Good Life Project || Inspiration | Motivation | Happiness | Meaning | Success

Zainab Salbi (http://zainabsalbi.com/) is a humanitarian, author, and global change-maker. At the age of 23, Salbi founded Women for Women International, a grassroots humanitarian and development organization dedicated to serving women survivors of wars by offering support, tools, and access to life-changing skills to move from crisis and poverty to stability and economic self-sufficiency.Under her leadership as the organization’s CEO (1993-2011), the organization grew from helping 30 women upon its inception to more than 400,000 women in 8 conflict areas. It also distributed more than $100 million in direct aid and micro credit loans that impacted more than 1.7 million family members.But, the whole time, she was living with a huge, dark secret. In her new book, Freedom is an Inside Job, (https://amzn.to/2pnnPou) she shares how owning our darkness along with out light is the unlock key for self-healing and global transformation. And, in today's conversation she shares how this realization awake

Social anxiety. #ugh! It's that constant voice of judgment and inadequacy that leaves you terrified of being "found out," and stops you from sharing the real you. Guess what? You're not alone.DR. ELLEN HENDRIKSEN (http://ellenhendriksen.com/)is a clinical psychologist who helps millions calm their social anxiety and be their authentic selves. How? Through her award-winning podcast, Savvy Psychologist (https://goo.gl/uKh7U7), in the clinic at Boston University's Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders (CARD). And, now through her groundbreaking book, HOW TO BE YOURSELF (https://amzn.to/2OqLUJ7).Hendriksen earned her Ph.D. at UCLA and completed her training at Harvard Medical School. Her scientifically-based, zero-judgment approach has been featured in New York Magazine, The Observer, The Verge, Vice, Vox, Psychology Today, Scientific American, Susan Cain's Quiet Revolution, and many other media outlets. SavvyToday, we dive into her personal journey with social anxiety, how an aspiring architect found her

Scott Harrison was living a life that was as close to pure hedonism as you could come. He was on top of the world, getting paid to party and living utterly (and destructively) in the moment...in the worst wayEventually, falling apart physically and emotionally, Harrison found himself wondering, "what is the exact opposite of the life I'm now living?" And, then, remarkably, he set about living that alternative path. Paying to serve on a floating hospital ship off the coast of Liberia, he reconnected with a deeper mission to help others, with water as his focus.Scott then founded and is the CEO of charity: water, (https://www.charitywater.org/thirst) one of the fast-growing non-profits in history, that has mobilized over one million donors around the world to fund over 28,000 water projects in 26 countries that will serve more than 8.2 million people. This journey is detailed in his powerful new book, THIRST: A Story of Redemption, Compassion and a Mission to Bring Clean Water to the World (https://amzn.to/2poK

By the age of 25, Michael Ventura had founded and built one of the "hottest" shops in the interactive design world. From the outside-looking-in, he was flying high. But, from the inside looking out, he was riddled with stress and falling apart.His body eventually gave in, leaving him with three ruptured discs and the prospect of fusion surgery and arthritic pain for the rest of his life. At the same time, the economy crashed, decimating his business.He saw this as a wake-up call, both personal and professional. Ventura began to explore an alternative path to healing that led him not only back to full recovery without surgery, but on his path to becoming a practitioner of eastern and indigenous medicine, working through his private practice, Corvus Medicine as a healer.At the same time, he rallied the tiny group of remaining employees to redefine what their company was about and stand in a place of radical honesty and vulnerability with their clients. Relaunching in 2009, as Sub Rosa (http://wearesubrosa.

Radha Agrawal (http://radhaagrawal.com/) is the co-Founder, CEO and Chief Community Architect of Daybreaker (http://daybreaker.com/), the early morning, sober dance celebration. This global gathering happens in 25 cities and more than a dozen college campuses, with a global community of more than 500,000 people. Agrawal is also a successful serial social-entrepreneur, author, DJ, inventor, investor and gifted experience-designer named by MTV as “one of 8 women who will change the world.”But, none of this would have happened had she stuck to her original plan to build a career as a New York City investment banker. In today’s conversation, we dive deep into her journey and explore critical moments of awakening and change, along with ideas from her new book BELONG: Find Your People, Create Community & Live A More Connected Life (https://amzn.to/2NyYJxj). We also explore answers to the question, "how do I find my people?" and "How do I create large and meaningful communities in the real world?"----------

Ben Nemtin (http://www.bennemtin.com/) is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of What Do You Want To Do Before You Die? and the star of the MTV show, The Buried Life.As the co-founder of The Buried Life movement, Ben’s message of radical possibility has been featured by major media outlets including The Today Show, The Oprah Winfrey Show, CNN, Inc., ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC News. Oprah called Ben’s life work “truly inspiring.”In a pit of depression, Ben and his three best friends decided to create the world’s greatest bucket list to make them feel alive. They bought a rickety old bus and crisscrossed North America, achieving the unthinkable. And most importantly, every time they accomplished a dream, they helped a complete stranger cross something off their bucket list.From playing basketball with President Obama to streaking a professional soccer field, from raising over $400,000 for charity to placing a record-breaking $250,000 bet on roulette—Ben’s bucket list quest has inspired

Born in a small town in upstate New York, pop-music phenom, Andy Grammer (http://andygrammer.com/)earned his place in music the hard way. He spent years busking on the 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica, honing is voice and skills as a singer, songwriter and also learning what draws attention and makes people feel good.He’s since become the first male pop star in a decade to reach the Top 10 at Adult Pop Radio with “Keep Your Head Up” and “Fine By Me,” from his 2011 self-titled debut. His second album, Magazines or Novels, featured the triple-platinum smash “Honey, I’m Good,” which was one of the best-selling songs of 2015, and the certified gold anthem “Good to be Alive (Hallelujah).”Now, with mega-hits and a successful career, he’s thinking a lot about how to speak his own truth. The concept of honesty—what it means and how to attain it—offers both inspiration and challenge to one of the most successful pop artists to emerge in recent years.You can see this reflected in his recent album, “The Good Parts,”

Brene Brown (http://brenebrown.com/) and I met a few years back while speaking at an event. We clicked immediately, grabbed lunch and laughed a lot. I asked her to come and share a bit of her journey with our Good Life Project community. The conversation that unfolded left me changed.Brown’s fascination with what she calls wholehearted living eventually led her to explore how we dance with shame and vulnerability, and how we navigate criticism, and awaken to our own power and potential. How we become brave, awake and alive. She's since written numerous books, including, Daring Greatly (http://brenebrown.com/books/), Rising Strong (https://amzn.to/2vvqvnE) and Braving the Wilderness (https://amzn.to/2M2YWfQ).I asked her to join me on Good Life Project in October 2012 and the conversation that unfolded moved us both to tears at various points. Brene was so beautifully real, raw, candid and wise. Every part of that conversation is as relevant today, maybe more so given the current climate, th

Dave Gilboa is the co-founder/CEO of Warby Parker (http://warbyparker.com/).Growing up in San Diego, the son of two doctors, Gilboa was sure he'd become a doctor, too. But, a random moment where he lost his glasses on a plane set in motion a series of awakenings that would change the course of his life.Starting with a simple idea that pretty much everyone said was impossible, Dave, his co-founder and team have now built a socially-conscious global brand valued at over $1-billion that offers designer eyewear at a human price, while giving millions of pairs of glasses to people and families in need.Dave has worked extensively with non-profit organizations and serves as a founding member of the Entrepreneur Board of Venture for America, an organization dedicated to mobilizing graduates as entrepreneurs in low-cost cities. He is a member of the Aspen Institute’s 2014 Henry Crown Fellowship class and the Aspen Global Leadership Network, has received the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award, and was rec

Growing up in South Central, LA in the '60s and '70s, Ruth King (https://ruthking.net/) was taught to bury her emotions, to hide her heart and do what was necessary to survive. Feeling was not a good thing, getting home safe was. But, eventually, a call to reconnect with her big heart deep empathy came in the form of open-heart surgery in her 20s.Returning to school, King pursued her Masters Degree in Clinical Psychology, managed training and organizational development divisions at Levi Strauss and Intel, where she designed diversity awareness programs and consulted to leaders on cultural change initiatives. Over time, her interests expanded to include the study of insight meditation and Tibetan Buddhism. King is now an insight meditation teacher and emotional wisdom author, mentored by Jack Kornfield in the Theravada tradition.King’s work has been influenced by many cultures, and is often described as “ceremony.” Her intuitive methods, knowledge, and skills weave the fields of Western psychology, Buddhi

Raised on an island in South Carolina, singer/songwriter Trevor Hall realized at a young age that music was more than just a passion - it was his life’s art. So, he moved to California to pursue a degree in music, began performing live shows and was quickly signed to his dream deal at a major label. His trajectory seemed meteoric, then everything came tumbling down. His albums never made it out of production, he found himself out of money, abandoned by his label and on his own to figure out how to move forward.During this same time, he was also introduced to yoga and meditation and found himself traveling to a local ashram to practice and eventually find housing and sustenance. In his time of greatest need, he found himself living in the ashram, then traveling to India and rediscovering who he really was and how he wanted to bring his music and voice to the world. From there, he began to rebuild not only his living as a musician, but also his life.Hall’s music, a blend of roots and folk music w

Growing up, Grace Bonney, was all about culture and music, with a strong connection with jam bands that landed her on the business side of music and media in New York City. Along the way, she launched a side project blog called Design Sponge, to share insights about growing passion for accessible home design.The blog exploded and, eventually, she left her full-time job to build Design Sponge into a full-blown media company of her own with a massive, global audience, a book, travel and an increasingly public profile. But, along the way, Grace’s interests evolved, creating a gap between what she was creating, what she genuinely cared about and how she wanted to live.That all came to a head about 5 years ago when pretty much every part of her life, her marriage, her health and work-life were profoundly disrupted, setting in motion an awakening to a new direction in all three domains. Grace was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, her marriage ended, she came out, fell in love with her now wife, Julia, wrote a new boo

When Scotty Johnson answered an ad in the paper to spend 4-months in the Arctic Circle, he never imagined it would forever change his life and lay the foundation for a stunning living filled with adventure and impact.In the two decades since, he's taken everyone from elite leadership teams and executives, to international sports teams, students and kids into some of the most rugged environments in the world, from the Oman desert to the open sea, and from Arctic expeditions and the rainforests of Australia to deep solitude of slow-moving rivers. He's been on a quest to tap the power of these natural laboratories to reconnect people to the things that matter, the things that give meaning, the things that align to personal values, and the things that make a difference to self, family, organizations and the world we live in.Along the way, he's found himself not only making a profound difference in people's lives but also building a career that lets him perpetually follow his fascinations, make meaning and fill hi

Priya Parker is the founder of Thrive Labs, where she helps activists, elected officials, corporate executives, educators, and philanthropists create transformational gatherings.She works with teams and leaders across technology, business, the arts, fashion, and politics to clarify their vision for the future and build meaningful, purpose-driven communities. Her clients have included the Museum of Modern Art, LVMH, the World Economic Forum, meetup.com, Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture, the Union for Concerned Scientists, and Civitas Public Affairs.Parker is the author of The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters. In today's conversation, we explore the power and art of gathering, how to turn a hum-drum party or dinner into a life-changing experience. We also dive into her very personal experiences with race, exclusion, activism, resolution, hard conversations and the moments that both shaped who she would become and define the path she would choose in work and life.-------------Have

From the outside-looking-in, Ryan Lee had it all.After 6 years working in a hospital helping physically-disabled and sick kids find more joy and ease, Ryan felt the tug of entrepreneurship. So, he left the job he loved to play in the world of "internet marketing," where he quickly made a name for himself and went on to built numerous, hugely-successful companies in the health and nutrition field. Along the way, Lee married his college sweetheart and was raising four great kids. He owned a beautiful house in Connecticut, worked from cafes and loved life.Then, everything started falling apart...Ryan's body began to betray him to the point where he could barely walk. He'd soon learn that was just a symptom of a much larger reckoning. A wake-up call that would test his health, his business, his closest relationships and lead to a complete reboot of his wellbeing, his living and life. And, as is his pattern, scratching the itch of his own wellbeing, Ryan began to notice a serious gap in the market.

Is your DNA your destiny? Can you swap in better "source code" to save your life, change your appearance, be smarter or more athletic? Can a mother inherit DNA from her fetus? What do you really get when you pay for inexpensive genome-testing? These questions are just part of what we cover in today's deep with acclaimed science-writer, Carl Zimmer. Zimmer writes the Matter column for the New York Times and contributes to The Atlantic, National Geographic, Time, and Scientific American, among others. He has won the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s Science Journalism Award three times, among a host of other awards and fellowships. He teaches science writing at Yale University. His previous books include Parasite Rex, Evolution, and Microcosm.His new book, She Has Her Mother's Laugh is a stunning, powerfully-researched, eye-opening look at the truth about heredity, DNA, what is truly in our control and the astonishing breakthroughs coming our way in just the next few years.-------------

Susan Piver (http://susanpiver.com/) is the New York Times best-selling author of 9 books, a speaker, and founder of the largest virtual mindfulness community in the world, The Open Heart Project. She has been featured on Oprah, TODAY, CNN, speaks around the world and leads teachings and retreats on Buddhism, meditation, relationships and the essential practices for a life well-lived.In her most recent book, The Four Noble Truths of Love, (https://amzn.to/2laMDxV) she offers a powerful set of tools to reimagine and better navigate long-term, loving relationships in a way that respects each person's individual truth, while making space for a living, evolving container for love.In our podcast conversation this week, Piver shares the eye-opening revelation that brought her to the Four Noble Truths of Love, then walks us through each one. She reveals the genesis of this work, her own 20-year marriage, her struggle with attachment to "what was" and the innately human need to contain and define and preserve it

Artist, poet, activist and author, Cleo Wade, likes to say she has three parents, her mom, her dad and the city of New Orleans.Wade’s new book, Heart Talk: Poetic Wisdom For a Better Life, (https://amzn.to/2Ltivce) is a moving collection of poems, provocative thoughts and moments that leave you questioning the status quo and opening your heart and mind to a different set of possibilities. Her artwork includes everything from short, hand-written posts shared with her giant following on Instagram to collaborations with major brands and large-scale public art installations, including a 25-foot love poem in the skyline of the New Orleans French Quarter titled “Respect.”In today’s episode we explore how being raised as a mixed-race kid in the famed New Orleans French Quarter by two fiercely-creative parents influenced her, how hurricane Katrina changed everything, why she moved to New York, how she walked away from a career as a rising star in fashion to rediscover and cultivate a deeper, artistic voice as a

Michael Pollan is the author most recently of mega New York Times bestseller, How to Change Your Mind, and of seven previous books that became global phenomena, including Cooked, Food Rules, and The Omnivore's Dilemma. A longtime contributor to the New York Times Magazine, he also teaches writing at Harvard and the University of California, Berkeley where he is the John S. and James L. Knight Professor of Science Journalism. In 2010, Time magazine named him one of the one hundred most influential people in the world.In today's episode, we explore his lens on the writing life, then dive into his year's long investigative journey into the mysterious world of psychedelic molecules, like LSD, psilocybin (magic mushrooms), MDMA and something called "the toad." We talk about the fact, fiction, history, science and revolutionary clinical studies now underway, mostly from the lens of therapeutic outcomes.This conversation is not a permission-slip to experiment with any of what he talks about, nor an endorse

Jen Sincero is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of You are a Badass and You are a Badass at Making Money.But it all started from humble beginnings, playing in a band and living in a garage in Venice Beach, California, Sincero made a decision to change her life, stepping into her true identity, leading with her real, wise, funny, badass voice, and reframing her relationship with money. Money, it turned out, was not the enemy, but rather a conduit for expression and impact.With this shift in intention and action, she set a new course and built a career as an internationally-acclaimed and massively successful writer on her own terms. Still, the story behind what it took to sell her first book, You Are a Badass (which has now sold a bajillion copies and been on the NYT list for years) is pretty amazing. We dive into that and so much more in this week's Best Of conversation.-------------Have you discovered your Sparketype yet? Take the Sparketype Assessment™ now. IT’S FREE&nbs