Abel James Show
Abel James Show
Abel James
Why "Unhinged Habits" are the Key to Your Dream Life with Jonathan Goodman
1 hour 5 minutes Posted Jan 30, 2026 at 3:00 pm.
Redefining success: money, meaning, and enough
Job vs. work and designing life by seasons
External pressures, presence, and family first
Travel to learn yourself: cultures, community, contrast
Pushing back on consistency: seasons of intensity
End your season: subtraction, calendars, and meetings
Fuck around and find out: experiments across life stages
Raising adaptable kids: schools abroad and real-world skills
The garden of friendship: grass, flowers, birds, and trees
Build local bonds: neighbor dinners and extra tickets
Quitting well: products, Pareto, and a costly software lesson
Rethinking exits, tradeoffs, and doing your real work
Keep iterating: learning from flops and moving forward
Wrap-up and where to find Jonathan Goodman
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Show notes
Are you living YOUR definition of success, or someone else’s?

Today we’re here with Jonathan Goodman: an entrepreneur, coach and author who’s lived everywhere, failed forward, and let curiosity chart his course. Traveling the world for 13 years, Jonathan's journey across continents and careers has led him to rethink not just what it means to succeed, but how to find joy in every season of life. 

Together, we’ll uproot old ideas of ambition, explore why true friends might be “useless” to your goals, and discover just how much richer life gets when you focus your energy on what truly matters instead of approval-seeking and living on autopilot. 

In this episode, you'll discover:
  • Why daring to travel the world builds adaptability and resilience in families
  • How to prioritize personal fulfillment over external validation and approval
  • Why designing your life around seasons improves everything
  • And much more...
Find Jonathan Goodman and his work at: 
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