Episode 269: You Are Awesome with Neil Pasricha

On this episode of the podcast, I have the pleasure of being joined by the author of The Book of Awesome Series, Neil Pasricha. Neil thinks, writes, and speaks about intentional living and on this episode he’s going to share with me some of his insights from the book You Are Awesome: How to Navigate Change, Wrestle with Failure, and Live an Intentional Life.

Neil is a New York Times best-selling author of 5(!) books, selling well over a million copies of his books in the process. He also hosts the award-winning podcast – and foamier Productivityist Podcast Pick of the Week – 3 Books. He’s an in-demand international speaker and, like me, is a Canadian. Unlike me, he lives in Toronto with his wife and three sons.

We spend time during our discussion talking about his latest book and a wide variety of productivity-related topics for just over an hour, making this one of the longer episodes I’ve ever produced. So sit back, relax, and enjoy this conversation I have with Neil on the program. It’s, in a word… awesome.

Talking Points

  • Neil shares with me what You Are Awesome is really about
  • He shares why he started his blog
  • This is the difference between resilience and grit
  • We talk about the use of ellipses or the dot-dot-dot
  • These are the steps that you need to take to be awesome
  • We explore an all-too-common feeling: the feeling of not being good enough
  • Neil and I discuss the importance of failure
  • Does Neil journal?
  • Neil turns the tables and asks me about my journaling practice
  • When I share with Neil my TimeCrafting methodology he asks if I feel any sort of constraints surrounding it
  • I turn the tables back and ask Neil if he has any sort of daily theming practice that he uses
  • We close out the conversation by slowing things down a bit

“We have never been more productive – ever – than now.”

– Neil Pasricha

There’s a lot to unpack in this episode and so many great takeaways. It was refreshing to have the tables turned on me with a few questions and I know we could have spoken to each other for much longer. I encourage to give this episode a repeat listen – there are insights a-plenty to be found!


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