The H2 Leadership Podcast

Our phones promise connection but often choke out what matters most. Alan Briggs and Joey Odom dive into the “PID loop” of proximity, interaction, and dependence — and share practical ways to reclaim your time, creativity, and relationships from constant distraction.

We all feel it. That little computer in our pocket is shaping our attention, our relationships, and even our leadership. But what if our phones aren’t just tools—they’re thorns?

In this episode of the Stay Forth Leadership Podcast, Alan Briggs sits down with Joey Odom, co-founder of Reclaim Well, to have a candid conversation about what phones are doing to us and how leaders, families, and organizations can respond. Together they unpack:

• Why phones act like “thorns in our pockets” that choke out fruitfulness

• The PID loop: proximity → interaction → dependence

• How to break proximity and start resetting your relationship with your device

• The connection between phones, mental load, and Sabbath rest

• Practical daily practices to reduce dependence (from 5-minute breaks to putting your phone to bed at night)

• Why this isn’t just a church issue or leadership issue — it’s a human issue

This episode isn’t anti-phone. It’s pro-presence. Joey and Alan share small, practical rhythms to help you regain focus, reclaim creativity, and reconnect with the people and purpose that matter most.

Resources & Links

• Learn more about Reclaim Well and the ARO Box

• Book recommendation: The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt

• Alan’s book The Sabbatical Journey — your field guide for deep rest and reorientation

• Subscribe, rate, and review the Stay Forth Leadership Podcast on Spotify or Apple Podcasts

Every leader faces seasons of busyness, drift, and distraction. When that happens, what helps you stay the course? Your purpose.

In this episode, Alan and Jonathan unpack why purpose acts like a compass — keeping you oriented, steady, and moving in the right direction when everything else feels chaotic. Alan shares his discipline of taking quarterly Think Days to step back, reflect, and regain clarity. You’ll hear how these rhythms not only renew his own leadership but also fuel alignment and energy for his entire team.

This conversation also dives into the Unique Design framework — the intersection of your wiring, gifting, and calling. When you discover and lead from your unique design, you stop running on fumes and start moving with focus, impact, and fulfillment.

Whether you’re leading a business, an organization, or your family, this episode will help you rediscover your compass and navigate with confidence.

What You’ll Learn:

• Why leaders lose clarity when they don’t create space to think

• How a Think Day can reset your focus and energy

• The 4 H’s Alan looks for in every coaching client

• How to spot your “fills and drains” and delegate wisely

• The critical difference between dumping and delegating

• Why aligning with your Unique Design increases resilience and impact

• Two key reflection questions to help you realign with your deeper purpose

Resources Mentioned:

• Unique Design Framework — Want to discover your unique leadership design?
  👉 Email: hello@stayforth.com with subject line “Unique Design Framework” to get a free copy.

• Book Mentioned: 10X is Easier Than 2X by Dan Sullivan & Benjamin Hardy

• Coaching & Resources: Stayforth.com

Reflect + Respond:

Take a moment to sit with these two questions:

1. What’s the deeper purpose that’s driving your life and leadership?

2. Where have you lost sight of that purpose along the way?

Use them to journal, fuel a team discussion, or even guide your own Think Day.

Remember: Your purpose is your compass. Stay true to it, and you’ll lead yourself — and others — with clarity, health, and lasting impact.

What separates leaders people trust from leaders they just tolerate?
It’s not charisma.
It’s not talent.
It’s self-leadership — the ability to lead yourself with consistency, clarity, and accountability before you ever try to lead others.

In this episode, Jonathan Collier and Alan “Stay Forth” Briggs unpack why self-leadership is the hidden competitive advantage in today’s world, how to model it for your team, and what practical habits build trust faster than any title or resume ever could.

You’ll learn:

• Why consistency breeds credibility (and how to spot it on any team)

• The simple 3-foot rule that keeps your leadership grounded

• How to model behaviors your team will actually copy

• Why deadlines and follow-through create instant trust

• How to manage your energy, not just your calendar

• The tension between bringing your best and not being perfect

• Practical steps to raise your self-leadership game this week

Reflection Questions:

1. Where are you leaking time and energy?

2. What’s one area in your leadership where you need more accountability?

Resources Mentioned:

• Right Side Up Journal by Stay Forth — https://a.co/d/fUaXcFh

Subscribe for more healthy + high-impact leadership conversations so you can multiply your influence without losing yourself in the process.

Summer’s winding down, kids are heading back to school, and your weekly rhythm is about to look very different. In this episode of our H2 Leaders summer series, Jonathan and Alan define what true resilience looks like for a leader—and why it has nothing to do with “toughing it out” and everything to do with maintaining what matters most in your life.

You’ll learn Alan’s 3-C framework for navigating change (Change | Clarity | Communication), plus practical habits to build both proactive steadiness and responsive flexibility so you can lead with confidence through every season.

What You’ll Learn

• What Is Resilience?
  Why it’s not grit or forced optimism, but the ability to maintain your values, boundaries, and priorities when your world shifts.

• The 3-C Framework:

  1. Change is inevitable—embrace that it’s coming.

  2. Clarity lets you decide your next move, even in uncertainty.

  3. Communication (louder and clearer!) keeps your team trusting you through every pivot.

• Proactive vs. Responsive Practices:
  – Proactive: Routines that build your “resilience muscle” (sleep, exercise, Sabbath rhythms).
  – Responsive: Short breaks and mental shifts when the unexpected pops up (a tech failure, a new tariff, a sudden deadline).

• Why Reevaluation Matters:
  How and why you must regularly revisit your goals, metrics and projections as conditions evolve.

• Quick Tips for Staying Grounded:
  – Five daily habits Jonathan and Alan swear by.
  – The “stimulus → pause → response” window you can train for.

Key Takeaways

• Change never knocks—it busts in like the Kool-Aid Man.

• You can’t control every shift—but you can control how you prepare and respond.

• Communicate more (not less!) when things feel most uncertain.

• Clarity of next steps beats false hope: ask “Who can help me?” and “What 2–3 areas do I need to grow?”

• Stop chasing certainty—build your resilience through repeated small wins and honest conversations.

Action Challenge

1. Pause & Reflect: How do you typically respond when change hits?

2. Pick One Practice: Schedule one proactive habit this week (e.g. a 10-minute walk, dedicated Sabbath hour, or quick mindfulness break).

3. Reevaluate: Block off 15 minutes to update your top 3 priorities in light of any recent shifts.

Resources Mentioned

• Right Side Up Journal — Alan’s go-to tool for weekly audits and clarity

• Anti-Burnout — a coaching-powered guide to sustainable leadership

In today’s episode, Alan shares how a rare open Saturday—spent hiking into the Colorado mountains to fly-fish—quickly turned into another to-do list. He realized that our most life-giving pursuits (hobbies) are constantly at risk of becoming tasks we “have to” check off. In this conversation, Alan unpacks why hobbies are essential to flourishing, offers a framework for rediscovering them, and gives practical steps to reclaim joy, creativity, and rest in the midst of our busy “have-to” lives.

What You’ll Learn:

• Why Hobbies Matter: How leisure activities serve as mental rest, spark creativity, and renew passion for work and family.

• Focal Practices: The power of “idle,” present-moment activities that reconnect you to what truly matters.

• Benefits of Hobbies: From distraction of weighty issues to replenishment cycles that boost productivity.

• Rediscovery vs. Discovery: Tips for uncovering the hobbies you loved as a kid—or stumbling on new ones today.

• Practical Steps: How to schedule your first hobby session in two weeks—no guilt, no strings attached.

Key Takeaways:

• Hobbies are “get-to” activities in a “have-to” world.

• Even large organizations credit “white-space” time for breakthroughs.

• Simple focal practices (gardening, evening walks, hammocking) anchor joy and presence.

• Your work, relationships, and well-being depend on carving out hobby time.

Action Challenge:
Block off a 2-hour window in your calendar this week for your rediscovered hobby—whether it’s fly-fishing, woodworking, dancing, or simply sitting in a hammock—and notice how you feel afterward.

Resources Mentioned:

• Anti-Burnout: A Coaching Pathway

• The Sabbatical Journey Field Guide

Have questions or want to share your hobby rediscovery story? Drop us a note at hello@stayforth.com or leave a comment wherever you listen.

Halfway through summer and already feeling the rush of back-to-school and end-of-year deadlines? In this episode of the H₂ Leader Summer Series, Alan Briggs and Jonathan Collier challenge the “grind-only” mentality by uncovering the power of relational leadership over mere transactions. You’ll learn:

• The difference between transactional (BNI-style) and relational (Coharbor-style) approaches

• How a high-trust culture drives better engagement, retention, and results

• The 3 Cs every leader needs—Curiosity, Care, and Consistency—and how to practice them

• Real-world signs your organization is drifting into “just manage” mode

• Reflection questions to help you shift from “What can they do for me?” to “How can I serve them?”

Whether you lead a small team or a global enterprise, you’ll come away equipped to strengthen trust, spark engagement, and multiply your impact—one authentic connection at a time.

Show Notes

1. Welcome & Summer Check-in

   • Mid-summer realities: schools shopping in July, transactional everywhere

   • Why relational leadership matters now

2. Two Networking Models

   • Transactional: “Get leads, hit quotas” (BNI-style)

   • Relational: “Get to know the person first” (Coharbor-style)

3. Why Trust Trumps Transactions

   • As goes the leader, so goes the culture

   • Real-life boardroom example: cold, closed vs. warm, open

4. Signals of Low-Trust vs. High-Trust Cultures

   • Do people feel safe to speak up?

   • Are values just on the wall, or lived daily?

   • Celebration vs. checkbox mentality

5. The 3 Cs of Relational Leadership

   1. Curiosity: Ask what’s really on people’s minds

   2. Care: Show genuine concern for the human, not just the role

   3. Consistency: Do your values and words match your actions—every day

6. Practical Steps to Shift

   • Check your own inbox: person or task?

   • Communicate context + clarity + candor

   • Use “three strikes” principle: when a tool or process fails repeatedly, pick up the phone

7. Reflection Questions

   • How relational is my current leadership?

   • Where am I defaulting to transactions over relationships?

   • Who needs more of my presence (not just my direction)?

Resources & Links

• Anti-Burnout ⇒ https://a.co/d/89z1Vrr

• The Sabbatical Journey ⇒ https://a.co/d/i5dXSLS

How to Subscribe & Review

If you enjoyed this episode, please:

1. Subscribe to “Stay Forth Leadership” on Apple Podcasts

2. Rate & Review—your five stars help others find the show!

3. Share with a friend or colleague who’s ready to lead from relationship, not just transaction

We’re living through a hurricane of distraction—constant pings, endless opportunities, and FOMO-fueled comparison. In Episode 5 of our H2 Leader Summer Series, Alan and Jonathan unpack why today’s leaders feel overwhelmed yet under-productive, and share a simple but counter-intuitive answer: do fewer things—better.

Press play to learn how to develop “healthy tunnel vision” in a scattered world, why prioritization and elimination go hand-in-hand, and how to stay accessible (not available) so you can protect your best work. If you find yourself grasping at tasks like kids in a wind-tunnel booth grabbing dollar bills, this episode will give you a clearer, calmer path forward.

Key Takeaways

We’re halfway through summer—and if you’re like most leaders, you’re both craving a break and wrestling with guilt, unfinished to-dos, and screen addiction. In Episode 6 of our H2 Leader Summer Series, Alan and Jonathan go deep on rest as a strategic, creative, and spiritual practice—not just “doing nothing.” Learn why resting well actually multiplies your impact, how to design your unique rest rhythm, and why trust (in God, yourself, your team) is the secret ingredient.

You’ll discover:

• Why rest requires trust—and how to build it in real time

• The 7 types of rest (creative, sensory, spiritual, and more) that recharge you

• Real stories from their June adventures (Grand Canyon epiphanies, half-day schedules, family trips)

• How to move from negative-one burnout mode to a place of abundance

• The power of “accessible vs. available” boundaries for sustainable rest

Press play, clear your mental clutter, and unlock the productive power of true rest.

Key Topics Covered

• Rest ≠ Inaction: Rest as a powerful, generative action—an investment, not waste

• Trust & Rest: Why letting go (half-day schedules, family getaways) is the first step

• 7 Types of Rest: Creative, sensory, spiritual, and more (from Sacred Rest by Sandra Dalton-Smith)

• Negative-One vs. Abundance: How to tell if you’re operating from a deficit—and how to climb back to zero

• Accessible vs. Available: Setting rest boundaries while remaining dependable

Reflect & Apply

Grab a journal or open your notes app. Spend 10–15 minutes exploring:

1. When was the last time I felt truly rested? (Six months ago? A year? More?)

2. Which form of rest does my mind/body/spirit need most right now? (Creative, sensory, physical, spiritual, social, etc.)

3. What’s my next single step to develop a healthy, repeatable rhythm of rest?

Links & Resources

The Sabbatical Journey Field Guide
→ https://a.co/d/haM9rSR

Right Side Up Journal (Weekly & Quarterly Audit)
→ https://a.co/d/fUaXcFh

Sacred Rest by Dr. Sandra Dalton-Smith (on the 7 Types of Rest)
→ [Search “Sacred Rest Dalton-Smith” on your favorite bookstore]