The Big Leap

This week, Gay and Mike discuss the T word… TIME.How do you manage your time? How do you define time? How are you saving time?Over the years, Gay and Mike have tried (and failed) many different time management techniques, and have figured out what works for them.  For example, Mike has a hard and fast “No A-Hole’s” policy, and Gay has a “No Bad Energy Rule.”Similarly, they both hate scheduling and planning, and Mike absolutely can’t STAND doing “homework.” They'll reveal ways of getting around that stuff if you’re so inclined.Lastly, they'll give you the tips, tricks, and tools you need to find your perfect time management plan.Believe it or not, Mike ONLY uses the calendar app on his phone. Wouldn’t it be nice to get rid of all the other apps you have to plan and manage your time? Listen to the whole episode to find out how to become your best “you” by managing your time and energy.P.S. This is the perfect holiday episode because they'll tell you how to say NO to negative energy — maybe that odd cousin you have to see at Grandma’s house?Key Takeaways(02:08) What even is time management?(05:00) Mike’s hard and fast rules on managing your time(11:31) Spend 99% of time in your superpower or your genius zone(15:15) Finding your niche and staying there(22:19) Start the new year on a mountain(34:15) Our body is our best indicator(35:50) Only my calendar and me(48:30) Say no with a smile on your faceAdditional ResourcesGet a copy of my NEW, #1 SELLING BOOK, YOUR NEXT ACT! - https://yournextact.mikekoenigs.com/NextActDownload/Get on the Early Bird List for The Big Leap Experience! - http://www.bigleappodcast.com/Apply

Tell Us What Your Next Big Leaps Are…Today’s episode is a special one… Gay and Mike are talking about what THEIR next Big Leaps are.They're both big believers in reinventing yourself on an ongoing basis, but there’s a question that Mike has been wanting to ask Gay for a while now….How do you move past “STUCKNESS?”Being stuck usually means holding yourself hostage to old, crystalized fears. It's a mistake to think that you get rid of all of that stuff as you grow more enlightened and in love with life.Right now, Mike's BIGGEST fear is not evolving and growing. It’s something he's been struggling with lately.But as usual, Gay’s advice and insight helped him work through it and figure out exactly what’s been going on.Things got a bit raw, but Mike was able to experience a few genuine transformations, and he can guarantee that if you watch the whole episode… you’ll experience the same.You’ll also get to hear about Gay’s next Big Leaps as a 77-year-old guy towards the end of his life.All that and more! Get started by listening to the podcast.Key Takeaways(05:13) Mike’s Biggest Fears(12:03) Gay’s Healing Algorithm(18:20) A Complex Pain in The Ass(22:19) FOMO(30:50) Gay Reveals His Next Big LeapsAdditional ResourcesSubscribe to The Big Leap Podcast - https://bigleappodcast.com/Get on the Early Bird List for The Big Leap Experience - http://www.bigleappodcast.com/Apply

Time management is OUT, Self-Management is IN!That’s what our guest today teaches. Gay and Mike could not agree more after spending time with her and learning her techniques.Her name is Sophie Chiche and she’s going to teach you how to “Do more of what works and less of what doesn't… and how to know the difference between the two.”In other words… GET MORE DONE IN LESS TIME!From the very practical things you can do in the next 10 seconds to the deeper inner work we all need to tackle.They’ll cover things that you've never thought of before when considering time management and productivity, like the fact that it can be done in a soulful way that honors the essence of who you are as a human being. It’s SO good that we probably shouldn’t really call it “time-management.” You’ll also hear about Sophie's journey as an entrepreneur. From being an overweight French woman who came to the US, completely reinvented herself, found success and made millions. It’s quite a remarkable story and one you’re not going to want to miss.Key Takeaways:(05:42) Sophie’s journey from 350lbs growing up in Paris to a huge entrepreneurial and weight loss success in the US. (09:38) The biggest difference between being an entrepreneur in Paris vs. being an entrepreneur in the US and how she started “Shape House.”(15:29) Productivity is about being present…. NOT multitasking!(21:22) Elon Musk, Charlie Munger and Aristotle all shared this same belief.(26:11) Sophie walks us through a typical client challenge.Additional Resources:Use Discount Code LEAP to get 15% off Sophie’s Course HERE.Learn more about managing time with Sophie by visiting www.QuitManagingTime.comGet on the Early Bird List for The Big Leap Experience!

Grief is something that touches every single person in the world. Unfortunately, no one can avoid it. But how do you cope and rebuild in the aftermath of loss?Today's guest, Dr. Sherry Walling, is going to talk about grief and some surprising ways that you can deal with it. She’s written a very special book called, Touching Two Worlds: A guide for finding hope in the landscape of loss. It touches on things that will have you more emotionally engaged than anything you’ve ever read.It's partially a memoir, written about Dr. Walling’s experience of losing her father to esophageal cancer and her brother to suicide within six months of each other. It’s a big immersion into grief, losing people she loved but at the same time, growing her career and raising her children in the prime of her life. This idea of touching two worlds is about her experience going back and forth between the world of aliveness and the world of grief along with some suggestions for the reader to help them deal with their own personal grief. This was an absolutely fascinating and healing conversation for both Mike and Gay. Key Takeaways:(04:09) Gay talks about the personal grief he’s currently going through. (07:56) Mike tells us about his family and dealing with losing his parents.(11:06) Psychedelics as a tool for grief.(18:23) The body's reaction to grief.(25:58) If we don’t release grief it gets stuck and Circus works.Additional Resources:Order Dr. Sherry’s New Book and find out about her Circus Events.Subscribe to The Big Leap Podcast.Get on the Early Bird List for The Big Leap Experience!

“There's nothing better than a remarkable person who writes a remarkable book that can affect you in remarkable ways.”Welcome to Part Two of The Books that Changed our Lives.This time, Mike and Gay are focusing on different types of books than they did in Part One.Some may surprise you, including Shakespeare’s Sonnets, Poetry, and Fiction, that can take you to a completely different world.And as usual, Gay always blows Mike's mind, so he ended up buying a whole bunch of new books before they ended the episode and now Mike has a gigantic reading list to tackle. (They're all linked below.)Key Takeaways(01:28) Let’s talk about fiction! (One of Gay’s favorite genres)(04:07) The Single Book that started Mike’s multi-million dollar career(09:51) The Power of Poetry(11:28) The Wizard Academy Experience(13:56) The thinking of 100 different geniuses shaped humanity(15:04) The Four-Hour Work Week was a Game changerAdditional ResourcesHere are all of the books Mike and Gay talked about on this episode:100 Years of SolitudeWatership DownInfo Marketing10 Poems to Change Your LifeThe Wizard Academy Books:The Wizard of AdsSecret Formulas of the Wizard of AdsMagical Worlds of the Wizard of AdsGeniusThe Four-Hour Work WeekThe Big LeapLove Yourself Like Your Life Depends On ItSubscribe to The Big Leap Podcast: https://bigleappodcast.com/Get on the Early Bird List for The Big Leap Experience: http://www.bigleappodcast.com/Apply

“You will be the same person in five years as you are today except for the people you meet and the books you read.” ― Charlie Tremendous JonesAre you a big reader?Is there a book or two that, after reading, completely changed your entire life?That’s what today’s episode is all about. The books that changed Mike and Gay's lives.Gay and Mike are both BIG fans of books (and have written quite a few themselves.)In fact, Gay decided at an early age that he wanted to be a writer. He just knew that there was something extraordinary about putting words down on paper.Growing up, to Mike, books were so magical, and the thought of being able to write a book seemed impossible.Mike can remember the first time he met an author… He literally thought of them as a movie star!When he started to get deep into reading about personal development, he wound up meeting his now wife, Vivian, in Greece. She had written a book, so Mike was SUPER impressed.On that same trip, Mike was introduced to Arielle Ford, Debbie Ford, and a whole group of authors. It felt to Mike like fame oozed off of them.Mike thinks that there's just something really romantic about the notion of being an author that he won’t ignore as they go through their list of authors and talk a little bit about not just the books, but the person behind them.Today they'll tear through seven books each, including a few Mike had never heard of before (that he ended up buying while they were recording!)Let’s dive into The Biggest Books That Shaped Us and Why.Key Takeaways(05:36) Find out what Gay’s #1 book is.(08:39) The book that shaped Mike’s brain at the right time in his life.(11:57) The book that taught Gay a lot about spirituality.(15:06) One of Mike’s “weird” books.(17:36) The book that Gay really likes to recommend to EVERYone.Additional ResourcesSubscribe to The Big Leap Podcast: https://bigleappodcast.com/Get on the Early Bird List for The Big Leap Experience: http://www.bigleappodcast.com/Apply

Today, Gay and Mike are getting really raw and diving into a heavy subject… Taking Responsibility for Your Own Life.They talk about how to get a teenager to take responsibility, and their own personal struggles with family members experiencing Dementia, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease.They'll also get into the internal struggles they have when they know they're not taking responsibility, lying to themselves and stuck in their addictive ways.Taking responsibility for your own life is one of the BIGGEST challenges that any human being will ever face. Needless to say, it’s a complicated beast.In the different stages of our lives, taking responsibility often means different things, so we have to deal with it in different ways. For example; how do you go about taking responsibility for the lives of the people you care about when they can’t or won’t?Gay and Mike know it's not a sexy subject, but they want to show you how radically cool it is, once you really understand the dynamics of it.Full disclosure… part of the reason why Mike asked Gay to do this episode is because Mike has a 19-year-old son who’s going through some big challenges right now.He went off to an expensive college that Mike and his wife are paying for. They told him up front what their expectations were. He didn't meet those expectations and now he has to live with the consequences—and he REALLY doesn't like it.Mike would bet his left arm that anyone who’s raised a teenager is shaking their head YES, right now!Mike knows you'll love this episode and he's positive you'll have some comments. It's going to touch home in all kinds of ways.Key TakeawaysMike talks about the struggles of raising a teenager in college (03:41)Mike and Gay discuss the difference between Responsibility and Fault or Burden (12:34)Gay gives us his best advice on negotiating behavioral issues with teenagers (20:28)“The act of taking responsibility for your life lines you up with the creative forces of the universe.” Gay explains (27:48)Gay tells us about the big turning point in his life (30:36)Additional ResourcesSubscribe to The Big Leap Podcast: https://bigleappodcast.com/Get on the Early Bird List for The Big Leap Experience: http://www.bigleappodcast.com/Apply

Some of Mike and Gay's most POPULAR Big Leap episodes have to do with operating and staying in your Genius Zone, which of course came from Gay’s book, The Big Leap.But Mike believes that today’s podcast is the BEST one they've ever done.If you've ever wanted to find a way to spend all your time doing the thing you LOVE to do, the thing you're BEST at, the thing that makes you lose all track of time… then you're going to love this episode!Another really juicy area they get into is, how do you know if you’re an addict? (This is by FAR the best rabbit hole they've ever gone down!)So let’s dive into The Five Steps to Finding and STAYING in Your Zone of Genius!Ask Yourself; “What do I most love doing?”Cultivate a state of wonder or live in your wonder questions.Find what you do that provides the greatest positive outcome per time spent.Find what you do that makes you lose track of time while you’re doing it.Spend as much time per day as possible operating in your Zone of Genius.BONUS: It’s just as important to RE-commit as it is to commit.Listen to all of the steps in much more detail by watching or listening to the podcast.Key TakeawaysWhat do I love doing most? (03:45)How to live in your wonder questions (04:48)What do you do that provides the greatest positive outcome per time spent? (13:36)What do you do that you lose track of time while you’re doing it? (16:00)Gay explains what addictions are and how to know if you’re an addict (20:13)How much time per day are you operating in your zone of genius? (26:20)It’s just as important to recommit as it is to commit (30:18)Additional ResourcesGet on the Early Bird List for The Big Leap Experience: http://www.bigleappodcast.com/Apply

Should You Write One Too?Should you write a memoir or why should you write a memoir?Gay just finished writing his memoir, which is coming out very soon. It's called “Loving Life. Tales of My Wondrous Journey.”In today’s episode, Gay and Mike are talking about four of Gay’s most interesting chapters, including:His secret birthday wishAdventures in non-ordinary consciousness (which involves some psychedelics)Thrown off the bus at the borderAnd celebrating his big brotherGay actually reads from these chapters. They’re not only interesting adventures but they're also things that make you think—and he’s hoping to inspire people to learn more about themselves.Gay thinks the main value of writing or reading a memoir is seeing life from another person's perspective and asking yourself, “How is that like me? Or how is that different from me?”That's an incredibly valuable thing because the unexamined life is not worth living.Gay says, “It wasn't until I started wondering about the bigger aspects of myself in life that I really developed something that I now call happiness. Unless we have self knowledge, there's no possibility of being happy because you don't know yourself well enough to give yourself loving, compassionate understanding that I think heals us in life.”They also talk about how Gay went about writing the book and how you might go about writing your own memoir. Even if it’s something you’ve never considered, maybe you'll be given good reasons to do it.Mike learned A LOT about Gay and how he thinks in this episode, and they think you're going to learn a lot about the way you think—plus enjoy the entertaining storytelling.Key TakeawaysMy Secret Birthday Wish (05:14)Adventures in Non-Ordinary Consciousness (15:36)Thrown Off The Bus At The Border (42:51)Celebrating My Big Brother (47:36)Mike & Gay discuss the process and advice for writing your own memoir (53:06)Additional ResourcesSubscribe to The Big Leap Podcast: https://bigleappodcast.com/Get on the Early Bird List for The Big Leap Experience: http://www.bigleappodcast.com/Apply

You Probably Have More Life Ahead of You Than You ThinkToday Gay and Mike are interviewing one of their heroes. Someone whose wisdom they have great respect for, so needless to say, they've been looking forward to this one for a while.His name is Chip Conley. He’s a New York Times bestselling author and the hospitality maverick who helped Airbnb's founders turn their fast-growing tech start-up into a global hospitality brand.He’s also the founder of the Modern Elder Academy, where a new roadmap for midlife is offered at a beautiful oceanfront campus in Baja California Sur, Mexico.In today’s episode they'll talk about where you’ll find the greatest level of purpose in your life—plus Chip explains attaining versus attuning and atoning.Chip tells them that “You probably have more life ahead of you than you think! If you're 54 and live until you’re 90, you’re exactly halfway through your adult life. When you know you have that much life ahead of you, it's time to start planning and doing the things you've always wanted to do, and make the Big Leap.”Chip is a big believer in the fact that resilience alone will just wear out your knuckles. It buys you time, but adaptability buys you a future. Having the courage to be adaptable, creative, curious, and the willingness to make mistakes along the way. The biggest mistake you could ever make is not even trying.Key TakeawaysChip talks about moving from Attaining to Atoning (06:03)Chip explains how he got into the boutique hotel industry (08:24)Chip talks about how he navigated interfacing with millennials when he ran Airbnb at age 52 (13:04)Chip talks about what motivated him to start Modern Elder Academy (20:31)Chip explains the Modern Elder Academy’s mission and purpose (25:40)Additional ResourcesCheck out Chip’s daily Wisdom Well Blog: http://www.MrBz.com/WisdomWellGet on the Early Bird List for The Big Leap Experience: http://www.bigleappodcast.com/Apply