Alchemy For Life

Introduction: The Line Between Learning and Stealing Well, hey there. Welcome back. And I really mean that. I’m really glad you’re here. I’m really glad that you enjoy my vast library of information. In fact, I want you to do whatever you want with it. If you can accomplish something or understand something, in fact, there’s really no limit to what I would like you to do wi...

Introduction: Do I Have the Will to Go On? Do I even have the will to go on with this episode? Well, hey there, welcome back. Do I even have the will to go on with this episode? Um, I do, but I also have something better. The Willpower Battery: Why “Raw Dogging” Change Fails Let’s talk about that. If you’ve read my book Because… First of all, thank you. But if you hav...

The Stigma of Adult Curiosity You know it’s okay to be curious. You don’t need me to tell you that… or or or do you? Let’s think about this and we’re jumping right in. Let’s talk about curiosity and what it means to you. There have probably been a number of times in your life in which you either demonstrated curiosity or saw someone else being curious. And proba...

Well, hey there. Welcome back. Do you like music? The Hidden Magic of Good Music It’s a silly question because everyone likes some form of music and sometimes when someone asks you, “What’s your favorite kind of music?” sometimes that’s really hard to answer. I recently went down yet another rabbit hole which I want to share with you. I wanted to know why certain song...

Oh crap. I have to take care of this. Well, hey there. Welcome back. How Time Dictates Perceived Value This podcast episode is about 10 minutes long. If it was about 30 minutes long, would you find it to be more valuable or less valuable? And do you ask me then? Well, Mark, it depends what’s inside of it. It depends what the content is. Okay, what if it was an hour and a half? Well, you agai...

If you are interested in working with AI (ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, etc.), in human psychology, or both, you might enjoy this episode. If you ask yourself, “What is prompting” or “What is a super prompt” you’ll also enjoy this. Transcript: The Ubiquity of AI in Business So, what prompted you to listen to this episode? Uh, get it? Oh, not yet. Well, you will. I’ve...

What is a vision board? What is an anti-vision board? Transcript Well, hey there. Welcome back. What’s your vision? The Traditional Vision Board So, here’s a question. Have you ever used a vision board? A vision board is typically a physical place, almost like a bulletin board. It’s usually something larger than a sheet of paper that people place pictures, words, and inspiration....

Disclaimer: this episode is based on my proprietary behavior mapping system. This system is used in conjunction with a discovery conversation I have with an individual. In the case of mapping public figures this is purely an independent analysis and opinion based on publicly available research. See citations below article. Transcript: You’re probably like me in that you’re a very visua...

Well, hey there. Welcome back. Let’s talk about the dark side of things. I don’t mean the dark side of everything, even though that sounds kind of exciting, doesn’t it? Okay, let’s rewind. The Psychology of Motivation: Monsters and Unicorns My recent book because talks about fundamental building blocks. In simple terms, it’s built on Freud’s pleasure principle....

Tell me the problem in three words. Well, hey there. Welcome back. The “Favorite Three” Listening Game Today I want to talk to you about something that was a communication tool and kind of a game. And it all centers around the number three. When my kids were younger, I used to play a game with them in the car. And the game was Favorite Three. And it was such a natural hit that we would...

If your resolutions failed this is why, and this is how you can have success in 2026. The New Year’s Resolution Check-In It’s February 1st. How did you do on your New Year’s resolutions? I know. I know. Here we go. But it’s not something I’m ever going to stop talking about. and we’ve had at least one, if not two or more episodes on New Year’s resolutions...

The Discomfort of the Sales Funnel Have I said how funnels feel icky to me? Well, hey there. Welcome back. Do you like funnels? I don’t mean like for refilling your oil or delicious funnel cakes. I mean, well, let’s let’s talk about this. So, as many of you know, there’s a concept called the sales funnel. It’s a process where you get someone into a process and kind of...

Transcript of episode: Well, hey there. Welcome back. Why We Remember Firsts But Miss the Lasts There’s a lot of talk about the first time you do something. You remember your first time at something. But the reverse isn’t exactly true because it takes a bit of time to realize it truly was the last time because in some cases there’s a chance you might do it again. But thinking bac...

You do less, but you get more. Well, hey there. Welcome back. Do you have any limitations? Oh, yes, of course you do. Let’s talk about them. And I think your first reaction is, “Well, here we go. We’re going to explore how I’m not good enough at something or how I don’t even do a thing.” Nope, we’re not doing that at all. In fact, we are going to look at w...

Getting unstuck Before you can move forward, you have to get unstuck a bit. Part of being stuck is worrying. Some people are really really good at it. Oh I’m sorry I’m raising my hand. Check out the how can I stop worrying episode. Sometimes life can get you really stuck. Circumstances can be such that you really just wanna give up. I feel you. And mental health is a delicate subject....

There’s such a stigma that we can’t even talk about it. Well, hey there. Welcome back. The Stigma of Private Worry What are you worried about? No, really. What are you worried about? Maybe you say nothing. Maybe you say, “Oh, the usual, you know, the things everyone worries about.” We deal with life and concerns and we take objective measures to reach goals in public. But t...

Well, hey there. Welcome back. Redefining Friction: Physics vs. Process What does friction mean to you? For most of my life, friction has just simply described a physics concept in which something rubs against something else in some way, causing a slowdown and causing heat. But now, and now is variable depending on what sector of work you’re in. Friction describes the same thing, but it&#821...

The beginner mindset makes you a better teacher—and it’s fun too! Well, hey there. Welcome back… to everyone who is an old pro at this podcast and those who are just beginners because at some point you are a beginner and we tend to forget that don’t we? In fact, there’s a phenomenon I would like to raise your awareness on and then do our usual discussion of. The Expert&#821...

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

Transcript I think I found the perfect question. Well, hey there. Welcome back. The Perfect Question I think I found the perfect question. No, really. I found a question I can ask almost anyone. It will elicit a genuine, honest, thoughtful response. It’s a useful subject. It’s something that they think about regardless of what they do for a living. And it’s something that most pe...

A fan As a longtime fan of Stargate SG1 and Stargate Universe I’d come to really appreciate so many elements of the storytelling that were done—the continuity, the characters, the character interaction, the dialogue, the growth, the well-done sets, the subtle and non-jarring humor, and more.  As someone who writes, I enjoyed on a whole different level. So you can imagine that I had both...

Have you ever noticed that when there’s something you really, really love and really speaks to you that when you look at the backstory for it, the person that created it said that they “selfishly” just made it for them? Here’s why selfishness, like the comfort zone, gets a bad rap it doesn’t really deserve Transcript. Selfishness, like the comfort zone, takes a lot of...

The invisible barrier you must cross to switch modes and why it fools you into thinking it would take too much effort to complete a task. Transcript Revisiting Multitasking and the Energy of Switching Tasks Do you multitask? Wait, we we already covered this. In a previous episode, we talked about how energy is really the glue that holds together various multitasking tasks that when you switch betw...

What’s your learning style? Do you know what your learning style is? Did you know you have one? For a long time I have known about the diferent ways humans learn. People not only have aptitudes (someone is good with mechanical stuff, or math, etc.) but also differ in the way they learn. Same resulting information, different ways of it to enter your head. I truly wish we would explore this in...

Transcript What is Apathy? The Answer Might Surprise You Well, hey there. Welcome back. What’s this episode about? Who cares? So, many years ago, I was with a few of my friends and one of my friends said, “What’s apathy?” And my other friend said, “Who cares?” And it took a little while to realize that he was actually answering the question. Visualizing Motivati...