The Kevin Miller Podcast

#984: Before I started recording this episode with my buddy Tom Ziglar he starts telling me about his weekend speaking alongside a Navy Seal and I stopped him and said…”Wait, this is good, let’s just record it.” He ultimately got into the preparations of Navy Seals and the power of mental models and rehearsing our performance and I wanted to stick with it and abandoned my intended talk on the power of kindness. Maybe we’ll do that in the next episode. What you’re about to hear is a candid talk through our opportunity to discern what we want out of our days and plan for it. Rehearse even. It sounds basic but as you’ll hear it’s not, and we are missing out on our top performance as a result. The top performance we expect from our military, especially special forces. The top performance we expect from the athletes in our favorite sports. The top performance we expect in our entertainment. They all have a desired outcome, and they plan and rehearse it. Why aren’t we? Listen in. Connect with Tom Ziglar at Ziglar.com, or email him directly at [email protected]. For me, find me at kevinmiller.co Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#983: I’m back with beloved superstar author and speaker Andy Andrews to talk about his personal habits for success. Though in addition I asked him to discuss some of the top habits he would espouse for us all as he seeks to influence the world with positive cultural literacy. He brings us back to, as you heard, the power we have over what we let into our minds. What we allow to influence us for better or worse. It’s incredibly elementary but the profound common sense that is not so common. How often do we get worked up over news or relational interactions that we did not have to participate in? How often do we choose to partake of input from sources we voluntarily engaged with? And how often do we get to the end of the day and are able to measure an amount of positive, inspiring, and life building input we are proud of and lifted by? The days so often happen to us and we don’t guard or intentionally budget the diet we feed our minds. So listen in to this and other golden nuggets from Andy. Andy is also headlining for Ziglar on May 19-20, 2022 as keynote speaker for the Ziglar Coach Summit in Frisco, TX which you can check out at ziglar.com/coachsummit. If you are or want to be a coach, don’t miss this. And check out more of what Andy is doing at WisdomHarbour.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#982: I recently had Ethan Kross on the show, one of the foremost experts in controlling our minds. His new book is Chatter, The Voice In Your Head, Why It Matters, and How To Harness It. That was episode #977. Today I wanted to discuss the concept in union with self-talk and personal affirmations, made popular by none other than Zig Ziglar. Tom Ziglar and I just pulled out all the issues around these concepts and held them to the fire in an effort to help us all literally just roll up our sleeves and start working out in regards to controlling the voices in our heads and getting them working for us in our self-talk. You can get Zig’s self-talk cards free at ziglar.com/selftalk. But Tom and I hit on big ticket issues such as, how many of the voices in our heads are even our own? Why have we agreed with so many of the thoughts and beliefs floating around? Why do we tell anyone else they have more capacity and ability in them but generally don’t believe it for ourselves? Then we land on the daily exercises needed to get the voices in our heads working for us. We uncovered some aspects of this issue we were not even aware of until we got into the discussion. Join us as we take on our voices and self-talk and aim to master them. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#981: In a rare entry into current events, tabloid headlines if you will, I asked Andy Andrews about a public statement he made regarding the culture as it relates to the recent Oscars and Will Smith slapping Chris Rock. My point wasn’t to weigh in on opinion, but as you heard in the intro to hear Andy’s perspective on the symbolism. Andy Andrews is a multiple New York Times best seller with his Traveler’s Gift selling millions. He’s a highly sought for and highly paid speaker, he’s spoken for, by request, four different US Presidents. The New York Times cited Andy as “someone who has quietly become one of the most influential people in America.” I know Andy as someone many big influencers turn to for wisdom. He’s a sage, a jedi, of life changing lessons. He also recently launched a community called Wisdom Harbour, and I wanted to have a frank discussion on what he saw as primary cultural needs and from a business interest, why he created the Wisdom Harbour community in response to it. You’ll hear much of his answer is around cultural literacy, but I’m going to take you behind the scenes on why he crafted it the way he has. If this sounds a bit like a huge plug for his community…it is, but that is not the point. Most of you listening are in the business of influencing others and what I’m giving you is insight into one of our most prolific influencers, and how he’s pursuing his own influence, so you may glean from it. Andy is also headlining for Ziglar on May 19-20, 2022 as keynote speaker for the Ziglar Coach Summit in Frisco, TX which you can check out at ziglar.com/coachsummit. If you are or want to be a coach, don’t miss this. And check out more of what Andy is doing at WisdomHarbour.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#980: “Have you ever paid for personal coaching? What were the biggest turn-ons and turn-offs?” This is the question I posed to our listeners and the responses were very telling. Number one turn off? Having a strategy pushed on them without feeling heard and understood. A top turn on, individualized guidance. This is a show to help anyone interested in getting coaching or consulting to vet a prospective provider. And conversely it’s highly valuable for providers to hear what people really want. Tom Ziglar and I also talk at length about the differences between coaching and consulting which again will help people know which type of provider they want to hire, or which providers are best equipped to offer. Another big value topic we cover is understanding people are not so much choosing which coach or consultant to hire, but whether to hire one at all, as the greatest competition is doing nothing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#979: I’m back with Ethan Kross, author of Chatter: The Voice in Our Head, Why It Matters, and How to Harness It. Ethan is a PhD and one of the world's leading experts on controlling the conscious mind which we discussed in episode 977. Here we walk through his personal habits for success and as all of our habits are generally achieved, or not, as a result of the winning voices in our heads, Ethan has some profound perspectives on how to achieve his habits. Perspectives you’ll be able to harness for yourself after listening to this show. Connect with Ethan at Ethankross.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#978: How you perceive people and institutions of power and their so called success influences you to the core. So this episode is not a mere discussion on world views and power and morals, but an audit of your own perspective and how it’s influencing you specifically, for better or worse. I was given a VIP ticket to see Jordan B Peterson and as he’s a significant person of influence as an author, speaker, podcaster, and youtuber, I went, out of interest from a few angles. His talk was based on his premise of, “Do not carelessly denigrate social institutions.” He discussed studies on power and bullying from rats to humans and cited the enforcement of absolute power seldom if ever creates success. In fact it generally results in being ostracized, and he did a deft job of turning our paradigms around. The discussion brings into acute question how we define success, and the influential spirit we carry forth regarding those we view in power. And our spirit is my focal point in this episode. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#977: It’s no secret we all have an inner voice, whether you speak it out loud, write letters in your head like I do, or it’s just the constant stream of thoughts and feelings running amok at all times. A frequent directive is to shut the voice up or ignore it. One this is impossible, and two, that voice is there for a reason and the opportunity we all have is to harness it for our personal success. Ethan Kross is a PhD and one of the world's leading experts on controlling the conscious mind. Which I start the show pushing back on a bit…can we really do this? Ethan is an award-winning professor at the University of Michigan and its Ross School of Business and is the director of the Emotion & Self Control Laboratory. Ethan has participated in policy discussion at the White House and has been interviewed on CBS Evening News, Good Morning America, Anderson Cooper Full Circle, and NPR's Morning Edition. I brought him on the show because I got a hold of his new book, Chatter: The Voice in Our Head, Why It Matters, and How to Harness It. That tagline is the hook…why it matters and how to harness it. Not shut it up or out. Connect with Ethan at Ethankross.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#976: I asked our audience this question, “If you're having surgery, do you want the absolute best surgeon working on you, or the one with the best moral character? How about an accountant? Car mechanic? Professor?” The responses added up to saying, it depends. Of course everyone would like both, but we have an older culture who generally says character and a younger generation who wants to be given credit for skill alone and I wanted to flesh out where we really put our personal values when it comes down to what we pay for, and what our customers will pay for. The issue was acute when I posed it, as I had a son going into a serious surgery. Do I want the nice doc to work on him, or the absolute best regardless? What it comes down to is not deciding which we’ll choose to lead with in our business and life, character or skill, but how we position ourselves in the public eye. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#975: Anthony Trucks became a player in the NFL because he followed certain successful habits day in and day out to a somewhat severe degree. The reason he lost his marriage and went bankrupt was from following other habits which didn’t produce such success. Today he talks about his habits progression and pulls out his quest to employ active and passive habits and gives us a great perspective on this distinction, and as you heard, how the good habits we associate our identity with are the most powerful. I highly recommend you listen to our first talk together in Ziglar Show episode 973 where we dig into identity, the message from his book, Identity Shift. Find Anthony’s book, courses and more at anthonytrucks.com and check out his podcast, Aww Shift Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#974: If you’ve seen the Matrix you remember the spark of the entire movie, when Neo takes the blue pill and he ends up in the construct of what he’s shown is a made up world. Inside here he sees himself dressed a certain way and is told he’s seeing himself as his residual self-image. And there you go. We all have this image of ourselves we believe is simply who we are. It’s our default mode and this is where we generally live unless something significant happens in our lives. Victor Serebriakoff (Sara bria koff) was labeled a dunce at 16 by a teacher and lived the next decade or more believing this, until a job test showed he was a genius, so be believed that too and went on to have many patents and serve as president of the Mensa society. We tend to be what others have said we are and what we’ve agreed with. Unfortunately most of us will never have someone say we are a dunce or a genius and we’ll just go along being…whatever. It’s up to us to claim what we can be and start seeing ourselves differently. This was the message from my previous episode, #973, with Anthony Trucks, and in this episode Tom Ziglar and I talk through it. I actually asked our listeners this question, “Thinking of a primary goal or two you have...can you actually see yourself there? Can you envision yourself as the person in that new reality? Or are you just going after it anyway? Examples: Making that much money, owning and running a business owner, being at that weight, etc...?” This question got very few responses compared to the boatload we often receive. Why? I believe it’s because we don't’ take the time and give focus to our desires for progress, in regards to envisioning ourselves there. And thus we often don’t make…much progress. Thus, why we give it focus today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#973: The self-help and personal development world gives primary focus to increasing our performance so we can achieve greater successes in our lives. And it’s true we all are capable of more. Nobody is performing at their max capacity. But we won’t outperform the level of ability we believe about ourselves and all we have to go on is the proof of what we have and haven’t done thus far. It brings to mind Roger Banister breaking the four minute mile mark in running, which was deemed humanly impossible, but more importantly the four other runners who then did it within a year. All that changed is once they believed running a sub four minute mile was possible, they did it. Prior, they could not. Most of us are sitting where we are and desiring greater performance from ourselves but unable to see ourselves being at a higher level. If someone came along and ran a diagnostic test on us and said they had proof we could do it we would in short order. But that won’t likely happen, so how can we get ourselves to really see ourselves as a higher performer? To have a performance upgrade we need an upgrade to our identity. I have Anthony Trucks on with me in this episode to talk about it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#972: Have you ever fully considered exactly why you work at the job you have now? Or why you chose the career you’re in? Or even why you have the current business you own? I asked this question to Ziglar listeners, which by the way I invite you to give your feedback, just friend me on facebook at agentkmiller. The responses ranged from the valiant and purposeful intent to save the world to the admission it was just a direction they were pushed or fell into. The latter doesn’t mean they ended up in a bad place, but the exercise itself caused a lot of pondering. It may cause you to feel confirmed, or uncover it’s time to think about why you’re doing what you are and consider if this is where you want to be and remain. So join Tom Ziglar and I as we talk through some of the comments and the realities of why we all end up doing the work we do, and how to pursue the work we actually want to do. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I’m back with NYT bestselling author and top TED speaker, Dan Pink to walk through his personal habits for success, and this habits show had a twist. Coming off our talk in episode 969 where we discussed regrets, which is the topic of his brand new book, The Power of Regret, I asked him how his research on regrets changed any of his habits. What you heard in that intro clip was him leading off with his top one, Connection regrets, and now reaching out to people more. We hit on some other habits he’s changed as a result of this regrets focus, such as he realized in the Foundation regrets piece he’s actually been too frugal over his lifetime. I also found the irony in him citing he lived in a busy urban area and prefers running on a treadmill, especially since he fell on a sidewalk while running and now has a bent pinky. Dan Pink with…a bent pinky. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Following up from my conversation with Dan Pink regarding the message in his new book, “The Power of Regrets”, Tom Ziglar and I went through the exercise of listing out some of our regrets and what we learned from them. And are still learning. And finding some regrets where we haven’t fully considered the lessons learned, which is very much the point. As Dan Pink points out in his book, regrets have power when we use them to learn, as opposed to denying them and being a “no regrets” person, or wallowing in them and living in guilt and shame. This episode really helped bring Tom and I to revisiting our past mistakes and what we have learned or can be learning. I think you’ll gain some insight you can benefit from to redeem your past mistakes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#969: “No regrets” is an American slogan along with “No Fear” and “Just Do It.” Yet more often than not we don’t just do it, having no fear is psychopathic, and having no regrets means you have no sorrow for ever hurting anyone or making a mistake. Regret is simply recognizing sadness or disappointment about something we did we wish we hadn’t, or we didn’t do and wish we had, and Dan Pink’s research showcases it’s a massive power if we’ll recognize it and learn from it. Not as he said, reject it or wallow in it. This is my second time having Dan on the show. He’s a multi-best selling author, and when I say best selling, I don’t mean one day on an obscure Amazon book category like Amish Romance, but the actual New York Times bestseller list. You’ll likely recognize his books such as A Whole New Mind, Drive, To Sell Is Human, and When. His books have sold millions of copies, have been translated into forty-two languages. He also has a TED talk titled “The Puzzle of Motivation” which has somewhere north of 30 million views. Dan is an author like Brene’ Brown who leads with research, and he’s now turned his focus to regrets with his new book, The Power of Regret: How Looking Backward Moves Us Forward. I asked him bak on the show the moment I saw the book title and you’re about to hear me dig in with him on how we can harness regret for our progress, not suffer or run from it. Find The Power of Regret anywhere you get books and connect with Dan at danpink.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#968: Tom Ziglar is a very sought after speaker and as he just returned from one engagement and was preparing for another and talking to me about the topics, I asked him to have a conversation with me about it and to share it with you. He discussed the “perfect start” concept he shared with an association of county fair leaders, the “pre” pre-call planning he will be discussing with a group of sales professionals, and the lessons from the near tragedy of Qantas Flight 32 he just wanted us all to hear, which was a focus in planning the intent and outcome we have for every human engagement we have. We kick off with a little shop talk on public speaking you will want to hear if you are in the business of influencing! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#967: I wanted to talk about calling. I keep seeing people get wrapped up in trying to find…feeling they must find, this elusive, one-thing, holy grail calling on their life and I wanted to relieve the tension and pressure and showcase that our ultimate calling or purpose is not so narrow. It’s something everyone has and it’s something you do in all roles of your life. This frees you up from thinking you have one, special application to apply this…calling. And what is a true calling anyway? So I brought on one of the world’s premier experts on the subject, especially as it relates to your vocation, job, career, business…however you label it. That expert is…Dan Miller. Yes. We’re related. He’s my Dad. Bestselling author and renowned career coach of 48 Days To The Work You Love. Finding your calling and supporting it in your work is what he’s devoted his life to. You can find out more at 48days.com. Dig in more with each episode at kevinmiller.co Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#966: Anyone listening to this show is interested in giving and serving people. This is where we find our greatest fulfillment of purpose. We serve our families, friends, and everyone we can through our work, and some go further and volunteer in different capacities. But how do we view serving? Is it a zero sum game? Is it like Shel Silverstein’s book, The Giving Tree, and every piece we give away we lose until we are nothing but a stump? In this episode we take aim at this. Not whether to give and serve or not, but the spirit in which we do it. Do we treat it like a privilege and joy? Or a burden. My opinion is…we are all on the spectrum between these two perspectives and higher and lower in some areas we serve. And when we get closer to burden, we are risking bitterness and burnout. Is it more valiant to press on and give out of the scraps we have left in our heart? Or sometimes, stop. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#965: I’m back with actress and personal development leader, Brianna Brown Keen and we walk through her personal habits for success. Brianna is a paid performer, so no matter what, she has to show up ready and able to act and look a certain way. Thus in some aspects, her habits are more tangibly critical for her job. Many of us can show up for a day of work and be a bit…underperforming. But when you’re literally on stage or camera, this is not possible. So it makes her daily habits interesting. Of interest, today we had our live zoom call in my Driven To Live community, and a member who is a pastor said when he first saw my previous show with Brianna, episode 963, and her being an actress and not my usual personal development author, he said he almost skipped the show. But he listened, and felt multiple things she shared were, as he put it, a valid sermon. And he’s going to listen a second time. This is why I had Brianna on the show. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#964: What attributes distinguish you as an individual? We all judge ourselves by our intentions, while everyone else judges us by how they experience us. We don’t like that word. Judge. But we all do it. Even in as much grace and acceptance as we can muster, we still experience people in ways that attract or detract us from them, and cause us to trust or distrust them. And everyone is doing the same with us. We’re talking about our character, and after recording this show I’m going to say, our perceived character, as you’ll hear us discuss that we can’t cite what our true character is, only others can. And from it we get more or less opportunity in life and work. More or less relationships. More or less success and love even. This topic is foundational to all we want, as our perceived character is foundational for all we are. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Power and influence is an interesting thing to ponder. Today, who has more power? Politicians or people in the media? Former actor and now literally top podcaster, Joe Rogan, may have more individual influence on the planet than anyone. At least more reach. However, this isn’t an episode about power as much as it is about using your platform, whatever it is, to benefit people. Brianna Brown Keen is an accomplished actress, appearing in more than 20 feature films and 30 television shows. She defines her acting role as being “paid to pretend” and cites being in the business of rejection. But we talk about everyone having the opportunity to have art in what they do, and to express themselves. In doing so, you put yourself out there. At risk. But our most fulfilling success is from just that, self expression. Along with being a present day, working actress, Brianna has produced an initiative and book called Manifesting Your Mission where she guides entrepreneurs in doing just that, making true progress toward your goals. And she brings her unique perspective from Hollywood where self-expression, rejection, and acclaim are in a very heightened and exaggerated form. But it’s a relevant depiction of the real lives we all lead. Connect with Brianna at mym.briannabrownkeen.com. Dig in more with each episode at kevinmiller.co. And if you are a coach or want to become one, let the Ziglar family empower you at www.ziglar.com/CoachLeadershipProgram Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#962: Zig Ziglar famously quoted, “Expect the best, prepare for the worst. Capitalize on what comes.” In this episode we dig into the reality this conveys. We all know well the success concepts of committing to something. Never quitting. Being resolute and convicted. Persevering. It’s what success and legendary successes are made of, right? And if there is a so-called failure, it’s not truly failure if we learn something and can redeem it with the experiential wisdom or if it helps lead us on to the thing that does work. But sometimes we have an effort that just flat out does not work. And if we’ve invested a lot, we can find ourselves in dire straits. So, should we prepare for failure? Have a backup plan or a plan B? Or does that defy the faith in success we’re supposed to have? Dig in more with each episode at kevinmiller.co. And if you are a coach or want to become one, let the Ziglar family empower you at www.ziglar.com/CoachLeadershipProgram Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#961: I’m back with Niyc Pidgeon, positive psychologist and renowned success coach who I had on the show previously in episode 959. This is my habits show and we walk through her personal habits. Niyc has 30 employees and 5,000 clients and you could readily expect to find her as the hard charging woman on top of success as the result of working 18 hour days who will sleep when she dies. As you heard in the intro clip, I asked her where she saw herself in this perspective and you heard her reply, which is in essence to see how successful can she be, but how easy can she make it. She’s a great example of someone who invests a lot in her self care in order to fuel her capacity for her own high performance and inspiring the high performance of everyone she works with. You’ll be inspired and equipped by this conversation. You can connect with Niyc Pidgeon and get her book, Now Is Your Chance, for free, at https://www.nowisyourchancebook.com. If you want to go beyond merely listening and join our community of people devoted to making positive change in their life and work, come over to kevinmiller.co and join my Driven To Live Community. Go from listening to this podcast episode about Niyc Pidgeon’s habits for success to discussing how you might want to bolster your own habits. And recently I had some testimonies from listeners who really like to watch the episodes, who feel they get more by seeing my guests talk. You can do this at youtube.com/kevinmillerco Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#960 This is a sales class, pure and simple. And if you know Zig Ziglar at all you know his claim was we are all in sales. True sales is figuring out what people really need and helping them get it. This was prompted by Ziglar Show podcast listener Adam Reid who sent this in, “I am a sales rep for DHL Express Canada and I help businesses in the Saskatchewan market set up accounts to help send and receive their products all around the world. It is a great job to have and the Ziglar show has really helped me develop my skills and experience in selling. As a listener to your show and a professional working in sales, one thing that I think would be helpful to listeners like me is to create an episode with Tom Ziglar about uncovering needs. As a sales professional in my industry this is a big part of building trust and helping developing a relationship with customers in my territory. As a frequent listener to your show there is a theme that is often discussed about solving the customer’s problems, yet I haven’t been able to hear your take on it. I think if you were able to do a deeper take on solving the customer’s problems this would be very beneficial to the audience.” So, in this episode, that’s just what we did. We gave our take on it, led by master sales trainer, Tom Ziglar himself. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#959: In this episode, where therapy gives much focus to our past, modern day success coaching is focused primarily just on the future. A great fusion I found is what’s termed as “positive psychology.” As my guest, Niyc Pidgeon says, positive psychology looks at what is going right in our world, instead of what’s going wrong, but it also gives great gravity to our emotions and past traumas. The key however is harnessing it for our benefit instead of allowing it to diminish us. Niyc Pidgeon is an author, award winning positive psychologist, high performance coach, and investor and as you’ll experience in our following conversation, she’s an insightful and vivacious thought-leader who has had a profound impact on some big influencers, including Elon Musk. Niyc’s muse and the focus of her new book, Now Is Your Chance, is what perspectives will enable us to continue instead of quit? How will we better respond if we consider our commitments in regards to what will happen if we don’t do them versus if we do? Her perspective flies in the face of today’s negative media influences that are dragging much of the culture down and she gives us a breath of fresh air regarding how to turn our challenges into opportunities. You can connect with Niyc and get her book for free, at https://www.nowisyourchancebook.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#958: Mental health is a top trending issue, so this is what I asked the Ziglar audience, “Mental health problems are spinning out of control, led by anxiety and depression. What do you feel is to blame?” We got well over 100, in depth responses, and it’s of interest that this comes from an audience that is less likely to blame and more likely to take responsibility. Yet there is emotion behind the answers. My interest however was not a mere survey, but to assess how we see the culture regarding mental health, and how our perception is affecting us. I can summarize the results into two categories, lack of a personal foundation, and too much exposure to negativity. Before you brush it off thinking your foundation is 100% and your exposure is moderate or benign…I challenge you. As in talking here with Tom Ziglar and later with my Driven To Live members, I’m convinced I am no unscatched here. I feel this episode will inform you to help yourself and gain some quality insight to help others with… Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#957: We’re back with Ron Friedman, renowned psychologist and author of Decoding Greatness: How the Best in the World Reverse Engineer Success, where he takes aim at the concept greatness is made up only of talent and/or hard work, catch us discussing it in episode 955 of The Ziglar Show. Today we walk through his habits for success, which as you heard in the intro, showcase how he personally decodes his life and gets different perspectives on even this, his habits. It’s an interesting discussion to hear what perspective drove him to work for himself, as he assessed the risk was greater to work for someone else. We’ll be talking about this further over to kevinmiller.co in my Driven To Live Community. Go from listening to this podcast episode to discussing and implementing the principles. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#956: What goals are we actually excited about? It’s the start of a new year and most aspiring people are taking time to think about goals for the new year. In this episode I wanted to address the emotions behind them, as this speaks to our motive and whether we’ll likely see the goals through, abandon them, or achieve them with collateral damage. I did a survey showcasing 12 categories of goals, from money to health to experiences and asked what people were actually excited about. I’ll tip you off by sharing the area of life people were most excited about is…experiences. What should that mean to our priorities? Tom Ziglar and I had a discussion on the results and what it means to our overall joy, fulfillment, and success when we are habitually not engaging in what excites us and instead in what does not bring us inspiration. It is not a call out to abandon anything that doesn’t excite you, but rather to consider how we could attach more joy to everything, and increase time spent in our greatest excitements. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#955: The two primary ingredients we think of in regards to success, is talent and hard work. Greatness comes from having above average talent and putting in your 10,000 hours. Yet if we audit everyone who has achieved relative success, we find many, maybe even most, who do not have either of these. So what did they do? They just figured out what works and modeled it. Ron Friedman is an award-winning psychologist and from his research in neuroscience, human physiology and behavioral economics wrote a book on what he found in regards to this issue, called Decoding Greatness: How the Best in the World Reverse Engineer Success. In this show I dig in and question Ron on how we can all use this reality to better embrace and accelerate our opportunities and success. For those who get the book, if you’ll go to decodinggreatnessbook.com and submit your receipt Ron will give you access to “The Reverse Engineering Success Masterclass” course. You can join like minded people in my Driven To Live private community to discuss how to decode your own greatness, come over to kevinmiller.co and go from listening to participating. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#954: In our last show of 2021 Tom Ziglar and I take to task, goals. It’s time for New Year’s resolutions and goal setting for all the aspiring people of the world. Truth is, the idea of setting goals is a downer for many. It comes with guilt and doubt, and at the root is…what drives us. Or not. Our motive. My intent is to free you from some goals, and amp your motive for others. Naming a goal you have or a problem you want to solve is a beginning. It’s a map in front of you. But the journey is getting into something that will actually transport you there. This is your motive. Do you really want to achieve the goal? Why? What does arriving at it look like? Is it really that important to you? Conversely, what if you don’t make it? Is that ok? If so, maybe it’s not necessary. Are you driven by desire? Or is the better, more true motive, pain and fear? Some of my goals are driven by what I deem a healthy fear. The point is knowing why you have a goal and what is actually driving you and discerning which goals really matter and which you can be free of. If you want to join like minded people and get feedback and support on working out this topic I invite you to join our community of people devoted to making positive change in their life and work, come over to kevinmiller.co and join my Driven To Live Community. Go from listening to this podcast episode on goals and motives and engage. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#953: We’re back with Jonathan Fields, host of the top podcast, the Good Life Project. He has a new work focused profile you can take at sparketype.com, just this morning I asked a couple friends to take it, as I wanted them to know if for themselves, and I was curious where they’d land. I really appreciate the profile, and Jonathan uncovers more about it in his new book, Sparked, which I also recommend. In this episode I walk with Jonathan through his personal habits for success, and as you heard in the intro, Jonathan is a deep and intimate thinker, which is what people love about him. I think you’ll be touched and inspired by what he shares. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#952: The sales process is no longer what it used to be. In the past sales people were needed to inform and educate and fully showcase a product or service to people who came in with a desire, but were pretty ignorant. Today nearly all sales happen online with no need for a so-called sales person. With any product or service we can fully research it. Compare it. Get unbiased user reviews. All that’s left is deciding from which person or company we’ll make our purchase from. So how do we all adjust for this new scenario? That’s what Tom Ziglar and I discuss in this episode. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#951: There are key, intrinsic activities and aspects of work that truly make you come alive and within which are your greatest opportunities for top level success, and your greatest fulfillment and joy. But we don’t tend to realize what they are. We attribute them to a specific job or business and the roles we had, the product or service we were involved with, the people included. But nearly every job or business ends or significantly changes and we lose it and try to recreate it based on those external ingredients. And often can’t recreate it. Why? Because those are not the right ingredients. To showcase what the right ingredients are, I have Jonathan Fields back on the show. Jonathan was with me years ago and we talked about his book, How To Live A Good Life. He has a really big podcast called the Good Life Project, and now he’s put together a work profile you can take for free at sparketype.com, and he goes deep into what sparks us in our work, in his new book, Sparked. If you want to go beyond merely listening and join our community of people devoted to making positive change in their life and work, come over to kevinmiller.co and join my Driven To Live Community. Go from listening to this podcast episode with Jonathan Sparks and join us to talk and grapple with and apply the concepts to your life. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#950: You have problems in your life that need solving. You have goals for your life that require decisions. The greatest minds of all time budgeted specific time in their days to simply…think. To really sit and without input or distraction, think. To use the machine of their brain to crunch the data and consider the options and do what nobody or nothing else could do for them. The great art and ideas we all benefit from and applaud came from someone who took the time to think them up. To fertilize the seeds of their mind, nourish and nurture, and come forth to bear fruit. If we want great solutions and ideas and actions, we must take time to sit and…think. Here is the concern. In his book, 2 Chairs, author Bob Beaudine who I recently had breakfast with, calls us to spend time listening to God. Setting a chair in front of us and trusting God knows what our needs are, then sitting to listen for his direction. What is the primary obstacle here? Trusting you’ll actually hear from God. My concern is when it comes down to it, we doubt that our thinking…our listening to ourselves, will actually result in anything. Instead we clamber to hear from others so they’ll tell us what to do. This isn’t a call for self-sufficiency. Just a budget. We take in input. We take in counsel. And…we think on it all. Deeply and with faith and expectation. Next Tom Ziglar and I have a conversation on this issue. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#949: Tuesdays with Morrie is the bestselling memoir of all time, selling over 15 million copies. Best-selling author, screenwriter, playwright and nationally-syndicated columnist Mitch Albom has now sold over 40 million of his combined books. In this episode he comes to us to discuss his latest, The Stranger In The Lifeboat. The moment I saw the request to have Mitch with me for a the show I simply replied with a resounding, “Yes! Of course.” I didn’t need anything new from him. That said, this new book and the message within is just…incredible. It’s an enthralling story with a powerful message, which is indicative of Mitch, who gets billed as writing messages where the spiritual and the earthly collide, and they sure did in The Stranger In The Lifeboat. I start us off simply talking about personal transformation. Mitch had his own radical life change that resulted in the Tuesdays With Morrie book and in the 20+ years since then, this has been his devotion. What does it take to transform a life? Our lives? That’s what this episode is about. We got…deep. Into the very tenets of faith and our cultural views of God, and our personal lives. It was a significant discussion, and it’s coming up next. Get Mitch’s new book, The Stranger In The Lifeboat, wherever you get books. And you’ll hear him mention an orphanage in Haiti he literally took over Havefaithhaiti.org. And when you hear some of the significant issues of our lives we cover in this episode, I invite you to join our community where we go…deeper. Into meaningful conversations and how to apply what we hear, to our lives. To our transformation. Find my Driven To Live community at kevinmiller.co Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#948: I asked the Ziglar audience, “To make progress in your work/career/business/vocation; if you had a willing angel investor, what investment or action would you put money toward?” Tom Ziglar and I talked through the listener comments and it was really insightful for us all to consider… where we really feel the priority is, for making progress in our work and businesses. The top three areas cited were Marketing, such as ad copy and social media, physical resources like land and tools, and people, staff and team members. Go beyond just listening to this episode of The Ziglar Show and join me and a group of aspiring people like yourself to dig into the topics and actually apply the messages to your life. Come to kevinmiller.co/community, get my Drive Formula for free, and join the Driven To Live Community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#947: We are back with Jon Acuff, the New York Times bestselling author of seven books, including his most recent, Soundtracks, The Surprising Solution To Overthinking, which we had a deep conversation about in episode 945. In this episode we dig into his habits for success, which as you heard in his intro, include keeping queso out of the house, which I completely understand. I have a friend who calls it liquid love and I’m prone to ODing on it as well. This references my friend Ben Hardy’s book, “Willpower Doesn’t Work” and the reality that our willpower is finite and instead of relying on it to not eat all the queso, we set up our environment for success and just not have it available. Listen in as I ask Jon about his primary habits following the Ziglar Wheel of Life, and you can get Jon's new book Soundtracks wherever you get books and connect further with him at acuff.me. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#946: “What are the top 3 leadership challenges you see in business, as a business owner or as an employee?” This is the question I posed to our audience. The comments were varied and valuable. Tom Ziglar is becoming a go to expert on what began as a topic of disruption, then recently onto the aspect of “the great resignation” but Tom is rising to acclaim as he looks at it as the “great reimagination.” Here however, with all the responses, you’ll hear most of them coming down to...relationships. The primary leadership challenges point to simply relating to one another with actual care. But as we come to again and again, the workplace so often misses the fact that it’s about people and not business. We take this head on in the following episode. To fully grasp and take advantage of this opportunity in your own leadership...pre-order Tom Ziglar’s new book, 10 Leadership Virtues for Disruptive Times, right now at 10leadershipvirtuesbook.com. Go there now and download a chapter for free. 10leadershipvirtuesbook.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#945: Jon Acuff is the New York Times bestselling author of seven books, including his most recent, Soundtracks, The Surprising Solution To Overthinking, which is our muse today. This is the second time I've had Jon on The Ziglar Show and he has a knack for bringing profound personal development messages to us in an entertaining and highly digestible perspective. I admire his way to connect with where people are in the reality of their lives. A reality that as you're about to hear, he says we manufacture, and I sincerely agree. In this episode you'll hear us dig into issues such as; We think our memory is a GoPro recording of “reality”, when in fact we're just filtering it through our own cognitive bias, one that has a quick decline in memory consistency. But we base our beliefs on it. Jon asks, “Why is it so easy to repeat negative soundtracks about myself internally and so hard to repeat positive soundtracks about myself externally?” The premise of his new book and message is we are living from soundtracks in our mind we often need to Retire, Replace, then Repeat with the new ones, over and over. Jon discusses with me how our brain builds on overthinking’s habit of negativity by doing three additional things: Lying about your memories, confusing fake trauma with real trauma, and believing what it already believes. And we start in on his insight into no single good event in our life has as much lasting impact as trauma. So...what do we do with it? That is what you're about to hear about. Find Jon's new book Soundtracks wherever you get books and connect further with him at acuff.me. Come join me in my new Driven To Live community at driventolive.co where we go beyond just listening to these podcasts, and we engage with other driven people...to ask questions and have real conversations on how to actually apply the incredible wisdom we hear, to our own lives as we seek to transform ourselves into our full capacity. My guest in this episode is Jon Acuff and you're about to hear what drives him and a message that is worth digging into. Join us to dig in, at driventolive.co. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#944: I like mind games because I think that’s what life primarily is. In this episode I wanted to get us focused on what counsel we most desire if it was critical. I asked the Ziglar audience this question; “You must spend 2 hours with someone for pure Q&A, you ask questions, they give answers. Who do you choose? And why?” People came back with answer such as Adam Grant, Matthew McConaughey, anyone in congress, Caesar Augustus, Ronald Reagan, any former president, Stephen Curry, Jordan Peterson, Elon Musk, Gary Vaynerchuk, Andy Andrews, C.S. Lewis and many others. But for more important than who is...why. To think, like with a genie in a bottle if you were to get one wish, if you could get two hours of counsel with anyone, and I did ask it to be a mortal, even if deceased, who would it be and why, with the why really helping give you focus on what your top priority for help and growth is in your life today. Whether you could truly meet with that person or not, it sheds light on where you now spend your counsel budget. Even if it’s listening to podcasts or reading books, are you giving this area of focus priority? This is our show. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#943: How would Zig Ziglar’s kid build a business? What you’re about to hear is a grassroots story from Julie Ziglar Norman, Zig Ziglar’s eldest daughter. If you were fortunate enough to hear one of Zig’s last talks, he was always accompanied by Julie to keep him on the target of his message after his fall that would find him sometimes repeating himself. Following his death and the death of her husband, Julie started a career in real estate. Especially for you fans of Ziglar with a fondness to hear how he inspired not only hundreds of millions of people, but his own family, you will be comforted and inspired by this. Tom Ziglar and I talk with Julie and her business partner Heather Prichard and hear the story of building a business on the Ziglar principles of integrity and ethics, which along with being the right thing to do, is also...the most profitable. This will be confirming for many of you as you can sometimes get the feeling that doing the right thing will be nice but lose money. You can find Julie and Heather at https://www.ziglarrealty.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#942: Which is good news, as that’s a lot of pressure. As you’ll hear in this show, we are all co-creators standing on the shoulders of everyone who we have gleaned from, whether it’s a parent, mentor, coach, or author. The big opportunity is we don’t have to invent something new. And in truth, nobody does. Everything we know, we got from someone. We get to build on it, or just give a different perspective or insight on it, or somethings simply introduce it to others, and get paid for it. Think of the big awards shows such as the Emmys, Grammys, Oscars, and Tony Awards . What do the winners do? What is the point of them taking the stage? To recognize everyone who helped them get the win. I start us off with a 2.5 minute message from Zig Ziglar telling the story of two of the winningest college football teams who don’t focus on individual accomplishment, but team accomplishment. Then Tom Ziglar and I discuss how we are all part of a team, even if you are a solopreneur, your team is all those who again, you have and are gleaning from, every day. It’s not all on you, and that’s good news. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#941: I’m back with Diana Pavlac Glyer, the award winning writer who spent 40 years studying all things C.S. Lewis and J.R.R Tolkien with a special focus on the power of their infamous writer’s group, The Inklings. We’re back for part two as I focus on taking the essence of what propelled these writers to bring monumental works such as Lord of The Rings and Chronicles of Narnia, and discussing how we can emulate them to get our greatest works out of ourselves, by helping get them out of each other. I am taking Diana’s research and counsel to heart and putting structure into place so I can spur and spar with peers and help each other further our respective efforts. I’m banding together with fellow influencers; authors, speakers, podcasters, coaches, consultants, leaders, agents, to help each other increase our influence and expand our reach. You can review it at drivencounsel.com, where you are welcome to inquire for your own interest with me, or if you are looking for a different makeup of a mastermind group. You can dig into Diana’s research on The Inklings in her new book, Bandersnatch, available wherever you get your books. Coming up next...Diana Pavlac Glyer Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#940: We have feelings and emotions we can’t control. We might be able to control our reactions and responses, but our thoughts...they often run amuck. In this episode I pulled out a well known quote from Napoleon Hill, which reads, “You have absolute control over just one thing, your thoughts. This divine gift is the sole means by which you may control your destiny. If you fail to control your mind, you will control nothing else.” But Tom Ziglar and I take the quote to task. Having absolute control over your thoughts is not...something most of us feel we have. Whether it’s even possible is highly debatable. It is however, something we can grow towards, every day. I asked some of my members in my community, which you can find at driventolive.co, their thoughts. Tom and I talk through it, and the point is to have compassion for the reality we do not, have absolute control over our thoughts, but there are methods we can be training in to have more and more every day, and doing so is possibly the most powerful asset of our lives. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#939: Mastermind groups are very popular, but so is dissatisfaction with them. The benefit is peers coming together to provide support and counsel to each other and to do so effectively requires trust, structure, and some deft facilitating. Diana Pavlac Glyer has intimately researched one of the most successful and well known mastermind groups of all time, which interestingly did not at all call and maybe didn’t even consider itself as such; The Inklings. The Inklings are an infamous group of authors who came together in the 1930s, headlined by C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. At face value they had informal gatherings over 14 years at Magdalen College in Oxford, and a local pub. But as Diana uncovers in her book, Bandersnatch, what you’ll see is these men were intrinsically involved in each other's work and not only spurred each other on, but actually sparred with each other. Diana greatly dispels what she refers to as, “the myth of the solitary genius.” The charge and takeaway from this conversation is the opportunity and great benefit we can derive from investing in other’s pursuits, but not simply for their reciprocity, but what we directly receive from devoting attention to the endeavors of our peers. I was so convicted by Diana’s research and the benefit, I’ve put together my own, new mastermind, called the Driven Counsel, you can find it at drivencounsel.com, and the point is coming together to help each other on what we are most striving to progress in with our work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#938: Tom Ziglar recently quipped during a recording, “Do my core beliefs limit or unleash my potential?” It stopped me, as the question itself flips our paradigm. We inherently think our beliefs are simply based on facts. That’s what a belief is, right? And yet what we find in the following conversation is our beliefs can be held in a way that as Tom said, limits us, or unleashes our potential. And it’s not mere semantics, if you are willing to consider our beliefs are not based on proven fact, but on decided choice. That does not negate an absolute truth like gravity, and for those of you who are thinking spiritually, this is why it’s called having a faith, not having a proof. This show has the potential to jack up your doctrine, but elevate your capability. If this episode sparks questions you want to dig in further on and take the topic from hearing to truly learning and applying, come join my new community at driventolive.co Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#937: I’m back with neuroscientist Dr Amishi Jha who schooled us on the power of our attention and what we give it to, in episode 935. This time we talk through her personal habits for success. As you heard in the intro from her, we got into meta awareness, which to me brought me back to something comedian Michael Jr said to me in our recent show together, where he referenced “thinking about what he’s thinking about.” Being aware. Being present in the moment but realizing our reality is moment by moment and not to get so hung up on any one point. It speaks to me of holding things lightly, which is a current focal point of mine. You’ll find this and other powerful nuggets in this short episode. Find Amishi’s book, Peak Mind, wherever you get your books. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#936: I asked the Ziglar audience this question, “If I asked you to tell me the positive attributes of someone in your life whom you like and respect, you'd easily do it. However, if I asked you to rattle off the positive attributes of yourself, how does it initially feel? Can you readily conceive of it or does it set you back a bit?” The responses were compelling. Almost everyone said it caused them to pause. Tom Ziglar and I talked through the comments and I feel the episode turns things upside down with how we view humility and egotism. Following the recording of this show we talked about this issue of why we struggle to speak to our own attributes in my Driven To Live community, which you haven’t heard about yet because I haven’t publicly launched it… But what occurred to me is we spend our lives being quote, humble, so as to not seem egotistical. We generally go further and make a habit of minimizing ourselves and we can’t even take a compliment. But when it’s time to get a job or start a business and appeal to a bank or investor, or try to sell ourselves as a coach, we are flush with long lists of our accomplishments and attributes. But aside from that, we diminish and deny what we know we are good at. Why? I’m going to que up a :50 second clip from Zig Ziglar on the issue, then Tom Ziglar and I will walk you through the convicting comments. We’d love your comments as well, just find me on Facebook at agentkmiller. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#935: Dr. Amish Jha is a professor of psychology at the University of Miami. She serves as the Director of Contemplative Neuroscience for the Mindfulness Research and Practice Initiative. Dr. Jha’s work has been featured at NATO, the World Economic Forum, The Dalai Lama's Vision Summit, and The Pentagon. She has received coverage in The New York Times, NPR, TIME, Forbes and more. She is the author of Peak Mind, which we discuss in this show. She has spent the last 25 years researching the science of attention through extensive work with the US Military, medical professionals, elite sports teams, and more to answer this question. Her TED Talk on "How to Tame Your Wandering Mind" has over 5 million views Here’s the deal...think of the world of business and marketing, but then the role of parents and teachers, and you readily hear the phrase of, “How can I get their attention?!” Today we spend everyday tuned in to screens whose sole purpose is to get our attention, to the degree we now must make a focus on, “How do I get my own attention?” Our attention is in many ways, the only power we have. The only thing we have an influence and impact on, the only thing we can help or find success in or enjoy, is what we give out attention to. We all know the concept of budgeting our money, and our time. Now we’re faced with budgeting our attention, and if we can’t control our attention, all hope is lost toward much progress in our lives. Find Amishi’s book, Peak Mind, wherever you get your books. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices