Fulfillment Equation

In this episode, I'm talking with entrepreneur, real estate investor and world traveller, David Carley. Dave is like a modern-day MacGyver in his persistent (sometimes stubborn, as he describes) commitment to figuring things out and making things happen. I dig into the innate qualities that have led to Dave's success to see if we can learn tricks to adopt them too! Things like: ability to handle stress, learning the rules, positive attitude, confidence, courage, persistence and dedication. We discuss travel and Dave shares his 1:1:1 rule - 1 day/week, 1 week/month, 1 month/year. He describes why it's helpful to learn from others and how experiences are like a university degree. Dave also describes how he's currently researching and designing his own formula for retirement. He gives us a good trick for defining your "why", which can be really helpful in getting you through tough times. Plus, you'll never believe the crazy story he tells about swapping jobs with his Dad!  Finally, we build Dave's equation: 7F + 4W + 2T + 5e + 7ce

Erin and Josh are back with a fresh travel episode! In this one, we lift out of commentary on specific destinations and focus on the experience of what we call "life travel". This refers to the 4-5 months a year we spend as a family, immersed in a blend of work, school, vacation and adventure on the road. We cover the what, why and how of life travel. We talk about what’s worked well, what’s not worked well and what we’ve learned - and we don't shy away from sharing the good, the bad and the ugly of it all! We also address how our travel experiences are evolving now that one of our kids has started high school. If you're interested in getting the inside scoop on what’s involved with living away from “home” for chunks of time every year, this episode is for you!

The power of the word success is in understanding that it is personal. YOU get to define what success means and YOU get to celebrate yourself when you meet your own criteria. Redefining success for yourself is one form of freedom. This involves letting go of everyone else’s definitions of success. As this week’s guest, Shawn Johal, says, “The only time you’re going to have the most liberating feeling of freedom is when you stop caring what other people think about you”. My conversation with Shawn is absolutely jam-packed with all sorts of ideas and tools you can use for your own personal growth. Shawn is an entrepreneur, business coach, author and speaker. We talk about personal success, how stress is the biggest killer of energy and passion, the time/anger gap, the 3-2-1 rule, how to cultivate open-hearted curiousity, and small changes you can make to your morning/evening routines to foster well-being. Shawn also discusses the 3 key ingredients to being a great entrepreneur. You’ll be surprised to hear that they aren’t what you think (e.g. “risk-taker”) and not only that, they can be learned! Even if you aren’t an entrepreneur, these are skills worth growing. Oh, and you’ll never guess the surprising translation behind Shawn’s birth name. Listen to find out!

Now that we have created a clear picture of our future fulfillment, we can start the journey of connecting that wild, beautiful, long-term vision to our present life. But how do we do that? What if the distance between where I am and that future state feels less like a direct, well-marked path and more like trying to leap over a giant chasm on a motorcycle, blindfolded! The goal of this next step is to create a personal strategy - a model - that will give us clarity and focus. It will be like taking off the blindfold so that we can see clearly, and constructing a bridge over the gap so that we can safely and efficiently navigate to the other side. Waiting there with anticipation, ready to greet you, will be your desired future self. In this episode, I’ll explain three different approaches that you can take to identify the pillars and priorities that make up your personal strategy. It's like a choose-your-own-adventure for your own strategy design! Similar to other steps, I’ve included tons of examples, tips and tests to help you apply this in your own life. Once developed, your personal strategy model will become your roadmap as you work towards building fulfillment in your future.

This week, I’m talking to talented musician and published poet, Lauren Best. As an experienced vocal coach, Lauren talks about the power of voice and how singing is a gateway to many of the fulfillment foundations - things like relaxation, movement, connection to others, connection to our bodies, intuition, etc. Whether you're wanting to sing or build some other skill, Lauren has some great insights and advice that applies to all of us. We take a deep dive to discover that attitude is a product of mindset and energy (attitude = mindset x energy) and that preparation is a combination of managing your expectations and doing the work (preparation = expectations + effort). We also discuss the importance of “3 P’s”: preparation, presence and purpose. One of my favourite parts of the conversation was building Lauren's equation together: 14k + 7h + 7fd + 7e + 7fi + 7n + 4le +20w

In this week’s episode, I’m talking to entrepreneur, adventurer and world triathlon athlete Kevin Brady. For Kevin, it took a near-death experience to realize that being fit and being healthy are not the same thing. Kevin talks about the four wheels of health and how he said goodbye to a lifestyle full of busyness and stress and instead adopted a lifestyle focused on health and well-being. We also explore how to build more of what you love into every day, the relationship between adventure and risk, and examples of how he’s rewired his brain. Finally, we build Kevin’s equation: (2i + 2c + 2bd)W +14e + 10s + [f + t]

When it comes to designing a personal strategy as part of your fulfillment journey, the first step is creating a vision. Our task: to write 7-10 sentences that clearly describe what our desired future looks like. But how do we do this? How do we dream big? And how do we craft our vision in a way that is most useful and powerful? In this week’s episode, I’ll walk you through all of this and more. I’ve included tons of examples, tips and tests to help you create a rock solid personal vision. Why is this important? Because your personal vision will become your guiding light as you work towards building fulfillment in your future!

When this week's guest, Sharon Bala, moved from a big city to a remote area, she found a door closed on her corporate communications career and a new one opened for pursuing her interest in being a writer. Fast forward years later, and Sharon has become an award-winning, best-selling author whose debut novel "The Boat People" has been a national hit. In this episode, we talk about her experience in letting go of traditional measures of achievement and instead redefining ambition in the work itself. We also explore developing resilience to failure and rejection, and how community is just as important to a writer as is solitude. Sharon also offers helpful advice for venturing bravely into something new, particularly for aspiring writers. Finally, we build her equation - and she is the first to rethink it as a pie chart with percentages! 60% v + 30% cf + 10% en

Today I’m talking to entrepreneur, author and global public speaker, Rich Mulholland. Rich teaches me all about gamifying life. He describes how to design small, finite games for yourself, how to set your own victory conditions and how to track your progress. Our discussion leads to an “ah-ha” moment for me about why the fulfillment equation practice works so well. As Rich says, “it’s freedom in a framework”! We also cover other interesting topics such as novelty vs. utility, why the best businesses are boring businesses, the importance of hobbies and reflections for budding entrepreneurs. And Rich gives some great advice to his 25-year old self! Finally, we build Rich's equation: 7W + 7sd + 5cd + 7er + 4 bg + 5e + 11f + fr(3m + 1c + 3b)

In this week’s episode, I have the wonderful opportunity to chat with Dr. Lawrence Loh. Lawrence is a public health and physician leader, a lifelong learner and a self-described extreme extrovert. Our conversation focuses on connection; both with others and with ourselves. When it comes to connecting with others, Lawrence offers some simple tips. We also talk about rebalancing after crisis fatigue, getting in touch with your inner voice and defining your own identity. And we bond over our mutual belief that most things work out and that most people are good. As Lawrence says, "it's just mentally easier" to believe that!

We're back! Welcome to Season 2 of the Fulfillment Equation! The first season was centred around the creation and practice of your unique fulfillment equation. This season is all about building and following along with your own personal strategy. These two pieces work hand in hand. The personal strategy sets the direction and the unique equation keeps you on track. Learn more in this kick-off episode for all of the great conversations that follow in Season 2!

In this special episode, Josh joins me as we come full circle to wrap up Season 1! We reflect on the highlights of the season and I share my biggest learning from the entire Fulfillment Equation podcast experience. We also cover my favourite nuggets from each guest in the series. It's incredible to look back and see how much ground was covered in the first 26 episodes! Wondering what you can expect in Season 2? There's a sneak peak at the end of this episode. Here's a hint...get ready to dream together!

This episode covers the last step (Making it a Habit) in the Unique Equation process for maximizing joy in daily living. You've already built your own unique equation, cultivated a daily practice, learned how to flex your week, and engaged in valuable analysis and adjustment. So what does all of this look like long-term? The simple answer is that if you are disciplined in building a practice around your fulfillment equation for any decent length of time, you will discover that it actually becomes an ingrained habit!  Here we dig into how daily habits turn into lifelong fulfillment and better understand what parts of the daily practice can become ingrained. Also covered is when to switch off "autopilot" and when to check in on the underlying architecture of your equation. (Note: Listeners will want to check out Steps 1-5 of Your Unique Equation before listening to this episode.)

My conversation with Manish continues in this Part 2 episode. Together, we discuss some of the challenges of raising kids these days and Manish shares the two best pieces of advice he received that changed the way he approaches parenting. We then take our time building Manish's equation, which is fantastic because it produces many interesting and insightful discussions around how to put family first, how to set up boundaries around work, why nature is so central to our wellbeing and how food can be a source of creativity and connection. Manish also talks about the importance of social connection. He totally wows me when he explains how he calculated his future time with a close friend and realized it wasn't nearly enough. As he said to his friend, "If I only get to see you once or twice a year, that is a cosmic rip-off". It's amazing how our priorities can become so clear when we zoom out to a perspective that highlights how short life really is. In the end, we summarize Manish's equation: 35f + 5W + 3e +4ns + 14fd + (→1)s

Wouldn't it be incredible to have a purpose as heroic as that of Manish Raizada? "To reduce the suffering of young people in terms of food, and to empower them in terms of their careers". Dr. Raizada's work is directly helping to reduce world hunger, and in his spare time he has helped to mentor hundreds of students. However, the reality is that the world would be a boring place if we all had exactly the same purpose. We each have our own unique purpose and that is our gift to the world. Manish describes, "If you put humanity together, it's a beautiful three-dimensional, colourful painting and everyone has a specific piece to contribute that enriches all of us". But how do you uncover your purpose? Manish discusses many of the probing questions he's found successful in helping people discover their unique gift. He challenges us to look for the thread in our answers and remarks that we can often trace that thread back to our 5-year old self. In his experience, this life-changing reflection takes very little time at all! How incredible would it have been to do some of this thinking at the age of 17? But it's never too late. Lots more to come in Part 2, including building Manish's unique equation.

In this episode, I get the chance to talk with Sarah McComb-Turbitt about her transition from scientist to artist, what she’s learned along her journey and the specific steps she takes to create her amazing artwork. One theme that comes out in our conversation is finding balance in healthy tensions. These are often the tensions we’re leveraging in our own fulfillment equation practice. For example, balancing the drive to be productive with the mindset of staying present, or balancing deliberate planning with being flexible. Sarah shares an experience that taught her how to move away from a state of perfectionism in her approach to painting and set some boundaries around time. We also cover topics related to entrepreneurship and motherhood. Finally, together we build Sarah's equation: 25p + 10b + 14na + 14k + 2f + 3fr + 25s.

Get ready for some major "ah-ha" moments! My guest this week is the absolutely incredible Tom Benson. Tom has led a breathtaking life of adventure, while all the while knowing exactly what fear is. He teaches us not to be “fearless”, but rather to simply Fear Less. In our conversation, we also dig into understanding play, why it's important and how the opportunities for play show up in daily living. We explore mindfulness and meditation. We cover nature and solitude. And we tease apart passion and purpose. So many great learnings! We end the episode by building Tom's equation: 14s + 18mi + 20p + 40c + 10g.

Want a great way to lengthen out your summer? Head south! This episode covers our 2-month "life travel" adventure from Ontario to Texas and back through the Eastern US. In it, my husband Josh and I do a rapid fire walk-through of our favourite places to go, things to see and yummy eats from each location on our trip in order to give you ideas and inspiration for your own travels. We also share the lessons learned from this trip that helped to shape how we design our future life travel adventures. This episode of the podcast is a complement to the travel blogs posted on the Fulfillment Equation website.

Now that you're using your equation, what insights can you get from it? This episode outlines Step 5 of the Unique Equation process, describing how you can look for trends that will help you learn and evolve as you strive to maximize joy in daily living. Included in this episode are tons of tips and examples on how you can keep getting better at using your equation as a tool in nurturing your own fulfillment. (Note: Listeners will want to check out Steps 1-4 of Your Unique Equation before listening to this episode).

Get ready to take a deep dive into the Fulfillment Foundation “the importance of creativity and solitude”! In this episode, I’m talking to award-winning author and poet, Jaclyn Desforges. We discuss how the path to creativity involves overcoming the fear of not being good enough. Jaclyn describes how the experience of becoming a mom helped with that: "I was too tired to be afraid".  We explore Jaclyn's complex relationship with writing and she shares helpful tips for fostering your own creativity. Then we dig into why quiet is such a necessary ingredient for fulfillment.       Finally, together we build Jaclyn's equation: 6wr + 16b + 7wa + 1.5wo + 2by + 11p + 2d + 7r.   Hear how Jaclyn sets an intention to evolve her equation over time: 6wr → 12wr, 16b → 8b, 2by → 7by