We unlock our greatness by working on the hard things.

Hello and welcome to the Psychology Podcast.

Today we welcome Michael Bungay Stainier on the show.

Michael is the founder of Box of crayons and is the author of the best-selling book,

The Coaching Habit, with over a million copies sold.

He was a Rhodes scholar and in 2019 was named the number one thought leader in coaching.

Michael has a master's degree in philosophy from Oxford,

a wall degree, and a BA with highest honors from the Australian National University.

His latest book is called How to Begin.

I'm inviting Michael in the show because I'm a big fan of his work in coaching,

and as I get more into the coaching profession,

everyone seems to be talking about Michael.

He's such a good guy and he's funny and really thoughtful about coaching principles.

In this episode I talked to him about how to begin.

When we set goals, the most popular framework that often comes to mind

is the idea of smart goals.

Instead of starting with what's measurable though,

Michael urges us to start with what's important.

He shares his criteria for identifying what a worthy goal is,

as well as advice for how to stay committed to that worthy goal.

We also touch on the topics of coaching, empathy, change, and community.

So without further ado, I bring you Michael Bungay Stainier.

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