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For over 15 years, Shawn Ellis has worked with some of the world’s leading authorities in personal and professional development—people like Marcus Buckingham, Patrick Lencioni, and Jon Gordon.
What’s the #1 lesson he’s learned? The best advice in the world is meaningless unless acted upon. And the #2 lesson? The only place action occurs is right now, in this moment. As the pace of life and work accelerates, though, this moment can be quite elusive—something Shawn knows all too well.
Faced with the overwhelming demands of life as a business owner, caregiver, and new father, Shawn realized that trying to “do more, faster” was not a sustainable solution. To the contrary, he found that the only way to keep up is by slowing down and taking things one moment at a time—in other words, taking a mindful approach to life and work.
Today, Shawn writes and speaks about lessons from his own journey combined with lessons learned from over 30 years of research in the field of mindfulness. Shawn’s programs have been attended by professionals from companies such as Panera Bread, ING Americas, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Norwegian Cruise Lines, Unisys Corp, and others.
In this episode Shawn shares his entrepreneurial journey as well as some of his secrets for:
- keeping work aligned with our values and what’s good for our world,
- for realizing happiness even when life is very challenging,
- for balancing “letting go” and accepting things as they are with the aspiration to create a better future for ourselves and others.
To connect with Shawn regarding consulting or speaking, please visit www.shawnellis.com.
To connect with Shawn about hiring a speaker for your next event, please visit www.thespeakersgroup.com.
Show Notes
0:24 – Shawn’s life goal
3:25 – His core values
5:42 – How Shawn keeps his work aligned with his core values and what’s good for our world
9:32 – The greatest benefit he has realized professionally as a result of mindfulness training
12:05 – How Shawn finds happiness even when life is very challenging
21:03 – The most important insight he’s had over the last year – How to balance “letting go” and accepting things as they are with the aspiration to create a better future
27:08 – How Shawn went from employee to entrepreneur and started a speakers bureau and a business around mindfulness
38:24 – How to apply mindfulness to be our best selves in business and in life
50:07 – The book he has most recently read = The Noticer, by Andy Andrews
50:42 – His favorite online resources for mindfulness = Palouse Mindfulness
51:54 – His favorite living teacher of mindfulness = Thich Nhat Hanh
52:57 – Favorite Retreat Centers = Any nature trail
53:11 – Favorite book on mindfulness = Wherever You Go, There You Are, by Jon Kabat-Zinn
53:59 – Favorite Mindfulness Practice
55:15 – If Shawn had 60 seconds left to live, here’s the advice he would give how to live an awesome life