Life Beyond The Numbers

#76 Limitless - Emma O’Brien

"I was in a career corner .... I'd painted myself into it and I didn't know how to get out. And I was having those thoughts that in my early 30s you know, “that's it, I'm ruined” .... now I'm thinking I can continue to change and evolve and do so many different things with my life and my career. It's limitless." Emma O'Brien
 
Emma O'Brien and I talk about how our minds work and respond to us and how our beliefs are created by us. Emmas uses a great example of how a bad experience in something so innocent like a school play can play a role in our working lives - how shame and humiliation manifest themselves in beliefs we have about ourselves - the vortex of self doubt as she calls it. Emma shares how we can reorient our beliefs towards a different meaning and says that instead of choosing something overly positive, or Pollyanna-like, if we choose something that's realistic it serves us better. Emma speaks openly about how getting to know her strengths helped her reorient herself out of the career corner she had painted herself into.  
 
Emma O’Brien is a Rapid Transformational Therapist (RTT), Mindset and Strengths Coach. She helps leaders and business owners rapidly release self-defeating beliefs, habits and behaviours to make massive personal transformation. During her corporate career in HR, Organisational Development and Transformational Change she experienced 'impostor feelings' and self doubt. She also suffered with depression and anxiety. So she knows first hand how much this can hold people back, sabotage success and smother the ability to find their true expression. 
 
Connect with Emma:
Through her website
On Instagram and Facebook
 
Resources Mentioned:
Episode #53: Start with You - Nikki Hill
Marissa Peer
Rapid Transformational Therapy RTT
Gallup - Clifton Strengths
Mind Jogger App
 

#75 Guinness & Tea - John Collins (From the Archives)

"...you ask potential candidates who are joining your organisation, what are their intrinsic motivations and 80-90% of the time, they will say, I want to be part of an organisation that is making a positive difference in the world."  John Collins
 
John Collins a 'walking stereotype' (Irish, red-hair and worked for Guinness) takes us on a journey from Dublin to Asia Pacific to Africa and around the UK. He believes that great people, serving a great purpose make great organisations. He shares his steepest learning curve, his self-doubt and how he learnt about what he wanted from his career and tuned into that voice inside of him that for a long time wasn't saying anything. He also shares his thoughts on how business and consumption are at the heart of the situation that we're in and you can either bemoan that from the outside or you can be part of the solution on the inside. In Pukka Herbs John says one of the most satisfying and motivating thing about an organisation like Pukka is the genuine feeling that they are making decisions for the right reasons
 
John Collins is Finance Director of Pukka Herbs, whose mission is to create a world where plants play a central role in human health and wellbeing. He is a Fellow of Chartered Accountants Ireland and has extensive experience working in the private sector across a number of disciplines and geographies in organisations such as Deloitte and Diageo. He is a board member of Friends of the Earth.
 
***Please note that episode 26 was originally released in January 2021 and is from the archives
 
Connect with John:
On LinkedIn

#74 A Portfolio - Trevor O’Hara

"Freedom for me .... is the ability to build a portfolio .... a portfolio of experiences, a portfolio of projects rather than just one single life path, life career." Trevor O'Hara
 
During the pandemic Trevor O'Hara looked at his own life and asked himself if he wanted to spend the rest of it on a plane and decided he was ready for a change. So he took his side gigs and turned them into revenue streams and built a portfolio. As a society we've been taught to aim high and he says the problem with this is the higher we aim the further we have to fall if it doesn't work out. We talk about dealing with uncertainty and discomfort. We discuss resilience and bouncing back and Trevor says there is no such thing as a 'new you' as we are constantly changing and evolving. Trevor believes part of his calling is to dispel the myths about reinvention and uncertainty. He introduces us to agilism - an agile approach. And we also cover the role of randomness and luck in our lives. 
 
Trevor O'Hara is an entrepreneur who helps people work through change, transition, and reinvention by building a portfolio lifestyle. Trevor has lived with change all his life. For the last two decades, he has lived in 12 countries as a technology and transport exec delivering retail, hospitality, and technology innovations for the world’s largest airports, and has raised several million dollars from a range of international investors. During the pandemic, Trevor redesigned his life in favour or a portfolio lifestyle. He runs several businesses, one of which is Wayless – a personal development platform for people dealing with change, transition, and reinvention.
Connect with Trevor:
On Twitter or LinkedIn
His website
 
Resources Mentioned:
Alison Jones Book Proposal Challenge
21 Lessons for the 21st Century by Yuval Noah Harari
Jack Butcher
Annie Duke
 
 

#73 Meaningfully Unique - Philip Pozzo di Borgo-Oliver

"Innovation …. it's going to be meaningfully unique .... new and different. And new and different means people are going to be getting ‘that sounds crazy’, ‘that sounds mad’, ‘we can't do that’.… How we attend to this question of fear … how we encourage learning, how we fuel collaboration these are jobs of the leader and a leader that has humility. And …. this is in the deep tissue of leading. It's the fabric of leadership. It's what makes a leader really a leader in my view, at least in the context of innovation." Philip Oliver
 
Philip Oliver describes his work-life as having two themes - adventure and innovation. And we go on an adventure from Singapore to South Africa, including diving for diamonds on the Coast of West Africa, to working in business improvement and innovation in the oil and gas industry in Scotland. We talk about what innovation means, really. Philip says there is no lack of literature on the subject, most of it is worthy of contemplation but actually not particularly helpful. Innovation has to be meaningfully unique (new and different) to you/your team, the organisation and the customer. We talk about the three conditions necessary for innovation (i) a creative spark (ii) diversity of thought and (iii) absence of fear. And we talk about how do might attend to this question of fear, how to encourage experimentation and learning and how to fuel collaboration. It is a question of leadership ... and leading with humility. Philip has many stories and examples from his own work-life, including his childhood. 
 
Connect with Philip
Eureka Europe website
On LinkedIn
Or email: philip.oliver@eureka1europe.com
 
Resources Mentioned:
Purposeful People: Business Leaders Making A Difference by Chris Paton
Future, Engage, Deliver: The Essential Guide to Your Leadership by Steve Radcliffe
Doug Hall Eureka! Ranch
Helen Potter Eureka Europe
 
 

#72 Element of Surprise - Ella Clark

"I kept reading about languishing and it occurred to me that we were missing the element of surprise..... surprise adds that sort of element of surprise, but it does more than that. It takes your brain on a little journey .... it fires you up." Ella Clark
 
Ella Clark and I talk about the element of surprise and how life can present us with many surprises, some are a delight and some might be unwanted. We speak about ways of reframing some of those unwanted surprises - being made redundant as an example. We chat about how our identities can be intertwined with the jobs that we do or our careers and how to pivot. Ella herself talks about how she "ended up doing financial communications" and had an epiphany in a cardiac ward - she pivoted. Ella is an identical twin which brings an interesting twist to the identity conversation. Diamonds, canaries and battles are some of the metaphors we explore during this conversation - Ella's love of storytelling and the use of metaphors helps her help people reveal their inner desires. If you are at a crossroads in your career or even starting to think about what might be next for you in your work-life this episode is full of recommendations on how to start exploring. 
 
Ella Clark specialises in career coaching & life coaching for people who are highly successful and capable and at a crossroads in their work or personal life. Ella has a science background, and uses evidence-based scientific coaching approaches from social sciences and psychologically-informed practices that are successful in health and wellbeing, and the disability sector. She works as a person-centred integrative coach, with a mix of neurologically-based behavioural tools from social sciences, CBT, NLP, existential philosophy and positive psychology theories. She is a a licensed Firework Career Coach and a certified Life Coach & Master NLP Practioner. Ella loves working with people at the intersection of work, life and the many identities that people can have, to create a life that makes them happy, fulfilled and balanced.
 
Connect with Ella:
Through Life Coaching with Ella website
On Instagram and LinkedIn
 
Resources Mentioned:
The Body Keeps The Score by Besser van der Kolk
Emilie Wapnick: Why some of us don't have one true calling TED Talk
The Hero's Journey by Joseph Campbell 
The Johari Window Model 
Ikigai (reason for being)
Spectrum of Possibilities
Double Diamond (Diverge & Converge)
16 Personalities test
Values in Action (VIA) Personality test
 
 

#71 Your True Self - Jonathan de Potter

"This is a tool to amplify your sensitivity to some of those lower-level energies that might be keeping you away from your true self." Jonathan de Potter
 
Jonathan de Potter is the founder of Behold Retreats and in this episode we talk about the benefits of unpacking and exploring our inner world in a way that begins to give us a very different perspective in the relationship between self and the outer world. Jonathan and I chat about psychedelics or plant medicine. Psychedelics he says is an interesting term because different people with different interests define it differently. What he is focused on is the psychedelics that have a neurogenerative effect meaning they can actually facilitate the growth of new neurons and facilitate an increase in neuroplasticity. The medicine is fundamentally trying connect, reconnect, and harmonise body, mind, heart and spirit into a single vibration - to bring us back to our true self. We talk about energy and vibrations and Jonathan encourages us all to find the people who reflect the energy that we aspire to ultimately and to figure out what would truly make us happy. 
 
Jonathan de Potter is the Founder of Behold Retreats, passionate about plant medicine, and believes that absolutely everyone can improve their mental health and consciousness. Behold Retreats facilitate life-changing plant medicine journeys to explore your inner world, discover your truth, and live to your full potential. A primary focus for Jonathan is to raise awareness and education on the subject of plant medicine, and to begin conversations on if and how to bring this important science to the many cultures in Asia- Pacific. Prior to working in plant medicine, Jonathan worked in management consulting, supporting clients in APAC with innovation, digital strategy, scaling, and transformation programs.
 
Connect with Jonathan:
Through Behold Retreats website
On Instagram
 
Resources Mentioned:
Articles, videos and books on the science on Behold Retreats Website
Netflix Documentary - Have a Good Trip: Adventures in Psychedelics 
Rick Doblin TED Talk
 

#70 Hidden Gems from 2021

Happy New Year. Welcome to 2022 and episode 70 of Life Beyond the Numbers - a compilation episode from some of the least downloaded episodes of 2021 ... or the hidden gems from 2021
 
Lisa LLoyd introduces us to the difference between Imagination and Thinking (minute 4)
Alison Jones talks about thinking, deep thinking and reflective thinking (minute 6)
Lisa LLoyd covers our brain and pattern recognition (minute 13)
Glin Bayley illustrates pattern recognition and writing from the heart (minute 17)
Gavin Andrews introduces HeartMath and we chat about emotions (minute 23)
Lisa Milnor goes deeper into feelings and the mind body connection (minute 33)
And finally Lisa LLoyd on the importance of knowing how our brain works (minute 40)
 
Podcast Episodes - Hidden Gems of 2021
#38 Wisdom & Technology with Gavin Andrews (HeartMath)
#39 H.E.A.R.T with Glin Bayley (Heart of Human)
#58 Making Connections with Alison Jones (WriteBrained)
#59 Weird & Wonderful with Lisa Milnor (Shaping Clarity)
#61 Imagination with Lisa LLoyd (It's Time for Change)
 
You are welcome to write to me on susan@beyond-thenumbers.com or connect with me on social media with guest or topic suggestions.  
 
 

#69 What Works for You - Alyn Mitlyng

"Figure out what works for you. Whether it be, your physical health, your nutritional health, your financial health, figure out what works for you." Alyn Mitlyng
 
Alyn Mitlyng has two rules in life 'Modification and Moderation'. And we talk about her approach to figuring out how to define and achieve personal goals by modifying conventional rules and approaches to fit your personal preferences and motivation style. Alyn wrote a book, Dirty Goals, to fully explore personal goals. She explains her formula that allows you to TAP (Thought, Action, Process) into your own thoughts so you can mine them, perhaps for gold. We talk about the difference between personal goals and a life purpose and she shares her own life purpose, being kind. Alyn explains she chose kindness when she had enough of being an abrasive person, or a jerk as she calls it. We also talk about the difference between goals and resolutions (it is that time of year!), signs from the universe and feeling fulfilled. 
 
Alyn Mitlyng is an author, girlfriend, dog mom, industry professional and goal enthusiast. Dirty Goals is her first book and was inspired by an obvious lack of guidance when she was developing her own personal goals. Originally from Montevideo, MN, Alyn now enjoys the milder climate of Colorado with her boyfriend and two dogs, Rozi and Zoe.
Dirty Goals Breaking Conventional Rules to Achieve Your Dreams
Connect On Instagram
 
Resources Mentioned: 
The Miracle Morning Hal Elrod
DIY Angela Rose on Instagram

#68 Extreme Experiences - Anna Haslock

"I think part of his personality and a lot of our riders' personalities is they need to test themselves like this. They need to push their boundaries. And try these extreme experiences and the rewards that they get very important to them, life affirming to them." Anna Haslock
 
Content Warning: Topics discussed in this episode include a fatal road collision and rape (c. min 22-29). Some listeners might find the content disturbing. If anything does impact you while listening to this episode please reach out to or speak to someone you trust. 
 
Anna Haslock has a powerful story to tell; a story about adventure, resilience, personal growth as well as dealing with and learning from extreme life experiences. We talk about the Transcontintenal Race - an unsupported ultra endurance single stage cycling race where the clock never stops. One of the aims of the organisation she runs, Lost Dot, is to promote adventure cycling for self-development and personal growth. And this is something quite close to her heart because both herself and race founder Mike Hall experienced, for different reasons, the real benefits that you can get from having been tested to your extreme. For Mike his was mostly self-imposed doing these events. Anna, although not a racer, experienced this test of herself through two very difficult life experiences. Lost Dot was set up to honour Mike's legacy and promotes road justice, cycling as a sustainable form of transport and celebrates integrity in sport over winning at any cost. We talk about the race, the racers, the community, the Dot Watchers and the 2019 race winner, Fiona Kolbinger. 
 
Anna Haslock co-founded Lost Dot Ltd to ensure Mike Halls's legacy is nurtured and preserved. She is the Race Director of the Transcontinental Race and Trans Pyrenees Race and previously the Race Coordinator of the Transcontinental Race from 2014 to 2017. 
Trans Continental Race
On Instagram and Twitter
2019 Race Winner Fiona Kolbinger
 

#67 Better Understanding - Matt Phelan

"If you can measure it, you can manage it. I used to say that for years. And  now I say if you can measure it, you can better understand it. If you can better understand it, you can make better decisions." Matt Phelan. 
 
Matt Phelan, co-founder of the Happiness Index, and I talk about how The Happiness Index provides organisations with an index of people's emotions. Emotions are data points that give you a better understanding of how your people feel so you can make better decisions. Matt says they are providing people with data to achieve emotional intelligence (EQ) at scale. We talk about how emotional data is four dimensional (4-D) and Matt takes me through an example of this using the interview process. Matt shares some of the evidence to support the business case for happiness at work. We chat about employee engagement, how happiness is associated with energy, that relationships are the number one driver of happiness at work and the impact of discrimination in the workplace. We also cover biases, belief systems, ignorance and incompetence as well as Matt's book 'Freedom to be Human'. 
 
Matthew Phelan is a co-founder and the Head of Global Happiness at The Happiness Index. He is on a mission to improve the way organisations treat people. He co-founded a global data and digital marketing agency before leaving the business after a trade sale and focussing entirely on The Happiness Index. His passion is to understand how people experience happiness and his vision is to use data to visualise culture in a similar way to how Google Maps visualises the world. He is the author of "Freedom to be Happy: The Business Case for Happiness." 
 
Connect with Matt:
On LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram or write him a letter!
If you want to collect data - go to The Happiness Index and book a demo
Read his book Freedom to be Happy
Tune into the Happiness & Humans podcast 
 
Resources Mentioned:
Jana Dowling Arkeo app
Advancing Racial Equity Conference and Sheeren Daniels
Happiness & Engagement Model
Happiness & Humans Podcast Episodes:
Employee Engagement with William Kahn (Mar 2021)
Employee Happiness with Professor Jeremy Dawson (Sept 2020)
Data & Research into Workplace Happiness with Professor Alex Edmans (Aug 2020)