The One You Feed The Power of Awareness: Lessons from the 100 Best Books for Work and Life with Todd Sattersten
Todd Sattersten, an author and book curator, delves into the power of awareness through his book on the 100 best reads for work and life. He shares how Zen practices reshape emotional capacity and discusses balancing a growth mindset with acceptance. Todd highlights the importance of self-awareness in navigating difficult conversations and aligns purpose with goal-setting for personal development. His insights on integrating mindfulness and curiosity reveal pathways to adapt and thrive in both personal and professional realms.
58:27
Awareness Enables Values
- Awareness is prerequisite to living any value; without consciousness you can't track choices in the moment.
- Todd and Eric agree that awareness enables alignment of actions with values.
Both Wolves Are Real
- Todd frames the two wolves parable non-dually: both greed and love exist and denying either causes trouble.
- Awareness accepts suffering while still choosing to feed the loving parts of ourselves.
Zen Practice Began As Parenting Aid
- Todd started practicing Soto Zen at age 40 when he had three young children and felt emotionally unprepared to parent full-time.
- Zen gave him practical tools and perspectives to better manage the emotional demands of parenting.
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Intro
00:00 • 2min
Zen Practice and the Two Wolves Parable
02:07 • 2min
How Sitting Practice Shapes Emotional Capacity
04:08 • 4min
Why This Book Is About Becoming Better
08:29 • 6min
Expanding from Business to Work and Life
14:30 • 2min
Ad break
16:16 • 1min
Why Categories in Bookstores Can Mislead
17:20 • 4min
How to Use The 100 Best Books for Work and Life
20:57 • 5min
Balancing Growth Mindset and Acceptance
26:20 • 4min
Choosing and Framing Habits to Change Behavior
30:40 • 2min
Selecting Four Diverse Perspectives Per Topic
32:59 • 1min
Different Approaches to Conversations
34:25 • 4min
Ad break
38:33 • 1min
What Difficult Conversations Teaches About Self-Awareness
39:53 • 40sec
Keeping Space Open to Create Possibility
40:33 • 34sec
Purpose Before Goals
41:06 • 5min
Designing Your Life and Tracking Preferences
46:30 • 2min
Integrating Work, Relationships, and Energy Management
48:18 • 46sec
Embracing Change: Pema Chodron's Message
49:04 • 5min
Curiosity as the Antidote to Fixed Heuristics
53:45 • 4min
Silent Reading Party and Introvert Energy
57:57 • 2min
Outro
59:46 • 1min
#57051
100 Best Books for Work and Life
Todd Sattersten
#520
• Mentioned in 40 episodes
Designing your life
How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life
Dave Evans
Bill Burnett
Bill Burnett and Dave Evans
In this book, Bill Burnett and Dave Evans apply the principles of design thinking to help readers design and build a life that is both meaningful and fulfilling.
The authors, who are also educators at Stanford University, emphasize the importance of prototyping, experimentation, and iteration in life design.
They provide practical exercises and tools to help readers navigate life's challenges and create a future that aligns with their values and aspirations.
The book is based on their highly successful course at Stanford and has been widely praised for its empowering and practical approach to life design.
#331
• Mentioned in 56 episodes
Nonviolent Communication
A Language of Life
Marshall B. Rosenberg
Nonviolent Communication (NVC) is a framework created by Marshall Rosenberg that aims to enhance communication by promoting compassion and empathy.
The book outlines a four-step process for effective communication: observing what is happening without judgment, identifying and expressing feelings, recognizing and articulating needs, and making clear requests.
Rosenberg emphasizes the importance of separating observations from evaluations to avoid defensiveness and promote genuine human connections.
The book includes practical exercises, role-plays, and real-life examples to illustrate how NVC can be applied in various relationships and situations, including personal, professional, and conflict resolution contexts.
It also discusses how NVC can help in developing self-compassion and resolving conflicts by focusing on the underlying needs rather than the actions that trigger emotions.
#341
• Mentioned in 55 episodes
Crucial Conversations
Tools for Talking When Stakes are High
Joseph Grenny
Stephen R Covey
Al Switzler
Ron McMillan
Kerry Patterson
Crucial Conversations provides tools and strategies for handling difficult conversations where stakes are high, opinions vary, and emotions run strong.
The book focuses on creating a safe environment for candid discussions, using techniques like STATE (Share, Tell, Ask, Talk, Encourage) and CRIB (Commit, Recognize, Invent, Brainstorm) to ensure productive and respectful communication.
It underscores the importance of shared understanding, mutual purpose, and active listening in achieving successful outcomes in crucial conversations.
#793
• Mentioned in 31 episodes
Difficult Conversations
How to Discuss What Matters Most
Roger Drummer Fisher
Douglas Stone
Bruce Patton
Sheila Heen
This book provides a step-by-step approach to having tough conversations with less stress and more success.
It covers how to decipher the underlying structure of difficult conversations, raise tough issues without triggering defensiveness, manage strong emotions, and keep balance regardless of the other person's response.
The book is filled with examples from everyday life and addresses issues such as race, culture, gender, power, and communication via technology.
It is designed to help readers improve oral communication in personal, professional, and public life.
#6862
• Mentioned in 5 episodes
Fierce Conversations
Achieving Success at Work and in Life One Conversation at a Time
Scott, Susan
Fierce Conversations is a guide to tackling tough challenges and enriching relationships through effective communication.
The book introduces the Seven Principles of Fierce Conversations, which include mastering the courage to interrogate reality, coming out from behind oneself into the conversation, being fully present, tackling tough challenges, obeying instincts, taking responsibility for one's emotional wake, and letting silence do the heavy lifting.
It emphasizes the importance of radical candor and direct communication in both workplace and personal relationships.
#59
• Mentioned in 166 episodes
Grit
The Power of Passion and Perseverance
Angela Duckworth
In this book, Angela Duckworth presents a compelling argument that success is driven more by grit, a fusion of relentless passion and perseverance, than by talent.
She explains what grit is, how to identify and develop it, and how it can be grown through stages such as developing interests, consistent practice, finding a pro-social purpose, and cultivating optimism.
The book is structured in three parts: explaining what grit is and why it matters, how to grow grit from the inside out, and how to grow grit from the outside in, targeting parents, coaches, teachers, and organizational leaders.
Duckworth supports her arguments with personal stories, historical insights, and interviews with high achievers from various fields.
#424
• Mentioned in 47 episodes
When Things Fall Apart
Heart Advice for Difficult Times
Pema Chödrön
In this book, Pema Chödrön offers life-changing tools for transforming suffering and negative patterns into habitual ease and boundless joy.
Drawing from traditional Buddhist wisdom, she advises moving toward painful situations with friendliness and curiosity, rather than trying to escape them.
The book emphasizes the importance of embracing uncertainty, impermanence, and groundlessness, and provides practical advice for dealing with difficult emotions like fear, anger, and sadness.
Chödrön encourages readers to stay present with their feelings and to cultivate nonaggression and compassion, leading to deeper healing and understanding.
#27
• Mentioned in 240 episodes
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
Stephen R Covey
This book, first published in 1989, outlines seven habits that are designed to help individuals become more effective in their personal and professional lives.
The habits are grouped into three categories: Private Victory (habits 1-3), Public Victory (habits 4-6), and Renewal (habit 7).
The habits include being proactive, beginning with the end in mind, putting first things first, thinking win-win, seeking first to understand and then to be understood, synergizing, and sharpening the saw.
Covey emphasizes the importance of personal integrity, effective time management, empathetic communication, and continuous self-improvement.
#4359
• Mentioned in 8 episodes
Good Habits, Bad Habits
Wendy Wood
In 'Good Habits, Bad Habits,' Wendy Wood draws on three decades of original research to explain the fascinating science of how we form habits.
The book highlights that nearly half of our daily actions are automatic and not conscious choices, but rather the result of our non-conscious mind.
Wood argues that willpower alone is inadequate for making positive changes and instead offers practical strategies based on neuroscience, case studies, and experiments.
She explains how our brains respond to rewards, receive cues from our surroundings, and shut down when faced with too much friction.
The book provides a detailed look at the three bases of habit formation: context, repetition, and reward, and offers practical advice on how to form better habits and make lasting positive changes.
In this episode, Todd Sattersten explores the art of awareness with lessons from his new book “The 100 Best Books for Work and Life. He delves into how we can reshape the way we live, work, and become who we’re meant to be. Todd also discusses how mindfulness, Zen practice, and self-awareness can help manage emotions and navigate life’s challenges. He shares insights from his book curation process, discusses the importance of balancing personal growth with acceptance, and highlights how influential books can guide us through change, purpose, and self-discovery.
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Key Takeaways:
- Exploration of Todd's book, “The 100 Best Books for Work and Life”
- Importance of mindfulness and awareness in managing emotions
- The tension between striving for improvement and accepting life as it is
- Insights from Zen Buddhist practice and its application to personal development
- The impact of a growth mindset versus a fixed mindset on personal growth
- The interconnectedness of personal and professional development
- The significance of self-awareness in aligning actions with values
- The role of curiosity in adapting to change and personal evolution
- Recommendations for influential books across various disciplines related to personal growth and life skills
If you enjoyed this conversation with Todd Sattersten, check out these other episodes:
How to Embrace Awareness and Let Go of Ego with Grace Shireson
How to Create Change at Work Without Losing Yourself with Melody Wilding
For full show notes, click here!
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