Kevin Urban

As a Creativity and Mindfulness Coach in New York City, Kevin connects people to their creativity and innate wisdom with a guiding philosophy that everyone has “genius” within.

Tales from the Script

Posted on by Kevin Urban
Carlo Proietto, Pericoli Nascosti, 2007 Pyrography, 39.5_ x 47.5

When I was a kid I used to stay up late to watch the show Tales From The Crypt.  For those of you who are unfamiliar, it was a series on cable hosted by a character named The Crypt Keeper who looked like a cross between Skeletor and David Spade in the movie Joe Dirt and featured many well-known actors. Every episode was a different story that focused on the idea of twist endings which I really loved and most of the time the story involved a character who thought they were getting one over on someone or something (the show […]

Personal Brand & Global Culture: Embrace the You in a Billion

Posted on by Kevin Urban
09HowToBeFunny

Our culture informs our world view. It informs what we know, how others see perceive us…often even before we speak. In a way, identifying how our culture and diversity make us unique has been at the core of my teaching philosophy, in my decade(plus) working with clients and students from around the world. Helping people find and use the “expert within” to create an authentic personal brand has become my expertise. Culture influences our values My first business, focused on helping thousands of actors from New York City to Los Angeles, and far beyond, understand business and the value of […]

Bliss: The Key To Your Journey

Posted on by Kevin Urban
Window Shopping

 “When you follow your bliss…doors will open where you would not have thought there would be doors, and where there wouldn’t be a door for anyone else.” Joseph Campbell, ( Campbell, Cousineau & Brown, 2003) Over the course of my work with clients and even in my own personal life, I’m continually reminded that when one follows their bliss, opportunities appear. Clients come to me when they are wrestling with a concept or need direction and clarity. Usually what I find is that they’ve stopped listening to their own inner wisdom and trying to please someone else or do it […]

Life and Career Design: Incorporating Your Personal Narrative

Posted on by Kevin Urban
Tra Bouscaren

Over the course of my coaching career, I’ve increasingly been impressed by the transformative power of narrative as business coaching tool. Having trained as an actor, and worked professionally, my training forced me to delve into my own narrative in order to understand my emotional, physical, and psychological life. As a business coach, my process has evolved over the years by drawing from a combination intuition, my actors toolkit and empirically supported interventions from positive psychology. So what is your narrative? It’s your story, it’s all the pieces that make you, YOU! It’s taking the time to understand where you […]

Igniting Your Inner Genius

Posted on by Kevin Urban
Creative Genius

When I first started coaching, I was working with artists and entrepreneurs. Most of these people knew there was something unique about them, but they had trouble identifying exactly what it was. What they were trying to define was their inner genius. Having spent the last 10 years as a business coach and performer, I’ve come to know and understand that each one of us has genius within. It may not be on the lines of Monet, Freud, or Einstein, but there is something unique to each and every single individual. This I would describe as their genius. It’s something […]

Assessing Your Present Circumstances: The One Sentence that Realigns My Perspective

Posted on by Kevin Urban
Sunia Gibbs Art - Rivers

With this month’s focus on challenges, setbacks, and failures, I thought I’d share my favorite tool that keeps me grounded both in business and in life. The tool is actually a philosophy: Whatever is in front of you is your teacher. I use this phrase every day, when I come up against an obstacle or am feeling anxious or frustrated, to help bring me back to the present. Often times it’s because I’m focusing (fantasizing) on the outcome that I’d like to create, rather than focusing on what’s most important: the task at hand. We are destined to experience the full emotional […]

The Entrepreneur’s Journey: More Important Than the Outcome?

Posted on by Kevin Urban
title 2IMG_8337

All my life I’ve focused more on the destination than the journey. Whether telling my parents what I wanted to do on our next Disney World trip, watching the clock during swim practice, or thinking about the meal I’d have when finished, I’d often not fully appreciate what I was doing in the present. In fact, I’ve often seemed focused on the next thing. While focusing on destination has allowed me to hone my big-picture thinking capabilities, it has occasionally left me unsatisfied with the present; working towards some future outcome and not fully appreciating what was in front of me. As […]

Sisu: A Finnish Word for Entrepreneurs & Startups

Posted on by Kevin Urban
Sisu

I’m always on the lookout for inspiration, and fortunately, I can find it almost anywhere. It’s one of the reasons I love to travel. Since the senses are heightened around new circumstances, it’s an opportunity to reconnect to the world sensorially. For this reason, one of my favorite destinations is Finland. It’s one of the few places that I feel totally submersed in culture. I don’t speak the language, other than a few words, yet I have found a great respect and love for the country and its people. Full disclosure: I’m a quarter Finnish and have had the opportunity […]

Your Money Story: Happiness is in the Details

Posted on by Kevin Urban
moneystory

Each and every one of us has money story. The story is about our relationship with the concept of money. Our desire is for that story to have a happy ending. The story however, is often complicated.  If we have enough the relationship is good, but we could always have more. If it’s a bad relationship there is often denial along with credit card debt involved. There becomes an issue when our happiness and self worth is tied to our bank account. Often there is a financial element associated with achieving one’s goals.  Since this is the case,  I want to have an […]

Pausing for More Time

Posted on by Kevin Urban
kevin urban coach

I’m about to share a tool that may at first appear trivial. At least, that’s how it first appeared to me. In a million years, I never would have thought it could have such a profound impact on my life. The simple technique is… wait for it… to take a pause between tasks. That’s it. Really. About two years ago, I was burned out and in dire need of a new approach to my work. On a suggestion from a friend, I signed up for and attended a practical philosophy class. During that class, this technique was introduced. We were asked […]