Love Your Work

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187. One Small Step, The Kaizen Way: Dr. Robert Maurer Jul 18, 2019

Show notes

Dr. Robert Maurer (@Dr_RobertMaurer) is author of One Small Step Can Change Your Life: The Kaizen Way. He's also Director of Behavioral Sciences for the Family Practice Residency Program at Santa Monica UCLA Medical Center and a faculty member with the UCLA School of Medicine. In One Small Step, Dr. Maurer shows you how to make really big changes with ridiculously small steps.

I first discovered One Small Step on the Amazon page for my own book, The Heart to Start. Amazon kept showing me that people who bought my book were also buying Robert's book. After it had been sitting there for week after week, I thought to myself, I've gotta see what this is about.

You've heard me talk about taking small steps on this podcast, including my episode on how to build good habits with B.J. Fogg. It turns out there's a name for this practice. The Japanese call it Kaizen.

In this conversation, you'll learn about:

How do large goals put us into fear mode? Learn about the neuroscience of why we don't take actions.
How can you start doing anything with small steps? You can start an exercise habit simply by standing on a treadmill, or a flossing habit while flossing only one tooth.
How did Dr. Maurer himself write his book by committing to only ninety seconds per day of writing?

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About Your Host, David Kadavy

David Kadavy is the author of The Heart to Start and Design for Hackers. Through the Love Your Work podcast and his Love Mondays newsletter, David explores what it takes to make it as a creative.

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Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/robert-maurer-kaizen/

186. Shut Down the Consumer Mind. Fire Up the Creator Mind. Jul 11, 2019

Show notes

Breaking through resistance to be creative is a battle with your own mind. We learned last week from Dr. Robert Lustig about how commerce is set up to hack your mind into a state of constant wanting, wanting, wanting.

But the more you seek satisfaction from the outside world, the harder time you'll have finding it. That's why I think you should shut off the consumer mind, and fire up the creator mind.

Photo by Paul Skorupskas on Unsplash

Thanks for sharing my work!

On Instagram, tammylynnmcnabb, and tomjepsoncreative of The Sideman Designer podcast.

New Weekly Newsletter: Love Mondays

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Show Notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/creator-mind-podcast/

185. Less Pleasure, More Happiness: Dr. Robert Lustig Jul 04, 2019

Show notes

Dr. Robert Lustig (@RobertLustigMD) is Professor emeritus of Pediatrics, Division of Endocrinology at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), where he specializes in the field of neuroendocrinology – in other words, how the brain regulates hormonal activity in the body. His research and clinical practice has focused on childhood obesity and diabetes.

Dr. Lustig believes the food business has hacked our bodies and minds to pursue pleasure instead of happiness, by pushing processed food loaded with sugar. As you'll see, the way sugar triggers our brain chemistry isn't a whole lot different from the way technology triggers our brain chemistry, which is relevant to prior discussions I've had on the podcast about how technology shapes behavior. Dr. Lustig points to this confusion between pleasure and happiness as having fostered today's epidemics of addiction and depression.

Getting your creative work out into the world, and finding a way to love your work, both require that you have a healthy relationship with your mind, and your definition of happiness. This is why I was extremely excited to come across Dr. Lustig's book, The Hacking of the American Mind: The Science Behind the Corporate Takeover of Our Bodies and Brains. It really brought a scientific explanation to much of what I've been searching to explain here on Love Your Work over the past few years.

In this conversation, you'll learn:

Why are pleasure and happiness neurologically different phenomenon? How do we confuse them for one another?
How does the pursuit of pleasure reduce your ability to experience pleasure? The more pleasure you pursue, the harder it becomes to be happy.
You've heard that Coca Cola used to have one addictive substance in it – cocaine. Hear the story Coke doesn't want you to know about why the original formula had FOUR addictive substances.

New Weekly Newsletter: Love Mondays

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Show Notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/robert-lustig-podcast/

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184. Strategic Curiosity Jun 27, 2019

Show notes

Curiosity is powerful fuel. If you want to make it as a creative, you need to follow things you're curious about. It's your best shot at being able to put in the work necessary to succeed.

But curiosity can be so powerful, it can take you off track. In this week's article, learn how to use curiosity strategically. You can harness the fuel of curiosity while driving toward your goals.

Image by Steve Johnson

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Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/strategic-curiosity-podcast/

183. Cal Newport: More Good Tech. Less Bad Tech. Digital Minimalism. Jun 20, 2019

Show notes

We're living in a time of exciting technological innovation. But just because technology can do something for us, doesn't mean that it should.

Cal Newport is author of the new book Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World. Digital Minimalism is a philosophy of using the power of technology only in the ways it serves us best, while eliminating use of technology in ways it harms us, or even in ways it only has a marginal benefit.

Aside from Digital Minimalism, Cal Newport is an extremely prolific author. He's written books such as So Good They Can't Ignore You, Deep Work, and How to Become a Straight-A Student. He's a tenured computer science professor at Georgetown University.

Cal has accomplished all of this in spite of – or maybe because – he's never had a single social media account.

This is a fantastic conversation with Cal. He and I overlap a lot in our interests, so I was very eager to discuss with him the implications of technology usage, and also to dig deeper into his relationship with Deep Work. As you know if you listen to Love Your Work regularly, I'm always searching for ways to get more out of my mind, and to maintain a healthy relationship with technology that helps me get more creative work into the world, without distracting me from doing that creative work.

In this conversation, you'll learn:

How did we all get so addicted to Facebook? For many of us, it was an accident. For Facebook, it was no accident.
How do Amish communities survive, despite being surrounded by a world with a rapid pace of technological innovation? It's all about using technology for its benefits, without damaging the community.
Cal goes beyond "Deep Work" to talk about the different "flavors" of Deep Work he uses to power his wildly successful career as both an academic and an author.

Links and resources mentioned

Photo Credit: Penny Gray Photography

New Weekly Newsletter: Love Mondays

Start off each week with a dose of inspiration to help you make it as a creative entrepreneur. Sign up at: kadavy.net/mondays

About Your Host, David Kadavy

Follow David on:

Subscribe to Love Your Work

Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/cal-newport-podcast-interview/

182. Stop Loving Your City Jun 13, 2019

Show notes

If you want to be a master of your craft, you need to be able to see your skills and accomplishments objectively. You need to always be on the lookout for ways you might fool yourself – for ways you might cause yourself to feel as if you have accomplished something, when in fact you have accomplished nothing.

One of the ways you can distort your vision of the truth is by identifying too strongly with the place you live. I talk about it in this week's article.

Thanks for sharing my work!

Thank you to the Meshed Society Newsletter; to @LivC2012, @rhysbmorgan, and @wes_mister on Twitter; and to @Aliceswalsh and @Maxam1 on Instagram.

New Weekly Newsletter: Love Mondays

Start off each week with a dose of inspiration to help you make it as a creative entrepreneur. Sign up at: kadavy.net/mondays

About Your Host, David Kadavy

Follow David on:

Subscribe to Love Your Work

Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/stop-loving-city-podcast/

181. Feed Your Good Wolf. Eric Zimmer of The One You Feed Podcast on Fighting Heroin Addiction with Creativity. Jun 06, 2019

Show notes

Eric Zimmer (@etzimmer) was living in a van. He had Hepatitis C and weighed 100 pounds. Then he got arrested and lost his job. He was facing up to forty years in jail time. He had a $300-a-day addiction to heroin.

Today, Eric is host of the popular podcast, The One You Feed, which was named one of the best podcasts on iTunes in 2014, and has more than 10 million downloads. The One You Feed is based upon an old parable about a good wolf and a bad wolf at battle inside each of us. The one who wins is the one you feed.

Eric straightened out his life and has overcome addiction. He helps others not only through The One You Feed, but also through behavioral coaching work.

How did Eric go from a $300-a-day heroin addiction to 13 years clean and sober? We'll find out today.

We'll also talk about:

The delicate relationship between creative pursuit and self image. How can creativity become a scapegoat for self-destruction, or a vehicle for self improvement?
How was Eric able to integrate friendship and his love for music into his podcast? The One You Feed helps him feed his "good wolf.""
Why is Eric grateful that he was drawn to heroin? Counterintuitively, the victory of a ""bad wolf" can spring the "good wolf" into action.

Links and resources mentioned

What should be our next Patreon goal?

Take our survey at kadavy.net/goals. Start supporting Love Your Work at patreon.com/kadavy.

New Weekly Newsletter: Love Mondays

Start off each week with a dose of inspiration to help you make it as a creative entrepreneur. Sign up at: kadavy.net/mondays

Feedback? Questions? Comments? I love to hear anything and everything from you. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Tweet at me @kadavy, or email me david@kadavy.net.

Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/one-you-feed-podcast-eric-zimmer/

180. Forget Introvert/Extrovert. Are you "Perceiving" or "Judging?" May 30, 2019

Show notes

I often have listeners write to me, lamenting that they have "too many interests," or that they "lack focus." They've been taught to feel ashamed of their curiosity.

It's interesting, the personality types of "introvert" and "extrovert" get a lot of attention. But I think equally as important is the difference between "perceiver" and "judger." What is that? Well those hopelessly curious people, they would fall into the perceiver category, and they should stop feeling ashamed about it.

I'll tell you more in this week's article.

What should be our next Patreon goal?

Take our survey at kadavy.net/goals. Start supporting Love Your Work at patreon.com/kadavy.

New Weekly Newsletter: Love Mondays

Start off each week with a dose of inspiration to help you make it as a creative entrepreneur. Sign up at: kadavy.net/mondays

Feedback? Questions? Comments? I love to hear anything and everything from you. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Tweet at me @kadavy, or email me david@kadavy.net.

Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/perceiving-judging-podcast/

179. Appeal to the 99%: Srdja Popovic, Revolutionary & Author of Blueprint for Revolution May 23, 2019

Show notes

Srdja Popovic (@SrdjaPopovic) is a revolutionary. He played a big part in overthrowing Serbian president Slobodan Milošević. He now coaches activists around the world in non-violent resistance techniques, through CANVAS (Center for Applied Nonviolent Action and Strategies).

This may seem out of left field to have a political activist on the show. It's not meant to be some thinly-veiled political statement. Rather, I think anyone who is trying to get people on board with their message can learn a lot from the techniques of revolutionaries.

I recently read Srdja's book, Blueprint for Revolution: How to Use Rice Pudding, Lego Men, and Other Nonviolent Techniques to Galvanize Communities, Overthrow Dictators, or Simply Change the World, and was blown away by the inventiveness and deft strategy of the techniques he shared. It's a fascinating book whether you're trying to overthrow a dictator, or you're merely trying to get people to read your blog.

In this conversation, you'll learn:

We think Rosa Parks's courageous stand was a spontaneous event. Learn how it was actually a strategic hit, designed for maximum effect.
If you're trying to get people on board with your message, branding is everything. Learn how a movement like Occupy Wall Street missed a golden branding opportunity.
Effective activists choose tactics that have the most influence, with the smallest risk. Learn Srdja's brainstorming techniques for homing in on these tactics. It's a valuable exercise for any influencer.

Links and resources mentioned

Image Credit: Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung

What should be our next Patreon goal?

Take our survey at kadavy.net/goals. Start supporting Love Your Work at patreon.com/kadavy.

New Weekly Newsletter: Love Mondays

Start off each week with a dose of inspiration to help you make it as a creative entrepreneur. Sign up at: kadavy.net/mondays

Feedback? Questions? Comments? I love to hear anything and everything from you. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Tweet at me @kadavy, or email me david@kadavy.net.

Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/srdja-popovic/

178. Do One Thing Every Day That An Algorithm Didn't Choose For You May 16, 2019

Show notes

We live in a world rich with information, and algorithms help us find the things that fit us. Algorithms help us decide what books to buy, what music to listen to, and even who to date.

But are algorithms always a good thing? If they aren't, how can you be "anti algorithm." I talked about this concept a little bit with Tyler Cowen back on episode 155. Now I'll expand on it.

What should be our next Patreon goal?

Take our survey at kadavy.net/goals.

New Weekly Newsletter: Love Mondays

Start off each week with a dose of inspiration to help you make it as a creative entrepreneur. Sign up at: kadavy.net/mondays

Feedback? Questions? Comments? I love to hear anything and everything from you. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Tweet at me @kadavy, or email me david@kadavy.net.

Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/anti-algorithm-podcast/

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