SPARKED

Have you ever felt like the very identity that defined you was becoming a straightjacket? That the career path, role, or persona you'd so carefully crafted suddenly felt constraining rather than purposeful? If so, you've likely experienced the disorienting - yet potentially catalyzing - transition I'm exploring with my guest today.I’m joined by Laura Gassner Otting. As an author, speaker, and entrepreneur who helped innovate AmeriCorps in the Clinton White House, she's intimately familiar with the psychological terrain one must navigate when shedding an old identity to birth the next evolution. Her new book "Limitless: How to Ignore Everybody, Carve Your Own Path, and Live Your Best Life" provides a roadmap for this journey.***And before we dive in, a quick note on the state of the show. So we have been in a season of reimagining here at Spark HQ, taking a look at what we're doing and why, how we're serving, and how best to keep serving you in the future. And as we do that, we've decided to take some time and place the show on hiatus while we deepen into new ideas and formats and ways to keep sharing the awakened work-life love. So this will be the final episode as we head into a quieter season of incubation and reimagining. We appreciate you coming along for the ride with us, and really look forward to being back with new ways to share new ideas. ***Find: Laura Gassner Otting  Website | BooksHost: Jonathan Fields, creator of Good Life Project podcast & the Sparketype® AssessmentRead Jonathan’s Awake at the Wheel NewsletterMore on Sparketypes:  Discover Your Sparketype | The Book | The Website Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Have you ever felt like your ambition was unsustainable? That drive to achieve and succeed was slowly draining you, leaving you unfulfilled despite your accomplishments? What if there was a way to align your ambitions with your deepest motivations and capacity for a lifetime of thriving?Today, we're turning our attention to the concept of sustainable ambition. We'll explore a fresh perspective that liberates ambition from its narrow professional confines and redefines it as a fluid force that ebbs and flows across all domains of life. Get ready to shed the toxic notion that ambition requires endless striving and embrace a more balanced "middle way."My guest today is Kathy Oneto, an executive and life-work coach, speaker, facilitator and strategy executive whose mission is to help organizations and individuals live and work differently for greater success and satisfaction. She is the founder of Sustainable Ambition®, host of the Sustainable Ambition podcast, and author of the forthcoming book, Sustainable Ambition: How to Prioritize What Matters to Thrive in Life and Work.Find: Kathy Oneto | Website | LinkedIn | BookHost: Jonathan Fields, creator of Good Life Project podcast and the Sparketype® Assessment,More on Sparketypes:  Discover Your Sparketype | The Book | The Website Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Have you ever felt stuck pursuing a path that didn't truly resonate with you? A career, creative endeavor or major life change that you committed to fully, told the world it’s what you were doing, and who you were now…only to realize it wasn't what you really wanted? Today, we're going to explore a more forgiving approach - one that allows you to experiment and gather critical data before going all-in.Imagine if you could "date" a potential pursuit, getting to know it intimately, before deciding whether to take that next step. What if the weight of having to definitively choose was lifted, allowing a sense of playfulness and curiosity to guide your exploration?My partner in conversation today is Charlie Gilkey, a strategic advisor, executive coach, founder of the Productive Flourishing consultancy, and author of the multi-award-winning book, Start Finishing and Team Habits. Charlie brings a wealth of wisdom for trying on new identities through low-risk projects and experiments.Find Charlie Gilkey | WebsiteHost: Jonathan Fields, creator of Good Life Project podcast and the Sparketype® Assessment,More on Sparketypes:  Discover Your Sparketype | The Book | The WebsiteFind a Certified Sparketype Advisor: CSA Directory Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ever felt like your emotions were running the show? One moment you're mindfully present, the next hijacked by anxiety over the future or paralyzed by regrets of the past. If this resonates, you're not alone.But what if there was a way to cultivate profound emotional fitness - the ability to embrace the full range of your feelings while navigating life with resilience, empathy and playfulness?My guest today is Dr. Emily Anhalt, a clinical psychologist whose new book "Flex Your Feelings" outlines a pioneering framework for developing this vital emotional agility. Through decades of research and therapeutic work, she has identified seven core traits of emotionally fit individuals and how to strengthen them.Guest: Dr. Emily Anhalt is a psychologist, international speaker, and the CoFounder and Chief Clinical Officer of Coa, the gym for mental health.Find Emily: Book Host: Jonathan Fields, creator of Good Life Project podcast and the Sparketype® Assessment,More on Sparketypes:  Discover Your Sparketype | The Book | The Website Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today’s Career Transformation Story features a trailblazer's journey from the apex of the corporate tech world to embracing the path of the solopreneur coach. It's a tale of reclaiming autonomy and giving voice to one's innermost callings.My guest today is Christian Röpke, who spent over a decade rising through AI leadership roles like Head of AI and Chief Technology Officer at startups in Berlin's white-hot tech scene. Despite the prestigious positions, an insistent voice stirred inside longing for more ownership and creative freedom.With the Primary Sparketype® Sage and Maven as his Shadow, Christian felt an innate drive to enlighten others through deep insight and perspective-shifting wisdom. Yet his corporate roles, however elite, inevitably boxed in that expression.So Christian took a leap into the uncertainty of solopreneurship, now guiding businesses on their AI journeys while finally honoring his soul's work as a catalyst for "aha" moments.~~~Host: Jonathan Fields, creator of Good Life Project podcast and the Sparketype® Assessment,More on Sparketypes:  Discover Your Sparketype | The Book | The Website Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What if you could transform uncertainty from a source of anxiety into fuel for discovery? That’s the invitation former Google executive turned neuroscientist Anne-Laure Le Cunff extends in this illuminating conversation about living life as a series of tiny experiments.Drawing from her own journey – from prestigious tech career to startup founder to neuroscience researcher – and insights from her new book “Tiny Experiments: How to Live Freely in a Goal-Obsessed World,” Le Cunff reveals how breaking free from prescribed life scripts opened the door to genuine curiosity and fulfillment.Whether you’re questioning your career path, relationships, or daily habits, this conversation offers a refreshing alternative to traditional goal-setting. Le Cunff’s research-backed approach helps you embrace uncertainty while staying grounded in what matters most – your own experience of what brings genuine joy and meaning.Guest: Anne-Laure Le Cunff, author of new book “Tiny Experiments: How to Live Freely in a Goal-Obsessed World,” Find Anne: Website | Book Host: Jonathan Fields, creator of Good Life Project podcast and the Sparketype® Assessment,More on Sparketypes:  Discover Your Sparketype | The Book | The Website Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In today’s Career Transformation Story, we're diving deep into one woman's incredible career transition from elite design consultant to launching her own business helping impact-driven organizations tackle their biggest challenges.My guest today is Kat Thackray, founder of a cutting-edge consultancy, People Equals Purpose, focused on transforming team dynamics and organizational culture. Kat Thackray’s Sparketypes: Primary Sparketype® is Maven, Shadow is Scientist, and ANTI Sparketype® is Nurturer.For Kat, hitting the director level at a top design consultancy should have been a dream. But something was missing. As the relentless climb drained her passion and even began manifesting physical symptoms of stress, Kat realized a deeper transformation was required.***And if you’d like to share your career transformation story on the Sparked podcast, to inspire others who may be feeling stuck or unsure about their own career paths, we encourage you to apply to be a guest and check out the form in the show notes. Because we believe that everyone deserves to find fulfillment and purpose in their work.To apply, please check out this form. We can't wait to hear from you!Host: Jonathan Fields, creator of Good Life Project podcast and the Sparketype® Assessment,More on Sparketypes:  Discover Your Sparketype | The Book | The Website Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Can social conditioning, past experiences, and external pressure affect the way we explore figuring out our Sparketype? Or, for that matter, any metric we might look to, as a way to help figure out what drives us? And how do we turn down the volume on social conditioning and perceived expectations, determine what our “truest truths” really are, and express ourselves in a more aligned way? Today’s listener, Sarah, asks these interesting questions, after re-taking the Sparketypes Assessment a year later and getting a result she felt was much closer to who she really was. In today’s episode we’re in conversation with:SPARKED BRAINTRUST ADVISOR: Jadah Sellner | WebsiteJadah is a multi-time founder and CEO of Jadah Sellner Media, the co-creator of the Simple Green Smoothies social and business phenom, sought-after advisor to entrepreneurs, and bestselling author, including her new book, ‘She Builds: The Anti-Hustle Guide to Grow Your Business and Nourish Your Life’, now available here.LISTENER: Sarah - Sparketype: Sage (Primary), Scientist (Shadow), Advocate (Anti)QUESTION: Today’s listener, Sarah, shares her experience of supporting multi-billion dollar retail businesses, as the head of change management and helping people and businesses work through transformations. She has been the right hand to many high level execs and spearheaded big results and impact but like so many of us, done so at her own expense and with a lot of burnout. It brings her to her main question - can your past experiences, especially challenging or traumatic ones, distort your view of yourself and therefore affect your Sparketype results? Can social conditioning and external feedback interfere with finding work and expression that is more aligned for us - and if so, how do we reduce its impact or even eliminate it altogether?Host: Jonathan Fields, creator of Good Life Project podcast and the Sparketype® Assessment,More on Sparketypes: Discover Your Sparketype | The Book | The Website Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ambition is such a loaded word. It’s often associated with a relentless drive to succeed, trampling over others as you scrap your way to the top, ignoring your wellbeing, relationships, and any sense of groundedness, meaning, peace or joy along the way. It’s what helps you achieve success, we’re told. But, what it that was not only wrong, but it also kept you from the work, the relationships, the health, the life–a different kind of success–you didn’t just want, but that was actually worth wanting?Today’s guest, Jenn Romolini, shares her deeply personal journey, rising to the top of the New York media world, then untangling from that toxic drive and letting go of an ambition that didn’t align with her core values and aspirations. Jenn is the author of the raw and emotional memoir Ambition Monster about her reckoning with the workaholism and obsession with work that stemmed from her childhood experiences.First a rising star in the New York publishing world, Jenn appeared to have it all – the coveted career, money, status. But beneath that picture-perfect exterior, the relentless ambition was disconnecting her from her truest self and what truly mattered most. It took a health crisis to forcibly hit pause and have Jenn reassess everything.In this intimate conversation, Jenn shares how losing her voice, literally, became the wake-up call that allowed her to find it again. From realizing her workaholism was a trauma response, to grappling with external measures of success, to finally breaking free and realigning with her core creative calling as a writer.Guest: Jenn Romolini, author of Ambition Monster Learn more:  Substack | Instagram Host: Jonathan Fields, creator of Good Life Project podcast and the Sparketype® Assessment,More on Sparketypes: Discover Your Sparketype | The Book | The Website Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In today’s Career Transformation Story, we uncover a profound journey of reclaiming one's creative spark and finding fulfillment through empowering others. It's a tale that takes us from the technical realms of aerospace engineering to the "social engineering" of company culture.My guest today is Adam Kolozetti, co-founder of Enta Solutions - a consultancy fusing team building, process improvement, and video storytelling. But Adam's path was far from linear.Listen in to hear the experience that unveiled Adam's true purpose - helping companies maintain an entrepreneurial spirit as they scale. Which aligns perfectly with his Primary Sparketype® as Maker, Shadow as Maven, and ANTI Sparketype® as Advocate.***And if you’d like to share your career transformation story on the Sparked podcast, to inspire others who may be feeling stuck or unsure about their own career paths, we encourage you to apply to be a guest and check out the form in the show notes. Because we believe that everyone deserves to find fulfillment and purpose in their work.To apply, please check out this form. We can't wait to hear from you!Host: Jonathan Fields, creator of Good Life Project podcast and the Sparketype® Assessment,More on Sparketypes: Discover Your Sparketype | The Book | The Website Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ever set an exciting goal that seemed life-changing, only to watch it fade away weeks later? In this episode, I share my proven ‘Success Scaffolding’ framework—a system I developed after diving deep into research on goal achievement and social psychology. This approach has helped me succeed in writing multiple books, launching companies, transforming my health, and achieving numerous other goals over decades.Built around seven key principles (down from eight last year), Success Scaffolding provides the structure and support needed to accomplish meaningful goals.Today we’ll focus on choosing and achieving one transformative goal for 2025. I’ll guide you through creating your personalized scaffolding, showing you how to align your goal with one of the three good life buckets: vitality, connection, or contribution.Host: Jonathan Fields, creator of Good Life Project podcast and the Sparketype® Assessment,More on Sparketypes:  Discover Your Sparketype | The Book | The Website Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Have you ever felt that gnawing sense of emptiness? That void inside you that desperately needs to be filled? You keep pushing forward, throwing yourself into activity after activity, but something still feels...off. You're going through the motions, but not truly feeling alive.  If this resonates, you're not alone. Millions are experiencing this state of languishing - falling in that space between depression and flourishing. My guest today, Corey Keyes, has devoted his life's work to understanding and overcoming this experience. Keyes' latest book, "Languishing: How To Feel Alive Again In A World That Wears Us Down," provides an insightful roadmap for recognizing when we've drifted into languishing and practical steps to reignite that spark of aliveness within us.In this conversation, Keyes shares wisdom from decades of research, exploring the societal factors contributing to widespread languishing and the crucial role of warm relationships, play, purpose and transcendence in our journey back to flourishing.Guest: Corey Keyes, author of Languishing: How to Feel Alive Again in a World That Wears Us DownLearn more: BookHost: Jonathan Fields, creator of Good Life Project podcast and the Sparketype® Assessment,More on Sparketypes:  Discover Your Sparketype | The Book | The Website Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What if you could ditch the outdated model of top-down leadership and instead create an environment where anyone can catalyze a collective vision? Where every voice is empowered to contribute their unique brilliance towards extraordinary outcomes?Today, we're rethinking what it truly means to lead in the modern age. My guest today, Keith Ferrazzi, is on a mission to initiate a profound shift - from rigid hierarchies to an inclusive new paradigm he calls "teamship."Keith Ferrazzi is a renowned executive team coach, keynote speaker, influential thought leader, founder of Ferrazzi Greenlight, and author.His latest book, Never Lead Alone: 10 Shifts from Leadership to Teamship, draws on two decades of research and field work to provide a revolutionary roadmap for the future of collaborative work.Guest: Keith Ferrazzi, author of Never Lead Alone: 10 Shifts from Leadership to TeamshipLearn more: Website & LinkedInHost: Jonathan Fields, creator of Good Life Project podcast and the Sparketype® Assessment,More on Sparketypes:  Discover Your Sparketype | The Book | The Website Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.