Piloting

“The Creative Act” is the #1 New York Times bestselling book by Rick Rubin. Rick is a nine-time GRAMMY-winning producer, who’s been named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by TIME Magazine and the most successful producer in any genre by Rolling Stone. We loved that this book is less of a how-to and more of a manifesto about the creative life. This poetic book reminds us that eve...

Some people may roll their eyes or call it silly, but there’s a lot of useful information you can unpack from a personality test – whether you prefer zodiac signs, Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), love languages, or one of the hundreds of other assessments out there. Research shows that self-aware people are happier, have better relationships, and enjoy greater job satisfaction, so this week we...

We are celebrating our 50th episode this week! For this milestone episode, we’re chatting about abundance mindsets and scarcity mindsets, and how choosing abundance gives you the confidence and courage to chase what you want in this life. Too many of us have scarcity mindsets, which are limiting beliefs and a form of self-sabotage that has us thinking small and focusing too much on what could go w...

We often hear about the 3 Ss that are bad for your health – smoking, a sedentary lifestyle, and stress. This week, we’re talking about stress and how to manage it so it doesn’t get in the way of chasing meaning and living our best lives. Melissa and Renée chat about the downfalls of living in survival mode all the time, the impact of stress on creativity, proactive strategies to get better at stre...

There’s a lot of talk about being intentional with friendships and taking advantage of mentors and coaches…but what about masterminds?  This week, we discuss mastermind groups – a small group of peers meeting regularly who are committed to mutual growth, support, and knowledge sharing – and how they can be a valuable addition to your social life and success plans. We dig into why you don’t ha...

Money is emotional, from how much you have to how you spend it, but especially how much you earn. Some of us grew up hearing that discussing salary is taboo, but is that changing? This week, we discuss pay transparency and its impact on equity and closing the wage gap, why it potentially limits rewards for high performers, and whether we should tie compensation to performance at all. We also dig i...

“Feel-Good Productivity: How to Do More of What Matters to You” is the New York Times bestselling book from Dr. Ali Abdaal, the world’s most-followed productivity expert.  For this month’s book club, we loved Ali’s take on productivity that prioritizes joy over the “grin and bear it” approaches we’re used to hearing. We dive into the eight play personalities (and why they matter for productiv...

If you’ve ever struggled with getting things done, we have a not-so-new idea we’re chatting about this week that might help. ‘Monk mode’ is a productivity tool that pushes you to focus on a goal intensely by cutting out distractions over a short period of time. We discuss learning to eliminate distractions, navigating FOMO, saying no, being a good friend to someone trying to achieve a big goal, an...

Many people start their own business and side projects so they can have more freedom and control, but others find that having a partner is a better route when starting something new. This week, we’re discussing the pros and cons of being a solopreneur versus working in a partnership.  We chat about knowing when to trade accountability for autonomy (or vice versa), creating a safe space for ex...

What’s more important to you: a raise or promotion? Most of us would probably prefer to consistently receive both but different stages of our lives and careers may require us to prioritize differently.  This week, we explore whether one does more for your growth than the other and when it makes more sense to push for a promotion over a raise – and vice versa. We’re also chatting about steerin...

“Ikigai” is the international bestselling book with more than 2 million copies sold worldwide by Héctor García and Francesc Miralles. According to the Japanese, everyone has an ikigai—a reason for living that is the key to a happier and longer life. Having a strong sense of ikigai gives every day meaning because it connects what you love with what you’re good at, what the world needs, and what you...

Fast food, impulse shopping, and so many of the things we enjoy give us a quick hit of happy hormones, but a big part of growth and success is getting comfortable with delayed gratification. Patience (and perseverance) is really a virtue. This week, we’re discussing the importance of being able to delay gratification, whether it’s fair to label millennials and Gen Z as impatient pleasure seekers,...

Raise your hand if you’ve ever wished you had a few more hours in the day. We definitely have, so this week we’re diving into time management — and we pack a lot in!  This week we have all the research on strategies to better control your time, from adding more “days” to your day and practicing saying no, to brain dumps and how Italian tomatoes (aka the Pomodoro Technique) can help you get mo...

Research shows almost half of young (ish) adults are living at home with their parents. Whether you returned home out of necessity or you have the privilege of using this strategic move in pursuit of some bigger goals, this week we’re talking about how to navigate and make the most of that new reality.  We explore the various reasons for returning home, whether it's still taboo, how the pande...

Who wants to be a millionaire? We do! But in all seriousness, this week we’re exploring the habits, routines, and mindsets of the very wealthy for tips on how to achieve and maintain success…at any net worth. We dig into their approach to taking care of their bodies, the importance of balancing IQ with EQ, the 4 types of relationships you need in your life, the difference between looking rich and...

For our first book club of 2024, we’re reading “The Five Second Rule: The Fastest Way to Change Your Life” by Mel Robbins, an international Amazon and Audible bestseller, with almost 2 million copies sold worldwide. This book outlines her simple, research-backed tool that helped Mel turn her own life around and help millions of people improve everything from careers and romantic relationships to t...

Happy New Year, co-pilots! Regardless of how your 2023 panned out, we hope you’re feeling energized and excited for 2024!  To kick off our first episode of the year, we’re talking about professional development and sharing a few thoughts on preparing for your next step and where you want to go. Whether it’s participating in formal workshops and training programs or drawing insights from books...

Failure isn’t the opposite of success, but a fundamental part of success, growth, and improvement. It can be difficult to process failing in a way that helps us get better, but we’re trying to lean into a new acronym we just discovered for FAIL – First Attempt In Learning. This week, we discuss failing fast and failing forward, living your life like a startup, pushing through feelings of shame or...

Research (and our own highly scientific personal experiences) confirm that having friends at work improves your happiness on and off the clock. We’ve been lucky to have many work friendships turn to real friendships that have outlived the job that brought us together.  This week, we’re celebrating the people who make us laugh five days a week, act as our unofficial therapists, and help the wo...

Research shows that most of us will fail to achieve our new year’s resolutions. So are they still worth it? Is it helpful to set new goals (or at least a word of the year) every January or does this just create unnecessary anxiety, comparison, and stress? That’s our topic this week. We’re chatting about the difference between goals and objectives, why some people appreciate having a clean slate in...

For our final book club of 2023, we read “Greenlights” by Matthew McConaughey. The Academy Award-winning actor's #1 New York Times bestseller is not a traditional memoir, nor is it an advice book. It’s an approach, a playbook, and a love letter to life. It’s a record of Matthew’s life and how he’s engineered it to catch more greenlights – signals that let us know we’re on the right path and to kee...

“If you don't build your dream, someone else will hire you to help them build theirs.” In many ways this is true…but does chasing your dream have to mean starting your own company? This week, we’re chatting about why it’s important for any aspiring business owner to stop romanticizing entrepreneurship and we make the case for enjoying your 9 to 5. Pulling from our own experiences with starting a s...

Whether you have total clarity on what you’re piloting next, or you’re still in the period of self-discovery and figuring that out, this week we discuss why sometimes you have to take a step back to move forward.  Growth and progress rarely happen in a straight line, so we’re trying to reframe how stepping back can be less about all the things you’re losing and more about what you’re making s...

According to the Cambridge Dictionary, “reinvention” is the act of producing something new based on something that already exists. For us, that means the process of reinventing yourself, which is sometimes part of the piloting journey, is usually a process of bringing different parts of yourself to the surface and uncovering a more authentic version of you. This week, we dig into dealing with resi...

This week, our book club pick is from our favorite First Lady Michelle Obama. “The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times” is a #1 New York Times and USA Today bestseller, and the follow-up to her record-breaking memoir “Becoming.” In this new book, she shares practical wisdom and powerful strategies for staying hopeful and balanced in today’s highly uncertain world. TL;DR We laughed, we cr...