Heather Larsen: Risk And Reward In Outdoor Careers

Today on episode 61 I’m pleased to welcome Heather Larsen, pro slackliner and climber and lover of southern Utah’s desert heat. What is probably less known about Heather is that, following humble beginnings, she graduated at the height of the Great Recession with a double major in finance and economics.

In the intervening years, she struggled greatly to find work in her field, even competing for bank teller jobs with 20-year finance veterans. Out west she found work in seasonal park service positions, growing more and more fond of the outdoors, eventually discovering climbing and slacklining.

Heather could have easily fallen into a mindset of defeat. But with persistence, she was eventually able to secure a career in financial reporting, enabling her preferred lifestyle balance of elite outdoor adventure and self-made financial security.

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Bethany Macke: The Powerful Art of the Pivot

Bethany Macke Interview

Okay friends, let’s do an interview, shall we? This week I bring you Bethany Macke, a climber and trainer with a unique approach to correcting muscle imbalances and mechanics, an often-overlooked foundation to building movement skills. Bethany, along with her husband Adam, bring more than just a different approach to training. She also has an interesting story of change, adversity, and building meaningful work, even during the pandemic. And sometimes change comes in high doses. In the age of Covid, there’s much we can learn from Bethany’s resiliency, and mastery of the career and personal pivot. And of course, we even discuss a bit about the freedom of financial strength.

One quick note: Bethany has a lot of great little nuggets in this interview, so it’s a long one. Please let me know in the comments or via email if you’d prefer to see interviews this long broken into two or more parts. Or maybe you prefer it all in one place. Let me know!

Let’s go!

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Do Tough Times Make Tough People?

Tough times promo

History provides context to the current events of our lives. If you snoozed through your high school history class, the global shutdown and pandemic of the novel coronavirus might seem like the worst event to ever face mankind. While it is certainly not, many of us might (or will soon) find the pandemic to be the largest global crisis we’ve faced in our lives. It begs the question: Do tough times make tough people?

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