A more personal podcast interview with Jared Angaza
I comment these days that I’m becoming friends with the people interviewing me in podcasts and Jared Angaza’s interview of me, “Do the Thing,” is a perfect example.
I’ve also said lately that if you put yourself out for public scrutiny, to succeed you can either create a persona and act like it or you can express yourself more openly, but to mix them—to mix acting like someone else with acting authentically—doesn’t work. I’m trying to use these interviews to open up more and to speak more freely. I think I’m succeeding. I’m sure I have blind spots, like anyone, that people who know me pick up on but I don’t. And I can’t talk about everything all the time. I’m mostly focusing on the book. But generally, I feel I’m sharing more about myself with less inhibition and more freedom.
This interview facilitated all that. I don’t know what you like to hear in an interview, but Jared and I enjoyed it a lot. I hope you enjoy it too. I think there’s a lot in it about living life deliberately. In particular, the title of the interview, “Do the Thing,” comes from an important part of the interview that I consider useful and I wish I had heard when I was younger.
Here are Jared’s notes from his page:
Summary
In this episode, Joshua and I dive deep on living deliberately and the extraordinary experiences that can come from self-discipline, practice and just having enough passion to take the first step. We have to be willing to embrace the mystery and unknown.
Josh talks about his relationship with food and how he’s adopted a plant-based diet with no processed foods or added sugars. And guess what? He enjoys the food more than ever before, and feels great at the same time. He’s also very deliberate about buying locally and limiting packaging, or at least recycling it.
Joshua’s book, Leadership Step by Step, talks about how we actually learn to become leaders. He believes anyone can be a great leader if they have the desire. But to do so, we must engage in some unorthodox learning methods. It’s about how we learn, not just what we’re learning. He talks about the importance of teaching social and emotional learning, rather than just focusing on basic intellectual growth or compliance.
This was an extremely interesting and exciting interview! I hope you’ll join us for the adventure.
Highlights
- Discipline isn’t necessarily what pushes you to experience an extraordinary life. It’s taking that first step that allows you a taste of it that then compels you to be disciplined enough to stay with it.
- There are two types of living; cookies and ice cream, and trying. You either sit there and keep going for momentary, fleeting satisfaction, or you decide to branch out and try another way of living, a new option, or even just a new food or cultural experience.
- “You have to say no to a lot of great things to live a great life.â€
- Our beliefs in the scarcity of time prevent us from having an open mind, from embracing the mysteries of life.
- Allow space for the mystery of life.
- What I find so interesting about visiting another culture is what it tells you about yourself.
- Joshua talks about his experience in North Korea in terms of culture, epiphanies and lessons learned about human behavior.
- Leading with empathy and revering relationships above all else.
- We have some good understanding of what kind of leaders we should be, but not a lot of instruction as to how to become that type of leader.
- Everything developed through practice and experience. It’s what Joshua refers to as “method learningâ€, like “method actingâ€.
- Lead with empathy. Connect with people. Life is about relationships.
- How do you create a longing in someone else? How do you “play with feeling�
- Probably the single biggest influence in my life has been the Tao Te Ching. (Interestingly, both Jared and Josh site the same book as being their biggest influence.)
Best Moment
Dedication and responsibility ultimately superseded my previous sense of entitlement. Those extraordinary experiences aren’t just going to drop out of the sky as if I’m entitled to them. I have to deliberately go out and create those moments.
—Joshua Spodek
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