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#82: Michael Bungay Stanier – How to Begin Setting a Worthy Goal

Dec 7, 2021

Guest

Michael Bungay-Stanier

In this engaging conversation, Michael Bungay Stanier, a best-selling author and founder of Box of Crayons, delves into the essence of setting 'worthy goals'. He shares insights from his latest book, emphasizing how to define and clear space for meaningful pursuits. Michael highlights the importance of simplicity in achieving effectiveness and introduces a compelling framework for goal-setting based on thrill, importance, and challenge. His journey from unemployment to entrepreneurship offers a motivating backdrop, illustrating how resilience can lead to impactful creativity.

59:12

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ANECDOTE

Michael's Books

Michael Bungay Stanier's book, "The Coaching Habit," sold a million copies.
He also wrote other books, like "Get Unstuck and Get Going," and worked with Seth Godin on "End Malaria."

question_answer

ANECDOTE

Writing Journey

Michael's writing journey began with family influence and a Strategic Coach talk.
His cousin's interest and grandfather's inheritance pushed him to self-publish his first book.

insights

INSIGHT

Portfolio Career

Build a portfolio career to fulfill various needs, not just financial ones.
Some projects fund your life, some align with commercial goals, and others express pure creativity.

Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode

Exploring Impactful Coaching and Goal Setting

02:04 • 8min

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From Unemployment to Entrepreneurship: The Birth of Box of Crayons

09:51 • 2min

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Navigating the Landscape of Career Paths and Entrepreneurship

12:16 • 3min

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Balancing Creativity and Business

15:16 • 16min

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Exploring the Criteria of Worthy Goals

31:44 • 2min

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Pursuing Worthy Goals

33:51 • 16min

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Commitment to Meaningful Conversations in Creative Pursuits

50:21 • 2min

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The Coaching Habit

Say Less, Ask More & Change the Way You Lead Forever

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In 'The Coaching Habit,' Michael Bungay Stanier provides a straightforward and effective approach to coaching. Drawing on his extensive experience training managers worldwide, he introduces seven essential coaching questions designed to help managers unlock their team's potential. These questions include the Kickstart Question, the AWE Question, the Lazy Question, the Strategic Question, the Focus Question, the Foundation Question, and the Learning Question. The book emphasizes the importance of saying less and asking more, fostering a collaborative and empowering work environment. It combines practical advice with research in neuroscience and behavioral economics, making coaching a daily, informal part of managerial work rather than a formal event.

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How to Begin

Michael Bungay-Stanier

Get Unstuck and Get Going

Michael Bungay-Stanier

Find your great work

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In 'Do More Great Work', Michael Bungay Stanier provides practical advice and exercises to help readers identify and engage in 'Great Work'—the kind of work that is innovative, challenging, and truly satisfying. The book offers tools to manage overwhelming workloads and prioritize meaningful tasks.

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End Malaria

Bold Innovation, Limitless Generosity, and the Opportunity to Save a Life

Seth Godin

Michael Bungay-Stanier

End Malaria is a collaborative project between Michael Bungay Stanier and Seth Godin, featuring contributions from over 60 authors. The book is a stylish collection of short essays focused on bold innovation and limitless generosity, with the goal of raising funds to combat malaria. All revenue from the book went to Malaria No More, raising $400,000.

Michael Bungay Stanier has written books that have sold about a million copies all told, including The Coaching Habit, a self-published book that’s become the best-selling book on coaching this century. He was a Rhodes Scholar, and he founded a training and development company, Box of Crayons, that has taught coaching skills to hundreds of thousands of people around the world.

His new book How to Begin: Start Doing Something that Matters will help you find, define and start your own Worthy Goal.

In this episode, we talk about Michael’s career as an author what makes a worthy goal, how to clear space for your worthy goals, and why striving for simplicity helps you be more effective.

Pre-order How To Begin

Learn more about Michael Bungay Stanier

Full transcript and show notes

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→ #120: Derek Sivers

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