My guest today is Mike Hagensick, who is returning to the podcast. Mike is the co-founder of the E3 collective. The vision of the collective was sparked while Mike was a special education teacher working with children with complex needs. During this time, he worked with many great teachers, paraeducators, physical therapists, and occupational therapists through close collaboration and a shared vision of opportunity.

Students could access unique experiences and opportunities, leading to improved quality of life as Mike transitioned into his new role. He started the Panther Academy for Water Safety to promote evidence-based learning to swim and water safety instruction to individuals with diverse abilities by integrating high-level teaching and community. PAWS strives to deliver excellent programs for children regardless of their individual needs.

I've spent the last two weeks reflecting on what is most important to me. This short episode was born from contemplating what I am most grateful for in 2020. We could talk endlessly about what could have been better in the last year, but what were the rays of light shown through this year?

Brian is an experienced B2B technology executive and entrepreneur who has spent 25 years building startups and early-stage companies in different roles, including as a founder and C-level executive. Throughout his journey, he has seen great success and devastating loss but has been fortunate to be mentored, supported, loved, and coached by some of the most talented people.

Currently, he is serving as the President of SafetyChain Software, a fast-growing SaaS startup in the manufacturing sector, and also as the President of a 501 (c)3 non-profit founded by his kids, The Tower of Niceness. This non-profit provides "niceness for those in need"”

When he's not busy building his own company and teams, Brian is dedicated to helping others achieve the same through his writing on his blog (Help & Hustle) and hosting his podcast (High-Performance Happiness). Both his blog and podcast are aimed at helping leaders find a balance between building better companies and living better lives.

In today's episode, we discuss the dangers of social media and how we interact with it.

By the end of this conversation, we hope listeners understand the tricks being played on users to get them to spend more attention than they should with their devices. Though this podcast centers around the negative aspects, we discuss ways to use these platforms more productively.

Feel free to share your thoughts and insights about how you view social media and what you think are possible solutions to function better!

A short episode on ways to get me out of a creative slump. What works for you?

On today's podcast. I am joined by my friend Joe Jackowski. In this episode, we discuss what has happened at the University of Michigan as this pandemic unfolds. The university's different policies are put in place. Beyond that, the discussion shifts to how to think about the pandemic issue. It seems to come down to this idea of safety and autonomy for the individual.

My guest today is Bret Gornick. Brett is the co-founder of Live Better. Live Better’s mission is to design wellness experiences to connect people to pursue purpose. He empowers people to care for their mental and physical health to give back to our planet.

In his previous life, Brett was a data analyst at Walgreens. Since then, he has advised CEOs, Fortune 500 companies, professional athletes, entrepreneurs, and creatives alike on prioritizing self-care and applying energy to find purpose in their work.

In today's episode, I'm joined by two returning friends, Mike Taccona and Ben Kapolnek. In this particular conversation, we turned back the clock into an old-school podcast. We pick a topic and discuss it broadly.

Nova PBS documentary titled Human Nature, with an extraordinary new technology called CRISPR. We can now edit human DNA, but how far should we go? Gene editing promises to eliminate certain genetic disorders like sickle cell disease, but the applications quickly raise ethical questions.

Jessica Matat is an Egyptian-American freelance producer with a Bachelor's degree in film and television from Boston University. She also studied filmmaking and fashion photography at the New York Film Academy.

Today, my guest on the podcast is returning guest and longtime friend Jordan Criss. In this episode, we do this one remotely for the first time. All other conversations I've had with Jordan on the podcast have all been in person, but now I have adjusted to living in LA, just over three weeks at the time of this recording. We spend much of this time discussing what we do in our lives and how they've changed.

My guest on the podcast today is Nick Buegel. In this conversation, we try to unpack how Nick has adjusted during this pandemic. Like many of you, this has been a time of extreme change. And change that many of us don't want to happen or have to accept is happening. All of our routines have changed and shifted and adjusted. And in many ways, we must learn to lean into that change and take it for what it is.

This is Adam's second time on the podcast. And we left our first conversation, which I'll link in the show notes, with many cliffhangers and much more to unpack. We took a few weeks and reconnected. In this conversation, we spend much of our time discussing achievement and reorienting the goalpost of our life, how we get swept up by short-term thinking, and what we're doing as a selfish pursuit when trying to lead a more fulfilling life. In reality, you should try to develop yourself to be the best version of yourself because you can be a better person for those you care about. And then by proxy for the world. And we talk about voting near the end of this conversation.

Krista Stryker founded 12 Minute Athlete, a leading expert on high-intensity interval training (HIIT) and bodyweight fitness. She is also the author of the new book The 12-Minute Athlete. In today's conversation, we don't spend too much time around the working-out aspect of Krista's life. Instead, we talk about how we deal with the uncertainty in your life. It's front and center. And we talk about how we deal with uncertainty. How can we learn to focus on things that we can control?

Darin Davidson is an orthopedic surgeon. Darin founded Darin Davidson MD Consulting, which seeks to improve everyone’s health and wellness by integrating holistic principles within the traditional medical model. We can obtain the greatest well-being by combining the best available knowledge and evidence from all fields that contribute to human performance and wellness, such as medicine, psychology, sleep, nutrition, and exercise.

Today on the podcast. I am joined by two of my returning guests and closest friends. Jordan Criss and Alex Ivy. And the reason I have them on the podcast today was pretty special to me. Jordan and Alex, at the time of this recording, are now living in LA. And this conversation took place roughly three weeks ago. As they were packing up to leave, we covered that. But the whole point was that I'm assuming many of you just had a wait. What, why would you leave right now? And that's the entire point. Because in the pandemic, the idea of moving sounds insane. But. The idea of moving at any point in your life, making a big drastic change. Be it a job. Be it a relationship or moving to a new place. Why now? That is always the question.

And the answer to that should be, why not?

Today, on the podcast, we are joined by Lindsey Sherwin. Lindsey is a professional actress and youth and family therapist. She employs therapeutic drama, expressive arts, and counseling techniques to work with adolescents, families, artists, and creative entrepreneurs to resolve problems, make new choices, and expand their creativity throughout their lives.

Adam Lowenstein is the author of Reframe the Day: Embracing the Craft of Life, One Day at a Time outlines ten practices for creating a more fulfilling life by building more fulfilling days. Adam previously spent eight years working in American government and politics, most recently as a speechwriter and strategic communications advisor in the United States Senate. Today, Adam lives in London with his partner, Erin, and frequently writes about politics, work, and life. Visit his website, see his latest work, and subscribe to his newsletter at www.adaml.blog.

Jonathan Lubecky served in the United States Marine Corps from 1995 to 1999. Following the tragedy of 9/11, Jonathan joined the North Carolina National Guard and was deployed to Iraq. Upon returning home, Jonathan started experiencing nightmares and flashbacks. He developed a crippling PTSD, which was complicated by his head trauma. PTSD culminated in five suicide attempts. That should have been successful after its final suicide attempt with nothing left to lose. He enrolled in experimental MDMA therapy. The treatment eliminated his suicidal ideation and reduced his PTSD by 50% and his depression by 70%. Currently, Jonathan is the MAPS veteran and government affairs liaison.

Today's conversation continues the most recent chapter in Bill's life, which saw him complete his graduate degree. Bill will now work on the James Webb space telescope with Northrop Grumman and its NASA partnership.

Fritzi Horstman is the founder and executive director of the Compassion Prison Projection organization. It is dedicated to bringing compassion, childhood trauma awareness, and creative inspiration to all prisoners.

She is currently directing “Step Inside the Circle,” a documentary about childhood trauma behind bars. The PSA created from some of the footage from the documentary has already received over 2 million views across all platforms. Fritzi is passionate about equality, civil rights, education, and stories about justice. She has made it her life’s work to ensure these stories are told.