What’s Next with David and Colton Chorpenning

george grombacher 0:02
David and Colton cor Penny are the father and son authors of what the f is next. It’s a system and process for answering that very question. excited to have you gentlemen on. Welcome to the show.

Colton Chorpenning 0:16
Hey, George, thanks so much for having us.

george grombacher 0:18
Yeah, excited to have you on. It’s always a little bit tricky to, to dance with two other people. But tell us a little about your personal lives more about your work? And what motivated you to put pen to paper for the book?

Colton Chorpenning 0:30
Hey, yeah, so I grew up in Colorado, my dad moved out here, about 40 years ago, I started his life in Manitou Springs, where I grew up. And I live in Denver. Now. I do real estate, and also work at Google full time. And then we wrote this book together. And it’s been a great process over the last couple years excited to chat with you guys a little bit about about it.

george grombacher 0:55
David, W.

David Chorpenning 0:56
Okay. All right. Well, you know, my my interest is it’s been for a long time, kind of alluded to it to both motivate and inspire people to use intention more in their lives. And the book is definitely meant to be a a tool to do that. People have been using intention their whole life. So it’s really not something new for people. But I think what has happened for a lot of folks is that they just haven’t maybe realized that they were using making an intention, or they used it, and they just forgot that they could use it again. And so we’re hoping that with our title, that we catch people’s attention, and they consider using intention more in their life.

george grombacher 1:40
I appreciate that. One of my favorite quotes, and it’s a new one. So I’m probably going to get it wrong and won’t be able to attribute it correctly. How’s that for for a favorite quote, is that people need to be reminded more than they need to be instructed. So to your point, they would we I think most of us understand maybe that intention is important, just like goal setting and gratitude. But just because we know it’s important, doesn’t mean we’re actually doing it.

Colton Chorpenning 2:06
Absolutely. Well.

george grombacher 2:10
So, what what are you hoping that that that that the book does? What when somebody opens it, what, what are they going to get out of it?

Colton Chorpenning 2:18
Yeah, totally. So this book, was intentionally designed to utilize the least amount of time possible to create the maximum amount of results. So unlike a lot of other, like self help, or self improvement processes out there, this one is like, you know, much shorter and more concise. You know, there’s definitely value in kind of longer term, you know, life development approaches. But we find that, you know, in this busy kind of culture and life that sometimes that can be overwhelming, as well as this process is not necessarily designed to help you find your life purpose, we think that your life purpose you’ve actually already been living. And that is like a multifaceted process and journey that you need to go on usually many processes and many approaches. So this is very much designed to just focus on one area of your life that you’re looking to make progress in, in the next 30 to 60 days. So it’s a concise kind of snapshot process that you can get done, you know, in a long flight, or over a series of like, a couple of weeks at one hour at a time. So yeah, that’s that’s one of the specific notes of it.

David Chorpenning 3:29
And one of the things George said, I would add to a coolness said, is when you said open the book and and I’ve written two previous books, which is everyday visionary, practical guide, the life you desire, and then the field guide for what’s next. And as you in there, you can determine it’s very practical kind of sense. And Colton said the data if we’re going to introduce this concept of intention, in a little different manner than we should tell our story. And so Colton and I both tell our story, and I, and we tried to be vulnerable about that as well, that this hasn’t been a straight up path. It’s been a winding path for both of us. So we’ve experienced how to, we’ve had intentions and they haven’t been fulfilled, and then how we’ve dealt with that. So from your comment of what happens when you begin the book, hopefully people can relate to our journey a bit in some aspect. So there’s definitely that and Colton was kind of referring to this, but I think a really, other important thing that we hope people get right off the bat is that you don’t have to change. A lot of times when people are talking about our personal growth path. There’s a sense they have to change. And our process really doesn’t focus on dad as much as helping people really inventorying connect to the things that they love the things that they have been good at the people that have been reinforced that for them, and that’s the foundation then. So they have the confidence, I’ve done this before, I know that it’s something that I would love to do. So then creating what’s next, that’s challenging, they’re going to be able to stay on that path. I like it.

george grombacher 5:17
You don’t have to necessarily change. So let’s not make wholesale changes here, because that’s probably by No, very intimidating for people. And I’m just going to put this book down if I have to change my entire life,

Colton Chorpenning 5:31
right, totally. And then one other piece of that to expand is that it’s based in a process known as appreciative inquiry. So instead of, there’s kind of two ways to look at what you want, and what you have in your life. And that is either from a asset based model or a deficit based model, their traditional basis for this kind of thinking is been a deficit based model. It’s like, why do i Why do I not have this? Why am I only making this much money? Or why do I, why am I single, like these are, you know, things that you look at, and you see what you don’t have. But this process, and appreciative inquiry really looks at the things that you do have, so the successes that you’ve had in the past things you’ve liked to do, things you’ve already done, which is a much stronger and more positive way to think about in structure your next steps. And so then by looking at what you’ve already done and accomplished, you can then look at the resources and tools that you use to get there, and then resurface them and re utilize them and reinvest in those, which has proven to be a much stronger use of your resources and your time.

george grombacher 6:35
So if I am interested in cold, I was telling your dad that I’ve got three now young kids, six, three and two months old. And if I’m looking at the situation, I’m in my 40s, I’m like, Okay, I need to make sure I can be as strong as I can be. For as long as I can be. Is that something that this process would apply to?

Colton Chorpenning 6:58
Absolutely, yeah. So it’d be, you know, what are the ways that you’ve felt strong in the past, right, not like new things, you’re gonna pull out of a hat to change your whole approach to this because that’s, you know, such a big undertaking and things you these new things you don’t necessarily have in your tool belt, right. So start with the things that you’ve been successful when you felt the strongest when you’ve had the most physical, you know, success, and then build from there, maybe you add to those, but you don’t just throw them out, you definitely focus in on the success you’ve had in the past.

David Chorpenning 7:29
And the other thing is, George, I think what you’re implying is that right now, family for you is a is what we’d like to term use the term a big rock, I don’t know, if you read the Stephen Covey book I have, okay, then you’re familiar with that term. And we lay that story out in the book as well. But you know, you as part of our process to help people identify what are their most important things. And then from that place, as Colton has already said, really have we have 20 questions to help a person connect to that person that they really are in that area of their life, what they, what they really love, what they’ve been told, they’re good at what they’ve got good feet benefit, they’re good at. And from that, then you can build into the vision, the intention of what you want to become. So for example, you said you want to stay strong. And so it’s filling that out what is strong mean to you, as a parent, for example, as a, as a husband, that sort of thing.

george grombacher 8:35
I want to be physically strong, so I want a strong body. So I can pick my kids up for as long as I can, and keep up with them, you know, physically, and I want to have energy and not feel tired at the end of the day and stuff like that.

David Chorpenning 8:49
Yeah, and we’ve, we’ve really done, you looked at all the different ways to make that happen, to actually integrate a good intention in your life. And so we have ScienceBase strategies that are simple, straightforward, and are grounded in in a process that will work for you. So once you make that decision, and really get clear on on those things, you does a good start, right? You want to be strong enough to lift your kids. And that starts to be you’re starting to get into you know, well articulated positive intention.

george grombacher 9:27
So I love framework, I love process. I just because I dislike kind of abstract, I just go ahead and do this, you know, just just just just do it. Well, if I don’t know how, then I’m not going to be successful. I’m going to be frustrated. How many pages is is is the book? Oh, this sounds like it’s really easy to consume.

Colton Chorpenning 9:48
Yeah, the book is about 100 pages. You know, it starts with our analysis of how we get distracted on the path of life to what we really want. Then it goes into my dad’s backstory, my backstory then unpacks the science elements of science that are baked into the process, then it sets you up with an understanding of how the process is going to work as well as like a light, little breathwork, kind of intentional setting, setting up practice. And then there’s 22 questions that you fill out that are all intentionally designed through appreciative inquiry. And then you go through and you analyze those and you create, basically a really concise what’s next intention, and then you build that into your plan for what’s next. And then you there’s a couple of different tools, there’s like a list of different processes that you go through to then make action on that in the next 30 to 60 days. And then check in on that intention where you’re at then and then decide if you should redo the process or take on another intention.

george grombacher 10:41
Nice. What’s next intention? Tell me a little bit more about that.

Colton Chorpenning 10:46
Yeah, you want to go ahead?

David Chorpenning 10:49
Yeah. So a what’s next intention is when we started to talk about that little bit, George, when we were talking about what you were thinking of there, for your life. And it’s, if it’s what’s really important is, as Colin mentioned, it’s it’s grounded in in that process called appreciative inquiry, which is it’s, it’s based on an asset base of what has worked for you. So your intention, then is has to be framed in a positive way. So you have it as be positive, as be specific. And in, in most cases, for it to be transformative, it needs to be a stretch from where you are right now. And so those are some of the key components of creating a what’s next intention.

george grombacher 11:38
So it’s, I want to be as I want to be a good dad, and part of that is being physically strong and mentally strong. So I’m available to have a good relationship. That was that that’s an example of the intention. Yeah.

David Chorpenning 11:55
Sometimes people ask, Will, you know, where does it start? And I think, I think for intentions, they start with desire. So you would probably say, the beginning of this conversation, that you’re very intentional persons. So you may be further down the road than this, we’ll just assume that you definitely had the desire to be healthy and strong for your, for your children, and in your life. So that’s the first the first step. And an example would be someone who would say, Oh, I had the desire to live someplace where it’s, it’s warmer. And and that would be that that desire, okay, live someplace warmer. But then once you convert that to an intention, you might say, I want to live someplace by the end of this year, that 60 degrees or more, and I want a job in elder care that supports my lifestyle. So now you’ve moved from a desire, just want to live someplace warmer, or near case, I want to be strong. That’s was your first thing that you said. But then as you started to talk about it, you got better at really clarifying, you know, what is it which means you’re probably going to have to have some kind of strength training in your action list. Correct. So that’s a little bit of a way to define the importance of clarity, being clear, being positive, about the kind of intention that you want. So you’re more assured that you’re going to get exactly what it is you do want at the end.

george grombacher 13:24
And it sounds like having the research and being able to cite just studies and things of that nature are very important to you. And to show people if you do invest the time, and the energy and attention attention to read this book and do the exercises, your odds of it happening just based on what other people have done, or decent.

Colton Chorpenning 13:52
Absolutely, I’d say they’re exponential.

David Chorpenning 13:57
You said it really greatly for us, George because we we didn’t just willy nilly come up with this stuff. I mean, we I spent a lot of time doing research and coming up with you know, the best way and there’s like four or five it’s common sense things baked into the integrated into your life aspect. And yeah, it seems pretty simple and straightforward, but there are things that are that we’ve already looked at and studied to make sure that you have the highest chance of making that happen. Yes.

george grombacher 14:28
But so why why why go out and this project together why decide to how did you decide to work on this and read this book together?

Colton Chorpenning 14:38
Yeah, so I’d say you know, the, the genesis of the process has been through 30 years of my dad’s passion professional development work as a life coach helping you know, organizations individuals really figured out what’s next. So he’s, you know, been working on the science for with that through that for 30 years. And then he published the field guides for what’s next which is kind of the you know, actually putting pen to paper Create this process that you fill out, answer the questions and create your what’s next intentions. So that was about seven years ago, after he published that I did the process myself. And I filled it out and I answered the questions create the what’s next intentions. And then I kind of put it down and just put it on the shelf. And it was about two years later, I was looking through some, you know, old boxes and found the the work work sheet or the field guide. And I looked through it, and I saw that my, what’s next intention that I had created was to travel the world and learn how to surf. And the hair kind of stood up on the back of my neck, because I just come back from a two year trip around the world where I had learned how to surf. I was like, Oh, my God, this is crazy. I just actually completely achieved the intention that I created through basically subconscious intention, right? Like I filled this out, and then I just put it away. And then that though, had obviously had great impact into my actions to actually then go and take that on and then travel the world. So with that, then I was like, wow, there’s something to this. So I pulled out, you know, the next part of the the Field Guide, which allows you to fill out multiple intentions inside of the book, which we still have today. And I was looking towards, what do I want to do next in my career, I just came back from this trip. And I filled out the questions and the worksheet. And my intention was really strong that I wanted to work at Google. That was like the next phase that I wanted in my career. And now I’ve been at Google for almost five years. So two huge things in my life. Both were very clearly charted through doing this intention process. So it was about two years ago, ish, that I was fly fishing with my dad. And we were just chatting, chatting about intention where we’re at. And I kind of proposed to him, hey, what do you think about maybe taking on a re right and an up elevation of the process into kind of a cohesive, applicable tool that both explains the science and better sets up kind of the whole user experience of filling out the guide in a quick and concise way. So it’s really targeted towards this one piece of your life? And we were just like, Yeah, let’s, let’s do it. Let’s take this on. And so I took a first pass writing a manuscript, and then he dove deeper into the science and explaining that, and then we just work back and forth on it and develop this really great, concise book. And we published that about at the beginning of this year.

george grombacher 17:12
That’s awesome. I’m sure that the intention was to work really closely and smoothly that it worked out.

Colton Chorpenning 17:19
Yes, definitely. You know, there is nothing like, you know, we’ve always had a great relationship and done lots of projects, or like, lots of like, trips and adventures together. But there’s nothing like taking on more of like a applicable project like this really bring you together and bring you closer, and that has happened. And that’s been a really awesome element for both of us. There is definitely, you know, certain parts of like, filling out Google Docs and things like that, that, you know, can be a little tricky, and always, you know, are are fun and interesting. And we’ve developed a great process for working together. And yeah, we came up with something really great.

george grombacher 17:53
Your thoughts in the process, David?

David Chorpenning 17:55
Yeah, and, you know, something that I wouldn’t have thought about when I first had kids when Colton was small, and his sister was was young, you’re really involved in interacting with them at that age. And in there’s somewhat of a, you know, a difference in you’re the parent, and they’re the child. And what’s really worked well for Colton and his sister. And I and his his mother is that as they progressed, we progressed with them. So we became more and as we are now we’re peers. So we’re on the same page, I’m not the sage person, or the one in Colton and his sister Chelsea or sage and a lot of things they have opened my mind to so many different things that I wouldn’t have if I was just a 71 year old guy and didn’t have a connection with people that are in their 30s. So that that aspect of it also is is an invaluable piece to the book and that Colton is, you know, the kind of a first generation or second generation conscious in tender. And I’ve been doing doing it for 50 years. So we’ve we’re really giving people two different ways to look at this and trying to understand the process of intention. So yeah, it’s been a really great ride, working with Colton on this project.

george grombacher 19:25
I love it. Certainly been fun to, to get to know each of you very, although briefly, I’ll be it briefly. And I can already tell how impactful the book is going to be for a lot of people and sort of combining different perspectives even though you’re cut from the same cloth, obviously. So they’ve been called thank you so much, both of you for coming on the show. Where can people learn more? How can they engage where can they get the get their copy of what the eff is next?

Colton Chorpenning 19:56
Yeah, thank you so much for having us. It’s been a great combo. The easiest Place is the F is next.com. That’s our website and there you can just go in it links straight to our Amazon. You can also look it up with F is next on Amazon and you’ll find it there. It’s available via hardcover paperback audiobook. And it’s available in most countries in the world.

george grombacher 20:17
Excellent. And that was the F is next.com. That’s right. Okay, great. Well, if you enjoyed as much as I did show David and Colton, your appreciation and share today’s show with a friend who also appreciates good ideas, get your copy of what the f is next on Amazon or go to and go to the F is next.com and start making the changes that you want in your life and figure out what the f is next for you. Thanks again, David and Colton. Thanks, George. Thank you, George. Till next time, remember, do your part by doing your best