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11/09/16

106: Jon Levy – 4 Ingredients to Create a Successful Adventure

The scope of your life, the size of it, is in direct proportion to how uncomfortable you’re willing to be.

Today on the show I’m talking to returning guest Jon Levy, who has just come out with a book about the science of adventure. Last time Jon was on the show we talked about his influencer dinners, and how to bring people together. This time, we’re talking about something completely different: the science of adventure.

Being an adventurer myself, I love this subject, and Jon has some great stories to share from his travels around the world. Listen in as he breaks down the four ingredients that make a successful adventure and what makes it memorable. I think part of why I connect to this topic so much is that going on a successful adventure is all about creating your moments, taking initiative, which translates into the process of creativity. So in addition to talking about traveling and adventure, we also talk about using these same ideas to break out of ruts and inspire creativity.

If you’re with a great group, they can make a terrible event amazingly fun, and vice versa.

[smart_track_player url=”https://soundcloud.com/nickonken/jon-levy-1″ title=”4 Ingredients to Create a Successful Adventure” artist=”Jon Levy” image=”https://nionlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/106_JonLevy_NIONradio_02.jpg” color=”#de4b9b” ]

Some things we learn in this podcast:

  • When Jon Levy became interested in social interactions [4:45]
  • The characteristics of adventure [6:25]
  • The importance of constraints [10:00]
  • What are four stages of adventure [19:50]
  • You are the people you surround yourself with [23:40]
  • Why traveling pushes you [26:25]
  • The importance of setting goals [26:55]
  • What is the winner effect [29:30]
  • The relationship between the scope of your life and how uncomfortable you’re willing to be [36:30]

Links mentioned:

Connect with Jon Instagram | Twitter | Website

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CULTIVATING YOUR VISUAL UNIQUENESS AND STREAMLINING YOUR BRAND'S EVOLUTION

The scope of your life, the size of it, is in direct proportion to how uncomfortable you’re willing to be.

Today on the show I’m talking to returning guest Jon Levy, who has just come out with a book about the science of adventure. Last time Jon was on the show we talked about his influencer dinners, and how to bring people together. This time, we’re talking about something completely different: the science of adventure.

Being an adventurer myself, I love this subject, and Jon has some great stories to share from his travels around the world. Listen in as he breaks down the four ingredients that make a successful adventure and what makes it memorable. I think part of why I connect to this topic so much is that going on a successful adventure is all about creating your moments, taking initiative, which translates into the process of creativity. So in addition to talking about traveling and adventure, we also talk about using these same ideas to break out of ruts and inspire creativity.

If you’re with a great group, they can make a terrible event amazingly fun, and vice versa.

[smart_track_player url=”https://soundcloud.com/nickonken/jon-levy-1″ title=”4 Ingredients to Create a Successful Adventure” artist=”Jon Levy” image=”https://nionlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/106_JonLevy_NIONradio_02.jpg” color=”#de4b9b” ]

Some things we learn in this podcast:

  • When Jon Levy became interested in social interactions [4:45]
  • The characteristics of adventure [6:25]
  • The importance of constraints [10:00]
  • What are four stages of adventure [19:50]
  • You are the people you surround yourself with [23:40]
  • Why traveling pushes you [26:25]
  • The importance of setting goals [26:55]
  • What is the winner effect [29:30]
  • The relationship between the scope of your life and how uncomfortable you’re willing to be [36:30]

Links mentioned:

Connect with Jon Instagram | Twitter | Website

11/09/16

106: Jon Levy – 4 Ingredients to Create a Successful Adventure

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The scope of your life, the size of it, is in direct proportion to how uncomfortable you’re willing to be.

Today on the show I’m talking to returning guest Jon Levy, who has just come out with a book about the science of adventure. Last time Jon was on the show we talked about his influencer dinners, and how to bring people together. This time, we’re talking about something completely different: the science of adventure.

Being an adventurer myself, I love this subject, and Jon has some great stories to share from his travels around the world. Listen in as he breaks down the four ingredients that make a successful adventure and what makes it memorable. I think part of why I connect to this topic so much is that going on a successful adventure is all about creating your moments, taking initiative, which translates into the process of creativity. So in addition to talking about traveling and adventure, we also talk about using these same ideas to break out of ruts and inspire creativity.

If you’re with a great group, they can make a terrible event amazingly fun, and vice versa.

[smart_track_player url=”https://soundcloud.com/nickonken/jon-levy-1″ title=”4 Ingredients to Create a Successful Adventure” artist=”Jon Levy” image=”https://nionlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/106_JonLevy_NIONradio_02.jpg” color=”#de4b9b” ]

Some things we learn in this podcast:

  • When Jon Levy became interested in social interactions [4:45]
  • The characteristics of adventure [6:25]
  • The importance of constraints [10:00]
  • What are four stages of adventure [19:50]
  • You are the people you surround yourself with [23:40]
  • Why traveling pushes you [26:25]
  • The importance of setting goals [26:55]
  • What is the winner effect [29:30]
  • The relationship between the scope of your life and how uncomfortable you’re willing to be [36:30]

Links mentioned:

Connect with Jon Instagram | Twitter | Website

11/09/16

106: Jon Levy – 4 Ingredients to Create a Successful Adventure

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Brand guidelines are static rules for the surface. A Brand Brain is a living codification of identity a team or an AI can generate from. The difference, defined.

Mountain terrain stretching in every direction, breadth before depth in choosing a practice

We trained six styles of kung fu in one month. Sampling that widely taught me how a creative actually finds the practice worth years: breadth first, the pull as data, then depth.

An unfamiliar landscape seen at full attention, travel waking up a creative eye

Travel makes you more creative because unfamiliar places wake up your perception. Why the effect works, and how to bring the sharpened eye home with you.

Elevated Realism portrait of Nick Cannon at ease in a light blue suit, brand photography that matches who the subject has become

Your brand photos lag behind you because you kept evolving and the images stayed frozen. Why the gap opens, how to spot it, and what closes it.

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The kung fu school had rules: locked-in weekdays, dawn starts, push-ups for lateness. A month inside taught me that constraints you choose are what make depth possible.

Out in the field making the day's work, a daily creative practice in motion

A daily creative practice is making one real thing every day, however small, to stay in a proactive state. A working definition, and how to build one that lasts.

A traveler standing clear of the crowd, one coherent identity the machines can read correctly

AI describes your brand by averaging your public record. How to codify one identity, repeat it everywhere, and get the machines to echo you back accurately.

A performer's world stripped to essentials, artistry carrying without production

I’ve photographed Justin Bieber several times and seen fame up close. His stripped-down Coachella set showed the thing I keep relearning about creative work: production amplifies, and only artistry carries.

Calm Jamaican coastline, a nervous system coming all the way down in creative burnout recovery

You recover from creative burnout by treating it as a nervous system state: build real down-cycles, read your own signals, and return to the work you love.

Mountain landscape in New Zealand, one clear thread running through a magnetic personal brand

A magnetic personal brand comes from coherence and one clear through-line. Here is how entrepreneurs build one, in order, and the trap that keeps most brands scattered.

Hiking a New Zealand mountain trail, learning at your own pace in midlife

I spent a month training kung fu in Wudang at 47, the oldest and slowest learner in the room. What being a beginner again in midlife taught me about pace, comparison, and starting anyway.

Photographer walking a snow-capped mountain ridge in New Zealand, the long practice of seeing that develops taste

You develop taste through thousands of reps of looking closely and deciding what works. A photographer’s honest answer on how taste gets built.

Silhouetted figure leaping from a sea cliff at sunset, committing to one coherent personal brand identity

You make a personal brand more coherent by naming the identity underneath it, distilling a one or two word through-line, and bringing the four layers into agreement. The full path, in order.

About the Blogger

I was born in a low middle class conservative religious family in the suburbs of Seattle. Art was and always has been my passion, and more than that a way of life. Starting as a graphic designer, I taught myself photography, built a commercial/editorial business shooting for the worlds biggest brands like Nike, Coca-Cola, Adidas and more. I've also had the opportunity to photograph the world's biggest celebrities like Justin Bieber, Usher, Jessica Alba and more. I've curated a lifestyle around creativity and have learned a lot along the way which I get to share here. 

I was born in a low middle class conservative religious family in the suburbs of Seattle. Art was and always has been my passion, and more than that a way of life. Starting as a graphic designer, I taught myself photography, built a commercial/editorial business shooting for the worlds biggest brands like Nike, Coca-Cola, Adidas and more. I've also had the opportunity to photograph the world's biggest celebrities like Justin Bieber, Usher, Jessica Alba and more. I've curated a lifestyle around creativity and have learned a lot along the way which I get to share here. 

NICK'S STORY