Chasing the Awesome Life Episode 0
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Welcome to Chasing the Awesome Life, your weekly guide to making life just a little bit more awesome. Because we all have goals and dreams, but y'all, the struggle is real. So take a little time today to equip yourself with the tools and the inspiration to be more awesome in all aspects of your life.

There's no topic I won't cover from kids to college to the joys and the struggles. It can all be awesome if you just choose to chase it. So get ready to take some notes and then more importantly, take some awesome action because this is chasing the awesome life.

What's up, fam? My name is Nick DiStefano, and I will be your host. I'd love to take a little bit of time here on this episode zero, as they say in the podcast world, to tell you just a little bit about who I am, why I'm doing this, and what Chasing the Awesome Life is all about, and then what we will cover in this podcast. So you'll notice I called you fam, and that's because

For me, that's one of my themes of this entire podcast. You're all part of my FAM. And FAM is a nice little acronym for 15 Awesome Minutes. These podcasts will never take more than 15 minutes because...

I think you can make a huge difference in this world by making small changes in your life. And that's something we'll talk about as we discuss what Chasing the Awesome Life looks like, as I do some short interviews with friends and colleagues of mine who I know are chasing the awesome life. Whatever it is that we're doing, it will never take you more than 15 minutes to listen to one of these podcasts. So

So that means you'll be able to listen to it on your lunch break. It means you'll be able to listen to it if you're a mom while you're taking a bath. It means you'll be able to listen to it in a short period of time. And I think that's essential because every single one of us is busy. You're chasing the awesome life, right? You've got goals and dreams and things you're trying to accomplish. I'm not trying to make listening to a podcast a chore. It should be something you enjoy and something that you can walk away with

a practical strategy or a story that inspires you to be better. And that's what we'll be doing on this podcast. So who am I? What do I do? Why am I doing this? What's the point of all this? And why the hell are you even listening to me right now? Honestly, I don't know because I am just doing the best that I can. And sometimes that doesn't feel like it's enough, but that's part of the struggle, y'all. We all feel like that.

So let me tell you who I actually am and what I do. So my name is Nick DiStefano. You hopefully caught that at the beginning, but in case you didn't, that's DiStefano or DiStefano or whatever the hell else you want to try and call me. You can just call me Nick D to make your life a little bit easier. And I am a...

Small town boy from Maryland. I say small town because no one's ever heard of Huntingtown, Maryland. That's where I grew up in Calvert County. Calvert County is a wonderful little place. It's basically like living in the south in Maryland. And I say that because and if you don't believe this, you can Google it on your your own time. You can Google it while you're listening to this.

Calvert County has this wonderful little sign as you leave the county that says, God bless y'all real good. And if that don't say Southern, I don't know what does. So that's my home. I lived there for 18 years of my life and then went to a small school in Dallas, California.

Pennsylvania. Yes, that is also a very real place. I went to a school called Misericordia University. I'm sure many of you that are listening to this, I would hope, are fellow Miseri alums. And it is anything but Miseri. It was a wonderful school. Got my undergraduate degree in interdisciplinary studies. This feels like a resume. You don't care about any of this. Look, I'm a dad. I am a husband and wife.

I'm just doing the best that I can. Outside of being a dad and a husband, I am a leadership speaker. So that's what makes me qualified to be doing this podcast. I am the founder of Chasing the Awesome Life and DeStefano Leadership LLC, where I get the joy of speaking with college students and businesses nationwide.

They actually pay me to come in and hopefully inspire and empower them to be the best version of themselves or as I like to say, chase the awesome life. So that's me in a nutshell. So y'all, that's who I am. But let's talk about what this podcast is all about and what chasing the awesome life really is. Chasing the awesome life isn't something that one day you'll be doing.

It's something you're working at every single day and it's not a destination. I'm asked all the time, what is Chasing the Awesome Life? What will this podcast be about? Why are we doing this? Why am I creating a podcast? Seems like everyone's creating a podcast.

But you know, everyone is chasing the awesome life, whether you realize it or not. And it's unique to each of us. Chasing the awesome life is something that I'm doing. It's something that you're doing. It's something that the person you were standing in line behind at Starbucks this morning was doing. Or Dunkin', or wherever the hell else you got your magic bean water from.

I don't care where you get it. The people that you interact with are chasing the awesome life, whether you realize it or not. We're all going through life trying to be the best versions of ourselves. And we're dealing with the shit around us. We're dealing with people that have bad attitudes. We're dealing with adapting to change. We're dealing with misunderstandings, failed expectations, conflict, guilt. All of that is real. And you're real too. You're real awesome.

If you choose to believe it, that's what Chasing the Awesome Life is all about. That's why I want you to tune into this podcast because these 15 awesome minutes that you choose to listen to this are your opportunity to learn something that makes you a better version of yourself. I'm not asking you to be perfect and listening to this podcast won't make you perfect, but listening to this podcast will help you to be just a little bit better than yesterday. And that's all we're asking you to do if you want to start chasing the awesome life.

So, let's talk about a few of the things that we will cover in Chasing the Awesome Life. So, Chasing the Awesome Life is going to cover, in each one of these podcasts, a whole series of topics. I'll bring in different experts, friends, colleagues, people that I have met over the years in my work in higher education and working with different organizations. We'll cover everything from interviewing skills, public speaking,

handling mistakes, fear of failure. I'll talk about what it's like for my wife and I, Megan, to raise our two boys. We'll talk about autism. I'm not going to shy away from it, y'all. You can't hide what you've been handed in life. We'll talk about attitudes, both good and bad. We'll talk about how you can be more grateful. We'll talk about the excuses that you make because Lord knows we all make them. We'll talk about how you can stop procrastinating. We're going to talk about things that kind of be more authentic and

I'll tell you a little bit about my rucking and my experiences getting out and being active physically and mentally trying to be the best version of myself. How you can create better habits and routines. What it's like being married. Generally, if I've experienced it in life, I'm going to share it with you in hopes that it helps you to start chasing the awesome life. That's what I want this podcast to be about. I want to be the best version of myself physically.

in hopes of inspiring you to be the best version of yourself. Because if I'm chasing the awesome life, you can be chasing the awesome life. I look forward to sharing, struggling, and going through this life with you. I hope you'll tune in next week, and I look forward to chasing the awesome life with y'all. Catch y'all on the awesome side.