26: Joshua Spodek | Taking Initiative

Girls Chase Podcast

Welcome back to Dating Mechanics, our podcast here on Girls Chase! Today I feature a special guest who was recommended to me by Chase himself. Joshua Spodek (who actually used to be a dating coach himself) is now an expert on leadership, training, and taking initiative. He has several PhDs, writes a column for Inc., and has five Ivy league degrees. In this podcast, we’re here to talk about his upcoming new book, called Initiative, where Josh shares how anyone in any place in life can start taking initiative to create extraordinary results in life. Podcast Details: Taking Initiative 02:30 – We introduce Joshua, and we talk about his background in New York, and how he began teaching how to improve lives. We also talk about textbook learning versus performance based learning, and how traditional learning has failed. 05:00 – Traditional mainstream education teaches people to comply, and it tells you what’s important. Joshua shows how traditional textbook and example-based learning leaves people with fewer options. 08:00 – The path of traditional education leads to stability and keeps society going. It’s good for benefits and allows people to put their kids through college, but it may not be as fulfilling or lucrative as taking the path less traveled. 09:00 – Josh shares what inspired him to write Initiative, based on his experience in graduate school and how he started his first company – the first time he experienced full control. 11:20 – Josh’s lack of leadership skills caused him to be squeezed out of his own company. 12:45 – The number one reason people say they don’t want to start a company – they don’t have an idea. Varoon talks about Chipotle and how it evolved. 14:10 – Ideas don’t matter to the level we think. The people who don’t care about their ideas but pursue a path based on leadership skill succeed, whereas the people who look for the perfect idea do not. We always learn through our own experiences. 16:40 – We talk about the different types of ideas, and how the traditional entrepreneurial path is good for a limited number of outcomes. 19:00 – Josh talks about his book and course, and the fundamental learning tool is experience and practice. Memorizing facts doesn’t really work. 22:00 – People don’t start working on their ideas because they never figure out what they really want to do, which stalls them from even starting. Josh asks me what I remember most from school, and how I remember social skills more than my education. 24:30 – Josh talks about the example of learning how to play piano. Some things are known learning paths, in social and performance based fields. 25:30 – Josh shares his example of Rafael from his book. 28:40 – We talk more about Initiative, and how the exercises lead practitioners to unearth their real passions. 31:00 – The practice of very basic exercises can lead people to create beautiful symphonies, because repetition creates experience and muscle memory. 32:30 – We talk about working past sticking points to master skills. 34:00 – The more you serve what other people need, the more they help you succeed in your own goals. 38:30 – People fear taking action because they fear their own internal problems, and how they imagine failure will make them space. Practice always pays off, though. Working on fundamentals and basics always pays off. 41:30 – How discipline and practice allows authenticity to emerge. 43:00 – Josh shares how initiative will bring forth profit and passion into anyone’s life. 44:45 – Josh talks about guests he has had on his podcast, including Chase, available on www.joshuaspodek.com.