Type A Personalities The phrase type a refers to a pattern of behavior and personality associated with high achievement, competitiveness, and impatience. Does this sound like you? Does this sound like most C-level employees? Does this sound like most entrepreneurs and creatives? If you’re listening to this podcast you most likely are. Productivity and meaning You probably derive a lot of meaning from your productivity. You push harder and harder. Many people immerse themselves in their career and blink and then suddenly it’s 20+ years later. And they have to retire. And that word is terrifying. Why? Because you found meaning in what you’ve done and now you’re not allowed to do it anymore. And it has become your identity. It’s who you are. Terrifying. But there is hope and direction. You can still feel the meaning. You may actually find more meaning in this new direction. Check out Job, Career or Calling for more insights into how this all works. And let’s chat for 10 minutes. * Productivity and obligations are just that – obligations. * If what you do for a living (productivity) also fits in one or more columns (learning, fun, health, etc) then it becomes more meaningful. It’s no longer a job or even career. It’s much more. * Your career can become your identity, and when you lose the ability to perform that job (retirement) it can feel like you are losing your identity. * You’ll find that the most meaningful things in your life fit in more than one column of the balance sheet * You can not only take a turn, but bloom into a bigger flower for the thing that brings you not only meaning, but joy (and get paid for it).

White Space The first known use of ‘White Space’ was back in 1946, and it means the area of a page without writing or pictures. It’s the part between the words, the part that allows us to pause and consider. it allows us to compartmentalize one set of thoughts from another. Social Media and the looooooong post Have you ever noticed posts on social media sometimes people post a few words, hit a couple hard returns, then say a few more until the post is about a foot tall? They do this to manipulate the way you read it. Each line becomes (presumably) an impactful statement. Guess what they are force-feeding you? That’s right, white space. So instead of a meaningful paragraph separated by some whitespace, you get white space on every single line. Why saying nothing is as important as saying something It takes stamina to consume any form of communication whether you are reading a book, listening to an audiobook, a conversation, or watching a speaker. Pauses matter. In fact, sometimes they matter just as much as the words they separate. Attention spans and the desire to complete sentences But there is a danger, especially when communicating in person, or in a conversation. If you have ever had thoughtful pauses in a conversation, more often than not, that will be interpreted as confusion, hesitation, lack of confidence, or uncertainty. Those who perceive this will then interrupt you and/or try to complete what they think you want to say. It’s also an open invitation for those that do not feel like they are heard, or have an unbalanced desire to add to the conversation. Fiction, dialogue and ADHD Fun fact – when I first started writing (even before I wrote my trilogy years later) I was so fascinated with dialogue that it intimidated me and inspired me to examine it very deeply. When I finally wrote my trilogy (after three nonfictions that did not contain dialogue) I developed a very specific way of writing it. I allowed it to stand on its own. I did not violate any rules of style but did develop a fairly unique way to present it. The interesting thing is it became second nature and I didn’t think much of it… until a review specifically mentioned it. The review said the book was an easy read. It wasn’t in my humble opinion. it’s a deep slow burn with lots of layers. When I read further I found the review specifically mentioned the layout, and the reviewer explained that he had ADHD and this 400-page book was one of the few he enjoyed reading—because of the white space. Listen to this episode—it’s got ample white space, and hopefully it gives you something to ponder as to not only how you communicate, but how you stay true to your thoughts.

Coach So what is a coach? And what is a life coach? “Life Coach” never really generated positive professional images in my mind, even though I’m considered to be one. It appeared out of nowhere and came with baggage. At least to me. But now it seems that everyone is a coach, and each one has a different flavor. Even those that focus on a very specific task are coaches. Words You know I like me them words. We are bombarded with industry buzzwords (see this episode). The right word can make all the difference in the world for a reader or a potential client. I want to give some food for thought to both coaches and the people that hire them. Let’s talk about Mentors, Guides, Instructors, Teachers…. and Coaches. * What’s the difference? * Does using the term “coach” enhance or diminish the perception of potential clients? * Is your coach a coach, or more of an instructor? Or a teacher? Or…? * Does the term “Certified instructor” or “Certified coach” carry more weight in your mind? * Does “Financial Coach” or “Financial Advisor” sound more professional to you? Let’s talk about it in this open-ended episode.

Three words There are a number of words that can cause an emotional reaction. I won’t use the word ‘trigger’ because that’s overused. We’re not going to go over all of those words, but we’re going to do three of them: fault, responsibility, and ownership—and we’re going to explore the positives of those words. There’s a positive version of fault?! A new book In an upcoming book one of the chapters explores the fact that we are told time and time again to take responsibility for things, and to accept a fault, and in (almost) every case, it is a negative thing. However, you’re never told to take responsibility for something positive in your life—a trait, a really good aspect of your personality. No one would ever say that, and yet it needs to be said. Fault and responsibility Sometimes something isn’t your fault, but it is your responsibility. That phrase generates an odd response, doesn’t it? Let’s explore what we mean by this, and hopefully you’ll actually feel pretty good at the end of this short podcast. Cheers!

Passion Everyone talks about passion. For a long time, you were told to follow your passion. I talked about passion in Job, Career or Calling a few years ago. Obviously passions are good as they give us that energy we need, but there are a lot of things we are not told about them. Multiple passions But what if you have more than one passion?And what if you have more than one like? And what if you have passions that are (seemingly) completely disconnected? That can all be confusing, and daunting. Symptoms are to passions what ailments are to… Just examining your passion(s) is like examining your systems when you are sick. Getting to the root of it is where your answers lie. And what do you think you can do with this information? The answer is something amazing. Pausing By the way… this is one of the episodes in which I ask that you pause. It greatly benefits your absorption of this concept, and allows you to personalize it and take it to heart. So when we get to the part where you pause, please do so. Let’s do it! News from the future Also, this podcast episode is drawing from an upcoming book, so you’re getting a sneak peek. if you’re intrigued, stay tuned for the release this year.

Google Gemini Gemini is Google’s version of ChatGPT. It’s a large language model (LLM) that thinks and responds naturally. You can have conversations, ask for advice, ask it to play a part, and even ask it to generate images. That’s where my journey began. I asked it to generate a few images. This led to a discussion about Bias. Bias You see, Gemini’s handlers have you covered on bias, because they decided to remove all of it. The problem? They have their own bias. Let’s talk about just how dangerous that is, and how it affects you, and why “removing all bias” is a lofty, impossible, and potentially harmful goal. Check out AI, Language Models and Puppies for a background on AI (this time ChatGPT). Here is the entire raw conversation. You can scroll past the images to when we discuss bias. For those familiar with AI image generation, Gemini’s generation is rather 1st generation, and for images ready for prime time, I use Midjourney. Note – the original reason the word “blonde” came up is that, on a whim, I wanted to see if it could generate an image of the protagonist in Upside Down.

Down days It’s normal for people to have down days, to have times in which they become less than motivated. it’s also normal to find yourself without purpose here and there. Sure, you have a purpose—you have good old Maslow’s hierarchy of needs to keep you going. Are ya hungry? In pain? Do you need to make money? Do you need a hug today (the answer is always yes). But there are moments in which we lack a bit of motivation. Even people who are explicitly, painfully, blindly aware of motivation, productivity, the way things work, still have those moments. Yes, I’m talking about me. Mark Bradford, at your service. And I’m not talking about just “hanging out” or “putzing” or having fun. Those are all healthy, good things. I’m talking about those moments of being a little lost, emotionally, intellectually, and spiritually1. What are the two biggest reasons for depression? Stressful life events and trauma especially when combined with isolation and lack of support can create an atmosphere of depression. UPS So when I find myself in those moments (whether they are a few seconds or it looks like it’s gonna be a long haul) I turn to the thing I created to save me, to pull me out of those down times—U.P.S. Again with the acronyms? Oh yeah. LIfe is made of three things, there are five facets to life, there’s the Do it to a F.A.U.L.T. method of getting things done, and now U.P.S. Listen to this quick episode to see if it applies to you. Don’t read too much into that. This is not a discussion on being spiritually lost, or empty inside. That’s an entirely different discussion. I use the word “spiritually” because having a purpose can feel very much like you are in tune with the universe, thus “spiritual.” ↩︎

Did I catch you in time? Every year I tell you not to make resolutions—not because I don’t want you to set goals, but because resolutions (at least the style of setting goals) traditionally have a fantastic failure rate. So, before you make them (or if you’ve made them, before you try to execute them) listen to this, and it may be what actually allows you to make it happen. In fact, I’m sure of it. Three types of resolutions, a different kind of goal, and Did you know there are three? There are. Let’s talk about it. A new book I have a new book scheduled for 2024 that goes into depth on some of the things I touch on here (including anti-goals). If you’re following me in some way (amazon, this mailing list, etc) you won’t miss it. I’m rather excited about it. PS – I’ve been getting over a head cold, so my apologies if my voice isn’t pristine, but I really wanted to catch you before you created that repeating cycle of resolution–>fail–>beat yourself up and feel bad–>give up.

AI & ChatGPT* A language model uses a special kind of learning to conduct a ‘probability distribution’ over words used to predict the most likely next word in a sentence based on the previous entry. Language models learn from text and can be used for producing original responses (both short and very long), predicting the next word in a text, speech recognition, optical character recognition and handwriting recognition. That description is mostly meaningless to the average person. When the average person uses it they announce a different description –“Oh, it’s a chatbot! This one is smart.” Alarmed, alerted, aware, frightened, concerned—the visceral response We have a visceral response when hearing AI, and movies exploit this response. Let’s talk about AI, our response to it, puppies and a very specific imperfection that has me concerned. *Note that I am not picking on CHATGPT, but have had the most experience with it. This episode really applies to any iteration of a language learning model—past and future.

There are a lot of lists out there for how to obtain happiness, productivity, etc. As you know Alchemy for Life™ is exactly about that too. So, I’d like to not only share some of these principals, but tell you about my real world experience with them as well as what you will encounter by utilizing them. In other words, what the reality is of these things. Ikigai – the intersection of all things good The first is a big one, called Ikigai (pronounced EE-KEY-GUY). I stumbled on this a few years ago. It is the intersection of What you love, what the world needs, what you’re good at and what you can be paid for. Check out the VENN diagram when you listen to the podcast. People talk about this a lot, but don’t really discuss where you start. I think that is one of the most important things to focus on when considering this outlook. Listen for the full discussion. What makes you feel fulfilled at work? People often wonder what makes them feel fulfilled. If I ask you how you measure success it is probably an intersection of many things on this chart.