Episodes

Lisa DiMatteo joins me to discuss the dance between “being & doing” and “enoughness” against the backdrop of a three week solitude retreat I experienced in October 2021. More About Lisa DiMatteo Your Vital Self Instagram LinkedIn Credits Hallon by Christian Bjoerklund Cold Funk by Kevin MacLeod All songs licensed under Creative Commons The post 109: Being, Doing and Enoughness with Lisa DiMatteo appeared first on John Poelstra.

Wherein I read another section from The High 5 Habit by Mel Robbins and contemplate whether “action” is always the answer. Mentioned The High 5 Habit by Mel Robbins Credits Original photo source The post 108: Nothing Might Be Something appeared first on John Poelstra.

Maybe you aren’t a procrastinator, a perfectionist or broken. Maybe you’re just scared. Moving forward might be as easy as having a conversation instead of staying stuck in your head and trying to do it yourself. Mentioned Lisa DiMatteo The High 5 Habit by Mel Robbins 4 Ways to Overcome Your Inner Critic & Claim Your Confidence with Mel Robbins on Dear Gabby The post 107: Just Scared appeared first on John Poelstra.

Aaron Graham joins me to explore the meaning we give our experiences and how it affects us. We also discuss different ways to interact with our experiences and how to restart when we’ve lost our way. Conversation Highlights John & Aaron met as coaches to Capital One’s Money Coaching program Aaron’s path to coaching and previous background in acting Coaching helps people examine the meaning and stories they create about their lives and opens the possibility of choosing new ones Discovering th...

Alfredo Deza shares what it’s like to be an Olympian, how he found his way to software and how others can get started there too. We also explore the power behind the word “yet.” Conversation Highlights Wanting to be known for who you are and not what you have done Downplaying his past as an Olympian Over time coming to embrace his past in sports and how it formed who is as a way to inspire others Persistent and consistent over time There are no shortcuts or quick tips to excellence (the st...

Today I’m sharing another conversation with Issac Roth about the state of the world as I was seeing it in August 2020 which was admittedly a little grim aided by old memories from OpenShift & Red Hat. This was a couple months before we knew things would get worse with wildfires in California and Oregon (I couldn’t outside for a solid week or more). In the last published episode (recorded in October 2020), Issac shared his experience of almost losing his house in the California wildfires. Issac...

Issac Roth and I cover a wide-range of topics linked to our personal lives, our work together at Red Hat and the technology world in general–all sparked by wildfires he almost lost his house to. Issac and I go back to the early days of OpenShift at Red Hat. This conversation is not about that though maybe some day we’ll do one. Today I’m sharing a reflective Saturday morning conversation we had in October 2020 about what Issac is seeing in technology and the world around him. It’s an exploratio...

I’m back in another conversation with Brad Solomon. Today’s episode is more for the newer coach as we get into the mechanics of effective coaching. If you have a casual interest in coaching or are curious about what makes it it work you may find this episode interesting. And as is usually the case, Brad and I meander into other areas too. This conversation is also on YouTube if you prefer to view it there. The visual will explain my reference to lots of books and the virtual background I was us...

Brad Solomon and I continue our reflections and riffs about what’s present to us. This time it’s about being present, journaling, and the power (and difficulty) of getting clear about what you want. Conversation Highlights My longest answer ever to “how are you doing?” Showing up as the best version of whatever is present My break from the news through Future Self Journaling Learned about it from Carolyn Andrews Weekly newsletter and podcast called The Sunday Soother How talk therapy stoppe...

Brad Solomon and I set off on another unplanned exploration into what’s present to us in the moment, including sharing childhood pictures of ourselves. This is a rebroadcast of a conversation I had with Brad Solomon, Founder and CEO of the CTG Group in the UK on his podcast called The Lockdown Sessions. The Lockdown Sessions is a weekly podcast, hosted by Brad that explores reflections on a broad range of topics including self awareness, self management, learning and development issues and per...

Ken Dreyer and I discuss The Coaching Habit: Say Less, Ask More & Change the Way You Lead Forever by Michael Bungay Stanier. Our conversation evaluates the book and examines Ken’s experiences putting it to work. Ken is not a coach. My hope is that this conversation shows how simple coaching techniques can help you be a better leader no matter what your role is. Conversation Highlights You don’t have to be an official coach to benefit from the concepts in this book Ken would re-title the book ...

Brad Solomon and I talk about all the books we’ve started and not finished, what the full catastrophe of life is and how implementing what you know is more powerful than continuing to acquire more knowledge. This is a rebroadcast of a conversation I had with Brad Solomon, Founder and CEO of the CTG Group in the UK on his podcast called The Lockdown Sessions. The Lockdown Sessions is a weekly podcast, hosted by Brad that explores reflections on a broad range of topics including self awareness, s...

Brad Solomon and I explore the power of choosing, experiments, discipline, habits and what we are making of the time that is COVID-19. This is a rebroadcast of a conversation I had with Brad Solomon, Founder and CEO of the CTG Group in the UK on his podcast called The Lockdown Sessions. The Lockdown Sessions is a weekly podcast, hosted by Brad that explores reflections on a broad range of topics including self awareness, self management, learning and development issues and personal growth. To...

Alexis Monville and I discuss The Anatomy of Peace, a pivotal book in my own personal transformation and path to discarding judgement. It turns out that people in conflict value something else more highly than they value solutions. The Anatomy of Peace shows what this is and demonstrates how conflicts at home, conflicts at work, and conflicts in the world stem from the same root cause. Furthermore, the book shows how we systematically misunderstand the cause and unwittingly perpetuate the very ...

Here’s how I salvaged a day that might have turned out very differently though the simple act of writing down what was going on in my head. The Process Bullet or write out everything on your mind to get it all out Declare what you want to create or the day you want to have Create a list of the things you will say “yes” and “no” to that will support what you want to create Credits Hallon by Christian Bjoerklund Cold Funk by Kevin MacLeod Original photo source All songs licensed under Cre...

On his birthday this year, Rick Tamlyn committed to a whole year of not making any decisions from a place of fear. That reminded me of other things he taught me and the power of making choices. Decision Time? 3 Options to Consider by Rick Tamlyn sparked my thoughts for this episode. Highlights Making decisions from love and compassion The power of simply choosing What if there’s no “wrong” choice? There is no such thing as “hell maybe!” How is fear of the outcome playing into your decision...

Alexis Monville and I reflect on a time I gave feedback that was not well received and what we both learned from it. Hopefully you’ll learn something too. Background Today’s conversation is rebroadcast of a conversation I had with Alexis Monville on his podcast about giving feedback. When we recorded this conversation back in January 2020, I didn’t realize I had also helped create the first chapter of a new book Alexis and Michael Doyle were writing called, I Am a Software Engineer and I am i...

Meg Buzzi, Tina Robinson and I explore archetypes and their usefulness on Massively Useful Thing. Summary & Links This conversation with Meg Buzzi and Tina Robinson took many fun twists and turns. We started by talking about archetypes and that morphed into personas, tarot, personal board of directors, embodiment, and even a little coaching demo by me. This rebroadcast is from Meg and Tina’s podcast called Massively Useful Thing. The three of us met the first class of Co-Active coach training...

Yann Toutant and I explore what it means to work remotely in a time of Covid-19 and what we are taking from it. Conversation Highlights Yann Toutant joins me again–our previous conversations are Working Remote on Purpose (Episode #80) Being an Intrapreneur (Episode #90) Grappling with compassion The consequences of being forced to work remote without notice It’s difficult if you haven’t done it before It’s even more difficult to start without warning Yann does not see the present versio...

Yann Toutant returns to share more deeply from his life and what’s next having stepped down as CEO of his previous company. We talk about intrapreneurship, when to break the rules, sailing and more. Conversation Highlights I first met Yann Toutant in a previous conversation about remote work and the power of heart decisions Noticing what gives us energy and doesn’t as sign-posts for what we should be doing Sometimes you don’t realize the full extent of your contributions until you leave Giv...

More on what I’m learning and how I am being as a result of consuming fewer books and less information. Conversation Highlights Avoiding the Twitch (Anthony Ongaro) Going through books and podcasts much slower and multiple times Judgment, Acceptance and Freedom by Tara Brach Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life by Jon Kabat-Zinn There is no where to get to Convergence of three things Consuming less information Spending the weekend away with my wife Fe...

Anthony Ongaro interviews me about finding clarity, making lasting changes and how I got into this thing called coaching. It’s a rebroadcast from his video podcast in 2019. Highlights Links mentioned in the introduction The original conversation which contains Anthony’s notes, links, etc. Video of our conversation Learning To Play Like Yourself In 2020 Sign-up for Anthony’s newsletter My highlights after re-listening to our conversation Becoming a CPA and leaving it–starting my career in a...

Here are some ways to get back on track when your coaching session has lost its way. Highlights Lack of resonance can signal disconnect and that things are off track Speaking to what’s happening for you Locating sensations or feelings in your body Being with silence Asking the client what they need Getting curious about what “is” Trying to “think” your way to a better place usually doesn’t work very well Listening instead to a certain part of your body often works better Poorly formed ...

Here’s what happened and what I learned from our cross-country road trip in August of 2019 Highlights 6,800 miles in 26 days Enough time to form some new habits and perspectives in new places which was interesting Off for the month of August 2019 Ending “unnecessary suffering” Trip was inspired by a conversation with my ACS classmate Karen Ahlquist combined with several upcoming trips Knowing how much it costs us to live and knowing exactly how much we have at any time made it much easier...