Good Life Project

We love to judge. To gossip. To belittle. Not everyone, and not all the time, but enough for these feelings to fuel multi-billion dollar industries. Even if we never say it out loud, we derive a certain pleasure from others' misfortune. There's even a name for the phenomenon—Schadenfreude. We do it partly, because our brains are wired for comparison and social currency. And in part, because we're...

At first glance, you might think Amy Stewart had an obsession with gardens and bugs. She's written a series of bestselling books on the topic and had her garden of poison plants hailed as one of the 18 strangest gardens in the world by  Popular Mechanics. Underneath that, though, lies a far deeper devotion, one that's fueled her since she was a kid. Amy Stewart is possessed by the craft of wr...

What if one of the biggest pieces of "success advice" was wrong? There's a particular strategy that's become hot in the world of success and personal development. It's been hailed as the secret to accelerated results and success on a level and at a pace, that'd be near impossible without it. It's called "modeling." On the most basic level, the advice is to find someone who has done what you want t...

So often, the way the world perceives us conflicts with the what we "think" we're saying and the way we want to be seen and heard. Truth is, so much of what we communicate all day long has nothing to do with the words that come out of our mouths. In fact, often the things we do, the way we move, the things we telegraph contradict the words we offer, leaving people with a sense of cognitive dissona...

If you've been to the movies or watched cartoons, you've seen the word "Avatar" before. But, when we talk about building a career or company, it has a very special meaning. Your avatar is the person you're looking to help. The one you want and need to serve and elevate. It's your potential customer, client, diner, patient, participant, camper or student. If you want to build a successful...

The thing most people fear more than spiders and death is the very thing this week's guest,  Michael Port , loves with every fiber of his being. What am I talking about? Public speaking. Port began his career as an actor, featured often on screens of all sizes, before jumping into the fitness world and then creating the Book Yourself Solid business development juggernaut and a string of...

Pam Slim  is one of those people. You know, the ones who see the best in everyone. In everything. In every seeming barrier, she sees the lesson. The good. The opportunity to learn. To grow. To create. To collaborate. The one whose lens I aspire to embrace, but still find myself failing more often succeeding (someday, lol). She's also just an amazing human, dear friend and award-winning author...

Elizabeth Gilbert exploded into the public's consciousness in 2006 with the release of her mega-bestselling memoir, Eat Pray Love. Since then, she's published a series of books, given a TED talk on creative genius that's been viewed more than 10 million times, become a leading voice on the pursuit of a creative, connected and vital life. Liz's latest book, Big Magic , takes you deeper into wh...

This is the first episode I've ever wished I didn't have a reason to air... On Sunday, a good friend of mine, an amazing man, husband, brother and son, founder of Live Your Legend and beloved member of the Good Life Project family, Scott Dinsmore , lost his life. Hiking Kilimanjaro with another amazing soul, his wife Chelsea, Scott was killed in a rockfall. He was only 33. I've shared more thought...

The story of a lifetime only comes around once... Dale Russakoff spent more than three decades as a top news journalist, reporting for The Washington Post for more than 28 years. When Facebook co-founder, Mark Zuckerberg, announced a $100 million grant, teaming with then rock-start mayor, Cory Booker, to revolutionize the Newark schools and create a model for national education reform, she'd found...

You want to be known as someone who changes the game. Someone who brings amazing ideas, solutions, insights and potential to everything you do. You want to make real things happen. Things that matter. So you plug in. You mainline digital information, entertainment, pretty much any and all forms of data. You squeeze every possible moment out of the time you have, consuming, creating, connectin...

Most people look at meditation as a practice. Something you do daily, most often seated on a cushion. New York Times bestselling author of eight books, and Shambhala Buddhist meditation teacher,  Susan Piver , has a different take. What if it's not just a practice, she offers, but a path? A way of life. An approach to seeing and being in the world that plants the seeds of awareness, compassio...

Is creativity tied to your biological clock? A 2010 Global Chief Executive Officer study by IBM revealed the most sought after trait in emerging leaders. It’s not work-ethic or efficiency. It’s not motivation or productivity. Creativity is the trait most desired by those in charge. Understandably so. Because the ability to come up with new ideas, […]The post Unlock Creativity: Time of Day Matters...

Today's episode is our second experiment, with a new show format, we're calling 9Things™ . What is it? A three-person roundtable, where each person shows up with three topics to jam on. And, the thing is, nobody knows what the other person's topics will be until they hit the conversation. My guests for today's episode of the 9Things format are two good friends, Gabra Zackman and  Dan Ler...

What if you spent more time making? We tend to spend our work lives dancing between two modes: maker mode and manager mode. The idea first came to me through a friend, Brad Feld. Maker mode is where we are immersed in the process of creation, innovation, problem-solving, artistry. It's a powerfully generative state that often creates the giant leaps forward, the big ideas and awakenings that prope...

Dale Partridge was riding high, or so it seemed. A serial entrepreneur and founder of the cause-driven venture, Sevenly , the media loved him and thrust him into the spotlight. Sevenly venture was not only making money, it had also raised more than $4 million for hundreds of causes and more than a million people. From the outside looking in, everything was fantastic. But, inside, he was dying...

What if you didn't have to change? What if everything you wanted, everything you needed, everything you aspired to become, you already had and were. What if living a good life was more about liberating and revealing than changing and becoming? The words transformation and evolution have become buzz-words across the landscape of personal development. The implication is that you, on the deepest leve...

When people talk about Seth Godin , they often attach a variety of labels. Entrepreneur, marketer, mega-bestselling author, acclaimed speaker, trusted-advisor, provocateur, raconteur extraordinaire and ruckus-maker. He is all those. But, when I think of Seth, the first word that comes to me is generous. Seth is a stunningly insightful thinker and doer. But beyond that, he is kind, compassionate an...

What if entrepreneurship wasn't just about what you create, but who you become along the way? Most people look at entrepreneurship as a quest, a desire to create something from nothing. The goal, to get to a substantial, viable, impact and revenue generating place as fast as humanly possible. Problem is, with rare exception, the path to success in the world of entrepreneurial dream manifestation j...

The average person spends an almost obscene amount of time working tirelessly to avoid failure. We're terrified that we'll put everything we have into an endeavor, only to come up short. Failure, we're told, is something to be avoided at all costs. In some parts of life and professional cultures, it's not only frowned upon, it is fiercely punished. So, every day, a little bit at a time, we confine...

We see it around us every day. And, yes, we've been that person. The one who wants something so badly we'll take it any way we can get it. Including hoping the person or organization we're up against, our competition has a really bad day. But, is that really winning? Is that what it's all about? No matter the "objective score," will it make us feel the way we want to feel? Or, will it lead to a pa...

Today's guest, Dr. Alice Wilder , is one of the creative geniuses behind some of the biggest kids' "edutainment" juggernauts in history, from Blues Clues to Speakaboos and the recent Emmy Award-winning Amazon Kids program, Tumble Leaf. Her entire journey, though, might never have happened but for the fact that one person, in her case a teacher, noticed something special and "sparked" her curiosity...

Have you ever found yourself saying, "if only I had more [insert missing ingredient], I'd be able to succeed on a totally different level?" Yeah, me too. Thing is, with very rare exception, that's never true. Taking your game, your craft, your career, your creative or innovative juices, your art and outcomes to the next level is often not about more, but about less. Less money, less ability, less...

By the time people living with autism hit their mid-20s, they often "age out" of all the services and support available to them. Many, in fact, 80-90% end up unemployed, often for life according to this week's guest, Tom D'Eri . Tom wasn't about to let that happen to his little brother, Andrew, who'd been diagnosed with autism at the age of three. Obsessed with entrepreneurship as a kid, and follo...

There’s this odd thing that happens the moment after we ask for help. While we’re asking, we stand in a place of surrender. We hit a point, often deeply uncomfortable, where we’re riddled with uncertainty and we step into a place of vulnerability and say, “please, I don’t know where to go from here. Can you give me some help?” We feel great for a moment. And, then those we ask for help do exactly...