The Gyst Life

Who Do You Need To Be To Build Resilience For The Future Maya and I talk about the last quarter. The projects we were working on and the lessons they presented. The gapple with trying to get it right, the power of just going with the flow and the benefit of implementing custom systems and structures that supports (not constraints) creativity. I know it all sounds like a big contradiction.  WELCOME...

The game of entrepreneurship keeps you driven and hungry. Busy building and doing, and rarely with a clear plan.  At the beginning that's a good thing!    What better environment to figure things out but rolling up your sleeves and digging in. While there is always a part of us that wished we would have had MORE support, insight, awareness, mentorship. Would it have really made the difference? Wou...

Are you actually making progress in the area of building real equity, diversity and inclusion in the workplace? A great, simple measure to use in your own organization's progress is to ask a simple question:   Are you comfortable or not? If you’re not stretching or expanding to address this within your company Then it's likely you’re not making enough progress. And that’s ok. We might feel we shou...

What do you do to keep going?  How do you avoid the trap of quick money and the long term cost of taking shortcuts now?  How do you keep your people happy and your business profitable as you grind away while at the same time work to create something meaningful for everyone involved?   Join me as I speak with Erik Hytonen as he shares his journey.  Like all of us, there are unique lessons and exper...

I have a cat in heat for a second time (back to back with a very short, 2 week buffer). If you’ve experienced this before, you will understand. If you haven’t, you’ve been warned. And be ready to accept responsibility for how it’s going to go.   How aware are you of those nagging voices that are constantly crying out? Constantly demanding attention, not knowing why they are demanding your attentio...

Financial Advisors... They have a direct impact on the livelihoods, future life experiences, and overall emotional wellbeing of their clients.    Unfortunately, the financial industry as a whole has taken some big hits in the trust space. And it’s brought a level of caution with how we proceed going forward.    Never mind bringing people together around an aligned cause and purpose in any arena th...

What do you do with an empty concrete canvas that has 12 decades of history weaved through it? How do keep small businesses viable in the shadow of corporate giants? How do you break down years of status quo as you re-create and reconnect a community back to its electric roots at the same time embracing what's next? Adrian Urlacher, Amanda Weightman from The Beltline BIA and Geoff Hughes from Park...

My guest today has a unique lens to the world of being human and doing business. His name is Jayson Lowe, CEO of Ascendant Financial.   He will be the first to admit that it is because of the mentorship and leadership of others that has gotten him to where he’s at in his life.  And while he could never articulate the gratitude that’s necessary to honour them. He is passing on the lessons he’s lear...

A friend shared something really personal last week. She did a great job of leading the charge on how to embrace your vulnerable human side powerfully.  She got real and raw and it was needed. Not just for her to do but for the reminder that it provided us. Namely how important it is to have a community of people around you, holding you up when you need it. And it’s not easy in this COVID world. W...

Today on E3 we share about: My last speaking gig at i4 and some of the elevated self-awareness that showed up. Zoom calls! Talking heads is now the new normal and how do we ensure we don’t get too comfortable in it. Multitasking vs focused effort. The building blocks that are helping us set stronger foundations for our businesses and our family The new relationship to finances and the process of t...

In today's episode we talk about: Physical wellbeing The practice of doing nothing The process of going from good to great (and being ok with sucking during the process) When ego shows up as you work towards your aspirational goals for the future Doing what you love doing, and having it become a viable business Finding your tribe ___________ Maya and David have been in business together for as lon...

Maya and David have been in business together for as long as they’ve been married. They are into their 13th year, have been through 6 iterations of their businesses to date, are proud parents of twin 9 year olds (which they’ve now homeschooling in our “new normal”). They share what it’s taken to keep their relationship just as much a priority as their family and business ventures.   The strategies...

What a shit show. Your life as you remember it is no longer as it was. And likely never will be.    What are you doing to be ready for the next chapter of your story? How prepared are you? What are you doing to grow and expand yourself? How are you taking on the inner critic that is there, right on queue to tell you how much you suck, that what you’re doing won’t work, so why bother?   Who do you...

On today's episode, Alison Masniuk, a Calgary based digital content strategist  and I have dig into where she's at with her career. What's working and what's not.  Your life is a game. The game is to become better than you of yesterday. In the beginning, you will not be extraordinary, and that is ok. Excellence, mastery, confidence, certainty are all by-products of playing the game The challenges...

You have a choice. Every day you encounter a myriad of choices, some that you are aware of, others that you are not. All of which take you down an inevitably predictable path. The actions you take outline the past, define your present, and determine your future. Everywhere you look you'll find exactly what you are looking for. Read that one more time. If you want to see the negativity and disaster...

Sometimes life gets hard. Bad things happen to good people. We all have our own version of something terrible that has happened to us or around us and whether we like it or not it shapes who we are. Overcoming the trials and tribulations in life isn't just something that happens, it's something that we need to drive us forward and push us to greater heights. You can look at the roadblocks and spee...

Just like everything else on this beautiful planet we call earth, Racism has undergone an evolution of sorts. There is a lot to be said about the leaps and bounds we have taken as a collective species. Most of our spiritual enlightenment has occurred in the last 100 years so we are still young in the grand scheme of things. It's important to bear in mind the idea of encountering the world with a s...

Have you ever felt like you didn't see something that other people could? We know what we know, and we know what we don't know. But how do you know what you don't know? There is more to life than meets the eye and being present to it can focus your self-development. Acknowledging that there is more out there than you can comprehend means you have a chance to learn and grow from experiences rather...

Running a creative agency or studio? You may be full of crap. ----more----   Still with me? Great! You might be ready for real change then.  Here’s the thing... Most of us are really frightened to say when things aren’t working. And this goes for any business owner. As creatives, we fool ourselves into thinking we just need to do a little more and create something new. Put that fresh coat of paint...

This weekends episode touches on 2 things 1. Your inaction in what you want in life 2. The chaos that is the COVID-19 and just how deeply it's impacting everyone and what the opportunity might actually be if you're open to it hearing.    

How many times have you said to yourself, once I have "x" I'll be ready and you've either not done the work to get "x" or you have "x" and now your reason for not taking the action you said you wanted to take is because now you need "y"? Ya...been there. Many times. Like us talking about live streaming for about 1 year now... This is us taking the leap. It was a great session. Special thank-you to...

Happiness is not something to chase, It just comes If you’re willing to play.  It’s a long game that requires patience and a whole lot of commitment. Nothing is certain despite our best efforts to guide and direct it and happiness and living your life your way, while available to everyone is not something we’ll all achieve because we get caught up in the story of how it was supposed to go.  Over d...

en·ti·tled “believing oneself to be inherently deserving of privileges or special treatment.” Ever get that feeling that we should have a thing just because? Despite having done little to no work that would begin the process of having it show up? Thinking that we are, in some capacity owed that which we do not have yet? And we spend a shit ton of time wondering why. That opens the lens inside of p...

What’s the formula for living your best life on your terms?  There’s no tried and true method.  And it’s different for everyone.  But that doesn’t mean you can’t learn from hearing how others are navigating that process. And that’s what this podcast series is about. Over drinks Jay and I have a chat about his journey of human being in this world. Shout out to The National, Village and Dandy brewer...

Today we get into a topic as pervasive as the very air we breathe - social programming.  We do the best we can with the resources we have available to us. What is easy to forget is that we’re all connected. You, your kids, your parents, grandparents and great grandparents. And we’re all working through and dealing with a hangover of their upbringing. Their programming becomes our programming. How...