Abundant Thinking

Elan Gelfand
  • 5.0 (27)
  • Self-Improvement
  • Updated Weekly

Abundant Thinking is for people who want to do something big with their lives but are still figuring out how to get there. In each episode, I talk with people who have done amazing things to learn how they think, make choices, and handle hard moments. The goal is simple: help you think better, avoid big mistakes, and use what you learn in your own life. This isn’t a life story podcast, it’s a thinking podcast. Past guests include Chris Voss, Derek Sivers, Garry Ridge, Mick Hunt, billion-dollar CEOs, bestselling authors, world-class speakers, and more.

  1. 3d ago

    #151 - PhD Psychologist: Your Burnout Isn't from Overwork, It's Your Thoughtload — Dr. Liane Davey

    You're not overwhelmed because you're doing too much. You're overwhelmed because your brain is carrying a pile of stuff that isn't even the work, and that pile makes the actual work almost impossible to get to. Dr. Liane Davey is an organizational psychologist who advises CEOs, and she's spent years studying why smart, capable people burn out. In this episode, she introduces the concept of "thoughtload," the invisible cognitive and emotional tax that most of us have no word for yet. She breaks down why burnout is not stress (it's what happens after uncontrollable stress runs on too long), why your brain processes someone rejecting your idea the same way it processes physical pain, and how the best Olympic athletes manage this better than most executives ever will. She also shares her four-step emotional processing framework: where, what, why, and one action. It's a way to catch yourself before an emotion turns into a story that spirals. Simple. Repeatable. Actually works. If you're a leader, there's a line in here that'll stick with you: the busier things get, the more you can't afford not to protect your energy. Connect with Dr. Liane Davey: Website: https://lianedavey.comInstagram: https://instagram.com/lianedaveyLinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/lianedaveyBook: Thoughtload: Manage the Madness and Free Your Team to Do Great Work — https://www.amazon.com/Thoughtload-Manage-Madness-Free-Great/dp/1774586517If this episode gave you one idea worth keeping, please leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, it takes 30 seconds and it helps more people find the show.

    33 min

  2. May 19

    #150 - David Meltzer - God, Ego, Humility, and Losing $100M

    Most people spend years collecting mentors and still feel stuck. David Meltzer lost over $100 million, his mom's house, and his bearings, and what he found on the other side will change how you think about asking for help. David makes the case that asking for help isn't weakness, it's a gift to the person you're asking. He breaks down the difference between finding mentors and doing the private work no one can do for you, why every problem already contains its answer (he calls it the "resolution"), and the infinite loop of giving that rebuilt his life after losing everything. Plus: what his mom said to him at rock bottom that he still carries today. Connect with David Meltzer: Website: https://dmeltzer.comInstagram: https://instagram.com/davidmeltzerLinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/davidmeltzer2Book: Click Here If this episode gave you one idea worth keeping, please leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, it takes 30 seconds and it helps more people find the show.

    17 min

  3. May 12

    #149 - The Man Who Led 15,000 People: You've Become the Exact Boss You Used to Hate — Kyle McDowell

    Most managers don't set out to become the boss they once hated. Kyle McDowell led 15,000 people for 30 years in corporate America and admits he was that boss for the first 20 of them. His teams called him "The Shredder." He picked apart every presentation, needed to be the loudest voice in the room, and prioritized his own accolades over the people around him. It worked until it didn't. In this episode, Kyle breaks down the one-night epiphany that made him scrap everything and rebuild his leadership from scratch using 10 we-based behavioral standards he calls the 10 Wheeze. He explains why most leaders inherit the exact toxic traits they loathed in their own bosses, why observable behavior beats any mission statement on a wall, and why the guy who's just there for a paycheck deserves the same standard as your highest performer. Kyle also shares why he didn't tell his wife for a month that he was writing his book, and what his friend said when he finally did. Connect with Kyle McDowell: Website: https://kylemcdowellinc.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/kylemcdowellincLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kylemcdowellincBook: Begin With We — https://www.amazon.com/Begin-WE-Principles-Sustaining-Excellence/dp/1544529902If this episode gave you one idea worth keeping, please leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify — it takes 30 seconds and it helps more people find the show.

    1h 1m

  4. May 5

    #148 - Founder of the Leading Legal Education Platform - David Schnurman

    Most driven people aren't lazy, they're just making commitments they never keep. David Schnurman built the #1 legal education platform in America, wrote two books, and moved his family of 5 to Barcelona, all from a vision he wrote down on a piece of paper in 2015. In this episode, David shares the framework from his books, specifically the one commitment mistake that keeps driven people permanently stuck in thinking mode. He breaks down the container ship metaphor that reframed how he thinks about life transitions, the five themes he extracted from interviewing dozens of millionaire entrepreneurs before he had a business of his own, and why Jeff Bezos's "thousand X return" philosophy is the only way to think about taking a leap. He also gets honest about ADHD, wasted talent, and why your weakness becoming your strength isn't a cliché. Connect with David Schnurman: Website: https://www.davidschnurman.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/davidschnurmanLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidschnurmanBook: The Fast Forward Mindset — https://www.amazon.com/Fast-Forward-Mindset-Fearless-Accelerate/dp/1645708799Book: Eleven Suitcases: https://www.amazon.com/Eleven-Suitcases-Moving-Changed-Forever/dp/1970609001/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0 If this episode gave you one idea worth keeping, please leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, it takes 30 seconds and it helps more people find the show.

    42 min

  5. Apr 28

    #147 - 1,000+ Keynotes Later: Why Smart Companies Keep Firing Their Most Valuable Employees — Dan Pontefract

    Most companies think firing older workers saves money. Dan Pontefract has the data, and it's about to cost them everything.Dan is a leadership strategist with 30 years of experience, 1,000+ keynotes, and 6 books. In this episode he breaks down why organizations that cut their senior talent are burning the exact knowledge they can't rebuild, client relationships, tacit process, and the kind of wisdom that only comes from reps. He shares the Rivers, Rocks, and Rubies framework for rethinking how careers actually work (and why the career ladder is the wrong model entirely), explains why Yale research shows people aged 65–75 can outlearn their 40-year-old counterparts, and makes the case that the $6 trillion productivity loss the OECD is forecasting by 2036 is already happening, quietly, inside most organizations right now. Connect with Dan Pontefract: Website: https://www.danpontefract.comLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danpontefractInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/dan.pontefractBook: The Future of Work Is Grey — https://www.amazon.com/Future-Work-Grey-Untapped-Workforce/dp/1774586444If this episode gave you one idea worth keeping, please leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify — it takes 30 seconds and it helps more people find the show.

    37 min

  6. Apr 21

    #146 - The Guy Who Wrote 100+ Speeches for Politicians: "Stop Leading With Logic" - Josh Bandoch

    Most people try to persuade by making the best argument. Josh Bandoch spent years writing speeches for hundreds of politicians — and what he learned is that logic is almost always the wrong move. Josh breaks down why we feel before we reason (and why ignoring that is why smart people lose negotiations), the "them-first" framework he calls the best me-first strategy, putting the other person first is actually the fastest way to get what you want. He explains how our moral tastes are 30–60% hardwired into us and why speaking your own moral language to someone with different wiring will never work, and why the single most persuasive tool available to anyone isn't data or debate, it's a well-told story that activates the right emotions. Connect with Josh Bandoch: Website: https://www.joshuabandoch.comLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-bandoch-02211b167/Book: How to Get What You Want — https://www.amazon.com/How-Get-What-You-Want-ebook/dp/B0FDBGV22NIf this episode gave you one idea worth keeping, please leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify — it takes 30 seconds and it helps more people find the show.

    40 min

  7. Apr 14

    #145 - He Cut Hair in a Dorm Bathroom. Now He Charges $100 a Cut at 21 - Larry Walker

    Cutting hair in a dorm bathroom to charge $100 a cut isn't luck. Larry Walker grew up surviving five concussions that made him unemployable by any normal standard. Unable to hold a job, he picked up clippers in high school and spent three-hour sessions on three friends' hair for free, because he refused to let anyone leave the chair without his 100%. In this episode, Larry talks about the $7,000 mentorship he spent every dollar of his savings on, why it completely changed what he believed was possible as a barber, and how conversations with barbers making doctor money gave him the confidence to raise his prices to $100 a cut. He also gets honest about the years he sacrificed relationships to grind, and the moment he realized hitting his goals still didn't bring the peace he thought they would. We get into the two versions of yourself (the current and the idealized), why becoming that person starts the day you decide, not the day people notice, and how faith reshaped the entire purpose behind his business. Connect with Larry Walker: Instagram: https://instagram.com/ayoitslarry TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@ayoitslarryy If this episode gave you one idea worth keeping, please leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, it takes 30 seconds and it helps more people find the show.

    52 min

  8. Apr 7

    #144 - Achievement Addiction Is Real, and You Might Already Have It - Jack Groppel

    Most high performers are addicted to achievement and don't realize it until the marriage is over, the kids grew up without them, or the career they built feels completely empty. Jack Groppel has coached Grand Slam champions, Super Bowl winners, and Fortune 500 executives — and he's the first to admit he was the worst example of all of them. Jack breaks down the one question that reorients everything — "What matters most, right now?" — and why most driven people never ask it because the answer doesn't feel impressive enough. He shares how he took his first wife to Wimbledon, the Australian Open, and Singapore, thought everything was fine, and got completely blindsided when she told him she was leaving three years into their marriage. He explains why career mentors and personal mentors are two completely different things, why most high achievers only have the first kind, and why that gap is exactly where life falls apart. And he shares what it took climbing Mount Kilimanjaro at mid-60s with two artificial knees and his 12-year-old son to finally understand that the mountains outside were a mirror for the ones within. Connect with Jack Groppel: Instagram: https://instagram.com/jackgroppel1 LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/jackgroppel Book: Mountains Within — https://www.amazon.com/Mountains-Within-Achievement-Mountain-Everything/dp/B0G4G8YG58 If this episode gave you one idea worth keeping, please leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify — it takes 30 seconds and it helps more people find the show.

    31 min
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5
out of 5
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About

Abundant Thinking is for people who want to do something big with their lives but are still figuring out how to get there. In each episode, I talk with people who have done amazing things to learn how they think, make choices, and handle hard moments. The goal is simple: help you think better, avoid big mistakes, and use what you learn in your own life. This isn’t a life story podcast, it’s a thinking podcast. Past guests include Chris Voss, Derek Sivers, Garry Ridge, Mick Hunt, billion-dollar CEOs, bestselling authors, world-class speakers, and more.

Information

  • Creator
    Elan Gelfand
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    151
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Elan Gelfand
  • Show Website
    Abundant Thinking