This Sustainable Life

I coined the term Enron Environmentalism to explain the gap between what people say they value about the environment and what they do.If you're an American, you probably practice Enron Environmentalism. Sadly, it's the opposite of self-awareness and integrity, as this episode of the podcast shows.Here are the articles I mention:My Inc. article: Are You an Enron Environmentalist?From Energy Policy Journal: Does pro-environmental behaviour affect carbon emissions?From Environment and Behavior Journal: Good Intents, but Low Impacts: Diverging Importance of Motivational and Socioeconomic Determinants Explaining Pro-Environmental Behavior, Energy Use, and Carbon FootprintEnjoy the episode. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Talk about a generous conversation!Dorie Clark shares about how to make yourself known, to become a leader, and to connect with others.She shares her personal experiences, since she didn't start with any advantages, and some of what she shares in her books. We talked about one of my big questions: do you need to go through a major life challenge---a crucible---to achieve greatness or to become a leader.When we got to talking about the environment and her personal challenge, you can hear in how she takes on hers that she's taken on many challenges before. If you want to improve your skills in taking on challenges and succeeding at them, her perspective reveals a lot to learn from.Her challenge is, I think, the longest challenge someone committed to as her first. Listen to hear it. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Not often when two men chat on the internet do tears well up and they get choked up.I loved this conversation for its being unscripted and unguarded. Daniel allowed himself to be vulnerable. He asked about posting this interview on his podcast because of the rawness of the emotion that came up.My leadership mistakeI recorded this conversation early and I dropped the ball on leading Daniel.If you listen to this podcast in part to learn to lead, when we reach talking about the environment, you'll hear me make big mistakes that provoked resistance. I led him to do the opposite of committing to a personal challenge---he lectured me on what I should and shouldn't do.Someone you're trying to influence lecturing at you means you didn't lead effectively. See if you can listen to where and how I lost him. Learn from my mistake.Notice how I lead others differently. For example, listen to my interview with John Lee Dumas to hear how I led someone who said he didn't care about the environment to identify something he cared about, create a big task to act on that care, and to commit to it with public accountability. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You will not forget this conversation. Dov brings his full self intellectually and emotionally, especially starting about 20 minutes in.I guarantee you will hear a person speaking a way you want to---unfiltered yet thoughtful, enthusiastic yet measured.Dov shares details of his life, authentically and raw, even when it hurts. He shares how he developed his authenticity, radically so because he wasn't always.He shares examples and stories most of us wish we could emulate in our lives. I don't know about you, but hearing someone living it leads me to raise my standards for myself.In regular life I talk a lot but Dov left me speechless several times.He also thought of his personal environmental challenge before we spoke. Not all guests do, but doing so suggests the underlying values, enthusiasm, or both mean more to the guest. I'd say both with Dov. You'll enjoy hearing his challenge and look forward to his results in his second conversation. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My friend told me this show angered him -- hearing people act as if little changes were significant... not knowing not to get new plastic bags.I shared some of my thoughts on people making trivial changes and what motivates me.I expect I'll share more personal thoughts on leadership and the environment as I develop my voice. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dan Pink's second conversation was short and sweet, like his personal challenge.After a few guests learning, growing, and leading from having to overcome big challenges, Dan shared an easy, simple experience.The story was that there was no story. While many portray changing your diet as impossible or a big challenge, Dan and his wife simply stopped eating most meat.That's it.He stopped. He could have stopped earlier. What problems arose were small and he solved quickly.If you're thinking of committing to a personal challenge, sometimes it's easy.Listen to the conversation for how to choose challenges so they're easy for you. You can always build to harder ones.Dan's new book When and TEDDan's book was released a few days ago. You may have also seen him in the news.We talked about writing, marketing big releases, and preparing for TED talks. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This conversation was fun and engaging since Judith is charismatic, experienced, and cheerful, even though it started solemnly, owing to a terrorist attack in Manhattan the day before. We covered politics a bit -- now that I think of it, one of this podcast's few forays there.We talked about leadership from many perspectives, including her storied experience, given her experience with globally known leaders (Donna Karan, etc) and top organizations (Harvard, Apple, etc). Most of us rarely get to talk to people with such connections and history.I continued to follow Judith's lead from our first conversation to use her definition of "environment," which wasn't my usual one, roughly meaning the air, land, and water we share. Her definition is more about people and relationships.I treated the conversation as somewhat challenging, to enter someone else's world. I went into this podcast as much to learn as to influence, expecting everyone to have unique views on the environment, leadership, community, and other subjects, so I welcomed it.By challenging, I don't mean the conversation was unpleasant or uncomfortable. Just that given my experimental physics background, we were far from my touch points like measurables like concentrations of molecules and concepts like conservation of energy.I presume listeners with backgrounds different than mine and more like Judith's will resonate with the conversation. My goal is to make the podcast as much for you as for me. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tanner's third conversation continues his project beyond just polluting less himself to influencing a store, in fact a whole grocery store chain. You can hear his growing enthusiasm, that the more he works on his project, the more he finds parts of it to love and act on.Do you think because he's a gold medal winner things come easier for him?On the contrary, things don't go his way. But he doesn't give up.If you try projects and they don't work out, which describes me, I think it will help to see that people as successful as Tanner don't succeed on their first tries either. I don't know about you, but when I read their books or see them on TV, their success seems more given. Here Tanner reveals that he had to regroup and restart.From my perspective, he sounds like he holds himself overly accountable, including for things outside of his control, but I also read that he found ways that work for him. Some may look for the positive. Tanner seems to look for the accountable.But listen to how his perspective turns into enthusiasm. I look forward to the next time I feel like giving up on a project that's not going my way. I'm listening to this episode.I hope you can also hear how much fun we have together. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In conversation 1, Jim shared his values and committed to live by one.In conversation 1.5, he shared problems with the challenge and how he overcame them.In this conversation he shares how it worked. Listen to hear how persevering through challenges to live by your values leads to a better life.Judge for yourself what you find from his experience. I heard:More time with his familyQuality time with his familyFunFinding more challenges (why not, if they're fun?)Things became easier than beforeTake off your wet socksI introduce my wet socks analogy for not living by your values in this episode, which is:Say you step in a puddle and get your socks wet in the morning. You can still go about your day. If you're busy, you might not notice them.It's still a relief when you get home and take them off at the end of the day. Finally you feel fresh, clean air against your skin instead of wet sock. You look back and realize they've been annoying you all day. Making yourself busy distracted you from noticing them, but never made them go away. You wish you had taken them off earlier.Living by your values after ignoring them feels like taking off wet socks. As with wet socks, you look back and realize that abandoning your values has annoyed you your whole life. Making yourself busy distracted you from noticing that you weren't living by them, but never made it go away. You wish you had chosen to live by them earlier.Denying that you're abandoning minor values, prevents you from noticing big ones. On the other hand, fixing the little ones opens your eyes to others, which motivates you to fix them, then to fix bigger ones, and so on.You may consider small denial not that big a deal, but once you take off those socks, you realize you could have long before. Living in conflict with your values means living without integrity. It eats you up inside.Take off your wet socks. Enjoy the freedom of living by your values. The environment is a great place to start. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Do you want to improve your life?... and enjoy doing it?I usually don't laugh out loud at people talking about the environment, but Tanner made me.Listen to Tanner's second conversation to hear how a master approaches a modest challenge, makes it fun, makes it bigger (if it's fun, why wouldn't you), involves others, and keeps building.He shares what makes him a top athlete, husband, and all-around fun guy. He's no more or less human than anyone.We talk about challenges, successes, Navy SEALS, and what makes a person and life great. It all starts from plastic bags, the awareness that comes from paying attention to how you affect others, and acting with integrity. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.