Get a Better Handle On Life

How to Become Self-Employed

Freelancer, solopreneur, or simply working from home? Working for yourself is great if you are cut out for it, and even if you're not you can still make a go of it if your start with your eyes open and the right mindset. Be ready for the hurdles and give yourself the advantage. 
Starting a business can bring unexpected emotional stresses, but the pitfalls can be handled if you are ready for them. The personal challenges are something you can plan for, if you know what they are likely to be.
And while there's no denying the positive aspects of taking the high-road to the self-fulfilment that only being self-employed can bring, just like any other fable, there are two sides to the story of being your own boss.
Serial entrepreneur Barry Winbolt shares ideas on making the transition as painless as possible.
Also, check out:
The VIA Character Strengths Survey
www.barrywinbolt.com/blog
www.youtube.com/BarryWinbolt
#homeworking #selfemployed #ownboss #sidehustle #solopreneur 

The Career Guidance Nobody Gave You

In this episode, I'm sharing some ideas on what can loosely be called, Alternative Career Guidance. There's plenty of conventional career advice out there, most of it sensible and sound, but it all points one way. 
Pretty well every week I get questions relating to choosing the 'right' path to a career, or tension about how to prepare. Underlying many of these questions is uncertainty and even pressure and stress. If this is you, then maybe some alternative viewpoints can help give you pause for thought.
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#mentalhealth #careeradvice #careergoals #choices #career #jobuncertainty

Avoid Relationship Breakdown – 3 Ways to Stop an Argument

Avoid relationship breakdown with these three ways to stop arguing. There's no talent in fighting and there's no glory in 'winning' an argument.
On the surface, arguments are the biggest cause of relationship breakdown, but while they certainly contribute, they are usually a harmful symptom, rather than the cause of relationship breakdown.
#arguing #relationships #arguments #argue #relationships #conflict #disagreements #getabetterhandleonlife
Download the episode notes here.
See my online course: How to Become a Great Listener.
© Backing Track: Adventure, Chad Crouch, www.soundofpicture.com, licence CC BY-NC 4.0

How to Heal a Broken Heart

Losing someone or something you love is one of the defining human experiences. Loss is universal and inevitable; we’ll all experience it in some way at some time. That doesn’t help much if you are grieving, but it does mean that we understand what helps. Though you may not agree right now, especially if your heart is still aching, it is also a growth experience; we come out the other end stronger and a little wiser.
If you are suffering in that way this episode will guide you through some useful and practical ideas to help ease the pain.
You can find an edited text version of this episode here. In the episode I also talk about Seven Ways to Change Your Thinking.
#heartbreak #heartbroken #sad #breakup #healing #lostlove #bereavement #loss
Backing Track: Adventure, Chad Crouch, soundofpicture.com, licence CC BY-NC 4.0

Duncan Raban – A Day With Lionel Ritchie

I met a man recently who I'd been dying to talk to for quite a long time. I've been following his Just Say Hello project on Facebook, and I've had this idea floating around in my head for months. It's called, Ordinary People Who Do Extraordinary Things, and I thought this chap, Duncan, is definitely in that category. 
Now that I've spoken to him, I realise I was wrong. This is no ordinary person, in fact, anything but. 
This was a spontaneous recording made on his iPhone as we spoke. Listen now to how a former celebrity photographer spent a day with one of the most iconic figures in contemporary music, Lionel Ritchie. Told by Duncan Raban, a natural storyteller.
© Backing Track: Adventure, Chad Crouch, www.soundofpicture.com, licence CC BY-NC 4.0

Finding Career Happiness – A Conversation with Adele Leah

Most of us spend a lot of time working, and studies show that most of us don't enjoy it as much as we could. Have you ever really taken the time to stop and think about getting a job you really enjoy?
It's not just about money, organisational culture, sense of fulfilment, and even feeling valued all contribute to how happy you are at work.
If you do your job, pay the bills, and enjoy the evenings and weekends but deep down find yourself wanting more from your work, is that enough? Maybe you're ready for a career upgrade and to live the life you deserve?
Adele Leah is a career coach with an attitude that’s seen her place client after client in careers they love. In this engaging conversation she explains the practical steps to take if you want to find greater fulfilment in your job, and career happiness.
If you want to improve anything about your work and career, this episode is an invaluable starting point.
Download Adele's workbook How to Gain Career Confidence and Clarity.
Here's a link to Livemore for you to download the app, where you'll find more from Adele, and the ever growing range of contributions from the other Livemore experts.
#careerhappiness #careercoach #livemore #worklife #careerchange
Backing Track: Adventure, Chad Crouch, soundofpicture.com, licence CC BY-NC 4.0
 

A Conversation with Rick Gough – Declutter Your Work (and Life?)

I'm in conversation with Rick Gough. Rick came up with the brilliant idea he calls 'Declutter Your Work'. Not only is it a great idea, it is also timely as many of us will we hope soon be returning to some sort of work normality.
You may be familiar with Marie Kondo's decluttering method for the home. Rick Gough has taken her six principles and applied them to how he works.
As you'll hear, it has benefits that can go far beyond the work space – it reaches into our inner spaces and provides a metaphor for a tidier life.
#decluttering #tidyoffice #hotdesking #workingfromhome
 
© Backing Track: Adventure, Chad Crouch, www.soundofpicture.com, licence CC BY-NC 4.0

Why Asking ”Why?” Can Get You Into Trouble

"Why?" is one of those questions. It has its place, to be sure, but most of us, most of the time, use it indiscriminately.
Asking why something happened, or why someone did this or that, for example, might be a fun way to pass the time of day, but answers to questions like these can be hard to find. Even then, they may not help in a practical way.
Asking what needs to happen, how to respond, or who can help fix something might be more sensible; answers will provide direction and momentum and can tell you what to do next.
“Why?” is speculative and if it provides answers at all they will be uncertain. Whereas questions preceded by who, where, what, how or when are on firmer ground, and they tend to indicate a course of action.
“Why?” may reveal a cause, so if you think you need to deal with the result of something (its effect), you’d best design your questions well and to understand – each time you ask one – what you hope it will do.
#askingquestions #communicationskills #leadership #motivation #conflictmanagement
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© Backing Track: Adventure, Chad Crouch, www.soundofpicture.com, licence CC BY-NC 4.0

A Conversation with... Philip Carr-Gomm

I'm in conversation with Philip Carr-Gomm, author of around 20 books, and a psychologist and a druid. We mainly discuss tips for aspiring writers. Philip has some insightful and practical tips, plus I throw in a few of my own. Then there's his recent and first novel, The Prophecies, a story of love, obsession, and betrayal. The nice thing about a good conversation is that you'll never know where it can take you!
As promised, here's the link to Steven Pressfield's practical guide to creativity, The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles.

Questions can be Powerful so Use Them Wisely

We use questions constantly, in our conversations with others and our conversations with ourselves. But we rarely think about how we structure them and, mostly, they go unnoticed. They are such a central part of how we think, act, and communicate that it would be hard to imagine how we could manage without questions. 
Questions are powerful, to be sure, and in all sorts of ways, some unexpected. You might think of them as a grammatical construct designed to elicit information, but not all questions produce equal results. Some can even tie us up in knots, so they can be a powerful waste of time.
We travel through life guided by our questions, so it is a good idea to ask the ones that show us the direction we should be taking. Questions are an essential part of how we think and communicate. Without them, we would be neither able to think straight nor communicate effectively.
Further reading
In this episode, I mention The Art of the Question by Marilee Goldberg, and my short read. Powerful Questions, on the LiveMore app.
 
© Backing Track: Adventure, Chad Crouch, www.soundofpicture.com, licence CC BY-NC 4.0