Deliberate Life™

In this podcast episode, we explore the profound concept of rhythm in life as a more dynamic and integrated approach compared to the traditional notion of work-life balance. We recount a journey to Santiago de Compostela, where the experience of walking the pilgrimage illuminated thoughts about personal and environmental rhythms. We discuss how different rhythms, such as daily cycles and life stag...

In this episode, we discuss the common misconceptions about healthy eating, emphasising that what is considered healthy can vary greatly among individuals. Our conversation highlights that ultra-processed foods like vegan burgers and certain breakfast cereals are often mistakenly perceived as healthy. We also touch on the importance of understanding what constitutes ultra-processed foods and their...

In this podcast episode, we delve into the concept and importance of stillness in achieving clarity, productivity, and overall well-being. We share our personal experiences and the challenges of slowing down in a fast-paced world, highlighting that the discomfort felt during slower moments can actually lead to greater productivity and insight. Our discussion draws on insights from Ryan Holiday's b...

On our business development trip to Spain, we find ourselves going for a run in the morning and realise we have quite different approaches to running. One of us is more structured, more planned, and measures and analyses a lot more data. The other just runs. You guess which is which! During our conversation, we delve into the reasons behind our fitness routines. We exercise for various reasons: th...

In this conversation, we delve deeper into the fascinating realm of emotions and, in particular, negative emotions and how we can effectively deal with them. We reflect on our experiences with these emotions and explore the concept of Stoicism, an ancient philosophy that offers valuable insights into managing and minimising the impact of negativity in our lives. Moreover, we stress the significanc...

In this conversation, we explore the significance of questions and their diverse applications in various roles and settings. Questions serve as connectors, bridging emotions, thoughts, and being. They create space for exploration, authenticity, and deeper understanding. The intention behind a question is crucial, and a curious, positive vibe enhances its impact. Being present in a dialogue is esse...

We find ourselves in a recording studio surrounded by professional sound equipment, creating an environment that truly excites at least one of us! As we sit together, one of us with an analogue notebook and the other with a laptop, we reflect on our evolving note-taking habits. While acknowledging the shift towards electronic notes, we also appreciate the enduring charm of handwritten notes. Our d...

When we think about the words "stability" or "grounding," it conjures up feelings of calmness, peace, relaxation, and overall well-being. It's akin to maintaining a solid foundation that keeps us safe from harm. Conversely, an excess of stability or grounding can lead to sluggishness, weight gain, and inflexibility. For us, the concept of grounding extends beyond the physical realm. It's about fin...

In today’s conversation, we discuss leadership and its evolution in our programs. Over time, we've refined our approach, focusing on key leadership aspects. We explore the difference between leadership and management, emphasising how leadership goes beyond traditional roles. Our discussion highlights these essential elements in the leadership toolbox: Presence: Being fully engaged in the present m...

In today’s conversation, we explore the concept of simplicity and how it differs in our perceptions. We share our personal associations with simplicity and discuss contrasting notions of simplicity and complexity in various aspects of life, such as travel, lifestyle, possessions, and relationships. As we delve deeper, we realize that simplicity can be considered internal and external. Internally,...

In today’s episode, we delve into the realm of personal growth, revisiting the topic we addressed in the episode of November 2022. We explore the reasons behind engaging in personal growth, highlighting the universal and individual benefits it brings. Reflecting on the influential people in our lives, we recognize the significance of journaling and reflection as essential tools for self-coaching a...

Today’s discussion revolves around our recognition of the importance of connection and the need to reconnect with others, ourselves, and content. We acknowledge that in our fast-paced lives, we often underestimate the significance of meaningful connections. We believe in the value of intentional and authentic connections, where we show up authentically, actively listen, and seek to understand befo...

This episode is a direct response to a request of one of our clients. We suggest you listen to this episode in conjunction with episode 33, which was released the week before Christmas one year ago. We again discuss the Life Design process, but now dive deeper into the framework, the categories and the questions. Listen to episode 33 (Life Design - part 1) first, and make sure you have a notebook...

Another episode where Bart has no idea in advance what we are talking about. This is becoming a bit of a habit for Pia! We start by addressing this question: What are the most interesting questions you get about our work? What is the elevator pitch of our work? Then we go into this issue: How to deal with people at work that are not as passionate and engaged about work as you are? A lot of what we...

Interesting episode this, if we say so ourselves. We continue a (not recorded) conversation we had at AfrikaBurn three years ago, where we discussed stuckness and the question: How can stuckness become unstuck? Neither of us could remember the answer we had then, unfortunately. But we are having a go at it today. A part of the episode is taken up by Pia coaching Bart on changes in his life, which...

We are still in the South of Spain (on the last morning before flying out), and we are tackling a topic which somehow has come up quite a lot this week: Ageing. (There are a lot of retired people in this part of Spain). We discuss the differences between chronological, mental and biological age. We talk about the benefits of hanging out with people that are half a generation older and half a gener...

We are in the South of Spain, on our twice-per-year deep work days to prepare for the second half of the year client work. Quite appropriate then to discuss deep work. The why, what, how and so what of deep work. We discuss why it’s important to be deliberate about having rituals and routines around deep work, we define deep work as opposed to shallow work, we discuss how to do it: Plan for it (an...

We are in Stockholm, just after midsummer, when the light is always on. It has been a while since the last recording and we start by discussing what gets in the way of our podcasting: Health, bricks & mortar - very much level-1 stuff. Which then gets us into the topic of this episode: Fears. We remind ourselves of the three lower levels of the Barrett model and how we can use the model to provide...

The birth of this episode is quite different. We created it and then put it to rest for a number of months. Then I recently listened to it again when I had one of those rare days of hardly any meetings and lots of time to reflect and create. I suppose I had the space to be open and to follow my curiosity. There was a reason we didn’t release the episode at the beginning of the year. You tell us wh...

I (Bart) have never felt like I learned so much from recording an episode of our podcast than this one. Nature is something that is very close to Pia’s heart and she has a lot more opportunity to be in nature than most people that live in cities. For me it’s different, city parks are normally the closest I get to nature. In this dialogue, we touch on the importance of nature to us, human beings, f...

This episode is quite different to what you are used to: Rather than in our normal mega-professional studio environment (just kidding), we find ourselves recording this in a beach restaurant, with lots of background noises. We discuss quality of life. Why is it important? What does it mean to us? For us, health and freedom is important, spontaneity, not too much stress, being able to decide who we...

Our Christmas present to you, a podcast episode on Life Design. This is a process we use with some of our clients and we discuss in general terms how we go about this ourselves and with others, and the benefits of having a structured approach to reflecting on our lives and setting intentions. A naturally appropriate time to do this is around the end of the year and the start of the new year. What...

It feels a little like we are back in March-2020, when we advised our clients to “hope for the best, prepare for the worst”. Except we didn’t know what we meant by “the worst”. Certainly not that we would, almost two years later, be back at what feels like another chapter in the ongoing story of this global pandemic. Today we discuss resilience. How can we train ourselves, our bodies and minds, to...

In this early morning recording of this episode, we talk about sleep. We start from the technology, the biohacking / tracking tools we use, Whoop (Pia) and Oura (Bart), and how we use these tools in optimising sleep. We discuss some of the basics of sleep for example the four main aspects of sleep: Quality, quantity, continuity and regularity and the main stages of sleep: Deep, REM and light sleep...

It has been a while since the last episode, not sure what happened to the time! In this episode, we discuss organisational culture. A good episode to listen to before you listen to this episode is Episode 3, of May 2019, in which we talked about personal values. We define culture as those values and behaviours that are important to a team, group, company or country. What is important to us who wor...