Play Your Position with Mary Lou Kayser

“We only get one shot at this crazy thing called life,” today’s PYP MVP Christie Garcia says. “My personal goal is to make sure you leave your legacy and maximize your impact while you are here.”

 

When she was 29, Christie was the epitome of success. She had a great apartment in San Francisco, a nice car, friends, travel opportunities, an interesting career and all the other external symbols of making it in America. But a freak accident close to Christmas one year caused Christie to reevaluate her life and ultimately make some decisions that changed the course of her life forever.


These days, Christie still has a great life; it just looks different than the one she used to have. These days, instead of selling medical devices, Christie is a Leadership Coach and founder of Mindful Choice. She works with groups and individuals to help them maximize their impact, improve their relationships and be more successful at both work and home. She believes good men can become great by making a 1% personal improvement each day.


Christie is also the organizer of The Manifesto Adventure Retreat, a life-changing adventure experience for men. These retreats challenge men mentally, physically and emotionally to make the good man great.


In today's episode, Christie tells the story of her life-changing accident along with stories of how she helps good men become great. If you've ever wondered why your relationships at work or home aren't as fantastic as you'd like them to be, Christie has some pretty awesome insights.

 

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Direct download: 145_Christie_Garcia.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 10:30am EDT

History has its eyes on you, Team! What are you doing to make it proud?

 

For those of you who are Hamilton fans, the title of this week’s audible will be familiar. For those of you who don’t know about Hamilton, who lives who dies who tells your story are lyrics to one of the songs from the musical. This past Sunday, I sat in the audience next to my daughter and experienced all that is Hamilton for more than three glorious hours.

 

In today's audible, I unpack the story of Hamilton, drawing direct parallels between it and how it reinforces the many themes of PYP including how we seek continuous improvement in our work and private lives, pursuing the glorious, imperfect and courageous End Zone of leadership excellence.


I even go WAY outside my comfort zone and sing a line from the show! :-)


Enjoy!

 

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Thanks so much for listening! If you like this show, consider subscribing to PYP and rate and review wherever you listen to your podcasts.


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Direct download: Hamilton.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 1:48pm EDT

I’m not going to lie.

 

I was really excited when Andrea Owen accepted my invitation to come on PYP and share her stories about being more vulnerable, getting sober and building a life on your own terms. I learned about her through a podcast I listen to, which led me to her podcast Your Kick A$$ Life which led me to her book (which I highly recommend.)

 

Honest, energetic and inspirational, Andrea Owen isn’t afraid to play her position full out and is winning big time because she does. On today’s show, she opens her heart and gets super real about tough topics like making amends, letting go of what we thought would happen and accepting that when life doesn’t work out the way we imagined, there may actually be something better behind our disappointment.

 

Some details about Andrea:

 

She is an author, mentor, and certified life coach who helps high-achieving women let go of perfectionism, control, and isolation and choose courage and confidence instead. She has helped thousands of women manage their inner-critic to create loving connections and live their most kick-ass life.

She is the proud author of 52 Ways to Live a Kick-Ass Life: BS Free Wisdom to Ignite Your Inner Badass and Live the Life You Deserve, (Adams Media/Simon & Schuster) and How To Stop Feeling Like Shit: 14 Habits That Are Holding You Back From Happiness (Seal Press/Hachette Books).

When she’s not juggling her full coaching practice or hosting retreats, Andrea is busy competing in triathlons, chasing her 10-year-old son and 8-year-old daughter or making out with her husband, Jason. She is also a retired roller derby player having skated under the name “Veronica Vain.”

 

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Direct download: 143.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 10:30am EDT

In this week's audible, I cut right to the chase and recommend three amazing podcasts for you to consider adding to your weekly playlist!

 

Don't miss any upcoming announcements about the PYP Leadership Academy Pilot Program coming later this spring! Get your name on the insider's list here today!


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Direct download: 3_Podcast_Recommendations.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:30am EDT

The Aggarwal brothers like to laugh. And they are passionate about great design. We talked over Skype -- I was in Portland, Oregon and they were in India. It was morning for me and night for them. We had a great conversation about launching a business, moving through self-doubt to keep a vision alive and why customer service can be a company’s greatest competitive advantage.

 

In October 2014, brothers Rahul and Varun Aggarwal launched Designhill in an office in New Delhi, India. In the beginning, the co-founders had a small team of 4 developers and 2 designers to pioneer a new kind of marketplace for the design industry. Upon launch, Designhill quickly caught the attention of business owners around the world looking for a fast, reliable and quality alternative to the traditional design companies.

The service received an overwhelming response from around the world, allowing the company to grow rapidly to a team of more than 45 with over 48,000 registered graphic designers from around the world. Designhill now has offices in New Delhi & Gurgaon, India and a subsidiary company and office in Delaware, United States. The company also plans to set up operations in Germany and UK this year.

The Aggarwal brothers built Designhill to provide a reliable marketplace for sourcing high quality graphic designs including logo design, banner design, packaging  design,merchandise design, web design and many other designing works at extremely affordable prices. Designhill provides an interactive interface that allows the customers to give real time feedback and ratings to design works, to help the designers better understand the customer’s expectations. Rahul and Varun are entrepreneurs who scaled and grew a bootstrapped business to among the top 3 graphic design platforms in the world while helping thousands of businesses source quality designs.

 

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Direct download: 141.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:30am EDT

In this week’s audible, I share the story about my sixth grade bully and the impact getting bullied has had on how I’ve played my position over the years. I also have an exciting announcement to share with you so stay tuned for that!

 

As far as the big picture of bullying goes… We tend to think of bullying as a kid problem but it’s actually a human problem. Bullying in the workplace is on the rise and it’s impacting the bottom line of a lot of companies because people who don’t feel safe at work aren’t producing the work the companies expect them to. Every target of a bully may lose up to 200 hours of productivity annually. If that targeted employee takes sick or vacation time, it may be a total of 400 hours of lost production to the employer.

 

Here are a few 2017 stats about workplace bullying sponsored by the Workplace Bullying Institute:

 

  • 60.3 Million American workers are affected by workplace bullying
  • 70% of workplace bullies are male, 30% are female
  • Rank -- 61% comes from the boss; 33% is coworker driven and 6% from the bottom up

 

Some other things about bullying I found about come from Brandon Gaille, who is one of PYP MVP’s Epsiode #77:

 

  • 62% saw sabotaging of others’ work or reputations as the primary form of bullying in the workplace.
  • 80%. That’s the percentage of bullies who are able to have a negative effect on 5 or more co-workers.
  • 37% of the people who are targeted by bullies are considered to be “compassionate and kind” co-workers. Only 6% of the targets of workplace bullying are aggressive.



I can relate to that last set of stats -- as a compassionate and kind person, I was an easy target. There’s a growing body of work in the scientific community about the effects of trauma on our lives, the way trauma manifests in our minds and our bodies. Bullying is no small matter. Having been a victim of bullying, I understand this. If you or someone you know are experiencing workplace bullying or online bullying or any kind of bullying, check out http://stopbullying.gov  and http://operationrespect.org Both provide relevant information and resources for people experiencing bullying.

 

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Here is my exciting announcement!

 

I am gearing up to launch the PYP Leadership Academy! The PYP Leadership Academy is something I’ve been thinking about for at least two years and I will tell you that making this announcement public is terrifying me, but also exciting me because it’s time. I’m being called to expand the PYP brand and message in a greater capacity. Those if you who have listened for awhile know my background is in formal education. I have a masters degree in teaching. I’ve won numerous awards for my instructional abilities and I consistently earn the highest reviews whenever I lead workshops. As I was telling somebody the other day, for whatever reason one of my superpowers is people just feel safe when they work with me. I have a quiet, calm and powerful energy that attracts people to me and you get a lot when you work with me.

 

I’ve set up a special page for people to express your interest without committing to anything. Go over to http://pyppodcast.com/la where you can put your name and email address indicating your interest.

 

You’re not signing up for the program. This is for me to get a sense of the interest level out there.

 

The PYP Leadership Academy Beta Program will focus on what I call fundamentals of success in life, business and career. I’m going to strip things down to the bare essentials and I’m doing this because I have discovered that basic fundamentals, basic principles of success are missing in society today. People want more and gaining a deep understanding of these fundamentals is a fantastic way to help you get to the point where you can honestly say, “This is the life I have always wanted.”

 

This program will be 7 weeks. It will follow the format you hear on my show, Kick off Move the Chains and Touchdown. We will dive deep into a handful of success categories including technology, mindset, time, money and culture. I will have a curriculum that will include short reading assignments and podcast listening outside PYP -- some carefully selected episodes of shows that bring value to our coursework together.  You will have access to a playbook that you’ll get to download and use throughout the program. and probably the best thing about it will be the baked in accountability and community. This for those of you who are hungry to take your life, business and/or career to that next level. I’m limiting enrollment to 20 people so I can provide personal attention to everyone. It’s going to be awesome!

 

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Direct download: The_Story_of_My_6th_Grade_Bully.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 11:00am EDT

On the surface, today’s PYP MVP Yigal Adato had what our culture tells men they’ve made it. The big business, the house, the car, the vacations, the beautiful wife, the family.

 

Yet…

 

Below the surface, Yigal was living a lie. He was overweight, he was addicted to porn and he was on the fast track to getting a divorce from the love of his life.

 

“I had to start telling the truth to myself,” Yigal said fairly early on in our conversation. “Doing that allowed me to become courageous and move forward with my life. It also saved my health, my primary relationships and my marriage.”

 

This kind of vulnerability took Yigal years to develop. It’s still a lot of work today for him to tell the truth. “If you want it, you have to work for it. If you want to have an epic life, you have to work for it.”

 

That’s one of the big themes from today’s conversation, which is a tough one, Team. Just preparing you for that. Yigal and I get into some pretty deep and raw territory. But like usual, the journey we go on is full of insight and wisdom.

 

Some details about Yigal: He is a leadership expert, speaker, and an executive coach to business owners and is on a mission to unlock their leadership potential. He now dedicates himself to helping business owners master self-leadership skills, make more money, stress less, and have more freedom to do what they love. Along with being the Founder of Unlock the Leader, a mastermind for businessmen, he is also the host of the new show Small Business Big Leaders.

 


Since the age of 15, Yigal has been studying and practicing leadership. He is well aware of what it takes to run a business handling the speed bumps, excuses, stresses, and how to run teams. At the age of 22 he ran a Retail/Service business with his brother that earned 50 million in 15 years.

 

His varied businesses have provided real life experiences in the trenches, achieving success in going from broke musician to selling over $50 million dollars in his business endeavors, managing hundreds of employees, raising a family, and having fun in the process. After his personal and professional successes, he courageously followed the source of his happiness to become a
mentor to business owners.

 

Yigal offers a practical approach to helping people find the truth of what makes them tick and live accordingly to their discovery. Most importantly, he is a father to his daughter Taly and husband to his wife Sharon.

 

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Direct download: 139.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:30am EDT

Hello Team PYP, welcome to this week’s Audible, Episode #138. I’m calling this audible “We’re not really sharing what’s real” because in my next show, you will hear my guest Yigal Adato go into more detail about why this is happening and what it means for us as men, women and citizens of a global community. You are not going to want to miss that episode because it is one of the most raw and emotional conversations I’ve ever had with a guest here on PYP. That episode is scheduled to drop in the next few days, so be sure to keep an eye out for it. 

 

A quick preview: Yigal talks about how he personally transformed his life from being 40 pounds overweight and addicted to porn -- to being able to speak his truth so he can work with people to help them speak theirs. He openly admits it has taken him years of doing hard work to get to where he is today, and he has to work on telling the truth every single day… but he wouldn’t trade it for the world. Doing that work saved his health, his marriage and probably his life because like a lot of people, Yigal was on the fast track to total self destruction.

 

Again, you can catch the full episode with Yigal Adato later this week, but let’s get on with today’s audible.

 

In today’s audible, I want to dive deep into something Yigal shares with us on that episode, he said:

 

“We’re not really sharing what’s real.”

 

What he’s referring to here is the proliferation of social media and how it’s directly impacting our lives. How it can really play with our heads and our emotions. Boy, did that ever hit me right between the eyes. Team, I feel like a broken record when I talk about the paradox of social media.

 

On the one hand, I love social media and use it to build my brand and my business. I also use it to maintain a professional network and to stay connected with people I love.

 

On the other hand, I suffer at times from the Highlight Reel overload, which plays with my head and can leave me feeling depressed and less-than because I haven’t yet made a million dollars or achieved the level of financial success I thought I’d have by this point in my life.

 

But I will tell you something.

 

Because of this next little hack I’m about to share with you from Yigal, I’m able to shake off those useless feelings pretty quickly, realign and refocus my time and energy on doing the things I love -- things like have amazing conversations with incredible individuals for this podcast, write books, build leadership coaching programs and deliver them to awesome professionals who are trying to figure out their path, too.

 

I can focus on what’s real and then share that with the people I serve and work with. 

 

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Direct download: PYP_Audible_138_We_are_not_being_real.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 11:30am EDT

We are facing an unprecedented addiction epidemic in America. Deaths by overdose are growing every year; addiction is a problem millions face every single day. Today’s PYP MVP believes there’s a better way for addicts to get the help they need when they are ready for recovery. A few years ago, Megan Peterson saw how technology could bridge the gap between addicts seeking help and the therapists who want to serve this demographic.

 

With over 15 years experience in the addiction field as both a counselor and pharmaceutical representative, Megan Peterson knew there could be a better way for patients to get the help they needed. As a result, she started 2nd Chance Counseling Service, providing a cost effective and discreet solution for patients seeking drug and alcohol addiction therapy.


Megan believes that as long as patients are willing to put in the time and do the work, they deserve that 2nd, 3rd, even 10th chance at getting clean and living a full life. The creative solution at 2nd Chance Counseling provides flexibility and better options for patients wanting to change. Access to licensed counselors via video sessions and email support in all 50 states opens up opportunity to seek help without the limitations of work and family schedules for time sensitive counseling. Megan truly believes the “telemedicine” platform fits with the future of treatment and is here to stay.

 

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Direct download: PYP_Megan_Peterson_137.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 10:00am EDT

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