The James Swanwick Show

Show Notes: JamesSwanwick.com/250

If you feel stressed out, like you’re always striving for more and more, and never able to attain it, or like nothing ever goes right for you and you’re constantly fighting an uphill battle, this episode will speak to you directly.

This episode is a book review of the book “The Power of Now” by Eckhart Tolle, which is all about the freedom, joy, and happiness that comes from acceptance. When something goes wrong, act as if it were what you wanted to happen, and spring into action! Take advantage of everything that goes wrong to accomplish something else!

So much of true happiness and contentedness is in how you see the world and circumstances, and this book trains you on how to be happier and more fulfilled in your life through the power of now.

Key Takeaways:

  • A lot of what you want are stories in your head, so when they don’t happen you feel loss, when you really didn’t lose anything because you didn’t have it in the first place
  • This allows you to see what you gain out of difficult situations, rather than what you think you lose
  • Accept conditions and work with them
  • Practice being able to accept things
  • Accept it as if you had chosen it, and then act! See it as an opportunity for something else
  • Complaining makes you a victim, and means you’re not accepting what is
  • If you are unhappy, remove yourself from it, change it, or accept it
  • When something bad happens, look at it as a good sign to make something good happen
  • Live in complete acceptance of what is

Resources:

“The Power of Now” by Eckhart Tolle

Show Notes: JamesSwanwick.com/250

 

Direct download: James_-_Ep_250_-_FINAL_MIX.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:01am PDT

Show Notes: JamesSwanwick.com/249

In this age of big businesses, there is a subtle change that is starting to take place: Business are starting to focus on doing good! Whereas businesses used to focus exclusively on the bottom line and pocketing more money, social businesses are starting to pop up, whose founders and operators are focused on doing good in the world, and Adam Force is here to talk to us about that change.

The good news is that any business can change or tweak its focus to be more on social good than bottom line revenue, so this episode is a discussion of what the differences are in these two lines of thinking, how businesses can be changed to be more socially conscious, and how to start and build a business from the ground up that has this intent.

Key Takeaways:

  • Younger generations are more interested in buying things from companies that align with their values
  • In social entrepreneurship, you need to think about scaling impact above scaling income
  • Social entrepreneurs work to make money so that they can continue to address the problem that their business focuses on
  • Upfront self exploration is essential in effective social entrepreneurship
  • Look for ways to build scale into the original model of your business
  • Build systems for people to do good into your business

Resources:

ChangeCreatorMag.com

Twitter: @Change_Creator

How to Stop Procrastinating

Show Notes: JamesSwanwick.com/249

Direct download: James_-_Ep_249_-_FINAL_MIX.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:01am PDT

Show Notes: JamesSwanwick.com/249

In this age of big businesses, there is a subtle change that is starting to take place: Business are starting to focus on doing good! Whereas businesses used to focus exclusively on the bottom line and pocketing more money, social businesses are starting to pop up, whose founders and operators are focused on doing good in the world, and Adam Force is here to talk to us about that change.

The good news is that any business can change or tweak its focus to be more on social good than bottom line revenue, so this episode is a discussion of what the differences are in these two lines of thinking, how businesses can be changed to be more socially conscious, and how to start and build a business from the ground up that has this intent.

Key Takeaways:

  • Younger generations are more interested in buying things from companies that align with their values
  • In social entrepreneurship, you need to think about scaling impact above scaling income
  • Social entrepreneurs work to make money so that they can continue to address the problem that their business focuses on
  • Upfront self exploration is essential in effective social entrepreneurship
  • Look for ways to build scale into the original model of your business
  • Build systems for people to do good into your business

Resources:

ChangeCreatorMag.com

Twitter: @Change_Creator

How to Stop Procrastinating

Show Notes: JamesSwanwick.com/249

Direct download: James_-_Ep_249_-_FINAL_VIDEO.mp4
Category:general -- posted at: 12:01am PDT

Show Notes: JamesSwanwick.com/248

Being liked by other people is an essential aspect to living a happy life. Your happiness is, in some ways, going to be directly proportional to the quality of your friend group, and so making sure that you know exactly how to make yourself more likeable is going to be essential to creating a good social circle.

On today’s episode I am going through my top 10 principles for being likeable. Most people have no idea how to improve in this area. They never think about it! Or maybe they think it is something that is built into who you are, but there are things you can tweak, while being 100% genuinely you, that will improve the likelihood that someone will like you when they meet you.

So learn how to become more likeable on this episode! Make careful not of the below 10 principles, and implement them consistently over time to see real results in your social circle, and, as a consequence, your happiness and quality of life.

The 10 Principles:

  1. Remember people’s names. When you do this, it will make a very good impression. People love the sound of their own name
  2. Take a genuine interest in the other person. Stop trying to impress people with your story, and try to learn their story
  3. Ask great questions. Develop the skill to ask great, not good, questions
  4. Find ways to help people
  5. Support people, by being their for people in difficult times, and encouraging them
  6. Complement the other person genuinely. Find something specific, and make sure it’s genuine
  7. Stop sitting around, waiting for people to invite you, and invite them to people!
  8. Express vulnerability. Don’t just talk about success, talk about your setbacks, failures, etc
  9. Be consistent. Don’t just do these for a short time, but consistently do it over time to see it work
  10. Ensure that your words and actions align. Do what you say you’re going to do. Always follow through

Resources:

People Skills Reboot: Online Program by James Swanwick

30DayNoAlcoholChallenge.com

Show Notes: JamesSwanwick.com/248

Direct download: James_-_Ep_248_-_FINAL_MIX.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:01am PDT

Show Notes: JamesSwanwick.com/247

Today I’m going over my 21 principles for success. These are the things that I do daily to ensure that my life is setup for as much success as possible. Implement these in your own life to turn it around!Slowly, maybe one at a time, create a habit out of each of these 21 steps.

The Principles:

  1. Write down your goals
  2. Practice gratitude daily. 2-minutes is enough
  3. Meditate. Try using an app like Headspace
  4. Daily visualization of the life you want. Be specific, and put it on a board
  5. Hold yourself accountable to other people for what you want to do
  6. Get consistent feedback on your work
  7. Daily exercise. Not regular, but every single day
  8. Be an “ask-hole.” Always ask for help, and always ask for what you want
  9. Invite people to do things with you
  10. Stop complaining. No matter how much you have to complain about, find something positive
  11. Don’t by GOOP: the Good Opinion of Other People. If you believe in something, go for it
  12. Pay to get rich. Invest in yourself through coaches, mentorships, books, training, etc. Pay to get better
  13. Practice radical honesty
  14. Practice radical forgiveness
  15. Be a complementing machine. Always find something to compliment people about
  16. Use the concept of “sets and reps” to get better at everything in your life
  17. Take 100% responsibility for your life
  18. Smile. It’s as simple as that. Make a habit of it
  19. Just do it. If you’re wondering if you want to do something, you probably do, so just do it
  20. Just do it NOW! Don’t wait. The best time to do anything is right now
  21. Be persistent. Never, ever, give up!

Resources:

FiveMinuteJournal.com

Headspace.com

Show Notes: JamesSwanwick.com/247

Direct download: james_-_Ep_247_-_FINAL_MIX.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:01am PDT

Do you ever wonder how some people have endurance beyond what seems at all normal? It seems that Dr. David Minkoff as cracked the code. He has run 41 Ironmans, and it doesn’t seem like he’s stopping anytime soon.

Today, we’re talking about the mindset behind endurance competition, as well as health aspects. Dr. Minkoff has a vast knowledge about amino acids, their importance and their use, proteins, as well as the inner game of endurance.

Whether you’re an endurance athlete or not, this conversation is packed with information to help live healthier and happier. Enjoy!

Key Takeaways:

  • Work to acclimate your mind to the idea that things will come up, but if you persevere, you will get through it
  • For endurance training, try to break the super long distances into chunks you can understand
  • Don’t compare yourself with your younger self or other people. Compare yourself with what you know you can do
  • Improvement, and the feeling that you’re getting somewhere, is extremely important in keeping you happy
  • There are 22 different amino acids that our body uses
  • A vegetarian diet can be good for vitamins, but bad for protein and amino acids

Resources:

DRMinkoff.com

Direct download: James_-_Ep_246_-_FINAL_VIDEO.mp4
Category:general -- posted at: 12:01am PDT

Do you ever wonder how some people have endurance beyond what seems at all normal? It seems that Dr. David Minkoff as cracked the code. He has run 41 Ironmans, and it doesn’t seem like he’s stopping anytime soon.

Today, we’re talking about the mindset behind endurance competition, as well as health aspects. Dr. Minkoff has a vast knowledge about amino acids, their importance and their use, proteins, as well as the inner game of endurance.

Whether you’re an endurance athlete or not, this conversation is packed with information to help live healthier and happier. Enjoy!

Key Takeaways:

  • Work to acclimate your mind to the idea that things will come up, but if you persevere, you will get through it
  • For endurance training, try to break the super long distances into chunks you can understand
  • Don’t compare yourself with your younger self or other people. Compare yourself with what you know you can do
  • Improvement, and the feeling that you’re getting somewhere, is extremely important in keeping you happy
  • There are 22 different amino acids that our body uses
  • A vegetarian diet can be good for vitamins, but bad for protein and amino acids

Resources:

DRMinkoff.com

Direct download: James_-_Ep_246_-_FINAL_MIX.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:01am PDT

Self confidence is the single ingredient that is completely essential to almost anything you want to do. But it’s so difficult to understand exactly how to increase it, isn’t it? Sometimes, it seems like you’re either born with it or not.

The good news is that you certainly can improve it, and YahYa Bakkar is showing us exactly how on today’s episode!

The 3-Ways

  1. Understand that your self-worth is not connected to your net-worth or your social worth
  2. Don’t compare your chapter 1 to somebody else’s chapter 20
  3. People who are confident are confident even in the things that they lack

Resources:

YahYa Bakkar on Youtube

YahYa.tv

Direct download: James_-_Ep_245_-_FINAL_VIDEO.mp4
Category:general -- posted at: 12:01am PDT

Self confidence is the single ingredient that is completely essential to almost anything you want to do. But it’s so difficult to understand exactly how to increase it, isn’t it? Sometimes, it seems like you’re either born with it or not.

The good news is that you certainly can improve it, and YahYa Bakkar is showing us exactly how on today’s episode!

The 3-Ways

  1. Understand that your self-worth is not connected to your net-worth or your social worth
  2. Don’t compare your chapter 1 to somebody else’s chapter 20
  3. People who are confident are confident even in the things that they lack

Resources:

YahYa Bakkar on Youtube

YahYa.tv

Direct download: James_-_Ep_245_-_FINAL_MIX.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:01am PDT

Show Notes: JamesSwanwick.com/244

Why do humans love the ocean so much? Why is it that we enjoy going to the beach? What draws us to the open fields, meadows, and water?

As it turns out, our brains are simply wired this way. From an evolutionary, self-preservation standpoint, the open spaces would have allowed us to see danger sooner, to be able to react more quickly.

This is why being in these spaces provides us with a sense of calm and relaxation. We feel subconsciously feel safer in these places, and it is because of our brain’s wiring.

This means that we should always make the effort to find places like that to relax. If you’re feeling especially stressed for any reason, or you just want to calm your mind and relax, seek out the ocean or an open area. Also, consider carefully where you move, as living somewhere without this sort of space could be a mistake.

Enjoy this episode, and if you like the show, please leave a rating and review in iTunes.

Key Takeaways:

  • Humans love open space, greenery, water, trees, flowers, etc
  • This is not just because it looks pretty
  • Our brains are evolved to enjoy this sort of thing for survival
  • So we need to understand our primal brains, and what it is that will appeal to it
  • If you’re looking for somewhere to live, take this into account
  • Spend time in these places to feel calmer, more at peace

Resources:

“Riveted: The Science of Why Jokes Make Us Laugh, Movies Make Us Cry, and Religion Makes Us Feel One with the Universe” by Jim Davies

Show Notes: JamesSwanwick.com/244

Direct download: James_-_Ep_244_-_FINAL_MIX.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:01am PDT