June 16, 2014

How to Change Your Life with Audio & Video from the Experts

Feeling like you need to chart a new course? Learn how to change your life with these audio & video titles delivered by the experts. In this collection of free audio and video resources, you’ll find advice from popular life coaches, such as Mark Victor Hansen, Cheryl Richardson, Steve Pavlina, and many more. You’ll also get access to regular tips from the Daily Boost Podcast, learn how to readjust your routine with the Life Habits Podcast, and gain insight from Oprah’s Spirit Channel. Contemplating a major life change starts with small steps. Start the next phase of your journey by clicking any of the links below:

1. Joseph Grenny on Change Anything

Joseph Grenny is the co-author of the book Change Anything: The New Science of Personal Success. In this talk delivered at Google, Grenny discusses many of the findings of their research on change and presents a new way of thinking about how to change habits in one’s life. While many people assume that the inability to change is due to lack of willpower and that most people have to hit rock bottom with their bad habits before they can change, Grenny gives us a different perspective. He posits that we don’t have to work harder at change but that we have to be smarter at learning about all of the factors contributing to our bad habits. By recognizing six different factors that contribute the most to one’s habits, we can then come to a better understanding of our habits and come up with creative ways to change our environment or our state or mind in order to enable lasting change. He gives many great examples and shows video clips of people who successfully changed their personal and professional life for the better. If you’re making some New Year’s resolutions this year, then this talk can help you with coming up with new ideas on how to accomplish those goals. This 50-minute talk is available on streaming video from YouTube.

2. The Best of Steve Pavlina’s Blog

Steve Pavlina’s popular blog “Personal Growth for Smart People” gets over 2 million visitors per month. Writing on topics as diverse as sleep optimization, natural food diets, relationships, and time management, Pavlina has displayed a fascinating willingness to adjust his lifestyle for the better. We’ve been avid readers of his blog for years and are excited to present his ideas on audio for the first time! Our free audio book for May features six of his most popular blog posts of all time. Download this free 1-hour audio book as an introduction to his unique take on personal growth. Included in this free sampler program are audio renditions of these classic Pavlina blog postings:
How to Discover Your Life Purpose, 30 Days to Success, How to Become an Early Riser, Ten Reasons Not to Get a Job, How to Decide When to End a Long-Term Relationship, and The Law of Attraction. Be sure to download this great audio book!

3. Richard Thaler on Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness

In this Authors@Google talk, notable behavioral economist Richard Thaler talks about his book Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness . He explains behavioral economics and how behavioral economists often have different ideas about the way humans act than other economists. He then goes into the basics of Nudge by demonstrating that through little changes in the environment individuals and organizations can create dramatically different outcomes through what he calls “paternal libertarianism”. He gives many examples of ways that this works in everyday life and it will certainly get you thinking of little changes you can make in your own life or in your workplace for influencing behavior. This program is available on streaming video through YouTube.

4. Dan Ariely: The Upside of Irrationality

Use irrationality to help you overcome bad habits and achieve your goals. Behavioral economist Dan Ariely’s bestselling book Predictably Irrational showed how people frequently make irrational decisions regarding their health, their spending habits, and much more. In this lecture Ariely talks about his latest book The Upside of Irrationality where he shows the negative and positive effects of irrationality and how we can use irrational means towards our own rational objectives. He tells of experiments and examples where irrational incentives were used to help fight global warming, to motivate people to take care of their health, and to prevent people from texting while they’re driving. It’s one of the most fun lectures we’ve listened to all year. This lecture is available on streaming video from the Forum Network through YouTube.

5. Change Nation Podcast

The Change Nation Podcast features interviews with leading experts and inspirational speakers about ways individuals can make positive changes in their personal and professional lives. Host Ariane De Bonvoisin talks with authors and speakers such as Les Brown, Gay Hendricks, Wayne Dyer, Marianne Williamson, Tim Ferriss, Jack Canfield, Mike Dooley, David Bach, and dozens of other great teachers of change. Topics covered include getting orgranized, starting a business, finding a job, nurturing a relationship, getting fit, eating right, and much, much more. Ariane is an excellent host and many recent interviews are available as both audio & video podcasts. Definitely check out this podcast and you might also want to check out Ariane De Bonvoisin’s site: www.first30days.com.

6. Oprah.com’s Spiritual Channel Podcast

In 2008 Oprah Winfrey launched a series of podcasts. Her first and most popular podcast featured Eckhart Tolle teaching a 10-part course on his book A New Earth. That podcast has since become Oprah.com’s Spiritual Channel Podcast and she continues to update it with interviews she conducted on her Soul Series on Oprah Radio and other spiritual audio programs from Oprah.com. Now on the podcast you’ll find hour-long Oprah interviews with spiritual teachers such as Wayne Dyer, Elizabeth Lesser, Jon Kabat-Zinn, Larry Dossey, Byron Katie, and many other teachers and bestselling authors in the field of spiritual growth. And of course the Eckhart Tolle 10-part course is still on the podcast. These podcasts are available on MPEG-4 audio & video and can be played through Quicktime or iTunes.

7. Alain de Botton: A Kinder, Gentler Philosophy of Success

In this talk at TEDGlobal philosopher Alain de Botton looks at the contemporary notion of success and why he feels it is such a source of anxiety for so many people. He finds that in today’s world the appearance of equality, such as Bill Gates dressing just like everybody else, makes most people feel they too can be rich & successful. He also relates contemporary success to the meritocracy that exists today when people are made to feel that they own their successes and failures. And he looks at how failure is treated today by referencing the tabloids that often portray failures without any empathy, whereas in past societies tragedy was often used to encourage empathy of people that might’ve failed at something. Ultimately Alain de Botton encourages you to try to not live according to the models of success around you, but to instead make success your own! An excellent TED talk available on streaming video and MP3 download.

8. Change Your Life with Cheryl Richardson Podcast

Listen to these podcasts hosted by inspiring author and life skills coach Cheryl Richardson as she talks with other personal growth experts on ways to change your life for the better. In more recent podcasts (which are on the bottom of the podcast feed on our page) she talks with Iyanla Vanzant about her remarkable life, Julia Cameron about the challenge of creativity and writing, and Geneen Roth about the new outlook on food which she conveys in her bestselling book Women Food and God. In past episodes you can listen to, she interviews Dr. Joan Borysenko, Gregg Braden, Dr. Bruce Lipton, Dr. Christiane Northrup, Louise Hay, Debbie Ford, Natalie Goldberg, Harville Hendrix, and many others. Listen to some of these great interviews on how to change your life.

9. Personal Development for Smart People Podcast

One of our favorite personal development bloggers is Steve Pavlina. His popular blog at www.stevepavlina.com attracts over two million monthly readers. He also has a podcast featuring over 20 episodes which address many different areas of personal growth. Pavlina does not believe in any quick solutions to personal growth and knows that it takes a lot of time and hard work to improve in any area of your life. In his first podcast he presents his own story of personal growth which began over 15 years ago in a jail cell when he was 19 years old. These early podcasts can be played at www.stevepavlina.com/audio. In recent podcasts that are on the podcast feed he talks about finding your purpose, achieving your goals, nurturing loving relationships, and more. Enjoy these free podcasts from www.stevepavlina.com.

10. Mark Victor Hansen at the Spirit of Service Awards

Mark Victor Hansen is the founder and co-creator of the “Chicken Soup for the Soul” book series, along with his business partner, Jack Canfield. To date they’ve sold over 140 million copies of the book series. He has also shared his business leadership and wealth building ideas in books like The One Minute Millionaire and Cracking the Millionaire Code which he has co-authored with Robert G. Allen. In this video from C-SPAN, Hansen delivers a rapid fire speech of motivation on giving and serving others at the Spirit of Service Awards. He starts with a few stories from the “Chicken Soup” series and then provides the crowd with gems of wisdom on volunteering, service, and being charitable. He provides examples from his own life of how he made millions of dollars, and then how he donated millions to charitable causes. Enjoy this motivational speech from one of the leading voices in personal and professional growth. Note: The speech starts at about the 30-minute point in the video so you can skip to that point if you just want to hear Mark.

11. The Daily Boost Podcast

Scott Smith from MotivationtoMove.com has been podcasting motivational messages daily since back in 2006 when podcasting first started! He now offers three daily motivational podcasts that are available as a subscription through his website: “The Daily Boost”, “The Business Boost”, and “The Fitness Boost”. Each Monday he offers his 9-minute “Daily Boost” podcast for free. Scott is professionally trained for radio and his voice carries an enthusiasm that is contagious. In the podcast he provides quick tips for self help, exercising, eating, and more. He’s always high on energy and he certainly sounds like he’s practicing what he preaches. Listen to a half dozen episodes of “The Daily Boost” for free to get the week started right!

12. Life Habits Podcast

Listen to one of the most highly rated and popular personal development podcasts in iTunes, as host Karel Vredenburg delivers the Life Habits Podcast. Karel has been podcasting since back in 2008, and he now has over 80 podcasts episodes you can choose from covering a vast amount of topics related to good and bad habits in all aspects of our lives. Drawing ideas from some of the best personal growth teachers, Karel delivers knowledge on life habits in a brief amount of time. Browse this podcast and find some topics that interest you.