Your Authentic Action Gives You The Right Result (#70)

Mark’s Story – Life is seldom a bed of roses. We all have seen our fair share of disturbances and so has Mark. Mark opens up about his life story, the events that led him to end up in federal prison, how he turned his life around after that, and most importantly the learnings from the whole experience.

Authenticity and Self-esteem – We talk about how developing self-esteem and authenticity helped Mark turn his life around and a couple of books that resonated with him and lead him to key realizations about himself.

Obstacles – “There's really almost no harder path than having a conviction,” said Mark, describing his career trajectory after the conviction. Although we have lots of regulations to counter these issues, it’s a lot harder for people with convictions to move forward in their professional work. We talk about how Mark was able to overcome all these obstacles that were in his path.

Mark’s Book – Mark’s Book, “Within: How I Found My Happy and Authentic Self in Federal Prison,” is set to release in the spring of 2022. We talk about what inspired Mark to write his book, and the valuable lessons he has included in the book.

Baby Steps – Mark is a big believer of making small changes in our current situation that makes us happy. We talk about how we can implement this practice in our lives.

Connect with Mark Moskowitz

Website: markjmoskowitz.com
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/markmoskowitz
Instagram: instagram.com/markjmoskowitz

Mentioned in the Episode

The Six Pillars of Self-Esteem by Nathaniel Branden:
goodreads.com/book/show/79352.Six_Pillars_of_Self_Esteem

Real Power by David J. Lieberman:
goodreads.com/en/book/show/8887326-real-power

Bobbi's Takeaways

I wish that you could have seen that interview as when Mark is talking he radiates happiness.  Here are my 3 insights for thriving:

1. It’s the simple things done consistently that will get you to your goal.  We often think that we have to hit a home run or we have to find that mystical, magical, silver bullet.  No.  Achieving what we desire is really about just doing the right things, consistently.

2. I loved it when Mark spoke of lifting the veil of who Mark really is.  I don’t know if there is a more powerful thing that we can do than to just be ourselves.  One of the best compliments that I have ever received from my sister, Kathy, was something that she said back in 2010.  She said, I’m grateful that you have shown up authentically because it allowed all of us to do the same.  We do have to pretend.  --  Which gets to what I call the hidden gift of being authentic:  it gives others permission and courage to be true to themselves. 

3. Mark was completely right when he said that “even if it doesn’t turn out the way you want it to, just having the conversation will make you feel better.”  That is so spot on.  I remember –years ago when we lived in Portland – I had a friend who was, let’s say, stepping on my toes and it was bothering me.  I was hoping it would pass, but of course it didn’t.  I said to Rick, I know that I need to talk to her about this and I’m nervous because I don’t know how she’ll take it.”  He replied:  When you take the authentic action you get the result that is right for you.  I wrote that bit of wisdom down and have carried it around since then.  To me, it means, I don’t control the outcome; I control myself and my actions.