Pursuing the Excellent Life

Live Well & Flourish

If you’re ready to think beyond material and external success, if you’re ready to take control of who you are and the kind of life you live, if you’re ready to flourish, this podcast is for you. The topics I cover help you understand what it means to live a flourishing life, a life of meaning, satisfaction, and enduring happiness.

(Formerly known as the Rational Ignorance Podcast.)

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Recent Episodes

March 26, 2025

Is Your Pursuit of Success Hindering Your Flourishing?

What does it mean to live an excellent life? While many equate excellence with achievements and productivity, this episode challenges these conventional notions of success. Through personal reflection and insight, we explore ...
March 18, 2025

Reviving Excellence: The Return of Live Well and Flourish

The revival of *Live Well and Flourish* is predicated upon the profound realization that the pursuit of an excellent life is not merely a matter of planning, but rather an emergent process that unfolds organically. I have ret...
Sept. 30, 2024

All things must pass - the end of Live Well and Flourish?

After over three years and more than 100 episodes, I've decided it's time to step back from Live Well and Flourish. Producing this podcast has become more of a job than a passion, contributing to stress rather than alleviatin...
Aug. 26, 2024

Stress Trifecta: Uncertainty, Isolation, and Overload (rewind)

Stress can literally kill you ... if it's not managed well. In this episode of Live Well and Flourish, Craig shares his insights on the three main causes of stress: uncertainty, isolation, and overload. He discusses how each ...
Aug. 19, 2024

Managing Conflict (rewind)

(This is a re-release of episode 43 of Live Well and Flourish.) Conflict is a part of human relationships, and relationships are critical to flourishing. So, knowing how to effectively manage these inevitable conflicts is an ...
Aug. 12, 2024

Controlling Your Emotions Through Emotional Regulation (rewind)

(This is a re-release of episode 31 of Live Well and Flourish.) Being able to control your emotions to minimize unnecessary suffering, and to maximize positive feelings is important to your flourishing. In this episode, Craig...

Recent Blog Posts

March 26, 2025

Grind culture doesn't lead to an excellent life

What does it mean to live an excellent life? If you're like most people, you might think it's about achieving more, doing more, being more productive. I used to think that too. But today, I'm going to challenge that notion of excellence and share a …

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Dec. 8, 2024

Stress trifecta

Overview/introduction Maybe it’s just me, but it seems like stress has been in overload mode lately. Maybe you feel the same way.  We all feel stressed from time to time, and we all experience stress differently. Stress is a part of life…

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Dec. 8, 2024

PAC model of managing stress

Overview/introduction As regular listeners have heard me say more than once, stress is inevitable. But that doesn’t mean that stress can’t be managed. After giving this a lot of thought, it occurred to me that there are three main appro…

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About the Hosts

Craig Van Slyke

Host, Live Well and Flourish ... and servant of three dogs, three cats, two horses and a goat.

Craig Van Slyke is the Mike McCallister Eminent Scholar Chair in Information Systems at Louisiana Tech University. Prior to joining Tech, he was professor and dean of the W.A. Franke College of Business at Northern Arizona University. He has also held faculty positions at Saint Louis University, University of Central Florida, and Ohio University. He holds a Ph.D. in Information Systems from the University of South Florida. Dr. Van Slyke has published over 60 articles in respected academic journals including Decision Sciences, Communications of the ACM, European Journal of Information Systems and Journal of the Association for Information Systems. His fourth co-authored textbook, Information Systems in Business: An Experiential Approach, is in its fourth edition. Craig’s first trade book, On Leadership and Life: Essays on Leading and Living Well was published in June 2017. The book combines psychology and philosophy with his experiences to provide insights in to leadership and living well.

Craig also produces the AI Goes to College newsletter and podcast. If you're interested in generative AI, check it out at https://www.aigoestocollege.com.

Andrea Christelle

Former co-host, Live Well and Flourish

Andrea is an award-winning program designer, speaker, and facilitator whose innovations in philosophy create opportunities for personal development, and interpersonal understanding. For almost 10 years, Andrea has been pushing the boundaries of how and where philosophy is done. By returning philosophy to a practice of dialogue, Andrea fosters collaborative inquiry and dynamic outcomes. Andrea has customized philosophical programs for museums, movie theaters, private homes, high schools, historic hotels, artists’ studios, and small businesses. But her favorite place to do philosophy is out in the natural world, on trails and rivers. Whether it is one-on-one or in a small group, Andrea is passionate about advancing philosophy's practical value for everyday life, and helping people understand themselves, each other, and the world.

Andrea earned her PhD in philosophy from Tulane University, and serves on the boards of Benefactors of Red Rock State Park, the Public Philosophy Journal, Sedona XYZ, and the Society of Philosophers of America (SOHPIA). Her past board service includes the League of Women Voters Greater Verde Valley, Sedona International Film Festival, the Verde Valley Forum, and the Verde Valley Regional Economic Organization.