Think Outside the Lines

Shawn Feeney
  • 5.0 (28)
  • SELF-IMPROVEMENT
  • UPDATED BIWEEKLY

The old scripts for how to live, work, and belong are breaking down. Think Outside the Lines is a podcast for anyone ready to stop checking boxes, step off autopilot, and start living with intention. Host Shawn Feeney spent over a decade leading teams at Apple, Microsoft, and high-pressure tech startups before dedicating his work to helping others live more intentionally. The show explores what happens when we choose to build the life we want rather than accepting the one we were handed.

  1. 1D AGO

    Peter Moore: What Are You Waiting for Permission to Create?

    Peter Moore spent thirty years catching a wave. As a top editor at Playboy and Men's Health, he interviewed presidents, shaped some of the most widely read magazines in the country, and ghostwrote three New York Times bestsellers — none of them under his name. He was very good at speaking in other people's voices. Then the wave carried him to shore, the tide went out, and the silence arrived. What followed wasn't a crisis. It was, eventually, a calling. Today Peter is a writer, cartoonist, NPR commentator, and Substack creator with 16,000 subscribers — blending humor, illustration, and sharp cultural observation into a body of work that is entirely, unmistakably his. He got there by taking an art class in Pennsylvania, putting rabbits and foxes on a landscape painting, and following the laugh. This is a conversation about the seeds you plant before you know what you're cultivating — and what becomes possible when you finally stop asking for permission. Connect with Peter: 🌐 petermoore.substack.com In this episode, we explore: How Peter rode a wave of magazine publishing for thirty years — and what the silence felt like when it finally endedWhy being laid off from Men's Health turned out to be one of the best things that ever happened to himThe painting class in Pennsylvania where rabbits and foxes changed everythingWhat it means to spend decades writing in other people's voices — and the moment you realize you're ready to write in your ownHow the old version of your career can quietly fund the new oneWhy imposter syndrome hits hardest right before the breakthroughThe Substack post about Vincent Van Gogh that went from 400 subscribers to 10,000 readers in three daysWhat the disappearance of editorial gatekeepers has cost us — and what it's made possibleHow collaboration on Substack works, and why the rising tide really does lift all boatsWhat to do with the time you're spending on things that aren't moving you forwardWhy you lose a hundred percent of the life initiatives you never startThe difference between comfort and alignment — and why now is exactly the right time to find out which one you've been choosingResources & Links: Connect with Peter and explore his work at petermoore.substack.comReady to step off autopilot? Visit thinkoutsidethelines.com to access free worksheets designed to help you cut through the noise, ask the right questions, and finally hear yourself clearlyExplore 1:1 coaching and other resources at thinkoutsidethelines.comFollow along on all platforms → @thinkoutsidethelinesEnjoyed the episode? Please share it with someone who might need to hear it, and subscribe so you don't miss what's coming next.

    50 min

  2. MAY 6

    What If You're Not Stuck — You're Just on Autopilot?

    Have you ever driven somewhere and arrived without remembering a single moment of the drive? You weren't asleep. You just weren't there. Your body was going through the motions while your mind was somewhere else entirely. That's autopilot. And the uncomfortable truth is — you can live your whole life that way. Same routine. Same conversations. Same goals you set three years ago that you haven't stopped to revisit. Not because they're wrong, necessarily. But because you stopped asking whether they still fit. Most people call that feeling stuck. But stuck implies something's broken — that there's a wall in front of you and you're not strong enough, disciplined enough, or clear enough to push through. What if that's not what's happening at all? Because there's a real difference. Stuck means you can't move. Autopilot means you're moving — just not intentionally. You're checking the boxes, going through the motions, doing what's expected. But you're not really choosing any of it. And autopilot is comfortable. Efficient. That's exactly why your brain defaults to it. But comfort and alignment are not the same thing. The good news? Autopilot has an off switch. It's not dramatic. It doesn't require a reinvention. It just requires one honest question — even once a day: Am I choosing this? Or is this just what I've always done? Resources & Links: Ready to step off autopilot? Visit thinkoutsidethelines.com to access free worksheets designed to help you cut through the noise, ask the right questions, and finally hear yourself clearlyExplore 1:1 coaching and other resources at thinkoutsidethelines.comFollow along on all platforms → @thinkoutsidethelinesEnjoyed this episode? Please share it with someone who might need to hear it, and subscribe so you don't miss what's coming next.

    3 min

  3. APR 29

    Cheryl Whitelaw: What Does Your Body Already Know?

    Cheryl Whitelaw built a life around planning. Bright, capable, and deeply achievement-oriented, she moved through academia and a career in intercultural education the way most of us do — by mapping the path ahead and executing it. Then one day, sitting in a windowless office she believed in, something shifted. Not a thought. A feeling. A knowing she couldn't explain and couldn't ignore. What followed was a years-long journey into somatic intelligence — the Aikido dojo, the Feldenkrais method, the study of how the body holds wisdom the mind can't always access. Today, Cheryl is a Feldenkrais practitioner, martial artist, certified integral coach, and the founder of Kind Power Studio in Canada, where she helps individuals and organizations develop the embodied presence needed to navigate conflict, uncertainty, and change. This is a conversation about what it means to stop living five seconds ahead of yourself — and what opens up when you finally come home to your body. Connect with Cheryl:  🌐 kindpower.ca  📺 YouTube: Peace and Power In this episode, we explore: What it means to live entirely from the mind — and the moment Cheryl's body finally said enoughHow she left a career she believed in without a clear next step, guided only by a feeling she couldn't rationalizeWhat somatic intelligence actually is, and why Western culture consistently undervalues itThe practice of grounding and centering — and how it creates a physiological calm you can retrieve under pressureWhy by the time we realize we're afraid, the body has already been doing fear for at least a minuteWhat it looks like to enter a conflict situation from a place of presence rather than adrenalineHow Cheryl navigated one of the most charged DEI conversations of the past decade — with 16 activists ready for battle — and what actually shifted the roomThe difference between authentic and true — and why that distinction matters in coaching, conflict, and self-understandingWhat "softly evolving ambition" means, and why Cheryl is reconditioning her entire relationship with productivity and successKronos versus Kairos — clock time versus right timing — and what it looks like to actually live by the latterWhy the body is not something you have. It's something you are.Resources & Links: Connect with Cheryl and explore her work at kindpower.caFind Cheryl on YouTube → Peace and PowerReady to step off autopilot? Visit thinkoutsidethelines.com to access free worksheets designed to help you cut through the noise, ask the right questions, and finally hear yourself clearlyExplore 1:1 coaching and other resources at thinkoutsidethelines.comFollow along on all platforms → @thinkoutsidethelinesEnjoyed the episode? Please share it with someone who might need to hear it, and subscribe so you don't miss what's coming next.

    55 min

  4. APR 22

    What If Achievement Isn't the Same as Alignment?

    You get the promotion. The title. The salary you told yourself would finally make things feel settled. And you get it — and everyone around you is thrilled. Your parents are proud. Your friends are impressed. Your LinkedIn looks incredible. But somewhere underneath all of that, there's a quiet voice asking: is this it? That voice is easy to ignore. Because on paper, everything looks right. Here's what no one tells you though — achievement and alignment are not the same thing. Achievement is external. It's measurable. It's the box you check, the milestone you hit, the thing other people can see and validate. Alignment is something different. It's internal. It's that feeling of being genuinely connected to what you're doing — not because someone told you it mattered, but because you feel it. In your body. In your days. In how you show up when no one's keeping score. Most of us were never taught to pay attention to alignment. We were taught to achieve. So we build entire lives around it — and then one day look around and realize we're really good at something we're not sure we care about. That's not failure. That's awareness. And awareness is where everything shifts. Because once you notice the gap between what looks successful and what actually feels true, you can't unnotice it. It doesn't go away. In fact, it gets louder. The good news? You don't have to blow up your entire life to close the gap. Resources & Links: Ready to step off autopilot? Visit thinkoutsidethelines.com to access free worksheets designed to help you cut through the noise, ask the right questions, and finally hear yourself clearlyExplore 1:1 coaching and other resources at thinkoutsidethelines.comFollow along on all platforms → @thinkoutsidethelinesEnjoyed this episode? Please share it with someone who might need to hear it, and subscribe so you don't miss what's coming next.

    3 min

  5. APR 15

    Kimberly Lee: What Are You Still Defending?

    Kimberly Lee spent ten years as a trial attorney — four as a public defender in downtown Los Angeles, six running her own practice. She had the pedigree, the credentials, and a career that looked like everything was figured out. She also had a throat that hurt every time she left the courtroom, a Sunday dread that never went away, and a quiet inner voice that kept growing louder. Today, Kimberly is a writer, workshop facilitator, and retreat leader who works with creatives and emerging writers. She's the author of Have You Seen Him? — a thriller available now — and the creator of a body of work that exists because she finally stopped outsourcing her sense of self to a title. This is a conversation about what it means to trust yourself when the path isn't clear, let go of an identity that no longer fits, and build something new without a roadmap. Connect with Kimberly:  kimberlylee.me  In this episode, we explore: What it felt like to follow the "right" path into law — and when Kimberly first started to sense it wasn't hersThe physical signals her body sent before her mind was ready to listen — and what she did with themWhat it costs to perform a version of yourself for years, and how that performance eventually runs out of steamWhy identity gets so tangled up in impressive-sounding titles — and the quiet act of resistance it takes to let that goThe moment at a birthday party that became an unexpected test of who she was becomingWhat actually transfers from a high-stakes legal career into creative work — and what she was more than happy to leave behindImposter syndrome, the non-linear path, and why forging your own way requires a tolerance for uncertaintyThe difference between people who thrive in hard environments and those who carry that environment home with themPeople pleasing, saying yes to the wrong things, and how Kimberly learned to pause before committingFear as fuel — and the Nelson Mandela quote she adopted to replace the win/lose binary she left behindWhat "I either win or learn" looks like in practice when you're building something from scratchResources & Links: Ready to step off autopilot? Visit thinkoutsidethelines.com to access free worksheets designed to help you cut through the noise, ask the right questions, and finally hear yourself clearlyExplore 1:1 coaching and other resources at thinkoutsidethelines.comFollow along on all platforms → @thinkoutsidethelinesEnjoyed the episode? Please share it with someone who might need to hear it, and subscribe so you don't miss what's coming next.

    55 min

  6. APR 8

    What Lines Are You Living Inside That You Didn't Draw?

    Most of us never chose the rules we live by. We didn't have to — they were already everywhere. In what our parents valued, what our teachers rewarded, what our culture quietly insisted a good life was supposed to look like. Go to school. Get the degree. Find the stable career. Hit the milestones in the right order. And most of us followed those lines without ever questioning them. Not because we agreed — but because we didn't realize there was another option. That's the thing about inherited expectations. They don't announce themselves. They just become the water you swim in. You end up building a life that looks right but doesn't quite feel like yours. And that low-grade friction — that constant, quiet misalignment — takes more energy than most people realize. This episode isn't about burning it all down. It's about something quieter and more honest than that — learning to tell the difference between the lines that genuinely fit you and the ones that were drawn by someone else's anxiety, someone else's definition of enough. Because there's a version of your life where you get to choose. Maybe for the first time. Resources & Links: Ready to step off autopilot? Visit thinkoutsidethelines.com to access free worksheets designed to help you cut through the noise, ask the right questions, and finally hear yourself clearlyExplore 1:1 coaching and other resources at thinkoutsidethelines.comFollow along on all platforms → @thinkoutsidethelinesEnjoyed this episode? Please share it with someone who might need to hear it, and subscribe so you don't miss what's coming next.

    3 min

  7. APR 1

    Toni Will: Quiet Rebellion, Radical Clarity

    Toni Will is the General Manager of the Kalamazoo Wings professional hockey team, a role she's held for over a decade after a 13-year career in banking and a brief, pivotal stop at the Chamber of Commerce. She's a speaker, coach, conference organizer behind empowHER, host of the Women In podcast, and author. She is also the force behind Rainbow Ice, making the Kalamazoo Wings the first professional hockey team ever to dye the ice rainbow in a statement that everyone is welcome. In a culture where drinking is practically in the job description, Toni made a quiet but profound decision to go alcohol-free in October 2020. What followed wasn't just sobriety — it was a full reclamation of identity, clarity, and the kind of leadership that only becomes possible when you stop outsourcing your ability to cope. This is a conversation about what it means to redefine yourself — as a leader, as a woman in a male-dominated industry, and as a person who decides that "normal" simply isn't working anymore. Resources & Links: Connect with Toni, explore her coaching, podcast, conference, and pick up her book Rebellious Success at toniwill.comReady to step off autopilot? Visit thinkoutsidethelines.com to access free worksheets designed to help you cut through the noise, ask the right questions, and finally hear yourself clearlyExplore 1:1 coaching and other resources at thinkoutsidethelines.comFollow along on all platforms → @thinkoutsidethelines Enjoyed the episode? Please share it with someone who might need to hear it, and subscribe so you don't miss what's coming next.

    55 min

  8. MAR 25

    What Kind of Conversations Actually Matter Right Now?

    Shawn is returning to the conversation with one inescapable question: In a world dominated by five-step systems and polished highlight reels, what kind of conversations actually help us live better? This isn't just a rebrand; it’s a return to the "messy middle." Shawn shares the evolution of Think Outside the Lines and explores why the search for a life that actually feels true is more urgent than ever. If you’re done checking boxes and ready to step off autopilot, this conversation is for you. In this episode, we explore: The Evolution of a Mission: Moving from "improving your life" to finding true alignment. Lived Experience: Why the tools that matter most are the ones we use to navigate our own transitions as they unfold. Closing the Gap: Identifying when you’re succeeding at the wrong things and how to pivot toward what’s real. Design vs. Default: Learning to stop performing your life and start actually creating it. Join the Conversation: Subscribe: Follow on your favorite podcast app so you never miss an episode. Go Deeper: Visit thinkoutsidethelines.com to download the Alignment Check-In and other resources designed for the moments when you’re ready to do the deeper work on your own. Share this episode: If this resonated with you, share it with one person who might need to hear it today.

    4 min
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Trailer

5
out of 5
28 Ratings

About

The old scripts for how to live, work, and belong are breaking down. Think Outside the Lines is a podcast for anyone ready to stop checking boxes, step off autopilot, and start living with intention. Host Shawn Feeney spent over a decade leading teams at Apple, Microsoft, and high-pressure tech startups before dedicating his work to helping others live more intentionally. The show explores what happens when we choose to build the life we want rather than accepting the one we were handed.

Information

  • Creator
    Shawn Feeney
  • Years Active
    2015 - 2026
  • Episodes
    54
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Shawn Feeney
  • Show Website
    Think Outside the Lines

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