The Growth Guide: Self-Improvement | Greatness | Impact | Creators | FI |

We live in a world where people are so consumed by their traditional, busy lifestyles and don’t prioritize showing kindness and empathy toward one another. Our guest today is someone who has made it their philosophy and mission to make kindness cool, empathy popular, and compassion commonplace. Dr. Jeremy Goldberg, behavioral scientist, author, speaker, and mentor, joins us today to talk about his mission for kindness, empathy, and compassion. Throughout today’s episode, we dive deep into how the traditional definition of men leads to social issues, why we need to have more kindness, empathy, and compassion towards one another, and tips and tricks for getting things done and successfully achieving life goals.Jeremy starts the discussion by sharing his thoughts on what inspires and influences him the most at the moment. We also talk about the book he’s writing, the inspiration behind it, and the main focus of the book. Getting into deeper topics, we talk about how most men don’t prioritize self-love and taking care of themselves. We dive into the social and cultural factors that contribute to this behavior and how to avoid it. Another issue that affects many men is that the traditional definition of manhood does not leave men with much room to express their emotions and vulnerable moments. This can lead to certain emotional issues among men and, in some cases, violence. We dive into why men’s tears should be normalized and how we can guide young boys to adopt a healthy, mature expression of masculinity.Jeremy’s brand, Long Distance Love Bombs, was inspired by a fascinating experience of kindness and empathy. Jeremy talks about that moment from years ago and how it ultimately led him to start his unique movement. Another area we focus on today is getting things done. Many of us come up with new ideas, goals, and other things we want to achieve, but we often struggle to start and get things running. Jermy talks about why it’s hard for many of us to start something new, how we get the kickstart we need by starting small, and how to break a big process down to baby steps in order to prevent ourselves from losing interest. Resources:Connect with Dr. Jeremy:Website: longdistancelovebombs.com / dr-jeremygoldberg.comInstagram: @longdistancelovebombsMentioned in the episode:To Be a Man by Robert Masters: robertmasters.com/book/to-be-a-manFeeling Good: The New Mood Therapy by David D. Burns: goodreads.com/en/book/show/46674.Feeling_Good

Post-traumatic Stress Disorder, aka PTSD, is one of the major mental health challenges in the modern world. Caused by numerous traumatic events, including an unexpected death of a loved one, seeing someone being injured or killed, sexual violence, PTSD has become a common psychiatric disorder in N. America. Our guest today is an expert in managing traumatic stress who helps people release accumulated stress. Brett Cotter, author and the founder of Stress Is Gone, joins us today to talk about three key concepts that help us manage PTSD and anxiety.The pandemic and the new reality that came with it have drastically changed our lives, and as a result, some of us have been experiencing stress, anxiety, and other mental health challenges. Brett starts the conversation with his insights on how isolation affects our minds, how it may lead to stress and anxiety, and the possibility of COVID-related incidents being a possible trigger for PTSD for those who are heavily affected by the pandemic. He also shares some of the early signs of depression and how they develop into more serious mental health issues.In his book, Brett introduces three key concepts that help us manage PTSD; Stopping stress reaction, processing trauma, and meditation. We start looking into these concepts with a high-level view of each concept. In the next part of the discussion, Clint shares some of his personal experiences with traumatic events, and Brett weighs in with his insights on how to deal with the types of traumatic events that Clint had experienced. Diving deep into the key concepts, we start with meditation. Brett talks about how meditation can help us dampen the impact of PTSD and eventually heal our minds. He also talks about common signs of PTSD and how we can identify a loved one who’s going through PTSD. In the next section, we dive deep into some of the techniques for stopping stress reactions and processing trauma. Stay tuned until the end of the episode, where Brett shares a technique that helps us quickly release anxiety. Resources:Brett’s Website:www.brettcotter.comBrett’s Facebook Group - Release Stress Now with Brett Cotter: facebook.com/groups/144778457510146 The Warrior’s Guide to Overcoming Combat Trauma:stressisgone.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/3-Keys-to-Managing-PTSD-The-Warriors-Guide.pdf

Welcome back to the Pursuit of Learning Podcast. In today’s episode, we Tracy Lamourie, a high profile international award-winning publicist, author, and the founder of Lamourie Media. Tracy is an inspirational advocate on several worldwide social issues, and she passionately works to help and be a voice for those who are in need. Throughout the episode, we talk about her travel adventures, her decades-long campaign to release a wrongfully convicted death row inmate, business building, public relations, and many more. Communicating and connecting with people is an essential part of Tracy’s career as a publicist. We dive into the conversation by talking about how the pandemic influenced the way she creates connections and new strategies she started using to make her communication more effective. When Tracy was 21, she started a four-month backpacking  journey through Europe, and she also shares some of the adventures she went on during that journey. One of the most inspiring and courageous stories about Tracy revolves around the campaign she started to fight for the freedom of Jimmy Dennis, a man who was wrongfully convicted for murder and robbery. After being convicted in 1992, Jimmy spent 25 years in prison until he was finally exonerated.  Tracy shares with us how she came across Jimmy’s story, how she and her husband Dave created a website to bring attention to Jimmy’s story, the decades-long legal battle, and what it was like to finally see Jimmy walk free after all he’s been through.The Skills Tracy picked up along the way while working on the campaign for Jimmy are what enabled Tracy to start her career as a publicist. Tracy talks about how she realized that she needs to transform her career, how her business was started, strategies she used to grow her business without spending on ads, and how you can improve the performance of your business using better public relations strategies. We hope you enjoy this conversation with Tracy Lamourie Resources:The Story of Jimmy Dennis: web.archive.org/web/20080213211227/http://www.jimmydennis.org/part1.htmlTears This Year by Jimmy Dennis: open.spotify.com/album/5gFa8oy7NmLygf56Wdva96Connect with Tracy: www.lamouriemedia.com linkedin.com/in/tracylamourie facebook.com/LamouriePRMarketing instagram.com/tracylamourieprmedia

Ian Perry is a personal trainer, strength coach and has years of experience working with athletes from a wide range of backgrounds from regular joe and jane to amateur athletes to professional athletes. He is the Director of Performance at Capital Strength Training Systems in Ottawa.Fitness and strength are two things we all should be mindful of. As we age, having strength training, athletics and sports as part of our lives make it much easier to maintain our muscle mass and bone strength. Ian joins us today to talk about physical literacy, the long-term athlete development model, diet, sleep, recovery and more. Sports and fitness were embedded into Ian’s life from a very young age and we dive right into how he got started with fitness and strength training. While Ian was at Queen’s University, he started a training business in the summers and ran the business for four years on his Summer breaks. He talks about what inspired him to start the business, how it evolved over the years, and lessons learned.  In his early years, Ian has worked with lots of young athletes. Today, he takes us through some of the strategies for keeping young athletes motivated, adapting training strategies based on the personal traits of the athletes, long-term athlete development, and what parents should consider when guiding their children toward sport specializations. He also shares with us how his career evolved after finishing his university years and an interesting story of going to Taiwan to provide guidance to coaches and trainers of a professional volleyball team there.Although fitness training is a regular practice in the life of an athlete, it may be a bit harder for the average person to integrate into their busy life. Ian talks in-depth about how to get the most out of the minimum. He provides some simple diet advice, the importance of adequate sleep, how walking is underestimated by the average person and how to be consistent. Wrapping up the episode, Ian talks about what 2020 was like for him, some of the strategies he used to keep in touch with his clients remotely and what the future looks like for him and Capital Strength Training Systems.  ResourcesConnect with Ian:instagram.com/ianaperryinstagram.com/capital_strength_tscapitalstrengthts.comBooks Mentioned by Ian:The 5 Second Rule: melrobbins.com/the-5-second-rule/Think Like a Monkthinklikeamonkbook.com/

Dr. Calvin Tham is a dentist based in North Delta who has twenty years of experience. He has been an entrepreneur for nineteen years, and is also a professionally trained Co-Active Coach. Throughout the episode, we dive deep into his background growing up as a Chinese-Canadian, building and purchasing private practices, parenting young kids, dealing with separation and divorce, self-development, and more.Calvin’s parents immigrated to Canada in the early 70s from Hong Kong, and Calvin spent his childhood being shaped by both Canadian and Chinese cultures. Calvin dives into the conversation with stories about the way he grew up, how Chinese traditions were practiced in Canada, the mindset his parents and peers had about education, language, fitting into the Canadian culture, and more. When Calvin graduated from dental school, he was good at fixing teeth but lacked the knowledge and experience in business, accounting, investments, and other things related to business. Despite all that, he purchased a private practice and started to continue working there successfully. We talk about the key tactics Calvin utilized to surround himself with people who had the skillset that he lacked and how it helped make his business successful.Buying a dental practice, similar to buying any other business, calls for a lot of assessments, evaluations, and effort from the prospective buyer. We talk about what young dentists should keep in mind when doing the due diligence for purchasing a dental practice. We also talk about Calvin’s experience of selling his first practice, moving to another area, and starting his current practice.Despite all the success, Calvin has had his fair share of challenges in life, including going through a divorce. This experience inspired him to become a coach, which was something he enjoyed throughout his life. He shares with us how he managed to maintain healthy relationships with his children and former spouse post divorce. We also talk about some of the parenting best practices he uses to inspire them with his life experiences. Wrapping up the episode, we talk about how Calvin got his children involved in his YouTube channel to create amazing video content educating other children about dental hygiene.Resources:Smiling-Sam and Cavity-Free Kid Talk About Sugar Bugs and Back-to-School Snacks:www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6h3cNCtwaEConnect with Calvin:northdeltadentist.cainstagram.com/northdeltadentalhttps://www.instagram.com/vancouverfoodiedentistyoutube.com/channel/UCrphNHcZ0NkyRPaALlvIapw

Lane Kawaoka, is a real estate investor who owns 4,200+ units across the United States alone and with syndicate partners. He’s also the host of the Simple Passive Cashflow‬ podcast, where he shares his wisdom on investing. Doing what we love and being financially independent is a dream many of us have. This week on the Pursuit of Learning podcast, we talk with someone who has achieved that goal at a young age. Lane started his career as an Engineer, and invested in real estate on the side. Today, he is focused on real estate and recently quit his day job as an engineer. Lane has a unique perspective on how he sees the world, money, time, and investments that have helped him achieve his goals. Throughout this interview, Lane shares his wisdom and lessons he has learned over the years with us.Lane grew up in Hawaii and the culture of the island has informed his business practice. We start our conversation with Lane by diving into his background in Hawaii, his experience of growing up in the islands, how the culture shaped his life and influenced his business philosophy. Lane shares his unique view on how the people we grow up with have the ability to influence our careers, financial status, and the way our thinking patterns work, and the role schools play in this. In the early days of Lane’s career, he had to save money for the investments he wanted to make, and he had a few smart ways of saving money while doing a day job. We also talk about these methods and how you can use them.Diving into Lane’s work in the real estate business, we discuss a few key aspects of the real estate business, different types of markets and how they differ from each other, how to take the first step for a big investment, what you can do to improve yourself, how real estate syndication works, some of the lessons Lane has learned from mistakes, and numerous other bits of wisdom from Lane. Wrapping up the episode, Lane answers some questions about things that are a bit outside of the real estate arena. We hope you enjoy this interview with Lane Kawaoka.Resources:Lane’s Podcast - Passive Real Estate Investing via Simple Passive Cashflow‬:podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/passive-real-estate-investing-via-simple-passive-cashflow/id1118795347Money Savings Ideas Before the Simple Passive Cashflow: simplepassivecashflow.com/cheapo/Buy & Hold Rental Property Analyzer & Video Walkthrough:simplepassivecashflow.com/analyser/

Welcome back to the pursuit of learning podcast. We’re back with the second part of our conversation with Bo-Dean Sanders, the author of  “Race Against... ...Against Race.” In the previous episode with Bo-Dean, we talked about the early years of his life and his path to building a successful sports career. Today, we extend that conversation with some deep thoughts about the learnings from his life experiences, doing the right thing, and how we can become better human beings. One of the key realizations Bo-Dean had later in his life is that, compared to his generation, children from younger generations were less hung up on the race of their peers. We start today’s conversation by diving into what has contributed to this positive evolution between generations and how we can contribute to this change. Throughout his sports career, Bo-Dean gathered lots of experience about being teammates with people from different racial backgrounds. Bo-Dean shares his thoughts on what he learned from these experiences.In recent years we hear quite a bit of news on racial bias issues from law enforcement towards people of color. In 1985, Bo-Dean had to experience a terrifying encounter with the law enforcement agencies when a rental car he and a friend were riding was accidentally reported as stolen. Bo-Dean shares the story of how this event unfolded and how the different backgrounds of him and his friend influenced the way each of them reacted to the situation.Bo-Dean is a strong advocate of diversity and inclusion.  We dive deep into how our brains are used to pointing our differences between people and how we can get used to focusing on commonalities between people from different backgrounds rather than differences. We also talk about how we can give our children more exposure to peers from diverse backgrounds. Wrapping up the conversation, we talk about Bo-Dean’s superpowers, his struggles, and why it’s important to do the right things regardless of what everyone thinks about you.Resources:Connect with Bo-Dean: Website: bo-deansanders.com Book: bo-deansanders.com/book LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/bodeansanders Twitter: twitter.com/BoDeanSanders42

Improving diversity and inclusion and building harmony among different cultures and communities is one of the biggest challenges we need to overcome at all levels of society. Our guest today is a pioneer in advocating for diversity and inclusion. Bo-Dean Sanders, a speaker and the author of the book "Race Against... ...Against Race", joins us to talk about all things diversity. Today's episode is the first of a two-part series with Bo-Dean Sanders, and in today's episode, we work through Bo-Dean's background, culture in his home community, his high school and college years, lessons he learned throughout the years.Growing up in a community of color has its own unique influences that shape one's life path. Throughout his high school years, Bo-Dean realized how some of the systemic issues of the school system affected the student. We dive into how these inequalities ultimately led some students to drop out of school and why women, in general, used to graduate from high school or pursue their higher education more often than men did.Bo-Dean's family and mentors wanted him to pursue an academic career, and they wanted him to go to college. Bo-Dean also wanted to go to college. However, it was because of his love for football rather than the hope of pursuing what his mentors expected of him. We talk about the way he got the opportunity to go to college, his experience at the Cheyney University of Pennsylvania, how his sports career advanced through the college years, and how his big dream of being recruited to play for a Division II football team came true.As Bo-Dean advanced in his sports career, his family didn't share the same enthusiasm about it. He talks about the work he had to do in terms of communication in order to make his family agree with his choices. During all these years, Bo-Dean had to work and be teammates with players and coaches from different backgrounds who had different personality traits. Wrapping up the first part of the interview, Bo-Dean shares his thoughts on the challenges he had to face while working with people from diverse backgrounds and what he did to overcome them.

Talwinder Terry Sidhu was introduced to meditation, in the Sikh tradition, and yoga at a young age by his Mother as a means to cope with bullying. He has now taught over 200 clients how to meditate in the past two years, including kids. Through teaching meditation, he has helped over a hundred people manage their mental health without medication. Additionally, he has helped clients get out of unhealthy relationships and into healthy ones, launch their business, start their careers, and explore their inner spirituality. All of his endeavors with his clients, audience members, and readers are to help them realize they can learn to meditate, which will improve their life. When he isn’t working with clients, he enjoys writing, hiking, meditating—especially when he has a weekend to do a tantric ritual—and discussing and debating solutions to life’s biggest problems.In today’s episode, we have a deep discussion about how the mindfulness and meditation-related practices of the east and west differ from each other, essential aspects of meditation, practicing yoga, maintaining your mental health, and more. Ultimately, we work our way through Terry’s book: Meditate: Breathe into meditation and awaken your potential.Terry grew up in England in a community of immigrants, as his mother and father had emigrated from India. Our conversation begins with Terry’s background, what it was like to grow up in England, the culture, and the challenges he had to face in his school years. Terry was introduced to yoga and meditation at a very young age by his mother as a means of dealing with bullying. We also talk about the tactics Terry’s mother used to get little Terry to practice yoga and meditation.As a young adult, Terry moved to Canada and fell into a different path filled with thrilling experience until one day, he realized that he needed to make a major pivot in his lifestyle. A few years later, Terry started his coaching practice, where he experienced burnout after being somewhat consumed by his work. We talk about the challenges that came with building his business and how he resolved them.Diving into meditation, we talk about the meditation and mindfulness practices from the eastern and western cultures, their differences, similarities, and how the two cultures approach mental health. Another area we cover today is the five keys for meditation, where Terry dives deep into the concepts of breath, position, lock, meditate, and integration. We also talk about yoga practices that help us improve our physical health, time management for meditation and the usage of psychedelics. I hope you enjoy this deep conversation with Terry Sidhu.Resources:Connect with TerryWebsite: meditatethebook.comFacebook: facebook.com/meditatethebookTwitter: twitter.com/meditatethebookInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/meditatethebook/?hl=en

Masculinity is a concept that has gone through huge transformations over a long time, and the way we perceive masculinity influences our lives in many aspects. Our guest today is a pioneer in inspiring men around the world to shift their experience of masculinity by combining the Primal Masculine with the Divine Masculine. Traver Boehm, the author of “Today I Rise” and “Man UNcivilized,” two-time TEDx speaker and licensed acupuncturist, joins us today to talk about all things masculinity. Throughout the episode, we talk about Traver’s journey through heartache, loss, and grief, managing emotions, Traver’s man Uncivilized movement, and much more.Traver dives into the conversation with a retelling of how his life experiences of heartache and grief shaped him and how his learning from those experiences became the inspiration for his first book  and, ultimately the Man UNcivilized movement. Traver’s Man UNcivilized movement, along with his book, focuses on helping men understand manhood in its fullness, including being unapologetic about it.  We tackle what inspired Traver to start the movement and how it teaches men to live their own life without being wrapped in what society demands. Sometimes, men fall into the trap of looking outside to make them feel okay with the way they exist in the world. This behavior causes men to disregard their own needs and to care for others ahead of themselves. Robert Glover, a celebrated psychotherapist, coined the term “nice guy syndrome” for this behavior. We dive into the concept of the nice guy, how men are trapped in this behavior, and how to get out of it, including Traver’s course Kill the Nice Guy. Wrapping up the episode, we talk about ways of dealing with grief and anger and how it is unfortunately being channeled by many men today into repressed rage. Repressed rage that is resulting in abhorrent behavior, such as rape, violence and, ultimately, mass shootings. We reiterate that each man should embody the motto Let others be safe for I walk among them.