Work Life Play with Aaron McHugh

Alex Woodard reminded me of how pliable our lives and dreams are if we let go. Alex's story is a powerful example of driving hard towards his goal of playing his music to thousands. On the eve of achieving his dream, the bottom fell out. His record contract vanished, his dog died and his dream became a nightmare. Enter stage left; he received a letter from a fan telling her story about loss and lo...

Shawn Askinosie's book might change your life if you allow it.  Meaningful Work is not a book about "saving the world"— but it is about how businesses can and should solve problems in the world, and how positive change begins with individual action.

My top ten reasons why I believe we won't change. 1-No guarantees of an outcome. 2-We really aren't yet in enough pain in our current reality. 3-The devil I know is better than the devil I don't. 4-A template was installed in us a long time ago that is difficult to refute. 5- It's easier to bitch and complain than to do something about it. 6-We convince ourselves that everyone else must have won t...

Today is the Ryan Miller Show. I've titled this episode, Who Am I as we talk about their creative work in the world through 08Left , Mango Ink and his upcoming show on May 3rd in Spokane, Lights Like Us .

Kristy Dickerson, keynote speaker, businesswoman, and active CEO and co-founder of Start Planner has devoted her life to providing hope for individuals who are looking to achieve balance, success, and happiness in their lives. She has been featured in numerous national media outlets and has shown thousands of others how to be productive, efficient, and live more fulfilling lives.

This is your permission slip to cut yourself some slack. Take a break. Take a day off. Skip school. Skip work. Wear flip-flops. Punt on a meeting. Say No. Don't go. Stay home. Call in sick. Be late. Take a nap. Do half as much and call it good enough. Tell "perfection" to take a flying leap. Go on a two-week vacation. Use your floating holiday tomorrow. See a movie at lunchtime. Stay in your jammi...

My guest today is Jesse Mecham, author of his new book  You Need A Budget . The money powers our lives and is a resource required for living the life we want. Jesse's team, and I agree, believes that when you approach your money with intention, you can more predictably influence the desired outcomes. I love Jesse's message, and I'm convinced that regardless of how much or how little money we have,...

Ben Moon is a Pacific City, Oregon based photographer and filmmaker who enjoys working with a diverse range of adventurers, athletes and musicians. Surviving cancer in his twenties inspired a greater connection and appreciation for others and the natural world. Ben finds human emotion to be a source of constant fascination. He is best known for his viral short film Denali, which explored the frien...

Part 2 of my interview with Greg McKeown , author of Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less. In this episode, he continues with practical advice on getting clear on the bigger picture and enabling for more regular course corrections. Even Greg struggles to be an Essentialist all of the time. Where and how do you start with Essentialism? How do you begin taking back control over the minutes...

My interview with Greg McKeown, author of the New York Times Bestseller, Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less, produced poignant questions that warrant an accompanying question guide. I believe lasting transformation can occur when we internalize these issues and principles. Greg delivered so much succinct and dense insights during our interview that I chose to break the conversation into...

Ashton Gustafson believes that there is more to life than prestige, accomplishment, trophies and ladder climbing. He believes that if we listen, taste, and smell the melody, the texture, and observe the nuances-we will find what we are all looking for. Ashton leads a rich podcast called Let The Music Play and has killer guests like Rob Bell and Richard Rohr to top chefs. Ashton loves life and is i...

I have an experiment for you. I know the holidays are stressful, over-scheduled, over-spending, over-eating and lots of time with friends and family. Here's my idea-What if we left no good thing unsaid? We spend a lot of time with family during the holidays, and that can be very stressful. I heard once, "The reason they know how to push your buttons is that they installed them." So if our buttons...

Guy Kawasaki was chief evangelist of Apple during the early 1980's Macintosh era. In this punchy, simple and short conversation Guy answers the following questions: What are you best at? What are you most proud of? What piece of advice do you give that people fail to follow? How are you GREAT at writing books, speaking, starting companies, and evangelising change? What key lesson did Steve Jobs te...

My guest today, Brian David Crane decodes for us the challenges of living and working anywhere in the world like loneliness, developing community and being productive when on Tuesday at 2 pm there is always another waterfall to explore.  The best locations to be a Digital Nomad according to BDC: Bali Poland Colombia Mexico Canary Islands Cape Town Explore your muse on Nomadlist.com for the best pl...

I find asking for help to be difficult. The truth is I don't like to ask for help. I'd prefer to do things on my own, to grit it out, use endurance and perseverance to push through. In this episode, I share a compelling story of how I learned why we should ask for help. I found myself in a maze that I was unable to escape and asking for HELP turned out to be the secret for escape. I could use your...

My guest today is Joanna Penn, New York Times bestselling thriller writer. She writes inspirational non-fiction for aspiring authors. We talk about the business of being a writer, her habits, and routines, how she shapes her environment to fuel her creative work and shortcutting the process to get into the flow. I learned a lot from Joanna and appreciated her insights derived from her experience o...

Last month, I quit my job. I decided I needed to clear my head before starting a new gig. I just returned from a 3,000-mile road trip out west in our 1974 VW Bus. I put together a Best Of list from my experience. My Instagram @aarondmchugh feed has all of the photos I posted from five National Parks, the best hikes, the kindest human I met, quirky roadside Route 66 Wigwam Motel, impromptu unplugge...

In this episode, I recorded a dispatch update from my VW bus road trip from Colorado to California. I'm chasing wild as I visit National Parks and enjoy the drone of the highway. Thus far, I've visited Capitol Reef NP, Bryce Canyon NP and Zion NP. I laid down a few thoughts on the benefits of pausing to reflect during a change in season. Check out my road trip photos on Instagram @aarondmchugh

I met John Montgomery at an Explorer's dinner in Manhattan hosted by Stefan Loble ( Bluff Works founder). Everyone invited had some new bent of curiosity that drove their exploration. John's is world travel. It all started when his dad used to load them in the family truckster as kids and go searching for anything new. John's spirit of adventure embodies the Work Life Play mantra. Hear John's heck...

Morgan Snyder, host of Become Good Soil podcast , and my close friend interviews me on Work Life Play in celebration of this podcast reaching 100,000 downloads.  We titled it "Then and Now" as we retrace through our friendship over the last thirteen years. We talk through the original seeds of Work Life Play starting back when I'd run at lunch and shower with baby wipes before putting my suit back...

How we handle disappointment reveals what we really believe about life. Everyone experiences some level of disappointment in life, but not everyone moves forward from the imprint of disappointment. Moving forward in a positive way is challenging. In this episode, I tell a story about a disappointment I experienced in 2014. I trained to race an IRONMAN triathlon in Lake Tahoe, CA . Unfortunately, i...

This episode is powered by the new Joy Bus T-Shirt in the Work Life Play store.  Last year, our city was unfortunately ranked among the highest for teen suicide. We were directly impacted. We knew our pending move-in day was going to be impacted by the grief and loss. We decided to shift the story-disrupt the inertia by infusing our day with joy and fun.  We gave away free ice cream to one hundred...

I wanted to give you a Reboot recap from our live event a week ago. I think the best way to start is to share a few quotes from Rebooters, "The world needs to hear this." "Excursions were amazing & life-giving!" "This changed my life. I'm leaving with a whole new perspective on life and how I need to change it." "IT was awesome to step away from the insanity of our lives for a bit and reflect upon...

Joe was a recovering alcoholic who upgraded his addiction from booze to running. He told me if I tucked in close to his elbow and ran hard, he promised it would be tough, but he wouldn't drop me. He'd won duathlon world championships, and I was trying to complete a Xterra off-road triathlon. Predictably every day there was a workout-no two-days the same. There was banter before the run and color c...

I yelled his name printed on his race bib, "Tim, YOU'VE GOT THIS." I didn't know him, but he picked his head up, stared 1,000 yards ahead and got going again. I was working an aid station at the Hawaii IRONMAN World Championship triathlon. These athletes were thirteen miles into the final leg of the 140.6-mile race. He had hours to go before he'd cross the finish line, but his eyes were fixed beyo...