Unconventional Life – Podcast, Blog, Live Events

Author: Jules Schroeder

  • Ep260: WFH. Living Life On Your Own Terms, with Badass Digital Nomad host Kristin Wilson

    Ep260: WFH. Living Life On Your Own Terms, with Badass Digital Nomad host Kristin Wilson

    “WFH”—an acronym that was almost non-existent until 2020— is now the most popular trend globally with the pandemic affecting the lives of every nation and social class, forcing us to Work From Home. After decades of investing millions into the tech industry to make smaller computers, powerful smartphones, and whatever the heck 5G is, there is a sort of beauty to humankind’s obsession with tech now that we can work remotely.

    It sort of a delight in a way when you think about it: years of competition and advancement has prepared us for a pandemic of this magnitude. But even before the word COVID-19 was carved into our minds, entrepreneur, writer, influencer and surfer Kristin Wilson has been working from home and advocating remote work for the past 18 years.

    Now, Wilson is lending her knowledge to help people, relocate and live better lives without being stuck in an office space. An “advocate” of WFH years before the pandemic, she has worked as a digital nomad and has preached its benefits through her writing in Medium, and Quora, as well as her YouTube channel Traveling with Kristin, and podcast, Badass Digital Nomads.

    Though it has affected travel for most of the world, she acknowledges that this pandemic pushed the lives of everyone almost a decade into the future. “Well you changed, literally overnight,” Kristin said, “because before the pandemic happened, I was estimating that it would be at least another 10 years before the majority of companies accepted the possibility of remote work and work from home for their employees.”

    “I was kind of acting as a remote work advocate to not only help individuals work remotely but also to prove to CEOs and companies and small business owners that their employees could work from home and that it would be a win-win for everybody. When the coronavirus happened, I was like ‘Okay my work here is done.’”

     

    Making Your Own Path

    Even back in her middle school years, she knew that she was not meant to be stuck in an office space.

    “In middle school, the personality tests and the career tests, well I actually would fail those,” she said, “like I would get the results back and it would say, like, ‘Error message, could not fit you with a job’ and then all my classmates would be like, ‘Oh, I’m going to be a doctor, I’m going to be a firefighter,’ you know, all of the like cliche jobs and mine was just like, I had too many different interests to fit into any job profile. So fast forward to when I was in college, the anxiety of choosing a major was like the same thing. And the only thing I knew that I liked to do was to travel.”

    Now that she’s achieved the work-life balance that she has dreamed of, Kristin has made it her life duty to help others see the beauty of life outside the workplace and even assist them in moving to new places.

    “I’m just on this path to share everything I’ve learned about creating your own job, working remotely or living in foreign countries, and just living life on your own terms.”

     

    Building Your Roots

    Though technology has closed the distance of communication, this globe-trotting entrepreneur acknowledges that our electronic monitors are not a good enough alternative to genuine human connection.

    Which is why she wants people to make connections and build communities, through “slow travel” which means staying in a foreign country for more than a just week or even a month.

    “I even had the T-shirts that say Slow Obsessed With It,” Kristin said, “because when you travel really quick, you meet a lot of people, but the relationships are all on this acquaintance level and it can feel really shallow, sometimes, but also you can go really deep with people quickly and have like this soulmate-connection.”

    She predicts that when the travel bans are lifted and the effects of the pandemic have simmered down, she foresees that there will be a “global migration” and people will realize what they’ve missed while being away from the office.

    In the end, Kristin emphasizes that other than sightseeing our most important experience in our global journeys is the connections with people that we make, and at times our realizations may overwhelm us, that she has this to say:

    “As human beings, you still need that core group of friends that you can rely on and that core community,” Kristin says, “and if you start to feel like you’re disconnected or that you’re really alone in the world, [you] just kind of step back and go back to your roots a little bit. [this could mean that] maybe it’s time to go home.”

     

    More from Kristin:

  • Ep259: 3 Ways to Love Better, with School of Love NYC founder, Monica Parikh

    Ep259: 3 Ways to Love Better, with School of Love NYC founder, Monica Parikh

    They say experience is the best teacher, but they never tell you how often cruel the teaching method is of this metaphorical professor. As we spin this thread of life we are on, we’re constantly caught off guard no matter how much we prepare, but how we deal with these setbacks and surprises is what shapes us as people.

    For Lawyer and School of Love NYC founder, Monica Parikh, her unexpected divorce with her husband was a dark time in her life but it was also the spark that started her journey to guide professionals and young people through the confusing world of intimate relationships.

    After her husband suddenly decided one day that he no longer wanted to be married and walked out the door, Monica was devastated. The first years that followed were what she called “the dark night of the soul” filled with questions and longing. However, it is when our hearts break that light enters through the cracks.

    After regaining her ground, she decided to study this vague idea of love and dedicate her time and energy to helping others about it. Monica had an Ivy League education, a law degree, but still decided to educate herself in psychology, non-violent communication, and even quantum physics.

    She shares with us three tools that you may add to better your relationships, not just in love but in life, holistically.

     

    Set Your Boundaries

    Monica recognizes that marriages and other romantic relationships do require intimacy. But that intimacy should not be without limits. She says that partners need to listen to each other and approach each boundary with respect to mature as adults.

    “We need, basically, someone to calmly teach us how to mediate conflict and de-escalate it,” she says, “how to align needs, how to set boundaries, and how to move to a place of interdependence as opposed to codependence.”

    “Your life is not just about one person, where you ask that person to fulfil all your needs,” she adds, “you see that you live in a village, and we have lots of different people we need to talk and relate to. So really, marriage and relationships are just a vehicle for personal self-development.”

     

    Look Inward

    The former public interest lawyer shares a story where a woman, after a first date, decided to visit her partner—who lived in a different state—and stay at his home for four days. The girl told her that after a while, the guy started being crabby with her.

    The woman told Monica that the guy was a narcissist. “The problem with, when we look outwards, we sometimes don’t look enough inwards,” Monica told her, “and the inwards look is, was it a good choice to spend four days with a stranger?”

    She notes that the situation the woman was in was an overwhelming one for both of them. She notes that people need to start taking “personal accountability” for the relationship-decisions they make.

    She thinks that narcissism is a “pernicious disease in society” which is why she also places boundaries on social media—a platform that promotes self-centred behaviour—for her relationships and work life.

     

    Take Care of Yourself

    “You can’t take care of other people,” she says, “until you take care of yourself. So the better I take care of me, the better I take care of a lot of people who need me to solve relationship problems.”

    During the dark grieving stage of her divorce, Monica focused her energy to move on in a healthy and positive way. She maintained a morning routine of one hour for exercise followed by a calming 45-minute meditation.

    She also adds that the effect of processed food on her brain was dour, and she’s mostly had a vegan diet. She adds that our wallets are just as important to our health as much as our food. After that dark time of her separation, she allotted some time on analyzing her personal finances, and since viewed money from a different perspective, adding that it was vital to learn about if she wanted to help this generation’s burgeoning youth.

     

    More from Monica:

    Visit her website www.schooloflovenyc.com

  • Ep258: Golf and the Universal Principle, with Development Coach Thane Marcus Ringler

    Ep258: Golf and the Universal Principle, with Development Coach Thane Marcus Ringler

    There are three golf balls on the moon. How’d they got there? It was all because of astronaut Allan Shepard who thought a little harmless fun wouldn’t bother anyone in that empty floating cheese ball in space. A person’s single decision made the unimaginable, a reality.

    Golf itself, if you watch it on TV, the first 10 minutes really isn’t what you would call entertainment. It consisted of details and intense focus from the players, all of which weren’t as entertaining to an average television enjoyer who would prefer a slam dunk rather than a clean downswing. However, it was this sport’s attention to detail that sparked the inspiring vision of Development Coach Thane Marcus.

    Thane said that it was a sport that matched his stubbornness as a kid. Being competitive, he wanted to make the most of each play without having to rely on a team, coach, referees and anyone else but his talent and determination.

    “It’s a bit naive and childish to think that that’s a good thing,” he said, “[but] the older you get, the more you realize you have to take full ownership for the failures just as much as the successes and so that’s really what gravitated me towards golf.”

    Thane played golf up until college at the Master’s University in California, and four years professionally before moving on to teach people how to take ownership of their lives. Also the host of The Up & Comers Show, he shares ideas and inspiring stories from people who are being a leader to themselves.

    He says golf and personal development invoke similar ideas, as the outcome is solely dependent on the individual. Golf requires training and being aware of his needs and strengths– which he says is necessary for our lives.

    “We need to transfer from universal principles to individual principles,” Thane noted, “what works best for me? Based on how I’m wired, my strengths and weaknesses, and how I operate in different environments. That takes self-awareness.”

    “Being a good leader always starts with being a good leader of yourself,” he added. For Thane, the best way to take charge of your life was to let go of what you can’t control, and instead, change how you perceive yourself in that situation.

    Learning from Nassim Taleb’s book Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder, he notes that our definition of fragile are objects that break when you shake the box, but when an object doesn’t break, it’s durable. He says the idea of antifragile is that when you shake the box, things get better.

    We may be clinging on to the control of our environment and not realizing that we’re only holding ourselves back from being that best version of ourselves. For Thane, one needs to accept the constant that is ‘change’ and be open to its challenge.

    “Never settle” a mantra of his, tells us that we are meant to achieve more– not just land on the moon, but maybe even over it.

     

    More from Thane:

  • Ep257: Strong Roots Give Way to Beautiful Branches with Atlanta’s Personal Injury Lawyer Ali Awad

    Ep257: Strong Roots Give Way to Beautiful Branches with Atlanta’s Personal Injury Lawyer Ali Awad

    It’s very easy to lose ourselves with how the world is now. With television and the internet overflowing with Hollywood gossip and western influence, it’s hard not to feel like we are part of that space in the world. We envy so much the culture on TV that raised us as fans, that we sometimes forget to admire the culture that raised us as people.

    Brought up by Palestinian Muslim immigrants, CEO Lawyer Ali Awad shares his culture, religion, and how his parents made sure that he stays true to his roots as a young man living in Dalton, Georgia.

     

    Fifth Avenue

    Starting their life in the USA was nothing like the pretty suburban romcoms we see in movies. Ali’s family lived in an area in Dalton, where it showed a clear division of privilege. Despite the life in the neighbourhood, Ali’s dad made sure that all six of their kids would live a more guided life, not defined by where they live.

    “My dad was very, very conscious of ensuring that we held on to our Palestinian roots [and] in our Arabic language. And so even now, it’s very rare that I meet people that can speak Arabic who grew up their entire lives in the US. That discipline started manifesting itself in other areas of my life.”

     

     An Eye for Opportunity

    On top of his dad’s strict discipline, Ali is gifted to see profit where it is unlikely to grow.

    “I started my unconventional life around the age of five,” he narrated, “And I learned very early on that it’s fun, the business that I started at five years old was just selling pictures of Dragonball Z characters to my friends.”

    With his father working for a carpet company, Ali had access to a computer and a printer. And with the power of Google, he turned his classroom into his first and very own Super Sayan monopoly.

     

    Pressure as Privilege

    In a dinner he had with best-selling author and entrepreneur, Jesse Itzler, Ali reflected on how this difficult upbringing– being both poor and an immigrant– saw that he was privileged to be unprivileged.

    “You literally cannot teach hungry,” he said. “Most people don’t have the privilege of being under pressure. Most people live through life lackadaisical and get to enjoy the fruits of someone else’s labour. Most people don’t have the opportunity to grow up poor and to learn grit and to learn hard work and discipline. That’s why you and I speak different languages.”

    Ali described how the years of the pressure he got from poverty shaped his views. Ali noted that most people see success as the luxurious materials that people share on Instagram. Still, hardly anyone acknowledges the grit, the upbringing and the ugliness of “paving your own path.”

    “If all you’re exposed to is the highlight reels of everyone else, then you’re never going to have time to create your own highlight reel. You’re just going to look around and see that everyone else is excellent and that you’re not. [But] that excellence comes from just working a little bit at a time, day by day, piece by piece month by month.”

    Ali Awad is continuously providing support to professionals and people who are starting in business all over the world through consultations and coaching sessions.

     

    More from Ali:

  • Ep256: Challenge Your Fear by Seeking Unique Experiences with the Host of Fearless & Far Mike Corey

    Ep256: Challenge Your Fear by Seeking Unique Experiences with the Host of Fearless & Far Mike Corey

    Mike is a Marine Biology graduate turned award-winning filmmaker, host of Fearless & Far YouTube channel and BBC Travel Show. Mike crafts his compelling story with entertaining action and cinematic flair, but his greatest strength is breaking down cultural barriers and connecting with locals worldwide.

     

    What else can’t this man do?

    Mike Corey never backs away from an adventure, no matter how strange it may be. He has been travelling the world for eight years on a global quest to challenge fear by seeking unique experiences in weird and beautiful destinations worldwide. Mike aims to inspire others to fight their fears by plunging headfirst into beautiful, unknown locations and participating in undocumented cultural celebrations.

    “The more you learn about something, the less scary it is.”

     

    Dancing with Fear

    Mike used to fear public speaking, but he’s now doing the very thing that he was terrified to do for most of his life. His exposures to, what for him, profoundly uncomfortable and uncharacteristic things opened the door of opportunities.

    His realization that our fear response holds us back from being happy pushed Mike out of his comfort zone. It taught him leaps and bounds forward in personal growth, happiness, and changed him for the better.

     

    Topics Discussed in this Episode

    • How he overcame his fear in public speaking

    • 2 of the most uncomfortable things he’s done that made him look fear in the face

    • Fear and fear response

    • Adventures and wild things he chased

    • His goal to demystify spooky things that people often judge

     

    More from Mike

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