Alchemy For Life
Episodes
How Can I Stop Worrying?
07 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
There’s such a stigma that we can’t even talk about it. Well, hey there. Welcome back. The Stigma of Private Worry What are you w...
What is Friction and When is it a Good Thing?
01 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Well, hey there. Welcome back. Redefining Friction: Physics vs. Process What does friction mean to you? For most of my life, friction has just s...
The beginner mindset makes you a better teacher
13 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The beginner mindset makes you a better teacher—and it’s fun too! Well, hey there. Welcome back… to everyone who is an old pro at...
Surface Dwellers and the Pursuit of Knowledge
03 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
It sounds like I’m talking about the surface dwellers and we’re all the people who live underground. Well, hey there. Welcome back. ...
I think I found the perfect question
23 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Transcript I think I found the perfect question. Well, hey there. Welcome back. The Perfect Question I think I found the perf...
Joseph Mallozzi – Executive Producer Stargate franchise, Dark Matter
12 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A fan As a longtime fan of Stargate SG1 and Stargate Universe I’d come to really appreciate so many elements of the storytelling that were do...
Why selfish productivity may be the best productivity
05 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Have you ever noticed that when there’s something you really, really love and really speaks to you that when you look at the backstory for i...
The invisible Barrier
30 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The invisible barrier you must cross to switch modes and why it fools you into thinking it would take too much effort to complete a task. Trans...
Learning styles and learning right in front of someone
14 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What’s your learning style? Do you know what your learning style is? Did you know you have one? For a long time I have known about the dif...
What’s Apathy? Who cares.
03 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Transcript What is Apathy? The Answer Might Surprise You Well, hey there. Welcome back. What’s this episode about? Who cares? S...
The Availability Gap: Why Your Energy Matters More Than Your Time
24 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Are You Truly Available? The Critical Difference Between Time and Energy I’m going to ask you a simple question: Are you available right now?...
A fast “no” is always better than a time-wasting “yes.”
10 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The CEO Mindset: Why a Fast Decision Beats a Slow Promise In the world of productivity and time management, we’re often told to optimize our ...
Mindfulness from Bhutan – my chat with a monk named Jamyang.
27 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
I find it quite illuminating to speak with people from all over the world. The power of our technology and interconnected world is that it allows me ...
The unnerving power of no
20 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We deal with decisions every day. Many of the episodes deal with the decision process on both a grand and low level. Three Voices deals with how we co...
When the Devil Sounds Like a Unicorn
05 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Enduring Metaphor of Angels and Devils The metaphorical representation of a devil and an angel on a person’s shoulders dates back to ...
Waking up to a Monster. Are you in Survival Mode?
28 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A primer on the book BeCAUSE! For those that have yet to read my new book because. Here’s a quick primer. One day, I asked myself a qu...
A Dire Warning: the MIT study and ChatGPT
19 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
I’ve done two podcast episodes on large language models. I recently spun up and installed a large language model locally on my computer and buil...
What episodes are notable in 2025 so far?
13 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Helpful episodes Every year I create a list of the top, most useful and helpful episodes of the previous year. This year because there has been a l...
Hypnosis and speaking to your manager.
01 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Speaking to the manager I want to speak to the manager. Rather, I want to speak to your manager. What do you think of when I say that? Do you t...
Good or Evil?
22 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A philosophical question for you. Don’t forget you can pause the episode to consider the question(s) as you move forward. How would you ...
Non-Local Consciousness
11 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Let’s talk about non-local consciousness, who you’re really talking to when you’re on the phone, what happens to me and possibly you...
Meaningful Exhaustion and the energy transfer
27 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Getting energy and giving energy One of the things I’ve said from the very beginning is that a thing can give one person energy and take ener...
Question Mark – Oh how the tables have turned
15 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The normal format for this show is to introduce you to something and raise your perception. Then we discuss it and you typically leave with homework. ...
The Anatomy of Ghosting
06 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We all know what it is. We have all done it. We’ve all had it done to us. Let’s talk about when it’s appropriate when...
Time is sometimes money but is always Energy
30 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Time is money You’ve heard that phrase and it is often accompanied by someone clapping, tapping their foot, or some other show of impatience....
The amazing, frustrating, daunting world of squares and triangles
23 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Fair & Square Here are the rules of the square and triangle universe. Squares sell things to and help that are both squares and triangles. ...
Your Catalog and Your Facets
17 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A while back we talked about the importance of a catalog and your awareness of that. By revisiting that we are demonstrating (in a rather meta way) t...
Intellectual Injury—what the heck is that?
09 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
I like to apply analogical reasoning, You can call it conceptual metaphors. And if both of those are confusing, how about applying the concept of on...
Old Photos and Robots
02 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
You are living in an era that is coming to an end. There was a time when all pictures were in black-and-white because that was the technology w...
The pleasure principle and a new book
23 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
I have a new book coming out. it’s my 10th, and it’s based on my take on the pleasure principle and what I believe is a layer just above ...
What I learned writing a screenplay
09 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
(and how it might help you tell your own story) Telling a story in an unfamiliar medium with constraints you’re not accustomed to is a common...
Teacher, Teach Thyself
02 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Q&A and the answer (That’s so meta) Have you ever helped a friend who has a question or a conundrum, and the answer was so obvious to ...
Do you experience Disconnected Happiness?
26 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A tale of disconnected happiness or Benign Violation Theory. Allow me to tell you a tale of disconnected happiness. Perhaps you can relate? ...
Dramaturgy, Role Theory and Modes
19 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Modes What mode are you in right now? You may intuitively know exactly what I’m talking about. Ever interrupt a conversation and the per...
Manuel Rendon of Timeplast and 4d programmable matter
12 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Meet Manuel Rendon, certified polymer science inventor and CEO of Timeplast, Inc. My first interview episode of 2025. Manuel joins the ranks of Sc...
Most useful and helpful episodes of 2024!
05 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to 2025. As with last year, we are selecting the most helpful and useful episodes of the previous year. Of course I feel that all of the epi...
Resolutions—what works and what doesn’t
29 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Resolutions—what works and what doesn’t and why. It’s really important that you don’t repeat the same things that didn’t ...
Depression and throwing away the container
15 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This is a separate article that goes with this podcast episode. it is not a transcript but rather an alternate summary of what the episode is about. ...
Am I a systems thinker?
08 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Guess who has this one? 🙂 NOTE: As I’ve said before, these thirteen ‘states of being’ are not being looked at as an ‘ail...
The Silence of Success
04 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Social Media and You If you’re on social media, whether it’s the Boomers Gone Wild of Facebook, the Graphic (in many ways) Instagram, t...
Deferred Gratitude and Exotic Cars
27 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Exotic Cars When people purchase exotic cars, they are sometimes hit with something called deferred maintenance. As with many car buyers, they ...
Time and energy = space
17 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
A new formula Here’s an interesting concept for you, just when you thought you understood that life is made of three things: Time, Energy an...
Is Positivity just oblivious contentment?
10 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What is Positivity? You may think that ‘positivity’ doesn’t belong with such states of being as OCD, Anxiety, ADHD and the others...
Forced to be an Emergency Responder and Love Bombing
03 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Forced Emergency Responders and “Love Bombing.” Emergency Responders and the 2:00am call for a wooden spoon When we think of e...
What is OCD? Do I have OCD? The Reality of coping with OCD.
27 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What is OCD? Do I have OCD? OCD stands for obsessive-compulsive disorder. It shares a symptom with ADHD in which you can be caught in a repetitive...
Don’t speak that into existence!
20 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Toddlers with chainsaws Are chainsaws bad? No. Should toddlers use them? No. We use chainsaws to perform a task, we don’t give them to tod...
Psych Charm: ADHD
13 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
ADHD – Also known as Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. What is ADHD? Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. People with ADH...
Psych Charm: Anxiety
09 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Anxiety – The feeling of stress, the activation of a fight-or-flight mode. Anxiety for some can be a fairly dull but constant sensation of ha...
Gamification, Iconization and Tangibility.
01 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Gamification, Iconization and Tangibility Those are some crazy words. They’re fun and I like saying them. But what do they mean? My hist...
Creativity as a skill
22 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Are you creative? No matter what your job, career or calling is, no matter what hobbies you have or do not, you have creativity. What if we treat ...
If you don’t see the system…
15 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
“I see systems” This is something I have said for a very long time. Once I learned that this was one of my core directives it all made ...
ADHD, Perception and Overwhelming Data – It’s Not Your Brain
08 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
😎 NOTE: The members of the AFL Patreon Community heard this episode last week. They get them a week early. You can too. Join it for free! ...
It’s Time for Something Different
31 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
It’s time. After all these episodes, books, coaching, and articles, it’s time to approach this differently and give us a better way to co...
Guaranteed Great Day if You do This…
25 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
I guarantee you will have a great day if you do this. And you might get a huge laugh out of it as well. Believe it or not this episode touches on ...
Engagement Fiction for Your Type A Brain
18 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
A New Genre You are now part of the birth of a new genre—engagement fiction. I know it’s new because I just made it up. If you’re ...
Selfishness demystified
11 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
You’re probably selfish for a good reason. If not, your definition of selfishness is what’s stopping you from taking care of yourself pro...
Too much power to something via label
04 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
You might be giving too much power to something in your life, just because you gave it a LABEL. See labels for more on labels in: If you use them y...
How Much Real Estate do You Own…in the 4th Dimension?
27 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
How much real estate do you own? A fascinating way to look at one of The Big Three….
Three Phrases to Improve the Quality of Your Life
22 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Phrases and mantras We all have phrases we can readily repeat. Some of us have important phrases that have made an impact on us. Some of us (like...
Stood up – Switching Gears and the Element No One Talks About.
15 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Have you ever been stood up? The origin of the term has many folksy definitions. I encourage you to look it up as many are sort of saucy, But we...
Meat Puppets handing you mailing list data
07 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The right and the wrong way to approach a networking event Most of my episodes are about experimental psychology, how to deal with and manage time,...
If I were you…
02 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Advice Who doesn’t like giving advice? Who doesn’t like receiving it? Wait, put your hands down, that was rhetorical. In all serio...
Conf Calls, Promises and Who is Actually Talking
24 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The olden days of voice only In the olden days when people wanted to collaborate they would jump on a conference call vs. jumping on a video call. ...
The Challenge of Perspective
18 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Sometimes you get the chance to see something from two perspectives. Sometimes both perspectives come from the same person. Sometimes that perso...
Protecting Your Energy
14 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Remember the How Do You Have Time For This? episode? If not, check it out. I talked about how more than once I’ve been asked “How do...
Feeling Safe & Relaxed – Parasympathetic Nervous System
07 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Parasympathetic Nervous System The network of nerves that creates the system that’s known for the ‘rest and digest’ feelings is t...
Too Many Words
28 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Stroke support Group Recently, I sat in on a stroke support group. The group was for both the individuals who experienced strokes as well as their ...
A Strength Stretched too far Becomes a Weakness
26 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Knowing your strengths Do you know your strengths some people do and some people don’t. If you do know your strengths, there is something abo...
Live Your Life Iteratively
11 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What is an iteration? An iteration is an updated version of something built upon its previous version. But, and iteration can also be another sepa...
Type A Retirement – the frightening truth
15 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Type A Personalities The phrase type a refers to a pattern of behavior and personality associated with high achievement, competitiveness, and impat...
Why white space is vital to communication
10 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
White Space The first known use of ‘White Space’ was back in 1946, and it means the area of a page without writing or pictures. ItR...
Mentor, teacher, instructor… but is it ‘coach?’
21 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Coach So what is a coach? And what is a life coach? “Life Coach” never really generated positive professional images in my mind, even though I’...
Taking responsibility for the good in your life.
18 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Three words There are a number of words that can cause an emotional reaction. I won’t use the word ‘trigger’ because that’...
Find your core directives and something amazing happens
26 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Passion Everyone talks about passion. For a long time, you were told to follow your passion. I talked about passion in Job, Career or Calling a f...
Bias, internal, external & my eye-opening talk with Google Gemini
22 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Google Gemini Gemini is Google’s version of ChatGPT. It’s a large language model (LLM) that thinks and responds naturally. You can ha...
UPS – My secret for avoiding depression, being more productive
10 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Down days It’s normal for people to have down days, to have times in which they become less than motivated. it’s also normal to find y...
BEFORE you make resolutions listen to this
31 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Did I catch you in time? Every year I tell you not to make resolutions—not because I don’t want you to set goals, but because resolutions (...
AI, Language Models and puppies
08 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
AI & ChatGPT* A language model uses a special kind of learning to conduct a ‘probability distribution’ over words used to predi...
Japanese principles – helping you to fall in love with your job
03 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
There are a lot of lists out there for how to obtain happiness, productivity, etc. As you know Alchemy for Life™ is exactly about that too. So, I&...
There’s no wrong way…
04 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
“There’s no wrong way to do it…” Have you ever been given that advice? Did it make sense to you? Did it set you at ease? ...
The importance of a catalog
13 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Do you have a catalog? if you call yourself a creative, then it is important to catalog your work. In that, I mean to take a step back and see the...
Attitude is everything (when consuming media)
06 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Attitude is everything That’s one of those phrases we have heard to death and to the point that it’s lost any real meaning, hasn’...
Triangulating Limiting Beliefs
25 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Triangulation Triangulation is the process by which you use more than one location to find the location of something. I point gets distance, two p...
Thermostats, teaching and experience
06 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Start with awareness As with every episode we start with an awareness. In this case it’s an awareness of the fact that we are always gatheri...
A single breeze…
15 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Great storms announce themselves with a single breeze, and a single random spark can ignite the fires of rebellion. Bishop of Aquila – La...
Overcommunicating
05 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Retooling It’s been a bit because I’ve been busy exploring different media avenues. In addition to the podcast I’ve been explori...
Become ceremonious
17 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
What is ceremony? If you look it up you’ll be told it is a “ritual observance or procedure.” Most cases refer to weddings,...
Who do you think you’re talking to?
02 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
A reminder on the voices We use three voices to communicate with ourselves AND others. Even if you get that you may not realize that not ...
Self Love and Self Care – Revisited
22 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Most people think of self care and self love as the same thing. It’s all about you, being nice to you, doing nice things for you. Right? And ...
The holy grail of positivity-bias
02 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
I decided to make the text for this episode an outline vs. a long form article to match the podcast. Did you like this better? I. Introduction: A....
I saw two voices talking!
26 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Three Voices If you’ve read Three Voices then you know we all have three voices that we all use to communicate with ourselves and others. As ...
Do you struggle too?
17 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
What’s wrong with me? / Intro to this thing My unspoken perception (my first voice*) is as follows. I am not saying this is correct, an...
2022: Most Helpful Episodes!
28 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Review of our most helpful episodes. From Interviews to a unique take on word meanings, to turning negatives to positives (and maybe vice versa) y...
Time, Energy and Resources – widgets vs. service!
08 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Shorting yourself on time-based skills You’ve heard this before right? That as you get better and better at something, you can do it more ef...
Did you stop measuring?
02 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Measuring We recently talked about measuring, and now we’re talking about NOT doing it. Programs running We have many programs running....
The tension of disagreement
07 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Tension We’ve talked about tension before. We’ve talked about tension vs. something being at rest and what that means for us. But now...
Taking a step back
04 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
A simple answer for a complex issue… doesn’t work Did you ever have an issue with someone and tell a friend about it? They usually sa...
Zooming Out – but what does that mean?
24 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The 30,000 foot view You’ve heard of that phrase—taking the 30,000 foot view, right? But what exactly does that mean? Does it mean to tak...
What are you measuring?
17 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Progress If you’re not measuring progress, how do you know how well you are doing in the pursuit of a goal? Don’t you have milestones ...
Thoughts vs. Reality – not what you think
06 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Here’s something you don’t hear – thoughts do not equal reality. In an odd way this is a discussion (of the reverse kind) of mind...