Boundless: The Human Side Of Work

Rich fell in love with coding as a child but lost that passion when coding just turned into a job in the late 1990s.  As he looked around and saw everyone overwhelmed in his industry, he decided to take a different path.  He co-founded of Menlo Innovations in 2001 with a personal mission to end human suffering in the workplace.  He is also the author of two books Joy, Inc. and Chief Joy Officer.  Hear about his company has achieved gender diversity in the workforce, introduced pay transparency, embraces pair-working methods across all functions and other transformative principles. Links/Books Mentioned Menlo Innovations Extreme Programming, Beck The Fifth Discipline, Senge Chief Joy Officer, Sheridan Joy, Inc. Sheridan Boundless (Learn More Here) Support Think-Boundless

Jerel calls himself one of the original "job-hoppers."  While he never found a great fit in the corporate world, in the 1980s, he was inspired by Steven Covey to develop a "personal mission statement."  He used this to shape his decisions in life. In the early 2000's he decided to shake it up and headed to China for what turned into a 14 year journey of learning and adventure. To learn more about Jerel click here. ---------- Boundless => Reimagine Work

I met Craig at a conference called The World Domination Summit and when he introduced himself he gave me a pack of tea with his business card on it. Everything he does is like this - packed with thoughtfulness and humor. Craig is also the creator of the Morning effect, something he ended up being passionate about after going from someone that hated mornings to a morning advocate over the past 7 years.  He defines the morning effect as: "the principle that what you choose to do in the morning can have an amazing impact on other parts of your life. It leads you to get up and be productive, do more of the things you wish you were doing, and embark on your days already feeling accomplished. All of that is a HUGE win, but honestly, it’s just the tip of the iceberg…" He’s experimented with 100 morning rituals over that time and now works with people to help them take back their mornings and find “another 20 hours” a week as he did. His story is more than another “hustle” hack - its grounded on bringing more presenc

Wesley Kang and Tanya Zhang are the co-founders of Nimble Made, an e-commerce clothing brand that makes “actually slim” dress shirts.   Before taking the leap to work full-time on their business, they worked in the corporate world in New York City.  As first generation Asian-Americans, they had achieved “success” - good jobs, good salary.  They were on their way.  However, deep down both wanted something a little more. Some of Tanya’s challenges working as a freelance graphic designer on the side convinced them they should try to think a little deeper about building a brand and a business, instead of just helping other people. As they found themselves thinking about the business all day at their full-time jobs and coming home ready to work on it, they realized they finally had to go all-in. Over the past year they have worked on the business and are starting to find some traction.  As they’ve dealt with the challenges of running a business, they have also had to constantly reflect on how to manage a relations

Chris Kirkland is a bootstrapped entrepreneur who has been living nomadically since 2006 and is the founder of several web businesses including artweb.com and tokyocheapo.com. We talk about how he has experimented with money, creativity, health and his lifestyle over the past 13 years.  His nomadic journey started when he took a trip to Japan and after two days decided "fuck it," I'm going to stay a bit longer.  We talk about his journey, entrepreneurship and his life experiments Why entrepreneurs are really risk averse His learnings from living nomadically and stoic exercises of living minimally  Prioritizing time over money as a bootstrapper  How running an online business was different in 2006 and why he "felt like he was cheating" His experiments with becoming a "breatharian" and trying polyphasic sleep (do not try these at home) How he thinks about running an online media business in 2019 His recommendations for cheap eats in Tokyo More about Chris: TokyoCheapo Chris' Personal Site &

Martha Balaile is a fantasy illustrator living in Cape Town, South Africa originally from Tanzania.  Her mission is to figure out how magic, mythology and fantasy can have an impact on real life.  She’s also the wonderful creator of the new cover art for this podcast.   Martha aspired to create “art that is filled with subtle lessons on living a magical and adventurous life.”  Two of the lessons she has found: Go with the flow Be aware of fear We explore these a bit and she shares some examples from fantasy that have inspired her. Check out the show! We talk about: What drove her to pursue an art career after growing up in Tanzania What she wishes she learned in art school What she looked from working with clients How she switched from magic “standard” art to art she cared about How she decided to take the leap to freelancing “early” in her career. How she structures her day around her work Her Top 3 Magic Podcasts: Magic Lessons, Elizabeth Gilbert  Natalia Benson Podcast Hippie Witch M

A quick little update from Taipei. A couple links from the podcast: Revisiting Keynes Prediction for a Post-Work 2030 in “Economic Possibilities for Our Grandchildren” Luke Kanies Podcast Interview Curiosity Conversation With Paul Would love any feedback - e-mail Paul.

 Gabi Macra was a top Canadian basketball player that never really thought about the "life after basketball" before dealing with a major injury towards the end of her college career. Instead of following any sort of traditional path, she headed East to Japan where she came to teach English.  She loved her experience there and now reflects on the immense value of learning how to teach and coach others helped her in the following years. Instead of heading back to Canada, she headed to London where she had a successful career and journey as an actuary.  She was a leader in her company but reached a point where she was dealing with health challenges and finding that her career was no longer giving her the fulfillment that it once was.  She ended up deciding to take some time off and told her boss that she was leaving.  However, she ended up staying another 18 months as she helped the team transition with some other internal changes.  Just knowing she was leaving enabled her to approach everything completely diffe

 Christine Bader is currently living in Bali, Indonesia, where she is spending time focused on her family and self.  She is the author of The Evolution of a Corporate Idealist: When Girl Meets Oil and the former head of CSR for Amazon before leaving in 2017, a journey she details in an amazing essay titled “The year I learned to quit.”   She talks about leaving the corporate world and shifting her focus from building a career to building a life. Topics Discussed: Corporate social responsibility Taking a sabbatical in Bali Building a life The greek concept of Kairos Working in Asia Working at Amazon Recommended Reading Can a business of any size be good? The Year I Learned To Quit (New York Times)

Tyler Tringas is an entrepreneur and traveler.  He's started two companies (one worked!) and now is founding Earnest Capital where he wants to help companies avoid going into $50,000 of credit card debt (like he did) to start technology companies.  We talk about how this type of investing vehicle can help transcend some of the pressures to "scale at all costs" in ways that may not be suitable for most companies. Topics Digital nomads Starting a company Bootstrapping How to sell a company The four-hour workweek Calm companies Flaws with the VC model Taking leaps Transitions Meaningful work while traveling Related Links: Earnest Capital Tyler Tringas His Journey Selling StoreMapper ------------------------------------------------  For More With Boundless: Consider supporting the podcast on Patreon Join 125+ People Carving Their Own Paths In The Slack Community Set Up A Curiosity Conversation With Paul Join The Free 3-Week Self-Employment Challenge Sign up For The Strategy Too

I joined the amazing Jagriti Pande for a fun conversation around a number of different topics.  You can subscribe to her master series on UX designers and other creatives here. Her amazing editing, way-too-kind-intro and fun clip at the beginning were such an amazing gift. Let me know what you think!

"I didn't think I'd be turning down work and choosing not to grow"I spoke with Chris Donohoe one year ago about his just-announced launch of his consulting firm, Uncommonly. He's more committed to carving his own path than ever and we walk through some of the lessons learned, pivots and his long-term strategy. Chris breaks down what he's learned over the past year, how he has started coaching people one-on-one and how he is thinking about structuring his time and day.Topics Discussed:Selling time versus projectsWorking a max 40-hour workweekTaking a coaching programThings he didn't expect 1 year into building his own firmWorking with an amazing co-founderHis reflections on leadership and his goalsUncommonly: Website-------For More With Boundless:Consider supporting the podcast on PatreonJoin 125+ People Carving Their Own Paths In The Slack CommunitySet Up A Curiosity Conversation With PaulJoin The Free 3-Week Self-Employment ChallengeSign up For The Strategy Toolkit - Learn The Secrets Of Strategy Consulting

This episode is a special treat from friends of Boundless, Cody Royle, who came on the podcast last year to talk about what the business world can learn from sports.I wanted to share a special episode from his podcast that was just launched featuring the NBA great Joe Dumars and workforce research great Adam Grant. I thought the three of them had a special conversation. If you want to subscribe to Where Others Won't do so here:ItunesOvercastWebsite

Mike was always a self-driven creator, developing TI-83 apps for his classmates to keep track of their grades from an early age. He spent a lot of time "head in in the clouds, making things." It is no surprise then, that he eventually found that self-employment was the right fit after several years of trying to make it work in the corporate world.Mike and I dive into his path in which he slowly made sense of the fact that it was time to take the leap to self-employment. As he was about to take the leap, his company ended up laying him off anyway. Reflecting back, he has found many valuable lessons in his journey and has brought these together in a self-published a workbook called Clear Path Forward. The workbook helps people re-assess their relationship with work. We talk about the process he took to publish the book and where he sees his work taking him over the next couple of years.He now lives and works around the tagline "making business more human" which he is using to run workshops with clients and have

Jeff Hittner of Your Project X and Paul talk about their favorite 10 career myths. They dive deep into the beliefs and mindsets that drive these beliefs while making an argument for people to reflect at a deeper level to shift past the default to contemplate a wide range of optionsReadable Version: Top 10 MythsMyth #1 - "Once I land my dream job / make $X a year, I'll be happy" (2:35)Myth #2 - "I need to find my passion" (7:15)Myth #3 - "I should never take a pay cut" (14:15)Myth #4 - "You should have a 'steady' income" (20:40)Myth #5 - "I have to know what I need to do before I change directions" (26:15)Myth #6 - "An extended break is irresponsible" (32:30)Myth #7 - "It's fine to take a risk when young, but not when you have kids" (40:35)Myth #8 - "I should go to grad school to figure out what I want to do" (46:15)Myth #9 - "I can't make a change now after years in this field" (55:20)Myth #10 - "I'll be happy once I'm running my own business" (1:04:54)Links Mentioned:How to Get Unstuck In The New Year, Jeff

In this short episode, I talk about the five lessons I've found that help people make the leap to self-employment:Find a friend taking a different pathRe-define your relationship with moneyBuild up your "eff you" fundTeach others somethingFind a way to make money other than full-time incomeFull Article | This episode is also a YouTube videoFor More With Boundless:Consider supporting the podcast on PatreonJoin 110+ People Carving Their Own Paths In The Slack CommunitySet Up A Curiosity Conversation With PaulJoin The Free 3-Week Self-Employment ChallengeSign up For The Strategy Toolkit - Learn The Secrets Of Strategy Consulting

Bryan Victor has never taken a traditional path but he doesn’t know any other way. Perhaps that is why he started his own podcast in Singapore, Misfits, which interviews unconventional Singaporeans.  At 20, he saved up $10,000 while he was serving required military time and decided he would travel the world for a year. During the trip, he realized this was all the “schooling” he needed (see 10 things I learned). After learning how he could live simply on very little money, he knew that this opened up many options for him. He knew that he would always value flexibility over maximizing income, learning this lesson earlier than others.Regardless of any position towards “formal” schooling, his chosen path, wedding planning, wasn’t something you learned at school. He knew he had to create his own internship. So before his trip, he wrote to 50 American wedding planners (the best, he says), to ask if he could work with them. One person gave him a chance and he was able to learn while making enough money to live.Goin

Tash Walker is the founder of a firm and spends her Fridays making marmalade.Before instituting a four-day workweek at her firm, The Mix, she barely had time for her relationships. She decided to start doing research about different ways of working. There had to be a better way than the default options of "Summer Fridays" and "flexible work," that never seem to make less anxiety or stress-ridden.In her research, she discovered many examples of Swedish companies embracing 4-day workweeks and also found that when they instituted it, they often helped improve productivity. After bringing the option to her team at The Mix, they decided to do a three-month trial. They didn't even tell their clients.The funny thing? The clients didn't even notice. Even better, when they shared it with their clients - they weren't offended. They were curious to learn more and impressed that they had prioritized their people. While many quickly reflex to "well that can't work here," Tash and her team went forward anyway and have show

Amid all the buzzwords and reports on the future of work, I find Sarah Kessler's stories about the gig economy to be the most insightful and the most human. Her stories and her book, Gigged, give an accurate picture of some of the upsides of the gig economy, but also some of the downsides.  She shares stories of people that are sleeping in their office making five cents per task on Amazon's Mechanical Turk to creative freelancers who can make six-figure salaries working from anywhere.  She also shares the story of companies that see limits to the gig economy, like Dan Teran's company Managed by Q who is following Zeynep Ton's Good Jobs Strategy and looking at people as valuable and investing in them as full-time employees and partners in the businesses success.Our conversation dives deeper into some of the stories she shares as well as some of the current challenges with platforms, the PR machine (all the firms say people want flexibility, but fail to mention they are happy to give it up for more pay!). One o

Lydia Lee was a self-described "multi-potentialite" growing up and loves to experiment and play games growing up. You can probably draw a straight line from her hosting television shows for the stuffed animals in her room to her current YouTube channel Screw The Cubicle TV. However, life is never that simple.Lydia is based in Bali where she is the Founder and Corporate Escape Coach of Screw The Cubicle, a movement to inspire people to break free from the shackles of conventional work.From building businesses to forging freelance careers, she’s helped hundreds of talented professionals repurpose their skills to create better versions of their careers and become better versions of themselves.Topics Covered:How she balanced her interests with the default pathBurnout in RussiaHow she started her business Screw The CubicleA cool approach to start your coaching businessWhat you need to be self-employedThe beliefs you should questionCoaching & continuous learningWhy so many pineapples in Lydia's branding?Connect