July 18, 2024 • 11 mins
In this episode, James explores a Forbes article, "How To Thrive: 7 Ways To Create Happiness In The Future Of Work, by Tracy Brower, PhD
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Be sure to stick around to the end for the dad joke!
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P.P.S., And check out James' book, The More You Hustle, The Luckier You Get: You CAN be a Successful ParentPreneur on Amazon, you will love it!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:36):
Aw yeah, welcome, welcome, welcome.
Welcome to the Parents Making ProfitsShow, the world's number one podcast for
parents who are entrepreneurs helping thembe the best parentpreneurs they can be.
I'm James Oliver Jr., co -founder of theWorld's Cutest Twins, husband to an
amazing wife, founder of the ParentpreneurFoundation and CEO of Kabila, which
connects Overlook founders to capital, co-founders and community.
(00:59):
And I'm the author of the book, The MoreYou Hustle, The Luckier You Get.
You can be a successful parentpreneuravailable
Amazon, what's up y 'all?
Turn the mic back on today, got somethingI wanna talk about, because you know I
always got something to say.
Got a lot of strong opinions, looselyheld.
I can't take credit for that saying, I gotthat one from my tech stars, Austin
(01:23):
managing director, Amos Schwartzfarb.
That's for my man Amos.
What up Amos?
So look, today's episode is titled, IsThriving Greater Than Surviving?
No, it's not that is thriving greater thansurviving.
The title is thriving is greater thansurviving.
(01:44):
Sorry about that.
You know what I'm talking about.
So look, I think this is important becauseI'm connected to a lot of early stage
founders in my Kabila and parentpreneurfoundation communities.
And I don't know if people would admit itopenly, but it feels like folks, know, are
especially early stage entrepreneurs arejust surviving, like only surviving
(02:07):
You know, we were put, I believe we wereput on this planet to thrive, not simply
survive.
But look, I get it, you know, being anentrepreneur is hard, especially in the
early stages, which is where honestly mostof my founder connections lie.
But I want to explore some ways today tohelp you thrive despite the challenges of
being an entrepreneur.
(02:29):
All right, cool.
Cool.
So for inspiration, I went to a Forbes,sorry about
knocking my mic around, I apologize forthat.
For inspiration, I went to a Forbesarticle titled, How to Thrive, Seven Ways
to Create Happiness in the Future of Workby Dr.
(02:49):
Tracy Brower.
And I'm gonna walk through the sevensuggestions that Dr.
Brower offers and I hope you get inspiredto thrive, not merely survive, if that is
an issue for you.
I'm also gonna offer an additionalsuggestion that is not.
on Dr.
Brower's list.
So Dr.
Brower defines thriving because I thinkit's important to define what is thriving.
(03:14):
In the context of this article, thrivingis a combination of happiness,
accomplishment, and growth.
That feels good to me.
I'm going rock with that.
Hopefully, you guys agree that that's areasonable definition for thriving.
So let's get right into these seven ways.
Here are the seven ways.
to thrive, according to Dr.
(03:35):
Brower.
Number one, perspective and approach.
And she says, quote, having a positiveperspective and an optimistic stance
matter to thriving.
Look to the future and stay expectingabout what is to come, unquote.
That word positive there reminds me of thelast episode where we explored toxic
(03:58):
positivity and asked if it really istoxic.
I think you'll find that episodeinteresting.
So go back and check it out.
was the one right before this.
but overall, I really liked thesuggestion.
I'm interested in expectation part of itbecause I was listening to my guy, you
know, pastor Amos Johnson from the churchfor entrepreneurs.
Recently, you hear me talk about him fromtime to time.
(04:21):
And, he talked about in order to havefaith, you have to have an expectation of
the thing come in the past.
So this was a revelation for me.
So I can agree with this first point ofperspective and approach with an air of
expectation.
Love to get your thoughts about that.
(04:42):
Number two, passion and learning.
Dr.
Brauer says, quote, thriving is also basedon development.
So embrace your passions and interests.
Know your talents, develop them, and growin new directions as well.
Find what motivates you and keep the focuson learning.
progressing and advancing your skills andabilities." End quote.
(05:07):
Okay, I love this.
I would add, what are you obsessed with?
What thing can't you stop thinking about?
Obsession matters more than passion forentrepreneurs, I think, because passion is
based on emotion and is fleeting.
My friend, investor Brad Feld, told me heinvests in entrepreneurs who are not
(05:27):
passionate, but obsessed with solving aproblem.
because obsessed people are less likely toquit so quickly when things get hard.
And as we all know, because we're allentrepreneurs listening to this, right?
Things will get hard.
You can bet that, right?
So number three, you have a biggerpicture.
(05:49):
This means being connected to somethinglarger than yourself.
This is usually spiritual or religious innature for most people, but it could be a
cause you care deeply about, I think.
And so, you know, what is that for you?
Ask yourself, what is that for you?
Is it religion?
Is it faith, spirituality?
Is it some causes you care about deeply?
(06:09):
you know, gives you, what are youconnected to that is larger than yourself?
Number four, relationships.
Quote from Dr.
Brower, another aspect of thriving issocial competence and the ability to build
rapport and connect effectively withothers at work, in social or family.
(06:31):
situations," end quote.
This makes tons of sense, right?
And I could admit publicly here that Ididn't really appreciate the importance of
relationships until probably the last 10years.
And I think in hindsight, this was a bigmistake.
And I'm led to wonder, how much furtherahead would I be if I appreciated
(06:52):
relationships sooner?
I guess you could say, well, there's nopoint in focusing on that.
because the only thing that matters isright now and I agree with that and I am
focused on relationships and I can see thebenefit of that.
So I'm super thankful for that.
I will say that I'm definitely gonna teachmy children, my twins who are 11 years old
now, the importance of relationshipbuilding today.
(07:14):
Also, I read an article a while back, Ithink it was in the Wall Street Journal,
that talked about how middle -aged men,because I'm a middle -aged man, yes, Gen X
in the house, middle -aged men actuallylose relationships
because they are focused on work andfamily and fascinatingly enough, this is
literally killing them.
(07:35):
Like their health is terrible, likestrokes, et cetera, it's bad.
So I'm super thankful that I'm making somany great new relationships these days.
Many of you out there listening, I wouldcount y 'all in that category.
But mostly it's because of the work I doin my parent -parent bond foundation in
Kabila community, it's just
(07:56):
connecting with some great humans who areentrepreneurs and parentpreneurs, really,
really great on similar journeys, really,really awesome.
Number five, resilience.
So I actually disagree with the articlehere as it defines resilience as
adaptability.
I think resilience is getting knocked outand getting back up in its simplest form.
(08:19):
So Dr.
Brower gives examples of being flexibleand adaptable.
when describing what resilience is.
And to me, that's not resilience.
That's flexibility and adaptability.
Now I agree those two things are importantas is being knocked down and getting back
up, which as I said, is resilience to me.
(08:41):
Number six, embracing challenges.
Dr.
Brower describes it as facing difficultiesand responding to it.
Like I 100 % agree with this.
Like who out there would disagree withthat?
Like raise your hand, send me a note.
Let me know if you disagree with this.
You know, I always say that a comfort zoneis a beautiful place, but nothing,
(09:03):
absolutely nothing except probably weeds,nothing ever grows there.
So embrace the challenges and watchyourself grow.
Number seven, life is about the journey.
Quote from Dr.
Brower.
When you create the conditions to thrive,you keep moving, continually looking for
(09:25):
ways to improve." End quote.
I love this and 100 % co -sign it.
I would, however, add an eighth way tothrive, and that is to get the help of a
great mental therapist.
I've paid for over 400 mental therapysessions for founders in my communities
and have seen firsthand the transformativeimpact it has had on entrepreneurs.
(09:49):
Getting a therapist will give you themental tools and resources to have the
right perspective on situations, makingyou more resilient, more self -aware, and
even more empathetic of others, which willhelp you develop deeper relationships with
people, which will help you what?
Thrive.
So that's it.
(10:10):
Seven ways to thrive with my eighth wayadded for good measure.
Do you agree?
Disagree?
Is it something you would add?
or take away, like hit me up on LinkedIn,let me know.
I'll add my profile in the show notes.
Please add a note to your connectionrequest that you heard me on the podcast.
So now it's time for my favorite part ofthe show, the dad joke.
(10:38):
And like I always say, my kids, I playthis podcast for the kids, you know,
they're real critical about the dad jokes.
like that last one with James Bond.
You know, my son liked it mostly becauseit made reference to farts, you know, his
kid likes the fart game, all that.
Anyway, my wife was mad at me about thejoke, but you know, she still loves me.
that right, Yes it is, of course.
(11:00):
So here's the dad joke.
What did the aliens say to the landscaper?
What did the aliens say to the landscaper?
Take me to your weeder.
Yeah, she liked that, right?
(11:22):
Yes, that's a good one, right?
I love it.
All right, man.
So we are finna get out of here today.
You know, we know you like the showbecause you're still listening.
So please subscribe, follow and rate it.
Follow me on Twitter at James Oliver Jr.
That's JamesOliverJR.
Connect with me on LinkedIn.
I'll put my profile in the show notes.
(11:44):
If you send me a connection request,please tell me you heard me on the
podcast, because I am a bit of a LinkedInsnob, and I'll just accept LinkedIn
connection requests from people I don'tknow, if there's not a good reason to do
so, but I wanna hear from you.
So send me a connection request, send anote, heard you on the podcast, wanna riff
about this, boom, you're in.
I would love to talk to you and get yourthoughts about this.
All so that's us for this week.
We'll catch up with you next time.
(12:05):
See ya later.
Aw yeah, welcome, welcome, welcome.
Welcome to the Parents Making ProfitsShow, the world's number one podcast for
parents who are entrepreneurs helping thembe the best parentpreneurs they can be.
I'm James Oliver Jr., co -founder of theWorld's Cutest Twins, husband to an
amazing wife, founder of the ParentpreneurFoundation and CEO of Kabila, which
connects Overlook founders to capital, co-founders and community.
(00:59):
And I'm the author of the book, The MoreYou Hustle, The Luckier You Get.
You can be a successful parentpreneuravailable
Amazon, what's up y 'all?
Turn the mic back on today, got somethingI wanna talk about, because you know I
always got something to say.
Got a lot of strong opinions, looselyheld.
I can't take credit for that saying, I gotthat one from my tech stars, Austin
(01:23):
managing director, Amos Schwartzfarb.
That's for my man Amos.
What up Amos?
So look, today's episode is titled, IsThriving Greater Than Surviving?
No, it's not that is thriving greater thansurviving.
The title is thriving is greater thansurviving.
(01:44):
Sorry about that.
You know what I'm talking about.
So look, I think this is important becauseI'm connected to a lot of early stage
founders in my Kabila and parentpreneurfoundation communities.
And I don't know if people would admit itopenly, but it feels like folks, know, are
especially early stage entrepreneurs arejust surviving, like only surviving
(02:07):
You know, we were put, I believe we wereput on this planet to thrive, not simply
survive.
But look, I get it, you know, being anentrepreneur is hard, especially in the
early stages, which is where honestly mostof my founder connections lie.
But I want to explore some ways today tohelp you thrive despite the challenges of
being an entrepreneur.
(02:29):
All right, cool.
Cool.
So for inspiration, I went to a Forbes,sorry about
knocking my mic around, I apologize forthat.
For inspiration, I went to a Forbesarticle titled, How to Thrive, Seven Ways
to Create Happiness in the Future of Workby Dr.
(02:49):
Tracy Brower.
And I'm gonna walk through the sevensuggestions that Dr.
Brower offers and I hope you get inspiredto thrive, not merely survive, if that is
an issue for you.
I'm also gonna offer an additionalsuggestion that is not.
on Dr.
Brower's list.
So Dr.
Brower defines thriving because I thinkit's important to define what is thriving.
(03:14):
In the context of this article, thrivingis a combination of happiness,
accomplishment, and growth.
That feels good to me.
I'm going rock with that.
Hopefully, you guys agree that that's areasonable definition for thriving.
So let's get right into these seven ways.
Here are the seven ways.
to thrive, according to Dr.
(03:35):
Brower.
Number one, perspective and approach.
And she says, quote, having a positiveperspective and an optimistic stance
matter to thriving.
Look to the future and stay expectingabout what is to come, unquote.
That word positive there reminds me of thelast episode where we explored toxic
(03:58):
positivity and asked if it really istoxic.
I think you'll find that episodeinteresting.
So go back and check it out.
was the one right before this.
but overall, I really liked thesuggestion.
I'm interested in expectation part of itbecause I was listening to my guy, you
know, pastor Amos Johnson from the churchfor entrepreneurs.
Recently, you hear me talk about him fromtime to time.
(04:21):
And, he talked about in order to havefaith, you have to have an expectation of
the thing come in the past.
So this was a revelation for me.
So I can agree with this first point ofperspective and approach with an air of
expectation.
Love to get your thoughts about that.
(04:42):
Number two, passion and learning.
Dr.
Brauer says, quote, thriving is also basedon development.
So embrace your passions and interests.
Know your talents, develop them, and growin new directions as well.
Find what motivates you and keep the focuson learning.
progressing and advancing your skills andabilities." End quote.
(05:07):
Okay, I love this.
I would add, what are you obsessed with?
What thing can't you stop thinking about?
Obsession matters more than passion forentrepreneurs, I think, because passion is
based on emotion and is fleeting.
My friend, investor Brad Feld, told me heinvests in entrepreneurs who are not
(05:27):
passionate, but obsessed with solving aproblem.
because obsessed people are less likely toquit so quickly when things get hard.
And as we all know, because we're allentrepreneurs listening to this, right?
Things will get hard.
You can bet that, right?
So number three, you have a biggerpicture.
(05:49):
This means being connected to somethinglarger than yourself.
This is usually spiritual or religious innature for most people, but it could be a
cause you care deeply about, I think.
And so, you know, what is that for you?
Ask yourself, what is that for you?
Is it religion?
Is it faith, spirituality?
Is it some causes you care about deeply?
(06:09):
you know, gives you, what are youconnected to that is larger than yourself?
Number four, relationships.
Quote from Dr.
Brower, another aspect of thriving issocial competence and the ability to build
rapport and connect effectively withothers at work, in social or family.
(06:31):
situations," end quote.
This makes tons of sense, right?
And I could admit publicly here that Ididn't really appreciate the importance of
relationships until probably the last 10years.
And I think in hindsight, this was a bigmistake.
And I'm led to wonder, how much furtherahead would I be if I appreciated
(06:52):
relationships sooner?
I guess you could say, well, there's nopoint in focusing on that.
because the only thing that matters isright now and I agree with that and I am
focused on relationships and I can see thebenefit of that.
So I'm super thankful for that.
I will say that I'm definitely gonna teachmy children, my twins who are 11 years old
now, the importance of relationshipbuilding today.
(07:14):
Also, I read an article a while back, Ithink it was in the Wall Street Journal,
that talked about how middle -aged men,because I'm a middle -aged man, yes, Gen X
in the house, middle -aged men actuallylose relationships
because they are focused on work andfamily and fascinatingly enough, this is
literally killing them.
(07:35):
Like their health is terrible, likestrokes, et cetera, it's bad.
So I'm super thankful that I'm making somany great new relationships these days.
Many of you out there listening, I wouldcount y 'all in that category.
But mostly it's because of the work I doin my parent -parent bond foundation in
Kabila community, it's just
(07:56):
connecting with some great humans who areentrepreneurs and parentpreneurs, really,
really great on similar journeys, really,really awesome.
Number five, resilience.
So I actually disagree with the articlehere as it defines resilience as
adaptability.
I think resilience is getting knocked outand getting back up in its simplest form.
(08:19):
So Dr.
Brower gives examples of being flexibleand adaptable.
when describing what resilience is.
And to me, that's not resilience.
That's flexibility and adaptability.
Now I agree those two things are importantas is being knocked down and getting back
up, which as I said, is resilience to me.
(08:41):
Number six, embracing challenges.
Dr.
Brower describes it as facing difficultiesand responding to it.
Like I 100 % agree with this.
Like who out there would disagree withthat?
Like raise your hand, send me a note.
Let me know if you disagree with this.
You know, I always say that a comfort zoneis a beautiful place, but nothing,
(09:03):
absolutely nothing except probably weeds,nothing ever grows there.
So embrace the challenges and watchyourself grow.
Number seven, life is about the journey.
Quote from Dr.
Brower.
When you create the conditions to thrive,you keep moving, continually looking for
(09:25):
ways to improve." End quote.
I love this and 100 % co -sign it.
I would, however, add an eighth way tothrive, and that is to get the help of a
great mental therapist.
I've paid for over 400 mental therapysessions for founders in my communities
and have seen firsthand the transformativeimpact it has had on entrepreneurs.
(09:49):
Getting a therapist will give you themental tools and resources to have the
right perspective on situations, makingyou more resilient, more self -aware, and
even more empathetic of others, which willhelp you develop deeper relationships with
people, which will help you what?
Thrive.
So that's it.
(10:10):
Seven ways to thrive with my eighth wayadded for good measure.
Do you agree?
Disagree?
Is it something you would add?
or take away, like hit me up on LinkedIn,let me know.
I'll add my profile in the show notes.
Please add a note to your connectionrequest that you heard me on the podcast.
So now it's time for my favorite part ofthe show, the dad joke.
(10:38):
And like I always say, my kids, I playthis podcast for the kids, you know,
they're real critical about the dad jokes.
like that last one with James Bond.
You know, my son liked it mostly becauseit made reference to farts, you know, his
kid likes the fart game, all that.
Anyway, my wife was mad at me about thejoke, but you know, she still loves me.
that right, Yes it is, of course.
(11:00):
So here's the dad joke.
What did the aliens say to the landscaper?
What did the aliens say to the landscaper?
Take me to your weeder.
Yeah, she liked that, right?
(11:22):
Yes, that's a good one, right?
I love it.
All right, man.
So we are finna get out of here today.
You know, we know you like the showbecause you're still listening.
So please subscribe, follow and rate it.
Follow me on Twitter at James Oliver Jr.
That's JamesOliverJR.
Connect with me on LinkedIn.
I'll put my profile in the show notes.
(11:44):
If you send me a connection request,please tell me you heard me on the
podcast, because I am a bit of a LinkedInsnob, and I'll just accept LinkedIn
connection requests from people I don'tknow, if there's not a good reason to do
so, but I wanna hear from you.
So send me a connection request, send anote, heard you on the podcast, wanna riff
about this, boom, you're in.
I would love to talk to you and get yourthoughts about this.
All so that's us for this week.
We'll catch up with you next time.
(12:05):
See ya later.
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