Productive Flourishing Podcast

As the release date for the book draws nearer, Charlie reflects on the ups and downs of the journey of this book. Angela joins Charlie on the podcast to ask some questions about the book. In this episode, Charlie shares some of the ideas and dichotomies around productivity, and how his book seeks to help people understand productivity in a new light. This episode is sure to get you excited about r...

Mark Nepo returns to the show as today’s guest to talk about his new book, Drinking From the River of Light: The Life of Expression. Charlie and Mark talk about why it’s so important that we express ourselves, the tensions we live in as we seek to express ourselves as creative people, how we are more likely to be Renaissance souls, and what thrashing inner work is really telling us. Both Mark and...

Today’s guest is Bobby Herrera, co-founder and CEO of the Populus Group, an army veteran, and the author of The Gift of Struggle. He joins Charlie to talk about the power of sharing your stories of struggle with your team and those around you. Listen to hear how Bobby changed his stories of struggle, and how you can convert yours from something that keeps you from being successful to the gift that...

On today’s episode, Charlie talks with Andrea Owen, author of “How to Stop Feeling Like S**t: 14 Habits That Are Holding You Back from Happiness.” She joins Charlie for a more personal episode, as they tackle topics like their fitness journeys, shame stories around needing to get help, and how communities help enable growth but can also create obstacles. Key Takeaways: [3:30] - When you’re in a po...

Author of eight books now, Cynthia Morris joins Charlie for a second time to talk about her new book, The Busy Woman’s Guide to Writing a World-Changing Book. She and Charlie talk about how writing a book is empowering, why busy women have different challenges with writing books that are often overlooked, plus the top three challenges people face when it’s time to start writing their book. Key Tak...

Sebastian Marshall joins Charlie on the podcast today to talk about productivity from a different perspective. Sebastian is the co-founder of Ultraworking, a company building technology to help people hit flow states and peak performance more often in their work. He and Charlie talk about peak performance, and how the path to peak performance often requires focus on areas outside your work. Key Ta...

Paul Jarvis joins Charlie on the show today to talk about the ideas in his new book, Company of One. Some of the things they discuss are why we should question business growth, how having an upper limit in our business growth creates sanity and durability, and the relationship between intentionally keeping our businesses too small to fail, and playing it small. Key Takeaways: [2:40] - Paul’s new b...

Dr. Samantha Brody is a licensed naturopathic physician and acupuncturist. She joins Charlie on the show today to talk about her book Overcoming Overwhelm: Dismantling Stress From the Inside Out. In today’s episode, they talk about more expansive ways that overwhelm may be showing up, as well as some underappreciated considerations about the relationships between our values and overwhelm, compartm...

Seth Godin returns to the show to talk to Charlie about his new book, This is Marketing: You Can’t Be Seen Until You Learn to See. They discuss how Seth defines marketing, how changing the wording of your marketing can make a huge impact, and how to measure what’s working in your marketing. Seth also talks about what it was like to be invited to join an organization he was thrown out of a few year...

Author, poet, and teacher Mark Nepo joins Charlie on the show today to talk about the power of true community. Throughout this episode, Mark talks about how community manifests itself in his new book, More Together than Alone. The book talks about eight worldviews and practices we can apply to our lives. He challenges us to think about how we might incorporate some of these worldview practices int...

Angela joins Charlie on the episode today to share a special announcement. Along with their announcements, they discuss the seasons of change in our work and projects, and how you know if it’s time to take a break. Key Takeaways: [1:15] - The podcast is going on a season break between Season 4 and Season 5. Charlie and Angela have been doing the podcast for nearly four years now, and have decided...

Today’s guest joins us on the show for the fourth time. Susan Piver is the New York Times best-selling author of eight books, and the founder of The Open Heart Project, a completely virtual meditation center. Today, she and Charlie discuss the four noble truths of love, which is also the title of her new book. They also talk about how to minimize the suffering and discomfort that are part of all r...

Liz is the founder and CEO of Sseko Designs, an ethical fashion brand that works to educate and empower women around the world. She joins Charlie on the show today to talk about how and why her brand started with employing high-potential women from Uganda, and what it does today for every woman in the Sseko network. Key Takeaways: [2:30] - Liz went to journalism school, and while there, she became...

Today’s guest is an avid runner, and part of a group that has run marathons on all 7 continents (yes, even Antarctica!). He joins Charlie today to talk about running these marathons, and the different and important lessons he learned on each continent. On the surface, the conversation is about marathons, but Charlie and Mike are really discussing the inner and outer journey of committing to a big...

On today’s episode, Angela sits down with Charlie to talk about debt. As they come to the end of this podcast season, they wanted to share some of the conversations they’ve had in their household as well as with their clients. We can think of debt as how much money we owe others, or economic debt, but the focus of today’s podcast is other types of debt that can weigh us down. Charlie and Angela ta...

Marc and Angel Chernoff return to the podcast today to talk with Charlie about some of the key insights they’ve learned about finding your happiness, and always coming back to the rituals that create happiness each and every day. Taking ideas from their book, Getting Back to Happy, they also talk about how letting go of self-defeating stories is a continual practice, no matter where you are on you...

Laurence McCahill is the co-founder of The Happy Startup School, a global community that’s now 100,000 people strong. He joins Charlie today to discuss the idea of the “happiness trap,” a belief that many entrepreneurs have that they can either make money, do good, or be happy, but not all three at the same time. They also discuss the productive benefits of taking time out. Key Takeaways: [4:50] -...

Amber Rae is the author of Choose Wonder Over Worry. She joins Charlie on the podcast today to talk about how worry shows up in our lives, and how we can convert our worry stories to wonder. This episode can be very helpful for creatives in the midst of finishing their best work, as they look at the patterns that come up when doing so, and how Amber herself worked through them as she was finishing...

Mary Shores is the author of Conscious Communications, a step-by-step guide to harnessing the power of your words to change your mind, your choices, and your life. She joins the show today to talk about how neurophysiology, our words, and other people’s behavior affect our ability to create the life we want to live. Today’s conversation is about how and where to make small changes that get us clos...

Stan Tatkin is a PACT developer, and co-founder of the PACT Institute. PACT stands for Psycho-biological Approach to Couples Therapy. Stan joins Charlie on the show today to discuss why couple relationships are so hard, at the same time that they are so great and necessary. The main challenges stem from the fact that we are reactive beings first and fast, and thoughtful, loving beings second and s...

Ash Beckham is today’s guest on the show. She frequently speaks on empathy, respect, and the power of having real conversations. Her two TedX talks have over 10 million views on YouTube. She joins Charlie to talk about how we can master real, and sometimes hard, conversations in an age of combativeness. Hint: It’s not about making others adopt your perspective. [3:00] - In her TedX talk “Coming Ou...

Today’s guest is Parker Stevenson, a musician turned corporate manager, turned member of Evolved Finance. Evolved Finance is a bookkeeping, financial consulting, and business education company dedicated to helping online entrepreneurs create profitable and healthy businesses. Charlie and Parker talk about using business financial awareness as a fuel for growth. They discuss the mistakes entreprene...

Angela joins Charlie on the show today to talk about communication technology in our lives. This is an engaging conversation about how our connection to technology affects our connections and relationships with the people around us. They talk about creating healthy boundaries with communication technology that allow us to focus more time on things that benefit us, as well as investing more in the...

Tara Gentile is an author and business strategist, who works with entrepreneurs and helps them design their personal “quiet power strategy” that will tap into their strengths and help them lead themselves where they want to go. She teaches her clients how to find what makes them most effective. Her work has been featured in Fast Company, Forbes, Design Sponge, and in the bestselling book The $100...

Bryan Caplan is a Professor of Economics at George Mason University, blogger for Econ-log, and author of The Case Against Education: Why the Education System Is a Waste of Time and Money. He joins Charlie on the show today for a vibrant discussion of why education is a waste of time and money, and why we still buy it. They also talk about the degree to which non-rational motivations can affect lar...