This is a special episode, where Steward Yang shares a difficult moment in his life and reflects upon the lessons that he learned about making difficult decisions. We dive into his story, how he handled adversity, and how he made difficult decisions about his career. Filled with love and vulnerability, this conversation is packed with wisdom and heart. We hope you enjoy it! 

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2020 is a crazy time for the world.  We are all on lockdown and stuck in our homes. With more time then we are use to having, what do we do with all this extra time. That is exactly what we explore in this podcast. We share our experiences, recommendations, and ideas. We hope you enjoy it! 

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Stress is a prevalent part in all of our lives. Deep down most of us struggle with some form of stress whether it stems from the workplace, home, relationships those closest to us, or simply ourselves. In this episode we talk about how stress does not stem the external challenges we face, but rather our internal inability to cope, reframe, or accept how we choose to respond to these external stimuli. We touch base briefly our personal stressors and the concept of Active Insight, an effective method developed by Andrew Bernstein the author of “The Myth of Stress”, on how to deal with stress.

Active Insight Worksheet link:

https://resilienceacademy.com/resources/worksheet/

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This week we talk about the concept of seeking validation and the importance of realizing the dangers of letting it control our day to day lives. We define validation as seeking the approval of others and the need for social acceptance. From everyday smalls compliments to satisfying our insatiable desire to be accepted, we take a deep philosophical about how to recognize this pattern of behavior, how to utilize validation productively, but ultimately…. how to LET IT GO  completely!

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Today we talk about the importance of OVERCOMING your own NEGATIVE ASSUMPTIONS. It’s such a dangerous aspect of our life that can easily snowball out of control and be detrimental to the quality of our lives if we leave it unchecked. We define an assumptions as the act of coming to a conclusion without evidence to back it up. In this talk, we cover specific examples of how negative assumption can changed  in three aspects that include:

• Personal Relationships 
• Business Relationships
• Learning Capabilities 

We also share a concept (F.A.S.T.) created by Jim Kwik about improving one’s learning ability that can make a huge difference in challenging the assumptions on how we view learning.  

• F - FORGET what you already know / forget your limitations / forget everything around you (7 bits max)  
• A - ACTIVE participation: education is not consumption but rather creation. Grab knowledge don’t be spoon fed knowledge (take notes: left side = capture notes / right side = creative notes) 
• S - STATE mood of brain and body (we don’t have to react to the environment, be the thermostat not the thermometer)
• T - TEACH can you explain to someone what you’ve learned?

“He who knows, does not speak. He who speaks, does not know.” - Lao Tzu

Bad habits are subconscious manifestations of your negative assumptions

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Last week, we tried something new! We took on a meditation class specifically rooted in the Zen of Buddhism. For those who have never tried meditation of any before, we highly recommend it! You’d be surprised at the level of transformative perspective that your mind can achieve. It’s a feeling that is hard to describe in words and something that everyone should try at least once to really understand what it’s like. There is beauty in not labeling or expecting things to be a certain way and we think you’ll be amazed at what you discover about yourself through meditation. There is also beauty in that everyone can interpret what they experience in their own unique way. The conversation we had attempted to capture the essence of that. 

“The root of suffering is attachment.” - Budhha

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It’s happened to you. It’s happened to us… We’ve all been there before! 

In this conversation, we shed some light on how to deal with the pain associated with rejection and the importance of seeing things objectively. We share personal experiences about handling rejection in the context of pitching a product in a business transaction and in the context of day to day interaction with those close to us. 

Comment down below of a situation where you felt rejected. Challenge yourself to reflect upon it! Looking back, see if you made the situation worse than it actually was in your own head. Challenge yourself to see it from a non-personal perspective. Think about how you would approach it differently if a similar situation were to happen again.

“See things as they are not worse than they are.” - Tony Robbins

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No one really has life figured out yet completely. We by no means are close to figuring out life in its entirety, but nonetheless, we felt this discussion was important to share because we know that there are a lot of people out there just like us pondering what the “right” path to take looks like. Specifically, in the context of “should, I work in a 9-5 or should I work for myself to create something of my own?” 

It’s easy and sometimes tempting to jump to a conclusion and bash on one side of this ideological debate. That is not the point of this discussion. The hope is to shed some light on how to:

• First, understand yourself and what it is that you desire in your life
• Reverse engineer on what path suits your belief system and personality the best
• Find meaning in what you do regardless of which path you choose to take

Understand that it’s not about which path is “right”, but rather which path is “true” to YOU.

If you’re uncertain, the most practical thing you can do is to try more things. Sitting back to wait and ponder leads to inaction and inaction usually always leads to frustration. 

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Follow Kevin Chen: twitter.com/kevinthomaschen
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In this day and age, it seems to maintain focus in the long term and the short term seems to be harder than ever. It’s become easier to get distracted with the constant noise that bombards us in the form of notifications from apps, messengers, social media, and our own minds.

We cover the importance of exercising focus on the macro long term level and then the micro day-to-day level. 

Some tips we share on how you can improve your level of focus:

• Reverse engineering the end goal to shape your smaller goals
• Creating a personal system for shutting out distraction
• Debating on whether one can truly effectively multitask 
• Learning how to layer priorities into different levels
• Emphasizing the importance of meditating

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Follow Us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/espresso.corner/
Follow Kevin Chen: twitter.com/kevinthomaschen
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In today’s discussion, we talk about the importance of being vulnerable. It’s not always easy put yourself out there. In fact for most of us, it can be downright terrifying. This is why we felt it was necessary to shed some light on this topic through our personal experiences in the hope that it can inspire you to be unfiltered with your inner thoughts and to summon the courage to face your fears. 

Some takeaways to consider about Vulnerability:

• It is like a muscle, you have to exercise it constantly to build up resilience
• It is an important indication of trust within our everyday social interactions 
• It is by far the most powerful tool for building authenticity and leadership with others
• Expressing it should not be viewed as a sign of weakness or negativity, but rather as a sign of self awareness and strength of courage
• Observing how your vulnerability is received reveals the state of mind of those surrounding you. 

There’s something transformative about being transparent with yourself that is self liberating and we encourage you to practice it in your day to day life with the people you surround yourself with. 

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Connect with us! 

Follow Us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/espresso.corner/
Follow Kevin Chen: twitter.com/kevinthomaschen
Follow Steward Yang: twitter.com/steward_yang
Email Us: [email protected]

In this episode, we talk about the ominous self-imposed limitations that impact every single one of us every day. We went in depth about conquering that voice in our head that says “no” or “it can’t be done” before even starting. We share personal stories of when it would have been easy to let the excuses get in the way and when it could have been easy to let the self-doubts take over. We talk about the importance of looking back on the story of your own life; not having any REGRETS and living, breathing, doing the thing that makes you happy. For those who feel stuck, lost, uncertain, or even frustrated this conversation piece may just be the video you needed to see today to help get your mindset back on track and to help you break free of your own self imposed limitations. 

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Connect with us! 

Follow Us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/espresso.corner/
Follow Kevin Chen: twitter.com/kevinthomaschen
Follow Steward Yang: twitter.com/steward_yang
Email Us: [email protected]