Work Life Play with Aaron McHugh

Creating a Haven of Peace with Joanne Miller #81

In this podcast interview with Joanne Miller, she helps us understand the importance of having a peaceful and healthy home environment. In Joanne's new book, Creating a Haven of Peace (available on Amazon) she stresses the importance of intentional environmental design within your home. Bottom line: Peaceful home = Peaceful life.  

Adventure: Knowing When to Turn Around #80

In this podcast, my adventure buddy, Ray Cameron and I retell our experience of turning around on our attempt to climb Crestone Peak. Crestone Peak is Colorado's 7th' highest mountain rising to 14,294 feet above sea level. Colorado's has over fifty-eight summits above 14,000 feet and I've been on a quest to summit all 58 of them. Locals call these peaks "14'ers".  

How to Scale Influence with Carl Richards #79

How to Scale Influence with Carl Richards | Episode #79 I met Carl last year in gravel grey parking lot in Western Colorado. We had $5K cash, ready to do the deal. Carl Richards was selling his BMW Adventure bike to my friend Jon Dale.   We discovered that we know some of the same people of influence namely Seth Godin. Listen to my 2015 interview with Carl Episode #29 on the One Page Financial Plan.  

The Narrative I Tell Myself Every Day #78

Rob Bell says in his new book, How to Be Here, "We all have a blinking line, a cursor. Your blinking line is whatever sits in front of you waiting to be brought into existence". The narrative I tell myself everyday frames my Work Life Play. Every morning the tapes in my head begin to play. I used to think somebody else was responsible for those audio files. My High School principal told me once, "You'll never amount to anything". To be fair, I had just dumped dish soap in the biology lab f...

Honorable Work and a Short Bus #77

Podcast bullet: If you don’t like the work you’re doing everyday. We can still choose to do it well. It is honorable just doing the hard work of staying alive. There is a lot of pressure in our modern world for our lives to be epic and big. Big and epic aren’t helpful when you find yourself in a season of work you don’t love. We see with our eyes what we believe we will see. Seeing is believing. How we operate in difficult seasons, says a lot about our core beliefs.

Betting on Yourself #76

  You are more powerful than you believe. You are more influential than you think. Invest a dollar, an hour, an ounce of emotional energy in yourself. You will never loose. Markets are volatile.  You are steady. Money is fleeting.  You are constant. Risk equals reward and sometimes just a good story.

Rage Against the Minivan with Kristen Howerton #75

I had this nutty idea of asking Kristen Howerton if she would be willing to do a podcast interview while riding in a Surrey with the Fringe on Top (picture a four-wheeled carriage with each person peddling) on the Newport Beach, CA boardwalk. She said, That sounds fun. Boom. Game On.  In this episode, we got real...I mean really real. We covered a big range of topics as we bounced through conversations about... the pressure of perfectionism, the pretty veneer of social media, social justi...

Humility or Humiliation #74

It is a fine line between choosing humility or humiliation.  I use this phrase "Eating Humble Pie" when I feel the tension of choice between humility and humiliation. I use this phrase when I find myself walking the fine line between experiencing shame and feeling humbled. I recorded this podcast after walking out of Crossfit class with my tail narrowly tucked between my legs. I got worked. Everyone in the class was ahead of me. I expect the Crossfit fenatics to beat me. I even expect some o...

Adventuring Outside Your Tribe #73

  Tribes of Belonging Your tribe of belonging is where you are at home. You know where you fit. You’re part of the tribe and everyone in the tribe knows you belong. You’re comfortable, safe and you can predict what will happen next within the tribe. You’re even apart of defining the rules and system of your tribe of belonging. An easy example is your family. Your hometown, your fraternity or serority, your school, your place of worship and likely your Tribes of Visitation Tribes Tran...

Mercenaries and Missionaries #72

Everyone should be part Mercenaries and equal parts Missionaries. I learned this idea from Mike Rowe the TV show host of Dirty Jobs. He riffed on this idea on a Fast Company video post and shared why he believes that everyone should be both. I unpack this idea of contrast between these two profiles. 

The Pressure of Perfection #71

I have a confession to make. I get hung up with self-induced pressure of perfection. I have a vision of what things can become. As a result, I can easily get stuck in the muddy mire of perfect. I make things harder than they need to be. My wife reminds me of how I make things an “event” that don’t need to be. For as many cool things I create and author, there are twice as many projects that I get stuck on. I get hung up adhering to imagined rules that I’ve made impossibly more difficult than...

Art with a Soul with Kevin Butler #70

I discovered Kevin Butler's art in a Herschel Supply Co. magazine in a surf shop in Laguna Beach, CA. The Journal Issue 2, was intoxicatingly stacked from cover to cover with images of surf, land, sea, play, beauty and art. Kevin's RAD Cars with RAD Surfboards drawings were featured as Herschel's new beach line. I've been dragging around this journal for two years. I caught up with Kevin here on Work Life Play and got the download on how his art has so much soul.

The Third Way #69

It seems like there are only two choices, Option 1 (the way I've always done it) re Option 2 (the way I don't want to do it). However, I've discovered another option I never knew existed. We've learned to call this unforeseen possibility option "The Third Way". 

Think Simple: Ken Segall's Secret Weapon that Drove Apple #68

Podcast Highlights: The high’s and low’s of working side-by-side with Steve Jobs for twelve years. Discover the power of defeating complexity with simplicity. Watch the 1998 TV ads for the iMac with Jeff Goldblum. Why is simplicity so difficult to get right? Hear the story about the creation of the first Apple Store and naming the Genius Bar. Watch Steve Job’s commencement speech at Stanford “You cannot connect the dots going forward”.

Live a Hell Yes #67

I called my friend Gill at 10 am this morning. “Gill I’m calling you back. What’s up?” “We’re going to climb Pikes Peak today. You should join us Aaron.” Pause; remind myself that the lists of excuses for saying “No” are not that important or urgent or necessary. “YES. I’ll be there in an hour”. Movies are extremely helpful in telling parable stories through the lives of someone else. The two movies that reframed my beliefs about risking saying “YES” more often are The Secret Life of W...

How to Cheat Business Travel #66

Think differently Business travel does not have to be a drag. Remove resignation from your list of excuses. You can fulfill your work obligations and HAVE A GOOD TIME ALSO. Come prepared adventure clothes running/walking/hiking shoes Petzl headlamp -my favorite Tikkina (cheap, light, easy) light jacket (check out Patagonia's Houdini) Gear every Road Warrior should carry

What Anxiety is Trying to Teach You Episode #65

Unfortunately, I experience anxiety. I used to resent the feelings of anxiousness, worry and discomfort. I can't say, I like feeling anxious. However, I've learned to embrace anxiety as a necessary, although sometimes irrational, indicator of perceptions, beliefs and risk. I've learned is that anxiety is always trying to alert me. Like the Tsunami warning sirens broadcasting the early warning detection of pending harm, anxiety is trying to educate us about a perceived threat. As I mature, I ...

Your Good Amount of Weird #64

Your Good Amount of Weird [Episode #64] Everybody is weird in a good way. Your weird is your superpower. Embrace your weird. Love your weird. Foster your weird. Practice being weird. A friend of ours told me a story about her son coming home from school sharing his acrostic (the thing you make where each letter in your name has a word associated with it). His name had a “G” in it and after wrestling with the perfect word to describe himself by only selecting words that start with a “G” h...

9 Ways to Reboot Your Life Now #63

My wife Leith McHugh was interviewed last week on Rob Bell’s Robcast Episode 99 | Leith McHugh on Rebooting Your Life. You will want to listen to this powerful interview. I put together a summary of the nine key areas that were part of our Life Reboot. In this podcast, I walk through each of these key Reboot categories and how to evaluate your own need for a Life Reboot.

All the Roots Grow Deeper When It's Dry #62

This podcast was recorded while backpacking the Colorado Trail at 10,000 feet on Kenosha Pass. I captured a few ideas, a few trail sounds and invite you into our three day 28 mile adventure.  All the Roots Grow Deeper When It's Dry  

Live a Better Story with Your Kids: Take a Road Trip #61

You don’t need a destination. You don’t need a lot of money. You don’t need to spend a lot of time planning. You just need to stuff your kids in the car, point in a direction and start driving. Our modern life is too full. Life is too full of responsibilities, objectives, targets, metrics, schedules, measurement, technology, and pressure. A road trip without a detailed itinerary can help you experience more rest, play, adventure and connection with the people you love. It's almost summer. ...

Your Day Job is Not Enough with Patrick McGinnis #60

Podcast highlights: Don't quit your day job. It can fund your dreams. Figure out what type of entrepreneur you want to become How to structure your life in order to have money or time to invest in your dream gig Take the 10% Entrepreneur Quiz to see if you have what it takes. Click here to start.  

48 Days to the Work You Love with Dan Miller #59

“The master in the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his information and his recreation, his love and his religion. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence at whatever he does, leaving others to decide whether he is working or playing. To him he's always doing both.” James Michener

Ben Lecomte Plans to Swim the Pacific Ocean #58

Podcast Highlights with Ben Lecomte: From Tokyo to San Francisco in the name of sustainability -The LONGEST Swim Why would Ben swim across the Pacific Ocean What will he think about while he swims eight hours a day, every day for six months? How long did it take for Ben to swim the Atlantic Ocean ten years ago? What are the biggest challenges he will face to finish? How the lessons Ben learns in the ocean change how he lives on land Follow Ben's progress on Twitter Follow The ...

A Story Worth Living with John Eldredge #57

  I picked John up in my 1974 VW Joy Bus and we found a semi-quiet trailhead to park and do the interview in my bus. Friends, I want you to go see this one night movie event in nationwide theaters on Thursday, May 19th. John Eldredge and his sons have made an adventure film that I'm stoked about you experiencing. It's titled, A Story Worth Living (CLICK HERE to view the Trailer). Ransomed Heart has secured theaters across the country to view this film, so you can be assured that there is a...

Net Worth Measured in Experiences with Cedar Wright #56

Cedar Wright Work Life Play Highlights: Cedar's latest film, The Fledglings about paragliding from the summit of 18,490' Pico de Orizaba the third highest mountain in North America. Ask yourself, What can I not help but do in life? Go do that. Discover what drives you? What are you passionate about? It doesn't matter if can make money in the beginning. Cedar lived on less than $5,000.00 per year for a decade before he became the famous climber.  

How to Be Here with Rob Bell #55

Rob Bell is a brother from another mother. I love this man. I've listened to Rob's voice in my earbuds since early 2000's. When he was a pastor in Grand Rapids Michigan at Mars Hills Church, I would download his weekly sermons and listen to them on my Sunday long runs. Last January, Leith and I went to Rob's Business edition two-day event in Laguna Beach. Last month we spent the day with him and 99 others in Denver at his How to Be Here Experience. In this podcast interview, Rob Bell and I t...

How I Burned Out and Came Back #54

How I Burned Out and Came Back [Episode #54] If you've ever burned out, flirted with the idea of burn out or could envision that burn out is in your future, you'll identify with my story. Burn out isn't something most people want to admit happened to them. In a society where superhuman is rewarded and even expected, saying "I can't anymore" isn't what makes the cover of many headlines. Unless of course, a burn out produces drama and carnage. Those stories create lots of buzz. In my case,...

Chasing Adventure: Joshua Tree National Park #53 Part 2

This adventure log is another from the Chasing Adventure series that I recorded while traveling to Southern California and a Work Life Play trip. I recorded this one from Joshua Tree National Park. The band U2 made this iconic place famous for their album titled Joshua Tree. It was a disappointing fact that the National Park reported that the album cover photo wasn’t actually taken inside Joshua Tree National Park. Instead, it was captured a hundred miles away somewhere in the desert. Regard...

Chasing Adventure: Be Where You Are #53 Part 1

It's easy to ignore the things in our life that become normal or over time loose their original zeal. It's easy to dream our life away wishing we were somewhere other than where we are. In this Chasing Adventure episode from my week long trip to southern California, my friend Jake and I spent an evening on Stand Up Paddle boards. After we watched the sunset and then the full moon rise over the bay, we recorded our conversation about this story, Be Where You Are.

Chasing Adventure: Authentic Connections #52

Los Angeles, CA isn’t immediately the community that comes to mind when I envision a backyard fine dining experience amongst new friends. On my recent Chasing Adventure trip to California, I purposed to orbit my decisions around people, adventure and a loose schedule. My son and I found ourselves in a story we didn’t anticipate. We didn’t realize that we were being invited into real connections with real people, not just a meal.

Chasing Adventure: Being Willing to Be the Novice #51

Picking up surfing isn't easy. Especially when you live a thousand miles away from the ocean. It's humbling being the novice. It's humbling not knowing what to do or how to do it. I think it is even more difficult as an adult man. Most men I know don't try things that they are not good at. In this episode, I talk about my experiences of learning to surf and stumbling forward.  

Chasing Adventure: Reaching for the Full Length of Fun #50

During this episode, I talk about going out with my friend Curious Gabe as we parked near the beach for thirty-minutes and chased adventure. It was simple. It was quick and it was just what we needed. There was no planning needed. There was no big story that surfaced. This type of excursion is available to each of us. What are we waiting for? I've spent too much of my life holding back. I want to extend for the full length of fun, let's not hold back but go for it.

Chasing Adventure: My Wallet Isn't the Solution #49

Adventure Log #2 from my Chasing Adventure trip to SoCal. In this episode, I talk about the easy temptation to reach for my wallet and solve problems of discomfort. Instead, I choose to sit in the discomfort and see what unfolded as I chased adventure, work and relationships.

Rhythm and Flow #48

I don't believe that Work-Life balance is obtainable. The idea of a scale equally balanced with Work on one side and Life on the other is only temporarily obtainable. The only sustainable approach I have found to Work Life Play is in a constant adjustment of rhythm and flow.

Love Wins In Marriage #47

How should I write about the width and depth of twenty-two years of marriage, life, kids, vacations, pain, joy, adventure, family, depression, death, new beginnings, sexual orientation, addiction, career, sexual intimacy, and money? In this podcast, my wife Leith and I offer a gritty and raw re-telling of our story. Instead of writing a post about what we share in this podcast, I will share something I wrote for our friend's wedding, The Way of Love, adapted from 1 Corinthians 13:4. I am n...

Chasing Adventure: Indoor Mountain Biking to Camping Above the Pacific Ocean #46

Podcast Take Aways: Even if you live a mile from the ocean, its easy to get stuck in the rut of always being on and always being available. Obligation can easily win when it comes to setting our priorities of rest and play. It doesn’t matter where you live, you still have to make a decision to be intentional about finding time to play Adventure is available if you will go on a search to find it  

Conrad Anker: Be Good Be Kind Be Happy | While Crushing the Limits of Human Potential On the World's Highest Mountains #45

You know Conrad Anker, you just might not realize how or why you know him. Let me be your tour guide circa de Conrad Anker's career mile markers. You will quickly recollect how you know him already. His personal mantra is Be Good, Be Kind, Be Happy. In this podcast interview, you'll hear how this approach to Work Life Play fits one of the top Alpinists in the world today.  

FIRE YOUR BOSS: A Manifesto to Rethink How You Think About Work #44

Don't Do It For Fame | Don't Neglect Your Relationships Episode #43

Don't Do It For Fame | Don't Neglect Your Relationships 03 // Don't do it to pursue fame. I find this one to be difficult. The truth is I do want to be noticed. Behind that shallow layer of hoping I’m seen, the deeper truth is I want my life to matter. When I am writing, the pursuit of fame can surface with its natural gravitational pull. Here is how it can sound, “Maybe so-and-so will read this and then he will share it and then his six million followers will read it”. It is a bit...

Be Consistent and Do Work You Love Episode #42

01 // Show up consistently and do the work. I’ve found a lot of people talk a good game about consistency, but in reality, they have a lot of false starts. Many people seem to struggle with consistently doing the work that needs to be done, whether it is in our jobs, on side projects, or in our relationships. 02 // Work on what you love. Life is short. You are really good at something. Find that something and do that. Drudgery is for prisoners doing time for crimes committed. You haven...

Living Adventurously: Uncovering Your Inner Adventurer #41

Questions to ask yourself? When you used to be adventures, what did you do? What did you love before you got married, had a family and got a big job? What do you believe stands in your way today to reclaiming your adventurous spirit again? How can you begin to choose differently in small increments to provide room for adventure again?

The Trifecta of Work Life Play #40

  Why I believe in the Trifecta of combining all three Work Life Play How "succeeding" in any one category of the trifecta is not sufficient Why work-life balance by itself lacks long term sustainability How running with a rock on the bottom of the ocean taught me to play Why Fantasy Football and watching TV on the weekends is not the same as living adventurously

Living Life Without Regrets: How to Ask the Toughest Questions with Filmmaker Yogi Roth #39

Podcast Highlights with Yogi Roth: Learn about Yogi’s inspiration from Emilio Esteves and Martin Sheen’s trek in 2010 movie The Way. How this act of bravery has reshaped his perspective on the definition of a tough guy Everybody has a story that is worth listening to, Yogi coaches us on how to man-up and ask In Life everyone is dealt a hand of cards, listen how Unapologetic Curiosity is our power play card.

MicroAdventures: Great Escapes Out Your Front Door with Alastair Humphreys #38

Microadventures: a refresh button for busy lives. WHAT IS A MICROADVENTURE? (From Alastair Humphreys & www.microadventures.org) Adventure is the spirit of trying something new, trying something difficult. It is about enthusiasm, ambition, open-mindedness and curiosity. We all have to pragmatically juggle the commitments and constraints of our “real lives”. But we can still have a microadventure. Getting out into the wild, if only for one night, is enjoyable, invigorating and import...

Rebalancing Your Career in Less than 30 Minutes #37

  Podcast Highlights: Bike tires rely on spokes to keep them balanced and "true". An imbalanced career is like a bike tire that isn't "true"; it's imbalanced, unsafe, and keeps you from finishing well. Our careers change, which is why we need to evaluate our careers with each new season. It's better to fix an imbalanced career now and be delayed than to go a long time on an imbalanced career trajectory. There are five spokes that balance your career: The Work you do The Compa...

99 Ways to LIVE YOUR BEST LIFE #36

Highlights from 99 Ways to Live Your Best Life Set a specific directional bearing on the course you want to take in Work Life Play Topics have a wide range: managing money, marriage, pursuing fame, becoming a better boss, personal fitness. Hear two of the backstories behind 99 Ways: 10// Don't dip your quill in company ink 04// Don't neglect your relationships Understand how to master the art of living a sustainable work-life-play balance

Blowing Up My Life to Start Over #35

Starting in April, my life was upside down and sideways. This is my story of my how I unplugged in order to recharge, hit the reset button, and started over. Podcast Highlights: Understand the importance of understanding whose life are you actually living How to get real honest about the current trajectory of your Work Life Play How to count the costs of success Why unplugging for months maybe the only way you can really get clarity How selling everything we owned liberated us t...

How Micro-Adjustments in Work Life Play Can Produce More Joy #34

Learn about the Joy-Use Ratio. Small bursts of Joy can happen regularly if you come prepare and anticipate them   

What if No One Likes What You Create #33

  How to stop listening to the voices of disqualification. Understand why it is important to move forward with your ideas without consideration for the outcome. Learn how being concerned about what other people might think, actually contributes to us doing a poor job. Offering our best is the best rebuttal to every excuse we can come up with