The Kevin Miller Podcast

To be your best self, you need to be doing your best work. The great news is, the product or service of your work focus is not what makes your work great, but the specific tasks and roles you are fulfilling, day in and day out. If they fit you, you’ll flourish in your work and have great joy and satisfaction in your life. If it doesn’t fit you, your work success will suffer, and your mental health will suffer far worse. So how do you know which tasks and roles you should be engaged in? We have a quick and simple test for you to take. My guest today is Patrick Lencioni. Patrick is one of the foremost influencers in business management and his expertise is teams. He’s author of 11 best selling books and most anyone in business in America has read The Five Dysfunctions of a Team. He’s a prolific speaker who stands in front of thousands of leaders each year at business’s greatest conferences. This is the second time I’ve had Patrick on the show and I experience him as one of the more insightful people I know regarding human behavior and performance. He’s just come out with a new book, The 6 Types of Working Genius, which right now is sitting in the top 400 books overall in Amazon, and climbing. Along with the book is an online assessment that takes about 10 minutes, and it spits out…your working genius. Take it right now at workinggenius.com. I have my whole family taking it because I want them working not just at what they are good at and can make money from, but what gives them inspiration and energy for their life. Self-Help(ful) is presented by Ziglar, the most trusted brand in personal and business development impacting over 250 million people worldwide. Visit Ziglar.com to see how they can inspire your true performance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you were on your own, you’d likely make all the positive health changes you desire. Eat cleaner. Exercise. Meditate. Go to sleep earlier. Do less screens. But you’re not alone. You may have a spouse. Kids. Co-workers. Friends and family. People who are living out the cultural norms. There are the office donuts, birthday cakes, and pizza. Beers after work. A spouse and kids who want their meat and potatoes, and chips while watching a show. The church potlucks. BBQ parties. Someone who labels you a health nut if you abstain from imbibing in it all, or go for a walk or run during your lunch break. And on and on. We as humans most long to fit in and the pressure isn’t just about being weak and folding, it’s often about being kind and not wanting to offend. It’s a very real and present danger we don’t give enough gravity to. This is my Functional Friday episode where we focus on our health and wellness so we have the physical and mental capacity to help ourselves and others…and today we we tackle this issue. I’m with my co host, Randy James, Medical Doctor and Functional Medicine expert. Cultural pressure is not a conspiracy theory, it’s merely humanity and our very nature. The Self-Help(ful) podcast is brought to you by Ziglar, your premier source for equipping coaches to help leaders and top performers excel professionally and personally. Visit Ziglar.com and let them inspire your true coaching performance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We generally talk about negative things in our life in a way that brings us and those listening to us, further down. When something hard happens to you and you blame, accuse, and criticize, this is what we call venting. This wraps up my series with Whitney Goodman, author of Toxic Positivity, and she is probably the fifth or six therapist I’ve had on the show who cites from much research, that venting only pours gas on the fire. It does not help. But neither does stuffing it. What does? Sharing how you feel. This is at the root issue we are circumventing. When something bad happens to you, the blaming, accusing, and criticizing is just victim response to the truth, which is…you are hurting in some capacity. In Brene’ Brown’s book, Atlas of the Heart, which we discuss in this show, she gives us 87 different emotions we can choose from and from them discuss the issue really at hand. When we discuss how we feel, we can then address the pain and gain ground in reconciling it. And in sharing our emotions, not our criticism, with someone else, instead of also dragging them in and down with venting, we instead evoke their connection and compassion which also helps us instead of further hurting ourselves. Join me and my co host, Randy James, Medical Doctor and Functional Medicine expert, as we drill down on this issue and walking it out in our roles as spouses, parents, and co workers. The Self-Help(ful) podcast is brought to you by Ziglar, your premier source for equipping coaches to help leaders and top performers excel professionally and personally. Visit Ziglar.com and let them inspire your true coaching performance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I’m back for Part 2 with Whitney Goodman, author of Toxic Positivity, to walk through her personal values, motives, and habits in the key areas of life fulfillment so we can hear what has driven and does drive her to guide us in working through our emotions instead of just slapping a happy face on things, and what she does to design a life that fulfills her. Along the discussion I press in on some of the areas and her perspective as a full time therapist and what she is seeing in the culture. We walk through her spiritual values and discuss what she calls an interfaith marriage with her husband and how she feels much of America’s toxic positivity was born in the Christian church she was raised in. In mental health Whitney talks about the toll it’s taking on us all as we gravitate toward strong identification with certain groups and are more disconnected from individuals in our culture and her own striving for awareness as to how her beliefs are affecting her. She decompresses by reading fiction and we discovered we’re both reading some of Colleen Hoover’s books. As for achievements, her leading goal right now with a relatively young marriage and first child is having a strong marriage and kids who like her. Her new book, bestselling book again is TOXIC POSITIVITY: KEEPING IT REAL IN A WORLD OBSESSED WITH BEING HAPPY, and you can find her and over half a million followers on instagram at sitwithwhit. Self-Help(ful) is presented by Ziglar, the most trusted brand in personal and business development impacting over 250 million people worldwide. Visit Ziglar.com to see how they can inspire your true performance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This show is about figuring out root issues to your health, especially when you are doing so many of the right things. So I have a daughter who eats clean. Cleaner than I do. She works out pretty vigorously near daily. She loves where she lives and her work. She works with a counselor every week on her mental health. She has hope and inspiration. And yet, she has been dealing with increasing discomfort in her guts. Bloating and more. And having skin rashes. And she’s frustrated. Really frustrated. She’s doing the work and not getting the results she wanted. So where do we turn? Advanced diagnostics. Labs. Tests. And not just the basic ones you get from a traditional doctor. I’ve talked with countless people who feel bad, go to a regular doc for lab test and are simply told, “Well, everything looks ok, but we can give you a med for the symptoms.” This is like going to a car mechanic saying your car pulls violently to the left and the mechanic saying, “Well, it all looks ok, but we can rig a bungee cord to your steering wheel to pull it to the right more for you.” Basic lab tests do little more than tell you you aren’t dying. Just yet. Advanced diagnostics go deep and wide and can help detect the deficiencies and errors in our body that are manifesting into us not feeling and performing well. I’m joined by Randy James, medical doctor and Functional Medicine expert who specializes in using advanced labs. And in this actual case, he’s used them to get to root issues for my daughter, that he’s now treating. We’ll talk through advanced labs and diagnostics to help you navigate what might help you get insight into your health. Self-Help(ful) is presented by Ziglar, the most trusted brand in personal and business development impacting over 250 million people worldwide. Visit Ziglar.com to see how they can inspire your true performance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode we challenge the cultural concept of positivity. Meaning our propensity to take a hard circumstance, event, and feeling, and simply spray painting positivity over it. We aren’t making a case for being negative at all, but rather, to accept the hard feelings we encounter, consider them with understanding, and then yes, ultimately move past with greater insight and wisdom to ultimately seek a beneficial outcome. My guest is Whitney Goodman, a Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist who has taken on our concept of positivity and has an instagram following of well over half a million followers who are finding great help from her guidance and encouragement that life is well worth living, but treating it as a continual self-improvement project and bypassing our true feelings doesn’t leave room for a full, quality life. I brought Whitney on the show because I’m a staunch believer in positivity. Zig Ziglar’s famous quote, “Positive thinking won't let you do anything, but it will let you do everything better than negative thinking will,” and I believe this. But to jump from a negative experience and right to positive thinking robs us from the growth, learning, and peace we find in between. Whitney has taken her years of work as a therapist studying cultural positivity and now written the book, “TOXIC POSITIVITY: KEEPING IT REAL IN A WORLD OBSESSED WITH BEING HAPPY.” The book is a great dive into how we’ve distorted the concept of positivity, and how we can better handle the hard things in life and ultimately acknowledge them, but not be overwhelmed and controlled by them. Find Whitney Goodman at www.sitwithwhit.com. The Self-Help(ful) podcast is brought to you by Ziglar, your premier source for equipping coaches to help leaders and top performers excel professionally and personally . Visit Ziglar.com and let them inspire your...true coaching performance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We continue our talk spawned by Richie Norton and his new book, Anti-Time management, but digging more into clarifying what our values are and how we craft our day to day activities and tasks to support them. It can get a bit mind boggling to realize how much we do that does not have much to do with what we truly value, and in the same respects how we can miss the value in many worthwhile activities. I have with me, Tom Ziglar, CEO of Ziglar and proud son of Zig Ziglar, a patron saint of the self-help movement. As a business coach Tom shares the focus they give to the point of our businesses being to serve our life goals. But we can take this further to claim the point of all we do should be to support our life goals. Our schooling, our relationships, our efforts to make money and even our hobbies and interests. Also of profound interest as we discuss goals, Tom asks the question, “What is worse than not setting goals?” The answer, “Setting the wrong goals and achieving them,” and it got us into discussing how not intentionally setting goals sets us up to achieve the wrong goals. But the heart is digging further into asking ourselves, what we truly value. A quick note of apology, you’ll hear some audio degradation on Tom’s side, just some slight pauses, as we had some lagging internet. I don’t think it will be a deterrent but I’m sensitive to the audio quality we deliver. Self-Help(ful) is presented by Ziglar, the most trusted brand in personal and business development impacting over 250 million people worldwide. Visit Ziglar.com to see how they can inspire your true performance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is my Functional Friday episode where we focus on our health and wellness so we have the physical and mental capacity to help ourselves and others…and we are talking about how to best guard yourself against illness and disease. We recently got asked about this and we actually addressed it in a show we posted in March 2020 at the beginning of COVID. So I’m reposting it. Forgive the references to the beginning pandemic, but it is still so highly relevant. Everyday we are all exposed to so many opportunities for illness, and genetically or from our lifestyle choices, any one of us could be at the tipping point of a disease propensity already within us, just waiting for an open door. I’m with my co-host, Randy James, medical doctor and functional medicine expert. I actually got COVID in March of 2020. For the first time. I came down with it two more times since then. Randy, never has. Yet most of my biometric markers are stronger than his. We can’t fairly state why I got it and he didn’t. I did, however, recover each time. Many people didn’t. So what constitutes your best chances for defense from coming down with an illness or disease, or if you get it, recovering quicker and more fully? That is the essence of this show. Self-Help(ful) is presented by Ziglar, the most trusted brand in personal and business development impacting over 250 million people worldwide. Visit Ziglar.com to see how they can inspire your true performance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode I’m back with Richie Norton, author of Anti-Time Management, to walk through his personal values, motives, and habits in the key areas of life fulfillment so we can hear what has driven and does drive him to help us get the most out of our time and design a life that fulfills him and his adventure seeking family. Some highlights from Richie's values, motives, and habits; spiritually he's constantly seeking after knowledge and has expanded his scope of resources. He feels the most valuable concept of the future will be discernment. Relationally his filter for relationships is between transactional and transformational. He wants to create experiences, smile and laugh a lot and hug hard. In health and wellness he has to guard against his propensity to "eat his emotions." He walks a lot, does a lot of push ups and as a true Hawaii resident, he surfs a lot. Regarding mental health he got into talking about burnout not being from working too much, but working at what doesn't inspire and interest you. That stood out as great insight to me. While money is not his primary motive for his work, Richie cites that the lack of it shouldn't keep you from the experiences you desire. I like that way of looking at it. Again, you can find Richie’s book, “Anti-Time Management: Reclaim Your Time and Revolutionize Your Results with the Power of Time Tipping” everywhere, find his podcast at The Richie Norton Show, and his website is richienorton.com. Self-Help(ful) is presented by Ziglar, the most trusted brand in personal and business development impacting over 250 million people worldwide. Visit Ziglar.com to see how they can inspire your true performance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode we’re charged to stop attempting time management and my guest takes the very concept to task as something never intended to benefit us at all. Instead he masterfully guides us in how to tip time to our advantage. It’s not a hack or a secret but a reawakening as to how we are viewing and budgeting our time, and I’d ask you to consider if your so called time management is working for you? Do you feel efficient? Do you have margin? Are you getting things done that are not just urgent, but important and valuable to you? My guest is Richie Norton and this is his second appearance on my show. Once in a while I find someone who every influencer seems to be influenced by. A recent look at Richie’s social media finds him in pictures with Pat Flynn, Tom & Lisa Bilyeu, Ben Hardy, Chris Ducker, and Chalene Johnson. He doesn’t just know these people, but he does business with them and they look to him for guidance. He’s also just an incredibly inspirational guy who elevates the energy of any place he goes. Richie is an executive coach to CEOs and is featured in Forbes, Bloomberg Businessweek, Inc., Entrepreneur, and Huffington Post. He’s also CEO and Cofounder of PROUDUCT—an INC. 5000 company—a global entrepreneurship solution helping businesses go from idea to market with full-service sourcing, product strategy, and end-to-end supply chain. He is the author of several books and it was his book, The Power of Starting Something Stupid, that got me to invite him on this show the first time. This time it’s his brand new book, “Anti-Time Management: Reclaim Your Time and Revolutionize Your Results with the Power of Time Tipping.” What you’re about to hear is a very thoughtful conversation that begins with Richie observing we as a culture have ever increasing full calendars, but emptier lives. The rest of the conversation is Richie’s guidance in how you can change that, right away. You can find Richie’s book, “Anti-Time Management: Reclaim Your Time and Revolutionize Your Results with the Power of Time Tipping” everywhere, find his podcast at The Richie Norton Show, and his website is richienorton.com. Self-Help(ful) is presented by Ziglar, the most trusted brand in personal and business development impacting over 250 million people worldwide. Visit Ziglar.com to see how they can inspire your true performance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is my Functional Friday episode where we focus on our health and wellness so we have the physical and mental capacity to help ourselves and others, and today we discuss How To Accelerate Your Wellness By Clarifying The End Result. I’m joined by my co-host Randy James, Medical Doctor and Functional Medicine expert. Most people look at dealing with their health and wellness as a problem or desire and miss the true end result. We don’t want to lose weight because doing so is fun, we want to look better, feel better, and fit in our clothes. Many people don’t want to exercise, but they want to have more muscle or mobility and capacity. Most people don’t want to sleep or meditate or fast from food, but they may desire to do so for and end result. And there is your power. What is the end result you are gunning for? The why? Randy will ask patients at the beginning of treatment if their goal is to be in the next Olympics, or slide into a nursing home in the next few years.The question sounds facetious and few will choose either side, but the point is to consider and decide on where you want to be on that polarized spectrum. It also brings to the surface that most people are just looking at the face-value problems and not giving focus to the most powerful ally in their wellness journey, which is the clarity of and then commitment to a clear, envisioned end result that transcends the mere problem or lack. Self-Help(ful) is presented by Ziglar, the most trusted brand in personal and business development impacting over 250 million people worldwide. Visit Ziglar.com to see how they can inspire your true performance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I continue the discussion brought forth by Wendy Smith and the message in her book with Marianne Lewis, "Both/And Thinking: Embracing Creative Tensions to Solve Your Toughest Problems.” Here I bring in my frequent co-host, Randy James, medical doctor and functional medicine expert to further unwrap this concept. Randy and I have been best friends for over a decade and as we grapple, ponder, and consider life as business owners, spouses, parents, friends, and followers of God we so often come to, as Randy says, “the bother.” The issues are so seldom black and white or right or wrong, so here we take the concept head on and talk about how it plays out in our own lives in all those roles. You’ll hear us talk about how being flexible and considerate of seemingly opposing sides runs the risk of setting double standards, if not coming off outright hypocritical. And it often leads us with just what Wendy and Marianne uncovered, a true dilemma instead of an easy answer. Instead of conclusive beliefs to paint over our lives we have to be present in the moment and what is at stake in any particular circumstance. And ultimately the issue calls us to get very clear on our overall values, while being, again, flexible, in how we may achieve them. Self-Help(ful) is presented by Ziglar, the most trusted brand in personal and business development impacting over 250 million people worldwide. Visit Ziglar.com to see how they can inspire your true performance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I’m back with Wendy K Smith, expert on organizational paradoxes and co-author of Both/And Thinking: Embracing Creative Tensions to Solve Your Toughest Problems, and we are walking through her personal values, motives, and habits in the key areas of life fulfillment so we can hear what has driven and does drive her to help us avoid the pitfalls and anxiety of either/or thinking, and what she does to design a life that fulfills her. Which of course includes holding the tensions of…both/and thinking. Some highlights…she shares her Jewish upbringing and rabbis who advocated ongoing conversations where Wendy cites, they rarely came up with conclusive answers. Which of course is highly relatable to her topic of holding the tensions of paradox where it’s just not black and white, right and wrong. She discusses the obvious tensions most of us have with work and family. Her health and wellness goals center around what will help her, “Show up in the world in the most productive way.” For her career, a perspective she strives for is, “It’s not about making the right decision, but about making the decision right.” And even though she’s just had her book come out and is a more than ever sought after speaker, she cites a favorite achievement as of late, witnessing the emotional intelligence and empathy from her 10 year old child. That and more is coming up. Again, you can get Wendy K Smith and Marriane W Lewis’ book, Both/And Thinking: Embracing Creative Tensions to Solve Your Toughest Problems at Amazon or anywhere. Self-Help(ful) is presented by Ziglar, the most trusted brand in personal and business development impacting over 250 million people worldwide. Visit Ziglar.com to see how they can inspire your true performance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We are talking about possibly the number one, easiest way to make an immediate positive impact in your health and wellness, whether it’s losing weight or getting more energy. You ready? Track it. What you track, you just can’t help but improve. I am not a big believer in “hacks”, but if there are any, this may be the one, most true health and wellness hack. The simple act of tracking certain aspects of your daily life will literally result in bettering your health and wellness. It’s simple psychology. If you write down or take a picture of everything you eat every day, for a week, you will almost inadvertently make better food choices. If you track your physical activity every day for a week, you will end the week having done more physical activity, even without being very intentional about it. Awareness changes our behavior and action. In this episode Dr Randy James and I discuss how the simple act of tracking key areas of our lives like Sleep, Heart Rate, Food, Activity and a few others will by proxy elevate your health and wellness. Of course you can go further than mere awareness and take solid action to utilize the data you receive and improve it. Tracking is an incredibly powerful tool and as you will hear in this episode, making it possible to ascertain and improve areas of our lives we would otherwise be ignorant and impotent to address. I can say it is also an absolute propensity of our world’s most successful, influential, and healthy people to track their health and wellness, just as they track and budget their time and money. Self-Help(ful) is presented by Ziglar, the most trusted brand in personal and business development impacting over 250 million people worldwide. Visit Ziglar.com to see how they can inspire your true performance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We can better solve tough problems and make decisions we feel confident about, by not taking an either-or, black and white, or right and wrong approach to them. We are in a culture and media that is radically doing just that. And yet most truths and daily decisions we must make are not a result of right or wrong issues that we will live or die from, but rather, choices we make where one may prove more beneficial than another. When we hold things as right/wrong, good/bad, and either or we cause ourselves undo anxiety. And further, we are pressured to make one sided decisions without the wisdom we’d benefit from if we didn’t view different perspectives as opposing forces. This show is meant to equip you to make smarter decisions, and with less anxiety and more confidence. With me is Wendy K. Smith, a Harvard educated, award-winning academic and the Dana J. Johnson Professor of Management and faculty director of the Women’s Leadership Initiative at University of Delaware. She is an expert on organizational paradoxes, exploring how leaders and individuals effectively respond to contradictory, yet interdependent demands. She spends her time continually working to better manage the paradoxes of life that we all face. Wendy’s research focuses on strategic paradoxes – how leaders and senior teams effectively respond to contradictory agendas. Not with us, but a co-author of their new book,"Both/And Thinking: Embracing Creative Tensions to Solve Your Toughest Problems" is Marianne W. Lewis who is dean and professor of management at the Lindner College of Business, University of Cincinnati. Marianne too is thought leader in organizational paradoxes exploring tensions and competing demands surrounding leadership and innovation. Again, the book containing the message in the following discussion is Both/And Thinking: Embracing Creative Tensions to Solve Your Toughest Problems which you can find at Amazon or anywhere. Self-Help(ful) is presented by Ziglar, the most trusted brand in personal and business development impacting over 250 million people worldwide. Visit Ziglar.com to see how they can inspire your true performance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Wrapping up my series on Dr Benjamin Hardy and the message from his latest book, Be Your Future Self Now. Tom Ziglar joins me today and the conversation veers into Tom calling us to not fall in love with success, but with the habits that create success, and I absolutely agree with the concept. Think about it. The healthiest people I know, and the ones most at peace in their health, are not those that love looking in the mirror at themselves or love the scale, they are the ones who enjoy the daily activities of moving their bodies and procuring and eating whole and healthy foods. They enjoy slowing down to be present. They are in love with the daily habits of health. You can say the same about financial health and success and relational health and so forth. If you want to achieve success in any certain area, you’ll be best served to find habits leading to it, that you truly enjoy and look forward to. For one person with exercise, they may love running indoors on a treadmill with the TV on or a book, while another only enjoys it outside, while another loathes running and looks forward to classes at the gym with friends, while another would far rather chop wood and mow their lawn for physical activity. The point again, is finding habits of growth you enjoy. Self-Help(ful) is presented by Ziglar, the most trusted brand in personal and business development impacting over 250 million people worldwide. Visit Ziglar.com to see how they can inspire your true performance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is my Functional Friday episode and I’m of course with my dear friend and frequent co-host, Randy James, Medical Doctor and Functional Medicine expert. We’re going to talk about nutritional supplements. Are they really necessary for you to spend time and money on, and if so, why? We seldom feel much difference in our immediate health from these expensive pills, powders, and tinctures and they are generally just a hassle to maintain. The compliance rate for taking nutritional supplements is horrific. We heard from a rep it was about 6% after 90 days. My experience says this is true. Traditional medical practitioners downplay the validity of nutritional supplements while the health industry generally way overdoes it and everyone’s supplement is promoted as the magic pill for…everything. Which is a stupid and impossible claim. If you’re not taking any nutritional supplements, we’ll give you some key ones to consider. Conversely if you’re taking a handful a day, or more…you might want to question if you’re really able to assimilate that much. And just because some supplement changed your friend’s life, it doesn’t mean it will do a thing for you. In this episode I believe you’ll hear information that will take some of the doubt, frustration, and confusion away. For most of you, it should help save you money, hassle, and increase the efficacy of any supplements you choose to partake of. I will say, my co host Dr James is a believer in supplements, but quite a minimalist. Self-Help(ful) is presented by Ziglar, the most trusted brand in personal and business development impacting over 250 million people worldwide. Visit Ziglar.com to see how they can inspire your true performance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I’m back with Dr Benjamin Hardy to walk through his personal values, motives, and habits in the key areas of life fulfillment. His books have sold hundreds of thousands of copies, and his blogs have been read by hundreds of millions. His latest book is Be Your Future Self Now and was our topic in part one of our discussion, in episode 1047. I actually walked through Dr Benjamin Hardy’s habits for success in March 2018 when I had him on the show, so here we really looked at how his values and habits have changed since then. He is not his future self, four years later. And attesting to the power of really looking at who is is becoming, he shares a lot of his own evolution. Some highlights...spiritually he recognizes his past self was a lot more human doing, than human being, and his continued desire to slow down and...be. This is the top of my list as well. Relationally, even though four years ago he says he was a devoted father, in some ways he had not truly embraced being a parent like he's striving to today, making it more of a priority and sacred role. He is also growing to be much more relationally oriented and collaborative in his life. We get into an interesting discussion he credits Dan Sullivan for bringing to him, of relationally being a buyer more than a seller, and our propensity to all generally be trying to sell ourselves to others. In health and wellness he culminates by admitting he's overall just striving to be better to himself, and what this looks like. Mentally he is working to be less reactive and with money he talks about his chosen perspective of everything happening for you, not to you. You'll hear more in the episode. Ben’s new book, Be Your Future Self Now, can be found everywhere, and check this out, if you’ll go to futureself.com/free, those of you in America can get free Kindle codes and get the book…free! No catch. He just bought a ton of codes and offered them to me to share with you. You can connect with him at benjaminhardy.com. Self-Help(ful) is presented by Ziglar, the most trusted brand in personal and business development impacting over 250 million people worldwide. Visit Ziglar.com to see how they can inspire your true performance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We are talking about your future self. Who are you becoming? Who do you want to become? And the question is, can you conceptualize and connect with that person right now, and from this connection, drastically accelerate your personal growth and success? I’m with Dr Benjamin Hardy, who you hear me refer to often. His first book, Willpower Doesn’t Work, is at the top of my book referral list. His second book, “Personality Isn’t Permanent” is up there too. His recent book with Dan Sullivan, The Gap And The Gain, is a runaway best seller. His books have sold hundreds of thousands of copies, and his blogs have been read by hundreds of millions. Ben is also the intro story in my forthcoming book which you’ll see…sometime in 2023. This is my third time having Ben on the show, and the occasion is his brand new book, Be Your Future Self Now: The Science of Intentional Transformation. When I talked to him about a year ago he shared his research and piqued my interest with the “End of history illusion”, which we start this episode off talking about, and I think you’ll want to hear about it. As we talked in this episode, what intrigued me as much or more than just trying to become your future self now, was Ben’s concept of how powerful it is for our progress and ultimate success if we’ll connect with our future self. This is something we do pretty well as kids, but after entering into adulthood, we basically lose any perspective on who we are expecting to become. And we so often lose our way. Ben is an organizational psychologist and has devoted significant research to the issue and become a leading expert on the application of the Future Self science. Ben’s new book, Be Your Future Self Now, can be found everywhere, and check this out, if you’ll go to futureself.com/free, those of you in America can get free Kindle codes and get the book…free! No catch. He just bought a ton of codes and offered them to me to share with you. You can connect with him at benjaminhardy.com. Self-Help(ful) is presented by Ziglar, the most trusted brand in personal and business development impacting over 250 million people worldwide. Visit Ziglar.com to see how they can inspire your true performance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is my Functional Friday episode where we focus on our health and wellness so we have the ability and capacity to pursue all we desire, and the topic of this episodes is Having The Courage To Live Better. People who live with different health habits than the norm often get labeled as extremist. If you don’t partake of the office pizza or the church donuts or the family potlock and you go for a run during your lunch break or play tennis on your date instead of seeing a movie, you’re a “health nut.” Like you’ve joined a new religion. In truth, this reality and social pressure is enough to deter many people from practicing the healthier habits they would otherwise adopt. A core longing of humanity is to belong, and conforming to our surroundings is a natural desire and reaction. When you join a gang, the entire point is to conform to its ways. We all belong to numerous “gangs” of sorts and we generally accept their subsequent social pressures. Most people have three primary gangs; their immediate family, their workplace, and friends and extended family. Bucking the norms is difficult. But for you to adopt a healthy lifestyle that does not include the norms of our current times, requires seemingly “extreme” choices. We live in a time when characteristics such as kindness, compassion, ethics, and justice seem extreme as well. It may simply come down to the courage to do what is best for yourself and humanity. Which often is not in fact, the norm. Self-Help(ful) is presented by Ziglar, the most trusted brand in personal and business development impacting over 250 million people worldwide. Visit Ziglar.com to see how they can inspire your true performance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Wrapping up my series on Kindra Hall and the message from her new book, Choose Your Story, Change Your Life. In this episode I’m joined by my co-host, Randy James, Medical Doctor, Functional Medicine expert, and my dear friend to discuss how we create and accept our stories and the conversation veers towards…striving and aspiring, and the tension between being ok and at peace and in essence, content, with the here and now. With who and how you are and what you have, right now. There is a big piece of all of us who can feel tired of the constant striving and just want to be at peace and have joy, now. And to that, we agree and desire as well. And yet, is that enough? Do we just find a good place of comfort and leave it at that. Coast from there on? Or is there a responsibility, to God, to others, to ourselves, to take what we have, and grow and give? Continually? As you’ll hear, we feel there is. The issue is often simply the spirit of our striving. Like the old religious perspective, do we carry our belief like a song in our heart, or a burden on our back? If your striving gets to feeling like a burden, I’d say…stop. Maybe you need a time of rest. Or recalibration. If you are giving and serving and striving in bitterness, acting as a martyr, and wearing yourself out, you’re likely not helping anyone too much. The goal is to give from a full heart. To grow and strive in joy. This is where you’ll find us discussing and grappling with you in this episode. Find Kindra Hall’s book, Choose Your Story, Change Your Life, which was the muse and catalyst of our discussion, anywhere, and connect with her at kindrahall.com. Self-Help(ful) is presented by Ziglar, the most trusted brand in personal and business development impacting over 250 million people worldwide. Visit Ziglar.com to see how they can inspire your true performance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I’m back with best-selling author and the former Chief Storytelling Officer of SUCCESS Magazine, Kindra Hall, to walk through her personal values, motives, and habits in the key areas of life fulfillment so we can hear what has driven and does drive her to lead us in the stories we write about our lives, and design a life that fulfills her. In episode 1042, the longest show I’ve ever published, Kindra and I talked about…story. Specifically the message in her new book, Choose Your Story, Change Your Life. Here we go behind the scenes into the ever evolving story she is writing in her current life. The Cliff Notes I think you’ll want to hear more about, regarding her spirituality she pondered that her purpose is easy when she understands it, but hard when she doesn’t. A key for her health and wellness is to consider the most essential uses of her time. On mental health, Kindra said she is consistently paying attention to what is working, and what isn’t. And being aware that what did work might not anymore. In work and career we got to talking about our propensity to feel we need to put in a solid week, 40 hours or whatever, when so often, as she said, "I can create magic in only 10." We ended on achievements and I think you'll be curious to hear how Kindra views her own story regarding what she wants to achieve, as she admits that she's currently aware the big achievements so often did not provide as much fulfillment as the achievements she wasn't even looking for, like yesterday's testimonial from a teacher about her child's character. Kindra is the 191st guest I’ve had on my show and is one of the most thoughtful and interesting conversationalist I’ve experienced. Find her book anywhere and connect with Kindra at kindrahall.com. Self-Help(ful) is presented by Ziglar, the most trusted brand in personal and business development impacting over 250 million people worldwide. Visit Ziglar.com to see how they can inspire your true performance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Cost is one of the primary deterrents many people cite for healthy living. Buying whole foods, nutritional supplements, exercising, and seeking alternative health care simply costs more money and can often lead us to minimizing or abandoning the effort altogether. Then there is the time expense of working out every day and grocery shopping for fresh food and cooking and cleaning. It is not convenient and time is...money. It can all be overwhelming and demoralizing in an already busy life. When it comes to fast food and processed foods, many people who would be willing to eat healthier simply fail due to convenience and time savings. So what do you do? In this episode we talk with empathy, but also with some helpful perspectives and solutions to help you on your journey and desire for health amidst the increased cost of money and time. Self-Help(ful) is presented by Ziglar, the most trusted brand in personal and business development impacting over 250 million people worldwide. Visit Ziglar.com to see how they can inspire your true performance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We all wake up every day and participate in what we feel is simply our reality. Yet it’s truly a storyline we’ve created, or accepted, or feel we are forced to live and in that case, agreed with and submitted to. For you, which is it? This is not some hoodoo guro motivation that life is make-believe and we simply decide to have it be something else better. That is offensive. But it is interesting how we live our daily lives and we let things like marriage, children, getting hired or fired from a job, an injury or even a windfall of money, totally change our story. If that’s the case, can’t we not only do things to change our stories for the better, but can we also change our perspective of our stories right away and make things better? And I have with me, Kindra Hall. Kindra is the best-selling author and the former Chief Storytelling Officer of SUCCESS Magazine, whose work and research teaches individuals and brands to harness and leverage the power of their stories. Her first book, Stories that Stick debuted at #2 on the Wall Street Journal Bestseller List and Forbes said it “may be the most valuable business book you read." Inc.com said her newest book, Choose Your Story, Change Your Life is "the business book you need to read in 2022." I however read this new book, Choose Your Story, Change Your Life and felt it was a must-have conversation for…all of us. As humans. And what follows is my longest interview to date because the topics are so profoundly important. Find her book anywhere and connect with Kindra at kindrahall.com. Self-Help(ful) is presented by Ziglar, the most trusted brand in personal and business development impacting over 250 million people worldwide. Visit Ziglar.com to see how they can inspire your true performance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Wrapping up my series on Elliott Bisnow, co-founder of the Summit Series events, part festival, part personal development conference. His book, Make No Small Plans, gives focus to the entrepreneurial journey, and the power of hosting and attending events. One of the masters in both categories who I know personally, is Dan Miller, author of 48 Days To The Work You Love and host of the 48 Days podcast. I know him personally as…my Dad. I asked him to listen to my show with Elliot, episode 1038, then join me to discuss it. You’re about to hear our conversation. As this is the Self-Help(ful) show and my focus is just that, this episode addresses some of why we want self-help, and it’s to grow ourselves and live out our values, which we do, or want to do, in our work. And being an entrepreneur is a great way to, help ourselves. So here talked about what evidence you look for in being an entrepreneur. We then discussed what makes for great events in this day and age and how Dan has done it with so many events where it was more family gathering than seminar. A week prior to this recording we attended a podcast convention together and we share what we learned and the opportunities in both podcasting and events. Then we dwelled a good bit on just that, opportunity. In podcasting, event hosting, and so many areas of business endeavors, things are evolving at a more rapid pace than ever. The good news is it leaves the door open for innovation and entry for anyone who comes in savvy. A reminder you can find Elliott Bisnow’s book, No Small Plans, anywhere, and connect with him and his events at summit.co. Dan Miller you can find at 48days.com or his podcast, 48 Days. Self-Help(ful) is presented by Ziglar, the most trusted brand in personal and business development impacting over 250 million people worldwide. Visit Ziglar.com to see how they can inspire your true performance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is my Functional Friday episode where we focus on our health and wellness so we have the ability and capacity to pursue all we desire, and today we discuss the sensitive and actually volatile topic of your health being your fault. Your genetics matter. Heck, you could be born with a severe deformity. You could have been dealt a bad hand. Which means you must do harder and work more than someone else to be at your best capacity. And your best capacity may be less than someone else’s and even less than the norm. The good news here however is simply how much power and control you do however, have over your health and wellness. Why did we get to the place culturally of not wanting control and responsibility for our health? Would you rather know you have significant power to help yourself feel and be better? Also, the biggest area of blame most of us have regarding our health and wellness is simply ignorance. What we don’t know. But again, this is great news, as we are highly capable of learning. I encourage you to brave up and listen to this episode and you may very well find a new level of hope and confidence in helping you feel and perform better, so you can do what you want to do. Self-Help(ful) is presented by Ziglar, the most trusted brand in personal and business development impacting over 250 million people worldwide. Visit Ziglar.com to see how they can inspire your true performance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I’m back with Elliott Bisnow to walk through his personal values, motives, and habits in the key areas of life fulfillment so we can hear what has driven and does drive him to produce the massive Summit Series personal development events, and design a life that fulfills him. Elliotts life is spent with the elite of self-help and business success and he has some incredible insight he puts in place for his own success. Such as using meditation as a tuner for the brain. His exercise is being a sparring partner for elite tennis players. On the health and wellness front, he battled bad asthma until doing a dietary cleanse, basically an elimination diet, and his asthma disappeared. His daily decision making process is focused on making decisions that will create less stress in the future. In business he talks about how we do business being more important than what we do in business. And regarding money and his own success he places more value on not wanting things, than what more he wants. It’s a quality discussion. You can get the book, Make No Small Plans, which we discussed in episode 1038, anywhere, and find Elliott and his pals at Summit.co and info on their November 2022 event I’m looking to attend. Self-Help(ful) is presented by Ziglar, the most trusted brand in personal and business development impacting over 250 million people worldwide. Visit Ziglar.com to see how they can inspire your true performance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We take a bit of a detour from pure self-help in this episode. I started off with the story of a guy who wanted to be an entrepreneur, yet had no idea how to be, and was as he said, “socially uncalibrated,” which in his case meant he was the guy always trying to sell you something that everyone avoided. His first two attempts at being an entrepreneur, completely failed. Completely. Meaning he created a business and didn’t make one sale. It’s a great story for anyone who feels out of their depth or who is meeting literally zero success in some endeavors. My guest, is Elliot Bisnow. Elliott’s somewhat ridiculous story takes him from literally zero, to now being co-founder of Summit Group, which began and still includes the Summit Series events that are as much festival as self-help conference. They’ve held 250 of the events, loaded with celebrities, thought-leaders, billionaires and politicians. And lots of people like you and me. The event has hosted luminaries like Jeff Bezos (bay-zos), Richard Branson, Jessica Alba, Shonda Rhimes, Brené Brown, and Al Gore in some of the most beautiful places on earth like Playa del Carmen, Mexico, Squaw Valley, California, and Washington, D.C. In this talk though, we really got into discussing the nuances of what makes the events so successful, as opposed to all the events you are used to attending. How they focus on who is attending and where the event takes place, even more than who is speaking. So if you have any interest in holding events, whether paid for as a business, or even just socially, you’ll want to hear this. We even talk about what to look for in events as an attendee. Just really intriguing. A little more on Elliott, he’s a startup investor, having made almost 50 early stage investments, including Uber, Coinbase, Warby Parker & Allbirds. At the start of the show in a moment, you’ll hear he’s talking to me from Powder Mountain ski resort in Utah, America’s largest ski resort which he is co-owner of. Elliott and his three biz partners recently published the book, MAKE NO SMALL PLANS, which entails the again, fairly ridiculous story of how four, very average guys, created such a successful company after doing so many things wrong. I think you’ll find great comfort and come away feeling you can be as clueless, and successful, as they have been. The story really inspired me to think bigger than I have as of late. You can get the book, Make No Small Plans, anywhere, and find Elliott and his pals at Summit.co. Self-Help(ful) is presented by Ziglar, the most trusted brand in personal and business development impacting over 250 million people worldwide. Visit Ziglar.com to see how they can inspire your true performance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The title “How To Feast On Fasting” is meant to help us change our paradigm. Look, I adore food and eating. I’m generally always looking toward my next meal. I enjoy it so much I won’t waste the effort or calories on just any food. I want quality food and excellent tastes. I also don’t like to deprive myself, and in my perspective, I literally don’t. I do however, often delay. I look at fasting this way. I grew up with fasting being a spiritual discipline, which is surely can be. I also know of some radical puritans who abstain from many pleasures as a lifelong discipline. Great for them. That’s not me either. I look at it more mechanically. Most of us are running on too much anxiety and cortisol, we eat on the run and thoughtlessly, and we are very, very often eating foods that our body struggles to deal with and a lot of inflammatory ingredients like gluten, dairy, sugar, and chemicals. So think of it like your car overheating and realize most of us have some overheating going on internally in our gut and digestion. What do you do when a car is overheating on the highway? You pull over and let it cool down. You have to. Or it will blow. Think of fasting this way. Whether you do some intermittent fasting and eat less often, or go an entire day. Or two. Or five. You are simply letting your body recover from digesting. Mentally as well though, we can fast from all varieties of things for the same reason, or just to increase our gratitude. I’m joined by my co host, Randy James, Medical Doctor and Functional Medicine expert at truelifemedicine.com. While we don’t expect to get you excited about fasting, I think you’ll find yourself better able to consider the benefits and find ways to do it that you can handle. Self-Help(ful) is presented by Ziglar, the most trusted brand in personal and business development impacting over 250 million people worldwide. Visit Ziglar.com to see how they can inspire your true performance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Series wrap up on Andy Norman and his book, Mental Immunity. Here I bring on my frequent co-host, Tom Ziglar, CEO of Ziglar and son to Zig Ziglar, to talk about this concept of how we view our beliefs. What came out on the discussion was a question of what is more important. Our beliefs, or relationships? In our culture now that is arguing and polarizing about beliefs, what we most have is just a fight from two warring sides. And how similar is it often in our personal relationships? No one is considering the other, they are just arguing their side. Without putting the relationship first, it’s hard to find validity for even making an effort. We lead off discussing a Facebook post Tom made after listening to my initial talk with Andy in episodes 1033, where Tom said, "To reject unconditional love is to embrace hate." Think about that? As you’re about to hear, this was from talking about how we view and fight for our beliefs. You’ll want to hear more and see how you feel about the statement. Self-Help(ful) is presented by Ziglar, the most trusted brand in personal and business development impacting over 250 million people worldwide. Visit Ziglar.com to see how they can inspire your true performance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I’m back with Andy Norman to walk through his personal values, motives, and habits in the key areas of life fulfillment so we can hear what has driven and does drive him to help us create mental immunity and consider our beliefs, and design a life that fulfills him. Previously in episode 1033 we talked about the message in Andy’s book, Mental Immunity: Infectious Ideas, Mind-Parasites, and the Search for a Better Way to Think. Andy is striving to help people develop immunity to bad ideas, and my focus with him was looking at how we define and embrace our beliefs. Here we cover Andy’s personal values and habits. The very things from which his own beliefs are derived from. He discusses how he sifts his own ideas through a filter of asking if it’s actually useful or true. Relationally he talks about “emotional dislocation” and we banter a bit about the issue of “objective reality.” Spiritually he cites his upbringing simply expected a devotion to serve a greater good and this still guides him today. You can find Andy’s book Mental Immunity anywhere and connect with him at andynorman.org. Self-Help(ful) is presented by Ziglar, the most trusted brand in personal and business development impacting over 250 million people worldwide. Visit Ziglar.com to see how they can inspire your true performance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I have a story for you. A case study of health turnaround and success for you. Dan Miller is the bestselling author of “48 Days To The Work You Love” and a prolific writer, speaker and coach. However at the end of 2018 at age 71 he found himself barely able to work. He shares the incredible amount of resources he sought for help, including his Primary Care Physician simply stating, “Hey, you’re getting old, make peace with it.” Today he is back to more energy, vitality and overall wellness than he’s experienced in many years. He said, “I didn’t simply get back to where I was before my decline, I’ve far surpassed it.” As you’ll hear in the show, he’s now excitedly finalizing two new books for his publisher and planning out the next 20 years of his productive life. It’s no miracle. It’s just the basics. It’s the things you can do too. Now at age 72, I’d pit his cognitive abilities and much of his physical abilities as well, against the average 50 year old. I believe you’ll relate to much of what you’ll hear in this candid conversation between Dan, Dr Randy James, and myself, as you found out…how Dan did it. What the story is.. And for disclosure, Dan is my Dad! Many of you will know him from his top ranked “48 Days” podcast. You can find him at 48days.com. Self-Help(ful) is presented by Ziglar, the most trusted brand in personal and business development impacting over 250 million people worldwide. Visit Ziglar.com to see how they can inspire your true performance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I grew up with very strong beliefs and I viewed being resolute and concrete in them as a strength. In our culture today we see this played out every moment of every day as the media pits one side against the other and everyone’s belief as right or wrong, even to the point of the other side as being flat out evil. Social media isn’t a place of consideration, but of unabashed opinionating. In this episode I’m with Andy Norman, a PhD who is the award-winning author of Mental Immunity: Infectious Ideas, Mind-Parasites, and the Search for a Better Way to Think. His work has appeared in Scientific American, Psychology Today, Skeptic, Free Inquiry, and The Humanist. He has appeared on The Joe Rogan Experience, public radio, and The BBC’s Naked Scientist. His research is on the emerging science of mental immunity as the antidote to disinformation, propaganda, hate, and division. Bottom line, Andy is striving to help people develop immunity to bad ideas. My focus is really on the harm we do to ourselves and others when we are so rigid in our beliefs we won’t consider anyone who differs. Andy showcases how many, if not most of our beliefs, are more tied to our self-image than truth, and how this hurts us and everyone else. It’s ok to have strong beliefs, but if you feel strong in them and it’s not just to support your personal bias, then wouldn’t you be strong enough to allow someone to explain their differing beliefs and actually seek to understand them? Even if you don’t change your belief, you are showcasing it by being willing to understand another side. And in doing so, you’ll help your own peace of mind and build better relationships. Andy directs the Humanism Initiative at Carnegie Mellon University and is the founder of CIRCE, the Cognitive Immunology Research Collaborative. You can find him at andynorman.org. Self-Help(ful) is presented by Ziglar, the most trusted brand in personal and business development impacting over 250 million people worldwide. Visit Ziglar.com to see how they can inspire your true performance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Wrapping up my series on Terry Real and the message of his book, US: Getting Past You and Me to Build a More Loving Relationship. I’m with my co-host Randy James, Medical Doctor and Functional Medicine expert and you’re about to hear a very candid discussion on this concept of being we, without losing me. Randy listened to my conversation with Terry in episode 1029 and came into the discussion with his own insights, questions, and grapplings. We hit on some big issues, like the wedding tradition of each person having a candle, lighting one candle in the middle, then blowing out their individual candle. Is that really the intended idea of marriage? And do you come into union with anyone so they “complete you” as the Jerry Maguire movie celebrated? Are you not to be complete on your own? Randy and I have been best friends for nearly a decade and partnered in multiple business endeavors and much of this US concept is relevant for our relationship, and we also bring in parenting to this US concept. I’m eager for you to hear this conversation and would be honored to hear your feedback. Self-Help(ful) is presented by Ziglar, the most trusted brand in personal and business development impacting over 250 million people worldwide. Visit Ziglar.com to see how they can inspire your true performance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Your personal relationships are likely to make or break you. This is our Functional Friday episode and we are finishing out the four foundational pillars of Functional Medicine with the third episode on Relationships. In episode 1025 we talked about the vital relationship between your body and mind. In episode 1028, the relationship you have with yourself and the world through hope and purpose, faith in essence. Here then we land on your relationship with - other people. I think we all realize to a great degree the positive and negative affect relational health or lack thereof has in our lives. But from a medical standpoint and literal pathologies of body and mind, nothing could be less mainstream. If a stressful marriage and your anxiety, anger, or despair is eating away at you and causing you physical and mental abilities, chances are 99.9% that any traditional medical doctor will never ask, address or uncover the root issue but will treat the symptom with a pharmaceutical. And that is exactly what medical school trains them to do. It’s what they trained my co-host Dr. James to do. So you’re left taking a drug to mask and manage a symptom that you have no idea is being caused by relational strife. We have dramatically impacting relationships in our family, friends, co-workers, employees, business partners and more. Great exercise and good nutrition and solid sleep will help you withstand challenging relationships, but ultimately negative relationships will take down even the mightiest of men. And women. So how does it really affect you and what can you do about it? This is our show, right here. Self-Help(ful) is presented by Ziglar, the most trusted brand in personal and business development impacting over 250 million people worldwide. Visit Ziglar.com to see how they can inspire your true performance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I’m back with internationally renowned family therapist Terry Real to walk through his personal values, motives, and habits in the key areas of life fulfillment so we can hear what has driven and does drive him to devote his life and livelihood to helping us have better relationships, with ourselves and others, and what he does to design a life that fulfills him. If you listened to our first discussion together, you heard some of Terry's traumatic childhood. In this talk he discusses relational practices and struggles with his wife, enduring two bouts with cancer, how even into his 50s he loathed himself. And now what he does to help him hold himself tenderly and his testimony that today it's really pleasant to live in his skin. For some reason Terry delivers his insights in a way that is so incredibly humble and real, and I can relate to. He has such understanding and compassionate counsel. And he's a great storyteller, and you'll hear some great ones here. His new book again that I am wholeheartedly endorsing it US: Getting Past You and Me to Build a More Loving Relationship. Get it anywhere, and find him at terryreal.com where he has courses and classes and incredibly valuable resources to take advantage of and benefit from, immediately. Self-Help(ful) is presented by Ziglar, the most trusted brand in personal and business development impacting over 250 million people worldwide. Visit Ziglar.com to see how they can inspire your true performance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I’ve been fairly candid about my own, ongoing work with counselors, historically, and today. My current counselor really got deep with me into my relationship with myself and recommended a book called “​​I Don't Want to Talk About It: Overcoming the Secret Legacy of Male Depression,” by a therapist named Terry Real. I got it and read it and it opened up a whole new level of understanding myself. Terry just recently put out a book called US: Getting Past You and Me to Build a More Loving Relationship. My therapist got it and right away said, “Kevin, I want you to get this book.” I did. It revealed aspects of how I behave unhealthfully in relationships that are nothing less than revolutionary for my life. As an individual, spouse, parent, and more. And bigger picture, how we culturally live as “you and me” and individuals when the bedrock of our being is relational and us. It will either wow you as it did me, or you’ll have to fully dismiss it. And I don’t think you will. I then went to find out who this guy is and found this book US was was published by Goop press, which is founded and owned by famed actress and client of Terry’s, Gwynyth Paltrow. Same with actor Bradley Cooper who emphatically endorses Terry. But then people like famed psychotherapists Esther Perel and Lori Gottliev I find are touting Terry and this book us. And interestingly, the forward is from one of Terry’s patients. The forward alone rocked my world. It’s by a singer you may have heard of. Bruce Springsteen. But it’s not the celebrity component that impresses me, it’s the humble and heartfelt words they shared about their life changes. Bruce said, “At age thirty two I hit an emotional wall and realized I was lost in a deep dark forest, largely of my own making without a map. So began forty years of trying to find my way through the shadowed trees, down to the river of a sustaining life. Terry Real has been a guide and this book is a map through those trees. I agree. I wanted to share Terry with you, so this episode is part one of my discussion with him. Find him at terryreal.com. Self-Help(ful) is presented by Ziglar, the most trusted brand in personal and business development impacting over 250 million people worldwide. Visit Ziglar.com to see how they can inspire your true performance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The fourth pillar of Functional Medicine - The Mind/Body connection. Which we view as a relationship, and as such, are covering different aspects of relationships. I’m joined by my Functional Friday co host, Randy James, Medical Doctor and Functional Medicine expert, and appropriate to be following my last episode where he and I talked about “what’s your Everest” from rock star explorer Colin O’Brady, this is about purpose and hope. Randy is often treating people with physical ailments, often chronic and long term issues. Where most doctors are looking at the lab results, tests, and symptoms, Randy is looking at the person’s life. If he sees a significant lack of purpose and hope, it’s often a root issue to whatever physical symptom they are manifesting. Randy and I candidly cover his experiences around this subject with patients, and the dire need for help in our culture that seems to be losing touch with hope and purpose, and how you can clarify and leverage it in your life, for your overall health. Self-Help(ful) is presented by Ziglar, the most trusted brand in personal and business development impacting over 250 million people worldwide. Visit Ziglar.com to see how they can inspire your true performance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Wrapping up my series on 10-time record breaking explorer Colin O’Brady and the message from his new book, “The 12-Hour Walk: Invest One Day, Conquer Your Mind, and Unlock Your Best Life.” With me is my frequent co host, Randy James, Medical Doctor and Functional Medicine expert. We give focus to Colin’s two main topics. First, his concept of “What is your Everest?” We really bring it down from some epic, exotic adventure, to really, just what gives you purpose? That is the best Everest ever. Can you do this in the day to day of your life? Then we hit the primary concept of the 12-Hour Walk, which is rebooting your brain. Something we in our culture today, rarely do. Sleep is like recharging your phone. Needed. But it’s not an operating system upgrade. That’s the concept in this 12-Hour Walk idea. I encourage you to listen to the discussion, even if you have zero intent to go on a 12-Hour walk. Plenty of other ways to achieve it. The goal would be just to do…anything. Though Randy and I are both planning what we decided to name, a 12-Hour meander. Self-Help(ful) is presented by Ziglar, the most trusted brand in personal and business development impacting over 250 million people worldwide. Visit Ziglar.com to see how they can inspire your true performance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We walk with 10-time record breaking explorer Colin O’Brady through his personal values, motives, and habits in the key areas of life fulfillment so we can hear what has driven and does drive [him] to set world records, but ultimately, and design a life that fulfills him. You’ll hear us hit on something he says in his new book, The 12-Hour Walk, about so often being asked if he’s ever afraid of dying during his epic quests up Mt Everest and across Antarctica. And he says…yes. But he’s more afraid of not truly living. Experiencing life. It’s not a pithy answer and I dig in on what this looks like for us. I’m not interested in death defying feats, but I sure want to get all I can out of my life. Colin’s feats include the world’s first solo, unsupported, and fully human-powered crossing of Antarctica, speed records for the Explorers Grand Slam and the Seven Summits, and the first human-powered ocean row across Drake Passage. Colin’s expeditions have been followed by millions and his work has been featured by The New York Times, The Tonight Show, The Today Show, and Joe Rogan, that guy with a podcast almost as popular as this one. Colin’s TEDx talk has nearly 3 million views and he is author of The New York Times bestseller The Impossible First and now his new book, The 12-Hour Walk: Invest One Day, Conquer Your Mind, and Unlock Your Best Life. Find him at colinobrady.com. Self-Help(ful) is presented by Ziglar, the most trusted brand in personal and business development impacting over 250 million people worldwide. Visit Ziglar.com to see how they can inspire your true performance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We are talking about How your body gets derailed by your mind (and vice versa). I’m with Randy James, Medical Doctor and Functional Medicine expert. The fourth pillar of getting you well in Functional Medicine is dealing with Relationships, and your foundational relationship is between your body and your mind. We hear plenty about “body and mind” connection but very little that we actually understand how to apply to our everyday lives. We continue to see people pursuing health in their bodies but being derailed by issues of the mind. There is a very real truth to the “physical manifestation of emotional pain.” This is a bad response to...stress. Relationships, trauma, financial issues, and even exciting events can build up to ongoing anxiety that will manifest poorly if not managed well. On the other side we have depression and hopelessness which is almost always treated with a mind focus, while we often find the body in disarray is often a primary culprit. Ultimately if our mind is in bad straits it will often play itself out in physical ailments and we can say the same in reverse. When we are properly tending to your mind but your body is in disarray, your mind is compromised. You may have seen much on the gut/brain connection, or come across Dr Bessel Van Der Kolk’s book, The Body Keeps The Score. In this show we aim to simplify the concepts and give you a viable understanding of the “chicken and egg” of mind and body connection. Self-Help(ful) is presented by Ziglar, the most trusted brand in personal and business development impacting over 250 million people worldwide. Visit Ziglar.com to see how they can inspire your true performance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How do you literally increase our minds and bodies' ability and capacity? As you’ll hear shortly, think about not just recharging your smartphone or computer, but when you get a new operating system and the thing reboots and boom, more capability. Wouldn’t you like to do that for yourself? Ten-time world record breaking explorer, speaker, entrepreneur, and expert on mindset, Colin O’Brady is my guest today. His feats include the world’s first solo, unsupported, and fully human-powered crossing of Antarctica, speed records for the Explorers Grand Slam and the Seven Summits (that’s Mt Everest and all the other biggest mountains on planet earth), and the first human-powered ocean row across Drake Passage. Colin’s highly publicized expeditions have been followed by millions and his work has been featured by The New York Times, The Tonight Show, The Today Show, and Joe Rogan, that guy with a podcast almost as popular as this one. Colin’s TEDx talk has nearly 3 million views and he is author of The New York Times bestseller The Impossible First and now, The 12-Hour Walk: Invest One Day, Conquer Your Mind, and Unlock Your Best Life. We really get in depth in this talk, just looking at why we go from kids with big ideas and goals, and then relegate ourselves to working to pay bills and just exist and hope to get some entertainment, but, watching the exploits of guys like Colin. I think you’ll find much to resonate with. Find him at Colinobrady.com. Self-Help(ful) is presented by Ziglar, the most trusted brand in personal and business development impacting over 250 million people worldwide. Visit Ziglar.com to see how they can inspire your true performance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How do we one, handle them with health, and two, allow them to make the good things in life even better? This ends my series on Susan Cain and her book and message, Bittersweet, How Sorrow and Longing Make Us Whole. Susan was my guest in episodes 1020 and 1021 and now I talk with Tom Ziglar about it, and it’s such an interesting discussion. Tom is of course son to Zig Ziglar. Zig is one of the most renowned names in inspiration and motivation worldwide and known for positivity. I’m concerned people think he was just Mr lemonade out of lemons with books like See You At The Top and don’t realize he also wrote Confessions of A Grieving Christian after his 46 year old daughter Suzan dies of a lung disease. This was at the height of Zig Ziglar’s success, influencing over 250 million people to embrace positive perspectives. As you’ll hear Tom share, following Suzan’s death, Zig walked his dog and cried, near daily, for two years. He didn’t deny the sadness and the pain, and even after he made some recovery, he never forgot. But he also let it refine and strengthen him and he stayed true to his faith and purpose. As you’ll hear, this is much of our discussion, how our faith and purpose ultimately influences how we weather the daily disappointments and let downs, and the big traumas of life. Self-Help(ful) is presented by Ziglar, the most trusted brand in personal and business development impacting over 250 million people worldwide. Visit Ziglar.com to see how they can inspire your true performance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The hard work of true relaxation and renewal. In our last Functional Friday episode we talked about us only being as strong as our level of recovery. Daily there are things we do, with sleep being paramount. But there are other important aspects as well. We often pursue relief, but not renewal. Kicking the shoes off at the end of the day. Watching a game or binge watching a show. Reading a novel. Eating out. But do we ever finish these things and feel renewed and refreshed? Do we stand up, stretch our our arms and say, “Man, do I feel great now!” Not usually. We might feel some relief, but not renewal. How about vacation? Do you generally feel refreshed when you return, especially those of us with kids? Or do you feel inspired by some good experiences, but fairly exhausted, needing a vacation from your vacation? So when do we find actual renewal that truly strengthens us for the long haul? Or as you’ll hear my co-host Dr Randy James talk about, how do you go about The HARD work of true relaxation? This is a significant part of the self-care you need understanding of and permission for if you are going to get closer to functioning at your full capacity. Self-Help(ful) is presented by Ziglar, the most trusted brand in personal and business development impacting over 250 million people worldwide. Visit Ziglar.com to see how they can inspire your true performance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#1021: I’m back with Susan Cain to walk through her personal values, motives, and habits in the key areas of life fulfillment so we can hear what has driven and does drive her to write bestselling books and design a life that fulfills her. Susan Cain’s book, QUIET: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking, was beyond a best seller. It has spent seven years on the New York Times best seller list and as of this recording is still in the top 500 books on Amazon. Her record-smashing TED Talk has been viewed over 30 million times on TED.com and YouTube combined. Her new book is called Bittersweet: How Sorrow and Longing Make Us Whole, and it was an instant New York Times best seller as well. It was the topic of our first episode together. Here we walk through her values and habits in the key areas of life and as she shares about her personal life she also shares how the research on Bittersweet evolved some of her perspectives, starting off with her spirituality and faith. She shares her focus on connecting with others, how her goal is to be a millionaire. Of time. And her love of tennis. Find Susan’s book, BITTERSWEET: How Sorrow and Longing Make Us Whole, anywhere, and connect with her at https://susancain.net/ Self-Help(ful) is presented by Ziglar, the most trusted brand in personal and business development impacting over 250 million people worldwide. Visit Ziglar.com to see how they can inspire your true performance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#1020: In 2013 Susan Cain published her book, QUIET: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking. It was beyond a best seller. It has spent seven years on the New York Times best seller list and as of this recording is still in the top 500 books on Amazon. Her record-smashing TED Talk has been viewed over 30 million times on TED.com and YouTube combined. When they told me Susan was publishing another book, I didn’t hesitate. The book is called Bittersweet: How Sorrow and Longing Make Us Whole, and it was an instant New York Times best seller as well. The most beautiful and joyful experiences of my life have also held an ache and a longing, and this is what Susan is speaking to. She gives focus to the four Hippocratic temperaments of sanguine, melancholic, choleric, and phlegmatic. Most of our world’s greatest creativity and art comes from a melancholic temperament, but Susan writes, “We’ve organized American culture around a sanguine-choleric outlook (forward leaning and combat ready), while Freud labeled melancholic as narcissistic and the main stream culture often views sorrow and longing as clinically depressed.” Susan asks, “How did a nation founded on so much heartache turn into a culture of normative sunshine and enforced positivity?” What you’ll hear is a candid discussion that gives us permission to feel the feels and allow sorrow and longing in, in order to more fully experience joy and beauty. Find Susan’s book, BITTERSWEET: How Sorrow and Longing Make Us Whole, anywhere, and connect with her at https://susancain.net/ Self-Help(ful) is presented by Ziglar, the most trusted brand in personal and business development impacting over 250 million people worldwide. Visit Ziglar.com to see how they can inspire your true performance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#1019: Our very existence is only as good as our ability to recover. We love to hear about putting in big efforts, whether it’s only sports field, or in the office, or even at home. But those big efforts deplete us. It’s our recovery that allows us to come back for another big performance. A great example is working out to gain muscle. When you work out, you are tearing your muscles down. Your will power as well. It’s when you are in recovery mode that you actually grow stronger. If you don’t recover, you just stay torn down. So if you have times of feeling torn down and just worn down, and it continues…than you are not recovering. I’m joined by my cohost Randy James, medical doctor and functional medicine expert. You’ll hear Dr James change your paradigm by stating that our evening and our sleep is actually how we are starting our next day. How we prepare for sleep, how long and how well are bottom line what are fueling our performance for the next day. All our output, the topic of our previous Functional Friday episode, is subject to our rest and recovery. Many of us are not recovering and every day is a dip lower in our ability...or we’ve stagnated at a mediocre performance level. If we are taking out more than we are depositing, ultimately we’ll end up bankrupt and that’s when we are forced to rest via sickness, disease and disability. I believe you’ll find different information and perspectives on recovery and sleep than you ever have and get clarity on what you can do to best support all the “doing” you desire in your life! Self-Help(ful) is presented by Ziglar, the most trusted brand in personal and business development impacting over 250 million people worldwide. Visit Ziglar.com to see how they can inspire your true performance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#1018: I’m back with Tyler Merritt for part 2 to talk through his personal Values, Motives, and Habits. To see what drives him. In part 1 together our focus was stereotypes and marginalization. I’m a 6’ tall, white, American male who has never experienced a negative stereotype or marginalization. Tyler is a 6’4” dreadlocked Black man in America who absolutely knows what it’s like to be negatively stereotyped and marginalized. I encourage you to listen to that episode if you haven’t, but now…we go behind the scenes. Tyler Merritt is a Nashville-based actor, activist, cancer survivor, founder of The Tyler Merritt Project, and author of "I TAKE MY COFFEE BLACK: REFLECTIONS ON TUPAC, MUSICAL THEATER, FAITH AND BEING BLACK IN AMERICA." Over the course of his career, Tyler has gained recognition through notable acting projects including "Kevin Probably Saves The World," "Outer Banks," and "The Outsider," as well as serving as the face of the worldwide teaching curriculum for The Gospel Project for Kids. Most recently, Tyler Merritt made headlines with his 2018 viral video "Before You Call The Cops," which has been viewed by over 100 million people worldwide and appeared on Jimmy Kimmel, MSNBC, and the New York Times. Self-Help(ful) is presented by Ziglar, the most trusted brand in personal and business development impacting over 250 million people worldwide. Visit Ziglar.com to see how they can inspire your true performance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#1017: Tyler Merritt is a 6’4” dreadlocked Black man in America who absolutely knows what it’s like to be stereotyped and marginalized. While Tyler is a steadfast activist in the face of racism, I invited him on to talk about stereotypes and marginalization overall. To a great degree, if you are not a white, American man, you have experienced marginalization, and that is our focus. How can you flourish amongst it with strength and compassion? And if you’re a white, American male, I’d encourage you to tune in so you can increase your own strength and compassion. Tyler Merritt is a Nashville-based actor, activist, cancer survivor, founder of The Tyler Merritt Project, and author of "I TAKE MY COFFEE BLACK: REFLECTIONS ON TUPAC, MUSICAL THEATER, FAITH AND BEING BLACK IN AMERICA." Over the course of his career, Tyler has gained recognition through notable acting projects including "Kevin Probably Saves The World," "Outer Banks," and "The Outsider," as well as serving as the face of the worldwide teaching curriculum for The Gospel Project for Kids. Most recently, Tyler Merritt made headlines with his 2018 viral video "Before You Call The Cops," which has been viewed by over 100 million people worldwide and appeared on Jimmy Kimmel, MSNBC, and the New York Times. Self-Help(ful) is presented by Ziglar, the most trusted brand in personal and business development impacting over 250 million people worldwide. Visit Ziglar.com to see how they can inspire your true performance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#1016: Your daily output is in essence, your work. All of it. The daily tasks and duties in which you exert yourself to fulfill. Personal maintenance, parenting, your job or schooling, relationships, home and life maintenance...everything. Your capacity for daily output is finite, even though we like to think of ourselves as needing to be limitless. How often do you feel spent and you’re only halfway through the day? Or maybe you make it strong through the day but by evening you have nothing left for your family and relationships or a new venture you desire to put effort into? Everyone wants more energy. We’ve created billion dollar companies around energy drinks to give us more energy. But imagine your car being overheated and bogging down and you just keep shoving more gas in the tank! The question is…what is zapping it’s energy? For you, what daily activities, exertions, environments, and mental activities will more quickly deplete, OR… help to better sustain and further your daily output and capacity? This is what Dr Randy James and I address in this episode. Self-Help(ful) is presented by Ziglar, the most trusted brand in personal and business development impacting over 250 million people worldwide. Visit Ziglar.com to see how they can inspire your true performance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices