Good Work with Barrett Brooks

This week, I talk with Diego Perez—better known as Yung Pueblo—about healing, self-awareness, and what it takes to become lighter as you move through life. Yung shares how a period of drugs, alcohol, and numbing nearly cost him his life, and how learning to feel his emotions, tell himself the truth, and move his body helped him begin again. We explore how meditation reshaped his relationship with pain, what he’s learned from sitting silent retreats for up to 60 days, and why healing yourself may be one of the most important ways to help heal the world. We also talk about his wife Sarah’s early belief in his writing, the role intuition has played in his career, and why creating more space—not more commitments—has helped him reconnect with what matters most. This is a conversation about inner freedom, meaningful work, and becoming more compassionate along the way. Let’s get to it! In this episode: (00:00) - Intro (00:47) - Trusting intuition and making room for new relationships (02:41) - Hitting rock bottom (05:28) - Growing up longing for peace (07:07) - Losing the support of community in college (10:48) - Yung's first steps toward changing his life (16:15) - Becoming a friend of the present moment (18:31) - Meeting his wife, Sarah (23:52) - Learning from his meditation teacher (27:10) - The value of wise elders (31:45) - Psychedelics vs. meditation (35:16) - Acceptance as the path to letting go (40:00) - Inside a 45-day silent meditation retreat (50:12) - Deciding to become a writer (53:22) - Betting on a creative career before there was proof (55:50) - Following your intuition into the unknown (58:41) - Turning inner work into creative work (01:00:26) - What it means to be a “young humanity” (01:07:09) - Rediscovering the joy of writing (01:09:21) - Redesigning life to make room for creativity (01:10:50) - Using values, intuition, and your nervous system to make decisions (01:14:45) - How solitude changed Yung's life and work (01:17:20) - Focusing your energy on what matters most (01:18:22) - Can compassion be good business? (01:20:28) - Working with his wife and building a life together (01:22:58) - Becoming world-class at listening to intuition (01:24:17) - Yung’s most beautiful future (01:25:41) - Who Yung is becoming Get full show notes and links at ⁠https://GoodWorkShow.com⁠. Watch the episode on YouTube: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@barrettabrooks⁠.

This week, I talk with Jenny Wood, who spent 18 years at Google, rising through the ranks and building global programs used by tens of thousands of employees. From the outside, Jenny had the kind of career many people aspire to—prestige, influence, and steady advancement inside one of the world’s most admired companies. But over time, she began to realize that the very habits that fueled her success—relentless drive, constant striving, and an obsession with achievement—were also taking a personal toll. In this conversation, we talk about ambition and when it becomes a trap, the pressure to keep chasing the next milestone, and the challenge of celebrating wins along the way. We also explore money, identity, imposter syndrome, motherhood, and the fear that comes with walking away from something impressive to build a life that feels more aligned with who you truly want to become. Let’s get to it! In this episode: (00:00) - Intro (00:44) - How Jenny became a pilot—and what flying gives her (02:59) - What flying represents in Jenny’s life (04:25) - The importance of finding an escape (06:57) - Optimizing for leisure versus optimizing for productivity (14:06) - Jenny’s early interest in psychology (19:15) - Packaging compelling ideas without losing what’s true (22:09) - When obsession helps—and when it starts holding you back (25:54) - Jenny’s years inside Google (28:54) - Anticipatory grief and the psychology of impact bias (34:19) - Balancing career, health, family, and the leap into entrepreneurship (41:29) - Leaving the comfort zone and taking a leap of faith (44:06) - The moment Jenny decided to leave Google (52:00) - Jenny’s journey into parenthood and being a career mom (56:29) - How slowing down changed Jenny’s relationship with her kids (01:01:47) - Chasing the New York Times bestseller list (01:07:32) - How this conversation between Barrett and Jenny came to be (01:12:33) - How Jenny is making a living today—and what’s next (01:15:05) - Jenny’s ambitious family travel plans (01:17:31) - Building a business that supports a life of travel (01:20:37) - Trusting that stepping away for a year will work out (01:26:11) - What makes Jenny world-class? (01:26:54) - The change Jenny hopes to create through her work (01:28:40) - Who Jenny is becoming Get full show notes and links at https://GoodWorkShow.com. Watch the episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@barrettabrooks. Apply for 1-on-1 Coaching with Barrett: https://barrettbrooks.com/coaching Subscribe to Tiny Leadership Lessons: https://barrettbrooks.com

This week, I talk with Jon McCormack, the leader behind the iPhone camera at Apple—the most widely used camera in human history. But Jon’s story goes far beyond technology. He grew up on a farm in rural Australia without full-time electricity, dropped out of a PhD to chase an unexpected opportunity in tech, helped build Kindle, and founded schools in Kenya that now serve thousands of children. Along the way, he developed a body of photographic work rooted not in spectacle, but in wonder. We talk about letting go of camera snobbery, building technology that empowers rather than exploits, and why beauty and awe make us more generous and connected. If you’ve ever wrestled with the tension between ambition and meaning—or wondered how to use your success in service of something deeper—this conversation is for you. Let’s get to it! In this episode: (00:00) Intro (00:41) From camera snobbery to something deeper (03:34) When Jon realized photography isn’t about the gear (06:22) What a photograph means in the age of AI (13:11) The unseen work behind meaningful images (15:51) Beauty, stewardship, and why the environment matters (28:39) Returning to the same landscape—and learning to see (32:16) Growing up in Australia and the roots of Jon's vision (34:38) How colorblindness shaped Jon’s sense of pattern and form (36:07) Dropping a PhD and stepping into tech (38:06) A one-way ticket to Seattle—and an unexpected path (40:10) Building products that connect people to what matters (47:45) The double helix of art and technology (52:46) Leading the iPhone camera and democratizing storytelling (59:56) From safari camp conversation to schools in Kenya (01:11:50) Why Jon stayed quiet about his philanthropy until now (01:15:49) Wonder as a daily practice (01:21:44) Where Jon has become world-class (01:23:11) Filling gaps and shaping a more beautiful future (01:26:53) Rewriting your algorithm with beauty (01:27:53) Who Jon is becoming Get full show notes and links at https://GoodWorkShow.com. Watch the episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@barrettabrooks. Apply for 1-on-1 Coaching with Barrett: https://barrettbrooks.com/coaching  Subscribe to Tiny Leadership Lessons: https://barrettbrooks.com

This week, I talk with Sam Vander Wielen—entrepreneur, author, and founder of a multi-million-dollar legal education business. We talk about what happens when the life you built for safety no longer fits—and when success and grief collide at the same time. Sam shares how childhood survival strategies shaped her career, how a scrappy food blog became the bridge out of law, and why listening deeply to customers changed everything in her business. We also explore the parallel track of her personal life: losing both of her parents while scaling her company and signing a book deal. At its core, this conversation is about agency—about recognizing that even after trauma, even after achievement, you still get to choose who you’re becoming. It’s a conversation about grief, reinvention, and the courage to build a life that’s truly your own. Let’s get to it! In this episode: (00:00) - Intro (00:44) - The story of “Sourdough Joe” and what it reveals about vision versus follow-through (03:35) - Why community matters so much (06:44) - Moving to Long Island and building a calmer life (09:01) - Childhood chaos vs. adult stability (12:55) - Tools for regulating the nervous system (16:52) - How survival shaped Sam's personality (18:29) - Why law felt like safety—and the only viable path forward (21:28) - The moment that forced Sam to confront her career (26:31) - Starting a food blog (29:02) - The spark behind her pivot (32:04) - Turning law into leverage (36:42) - Building the business (40:18) - Doing the unglamorous work (45:44) - “Mac & cheese” marketing (55:01) - Deciding what to share publicly (01:06:55) - Signing a book deal during tragedy (01:08:25) - Building through grief (01:14:18) - Building a team that creates stability and trust (01:16:29) - Sam's mental model for hiring (01:22:01) - Defining roles as the business evolves (01:24:06) - The systems and discipline behind consistent, high-quality content (01:26:33) - How Sam is thinking about the next chapter (01:30:53) - The risk of telling the truth (01:37:29) - Where Sam has become truly world-class (01:38:06) - Who Sam is becoming Get full show notes and links at https://GoodWorkShow.com. Watch the episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@barrettabrooks.

This week, I talk with Tiago Forte about far more than productivity systems or note-taking. This one is about what happens after success—when the systems that once fueled your growth start working against you. We talk about burnout, anger, embodiment, and how listening to the body can become a doorway to deeper clarity and determination. Tiago shares the personal journey that shaped Building a Second Brain, why he made the difficult decision to wind down a wildly successful business, and what he’s learned by redesigning his life around alignment rather than optimization. We also explore the changing value of audience, community, and creativity in the age of AI, and why real connection—both locally and globally—matters more than ever. This conversation is about the inner work required to build a life, not just a career, that actually fits. Let’s get to it! In this episode: (00:00) - Intro (00:54) - Tiago on " highly fit, middle-aged dads" (03:29) – Moving beyond intellect into emotional and somatic awareness (05:37) – How physical pain forced Tiago to listen differently (08:46) – The books, thinkers, and experiences that reshaped Tiago's understanding of healing (13:43) – What changed when Tiago learned to express anger instead of repressing it (17:03) – How a healing system unexpectedly became Building a Second Brain (20:57) – Knowing when success no longer fits (24:27) – Facing the “now what?” phase after shutting down a successful business (28:46) – Why audience size doesn’t mean what it used to (30:32) – Balancing lived fulfillment with the need to stay profitable (32:29) – The psychological transition that comes with midlife (34:41) – How Tiago is organizing work in this next chapter (37:20) – The decision that led Tiago and his family from LA to Mexico (42:11) – How changing environments reshaped Tiago's family relationships (45:22) – Rediscovering cultural identity through place and presence (47:39) – Why where you live may matter more than the goals you set (54:33) – Holding joy and slowness alongside AI-driven productivity (01:00:15) – Using AI as leverage without losing meaning or direction (01:05:08) – What AI is revealing about the future of “good work” (01:07:31) – Creating in a world where value is rapidly shifting (01:10:53) – How AI is changing the way Tiago writes—and edits—his next book (01:15:34) – Navigating local and global communities at the same time (01:18:48) – Creating spaces for real connection and intimacy (01:21:17) – The deeper principles behind Tiago’s masterminds (01:23:46) – The loneliness that sparked a desire to bring people together (01:26:09) – The practices that consistently create the deepest bonds (01:30:10) – How Tiago is working to make the future more beautiful (01:31:45) – Who Tiago is becoming Get full show notes and links at https://GoodWorkShow.com. Watch the episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@barrettabrooks.