Sometimes an analogy comes along that just clicks. It takes information you may have heard before and helps drive it home. That is what happened with my guest in this show regarding the brain chemicals that fuel our drive and motive. TJ POWER is a neuroscientist and innovator in the area of mental health. His work focuses on providing easy-to-adopt, scientifically backed teachings that empower people to take action towards healthier lifestyles. He has a really big following and when I got his book, I understood why. The book is, The DOSE Effect: Optimize Your Brain & Body By Boosting Your Dopamine, Oxytocin, Serotonin, and Endorphins, and in it, TJs explanations helped me see how I am increasing or depleting the brain chemicals I rely on to do the important work in my life. Most of us have heard much about dopamine, but do we really understand how we increase and decrease it? Then also, oxytocin, serotonin, and endorphins. Now the point isn’t to understand each one fluently, but to understand how they help us and what we are doing in our everyday lives that help or hurt them. I was most interested in what I learned about how I’m depleting some of these chemicals early in the day, and then later it feels like I’m lacking drive and motivation. I trust in listening to this conversation, you will be able to understand what these chemicals do for us and like me, now understand how to far better leverage them to do the things you truly want to do. You can find TJ Power on Instagram @tjpower.

In the world of personal development you hear a lot of stories of people making huge changes. Rags to riches, zero to hero, and massive life turn-arounds. It makes for a great story, but is it relevant for us? In 2003 I was at a critical juncture in my life where I'd bit off more than I could chew. I abruptly quit my cycling career and business, moved my wife and three kids cross country and started a new life. It was needed. Since then, most changes have not been quite so massive. We tend to look at the circumstances to guide, if not force us to action. But now I pay attention to where my heart is. With that in mind, I bring you a story that I feel will help you consider where you are. Rich Roll. The guys is famous for his story, and today, his gigantic podcast, the Rich Roll show. Years back I sat down with Rich to dig into his story. Here are the highlights; Rich was 39 years old with degrees from Stanford and Cornell. He was a corporate lawyer, married with three kids living in a dream house he'd built. Then one evening he finds himself at home, it's 2am and he's spent hours watching TV and eating junk food and he's winded after walking up eight steps in his home. An image of his wife and daughter at her wedding in the future, and he wasn't there. He'd died from ill health. He looked in the mirror and saw a fat, out of shape, very unhealthy man, depressed, self-destructive and utterly disconnected from who he was and what he wanted to be. He said, “In that precise moment, I was overcome with the profound knowledge, not that I needed to change, but that I was WILLING to change. And I understood that any true or lasting lifestyle change would require rigor, specificity, and accountability. Vague notions of “eating better” or maybe “going to the gym more often” just weren’t going to work.” And, the rest you're about to hear more about. He became an ultra endurance athlete and now is a brand, in and of himself, of healthy living and life transformation. Find him on your podcast player, just search for Rich Roll.

Most everyone has heard of the twelve steps concept associated with Alcoholics Anonymous. I bring it here for all of us, whether you think you are addicted to anything or not, which is an arguable claim for anyone. Ian Morgan Cron is the bestselling author of The Road Back to You: An Enneagram Journey to Self-Discovery, which has sold over one million copies. He’s a psychotherapist, Enneagram teacher, Episcopal priest, and the host of the popular podcast Typology. I had Ian on the show before to talk about the message in his book, The Story of You: An Enneagram Journey to Becoming Your True Self. Since he was on my show, Ian, this leader of so many, relapsed. It’s not an incredibly sordid story, but he has a past history of substance abuse. All these years later, he found himself reliant on some substances and questioning himself in significant ways. In this episode we talk through his story. We talk about what Ian calls, “the great human ache.” We discuss what addiction is, the need we all have for community to keep us on a healthy path, and how the 12 steps are relevant for anyone seeking well-being. Ian breaks down how the 12 steps covers making peace with God, making peace with self, making peace with others and cultivating a healthy and fulfilling life. Ian has captured all this in a brand new book, The Fix: How the Twelve Steps Offer a Surprising Path of Transformation for the Well-Adjusted, the Down-and-Out, and Everyone In Between. I hope you’ll join us in this conversation.

I don’t think any of us chooses to wear a mask. But creating and wearing them is taught to us from early on. And in some cases, it’s a necessity to survive. Now here we are. Are we wearing a mask? More than one? I’m bringing an incredible show back from the archives. Lewis Howes is the host of the podcast, The School of Greatness, one of the biggest podcasts alive at this point. Lewis is a big, strapping looking guy. A former pro ball player. He looks like the definition of “all-American.” But few know that he began life with a learning disability, which led to being alone and bullied in school, to being sexually abused as a child. Years back he took on the topic of masculinity. Lewis’ research looked at the majority of stress, anxiety, and pressure men feel is due to the masks they wear. Now, if you’ll listen in, I feel the concept pertains very much to women too. Think of masks as certain personas we fall or buy into, and get trapped in. Then live from in a limiting life construct. Do you have any stress or anxiety? Do you feel any pressure? Would you like to be free of it? Let’s look at the masks you may find out you are wearing. You can connect with Lewis at “The School of Greatness” podcast, which you’ll find at the top of the podcast charts. You can get his book, The Mask of Masculinity, wherever you buy books, and find Lewis anywhere at Lewis Howes.

The catalyst for writing my book, What Drives You, was realizing what I most wanted for my children, was for them to know what they truly want, and wrap their lives around it. From this inspiration I realized that while I had always been driven, I had often been unclear what I wanted, and what I was driving toward. As time goes on, I continue to perceive that truly, clearly knowing what one wants is one of the most elusive things of life. And getting clarity on one wants, may just be the ultimate success. So in this show, I bring on another expert on discovering what you want. Tracey Gee has also devoted herself to this quest for helping people understand what they truly, authentically want. Tracey is a leadership coach and consultant who has done extensive research in workshops and personal coaching with individuals seeking to discover what they want. She has a new book that caught my attention, The Magic of Knowing What You Want: A Practical Guide to Unearthing the Wisdom of Your Desires. We sat down to discuss how unaware people are of what they really want, and then talked through methodologies Tracey uses to help people, that I am very intrigued by. You can find Tracey’s new book, The Magic of Knowing What You Want, at Amazon, and find her at traceygee.me.

I get to have deep conversations with people who have had great influence in the lives of so many people. Dr Henry Cloud became synonymous with the term boundaries after his groundbreaking book, Boundaries: When to Say Yes, How to Say No to Take Control of Your Life, and has influenced millions of people in doing just that, taking control of their lives. I was a mere 21 years old when Dr Cloud’s Boundaries book published and wouldn’t become aware of boundaries for another 21 years, and wouldn’t truly implement them in my life till much later. Today, 33 years later, as I record this, the book is ranked #256. Incredible. I got the chance to sit down with him and Tom Ziglar a few years ago when Henry brought his focus and insight into leadership and influence. We began talking about boundaries, then got into leadership and influence. Influence is one of my favorite topics, as we all want influence. Without it, we can’t help anyone. I think you’ll get great insight from our discussion. You can find all Dr Cloud has to offer at his website, drcloud.com. And I don’t know anyone who would not benefit from reading his book on Boundaries.

Following is a story of…drive. It’s one of those stories of someone who turned their life around. But the story is not about them. It’s about you. My intent is that it gives you ideas, inspiration, and alters your perception to help you consider your own capacity. Not a capacity to do more. Most of us need to do less. But do more of what matters. My guest is world-record mountain climber, entrepreneur and mom of seven, Jenn Drummond. In 2018 she had a car wreck that should have ended her life. But it didn’t. It did, however, change her paradigm on life. Her epiphany was, “You don’t get to choose when you leave this life, but you sure can choose how you live it.” Strengthened by this awareness, she set out to live in a more authentic and adventurous way. Inspired to climb a mountain for her birthday, her son raised the stakes by suggesting Mount Everest. She accepted the pursuit. During her training, her coach upped the ante and proposed that she go for a Guinness World Record and become the first woman to climb what is called the 7 second summits. The pursuit matched her desire to live a life of significance, not just success. Today, Jenn is a world record holder who elevates others to master their own summit in life. Jenn is Host of the Seek Your Next Summit podcast, who’s focused on inspiring others to go beyond success to a life of significance. Her new book and my muse for this conversation is, Break Proof: 7 Strategies To Build Resilience and Achieve Your Life Goals.

Michael Jr. is a world class comedian who is not out to just get laughs. He is out to “give people the opportunity to laugh” and help set the stage for meaningful, purposeful content of the heart and soul. His personal mission is to “comedically inspire people to walk in their purpose.” He is accomplishing this in massive numbers while on stage with The Tonight Show, Jimmy Kimmel, Comedy Central, Oprah’s Super Soul Sunday and Tedx Talks. He’s featured in the movie, “Selfie Dad.” So I connected with Michael Jr while he was on set somewhere and we had our conversation via phone, which I never do. So while the audio is clear, it’s via phone. I was also with renowned businessman and author, Mark Timm, who actually introduced me to Michael Jr.. In this conversation you will hear how Michael views that all of us, in living our lives, are preparing and setting the stage. For what? For the punchline of our lives. The deliverable. Without that, it is simply a life of always preparing but never coming to the table with an offering. So listen in to this interview and we believe you will be significantly inspired and empowered to do just that - Deliver. Connect with Michael at www.MichaelJR.com.

Purpose is one of the most overused topics in the self-improvement world. Everyone is talking about it. But as we look at the culture, we see more apathy and depression then ever. It’s similar to all the talk on being healthy and happy and we are just getting sicker and sadder. Why? With purpose, why are we constantly talking about it but not finding and experiencing it? I have with me, Jordan Grumet, and you are about to hear a very different look at what purpose is and how we can start experiencing much more of our purpose. Jordan is a medical doctor turned hospice doc. He is host of the Earn & Invest Podcast. He’s author of Taking Stock: A Hospice Doctor’s Advice on Financial Independence, Building Wealth, and Living a Regret-Free Life, the book that landed him here on my show the first time. Now he is back with a new book titled, The Purpose Code: How To Unlock Meaning, Maximize Happiness, And Leave A Lasting Legacy. And we breakdown and dissect purpose. What it is, why we are missing it as a culture, and I’ll give you what to me is the big takeaway, right here in the intro: you will find much more of your purpose in the day to day activities that light you up, than pursuing the big, grand purpose of saving the world. It’s a very different approach to purpose that I found to be much more relevant, realistic, and attainable.