The Kevin Miller Podcast

We think of comedians as people who are funny, however I feel the laugh is just a symptom of a deeper reality. They connected with our emotions. It’s one of the most impressive skills I’ve seen and in this episode I am joined by Michael Jr for the second time. He has a new book titled, “Funny How Life Works” but as we talked the headline that came to mind for me was, “Life Lessons From A Very Observant Person.” Michael has shared the stage with the world’s greatest comedians, such as Jerry Seinfeld and Chris Rock. He’s been on all the late night tv show. He is a member of the comedic royalty. But unlike them he keeps getting billed as a “comedic thought leader” because that is his agenda. He is not there to get a laugh but to give a laugh. He is looking to open up your emotions with comedy so he can speak into and inspire your soul towards your purpose. What you’ll hear in this episode is a skill set of observation and connection I think anyone desiring to influence others will want to hear and benefit from. You might laugh a little here, but more so I think you’ll feel some revelation and equipping to be a better influencer and connector. I encourage you to find Michael’s podcast to laugh, be entertained, and learn, search for Funny How Life Works. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

During this time of pandemic I wanted to know where people were literally spending their hard earned dollars toward business growth. I asked the audience, “What have you spent money on to learn about business or grow your business in the last 24 months? Books, Courses, Seminars/Conferences, Coaching/Consulting, or anything else. There were many testimonies to coaching and courses, but books ranked #1. What Tom Ziglar and I got into was a discussion around taking in knowledge, and actually learning it. Making positive change as a result. It’s a convicting message for all of us, as I too am so eager just to jump to the next inspiration message and miss out on actually benefiting from the great knowledge I was just exposed to. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A working mom with two kids and writing a book. She hit burnout and needed a breakthrough. I'm back with Erica Dhawan who was with me in episode 883 to talk about digital body language, the title of her new book. She decided she wanted to be someone who woke up excited, so she made a new plan for her life. She changed her daily habits to allow for peace, clarity, and health. She gave up some shallow pleasures to enable herself to enjoy deeper pleasures she now cherishes. This is yet another story of a normal person like you and me, who made some small changes that produced abnormally great results. Connect with Erica at https://ericadhawan.com/ and find her new book, Digital Body Language wherever you buy books. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“When you sit down in the morning to your work and feel a bit lacking, what do you do? Do you just push forward and slog it out or do you work on motivating yourself?” This is the question I posed to the Ziglar audience. Zig Ziglar was the Grandfather of motivation and in this show I play a three minute clip which includes his classic quote, “People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing, that’s why we recommend it daily.” This episode is a real world look at what people do when they are facing a lack of motivation in a moment, as most of us do. Tom Ziglar and I cover what I feel are the tenants of motivation in the nitty gritty of real life. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I have a wake up call for you. It sure woke me up. We all have a digital personality and we don’t realize it. We look at text, email, and even video such as zoom as communication tools. But as Erica Dhawan tells us in this episode, over 70% of our business communication is electronic instead of face to face. So 70% of our relationships are formed digitally. Erica says our digital body language is either helping or hurting every relationship we have. If you look at the next text or email as simply a method to deliver a message and not as a human interaction, you are missing it. If you think your all caps or exclamation points or brevity or emojis are sufficient, you’re about to be schooled. Ultimately it comes down to this, continue doing it as you have, or realize there is a far greater opportunity for your work and life success if you listen in and hear how you can make some key adjustments and use every text, email, or zoom to solidify and enhance your relationships and significantly increase your success. Connect with Erica at https://ericadhawan.com/ and find her new book, Digital Body Language wherever you buy books. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Have you ever heard this? “The hard work of positive thinking.” Zig Ziglar was the royal king of positive thinking and I play a clip where he shares its power in our lives, but also the reality that it won’t enable you to do anything. To take it further, I asked our audience, this question, “Do you feel someone is either inherently positive and hopeful, or they choose to be?” Tom Ziglar and I read through some of the comments and of course, most feel that thinking positive is a choice. But what came out is... due to our upbringing and past and other predispositions, even genetic to a degree, our brains are more or less hardwired to think positively and be able to readily accept our efforts to choose positivity and hope. These are real issues and I believe the episode will enable you to better engage with and benefit your own striving to increase positive thinking and hope in your life. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We all have patterns in which we interpret and therefore respond to the world. This positively and negatively influences every relationship in our lives. The relationship with ourselves (self-image), with others, and with our spiritual faith. Beth McCord is a renowned expert in the Enneagram, which is a map for self-discovery and personal growth based on 9 basic personality types. The Enneagram accurately and clearly describes why you think, feel and behave in particular ways based upon your core fears and core desires. My focus in this show was not just to understand your personality type but to understand what difference it actually provides in your life. Much of Beth’s mission is to help us all be more self aware and understand how to use the awareness to benefit us and specifically not let any understanding of our weaknesses cause any shame or contempt. I think you’ll find new insight you can use for your immediate benefit in this episode, and if you want to figure yourself out more, Beth is offering us a free enneagram course at yourenneagramcoach.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“For your business, do you need increased marketing exposure to attract more prospects or better sales conversion with the prospects you are already attracting?” This is the question I posed to our Ziglar audience. People responded with needs for one or the other or both of course, but the discussion Tom Ziglar and I brought up was sequentially we need to ensure our sales conversion is up to par before we adequately market. But then we do go into some key principles for marketing to your specific demographic and giving more focus to qualified prospects who are relevant to buy over just generating big numbers of lame prospects you must filter through. You’ll hear some good counsel on finding the prospects most suited to you Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Should you start or have a podcast? We’re at a time when no communication platform is growing more. It wasn’t long ago when we had a couple hundred thousand podcasts but as you’ll hear in this show we’ve now eclipsed 2 million. It has an incredibly easy entry point and you can get in with little cost and effort. The audience for podcasting continues to grow as well. So the question so many people are asking again is, should I start a podcast? Can you get anyone to listen? If you build it will they come? If you have a podcast, how do you grow it? I bring you my main podcast mentor, Jordan Harbinger. He started early on with nothing and today the Jordan Harbinger Show gets over 6 million downloads per month. I’m around 400-450k for comparison. Warning, right at the outside you’ll hear Jordan flat out state he feels very few people should start or have a podcast. Do not be disheartened, as he qualifies this throughout the show and I strongly encourage you to listen and you’ll get incredible insight into podcasting and whether you will be well served to have a podcast. Or not. This episode will give you the wisdom you need to have a valuable podcast, or save yourself a lot of time and hassle by realizing it’s not a good fit. If you appreciate Jordan, find him at The Jordan Harbinger Show wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How we can we better respond to the things in our work we can not control? I play a clip from Zig Ziglar where he talks about the circumstances and people in our lives we just can’t control, and how we can better respond to them when they, as you’ll hear Zig say, “drop the ball.” But goodness did Tom Ziglar and I get into some interesting branches. One was questioning whether there truly is much that isn’t in our control, or at least that we can’t heavily influence to stack the odds in our favor. We discuss choice and consequences and what a secure person would do. That right there just captured me. Questioning ourselves in the moment, and overall. Are we responding, not reacting, like a secure person? Are we speaking and behaving and thinking, like a secure person? I find it so convicting and just prior to writing this sent a note to my wife and kids about it and admitting to some aspects of my own self where I am not behaving like the secure person I want to be. So in just a moment I’ll queue up a one minute clip from Zig and then Tom and I will dig in with you to help bring clarity to a perspective that can add dramatic peace and confidence to your life. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I bring you what I have found, across the board, to literally be THE most effective life-success tactic. You’ll notice I said “life success”, as in success in your life overall. If you only want to succeed in making money, while this tactic does provide the best overall chance, I have seen people make a lot of money without utilizing it well. I’ve seen people rise to the top of sports without it. Not as often as with it, but still, sometimes. If all you want is to write a best selling book, invent something, be a famous explorer...if it’s just one achievement you want to succeed in, it is possible without this tactic. Harder, but possible. However, I doubt there is anyone listening to this right now who wants to settle for only having success in one, solitary area of life. As that has proven NOT to provide fulfillment. Just a win. I won many cycling races but today they are way down in my life fulfillment and I rarely even participate in that aspect of my life. I’m going to reveal this tactic and you’re going to right away think, “Oh, that’s elementary. I do that. And I’m telling you, no you don’t. Just like my recent show on trust where simply being honest does not get you the benefit of trust, you think you do this, but I’m saying you don’t. Not enough. You are not understanding the full breadth of utilization to truly benefit from it. It...is...treating everyone like an awed, revered, and respected person who you proactively go out of your way to serve in an above and beyond fashion. I’m about to be joined by Dan Miller, my father, and we’re going to unpack this in a way that will radically open your eyes to how you are missing out, and how you can pivot and start benefiting, immediately. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“What makes you feel secure about yourself? What keeps your self-image in check even if you are unduly criticized?” If you feel this should be a simple, easy answer...the responses showcase it is not. And as you’ll hear in the show, it sure is not for me as well, or Tom Ziglar who joined me. But becoming acutely aware of what threatens your security, and then what you need to have ready to combat it, is tremendous for our overall confidence! I share a short clip from Zig Ziglar where he shares a profound analogy of how to view criticism, which at the core requires awareness of your own self image. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The success habits of David Horsager, my guest from episode 873 where we talked about trust, his platform and area of mastery. Not how to be trustworthy, but how to ensure people view you as trustworthy. David shares the habits that helped him lose 50lbs in five months and how he’s kept the weight off. Though today he doesn’t deprive himself of certain joys, such as ice cream, which I’d site as...sacred. But the stand out to me was talking about relationships and his foundational pursuit of…”just love em’”. He actually credits his wife with this perspective. When it comes down to it, no matter what, just...love them. Simple. Maybe too simple? But what is the alternative? If you want to connect more with David he has a new book out right now and he’s offered us an assessment to see how we stack up in exuding trust, go to trustedleaderbook.com/ziglar Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tom Ziglar and I tackle the issue of happiness. I asked my audience how in control of their happiness do they feel they are. A majority of course said 100%, but I actually pushed back on that. Even if you believe you have control, are you able to harness that control? If I asked if most everyone felt they could run a 5k in under 25 minutes I think most would say, sure, they could achieve that. But can they do it now? Same here. Saying, “Yes, I believe I can control my happiness” doesn’t mean you do. So is it really possible? We can’t control circumstances but amidst hard realities can we, do we, really maintain control over our happiness? It may not be possible in every moment, but how can we grow that possibility? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Trust. In today’s culture more than ever trust is the number one asset of success. But listen closely, we are all doing it wrong, to some degree. We inherently think of trust as something you have and are, or don’t have an are not. Most everyone hearing this will believe themselves to be trustworthy because they are honest, moral people who live with integrity. But you are about to hear eight aspects of trust you must intentionally and proactively engage in if you want to really be viewed as trustworthy and benefit from it in your life and business. To create loyal clients. To get their referrals. It takes more than you just having good character and being honest. David Horsager is with me and this is his devotion and area of mastery. He’s CEO of Trust Edge Leadership Institute, national bestselling author of The Trust Edge, which interestingly was one of the last books Zig Ziglar endorsed. David has a new book out right now and he’s offered us an assessment to see how we stack up in exuding trust, go to trustedleaderbook.com/ziglar Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An issue that bothers and concerns me with coaching, consulting and being a leader...humility. Or rather, a lack of it. There is a propensity when you have an area of expertise you teach or lead from, to then be the authority on everything. It’s not possible and I think more and more people don’t trust it. So how do you be a humble expert? That’s the show. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I’m back with Chandler Bolt. Chandler is a young and extremely successful businessman. As we talked about his habits for success we got into his unique living situation. He got a large house in Los Angeles and created his personal blue zone, the term made famous by Dan Buettner in regards to a community that fosters good health and success. Chandler took inquiries based on qualifications, to live at the house. He brought in other business owners in areas that supported each other. They have weekly mastermind meetings, and together have massively increased their business and life success. It’s a really great story you’ll hear in this episode. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We all have a very real struggle with opportunity. We so fervently talk about goals and desires and going after them, but seldom talk about the obstacles along the way. With any new achievement of any worth, there are relevant obstacles we must take into consideration. Discomforts and risks and what you’ll hear in this show after I polled the Ziglar audience is our biggest issue comes down to... ourselves. Our own fears and limiting beliefs and perceptions. I play a clip from Zig Ziglar, then Tom and I tackle this challenge we all acutely face. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Want a big way to leverage your impact? If you have any desire to make a positive influence in your life, there are few tools more powerful than...a book. But should everyone write a book? Does everyone have a relevant story or area of expertise that’s worthy of cutting down some trees? You won’t hear that. But we will open this topic up and help you see if there is merit in you considering a book, and if so, how best to go about doing it. I bring on Chandler Bolt, founder and CEO of Self Publishing School, and an INC 5000 company the last 3 years in a row as one of the 5,000 fastest-growing private companies in the US. Chandler has written six books himself and is renowned as a tour de force in publishing world, and in business. At only 27 he’s been incredibly successful for a good while, and you’ll hear us talk through this. For those of you in your 20s and those of you like me with kids in their 20s, this is an inspiring and equipping story. For those of you who find yourself literally interested in a book after this show, check out self-publishingschool.com/apply and you can inquire with his team about options! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our focus is visualizing our achievement and realization of what we say we want. No hoodoo guru stuff here but simply, if you have a desire or goal, can you in fact see yourself achieving it? So often we just seek the “how to” without solidifying our actual faith in actually realizing the end result. I share a message from Zig Ziglar where he cites a relevant story and posits that visualization absolutely does...work. So I asked my audience the question, “take any goal or desire you currently have. Can you literally envision yourself achieving it?” Tom Ziglar and I had a conversation, talking through the comments to further clarify the massive value of being able to envision ourselves achieving what we say we want. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of The Ziglar Show our focus is auditing the daily habits and routines of a trauma overcomer and current health, fitness, and brain expert. I’m back with Tana Amen. You’ll hear why she affirms herself with, “I am a warrior.” If you heard her gritty story from childhood abuse to modeling to trauma nurse to today’s health and fitness industry expert and healthy brain advocate in episode 865 you’ll know why this is important to her. She covers her devotion to hydration, establishing her daily mindset, healthy boundaries, and her joy in taking survival trips and challenging herself to do things that scare her. I’ve been doing these twice per month habits shows for years now and recently considered if I should discontinue them...and received overwhelming feedback from listeners that they received massive benefit from hearing the real life habits of others. So...here you go! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of The Ziglar Show we hear a classic message from Zig Ziglar on flea training. He’ll tell you how when you put fleas in a jar they’ll jump up and hit it over and over till they adapt to the lid, then they’ll only jump just high enough before they hit the lid. Take the lid off? They only jump as high as it was, and won’t jump out. Of course the point is...how we are so often like the fleas. We accept a limit that is not really there. So I asked the Ziglar audience, “What limiting conditioning have you overcome?” Tom Ziglar and I talk through the comments here and strive to help us all become aware of where we have accepted limits to our ability and capacity that are not really there. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A world-renowned health and fitness expert. She is the picture of health, beauty, and success. Then she found herself up on stage to speak to a room full of addicts who she was critically judging for who and how they were. Then she realized they were judging her too. Then she realized she needed to drop the facade, come clean, and admit she had come from where they were and maybe worse. Today Tana Amen is Vice President of the renowned Amen Clinics and still every bit the picture of health and beauty, but now an even greater level of success because her gritty story makes her success far more glorious. If you’ve had anything less than a perfect, shiny life, you will gain much from Tana’s message. If you are intrigued by our discussion I encourage you to get Tana’s book, “The Relentless Courage of a Scared Child: How Persistence, Grit, and Faith Created a Reluctant Healer”. I read it and now my wife is reading it. It’s just a powerful journey of someone who had every reason to fail and be overcome. But as you’ll hear, she made a different choice. You can also find more at relentlesscourage.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I play a short clip from Zig Ziglar where he describes the depth of foundations on skyscrapers. For a massive building to stand tall and not fall over amidst high winds and shifting earth, it’s foundational structure, what is built under the surface, is immense. For all of us, life has hardship and challenge. If you have a beating heart and interact with life at all here is heartache and sadness. What keeps you from being knocked over? I posed this question my podcast audience, “What foundational reason(s) keeps you from completely falling down? What keeps you striving and from giving up?” If you expect to hear big, broad statements like God and family, you will not. People were pretty specific and what comes out as Tom Ziglar and I talk through it is a core thread that is incredibly insightful. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ernest Hemingway is famously cited as saying, “Write drunk, edit sober.” Amongst the writing community this is an oft quoted statement and frequently depicted in film and story. Trouble is, Hemmingway didn’t say it. In this episode I’m back with one of my favorite all-time authors, Donald Miller, and we’re talking about his habits. One he shared was stopping the nightly beer. While he appreciates it, his best writing time is in the morning and he feels the alcohol, even a little, slightly compromises his work. That right there is the essence of good habits, when we have a reason big enough for us to make the healthier decision. If you are struggling to keep up a desired habit, obviously your motive isn’t clear. This is an interesting show, as Donald is the open, honest, and introspective guy that made his memoirs sell millions of copies. We cover vices, heroes on a mission, mindset, the benefit of not knowing any better, and him considering if he has an obsessive compulsive disorder in relation to tacos. To help your habits, Don invited us to visit heroonamission.com where he provides a life plan and daily planner course. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The question, “For those of you in business for yourself, whether full time making millions or a side hustle making a buck or two, where are you strongest in your business and where are you weakest?” Tom Ziglar and I talked through comments and what you’ll hear is a full circle of admissions. One is great at sales and poor at admin while another is wonderful at admin and struggles in sales. I believe you’ll find yourself taking comfort in the reality you can’t be strong in everything and yet still succeed in your business. A primary take away from this discussion is the value of spending as much time as possible in your strengths and getting as much help as possible where you are weak. While at the beginning of a business we need to wear many hats, we just can’t be competent at everything. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Donald Miller is back on the show for the third time. Don is one of my all time favorite authors, his memoirs such as A Million Miles In A Thousand Years and Scary Close were literal life changers for me. As you’ll hear in this show, Donald started out as a pure writer. But to get his messages out he had to learn to run a stellar business. Today he pulls in tens of millions and has turned his attention to helping other people get their messages and art out by learning business. Before coming on he said, “I believe everyone deserves access to a life-changing business education." And as you’ll hear he believes his methodology with his new Business Made Simple platform is more valuable than an ivy league MBA. And I’ll tell you, it’s impressive. As he did so brilliantly in his earlier books with a personal message, he has boiled down and refined the essence of business in a way I’ve not seen before. Find Donald at https://www.businessmadesimple.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I asked listeners, “What are the daily small deposits in your life that give you the most payoff?” With most of my guests on the show I do a “Habits” episode with them to hear about their daily habits and routines for success, and I often start by asking them which ones are priority. The most valued. This was in essence the same question, but put to listeners. Some of the topics shared, the favored daily deposits, covered things such as spiritual practices, exercise, healthy food, hugs, alone time, refocusing and reframing, positive input, sleep, and more. Tom Ziglar and I talk through them and share some of our own focal points, one of mine being a striving for light heartedness! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

2020 saw a lot of upheaval for small business, few people were untouched by it. In March I saw nearly $10,000 in monthly ad revenue disappear. I was doing work with Pete Vargas, king of the stage, and his entire business disappeared almost instantaneously. “Pivot” became the new buzzword and now we keep hearing stories from people who took a hit, made a pivot, and actually came out better as a result. But some did not, and it’s not because they weren’t brilliant people. Some industries are difficult to pivot in. So I wanted to hear someone in the trenches of small business tell us what they were seeing. Where are there more and less opportunities? Dan Miller is the renowned author of 48 Days To The Work You Love and one of the more renowned career and business coaches of our time. He’s also...my father! If you hear some of his guidance and desire to connect with him you can find him at 48days.com or email him at [email protected]. Next we’ll dive into what’s happening in small business in 2021! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of The Ziglar Show I wanted to hear from people who started a personal discipline that was drudgery, and succeeded in doing it until it actually became a joy. Or at least not complete misery. To showcase to us all that the beginning is the hardest part! You’ll hear about exercising and eating healthier, then into interesting areas such as finding nice things to say about your spouse! I kick this episode off with a two and a half minute clip from Zig Ziglar where he discusses the benefits of self discipline. From it I asked the Ziglar audience this question, “What is a healthy habit or personal discipline that started as a chore/drudgery/negative and today is a joy/pleasure/positive?” We heard from so many people about disciplines they started in misery, but today they look forward to. You’ll hear about exercising and eating healthier, then into interesting areas such as finding nice things to say about your spouse! For some the task is now an actual joy, for others just something they have peace with and really appreciate the pay off of. Tom Ziglar and I talk through a lot of the comments and share some of our own stories. If you want to join these discussions, find me on Facebook, my personal page is agentkmiller and the biz page is kevinmillerco Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I have a double Habits episode for you. What are the habits of one of the top 20 wealthiest people on planet earth, and the CEO that runs multiple foundations for him? As of this recording Charles Koch is worth $50 billion dollars and ranked as the 15th wealthiest person on the planet. Brian Hooks is CEO and President of three of Charle’s philanthropic organizations. I had them on together in episode 855 to discuss their co authored book, Believe In People. This is my habits show and I walk through the seven spokes on the Ziglar Wheel of Life and let them tag team on their answers. It was Brian talking about his spiritual habits who said he strives to emulate the attribute of being entitled to nothing and grateful for everything. Charle’s had lots of insight to share and ended by divulging he’s a big Bob Dillon fan! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of The Ziglar Show we talk about customer service. And here is the crux; delivering your product or service perfectly and expertly, is...not...enough. That will not win you customer loyalty and referrals. You’ll continually be frustrated at losing clients to competitors. You won’t get the referrals from customers that you’d expect. Delivering your product perfectly is simply meeting the initial hopes and expectations the customer had. Even if nobody else on the planet delivers as perfectly as you do, doesn’t matter. The only way to get your customers to come back to you time and time again and refer others to you is if you over deliver. Nobody does it, but it’s not hard. I asked the audience, “What do you do to create customer or client loyalty? What do other businesses do that earn YOUR customer loyalty?” I’m going to give you a 3.5 minute clip from Zig Ziglar where he explains going beyond customer service to customer satisfaction then Tom Ziglar and I talk through many of the comments to the question and lead a class on how to own your customer for life. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How do you succeed in business? The current corporate culture showcases power and control from the top to manage down to the bottom, and it influences even how small businesses structure themselves. It’s not working. Charles Koch is chairman and CEO of Koch Industries, one of the largest privately held American companies and who Forbes cites as the 15th wealthiest man in the U.S.. Koch Industries has over 130,000 employees. It’s safe to say he has more experience than most of us in this area. Charles is an influential philanthropist focused on developing effective solutions to social problems. He founded a non-profit organization called Stand Together for just this purpose and its CEO is Brian Hooks. Brian is also president of the Charles Koch Foundation and Charles Koch Institute. They have written a book together called BELIEVE IN PEOPLE: BOTTOM-UP SOLUTIONS FOR A TOP-DOWN WORLD, a message of inclusion and empowerment. They show how every single one of us has a gift we can use to find fulfillment and build a better society. And they show that by coming together, we can tackle our country’s biggest problems and help every person rise. Find Charles and Brian at standtogether.org and find their book, Believe In People wherever you get your books. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

No one listening to this show is unaware of the concept of personal discipline. We tend to think of ourselves and others as either disciplined, or not. When in truth it’s a fallacy. Nearly everyone is disciplined in various areas of their lives, though maybe not the areas that gain the main spotlight and glory. Tom Ziglar and I talk through a lot of the comments as it helped give different perspectives to the concept of discipline. As you will hear however, I give much focus to the danger of believing yourself to not be disciplined, and again, question whether this is actually true. We also cover at length the errancy in relying on our self discipline when we are far better served to create environments where we do not need to rely on our self discipline. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The mere claim to have a formula for any aspect of success initially strikes me wrong, but to a degree, anything can be boiled down to the core ingredients. The difference in my opinion is this formula is less like a cooking recipe you just easily mix and bake and is more like an intense formulaic math equation you must work out. But Steven Kotler does in fact do a masterful job of deducing peak performance down into its essence and from it you can see where you need to give focus and attention and...work. Steven is a New York Times-bestselling author, an award-winning journalist and the Executive Director of the Flow Research Collective. He is literally one of the world’s leading experts on human performance. He’s authored nine bestsellers out of thirteen books total, The Future is Faster Than You Think, Stealing Fire, The Rise of Superman, and Bold and Abundance. His work has been nominated for two Pulitzer Prizes and translated into over 40 languages. His new book is The Art of Impossible and as of the initial publication of this episode there are eight days to go before it’s available and it’s already in the top 5,000 books in Amazon. You can go preorder now! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I kick us off with a one and a half minute clip from Zig Ziglar where he zeroes in on the myth that we should all just love everything about our work. In truth this is a tremendously frustrating issue for many people and a very real question is...just what I posted to my listeners. I asked, “If you have any frustrations with your work, do you feel you need to change the circumstances or just need to change your attitude?” Zig Ziglar was the king of adjusting your attitude to the positive because it makes everything better. But it does not mean that it’s all you should do. There are times when the circumstances themselves are limiting to you being fulfilled in our work and able to bring all you can to the table. So we talked in and around this issue and I believe it will give you great food for thought in regards to your own challenging work circumstances and whether and attitude change is in order, or you really would be best to change the circumstances. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

At the end of this episode, Matthew thanked me as many of my guests do, for giving focus to this incredibly important, foundational aspect of overall success...the personal habits, and in the last 30 seconds of the show said, "I think personal strategy is so much more important than business strategy, and it's the reason why most people fail in business and life or end up successful and have lost their family along the way.” Which is an understatement to say the least. But it is exactly why I started doing these Habits shows with guests years ago. It reminds me of how so often in the action adventure movies I watch with my kids, a main character ends up hanging by their fingertips on a ledge at a climactic point. And I always point out as I take my parental teaching moment, “To be able to do that, they must be doing their pull ups, every day!” But that is the point. When you see someone respond in a healthy, strong fashion instead of reacting in an unhealthy fashion, it’s not happenstance, but the result of working out that ability...every day. Being Superman and leaping tall buildings in a single bound comes from taking a few steps every day. You can get the first chapter of Matthew Pollard’s new book, The Introvert’s Edge To Networking, at theintrovertsedge.com/networking Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There are few leaders and influencers in the personal development, self-help, and health and wellness space who don’t cite journaling as a daily habit for success. From this I know a lot of people who try to journal because they think they should, but aren’t finding much value in it. I wanted to draw this out with the question I posted, then have someone give us insight. I started journaling around age 18 but simply wrote down the day's events every night. I went many years not journaling at all before resuming it and using it as somewhat of a prayer tool, and today do a lot of thoughts and feelings. Which should YOU do? Of course the answer is...it depends. Jess Ekstrom was my recent guest in episodes 845 and 847. She’s the renowned founder of Headbands of Hope but recently launched Bright Pages, an online, guided journaling platform. Of course we talk about Bright Pages and if you go to brightpages.com and sign up using code ZIGLAR she’s giving us all a free month, but the meat of the show is me throwing questions from you listeners to her and letting her address them so you can understand how to get true value from your journaling efforts, or possibly get inspired to start! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Matthew Pollard first wrote "The Introvert's Edge: How the Quiet and Shy Can Outsell Anyone," as it was his life story, an introvert who initially failed miserably at sales. He taught himself to succeed and he did so to a dramatic degree. But it wasn’t by becoming something he was not, but by leveraging his natural strengths. I was sent his second book that is coming out currently, "The Introvert’s Edge To Networking: Work The Room, Leverage Social Media, and Develop Powerful Connections." It caught my attention because I am an absolutely introvert, and I do not...like traditional “networking”. In this discussion you’ll hear why introverts don’t just have a chance to shine with sales and networking, but we actually have an edge, and not by becoming extroverts. I brought Matthew on because I think this is sorely needed information that will empower so, so many of you. And yes, extroverts will do well to listen to this episode. They will actually do well to do just that...listen. More. You can get the first chapter of The Introvert’s Edge To Networking at theintrovertsedge.com/networking Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Of course as the New Year is upon us we have many people making resolutions and thinking of goals, but this was a simple question to discern what is most on our hearts to make better in our life. As Tom Ziglar has shared, far more people relate to solving a problem rather than having a goal, which points to a reality of behavioral psychology, that we react and respond more readily to pain than desire. Hearing the variety of submissions I think will help raise your own awareness of what is most on your heart to make better in your life and open your eyes, ears, and heart to feelings you may not be fully cognizant of. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jess Ekstrom is the renowned founder of Headbands of Hope and was my guest in episode 845 where we talked about the strategy of optimism. This is my habits show she began by citing coffee as her first priority habit of the day which will endear her to many of you as it did me! But then she hit on something very close to home for me, in saying she’s come to realize the value of seeking calm and clarity before she lets her day get rolling. She often wakes with anxiety and angst in the morning with so many thoughts swimming in her head and used to try and address it by doing things, but knows that doesn't calm her. So even unplugging for 10 minutes to focus on breathing, then making sense of her thoughts by writing them down because then they don't seem so scary. She shares how long she went with her goal to get to zero, cross everything off the to do list and be calm, but says, “I've never been at zero." I'll always be getting there, there's never an arrival. I think right there, so many of you will resonate as I did and will want to hear more from Jess. On the note of morning writing, I highly encourage you to visit brightpages.com, her new online, guided journal. Sign up and use code ZIGLAR and she’s giving us all a free month. Her book, Chasing The Bright Side - Embrace Optimism, Activate Your Purpose, and Write Your Own Story was the muse of our first show together and you can find it wherever you get books. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I know a lot of you would love to have great counsel and personal guidance, for your businesses and business ideas, but time and money and who to trust is an issue. Again, I asked, “If you were given $10,000 to spend on business coaching, what are the top one to three issues you would want wise counsel on?” Tom Ziglar joined me to talk through your comments and it was really insightful to hear the areas people wanted help with most. We gave a good bit our guidance and resources and as business coaching is a key service Tom and Ziglar provide, we sourced that, but as you’ll soon hear, the main offering was to help you find the best solution, whether Ziglar provides it or not. Tom even gave out his email address! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Optimism isn’t a mood, it’s a strategy,” quipped Jess Ekstrom in our talk. This is a very candid walk through an amazing amount of mistakes and corrections that led Jess to found the wildly successful company, Headbands of Hope. A favorite part of the discussion for me was Jess sharing how some of her earlier business endeavors were easier to embark on because she didn’t have the “wisdom” to think about it too much, and today as the successful and aware business woman she’s more prone to analyze and question too much, something I believe is a pitfall of aware and intelligent people. This show will massively bolster your confidence in trying things, and will, as the title says, give you a strategy of optimism as a primary methodology. Jess has recently launched an online, guided journal that I’m excited about, at brightpages.com. Sign up and use code ZIGLAR for a free month. Her book, “Chasing The Bright Side” is an inspiring romp through her story of ups and downs and purpose and success. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I listened to a clip from Zig Ziglar about how he works at his goals and it got me to thinking about where we do and don’t generally work at personal growth. We may set goals but do we really work on them daily, like a task? If I want to get faster on my mountain bike, I work out. I go on rides, short, long, slow, hard. I am consistent. I track my progress. Am I this diligent with my goals? With what I say is most important in my life? So I posted this question on Facebook, “If I snooped through your home, office, and car, what evidence would I find of you pursuing personal growth?” And honestly I had it in mind to wonder, is there enough evidence to convict you of? I just posted the question moments ago and I see Facebook notifications dinging my computer. I think it will be an interesting show. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

95% of the time I ask an influencer what their most valued daily routine is, they answer with the morning. In this show my guest from episode 841, Jonathan Milligan, does the same. However he goes further than devotions and exercise to further safeguard his morning time for creative work, leaving the afternoon and lesser energy for creativity for admin work. Jonathan is the author of “Your Message Matters” which made for a powerful show. He shares the concept here of Maker Mornings and Manager Afternoons. As with any guidance there are of course exceptions. You may find yourself doing creative work late at night or other times, but by far and large we do find the brain is well prepped for creative thinking earlier in our days. Jonathan shares a lot of behind the scenes info on how he runs his growing business and keeps himself where he needs to be with healthy habits and routines. Find Jonathan and his incredible book, “Your Message Matters,” at yourmessagemattersbook.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Do you know? I asked The Ziglar Audience and received over 400 comments. Real comments. And they fell into seven categories. To discuss it, Tom Ziglar and I brought in Ziglar’s Spiritual Director, Janie Seltzer. Janie is a very frequent personality on the Ziglar Facebook page which has over 5.5 million followers. Her Facebook lives are extremely popular as she brings true hope and inspiration to everyone. This is a timely show as our current culture is experiencing more fear, anxiety, and uncertainty than possibly ever in most of our lifetimes. I want to give a special call out to you creative minds out there. Those moved by beauty and lyrics and poetry. Janie Seltzer has a new book titled Even If - The Transforming Power of Perfect Love, and it’s far from your normal inspirational book. Take the profound counsel from Zig Ziglar and marry it with art and poetry and you find the messages flowing in from other perspectives of your brain. In this show you’ll hear some tremendous hope and inspiration from Janie, and you can connect with her more and get her book, Even If, at janieseltzer.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Special insert - No intro, outro, or ads. Just a brief, solo message from Kevin Miller about a very important missing piece of personal development he’s learned after hosting The Ziglar Show for the past six years and hearing from over 150 of today’s greatest influencers and leaders. Why are they so successful and fulfilled? Why are you not? It’s the platform for a new podcast, Motive. Kevin’s new platform from this important message is at kevinmiller.co. The punchline, the missing piece is at minute 12. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Who are you to think you have something worthy to offer anyone?” This is perhaps the unspoken yet primary enemy of personal development. We want to be of value to people. We want to help them. We want to take some lessons we’ve learned and lift others up. But the biggest hurdle is our own self doubt. We as humans are far more prone to see our faults than our gifts. Which is why I have a tremendous show for you today. I’ve known Jonathan Milligan for many years and witnessed him help a tremendous amount of people discover the message they have to offer and effectively get it into the market. His success in doing so did not go unnoticed and he was courted to write a book. Which he did, it’s called, “Your Message Matters: How to Rise Above the Noise and Get Paid for What You Know. The book starts off with believing you truly have a message, then leads you into defining it and finally to marketing it. Jonathan Milligan is an author, blogger, speaker, and online business coach and has spent the last decade guiding and directing creative professionals on how to pursue meaningful work. Jonathan has a tremendous story of leaving his high school teaching position and finding his way over seven plus years to 2009 when he started his own portable lifestyle business online. Today he teaches others how to build a business with their passion, story, or message. Find Jonathan and this profound book at yourmessagemattersbook.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I asked the Ziglar audience, “What are you grateful for, right now. First thought. And why?” We got 50 comments in less than three hours and they quickly fell into some specific categories, with two far outstanding. Tom Ziglar and I start off with the miscellaneous one offs that were really interesting and insightful, as we led up to the two main categories which you’ll hear about 20 minutes into the show. My focus however was this, here are the main things we say we are grateful for. Do our daily and ongoing priorities line up with what we say we most value? As I’ll divulge this, the two greatest areas of gratitude are two of the most neglected if we look at the culture. Nobody cited gratitude for their smartphone or TV which undoubtedly gets so much of our attention. Only one person said their work, though we all generally spend more time devoted to our work than anything else. This episode then became a significant audit and exercise for us all to consider. Is what we are most grateful for where we most invest our time and resources? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I’m back with John Bevere to talk about the healthy habits and routines he relies on to support his life. His work. His calling. His new book is titled X: Multiply Your God-Given Potential and this was much the focus of our talk, how John personally strives to multiply his own God-given potential through the day to day goings on of life. If you didn’t catch my talk with John in episode 837, just yesterday on Facebook Eric Michael Cap shared the show and tagged me, his post said about the episode with John, “Kevin, I loved It! I’m convicted & Inspired. One of the best Episodes of any Podcast I've listened to all Year. Thank You for the Great Guests & Discussions on TheZiglarShow & Best Wishes re your new Motive podcast. Cheers!” There is my sales pitch to check out episode 837, and to listen now as I’m back with John as he leads off with his morning routine and health and wellness and his quote I titled the show with, a perspective he perceives of God saying to him, “Your Body's My Temple, Take Care Of It”. You can find John at johnbevere.com and his new book, X: Multiply Your God Given Potential wherever you get your books! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices