023: Dov Baron, Conversation 2: Freedom and the Jaguar
Who doesn’t have a dream car?
If you can afford it, especially if you’ve aspired to it your whole life, isn’t owning and driving your dream car one of the great joys and well-earned accomplishments in life?
What if you found something better? What if what you liked better was not having the car?
Does the idea of getting rid of one of your highest value sound crazy?
That’s the value of knowing your values. You learn what’s better for you.
Dov loves his Jaguar. He worked his whole life to get it. His personal challenge led him to consider that letting go of it could improve his life more than keeping it?
Sound crazy? Listen to this episode to learn how his greater experience led him to see greater values than his car—in freedom, consciousness, responsibility, and things many people with authority talk about but few live.
Speaking of values, freedom, responsibility, and so on, I’ve read a lot of leadership books. They all talk about values and so on, abstractly. In this episode Dov talks about them in his life—genuinely, authentically, connecting to his life and choices that affect him and people he cares about.
I put what Dov shares against the content of any leadership book and suggest that Dov shares more. Talking about values and such in the abstract doesn’t translate to action and how you live your life. Now that I’ve met many leadership teachers, authors, and coaches, I’ve seen some not live the values the profess.
I’m glad this podcast is giving people the chance to examine their values, face internal conflict between their values, their actions, comfort, and convenience, and discover the value in persevering through the struggle to live by what they care about.
Highlights
We start with plants, gardening, and cooking. While I enjoy hearing a world class speaker talking about digging in dirt (as Gandhi did), the deep, surprising stuff comes about halfway through and keeps building
We talk about awareness versus willful ignorance, distraction from what matters, how to get back to what matters, how freedom can be a prison, reflection, meditation, and learning about oneself—not lecturing but in connection to daily life.
He also talked about his challenge, what he loves, and living by his values, overcoming internal conflict. It’s not what you lose, but what you replace it with and what you learn about yourself.
Dov’s results
Dov’s results speak for themselves.
He felt great. He savored. He said he was more than glad he did it. Considering getting rid of his car improved his life by including considering others in his actions.
He increased his freedom. However much getting rid of something he could afford sounds like a loss or restriction, listen to Dov to learn how it increased his freedom. If you think you know better, consider that he experienced more as a result of his challenge.
What I learned
Dov’s considering getting rid of a car took podcast to new level and increased my expectation that starting with as little as a set of one-on-one podcast conversation can lead to global change.
I’m releasing it before other conversations I recorded after. Mugs instead of cups won’t change the world. I wondered if podcast could make a meaningful difference.
I hope you consider what your Jaguar is and what your delicious is so that you can act on it.
Dov’s odometer
