Bonfire

All that meditation, mindful breathing and yoga you do isn’t actually helping you relax. Even mindless Netflix binging doesn’t do the trick. We’ll tell you why that is and what we’ve figured out about how to fix it! Spoiler alert: it’s all about listening to yourself before doing ANYTHING. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Have you heard of microdosing? It’s all the rage-- the idea of taking teeny tiny doses of, shall we say substances, to make small shifts in your system that accumulate over time, to significant (positive) effect. We’ll let the medical experts explore all that, while Rachel and Suzanne take a look at applying the idea as a strategy in our personal and work lives to create changes in ourselves and o...

Last month Suzanne held “office hours” with a recent Kellogg MBA grad asking for advice on how to stand out meaningfully from her peers at work. The response to that episode was an overwhelming chorus of “TELL US WHAT HAPPENED!” Did she tell the story they uncovered? Did it go well? Is she the CEO yet? Not only do we have Kimberly Nelson’s full report for you, but this time, Rachel and Suzann...

It’s that feeling you get when you’re way into something….and the other person just isn’t...or not that much. Maybe it’s a date. Or a job interview. Or you’re pitching some idea hard ...and the heads just aren’t nodding. And you know what you do-- you try harder! You can win them over! Or maybe you can bring them on board hoping that they’ll come around. Oh no you don’t. Not on...

Welcome to the first of our new feature, “Office Hours,” in which Rachel and Suzanne offer unscripted coaching to real live women in need of real-time advice. In this episode, we listen in on a conversation between Suzanne and Kimberly, a recent MBA graduate, who asks how she can stand out from her peers at work in a very competitive environment. In a surprise twist near the end, Suzanne unco...

We collaborate with others all the time, and more often that we want to admit, someone is doing more than their fair share of the work. If that’s you, raise your hand. We see you. And, we have a podcast episode for you. Rachel and Suzanne get to the bottom of why we tend to do this, and even air their therapy sessions in order to help all of us work and live better and smarter. Hosted on Acast. Se...

In Part 1 of our season opener, we talked about the lead up to taking “Big A” action in our lives, and the unusual role that talking about what you want to do (to everyone, all the time) plays in that process. In this episode, Rachel and Suzanne look at the flipside-- those times in your life when your power comes from holding back, and doing nothing. You’ll hear their stories of restraint, as wel...

To act or not to act, that is the question. We are kicking off the start of this season with a two part conversation. In this episode we talk about what gets us to take action and why we don’t. You know the drill: there’s a move, a change, a pivot we’ve been contemplating for months...or years. We talk about it talk about it talk about it... sounding like a broken record to our friends and colleag...

Being “the person who is always SO creative” at work isn’t always easy. But according to Rachel and Suzanne, it’s the quality your boss (and others) want from you more than anything else. The good news is that they believe everyone can get better at it. In this episode, Suzanne and Rachel are on a mission to help you and those around you step up, break out, and in the process, have a whole lot mor...

Conversation is the key to getting what you want--at home, at work, and in all the spaces between. Just imagine if every conversation you had were a great one– satisfying, riveting, forward moving. Suzanne wishes that life were like episodes of the West Wing ...but sadly, there’s no script for that. However, there ARE rules that make our real life conversations so much better and we share them wit...

No doubt you have made many professional and personal decisions based all or in part on loyalty. Most often your loyalty is to a “who,” but it can also be to a “what” (a company, a brand) or even to the idea of loyalty itself. On this episode, Rachel and Suzanne look at where your loyalties lie, push you to think about whether you have a misplaced understanding of the rationale behind those commit...

As an introvert, you think you can’t be powerful in a room, or that you need to change your nature if you want to command attention. Not true. In this episode, Suzanne, the self-proclaimed introvert of the dynamic duo, gets some fantastic on air coaching from Tom Yorton, founder and CEO of Shyne Advisors, a practice dedicated to the pursuit of “original communications for quiet leaders.” Rachel is...

“I just wish I had a day to myself!” is your familiar battle cry. So let’s say you are gifted a day of me time. Then what? You go back to your regular life of feeling pulled in a million directions, stressed, and taking care of everyone else but yourself. We are challenging this whole myth of “time for myself” and calling bullsh*t on what we see as a fundamental error in how you treat your days.&n...

You look at what your friend or colleague is doing and you wish you could do that, too. You get that gnawing feeling of “I should be more of this...I should do more of that…but then you realize, “but that’s not me.” In this episode we’ll talk about how this experience can actually help you see what you really want and how to go and get it. As one wise podcaster says (listen closely): “Th...

In early January, Rachel and Suzanne made a startling discovery: their friend Rob English, a super cool, frontiersman of culture and fashion, casually let it drop made a pledge to stop shopping in 2018. He will not buy anything that isn’t essential - no clothes, no home goods, no accessories. What started out as a behavioral experiment has turned into a soul searching exercise to find a different...

If you want to really get under Suzanne’s skin, tell her “hey, don’t sweat the small stuff.” Rachel, on the other well-manicured hand, confesses that she’s happier away from the minutiae and does what she can to avoid Suzanne’s control freak “inner hulk” (check out a previous episode by the same name). In this episode, the duo debate whether the big decisions are actually made or broken by the sma...

Some of us like a good fight, and some of us flee at the first sign of confrontation. But no matter what your instincts tell you, there are many reasons to learn why, when and how to argue well. In this episode, Rachel and Suzanne duke it out over their own bad arguing habits, and bring on media expert and the arguing heavy weight champion of the world: Hank Norman. Warning: while listening to Han...

Does the act of giving someone a compliment pave the way for a more productive work meeting? And how do you praise someone authentically, and avoid the “Gap greeter” approach (which is to tell you that your ski hat is so adorable because they’ve been trained to believe that saying that to you when you walk in the door will make you feel like buying more). In this episode, Rachel and Suzanne break...

We have a special treat for you. (Ok, it was for us to, but really, it was for you.) To mark the 100th episode of The Big Payoff Podcast, we thought it would be fun to share our favorite episodes. Some of our picks were those our listeners related to most, and some were those where we really did help ourselves (always a bonus). There were also a few that simply contained moments that only audio ca...

We know how it goes-- you get an assignment that you completely dread. You wonder if anyone will notice if you do a half-assed job. You start fantasizing about how you can get out of it– who can you get to do it for you. Today we’re going to give you the strange secret to getting REAL satisfaction from a dreaded project and your job-- even one you are hating on right now. You will not only en...

You’re having a bad time at work and blame your boss.  She’s a nightmare. But wait. Instead of complaining about it--which doesn’t change the situation--how about learning to manage HER?  We call this “managing up” and it’s the key to getting sh*t done at work...and to your success over time.  Managing those who have power over you is not just a work skill--it’s a life skill, and it...

You’re having a bad time at work and blame your boss.  She’s a nightmare. But wait. Instead of complaining about it--which doesn’t change the situation--how about learning to manage HER?  We call this “managing up” and it’s the key to getting sh*t done at work...and to your success over time.  Managing those who have power over you is not just a work skill--it’s a life skill, and it...

When someone asks you, “What do you do?” you go right to your job title, and possibly even say something self-deprecating as a chaser. But that’s not the way to claim your expertise, or your power in the room. Here’s a hint at what you’ll hear on this podcast: your expertise is a far bigger piece of territory than you think. It’s the skills, talents, insights and experience that you’ve accumulated...

You are anticipating a difficult conversation, so you have the whole narrative figured out. You’ve painstakingly scripted both sides of the conversation. The bad news: it NEVER goes the way you think it will, and you’ve wasted your time and energy for nothing.  The good news: help is on the way. Listen in as Rachel tries to counsel Suzanne on this issue, and proves that she is a better podcas...

You are hearing and seeing this term everywhere, right? You share your opinion at a meeting, and you’re a badass. Or maybe you pull an all nighter for the presentation…or give a talk in front of a group…or run a 5k And the next thing you know...you’re a badass?! Something feels wrong about that, so Rachel and Suzanne set out to uncover the true meaning of the term, and go straight to the source--...