you get to rewrite it. Covered: - Why the whole game matters, not just the end - Watching sports with a long-term narrative in mind - The future is where history is written - The Patriots history re-written over and over again - Your life is a narrative ---------------------- For a free digital edition of Forward Tilt: An Almanac for Personal Growth go to discoverpraxis.com/forwardtilt.

"With a polo shirt and pliers, you can walk into any computer room.” One thing you realize as you get deeper into your career is how little the people you think are experts truly know. Experts don’t have all the answers--often they are figuring things out as they go-- but they bring a deep sense of confidence in their ability to find and apply answers to their work. Isaac shares his story of figuring this out first hand while installing cables as a sixteen-year-old. Covered in this episode: Lessons learned installing cables at car dealerships at 16 The power of confidence - Responding calmly to chaos Everyone is making it up as they go What “Do you know how to fix it?” really means Confidently learning as you go ------------- The paperback edition of Forward Tilt: An Almanac for Personal Growth is now on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/Forward-Tilt-Almanac-Personal-Growth/dp/1542768179/ **For a free digital edition go to discoverpraxis.com/forwardtilt

Most people approach conspiracy theories with an immediate answer. It's a camera trick! It's aliens! It's a hoax!  Almost everyone focuses on an answer, hardly anyone focuses on the question. How can you use the power of divisive questions in your own life? What do you gain, when you avoid jumping to a quick answer?  In this episode: Fascination with conspiracy theories What can we learn about people from popular conspiracy theories? Is the moon is a hologram? How to apply lessons from conspiracy to your own life The power of focusing on questions, not answers People full of questions have more potential than people with answers -------- For a free copy of the Forward Tilt book go to discoverpraxis.com/forwardtilt

Everyone wants to make more money. But early in your career, a big raise can be a big problem. If your lifestyle grows with your salary and you can’t afford to take a risk at a lower salary, you can end up stuck in a low growth situation. Taking a lower paying job often gives you more freedom and more upside. In this episode: Getting trapped by a high salary Three ways lack of income is an asset Low opportunity cost The expectations that come with your paycheck Freedom from lifestyle slavery Getting trapped by a high salary Three ways lack of income is an asset Low opportunity cost The expectations that come with your paycheck Freedom from lifestyle inflation ------------ For your free copy of the Forward Tilt book, go to discoverpraxis.com/forwardtilt  

“The work you do while you procrastinate is probably the work you should be doing for the rest of your life.” - Jessice Hische   This quote was shared recently in the Praxis community and it started a debate. Some participants thought it was true, some disagreed.   But what if this debate was about the wrong question entirely. What if there is a better way to approach aphorisms?   In this episode:  The best way to approach aphorisms Is there a lesson in your procrastination?  Approaching cliches and aphorisms as if they were true and learning from the experiment  ----------- Forward Tilt is presented by Praxis. If you're a young person with forward tilt and you're ready to learn real-world skills while apprenticing at a startup, go to discoverpraxis.com/forwardtilt 

This is a tale of two interns.    Intern number one was intelligent, passionate, and impressive. But he had a fatal flaw. He didn’t get shit done.    Intern number two wasn’t as impressive initially. He didn’t have the same people skills. But always delivered. He was reliable.    Reliability is simple, but so few people do it. If you are relentlessly reliable, if you get shit done, you are going places.   Because having impressive skills is a lot less important than simply and consistently getting shit done.    In this episode:  A tale of two interns  How you hurt yourself when you don’t deliver (even if your rationalize it) The mindset that lowers your career ceiling  How reliability leads to recommendations  Why getting shit done is crucial when you start your career ------------ Forward Tilt is presented by Praxis. If you're a young person with forward tilt and you're ready to learn real-world skills while apprenticing at a startup, go to discoverpraxis.com and apply today. 

How do you find top level talent? You look for forward tilt.    You look for the people who are so excited by opportunities that they lean across they table when they talk about it. The type of people who physically manifest their excitement.    People with forward tilt don’t shy away from opportunity. They lean in. They are eager, ready, and excited about new challenges.   If you're setting out in your career, your attitude matters as much as your skills. As long as you bring excitement and a bias for action to the table you can learn everything you need to know once you start.    In this episode:  What is forward tilt?  Who is this podcast for?  Do you have forward tilt?  How can you develop forward tilt? How forward tilt helps you build the life you want to live ------------- Forward Tilt is presented by Praxis. If you're a young person with forward tilt and you're ready to learn real-world skills while apprenticing at a startup, go to discoverpraxis.com/forwardtilt