good misfit

Family, Love and Wellness Revolution with Israel Smith – SUS18

December 19, 2013 By Berni

Far too often we can get caught up in being doing-machines. Trying to afford a lavish lifestyle we believe our family wants. Getting disconnected from the people who matter most to us because we’ve now become married to our jobs. It’s this endless cycle of “the more we do, the more we get.”

But, what if you don’t like what you’re getting?

Don’t make fun of me, but today’s episode reminds me a lot about the moral of the story in the Adam Sandler movie Click: family first. My friend and fellow Good Misfit Israel Smith takes us through a few of his defining shut up moments when he realized he had to bring things back to the basics. Prioritizing his family, mental health and wellness over a profitable business that was sucking the life out of him.

Share Some Shut Up Love –> We didn’t want to go back to someone else’s job. We became addicted to being masters of our own destiny. @israelpsmith #shutupshow (click to tweet)

See video blog and full show notes at https://theshutupshow.com/israelsmith

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Family, Love and Wellness Revolution with Israel Smith – Episode 41

October 2, 2013 By Berni

But, what if you don’t like what you’re getting?

Watch the show (uncensored & unedited)Listen to the show

Share Some Shut Up Love –> We didn’t want to go back to someone else’s job. We became addicted to being masters of our own destiny. @israelpsmith #shutupshow (click to tweet)

Fun Facts:

Israel left a six-figure salary at an I.T. consulting firm to launch a photography business.
Israel had to scale back his $450K photography studio to deal with his depression and put the focus back on family.
Israel will be leaving Sydney at the end of 2014 to travel around Australia in a bus with his wife and two kids to explore the country and start a Family, Love and Wellness Revolution.
Berni and Israel were both co-members of the Good Misfit Project raising funds to build a windmill in the Kenyan village of Gambella in August of 2013.

Defining Shut Up Moment:

LEAVING I.T. CONSULTING TO START A PHOTOGRAPHY BUSINESS: I was stuck in a room about 25 sq. feet of space. I had a wall full of computers buzzing around me and no natural light. I was the only person in the room. That’s how I’d spend 8 to 10 hours a day. I realized my life was worth more than this. I was about 8 steps removed from doing anything meaningful. I’m just this tiny little cog in this massive machine. I would much rather make a difference to people on a much bigger scale than helping someone’s share portfolio go up a fraction of a fraction of a cent.

DEALING WITH CLINICAL DEPRESSION: My biggest experience I had with depression was the only time I was diagnosed with it, which is about two years ago. We did the typical business thing. Hired a staff. Scaled the business. My wife was just about to give birth to our son. I had just run a marathon and published a couple of books. We took a summer holiday and I wasn’t able to relax or enjoy the time with my family. I just didn’t care about the business. I didn’t want to take pictures. I was miserable. I couldn’t get started on anything at all. Beyond Blue, which is a depression awareness initiative, assessed me and they said I had the highest reading they’ve ever seen of work stress. It was kind of a gut punch but sort of a relief because at least I knew what was dealing with.

BUILDING A PORTABLE BUSINESS TO TRAVEL AROUND AUSTRALIA IN A BUS: The next big adventure is to make our photography business completely portable. In 2014, we are packing our family in a bus to share this message of depression and lifestyle and we’re going to make a film traveling across Australia. In Australia, we’re working longer hours than most people in the world. So the fear is, am I doing a good job of prioritizing myself and family? And, how the hell am I going to start a new business with my wife and make my own current business portable? Find a bus and find sponsorship. Buy the bus. And what bloody path am I going to take around Australia? How am I going to learn how to shoot film when I take still shots?

Shut Up Tips:

We talk about “follow your passions and you’ll never work another day in your life.” But you’ve got to pay the bills. You have to eat. You have two kids to take care of. – Phil

“In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure.” – Bill Cosby (via Berni)

This business ain’t all that. The business has to change and my lifestyle has to take priority. – Israel

I face fear every day. The fear of “am I kicking enough ass before I die?” and “am I able to give my kids the best side of me every day?” – Israel

When you’re sitting at your death bed, do you want to be saying “Gee, I’m glad I worked my ass off and missed my kid’s graduation and had all that money in the bank”? – Israel

Having a husband and a father for her kids was more important to my wife than the business. In that moment she decided we needed to deal with my depression. Depression is real. It’s a serious illness and it needs to be treated. – Israel

Family is vitally important and we can always make more money, but we can’t make more time. While it shames me to say I don’t remember a lot of the first 6 or 8 months of my son’s life, because of how depressed I was, I remember a bucket load of stuff since then. – Israel

Continue to put first things first. You first. If you don’t have anything to give, they have nothing to receive. – Phil

Israel Recommends:

Beyond Blue – raising awareness and funds to reduce the impact of depression and anxiety

Find Israel:

Israel’s web site is Israelsmith.com

Tweet with Israel at @israelpsmith

AJ Leon Helps Us Define Our Moments So They Don’t Define Us – Episode 10

June 14, 2013 By Berni

How do you go from being an insanely successful financial executive in Manhattan, with a six-figure salary and corner office, to quitting your job four days before your wedding because the thought of becoming that guy for the rest of your life scares the crap out of you? AJ Leon, the emperor of awesomesauce and king of misfits, took time out of his uber busy schedule to chat with Phil and me about how that was his narrative in 2007. Over five years later, it is no more.

In this episode, AJ vulnerably takes us through his shut up moments. What led him to decide to take that audacious leap of faith without losing the love of his life and, most importantly, why he believed the view sleeping underneath The Brooklyn Bridge would look far more remarkable than the path he was on. It’s people like AJ that make the kind of work Phil and I do possible. We love AJ and know you will too.

Watch the show (uncensored & unedited) Listen to the podcast

Share Some Shut Up Love –> Most people would say connection is not scalable. I think the most beautiful things in life are not scalable. @ajleon via @_theshutupshow

Fun Facts:

AJ runs the coolest company on the planet with a team that’s “got his back.” Laverne and Shirley literally understand this.
AJ is the Chief Maker of Trouble at Misfit, Inc., a nomadic creative shop that specializes in changing the world.
His first company was a professional Shakespearean theatre company producing performances that were termed as “street Shakespeare.”
AJ majored in accounting, finance, and religious studies (yeah, because that was an obvious cluster of choices).
AJ is an artist, designer, writer, entrepreneur and humanitarian running a company from The Pegasus and his backpack.
AJ publishes a quarterly magazine that features artistic carriers of the Misfit flame all over the globe.

Defining Shut Up Moment:

AJ said it better than I could have ever put into other words:

When I left my job, it was an excruciating moment for me because I saw this 60-year-old version of myself looking back at me mourning the glory of a life that could have been. I realized I needed to make an audacious decision. I walked out of my job and career. Everything I’ve ever known. I felt glorious for about half a second and then realized I’m gonna get married in 4 days; I’ve got to call my fiance. Melissa and I have been together for a very long time. She knew me well before I derailed. I’ll never forget what she said to me. She was happy to have me back and said she would rather live with the real me under the Brooklyn bridge than an impersonation of me anywhere else.

AJ breaks down his shut up moments for us:

LIFE AS A NOVEL: When you look at your life as a story unraveling you start to see even the bad times as the times that are most interesting. And even in those moments there’s a traditional side of you that say, “I’m fucked” and there’s this other side that says this is an adventure and I’m in the middle of it. This is going to be a great story to tell.

LIFE AS AN ART PROJECT: The day it really hit me I realized this is my life and it is my one and only. There are no encores. There are no redos. I don’t get another one. This is it. When you recognize this is not your practice life. This is all you have. Everything changes when you really get that because your choices become more urgent and that fear of “Am I gonna make it?” is much less relevant. This is my life. This is my art project. Seeking the things you want to do.

Shut Up Tips:

If you’re not selling information, then you transfer into a world where it’s not about the size of your list. You look at them as individuals and you connect to them as a person. I spend about 2 to 3 hours a day thanking everyone for subscribing to Pursuit of Everything. I want to know who’s here, who’s showing up, what they’re working on. – AJ

A lot of people would say connection is not scalable. I think the most beautiful things in life are not scalable. – AJ

If you don’t know what you’re building and “success comes knocking at your door” then the only way to go is towards the currents of growth for growth’s sake and that’s where most people go. I don’t think that’s necessarily right. I think you just have to know what you’re seeking out to build. – AJ

I try to look at fears that in the past would have had their foot on my throat and I just let them stand there; I try to not do that now. That dude was always afraid. I know there are people like that dude out there. That’s who I’m writing to. The 22-year-old version of myself. I’m telling that guy he doesn’t have to listen to everybody else and he has much more choices than he thinks he has. – AJ

You telling me to stop doing this is like telling me to cut off my left arm. – Berni

Recognize that you have this one life and things start to take care of themselves when you realize that. – AJ

I would have been “that guy” for the rest of my life. It’s a terrifying feeling having your life scripted and you don’t like the script. – AJ

It’s not about making the big leap sometimes. It’s about taking the baby steps towards something closer. – Phil

Each of us are living our own narrative. I can’t possibly give blanket advice. It’s ludicrous. – AJ

If you have to continue in your job because you have a family, you’ve got to pay those bills and want to take care of that, then the evening hours after work between 6 to 12 are absolutely essential for you to plan what to do next. Those hours are equivalent to The French Revolution being planned in Parisian bistros at midnight after people were getting off of work. I think the “what to do next” doesn’t have to generate revenue. – AJ

AJ Recommends:

The Good Misfit Project is an experiment in social and measurable philanthropy. In June 2013, 30 misfits will hold individual fund raisers in their communities to raise a total of $15,000 to build a windmill in Gambella for an entire village to complete its five-year journey towards sustainability.

To get involved, donate, or learn more, go to GoodMisfit.com.

Find AJ:

AJ is currently traveling around the entire world in 1,080 days and writes about his journey at the Pursuit of Everything.

Find AJ at @ajleon over on the Twitters.