The Art of Realizing Your Potential | The Ripple Effect Podcast featuring Shaun Tinney

Guys, welcome to the Ripple Effect Podcast. I'm your host, Steve Harper. This is the show where I bring amazing, creative, and just way smarter people than myself to the table for you to learn from and to experience their work. Today's guest is absolutely no exception.

Shaun Tinney was introduced to me by a good friend and a prior guest, Justin Foster. Justin said, "You need to know Sean." He is one of the coolest guys you will ever hope to meet. I didn't know if the implication was that I really needed to uplevel my coolness factor, but I kind of took it for what it was.

So I said, absolutely. Shaun and I had a very small window scheduled for our call, and it just blew up and expanded. We had such a great vibe going. It would be better if they just said, you know, honestly, we don't care about you guys at all.

We're just here to work you as hard as we can, squeeze as much out of you as we can get before we burn you out and move you on and replace you with someone else. At least people would know the deal. They'd be like, hey, yeah, right. It's just an exchange.

I'm here for the money. They're here for my work. But when they're doing that on the baseline and then on the surface, they're saying, hey, we want you to be who you are and bring your full self to work and mistakes are allowed and there's no perfectionism here. But perfect is done and you're getting criticized whenever anything doesn't go perfectly like that's it's just creating attention and a hypocrisy that doesn't serve anyone he is a personal performance coach he is an author a musician he wrote this book called practice everything you can tell by my sticky notes i have been you know consuming this thing it is a cool creative experience to go through this book and he's got some excellent excellent advice And he's just one of the purest hearted individuals that I've had the pleasure of getting to know.

I love how the Ripple happens. I love how connecting with one person who I interviewed connects me to another person and they, here we are, right? This is going to be a fun interview because I think Shaun has such a unique perspective on life and where you can start to adopt this practice of practicing into every aspect of what you're doing, whether it's from a performance perspective, whether it's from a work or career perspective, or just living the life that you really need to be living.

I'm super, super excited to have him join the Ripple Effect podcast. So enough about that. Let's dive into this episode with Shaun Tinney. I am super excited, Shaun, for you to join the Ripple Effect podcast.

Thanks for coming on. How are you doing today? Heck yeah. Thanks for having me, Steve.

Doing great. Okay. So where do we find your feet today? Where are you right now?

Currently in Hermosa Beach in Los Angeles, California. Okay. So Hermosa Beach, how long have you been there? About three years.

All right. Yeah, I got an opportunity to visit it. This dates me a little bit, but the last time the Texas Longhorns were in the national championship was 2005. And we spent a fun evening in Hermosa Beach and I've got friends that live in and around there.

But what was it that area specifically that attracted you to kind of, you know, plant your flag for a little bit? For sure. Well, I was living up in Bend, especially during COVID. And then in 2022, I got the opportunity to move down here to run the learning and development team at Goodr, actually to build it out.

So that brought me down. And then I was like, well, I want to live near the beach. There's a number of options, but Hermosa is like just one square mile of kind of slow paced beauty. So it really appealed.

So tell us a little bit about your time with Goodr that brought you there. And you're not working there any longer, right? So you've kind of moved on from that? Correct, yeah.

I wrapped up my time at Goodr this past summer, mid-August. But I had about seven years there, kind of started consulting for the first year or so, went part-time and then full-time in 2020. And the company does what? So it's Goodr Sunglasses.

They make $25, $35 athletic sunglasses for anyone. They're kind of like the no slip, no bounce, all polarized, all fun kind of deal. And one of my good friends who used to be a former client of mine is the CEO of the company. And we just kind of started, you know, we reconnected when I was on a road trip around the country.

And that sort of led to a consulting opportunity and kind of started with the Enneagram, which is like personality typing system, bringing that to the company. And that expanded into, you know, building out a whole entire learning and development department. I'm really fascinated by that because, you know, you would think a sunglass company, how much learning and development would there be, right? Number one, but number two, just the vibe and the culture that you guys created around that company.

When I, when I first was introduced to you by Justin Foster, I took a deep dive and looked at everything that you've done. I mean, you had, you were, you were really a big factor in getting their podcast going and having a really unique conversation about a number of things that you wouldn't necessarily expect from a sunglass company, which I thought was really, really interesting, but just the overall vibe, I could see why you were attracted, knowing that you're, you're very creative and you're artistic on a lot of levels that, there was a real sense that, I could see why that was a good place for you to land for a period of time.

But what was it about that experience that really kind of really spoke to you in terms of the environment and how did the learning and development piece tie into that? for sure well i mean it's interesting like all companies are just made up of people right and we're all doing our best to to be good people and communicate well and understand each other and um do bring our best selves to work and do our best work together so what i was attracted by was just a a relentless focus on doing things differently challenging the status quo know shaking things up and not just being just another company but changing the way that everything is done from onboarding to evaluations to you know mixer events whatever it is to to pay attention to the kind of energy that's in the space and the way that people are showing up and so for me Like I said, I kind of started with the Enneagram and brought like a sense of self-awareness and connection to values.

And that expanded into, well, how else can we, you know, infuse this into our culture and make sure that we're showing up authentically? I love that. And the, um, the company is such a unique, uh, application to a very crowded industry. Right.

You know, and I think that, one of the things that you guys were really exceptionally good at, at least from my perspective, looking as an outsider, looking in was to create a vibe, like a real unique, creative vibe vibe and an emphasis on the sustainability and being a contributor out there in the world. There's just a cool energy level relative to that. And my guess is through your work, you got an opportunity to sort of handpick and kind of drive that as a culture piece. What was the, what would you say was one of the key takeaways from that experience for you?

And how does that inform the work you're doing now as a performance coach? Oh, man. Great question. I think, well, the mission statement of the company is we give you permission to be unabashedly yourself unless you're an asshole.

Bring forward who you are. Just don't be a jerk about it. yeah so that for me myself, my challenge personally is to develop my voice and to be more assertive and be willing to participate in the conflict that can create peace right in the things that are difficult to face but create easier environments when we when we work through those things so i have that challenge constantly and it was an interesting challenge to bring that forward into us into a shared space right we're developing shared language shared strategies what are the ways that we show up the the shared agreements that bring us into the room literally at the same time like one of the cool small things about Goodr is that a meeting starts exactly on time like if Iit starts at noon, it's 12:00, you're on time.

12:01, you're late. 12:02 is embarrassingly late. You're apologizing for wasting everyone's time. Like just those little things kind of get everyone in sync and in harmony and in tune.

And then that allows people to do their best work. I love that. I love that. So how are you taking those lessons and applying it to the clients that you're serving today?

And first and foremost, maybe define what a performance coach is and how you go out into the world through this sort of new shingle for yourself. Yeah, for sure. Well so for me connecting purpose to the inner drive that's bringing you into the world in the first place there's some reason we get up in the morning there's something inside that wants out and so for me a performance is not about success or failure it's about presence It's about the ability to sit with yourself, whatever's going on in there, to accept yourself as you are and everything as it is, and then work from there with what's in front of you with as much awareness and creativity, creative expression as possible.

I love that. And, and that's what, that's something that companies need desperately. And often, you know, you only hear about it when they go to like maybe a quarterly retreat or they have some speaker that comes in and like, ah, you know, let's rally the troops and, tap into our creativity. And then you come back on the following Monday and everybody's back to the same old thing.

This has to be, and this is going to tie perfectly into why you wrote this book, Practice Everything. Right. It is a true practice. You only get good and you only perfect things in the world when you constantly try to make iterative improvements.

And I know through my work and what I've done through the consulting and coaching that I've done through my business, organizations are really good at talking the game, but very poor in the execution and the long-term fulfillment of what they say is important to them. How do you, in your work, find a way to overcome that so that there's that stickiness factor and you keep that vibe that you started at good or moving forward in a way that, you know, continues to improve whatever corporate environment you might find yourself coaching?

Yeah. It's a great question, Steve. And that all comes down to behaviors, to actions. Like if, you know, probably a trope at this point is like the CEO read a new book.

And so now we're all going to go through this training, you know, right? Like that, it's not information people lack. It's intentional action. And just like you say, those little the the small things that add up to uh exponential results right incremental improvements that lead to exponential results and so the way that we show up the um and when we're in the space of connection and you know collaboration it's how we choose to show up together we we start meetings on time we take next actions we follow up we do our part to clean up our side of the street um and that ultimately comes down to taking responsibility for ourselves and all our choices and not passing the buck or you know making something about shame or blame it's just owning how we show up and doing our best to improve where we can what we can um but yeah it's always uh it's always a challenge to say like set some company values or personal values or a mission vision, these kinds of things are all important, but if they lack action, they are ultimately just kind of flimsy bit of hypocrisy that kind of makes people mad instead of inspiring them behind a common call.

Yeah, I call it the motivational poster fodder, right? That just sits there and people like walk by it every day. It's like, we're not into this. We're not following through with any of this, right?

And people pay attention, right? Especially as we have such a, we probably have the most diverse workforce than we've ever had in the history of, you know, the world. Right now, because of the different generations that are still engaged and involved and the challenges that that presents. But really, people want to be showing up for work that they can have pride in and ownership in and that they can bring up a certain percentage of themselves to.

And when you have leadership that tells you one thing, but then they show you something completely different, it can be really, really infuriating and challenging. And it does infect every layer of that organization up to and including how they support their customers or how they attract new opportunities or their partnerships, their relationships they have outside that corporate wall. But most importantly, how... how really employees talk about what they do and who they do it for.

And oftentimes you hear it, like if they are with a company that's rah, rah, rah, and, you know, touting, we want the best innovation and creativity from our people, but then they hamper it down in a big, big way. It actually has a negative ripple effect for that brand. I, I was actually yesterday getting my haircut and there was a guy sitting in the barber chair next to me talking about a big company that I will, um, uh, I won't share who they are, but, uh, four letters, you could probably figure it out.

Um, based in the Austin area and, uh, how, uh, How there's always this, you know, kind of mid-year kind of performance thing that they do. And, you know, there's a big rally of the troops and this is what we're going to accomplish and this is what we're going to do. And then now they're coming into that second half where it's the end of the year and celebrating success. And, you know, basically this guy was just like lamenting on the fact that he just hates his job.

He hates the fact that they - They sprinkle the positivity and the sunshine on one side, and then you're going right from that meeting into these direct performance reviews and just getting hammered on metrics and performance. And your job is at jeopardy because there's AI coming and all these things. And I was thinking to myself yesterday, I'm just within earshot of this conversation happening. And yet...

I run a tech company. I have the influence on what we buy for our own gear and what a negative impact that has. And this guy, of course, has no idea that it's doing that, but it's kind of a lesson learned for leadership out there that might hear this or might sense that they need to do something. If you're going to do it, bring somebody like Sean in, you need to be committed to doing it.

You got to be committed to actually fulfilling that promise and in those deliverables and don't just do it because it sounds like it's the nice new, cool strategy to follow because it does pervade everybody that goes through those doors, but it also has a way to impact your brand and, you know, what people think about your brand outside of it. Because of conversations like that, what they pick up at a happy hour, a networking event, or sitting next to someone at a barber chair.

So I went on a rant there, but it was just kind of perfect timing that I just went through this experience and how it negatively influenced me. Yeah, yeah. Well, the funny thing is, Steve, it would almost be better if a company was like, if they're going to do the quarterly, you know, inspirational speaker, five minutes of we care about this and then go right back to the way things were. It would be better if they just said, you know, honestly, we don't care about you guys at all.

We're just here to work you as hard as we can, squeeze as much out of you as we can get before we burn you out and move you on and replace you with someone else. At least people would know the deal. They'd be like, hey, yeah, right. It's just an exchange.

I'm here for the money. They're here for my my work. We've got a good thing going here. But when they're doing that on the baseline and then on the surface, they're saying, hey, we want you to be who you are and bring your full self to work and mistakes are allowed and there's no perfectionism here, but perfect is done and you're getting criticized whenever anything doesn't go perfectly.

It's just creating a tension and a hypocrisy that doesn't serve anyone. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. How have, when you've experienced environments that maybe struggled to really understand how to get this I'm going to call it a culture shift, but really at the end of the day, this new way of looking at the work and the purpose behind the work and the vision that we are really trying to deliver.

When you've walked into an environment that you know that's struggling with that, what's one or two things that you've been able to do to almost instantly gain leadership's understanding and appreciation for what you're bringing to the table? And two, how do you ensure that you kind of hold them accountable to make sure what gets said or what you're going to teach actually has staying power? That's a great question. I think the smallest things become the biggest things.

So culture, you know, you have a company culture, whether you think you do or not. Maybe the culture is we don't care. Maybe the culture is our meetings start late or whatever. You know, it's all I think Seth Godin says something like people like us do things like this.

So the way that we show up, the shared agreements that we are bringing to life, whether we're aware of them or not, is what builds culture. And ultimately, those things all add up to something that's greater than any of the individual parts. So if you're being respectful of time, you're communicating clearly, you're taking next actions and following up, and you're relying on your own systems to carry you through in a way that you want to show up, you're leading by example and helping to be a beacon for what could ultimately be the the culture that you're a part of but it's up to every single person in the organization to bring that stuff to life and so when i would do onboarding at gooder we would you know teach them all about hey our values of fun and authenticity and here's the the behaviors that back those values up and here's how we want to call you into this culture but then i would let them know it is you are being invited to participate in something that is actively up to you to help create and co create because every new person creates a new team.

And so this team is growing and shifting and changing. And the ways that we each show up and the ways that we communicate directly or indirectly kind of ultimately tip the scales one way or another to make the culture something that's real and authentic that people feel excited and inspired to be a part of and to play their part in or that they pull back from and quiet quit and just you know talk crap about on the sidelines because they're like yeah they say this but they do that that's the the worst thing you possibly have is just a huge difference between what you say and what you do the best thing would be the simple clarity of following through on your word Guys, I'm going to remind you as my audience that we bring amazingly smart people like Sean to the table for you to learn from.

This guy is dropping nuggets right now. You need to make sure that you get a pen and paper in hand and listen to not only the way that Sean's talking about these problems, but really how he explains the process of going through it. I mean, Sean, you... you have me ready to sign up.

Like I'm like, I would be all on board for that because it is, and I'm curious about your take here is this doesn't happen nearly enough, right? Which creates green pastures for folks like yourself and myself to do the work that we do. But why do you think it has gotten so challenging out there for companies to recognize that this could be one of the ingredients to their superpower and yet they don't They don't try or they don't even put the time or energy towards trying to get closer to the mark.

This might be kind of silly. Have you seen the movie Monsters, Inc. Yes. Yeah, right.

The monsters are trying to get all the fuel from scaring people, but then they realize later that laughter is like way more powerful, right? So I would say the company, most of the time, if something can be measured, it comes down to money. Money rules the metric of success, right? So because most things in business are going to come down to money and measurement, that's focusing on the fuel of fear.

And the thing that they're all trying to get, trying to produce is like a sense of levity and laughter and ease and flow and communication and connection and authenticity that can only come from people feeling safe to bring their full selves to work, to let their energy flow freely into their work and devote themselves to something that's a higher purpose than just whatever they can do on their own because they know I trust myself. I trust the people that are around me to have my back.

I'm going to have theirs. We're going to lift each other up. There's no limit to where we can go as a group if we're sharing the credit and sharing, you know, our positive energy or even our challenges and struggles. Honestly, one of the things that I brought to Goodr was the idea that bad news is no time and no options.

If you have time and options, you still are communicating good news. And that makes it easier for people to say, hey, you know, this this deadline is going to miss. We need to renegotiate this. But it's all good because we can still succeed here.

Right. Whereas most people will hold on to the bad news. And so it's too late. There's nothing you can do about it.

And now that you're out of options. Yeah. Right, right. So it's just like, how can you co-create a space where success is always possible?

And one of the ways to do that is not to focus so much on the outputs, the numbers, the, you know, shift three, four, five, like number sign, dollar sign, percentage sign, but the inputs. And that is always a function of people and people are way more than just numbers or logic or data. We're emotional beings. And, you know, Things change based on the sun, moon, gut health, like weather, it's all over the board.

So just inviting each other into a space that is inclusive of our humanity is the beginning of that road to success. I love this. I love this so much. There's so many different ways we could take this conversation.

My head is spinning just with all the brilliance that you were laying down. Let me go back for a second though. You obviously tapped into something that not a lot of people really are focused on or maybe not spending the time necessary to understand how it becomes a critical piece of how they show up in the world. Not just the work that they do, but really truly embracing the approach that they need to take in order to live a life that feels rewarding, right?

Yeah. And self-supportive. What was it in your upbringing or was there a circumstance or two that sort of led you down this path to have such a uniquely positive outlook on life, number one, but also how it's framed what you do, not only in your prior career, but what you're doing now through your coaching experience to give people this breath of fresh air in terms of how to look at things from a different angle and different perspective what was it in your background or history that sort of helped you arrive to the cool dude that you are today be hard to isolate any individual thing you know we're all shaped by everything sure i think for me hmm actually as i look back like i when i was in school just growing up i our family moved around a lot and i was in a different school every grade from third to 11th grades so every single year i'm starting over i actually like i i the happy answer is like oh i got really good at making friends actually didn't make that many friends i was very nervous and shy and so i would come into a new environment and just kind of be feeling out the situation and i could always tell you know, who's in which part of the hierarchy of this class or this school or whatever.

And I put myself at the bottom. I'm just new. I'm just here to observe. You know, I'm kind of like shy, probably going to get picked on if there's a bully, probably going to just kind of cruise through and make a couple of friends.

And then I know I'm going to be moving soon. And so that feeling of constantly being on the move and just sort of being a visitor put me in a very like inward place. I was kind of feeling my way through things and sensing where is their tension? Where is their harmony?

Where are things flowing and where are they stuck? And so for me, that meant I spent a lot of time alone and I spent a lot of time with my guitar. I think I fell chemically in love with the guitar. Yeah.

And then I learned that through dedicating myself to music and understanding something that is like literally harmony and dissonance and a different kind of tension that you can hear where there's something that wants to resolve or move in a certain direction. I kind of connect those two things to just the way that we show up as people in the environments we create together. You know, when you're trying to collaborate with musicians, it's important to be on time playing to the same rhythm and playing in the same key.

And when you're collaborating with people, it's exactly the same. It's just that the music has a different kind of flow to it, right? There's there's a timing and a rhythm to the way that we show up and everybody gets their own solo, so to speak. So.

feeling into the way that we create a shared space as people and then noticing that we should only expect to be good at something that we're intentionally practicing. We should expect to suck at something that we don't practice. That's right. And the way that we are in any situation is part of that practice, right?

For me, with the guitar analogy, most of my work is hidden practice. I'm alone working on my scales, working on chords, jamming with tracks. And then in the rare case where I get to go on stage and perform, all that practice shows up with me, right? And so the same is true when we're in a shared space.

It's like I'm practicing everything that I'm doing how you do anything is how you do everything, right? It's all creating the space that we share. It's responding and reacting to what's going on around me. And so I think I just got really tuned into that.

Like, okay, how does... it changed the space i'm in if i do nothing how does it change it if i do something what if i share the thing that i'm afraid to say does that create a space of shared vulnerability where more people will do that or not and then just watch and see what happens over time people respond in personal ways to that and so that kind of gave me a um a unique perspective of how we can kind of harmonize as groups or create unnecessary tension that isn't serving the common good.

What a beautiful answer. I feel like that's why you and I kind of hit it off. I said in your intro that, you know, we had a kind of a defined period of time that we were going to talk and our, our time went way beyond that. Cause I was just so fascinated by you and the energy you brought to the conversation and the curiosity and just the intention.

Right. And, uh, I really felt like I'd known you my entire life, like you were my long lost brother or something because I did not move around from school to school when I was a kid, but I always felt like I was at the bottom of the rung all the time. And I felt like and I did not appreciate it until many years later. the power of observation and how critical and important it is and how much it taught me along the way by recognizing various things, the dynamics, the social dynamics in the various classes that you might be in.

Like you said, identifying who the potential bully or threats might be or where the hierarchy fit or what people - how certain comments or certain situations really affected certain people and just being very keen and observing those things and to a degree being able to leverage that in a way to actually start a conversation with someone that i might not have otherwise had the courage or the confidence to do it i'm very introverted and shy as well And how I parlayed that into my work, right?

And very similar to you, it's when you get an opportunity, whether you're coaching an individual or a company, you sort of have to understand what's the dynamic and what's that circumstance and who's playing the big dog role and who is sitting back passively or who is already quietly quitting an organization or a team because they don't feel seen or they don't feel appreciated or even recognized for the value they bring to the table. Yeah. which makes the environments that we sort of encounter, I suspect yours is the same, really unique because there's not one that, you know, one size fits all.

They're all different. They're all different, you know, shapes and sizes and personality types. And, you know, every one of them has stresses and conflicts and challenges, but it all comes down to the people, right? And if you can get people to feel that they are seen, whether you're the loud, boisterous individual and you can, see why they do that because they feel like they have to and they have to perform and they're sort of, you know, have self-anointed themselves as the leader or the loudest voice in the room versus people that are the real thinkers that are really strategy and, you know, connecting the dots and being able to understand the, you know, the interlacings of an idea or a project or whatever.

And then you have the other people are like, I just want to find where to plug in. I just, I don't have anything. And if you don't, You can't create an environment, a culture that allows for everybody to sort of recognize that no matter what you bring to the table, you bring something of value. You're an important person.

And that conversation that you want to have or you feel compelled to have is an important one and we want to recognize and hold space for it. I find those dynamics really fascinating because you can look at any corporate environment you and I might go into today and it looks a hell of a lot like our third grade class, right? Or ninth grade high school. And we've just grown bigger and probably way more self-absorbed and jerkier over the years.

But the environments and the insecurities and all of the social dynamics that we saw growing up in those environments, are still prevalent today. And in fact, some people have just gotten more emboldened, you know, you know, the bullies are bigger and, and, you know, have more power and the people that have all the knowledge and experience are less cooperative, right. Or less willing to share because they get rewarded or recognized for it. Yeah, absolutely.

And kind of the I don't know if it's ironic or what, but on some level, insecurity is at the heart of most of this that we're talking about, right? Even the people who seem super confident, they're usually working with a great deal of insecurity and so the folks who aren't used to taking up all the space or aren't willing to just smash their ideas forward and you know step on a bunch of toes and um be the bull in the china shop they're not going to get as much done and so the cultures tend to value and celebrate those who get things done right but they don't account for the cost at which the progress is made.

You can say, oh yeah, we hit our quarterly numbers, but we lost the faith of half our team. We lost 10% of our true performing staff, like the folks just behind the scenes that got over it and quit. There's always a cost to everything that's gained. And so I think it really is important to pay attention to the way that we travel, the way that we show up.

We're on a journey here. We don't know where from or where to. We do not understand what's going on on this thing, man. We're just on a planet ripping through infinity around a ball of flames.

It makes no sense at all. But we've got these little structures that we put around it. Like, okay, we've got quarterly numbers and performance reviews. And this is very serious.

You know you need to do a good job. So to step back and go, wow, this actually is kind of a mystery. And the only thing that matters really is how we show up and how much we can trust and reconcile the way that we show up in the world within ourselves every day. And so to be able to see there's something insecure in me, there's something that's afraid, there's something that's hurt and tend to that, clean up my side of the street so that I can show up in a space that allows me to be present, to be patient and to be authentic.

I love that. And it, it's kind of the perfect segue right to the book that you wrote called practice everything. Right. So the art of realizing your potential, what, what is the art of realizing your potential in your, in, in your perspective?

To me, it is facing and working with the forces of resistance that appear in our lives in every form. There's always something. Yeah, there's always something in the way of what you want. You could summarize a story as like who wants what and what stands in their way.

Right. Or the character never gets what they want, always what they need. We're always faced with something that is preventing us from getting a new skill or acquiring something or being the way that we need to be becoming the kind of person we need to be to have what we want to have. And so this book is about showing up in all those little incremental steps that result in that exponential gain that results in the, the butterflying of the caterpillar or the blossoming of the flower as it were.

I love that. There is so much to love about this book. I got to be honest with you, when I got it, I mean, I immediately read through it and then I went back through it and I spent time with it because I think it is - what you've done here is really so intentional. And on the surface, it looks like, you know, you're putting a few thoughts out there and you're kind of like, Oh, you know, let's, let's kind of see where this goes.

But when you actually start to dance with the idea and the concepts, it's really, really heavy, right? You're inviting the reader into the, If you're willing to take the time to understand the artful practice of being still and listening to your inner voice, your creativity, you have a phrase that practices a path as you start to walk on the way, the way appears, right? There are these really, really thoughtful points that you make that when a person who reads it allows themselves the time and space to really absorb that and to think about what does that mean from Sean's perspective, but then what does it mean from my perspective and where can I actually take this idea or this concept and apply it in my, in my life?

I'll tell you just a very quick story. Like, you know, when you say practice everything, which is such a brilliant title, right? You know, get it on the camera, but it's, That really is everything from how you make your bed to how you go out brushing your teeth and the process that you go through to getting up every single day, whether you're committed to a workout routine, whether you are showing up to your office to follow through with a particular set of expectations for that day.

Everything is an opportunity to do it artfully better than you did it the day before. And the thing that really stood out to me with this was that how much, excuse my French, but how much shit I go through on a daily basis that I just do on autopilot because that's just the way it's been. That everything from how I fill my coffee cup to how I show up prepared and ready for my next Zoom call or prepare for a podcast interview like this comes down to how I prepare myself in practice in what I do for whatever is coming.

Yeah. And it has been very, very insightful for me. I've read books about habit forming and doing all the things, right? But I'm on the surface understanding and appreciate those concepts.

But the way that you do it is so artfully done. Not only are your illustrations infinitely interesting and really, really impactful - But the way that you present it is not just in your face. It's just a nice little nugget to take and absorb and do what you want with it. And I kept finding myself going back to certain ones going, okay, yeah, I see where you're going with this.

I see where I can apply this. Most importantly, I can see the benefit of doing it and doing it better. And I only get better by continually practicing and improving along the way. Was that the output that you were hoping to get from someone who reads it?

Or what was your ultimate goal when you, you know, that may have just been me and I could be just odd. I don't know, right? No, man, that's a great, that's a great response. I mean, the quote that you read there was from Rumi, right?

He's from a long time ago. But those points about... The way that we show up, as we start to walk on the way, the way it appears. The path is unknown to us before we take the leap, take a journey, take the first step.

And so that's facing resistance. is always ahead of us. I say in the book, resistance is always equivalent to your strength minus one. So you are very powerful.

Resistance is also very powerful. So everything that we try to do, we're going to be pushing against that force that's going to shape us and grow us. And then as we start to move forward out of the space of just thinking and analyzing, we get into the space of experience where we can react and respond to the world as it is. All those things that you said where you're like pouring your coffee and, you know, taking a walk, doing that stuff.

Those are amazing. loaded in, there's not a lot of resistance there anymore. It's all kind of an unthinking state of flow. And so you at some point, just like learning to tie your shoes that took a lot of thought at first, but then it became ease and flow and you didn't have to think about it anymore.

So you could return your attention to yourself. You could mindlessly make a cup of coffee, right? You don't have to put your attention on it. So what the art of practice or realizing any kind of potential to me is applying your attention on purpose to something that you want to improve at and recognizing that wherever you're applying your attention, whether it's on purpose or not, you are improving at something, right?

Whether that's vegging out on the couch and throwing down a bag of popcorn or trying to improve at playing guitar or just getting better at meditating or whatever. so taking everything within the space of practice creates a space where it's okay to make mistakes because then you're just in the process of learning you're on the path of mastery versus dealing with self-judgment and criticism and all these things that ultimately hold us back yeah it really made me think as i read through it um i literally have gone through the book four times it's um all right that that amazing i've let my son read it um and gonna let my other son read it and get another A couple of copies so they have it on their shelves just because it is that good.

But the thing that I really kept coming up with in my mind was how many of us are the jack of all trades but the master of none. And when it comes back down to we're not masters in anything because we don't put our attention or focus on trying to be a master at anything. And the practice piece really spoke to me in such a big way. And like I said, I've read other books about habits and process and approach, and they're all good.

Everybody does a really good job of making a case for why you should be intentional about what you do. But what I found personally from my own experience reading this in - your brilliant work is that if I can get good at one or two things, it gives me the confidence to get more focused and more intentional about getting better at other things. So small things like, you know, and it seems really, you know, kind of like a really dumb example on my part, but Everything has an aesthetic to it.

Everything has an intention behind it. Everything you do, how you show up in life can have an elegancy to it, even when nobody else is looking, right? Showing up and following through with a certain number of things that I do on a day, just a small modification or adjustment to make that practice a little better. actually has made my day so much better.

And because I can sort of use that as my anchor point for the beginning of my day or a reference point for my journey of how my day is going to unfold or my week is going to unfold, it really does empower me in such a way to actually want to do better at almost everything that I can, right? Which means, you know, you won't be great at everything, obviously, but at the end of the day, if you're showing up and being willing to practice and be intentional about what Other things, now all of a sudden you've kind of made that culture shift in your own mind and your own way of thinking and actually how you show up for the work that you're being asked to do, the companies that you're being engaged to work within, the teams that you communicate and cooperate with, but then also in every other aspect of your life, how you show up as a neighbor, how you show up as a spouse or a friend or whatever.

um just another community member in our case as ripplers like for the people that are watching or listening to this you know this this is an opportunity for you to get better in such a significant way but it doesn't come just easily you have to put in the time you have to put in the work and um like you said sean with you know if i want to get better at a guitar well i have to get good at picking up the guitar and trying to be intentional about getting better at it Yeah, well, it's so beautiful to hear you say all that back, Steve.

So like what I was thinking as you were saying that is you if you see your life as the work of art, as the as the potential that you are bringing forward into the world. then there's nothing that's outside of the scope of your practice. You could apply yourself to any individual thing you choose, whether it's making a cup of coffee in the most masterful way or playing a beautiful piece on a piano or guitar. All of those things are an individual representation of what is ultimately a creative individual, and that's you yourself.

So your life force is something that you get to work with and communicate with and interact with on a daily basis. And you can either let it move through you in an unthinking way, or you can apply yourself to every moment that you can. And that takes an intense, incredible amount of focus, right? We have only so much attention available to us.

And most of the time we're going to end up mindlessly scrolling or just kind of trying to distract ourselves. But what that is, is the mind's desire to leave this moment, to go back and regret and ruminate on the past or anticipate and be excited about the future. And both of those things are just simply a way of avoiding what's right in front of us right here and now. a lot of the time you know we'll we'll place our minds in some other space where it's like oh if i can just solve you know this greater thing of uh my whole business or you know the universe is if i could figure out the quantum foam equation then everything would make sense but really it's like oh i need to um just have this tough conversation with this person that i've been avoiding or you know go to the gym or do the thing that that allows me to clear my to-do list so my brain can settle down and get present so to tune in to your own inner guidance system your inner compass and really listen what are the feelings that are showing up in me where is their tension what is something that wants to be expressed but i'm not giving it any uh way forward you know i'm not applying any action to those things we already have all the answers within ourselves and then those answers bump up against these systems that were created before we got here and then our minds try and reconcile the two and usually they can't be reconciled sometimes they can and it's great but for the most part i think growth as individuals is learning to individuate and to to listen inward and just start to trust that inner voice and your gut feelings and instincts and reads on a situation because ultimately we can talk ourselves out of something that we kind of already knew what we should be getting into, you know?

And how many times have you made a decision or done something that went against your gut feeling and gone, I knew the answer. I just didn't do it, right? Yeah. Or I wish I had, right?

You know, I just listened to that gut, but I didn't do it. yeah yeah i love i love that i mean honestly i could talk to you all day about this stuff because it's it's it's infinitely fascinating to me i think maybe it's because um age and wisdom has kind of caught up to me and i'm a lot more um introspective now than i probably would have been in my younger days but i love the fact that someone like yourself has been able to take their work and inform it in such a way that can inspire people at every generational level to really look at this Because I think it's super important.

I wish I had had these guide rails earlier in my career. And also the confidence to lean into it and not give up after picking up the guitar one or two times, right? But to continue to play. I told somebody, you know, you mentioned guitars.

I'll just use it as an example, but I've got five guitars. I suck at it totally, but I love it at the same time. I love sucking, but every year I suck a little less and I'm never going to be in a band. I'm never going to be like, you know, a rock star kind of player, but I don't do it for anybody else's enjoyment.

I don't do it because I'm getting paid to do it. I do it because I like it and because I'm challenging myself to get better at my own pace, with my own experience. And eventually I'll get to a point where I feel like, okay, I've gotten to this area because I'm happy with where I'm at. And I'm happy that I've gotten here because I didn't give up.

And I think whether it's playing guitar or taking on a new practice or how you show up in the work and how you show up in your life, I think it does come down to making that commitment to yourself in those moments when nobody's listening and nobody's watching or paying attention, you have to be the one that makes that commitment to yourself that you're going to get a little bit incrementally better at whatever it is that's important to you. And so I think that, you know, the, the, the book really spoke to me on a big, big level because I've really come into that in my own life in, in, um, I think what you did was just sort of shake it up a little bit more and made me look at it through a different lens and be even more excited about the participation of actually practicing whatever it is that I want to get better at.

yeah well and you know when you're doing something that you love you're spending your life in an enjoyable way and what better way to spend your time right that's right something that you can enjoy because then you're going to show up in the world in a different way that's going to ripple out positively through many layers that you can't possibly predict yeah um One of the things that I love to think about is we are now you and I are the future version of our former selves. We you know, if you go back one year, 10 years, right, if we'd started a practice of doing pull ups or push ups every day, we'd be crushing it at that now because of the compounding influence of time.

So I always think, how can you give a gift to your future self? And the only way that you can do that is here now. So the pillars of this book are everything is practice, practice is progress, progress is success, and success is now. That means you are always succeeding as long as you're practicing.

And that's only ever happening in this moment. You can only change a little and you can only change it now. So what can you do right now to change something just a little bit so that in the future you're experiencing a different version of yourself with different possibilities and capacities? The way that you can do this is to pick anything that matters to you.

Remove the resistance to doing the thing and then do the least you can every single day. Just make it a part of your life every day. Over here to the side of me, I have a guitar on a stand so that I can just grab it. There's no resistance of the case under the bed.

There's an extra 30 seconds to get to it. I can just grab it. All I have to do to check my play guitar box for the day is play one chord. So that means I've removed the resistance from I got to practice for an hour or two.

I just have to pick it up and play a chord. So every day, guitar is part of my life for that one chord at the minimum. But most of the time, once you have it in your hands and you start to play, you're going to play a few songs, play around, maybe an hour goes by. But that came with ease and flow and joy instead of a feeling of, oh, I have to do this and I really got to get myself to focus, you know.

I love that. I love that so much. And we have a very similar practice, right? In terms of that regard, it's just show up and do it.

And for me, it's, you know, I go up in my game room, you know, after a day, especially a day that's been stressful or particularly frustrating. And I can look up and be like, where did two hours go? Like, how the heck did that happen? But it's also like really invigorating because at the end of the day, when you do those things and you find that flow, and that could be true whether you're playing guitar or you're writing or you get really into researching something that really speaks to you and you're getting - you're adding to your knowledge base or experience about something - It is really probably one of the truest gifts that you can experience in life is to find that flow.

And you only get there by doing something today that tomorrow's version of you is going to thank you for. And so I think that your reminder there is just spot on. Just you're, you're amazing at every level. I got to be honest with you.

I mean, I'm just so grateful that Justin connected us and that, you know, you've come into my life at this juncture because I just feel like there's so much that I'm going to benefit from knowing you. So thank you for that. Heck yeah, of course. Thanks for bringing me on here and making the time to connect and chat like this.

Well, I appreciate it. I appreciate you making the time. Before we let you go, one of the things I do on every one of these episodes is we do a little bit of, because I could talk to you about this stuff. I mean, we could geek out for another two hours with no problem, but I want to be respectful of your time and the schedule.

But one of the things that we do is that we ask a few Ripple Connection questions. These are just questions that are kind of Yeah. This is going to be silly, but walking. I love going for a walk on the beach with my sister or with a friend and just connecting and processing life.

It is a practice, you know, because it's easy to just chill and sit on the couch and do nothing. But I'm like, oh, let's go for a walk and usually try to time it with sunset so I can see all the beauty that nature is up to. I love that. You'll have to send me a photo via text to the next Hermosa Beach sunset.

You got it. They are magical there. Man, especially during winter, it just goes off. What is a skill or activity that you have yet to try that you really want to in the upcoming year?

I think one thing that I've been practicing... in different contexts is just doing this kind of thing, right? Speaking, developing an economy of words that allows me to communicate a message. And I want to do that as professionally as possible.

My hidden goal, which I'll just tell you and everyone listening, is I want to be professionally encouraging so that I can flood the world's supply of wonder. And to me, that means I've got to show up doing things that are important to me in ways that allow me to enjoy my life and hopefully have the ripple effect of everyone who I get to interact with feeling that part of themselves awaken as well. I love that. What did the seven-year-old version of Sean want to be when he grew up?

I think the trouble with that was I never had a good answer, man. I was like, I remember in sixth grade, they made us do these posters of like your future career. And I had no idea. So I just picked astronaut and like, what a, what a great way to say, like, I'm disconnected from earth right now.

I don't really know what my, my purpose here is going to be, you know? Yeah. That's a, that's a pretty good one. That's for sure.

Pretty good. A reasonable one too, based on, you know, kind of how you grew up and all the changes that you experienced. So that's, that's not a bad one at all. I'm just floating through.

Yeah. What does the current version of Sean want to be when he grows up? Man, an adult? No.

I want to be someone that I can be proud to look in the mirror at every day. And to me, that's, you know, listening to my inner compass and developing and honing my integrity and showing up in ways that are supportive to others. I love that. Very well said.

When you think about what a client's close friend or maybe even a family member might say about you, about you, what would you hope they say? I would hope that they would say that I am someone who creates a safe space for them to be who they are and listens with generosity and affirmation. Man, your answers are just solid, dude. These are fantastic.

If there was a billboard that everybody could see on their way to work or to school and then on the way home at night, what message would you like to see up there to reinforce something that is important for them to take with them and put in their heart? I would say share care. You've got something inside you that wants to come out, share that with everyone and care about the way that you show up in the world and the impact it has on others. That's a great, great message.

Um, last couple of questions. What's the book that changed your life? Man, I ran into a copy of the Dao De Ching when I was in college. And I remember one of the first lines I opened to it said, the ocean is greater than all rivers and streams because it lies below them.

And that just blew my mind. So after that, I got hooked on the mystery of whatever Lao Tzu was writing about. And that's honestly, that's carried forward into a lot of my work. Probably half the quotes in Practice Everything are from some kind of Eastern wisdom.

I love that. The, uh, you know, 10 years from now when they're making the major motion picture of, uh, Sean's life, the title will be what? Hopefully practice everything. That's a good one.

I, that would be, that would be apropos for sure. I think that's. Indeed. So, uh, last, last couple of questions, when you hear the topic or the phrase, the ripple effect, what does that mean to you?

What does that conjure up for you? For me, I see the impact of small actions growing wider and greater and noticing like if you toss a pebble into a pond, you can affect the whole pond just from that one little thing. So I think our philosophies really agree in the way that it matters how we show up and the little things that we do, because everything we do ripples through the world around us. And so it's super, super important to do as much as we can with intention and connect to ourselves so that we can connect to the world in a way that creates the impacts we want to have.

What a great answer. One of the best I've gotten, to be honest with you. That's perfect. What ripple can I be looking to create for you?

Man, you're already doing it. We're here now. We're doing the thing. This is nothing.

What else could I be looking to do? I think you and I continuing to develop our friendship and connection and allowing ourselves to become amplifiers for the greatness within. I love that. Sign me up.

I'm in 100%. I'm just truly, truly grateful to know you. You are a really, really cool dude. I mentioned in your intro that, you know, Justin, you know, I didn't know if Justin was just trying to improve my coolness factor by association, but he had said, I just have a feeling you guys are going to get hit it off.

And we definitely owe a debt of gratitude to Justin Foster for introducing us and, you know, taking it, you know, to the next level with our friendship. I saw that you in G Brian Benson, you know, recorded for his podcast too, which made me super, super happy. He loved you. You two are just, I know there's a, a genuine friendship that's going to be sparked from that as well.

But I am just really, really, really impressed with you. Grateful that you've entered my life. You're stuck with me as a friend, whether you signed up for that or not. Likewise, Steve.

Before I let you go, tell everybody where you'd like them to follow you, where they can seek out your work, and ultimately where it best supports you to get the book, Practice Everything. Oh, yeah, for sure. Well, everything starts at practiceeverything.com.

You can get the book there. Follow me, connect for coaching and speaking, things like that. And then on Instagram, just Sean Tinney, S-H-A-U-N-T-I-N-N-E-Y. Perfect.

And the book is available through the website. Is it available through major bookstores or Amazon as well? Yeah. I'm working on that.

You know, right now you can buy it at three shops in Hermosa that are within walking distance of me, but I need to expand my reach there for sure. So for now, just practice everything.com. Well, I know a number of people that are tied to the book business here.

Maybe we can figure out how to get this some wider distribution, but I would just go to the website. I would tell you my suggestion to everybody is go support Sean directly by buying off the website. I don't know if you've experienced this yet, Sean, or not, but when you do it through Amazon, As an independent author, it becomes a real challenge to be able to keep up with their inventory demands and half of the stuff comes back damaged. So when it comes from the website, people can personalize it.

You gave me a really beautiful inscription in my book and I can tell you it's got an honored place in my library. Highly, highly encourage you guys to buy from Sean's site so that you can support him directly and he can keep the bulk of the profits because this is such a beautiful piece of work. I'm really, really grateful to have it. I think everybody out there will enjoy it.

But Shaun, thank you so, so much for coming on the Ripple Effect podcast. This has been awesome. We are definitely going to have to do a follow-up conversation at some point this upcoming year. But I just want to say thank you for everything.

Thanks for being a part of this. And thanks for the work that you're doing. The world needs more people like you. Oh, thank you.

Humbled. Proud to be here. Thank you so much for having me on. Anytime.

No, it was, it was my pleasure for sure. Guys, we'll be back with another episode of the ripple effect podcast very soon, but until then, Shaun, Ripple On!!