The Heroes of New York podcast hosted me
The Heroes of New York podcast host Anu Senan posted our conversation. The show features people who show exemplary behavior in the epicenter of the epicenter.
She liked the episode enough to invited me for a second episode (EDIT: here’s the second episode: Heroes of New York, episode 2: Doing meaningful things, a conversation on change), so I think you’ll like it too. See the show notes below for details.
Show notes
“Prison life is about routine: each day like the one before; each week like the one before it, so that the months and years blend into each other.†Nelson Mandela about the 27 years he spent in prison. Mandela believed a lifetime’s habit of exercise helped him to survive prison, ready for the challenges that lay ahead.
That’s a page we can all pick from his life when it comes to building structure and finding meaning and purpose when our external world suddenly goes out of control. Daily habits are a sure shot way to handle life’s adversity. Like the COVID – 19 pandemic that we are all going through.
In this special episode, I chat with Joshua Spodek, published expert and coach of starting habits that last, about building daily habits that stick. We explore everything from values that matter, starting where you are, doing what you can on your worst day and of course Nelson Mandela. Josh explains how he does it , the many rewards he reap from building habits that stick and how you can do it too.
Josh’s habit based achievements include:
- Posting to his blog daily for a decade, nearly 4,000 posts and counting
- Doing burpee-based calisthenics daily for nine years, over 150,000 burpees and counting
- In his fifth year not flying (by choice)
- Picking up a piece of trash daily for over 1,000 days and counting
- Producing less than one load of garbage per year for 3 years and counting
- And other habits for his well-being and in service to others
Joshua Spodek PhD MBA is a three-time TEDx speaker, #1 bestselling author of Initiative and Leadership Step by Step, host of the award-winning Leadership and the Environment podcast, and professor at NYU. He works with individuals and groups to improve their environmental culture and behavior.
Here’s the video that Josh refers to in this episode where he goes into depth on building habit’s that last.
What we discussed:
00:02:51 Building daily habits
00:07:04 Identifying values and their importance
00:09:18 Habits that stick
00:15:05 Mindset
00:22:28 Nelson Mandela – Thriving under lockdown
00:25:01 Sticking to new habits
00:27:02 Mindset
00:30:33 Building your structure from the inside out
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On initiative, leadership, the environment, and burpees