#75: Stuck, with Byron Bignell
Sean Howard & Eric Portelance
Attention Surplus
51 plays
Pretty big episode of my podcast Attention Surplus this week. As we’re about to enter our second full year of podcasting (and episode 75), we’re launching a revamped format. Would love your thoughts on this.
This week we discuss being stuck with Byron Bignell. He was “stuck” for over 18 years. Sean sat down with Byron to talk about being “stuck” and how to approach getting “unstuck.”
Download MP3 | Subscribe on iTunes
Note: We ran out of time in our episode and weren’t able to share all of the treatments Byron explored. While connecting with people was the start of his turnaround, he attributes a lot of his recovery to participating in a trial of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation. We include this in case any of our listeners are suffering from clinical depression or know someone who is looking for additional therapies to explore.
Last week’s talk with Lisa Charleyboy inspired us to try an activity she mentioned: making a collage of images representing things we’d like to have or pursue in the future. We spent an hour or so before this week’s show with some good friends, some bristol board and a stack of magazines, cutting and pasting photos to produce a sort of mood board for our lives. On the episode, Sean and Eric discuss what they learned from the process and the end results.
We also mention:
- 10Q, the online “question vault”
A very special and personal episode of my podcast, Attention Surplus, this week. We did a creative exercise about visually mapping out our goals and feelings about our lives over the next few years. It was incredibly powerful. In the show, we discuss how we approached it and what our initial feelings were.
#47: What Are You At Heart? with Pat Thompson
Sean Howard & Eric Portelance
Attention Surplus
10 plays
One of the best episodes of Attention Surplus yet. A discussion about vocation and purpose. What are you at heart? What do you want to be when you grow up?
“What do I want to be when I grow up?” That’s the question on the cover of the little book that first drew our attention to this week’s guest. Pat Thompson is a leadership consultant, Metcalf Foundation Innovation Fellow and Visiting Scholar at Massey College.
She visited our living room studio to talk about vocation and good work, the value of being stuck, and the vital importance of reflection and good conversation.
The notebook, available at Dark Horse Espresso in Toronto, contains other deep questions and thought-provoking quotes — and, of course, plenty of space to reflect.
Links for this episode:
- Pat’s website One Alpha Avenue
- Frederick Buechner, writer and theologian
- Wendell Berry’s essay “Conservation is Good Work” (PDF)
- Parker Palmer, author and activist
- “Is Your Job Your Calling” (Fast Company)
- “The Way It Is” by William Stafford (“There’s a thread you follow”)
New week, new episode of North America’s favourite podcast about shame, doubt, and regret. ;)
This is as close as you’ll get to New Year’s resolutions from us: Eric talks about how he came to write a self-critical personal manifesto for 2012, and Sean offers his theory of a “threshold of distasteful actions” as one of the roots of procrastination.
Next week, we dig into Eric’s manifesto.
We mention:
- Sean’s New Year’s Eve exercise for recognizing your accomplishments
- Episode 42, with Jon Crowley
- Episode 38: Valuing What You Do
- the Inbox Zero method
#38: Valuing What You Do
Sean Howard & Eric Portelance
Attention Surplus
17 plays
A brand new episode of Attention Surplus, with the triumphant return of “Junk Sean.” And, announcing our first contest. You could win signed photo printed from me, Sean, and our mystery guest.
It’s easy to judge ourselves by what we haven’t finished or aren’t getting done. What if we were to look instead at all the things we have accomplished?
Plus: how and when to say no, and the return of Junk Sean.
Announcing our first contest! Leave a comment and guess the name of our special guest (who will join us for next week’s episode) and win not one but three signed photo prints – one each from Sean, Eric and our mystery guest!
We mention:
- #9, The Decade List, and #10, Measuring Your Life with Douglas Reid
- David Allen’s Getting Things Done
FourCast 95: We’ll archive our brains, defy gravity, and colonize planets with SimCity Arcologies.
I was a guest on Tom Merritt and Scott Johnson’s FourCast podcast last night on the TWiT network. I had a great time chatting about my predictions for the future.
#33: An Ethic of Kindness
Sean Howard & Eric Portelance
Attention Surplus
20 plays
We’re back with another episode of Attention Surplus after taking a week off for Canadian Thanksgiving. For long time listeners of the show, you’ll be interested to know this one includes a special update on my favourite subway musician. ;)
In the midst of a crazy month, we talk about feeling stretched too thin, as well as the idea of supporting people and organizations that pursue an “ethic of kindness”.
Plus: an update on Eric’s favourite subway musician!
We mention:
We gathered the old Mac Dose cast together to record a very special episode of the podcast last night. I’m really proud of this one and hope you’ll take some time to listen and provide some feedback.
Mac Dose - Special Live Episode →
We’re getting the old Mac Dose crew back together for a very special live epsiode tonight to celebrate Steve Jobs and his influence on us. You can tune in live at 7pm EST/
#30: Ready, Fire, Aim with Steve St. Pierre
Sean Howard & Eric Portelance
Attention Surplus
30 plays
Pretty good episode of Attention Surplus this week, if I do say so myself.
Designer, artist, musician, public speaker and Ottawa Creative Collective co-founder Steve St. Pierre joins Eric via Skype to talk about seat-of-the-pants creativity and making things happen.
