Work Life Play With Aaron Mchugh

My guest today is songwriter Jeff Nelson. I discovered Jeff's earthy soul talk after reading about "LA contractor lands a Nashville recording contract. He is a family man who purchased and remodeled his grandfather’s home in San Pedro, where he currently resides with his wife and four children. He leads a humble life: coffee, family, building homes and good bourbon." And I knew I had to hear his story. Enjoy his intersecting art and labor, soul and play, unlock and duty.

Ryan Gottfredson PHD is a successful mindset expert. Mindsets as the lenses we wear to help us interpret and engage with the world. In our conversation, we talk about how we expand and shift mindsets limiting our experience and no longer serving us. 

My guest today, Zack Friedman recognized a pattern in humans. Some people create lemonade from lemons and others don't. His book, The Lemonade Life, is the playbook for how to choose a pathway that eludes many, and can lead to more fulfillment and success.

Sunni Brown is an inspiration. She helped me exercise my wierd. After many years of trading messages, I'm proud to share our conversation with you today. One of my favorite quotes from Sunni I included in my book “If you can’t change your mind, it’s very hard to change your life. Human beings that are mentally agile, those who can and will unstick—from an ongoing challenge, a mindset, a limiting belief, or a point of view—are more likely to flourish. Period.”

Brendan Leonard promises that real adventure is not out of reach. I discovered his work through The Art of Getting Lost, a get-out-there excuse removing antidote to exploring more. He writes, “The hardest thing is convincing yourself it’s okay. Now I know you’re important at work and at home, but trust me, the folks at work and at home can do without you for a day or a couple of days. You’d be surprised what people do when you’re unavailable for a day or two: They figure it out on their own. It’s easy to get stuck in a rut where you’re working hard for everyone else and neglecting the things you want and need-like spending the night sleeping under the stars or going for a long hike-so you have to recognize it and schedule some time out of the rut for yourself.” Friends, Brendan Leonard is a worthy guide to follow in the art of getting lost and doing work you love. Find his work at Semi-Rad.

Dave Evans and Bill Burnett are designers at heart. Early in their careers, they designed for companies like Apple. Today, as Life Designers, they show people how to get off the couch and prototype alternative versions of their lives and their careers. 

Moe believes that Bravespace workplaces enable for people to face the risks, emotional exposure, uncertainty, and vulnerability that come with work. Leaders must know that people aren't machines, but that we are strong and fragile, smart, complex and beautiful. Bravespace workplaces are people-centered environments where leaders deeply understand that people make all the good things happen at work.

Morgan Snyder is more than my guest today. Our sixteen-year friendship is an anchor I repeatedly tether myself to for hope, truth, and joy. Our transformative reciprocity began when we were angsty younger men in our thirties. We'd commiserate together. Now we celebrate. To relieve anxiety, we'd pedal bikes in sync to reset our life's drive train. Our strategy? To conjure more energy, with an improved approach to come through for everyone except ourselves. Now we prioritize our soul's needs, joyfully contributing with wisdom's restraint in fewer places. Mashing those Colorado hills, Morgan was dictating his book aloud on how we can become the kind of man that God can entrust with power. He started with one question, "What's the most important thing?". This book isn't for everyone, Becoming a King: The Path to Restoring the Heart of a Man. Who is this book for? It's for the hungry, curious, and humble enough to admit maybe there is a better way? A less-traveled path that leads to abundant, sustainable life

I'll be the first to admit. I can be easily distracted. Ping, blue dot, check email, etc. Nir Eyal named my interference as pain management. "Unless we deal with the root causes of our distraction, we'll continue to find ways to distract ourselves. Simply put, the drive to relieve discomfort is the root cause of all our behavior." I invite you to put aside your biases and assumptions about distraction and listen to Nir Eyal's research on how to become Indistractable.

My guest today on Work Life Play is Caitlin Landesberg, founder and CEO of Sufferfest Beer Company, for those who believe in earning their beer. Caitlin Landesberg is an Athlete, long-distance trail runner, and is relentlessly curious. We talk about living fully, pursuing wormholes with curiosity and abandoning demands for outcomes. Her disarming charm, tech-startup roots tenacity kneaded the gospel of Sufferfest Beer one finish line and neighborhood grocery story at a time. Here is her story.

My guest today is Canadian Andrew Jensen, PGA pro tour golfer and avid spokesman for the pitfalls and hope for those of us who struggle with depression and anxiety. "I turned pro and embarked on just this lonely, isolated life and isolation is not good for the depressed brain." Rich, earnest and real. I know you'll enjoy his story today. 

In 2018, I interviewed Bryan Falchuk, author of Do a Day: How to Live a Better Life Everyday. What struck me about Bryan was how his lowest-life moment, became his redefining inspiration. Here’s what he had to say, “I walked into our room and my wife’s in bed, my son’s standing there and he’s looking at his mother who’s dying in front of his eyes and he turns and looks at me and it all smacked me in the face. It’s like, ’what are you doing? You’re failing her. You’re failing him. And I’m feeling ‘why do I have to have such a miserable life,’ everything’s falling apart and somehow I’m still standing and I’m not homeless and I’m not, missing a limb or, some other much more extreme thing. So maybe it’s not as bad as I always am so insistent that it is and all that just hit me in that moment.”

What is the Cult of Average? Today, my friend and guest Tom Davis liberates our thinking by guiding us to a values-based operating system for our lives. A ‘pay the rent’ lifestyle is one that is based on living life for other people. It's about paying the rent, paying my bills, going to my job, doing what everybody else tells me. What happens is, slowly but surely, I start to erode away. I start to disappear because the things that matter to me, my core values, the ‘why I do what I do,’ there is no time for them anymore. There's no me because I'm just trying to survive. That's the problem with survival mode; all you're doing is getting through the day. You go home and you collapse and say, "I was so busy working, but what did I actually do that mattered?"

Usually, I wouldn't write an introduction to a podcast episode that I am the "guest" or the speaker. But hey, this is the best talk I've ever given at my new book launch party on February 1st, Fire Your Boss: Discover Work Your Love Without Quitting Your Job, What makes that accurate? Ninety of some of my favorite humans on the planet were in the room transferred to me through osmosis, and I gained strength as the evening unfolded. Which meant I spoke with boldness and brightness that I long to embody daily. The second and equally equitable, I love people. Deeply. I love the hearts, minds, and lives of people in the daily context of the world of work. My big heart and my decades of living on the front-lines of enterprise corroborate my assignment as a watchman to our hearts arousing at work.

Alastair Humphreys is unusual. He cycled around the world (46,000 miles) and rowed across the Atlantic Ocean unsupported. Those feats are unusual, but more accessible for the commoner are his microadventures, short, local, burts of curious wanderings out your front door. I'd pair beautiful and unusual together to give a crisper coupling of his leadership invitation to each of us "Live Adventurously". Motivational speaker, Author, and Good Human, Alastair is the real deal.

Peb Jackson is uncommonly attracted to risk and survival. Today at age 75 it remains true-it's in his bones. We talk about learning to empty yourself, living an adventurous life of the heart and in wild places where blank spots on the map still exist. 

Leith McHugh, my lovely wife of 26 years, is in the house today on the Work Life Play podcast. She's up to some amazing things in the world. We talk about "How McHugh's Roll" and the importance of inviting our children into our family ethos. She shares about her LEITH brand, and the coaching work she brings to women focused on identity and story.

My guest today on Work Life Play is Ultrarunner, Author, mom, and Outside contributing editor Katie Arnold. Katie's book, Running Home serves as the backdrop for our conversation, "A memoir about grief, motherhood, adventure, and finding your stride".  

Today. Closing the gap between where I was and where I am. Choices. Tradeoffs. Grace. Reboot. Start. Rest. Pray. Reflect. Celebrate. My book goes live today into the world. A decade ago, I sat on my back patio and wrote the first draft of this liberating idea for Firing My Boss. My life changed that day. Not all at once, but it sparked the beginning of a journey. I remember deciding to make that manifesto available in a print self-published version. A friend asked, "why self-publish?" Me, "I don't want to wait to be picked". I had something inside of me that I had to get out and I didn't want the world of publishing to be the "committee" for deciding if my words lived. Available wherever books are sold including in Barnes and Noble stores (In stock in select stores).

Wake up to your life. It’s time to make a ruckus at work. Hi friends, new and old, after 10 years of soulful wrestle, iteration and innovation, I’m excited to announce the release of my new book. Fire your boss-discovering work you love without quitting your job is about becoming wholehearted. Yes it’s about work, and it’s about living true in all that you create in the world. Check it out anywhere books are sold. Keep going-Aaron *Join my 2020 Analog experiment