Abundant Thinking

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

Conversations With the Top 1% on How They Think. Past Guests Include: David Meltzer, Chris Voss, Derek Sivers, Mick Hunt, Phil Daru, John Lee Dumas, Suneel Gupta, Lisa Bodell, Juliet Funt, Shawn Dill, and more.

  1. 5d ago

    #153 - 7x World Drumming Champion: He Won't Coach You Unless You Answer This Question — James Laughlin

    Most people can tell you what they want. Almost no one can answer what they're willing to suffer for. James Laughlin — 7x world drumming champion turned performance coach to Olympians, prime ministers, and F1 drivers — says that gap is exactly where high performance lives or dies. James won his first world drumming title at 13, then lost far more championships than he won — and that failure became the foundation of a coaching system now used by gold medalists and heads of state. In this episode, he breaks down the three habits he's found in every elite performer across sports, politics, and business; the three questions he asks before agreeing to coach anyone (and why he turns people away if they can't answer them); why balance is a myth for anyone serious about building something real; and the one thing he gave up five and a half years ago that he credits with more clarity, energy, and money than any tactic he's ever tried. Connect with James Laughlin: Website: https://www.jjlaughlin.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/jameslaughlinofficialLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jameslaughlincoachingBook: Habits of High Performers — https://www.amazon.com/Habits-High-Performers-James-Laughlin/dp/1969508272If 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.

    25 min

  2. Jun 2

    #152 - You're Skilled at the Work and Terrible at the Business - Shawn Dill

    Throwback Episode - The better you get at your service business, the more it traps you. Dr. Shawn Dill has coached hundreds of service providers through exactly this wall, and his first move is always counterintuitive. Shawn breaks down why your professional training equipped you to do the work but guaranteed you'd struggle with the business side of it. Not a character flaw. A design flaw. He explains why good instincts are the exact thing blocking your next level: if your gut got you here, it can't get you there. He shares the pricing insight most service providers miss entirely: nobody buys in the middle, ever, and trying to compete there is a slow bleed. And he unpacks the bicycle analogy for leverage: finding the right coach or mentor isn't about learning more; it's about arriving faster. Connect with Shawn Dill: Website: https://adaptapreneur.comInstagram: https://instagram.com/drshawndillLinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/drshawndillBook: None of Your Business: https://www.amazon.com/None-Your-Business-Providers-Entrepreneurs/dp/1544513712If 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

  3. May 26

    #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

  4. 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

  5. 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

  6. 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

  7. 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

  8. 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
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5
out of 5
27 Ratings

About

Conversations With the Top 1% on How They Think. Past Guests Include: David Meltzer, Chris Voss, Derek Sivers, Mick Hunt, Phil Daru, John Lee Dumas, Suneel Gupta, Lisa Bodell, Juliet Funt, Shawn Dill, and more.

Information

  • Creator
    Elan Gelfand
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    153
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Elan Gelfand
  • Show Website
    Abundant Thinking