Uncage Yourself

👉 Masterclass: end burnout & own your time

Mar 07, 202313:19

74: Don't "401k" Your Life Away

Most people swear by "low-risk" investments (financially and otherwise). But those low-risk investments can turn into high-risk life situations. Stop playing it safe. Please, don't "401k" your life away. In this episode, learn exactly what this means and how to create an anti-401k life.

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🌐 Show website: UncageYourself.FM

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RESOURCES

👉 Masterclass: end burnout & own your time

Feb 28, 202314:09

73: Amp It Up

How do you compress your personal growth from decades into days? Apply the "amp it up" philosophy: increase the tempo, raise the standards, and narrow the focus. Learn exactly how in this episode.

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🌐 Show website: UncageYourself.FM

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RESOURCES

Feb 21, 202315:19

72: Getting Out of Your Own Way

Got some fantastic career and life goals floating through your head? Wondering why they're taking so long to become a "reality"? It's because you're in your own way, focusing on noise that doesn't matter. Let's fix that.

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🌐 Show website: UncageYourself.FM

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RESOURCES

Feb 14, 202310:50

71: Be Grateful in Advance

We always hear about the power of gratitude — but that has to do with being grateful for what you currently have. Some of history's most successful people take this to the next level: being grateful in advance. And the scientist backs this up. Listen closely!

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🌐 Show website: UncageYourself.FM

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RESOURCES

Feb 07, 202309:46

70: Strategic Ignorance

Contrary to popular belief, it's good to be ignorant. You only have so much capacity in your mind, so you need to be hyper-selective about what gets into your head. In this episode, I cover a critical life skill: strategic ignorance. And I share my strategies for how I apply this idea, professionally and personally.

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🌐 Show website: UncageYourself.FM

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RESOURCES

Jan 31, 202315:12

69: Engineer Your 9-5 for Freedom

You don’t have to “endure” or “pay your dues” at your 9-5. You can create freedom right here, right now — converting your day job into a utility. You can configure your experience for more time, autonomy, and income. And this can all be in service of the badass life you dream for your Future Self.

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Episode 64: Convert Your Job Into a Utility

🌐 Show website: UncageYourself.FM

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RESOURCES

Jan 24, 202318:21

68: Invisible Scripts That Run Your Life

Invisible scripts run your life. That’s a tough pill to swallow. But it's true — they’ve owned you forever. No more. It’s time you shine a light on them, break free of limiting beliefs, and embrace your actual potential.

Or you could stay comfortably stuck…your choice.

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Episode 53: Paul Millerd - Awakening From the Default Path

🌐 Show website: UncageYourself.FM

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RESOURCES

Episode 62: You Need Skin in the Game

Jan 17, 202319:18

67: Addition by Subtraction

My coaching clients are wildly successful by any traditional measure. The problem is they’ve got no room left in their cup for anything new — however much they might desire it. They’re always maxed out. The only way forward is addition by subtraction. Make this principle core to your career and life philosophy. By default, your cup should be more empty than full. Mind blown? Listen carefully.

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🌐 Show website: UncageYourself.FM

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RESOURCES

Jan 10, 202317:14

66: Entrepreneurship Is the Most Brutal (And Effective) Way to Discover Yourself

2022 was the year I left corporate. It was one hell of a ride — learning to be a full-time entrepreneur. Big-time highs...and lows. As I reflected upon year one, I landed on a surprising conclusion: entrepreneurship is brutal. But it's magically brutal, and I don't regret a second of it.

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🌐 Show website: UncageYourself.FM

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RESOURCES

Jan 03, 202312:56

65: Reflections from 2022

I can confidently say that I've grown more in 12 months of entrepreneurship than I did in the last decade of corporate life. Professionally and personally, I'm a completely different person. So I took time to document those lessons, and now I'm passing them on to you. I hope they help. Cheers to a beautiful 2023!

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🌐 Show website: UncageYourself.FM

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RESOURCES

Dec 27, 202221:47

64: Convert Your Job Into a Utility

Some people are hellbent on finding a job that completely fulfills them. But that's often a fool's errand.

In truth, your job doesn't need to be dripping with purpose and meaning. Instead, you can think of your job as a utility — a resource that fuels your badass life. Dive into this episode to understand the simple shifts required.

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🌐 Show website: UncageYourself.FM

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RESOURCES

Dec 13, 202208:46

63: Billy Keels - Leveraging Corporate for Your Dream Life

Billy Keels is one of the “awakened” ones. After years of undeniable success in the corporate world, he intentionally started leveraging those gains to fuel his bigger, more badass life. Now, as an entrepreneur, Billy helps highly-paid professionals take control of their lives and create wealth through cash-flowing, tax-efficient investments. He’s a fountain of actionable wisdom!

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How Highly-Paid Pros Can Pay Less Tax

🌐 Show website: UncageYourself.FM

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TIMESTAMPS

02:48 Comparing U.S. & Europe

06:06 Importance of environment

09:18 The allure of default paths

11:23 Awakening

16:05 A fresh view on corporate life

19:55 Doing corporate on your terms

24:02 Outcomes over hours

27:20 Scratching that entrepreneurial itch

34:26 Failing forward

37:32 Rapid fire questions

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TAKEAWAYS

1. Default paths can quickly become your identity. Therefore, we must consciously decouple from them.

2. What we’re surrounded by, we adopt.

3. Corporate life can be a great accelerator to your career, but we must control that ascent.

4. Don’t just plug into the corporate machine like everyone else. You can deliver results (more efficiently) on your terms.

5. No one really cares about your work hours, only the value you produce. So use that to your advantage.

6. Too many people are “theoretical ninjas” — passively consuming good information without implementing it.

7. Healthy person = healthy worker. Focus primarily on being the former; the latter is a byproduct.

8. “The next logical step” is often the most illogical thing to do.

9. “It’s not about the money. It’s about how you’re investing your time in the moments that matter the most.”

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RESOURCES

Connect w/ Billy on LinkedIn

Going Long Podcast

First Generation Capital Partners

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Dec 06, 202247:40

62: You Need Skin in the Game

Need a massive change in your career or life? Passively consuming social posts, books, or podcasts won’t do it. Human psychology shows we only take massive action when the stakes are high. You manufacture “high stakes” by putting serious Skin in the Game for your transformation: money, time, and energy. This one’s a serious wake-up call.

🌐 Show website: UncageYourself.FM

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RESOURCES

📬 Get the newsletter: Uncaged Secrets

Nov 29, 202214:02

61: Don’t Take Your Gifts to the Grave

Your job does not define you. While you might be “gifted” at certain aspects of work, your gifts run far deeper than that. Pay attention to those flickers of genius you experience from time to time — when you feel truly alive. Those are hints of what you’re truly meant to do on this planet. Don’t waste your gifts. Unleash them!

🌐 Show website: UncageYourself.FM

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RESOURCES

Connect w/ Mike on LinkedIn

Nov 22, 202214:44

60: Mike Gardon - Investment In Loss

The trading life nearly destroyed Mike Gardon. Since stepping away, he’s obsessed with creating “life options.” At the core is the idea of “investment in loss”: to make significant changes, we often need to step backward. Today, his mission is to “break our mental constructs for what it means to make a living.” Enjoy!

📬 Get the newsletter: Uncaged Secrets

🌐 Show website: UncageYourself.FM

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TIMESTAMPS

02:17 Ironman mentality

06:37 Compounding personal gains

09:48 Stratify your goals

12:31 Mike’s childhood → career start

17:56 Rebelling against the default path

20:06 Investment in loss

23:31 Portfolio mindset

25:34 Passion for career coaching

27:50 Mike helping his former self

33:47 Involving your family in major change

34:52 Risk mindset for personal growth

37:00 “Is what you’re pursuing big enough?”

40:02 Life options

41:50 Skin in the game

47:03 Money, time, & energy

52:30 Uncaged = ownership

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TAKEAWAYS

1. Pushing yourself with a new venture is not just about the accomplishment. It’s the person you become in the process.

2. “What’s your Ironman race?” Find the near-term thing in your life that forces your growth.

3. The entrepreneurial journey starts with a flicker inside you (an inclination) before you take tangible action.

4. The ultimate safety isn’t choosing the “right” path; it’s creating life options.

5. Portfolio mindset: make multiple concurrent bets and see what sticks. Even with the “failures,” you’ll grow tremendously.

6. Slow down (even step back) to speed up.

7. In managing the risk of major life decisions, too many remain stuck protecting what they have instead of pursuing what’s possible.

8. “Don’t tell me what you think, [show me] your portfolio.” —Nassim Nicholas Taleb

9. “Every decision is an investment decision.” You must devote appropriate money, time, and energy to the transformation you seek.

10. Choose yourself.

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RESOURCES

Career Cloud Podcast

The Break Newsletter

Connect w/ Tara on LinkedIn

Nov 08, 202256:43

59: Tara Horstmeyer - Ghostwrite Your Life

Today’s thoughts become tomorrow’s reality. And when you write down those thoughts, it’s a lightspeed jump into your better future. The lovely and super authentic Tara Horstmeyer joins me to talk about life-career seasons, LinkedIn mastery, and the power of “ghostwriting your own life.” Enjoy!

📬 Get the newsletter: Uncaged Secrets

🌐 Show website: UncageYourself.FM

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TIMESTAMPS

03:00 Words that penetrate the soul

05:20 Writing when the emotion is hot

09:18 Tara’s childhood influences

14:02 Empathetic languaging

16:06 Doing what lights you up

20:06 Words are the catalyst for change

22:36 “Everyone is a ghostwriter”

25:20 Shifting your focus: outward to inward

29:01 Personal brand = personal advantage

34:02 Embracing “life seasons”

40:38 Rapid-fire questions

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TAKEAWAYS

1. Create a simple system for capturing your ideas when inspiration strikes.

2. Develop a method for fleshing out those idea “seedlings.”

3. When inspired, write with “editor” mode turned off (revisit with that lens later).

4. “Make sure you have something to say before you say it.”

5. Ghostwriting your own life is a process by which you find and build yourself.

6. You already have a personal brand (it’s your reputation). “Make it your business.”

7. You’re always juggling glass and rubber balls. If you drop the glass ones (e.g., family), they shatter.

8. If you’re speaking to everyone, you’re speaking to no one.

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RESOURCES

Happy Words Sell (Tara's business)

Connect w/ Tony on LinkedIn

Nov 01, 202247:54

58: Tony Albrecht - In The Creative Arena

Tony Albrecht is one of my favorites. He’s a writer, podcaster, social entrepreneur, and student of the creative process. As the author of In The Creative Arena and co-founder of The Rowdy Creative, he works with people old enough to know they want a different trajectory and young and crazy enough to believe that big change is possible. His work is informed by his recovery from two afflictions, alcoholism and becoming a lawyer.

📬 Get the newsletter: Uncaged Secrets

🌐 Show website: UncageYourself.FM

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TIMESTAMPS

03:03 Powered by espresso

06:18 Chapters of Tony’s life

08:32 Creative awakening

12:07 Offscripting

13:41 How to be a “creative”

19:08 Gen Z is freeing older generations

23:49 Dying to feel alive

29:00 Plugging “back in” on your terms

32:02 Surrounding yourself with non-conformists

34:34 Battling Resistance

37:50 Spartan way: extreme discipline

40:56 Examples of discipline

44:20 “Creativity is life or death”

46:34 How our children grapple with the scripted life

48:17 Rapid-fire questions

53:49 Choices today raise your trajectory for tomorrow

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TAKEAWAYS

1. The idea of creativity “isn’t just for the arts department…it’s how we make new stuff happen.”

2. View your engagement on social media as a forcing function for personal growth.

3. Oh, you’re scared? Evaluate the risks of doing versus not doing.

4. We must retool education: for leading and solving interesting problems (see Seth Godin’s “Stop Stealing Dreams”)

5. Make work happen: create the conditions to increase the likelihood that you’ll put your butt in the seat.

6. “Creativity is dirty work…It demands discipline.”

7. Relying on inspiration alone will not get you anywhere.

8. The scripted life we grew up with is quickly withering away.

9. Worst advice Tony received: “Law degrees are great because you can do so many things with them.”

10. “The small man builds cages for everyone he knows, while the sage, who has to duck his head when the moon is low, keeps dropping keys all night long for the beautiful, rowdy prisoners.” —Hafez

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RESOURCES

In The Creative Arena (Tony's book)

Tony's entrepreneurial efforts

The War of Art (book mentioned)

📬 Get the newsletter: Uncaged Secrets

Oct 25, 202255:30

57: The "Employee" Is Dead

“Employee” is an outdated concept. (Literally, a relic of the Industrial Age.) Learn how power is shifting from employer to employee, and how this completely changes your work and life options.

🌐 Show website: UncageYourself.FM

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TIMESTAMPS

02:12 The old employment agreement

04:04 No one wants a job, they want a life

04:39 RIP employee, welcome Uncaged Pro

06:14 Keeping your job — on your terms

07:37 Stability of the 9-5 + Prosperity of entrepreneurship

09:48 Your 9-5 can just be a utility

10:07 Validate that you’re in a healthy workplace

10:53 Clarify the life you want

11:54 Define what “work” means to you

12:49 Shape your corporate role

14:11 Build your external brand & side hustle

16:38 Framework summary

17:01 Working for great companies? Alive. Employee? Dead.

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RESOURCES

Subscribe to Paige's YouTube channel

Oct 18, 202217:55

56: Paige West - Millennial & Gen Z Workforces Collide

Paige West went “national” in sharing her Quiet Quitting story on CNN, Good Morning America, and elsewhere. Here, we go behind the scenes on what fueled her decisions while also comparing and contrasting Millennial and Gen Z worldviews in the workplace. So good — enjoy!

📬 Get the newsletter: Uncaged Secrets

🌐 Show website: UncageYourself.FM

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TIMESTAMPS

03:51 Doing the “inner” work

08:05 Paige’s formative years

12:16 Friction when weighing professional paths

16:47 Indicators that corporate wasn’t a fit

19:03 Keeping life options open

21:47 Hitting a breaking point

23:38 Applying the Quiet Quitting strategy

26:34 Did anything bad happen?

29:40 Fake “pressures” at work

30:51 Millennial vs. Gen Z values at work

36:45 Power of vulnerability on the job

39:01 Benefits of the corporate journey

42:57 Rapid-fire questions

48:44 Identity is a choice, reinforced by tiny actions

51:24 Keys to uncaging yourself

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TAKEAWAYS

1. Inner work is meant to get your inner and outer worlds to align.

2. Externalizing your thoughts sharpens and clarifies your thinking.

3. Learn from PAST regrets, ANTICIPATE future regrets, use that information NOW.

4. Be careful when corporate systems have rigid growth models — hard to be authentic.

5. Irony of Quiet Quitting for Paige: her reputation improved at work.

6. Ruthlessly protecting your time and being selective at work is good for you and your company.

7. Gen Z grew up in an era of publishing your emotions, and that’s showing up in corporate environments now.

8. Invest (in yourself) before you’re ready — time and money.

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RESOURCES

Follow Paige on Instagram

Connect w/ Andy on LinkedIn

Oct 11, 202253:33

55: Andy Storch - The Ownership Mindset

When you take extreme ownership of your career and life, magical things happen. Remember, you care more about your life and career than anyone else. Author and speaker Andy Storch joins us for a masterclass on listening to your inner voice and taking full ownership of your career and life.

📬 Get the newsletter: Uncaged Secrets

🌐 Show website: UncageYourself.FM

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TIMESTAMPS

02:35 Andy’s evolving definition of success

04:50 Dependency on external circumstances

08:10 Andy’s childhood & backstory

12:27 Entering the corporate world

16:29 Accelerators for self-transformation

20:08 Ownership mindset (being entrepreneurial)

21:27 Drifting

26:42 Modern view on professional development

31:18 “I don’t have time”

32:31 Personal brand = reputation

39:26 Andy’s cancer battle

45:05 It happened for me, not to me

49:40 Rapid fire questions

54:49 It’s on you: extreme ownership

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TAKEAWAYS

Minimize the “I’ll be happy when” mentality; cultivate inner joy.
Take a lesson from Stoicism: focus on what you can control.
On paper, your life might look good. But you might actually feel dead inside. Signal for radical self-transformation.
Find coaches, mentors, and resources that help you see new possibilities and co-design a better future (tailored for you).
Many people are drifting through life — being reactive and adopting external definitions of success. Better way: live an intentional life.
Substantive change is atomic: it’s both small and highly targeted for long-term impact.
Your personal brand is “what people think and say about you when you’re not in the room.”
Clarify what you want your brand to stand for (e.g., kindness, generosity)
Attitude when hitting a major roadblock: “This is what I get to deal with.”
We go through our life challenges so we’re qualified to help others.

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RESOURCES

Own Your Career Own Your Life (Andy’s book)

Andy’s Site

Owning Your Journey with Cancer (free guide)

The Accidental Solopreneur (book)

Sep 27, 202257:19

54: Dennis Geelen - The Accidental Solopreneur

You have gifts. But chances are, they're locked up inside of you. A 9-5 job only lets you unleash a fraction of those gifts. Dennis Geelen joins us to tell the story of The Accidental Solopreneur (his recent book). It's a fascinating look at unleashing your gifts and maximizing your potential.

Access the newsletter: Uncaged Secrets

Cohort course: Uncaged Academy

Show website: UncageYourself.FM

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TIMESTAMPS

03:12 What Dennis misses about corporate

06:28 Re-thinking the scripted life

10:50 Investing in your highest-leverage asset

13:31 Dennis's entrepreneurial experiments

18:52 Going from non-fiction to fiction author

21:30 The Accidental Solopreneur

23:31 Emotions of the entrepreneurial rollercoaster

26:12 Importance of niching down

32:18 Advice for starting a career today

35:06 Closing Message

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TAKEAWAYS

1. "The amount of learning I had to do to get that company off the ground is more than I learned in my 20 years of corporate." — Dennis Geelen

2. In solopreneurship, you must first master the inner game to then win the outer game.

3. Nearly high-performer in corporate should try entrepreneurship (on the side at least). If you don't, you'll likely regret it.

4. Don't expect instant success. Embrace the journey — it's amazing if you allow it to be.

5. Make your main goal about helping others. Goodness will flow your way if you do that.

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RESOURCES

Connect w/ Dennis on LinkedIn

Dennis's website