Work Life Play With Aaron Mchugh

Big changes in life are often times made by subtle shifts in our approach. I learned this lesson on making a 2 degree shift from Onsite Workshops. I think it's a lot like using a compass and adjusting your compass to point to True North, instead of Magnetic North (declination). I used to believe that I had to make huge changes to my Work, Life, Relationships and Play. Instead, I discovered that small subtle 2 degree shifts everyday, in every decision, in every conversation help me plot a new trajectory for my life. Rebooting Your Life-Everyone deserves a fresh start. May 5th & 6th Colorado Springs, CO full signup event details here https://www.aaronmchugh.com/reboot/

Alastair Humphreys in his book MicroAdventures: Local Discoveries For Great Escapes says, "Adventure is a state of mind, a spirit of trying something new and leaving your comfort zone. It's about enthusiasm, ambition, open-mindedness and curiosity". I think that invitation is a perfect frame for this idea. Wherever you live, mystery, possibility and adventure await you...if you choose to go looking for it. My wife and I first tried on this idea of living like tourists in our town by taking a Staycation. We booked a hotel three miles from our home, reserved a couple of massages at our athletic club, sat in the hot tub, ordered a few beverages, went to a movie and dinner and were home by lunch the next day to relieve the babysitter. It was simple. It didn't take a lot of money. It did not require a lot of time and planning. It was incredibly restful and encouraging. It unlocked this idea for us and I hope you will try it on for yourself. In your town there are (within a one to two hour car/train ride)... Museu

In this episode I outline the lessons I've learned in budgeting my emotional energy investments and expenditures. You can read the full post on the topic here. I experienced a burn out in 2015. I was emotionally and physically depleted. In my struggle to articulate what I was experiencing and how I got there, I began imagining my emotional energy using this idea of emotional calories. I started connecting my emotional energy with my physical energy, food nutrient intake, caloric requirements and energy management. Rebooting Your Life-Everyone deserves a fresh start. May 5th & 6th Colorado Springs, CO full signup event details here https://www.aaronmchugh.com/reboot/

We did the deal in a McDonald’s parking lot half a mile from the Portland airport after a 20-minute test drive and a rusty glove inspection. It took $6,700, four plane tickets and six months of looking for her. The Joy Bus was ours. The story began when my daughter Averi blurted out this dreamy statement, “When I graduate from high school, Maya and I are going to buy a VW Bus, road-trip to California and surf for the summer.” After more banter about this idea, we began to think, Why not? Averi is our youngest of three children. With Averi’s older brother, I would have likely offered a litany of logical facts as to how improbable dreams of surfing the Cali coast would be for two 18-year-olds. The truth is, I wasn’t always willing to embrace the wonder of big, audacious dreams. Nor was I fanning the flame of our children’s dreams to muse about what lies beyond tomorrow. After 20 years of practice, trials and mistakes, I am becoming a much better father. Averi and I started riffing on the idea of finding a Bus a

I'm learning that there are very few people on the planet that I'd rely upon, trust, believe in, implicitly know I'm safe with and covered by to rob a bank with. But there are a few. In business and in life, I find it's super helpful to identify who you'd rob a bank with. Meaning, who would you bet on to come through no matter what happened.

I recorded this episode while on an adventure run in LA. I was exploring and found a really cool trail that winded to the top of a city park with this perfect pond and view of the city. Running helps me maintain my curiosity and the spirit of adventure. Every time I travel, I bring my running shoes along. I have this belief that there will be something cool wherever I go. And low and behold, I find some amazing trails, runs, byways, parks, rivers, streams, and epic scenery.  I offer you this story as a muse on finding what you're searching for. I believe that you will find whatever it is you are searching for if you believe its out there. When you start with a belief "I bet this might be cool....." you will see what it is your heart believes. 

Chris Lieto is a top ranked World Class Triathlete, 3 time Ironman Champion, Husband, Father @BasePerformance and doing @MoreThanSport. Big Island of Hawaii

The Story of Shackleton Sir Ernest Shackleton is a legend as an Antarctic Explorer. However his fame did not come from accomplishing his goal of reaching the south pole. Instead on his third trip to the Antarctic, his ship The Endurance became frozen in the pack ice, 100 miles from land. He and his 27 men proceeded to spend nearly two years in a desperate plight for survival. Shackleton was credited with being the bold leader that made the hope of survival and rescue possible. In the end all 27 men survived. “That was all of tangible things; but in memories we were rich. We had pierced the veneer of outside things. We had ‘suffered, starved, and triumphed, groveled down yet grasped at glory, grown bigger in the bigness of the whole.’ We had seen God in his splendors, heard the text that Nature renders. We had reached the naked soul of men.” — Ernest Shackleton, South

Salit’s core idea is that all humans have an innate ability to perform, pretend, and improvise. It’s what helps us develop as children and continue developing as adults. You may not have been on a stage since you played a tree in third grade, but the reality is that you’re performing all the time. Performance Breakthrough shows how you can use ideas and techniques from theater and improvisation, along with the new science of performative psychology, to enhance your performance at work and “become who you are not yet.”

Be the hero. Own it all. All the ingredients are raw materials that are useful in our stories. All of it. Be gracious and kind to yourself. Love the people you are with. Be curious. Go searching for life. Keep going, Aaron

Thank you friends for being on this adventure with me of 100 episodes of Work Life Play. At the end of this episode, I have a special closing from my friend Jack O'Neill from Jackopierce. My wife and I spent the weekend with them in NYC as part of attending a Seth Godin conference. Our new friends Ryan and Heidi Miller joined us to make six. Check out their work: Ryan's work 08Left Custom art for Travelers and Lovers of Aviation.  Heidi's custom card company Mango Ink Jack's music with Jackopierce

Andrew Reiner is a writer and educator in Baltimore, MD. He is working on a book about masculinity and, right now, a chapter on boys/men and crying. He read a blog by my friend Sam Jolman, How to Cry Like a Man, while researching this topic and he read a comment I made on how I did not cry between the ages of 12-21.  This episode is about becoming wholehearted and emotionally fit as men. "Embracing the full spectrum of our life".   

Dean Karnazes exudes life...to the fullest. At age 30, Dean discovered his feet were meant for running unimaginable distances instead of his former wing tipped polished leather shoes of Corporate America. Dean won't taunt you with his stories of his expanding the boundaries of human potential. Instead, Constantine Dean Karnazes (Dean's actual real name) will ask you this trite question in a piercing new way, "Are you happy?" 

I S O L A T I O N is a short film directed by David Guersan and Mathieu Bernat about a stranger leaving his modern lifestyle for a spiritual journey through incredible Scottish landscapes. Throughout the film, the stranger works to uncover the meaning of solitude and isolation. The piece was shot while traveling for two weeks in a leaky van through remote parts of Scotland. Thanks to my friend Britt Jones for the recommendation on watching this short film.

Author, speaker, and leader Eric Eaton shows readers a pathway to bust their limitation, define success for themselves, and live an abundant life. Eric distilled decades of personal and professional lessons into a proven plan to alleviate guilt and frustration in achieving their goals.

It's easy to believe that if we lived somewhere else, worked somewhere else, were with someone else....we could experience the life we desire. Most of the time...that turns out to be entirely wrong.  Change -lasting change, starts from within us. We see with our eyes what we believe we will see from our wholehearted life. Maybe...the life we want starts in the geography we are right now?

Jake Norton is a world-renowned climber, photographer, filmmaker, philanthropist, and inspirational speaker. Based in Evergreen, Colorado, Jake’s worldwide adventures have taken him to the summit of Mount Everest (three times) and on expeditions on all seven continents.

Discovering, restoring and recovering balance requires being honest about and accepting your limitations. I did not want to believe that I had physical, emotional and relational limitations. Unfortunately, despite my disbelief, my thresholds of energy stopped me in my tracks. I had ignored my stamina limitations for so many years until I found myself depleted and on the sidelines of life. In this podcast, I offer my personal experiences of accepting my thresholds and limitations. I always feared that if I heeded the idea that I had limitations, it somehow seemed like giving up.  Today, operating within my capacity I can live, work, play and love in a sustainable way.

Dan Roam is the author of the international bestseller The Back of the Napkin, the most popular visual-thinking business book of all time. Dan helps business people think and solve problems visually. His newest book, Draw to Win distills ten years of working with business professionals from Microsoft, IBM, The White House, Google, Lucas Films....and a bunch of others.