Seth Vore joins me again to recap the final leg of his family’s 6,000 mile boat journey. We also revisit the original question that turned this dream into reality. Learn More about Seth Vore and His Family Previous conversations with Seth: 121: Captain Seth Progress Report (June 2023) 112: Checking in with Captain Seth Vore (June 2022) 110: Boats and FIRE with Seth Vore (December 2021) The Great Loop is a 6,000 mile, year-long boating trip Seth and his family are on ‘Loopers’ Say the Great Loop Is Their Appalachian Trail onFIREfamily – Website onFIREfamily – YouTube Credits Hallon by Christian Bjoerklund Cold Funk by Kevin MacLeod All songs licensed under Creative Commons The post 124: Seth Vore–Wouldn’t It Be Crazy If… appeared first on John Poelstra.
Greg Sterling joins me to share his experiences navigating a layoff and finding a job in the current market. Conversation Summary Losing a job is never easy, even when the economy seems strong. Greg Sterling was was part of a layoff at Red Hat after 13 years with the company. He spent the last 7 months searching for a new position. We talked in November 2023 to get his insights on the current job market and advice for others trying to find new work. Key Takeaways Job searching can be very discouraging with extremely low response rate Companies can receive an overwhelming 500-1000 applicants for a single role in minutes The current job market is very tight with companies being extremely selective Networking continuously is crucial, though even close contacts may not respond Self-care through exercise or other outlets helps manage the emotional toll Finding local opportunities rather than remote roles yields better results Asking for feedback after rejections can provide useful insights to improve Regularly tweaking your resume to polish message and fit is important Recruiters tend to only work with those they can easily place in a role Set limits on job search time to avoid burnout The post 123: Searching for a Job in Today’s Market with Greg Sterling appeared first on John Poelstra.
Michael Marvosh joins me to share his experiences and perspective on the Landmark Forum. I’ve heard a variety of things about it over the years and I was curious to get Michael’s take on it. Conversation Highlights Taking responsibility rather than blaming external factors Staying present in relationships “Choosing” (open) vs, “Deciding” (limiting) Letting go of judgment traps–“right vs wrong” and “good vs bad” Learning to be more unconditionally present Exploring “integrity” – Michael aims for authenticity Tightening up the wishy-washy areas Michael realized how he wasn’t showing up fully in key relationships The paradox between the past and future self-improvement Landmark courses are very affordable–Michael has taken several and is planning to take more Credits Original photo source: Michael Marvosh The post 122: Learning About the Landmark Forum with Michael Marvosh appeared first on John Poelstra.
We’re checking in again with Seth Vore and his family. So far they’ve completed 5,000 miles of their 6,000 mile journey. Last time we talked it was June of 2022, and they had just bought their boat. Learn More about Seth Vore and His Family Previous conversations with Seth: 112: Checking in with Captain Seth Vore (June 2022) 110: Boats and FIRE with Seth Vore (December 2021) The Great Loop is a 6,000 mile, year-long boating trip Seth and his family are on ‘Loopers’ Say the Great Loop Is Their Appalachian Trail onFIREfamily – Website onFIREfamily – YouTube Credits Cold Funk by Kevin MacLeod Original photo source All songs licensed under Creative Commons The post 121: Captain Seth Progress Report appeared first on John Poelstra.
Sometimes we’re afraid to slow down because we’re afraid we’ll fail. What if the opposite is true? Highlights Brad Solomon’s post on LinkedIn about slowing down inspired today’s thoughts What if you can’t slow down too much? The important distinction between slowing down and stopping Slowing down to speed up What would be possible for you if you slowed down, but didn’t stop? Straight-Line Leadership: Tools for Living with Velocity and Power in Turbulent Times by Dusan Djukich Stop Stopping vs. Stopping: Chapter 6 Maybe there isn’t a “right path” or “right track”–sometimes we waste more time trying to figure that out than actually getting somewhere Maybe you don’t need to know all the steps to start or keep going, but that doesn’t mean you have to stop Giving your “time and attention” to the things you are committed to Micro vs. macro commitments Where have you “stopped” in your life? What’s the smallest way you can start? “What haven’t you tried yet?” Credits Original photo source The post 120: Slowing Down Isn’t Stopping appeared first on John Poelstra.
Have you ever learned something you already knew? That happened recently with what’s written on my About page. I was surprised to find many of them relate to the theme of commitment I’ve been sharing on recently. Credits Original photo source The post 119: Here’s What I Know and Believe appeared first on John Poelstra.
The other day I was overwhelmed with all the things I needed to. This is how I got organized and less overwhelmed. Highlights Getting email and Trello under control Where are the places you store things that need to get done? Trello Post-it Notes Email Slack 3×5 Cards Notebook Offline email client–Thunderbird Used in conjunction with GMail and other email providers All of my email is stored locally where it can’t be hacked or lost Recomendo (my favorite newsletter of all) Getting to Inbox Zero at least once during a given day Sharpies & 3×5 cards are an easy way to capture and organize all the things overwhelming you Easy to move around Don’t stick to surface Collapsable into a single pile so you don’t have to see all the cards (and get overwhelmed) Trello Columns Today This Week Next Week Backlog Set due dates and alerts for specific cards (generates email) Overall triage process Go through all the email in Thunderbird and get the main Inbox to zero Move to folder Delete Forward tasks to Trello via email Book mark related webpage/information via Pinboard Organize and move cards in Trello Move all the cards (not in Backlog) to “Next Week” column (as often as you need to) Triage from there Look for patterns in the cards/tasks if there’s another Projects vs. tasks How to do this process with 3×5 cards Credits Original photo source The post 118: How I Get Organized When I’m Overwhelmed appeared first on John Poelstra.
You might find it easier to honor your commitments by eliminating the things that waste your time and energy. Here’s how to do it. Highlights Time leaks are things that eat away at your commitments and increase the possibility that you will not honor them Straight-Line Leadership: Tools for Living with Velocity and Power in Turbulent Times by Dusan Djukich “What you have committed to, up to now, is revealed by what you have produced or failed to produce” “Involved with” vs. “committed to” What gets in the way of honoring your commitments? What do you do or where do you go when you have 15 or 20 minutes between meetings? Reducing time leaks adds time back to your day Having large blocks of time without clear intentions or guard rails Committing to do certain things in a given day What things are you doing that aren’t giving you anything back? Managing Slack by turning off the presence indicator and closing it for an hour as an experiment Decide what you will say “No” to in a given week to help you plug a time leak–make them small and doable Unsubscribe from all those newsletters Disable the notifications on your phone or simply power it off Where do you go when you are bored or seeking to soothe yourself? Where do you find yourself without knowing how you got there? What’s the biggest mindless activity that you do in a day that consumes the most time? Credits Original photo source The post 117: Plugging Time Leaks to Honor Commitments appeared first on John Poelstra.
When I’m looking to move something forward I’ve found better results by getting clear about what I’m committed to rather than searching for motivation. Highlights Where does motivation come from and where do you get it? Motivation is illusive and there is a better way What if you aren’t motivated and that isn’t a problem? Motivation as a by-product of commitment Partial commitment is no commitment What are you committed to in your life? How much time and attention do you give them? What would your life look like if you were committed? If you were committed what would you do? Straight-Line Leadership: Tools for Living with Velocity and Power in Turbulent Times by Dusan Djukich Time Warrior: How to defeat procrastination, people-pleasing, self-doubt, over-commitment, broken promises and chaos by Steve Chandler A commitment is something that you absolutely will do or have done–otherwise it is an intention. How to Get Clients: New Pathways to Coaching Prosperity by Steve Chandler Daily commitments of time and things that I have absolute control What are you creating with your commitments or lack thereof? No judgement around what you are or are not committed to Mark Lauren workout programs Clarity of your desire is stronger than any technique or program Credits Original photo source The post 116: Commitment Not Motivation appeared first on John Poelstra.
Here’s how I got back up again after getting off track. I hope it helps you do the same. Highlights Restarting Intention vs. commitment Resizing a task or situation in order to commit Honoring the promises we make to ourselves as much as the ones we make to others Simple process to restart Short list of things to do when you wake up Set an alarm Get up when the alarm rings Get moving by getting some things done! “Good enough” and be done–get it out Stop putting the restart off and just crawl if you have to Don’t rely on motivation or it could be a long time Credits Original photo source The post 115: Restarting Just Like You appeared first on John Poelstra.