Podcasts about simple practices

Hey friends, Chase here Jeff Boyd is on the show today, and this conversation is about building the kind of life and business that does not always look like the predominant story on the internet. Jeff is the founder and chairman of MTE, More Than Energy, which he describes in this episode as "an energy that loves you back." Before that, he spent 15 years as the President and co-owner of Luggage Free, where he expanded global operations to more than 100 countries before selling the company in 2019. What I loved about this conversation is that it is not the usual story about chasing the next app, raising venture capital, or building something because the internet told you that is what entrepreneurship is supposed to look like. This is a conversation about physical products, unsexy businesses, competition, fatherhood, leadership, and what it means to keep choosing hard things on purpose. Jeff says it plainly right at the top: "That's why I tell my team all the time. They just look at me and I'm like, if it were easy, everybody be doing it. We got to do what nobody else is willing to do, and then you're going to be happy we did it. And I tell them that I'm like, oh yeah, this is hard. And I'm excited about it. Because now that's an opportunity for us because we'll outwork anybody." That idea is at the center of this episode. We talk about the grind of building something real, why curiosity matters more than credentials, what sports teach us about business, why leadership is not about personality type, and how the best things in life often come down to loving the process instead of obsessing over the outcome. Why This Conversation Matters Right Now Most of the entrepreneurs and creators we see online are building in public, building digitally, or building something that looks like the current version of what the internet rewards. There is nothing wrong with that, but it is not the only path. In this episode, I say: "A lot of folks I know in the audience feel a pressure to make their businesses walk and talk and look like the creators and the entrepreneurs that see out there in the world, which is one of the reasons I want to start celebrating some people who are building really successful lives, careers." That is why I wanted to have Jeff on the show. He built and sold a shipping business. Now he is building a physical product in the health and wellness space. He is not chasing the obvious thing. He is not trying to make his work look like everyone else's. Jeff's path is a reminder that there is a whole world of entrepreneurship outside the digital-first story. There are products, services, local businesses, physical goods, retail shelves, manufacturing problems, customer conversations, teams, families, and real-life constraints. And sometimes, that is where the opportunity is. What We Explore in This Episode Jeff's early business story and how he became employee one at a shipping company before helping grow it around the world. The "answer is yes" mindset that helped Luggage Free expand into all 50 states and more than 100 countries. Why physical products are different and what changes when you are building with atoms instead of bits. The origin of MTE and why Jeff wanted to build "an energy that loves you back." What it means to enjoy the grind when the work is hard, relentless, and full of problems you do not know how to solve yet. Fatherhood, presence, and time and why Jeff says he is "so all in now" with his family. Competition, sport, and business and why Jeff still trains and competes as a long jumper. Leadership and authenticity and why Jeff says people do what you do, not what you say you do. Second and third career arcs and what Jeff has learned about zooming out, building teams, and letting people play the right roles. The Core Idea: If It Were Easy, Everybody Would Be Doing It One of the strongest threads in this conversation is Jeff's relationship with hard things. He is not pretending the grind is glamorous. He says straight up that building physical products, selling through retail, and getting people to care is hard. But he also sees that difficulty as part of the opportunity. "You know I some of this stuff I think the harder it is, the better for me. For sure. You want, you want to bear. People are going to be like, oh, I don't have the guts to do this. That's right. Yeah. And then the ones that do, that's a that's another level, right? That's another fence they cleared. But then it's like, okay, well now you did that. But are you ready to grind now because it's a grind." That is the mindset that shows up again and again in the episode. The point is not that everything should be hard for the sake of being hard. The point is that difficulty can reveal where other people quit. That is true in sport. It is true in business. It is true in building a family, a product, a brand, a company, or a body of work. The Answer Is Yes Jeff's first major business story starts with Luggage Free. At the beginning, the company was taking orders by hand and trying to get the phone to ring. Then the first real call came in. "Anyway, so we're trying to get the phone to ring so we can handwrite our orders. And the first call, the guy, you know, we're all. It was kind of like a movie. We're all like, you know, hushed around him, waiting, you know, hearing him, he's like, oh, I'm sorry, we don't serve. North Carolina hangs up. And we were like, oh, dude, Gary, of course you serve anybody." That moment became a kind of operating philosophy: "And I was like, from now on, the answer is yes. Like whatever anybody says answered yes. And with that really that charge? Yeah. We were quickly in all 50 states and we grew to 109 countries throughout the world. And it was always in response to a call." There is something powerful in that. Not because saying yes is always the right answer, but because early in a business, the market often tells you where to go before your strategy deck does. Someone calls. Someone asks. Someone has a need. Someone gives you a clue. The question is whether you are willing to follow it. Building Something You Can Hold After selling Luggage Free in 2019, Jeff had time and space. He was not rushing into the next thing. He was riding his bike, playing tennis, spending time with his family, and looking for what might call him next. What called him was not another service business. It was a physical product. "And so in 19 sold it 2019, 2019 were operating all over the world, offices all over and sold it and was kind of free to at that point, I was like, all right, I want to like what I loved about it was the challenge and the fun and the competition. Right. You're building, you're competing." He continues: "But I what I yearn for was a product and something that was tangible I could actually hold right and do a different scent or a different flavor or different size or different color, whatever." That desire eventually became MTE. Jeff had been trying to solve his own energy problem, stacking supplements, chasing better mood, better energy, and better performance, until he realized the pieces were not working together. "And I realized I was like, Frankenstein. I mean, like, we were talking about it last night, like piling all these supplements together to try and make yourself feel better, even even like ten supplements, which doesn't sound that bad. Shit. Crazy. Yeah. We'll be like a suitcase full when you're traveling, you know?" MTE came from that search. "So we built it's an energy that loves you back. Right. Like an energy drink that loves you back. Yeah. Right. So you get prebiotics and caffeine free blend. That's better than caffeine. Yeah. So now you're getting energy that feels great that you can trust. Sure. And no jitters, no crash, no impact on sleep." Curiosity, Thrill, and Figuring It Out One of my favorite parts of this conversation is when Jeff talks about starting something in a category where he did not have obvious experience. He had not built beverage brands before. He was not a chemist. He was stepping into a new world. His answer was not fear. It was curiosity. "Yeah. Like, I like hair on fire. Like, let's go figure this out." Then he gets to the larger point: "I like it's curiosity and thrill. And that's what it boils down to. Right. Like, I think you you like that's what entrepreneurship is. It's solving problems and and finding solutions to things. Even if you've done it 20 times, they're going to be solutions that need to be had in the evolving world and landscape in which we operate." That is entrepreneurship in a sentence. You do not get to know everything before you begin. You do not get a guarantee that the answer is obvious. You get a problem, a question, a changing landscape, and the chance to learn fast enough to keep moving. Jeff says: "But that's why I love it. I think if, if we boil it down, I love the curiosity that that is necessary to just because you're like, I don't know the answer to that. Instead of that overwhelming me or said of panicking, I'm going to go learn because I'm sure there's more than one answer. We'll figure out. Maybe we'll triangulate, figure it out. Yeah, get to a solution. And and then we'll know for next time. And then we'll be able to iterate and make it better. And on it go. Like I love that process." You Have to Love the Process The conversation moves from business into fatherhood, sport, and the shape of a life. Again and again, we come back to process. Jeff says it directly: "Yeah. You have to love the process, right? And I think that's true of anything, particularly in stuff like that where it's easy to focus on the outcome. I'm lose 20 pounds, I'm going to whatever it is, I'm going to get this promotion, you know. And then I think what happens is then the outcome just naturally happens because you love the process." This applies to entrepreneurship, training, parenting, leadership, and creative work. If you are only trying to reach the finish line, you miss the life that happens while you are getting there. Jeff connects that idea to family: "Like the time is fleeting, right? For whatever it is. And you really have to enjoy the journey because, you know, like, I look at things like, if it's a line that's made up of just millions and millions of dots, and those dots would represent any given period in time." He continues: "Right. College graduation, high school graduation. They get married like whenever it is. You've decided that they've you've set them free. The that point will just be one of hundreds of millions of points that made up the line. Yeah. So, you know, looking and it's kind of the same with like a business, right. Like if you're just all you want to do is sell the business, you're just focused on that. You're going to miss all these hundreds of millions of, of experiences or anything else, right?" Competition Brings Out the Best in People Jeff is still a competitive long jumper. He talks about master's track, world records, regional meets, and the way competition gives him purpose. That competitive lens shows up in business too. "I love it, I love it, I think I think I love to compete. Like I was just telling my buddy the other day, like, I don't like when he's fine, but I hate losing, which is weird, right?" Then he goes deeper: "So I just love the competition, and I love the process that goes into it. And having, you know, so being able to have a purpose and go in and compete and I love competing. Sure. I just think it brings out the best in people." For Jeff, sport is one vehicle for competition, but not the only one. Business is another. "Sports is just a vehicle to compete. Right. So is it the competition like because it brings the best out in you or why do you like it. Yeah, I think I think just that it's the vehicle for sports. Sure. So I like it as an umbrella. I love it in the business." He talks about the shipping company in that same frame: "Like even the shipping company I had towards the end, I was I didn't have a lot of passion for it, but I had, you know, a very competitive space and there were upstarts in the industry and you're like, all right, well, these guys are trying to take my lunch money, you know, like, right. Not on my watch." Leadership Means Leading From the Front When I ask Jeff what is required of leadership, his answer is simple: "Got to lead from the front, I think. Right. I mean, yeah, it's people do what you do, not what you say you do." He adds: "I think you need to be genuine too. Yeah. Right. Like, if you're, if you're genuine and authentic, I think people are more prone to get in line and buy in and say, I'm, I'm, I'm subscribing to what? You're where you're leading me again." That is an important distinction. Leadership is not just having followers. It is not having the loudest voice in the room. It is not projecting certainty at all times. It is what people see you do. It is the consistency between your words and your behavior. It is whether the people around you believe that the thing you are asking from them is something you are willing to model yourself. Nobody Does It Alone Later in the conversation, Jeff talks about what he has learned in this newer chapter of his life and career. One lesson is the importance of zooming out. Another is the myth of the lone genius. "And then the other thing I've learned is you like, nobody does it alone. Right? I mean, that's like total myth. Yeah. The myth of the lone wolf. The lone genius. Yeah. It's, you know, you need a you need a whole group of people that are going to bring ideas that you would have never thought of. They're going to execute your ideas that you do have." He continues: "Right? They're going to they're just they're going to champion for you in ways that you never even knew needed to be championed. You know, I mean, all the things you need a you need a great team and you need to find." That is a hard-earned lesson for builders. The bigger the thing you are trying to create, the less likely it is that you can muscle your way through alone. You need ideas you would not have had. You need people who can execute. You need people who can challenge you, support you, and help you see what you are missing. Role Players Matter One of the most useful leadership ideas in this episode is Jeff's realization that not everyone on a team has to be an all-star. "And the other thing I talk about all the time is it's you have to resist the urge to demand that everybody in your team is an all star, right? Like even the greatest sports teams have role players, and they have guys that sit on the bench to get the starters ready for the playoffs." He explains what he learned: "But they don't, you know, they're they're effectively benchwarmers. But they have a role in the team. And you have a trainer and you have a coach and assistant coaches and all. You know, it's it's the whole organization." That perspective changed the way he thought about people and teams: "That was difficult for me earlier on. I, I just felt like everybody had to be an all star. If you're not at all star, you're you're like, I'm failing you or you're failing me. And either way, you got to go. You know, we're going to get somebody else in here." The lesson is not to lower standards. It is to understand roles. Great teams are not built by pretending everyone is supposed to contribute in the same way. About Jeff Boyd Jeff Boyd is the founder and chairman of MTE (More Than Energy), colloquially known as 'energy that loves you back'. MTE has prebiotics and a caffeine-free blend that functions better than caffeine, giving users feel good energy they can trust, with no spike, no crash, and no impact on sleep. Prior to founding MTE, Jeff spent 15 years as the President and co-owner of Luggage Free where he expanded global operations to over 100 countries before selling the company in 2019. In his free time, Jeff is a notorious oenophile, cyclist and long jumper. If he's not on the bike, on the track, or in the cellar, he enjoys traveling the world with his wife and two children. www.getmte.com Instagram YouTube Timecodes 00:00 – Jeff on why hard things create opportunity 02:06 – Chase welcomes Jeff to the show in Seattle 02:21 – Why this episode is different from the usual digital-first entrepreneurship conversation 05:21 – Jeff begins the story of becoming employee one at a shipping company 07:35 – "From now on, the answer is yes" 09:21 – Selling the company in 2019 and wanting to build a product 10:31 – Jeff starts getting the itch to build something new 15:40 – Why building a physical product is not a get-rich-quick scheme 17:57 – Jeff explains MTE: "an energy that loves you back" 22:35 – Starting in a category where you do not have all the experience 23:59 – Curiosity, thrill, and solving problems as entrepreneurship 28:01 – Fatherhood and being "born to be a dad" 31:12 – Why Jeff is "so all in now" with his family 33:16 – Time, family, business, and "millions and millions of dots" 36:18 – Why you have to love the process 38:15 – Attitude, winning, and sports psychology 39:23 – Jeff on still competing in long jump 42:00 – Why Jeff loves competition 46:33 – Leadership, authenticity, and leading from the front 50:45 – Zooming out and finding your North Star 51:47 – Why nobody does it alone 52:05 – Building teams with role players, not only all-stars 58:37 – "When people show you who they are, believe them" 01:03:14 – MTE cans, flavor work, and mango pineapple 01:05:08 – The Reggie Watts collaboration 01:09:20 – Why the harder path can be better 01:12:15 – Retail as the next frontier 01:17:03 – Jeff's three-pillar vision for MTE 01:17:45 – Ingredients, paraxanthine, prebiotics, and clean energy Questions to Ask Yourself If you want to turn this episode into action, take a few minutes with these questions: Where am I making my business or creative life look like someone else's version of success? What is the "non sexy" opportunity I might be overlooking because it does not look cool online? Where could "the answer is yes" help me learn faster? What hard thing am I avoiding that might actually be the opportunity? What problem do I not know how to solve yet, and who could help me triangulate an answer? Where am I too focused on the outcome and missing the process? What part of my life is made up of "millions and millions of dots" that I need to appreciate now? Am I leading from the front, or only telling people what I value? Where am I expecting everyone to be an all-star instead of building a real team? What would it look like to zoom out and find the North Star again? A Simple Practice for Builders Here's something practical you can do this week. Pick one hard thing in your work or life that you have been treating as a sign to stop. It might be a distribution problem, a hiring problem, a creative problem, a sales problem, a health problem, or a relationship problem. Then sit with Jeff's line: "Oh yeah, this is hard. And I'm excited about it." Do not use that line to pretend the hard thing is easy. Use it to reframe what the hard thing might be showing you. It may be pointing to the part where other people quit. It may be pointing to the skill you need to build next. It may be pointing to the person you need to ask, the rep you need to take, or the process you need to fall in love with again. The work is not always to find an easier road. Sometimes the work is to become the kind of person who can walk the hard one with more purpose. Final Thought This episode is a reminder that business is not only about scale, speed, funding, or hype. It is also about curiosity, grit, family, physical products, role players, clean energy, long jumps, retail shelves, hard conversations, and the willingness to keep learning when you do not already know the answer. Jeff's story is not about avoiding the grind. It is about choosing the right grind. It is about building something thoughtfully, leading from the front, and staying close enough to the process that the outcome has room to take care of itself. Until next time: do what nobody else is willing to do, and love the process enough to keep going.

In this refreshing conversation, I sit down with Natalie Abbott, co-founder of Dwell Differently. She shares her powerful journey of seeking God through various religious texts and how, in time, He opened her heart in a profound way. Soon after, the Bible came alive to her, and she discovered that God's truth is not only accessible but deeply transformative.We explore the “why” behind Scripture memorization, along with the science of how our brains work—unpacking how God designed our neural pathways to be shaped, strengthened, and renewed throughout our lives. Natalie opens up about the joy of working alongside her sister, the weight that can come with doing work the enemy seeks to undermine, and the deep encouragement she's found in hearing testimonies of God's Word taking root and bearing fruit in people's lives.Memorable Quotes:On verse memorization: “If I'm meditating on it, if I'm memorizing it, if I'm allowing it to sort of saturate deep into my bones, then it's going to affect me, it's going to deeply and profoundly transform me because that's what God's Word does, and it's going to come out in my life.”“I'm going to pray, ‘God if you're there, show me who you are,” and that is what I did every single night.”“I thought, ‘that book has made me feel so guilty and so terrible for so long, I'm going to burn it.' And at that moment, the Lord just intervened and was like, ‘Natalie, all those things that you couldn't live up to, I did, in Jesus, I did that for you. Will you believe that?' And I gave my life to Christ and it changed everything.” “If God is speaking in that book, like really actually speaking, and we say that we believe it, how come it's building up dust on the side of our bedside tables?”“It's just a few small words, that you put into your heart and into your mind, and you allow it to be the guiding force in your day, you allow God himself to speak into your heart and into your mind. Man it is so powerful. It is so good.”“Anything I say that is good or wise or helpful, it's a regurgitation of what God's already said.”“In some ways what we do at Dwell Differently is like the feeding of the 5,000. How can I even possibly know what God does with all of that nourishment that He is giving to His people? I have no idea. I'm the guy with the two fish and the five loaves and I'm saying, ‘God would you multiply this.'”“Wherever God is calling you, the enemy is always going to have those super highways, negative super highways - he's going to use those, they are powerful tools, he has used them before, they work, he is going to speak those lies to you, and you have to turn right back around and say, ‘That is not true. That is not true.'”Show Notes & Scripture References:Psalm 23:11 John 3:1Psalm 139John 15:7John 10:27Psalm 16:3Since recording, Dwell Differently has recently moved away from their monthly membership model, but their mission and ministry will continue through their podcast, website, and social media channels. Dwell Differently: Overcome Negative Thinking with the Simple Practice of Memorizing God's TruthSocial media: @dwelldifferently, @nataliejoyabbottWebsite: dwelldifferently.com

Hey friends, Chase here There is a particular kind of silence that can change the direction of a life. Not the peaceful kind. Not the silence you seek out when you need space to think. I mean the silence that lands in the room right after you say something true. The silence after you tell people what you really want. The silence after you say, out loud, that you are thinking about leaving the safe path and choosing the one that actually feels like yours. I remember that silence very clearly. I remember the day I told my family I was going to leave the path everyone expected for me and become a photographer. This was not me announcing a hobby. It was not a side project. It was not some casual thing I thought might be fun to explore. I was saying, in effect, this is what I feel compelled to do. This is the direction I have to chase. And the room got quiet. My parents were not against it, and I want to be clear about that. But I could feel the worry. I could feel the polite smiles and the nods that were probably covering up a very natural concern. I was worried too. I knew it was scary. I knew I might embarrass myself. I knew I might blow up my financial security, fail publicly, and end up crawling back to a "real job." That fear was real. But that moment stuck with me because it mattered. It still matters. Because so much of what keeps us from the life we want is not the actual failure. It is the fear of being seen before we know how the story ends. It is that quiet pause after we name the dream. That is what this episode is about. Betting on yourself, not because there is no fear, but because fear cannot be the thing that gets to design your life. The Moment After You Say the Thing There are obvious forms of resistance in life. Someone tells you no. A door closes. A plan falls apart. A check does not clear. Those things are hard, but at least they are clear. What I am talking about here is more subtle. It is the tiny moment after you reveal what you want and the people around you do not immediately understand. That moment can feel like a verdict, even when it is not. Somebody pauses, and suddenly you start filling in the blanks. Maybe they think I am crazy. Maybe they are disappointed. Maybe this dream is irresponsible. Maybe I should have kept it to myself. And before anything has actually happened, the fear begins doing its work. I have come to believe that this is one of the places where a lot of people stop. Not because someone actively shut them down, but because the silence felt too uncomfortable. If everyone cheered immediately, maybe they would keep going. If everyone criticized them loudly, maybe they would have something to push against. But the silence is different. It creates space for doubt, and doubt can be incredibly persuasive when the dream is still fragile. So if you are somewhere in your life right now wondering whether it is too late, whether you missed the window, whether you are allowed to want something different, I want you to pay attention to that. Especially if you cannot honestly say that you are 100% going after your dreams. This one is for you. Playing It Safe Is Usually Fear in Disguise Most of us do not say, "I am afraid, so I am not going to do the thing." We use better language than that. We say we are being practical. We say we are being responsible. We say we are waiting for the right time, the right plan, the right amount of money, the right amount of certainty. And sometimes those are legitimate considerations. I am not here to tell you to be reckless. But I am here to say that playing it safe is often fear wearing a very respectable outfit. Fear has a job. It is optimized for survival. That is useful when you are in actual danger. But fear is not optimized for creativity. It is not optimized for happiness, joy, connection, harmony, fulfillment, or the gifts you have to give and receive in this life. Fear wants to keep you alive. It does not care if you feel fully expressed. That matters because if you let fear make all your decisions, you may end up safe, but you will also end up smaller than you were meant to be. You will build a life around avoiding discomfort rather than moving toward aliveness. And the best stuff in life is usually just on the other side of the comfort zone you are coddling. By the way, craving comfort is natural. Of course it is. We all want security. We all want belonging. We all want the people we love to understand our choices. But comfort cannot be the only thing we optimize for. At some point, the question becomes: am I protecting my life, or am I hiding from it? The World Will Keep Throwing Curveballs If you are going for it, the world is going to throw you curveballs. That is part of the deal. Not because the world is against you, but because challenge is how you grow. The world cannot really give you anything. It can only challenge you until you become stronger. And when you get stronger, the hard things do not magically become easy. They become easier. That distinction matters. I am not promising a frictionless life. I am not saying the fear disappears or that the path suddenly becomes smooth. I am saying that you become more capable. You become more practiced. You learn how to meet the pitch that used to scare you. What I do not want is for you to quit. I do not want you to take your bat and go home. I do not want the first or fifth or fiftieth curveball to become the reason you stop playing the game you actually came here to play. Whether you meet those challenges as punishment or as part of a playful game of discovery is up to you. But either way, the challenges are coming. The invitation is to stay in the game long enough to find out who you become when you stop retreating every time it gets uncomfortable. Your Weaknesses Might Be Invitations There is something I wish more people said plainly: your weaknesses can be blessings. Not because weakness feels good. Not because fear is fun. Not because we need to romanticize struggle or pretend that everything difficult is automatically noble. But because the places where you feel weak are often the places where you are being invited to grow. That fear you feel right now does not necessarily mean you are doing the wrong thing. It may mean you are standing at the edge of something important. Courage is not the absence of fear. Courage is having fear and doing it anyway. This is easy to forget after years of teaching ourselves to avoid friction. Years of performing the version of ourselves that other people understand. Years of telling ourselves stories about what is realistic, acceptable, responsible, or too late. Over time, you can lose track of what you actually want. You can get so good at managing other people's expectations that you forget to ask whether the life you are maintaining is the life you want to be living. But the desire does not disappear just because you ignore it. It waits. It keeps tapping. It shows up in restlessness, envy, curiosity, frustration, and that persistent feeling that there is something more honest available to you. The Opposite of Playing It Safe Is Freedom The opposite of playing it safe is not reckless risk. That is not the message. This is not about blowing up your life just to prove you are brave. It is not about risk without measure. The opposite of playing it safe is freedom. Freedom is creating the ultimate game of life and then deciding that you are actually going to play. It is betting on yourself with your eyes open. It is taking calculated risks in the direction of what is true for you. It is refusing to let fear be the only voice in the room. That is why I keep showing up. Every week I write an email, create posts, record this show, and share work online because, in a very real way, I am betting on you. I am betting that you will see this work for what it is: a belief that you can activate. You can take calculated risks. You can get to work on your truest dreams. And more than anything, I want you to join me in that bet. What You'll Hear in This Episode This is a short episode, but the message is direct. If you have been waiting for permission, certainty, or universal understanding before you move toward the life you want, this is your reminder that fear does not get the final vote. Why the silence after you share your dream can feel so powerful, and why it keeps many people from taking action The story of telling my family I was leaving the expected path to pursue photography as a career Why playing it safe is often about fear, even when we call it responsibility Why fear is optimized for survival, not creativity, joy, connection, or fulfillment Why the comfort zone is natural to crave, but dangerous to build your whole life around How the world challenges you until you become stronger Why your weaknesses can become opportunities to grow and be brave Why courage means having fear and acting anyway Why the opposite of playing it safe is not recklessness, but freedom Why betting on yourself is a practice, not a one-time declaration Timecodes So You Can Jump to What You Need If you're not listening straight through, here are a few landmarks to help you find the part that speaks to where you are right now: 00:00 – A note about my weekly email and where I put my attention every week 01:50 – Welcome to the micro show and the short message behind today's episode 02:07 – The memory of telling my family I was leaving the expected path to become a photographer 02:44 – The quiet room, the polite smiles, and the worry underneath the silence 03:08 – The fear of public failure, financial insecurity, and having to crawl back to a "real job" 03:32 – Why the fear of saying what you want can keep you from taking action 04:11 – Why the silence after you announce your dream can be more powerful than encouragement or criticism 04:37 – The question: are you 100% going after your dreams? 05:04 – Playing it safe, fear, and why fear is optimized for survival 05:33 – The best stuff in life is on the other side of the comfort zone you are craving 05:54 – The world will throw curveballs as long as you are still playing 06:16 – Why challenges become easier as you get stronger 06:43 – Your weaknesses as blessings and invitations to grow 07:11 – Courage is having fear and doing it anyway 07:33 – The opposite of playing it safe is freedom 07:56 – Why I'm betting that you can activate, take calculated risks, and get to work on your truest dreams 08:19 – The invitation to join me in the bet 08:42 – A quick thank you for listening, sharing, and growing together Read This If You Feel Like It Might Be Too Late If you feel like it might be too late to go after your dreams, start by telling the truth. Are you 100% going after what is true for you? Not what looks good from the outside. Not what keeps everyone comfortable. Not what you chose five or ten or twenty years ago because it made sense at the time. What is true now? For most people, that question is uncomfortable because it removes the hiding places. It asks us to admit where we have settled. It asks us to look at the gap between the life we say we want and the choices we are actually making. That can sting. But it can also wake us up. "Too late" is often fear disguised as wisdom. It sounds mature. It sounds practical. It sounds final. But sometimes it is simply the story we tell ourselves so we do not have to risk being seen trying. Trying is vulnerable. Trying means you might fail. Trying means people might watch you change direction. Trying means you might have to admit that the safe path is not the satisfying one. But not trying has a cost too. The cost is your aliveness. Your creativity. Your sense of possibility. Your relationship with the part of you that still knows there is more. Stop Treating Fear Like a Stop Sign Fear is information. It is not an instruction. It can tell you that something matters. It can tell you that you are stepping outside familiar territory. It can tell you that identity, security, belonging, and ambition are all tangled together in this next move. That is useful information. But it is not the same as a command to stop. Sometimes fear means prepare. Sometimes fear means slow down and get clear. Sometimes fear means make the risk more calculated. Sometimes fear means ask for help. But fear does not automatically mean abandon the dream. If you wait until fear disappears before you act, you may wait forever. The practice is learning to move with fear. To take the next honest step while your hands are still shaking. To understand that courage is not a feeling you wait for, but a behavior you choose. A Simple Practice for Betting on Yourself Here is a simple way to make this real. Start by naming the thing you have been afraid to say out loud. Write it down plainly. No polishing. No over-explaining. Just the truth. Then ask yourself whose silence you are afraid of. Who are you imagining in the room? Whose pause, judgment, worry, or disappointment has more power over your choices than it should? Once you have that, separate fear from fact. Write down what is actually true, and then write down what fear is predicting. Those are not always the same thing. Fear loves to present a prediction as a certainty. Your job is to notice the difference. Then choose one calculated risk. Not a reckless leap. Not the whole mountain. One honest action that moves you toward what you want. Send the email. Make the call. publish the work. Have the conversation. Block the time. Start the project. Admit the dream to someone you trust. The goal is not to eliminate fear. The goal is to build evidence that you can move with it. Don't Take Your Bat and Go Home As long as you are still playing, you are going to get curveballs. That does not mean you are doing it wrong. It means you are in the game. The temptation, when things get hard, is to turn challenge into evidence that you should quit. To decide the safe path was safer for a reason. To take your bat and go home. But growth comes from staying in the game long enough to get stronger. The things that feel impossible today may not become easy tomorrow, but they can become easier. You can become more capable. You can become more resilient. You can learn how to meet the pitch. That is why betting on yourself matters. It is not blind optimism. It is a commitment to keep participating in your own life. Questions to Ask Yourself What dream have I been afraid to say out loud? Whose silence am I afraid of? Where am I mistaking discomfort for danger? What am I calling "practical" that might actually be fear? What comfort zone am I currently protecting? What curveball has the world thrown at me, and what is it asking me to learn? Where could one of my weaknesses become an invitation to grow? What would courage look like today, even if the fear does not go away? What calculated risk would move me closer to my truest dreams? What would it mean to bet on myself this week? The Core Idea Bet on yourself. Not because success is guaranteed. Not because fear will disappear. Not because everyone will understand immediately. Bet on yourself because the alternative is letting fear quietly design your life. The silence after you say what you want is not proof that you are wrong. The discomfort is not proof that you should stop. The fear is not the enemy. Fear is optimized for survival, but you are not here merely to survive. You are here to create, connect, grow, and give what is yours to give. The opposite of playing it safe is not reckless risk. The opposite is freedom. It is creating the ultimate game of life and then deciding that you are actually going to play. So today, I'm betting on you. I'm betting that you can activate. I'm betting that you can take calculated risks. I'm betting that you can get to work on your truest dreams. And more than anything else, I want you to join me in that bet. Until next time: stop treating fear like a stop sign, stay in the game, and bet on yourself.

Hey friends, Chase here Eric Zimmer is on the show today, and this conversation is exactly the kind of reminder we all need when we are trying to change something real. You probably know Eric from The One You Feed, his award-winning podcast about wisdom, behavior change, mental health, spirituality, and what it means to live well. But Eric's new book, How a Little Becomes a Lot: The Art of Small Changes for a More Meaningful Life, goes somewhere even more fundamental. It asks a question that feels especially urgent for creators, entrepreneurs, leaders, parents, and anyone trying to build a meaningful life in a world that constantly tells us to optimize everything: What if lasting change is not about becoming more disciplined, but about learning how to stop fighting yourself? That question matters because most of us have made change too heavy. We wrap it in shame, pressure, perfectionism, identity, ambition, self-criticism, and the fantasy of the big breakthrough. We get stuck waiting for the epiphany, the watershed moment, the dramatic turn where everything finally becomes clear. Eric's message is simpler, deeper, and more freeing: "There are moments that stand out because we pull them out and we pluck them out and we make them important, but they don't make sense without the moments before and after. There's all these little, deeply uninteresting moments where I made a small choice to move towards my recovery and away from my addiction again and again. And that's the way change really works." That idea is the center of this episode. We talk about Eric's journey from homelessness and heroin addiction to recovery, coaching, teaching, and writing; why your mind has a mind of its own; how to work with competing desires instead of pretending they are not there; and why small choices compound into a completely different life. This conversation is about loosening the grip. It is about getting back to the part of you that knows what matters, even when another part of you wants comfort, distraction, escape, or relief right now. Why This Conversation Matters Right Now We are living in a strange moment for anyone who wants to grow. On one hand, there has never been more access to tools, ideas, books, podcasts, teachers, frameworks, research, and practices that can help us change. That is extraordinary. But it also comes with a cost. The pressure to optimize every corner of our lives has never been stronger. Every scroll seems to bring another routine, another system, another habit, another rule, another version of the person we are supposed to become. We are constantly being asked to improve ourselves: What is your morning routine? What habit are you tracking? What are you optimizing? What are you building? What are you eliminating? What is the plan? Those questions can be useful at the right time. But when they show up too early, or too often, they can turn growth into another way of beating ourselves up. Eric's work reminds us that change begins with honesty. Before the perfect habit. Before the flawless system. Before the heroic reinvention. Before the new identity. Before the transformation story, there is a person being pulled in different directions. Wanting to change. Wanting to stay comfortable. Wanting what matters most. Wanting what feels good right now. Wanting freedom. Wanting safety. Wanting growth. Wanting acceptance. That does not mean something is wrong with you. It means you are human. And in that understanding, there is a kind of wisdom most self-improvement advice forgets. What We Explore in This Episode Eric's low point at 24 and how homelessness, heroin addiction, illness, and the threat of prison became the beginning of his recovery journey. Why the big turning point is not the whole story and why change actually happens in the small choices that come after. How to understand the "off-camera moments" of transformation that never make the montage but make all the difference. Why your mind has a mind of its own and what it means to be a motivationally complex person. How to work with what you want now and what you want most without shaming yourself for having competing desires. Why "playing the tape all the way through" can help you see past the first scene your mind wants to show you. How structure and story both shape change, and why systems alone are not always enough. How to hold change and acceptance at the same time when life refuses to fit into simple categories. Why trying smaller can create momentum when trying harder is not working. The Core Idea: Little by Little, a Little Becomes a Lot The fastest way to get unstuck is often to stop waiting for the big transformation and start paying attention to the next small choice. We get obsessed with the dramatic moment. The rock bottom. The epiphany. The vow. The clean break. The day everything changed. We want the music to swell. We want the story to make sense. Eric's story has one of those moments. At 24, he was homeless, addicted to heroin, physically depleted, and facing the possibility of decades in prison. Going into long-term treatment mattered. But Eric is careful not to confuse the turning point with the transformation. The transformation was not one decision. It was thousands. The decision to move toward recovery again. The decision to not use again. The decision to show up again. The decision to do the next small thing again. The decision to choose what mattered most over what felt urgent right now. The on-camera moment gets the attention. The off-camera moments create the life. Eric's point is not that ambition does not matter. It is not that insight does not matter. It is not that we should abandon goals, systems, or discipline. It is that the living center of change is choice. The small one comes first. Your Mind Has a Mind of Its Own One of the big tensions in this conversation is the voice many of us carry around that says, "If I really wanted to change, this would be easier." That voice says: You should have more discipline. You should be more consistent. You should know better by now. You should not still struggle with this. You should be able to just decide. Eric's response is that we are not simple creatures. We are motivationally complex. We do not want one thing. We want lots of things. We want what we value most, and we want what feels good right now. We want to grow, and we want to be comfortable. We want to change, and we want to be accepted exactly as we are. That is why the phrase "your mind has a mind of its own" is so useful. It gives language to something we all experience. You decide you are going to do one thing, and then you watch yourself do another. You know what would help, and still you avoid it. You care deeply about the future, and still the present moment feels more real. The work is not to shame that complexity out of yourself. The work is to understand it. Play the Tape All the Way Through One of my favorite parts of this conversation is Eric's explanation of a recovery practice called "playing the tape all the way through." When we want something in the moment, our mind often shows us only the first scene. The first scene is relief. The first scene is escape. The first scene is pleasure, comfort, avoidance, or release. In Eric's addiction, that first scene was all the reasons getting high would feel amazing. But recovery taught him not to stop there. He had to keep the tape running. Then what? The shame comes back. The fear comes back. The despair comes back. The consequences come back. The craving comes back, often stronger than before. This is such a powerful tool because it makes the future less abstract. Before you avoid the work, play the tape through. Before you send the angry email, play the tape through. Before you break the promise to yourself, play the tape through. Not to punish yourself. To see clearly. Structure Matters, But It Is Not the Whole Story Eric makes an important distinction in this episode between the external architecture of change and the internal moments of choice. A lot of personal growth advice focuses on structure. Set the goal. Build the system. Make the habit obvious. Make the habit easy. Design the environment. Remove friction. Put the right reminders in place. That matters. But structure is not the whole story. Because even when you know exactly what to do, and even when you have made it as easy as possible, the moment still comes. You and the choice. Do you write? Do you walk? Do you call? Do you tell the truth? Do you choose what you want most over what you want now? When we do not make the choice we wanted to make, Eric says there is usually something happening inside us. A feeling. A thought pattern. A story. A fear. A form of self-doubt we have not learned how to work with yet. That is why real change needs both. The structure and the story. Try It Smaller Eric says something in this episode that every ambitious person should sit with: Try it smaller. That does not mean the goal does not matter. It means the path has to be walkable. When a change plan is not working, many of us assume we need more discipline. More pressure. More intensity. More accountability. But often, the better move is to make the action smaller. If you cannot write for two hours, write for ten minutes. If you cannot meditate for 30 minutes, sit for three breaths. If you cannot change your whole health routine, put on your shoes and walk around the block. If you cannot face the entire project, open the document. Small does not mean meaningless. Small means repeatable. And repeatable is where momentum comes from. Change and Acceptance Are Not Opposites Another major theme in this episode is the tension between growth and acceptance. One of the best parts of us wants to change. We want to grow, improve, heal, create, recover, repair, and build better lives. And yet, so many wisdom traditions point us toward acceptance. Presence. Contentment. Allowing things to be as they are. So which is it? Do we change, or do we accept? Eric's answer is that very often we have to do both about the exact same thing. He talks about depression in his own life. Is that something he has changed, or something he has accepted? Both. There are things he does that make depression less likely. There are practices, supports, behaviors, and choices that help. And sometimes the cycle comes around anyway, and the most skillful thing he can do is say, "Oh, this is what's here." That is not resignation. That is honesty. Wise Habits Create Momentum With Compassion The title of Eric's book is not just a catchy phrase. It is a worldview. A little becomes a lot. Not because one tiny action changes everything overnight, but because small choices compound. They build identity. They build trust. They build momentum. They begin to align our daily actions with our deeper values. Eric calls these Wise Habits. They are not just outer behaviors designed to make us more efficient. They also include inner attitudes that bring more peace, clarity, and self-compassion to everyday life. That matters because self-criticism is often mistaken for seriousness. We think if we are hard enough on ourselves, we will finally change. But harshness usually creates more resistance. More shame. More hiding. More all-or-nothing thinking. A Wise Habit does something different. It helps us move forward without declaring war on ourselves. Ask What Problem You Are Solving Near the end of the conversation, Eric offers a simple question that I love: What problem are you solving? That question is a filter. Because we are surrounded by advice. Every day, someone is telling us to start a new routine, stop eating at a certain time, wake up earlier, track something, optimize something, remove something, add something, become something. Some of those ideas might be useful. But not every good idea is your idea. Not every habit belongs in your life. Before you collect another self-improvement assignment, ask what problem you are actually trying to solve. That question brings you back to values. It brings you back to clarity. It brings you back to the life you are actually living. About Eric Zimmer Eric Zimmer is an author, teacher, speaker, behavior coach, and the creator of The One You Feed, an award-winning podcast about wisdom, behavior change, mental health, spirituality, and what it means to live well. At 24, Eric was homeless, addicted to heroin, and facing the possibility of decades in prison. His recovery sparked a lifelong exploration of human transformation, resilience, meaning, and the small daily choices that shape a life. His new book, How a Little Becomes a Lot: The Art of Small Changes for a More Meaningful Life, brings together behavioral science, Zen Buddhism, modern psychology, and timeless wisdom to show how lasting transformation happens through small, repeatable choices. Timecodes 00:00 – Eric on why change happens in the small off-camera moments 02:11 – Chase introduces Eric Zimmer and How a Little Becomes a Lot 05:25 – Eric shares the low point that became the beginning of his recovery journey 06:17 – Why Eric's extreme story contains something universal 09:34 – How treatment, recovery, and the question "why do we change?" shaped Eric's work 11:19 – The tension between wanting to grow and learning to accept where we are 13:48 – Why the big turning point only matters because of the choices that follow 15:12 – The difference between external architecture and internal moments of choice 18:29 – What it means that your mind has a mind of its own 19:07 – Why we are motivationally complex creatures 20:20 – The dilemma between what we want now and what we want most 22:00 – Why small changes require trust in the process 23:19 – Playing the tape all the way through 24:52 – The rider and the elephant as a model for change 26:30 – Why "you are the average of the five people around you" is incomplete 28:29 – Emergence, friendship, and why relationships are more than instruments for success 30:44 – How to seek growth while allowing life to be as it is 33:04 – Eric reflects on grief, Alzheimer's, and the practice of allowing 35:08 – Why some things must be both changed and accepted 38:31 – Two types of change: change that happens to us and change we cause to happen 39:01 – Getting clear on why you want to change 39:25 – Asking "what problem are you solving?" before chasing another tactic 40:42 – The SPA method and why specificity matters 41:53 – Planning for what will go wrong 42:14 – Deconstructing the choice point when you do not follow through 43:01 – Working with self-doubt skillfully enough to begin 43:50 – Why trying smaller can help you build consistency 44:21 – Chase reflects on the hope, kindness, and practicality of Eric's work 45:37 – Where to find Eric's book, podcast, and work Questions to Ask Yourself If you want to turn this episode into action, take a few minutes with these questions: What change am I trying to make right now, and why does it actually matter to me? Where am I waiting for a dramatic breakthrough instead of making the next small choice? What am I trying to force that I might need to understand first? What do I want now, and what do I want most? What first scene is my mind showing me, and what happens if I play the tape all the way through? What would it look like to try smaller instead of trying harder? Where is self-criticism pretending to be discipline? What part of my life needs more structure? What part of my life needs more compassion? What am I trying to change that I may also need to accept? A Simple Practice for Making Real Change Here's something practical you can do this week. Choose one change you care about. Not ten. Not your whole life. One. Ask yourself: What problem am I solving? Then make the next action smaller than your ambition wants it to be. Open the document. Walk for five minutes. Sit for three breaths. Send the text. Put the shoes by the door. Write one paragraph. Make the call. Tell the truth in one sentence. Do not evaluate it too early. Do not turn it into a full identity. Do not decide that it only counts if it is dramatic. Do not use one missed day as proof that you cannot change. Just make the next small choice. Then notice what happens. Notice what gets in the way. Notice what story shows up. Notice whether something in you begins to trust that change does not have to arrive all at once. That is enough. Final Thought The longer I do this work, the more I believe that transformation is not something we can force. It is something we practice. It happens after the decision. After the insight. After the moment we wish would change everything. It happens in the quiet, ordinary, off-camera choices that do not look like much at first. Eric's invitation in this conversation is simple, generous, and quietly radical: Stop making change so dramatic that you cannot touch it. Get clear on what matters. Understand the parts of you that are pulling in different directions. Build the structure. Work with the story. Play the tape all the way through. Try it smaller. Return when you stumble. Little by little, a little becomes a lot. Until next time: make the next small choice, and keep feeding what matters most.

What if the clarity you're searching for isn't in more information, but already within your body?Many thoughtful, intelligent people spend so much time analyzing decisions, solving problems, and managing daily pressures that they gradually lose connection with the signals their body is constantly sending them. In this episode, we explore how subtle patterns of stress, breath, posture, movement, and emotional responses shape the way we think, feel, and make decisions—often without us even noticing.If you've ever felt stuck in overthinking, disconnected from yourself, or uncertain about your next step in life, this conversation offers a grounded and practical way back to presence, clarity, and self-trust.Discover how slowing down and reconnecting with the body can help interrupt unconscious mental patterns and bring more awareness into everyday life.Learn simple, practical ways to use movement and breath to become more present, reduce stress, and feel more grounded during uncertain moments.Understand how to balance external information with inner wisdom so you can make decisions with greater clarity, trust, and alignment.Press play to discover how reconnecting with your body can help you move beyond overthinking and make clearer, more grounded decisions in every area of life.˚KEY POINTS AND TIMESTAMPS:01:49 - Why We Become Disconnected From Our Body04:54 - The Subtle Physical Patterns We Stop Noticing07:49 - Reconnecting Through Movement and Awareness10:18 - Using Breath to Interrupt Stress and Overthinking15:28 - How Self-Awareness Influences Difficult Decisions18:27 - Balancing Logic, Data, and Inner Wisdom24:21 - Simple Practices to Slow Down and Become Present30:03 - Practical Ways to Return to the Present Moment˚MEMORABLE QUOTE:"I find that the present moment is really where the change is possible."˚VALUABLE RESOURCES:Lindsay's website: https://somalingua.com/˚Coaching with Agi: https://personaldevelopmentmasterypodcast.com/mentor˚

Being rich isn't the same as being wealthy. One increases your bank balance; the other expands your freedom, joy, and contentment.In this second part of a two-part episode, Daniel Sih and Matt Bain turn from theory to practice, unpacking seven money-mindset practices — from noticing what's already in your hands, to beating upgrade-it is.Our real-world practices can help you live well today rather than postponing happiness for a future that never quite arrives. It's about being able to look in the mirror and honestly say, “I have enough.”You can also explore previous seasons of The Spacemakers wherever you listen.Discover more:SPACEMAKERS WEBSITEYOUTUBESEASON 4 GUIDEThis season is made possible with support from our sponsors: Bulk Nutrients, Fullers Bookshop, and The Spacemakers Dojo.This podcast is recorded and produced by Wildersound and Production Farm StudiosMentioned in this episode:BULK NUTRIENTS_ADVERT FINAL_RICE PROTEINBulk Nutrients

Hey friends, Chase here Austin Kleon is back on the show, and this conversation is exactly the kind of reminder every creative person needs. You probably know Austin from Steal Like an Artist, Show Your Work!, and Keep Going, the books that have helped millions of people rethink creativity, sharing, influence, originality, and what it actually means to make things in public. But Austin's new book, Don't Call It Art: 10 Ways to Create Like a Kid Again, goes somewhere even more fundamental. It asks a question that feels especially urgent for creators, entrepreneurs, artists, writers, photographers, parents, and anyone trying to make meaningful work in a world that wants to turn everything into content: What if the way back to your best creative work is not becoming more serious, but becoming more playful? That question matters because most of us have made creativity too heavy. We have wrapped it in identity, pressure, productivity, platforms, metrics, perfectionism, and the fear of being judged. We get stuck asking whether we are real artists, serious writers, successful creators, or legitimate professionals. We worry about the noun before we do the verb. Austin's message is simpler, deeper, and more freeing: "Don't call it art. Don't worry about being an artist. Forget the nouns. Do the verbs. Just make stuff." That idea is the center of this episode. We talk about what kids can teach us about creativity, why play is not frivolous, how to build the conditions for your best work, why attention is your most valuable resource, and why some of the most important ideas in your life might come from goofing off. This conversation is about loosening the grip. It is about getting back to the part of you that makes before it judges, explores before it explains, and follows the energy before it knows exactly where the work is going. Why This Conversation Matters Right Now We are living in a strange moment for creative people. On one hand, there has never been more opportunity. An individual with a laptop, a camera, a newsletter, a sketchbook, a phone, a point of view, or a weird little idea can reach people directly. That is extraordinary. But it also comes with a cost. The pressure to turn every interest into a brand, every hobby into content, every project into a product, and every creative impulse into a strategy has never been stronger. We are constantly being asked to define ourselves: What do you do? What is your niche? What is your platform? What are you building? How are you monetizing it? What is the plan? Those questions can be useful at the right time. But when they show up too early, they can suffocate the very thing they are trying to organize. Austin's work reminds us that creativity begins before identity. Before "artist." Before "writer." Before "photographer." Before "entrepreneur." Before "content creator." Before the nouns, there are verbs. Drawing. Writing. Walking. Noticing. Building. Playing. Collecting. Tinkering. Making. Sharing. Kids understand this instinctively. They do not sit down and ask whether what they are making fits the market. They do not wonder whether they are allowed to call themselves artists. They do not freeze because the thing in front of them might not be good enough. They simply begin. And in that beginning, there is a kind of wisdom most adults have forgotten. What We Explore in This Episode Why kids can be some of the best creativity teachers because they make before they judge, label, or perform. How to reconnect with the feeling you wanted as a kid, not necessarily the exact childhood you had. Why play is not the opposite of serious work, but a form of creative research and development. How to create the conditions for creativity through time, space, materials, and permission. Why tools should feel more like toys if you want to stay curious and experimental. How phones fracture attention and why protecting the edges of your day can change the texture of your life. Why hobbies matter and how bikes, music, golf, drawing, and other forms of play can return us to ourselves. Why "don't call it art" can be liberating for anyone who feels trapped by labels or legitimacy. How to use jealousy, disgust, and frustration as creative information instead of letting them turn into bitterness. Why people pay attention when someone truly believes in what they are doing. The Core Idea: Forget the Nouns. Do the Verbs. The fastest way to get unstuck is often to stop asking what you are and start paying attention to what you do. That sounds simple, but it is one of the biggest traps in creative work. We get obsessed with identity. Am I an artist? Am I a real writer? Am I a serious photographer? Am I a professional? Am I successful enough to call myself this thing? Am I allowed? That kind of thinking can freeze you before you even start. Kids do not have that problem. They are not trying to become "artists." They are drawing. They are building. They are making noise. They are inventing stories. They are throwing materials around and seeing what happens. Austin's point is not that craft does not matter. It is not that ambition does not matter. It is not that we should abandon discipline. It is that the living center of creativity is action. The verb comes first. Make the thing. Move the pencil. Open the notebook. Pick up the guitar. Ride the bike. Take the walk. Make the zine. Shoot the photo. Write the sentence. Start the weird little project that begins with, "Wouldn't it be funny if…" That is where the energy is. Play Is Creative R&D One of the big tensions in this conversation is the voice many of us carry around that says play is not practical. That voice says: You have responsibilities. You need to make money. You need to be serious. You need to have a plan. You need to stop messing around. Austin's response is that play is not the opposite of serious work. Play is often what makes serious work possible. He talks about play as research and development. Any healthy company needs R&D. It needs space to explore, test, wander, fail, and discover things that cannot be found through pure efficiency. The same is true for a creative life. A lot of us start in explore mode. We are curious. We are trying things. We are learning. We are following our taste. We are discovering our voice. Then, if something works, we shift into exploit mode. We repeat the thing. We build a career around it. We systematize it. We professionalize it. We optimize it. That can be useful. But if you stay there forever, you eventually run out of juice. You need space to explore again. That is what play gives you. It returns you to the part of the process where you are not just producing, but discovering. And in creative work, discovery is everything. Create the Conditions, Then Get Out of the Way One of my favorite parts of this conversation is Austin's simple equation: Play = time + space + materials. That may sound almost too simple, but it is profound. When I look back at the most creative seasons of my life, the pattern is obvious. I had uninterrupted time. I had a place to go. I had the right materials around me. I had enough structure to begin and enough freedom to be surprised. That is what we often give kids when we want them to create. We give them a table, some paper, some markers, a chunk of time, and permission to make a mess. Then we grow up and deny ourselves the same basic conditions. We say we are blocked, stuck, confused, or uninspired, but often we have not created an environment where anything could actually emerge. No time. No space. No materials. No quiet. No room to tinker. The lesson is not complicated, but it is easy to forget: Set the conditions. Allow the work to happen. Get out of the way. That is not laziness. That is not indulgence. That is how the good stuff gets a chance to show up. The Best Ideas Often Come From Goofing Off I have said this before, and I mean it: so many of the best ideas in my life have come from goofing off. Not from trying to optimize. Not from grinding. Not from forcing. Not from staring at a blank screen and demanding genius. They came when I was tinkering. Playing. Walking. Talking with friends. Making something that had no obvious point. Trying something because it felt fun, strange, or impossible to explain. Austin and I talk about this because it is one of the hardest things for ambitious people to accept. We want the path to be linear. We want effort to equal outcome. We want the best ideas to come from the most serious hours. But creativity often does not work that way. The mind needs room. The body needs movement. The soul needs a little nonsense. Goofing off is not always avoidance. Sometimes it is how the deeper intelligence gets a chance to speak. Tools Should Be Toys Austin says something in this episode that every creator should sit with: Tools should be toys. That does not mean your tools are unimportant. It means the best tools invite you into a state of play. They make you want to touch them, try them, misuse them, combine them, push them, and see what happens. A sketchbook can be a toy. A camera can be a toy. A guitar pedal can be a toy. A bicycle can be a toy. A cheap notebook, a box of crayons, a microphone, a drum machine, a kitchen table, a phone in airplane mode, a pile of index cards — all of it can become part of the creative playground. The danger is when tools become only professional instruments. When every object in your creative life carries the pressure of output, performance, monetization, or proof, it becomes harder to begin. A toy invites curiosity. And curiosity is one of the most reliable doors back into making. Attention Is the Beginning of Everything Another major theme in this episode is attention. Austin shares a simple practice: start and end the day without your phone. Not as a moral performance. Not as some extreme digital detox. Just as a way to protect the edges of the day from people and companies that do not care about you, but desperately want your attention. That hit me hard. Because attention is not just another resource. In many ways, it is the resource. What you give your attention to shapes your thoughts, your desires, your mood, your relationships, your sense of possibility, and your work. If the first thing you do every morning is hand your mind to the internet, you are letting someone else set the tone for your day. Austin's practice is simple. Coffee. Breakfast. Journal. Kids. Life. Then the phone. At night, the phone charges in the kitchen. Small boundary. Huge impact. Creativity requires attention. And attention has to be protected. Return to Who You Were Before All This There is a beautiful thread in this conversation about returning to the things that made you feel alive before life got complicated. For Austin, that includes riding a bike and playing in a band. For me, golf has become one of those things. Not because it is productive in the traditional sense, but because it gets me outside, off my phone, walking with friends, and fully present for hours. That matters. A lot of people feel lost because they are trying to think their way back into aliveness. But sometimes the way back is physical. Pick up the instrument. Ride the bike. Throw the baseball. Walk the dog. Draw badly. Make noise. Get outside. Do the thing you used to love before you thought it had to mean something. Austin brings up the question: Who were you before all this? Before the career. Before the metrics. Before the audience. Before the obligations. Before the identity got heavy. There may be clues there. Not because you need to go backward, but because some part of you may have been waiting to be invited forward again. Don't Call It Art The title of Austin's book is not a dismissal of art. It is a liberation from the weight we put on the word. For a lot of people, "art" has become intimidating. Sacred. Serious. Something that belongs to museums, geniuses, experts, critics, galleries, and people who have permission. But making is older and deeper than all of that. Kids understand this. They do not call it art. They just do things. And when we stop obsessing over whether something is art, we create more room to actually make. We get less precious. Less frozen. Less performative. Less worried about the label and more connected to the act. That is the invitation: Don't call it art. Don't worry about being an artist. Forget the nouns. Do the verbs. Just make stuff. It sounds almost too simple. That is why it works. Use What Bothers You Austin also offers a surprising creative tactic: pay attention to what you hate. Not publicly. Not performatively. Not as a way to become bitter or cynical. But privately, as information. Disgust can point toward values. Frustration can reveal desire. Jealousy can show you something you want. The things that bother you can become clues, if you are willing to ask what the opposite would look like. Instead of turning your irritation into a rant, turn it into a project. What would you rather see in the world? What is the opposite of the thing you cannot stand? What would it look like to make that? That shift is powerful because it transforms complaint into creation. It turns "I hate this" into "What if we made something different?" People Pay Attention to Belief Near the end of the conversation, Austin shares a line from Kim Gordon that I love: "People will pay to watch other people believe in themselves." That is true in art. It is true in music. It is true in entrepreneurship. It is true in leadership. It is true in life. We are drawn to people who are alive in what they are doing. Not perfect. Not polished beyond recognition. Not optimized into sameness. Alive. When someone believes in what they are making, that belief travels. This does not mean you will always feel confident. It does not mean you will never doubt yourself. It does not mean every idea will work. It means you keep returning to the work. You keep paying attention to what matters to you. You keep making the thing only you can make in the way only you can make it. That is where the signal comes from. About Austin Kleon Austin Kleon is the New York Times bestselling author of a series of illustrated books about creativity in the digital age: Steal Like An Artist, Show Your Work!, Keep Going, and Don't Call It Art. He is also the author of Newspaper Blackout, a collection of poems made by redacting the newspaper with a permanent marker. His books have sold over two million copies and have been translated into more than 30 languages. Austin's work has been featured on NPR's Morning Edition, PBS Newshour, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal. New York Magazine called his work "brilliant," The Atlantic called him "positively one of the most interesting people on the Internet," and The New Yorker said his poems "resurrect the newspaper when everybody else is declaring it dead." He has spoken for organizations including Pixar, Google, Netflix, SXSW, TEDx, Dropbox, Adobe, and The Economist. In previous lives, he worked as a librarian, a web designer, and an advertising copywriter. He lives in Austin, Texas, with his wife and sons. Follow Austin Kleon Website Don't Call It Art Newsletter Instagram X YouTube Timecodes 04:24 – Austin returns to the show and talks about the new book 06:17 – How Austin's kids became his best creativity teachers 07:04 – What it means to take care of a creative person 10:43 – The childhood question that reveals what makes time disappear 18:34 – Why play is creative research and development 21:43 – Finding what you were not looking for 23:06 – How a fixed vision can blind you to what is actually in front of you 28:13 – Chase reflects on creating the right conditions for creative work 31:37 – Austin's equation: play equals time plus space plus materials 32:48 – Why tools should feel more like toys 35:25 – Reconnecting with the activities that made you feel alive as a kid 38:53 – Who were you before all this? 43:08 – Protecting attention from companies that want to take it 44:17 – Starting and ending the day without your phone 47:08 – Why friendship, hobbies, and shared activities matter 57:17 – Where the title Don't Call It Art came from 58:32 – Forget the nouns, do the verbs, just make stuff 01:00:01 – Why "wouldn't it be funny if…" is a clue worth following 01:03:15 – Finding your creative family tree 01:06:36 – How to use frustration and disgust as creative information 01:08:31 – Why people pay attention when you believe in what you are doing 01:09:44 – Austin's newsletter, book tour, and where to find his work Questions to Ask Yourself If you want to turn this episode into action, take a few minutes with these questions: What did I do as a kid that made hours pass like minutes? Where am I making creativity heavier than it needs to be? What noun am I clinging to that might be keeping me from doing the verb? What conditions do I need in order to make more freely? Do I have time, space, and materials available on a regular basis? What tool in my life could become more like a toy? Where is my attention being stolen before I have a chance to choose? What hobby, activity, or form of play would help me return to myself? What bothers me enough that it might contain a creative clue? What would I make this week if I stopped worrying whether it counted as art? A Simple Practice for Making Like a Kid Again Here's something practical you can do this week. Set aside one uninterrupted hour. No phone. No audience. No outcome. No need to make something good. Choose a space. Put a few materials in front of you. Paper and markers. A camera. A guitar. A notebook. Clay. Index cards. A laptop with the internet off. Whatever feels inviting. Then begin with this prompt: Wouldn't it be funny if… Follow whatever comes next. Do not evaluate it too early. Do not ask what it is for. Do not decide whether it is art. Do not turn it into a brand, a strategy, or a pitch deck. Just make stuff. Then notice how you feel. Notice what surprised you. Notice whether something small wants to keep going. That is enough. Final Thought The longer I do this work, the more I believe that creativity is not something we need to earn. It is something we need to return to. It was there before the labels. Before the pressure. Before the metrics. Before the platforms. Before the fear of being judged. Before we learned to ask whether we were allowed. Austin's invitation in this conversation is simple, generous, and quietly radical: Stop making creativity so precious that you cannot touch it. Give yourself time. Give yourself space. Give yourself materials. Protect your attention. Find your friends. Pick up the toy. Follow the weird little idea. Let yourself begin before you know what it means. Until next time: forget the nouns, do the verbs, and just make stuff.

What happens when a client says, "I don't want to be here anymore," and you're the only clinician in the room? In this important conversation, I sit down with therapist and former ER mental health clinician Maria Winters to discuss one of the most challenging situations therapists can face: assessing and responding to suicidal ideation in private practice. Drawing from 12 years of experience in emergency psychiatry, Maria shares what therapists often misunderstand about suicide risk, why asking direct questions matters, and how to distinguish between suicidal thoughts and an active crisis. We talk through intent, plans, access to means, substance use, emergency petitions, hospitalization decisions, and what actually happens after a client arrives at the emergency room. This episode is especially relevant for therapists in private practice, group practice owners, and clinicians who want to feel more confident navigating high-risk situations. We also discuss common fears around liability, when to involve crisis response teams or law enforcement, and why ongoing training in suicide assessment is something every therapist should prioritize. Whether you're a seasoned clinician or early in your career, this conversation offers practical insight into having life-saving conversations with greater confidence and clinical clarity.   Topics Covered in this Episode: 3:35 - Why many clients never disclose suicidal thoughts unless they're directly asked 6:45 - The critical difference between suicidal ideation, intent, and planning 9:10 - What therapists often misunderstand about when hospitalization is actually necessary 12:50 - How ER clinicians evaluate risk once a client arrives at the hospital 27:05 - What therapists should know about HIPAA during psychiatric emergencies   If this episode gave you a new perspective or helped you feel more prepared as a clinician, I'd love for you to subscribe, leave a review, and share it with a colleague. These conversations help us become more confident, ethical, and effective therapists, and your support helps bring them to more clinicians who need them.   Note: If you or someone you know is experiencing a mental health crisis please call 988 or go to your local emergency room. For more resources on how to get help please check out https://988helpline.org/   Resources Mentioned: Maria's Website: www.thecoachingtherapist.com Connect with Maria on Instagram: coaching_therapist   Find out more about Alma here: helloalma.com/danielle   Take 50% off your first 3 months of Simple Practice + a 7 day free trial using the link: simplepractice.com/danielle   Fill Up Therapists: $0-$60k   If you are needing more private pay clients in your practice in 2026, the Practice Accelerator is the perfect fit for you. Use the code ALLIN as a podcast listener to get $100 off at checkout.    Scale Up Therapists: $60-$200k+ Group practice owners, content creators and therapists scaling beyond 1-1.  Apply here for the next round of Scale Up Mastermind where I help therapists create additional revenue streams and scale to multi six and seven figures. 

What is astral projection?What is the astral plane?How do hypnosis, dreams, intuition, remote viewing, psychic experiences, altered states, and expanded awareness fit together?In this episode I'm exploring what Ive been learning and observing about these topics over the last 8 years leading clients on hypnotic journeys. I'm not into rigid beliefs so take it as a frame work to see these topics through and to make some sense - enough to bring the benefits into your life. Topics include:Expanded awarenessAstral projectionThe astral planeOut-of-body experiencesConsciousness and perceptionDreams and lucid dreamingRemote viewingPsychic experiencesParanormal experiencesHypnosis and altered statesIntuition and self-trustThe role of perception in everyday lifeThis episode is not about convincing you what to believe.This is about learning more so you can explore even more of the world inside you and around you. If you're curious about consciousness, hypnosis, intuition, astral projections, the astral plane, or the nature of human perception, this conversation is for you.Next week: A bedtime hypnotic journey designed to help you strengthen your connection to your own inner signal, deepen self-trust, and cultivate clearer perception.GO DEEPER Conversations, sessions, group hypnosis online and more: https://www.patreon.com/cw/JinaSeerMORE HYP JOURNEY INFO + PREPAccess the PDF, hypnotic track and more here - https://www.jinaseer.com/session-prepEpisode 3 - Anatomy of a Past Life RegressionEpisode 214 - Awareness: Your New RealityEpisode 215 - Anatomy of a Hypnotic Journey: Another Lifetime, Higher Self & SuggestionTIMESTAMPS00:00 Why Your Brain Filters Reality04:14 Expanded Awareness Explained08:55 What Is Expanded Awareness?14:37 How Hypnosis Expands Awareness16:48 What Are We Becoming Aware Of?17:39 My Experiences as a Hypnotist22:14 The Brain as Antenna Theory24:55 Dark Matter, Consciousness & The Unknown28:31 What Is Astral Projection?30:11 What Is The Astral Plane?31:59 Consciousness as a Radio Signal32:42 Why Fear Narrows Perception34:23 June's Hypnotic Journeys37:59 A Simple Practice for Expanded Awareness38:46 Final Thoughts

Grandpa Bill overviews:-The Hidden Power of Routine and how Most people overlook how simple habits can transform their daily energy and mental flow—until now. Grandpa Bill reveals his surprisingly effective routines rooted in ancient wisdom and modern practices, helping you tap into peak states of vitality every single day.This episode breaks down Grandpa Bill's unique approach to daily rituals—like powerful meditation, intentional breathing, and curated music—to elevate your consciousness and resilience. He shares how supplementing these practices with insights from astrology and herbal history makes a transformative difference, especially if you're juggling a hectic schedule or recovering from brain trauma.You'll discover:How Grandpa Bill's “Flow State” music session creates a built-in mental metronome to sustain focusThe significance of spring water and ancient herbal traditions in maintaining physical healthPractical uses of acronym-based routines like KAVE COGS for boosting memory and wellnessInsights from astrology on upcoming energetic shifts and how to navigate themThe role of community and continuous learning in personal growthHow do you incorporate ancient wisdom into your daily routine?What small habit has made the biggest impact on your mental clarity?

Hey friends, Chase here Eric Ries is back on the show, and this conversation goes far beyond startups, venture capital, or the mechanics of building a company. You probably know Eric as the author of The Lean Startup, the book that changed how founders, creators, entrepreneurs, and teams think about building something new. His work helped popularize ideas like continuous innovation, validated learning, experimentation, and staying close to the customer instead of getting lost in theory, ego, or endless planning. But this episode is not just about how to start something. It's about how to protect the thing you've built once it starts working. Eric's new book, Incorruptible: Why Good Companies Go Bad…and How Great Companies Stay Great, asks a question that feels especially urgent for creators, entrepreneurs, founders, and leaders right now: How do you build something that can grow without being captured, corrupted, or hollowed out? That question matters whether you're running a company, building a personal brand, growing a creative practice, launching a product, choosing clients, working with sponsors, or trying to do work that actually reflects your values. Because success is not neutral. Success brings attention, opportunity, money, investors, partners, platforms, algorithms, expectations, incentives, shortcuts, and people who may not share the reason you started in the first place. One of Eric's most powerful lines in this conversation is this: "Success is not a source of strength. It is a liability, because success attracts predators." That idea is the center of this episode. If you've ever built something that started to work, you know exactly what he means. The thing that made your work powerful can become the thing other people want to capture. The trust you built can become something others want to monetize. The values that made your community believe in you can suddenly feel inconvenient when there's more money on the table. This conversation is about how to stay awake in the middle of that pressure. We talk about defining what you stand for, making decisions before the pressure arrives, treating trust as an asset, saying no to misaligned opportunities, and building something that can grow without losing its soul. Why This Conversation Matters Right Now We are living in a strange moment for creators and entrepreneurs. On one hand, there has never been more opportunity. An individual with a laptop, a camera, a newsletter, a product, an idea, or a point of view can reach people directly. You can build an audience, launch a business, compete with massive companies, and create a brand around your name, your work, your taste, your values, and your trust. That is extraordinary, but it also comes with a real cost. The forces shaping our work have never been more intense. Platforms reward outrage. Algorithms reward simplification. Investors reward speed. Markets reward extraction. The pressure to be louder, faster, more polarizing, more optimized, and more "growth-minded" is everywhere. Eric describes this pressure as a kind of gravity. It is the gravity of platforms, incentives, success, and other people's definitions of winning. If we are not conscious of those forces, they shape us without our permission. That is one of the biggest themes in this episode: you are always being shaped by the systems you participate in. The question is whether you are awake enough to notice, honest enough to name it, and disciplined enough to choose a different path when the incentives start pulling you away from who you actually want to be. What We Explore in This Episode Why success can become a liability when it attracts people, money, platforms, and incentives that want to capture what you've built. How creators get shaped by platforms and why the algorithm can quietly tune your voice, values, and identity toward whatever gets the most engagement. Why trust may be the most valuable asset in business and why it is so easy to destroy with one short-term decision. How to define an ethos before outside pressure, money, growth, or status starts making decisions for you. Why "harder is easier" when your principles are clear enough to remove debate from the moments that matter. How companies, creators, and brands slowly trade away their soul through small compromises that seem harmless in the moment. Why alignment matters more than scale when choosing clients, customers, sponsors, platforms, partners, and investors. How to build something durable without losing the trust, purpose, and values that made it worth building in the first place. The Core Idea: Growth Without Betrayal The real test of success is whether you can grow without betraying what made you worth trusting. It is easy to talk about values when nothing is on the line. It is easy to say you care about quality, access, creativity, service, truth, community, or long-term thinking when the stakes are low. But values only become real when they cost you something. That might happen when there is a big check on the table from a misaligned sponsor. It might happen when an investor wants a different path than the one you set out to build. It might happen when the algorithm rewards a version of you that is more inflammatory, less nuanced, and less honest. It might happen when you can quietly take the shortcut, ship something you don't believe in, or make a decision that no one will notice in the short term. Those are the moments that reveal the truth. Not the words on the wall, not the mission statement, not the brand deck, and not the beautifully written values page. The decision is the proof. Eric's argument is that if you want to build something incorruptible, you have to know what you stand for before those moments arrive. Once the pressure is here, it becomes much harder to think clearly. Success Attracts Predators One of the most powerful parts of this conversation is Eric's warning about success. Most of us are trained to think of success as pure upside: more customers, more revenue, more attention, more leverage, more opportunity, and more proof that the thing is working. Eric flips that idea on its head. Success is not only a source of strength. It is also a liability, because the more valuable your work becomes, the more attractive it becomes to people and systems that want to use it for their own ends. That can look like: Investors who want growth at any cost. Platforms that reward you for becoming a more extreme version of yourself. Partners who want access to your audience but do not share your values. A company acquiring a beloved brand and slowly stripping away what people trusted about it. Your own internal pressure to keep the numbers moving up and to the right, even when the work starts to feel misaligned. This is where corruption often begins. Not with one giant evil decision, but with tiny tradeoffs. A small compromise here, a slightly misaligned deal there, a decision that seems harmless because "no one will notice," or a shortcut taken because the quarter is tight. Over time, the thing that made you trusted starts to erode. The work still looks successful from the outside, but inside the machine, something essential has been traded away. The Gravity of Platforms Eric and I also talk about the pressure creators face from platforms. This part is especially relevant if you make anything for the internet. The promise of platforms is access. You can reach people, publish instantly, build a community, and grow a business without asking for permission from traditional gatekeepers. That is powerful, and I don't want to minimize how much opportunity that has created. But platforms also have values. Not values in the human sense, but values in the incentive sense. They reward certain behaviors and punish others. They reward what keeps people clicking, watching, reacting, arguing, and coming back. Over time, creators start to adapt. You post something thoughtful and nuanced, and almost nobody sees it. You post something sharper, more polarizing, more emotionally charged, and suddenly the platform lights up. That teaches you something, whether you want it to or not. The danger is that you start to confuse what the algorithm rewards with what people actually need. You begin making tiny adjustments: a stronger hook, a more controversial angle, less complexity, more certainty, more outrage, less truth. Eventually, you may not even notice that your voice has changed. That is the gravity Eric is talking about. It is not a force that announces itself. It is a force that quietly pulls until one day you realize you have been shaped by something you never consciously chose. Trust Is a Bank Account One of my favorite ideas from Eric's book is what he calls the culture bank. The idea is simple: trust is an asset. Every time you make a sacrifice for the sake of a principle, you make a deposit. Every time you betray a principle for short-term gain, you make a withdrawal. Eric's rule is almost painfully simple: Only make deposits. Never make withdrawals. Of course, we are human. We make mistakes. Sometimes we think we are doing the right thing and we get it wrong. Sometimes something breaks, a customer gets disappointed, or a decision does not land the way we intended. That is not the point. The point is not perfection. The point is to avoid intentional withdrawals. Don't knowingly trade trust for a quick hit. Don't knowingly betray the values that made people believe in you. Don't knowingly cash out your reputation for something that will not matter a year from now. Because trust takes a long time to build and almost no time to destroy. When you are a creator, founder, or entrepreneur, trust is not a soft idea. It is the business, the brand, the relationship, and the reason people come back. Harder Is Easier Another principle Eric shares is this: harder is easier. At first, that sounds backwards, but the more you sit with it, the more it makes sense. When your principles are unclear, every decision becomes a debate: Should we take this client? Should we work with this sponsor? Should we ship something that is not good enough? Should we raise prices in a way that violates what we promised? Should we optimize for short-term revenue even if it damages long-term trust? If you don't know what you stand for, every one of those moments requires a new meeting, a new justification, a new argument, and a new rationalization. When your principles are clear, many decisions become simpler. Not always easier in the short term, but simpler. You already know what the answer is. You may still have to do the hard work, find another way, absorb some pain, or get more creative, but you don't have to wonder who you are. For a creator, this might mean knowing the kind of clients you will not take. For a founder, it might mean knowing the kind of investors you will not accept. For a leader, it might mean knowing the kind of culture you will not tolerate. For a brand, it might mean knowing which promises are sacred. Values Are Not Decoration We also talk about the difference between values as corporate decoration and values as operating instructions. Most of us have seen the empty version: company values on a wall, mission statements nobody remembers, and nice words that disappear the second the business is under pressure. Real values are different because real values shape decisions. They influence who you hire, who you fire, who you serve, what you build, what you refuse, how you respond when something goes wrong, and what you do when nobody is watching. At CreativeLive, one of our core values was access. That value shaped the business model. It shaped the decision to make live classes available for free while we were creating them. It shaped the way people encountered the brand and the way the community experienced the work. Yes, there were plenty of moments where people looked at that and asked why we were giving so much away. But that was the point. Access wasn't a slogan. It was a decision, and the decision is what made the value real. Alignment Beats Anyone With a Dollar Toward the end of the conversation, we talk about one of the most important lessons for creators: not every customer is your customer. Early on, this can be hard to hear. When you're trying to make a living with your camera, your writing, your design work, your product, your ideas, or your creative practice, the temptation is to say yes to anyone with a dollar and a heartbeat. I get it. I've been there. Over time, though, the goal is not to work with everyone. The goal is to find the right people. The right clients. The right customers. The right sponsors. The right collaborators. The right platforms. The right partners. The right community. When I was making millions of dollars a year as a photographer, I didn't need millions of customers. I needed a small number of deeply aligned clients. That is true for a lot of creative businesses. Scale is seductive, but alignment is durable. When you know your values, it becomes easier to choose who you want to work with and just as importantly, who you don't. About Eric Ries Eric Ries is an entrepreneur, author, and long-term thinker whose ideas have shaped how companies are built and managed over the last two decades. He is the creator of the Lean Startup method and the author of the New York Times bestseller The Lean Startup, as well as The Leader's Guide and The Startup Way. As a founder, Eric has put his ideas into practice through The Long-Term Stock Exchange, Answer.AI, the Lean Startup Co, Virgil, and IMVU, where the ideas that became the Lean Startup method were forged. His new book, Incorruptible: Why Good Companies Go Bad…and How Great Companies Stay Great, explores why organizations lose their way and how leaders can build companies that endure without losing their soul. Follow Eric Ries LinkedIn X Instagram TikTok Newsletter Incorruptible The Eric Ries Show YouTube Timecodes 04:20 – Why this is an unusually powerful time to be a creator 06:31 – Why Eric says all of his books come from pain 07:29 – How platforms shape creators through algorithmic gravity 10:58 – Eric describes the war for the soul of the economy 13:40 – Chase shares what happened after raising venture capital for CreativeLive 17:17 – Why corruption often looks more like corrosion than scandal 19:52 – Why success attracts predators 21:35 – What Steve Jobs understood about defending principles 23:09 – Why companies need integrity and the ability to keep a promise 25:44 – How real values shape hiring, decisions, and culture 31:35 – Eric explains the "culture bank" and why trust is an asset 33:55 – Why the rule is simple: only make deposits, never withdrawals 36:05 – Chase shares the CreativeLive value of access 38:19 – How to recover when you make a mistake 44:16 – Why creators should choose alignment over anyone with a dollar 46:15 – Why the right audience matters more than the biggest audience 48:41 – Eric's new book, Incorruptible Questions to Ask Yourself If you want to turn this episode into action, take a few minutes with these questions: What do I actually stand for in my work? Where am I letting outside incentives shape my decisions without realizing it? What kind of success would I not want if it required betraying my values? Where have I confused growth with alignment? Which clients, customers, platforms, sponsors, or partners are pulling me away from the work I want to be known for? What is one trust deposit I could make this week? What is one trust withdrawal I need to stop making? What promise do I want my work to make and keep? A Simple Practice for Staying Incorruptible Here's something practical you can do this week. Write down three lists and be brutally honest with yourself: What I stand for: the values that should guide your work, offers, partnerships, clients, platforms, and decisions. What I will not trade: the principles you are unwilling to sacrifice for money, growth, attention, status, convenience, or approval. What I need to change: the places where your current behavior is not aligned with what you say you believe. This is not a branding exercise, and it is not about coming up with impressive words. It is about making decisions easier before the pressure arrives. Because when the opportunity shows up, when the money is on the table, when the algorithm rewards the wrong thing, when the shortcut looks harmless, you want to already know who you are. Final Thought The longer I build things, the more I believe that trust is everything. Trust is what makes people come back. Trust is what makes a brand durable. Trust is what makes a creative career sustainable. Trust is what allows a company, a community, a body of work, or a reputation to compound over time. But trust is also fragile. It can be spent, traded, and quietly eroded by decisions that seem small in the moment. That is why this conversation with Eric matters. The goal is not just to build something successful. The goal is to build something worthy of the success it earns: something aligned, durable, and trustworthy enough that people can believe in it over the long term. Until next time: know what you stand for, protect the trust you've built, and build something that can grow without being captured.

Everyone is chasing AI right now, but what if the biggest marketing opportunities for therapists are hiding in plain sight? In this episode, I'm pulling back the curtain on the three marketing strategies I'm personally doubling down on this summer and why I believe they are going to shape the future of private practice growth. From using AI to scale content creation without losing your authentic voice, to building relationships that actually lead to long term referrals and opportunities, I'm sharing exactly where I'm spending my time, energy, and investment right now.   Topics Covered in this Episode: 4:12 - Why the "work less, make more" messaging might actually be hurting entrepreneurs 9:48 - Why AI content fails for most therapists 12:35 - How I'm training AI to sound more human and authentic 15:02 - The networking strategy that still builds seven figure practices 17:40 - The mindset challenge I want every therapist to try this summer 20:11 - What ChatGPT is already recommending behind the scenes 21:46 - The tiny SEO mistake most therapist websites are making 23:08 - Why backlinks may matter more than ever in the age of AI search   Come connect with me on Instagram to let me know which of these three strategies you're most excited to try first.   Resources Mentioned: Find out more about Alma here: helloalma.com/danielle   Take 50% off your first 3 months of Simple Practice + a 7 day free trial using the link: simplepractice.com/danielle   Fill Up Therapists: $0-$60k   If you are needing more private pay clients in your practice in 2026, the Practice Accelerator is the perfect fit for you. Use the code ALLIN as a podcast listener to get $100 off at checkout.    Scale Up Therapists: $60-$200k+ Group practice owners, content creators and therapists scaling beyond 1-1.  Apply here for the next round of Scale Up Mastermind where I help therapists create additional revenue streams and scale to multi six and seven figures.   

Hey friends, Chase here Let's talk about golf. And before you check out because you're not a golfer, hang with me for a minute — because this episode isn't really about golf. It's about life. It's about what happens when things don't go according to plan. When the ball lands somewhere ugly. When you're stuck behind a tree, buried in the sand, sitting in a divot, or staring down a shot you didn't want and didn't ask for. In golf, there's a phrase: play it as it lies. You don't get to move the ball just because the situation is inconvenient. You don't get to pretend the shot is easier than it is. You don't get to rewrite reality so it matches the version you had in your head. You look at what's in front of you. You accept the lie. And then you play the next shot. That idea has become one of the most useful metaphors in my life. Because life, like golf, rarely unfolds exactly the way we imagined. Even our best-laid plans run into rough patches. The course changes. The weather shifts. The terrain surprises us. Sometimes the thing we thought would be straightforward turns into the hardest shot of the day. And the question becomes: Can you stop fighting reality long enough to respond to it? That's what this episode is about. Not golf tips. Not swing mechanics. Not how to lower your handicap. It's about resilience. Presence. Ego. Preparation. Adaptability. Learning from mistakes. And remembering that the little things — the short putts, the quiet choices, the small daily actions — often matter just as much as the big dramatic swings. Here's the thing golf teaches you fast: You can do almost everything "right" and still end up in a bad spot. You can prepare. Practice. Visualize. Get coaching. Set goals. Build routines. Show up with the best intentions. And still, eventually, you're going to hit one sideways. That's not failure. That's the game. And more importantly, that's life. The people who keep growing aren't the ones who never hit bad shots. They're the ones who learn how to recover. They're the ones who don't let one ugly moment become the story of the whole round. They're the ones who can take a breath, look at what's real, and ask: What's the best next move from here? The Core Idea You don't get to choose every lie. But you do get to choose how you play it. That's the heart of this episode. In golf, the course is full of imperfections. A root here. A bunker there. A weird patch of grass. A branch that grew out at exactly the wrong angle. A divot you didn't create but now have to deal with. You don't get to pretend those things aren't there. You have to confront the reality of the shot. Life works the same way. Sometimes you get the clean fairway lie. Sometimes you're in the rough. Sometimes you're blocked. Sometimes the conditions change overnight. Sometimes you did everything you could and still landed somewhere difficult. The mistake most of us make is wasting energy wishing the lie were different. But the power move is acceptance. Not passive acceptance. Not resignation. Not pretending you like the situation. Acceptance as in: This is what's true. Now what? That mindset builds resilience because it pulls you out of fantasy and back into agency. It reminds you that while you may not control the terrain, you still control your next swing. What You'll Hear in This Episode This episode is built around a set of lessons golf has taught me — lessons that reach far beyond the course. Why "play it as it lies" is one of the best life philosophies for dealing with reality, setbacks, and uncertainty How to stay present after a bad shot instead of letting one mistake define everything that follows Why your best shot might come right after your worst one — and what Tiger Woods can teach us about staying neutral The hidden value of playing with someone new and staying open to unfamiliar people, personalities, and situations How ego quietly ruins the game — in golf, creativity, business, relationships, and life Why mistakes are feedback when you're willing to study them without shame What it means to play against the course instead of obsessing over comparison Why preparation matters even when you can't control the outcome How the little things add up — the one-inch putts, the daily habits, the small choices that shape the final score Play It Like It Is The first lesson is simple: play it like it is. In golf, the traditional phrase is "play it as it lies." Wherever the ball lands, that's where you play from. You don't get to deny the circumstances. You don't get to pretend you have a perfect lie when you don't. You don't get to spend the whole round frustrated because the course has imperfections. You adapt. That's such a powerful life lesson because so much of our suffering comes from arguing with what's already true. We think, This shouldn't be happening. Maybe it shouldn't. But it is. And the faster we can stop resisting reality, the faster we can begin responding to it. This doesn't mean you don't have emotions. It doesn't mean you don't get frustrated. It doesn't mean you don't acknowledge that something is hard or unfair or disappointing. It means you don't stay stuck there. You look at the lie. You study the conditions. You adjust. You play the next shot. That's resilience. That's adaptability. That's life. Your Best Shot Can Follow Your Worst One One of the most iconic moments in golf came from Tiger Woods at the Masters. The shot itself was extraordinary — the ball rolling slowly, almost impossibly, toward the hole, pausing for a split second, then taking one final turn and dropping in. But what makes that moment even more powerful is what came before it. That incredible shot followed one of his most disappointing shots of the tournament. That's the lesson. Your best shot can come right after your worst one. But only if you stay present enough to take it. Most of us do the opposite. We make one mistake and immediately leave the moment. We replay what went wrong. We narrate the failure. We spiral. We decide the round is ruined, the project is doomed, the day is shot, the dream is over. But the next shot doesn't care about the last one. It only asks whether you're here. That's the discipline: staying neutral. Staying composed. Staying available to the possibility that something beautiful can happen next. Not because you're pretending the bad shot didn't happen. Because you're refusing to let it own the rest of the round. Play With Somebody New Golf has this funny thing built into it: sometimes you show up and get paired with people you don't know. That can feel awkward. It can feel inconvenient. It can feel like a curveball. But if you stay open, it can also be a gift. You might play with someone who's been at it for nine months or nineteen years. You might learn something from a beginner. You might learn something from a veteran. You might meet someone you never would have crossed paths with otherwise. You also might get paired with someone who doesn't exactly light you up. And that's part of the lesson too. The point isn't that every stranger becomes a lifelong friend. The point is that there's value in staying open. There's value in learning how to share the course. There's value in practicing patience, kindness, curiosity, and connection over a few hours. Life works this way all the time. We get paired with coworkers, collaborators, clients, neighbors, strangers, and people whose rhythms are different from ours. Sometimes it's magic. Sometimes it's friction. But either way, there's something to learn if we're not closed off before the first shot. Disconnect From the Ego Golf will expose your ego fast. It's hard to hit a tiny white ball with a club toward a hole hundreds of yards away. It's hard to do it consistently. It's hard to make the body, mind, mechanics, course, weather, and emotions all cooperate at the same time. And because it's hard, the ego wants to jump in. It wants to explain every bad shot. It wants to justify every mistake. It wants to narrate every swing so nobody thinks less of you. I used to do this all the time. Good shot, bad shot — I had a comment. An explanation. A little story about what happened or why it happened. Eventually, I realized: it doesn't matter. That was all ego. The shot is the shot. The score is the score. The work is the work. When you can detach from constantly judging yourself — good or bad — you free up so much energy. You can laugh. Learn. Keep going. Try again. You can be in the experience instead of performing an identity around the experience. That's true in golf. It's true in creativity. It's true in leadership. It's true in life. The ego wants protection. The game requires presence. Learn From the Mistakes Golf is endlessly humbling because no two rounds are exactly alike. The course changes. The grass changes. The greens change. The wind changes. The pin placement changes. The conditions you played yesterday may not be the conditions you face today. That means mistakes are inevitable. But mistakes are also information. When a shot doesn't go as planned, you have a chance to study what happened. Was it your setup? Your focus? The wind? The club selection? The lie? The speed of the green? Your emotional state? The point isn't to shame yourself. The point is to learn. This is one of the biggest differences between people who keep improving and people who stay stuck. Stuck people turn mistakes into identity. Growing people turn mistakes into feedback. Nobody plays a flawless round. Nobody lives a flawless life. The goal isn't to avoid every mistake. The goal is to build the capacity for error recovery. To adapt. Improve. Persist. Keep moving. That's where growth happens. You're Playing Against the Course Yes, golf can be competitive. You can play against other people. You can compare scores. You can enter tournaments. You can measure yourself against the field. But at its core, you're playing the course. You can't hit someone else's ball. You can't control their swing. You can't determine how they handle pressure, luck, weather, mistakes, or momentum. You show up and play your round. That's such a useful way to think about life. We spend so much energy comparing ourselves to other people. Their success. Their timing. Their resources. Their audience. Their path. Their scorecard. But comparison pulls us out of our own game. Your job is to play the course in front of you as well as you can. That doesn't mean you don't care about excellence. It doesn't mean you don't compete. It means you understand where your power actually lives. Your preparation. Your choices. Your attitude. Your recovery. Your next shot. When you focus there, the results have a way of speaking for themselves. Preparation Is Key Preparation matters in golf just like it matters in life. Not everyone can swing like a pro. Not everyone has the same athletic ability, experience, or natural feel for the game. But everyone can prepare. Everyone can stand over the ball with intention. Everyone can build a routine. Everyone can line up carefully. Everyone can take the setup seriously. That's a powerful distinction. You may not control the outcome, but you can control the setup. In life, that might look like how you start your day. How you enter a conversation. How you prepare for a meeting. How you train your body. How you manage your attention. How you create the conditions for better work. No Olympic hurdler goes from the couch to the starting line without warming up. And yet so many of us expect ourselves to perform at a high level without creating the conditions that make performance possible. Preparation isn't glamorous. But it compounds. And when the pressure comes, you'll be grateful you built the habit before you needed it. The Little Things Matter One of the funniest things about golf is that a 390-yard drive and a one-inch tap-in both count as one stroke. The big swing and the tiny putt have the same weight on the scorecard. That's humbling. It's also a perfect metaphor. In life, we tend to overvalue the big moments. The launch. The deal. The breakthrough. The dramatic decision. The visible win. But the small things matter just as much, often more. How you start your day. How you speak to people. How you recover from frustration. How you express gratitude. How you care for your relationships. How you practice when nobody's watching. How you handle the little putts. A successful life isn't only built on big swings. It's built on the accumulation of small, deliberate actions repeated over time. The details count. The short shots count. The quiet moments count. Every stroke matters. Timecodes (So You Can Jump to What You Need) If you're not listening straight through, here are a few landmarks to help you find the part that speaks to where you are right now: 01:46 – Why golf became an unexpected obsession again 03:13 – The lessons from the course that go way beyond golf 03:41 – Lesson 1: Play it as it lies 05:58 – Lesson 2: Stay present after a bad shot 07:42 – Lesson 3: Play with somebody new 09:30 – Lesson 4: Disconnect from the ego 11:13 – Lesson 5: Learn from mistakes 14:13 – Lesson 6: You're playing against the course 15:58 – Lesson 7: Preparation is key 17:32 – Why the little things matter as much as the big swings 19:00 – Bringing the lessons together: presence, ego, mistakes, preparation, and playing the lie you're given Read This If Life Has You in the Rough If you're in a season where things aren't going according to plan, I want you to hold onto this: You don't have to like the lie to play it well. You can be frustrated and still be powerful. You can be disappointed and still be capable. You can wish things were different and still take responsibility for the next move. That's the work. So much of life is learning how to stop waiting for perfect conditions. We tell ourselves we'll begin when the timing is better, when the resources are better, when the path is clearer, when the lie is cleaner. But the course rarely offers perfect conditions. And if we wait for them, we miss the game. The question is not, Is this the shot I wanted? The question is, What does this shot require? That shift changes everything. It moves you from complaint to creativity. From resistance to agency. From ego to presence. From helplessness to the next right action. Questions to Ask Yourself If you want to turn this episode into action, take a few minutes and sit with these: Where in my life am I refusing to accept the lie in front of me? What reality am I arguing with that I could be responding to instead? What was my last "bad shot," and what can it teach me? Am I letting ego narrate my mistakes instead of simply learning from them? Where am I comparing my round to someone else's instead of playing my own course? What small habit, detail, or "one-inch putt" deserves more of my attention? How can I better prepare for the challenges I already know are coming? What would it look like to stay present for the next shot? A Simple Practice for Playing It As It Lies Here's something practical you can do this week. Pick one area of your life where the conditions are not ideal. Maybe it's work. A relationship. A creative project. Your health. Your schedule. Your finances. A goal that feels harder than expected. Then write down three things: The lie: What is actually true right now? The resistance: What do I keep wishing were different? The next shot: What is one useful action I can take from here? Keep it simple. Don't solve your whole life. Don't redesign the entire course. Don't wait for clarity to arrive in perfect form. Just play the next shot. Because momentum doesn't come from perfect conditions. It comes from honest action. Final Thought Golf has reminded me that life is not just the big swings. It's the small strokes. The recovery shots. The bad lies. The quiet adjustments. The willingness to laugh, learn, reset, and keep moving. It's playing with new people. It's staying present after disappointment. It's disconnecting from ego. It's preparing well. It's learning from mistakes. It's remembering that you're not really playing against everyone else. You're playing the course in front of you. And some days, the ball is going to land in a divot. Some days, it's going to end up in the bunker. Some days, you're going to look down and think, Really? This is what I have to work with? Yes. That's the lie. Now play it. Until next time: stay present, let go of the ego, prepare well, and remember — play it as it lies.

Building a successful business while navigating grief, burnout, and uncertainty is not something we talk about enough. In this episode, I sit down with therapist, creator, and founder of Parenting the Anxious Child, Robyn Isman, for an honest conversation about what it actually looks like to grow a business during one of the hardest seasons of life. We talk about building an audience from scratch, creating digital offers as a therapist, scaling beyond one to one work, and the emotional reality of entrepreneurship that social media rarely shows. Robyn opens up about growing her platform while caring for her mother during the final months of her life, the identity shifts that come with becoming a creator, and why "passive income" is rarely passive. Topics Covered in This Episode: 11:08 - The emotional cost of building an audience online 15:27 - Why Robyn's membership did not feel as "passive" as she expected 18:44 - The difference between one to one work and one to many offers 21:36 - The mindset shift that completely changed how she views launches 24:18 - Why experienced therapists still feel imposter syndrome when starting something new 26:40 - The advice every therapist entrepreneur needs to hear before scaling   Whether you are dreaming about launching your first offer, building multiple income streams, or simply trying to hold onto yourself while building something meaningful, this episode will make you feel far less alone.   Resources Mentioned: Listen to Do Less Parenting: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/do-less-parenting/id1832833211  Find out more about Alma here: helloalma.com/danielle Take 50% off your first 3 months of Simple Practice + a 7 day free trial using the link: simplepractice.com/danielle

In this week's Riff, Gino brings four short but powerful ideas that don't each fill a full episode on their own, but together, they pack a serious punch. The kind that makes you stop, think, and go “huh.”First up, the gratitude alarm. A simple daily practice that has quietly transformed the way Gino moves through his day. Then, a piece of relationship advice so stripped down and honest it might be the most useful two minutes you spend all week. Third, a tool for anyone feeling overwhelmed right now. And finally, the one that might sting a little... “It ain't them. It's you.”Four ideas. Four moments to pause. Four invitations to do the work and free your True Self. Timestamps00:00 The Gratitude Alarm04:39 Relationship Advice: Heal Yourself08:49 List Everything: Overcoming Overwhelm11:55 It Ain't Them, It's You ABOUT THE 10 DISCIPLINESThe 10 Disciplines, founded by Gino Wickman and Rob Dube, is on a mission to help one million drivel leaders realize it's possible to be driven and have peace while making a bigger impact. We want to help you shed the barriers and layers that prevent you from creating the balance between impact and peace, and your True Self. Are you ready to be fully yourself, without the burnout? This space is for driven leaders ready to stop chasing and start aligning. If you're done hiding behind hustle, achievement, and expectations… and you're ready to reconnect with who you really are, you're in the right place. CONNECT WITH US❤️ instagram.com/the10disciplines❤️ linkedin.com/company/the10disciplines/ MORE RESOURCES TO HELP YOUR INNER WORLD JOURNEY❤️ the10disciplines.com/blog❤️ shedandshinepodcast.com ⭐️ the10disciplines.com/shine

Hey friends, Chase here Let's talk about hustle. Not the old-school definition of hustle — as in working hard, caring deeply, staying committed, and doing the reps. That kind of effort still matters. It always will. I'm talking about what hustle has become. The kind of hustle that glorifies exhaustion. The kind that mistakes motion for progress. The kind that tells you if you're not burning the candle at both ends, you're not serious enough about your dreams. And I want to say this clearly: You don't need more hustle. You need more capacity. Because without focus, vision, rest, and self-awareness, working harder doesn't necessarily move you closer to the life you want. It can just leave you burnt out, disconnected, and unable to do the work that actually matters. For years, I bought into the myth. I slept five or six hours a night. I worked ridiculous days — sometimes up to 20 hours. I thought that was what commitment looked like. I thought grinding myself down was the price of building something meaningful. And then I hit a point where my body and mind gave me a wake-up call. On a vacation in Hawaii, with nothing on my schedule for the first time in what felt like forever, I slept 14 hours a night for nearly a week. Not because I was lazy. Not because I lacked ambition. Because I was empty. And once I finally rested, everything changed. I was nicer. More creative. More self-aware. More connected to what I actually wanted and needed. I felt more alive. That experience changed the way I think about work, creativity, ambition, success, and fulfillment. This episode is about that shift. It's about why rest is not the enemy of ambition. It's about why capacity beats constant motion. It's about why the most fulfilled people I know aren't the ones who grind themselves into dust — they're the ones who learn how to stay in the game. Here's the thing most high performers eventually learn: You can't build a meaningful life on depletion. You might be able to push through for a season. You might be able to sprint through a launch, a deadline, a hard chapter, a creative breakthrough. There are absolutely moments when the work requires intensity. But intensity is not the same as sustainability. And if your only strategy is to keep pushing harder, eventually the cost shows up. In your body. In your relationships. In your creativity. In your sense of meaning. In your ability to actually enjoy the thing you've worked so hard to build. That's why the question isn't, "How do I hustle more?" The better question is: How do I build the capacity to do great work for a long time? Capacity includes energy. It includes sleep. It includes focus. It includes emotional bandwidth. It includes self-awareness. It includes the ability to know when to push, when to pause, when to recover, and when to come back stronger. This is not about doing less with your life. It's about doing the right things with more presence, more power, and more longevity. The Core Idea Rest is not a reward for finishing the work. Rest is part of how the work gets done. That idea can feel uncomfortable if you were raised on a steady diet of "work harder," "sleep when you're dead," and "no days off." But here's what I've seen again and again — in my own life, in the lives of people I've worked with, hired, interviewed, coached, and admired: The most fulfilled people are not striving toward some impossible standard for the sake of the standard. They work hard. But they also recover hard. They have intention around their effort. They know what matters. They know when their body needs sleep, when their mind needs space, and when their spirit needs something other than another task on the list. They understand that life is long. And if life is long, then the goal is not to flame out in one heroic burst of productivity. The goal is to stay in the game. You have to learn to rest rather than quit. That's the real shift. Because quitting often comes after we ignore the signals for too long. We push through fatigue. We override our own needs. We treat burnout like proof that we care. Then one day, we're not just tired — we're resentful, creatively numb, and disconnected from the very thing we once loved. Rest interrupts that cycle. Sleep interrupts that cycle. Self-awareness interrupts that cycle. And when you build those things into your life before everything breaks, you create a different kind of ambition. One that is not weaker. One that is not softer. One that is actually more powerful because it can last. What You'll Hear in This Episode This is a short micro show, but it cuts right into a pattern so many creative people, entrepreneurs, and high achievers struggle with. Here are the ideas worth listening for: Why hustle has become confused with progress — and why movement without focus can leave you burned out instead of fulfilled The wake-up call that changed my relationship with sleep after years of working extreme hours and running on too little rest Why recovery can catapult your creativity instead of slowing you down The difference between dumb hustle and smart hustle — and why working hard still matters when it's done with awareness Why "life is long" changes everything about how we pursue success, creativity, and fulfillment How to replace balance with harmony by learning to move with the seasons of your life Why short-term urgency and long-term patience might be the new pattern for sustainable success Timecodes (So You Can Jump to What You Need) If you're not listening straight through, here are a few landmarks to help you find the part that speaks to where you are right now: 01:50 – Why the old idea of hustle needs an update 02:35 – The wake-up call: working 20-hour days and finally crashing into real rest 03:31 – What changed after sleeping 14 hours a night for nearly a week 04:46 – How sleep became a catapult for creativity, awareness, and aliveness 05:12 – The secret hack to a long, productive, creative life 06:28 – Learning to rest rather than quit 08:16 – Why life is long, and why chasing one flash of success is the wrong game 08:45 – Working smarter, not just harder 09:35 – The difference between dumb hustle and smart hustle 10:26 – "Sometimes you're not blocked. You're just empty." 11:31 – Why harmony beats balance 12:37 – Short-term urgency, long-term patience Read This If You're Burned Out If you're tired right now, I want you to consider something: Maybe you don't need more discipline. Maybe you need more restoration. That doesn't mean discipline is irrelevant. It doesn't mean hard work doesn't matter. It doesn't mean you should abandon your standards or stop caring about the quality of what you create. It means your system might be running at a deficit. And when you're running at a deficit, everything gets distorted. Your work feels heavier than it is. Your relationships feel more difficult. Your creativity feels harder to access. Your patience shrinks. Your sense of possibility gets smaller. You start making decisions from survival mode instead of vision. That's not a character flaw. That's biology. That's capacity. And capacity can be rebuilt. Sometimes the most strategic thing you can do is sleep. Take a walk. Eat real food. Put the phone down. Get outside. Stop trying to squeeze one more thing out of a system that is asking to recover. Again, this is not an argument against ambition. This is an argument for ambition that doesn't destroy the person carrying it. The Trap of Success at All Costs There's an old model of success that says you have one shot. One opportunity. One window. One big break. One viral moment. One chance to prove yourself. And when you believe that, panic becomes the operating system. You chase. You grip. You overwork. You try to force every project to become the thing that saves you. You look at every opportunity through the lens of scarcity. But that world is fading. The one-hit wonder model is not the goal. The flash-in-the-pan version of success is not the goal. Achieving something at all costs and then clinging to it with your fingernails is not the goal. The new pattern is different. It's about building many things that matter over time. It's about pursuing curiosity. It's about understanding the seasons of your life. It's about knowing when to go hard and when to recover. It's about becoming wiser about your own needs and wants. The goal is not to burn bright once. The goal is to keep becoming. Questions to Ask Yourself If you want to turn this episode into action, take five minutes and sit with these: Where am I mistaking motion for progress? What am I calling "hustle" that might actually be avoidance, fear, or lack of focus? Am I giving my body, mind, and spirit what they need to stay in the game? Where am I depleted and pretending I'm just undisciplined? What would smart hustle look like in this season of my life? What is one thing I could stop doing that would immediately create more capacity? What is one recovery habit I could treat as seriously as my work? Am I chasing short-term validation at the expense of long-term fulfillment? A Simple Practice for Building Capacity Here's something you can do immediately — especially if you've been grinding, overworking, or feeling like you're always behind. For the next seven days, don't start by asking, "How can I do more?" Start by asking: "What would give me more capacity today?" Then choose one small action. Go to bed 30 minutes earlier. Not perfectly. Just earlier than usual. Take a walk without your phone. Let your mind breathe. Do one focused block of work instead of bouncing between ten tasks. Eat something that actually supports your energy. Cancel or postpone one nonessential commitment that is draining you. Spend ten minutes reflecting on what you need instead of what everyone else expects. The point isn't to overhaul your entire life overnight. The point is to start listening. Because when you listen to your own system, you start to understand the difference between laziness and depletion. Between resistance and misalignment. Between real effort and frantic motion. And that awareness becomes leverage. Capacity Is the New Competitive Advantage We talk a lot about skills. Technical skills. Creative skills. Business skills. Communication skills. Leadership skills. All of those matter. But the skill of self-awareness might be one of the most important skills of all. Can you tell when you're empty? Can you tell when you're avoiding? Can you tell when you need to push? Can you tell when you need to rest? Can you tell what season of life you're actually in? That kind of awareness changes everything. Because the goal is not perfect balance. Balance implies everything gets an equal slice all the time. Twenty percent here. Twenty percent there. Career, family, health, relationships, personal growth — all perfectly divided. But life doesn't work that way. Life works in waves. Sometimes you need to over-index on family. Sometimes work needs a surge of attention. Sometimes your health has to become the priority. Sometimes your inner life needs more space. That's harmony. Harmony is not rigid equality. It's integration. It's knowing how to move between the parts of your life without abandoning yourself in the process. And when you learn that, you stop treating rest as a weakness. You start seeing it as part of the architecture of a meaningful life. The New Pattern The old pattern said: work endlessly, achieve at all costs, rest later. The new pattern says: work hard, recover deeply, stay awake to what matters. The old pattern said: success first, fulfillment maybe. The new pattern says: success and fulfillment have to be built together. The old pattern said: push until you break. The new pattern says: build the capacity to continue. That is the shift. And I know it can feel risky to say this out loud, especially in a culture that still celebrates exhaustion. But I've seen it too many times to ignore. The most successful and fulfilled people eventually come to this realization: You have more time than you think. But don't let that become an excuse for passivity. Let it become permission to build differently. Move with urgency in the short term. Practice patience in the long term. Take care of the vessel that carries the vision. Learn to work hard without grinding yourself into the ground. Because the goal is not just to achieve. The goal is to stay alive to the work, to your relationships, to your creativity, and to yourself while you do it. Until next time: work hard, recover harder, and remember — you don't need more hustle. You need more capacity.

This week, I'm opening up about attending a high level business retreat in Los Angeles and the surprising lessons that followed me home. From crying on the plane over mom guilt to sitting in rooms full of wildly successful female founders, I share the mindset shifts, burnout realizations, and behind the scenes truths about entrepreneurship that rarely make it onto Instagram. We talk about why protecting your time and energy is no longer optional, what successful women are actually prioritizing behind closed doors, and why implementation matters so much more than endless learning.    Topics Covered in This Episode: 1:30 - The emotional reality of leaving family behind for business growth opportunities and navigating the guilt that comes with it 5:00 - The burnout realization that only became obvious after stepping away from work for a few days 8:15 - Why implementation matters more than endlessly consuming courses, trainings, and information 11:45 - What high level female founders prioritize differently when it comes to schedules, boundaries, and energy 15:20 - The truth about hard work, freedom, and what successful entrepreneurs are actually doing behind closed doors 17:40 - Why community and accountability are becoming more valuable than information in the age of AI 19:10 - The biggest reason therapists are struggling to get intakes in 2026 and what marketing strategies are working now 24:00 - Additional revenue opportunities for therapists including intensives, EAPs, and scalable income streams Resources Mentioned: Find out more about Alma here: helloalma.com/danielle Take 50% off your first 3 months of Simple Practice + a 7 day free trial using the link: simplepractice.com/danielle Fill Up Therapists: $0-$60k   If you are needing more private pay clients in your practice in 2026, the Practice Accelerator is the perfect fit for you. Use the code ALLIN as a podcast listener to get $100 off at checkout.    Scale Up Therapists: $60-$200k+ Group practice owners, content creators and therapists scaling beyond 1-1.  Apply here for the next round of Scale Up Mastermind where I help therapists create additional revenue streams and scale to multi six and seven figures. 

How you end your day matters as much as how you begin it. In this calming guided meditation from Your Quiet Moment, you'll discover a simple evening practice that fills your heart before sleep. Rather than collapsing into bed with a racing mind, you'll learn to gently review your day with compassion and gratitude. Through soothing breath awareness and reflective stillness, this session helps you release tension and carry only what's good into the night. End each day not with exhaustion, but with a heart full enough to sustain you through tomorrow.

In honor of Mother's Day, we invite you into this deeply heartfelt conversation between Byron Katie and Sage Robbins — a moving exploration of motherhood, presence, healing, and the complicated, beautiful love shared between mothers and daughters. Introduced by Tony Robbins, this episode is more than a conversation — it is a living experience of "The Work," Byron Katie's transformative method of self-inquiry that has helped millions of people find freedom from anxiety, grief, fear, stress, and emotional suffering. After spending nearly, a decade trapped in severe depression and despair, Byron Katie experienced a life-changing awakening in 1986 that completely transformed the way she understood suffering. From that experience came "The Work," four simple yet profound questions designed to help people question the stressful thoughts that keep them stuck. In this deeply personal episode, Sage vulnerably shares how discovering Byron Katie's work transformed her own life during a painful season marked by repeated miscarriages, fertility struggles, grief, and being told she had less than a one-in-a-million chance of ever becoming a mother. But at the emotional center of this conversation is Sage's relationship with her mother, who is currently living with dementia. Rather than simply discussing "The Work," Byron gently guides Sage through a real-time inquiry surrounding an emotional experience with her mother — unpacking fear, sadness, guilt, projections, and the pain so many people experience while caring for aging parents or witnessing someone they love slowly change. What unfolds is raw, heartbreaking, beautiful, and ultimately freeing. As Byron guides Sage through the process, pain begins to give way to presence, clarity, grace, and even joy — revealing how much love and connection can be missed when we become trapped inside fearful thoughts. For anyone navigating caregiving, grief, aging parents, anxiety, loss, or the emotional complexity of family relationships, this conversation may feel deeply personal. And for anyone celebrating, missing, grieving, honoring, or reflecting on a mother this Mother's Day — this episode is a reminder to slow down, become present, and truly see the people we love. It is also a beautiful tribute to Byron Katie's extraordinary legacy and the decades-long friendship she has shared with Tony and Sage Robbins. To learn more about Byron Katie and experience "The Work" for yourself, visit: www.thework.com

Hey friends, Chase here Let's talk about one of the most important questions every creator eventually asks: How do I find my creative voice? Or maybe you've heard it framed another way: How do I develop a personal style? How do I make work that actually feels like mine? How do I stop copying what everyone else is doing and start creating from a place that is uniquely my own? This question comes up all the time because it sits at the center of the creative life. Whether you're a photographer, designer, writer, filmmaker, musician, entrepreneur, or someone who simply feels called to make things, there comes a point where technical ability is not enough. You can know how to use the tools. You can understand the software. You can study the masters. You can follow the trends. You can learn the settings, the systems, the formulas, the workflows. But eventually, you hit a deeper question: What makes this mine? That is what this episode is about. And I want to be clear from the start: finding your creative voice is not about inventing some perfect brand identity overnight. It's not about locking yourself into one narrow lane forever. It's not about deciding, intellectually, "This is my style now," and then forcing every piece of work to fit inside that box. Your creative voice is much more organic than that. It is your fingerprint. Your point of view. Your taste. Your history. Your instincts. Your lived experience. Your way of seeing the world, translated through the things you make. And the only way to find it is to make. Not once. Not occasionally. Not only when you feel inspired. Again and again and again. The Big Question: What Is Personal Style? Personal style can sound like one of those vague creative phrases that floats around in the universe without ever becoming useful. People say things like, "You need to find your style," or "You need to develop your voice," but what does that actually mean? At its simplest, personal style is the thing that makes your work recognizable. It's the equivalent of your handwriting. You don't have to think about your handwriting every time you write your name. It's not something you consciously construct letter by letter. It just comes out of you because it has been shaped by repetition, history, muscle memory, and identity. Your creative style works the same way. It is the unique aesthetic fingerprint that you unconsciously put on everything you make. Think about music. You can hear a Prince song for just a few measures and know it's Prince before his voice even enters. There's a signature there. A rhythm. A tone. A sensibility. A way the work announces itself. Think about photography. You can look at an Ansel Adams landscape and recognize the scale, the drama, the tonality, the reverence for nature. It has a point of view. That's personal style. It's not just what you make. It's how you see. It's what you notice. It's what you repeat without realizing you're repeating it. It's the pattern behind the work. And that matters because without some kind of recognizable point of view, you're just bouncing around. You might be technically capable. You might be able to make a good photograph, a good song, a good design, a good film, a good essay. But if there's nothing distinctive about the way you make it, people have a harder time connecting that work back to you. Personal style is what helps the work become yours. Why Your Creative Voice Matters There are two big reasons personal style matters. The first is personal. If you spend your life chasing everyone else's style, you're going to end up miserable. Now, let's be honest: early in the creative journey, imitation is part of the process. That's normal. That's healthy. That's how we learn. You see someone whose work you admire and you try to understand how they did it. You copy a lighting setup. You study a sentence structure. You recreate a beat. You reverse-engineer a design. You try to make something that looks or sounds or feels like the thing that inspired you. There's nothing wrong with that. In the beginning, imitation helps you learn how to move the tools around. It helps you close the gap between what you see in your mind and what you're actually capable of making. But imitation is not the destination. If all you ever do is copy what's trendy, or borrow someone else's point of view, or chase whatever style is getting attention right now, you are not expressing yourself. You are expressing the culture around you. And that is a direct path to burnout. Because the reason we make things, at the deepest level, is expression. We make because something inside wants to come out. We make because it feels good to turn an internal experience into something real in the world. We make because creativity is one of the ways we become more fully ourselves. If your work is always a response to someone else's style, you lose that connection. You become a mirror instead of a source. The second reason personal style matters is practical. If you want to do creative work professionally, you do not want to be paid merely for your time. There is nothing wrong with getting paid for your time. That can be part of the path. But the ultimate goal is not to be treated like a pair of hands. The ultimate goal is to be paid for your vision. You don't want someone to hire you because you own a camera. You want them to hire you because only you see the assignment that way. You don't want someone to hire you because you can operate software. You want them to hire you because your taste, your judgment, and your perspective create value. You don't want to be interchangeable. The most recognized creatives in the world are not valuable because they can execute a task. They are valuable because they bring a specific point of view to the table. That's what separates craft from commodity. When people can recognize your fingerprints on the work, when they can say, "That feels like you," you begin to move into a different category. You're no longer just competing on speed, price, or availability. You're competing on vision. And that is where the upside is. The Creative Gap One of the most important parts of this conversation is what Ira Glass famously called the creative gap. The creative gap is the distance between what you can see in your mind and what you're actually capable of making right now. Every creator knows this feeling. You have a vision. You can feel what you want the work to be. You can almost see it, hear it, taste it. But when you sit down to make the thing, the result falls short. The photograph doesn't look the way it looked in your head. The song doesn't hit the way you imagined. The essay feels clumsy. The design feels flat. The film doesn't carry the emotion you hoped it would. That gap is frustrating. But it is also the path. Craft is how you close the gap. You make, you study, you adjust, you learn, you make again. Over time, your ability catches up to your taste. You get better at translating the thing in your mind into the thing in the world. But here's the trap: If you spend that entire process only copying other people, you might improve technically without ever developing a voice of your own. You might become skilled at imitation. But mastery is not just being able to reproduce what already exists. Mastery is being able to make what only you can make. Personal Style Is Your Point of View Your creative voice is not just an aesthetic. It's not just black and white photography, clean typography, heavy brushstrokes, fast sketches, cinematic lighting, sparse production, or bold color. Those things can be part of a style, but they are not the whole thing. Your style is the point of view underneath those choices. It is the reason you reach for certain tools. The reason you frame things a certain way. The reason you simplify here and exaggerate there. The reason you are drawn to certain subjects, moods, colors, rhythms, textures, or stories. The episode uses a great example from the world of design: imagine trying to design a tennis shoe inspired by a glass bottle of gin. Suddenly, the bottle becomes a filter. You might notice the transparency, the edges, the shape, the weight, the way light moves through it. Those qualities start informing the shoe. That is a useful way to think about style. Your personal style is the filter your work passes through. It's not limited to one medium. If you are a photographer, designer, musician, writer, or multidisciplinary creator, your style should still carry across what you make. The medium may change, but the point of view travels. That's when people can look at a piece and say: That feels like you. Not because you repeated yourself mechanically, but because your way of seeing is present. How Do You Find Your Creative Voice? Here's the part people don't always want to hear: It takes time. There is no shortcut that replaces making the work. You can think about your style. You can journal about it. You can moodboard it. You can study other artists. You can talk about your influences. You can define your values. All of that can be useful. But none of it replaces the act of making. The best way to find your personal style is to make as much as you can, at a regular cadence, ideally as quickly and consistently as possible. Because your style is not something you force into existence. It is something you discover through repetition. You make one thing. Then ten things. Then a hundred things. At first, it may feel random. You may feel like you're all over the place. You may try on other people's approaches. You may borrow. You may experiment. You may make things that don't feel like you at all. That's okay. The making is the sorting mechanism. Over time, patterns start to appear. You notice what you keep returning to. You notice what feels alive. You notice what feels false. You notice the choices you make when nobody is telling you what to do. And eventually, if you put twenty of your pieces on a wall mixed in with other people's work, someone should be able to walk in and pick yours out. That is the litmus test. Not because every piece looks identical, but because there is a through-line. There is a signal. There is a voice. Your Style Might Not Be What You Expected One of the most important reminders in this episode is that your personal style may not be what you thought it would be. You might think you want to be known for clean, minimal design, only to realize that your real energy comes through in fast, expressive, messy sketches. You might think you want to make quiet, polished work, only to discover that your strength is intensity, humor, or chaos. You might think you want to be one kind of artist, but the work keeps revealing that you are someone else. That can be uncomfortable. But it can also be liberating. Your creative voice is not always the version of yourself you imagined. Sometimes it is the version of yourself that keeps showing up when you stop performing. This is why making is so important. You cannot discover your true style by sitting around and thinking about who you wish you were. You discover it by creating enough evidence that you can finally see who you actually are. What You'll Hear in This Episode This episode breaks the question of creative voice into three practical parts: what personal style is, why it matters, and how to actually find it. Here are the ideas worth listening for: Why personal style is like your creative handwriting — the unconscious fingerprint you put on everything you make Why imitation is useful early on, but dangerous if you never move beyond it How the creative gap works — and why craft is what helps you close it Why you don't want to be paid only for your time, but for your point of view How recognizable style builds value, trust, and creative opportunity Why you can't force your personal style — you have to uncover it through making Why making 100 things teaches you more than endlessly thinking about the perfect direction How specialization can actually create more freedom, not less Why trying to be everything to everyone will dilute your work and drain your energy Timecodes So You Can Jump to What You Need If you're not listening straight through, here are a few landmarks to help you find the part that speaks to where you are right now: 01:45 – Welcome and the big question: how do you develop a personal style? 02:04 – The three-part framework: what personal style is, why it matters, and how to find it 02:50 – What personal style actually means for photographers, designers, writers, musicians, and creators 03:18 – Personal style as your creative handwriting or aesthetic fingerprint 04:34 – Why developing a personal style matters 05:25 – Why chasing everyone else's style leads to misery and burnout 06:08 – Ira Glass, the creative gap, and the path toward mastery 07:10 – Why you want to be paid for your point of view, not just your time 09:46 – Edward de Bono, Stefan Sagmeister, and using outside references to understand style 11:31 – The tactical answer: how to actually find your personal style 11:46 – Why there are no shortcuts — and why making is the path 12:32 – Why your unique life experience is the source of your point of view 13:41 – Make one thing, then ten things, then one hundred things 14:00 – The litmus test: can someone identify your work in a crowd? 16:06 – Why you cannot be all things to all people 16:55 – How mastery in one area can help you learn and master many things 18:01 – Why specialization unlocks opportunity instead of limiting it Read This If You Feel Like You Haven't Found Your Voice Yet If you feel like you haven't found your creative voice yet, I want you to hear this: You are not behind. You are in the process. It is easy to look at someone whose style seems fully formed and assume they were born with it. But what you are seeing is usually the result of years of making, failing, repeating, refining, borrowing, rejecting, and returning to the work. Style is not a lightning bolt. It is sediment. It builds layer by layer through practice. Every project teaches you something. Every experiment leaves a trace. Every failed attempt helps you understand what is not yours. Every finished piece gives you more information. So if you feel unclear, the answer is not to wait until you feel certain. The answer is to make. Make the thing. Then make another. Then make another. Then look back and listen for the pattern. Your voice is not hiding from you. It is waiting for enough evidence to reveal itself. The Danger of Chasing Trends There is a difference between research and copying. Looking broadly at culture, studying what's happening, noticing what inspires you, and learning from other artists is part of being creatively alive. But copying one person's style over and over again is not research. It's imitation. And if you spend too much time chasing trends, you train yourself to look outward for permission instead of inward for direction. Trends can teach you what's happening now. They cannot tell you who you are. That doesn't mean you need to ignore the world. It means you need to metabolize what you see. Take in inspiration. Study widely. Notice what moves you. But then ask: What do I have to say about this? What is my relationship to this idea? What part of this connects to my lived experience? How does this become mine? Your work does not become original because it appears out of nowhere. Nothing does. Your work becomes original when your influences pass through your point of view. Don't Overthink It. Make It. There is a line in this episode that matters: Don't overthink it. Just make it. That does not mean thinking has no place in the creative process. Reflection matters. Strategy matters. Taste matters. Intention matters. But thinking cannot replace making. A lot of creators get stuck because they want to understand their style before they create enough work to reveal it. That's backwards. You don't find your voice and then make the work. You make the work and find your voice through it. This is why personal projects are so valuable. They give you a place to create without needing permission. They give you a space to follow curiosity. They let you experiment without the pressure of a client, an audience, or a perfect outcome. Personal projects are where your style gets room to breathe. Not everything has to be monetized. Not everything has to be optimized. Not everything has to be posted. Not everything has to become part of your portfolio. Sometimes the point is simply to learn what happens when you follow the impulse. Questions to Ask Yourself If you want to turn this episode into action, take a few minutes and sit with these questions: What kind of work do I keep returning to, even when nobody asks me to? Whose style am I currently copying, and what am I learning from that imitation? Where have I mistaken trend-chasing for creative growth? What choices show up again and again in my work? What subjects, themes, colors, sounds, rhythms, or ideas keep pulling me back? What would I make if I stopped trying to be impressive? What would I make if I stopped trying to be for everyone? Can someone recognize my work without seeing my name attached to it? What do I need to make 10 more of before I judge whether I have a style? A Simple Practice for Finding Your Creative Voice Here's a simple exercise: Choose one format. A photo series, a set of sketches, a short essay series, a beat tape, a design study, a daily video, whatever fits your craft. Make 10 versions. Not one perfect version. Ten honest attempts. Do them quickly enough that you can't over-polish the life out of them. Put them side by side. Look for what repeats. Ask someone you trust what feels most like you. Then make 10 more. The goal is not to force consistency. The goal is to gather evidence. What do you keep doing naturally? What feels alive? What feels borrowed? What feels like performance? What feels like truth? Your style is hidden in those patterns. Specialization Is Not a Trap A lot of creators resist personal style because they worry it will limit them. They think, "If I become known for one thing, I'll lose my range." But specialization does not have to mean becoming narrow. It means becoming recognizable. You can have range and still have a voice. In fact, range might be part of your style. But if nobody can identify the through-line, if your work feels like a different person made it every time, it becomes harder for people to understand what you stand for creatively. That does not mean you have to lock yourself into black and white portraits forever. It means you have to make enough work that your point of view becomes visible across the range. The goal is not sameness. The goal is coherence. You Cannot Be All Things to All People This is one of the hardest lessons in creative work. You cannot be all things to all people. If you try, your work will suffer. Your energy will suffer. Your sense of self will suffer. When you chase 58 different styles because you want everyone to like you, you dilute the very thing that makes your work valuable. The goal is not to please everyone. The goal is to express something true enough that the right people recognize it. That takes courage because it means letting go of some possibilities. It means not being for every client, every audience, every trend, every platform, every room. But that is also where freedom begins. When you stop trying to be everything, you can finally become something specific. And specific is powerful. The Path Is Create, Share, Sustain The loop is simple, but not easy: Create. Share. Sustain. Get feedback. Make again. That's how you grow. Not by waiting for clarity. Not by endlessly planning. Not by collecting inspiration forever. Not by thinking your way into a fully formed identity. You create. You put work into the world. You pay attention. You learn. You keep going. Over time, that loop builds both style and mastery. And here's the advanced part: once you learn how to master one thing, you start to understand how learning itself works. You begin to recognize the patterns of growth. You understand what deliberate practice feels like. You know how to move through frustration. You know how to close the creative gap. Mastery in one area can become a doorway into mastery in others. But first, you have to do the work in front of you. The Core Idea Your creative voice is not something you find by waiting. It is something you uncover by making. Your personal style is your point of view made visible. It is the creative fingerprint that appears when you have made enough work to stop performing and start revealing. Yes, study the people you admire. Yes, learn the tools. Yes, imitate in the beginning. Yes, experiment broadly. But then return to the work. Make one thing. Then ten. Then a hundred. Look for the patterns. Trust what keeps showing up. Let your lived experience inform the choices. Stop trying to be all things to all people. The world does not need a perfect copy of someone else. It needs the thing only you can make. Until next time: focus on the making, trust your point of view, and remember — your creative voice is already in there. The work is how you bring it out.

Everything changes when therapists finally have a safety net. In this episode, I sit down with Jeanine Rousso, founder of the Therapist Resource Network, to talk about a resource I truly believe every therapist needs to know about. We dive into the reality so many clinicians are quietly facing financial instability, burnout, and what happens when life throws something unexpected your way. I share why this conversation matters so deeply to me and how having support in those hardest seasons can change everything about how we show up in our work and our lives. Jeanine opens up about the personal experiences and industry gaps that led her to build a nonprofit dedicated to supporting therapists through crises, from natural disasters to personal emergencies. We talk about the realities of therapist income, the emotional weight of this profession, and what it actually looks like to receive support when you need it most. If you have ever wondered what happens when a therapist needs help, how to prepare your practice for the unexpected, or how we can advocate for more sustainable careers in this field, this episode is one you will not want to miss.   Topics Covered in this Episode: 2:15 - The moment that sparked the idea for a therapist support network 5:40 - What most therapists are silently struggling with right now 8:10 - The truth about therapist income and why it is a bigger issue than you think 11:25 - What actually happens when a therapist faces a crisis 13:50 - How these emergency grants work and who qualifies 16:05 - The hidden emotional toll of burnout and isolation in this field 18:20 - What needs to change for therapists to feel truly supported   If this conversation resonates with you, I encourage you to share this episode with a fellow therapist who might need it. You never know who is going through something behind the scenes. And if you are looking to build a more sustainable, supported, and empowered career as a therapist, make sure you subscribe and stay connected. There is so much more ahead. Resources Mentioned:   Therapy Resource Network: www.therapistresourcenetwork.org    Find out more about Alma here: helloalma.com/danielle   Take 50% off your first 3 months of Simple Practice + a 7 day free trial using the link: simplepractice.com/danielle   Fill Up Therapists: $0-$60k   If you are needing more private pay clients in your practice in 2026, the Practice Accelerator is the perfect fit for you. Use the code ALLIN as a podcast listener to get $100 off at checkout.    Scale Up Therapists: $60-$200k+ Group practice owners, content creators and therapists scaling beyond 1-1.  Apply here for the next round of Scale Up Mastermind where I help therapists create additional revenue streams and scale to multi six and seven figures.   

Send Rachel a text message.If you've ever felt like you're “doing manifestation wrong”… this might shift everything.In this episode, we move beyond vision boards and wishful thinking to explore a deeper truth: You are not separate from what you're trying to manifest.We talk about: • why traditional manifestation (think The Secret) can feel limiting • how non-dual awareness changes everything • why language matters (“wanting” vs. “being”) • how to actually work with the field instead of waiting on it • the power of synchronicities as confirmation—not coincidenceThis is manifestation without pressure, performance, or perfection.

1. Don't let fear lead your life The world runs on anxiety, but the Gospel invites us into trust. 2. Jesus doesn't give a map. He gives himself Faith is not certainty. It's relationship. 3. “The Way” is a way of living Not a path to get somewhere, but a life shaped by love, grace, and presence. 4. Love is the antidote to fear Fear builds walls. Love breaks them down. 5. Following Jesus is a daily choice Choose: Love over control Welcome over exclusion Grace over judgment 6. Christianity is not just something to believe It's a life to live. 7. You are not walking alone Jesus walks with you through every unknown and every fear. Simple Practice for the Week: When you feel anxious or overwhelmed, pause and ask:“What would it look like to choose love right now?” Then take one small step in that direction.

You don't need to do more—you need to reconnect with yourself. Sometimes all it takes is a few minutes. Constant input, comparison, and noise make it hard to hear your own voice—and over time, you lose touch with what you feel, need, and want. Self-connection isn't a luxury. It's the foundation. And it begins with small, intentional pauses where you turn inward instead of reaching for something outside yourself. When you create space to listen without judgment or urgency, you begin to rebuild trust with yourself. And from there, clarity follows. What we explore: Why disconnection feels so common in today's overstimulating world How living from the outside in leads to burnout and emptiness The difference between self-care and true self-connection The four elements of a self-connection ritual Body-based practices to reconnect with your inner knowing A simple way to begin, even if you only have a few minutes If you're ready to reconnect with your voice and safely step into your next level of visibility, join me for Reignite Your Spark – a free 5-day experience designed to help you build self-trust and express yourself with clarity and confidence. You can begin at http://nancylevin.com/spark. Connect with me: Newsletternancylevin.comInstagramFacebook

Hey friends, Chase here Let's talk about reality. Not the abstract, philosophical version. Not the version you argue about over coffee or read about in some dusty book. I mean the reality you wake up inside every day. The job. The schedule. The obligations. The story you tell yourself about what is "practical." The version of your life that everyone around you seems to agree is reasonable. And then there's the other thing. The thing you can see in your mind that does not exist yet. The book. The business. The body of work. The new way of living. The creative practice. The conversation. The project. The identity. The version of your life that keeps tapping you on the shoulder, quietly asking, "Are we ever going to build this?" This episode is about that tension. It started with a Nietzsche quote I love: No artist tolerates reality. But the point is not Nietzsche. The point is you. Because too many of us spend years — sometimes decades — living inside somebody else's plan for our one precious life. We inherit the well-worn path. We internalize the "shoulds." We mistake convention for truth. We tell ourselves that creativity is indulgent, impractical, selfish, lofty, or naive. And the more we repeat that story, the more it starts to feel like reality. But here's the thing I want you to hear clearly: Reality is not fixed. Reality is shaped. And one of the most powerful ways you shape it is by creating. This is the heart of the episode: You are not here to simply accept the world as it has been handed to you. You are not here to blindly follow the plan someone else wrote. You are not here to wait until the world gives you permission to make something, become something, or live in a way that feels more true. You are here to create. And I don't mean that in a soft, decorative way. I mean it in the most practical way possible. Creativity is not just painting, writing, photography, music, or design. Creativity is the foundation underneath every act of making anything in the world. A conversation is co-created. A relationship is co-created. A business is co-created. A life is co-created. You cannot build anything meaningful without creativity. Which means creativity is not extra. Creativity is your birthright. The Core Idea Stop asking permission to create your life. That's the message. Not because you should abandon responsibility. Not because every idea you have will work. Not because the path is easy, obvious, or guaranteed. But because waiting for permission is one of the most common ways we avoid our own agency. We wait for someone to tell us it's okay. We wait until the timing is better. We wait until we have more money, more confidence, more clarity, more proof. We wait until the world gives us a clean, logical reason to begin. But most meaningful creative acts do not start with certainty. They start with a pull. A nudge. A frustration. A vision. A refusal to accept that the current version of reality is the only version available. That is what artists do. That is what entrepreneurs do. That is what builders do. That is what every person who has ever changed anything does. They look at reality and say, "This is not the whole story." Why Creativity Is Practical as Hell One of the biggest lies our culture tells is that creativity is impractical. You've probably heard some version of it. Be realistic. Have a backup plan. Don't waste your time. That's not how the world works. Do something more responsible. And to be clear, I'm not arguing against responsibility. I'm arguing against the idea that suppressing your creative agency is responsible. Because the truth is, every useful thing around you was once imagined by someone. The chair you're sitting in. The phone in your hand. The building you're inside. The app you use. The song that changed your mood. The book that changed your mind. The business that changed your life. All of it was invented, dreamed up, shaped, built, and brought into the world by people who were no more inherently magical than you. They saw something that did not yet exist, and they acted. That is creativity. And the more you practice creating in small ways, the more you build the muscle to create in bigger ways. It's only by creating something that you learn you can create anything. And eventually, you start to understand that you can create not just objects, projects, or art — but change. Change in your work. Change in your habits. Change in your relationships. Change in your identity. Change in the way you experience your own life. What You'll Hear in This Episode This is a short micro show, but it goes straight at the heart of creative agency. Here are the ideas worth listening for — and coming back to when you need a reminder that you are allowed to build the thing you see in your mind. Why so many of us live inside someone else's plan without realizing it How culture trains us to see creativity as impractical when it is actually foundational Why creativity is your birthright and not a luxury reserved for a special few How creating in small daily ways builds the capacity for bigger change Why the current version of reality is not the final version What it means to stop tolerating reality and start shaping it How to identify the thing inside you that is asking to be built Timecodes (So You Can Jump to What You Need) If you're not listening straight through, here are a few landmarks to help you find the part that speaks to where you are right now: 01:50 – The Nietzsche quote that sparked this episode: "No artist tolerates reality" 02:24 – Why the trap of someone else's plan is an illusion 03:16 – Creativity as your birthright 04:16 – Why creativity is practical, generous, and life-changing 05:35 – Reality is shaped by us 06:32 – Bringing new ideas into the world, from books to platforms 07:26 – What happens when people tell you your idea is stupid 08:16 – Steve Jobs, reality distortion, and refusing the status quo 09:05 – Why it is your job to stop tolerating the reality you live in 09:50 – A direct call to action: what can you build right now? Read This If You Feel Trapped If you feel like you're living a life that doesn't quite fit, I want you to be careful with the story you tell yourself. Because the first story is usually, "I can't." I can't change careers. I can't make the thing. I can't start over. I can't say what I really want. I can't build something new. I can't disappoint people. I can't afford to be creative. I can't risk being wrong. But underneath "I can't" there is often something else: I'm scared. I don't know where to begin. I'm waiting for permission. I don't want to be judged. I don't want to fail publicly. I don't want to discover that the dream matters more to me than I admitted. That's human. But it is not the end of the story. Because the question is not whether you can transform your entire life overnight. The question is whether you can take one creative action that proves to you that the current reality is not absolute. Can you write the first page? Can you make the first call? Can you sketch the idea? Can you block the hour? Can you start the conversation? Can you make the prototype? Can you tell the truth? Can you take one step toward the life you keep imagining? That is where agency begins. The World Wants You to Be Reasonable The world has a narrative it wants you to fit comfortably inside. It wants you to do what is practical, measurable, explainable, and familiar. It wants you to make choices that are easy to defend at dinner parties. It wants you to stay on the well-trodden path. And again, there is nothing wrong with practicality. There is nothing wrong with stability. There is nothing wrong with being thoughtful, strategic, and grounded. But there is a problem when "being realistic" becomes a disguise for abandoning yourself. There is a problem when you use other people's expectations as evidence against your own intuition. There is a problem when you confuse safety with aliveness. Your creative life does not need to make sense to everyone at the beginning. Most new realities don't. The thing you see might not exist yet. That does not make it impossible. It makes it yours to explore. What Are You Here to Make? One of the questions I ask in this episode is simple: What are you doing to shift reality? Not someday. Not when the market is perfect. Not when everyone understands. Not when you finally feel completely ready. Now. And I don't necessarily mean some giant, world-changing, billion-dollar idea. Yes, some changes are massive. Some ideas become companies, movements, inventions, platforms, or bodies of work that reach millions of people. But not all meaningful change looks like that. Sometimes changing reality means changing the way you spend your mornings. Sometimes it means making art again after years away. Sometimes it means building a healthier body. Sometimes it means leaving a role that no longer fits. Sometimes it means saying yes to the project that scares you. Sometimes it means refusing to let the most honest part of you stay buried. Even if the only reality you change at first is your own, that matters. Because your life is not separate from the world. When you become more alive, more honest, more creative, and more engaged, that ripples outward. Questions to Ask Yourself If you want to turn this episode into action, take five minutes and sit with these: Where in my life am I waiting for permission? What part of my current reality have I mistaken for something permanent? What is the thing I keep imagining but keep postponing? Who told me this path was impractical — and do I actually believe them? What small creative act would remind me that I have agency? What would I build if I stopped needing everyone to understand first? What is one part of my life that I am no longer willing to tolerate? A Simple Practice for Reclaiming Agency Here's something you can do immediately. Not as theory. Not as inspiration. As practice. Name one reality you are no longer willing to accept. Be specific. Don't write a vague complaint. Write the thing plainly. Name the reality you want to create instead. Again, be specific. What would be different? What would you feel? What would exist? Choose one action you can take in the next 24 hours. Make it small enough that you can actually do it. Do it before you ask for feedback. Let action come before permission. Repeat tomorrow. Agency is built through repetition. The point is not to blow up your life. The point is to stop outsourcing your authorship. You do not need to wait for the perfect conditions to begin shaping reality. You only need to take the next honest creative action. The Takeaway The reality you live in right now is finite. But you are not. You have the ability to add something. To make something. To shape an experience. To invent a solution. To build a practice. To create a body of work. To change the way your life feels from the inside. That does not happen by tolerating everything exactly as it is. It happens when you notice the gap between what exists and what could exist — and you decide to participate. So here's the call to action: What can you build? What can you change? What can you stop tolerating? What can you create that would make your life — and maybe someone else's life — more alive, more useful, more honest, or more free? Because the only thing that has ever made this world better is someone deciding that the current reality was not enough. Someone like you. Until next time: stop asking permission, trust the thing you can see, and create the life that keeps calling you forward.

If you've ever hit a point where you just want to burn it all down, this episode is going to feel like someone finally understands what you've been experiencing. I walk you through what's really happening during the luteal phase when your business suddenly feels heavy, frustrating, or completely out of alignment. I share why that urge to quit, burn it down, or disappear isn't random or dramatic, but often a powerful signal pointing to deeper structural issues in your business and the way it's currently relying on you. I also coach you through how to navigate those intense days without making impulsive decisions you might regret later. We explore how hormones amplify what's already there, how burnout and over-functioning show up in sneaky ways, and how to start building a business that doesn't collapse every 30 days. If you've ever questioned yourself, your capacity, or your business during this phase, this episode will help you separate truth from temporary emotion and start making more supportive, sustainable shifts. Topics Covered in this Episode: 2:10 - Why the urge to "burn it all down" isn't actually the problem 4:25 - The hidden business structure issue most women overlook 6:40 - What your luteal phase is trying to reveal to you 9:15 - The difference between intuition and hormonal amplification 11:30 - Signs your business is relying too heavily on you 13:50 - How burnout quietly builds across your cycle 16:05 - A simple way to respond instead of react in the moment 18:20 - The long-term shift that changes everything If this episode hits home, don't just listen and move on. Save it, come back to it during your next luteal phase, and start noticing what patterns are repeating for you. Then take one small step toward building a business that actually supports you through every phase, not just the easy ones. Resources Mentioned: Find out more about Alma here: helloalma.com/danielle Take 50% off your first 3 months of Simple Practice + a 7 day free trial using the link: simplepractice.com/danielle Fill Up Therapists: $0-$60k   If you are needing more private pay clients in your practice in 2026, the Practice Accelerator is the perfect fit for you. Use the code ALLIN as a podcast listener to get $100 off at checkout.    Scale Up Therapists: $60-$200k+ Group practice owners, content creators and therapists scaling beyond 1-1. Apply here for the next round of Scale Up Mastermind where I help therapists create additional revenue streams and scale to multi six and seven figures. 

Watch the full episode with Betty Guadagno here: https://youtu.be/wF8G8-ynr54Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/inspiredevolution. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Your brain doesn't wait to tell a story about your life—it creates one in real time.In this Think Thursday episode, Molly builds on the foundational concept of “the gap and the gain” and takes it one step further. Instead of focusing on how we reinterpret our past, she explores how the brain assigns meaning in the moment—and how those interpretations quietly shape identity, behavior, and long-term change.By understanding how your brain predicts, labels, and stores experiences, you can begin to create space between what happens and what you decide it means—unlocking a more effective and sustainable approach to behavior change.What You'll Learn: Why your brain is constantly interpreting—not just observing—your experiences  How predictive processing shapes the meaning you assign to events  The role of the amygdala and emotional tagging in forming your personal narrative  Why you don't remember what happened—you remember what you decided it meant  How repeated interpretations become identity over time  The connection between dopamine, motivation, and perceived progress Why missed goals aren't the problem—but how you interpret them might be Key Takeaway:Behavior change doesn't just depend on what you do—it depends on the meaning your brain assigns to what you do.The moment something doesn't go as planned isn't the problem. The story you tell about that moment is what determines what happens next.A Simple Practice to Try This Week:The next time something doesn't go the way you planned: Notice your immediate interpretation  Pause before labeling it as “good” or “bad”  Ask yourself: “Is that the only way to see this?”Creating that small amount of space allows you to choose a more useful interpretation—one that keeps you engaged instead of shutting you down.Final Thought:The gap and the gain help you reinterpret your past.But the real shift happens when you recognize that you are shaping that story in real time—moment by moment, meaning by meaning. ★ Support this podcast ★

Hey friends, Chase here Let's talk about something that gets romanticized way too much in the creative world: inspiration. We've been taught to wait for it. To trust it. To believe that the best work comes when lightning strikes, when the muse shows up, when the feeling is right. And while inspiration is real — and beautiful when it arrives — it's also wildly unreliable. That's the trap. If you build your creative life around inspiration, you build it around something you cannot control. And anything you can't control is a dangerous foundation for a meaningful body of work. This episode is about a better way. A steadier way. A more durable way. It's about why creativity doesn't really grow from waiting for a feeling — it grows from compounding action. Small acts. Repeated over time. Daily deposits into the account of your craft. Tiny efforts that don't seem like much in the moment, but eventually become impossible to ignore. Because the truth is simple: you do not need to feel inspired to make something meaningful. You need to begin. And then begin again tomorrow. The Real Problem With Waiting for Inspiration At the start of the episode, I ask a question that's worth sitting with for a minute: When was the last time you made something just for the sake of making it? Not for a client. Not for social media. Not because someone was expecting it. Not because it was due. Just because you felt a pull to create. For a lot of people, that question lands hard. Not because the desire to create is gone — but because somewhere along the way, the conditions got heavy. The pressure increased. The stakes changed. Creation stopped being play and started becoming performance. And once that happens, inspiration starts to feel like a requirement. Like you need the right mood, the right window of time, the right environment, the right burst of confidence before you can begin. But that's backwards. Inspiration is not the engine. It's the byproduct. The people who make meaningful work consistently are rarely sitting around waiting to feel magical. They're working. They're practicing. They're trying things. They're showing up on ordinary days. They're making imperfect things and learning from the process. They understand that action creates momentum — and momentum often creates the feeling we mistakenly thought had to come first. The Core Idea: Creativity Compounds Most people understand compounding in the context of money. You invest a little. That investment earns returns. Then those returns start earning returns of their own. If you stick with it long enough, the early effort starts to multiply in ways that seem almost disproportionate to the original input. That same principle applies to creativity. Every day you make something, you are making a deposit into your creative future. You're not just producing one photo, one page, one sketch, one draft, one conversation, one attempt. You're building skill. You're building confidence. You're building pattern recognition. You're building stamina. You're building trust with yourself. That one photograph teaches you how to see a little better tomorrow. That paragraph in your journal makes the next paragraph easier to write. That rough idea you abandon still shapes the way your brain approaches the next one. None of it is wasted. That's important, because a lot of creative people dismiss the small efforts. They only count the big breakthroughs. They only respect the obvious wins. They think the work "counts" once it becomes polished, public, profitable, or impressive. But real creative growth doesn't work that way. The invisible reps are where the change is happening. Why the Early Returns Feel So Small One reason people stop too soon is because the beginning is incredibly deceptive. You show up. You try. You make the thing. And at first? Not much seems to happen. You don't feel transformed. You don't suddenly become excellent. You don't necessarily get recognition. You may not even like what you made. That's normal. It's a lot like going to the gym. The first handful of workouts don't make you feel powerful. Usually they make you feel sore. Awkward. Behind. You don't see visible results yet, so your brain starts questioning whether the effort is worth it. That's exactly where most people quit. Not because the process isn't working — but because the results are still compounding beneath the surface. The habit is the investment. The work is the interest. And in the background, whether you notice it or not, something is building. What Compounding Looks Like in Real Life If you commit to a creative practice, the shifts usually happen in phases. Day one: you make something and it feels mediocre. Maybe embarrassing, even. You put it out there anyway. Or maybe you keep it private. Either way, you made something. That matters. Day 30: you've stayed with it long enough to feel a difference. You might not be able to articulate exactly how you're better, but something is changing. You're a little less hesitant. A little more practiced. A little more willing to hit publish, or share, or trust your instincts. Day 90: now the changes are harder to deny. You're solving problems faster. You're making decisions with more confidence. The work has a different quality to it — one that may be difficult to name but easy to feel. Day 365: this is where it gets almost shocking. You look back at who you were when you started, and it's hard to believe that version of you made the early work. Your skills have evolved. Your identity has evolved. The way you think has evolved. Not because inspiration struck once in a dramatic breakthrough — but because repeated practice changed you. That's the magic most people miss. The transformation doesn't come from a single moment. It comes from stacking enough ordinary moments that they eventually become extraordinary. Inspiration Follows Habit This may be the most important idea in the entire episode: Inspiration follows the habit. It does not precede it. Read that again. We tend to imagine that creative people feel inspired first, and then they make. But most of the time, the opposite is true. They make first. They enter the work first. They return to the practice first. And somewhere along the way, inspiration catches up to them. The muse is far more likely to visit the person already working than the person waiting for certainty on the couch. This matters because it gives you your power back. If you believe inspiration has to arrive before you begin, you are helpless every time it doesn't show up. If you understand that inspiration often arrives after action begins, then you're no longer blocked by your feelings. You can move anyway. That doesn't make the process robotic. It makes it resilient. Why Daily Practice Changes More Than Skill When people hear "practice," they often think only about technical improvement. Better camera work. Better writing. Better editing. Better design. Better speaking. Better execution. And yes — practice absolutely improves craft. But that's only part of the story. Practice also changes your mindset. It changes your tolerance for uncertainty. It changes your willingness to be seen before you feel ready. It changes your ability to recover from a rough day or a bad draft or a failed attempt. It changes your relationship to discomfort. Over time, you become tougher. Not harsher. Not more closed. Just sturdier. You stop interpreting every hard day as a sign you've lost your way. You start recognizing resistance as part of the process rather than proof that you should stop. That's a deep kind of growth. And it's only available through repetition. What Most People Get Wrong About Creative Success A lot of people think the biggest differentiator is talent. Sometimes they think it's access. Or timing. Or luck. Or confidence. And while all of those things may play a role, one of the most underrated advantages in any creative life is much simpler: The willingness to keep going. Most people quit. They stop when the returns are still invisible. They stop when it gets repetitive. They stop when they feel embarrassed. They stop when the novelty wears off. They stop when they don't get immediate validation. They stop when they confuse discomfort with misalignment. But if you stay in the game — if you continue stacking daily habits, continuing to invest, continuing to return to the work — you start benefiting from a force that only rewards consistency. You begin to outlast the people who were relying only on excitement. You begin to build a body of work that couldn't have been created any other way. You begin to trust yourself not because everything feels easy, but because you've proven that you can continue when it doesn't. What You'll Hear in This Episode This is a short micro show, but it carries a big message. Here's what to listen for: Why making something for play matters — and how easy it is to drift away from that instinct when everything becomes about output, audience, or obligation How the concept of compounding interest applies directly to creativity — and why small repeated actions build more than we realize Why the early phase of practice feels unrewarding — even when it's working exactly as it should What happens at day 1, day 30, day 90, and day 365 when you commit to daily creative action Why inspiration is a result of the habit, not the prerequisite for it How persistence quietly becomes one of the greatest creative advantages you can have Timecodes (So You Can Jump to What You Need) 01:47 – The opening question: when was the last time you made something just for play? 02:32 – Why we shouldn't lean on inspiration — and what to lean on instead 03:01 – The compounding interest metaphor and why it matters for creativity 03:57 – The realization that creativity compounds just like money does 05:07 – Why the early returns are invisible, and why most people quit too soon 06:12 – What compounding creativity looks like at day 1, 30, 90, and 365 08:32 – The key truth: inspiration follows the habit 09:26 – The reminder that most people quit — and why continuing matters 10:50 – Stacking daily habits and applying financial wisdom to creative life Read This If You've Been Waiting to Feel Ready If you've been telling yourself you'll get back to your craft once the spark returns, once life calms down, once you have more clarity, once you feel more confident — let this be your reminder: You do not have to wait to feel ready. You do not need a perfect plan. You do not need ideal conditions. You do not need a surge of confidence. You need one small act of participation. One honest page. One photograph. One sketch. One idea written down. One imperfect attempt. Because that's how momentum begins. Not with certainty. With movement. And often, once you reenter the practice, the feeling you were waiting for starts to reappear — not as a prerequisite, but as a companion. Questions to Ask Yourself If you want to turn this episode into action, spend a few minutes with these: When was the last time I made something purely for the joy of making it? Have I been waiting for inspiration instead of committing to a habit? What tiny daily action would count as a meaningful creative deposit right now? Where am I quitting too early because the results still feel invisible? What would change if I trusted repetition more than emotion? What kind of creator could I become in 30, 90, or 365 days if I simply kept going? A Simple Practice for Rebuilding Momentum If this episode speaks to where you are right now, here's a simple way to put it into practice: Choose one small creative act you can repeat daily for the next seven days Keep the bar low enough to actually do it Do it whether you feel inspired or not Track your consistency, not your brilliance At the end of the week, notice what changed — in your skill, your mood, your confidence, or your willingness to begin The goal here is not to impress yourself. It's not to prove anything. It's not to manufacture a breakthrough. The goal is to remember that creative momentum is built, not found. And once that momentum starts to compound, you'll realize something powerful: You were never actually waiting for inspiration. You were waiting to trust the process enough to begin. Until next time, make something for play, keep stacking the habit, and remember: don't wait for inspiration.

Stop chasing algorithms and start building a marketing engine that actually works for you. In this episode, I sit down with Liz Zhou, therapist turned website designer and copywriter, to unpack what's really driving client inquiries in 2026. We dive into why SEO is more than just a buzzword and how your website serves as the foundation of your entire marketing ecosystem. I explore the often-overlooked gap between getting traffic and actually converting that traffic into paying clients, and Liz shares how therapists can create websites that not only rank but resonate. We also get real about the highs and lows of social media growth, including Liz's experience going viral and the burnout that followed. I ask the questions so many of you are wondering: Do you actually need Instagram to grow your practice? What happens if you step away? And how can you create a more sustainable, long-term marketing strategy that doesn't rely on constant posting? From niching down and refining your messaging to designing a neurodivergent-friendly website that speaks clearly to your ideal client, this episode will challenge the way you think about marketing your practice. Topics Covered in this Episode: 3:12 - Why SEO is the true foundation of sustainable marketing 6:45 - The hidden reason your website isn't converting clients 10:28 - What really happens when you go viral as a therapist 14:02 - The burnout behind social media growth no one talks about 17:36 - How to step away from Instagram without losing inquiries 20:11 - The three pillars every high-converting website needs 23:07 - Subtle copywriting shifts that instantly make your site stand out 25:40 - How to design a website that works for different types of brains If you've been feeling stuck, overwhelmed, or burnt out trying to keep up with marketing trends, this episode will open your eyes to a more grounded and effective approach. Tune in and start building a marketing system that supports your practice instead of draining it.   Resources Mentioned: Connect with Liz: https://www.lizamay.com/  Find out more about Alma here: helloalma.com/danielle Take 50% off your first 3 months of Simple Practice + a 7 day free trial using the link: simplepractice.com/danielle Fill Up Therapists: $0-$60k   If you are needing more private pay clients in your practice in 2026, the Practice Accelerator is the perfect fit for you. Use the code ALLIN as a podcast listener to get $100 off at checkout.  Scale Up Therapists: $60-$200k+ Group practice owners, content creators and therapists scaling beyond 1-1.  Apply here for the next round of Scale Up Mastermind where I help therapists create additional revenue streams and scale to multi six and seven figures.

You can feel calm and regulated during a meditation… but then you open your eyes, go back into your day, and you're swept into overwhelm and stress again. This is something I hear so often! And if you've experienced it, you're not alone. It can feel confusing, even discouraging, to know your body is capable of feeling calm, and still not be able to access that same sense of regulation when you're in the middle of real life. So what do you do in that moment, when you're in the middle of your day, and your body starts to feel overwhelmed again? This is where somatic anchors come in. Somatic anchors are present-moment sensations that help your nervous system remember it's safe, reducing stress and overwhelm in a real way. These anchors give your body something it can ground into, so you can begin to feel more resourced and supported wherever you are. In this episode of Somatic Healing Meditations, I guide you through a simple and deeply effective practice so you can discover some somatic anchors that work for you. If you've been wanting a practical way to come back to yourself throughout your day, this episode will show you how to use somatic anchors to support your nervous system, reduce overwhelm, and make that sense of calm feel much more accessible in your everyday life. Perfect for nervous system regulation, grounding, stress relief, and learning how to feel safer in your body In this episode: What are somatic anchors? Somatic Anchor Practice to Feel Safer and More Grounded Read more about the somatic anchors and how to use them here Related: More Somatic Regulation Exercises Learn more about Havening Techniques and the science behind them Havening Techniques is a registered trademark of Ronald Ruden, 15 East 91st Street, New York. www.havening.org Ready to find your center, quiet your mind, and step off the roller coaster of stress and overwhelm? You're invited to join me in Somatic Healing Hub! SHH is a beautiful, deeply supportive online community filled with the structure, support, and somatic practices to help you actually feel better in your body - and create real change in your life. Inside, you'll get ad-free access to the Somatic Healing Meditations podcast! Each week, I guide multiple live somatic healing classes - calming, grounded practices to regulate your nervous system and reconnect with your inner world. There's also monthly group coaching with me, heart-centered workshops, and an extensive library of powerful body-based resources to support your healing journey. Your nervous system. Your emotions. Your healing — lovingly supported. Learn more and enroll now! Connect with Karena: @helloinnerlight on Instagram, and YouTube Find ALL of the amazing Somatic Healing Meditations here Submit a question for the podcast: Your Healing, Your Questions Free mini-course: The Feel it to Heal it Mini-Course Join me on a retreat! https://helloinnerlight.com/retreats Get AD-FREE access to this podcast, plus live classes, workshops, and group coaching in Somatic Healing Hub Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey friends, Chase here Let's talk about something that looks responsible on the surface — but quietly steals momentum from your life underneath it. I'm talking about overplanning. Not thoughtful preparation. Not healthy strategy. I mean the kind of planning that masquerades as progress. The kind that lets you feel productive without actually moving. The kind that sounds smart, looks disciplined, and gets praised by the world… but keeps you from starting the thing that matters most. That's what this episode is about. Because there's a hidden cost to overplanning, and most people don't notice they're paying it until years have gone by. It shows up in the projects you never started. The ideas you softened so they'd be easier to explain. The creative risks you talked yourself out of because the timing wasn't quite right, the plan wasn't complete, or the path wasn't clear enough yet. And here's the truth I want to put on the table right away: clarity is not a prerequisite for action. It is a reward for action. That's the heartbeat of this episode. If you've been waiting until you know more, until you feel more confident, until the uncertainty settles down… this one is for you. What This Episode Is Really About This micro show starts with an idea I've been thinking about a lot lately: there's a kind of tax we pay in life, and it doesn't come out of our paycheck. It comes out of our potential. It's the tax of sensible decisions. The choices that seem wise from the outside. The decisions other people approve of. The instincts that keep you safe, polished, prepared, and socially acceptable — but also slightly removed from your own real life. That tax compounds quietly. And one of the biggest ways it shows up is through overplanning. Because overplanning gives us the emotional comfort of movement without the actual vulnerability of motion. It lets us say, "I'm working on it," while avoiding the part that actually asks something of us. It keeps us in research mode, optimization mode, comparison mode, information-gathering mode — anything except the one mode that changes our life: doing. The hidden cost of overplanning is not just wasted time. It's delayed becoming. It's the version of you that only appears once you start — and never gets a chance to exist if you stay in your head too long. The Core Idea Research can become a very convincing form of avoidance. That doesn't mean research is bad. Planning matters. Preparation matters. Reflection matters. But there's a line — and once you cross it, planning stops serving the work and starts replacing it. That's the dangerous part. Because when planning becomes a substitute for action, it starts to feel noble. It feels mature. Responsible. Strategic. It gives you a reason to postpone the scary part while telling yourself you're still being productive. But in reality, what's often happening is much simpler: fear is dressing up as wisdom. And fear is clever. It doesn't always say, "Don't do the thing." Sometimes it says, "Do a little more research first." Sometimes it says, "Wait until you can see the whole plan." Sometimes it says, "You just need one more conversation, one more framework, one more round of prep, one more sign that this is the right path." But so much of the creative process — and honestly, so much of life — only reveals itself once you're in motion. You cannot think your way into the wisdom that only action creates. Why We Overplan in the First Place Most of us don't overplan because we're lazy. We overplan because uncertainty is uncomfortable. Action creates exposure. It creates the possibility of embarrassment, failure, imperfection, missteps, and outcomes you can't control. Planning, on the other hand, gives the illusion of control. It lets you stay in a world where everything is still theoretical — and therefore still safe. That's why overplanning can feel so seductive. It soothes the nervous system. It makes you feel like you're reducing risk. It helps you avoid the messy, irreversible, identity-shaping moment where you stop talking about the thing and actually begin. But beginning is where the information lives. The real information. Not the abstract kind. Not the clean, organized, secondhand kind. I mean the lived information you only get by stepping onto the trail, making the call, hitting publish, building the draft, having the conversation, taking the first rep. You do not find your way by staring harder at the map. You find your way by moving. The Story at the Center of This Episode In this episode, I share a simple story about researching a hike. I spent weeks getting ready. Trail maps. Elevation charts. Reviews. Recommendations. All the inputs. All the signals. All the ingredients of feeling prepared. And then Kate and I got to the trailhead, stepped out of the car, and I confidently led us in the wrong direction. That's the joke, of course. All that preparation — and I still got it wrong. But the deeper lesson is what matters. Because despite all that, we ended up discovering a hike that became one of our favorites. Not because I had the perfect plan. Not because I knew exactly where I was going. But because we started walking. That's how creativity works too. That's how growth works. That's how so many meaningful things in life actually happen: not through perfect foresight, but through imperfect movement. You stumble. You adjust. You notice. You learn. You refine. And somewhere in that process, the path reveals itself. What You'll Hear in This Episode This one is short, but it lands hard. Here are a few of the big ideas inside it: Why "more research" is often just more delay — especially when the decision has already been made and the next real step is action How planning can become fear masquerading as wisdom — convincing, articulate, socially approved fear Why preparation doesn't always change what actually happens once reality enters the chat How creativity actually works — by starting now and figuring it out as you go Why clarity comes from motion rather than waiting on the sidelines for certainty to arrive Timecodes (So You Can Jump to What You Need) If you want to skip straight to the parts that speak most to where you are right now, here are a few landmarks from the episode: 01:52 – The "tax" of sensible decisions and the cost of staying safe 02:38 – The hidden cost of planning and how research can become avoidance 03:31 – The hiking story: weeks of preparation, wrong direction anyway 04:22 – What that story reveals about how creativity actually works 05:06 – Why planning is often fear masquerading as wisdom 05:19 – The central takeaway: clarity is a reward for action 05:36 – How a wrong turn can still lead you somewhere better 06:22 – Final charge: stop planning and start moving toward your dreams Read This If You've Been Waiting to Feel Ready There's a trap a lot of smart, capable, ambitious people fall into. We think readiness comes first. We think confidence comes first. We think certainty comes first. Then we act. But more often than not, life works in the opposite order. You act first. Then confidence grows. Then data arrives. Then discernment sharpens. Then clarity begins to form. This matters because a lot of people are not actually stuck because they lack talent, opportunity, or ideas. They're stuck because they're trying to solve a moving problem while standing still. And stillness, when it goes on too long, starts to feel like identity. You become the person who is "thinking about it." "Working on it." "Researching options." "Getting clear." Meanwhile, the only thing that would truly help is the very thing you're postponing: motion. Action is not what you do after clarity. Action is how clarity gets built. The Deeper Cost Nobody Talks About The hidden cost of overplanning is not just that it wastes energy. It's that it disconnects you from your own instincts. When you spend too long looking outward for answers, you start forgetting that some answers can only be found inward — and then tested through lived experience. You begin trusting frameworks more than your own body. Advice more than your own curiosity. Consensus more than your own direct encounter with reality. And while outside input has its place, there comes a moment when no one can tell you the next right move with more authority than the part of you that is willing to begin. That's the part overplanning muffles. It creates noise where there should be contact. It creates endless preamble where there should be practice. It creates the illusion that wisdom lives somewhere "out there," when in fact some of the most important wisdom arrives through participation. Questions to Ask Yourself If this episode hit a nerve, sit with these for a few minutes: Where in my life am I calling something "planning" that is actually avoidance? What decision have I already made — but keep surrounding with more research? What am I hoping more preparation will protect me from? What would change if I believed clarity comes after the first step, not before it? What is one action I could take today that would teach me more than another week of thinking? A Simple Practice for Breaking the Cycle If you've been circling something important, here's a simple way to interrupt the pattern: Name the thing. What is the project, conversation, decision, or step you keep postponing? Write down the next visible action. Not the whole plan. Just the next move. Do it before you optimize it. Let action generate information. Reflect only after motion. Use feedback from reality, not just theory. Repeat. That is how paths appear. The goal here is not recklessness. It's not abandoning thoughtfulness. It's not pretending strategy doesn't matter. The goal is to put planning back in its proper place: in service of action, not in place of it. One Last Thought You may not get it right the first time. You may walk the wrong direction for a while. You may discover that the thing you planned for is not the thing that actually unfolds. Good. That's not failure. That's participation. That's the process working on you while you work on the process. And sometimes the "wrong" turn becomes the only reason you ever find the better path. So let this be your reminder: You do not need more certainty to begin. You need a willingness to move. Stop planning your way around your dreams. Start walking toward them. Until next time: trust action, let clarity catch up, and remember — the path reveals itself in motion.

In this episode of Two Pastors and a Mic, we talk about something that gets praised all the time in church culture—but often hides a much deeper issue: productivity without rest.A lot of us were taught that being busy means being faithful.That doing more means you care more.That slowing down feels lazy.That resting means you are falling behind.But what if that constant need to produce is not obedience at all? What if it is actually a trauma response?This week, Cory and Channock unpack the difference between healthy discipline and unhealthy productivity, and why so many of us have tied our worth to our output. They talk honestly about the pressure to always be doing more, the fear of being seen as lazy, the struggle to stop striving, and how rest can feel uncomfortable when your identity has been built around performance.They also share personal stories about ministry, family, work ethic, and the inner voices that make rest feel irresponsible—even when rest is exactly what is needed.In this episode:Why productivity is often praised as spiritualityHow performance can become tied to identityThe fear of being perceived as lazyWhy rest can feel uncomfortable and even unsafeHow childhood and church culture shape our work habitsThe difference between inactivity and true restWhat Jesus modeled instead of constant strivingSimple practical ways to begin choosing rest without guiltThis episode is for the person who feels guilty slowing down…For the one who always feels like they should be doing more…For the one who has confused exhaustion with faithfulness.Sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do is stop striving.00:00 - Welcome Back 02:17 - Why Short-Form Theology Feels Frustrating02:50 - Godly Thought or Trauma Response Series Recap03:41 - Processing Last Week's Hypervigilance Episode05:45 - This Week's Topic: Productivity vs. Rest06:30 - When Busyness Gets Praised as Spirituality07:45 - Can the Performance Bug Ever Go Away?08:59 - What If Productivity Is a Trauma Response?09:20 - Channock on the Fear of Being Seen as Lazy11:27 - The Garage Door Story and Hidden Pressure14:01 - Cory on Childhood Roots of Overworking16:30 - When Productivity Becomes Identity19:06 - What Rest Actually Looks Like19:51 - Three Things Jesus Never Did20:28 - Finding Life Outside of Productivity21:30 - Ministry, Relife, and Protecting Family23:50 - Rest Is Peace in the Middle of Activity24:11 - Simple Practices to Start Resting25:52 - Phone Boundaries and Learning Presence26:40 - You Are Valuable Without Proving It27:04 - Final Encouragement and Closing

What happens when massive growth finally hits… and you're more exhausted than excited? In this episode, I'm pulling back the curtain and walking you through a completely unfiltered behind-the-scenes look at my Quarter 1 experience… what worked, what surprised me, and what stretched me more than I expected. From multiple launches in a 90-day sprint to navigating real-life challenges happening at the exact same time, I'm sharing the honest reality of what it takes to grow a business quickly without burning out. I also dive into the strategies, mindset shifts, and unexpected wins that shaped this quarter… from selling out my first-ever in-person retreat with ease, to refining my approach to launches, to experimenting with Instagram growth in a way that actually moved the needle. Along the way, I'm asking bigger questions about what it really takes to scale sustainably, especially as a woman balancing business, life, and everything in between. If you've ever wondered how to grow without sacrificing yourself in the process, or how to navigate momentum when life doesn't slow down, this episode will give you a whole new perspective. Topics Covered in This Episode: 2:15 - Why rapid growth can feel just as challenging as slow seasons 6:40 - The surprising launch that completely changed my perspective on selling 11:20 - What actually limits your ability to scale (hint: it's not strategy) 15:05 - A major mindset shift around capacity that most people overlook 18:30 - Behind-the-scenes of a launch that almost didn't happen 22:10 - How I grew my audience (without going viral) 24:45 - What real life interruptions taught me about resilience in business 27:30 - The intentional shift I'm making in Quarter 2 and why it matters If this episode resonated with you, I'd love for you to stay connected and keep learning alongside me. Make sure you're subscribed so you don't miss what's coming next, especially as I head into Quarter 2 with a completely different focus and bring you along for the journey. Resources Mentioned: Find out more about Alma here: helloalma.com/danielle   Take 50% off your first 3 months of Simple Practice + a 7 day free trial using the link: simplepractice.com/danielle   Fill Up Therapists: $0-$60k   If you are needing more private pay clients in your practice in 2026, the Practice Accelerator is the perfect fit for you. Use the code ALLIN as a podcast listener to get $100 off at checkout.    Scale Up Therapists: $60-$200k+ Group practice owners, content creators and therapists scaling beyond 1-1.  Apply here for the next round of Scale Up Mastermind where I help therapists create additional revenue streams and scale to multi six and seven figures. 

Have you ever struggled to put words to what you're feeling — in your body, in the bedroom, or even in your doctor's office? You're not alone, and it's not your fault. Most of us were never taught the language of our own bodies, and that silence comes at a real cost: disconnection in intimate relationships, unspoken pain, and leaving healthcare appointments feeling dismissed and unheard.In this solo episode of Pleasure in the Pause, host Gabriela Espinosa explores what intimacy actually requires — not performance, not perfect words, but the ability to sense what's happening inside you and give it a name. Drawing on her work as an intimacy and attraction facilitator and a panel talk she gave at South by Southwest, Gabriela walks you through the neuroscience of body awareness (interoception), the three layers of intimacy practice, and a simple three-word framework — notice, feel, name — you can start using today.Embodiment Tune-In Guided Audio. Create a practice of connecting to your body, tuning in to what there is to be felt and accessing the pleasure that lives within you.Highlights from our discussion include:Intimacy starts with self-connection, not technique. Your body is already speaking — learn to hear it.Disconnection costs you in intimacy and healthcare.The practice is simple: notice, feel, name.Build the muscle in ordinary moments.What would change for you if you could clearly say I need to slow down — or I want more of that? That clarity isn't about confidence. It's vocabulary. Start small: today, pause once and name one sensation in your body. That's where it begins.CONNECT WITH GABRIELLA ESPINOSA:InstagramLinkedInWork with Gabriella! Full episodes on YouTube.The information shared on Pleasure in the Pause is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice. Always consult your healthcare provider before making any decisions about your health or treatment. The views expressed by guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the host or Pleasure in the Pause.

Listen to a real campus moment where a single, courageous question—"If you died today, where would you go?"—turns small talk into a deep, life-changing conversation. Follow the step-by-step way to ask permission, use open-ended spiritual discovery questions, and guide someone from curiosity to clarity about Jesus. Be encouraged and equipped to make room for the gospel: get up close, ask the question, and take your next step in sharing faith. Subscribe and share to keep learning how to hold loving, life-changing conversations.

Can just five minutes a day really improve your health? In this episode of the Mind Movement Health Podcast, we explore simple five-minute daily habits that can transform your health, reduce stress, support hormone balance, and improve wellbeing in midlife. Many women believe they need long workouts or complicated wellness routines to feel better. But research shows that small, consistent habits can create powerful physiological changes, especially when it comes to nervous system regulation, gut health, sleep, and hormonal balance during perimenopause and menopause. Listen in to learn how small daily practices can have a powerful impact on energy, mood, hormones, and long-term wellbeing. Timestamps: (00:00) Introduction and episode overview (01:27) The impact of five-minute health practices (02:55) Concept of micro habits in behavioral health science (03:55) Why consistency surpasses intensity in health routines (04:23) Benefits of five-minute sunlight exposure (04:49) Nervous system regulation through breathwork (05:18) Coherence breathing technique explained (06:16) Power of breath and vagus nerve activation (07:39) Easy Pilates and mobility routines for quick circulation boost (08:07) Incorporating movement throughout the day (09:33) Ideal five-minute mobility exercises (10:30) Promoting wellness retreats for reset and connection (11:00) Morning sunlight for circadian rhythm regulation (12:23) Mindful eating to improve digestion and reduce bloating (13:47) The importance of slow, deliberate eating (14:42) Practicing gratitude for emotional health (16:09) How these micro habits support women through hormonal shifts in midlife (17:08) The power of stacking multiple habits for compounded benefits (17:37) The simplicity and effectiveness of daily health rituals (18:06) Summing up five easy health practices to incorporate daily (18:32) Inviting listeners to share and subscribe for more insights (19:01) Closing remarks and next steps  

In this episode of Prayer on the Air, Angela Montano introduces a simple yet profound spiritual practice — a mantra that gently guides us back to truth:“God is all there is.God is all there.God is all.God is.God.” By slowly releasing each word, we're invited to move beyond the noise of the mind and into a deeper awareness of presence, trust, and surrender.From there, Angela shares a deeply human moment — a small interaction with a neighbor that turns into a powerful reflection on control, ego, and the need to be right. What seems insignificant becomes a doorway into something much bigger.✨ “Who would you be without your story of struggle?” — Angela MontanoThrough prayer, conversation, and community, this episode explores the shift from struggle to ease — and what it means to trust a greater intelligence already at work in our lives.This episode is a reminder that:We don't have to figure everything outWe are not meant to carry everything aloneEase is always available, even when we can't see it

In this episode, Diane introduces a simple, practical you can use in real time:The S.T.O.P. Method.Building on the previous episode about triggers, Diane shows how the moment of activation is actually an opportunity—to pause, listen, and respond with intention.Because the shift from chaos to connection happens in the moment you choose to pause.In This Episode You'll Learn:*What actually happens in the moment you feel triggered*Why reactions feel automatic—and how to interrupt that pattern*How the S.T.O.P. method creates space between trigger and response*A simple, repeatable practice to help you stay connected to yourself.*How one small pause can shift communication from reactivity to responsibilityLet's Connect:Instagram: @dianesorensen.bbFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/diane.sorensen.589Join the conversation — share your takeaways or questions from today's episode by sending me a message on Instagram or Facebook - your reflections matter.Working Together:Diane Sorensen Coaching is where boundarywork becomes the bridge from chaos to connection. You'll learn to transform your triggers, lead with compassion, and create emotionally safe, connected relationships built on authenticity, not approval.Reclaim your CALM, speak your TRUTH, and live FREE→ Submit an inquiry or learn more: www.dianesorensen.net/contact→ Explore free guides and resources to support your growth: www.dianesorensen.net/→ Join the weekly newsletter for insights, tools, and support delivered straight to your inbox: www.dianesorensen.net/email-listBreakthrough session – This90-minute session takes you through three important steppingstones, taking you from reactive patterns toward empowered connection

In part two of my conversation with Christi Underwood, we move beyond the basics and dive into what really matters once your ads are live. I walk through the exact metrics you should be paying attention to, how to tell if your ads are worth the investment, and the subtle signs that something needs to shift before you waste more money. We also get honest about the realities of tracking in today's privacy-first world, what to do when conversions feel unclear, and how to think about your ad strategy as your practice grows and evolves. From understanding clicks, impressions, and conversion rates to knowing when to refresh or pause your ads entirely, this episode will help you stop guessing and start making confident, data-driven decisions about your marketing. Topics Covered in this Episode: 2:10 - The first metric I always check to quickly gauge ad performance 4:35 - The "good" daily click range most therapists should aim for 6:20 - Why conversions are harder to track now and what to do instead 9:15 - The hidden tradeoff between better tracking and better user experience 12:05 - How keyword costs fluctuate and what that means for your budget 14:40 - What impression share actually tells you about your visibility 17:25 - When to pause, refresh, or completely rebuild your ads 19:10 - A simple rule of thumb for setting a sustainable ad budget   Resources Mentioned: Find out more about Alma here: helloalma.com/danielle   Take 50% off your first 3 months of Simple Practice + a 7 day free trial using the link: simplepractice.com/danielle   Fill Up Therapists: $0-$60k   If you are needing more private pay clients in your practice in 2026, the Practice Accelerator is the perfect fit for you. Use the code ALLIN as a podcast listener to get $100 off at checkout.    Scale Up Therapists: $60-$200k+ Group practice owners, content creators and therapists scaling beyond 1-1.  Apply here for the next round of Scale Up Mastermind where I help therapists create additional revenue streams and scale to multi six and seven figures.    Christi's Website: clevercatalystllc.com   Connect with Christi on IG @theclevercatalyst

This might be the uncomfortable truth that's quietly holding you back more than anything else. In this episode, I want to cover a topic no one really talks about. So many of us are silently navigating what it actually feels like when the people closest to you do not understand, support, or believe in your vision. This is so much more common than you think, though. Too often, family, partners, or friends question your ambition, your pricing, and your dreams. We dive into the emotional weight of feeling misunderstood and why chasing validation from the wrong people can keep you stuck longer than any strategy ever will. I also walk you through the mindset shifts and practical tools that changed everything for me. This episode will help you separate love from alignment and give you permission to expand beyond the ceilings you were raised around. If you've ever felt torn between your vision and the expectations of others, this conversation will hit deep and help you move forward with clarity and confidence. Topics Covered in this Episode: 1:12 - Why lack of support from family hits deeper than you expect 3:45 - The subtle ways people project their own limits onto your dreams 6:20 - What actually changes when you stop seeking their approval 8:10 - The hidden pressure to "prove them wrong" and why it backfires 10:05 - A powerful mindset shift that instantly creates emotional separation 12:30 - How to stop carrying other people's opinions like they are yours 14:15 - The "board of directors" concept and how it changes your decisions 16:40 - Why who you take advice from determines how far you go I want you to take a moment and really sit with where this might be showing up in your life right now. And if you haven't already, make sure you subscribe and leave a review it truly helps get this message into the hands of more women who are ready to step into bigger lives, even when not everyone around them understands it. Resources Mentioned: Find out more about Alma here: helloalma.com/danielle Take 50% off your first 3 months of Simple Practice + a 7 day free trial using the link: simplepractice.com/danielle   Fill Up Therapists: $0-$60k   If you are needing more private pay clients in your practice in 2026, the Practice Accelerator is the perfect fit for you. Use the code ALLIN as a podcast listener to get $100 off at checkout.    Scale Up Therapists: $60-$200k+ Group practice owners, content creators and therapists scaling beyond 1-1.  Apply here for the next round of Scale Up Mastermind where I help therapists create additional revenue streams and scale to multi six and seven figures. 

You made the promise this morning,"I'm not going to drink tonight." You meant it. Then the day happened. And by 6pm, the drink was in your hand like that was the plan all along. This isn't a willpower problem. It's a capacity problem. And once you understand what's actually happening in your nervous system between 6am and 6pm, this stops feeling like a weakness or a character flaw. In this episode, I'm breaking down why evening-you can't keep the promises morning-you makes, and giving you three practices, placed at specific times of day, that actually allow you to access the willpower (you already have) TONIGHT. You'll learn: Why willpower is a finite resource — and why you've already spent it by the time you need it most Why behavioral goals ("I'm only having two") consistently fail, and how to set an emotional goal you'll actually stick to Three nervous system practices — one for morning, one for lunch, one for the transition between day and evening — that work upstream of your alcohol cravings This episode is for the woman who is tired of blaming herself for needing to relieve her stress, and who's ready to learn how to live in a way she doesn't need to escape her own life.  Resources mentioned: Watch The Free 45 Minute Masterclass: The science behind take it or leave it–why some women can and how you can too.  If you'd like to learn more about our Emotional Sobriety Coaching programs, Click Here To Schedule A Free Discovery Call  

Hey friends, Chase here Let's talk about something that might feel uncomfortable at first — especially if you've spent years trying to get better, sharper, more polished, more "professional." Perfection is dead. Not metaphorically. Not eventually. I mean right now. And if you're paying attention to what's happening in the creative world — especially in an era of AI, automation, and endless content — you're starting to feel it too. The things that used to signal quality… now feel generic. The things that used to impress… now barely register. And the things we used to hide — the rough edges, the quirks, the imperfections — are quickly becoming the only things that actually stand out. This episode is about why your flaws — the very things you've been trying to smooth out — might actually be your greatest creative advantage. The Shift: Why Perfect Doesn't Work Anymore We are living in a moment where perfect is easy. AI can generate flawless images. Software can smooth every imperfection. Templates can make anything look "professional." And that's exactly the problem. Because when everything is polished… everything starts to look the same. Even the platforms themselves are saying it out loud now: authenticity is becoming scarce — and therefore more valuable than ever. :contentReference[oaicite:0]{index=0} That means the bar has shifted. It's no longer: "Can you make something good?" It's: "Can you make something only you could make?" The Biology Behind Why Imperfection Wins This isn't just a creative opinion — it's biology. Your brain is wired to ignore predictable patterns and notice disruptions. A perfectly uniform image? Your brain tunes it out. A slightly off note. A crack in a voice. A strange framing choice. A human moment that feels a little too real. That's what grabs attention. Because deep down, your brain is constantly scanning for something unexpected — something that might matter. Perfect is predictable. Imperfect is alive. The Trap: Safe + Skilled = Invisible Here's where a lot of creators get stuck. You develop skills. You learn the tools. You refine your process. And then… you start playing it safe. You aim for clean. You aim for polished. You aim for "what works." And without realizing it, you drift into something dangerous: You become technically good… but creatively forgettable. Because: You + safe choices + powerful tools = something that looks like everything else. The Core Idea Your imperfections are not flaws to eliminate — they are signals to amplify. Think about what we love: Film grain in photography Light leaks in old cameras Vinyl crackle in music A live performance that almost falls apart A handwritten line that isn't quite straight These aren't mistakes. They're evidence of humanity. And in a world that is increasingly synthetic, that evidence is everything. What You'll Hear in This Episode This episode is a fast one, but it hits deep. Listen for: Why perfection is becoming a liability in the age of AI How your brain is wired to prefer imperfection over polish Why "safe" creative choices lead to invisible work The difference between sloppy and intentional imperfection How to use your uniqueness as a creative advantage Timecodes (So You Can Jump to What You Need) 02:00 – Why polished, perfect work is losing relevance 03:24 – Authenticity as a scarce and valuable resource 05:08 – The neuroscience of why imperfection grabs attention 06:30 – Deliberate imperfection as a creative strategy 07:24 – Why being human is your biggest advantage 08:28 – Why "who you are" matters more than "what you make" Read This If You're Trying to Get It "Just Right" If you've been stuck tweaking, refining, polishing… Trying to make something perfect before you share it… Here's the reframe: The goal is not perfection. The goal is presence. Because perfection is something machines can fake. But presence — your perspective, your quirks, your lived experience — that's something no system can replicate. Questions to Ask Yourself If you want to apply this today, sit with these: Where am I over-polishing something that doesn't need it? What parts of my work feel the most "me" — and am I hiding them? Am I optimizing for approval instead of expression? What would I create if I stopped trying to make it perfect? What's one imperfection I could lean into instead of fix? A Simple Practice for Leaning Into Imperfection Try this: Pick one project this week. Remove one layer of polish. (Less editing, fewer filters, fewer constraints.) Leave something raw. A moment, a thought, a texture. Ship it anyway. Not because it's finished. But because it's real. Final Thought In a world where anything can be generated, replicated, or perfected… Your humanity is the differentiator. Your uneven lines. Your strange ideas. Your awkward delivery. Your lived experience. That's not noise. That's the signal. Perfect is dead. Long live your flaws. Until next time: stay curious, stay honest, and don't polish the life out of your work.

If you've ever wondered whether Google Ads are the missing piece in growing your private practice, this episode might completely change how you think about them. In this conversation, I sit down with Christi Underwood to break down what therapists actually need in place before spending a single dollar on ads and why jumping in too early can end up costing you more than it helps. We unpack the foundational pieces most people skip, from your online presence to your lead management systems, and why these elements make or break your results. We also get into the real numbers and expectations behind Google Ads so you can make smart, informed decisions for your practice. Christi shares what a realistic starting budget looks like, how long it takes to know if your ads are working, and the biggest mistakes therapists make when trying to DIY their campaigns. Whether you are brand new to ads or already experimenting with them, this episode will help you think more strategically about when, why, and how to use Google Ads to actually fill your caseload. Topics Covered in This Episode: 2:15 - What most therapists misunderstand about starting Google Ads 5:40 - The non-negotiables you need before running ads 9:10 - A realistic starting budget and what your money is actually doing 13:25 - How quickly you can tell if your ads are working 16:50 - The difference between clicks, leads, and real clients 19:30 - When ads work best (and when they don't) depending on your niche 22:10 - Why solo practitioners might benefit more than group practices 24:00 - The hidden systems that determine whether your leads convert   If you've been on the fence about Google Ads or unsure whether you're truly ready to invest in them, this episode will give you the clarity you need to move forward with confidence. Tune in, take notes, and start thinking about how to build a marketing strategy that actually supports the growth of your practice instead of draining your time and money. And if this episode resonates, be sure to subscribe and share it with another therapist who's ready to grow.   Resources Mentioned: Find out more about Alma here: helloalma.com/danielle Take 50% off your first 3 months of Simple Practice + a 7 day free trial using the link: simplepractice.com/danielle   Fill Up Therapists: $0-$60k   If you are needing more private pay clients in your practice in 2026, the Practice Accelerator is the perfect fit for you. Use the code ALLIN as a podcast listener to get $100 off at checkout.    Scale Up Therapists: $60-$200k+ Group practice owners, content creators and therapists scaling beyond 1-1.  Apply here for the next round of Scale Up Mastermind where I help therapists create additional revenue streams and scale to multi six and seven figures.    Christi's Website: clevercatalystllc.com Connect with Christi on IG @theclevercatalyst

"It's not your circumstances that are limiting you; It's the state you're operating from." What if the reason you feel stuck, overwhelmed, or unable to create the life you want isn't your circumstances but the state your body and energy are operating from? In this episode of SoulTalk, Kute Blackson sits down with Dr. Sue Morter to reveal why real transformation doesn't come from thinking harder, pushing more, or trying to fix yourself. Dr. Sue explains that when you're caught in stress, overthinking, and survival mode, your system becomes contracted, limiting what you can perceive, receive, and create. From that state, even your best efforts can keep you stuck in the same patterns. Through her grounded and practical approach, she shares powerful, body-based tools to help you regulate your internal state, shift out of survival, and reconnect with the natural flow of energy within you. You'll begin to understand how your nervous system shapes your reality and how learning to anchor yourself in your body can open the door to clarity, healing, and real change. This episode is not about doing more. It's about learning how to work with your body instead of against it. If you feel like you've been doing everything you can but still not seeing real change, this episode is what you've been looking for.   TIMESTAMPS (00:03:20) – If Everything Is Energy, Why Are You Still Stuck? (00:08:05) – Why Trying Harder Keeps You in Scarcity (00:13:10) – Can You Really Create the Life You Want? (00:17:14) – Stop Living in Your Head (Do This Instead) (00:24:29) – What To Do When You Feel Overwhelmed (00:29:04) – How Stress Can Actually Transform Your Life (00:33:48) – Shift Your State in Seconds (Simple Technique) (00:38:44) – Your Triggers Are the Key to Growth (00:42:50) – A Simple Practice to Feel Grounded Fast (00:47:41) – How to Calm Your Nervous System Naturally (00:51:38) – Why Real Change Starts in the Body (00:58:01) – Nothing Is Wrong With You (Powerful Reframe) (00:01:02) – Final Insight: Become Your True Self Some Questions I Ask: What if the reason you feel stuck has nothing to do with your circumstances? Are you trying to change your life from the same state that's keeping you there? What if your stress and triggers are actually pointing you to your next level? Are you living in your head… or truly connected to your body and inner power? What would change if you stopped trying to fix everything and shifted how you relate to life? In This Episode, You'll Learn: Why trying harder isn't the answer and may be keeping you stuck How your internal state shapes everything you experience The real reason you feel overwhelmed, tense, or not enough How to shift from control to calm and feel different fast A simple way to ground yourself in the middle of chaos Why your triggers might be showing you exactly where to grow   Get in Touch: Create a life that is a masterpiece. Join the transformational journey: www.boundlessblissbali.com Email: kuteblackson@kuteblackson.com Website: www.kuteblackson.com  Get your free gift on: www.eightlevelsofgratitude.com  Dr. Sue Morter official website  https://drsuemorter.com/ 

Dr. Nicole LePera joins me to explore how our childhood experiences shape the nervous system, emotional patterns, and identities we carry into adulthood. We unpack how many of the reactions, habits, and relationship dynamics that feel automatic today were once adaptations we developed to maintain connection and safety early in life. Nicole explains how emotional attunement in childhood forms the internal “home base” we return to, often recreating familiar patterns even when they no longer serve us.In this conversation, we explore attachment styles, people-pleasing, parentification, and the unconscious roles we adopt in order to belong. Nicole also introduces the practice of reparenting—learning how to meet our own emotional needs through awareness, nervous system regulation, and body-based practices. This episode offers a grounded path toward understanding where our patterns come from and how we can begin to create a deeper sense of safety and home within ourselves.Try LMNT & get a free sample pack https://drinkLMNT.com/KnowThyselfMUDWTR - Up to 43% off sitewide (and a free frother!)https://www.mudwtr.com/knowthyself[Code: KNOWTHYSELF]André's Book Recs: https://www.knowthyselfpodcast.com/book-list___________00:00 Intro03:30 Unearthing What We Buried to Survive09:12 The Childhood Roots of Our Coping Strategies15:59 The Importance of Emotional Attunement19:52 Understanding Attachment Styles28:33 Ad: LMNT30:35 From Seeking Love to Finding Home Within34:54 Meeting Needs With Compassion41:06 Ad: Mudwtr42:29 The Impact of Status-Oriented Parenting51:34 The Body as the Foundation of Healing1:04:19 Simple Practices for Nervous System Regulation1:12:07 Growing When Your Partner Isn't1:26:07 Vulnerability as the Path to Connection1:42:15 Healing the Need to Be Perfect1:50:55 The Power of Inner Child Awareness___________Episode Resources: https://www.instagram.com/the.holistic.psychologisthttps://theholisticpsychologist.com/https://www.instagram.com/andreduqum/https://www.instagram.com/knowthyself/https://www.youtube.com/@knowthyselfpodcasthttps://www.knowthyselfpodcast.com

Welcome to The Best of You Every Day. Today's Scripture is: Psalm 139:23–24 Topics covered: How to notice what's really happening inside you—anxiety, stress, and hidden emotions. A gentle approach to self-awareness and emotional healing How to stop avoiding your inner world and let God meet you with insight, peace, and direction instead of shame. Get a free map of your soul here. Go Deeper: Episode 186: Stuck Overthinking? A Simple Practice to Interrupt Stress, Overwhelm, and Habit Loops Connect with Dr. Alison on Instagram: @dralisoncook Join 80,000+ Soul Menders in Dr. Alison's free email community for ongoing reflection and support. While Dr. Cook is a counselor, the content of this podcast and any of the products provided by Dr. Cook are not specific counseling advice nor are they a substitute for individual counseling. The content and products provided on this podcast are for informational purposes only. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Morning Prayer to Start the Day Bible Verses: www.curlynikki.comSupport the show: http://patreon.com/goodmornings

What happens when your body starts telling a story your mind cannot ignore? In this episode, Dr. Alison sits down with author Justin Whitmel Earley to explore the connection between spiritual formation and the everyday rhythms of our bodies. From the outside, Justin's life looked stable and successful. But anxiety and panic began surfacing in ways he could no longer explain away. What followed was a deeper question many of us quietly carry: what if our bodies are revealing something about how we are living? Together, Alison and Justin explore the forgotten wisdom of embodied faith and how small daily practices shape the soul over time. In this conversation, they explore: Why anxiety sometimes appears even when life “looks fine” on the surface The surprising ways your body may be revealing deeper patterns in your life What modern faith may have forgotten about the role of the body How simple daily rhythms can slowly reshape who we are becoming This conversation is not about fixing yourself. It's about learning to listen because most likely your body knew something before you had words for it. Because sometimes the path toward healing begins by paying attention to the wisdom already present in your body. More Resources: Connect with @justinwhitmelearley on InstagramOrder Justin's latest book The Body Teaches the Soul. Connect with @dralisoncook on Instagram Join the 80,000+ soul menders in our email community and receive weekly reflections and gentle practices here.  If you liked this episode, then you'll love: Episode 186: Stuck in Overthinking? A Simple Practice to Interrupt Stress, Overwhelm, and Habit Loops Episode 184: Stop Running From Anxiety - How to Tell Normal Stress from Unhealthy Anxiety and Find Peace Over Panic

Hey friends, Chase here If you're a creator who's ever wondered why someone with "less talent" seems to get more opportunities… this episode is for you. Because here's the truth: being great at your craft is only the price of admission. It gets you in the door. But what happens after that? That's where your career is made. In today's micro-show — Craft Is the Entry Fee — I'm talking about the things that matter most in the work you do… and the things that matter just as much in the way you do it. The stuff you can't always point to on a resume. The stuff you can't show in a portfolio. The stuff you can't always "prove" — but everyone can feel. Because what you can't see matters. The Big Idea Let's start with a reframe that will save you years of frustration: Great work is the "get in the door" fee. Yes — you have to be good. You have to practice. You have to care about the craft. You have to put in the reps. But if you're trying to get hired, land clients, build long-term relationships, or get re-hired again and again… then your craft is only one part of the equation. Because hiring isn't just about output. It's about the total package someone brings to the table: experience, energy, passion, intensity, positivity, wisdom, technical knowledge… and the unspoken, unmeasurable stuff that shapes every interaction. What You Can't See (But People Hire For) Here's a vivid example from the episode: Imagine you're an art director or a client. You're going to spend ten days on set with a photographer or director. Now ask yourself: Do you want to spend ten days with a jerk? No. You don't. And neither do they. You might be incredibly talented. Your work might be objectively excellent. But if you're difficult, unpredictable, late, disorganized, or hard to trust — the next job goes to someone else. And it's not personal. It's practical. People hire to solve problems — and they also hire to reduce risk. The Basics Are the Differentiator This is the part creators often skip. We obsess over craft (and we should). But we forget the simple things that determine whether someone wants to work with us again: Are you hard working? Are you enjoyable to be around? Are you on time? Can you deliver on budget? Do you exude integrity and thoughtfulness? Do people feel confident and safe around you? Those are not "nice-to-haves." Those are career builders. I call them "the basics." You might call them the X-factor. Whatever you call them, they're real — and they matter. Soft Skills Are Still Skills This is one of the most important reminders in the episode: Soft skills are still skills. They can be learned. They can be practiced. They can be honed. And the best part is: you don't need to be born with them. You can build them the same way you built your creative ability — with intention, repetition, feedback, and self-awareness. What You'll Hear in This Episode This is a quick micro-show, but it's packed with reminders that hit hard — especially if you've ever felt overlooked or undervalued. Why craft alone isn't enough to get hired (or rehired) What hiring decisions really include beyond talent Why being "good to work with" is a competitive advantage How reliability and integrity compound over time Why people always notice the invisible stuff — even if they don't name it Timecodes (So You Can Jump to What You Need) 00:00 – Weekly email sponsor message 01:50 – Intro: "what you can't see matters" 02:14 – Craft is the "get in the door fee" 03:19 – Hiring is about the total package 03:51 – The "ten days on set" thought experiment 04:11 – "Do they want to hang with the jerk?" 05:02 – The basics: hard-working, enjoyable, on-time 06:00 – Hiring is risk management (and values) 06:35 – Soft skills can be learned and practiced 08:11 – Closing: share the show / community Read This If You're Trying to Break Through If you've been grinding on your craft and wondering why the opportunities aren't matching the effort — don't assume you're not talented enough. Instead, zoom out. Ask: What is the experience of working with me? Because whether you like it or not, your "work" isn't just the deliverable. Your work is also: how you communicate how you handle stress how you collaborate how you show up when things go wrong how you make people feel while you're doing what you do And the wild thing is… even if you think these things are invisible, people see them. They notice. Questions to Ask Yourself If you want to turn this episode into action, sit with these questions for five minutes: When someone hires me, what "total package" are they getting? Am I making it easy for others to trust me? What do I do when I'm under pressure — and who does it affect? What's one "basic" I could level up this week (timeliness, communication, follow-through)? If I were the client, would I rehire me? A Simple Practice for Building the Invisible Edge Here's a small practice you can run this week — no big life overhaul required. Pick one reliability habit. (On-time delivery, clear communication, proactive updates.) Make it visible. Tell a client/collaborator what they can expect from you. Do it consistently for 7 days. No exceptions. Reflect. Notice how it changes your stress, your confidence, and other people's response. The goal isn't perfection. The goal is to strengthen the part of your creative career that most people ignore — until they're forced to learn it the hard way. Final Thought Yes: work hard on your craft. But don't forget the rest of the package. Because you might think of these things as the things "you can't see"… but I promise you: people see them.