podcast

Episode 114: An Accidental and Rewarding Career

Ash Rao fell into a career that now, ten years into it, she continues to find rewarding and challenging. What she seems to love most about her work as a recruiter and career coach is that moment when she identifies something special about the person in front of her or on the phone. When she figures that out about a person, she can truly help them find a job they love.

Episode 113: Stories that Create and Build Life-Long Friendships

I went to four different elementary schools, moved from Washington DC to Denver, then to Los Angeles, and then back to Colorado in Colorado Springs just before starting junior high. My closest friends were always my siblings because we moved so much in those early days.

Episode 112: Why Do We Believe Lyrics?

I opened my eyes and the restaurant had become very quiet. Many of the conversations had stopped momentarily, and I noticed the host and a server standing at the edge of the dining room, listening. For the first time that evening, I had the attention of the busy customers and staff. Finishing the song, I could see from the expressions that the song hit its mark.

Episode 111: Learning by Trial and Error

And Teaching Others By Example

Dr. Liz Stincelli knew the traditional training format didn’t work for her. She had taken plenty of coursework on training and education, and used the traditional method of standing in front of a classroom and presenting material, and had been somewhat successful.

She knew two things right away:

  1. That format didn’t help HER learn.

  2. That format didn’t make her feel successful or engaged with the participants.

Episode 110: If That's Not Nice, I Don't Know What Is - Kurt Vonnegut

Right after reading an article by Stephen Moegling, I walked into our living room, took a deep, satisfied breath, and took in the scene: Our older son, 21, was on the floor, snuggling our giant chocolate lab mix in front of a beautiful fire in the wood stove. Then I thought to myself: “If this isn’t nice, I don’t know what is.”

Episode 109: The Microwave Generation

Episode 109: The Microwave Generation

It was somewhere in the late 1970s when my father came home with a microwave oven. Definitely one of the first on our block and huge, my father proudly showed it to my mom as the "next great invention."

Episode 108: Real Change Requires the Right "Gear", Creating the Right Environment, and Celebrating Small Wins

I’ve been thinking a lot about motivation, habit, and successful, sustainable changes in both. On The Hidden Brain, an NPR radio show, I heard a researcher talking about the fact that successfully developing strong habits like everyday workouts and healthy eating isn’t a result of better self-control or motivation, it comes from developing the habits themselves.