Base Camp

Join us at base camp as Jon Kallen builds a mountain for us to climb. We lean into the pain and carry our own gear with stories from Aconcagua, Denali, Kilimanjaro, and more high altitudes worldwide. When he’s not craving gummy worms on snow capped peaks above the clouds, this impactful leader mentors founders commercializing business strategies. We reflect on this leadership alongside our closing message to the mountains.

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https://JenningsKallen.com

https://AlgaeBiomass.org

http://Base-Camp.YouDontNeedThisPodcast.com

Roasted Reflections Break: Landing

EP18 – Fourteeners 🎙️ Jeff Reed

EP58 – Always Growing 🎙️ Clayton Mooney

http://YouDontNeedThisPodcast.com

https://BenMcDougal.com/anticipation

44 Harsh Truths About Human Nature

https://films.NationalGeographic.com/free-solo

https://Alpinist.com/podcast

Snowboarding Utah

By Ben McDougal, ago

Pebbles

If we keep building, everything eventually connects. Imagine another live concert experience The melodic arrangement is not random. It’s a story that builds.

Before any set starts, everyone hopes the popular hit will be played, but when? Seasoned pros deliver their classics, but know how to stack tiny pebbles to keep the crowd teeming with anticipation. With each hint, the crowd goes nutty, and as the hammer drops, the place shakes. We’ve all enjoyed live music where sequenced sound brings everything together. Impeccable build ups remind us how to stay juicy.

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Turn up the volume.

When delivering your best becomes a habit, it’s easier to remain consistent. Persistence deepens loyalty, connection leads to more connection, and trust leads to more trust. Within such abundance, an appreciation remains on tap for what you’ve achieved in the past, while also brewing intrigue for whatever is next. This converts work into play, and as we dance to our own beat, more individual notes merge to define our song. Over time, we play more songs that become the pebbles in a wall that’s unmistakably you.

Brewed From Within
#105 📖 Life & Happiness

By Ben McDougal, ago

Ideaworks

Our daily lives gobble up mental bandwidth. If you’re interested in building a business, compelling ideas may hit but lasting intention is needed to build momentum.

It’s unlikely that lightning will strike in a single brainstorm. Instead, combine detail-oriented initiative with pure wonder and open-mindedness to attract earned luck, thanks to serendipity. As ideas fueled by action create chemistry over time, different combinations will map more opportunities.

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We get what we repeat.

How might combining ideas be like a colorful fireworks show? Let’s begin with the anticipation a crowd feels before the show. Then a bright light flashes, and the sound of that first colorful explosion is celebrated.

To get color popping in the night sky, a fuse was required to spark early progress. Fuses such as linking slowness with urgency, actively listening, allowing new experiences to shift your perspective, and always staying curious give the idea machine more ways to continuously flip the switch.

As each fuse is lit, we hear that thump of a distant firework being shot into the sky. This sound of propulsion is like ideas darting into the limitless atmosphere of our mind.

With each idea sparked, there’s a thrilling hope that what’s about to pop is exactly what we’ve always wanted. Even if it’s not an absolute showstopper, each ideawork sparkles with different colors, shapes, and sounds that inspire the sky and connect into the broader experience.

Looking up into the stars, we appreciate each blast in different ways, based on the vantage point. This awakens the fact that every idea has value. Bad ideas lead to better ideas. This can spark great ideas that reverberate, and when given the space to merge, combine into a fantastic reality.

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Don’t wait for next year.

As ideas pop to create a tune, it’s like the grand finale a crowd waits for. The audience may scurry in different directions after the show, but they’ll keep talking about the experience long after that floating smoke clears.

When songs rhyme with a melody, the idea machine sparkles. When execution is a habit, even duds can’t stop a remarkable show from lighting up the sky.

By Ben McDougal, ago

Anticipation

The present is a gift, but it often feels like a window that reflects past experiences into what may come next.

For those of us who like to build, we can feel lazy if we’re not constantly evolving from things we’ve learned in the past while also actively planning for the future. While staying in the moment provides peace and limitless space to appreciate the entire spectrum of now, mashing this mindfulness with an ability to explore and create fresh things is healthy. It can also create a sense of anticipation.

Anticipation often arises as we try something new. Whether it be from the first day of school, a first date, booking travel, having a baby, or the unknowns in building a business, traversing apprehension is rewarded by experiential wisdom that comes from navigating the actions we take.

Sometimes anticipation can be confused with worrying. It’s different. Worrying is agreeing to be unhappy until the present delivers whatever originally concerned you. These feelings do have one thing in common: They are both focused on the future. That’s why anticipation shares an orbit with worrying. A key dissimilarity are the positive sides of anticipation.

One positive effect of anticipation is how it can help guide proper planning. Creating moments in a business that allow the team to feel anticipation can blend purpose, and over time this converts to a team with shared convictions. When a sustained team finds joy in their mission, progress is felt and the wild card of persistence is up for grabs.

Distractions are impossible to avoid, and agitation is hard to fend off during tough times, but the Canadian saying, “Keep your stick on the ice,” reminds us to chill, keep it simple, and be ready for anything. With our sticks on the ice, we embrace challenges, bend without breaking, push through the storm, and appreciate what makes good times great. Business potential awaits when we say yes to adventure, even when business is not on our agenda.

In business and in life, a strategic effort up front, without overdoing it or getting caught up in things you can’t control, allows the anticipation of a future moment to land exactly the way it was meant to be.

Brewed From Within
#93 📖 Life & Happiness

By Ben McDougal, ago