Love Your Work

Jodi Ettenberg used to be a lawyer. She took a year off to travel 8 years ago, and never went back. Her blog, Legal Nomads, won a Lowell Thomas Award for best travel blog and has been featured in the New York Times, National Geographic, BBC Travel, CNN, and more. Legal Nomads is full of tips on packing, planning, and budgeting for travel, as well as beautiful hand-drawn typographic food maps and t-shirts, and guides and translation cards for eating gluten-free while traveling. Jodi has written a book called The Food Traveler's Handbook, which shows you how to find cheap, safe & delicious food anywhere in the world. This interview is full of wisdom on the benefits and challenges that come with a life of travel. Jodi is really insightful when it comes to recognizing how travel relates to all of human experience. If you're someone who has ever thought about making a big change Jodi did, or if you've ever struggled to be more minimal and have less stuff, you'll find this conversation especially inspiring and enlightening. You may notice that there are a TON of book recommendations in this interview. There are links in the show notes for all of the books Jodi mentions. Remember, if you buy through those links, you'll be supporting the show. Sponsors $50 off Pavlok http://kadavy.net/pavlok Free install of SumoMe http://kadavy.net/sumome Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/jodi-ettenberg-2/    

The economics favor digital distraction, but we have everything we need to make humanity great. We have the behavioral science knowledge, and with increasingly ubiquitous technology touchpoints such Apple Watch and The Internet of Things at large, we have a growing opportunity to shape behavior with technology. The big question is: will this power be used for "good" or "evil?" Sponsor: http://kadavy.net/treehouse Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/love-your-work-episode-21-the-behavioral-revolution-not-the-information-revolution/    

Nir Eyal is the author of Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products. So he is really manufacturing the drug. Fortunately, he's also concerned about the implications of digital distraction, so he agreed to have a discussion with me about it on the podcast. In this discussion, we cover our views on the potential effects of distraction. Is it making people less creative? Is it as addictive and harmful as smoking? Do we have the agency to free ourselves from technology? And, of course, is it making us vulnerable to a potential robot apocalypse? Join the discussion in the show notes at http://kadavy.net/podcast Sponsor: http://kadavy.net/treehouse Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/is-silicon-valley-leading-us-into-the-robot-apocalypse-love-your-work-episode-21-w-nir-eyal/    

Sometimes, the things you feel like you should do create so much cognitive burden you can hardly get anything done. When I feel that way, I know it's time for me to have a "Week of Want." I give myself a whole week where I can work on whatever project I want, without having to think about what goal I'm trying to achieve. This has brought me great results many times, including writing a blog post, which connected me with Timeful, which later sold to Google. I talked about the Week of Want a little in my interview with neuroscientist John Kounios, but in this mini-episode, I explain the technique in-depth. Sponsor: Get 50% off my White Hot Course when you use WHITEHOTLOVE at http://designforhackers.com/whitehotcourse before April 16, 2016. Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/love-your-work-episode-20-kill-your-todo-list-sell-your-ideas-to-google/    

Andrew's famous "Relax" app has been a key ritual for me for a couple of years now. Andrew has a whole empire of apps with guided recordings that help people not only relax, but Quit Smoking, reduce anxiety, lose weight, or build confidence, amongst many other things. His apps have been downloaded more than 10 million times. I have literally found Andrew's apps to be life-changing for me, but I've also been fascinated by these apps as a business. They seem so simple. But, behind Andrew's apps is more than 20 years as a hypnotherapist, and in this interview I'll be digging into how he got into such an unusual career, what are some misunderstandings about hypnosis, and how did he create his own luck to have the best-selling "self-help" recordings on the Apple and Android app stores. We'll also find out why he lights a candle to do his work. Andrew's Relax app: http://kadavy.net/relax Treehouse Sponsor: http://kadavy.net/treehouse Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/love-your-work-episode-19-relax-andrew-johnson-on-building-an-app-empire/    

READ ME! Lots of people beat themselves up for not being able to meditate. I think they're too hard on themselves. If you can simply make a habit of meditating 2 minutes a day, you can begin to enjoy meditation to the point where you're ready to do longer sessions.   I have little formal meditation training, but this 2-minute meditation is roughly how I do my sessions. Part of it is rooted in what I know of mindfulness meditation, and, from what I've heard of Vipassana meditation, may have some influences from that as well.   I started meditating about 10 years ago, off and on, and have "practiced" regularly for about 5 years. Progress has been very slow, but grew more profound as I grew more disciplined about doing it regularly. Meditation has helped me eliminate anxiety, and think more deeply and clearly about whatever I face in work in life. I now relish sessions that are sometimes longer than 90 minutes!   There's one BIG limitation about presenting a guided meditation as a podcast: It makes you likely to meditate using a device that is also full of distractions. If you have a device on which to play this file that isn't going to distract you with a notification – either while meditating, or while glancing at the screen afterward – I highly recommend that. It might be an iPod, or I use my iPad, because I don't allow notifications on it. If you don't have anything like this ready to go, don't let that prevent you from trying it out! Try putting your device in airplane mode, instead.   This 2-minute format is inspired by my "10-Minute Hack." The idea being that, by setting an absurdly simple goal for yourself, you can "trick" yourself into doing more than you originally set out to do. You can learn more about this trick here: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/the-10-minute-hack/   Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/2-minute-meditation/

A 10-year-old kadavy.net classic, this "mini-episode" (or is it just an "episode?") distills eight rules of living that make me feel like I really have an edge on the world. The original post is here: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/life-hacks/ Below is the content of the post: I’ve noticed in my short existence that I tend to do many things differently from most people. Some of those things probably work just as well, whereas others make me wonder “why doesn’t everyone do this?” Here are eight things that may make you feel like you’re cheating the system, too (in no particular order): Walk – No, I’m not saying “go for a walk,” I’m saying design your life so that you walk more. Live close enough that you can walk/bike/razor scooter to something that you frequent whether that’s work, a grocery store, a friend’s house, a bar, or preferably – all of them. Why spend 15 minutes driving to a gym to spend half an hour on a treadmill? If you’re fortunate enough to have legs that work – use them. Thomas Jefferson on Walking. Smile – All of the time. Even when the cashier gives you the wrong change. People’s intentions are usually good, especially when they’re dealing with someone who isn’t being a dick. Drink Water – Or I could say “don’t drink soda orcoffee.” It’s a waste of money, health, and teeth. Save your caffeine tolerance for when you really need it. Buy Used – I’ve already told you about my philosophy as this applies to music. Buying my clothes at a thrift store yields items that are not-so-watered-down versions of what I would get at my other favorite clothing store, and that are a fraction of the price. This strategy transfers well to books and furniture. When you buy used you get the adventure of discovery, and avoid the flat artistic experience that comes with only consuming the contemporary. Underorganize – There are a number things you can apply this to, but I can’t give a better example than my “inbox/outbox” method of doing laundry. Should you keep all of your financial documents etc. in a filing cabinet? Probably, but recognize when your organizing reaches the point of diminishing returns. Live Small – What’s that, you can’t afford a three-bedroom, three bath house with a huge yard and garage in a neighborhood where #1 is possible? Good. Then you won’t buy so much crap. You’ll save money in the long run, and you’ll be happier, too. Remember How Adaptable You Are – How long could you live if you were transported to the middle of a forest? You would probably surprise yourself, so don’t be afraid of perceived “big” changes in life. It’s a part of human nature to do what is necessary to reach at least previous levels of happiness, but risks succeeded will get you there and then some. Don’t Make Lists of Rules – or Follow Them (They All End This Way) – Such things are only made by bloggers hoping to get lots of del.icio.us bookmarks. The world is too complex to be condensed into a list of rules. How do you cheat the system? What are your Eight Life Hacks? Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/love-your-work-episode-17-eight-life-hacks-for-health-wealth-and-happiness/    

This is a mini-episode based upon a previous post here on kadavy.net. The original post is over here: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/earnit/ Sponsor: http://kadavy.net/treehouse Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/love-your-work-episode-15-earn-it/    

Paul Bennett (@contextpaul) ran his business while sailing around the world with his whole family. He's CEO and co-founder of Context Travel. Context Travel organizes high-quality tours around the world, given by historians, authors, and PhDs. I took a Context tour myself when I was at The Acropolis in Athens a few months back, and it was orders of magnitude better than any large group tour I've been on. I met Paul through a friend recently, and instantly felt he was exactly the type of person I'd want to have on my podcast, were I to ever have one. In this conversations, you'll find lots of lessons about overcoming your fears, and turning nebulous dreams into actionable steps. Chances are there are some dreams you have that aren't nearly as crazy as sailing around the world while running a business, and you may find some parallels there. We also wax about some of the benefits of travel (corollaries to this can be find in the "mini lives" mini episode that I did awhile back.) Sponsors: http://kadavy.net/wpengine Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/love-your-work-episode-15-sail-around-the-world-while-running-a-business-with-three-kids-w-paul-bennett-of-context-travel/    

I'm a pretty dedicated "solopreneur" – an entrepreneur who goes it on their own: no cofounders and no investors. This is a mini-episode in which I introduce the tenets that distill the power of solopreneurship, and which help me remain confident as I move forward as a solopreneur. The content of this episode is also in this blog post: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/the-solopreneurs-manifesto/ Sponsor: http://kadavy.net/treehouse Sponsor: http://kadavy.net/audible Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/love-your-work-episode-14-the-solopreneurs-manifesto/