Podcasts about seven habits

Leading Into 2026: Executive Pastor Insights Momentum is real. So is the pressure. This free report draws from the largest dedicated survey of Executive Pastors ever, revealing what leaders are actually facing as they prepare for 2026. Why staff health is the #1 pressure point Where churches feel hopeful — and stretched thin What worked in 2025 and is worth repeating Clear decision filters for the year ahead Download the Full Report Free PDF • Built for Executive Pastors • Instant access Welcome back to another episode of the unSeminary podcast. Today we’re sitting down with an executive pastor from a prevailing church to unpack what leaders like you shared in the National Executive Pastor Survey, so you can lead forward with clarity. We're joined by Jeremy Peterson, Executive Pastor at One Church, a fast-growing multisite church with five physical locations across New Hampshire and a strong online presence. Jeremy is also a key leader behind the Executive Pastor Summit (XPS), investing in the health and effectiveness of second-chair leaders across the country. In this conversation, Jeremy reflects on insights from the National Executive Pastor Survey and shares practical wisdom for strengthening one of the most critical—and often fragile—relationships in the church: the partnership between the lead pastor and executive pastor. Is your relationship with your lead pastor thriving, strained, or somewhere in between? Are you feeling neutral when you know the relationship needs to be strong? Jeremy offers clear, experience-tested guidance on building trust, maintaining alignment, and leading with integrity in the second chair. Why trust matters more than ever. // The survey revealed that just over one in five executive pastors feel uncertainty or strain in their relationship with their lead pastor. While not a majority, Jeremy believes the number may actually be higher in practice. He notes that many executive pastors quietly wrestle with trust—either feeling that they are not fully trusted by their lead pastor or struggling to trust their lead pastor themselves. Because the lead pastor and executive pastor sit at the intersection of vision and execution, even small fractures in trust can ripple throughout the entire organization. Consistency builds confidence. // One of the clearest ways trust erodes is through inconsistency. Jeremy emphasizes the importance of being dependable—doing what you say you're going to do, following through on commitments, and showing up with a calm, steady presence. When executive pastors overcommit and underdeliver, even unintentionally, trust begins to erode. Over time, staff and lead pastors alike start to hesitate, slowing decision-making and momentum. Reliability, Jeremy notes, is one of the most underrated leadership strengths. Truthfulness over comfort. // Another major trust-builder is honesty—especially when the truth is uncomfortable. Executive pastors often act as filters, but withholding information eventually backfires. Metrics like attendance, giving, or volunteer engagement will surface eventually, and surprises damage credibility. Jeremy argues that leaders would rather hear hard truth early than manage damage later. Speaking truth with humility strengthens trust far more than protecting feelings in the short term. Clarity before problem-solving. // Jeremy observes that executive pastors are wired to fix problems, sometimes before fully understanding the lead pastor's intent. When clarity is missing, misalignment follows. At One Church, Jeremy maintains a standing weekly lunch with the lead pastor to ensure they are synced on priorities, vision, and concerns. These rhythms allow for shared understanding and prevent assumptions from growing into frustration. Trust, he explains, grows when leaders take time to listen before acting. No surprises. // A core operating principle between Jeremy and his lead pastor is the “no surprises rule.” Whether it's service times, staffing changes, or ministry initiatives, quick five-minute conversations prevent hours of repair later. Jeremy encourages executive pastors to drop into offices, make short calls, or send clarifying texts rather than letting uncertainty linger. Small misunderstandings left unaddressed often become major relational landmines. Prayer as a leadership discipline. // One of Jeremy's most personal insights is the impact of daily prayer for his lead pastor and staff. Rather than praying only during crises, he now prays intentionally for his lead pastor, lead pastor’s spouse, and children by name. He's seen this practice soften frustrations, realign perspective, and strengthen unity across the team. Trust sets the speed of the church. // Referencing Stephen M. R. Covey's Speed of Trust, Jeremy explains that trust is not just relational—it's operational. High-trust teams move faster, communicate clearer, and recover quicker from failure. Low-trust teams slow down, double-check motives, and avoid risk. For executive pastors, cultivating trust is not optional; it's foundational to healthy church culture. To learn more about One Church and reach out to Jeremy, visit church.one. For executive pastors looking to grow in their leadership, learn more about the Executive Pastor Summit at xpsummit.org. Watch the full episode below: Thank You for Tuning In! There are a lot of podcasts you could be tuning into today, but you chose unSeminary, and I'm grateful for that. If you enjoyed today's show, please share it by using the social media buttons you see at the left hand side of this page. Also, kindly consider taking the 60-seconds it takes to leave an honest review and rating for the podcast on iTunes, they're extremely helpful when it comes to the ranking of the show and you can bet that I read every single one of them personally! Lastly, don't forget to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, to get automatic updates every time a new episode goes live! Episode Transcript Rich Birch — Hey friends, welcome to the unSeminary podcast. We are in the middle of these special episodes we’ve been doing where we’re reflecting back on what you said in the National Executive Pastor Survey. And what we’re doing is bringing executive pastors from prevailing churches on to really help us wrestle through some of the things that we saw and ultimately to provide some help for you as you launch here into 2026. Today, it’s our privilege to have the executive pastor of all executive pastors, Jeremy Peterson with us from One Curch. It’s a fantastic church, a multi-site church in Northeastern United States. They have five, if I’m counting correctly, outpost locations in New Hampshire, plus church online, plus Jeremy’s involved in a leading XPS, a great conference for executive pastors and and and and campus pastors. And he does all kinds of amazing stuff. So Jeremy, welcome to the show. So glad you’re here.Jeremy Peterson — It’s quite the introduction. Thanks, Rich, for having me.Rich Birch — This is the problem you become you become a more than one-time guest. And I’m like, what do I say? He’s amazing. That’s what you should say. Tell us a little bit about One Church, to set the context for people, understand a little bit about your background, where you’re at.Jeremy Peterson — Yeah, so I spent the first 17 years in ministry in Texas, and I’ve been here for 12 and a half years now, and it’s it’s pretty wild. I said I would never be on the mission field. I grew up as a missionary kid, and so being here, I really feel like I am on the mission field. I’ve been here 12 and a half years, and we just celebrated like our 4,000th person that’s been baptized… Rich Birch — Amazing. Jeremy Peterson — …since I’ve been here. And so it’s just it’s just been quite the ride being a part of what God’s doing and just trying not to mess it up.Rich Birch — Yeah, it’s so good. Well, this thing we’re looking at today to kind of kick the conversation off, there was a a stat that jumped out to me from our study. 22.32% of executive pastors, that’s just over one in five, are either uncertain or experiencing strain with their lead pastor. Now, I know that that’s a minority number. It’s not like two-thirds are like struggling with this. It’s it’s It’s just over one in five.Rich Birch — But to me, that’s still a hauntingly large number that one in five executive pastors we would bump into and say, I’m not sure that that relationship is working well. So I’d love to start the conversation there. Why do you think the lead pastor and executive pastor relationship, why is there kind of tension there? Why would people be experiencing that? And and personally, I think, man, that relationship’s got to be strong for the the health of the church. But help us understand, maybe set the problem up for us. What what do you think is going on there when that relationship is strained?Jeremy Peterson — Yeah, it’s interesting to stat, Rich, because talking to a lot of executive pastors around the country like you do, I feel like that number may even be a little bit higher. Rich Birch — Right. I think so surveys are incredibly helpful, but I feel like one of the biggest challenges or conversations that I’m having on a regular basis with other executive pastors is I’m not sure the lead pastor trusts me. Sometimes it’s like, I’m not sure that I trust my lead pastor.Jeremy Peterson — And so I think there’s definitely a tension, which I think it’s, there there are two roles that are so incredibly crucial for the church, right. You have either the cedar senior or lead pastor, who’s really the one casting the vision. And you’ve got the executive pastor in that second role or that second chair, that’s really called to like help execute on the vision. And when there’s like, trust or mistrust, lack of trust, whatever it may be, that can cause a lot of, i think, tension and frustration if it’s not if it’s not addressed in some capacity.Rich Birch — Yeah. And I do get these calls as well. I sometimes what happens is i’ll I’ll be talking to an executive pastor, maybe I’m on site and they’ll pull me aside and they’ll say, you know, I just love my lead pastor. So fantastic. They’re an amazing vision-caster. They do such a great job. And then they they rattle off all this real positive stuff. And then they’ll say, but can you help me get better at this relationship how do I… Or it’ll be a lead pastor will pull me aside and say oh i just i love the executive pastor here and they’ll same thing rattle off that person’s so good at getting stuff done and they manage the team so well and never worry about money stuff, and and then there’s a but. But could you help me get better at that relationship like ah it’s like we’re struggling around this. Rich Birch — What would be some early signs in conversations that you’re having that maybe there’s the trust is starting to erode a bit that that’s drifting towards this kind of, Ooh, this is things are not in a good place. What are some of the telltale signs in those conversations that you see? Ooh, we maybe have a trust problem here.Jeremy Peterson — Yeah. Trust is really interesting because I feel like, um, really time builds trust. I mean, I feel like I’m, I usually kind of err on the side of like, hey I’ll trust you until you, until you cause reasons to bring like, untrust or whatever that may be… Rich Birch — Right. Jeremy Peterson — …or or break the trust. Because it takes, I feel like time, time is what really builds on trust, but it’s something that can be also lost overnight. Rich Birch — Very quickly.Jeremy Peterson — And so, um, I think a few things that I’ve noticed over the years, As trust begins to erode, I think there’s ah a few things that I would that I would hit on. I think um a few of them is just as being consistent. So like as an executive pastor, are you like are you reliable? Are you are you dependable? Are you doing what you say you’re going to do? Are you coming in with like a calm calm spirit? Sometimes senior pastors or lead pastors can be all over the place. They can be upset or frustrated, and if you kind of come in as like the is the constant like in the midst of a storm and you can kind of calm that down a little bit, I think that that’s that’s really helpful. Jeremy Peterson — I think a big part of it is just is being truthful. So like in the consistency, are you being truthful? Because a senior pastor needs somebody who can speak the truth into them. Most of most staff even other um I think a lot of senior pastors they’re just not very trusting people by nature, and so I think when you have somebody who can speak truth into you, I think it actually starts developing and growing the trust. I feel like if you’re the same time i feel like if you’re holding back all the truth, I feel like like trust starts eroding over time if you’re holding back some of the truth. Jeremy Peterson — So take something like weekly attendance, right? Senior pastors, lead pastors really, really care about seeing like about attendance. But if you are not being like fully truthful or transparent, little if you start holding some of the information, the information is going to come out in some capacity. Rich Birch — Right. Jeremy Peterson — And so I think if you start holding on to that, that can start breaking or even eroding the trust over time. So I think that consistency is a is a huge thing. I think another part of it is… Rich Birch — Yeah. I think… Jeremy Peterson — …oh go ahead.Rich Birch — No, no, I was just going say, it’s amazing how, and what was that poem? Like everything I learned about life I learned in kindergarten. It’s amazing though, how much the just the core idea of like, do what you say, do what you said you were going to do. Jeremy Peterson — Yeah.Rich Birch — Like it’s, but it’s amazing how for some leaders we, they seem to struggle with that, that it’s like, well, you said you were going to do this. Like, why did you not do it? It’s incredible. What else else were going to say there?Jeremy Peterson — Oh yeah, the other thing was just going to add is I think clarity is so crucial. You’ve been an executive pastor. I think sometimes we go into this like problem solving mode and we’re constantly trying to think of like, how do we solve this problem? How do we how do we get in front of it?Jeremy Peterson — And so a lot of times we don’t even have clarity, even necessarily around what the senior pastor or lead pastor are trying to accomplish. And we’ve already gone into like fix it mode before even we even have a full picture of like what’s trying to be accomplished. And if you’re not constantly like syncing up in some capacity with the senior pastor, I think that that’s where some of the trust can break over time. Jeremy Peterson — So like I have a standing lunch every single Monday, regardless of what’s going on, unless we’re on vacation, we get together and we sync up every single Monday to have a conversation. And I remember initially it was like, well I don’t know that I can commit to a, you know, weekly lunch time and doing this. And so unless there’s some random exception for us, Mondays is really that chance to be able to sync up, make sure that we’re on the same page. And and I think really in that time, kind of not only hear like what’s God placed on your heart, but but I’m building camaraderie.Jeremy Peterson — So like, and by camaraderie, I don’t I don’t feel like in any sense, like you as an executive pastor and lead pastor need to be best friends. But I feel like having some kind of common interests where you can you can spend some time together, you can have conversations that are not just work related, but a lot of it’s also about like hey what’s going on in your life. Like what’s happening not just here at the church but what’s happening in your own life? What’s going on? Like like being aware of those things, I think the more you can have those conversations it’s not just all about work all the time, I think that that helps build trust builds that relationship with your senior lead pastor as well.Rich Birch — Yeah, I’d love to come back to that the kind of friendship, co-worker relationship thing there.Jeremy Peterson — YeahRich Birch — But you said something earlier that caught my attention, this idea of a standing lunch on Mondays. Are there any other, in your relationship with Bo, a part of why I was excited to talk to you about this is as an outsider, I perceive you guys are like, those guys seem to like working with each other.Rich Birch — They’re like, the fact that you’ve been there for 12 years and you continue to be there is a sign of that and vice versa. He continues to love working with you and it’s a prevailing church. You guys are taking new ground. Mondays, lunchtime, that’s a core behavior practice, intentional practice. Are there other things that you’re doing as you think about engaging with him in a way that build trust or build that relationship?Jeremy Peterson — That’s a great question. So I think two things is, I will constantly drop into his office and have a five minute conversation, or make a five minute phone call. I’ve realized that over the years, how much time and probably pain I could have spared both of us… Rich Birch — Right. Jeremy Peterson — …had we just dropped in and had those conversations. And so kind of a a best practice that we would have now is like, hey, pick up the the phone and let’s have a five minute conversation… Rich Birch — Right. Jeremy Peterson — …instead of like potentially hours on the back end of things that we may have to undo or repair just because you know you may have had a question, doubt, frustration, whatever it may have been like. Just go ahead and voice those things and let’s have those conversations and then let’s move on versus like dwelling on it. Because I think that’s where the enemy does a really good job getting a foothold. And it’s like, hey, if I can just create a little little doubt or a little dissension here, then I can help break away and erode that trust.Rich Birch — Yeah, that’s good. Could you give me an example, that’s maybe not too close to home, of what one of those five minute things would be? Because I think that’s a good insight that like, hey, I should just like pick up the phone or drop by and like, hey, here’s something either I heard I can I can see that or I’ve thought of a similar thing around, like I see something that’s getting going and I’m like, I could wait to meet with the executive team and everybody or like, I but I really should just get my lead pastor’s thoughts on where his head’s at on this issue. Because if this thing gets too far down the road… Jeremy Peterson — Yeah. Rich Birch — …you know, we could be causing pain. What would be some examples of the kind of things that you think those kind of five minute drop-ins are helpful with?Jeremy Peterson — Yeah, I mean, something is simple as we had one of our locations was going from two services to three services. And so I had a conversation with the outpost pastor and we started talking through what those things are.Jeremy Peterson — And we’re like, yeah, these three times make sense. And we just kind of ran with it. And so in retrospect, we start going to print. So we get to the point where it’s like going on the website, it’s going to print. And he asked me, he’s like, what are these times? Like, why why did we land on these times?Jeremy Peterson — And so it was realizing that sometimes it’s those simple things, but if you can constantly be dropping in shoot a text, have a quick conversation, like the amount of things that we had to undo to fix something like that, was big. Another thing that he’s he’s shifted a lot now, but early on, it would not be uncommon for, say, one of our student pastors to go up to him and say like, hey, I know you did student ministry back in the day. I’m thinking about doing this. And he would be like, that sounds like a great idea. Just go for it. Not thinking through like all the details and ramifications of what that looked like.Jeremy Peterson — And so next thing I know, I’m in a meeting with one of our student pastors and they’re like, hey, Bo said that we should do this. And I’m like, hold the phone, like no we’re not we’re not doing that. Rich Birch — Yes. Jeremy Peterson — And so having those short conversations really trying to operate under the like the no surprise premise which is what him and I operate under. Our elders operate under that as well. So we’ve we’ve kind of shared the same thing with our elders is like, hey, if you have questions or concerns, pick up the phone, make a call, always choose to believe the best instead of assuming the worst.Rich Birch — Yeah, that’s good. You know, speaking with weight, you know, that’s always a shrewd move by staff to like, if I can just get the lead person to say, yeah, yeah go do that that. That’s like a blank check. Well, Bo said, you know, I can imagine that, thatJeremy Peterson — He signed off on it. It’s fine.Rich Birch — It’s fine. It’s totally fine. We’re buying the corporate jet. It’s fine. Let’s go back to the best friends versus coworkers thing.Jeremy Peterson — Yeah.Rich Birch — I see that this is an interesting relationship. And I’ve had I’ve had the privilege of working for three incredible lead pastors who I have really good positive relationships with. And, you know, we got a lot of stuff done, moved a lot stuff for the kingdom. And we’re friendly, like we’re we were close, but we weren’t like dudes. We were not like, you know, going to whatever dudes do like, you know.Rich Birch — And, so I sometimes had tension around in my own brain around like, should I be more friendly with these people? I don’t know. Help us understand, pull that apart. How, what do you think is healthy? What, what, what’s the kind of a minimum viable relationship? You know, how do we think through our you know, that, that side of this, this relationship?Jeremy Peterson — Yeah, that’s that’s a really, that’s I think it’s probably different for every senior executive pastor relationship, but I feel like there’s some who think that they need to be best friends. Rich Birch — Right.Jeremy Peterson — So like every vacation we do, like our families need to do this together. Every hobby, like we need to be a part of that together. What I’m also realizing is that there there’s probably some common interests that you share. Rich Birch — Right.Jeremy Peterson — And they may not be the same. So like your lead pastor may like to golf. You may not like to golf. I may really like to fish. He does not really care to fish. Rich Birch — Right.Jeremy Peterson — But but there are common interests that we’ve realized over time. So a lot of that could be sports. So like we follow one of the same college football teams. We both enjoy working out. And so being able to share some of the best practices in those areas, I think it is finding like, where’s their common ground? Rich Birch — That’s good.Jeremy Peterson — And how can we have a conversation? At the same time, I don’t know how healthy it is for you to be best friends. And because there are times where that could actually keep you from being fully truthful with them in in worries that you may like you may impact your relationship in some capacity. I think that’s a dangerous place to be.Rich Birch — That’s good. How do you think, so we’re really talking here about trust and how we’re building trust. How are we trustworthy people with our lead pastor and are seen by being trustworthy with our lead pastor and then vice versa? How do we, you know, continue to try to, you know, choose trust with them and engage in a way?Rich Birch — How do you think this idea of building trust ends up rippling into other relationships as, as, ah as we lead as an executive pastor? I often think, you know, we, we, we end up in, we’re in this really interesting kind of intersection of vision and execution. And so, you know, oftentimes I think lead pastors, when they’re doing their job, right, they are like a large portion of what they’re doing is thinking about vision and about the future. And then our job is to figure out, okay, how does that actually, how do we make that work?Rich Birch — And so we got to work with all these other relationships. What’s the connection here around trust and relationships with our staff, with our staff teams, maybe younger staff, what’s that look like?Jeremy Peterson — And I think it goes back to being truthful. If I overcommit and under deliver, then I can only do that a couple of times before like trust will start to erode. And I’ve seen it times over the years where like somebody way overcommits on this and they’re like, no problem, we can do this. And you know we’re going to have 10,000 people show up to it, but it’s going to be amazing. And then you you hype it up in such a way that then then the event or the function, whatever it is, happens. And then all of a sudden you like, you feel like you way under delivered. You can only that I think ah a few times before it starts to become like, man, I’m not sure. Like I know, I know Jeremy said he was going to do this, but like he keeps dropping the ball. He keeps committing at super high level and he’s not executing at that level. I think that that starts impacting things. um Jeremy Peterson — There’s a, there’s a great book out there um that Stephen Covey wrote. He’s probably most, probably most well known for The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, I think is the name of the book.Rich Birch — Yep.Jeremy Peterson — He wrote another book that’s not as well known, but the book is called Speed of Trust. Rich Birch — Yeah. Jeremy Peterson — And it’s a great reminder that like the more you work on being synced up together, the more trust begins to grow, the faster you can actually move and operate as an organization and as an entity, the more that that is built. And so so if you haven’t had a chance to read it, fascinating read. It was really helpful for me to understand that like, the more truthful I am, the more consistent I am, the more clarity I’m providing and actually executing at that level, then the more trust begins to build. And therefore allows us to actually move at a pretty rapid pace, the more that that foundation is built. Jeremy Peterson — And I think it impacts the staff as a whole. it’s It’s a little bit like the mom-dad relationship. Like if there’s tension or if they’ve like if there’s been a fight or an argument, like as as kids, like you can tell something’s off.Rich Birch — Right. Yes.Jeremy Peterson — What did dad say? Or you know why is mom upset with dad? um I think ah the staff can sense that. Like If something is off between the two of you, they can start to begin to wonder, doubt. They can even begin to you know, put in like suspicious thoughts of like, man, something must be off here. Something’s out of sync. And so I think that that’s a big part of it is just, is taking time, working on the relationship, and then just watching it kind of like grow and blossom over time. But also I would encourage, like if you’re a new executive pastor to the role, just realize that like you can’t buy time.Rich Birch — It just takes time.Jeremy Peterson — I’m an investment over years, the things that you’ve learned. You know, we talk often here about like failing fast and cheap because we feel like failure is actually needed to be able to accomplish what God’s calling us to do. But I think if you’re not truthful and transparent as that’s happening, then then it’s not long before it it starts catching up to you.Rich Birch — That’s good. That reminds me one of the the, you know, axioms I’ve talked about with our teams is, you know, there’s, there’s no bad information. There’s just because I think sometimes like something might go wrong, you might have an event, you might be a team member, you, you know, you busted something, it could be as simple as, you know, youth event, we had literally had this happen, we opened a brand new building. And the very first youth event, there was a car, we had a kid go through the wall, and it busted a like it, you know, but busted a wall, like his brand new building, $15 million dollar build. Wow. This is amazing. You know, put a hole in the wall. Rich Birch — And you know, there’s no bad information. What makes that hole in the wall worse is if we never hear about it, and it gets covered up and someone puts a, you know, well, we’ll just move this, you know, whatever, some furniture.Jeremy Peterson — Just put a big poster up there, it’ll be fine.Rich Birch — Yeah. Put a poster in front of it or whatever. That just gets worse over time. Like, sure. There may be information we don’t like, but there’s no bad information. Like we’ve got to be organizations that spread even bad news and you know how we react. That was one of the times where I felt like in that case that instance I said was, I feel like, oh like the Lord was with me because actually I responded super well. I said to the guy, I’m like, this is why we bought this building. I’m so glad you had all these students here. You know, let’s get it fixed and and move forward. I did not like paying that bill, but you know, it is, it is what it is, so. But we can’t, if we create organizations that are trying to hide the truth, that are trying to hide information that will erode trust long-term and you move way slower to the speed of trust, you know, information there.Rich Birch — So pivoting in a in a slightly different direction, but related kind of an adjacent neighborhood of conversation. What are you learning about developing, particularly trust with, or building up team members, younger team members, newer team members at, at One Church? How, what does that look like for you guys? How, how are you, how how does that fit into this whole idea of, you know, building trust with people?Jeremy Peterson — That’s a great question, Rich, because actually the and we can talk about it if we have time. But the Executive Pastor Summit this year specifically is really about leading up and empowering younger leaders. Rich Birch — I love it. Jeremy Peterson —But can I just do a quick jump backwards before?Rich Birch — Yes.Jeremy Peterson — Just just maybe this is a bonus thing. Regardless of whether you’ve worked with your lead senior pastor um for the last couple of months or the last 10 years, something that has really changed my heart and my perspective, and I think has really helped grow the relationship, is um it’s just daily be in prayer for him or her. I know that sounds very simple. Until about three years ago I would pray for Bo on a regular basis but it was just kind of like when I thought of it, or on the way to work, or Sunday morning…Rich Birch — Right. It’s a big thing coming up.Jeremy Peterson — Yeah, here’s a big thing coming up. But but man the the more we really challenge all of our staff to do this, but I know for myself praying for him, praying for each of his kids by name, know where they’re at in their life, relationships that they’re in, praying for his spouse, and I know he’s doing the same thing. Like I think that that God really takes that, honors that, and he helps kind of build trust through that. And so just an encouragement to some of you if you’re like wrestling with this, if you’re doubting, if you feel like the enemy is getting a foothold is, my encouragement is like, man, just take time every single day to pray for your senior lead pastor. And then I think that’ll make a huge difference. So just want to put that in. So I didn’t forget about, about that on the, on the back end.Rich Birch — No, that’s so good. That’s a great practical tactic for us around, particularly, you know, you think about the the lead pastor, there was a high percentage of these in this kind of one out of five that were really saying, so it’s 17.89 is the number of people, of executive pastors that said that they feel neutral about their relationship with their lead pastor. And man, we don’t want to feel neutral about this relationship. Like this can’t be like, it’s fine. Like that’s not good. That would be a great takeaway is say, Hey, what if I was going to spend time every day praying for my lead pastor, for what’s going on in their world, for their, you know, for their spouse, for their kids, all of that. I think that’s a great, great takeaway. Rich Birch — That’s a callback to a previous episode as well. I love, and I know I’ve joked with you about this before when we had you and Bo on talking about multi-site stuff last year, and you know, I asked this question around how do you know the campus versus teams and like the classic multi-site tension. And, um and I’ve retold this story way too many times. And, you know, I’m like, what do you guys do to fix this problem? And then Bo in his wise sort of way rolls out the like, well, you know, I pray every day for every staff member and their, and their family. And I found that that has really helped. And I was like, literally, I was like, Okay. So I’ve been doing this for 20 years, asking that question. Never, never once considered that. So I felt humbled.Rich Birch — But that’s a great, a great, you know, it’s not just like, and know that’s what I love about you guys. It’s not like you’re not saying that from like, oh, just pray about it. It’s like, no, this, let’s actually add this as a part of our lives and discipline and see what the Lord will do. You know, I think it’s amazing. It’s fantastic.Jeremy Peterson — Yeah, not to recap the whole thing, but man, like our staff as a whole has been doing that the last four and a half months, Rich. And even the interaction, some of the past frustrations, it’s crazy how much that’s minimized.Rich Birch — Right.Jeremy Peterson — And just simply praying for, I mean, we spend all this money to go to conferences and all this stuff. And it’s like, hey, how about here’s a printed off name of everybody on staff, their spouse and their kids. Rich Birch — Yes.Jeremy Peterson — Hey, just take 20 minutes a day and pray for them. Rich Birch — Yep. Jeremy Peterson —It’s like, oh yeah, I can I guess Ii can do that as it doesn’t cost much other than some time so. But anyway…Rich Birch — Well, and you start to see each other as humans, right? At the end of the day. Jeremy Peterson — Oh yeah. Rich Birch —And, you know, you start to be like, hey, this person’s like, they’re not just a task that needs to be done or, you know, they’re not just whatever the next problem is that’s going to come up. So, um yeah, that’s a great practical takeaway. Rich Birch —Well, let’s pivot on that. I want to make sure because I know that you can help leaders on this as well. As we think about younger leaders, what, you know, just ah ask a super wide open, what should we be thinking about? What are you thinking about? What are you wrestling with? Help us wrestle through that. you know, let’s talk about that.Jeremy Peterson — Yeah, something that’s really been on my heart the last probably year and a half is how do we empower younger leaders? And so I’m not sure who sits around like your, know, your decision making team. But God really put in our hearts several years back to start a residency program and really pour into some of these younger leaders. I know people took a risk on people like you and I, at some point when we were in our twenties and didn’t really know what we’re doing. And we made some dumb things. Like, I think I made multiple holes and multiple walls, which the senior pastor was like very forgiving at the time about it. Jeremy Peterson — But, but I just love that we get an opportunity to like really pour into invest and actually empower and, um, and and put some trust even behind some of these residents that they’re they’re going from like, okay, I’ve learned these things in school. I have this head knowledge of things, but from a practical standpoint, what does that really look like? Jeremy Peterson — And so so knowing that we were going to this conversation, I just sat down with one of our first year residents just to kind of hear what their experience has been so far, because I want to hear like the positives, the negatives and kind of what their insight was. But um but a few things that he shared shared with me was like, I love that you guys allow us to fail.Rich Birch — That’s so good.Jeremy Peterson — He’s like, I’ve been at other jobs before where it’s like, if something happens to me, if I miss it, then it could be like, hey, you’re going get written up for this. And for us for us, it’s really trying to create that culture of like, you are allowed to fail. You’re allowed to try things. We talk about failing fast and cheap. We hope it doesn’t cost us a lot. But but ultimately, like that’s a safe place in the residency to but to be able to be.Jeremy Peterson — Another thing he said was, um like I’ve been challenged to say yes to opportunities. And I was like, well, yeah, tell me a little bit more about that. And he’s like, no, usually kind of like you pick and choose. Well, yeah, I want to say yes to this one, but I don’t want to say yes to this. And he’s like, I’m in my early 20s. Why would I not say yes to all these different opportunities? And he’s like, I really want to be scrappy.Jeremy Peterson — And I’m like, well, tell me more tell me more about that. He’s like, no, I really want to be like more of a utility, like multi-tool staffer. And in my mind, I’m like, OK, I appreciate the the hustle and this younger resident because he’s already talking about like, OK, how do we create a staffing position for him? Rich Birch — Right.Jeremy Peterson — But I also think realizing that, you know, he said, if I get an opportunity to preach, I’m going to take the opportunity to preach. If I get the opportunity to host, I to take the opportunity to host. If I don’t have anything that weekend, that I’m going to see if I can serve with our production team and kind of learn the behind the scenes side of things so that I can help with that. Anywhere that’s needed. Jeremy Peterson — And so I love this idea that they’re willing to say yes, they’re willing to take some risks, knowing that the team believes in them. And so for us, and I think for me specifically, it’s been okay, who do I see being a part of our leadership decision making team in the years ahead?Jeremy Peterson — And know for, you know, if the average age in the room is like, say, in their mid 40s, like to bring in a early mid 20 year old is it like, wait a second, like, what is this, you know, what is this kid going to say to us? um I think they provide some incredibly fresh perspective…Rich Birch — 100 percent.Jeremy Peterson — …on what we’re actually doing well, things that we should do differently, and just ways that we can continue to like really empower them, challenge them, put them in positions that may make them feel uncomfortable. Like we have some that have are like almost deathly afraid of having you know being on stage and talk talking to somebody. But give them an opportunity to to get in there, host, I mean, hosting’s two, three minutes, but get an opportunity to get on stage, just kind of like, you know, put a little fire under them, and and see how they do. And and just watch them grow. And I’m always shocked, and I shouldn’t be shocked because because we’ve been doing the residency for a while, but how many of them not only step up into the challenge, but then actually go beyond our expectations.Rich Birch — Right. That’s so good. I think this is a critical important critically important for us to lean in on. You know In the last year I’ve been struck, I was with a lot of different churches, and but there were two in particular that stood out to me. These are like prevailing churches, folks that are listening in. If you were listening, they’re like name brand churches. You know these people.Rich Birch — And the thing that stood out to me was I was having in both of them, I just happened to be having a kind of a meeting with leadership meeting with the folks that were actually operational leaders of a whole bunch of different departments. It was like a kind of a cross section of team leaders. And I was pleasantly surprised with how young that crowd was. Like I looked around the room and I was like, man, these people are all in their late twenties, early thirties. And they’re running departments that are larger than, you know the majority of churches in the country.Rich Birch — You know they’ve got 15 staff reporting to them. They’re managing multi-million dollars of budgets. And these are prevailing churches. Now, I don’t think that that is a coincidence. I think both of those churches have unlocked something and have realized, wait a second, we have to pass this thing on to the next generation.Rich Birch — So when you think about the residency, kind of talk to us so about but about the residency program. What does that look like? And how did you get into that? How did that kind of get that ball get rolling? Help us understand. Maybe there’s someone who’s listening in today is thinking, hmm, maybe that’s something, a step we should take in this coming year.Jeremy Peterson — Yeah, so it was actually a retired baseball player who’s actually going to be at XPS this year. I’m going to do an interview with him. Because now that he’s retired, he’s still coaching, but the like now he’s kind of coaching up the AA and AAA players as they’re coming in and they’re moving up to the major leagues. But he really challenged us because we told him the staffing was one of the biggest challenges, especially in in the New England area. There’s not a lot of people that feel called to be up here this close to Canada, which I know you’re in Canada. But they’re they’re like, maybe if we can be further south, like a little more comfortable.Jeremy Peterson — But for us, we realized that staffing was a challenge. And for us, he really challenged us to to start a residency. And the residency, it’s either a one or two year residency. And you come on you come in you have two areas of focus. And so it could be, say, worship and production. And you’ll spend six months with each of those areas, really kind of hands-on. And so if you’re showing up here, you’re actually like, you will be on stage leading worship. You will be helping run production, whether it’s for our online service or at one of our outposts. But we really try to give as many hands-on opportunities as possible. Jeremy Peterson — As somebody who went to seminary, I think I had one class called practical ministry. And it was like, here’s one semester on, you know, how to do weddings, how to do funerals, but not a whole lot of hands-on experience unless I was volunteering at a church. And so for us, it’s really trying to take, hey, here’s some things that I’ve learned, like from a practical standpoint, but like actually let’s just actually see them like, live happening in real time and get an opportunity to be able to see like, Hey, is it something that God’s even really calling me to? And how can I use the gifts that he’s given me to further the kingdom?Rich Birch — Yeah, it’s so good. Love that. Well, we’ve kind of referenced XPS. So XPSummit.org. This is a conference that you are the grand content poobah for. Talk to us about XPS this year. This is to me is a must-attend event. Talk to us about it. and And where is it? All those kind of details this year.Jeremy Peterson — Yeah, sure. It’s it’s May 4th through 6th in Dallas-Fort Worth. And typically we’ll have 150, 175 executive pastors from different size of churches around the country. And and I appreciate the comment, Rich, but really my goal is to get the people that are there with the content, people like you, and other leaders who really want to come and pour into other executive pastors. And so, yeah, so if you, whether you live in the area or you just want to a day to hang out with some incredible leaders, Rich is going to be there, I’ll be there. And like you said, you can go to xpsummit.org and you can see some of the keynote speakers as well as some of the breakout leaders.Rich Birch — Yeah, it’s so good. Well, Jeremy, just as we wrap up today’s episode, bit of a curveball question here. As you think about 2026 at One Church, what’s a question or two that’s on your mind that you’re like, hmm, here’s some stuff that we’re thinking about. it doesn’t have to do with anything we’re talking about today. It could be just anything that you’re thinking about this year. You’re wrestling through thinking, hmm, I wonder what that’s going to look like in this this coming year.Jeremy Peterson — Man, I was not expecting that question. One thing I’ve been praying about is I think we’re going to start seeing a shift in different parts of the country um where we may have people that are more of like a like a tentmaker role in ministry where um I think there’s an incredible opportunity to do things in like the business sector, but at the same time still work in the church using some of the gifts that God’s empowered you with. And so I can see a shift happening where we have more of the tent making. It’s crazy to me that it’s been like less than a hundred years since the church has actually had like paid full-time staff… Rich Birch — Right. Jeremy Peterson — …and not only paid full-time staff, but multiple staff. And so I think I think we could see a shift there. I think a lot of its just to be trying to be, in the words of one of our residents, how to be a little more scrappy, and really looking for staff that is not just focused on one specific area, but somebody who is a utility player that’s like, hey, I can help out in these four or five different areas instead of just being like, I have this one skill set that I can bring. I think those are two things that are going to make a huge impact in the church in 2026.Rich Birch — That’s great. Thanks so much, Jeremy. I appreciate you being on today. If people want to track with One Church, where do we want to send them online to track with you guys?Jeremy Peterson — Just go to church.one. Little bit different of a website, but yeah, they can go there and you can find my email address if you want to email me or if we can serve you any way, I know um for for our elders, for Bo, our senior pastor, we love serving the local church as a whole. And so if you’re in the area or if you want to come and hang out with us for a few days, shoot me an email and we’d love to host you guys.Rich Birch — Great. Thanks so much. Thanks for being here today, sir.

In this episode of Around the School Table (xuno.com.au/podcasts), host Steve Davis is joined by Shanti Clements, Principal of Seven Hills West Public School (sevenhillw-p.schools.nsw.gov.au), for the final interview of 2025. From the outset, Shanti shares a simple mission with real weight: growing great human beings every day. With more than 30 years in education and a PhD in educational leadership, Shanti blends research with lived experience. Importantly, she leads within one of Western Sydney’s most culturally diverse school communities. As a result, the school’s purpose is shaped by both Eastern and Western perspectives on learning, leadership, and belonging. Shanti explains how the school embedded the Leader in Me (leaderinme.com) approach in 2020. Then, she unpacks how the Seven Habits became practical, everyday habits for students and staff. For example, students are placed at the centre of learning decisions. Instead of being passive recipients, they co-design, co-construct, and reflect on what helps learning stick. Next, Shanti describes the impact of student leadership through the SRC. Students run learning walks each term. They focus on the student learning experience. They also interview teachers and provide feedback on engagement. Additionally, they redesigned school signage to align behaviour expectations with the Seven Habits. Wellbeing is treated as visible data, not guesswork. So, Shanti outlines how Life Skills Go (lifeskillsgroup.com.au) daily check-ins helped the school notice what students “walk in with”. Later in the day, the data often shifted positively. That change highlighted school as a place of safety and regulation. Furthermore, Shanti links wellbeing supports to practical strategies, including breakfast club, which lifts attendance. The conversation also turns to staff culture. Shanti supports early career teachers with coaching and leadership pathways. Moreover, she invests in staff wellbeing through flourish and courageous culture work. Finally, Shanti reflects on wisdom, service leadership, and lifelong growth. The result is a powerful reminder that schools shape far more than academic outcomes. Powered by: xuno.com.au.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of Around the School Table (xuno.com.au/podcasts), host Steve Davis is joined by Shanti Clements, Principal of Seven Hills West Public School (sevenhillw-p.schools.nsw.gov.au), for the final interview of 2025. From the outset, Shanti shares a simple mission with real weight: growing great human beings every day. With more than 30 years in education and a PhD in educational leadership, Shanti blends research with lived experience. Importantly, she leads within one of Western Sydney’s most culturally diverse school communities. As a result, the school’s purpose is shaped by both Eastern and Western perspectives on learning, leadership, and belonging. Shanti explains how the school embedded the Leader in Me (leaderinme.com) approach in 2020. Then, she unpacks how the Seven Habits became practical, everyday habits for students and staff. For example, students are placed at the centre of learning decisions. Instead of being passive recipients, they co-design, co-construct, and reflect on what helps learning stick. Next, Shanti describes the impact of student leadership through the SRC. Students run learning walks each term. They focus on the student learning experience. They also interview teachers and provide feedback on engagement. Additionally, they redesigned school signage to align behaviour expectations with the Seven Habits. Wellbeing is treated as visible data, not guesswork. So, Shanti outlines how Life Skills Go (lifeskillsgroup.com.au) daily check-ins helped the school notice what students “walk in with”. Later in the day, the data often shifted positively. That change highlighted school as a place of safety and regulation. Furthermore, Shanti links wellbeing supports to practical strategies, including breakfast club, which lifts attendance. The conversation also turns to staff culture. Shanti supports early career teachers with coaching and leadership pathways. Moreover, she invests in staff wellbeing through flourish and courageous culture work. Finally, Shanti reflects on wisdom, service leadership, and lifelong growth. The result is a powerful reminder that schools shape far more than academic outcomes. Powered by: xuno.com.au.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Be encouraged to dedicate yourself to practices such as prayer, generosity, and forgiveness.

Be encouraged to dedicate yourself to practices such as prayer, generosity, and forgiveness.

Be encouraged to dedicate yourself to practices such as prayer, generosity, and forgiveness.

Be encouraged to dedicate yourself to practices such as prayer, generosity, and forgiveness.

Be encouraged to dedicate yourself to practices such as prayer, generosity, and forgiveness.

Series: N/AService: SundayType: SermonSpeaker: E.R. Hall, Jr.

According to The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey, success isn't just about achievement, it's about character and purpose. Covey outlines seven timeless habits that help individuals lead with clarity, integrity, and impact.In today's exchange Dustin Huber, Director of Business Analytics at Nussbaum, shares his personal journey with Nussbaum and explores how these principles can transform both personal and professional life:• Be Proactive – Take responsibility for your choices and focus on what you can control.• Begin with the End in Mind – Define your vision and align your actions with long-term goals.• Put First Things First – Prioritize meaningful tasks over urgent distractions.• Think Win-Win – Foster relationships built on mutual benefit and trust.• Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood – Practice empathetic communication for stronger connections.Through real-life experiences and practical insights, Dustin emphasizes the importance of emotional intelligence, distinguishing between private victories (personal growth) and public victories (interpersonal success).Ultimately, this episode encourages intentional living, proactive decision-making, and building authentic relationships. Press play to learn how these habits can redefine success for you!FROM TODAY'S PODCAST• Guest: Dustin Huber, Director of Business Analytics at Nussbaum• The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. CoveyLET'S CONNECT• Visit us online at terminalexchange.org • Follow The Terminal Exchange on social media! • Facebook• Instagram • XABOUT NUSSBAUM Employee-Owned, Purpose Driven | Nussbaum is an industry-leader in over-the-road freight transportation. For more information on our award-winning services and top-paying driver careers, visit nussbaum.com or nussbaumjobs.com.

269. Questions for More Connection and Laughter in Marriage with Casey and Meygan Caston   *Disclaimer* This episode contains some mature themes and listener discretion is advised.   2 Corinthians 1:4 NIRV "He comforts us in all our troubles. Now we can comfort others when they are in trouble. We ourselves receive comfort from God."   *Transcript Below*   Questions and Topics We Cover: Will you share three of the questions from your most recent book, specifically the ones people have told you unlocked the best conversations in their own marriage? You say you're an unlikely couple to help support marriages. Will you share a glimpse of your own backstory? What are a handful of ideas for ways couples can strengthen their connection with one another?   Casey and Meygan Caston are the Co-Founders of Marriage365. Casey and Meygan were perfect examples of what not to do in marriage. Three years into marriage, they found themselves having racked up more than $250,000 in debt, fighting constantly, and were ready to call it quits. Despite the 12 failed marriages between their parents, they knew this wasn't the legacy they wanted for themselves or their children. They began reading and educating themselves on how to do marriage the right way. The result of their journey is Marriage365, where they millions of people worldwide through their books, social media, retreats, and their online streaming service, Marriage365.   Marriage 365 Website Marriage 365 App Marriage 365 Books Marriage 365 Coaching   Thank You to Our Sponsor: WinShape Marriage   Sample of Previous Episodes on Sexual Intimacy on The Savvy Sauce: 4 Fostering a Fun, Healthy Sex Life With Your Spouse With Certified Sex Therapist and Author, Dr. Jennifer Konzen 5 Ways to Deepen Your Intimacy in Marriage with Dr. Douglas Rosenau  6 Ten Common Questions About Sex, Shared Through a Biblical Worldview with Dr. Michael Sytsma 89 Passion Pursuit with Dr. Juli Slattery 108 Anatomy of an Affair with Dave Carder 135 Healthy Ways for Females to Increase Sexual Enjoyment with Tracey LeGrand 155 Sex in Marriage and Its Positive Effects with Francie Winslow, Part 1 156 Science and Art of Sexual Intimacy in Marriage, Part 2 158 Making Love in Marriage with Debra Fileta 165 Mutually Pleasing Sex in Marriage with Gary Thomas 186 Sex Series: Enhancing Female Pleasure and Enjoyment of Sex: An Interview with Dr. Jennifer Degler 218 Secrets of Sex and Marriage: An Interview with Dr. Michael Sytsma Special Patreon Release: Protecting Your Marriage Against Unfaithfulness with Dave Carder 252 Maximizing Sexual Connection as Newlyweds to Long Term Marriages and Recovering from a Sexless Marriage with Dr. Clifford & Joyce Penner   Connect with The Savvy Sauce on Facebook, Instagram or Our Website   Please help us out by sharing this episode with a friend, leaving a 5-star rating and review, and subscribing to this podcast!   Gospel Scripture: (all NIV)   Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”   Romans 3:24 “and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”   Romans 3:25 (a) “God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.”    Hebrews 9:22 (b) “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”    Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”    Romans 5:11 “Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.”    John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”   Romans 10:9 “That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”    Luke 15:10 says “In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”   Romans 8:1 “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus”   Ephesians 1:13–14 “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession- to the praise of his glory.”   Ephesians 1:15–23 “For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.”   Ephesians 2:8–10 “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God‘s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.“   Ephesians 2:13 “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.“   Philippians 1:6 “being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”   *Transcript*   Music: (0:00 – 0:11)   Laura Dugger: (0:12 - 1:15)  Welcome to The Savvy Sauce, where we have practical chats for intentional living. I'm your host, Laura Dugger, and I'm so glad you're here.    Today's message is not intended for little ears. We'll be discussing some adult themes, and I want you to be aware before you listen to this message.    I'm thrilled to introduce you to our sponsor, WinShape Marriage. Their weekend marriage retreats will strengthen your marriage while you enjoy the gorgeous setting, delicious food, and quality time with your spouse.   To find out more, visit them online at winshapemarriage.org.    Welcome to The Savvy Sauce, Casey and Meygan.   Casey Caston:  Thanks for having us. Excited to be here.   Laura Dugger: So, thrilled to have both of you, and let's just dive right into one of your sweet spots. How can open-ended questions change a marriage?   Casey Caston: (1:16 - 2:33)  Yeah, well, if you think about when we first met somebody that we fell in love with, fell attracted to that first date, as you're sitting across the table, you are looking at that person with so much curiosity. Like, who is this person? What are their hopes and their dreams and their life experiences?   What are they afraid of? Where are they going in life? And that curiosity drove us to ask really good open-ended questions.   Like, tell me more about yourself. It's funny because we were just reading in Proverbs this morning that in a man's heart, he has a purpose, but a man of understanding draws from the deep wells to pull that out. And I just, I always think about how a great question plums the deep wells of a man's heart or woman's heart.   And that attraction, that energy we feel, helps us with asking great questions. But then what happens is when we get married and we move into the wash, rinse, repeat of childcare and chores and, you know, the mundaneness of going to work, coming home, dinner, like, it can really sap all of the romance out of a relationship. And so, what happens is we fall into asking really boring questions.   Meygan Caston: (2:33 - 2:34)  Like, how was your day?   Casey Caston: (2:34 - 2:36)  What's picking up the kids?   Meygan Caston: (2:36 - 2:37)  What's for dinner? Yeah.   Casey Caston: (2:38 - 3:18)  So, we realize that when the well is dry, so to speak, you're not asking those great questions. We need prompts. We need an outside prompt because I don't think naturally we would ask great questions to spark this, you know, connecting conversation.   And I will tell you too, that if you just dropped in and, you know, just ask your spouse, like, “Hey, so, tell me some boundaries we need to set up with your parents.” People are going to be like, “Excuse me, where did that question come from? And what's the question behind the question?   What's your motivation here?” But those are conversations we need to have. We just need prompts.   So, yeah.   Laura Dugger: (3:19 - 3:32)  Well, I love that response. And I'm also curious after working with so many married couples, what have you seen as that connection between these amazing prompts for open-ended questions and emotional intimacy?   Meygan Caston: (3:34 - 4:20)  Yeah. Well, kind of like what Casey was mentioning about, um, just that curiosity of getting to know each other. I think the other part of asking those open-ended questions and having these deeper conversations is really about intentionality.   Like you still care about me. You still want to know about my heart. Well, for us, 25 years later, I still care about you.   I still love you. And I think that of course, as women, we long for that emotional connection. And I don't think that men realize it, but they actually long for that too.   And it's creating a safe place for spouses to share, to cry, to even, um, dream together about their future. And I think, again, if we don't give ourselves those opportunities and we're not intentional with that, we get stuck in the mundaneness of marriage.   Casey Caston: (4:20 - 5:03)  But, uh, and I would add to that, that curiosity, Meygan, I've talked about how curiosity is the pursuit of something. Right. And we all long to be desired to be pursued.   I mean, that is, that underlying communication is so powerful in relationships, because if you think about it, if you're not being pursued and your spouse isn't curious, I mean, that's like the, the heart of apathy. It's like, I don't care. And I know that people aren't intentionally trying to communicate that, but when you feel that, like my spouse doesn't really care about what I dream about or what I'm hoping to achieve this year, they just come home and they just watch TV or they're on their phone.   Meygan Caston: (5:04 - 5:18)  Right. That communicates a lot non-verbally. And so, that's why these open-ended questions are something that we should never stop being a learner of each other and of ourselves.   And that will provide that emotional intimacy.   Laura Dugger: (5:19 - 5:45)  That's so good. And obviously your resources are amazing. I would love, because you have these 365 Connecting Questions for Couples.   And so, I want to just hear maybe three of these questions that come to mind for you guys, especially as you've heard, these are the ones that tend to unlock something deeper in the conversation.   Meygan Caston: (5:46 - 6:07)  Absolutely. So, August 3rd is, are you someone who spends a lot of time in deep thought, processing things before making a decision, or do you tend to make quick decisions? Why or why not?   That question has genuinely sparked so much conversation between us and even like with our kids and other couples. Maybe you can explain why.   Casey Caston: (6:07 - 6:11)  Yeah. Well, I'm Mr. Impulsivity, so.   Meygan Caston: (6:11 - 6:29)  Yeah, you are. Where I, I don't, I wouldn't consider myself a deep thinker, but I definitely like to make pros and cons lists and think through things. But if you think about a dynamic between a husband and a wife, you know, there are so many decisions that you make together, small and large, your whole life, every day.   Casey Caston: (6:29 - 6:30)  Decision-making is huge in relationships.   Meygan Caston: (6:31 - 6:57)  And it's an everyday thing that couples are tackling. And it's important to know that no one is better than the other. It's not that a deep thinker is better than a more impulsive person. It's kind of more just naturally how you are. Have you always been this way? Do you like that about yourself?   Wow. You know, well, when it comes to these bigger decisions, I do spend, make more time, you know, thinking through and pros and cons. Oh, well, with small decisions, I'm more impulsive. I mean, you could just talk about that for hours and hours.   Casey Caston: (6:57 - 7:01) Yeah. But what's interesting is I tend to think more futuristic and big picture.   Meygan Caston: (7:01 - 7:01)  Yes.   Casey Caston: (7:01 - 7:03)  Even though I'm impulsive in the moment.   Meygan Caston: (7:03 - 7:05)  And I cannot, I can't do that.   Casey Caston: (7:05 - 7:06)  You are Ms. Realist.   Meygan Caston: (7:06 - 7:08)  Just tell me today, tell me this week.   Casey Caston: (7:09 - 7:10)  I can't think about this fun sponge.   Meygan Caston: (7:11 - 7:11)  Yes. Yeah.   Casey Caston: (7:12 - 7:15)  Because I'm like, let's dream big. And she's like, yeah, but what's happening today?   Meygan Caston: (7:16 - 7:49)  Yeah. Yeah. Another great question is January 18th.   How can we romance each other during the day in anticipation of sex? Because as we all know, us ladies, we need the foreplay. But again, I think that husbands also enjoy the foreplay.   But I don't think that couples are having these conversations. I think they think a foreplay is, well, once we enter into the bedroom, you know, and what we like to say is it's anything positive is foreplay. So, a thoughtful text, you know, a flirty I'm going to grab your hand to empty out the dishwasher.   Casey Caston: (7:49 - 7:50)  Amen.   Meygan Caston: (7:50 - 7:55)  Yeah. You know, it's those kinds of conversations. But like, I would never think of asking you that.   Casey Caston: (7:56 - 7:56)  Right.   Meygan Caston: (7:56 - 7:58)  Right. Thankfully for those.   Casey Caston: (7:58 - 8:10)  But as you know, Laura, like couples that need to talk about their sex life. And if you don't talk about your sex life, most oftentimes there's a lot of assumptions. And that leads to, you know, dysfunction.   Meygan Caston: (8:11 - 9:14)  Well, and missed expectations. Totally. Yeah. And then I have another question. April 25th is how do our differences help complement each other?   Oh, so, kind of another one of those things, like with making decisions. Every single couple has differences. And we always tell people Casey, and I are more different than alike.   I think people see us online and whatnot. And they hear, oh, we're both extroverts. We are. So, we have some similarities. We're both stubborn, very competitive, both competitive. But in the day-to-day operations of who Casey and Meygan are, we make decisions, we run our lives, run our business, run our business.   We are completely opposite. And what I think it's good to do for couples is to actually own your differences rather than shy away from them or make yourselves feel bad, like, oh, I wish we were the same. I get it.   You know, we actually are attracted to those things when we're dating. That's why opposites attract. But then when we get married, it's like, why doesn't he do everything the same way? I do it because I do it the right way. That's what we think. Right.   Casey Caston: (9:15 - 9:21)  Well, you heard the joke that marriage is about becoming one. And in the earlier years, it's about which one.   Meygan Caston: (9:21 - 10:14)  Yeah. Which one? Which figure out?   Yeah. And so, that question really allows you to identify your differences, but then go, how do they balance each other out? And I think for me, as someone who is organized, type A Casey's very spontaneous.   If we were both type A and structured, we wouldn't have a lot of fun. We really wouldn't. His spontaneity really brings out that side of me.   But if we were both spontaneous, our bills would never be paid, and we'd be broke. So, you know, I'm a I'm a saver. He's a spender.   You can see the balance in that. It's good that we're both those things. Right.   I'm on time. He's late. We could continue going on and on and on and on.   But I think that he's a risk taker. I'm a complete play it safer. And so, those really draw out a beautiful balance in our marriage versus trying to change one another.   So, I hope that question sparks listeners to really ask your spouse that and have fun with the conversation.   Laura Dugger: (10:15 - 11:03)  Well, you chose three great ones. I love it. And they draw out such different parts of our personality.   You highlighted where Casey's more futuristic. Meygan, you're more present. Some people will connect with questions that direct them more past oriented.   And so, our orientation to time comes out and the meta conversations, the talking like having the conversation about your conversation. Just so much goodness. And yes, especially with sexual intimacy.   So, many couples report that it is much harder to engage in conversation about sex rather than just have sex. And like you said, missed expectations can be one of the blow ups there, among many other things. So, you have questions that don't shy away from all forms of intimacy.   Meygan Caston: (11:04 - 11:10)  Yeah. And to also say we have a lot of fun questions, too. Like, tell me about what your bedroom looked like when you were a teenager.   Casey Caston: (11:11 - 11:12)  That's a great one. I love that one.   Meygan Caston: (11:12 - 11:47)  Let's talk couples. If you had a really hard day with the kids or at work, pick a fun question. You don't have to go by the date.   If you don't like the question, it's triggering, then flip to the next one. But going back to that emotional intimacy and connection that you were talking about, Laura, is you have to have those deep questions and those conversations. And you did when you were dating, because if you went on a date with your husband and you were like, hey, tell me, you know, what do you want to do when you retire?   And he was like, I don't know. Yeah, you'd be like snooze fest. This guy's boring, right?   Or if he was on his phone the whole time, there was something intriguing about your spouse.   Casey Caston: (11:47 - 11:48)  I don't know. I don't know.   Meygan Caston: (11:48 - 12:01)  Yeah, there was something intriguing about your spouse when you were dating and you were asking those questions that should never stop. Just like we hear that quote, never stop dating your spouse. Well, never stop learning about your spouse.   It's the same thing. Absolutely.   Laura Dugger: (12:02 - 12:16)  And I love how you two have such a humble approach because you say that you're a very unlikely couple to help support marriages. So, will you let us in on your own backstory?   Meygan Caston: (12:17 - 12:46)  Yeah, well, can I just start off by saying this? We live in a county that has one of the highest divorce rates in the nation. So, it's 72 percent divorce rate where we live.   We also come from there's 12 marriages between our parents. So, we come from so much divorce and trauma. And then we also got married very, very, very young.   So, all those statistics were against us on top of that. I'm just going to start off by saying that. Casey Caston: (12:46 - 13:18)  Yeah, my mom's been married six times. So, when by the time I hit junior high, I had probably like nine different iterations of home life and different dads and step siblings and half brothers. And all of that between both of our parents.   There's just there's some mental illness. There's affairs. There's all this trauma that was really unprocessed.   But then when Meygan and I saw each other, it was like we knew the wounds that we shared. It was like almost like a trauma bond.   Meygan Caston: (13:19 - 13:19)  Yeah.   Casey Caston: (13:19 - 14:08)  Like, oh, I've got abandonment. So, do you. And, you know, let's do it's like, wow.   So, let's make each other happy. And dating was just all the fun stuff, right? It was long walks along the beach.   It was going to street fairs or, you know, going out and having fun. And then we're like, if this is what life could be like, then we should do this forever and ever and ever. And just, you know, we were so doe eyed of like and optimistic about how marriage life would look like.   So, then once we did get married, done, done, done, we had to like work through stuff. Now, I was so conflict avoidant because I was afraid if there was conflict, then that means that there's going to be distance between Meygan and I and she might leave me.   Meygan Caston: (14:08 - 14:24)  Oh, there's another there's another difference. I'm a fighter. He's a fighter.   So, anytime we would have conflict triggers, you know, emotional regulation, I was like, we're going to go for it. Now, of course, my fighting tactics were not healthy. I yelled. I blamed. I was very aggressive, assertive.   Casey Caston: (14:24 - 14:37)  Conflict was very scary for me. Now. Now, Meygan, she's like wanting to deal with issues. And here I am, like trying to run for the hills. And she's like, he doesn't care about me. And I'm like, I'm trying to protect the marriage by not dealing with it.   Meygan Caston: (14:37 - 14:49)  So, you never really resolved anything. We would fight really bad. We broke all the fighting rules.   And then there was no true resolve, no apologies, no remorse. And you just kind of move forward.   Casey Caston: (14:49 - 15:06)  And so, then we piled ourselves like we had over two hundred fifty thousand dollars of debt when we started to try to work on getting pregnant. We we dealt with infertility. We I have ADHD, so that creates a lot of that's fun.   A lot of fun for the marriage.   Meygan Caston: (15:06 - 15:08)  The divorce rate is very high with ADHD.   Casey Caston: (15:08 - 15:10)  My life gets to teach you patience.   Meygan Caston: (15:11 - 15:11)  Yeah.   Casey Caston: (15:12 - 16:44)  But and then we have a child with special needs as well. So, we we had like if there's something that could go wrong, it it went wrong. We had you know, once we got married, there was toxic in-laws that boundaries that were crossed.   So, it just nothing for us came easy. And so, that's why we were the least likely to succeed in marriage. I mean, if we there was a couple doomed from the get go, it was Meygan and I believe a hundred percent that God used those trials, those hardships to create marriage.   Three sixty five. He gave us the strength to, you know, have the courage to say we're not going to follow in our parents footsteps. We're going to change that.    You know, it ends with us literally like we are going to change and break this generational sin because it goes back many, many generations for both of us. Our whole family is littered with divorce. And now like when we approach marriage, it because of where we've come from, it wasn't all flowery.   It was really tough. We have to be practical and very tactical with our advice, because when you're sitting across from a couple that's angry and resentful. We have to sit there and go, we know what that's like.   And here's exactly what you need to do next. I'm not going to give you a platitude. I'm not going to give you some flowery statement or we're not going to just talk through it.    No, we're going to give you a tool and an action step that's going to help you. Laura Dugger: (16:46 - 18:56)  Let's take a quick break to hear a message from our sponsor. Friends, I'm excited to share with you today's sponsor, WinShape Marriage. Do you feel like you need a weekend away with your spouse and a chance to grow in your relationship together at the same time?    WinShape Marriage is a fantastic ministry that provides weekend marriage retreats to help couples grow closer together in every season and stage of life from premarital to parenting to the emptiness phase. There is an opportunity for you. WinShape Marriage is grounded on the belief that the strongest marriages are the ones that are nurtured, even when it seems things are going smoothly so that they're stronger if they do hit a bump along their marital journey.   These weekend retreats are hosted within the beautiful refuge of WinShape Retreat, perched in the mountains of Rome, Georgia, which is a short drive from Atlanta, Birmingham and Chattanooga. While you're there, you will be well fed, well nurtured and well cared for. During your time away in this beautiful place, you and your spouse will learn from expert speakers and explore topics related to intimacy, overcoming challenges, improving communication and more.   I've stayed on site at WinShape before, and I can attest to their generosity, food and content. You will be so grateful you went to find an experience that's right for you and your spouse. Head to their website, winshapemarriage.org/savvy. That's W-I-N-S-H-A-P-E marriage dot org slash S-A-V-V-Y. Thanks for your sponsorship.   I'd love to hear even more into the redemption part of it, because Marriage 365, you had shared before we had recorded that you launched that in 2013. So, just to get the timeline straight, had you already done some work and some counseling before you launched that?   Meygan Caston: (18:56 - 19:26)  Or what was that journey? Yeah, so, we always say we it took us two years to fall in love and get married. It took us three years to destroy our marriage, and it took about four or five years to repair our marriage.   It was, as you know, Laura, it is not a quick fix when your marriage is as bad as ours. And so, our story is unique in the sense where we were both not wanting to get help for our marriage. I love you, babe, but he was resistant.   He didn't want to go to therapy. His family didn't go to therapy. That wasn't normalized.   Casey Caston: (19:26 - 19:31)  Well, my faith background said that therapy is bad from the from the devil.   Meygan Caston: (19:31 - 19:38)  It was specifically your parents. But from the devil. Yeah, because I have a faith background, too. And my parents went to therapy. But that's what I was saying.   Casey Caston: (19:38 - 19:40)  My background was that you don't do that.   Meygan Caston: (19:40 - 21:16)  Yeah. So, I was wanting to get divorced and he wouldn't divorce me. He was like, no.   So, if you're going to do it, you got to do it. And so, I got help for myself. And I had the most amazing woman who a therapist who just walked me through basically how to save my marriage by myself.   And she goes, listen, you know, at the end of the day, if you want to make a better marriage, it starts by making a better you. You have zero control over Casey. You have 100 percent control over you.   He's not here. You are. I can show you how to communicate, how to forgive him even without getting an apology.   I can show you how to bring to his defenses down. I can show you how to create boundaries so he doesn't yell at you anymore. I mean, and that's literally for 13 months I worked on myself. And I believe that that is what genuinely changed everything. And that's really the message behind Marriage 365 is if you want to make a better marriage, it starts by making a better you. Stop waiting around for your husband or your wife to get on board.   They may never. Then you're only going to build resentment while you sit there and wait. At the end of the day, you're responsible for how you show up.   And so, in that 13 months, the hope was, of course, that I would positively influence Casey, which I did. And he saw the change in me. Everything changed.   I mean, like we both used to be yellers, right? We would both yell and scream. And I was like, I'm not going to yell anymore.   Like, I just I don't want to be a yeller of a mom. I don't want to be a yeller of a wife. Like, I don't like this part of me. My mom was a yeller. I mean, oh, yeah, I hate this. And I just remember like one day he came walking in and he was all heated and frustrated and he started yelling at me. And do you remember what I did, babe?   Casey Caston: (21:17 - 21:33)  Yeah. She looked at me and calmly said, you know, I can tell that you're very upset. I really want to have to listen to what you want to share with me.   Why don't you go outside, take a break, come back in? We're going to sit back on the couch. We can talk about it. I'm here for you. And I was like, what a change.   Meygan Caston: (21:33 - 22:07)  Who is this person? I changed the way that we did marriage. I did that.   And I tell people that I didn't do that once. I didn't do it twice. I did that for months because we had habits we had created.   But I was like, that was like a new boundary. I'm like, I'm not going to engage with him when he's angry. It's been triggered.   Nothing good is coming from this. So, it was all of that we started to really adopt and learn together because he's like, you're a different person. Like, it was obvious we were doing the tango.   And now I was doing the rumba and he was over there doing the tango. And I'm like, come join me in the healthy rumba over here because it's way better.   Casey Caston: (22:07 - 22:09)  And so, for toxic tango.   Meygan Caston: (22:09 - 23:20)  Yeah, we went to a marriage. Yeah, we went to a marriage intensive. And we did some therapy.   We did a lot of self-help. But through that journey, this is kind of where we started Marriage 365 is. First off, we couldn't afford therapy.   We needed to pay off all that debt that we had with a lot of student loan debt, a lot of stupid debt. What do you do if you can't afford therapy? What do you do if you don't have a good therapist?   What do you do if you have a bad experience with therapy? What do you do if the books aren't enough? And that was there was a really big hole and missing part in the marriage.   I don't say industry, but in the marriage space, where were all the online resources? Because this was back again in like 2010 when like podcasts weren't even around, social media was just becoming a thing. And it was really hard.   We were really disappointed with the lack of resources there were for marriage. And it felt like every church you go to, there was, you know, the missions ministry and the children's ministry and the youth groups. And all those are great.   Where in the world are all the marriage ministries? Then we found out only 3% of churches have actual paid marriage ministries. And I thought, that's messed up.   That's reverse. It's supposed to be the opposite, because then everything else will work itself out, as we know, with what research shows.   Casey Caston: (23:20 - 23:21)  Same with men's ministry, by the way.   Meygan Caston: (23:21 - 23:22)  Yes, same with men's ministry.   Casey Caston: (23:22 - 23:23)  Men's and marriage.   Meygan Caston: (23:23 - 23:26)  That's like the stepchild.   Casey Caston: (23:26 - 23:33)  Tech guy slash men's guy slash, you know. Children's persons can also do marriage.   Meygan Caston: (23:33 - 23:40)  So, we really just started helping our friends out. Obviously, people could see the change. Then people would come to us. We started helping couples at our church.   Casey Caston: (23:40 - 23:48)  And we had a ghoul pool. Like people were like, we give you guys another like ten months and then we're expecting you.   Meygan Caston: (23:48 - 23:51)  Yeah, everyone that knew us thought we'd get divorced.   Casey Caston: (23:51 - 23:52)  We were messy.   Meygan Caston: (23:52 - 23:58)  We were bad. Yeah. So, to see the complete transformation. And again, I go back to that work we did was on ourselves.   Casey Caston: (23:58 - 25:31)  And I just have to say that if you want to make a better marriage, it starts by making a better you. If you're hearing that. And you're kind of in a one sided marriage right now, I got to just say, I know that message sucks because it's a message that says you have to go first.   And that's not fair. In a marriage, you're supposed to be a team. But I do want to say there's so many couples that are stuck. Waiting for their spouse to join them on the let's get healthy train. So, their spouse doesn't join them. And then what they do is they kind of lean back, fold their arms and go, well, I guess we're stuck.   But I want to say that that's there is a message of empowerment to say you do have influence and the ability to steer your marriage in a healthy way. I have lots of regret that I did not join that train much sooner. But the story is that Meygan, you know, became the hero of our journey.   And that is something that I work actively so that I'm never in that place again, that I am the one that's always actively trying to improve myself, that I'm a better communicator, that I'm not a yeller, which we've ditched that a long time ago, that that I'm considered of Meygan's needs. And I'm even like attuned to like, what is she feeling? And how do I meet her where she's at?   Laura Dugger: (25:32 - 25:54)  Which is amazing that watching Meygan, it was compelling enough for you to join in. And it's admirable on both sides, the work that you've done. And are there any specific areas that you grew in that now you teach couples? I'm thinking specifically under conflict and repair or communication.   Casey Caston: (25:55 - 27:42)  Yeah. So, I remember those early years and every single week was chaos to chaos. Like coming home, it'd be like, what's for dinner?   I'm hungry and we need to make a decision now. Or, you know, it's Friday night or Saturday morning. What's going on this weekend?   Or where's all our money going? It was very, it was very reactionary. And I remember reading through Stephen Covey's, you know, Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.   And the first habit is be proactive. You cannot be intentional with your life. You cannot create purpose and meaning unless you are proactive with your life.   So, Meygan and I, you know, I'm working in a company and every single week we get together and we go through what are everyone's goals? What do we need to accomplish this week? We find alignment and the week goes really well.   We've got KPIs. We've got all these like, hey, as a team, you know, work team, here's what we're trying to accomplish this week. And it just kind of dawned on us like, well, why don't we do that in marriage?   Why don't we do that for a family? You got a family of six. You got six people running around the house. All have agendas. And you are trying to find alignment so that, hey, this is what the family is all about this week, right? We've got tournaments.   We've got parties. We've got projects. We've got meals.   And I think for so many couples we talk to, they live. Life with purpose on like building their career or their business or purpose with other areas of their life. And then when it comes to family, they wing it.   Meygan Caston: (27:42 - 27:43)  They just wing it.   Casey Caston: (27:43 - 28:31)  Yeah. And it's like, well, if it's meant to be, it's meant to be. It's the winging attitude creates chaos.   And so, Meygan and I love to teach this tool called the Weekly Marriage Business Meeting. And it is all of the logistics of our relationship schedules, meal plans, budgets, connection time, sexy time, alone time, self-care time. Yeah.   And and we kind of set with intention the week ahead for us. And we go through all the decisions of who's going, what, where, when. And all of that's done.   So, when you walk into the day, you're not like stressed about what's supposed to be happening. There is alignment and there's no missed expectations.   Meygan Caston: (28:31 - 29:27)  Yeah, there's no fights anymore about, well, you said you'd be home at six. No, I didn't. I said I'd be home at seven.   We sync our calendars. And I think, too, a big thing with this is we've noticed we fight when we don't do this now. It's one of those tools that it's prevented most of conflict.   I mean, we say it will on average for the most couples that use it. We have at least over 10,000 couples we know right now currently using it that are our members that they say it cuts conflict in half in half, because what you're doing is you're even scheduling that connection time or date night time where you're like, no matter how busy we are, when are Casey and Meygan going to get to be Casey and Meygan?   And that's so important, because again, if you're winging it and you're just trying to find time to connect, well, you've got four kids, we've got two teenagers. It's never going to happen. Right. And so, the weekly marriage business meeting is definitely one of the amazing and favorite worksheets and tools that we've taught and that we use ourselves because it works.   Casey Caston: (29:28 - 29:28)  Yeah.   Laura Dugger: (29:28 - 29:59)  What a game changer. That is awesome and so practical, so intentional, which we're all about. But then also we had talked about emotional intimacy earlier and emotional intimacy is interconnected with sexual intimacy and communication is the root issue.   And that's what you teach couples. So, what are some conversations that couples can begin so that they can grow in both of those types of intimacy and enjoyment?   Casey Caston: (30:01 - 31:34)  Yeah, so, I feel like I have to start off by saying I got this so wrong when we were first married. It's OK. I forgive you now.   Yeah, because, you know. Let's just let's be we'll be we'll be completely transparent. So, Meygan and I waited to have sex until we were married.   So, now I actually waited till I was married to have sex. And I thought that under that purity guideline, I was promised maybe by a youth group, maybe by a convention, that if you withhold sex and remain pure, God is going to bless you with the best sex life when you're married. And that just simply did not happen.   Like when we first got married, I really got went into the bedroom thinking. I don't know what foreplay is, but let's have intercourse until I come and then we're done. And that's sex. That's our sexual intimacy. And we missed out on so many intimate ways of knowing each other and sex being an obligation and something like I just was demanding of it from Meygan. And. What I've come to discover and what I love to teach other men is that sex is so much more broader than just having intercourse. I mean, there was this total understanding like, well, I feel good during intercourse. This feels very stimulating, which means that Meygan must feel the exact same way while we're having intercourse.   Meygan Caston: (31:35 - 31:35)  Nope.   Casey Caston: (31:36 - 32:35)  Because that's because listen, I never had sex before. But anytime I watched a rom com, you know, the guy threw up, you know, against the wall or they're having intercourse and she's going and he's going and they're having a great time. Like this must be what sex is all about.   And what I've discovered now and I get to teach other men is that emotional intimacy is kind of the birthplace of sexual expression of love, right? That we we create safe places for our wives to to open up. And because of that, they become more willing and wanting that that sexual expression rather than us just coming in and saying, OK, it's time for sex.   Let's go. And so, when we talk about just this book, this 365 Connecting Questions for Couples, I tell my guys, I'm like, hey, if you want to have great sex, start here because that is foreplay.   Meygan Caston: (32:35 - 33:48)  That's start here. It's good to know my heart, not just use me for my body, which can feel like that for a lot of people. And I think going back to the emotional intimacy, I think that, again, you had that when you were dating or you wouldn't have gotten married.   There was no way you were. If the person was boring, closed off, if, you know, your spouse was just completely on their phone every time, you wouldn't have had that second, third, fourth date. So, there was emotional intimacy at some point, which means you can't ever say we never had it.    You can always get it back, but you can have to be intentional. And I think a great way is we call it connection time. I think date night scares a lot of people.    I think it's the idea of. We have to go to a restaurant, we have to spend money, we have to find a babysitter, all these hurdles that you have to go through to make it happen, so then couples just don't even do it. So, we're like, listen, if you if that's overwhelming to you, then try connection time.    And really what that is, it's still undivided, you know, attention and time with you and your spouse. Maybe it's smaller, maybe it's 15 minutes, 30 minutes. And I know for when our kids were little, we played board games and card games and they'd go to bed, you know, at 7:30 or 8:00 PM.    And we would bring out Yahtzee.   Casey Caston: (33:48 - 33:51)  There'd be a lot of trash talking over chutes and ladders.   Meygan Caston: (33:52 - 34:29)  But we would play. We would play games. And it was our time to connect.    And when we didn't talk about the kids, you know, we just chatted about our day and again, going through some of these connecting questions that didn't even really exist yet, but they were in our heads. Taking a walk with the dog and, you know, going to a little local coffee shop, even if it's just 30 minutes and sharing and talking and exploring that emotional intimacy should never stop again. And that's going to give people opportunities to then go into the bedroom, like Casey mentioned, more willing and more excited to be intimate to each other because it's like, oh, that's right.    We like each other. We're still married. We're still friends.   Casey Caston: (34:29 - 35:15)  You bring up a great point. Like I said, I think sitting down over the table, staring at each other can be intimidating for a lot of guys, because especially if this is not a regular habit in your relationship and taking a walk for guys when we're doing something and maybe it's less intimidating because we're not even staring at each other. But that kind of like getting the, you know, oxytocin going, like getting moving, like that kind of adrenaline can actually stimulate guys for good conversations and processing things.    And so, what we hear from a lot of couples that take our book, maybe they'll take a picture of the question and they'll go, Hey, let's take a walk. And then they'll use the question on their walk.   Meygan Caston: (35:15 - 35:15)  Yeah.   Casey Caston: (35:15 - 35:24)  And that gets conversations going. So, if that's like a on ramp onto this, that's a that's a great starting point for a lot of people.   Laura Dugger: (35:24 - 36:48)  Oh, that's so good. And I love how you say just an on ramp, because the goal is more intimacy overall together to know one another, be known. And I love that you're showing this is not a manipulation factor.    This isn't ask these questions so we can be more active in the bedroom, regardless of whichever spouse is the higher desire one. But this is to really enhance all levels of your relationship. And as you talk about oxytocin, it just makes me think such an interesting cycle that the Lord created where I will speak more stereotypically that where women require the emotional connection and then they open up and enjoy sex more.    But then men, once they've had sex and they just have this like 500 percent increase of oxytocin in this neurochemical bath that opens them up emotionally. And we could see it even as we view our differences. You could be upset because they're opposite or we can see it as a gift that they can fuel one another.    And then we get more of a holistic picture of overall intimacy. So, I'll also link to quite a few episodes because we do about one per month where we dive deeper into sexual intimacy. S   o, I can link all of those in the show notes.    But Casey, were you going to say something?   Meygan Caston: (36:49 - 36:50)  I want to say something to it.   Casey Caston: (36:51 - 37:16)  He loves. Well, so, we're talking chicken and egg, right? Like who gets the emotional intimacy, who gets the physical intimacy first?    And I just think that there's if we approach our relationship with selfishness, well, then neither people get satisfied. But if we are in an approach to serve one another and be selfless lovers. So, men would be like, you know what?    I want to meet my wife's emotional needs.   Meygan Caston: (37:16 - 37:16)  Yeah.   Casey Caston: (37:17 - 37:38)  Like and I do believe that men are the spark of initiation. If you're a husband out there listening to this, like that one of your greatest gifts to marriage is initiation. You were the one who asked for the first date.    You were the one who got down one the knee. You are the spark of initiation. And I believe that God's created women as nurturers of that initiation.   Meygan Caston: (37:39 - 37:41)  And to clarify, you're not talking just about initiating sex.   Casey Caston: (37:41 - 37:43)  Well, yes. Just everything.   Meygan Caston: (37:43 - 37:55)  Initiating, just initiating, initiating a weekly marriage business meeting. Women are so turned on by when a husband's like, hey, I don't necessarily know what we want to do for a date night, but I want to take you on a date. Can I get an amen, Laura?   Laura Dugger: (37:55 - 37:56)  Right, sister?   Meygan Caston: (37:57 - 38:14)  Hey, women are turned on. Listen, men, women are turned on. If you say, you know what?    I know that like this has been an issue with my parents and I don't even know how to handle it, but I really want to have that conversation. Oh, my gosh. Just initiating the conversation is all we're looking for.    It's OK that you don't have all the answers.   Casey Caston: (38:14 - 38:14)  Yeah.   Meygan Caston: (38:14 - 38:23)  But for men that avoid stonewall, escape, numb out, busy themselves, it is such a turnoff. It is so not what we want.   Laura Dugger: (38:23 - 39:55)  I want to make sure that you're up to date with our latest news. We have a new website. You can visit theSavvySauce.com and see all of the latest updates. You may remember Francie Heinrichsen from episode 132, where we talked about pursuing our God given dreams. She is the amazing businesswoman who has carefully designed a brand-new website for Savvy Sauce Charities. And we are thrilled with the final product.    So, I hope you check it out there. You're going to find all of our podcasts now with show notes and transcriptions listed a scrapbook of various previous guests and an easy place to join our email list to receive monthly encouragement and questions to ask your loved ones so that you can have your own practical chats for intentional living. You will also be able to access our donation button or our mailing address for sending checks that are tax deductible so that you can support the work of Savvy Sauce Charities and help us continue to reach the nation with the good news of Jesus Christ.    So, make sure you visit theSavvySauce.com.    Okay, so, then continue the conversation with just overall intimacy. What are some examples of de-escalation techniques that you recommend to couples who are in conflict, ones that can maybe help the strained relationships so that they can be repaired?  Yeah.   Meygan Caston: (39:55 - 42:19)  Yeah. So, a big thing that I've learned as someone who's very direct, I can tend to be on that, like I mentioned, fighter side. And I know a lot of women, studies have shown 75 percent of us ladies are the ones that typically bring up the issues.    So, just be aware that there is a gender difference there. And if you're a dude, there's nothing wrong with you if you're in, you know, that 75 percent or 25 percent. But I think the biggest thing I've recognized is to remind your spouse in the very beginning of the conversation, why you're having the conversation.    You know, I love you. I love us. I want to see us be the best people that we can be.    I want to see us enjoy marriage and enjoy life. I love you. Like bring the positivity and the reminder that you're better together than apart.    And really, that's part of what we call a soft startup, right? There's a lot of different soft startups you've heard of. You know, I feel when you I need those work to but I like to take it a little bit deeper to say, remind your spouse how much that you love being married to them.    Or again, whatever the issue is like we have the most. Let's say it's parenting. Casey and I are very different in our parenting styles.    Last night would have been a great difference of how that happened. But like reminder that like we both love our children. We both want the best for our kids.    No one doubts that. We both have made we made two beautiful, wonderful, quirky children. Right.    And so, even you can start the conversation with that. But I wish that more people did that because I think people are are, you know, I'm really upset about something. OK, well, the second you say that defenses, sorry, but defenses are going to go up.    We want to keep the conversations defenses low, guards low, right, de-escalation. And so, use soft startups, use kind, positive language. But I think another thing behind that would be come to the conversation processed.    Do not have these conversations 11 o'clock at night when you're tired or when you're hungry. Do not have these conversations when it just happened and you haven't had the time to just like stop. Think about what do I really need?    Why did that trigger me? What am I hoping to achieve? Why is my husband acting this way?    Oh, is he under a lot of stress? Yeah, we got to give ourselves time to sit and process before we even use those soft startups. So, that would be my advice for de-escalation.   Casey Caston: (42:20 - 43:04)  And mine actually would be an apology. I think that we all make mistakes. And when you think about a couple that's maybe living reactively, just winging it, I doubt that there's ever an apology that's given on either side because it takes a little it takes awareness to recognize, gosh, you know what?    My that little comment I just made that probably had a little zing to it. Or, you know, I really let my spouse down by not parenting the children the way she would want me to. Or, you know, I said I was going to do something and I didn't.    And I let my partner down. You want to de-escalate a tense situation. Apologize.   Meygan Caston: (43:04 - 43:04)  Yeah. Own it.   Casey Caston: (43:05 - 43:12)  When you apologize, you know, you're taking all of the heat out of the fire. They really are.   Meygan Caston: (43:12 - 43:16)  And you're validating your spouse's feelings. Who doesn't want to be validated and seen? Everybody does.   Casey Caston: (43:16 - 43:38)  And then you're taking responsibility and accountability for your actions, which is the trust builder for relationships. So, that's why when you talk about high conflict relationships, there aren't a lot of there's not a lot of trust there. It's not a safe place anymore.    So, to create that safety, we want to we want to build trust back into the relationship.   Laura Dugger: (43:39 - 43:50)  Those are fantastic. And do you guys just have maybe a handful of ideas for ways that couples can strengthen their marriage with one another?   Meygan Caston: (43:51 - 44:09)  Absolutely. I would say, obviously, the weekly marriage business meeting. I mean, I know we talked about it, but the important thing is to schedule it, put it in the calendar because you don't want to wing it.    And that way it's showing, oh, you're prioritizing us. Taking walks has been a big one for us. Playing games is a big one.   Casey Caston: (44:09 - 45:18)  The 60 second blessing is where we intentionally spend time. 60 seconds reminding our partner of how much we love them, using our words to say, like, I saw how hard you work for the family. I love how you take care of the kids and kind of reminding your partner, like I see the goodness in each other.    I think it's really important because. Day to day life, we can just be very transactional, and if we again, we have any sort of criticism or, you know, our words just are not flavored with life, well, proverb says, you know, our words have the power to give life or to give death. Right.    So, the words that we speak, if we evaluate. Are we producing what I call weed seeds? Or are we planting fruit trees?    Because weed seeds choke out the garden. Those sharp, critical words can leave your garden looking pretty shabby, whereas being intentional by speaking positive over each other. It's like planting fruit trees.    And who doesn't like a good, juicy orange? Right.   Meygan Caston: (45:18 - 47:15)  Well, and the 60 second blessing, you know, you start off by writing five to seven positive things you love about your spouse. And so, one spouse shares their list for 60 seconds and then the second spouse shares their list. And it's this habit that we actually started doing after our marriage intensive that we did as we were repairing our marriage because we had yeah, we had we had spoken such mean and harsh words or just a lot of roommate stuff.    And we needed that positivity. And it's a great foreplay tip, by the way, just to sit, sometimes sit down and go, I just need to tell you how wonderful you are. Like, who doesn't want to hear that about themselves?    I think another thing that Casey and I have recognized it is the only thing, by the way, Laura, in our marriage, the only thing that has ever stayed consistent. That's we have fun together. We laugh a lot, even in hard times.    Yeah, it wasn't as enjoyable, but we still had fun. And, you know, again, fun is different for everybody. We don't ever want to judge someone else's fun.    But we are constantly like we we are sarcastic. But that's for us because we have high trust levels. I usually tell couples if you're, you know, in a fair recovery or you have low trust levels, sarcasm is probably not great.    But we're very playful. We have again, we play a lot of fun games and we play ping pong and cornhole and we take our dogs on our dog on a walk. And we, you know, we're going to try to go ax throwing in April.    We've never done that before. Like there are fun that we've taken dance lessons. So, we like to think out of the box and do new things or things that we know that like how many games of Yahtzee have we played?    I don't even know. I mean, we've lost count. Or gin rummy, you know, I mean, we just play Sequence or Rummikub like we play them all.    And for that for us, that's really fun. We dance a lot. We love the 90's music.    Like get out your favorite playlist and just dance and sing and be goofy. Like I think if couples were to laugh and enjoy each other more and be able to laugh with themselves, I think that there would be more marriages that would stay together. Laura Dugger: (47:16 - 47:39)  That is something that I've even experienced in this time together. You guys are so fun to be around. And that's very life giving to others.    But I can see where it starts in that secret place between just the two of you, your best friend. And you share a lot of this goodness with Marriage 365. So, can you let us know all the different things that you have to offer?   Casey Caston: (47:40 - 48:48)  Yeah, I would probably say the number one way that people experience all of the resources that we've created over the years is through our mobile app. So, we have an app that has over a thousand pieces of videos, workshop, worksheet, excuse me, courses, challenges. We even have a checkup so you can actually rate kind of your marriage.    And that is a great way for people to be able to have access, you know, on the spot if they're dealing with an issue, they don't know how to get through and they're looking for a tool or a conversation to help them work through that. That our app provides such a valuable resource. I mean, beyond that, you know, some couples need a little bit more hands on approach.    So, we do coaching. We have a coaching staff actually to handle all the incoming couples that are saying, hey, can you can you help us out? And again, I just want to say coaching is really, really focused on giving action plans and homework and accountability to our clients.    And coaching is really, really helpful if you're like, I just need to know what to do next.   Meygan Caston: (48:48 - 49:17)  Yeah. We do intensives for couples that are in crisis, you know, there that are seriously considering separation or divorce or an affair recovery and that we have an over 90 percent success rate because we went through an intensive when we were struggling and it was something we knew we wanted to get trained on and do. And it's a full two days with Casey and I.    I mean, two days back-to-back. We know you. We get Christmas cards from all of our couples, you know, every year.    We love it. And it's they become almost I mean, yes, they're our clients, but they almost become like our friends.   Casey Caston: (49:17 - 49:45)  Yeah. And then probably personally, one of my favorite things that we do is we host our own couple's getaway. And this is a four-day experience.    It's not your it's not like a typical retreat where you're sitting in a conference room, you're just getting lectured all day. We're actually facilitating tools and then giving couples opportunities to work on them. Then some free time to really spend some time making great memories.    We have a dance party. It is a ton of fun.   Meygan Caston: (49:45 - 49:55)  We make sure. Yeah, we make sure it's fun. It's more it's definitely more for couples who are doing OK or want to do better, not they're not ideal for couples in crisis because it's going to be very uncomfortable.   Casey Caston: (49:55 - 49:56)  I love our retreats.   Meygan Caston: (49:56 - 49:57)  I know.   Casey Caston: (49:57 - 49:58)  I love interacting with her.   Meygan Caston: (49:58 - 50:05)  And of course, we have our social media. You can just search Marriage 365 and then we have our website, too. And we have our books, of course.   Casey Caston: (50:05 - 50:09)  Oh, and I have a men's group. I know I launched a five-week men's reset. . Meygan Caston: (50:09 - 50:34)  Needless to say, Laura, we're really busy. I do a lot. I think that's what's funny, right?    I think that people see us online and they think that we just have an Instagram, or we just have Facebook. And I'm like, we've been doing this for 12 years and we have a staff of 12 people. So, we reach a lot of people.    And we because marriage is never a one stop, you know, one size fits all. It's it's true. There are so many different dynamics, and we want to be able to help as many people as we can.   Laura Dugger: (50:35 - 50:59)  Wow. Thank you for sharing that. We will add all of those links.    I love all these different offerings that you have and that will meet people in whatever phase they're in. But you two already know we are called The Savvy Sauce because savvy is synonymous with practical knowledge. And so, as my final question for both of you, what is your Savvy Sauce?   Meygan Caston: (51:00 - 51:47)  Mine would be I would want every single person to think about becoming more confident. And that starts with becoming more self-aware. I think that that is completely changed who I am.   And I'm we're raising two kids, and I see the confidence that they have. And we're modeling that but also walking them through how to be self-aware. And really, that starts with having to be one with your thoughts, turning off the phone, sorry, turning off the podcast, sometimes turning off the music and just actually sitting and really going.    Do I really know my thoughts, my feelings, my values, my personality, my good, my bad, my ugly? And we don't do this enough. We are busy ourselves.    We're distracted constantly. And I think that it's really harming our mental health. And so, that would be my savvy sauce.   Casey Caston: (51:47 - 52:30)  Hmm. I love that, babe. It's kind of hard because we find so much alignment.    I mean, I would that's exactly what I would say, too. Um, I, you know, my focus in twenty, twenty-five has really been turned towards helping husbands. And there's a quote that Henry David Thoreau says that many men live lives of quiet desperation and they die with their songs still inside them.    And most guys are terrified of stopping and evaluating. And so, for me, creating space too. Listen, I do a 10, 10, 10 practice in the morning.   Meygan Caston: (52:30 - 52:32)  That's what I thought you were going to say.   Casey Caston: (52:32 - 52:32)  Yeah, yeah.   Meygan Caston: (52:32 - 52:36)  Well, I was like, I bet you he's going to talk about it because it's been life changing for you.   Casey Caston: (52:36 - 53:01)  Yeah. So, I spend 10 minutes of scripture reading. So, that's input.    Then I spend 10 minutes of quiet meditation where I'm sitting and I'm in a listening posture. And I mean, I think about everything from lasagna to the last wave I serve to. But there's intentionality about just opening myself like here I am.    I'm ready to be downloaded on like what you have for me today.   Meygan Caston: (53:01 - 53:02)  God be one with your thoughts.   Casey Caston: (53:03 - 53:18)  Yeah. And all sorts of things come up. And then I spent 10 minutes journaling.    And that process is just and that's like the output. Right. So, now I've got input.    I've been listening and now I get to write stuff out. And that's been a huge game changer for me.   Laura Dugger: (53:19 - 53:43)  Wow, I love both of those. You two are just refreshingly vulnerable and such an incredible mixture of intentional and lighthearted. And it has been so great just to sit under your teaching today.    So, thank you for sharing your story and for helping all of us. And thank you just for being my guests.   Meygan Caston: (53:43 - 53:45)  Oh, you're welcome. It was a pleasure to be here.   Casey Caston: (53:45 - 53:49)  Yes, you asked great questions that plumb the deep wells of Casey Meygan.   Laura Dugger: (53:52 - 57:35)  One more thing before you go. Have you heard the term gospel before?   It simply means good news. And I want to share the best news with you. But it starts with the bad news.   Every single one of us were born sinners, but Christ desires to rescue us from our sin, which is something we cannot do for ourselves. This means there is absolutely no chance we can make it to heaven on our own. So, for you and for me, it means we deserve death, and we can never pay back the sacrifice we owe to be saved.   We need a savior. But God loved us so much, he made a way for his only son to willingly die in our place as the perfect substitute. This gives us hope of life forever in right relationship with him.   That is good news. Jesus lived the perfect life we could never live and died in our place for our sin. This was God's plan to make a way to reconcile with us so that God can look at us and see Jesus.

The sociologist Michels wrote about the "iron laws of oligarchy." Those, he said, who take up a noble cause naturally tend to protect their position at the cost of the noble cause over time. And that's why political movements that are well-intentioned, people who take office, who may be well-intentioned—although it's probably hard to find one these days—tend to then change the way they see their job and try to consolidate power more and more rather than do their work. There's no replacement for maturity and enlightenment. We can't manage it out of the system. Devotees have to be detached. vāsudēve bhagavati bhakti-yogaḥ prayōjitaḥ janayaty āśu vairāgyaṁ jñānaṁ ca yad ahaitukam (SB 1.2.7) When you practice devotional service, you'll naturally get a sense of detachment and knowledge, which will make you more flexible and so forth. My experience in being part of a community is that management means solving problems. Problems come from people, personal interaction. If I accept that that's the norm, even amongst devotees, then I'm better equipped to face it and deal with it. The best way to deal with it, I've found, is patiently and through meticulous conversation. As Stephen Covey wrote in his book, The Seven Habits of Highly Successful People, "first seek to understand." It's easy enough to take a position and then say, "I want to protect my position." In fact, ISKCON Resolve, when they answer the phone, they say, "ISKCON Resolve. Get over it." I've used them a number of times, but I also talked to them deeply about what the methodologies are, what is behind all this. They said, "Try to understand people's circumstances, what's beneath the surface." And what I find to be solidifying in a community is the act of taking the time. Even in the most trying circumstances—I'm conflict-avoidant, it's my nature, but I have to face these issues and bring the parties together and then talk about it. I find that when there's the light of awareness through communication, then oftentimes we can come to an enlightened understanding together. And that's the greatest victory we can have in our communities. Talk about "boiling the milk"—really learning how to get along with one another, despite the fact that we come from different cultures and have different ways of seeing things, different gurus, and this and that. When we're able to come together and have a common understanding and appreciate one another's point of view and, for the sake of the higher good of the mission, we decide to cooperate one way or another—one of those is worth, I don't know, what do I want to compare it to? It's invaluable. And that's what really makes a community strong, is taking the time to do that. So the only remedy I've seen is to talk about it. ------------------------------------------------------------ To connect with His Grace Vaiśeṣika Dāsa, please visit https://www.fanthespark.com/next-steps/ask-vaisesika-dasa/ ------------------------------------------------------------ Add to your wisdom literature collection: https://iskconsv.com/book-store/ https://www.bbtacademic.com/books/ https://thefourquestionsbook.com/ ------------------------------------------------------------ Join us live on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FanTheSpark/ Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sound-bhakti/id1132423868 For the latest videos, subscribe https://www.youtube.com/@FanTheSpark For the latest in SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/fan-the-spark ------------------------------------------------------------ #spiritualawakening #soul #spiritualexperience #spiritualpurposeoflife #spiritualgrowthlessons #secretsofspirituality #vaisesikaprabhu #vaisesikadasa #vaisesikaprabhulectures #spirituality #bhaktiyoga #krishna #spiritualpurposeoflife #krishnaspirituality #spiritualusachannel #whybhaktiisimportant

Send us a textAs Chuck continues to heal from surgery, we offer this replay of one of the most popular lives streams from 2023!Our industry often incorrectly labels lead technicians as project managers without providing proper training or understanding of the role's responsibilities. We explore seven critical habits that separate successful telecommunications project managers from the rest.• Monitoring labor and material budgets is the most crucial project management responsibility• Project managers must create comprehensive schedules so everyone knows expectations and timelines• Being prepared with detailed checklists standardizes procedures and creates measurable progress• Planning for risk through SWOT analysis and contingency planning prevents project derailment• Active listening techniques build trust with clients and team members• Balancing control with team autonomy creates efficiency while maintaining standards• Delegation develops team members' skills while allowing managers to focus on critical tasks• Servant leadership breaks down the "us versus them" mentality between managers and crews• Continuous learning prevents stagnation in an industry that "changes at the speed of light"The best way to be successful in telecommunications project management is to remember that knowledge is power.Support the showKnowledge is power! Make sure to stop by the webpage to buy me a cup of coffee or support the show at https://linktr.ee/letstalkcabling . Also if you would like to be a guest on the show or have a topic for discussion send me an email at chuck@letstalkcabling.com Chuck Bowser RCDD TECH#CBRCDD #RCDD

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Title: I've Read 236 Business Books – Here Are the 12 That Will Make You Rich  Summary:  In this video, Seth Bradley, a successful real estate investor and former attorney, shares a curated list of the 12 most impactful business books that significantly changed his approach to wealth generation, investing, and entrepreneurship. He expresses his frustration with the majority of business literature but firmly believes in the transformative power of these selected titles. Seth emphasizes that achieving financial freedom involves moving away from traditional employment and cultivating a mindset geared toward asset building and strategic operation. Each book he mentions has played a critical role in shaping his journey, providing strategic thoughts on productivity, relationship management, and scaling businesses. The emphasis is not merely on the content of the books but on applying their principles to realize tangible success. Furthermore, he wraps up the discussion by encouraging viewers to take action by reading these books and applying their teachings to improve their financial status and life in general. Links to Watch and Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QXX37vgJPE&list=PLSfheWyV7beFqERLX4ebBUJ4SmzmF6z8e&index=4 Bullet Point Highlights: Transformative Reading: Seth Bradley highlights 12 business books that transformed his financial mindset. From Employees to Investors: Books teach the importance of shifting from earning through employment to making money through investments. The Power of Mornings: The “Miracle Morning” book stresses the significance of a structured morning routine for success. Execution Over Perfection: “The Lean Startup” emphasizes launching quickly and improving based on feedback. Relationship Building: “How to Win Friends and Influence People” underscores the importance of communication and building relationships in business. Mindset Shift with 10x Rule: Grant Cardone's “The 10x Rule” encourages ambitious thinking and significant effort to achieve exceptional results. Love Languages in Business: “The Five Love Languages” reveals how understanding different communication styles can enhance business relationships. Transcript: (Seth Bradley) [Music] I've read 236 business books and let me tell you honestly most of them are a complete waste of time but these 12 these are the ones that actually made me Rich these books change the way I make money I invest and I run my businesses and before you ask no I'm not including Rich Dad Poor Dad why because it's the purple Bible and if you don't know that one you're already behind so real quick if you don't know me I'm Seth Bradley really estate investor Capital Riser and former big law attorney I left a   multiple sixf figureure corporate career because I realized I'd never get rich working for someone else at least not wealthy I don't mess with stocks I don't waste time on 401ks I build businesses and I buy assets so if you want to break free from the 9 to-5 start raising capital and actually control your financial future this is the list you need this is the real playbook for Financial Freedom the books that shaped How I build wealth just stick around and at the end I've got a book you'll never   expect but it might be the most important one on the list all right let's get into it book number one it is Robert kosaki cash flow quadrant kosaki breaks down the four ways people make money employee self-employed business owner and investor most people spend their whole lives on the left side trading time for money the rich they're on the right side where businesses Investments make them money while they sleep you know I was making six figures as a lawyer but I was still on the wrong side that's when I knew I had to start   buying assets the second I understood this what my man was saying in this book I stopped thinking like an employee and starting moving towards Financial Freedom book number two Miracle morning by how El Rod now it's a solid morning routine is a cheat code for Success when I'm consistent with mine I dominate when I slack off my entire day suffers this book gives you a proven structure to start your day like a high performer if you don't control your mornings you don't control your life one of the   biggest takeaways for me was how much intentionality matters if you wake up and immediately start reacting to your world rather than you dictating how you perceive the world emails notifications demands you're already behind but if you take time to focus on yourself set goals and visualize success you'll operate at a much higher level this book will give you the tools to craft a morning routine that sets you up for Success now I do have to say that my morning routine is changed over time I read that book I had   a very structured morning I started out I needed that discipline but now I don't necessarily need it as much because I can really get into that flow get into that zone a lot easier I get up I make coffee I take my supplements I sit down and I start doing the hard work first so that morning routine whatever works best for you sometimes you need that structure and discipline to get going then once you kind of harness how you can do that you no longer need to take all those steps number three the 4our   work week by Tim Ferris now this one gets a lot of attention and also a lot of criticism but this book it taught me that time is the most valuable asset it's really not about working less and working 4 hours a week I mean for some people maybe but really it's about working smarter before reading this I was deep in the weeds of every task emails admin busy work this book just showed me how to automate how to Outsource how to focus on only high value moves and if you're always busy but not really making real progress this   book will change your mindset completely jump into that one for sure here we go book number four traction by Gino Wickman I still use this book every single day most businesses fail because they're a disorganized mess no systems no accountability that was me when I started out and that's how a lot of businesses start out traction fixes that I remember when I first started to grow my real estate business and my legal business at the same time along with the gyms and some other things I had no clear structure no direction and frankly   I was working my ass off but wasn't actually growing this book showed me how to implement the entrepreneurial operating system EOS and you can adopt a name for yourself like rais law operating system for me which is just a fancy way of saying here's how to actually run a business that doesn't depend on you doing everything yourself if you're stuck in the weeds this book is absolutely mandatory book number five The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Steven cubby success isn't luck it's built on habits and this book   lays them all out the biggest game changer for me be proactive and focus on what you can control not what you can't most people react to life and they wait for things to happen to them and to complain about them but wealthy people we make things happen this book helped me move from being reactive to strategic if you feel like life is happening to you instead of for you this book will completely change your mindset be sure to pick that one up read it every single year book number six the e- myth   Revisited by Michael Gerber if you're doing everything in your business then you don't own a business you own a job and that was me before this book I used to think that being an entrepreneur meant grinding 24/7 and sometimes we still do I still do but all I was doing back in the day was creating a high-paying high stress job for myself and that's not the point this book showed me why systematizing your business is the only way to truly scale once I implemented these systems I was able to step back work on the a big   picture and finally grow instead of just survive book number seven The Lean Startup by Eric rise most people wait way too long to launch they overthink they over plan they never execute this book teaches you the exact opposite launch first improve later I wasted so much time like many of us early on just trying to perfect things before putting them out there this book changed how I approach every every single business now I focus on launching fast testing and adapting if I read this earlier I would   have saved years maybe decades the best businesses don't come from perfect planning they come from Quick execution and constant learning book number eight How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale to Carnegie business is all about relationships and if you don't know how to communicate you're screwed this book taught me how to build connections negotiate better and influence people without being manipulative of course but if you're going to raise Capital you're going to close deals this book is an absolute   must read I apply these principles every single day they're simple in concept but they're harder to execute consistently whether it's working with investors Partners employees team members this book is the foundation for strong relationships in business and also in everyday life book number nine the 10x rule Grant Cardone you know he says a lot of controversial things some people give him Flack but this dude knows how to make money most people think too small not Grand this book forced me to build bigger execute at a higher level   because everything worth doing takes 10x more effort than you expect if you apply this mindset you're going to stop making excuses and you're going to start making big moves the most powerful lesson here to me average actions they lead to average results if you want to dominate in business and in life you have to push way far beyond what's reasonable that's what separates High performers like us from everyone else if you want success this book will force you to raise your standards always do 10x more and 10x   higher all right book number 10 who not how Dan Sullivan this one's incredible successful people don't ask how do I do this they ask who can do this for me who can help me with this this mindset shift completely changed how I run my businesses instead of wasting time learning everything myself I hire experts I ask for help and I let them execute at a higher level before this book I was stuck in the mindset of trying to figure out everything myself once I embrac the who not how principle I stopped being the bottleneck in my own   businesses but now I focus on finding the right help finding the best people to execute finding experts in their fields rather than trying to do everything myself so if you struggle with delegation this book is an absolute GameChanger book number 11 how Elrod Strikes Again The Miracle equation so this book it's simple right unwavering Faith plus extraordinary effort and I know that sounds a little kind of flu fluey and that's not really me and it might not be you either but look I mean I say that Mantra to myself every single   day it gets hard sometimes so if you don't believe success is inevitable and you're not willing to put in the work an insane amount of effort then you're never going to make it one of the biggest lessons from the book is that mindset alone it's not enough you have to back it up with absolute Relentless action you can't just hope for Success you have to put in the work consistently every single day no matter what no matter how you feel no matter what's going on no matter what obstacles arise this book will shift your perspective on   commitment and perseverance remember that saying preach it to yourself every day when gets hard all right book number 12 I told you it would be a surprise on the list I don't think this makes anyone's list for a business book but number 12 the five love languages by Gary Chapman you've all heard of it but let me explain a relationship book sure but business is all about relationships if you don't know how to connect with people you're never going to succeed at a high level this book taught me that   people communicate and they receive value in different ways whether it's clients it's Partners its employees knowing how someone feels appreciated will change how you do in your business and how successful you ultimately are for example some people value words about affirmation While others need tangible recognition once I started applying these principles in business and you keep it in your head for all conversations I became a better leader a better negotiator and a better connector if you want to improve your ability to   work with people which you will this book will give you an edge a relationship book yes but business is all about relationships remember that if you don't know how to connect with people you'll never succeed at a high level all right there there you go folks the 12 business books you need to Succeed in Business and honestly in life generally read those 12 put them on repeat read them every single year which book hit you the hardest drop a comment below I want to know which one resonated with you the most if you found this   valuable hit that like button or subscribe whatever you're watching this on and share it with someone who needs it these books absolutely change my life and they can do the same for you now go take action read those books apply those principles and let's get this money let's go [Music] Links from the Show and Guest Info and Links: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QXX37vgJPE&list=PLSfheWyV7beFqERLX4ebBUJ4SmzmF6z8e&index=4 https://www.instagram.com/p/DHZAmMtTXDA/ https://x.com/sethbradleyesq/status/1902426622608994373 https://www.linkedin.com/posts/sethbradleyesq_wealthbuilding-moneymoves-businessbooks-acthttps://x.com/sethbradleyesq https://www.youtube.com/@sethbradleyesq www.facebook.com/sethbradleyesq https://www.threads.com/@sethbradleyesq https://www.instagram.com/sethbradleyesq/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/sethbradleyesq/ https://passiveincomeattorney.com/seth-bradley/ https://www.biggerpockets.com/users/sethbradleyesq https://medium.com/@sethbradleyesq 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Life is busy and full of distractions, but Jesus calls us to slow down, enter the secret place, and abide in Him. In the final week of our series “Seven Habits of Jesus People", Pastor David Moore invites us to rediscover the power and peace found in true devotion. Drawing from John 15, explore what it means to remain in Christ—not as a task, but as a relationship built on love, worship, and unhurried time in God's presence. This secret place can transform your relationship with God and overflow into every area of your life.CONNECT WITH US:→ Request Prayer: https://bit.ly/3zMyf5E→ Request Care: https://bit.ly/3fBTX5G→ Share a Testimony: https://bit.ly/3Jo7Ped→ Find Events and More: https://bit.ly/3TcrkcR→ Leave us a Review on Google: https://bit.ly/47925jP→ Plan a Visit in Person: https://bit.ly/3sfQdg7FOLLOW US:→ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/illuminatec...→ Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@illuminate_ch...→ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/illuminatech...WE HELP PEOPLE FIND ABUNDANT LIFE IN JESUS!

Are You Standing on Your Leadership Head? Picture this: You're wondering why your leadership feels like swimming upstream while wearing concrete boots. The answer might be simpler (and more embarrassing) than you think. You've taken three of the most powerful leadership principles and turned them completely backwards. The Leadership Reality Check Drawing from Stephen Covey's timeless Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, this episode exposes how emerging leaders – especially those caught in middle management limbo – are unknowingly sabotaging their own success. We're talking about smart, capable people who are doing everything "right" but getting everything wrong. The Three Habits That Make or Break Leaders 1. Be Proactive (Not Predictive) Stop trying to guess what your boss wants and start owning your responses Self-awareness beats people-pleasing every single time The game-changing difference between responding and reacting 2. Begin with the End in Mind (Not Written in Stone) Your vision is a compass, not commandments carved in granite Why followers need to see your destination, not just your daily detours The trust-killing mistake leaders make when changing course 3. Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood (Not to Be Right) The family dinner table debate trap that destroys workplace relationships Why "tell me more" are the three most powerful words in leadership How buying permission to be heard transforms adversaries into collaborators The Bottom Line Leadership isn't about having all the answers – it's about asking better questions, owning your choices, and creating space for others to contribute their genius. When you flip these three habits right-side up, you stop swimming upstream and start riding the current toward leadership success. Tune In For: The "compass not commandments" approach to vision setting A simple phrase that opens communication floodgates Why self-awareness is the ultimate leadership superpower Real talk about middle management frustrations (looking at you, retail warriors) The trust equation that determines whether followers stick or split Ready to stop doing leadership upside down? Your team (and your sanity) will thank you.

In this episode of Grow a Small Business host Troy Trewin interviews Kerry Boulton from Exit Strategy Group, who shares her incredible journey of buying a freight business doing $16M and growing it to $50M with the same 63 staff. Kerry reveals how she executed a strategic exit after seven years, then went on to build and sell multiple ventures. Now through The Exit Strategy Group, she mentors owners on being “always exit ready,” balancing business, financial, and personal goals. She discusses the power of systems, the Value Builder tool, and finding your “Alan Bond moment.” Kerry's story is a masterclass in scaling, cash flow, people, and creating true freedom. Other Resources: An easy way to measure if your customers love you in 21 minutes – use the Net Promoter Score (NPS). And it's FREE. Maximise Your Business Sale Price To Meet Your Expectations! How to Exit Your Business Feeling Fulfilled Personally Satisfied and Have the Biggest Pay Day of Your Life Why would you wait any longer to start living the lifestyle you signed up for? Balance your health, wealth, relationships and business growth. And focus your time and energy and make the most of this year. Let's get into it by clicking here. Troy delves into our guest's startup journey, their perception of success, industry reconsideration, and the pivotal stress point during business expansion. They discuss the joys of small business growth, vital entrepreneurial habits, and strategies for team building, encompassing wins, blunders, and invaluable advice. And a snapshot of the final five Grow A Small Business Questions: What do you think is the hardest thing in growing a small business? According to Kerry Boulton, the hardest thing in growing a small business is managing cash flow. Growth eats up cash faster than most owners expect, and many don't realize how easily they can run into a squeeze. She says you've got to keep a constant eye on cash, plan ahead, and understand that scaling up often means funding gaps you need to prepare for. What's your favorite business book that has helped you the most? Kerry shares that her favorite business book is “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” by Stephen Covey, which she says gave her a rock-solid foundation for both business and life. She also loves “The Great Game of Business” by Jack Stack for teaching how to build financial literacy and an ownership mindset in your team. Are there any great podcasts or online learning resources you'd recommend to help grow a small business? For podcasts and learning resources, Kerry highly recommends “Built to Sell Radio” by John Warrillow, which dives into making your business more valuable and sellable. She also likes “Business Lunch” with Roland Frasier & Ryan Deiss, plus the Exit Planning Institute's podcast. And of course, she's a fan of Troy's Grow Small Business Podcast, which she appeared on. What tool or resource would you recommend to grow a small business? When it comes to tools, Kerry swears by the Value Builder System, which helps owners see their business through a buyer's eyes, score it across key value drivers, and figure out exactly where to improve to maximize value and exit readiness. What advice would you give yourself on day one of starting out in business? If she could give herself advice on day one of starting out in business, Kerry laughs and says she'd simply tell herself to “buckle up,” because it's going to be a hell of a ride—full of challenges, personal growth, and ultimately the chance to create freedom and live life on her own terms. Book a 20-minute Growth Chat with Troy Trewin to see if you qualify for our upcoming course. Don't miss out on this opportunity to take your small business to new heights! Enjoyed the podcast? Please leave a review on iTunes or your preferred platform. Your feedback helps more small business owners discover our podcast and embark on their business growth journey.     Quotable quotes from our special Grow A Small Business podcast guest: Always run your business as if you'll sell it tomorrow — that's how you build something truly valuable — Kerry Boulton Buckle up — because business is the best roller coaster ride you'll ever take — Kerry Boulton Cash is the oxygen of your business; ignore it and you'll suffocate — Kerry Boulton      

What makes Jesus people truly “peculiar” in the best way? In this week's message, Executive Pastor Kim Teff unpacks Habit #5 in our “Seven Habits of Jesus People” series: Serving Others. Discover why serving isn't just something we do—it's who we are as disciples of Jesus. Following Jesus means choosing to be different from the world, standing out with compassion, humility, and action.CONNECT WITH US:→ Request Prayer: https://bit.ly/3zMyf5E→ Request Care: https://bit.ly/3fBTX5G→ Share a Testimony: https://bit.ly/3Jo7Ped→ Find Events and More: https://bit.ly/3TcrkcR→ Leave us a Review on Google: https://bit.ly/47925jP→ Plan a Visit in Person: https://bit.ly/3sfQdg7FOLLOW US:→ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/illuminatec...→ Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@illuminate_ch...→ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/illuminatech...WE HELP PEOPLE FIND ABUNDANT LIFE IN JESUS!

In this episode, I'm revisiting the Sustainable Seven—the habits that have not only helped me lose 50+ pounds and keep it off, but also radically improved my mental health, consistency, and energy.Whether you're new to your health journey or just feel like you've fallen off track, this episode is your permission to get back to basics—no extremes required.I break down each habit and share how I apply them in my own life (and how you can, too):Protein + FiberHydrationDaily MovementSleep QualityLimiting Buffers (not just alcohol!)Self-DevelopmentConnection + SupportPlus, I share details on how we're donating 50% of all July memberships to support victims of the Texas floods—and how you can join us in the August round of The Challenge That Lasts.

This week, Pastor Tim Ingram unpacks Habit #4 in our “Seven Habits of Jesus People” series: Suffering Well. In a world where pain and grief are inevitable, what sets Jesus people apart isn't the absence of suffering, but how we respond to it. Discover how faith in Jesus empowers you not just to endure, but to overcome and shine like stars, even in the darkest moments.CONNECT WITH US:→ Request Prayer: https://bit.ly/3zMyf5E→ Request Care: https://bit.ly/3fBTX5G→ Share a Testimony: https://bit.ly/3Jo7Ped→ Find Events and More: https://bit.ly/3TcrkcR→ Leave us a Review on Google: https://bit.ly/47925jP→ Plan a Visit in Person: https://bit.ly/3sfQdg7FOLLOW US:→ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/illuminatec...→ Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@illuminate_ch...→ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/illuminatech...WE HELP PEOPLE FIND ABUNDANT LIFE IN JESUS!

Are you feeling stuck, longing for breakthrough, or carrying wounds that never seem to heal? In week four of our “Seven Habits of Jesus People” series, Pastor Tim Ingram reveals why confession is a game-changer for every Jesus person. Discover how admitting our struggles and sins—both to God and to others—unlocks healing, restores relationships, and allows God's power to flow freely in your life.CONNECT WITH US:→ Request Prayer: https://bit.ly/3zMyf5E→ Request Care: https://bit.ly/3fBTX5G→ Share a Testimony: https://bit.ly/3Jo7Ped→ Find Events and More: https://bit.ly/3TcrkcR→ Leave us a Review on Google: https://bit.ly/47925jP→ Plan a Visit in Person: https://bit.ly/3sfQdg7FOLLOW US:→ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/illuminatec...→ Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@illuminate_ch...→ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/illuminatech...WE HELP PEOPLE FIND ABUNDANT LIFE IN JESUS!

Happy Independence Day! In this inspiring episode, Lindsey connects the spirit of American independence to your personal freedom from disordered eating. Drawing from Stephen Covey's "Seven Habits of Highly Effective People," she breaks down the four human endowments that give us ultimate freedom: self-awareness, conscience, independent will, and creative imagination. If you're tired of living for everyone else's approval and ready to declare independence from your eating disorder, this episode will show you exactly how to break free using the power you already have within you. What You'll Learn The 4 human endowments that create ultimate freedom (from Stephen Covey) How your eating disorder hijacks your internal guidance system Why you get stuck in the "capacity to act" phase of recovery How to reconnect with your creative imagination and dreams The power of asking "What's the best that could happen?" How to put on your "full armor" against disordered eating The 4 Keys to Ultimate Human Freedom 1. Self-Awareness Allows you to think about your thoughts Key to taking responsibility for where you are and where you want to go Action Step: Write your Best Self Statement (Episode 51 reference) 2. Conscience Your internal guidance system for right and wrong Connects actions to your highest values (your "True North Compass") Gets jaded when eating disorder is in the driver's seat 3. Independent Will Your capacity to act and break patterns Where many people get stuck in recovery The part of you that's "starving for independence" 4. Creative Imagination Gives you purpose and dreams beyond current reality Hard to access when living "chained in the disorder" When attached to willpower, makes you unstoppable Key Questions to Ask Yourself "What's the best that could happen if..." I surrender control? I sit with my dreams and imagine life without unhealthy behaviors? I stop counting calories or weighing myself? I become the natural version of me I'm supposed to be? Powerful Episode Quotes "Independence is freedom from the need of everyone else's approval." "You have the key. No one else. Freedom isn't really free - it's won by you, but you don't have to go at it alone." "When your willpower is attached to your creative imagination, nothing can stop you." "Fears keep us stuck. The fear of weight gain is real... but it kept me stuck for so long. These are the handcuffs around you, and you have the key." Biblical Foundation - Ephesians 6:10-18 Lindsey references putting on the "full armor of God" to stand against the eating disorder, including: Belt of truth Breastplate of righteousness Shield of faith Helmet of salvation Sword of the Spirit Resources Mentioned Best Self Statement: Pinned in Her Best Self Society Facebook community Episode 51: "Why Some Find Freedom from Disordered Eating and Others Don't" Stephen Covey: "Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" Private Facebook Community: www.herbestselfesociety.com  Ready for Recovery Coaching? Lindsey offers personalized recovery coaching for women ready to do the work. If you're in the "messy middle" and feel stuck despite listening to inspirational content, working with someone who's walked the path could be your game changer. Next Steps: Visit www.herbestself.co  Fill out the client application See if you're a good fit for coaching If not the right match, Lindsey will connect you with other qualified coaches on her team or additional resources to support you along your journey to freedom Take Action This Week Practice self-awareness - Reflect on what you truly want vs. what your ED wants Honor your True North - Connect with your real values and conscience Exercise your independent will - Make one choice that goes against ED thoughts Use creative imagination - Dream about life without obsessive food thoughts Ask the key question: "What's the best that could happen?" Connect & Share Love this episode? Rate and review on Apple Podcasts Share with someone who needs to hear this message Join the private Facebook community for ongoing support Tag @thelindseynichol on social media with your independence declaration Independence Challenge: This week, declare independence from one ED behavior or thought pattern. Share your declaration in the Facebook community for support and accountability! xo, lindsey Coach with Me -＞Client Application * While I am a certified health coach, anorexia survivor & eating disorder recovery coach, I do not intend the use of this message to serve as medical advice. Please refer to the disclaimer here in the show & be sure to contact a licensed clinical provider if you are struggling with an eating disorder.

Dr. Emma Jones is a hospice and palliative care physician, also worked as a pediatric oncologist and pediatrician. She's been in the field for over 10 years and is active in helping healthcare professionals with burnout in the modern medical system. She is the author of The Phoenix Blueprint, Emerging Stronger from the Blaze of Healthcarehttps://www.emmajonesmd.comSometimes you need to realize you may be part of someone else's plan and get onto your own planDr. Jones talks about the difficulties with working with pediatrics but also the amazing resiliency of kids and their parentsWe are told that medicine is a calling and a privilege, and we should sacrifice everything in service of the patient – this is an unrealistic expectation We talk about burnout and moral injuryBurnout a helpful term because it's something we can all feel and understand and use to seek helpMoral distress or injury is something that occurs regularly - when there is discordance between what you want to do and what you are able to do - whereas burnout is more at the end of a line of moral injuriesBurnout triad: emotional exhaustion, cynicism, lack of fulfillmentIf we can get the frontline healthcare workers out of burnout and the day-to-day strife, we can help them be part of the solutions to the problems we faceDr. Jones talks about the philosophy of yoga and how it can help us flourishSleep is vital to healing from burnout. It allows the brain to clean itself; you are smarter after getting adequate sleepA lot of us are not even giving ourselves the opportunity to get enough sleepLack of sleep makes it difficult to put things in their proper context and map solutionsWe talk about core values and the importance of knowing what yours are and how they correspond to your actionsEmma shows the actions she takes to correspond with her core valuesJoy and humor are a huge part of our humanity Questioning your thoughts is key. All thoughts are lies. We recreate memories. Our memories are fallible and tend to degenerate the more we recall an eventLearn to let go of thoughts that do not serve you. Choose the ones that are helpful. You get to control them. You cannot believe every thought that comes into your headSteven Covey describes 3 types of circles in our lives in The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. You have the circle of control you have direct control over but the circle of influence and circle of concern you have less control over. The point is to recognize what is worth focusing on and what is not worth your focus. For examplSupport the showFull show notes can be found here: Episodes - Practical EMS - Content for EMTs, PAs, ParamedicsMost efficient online EKG course here: Practical EKG Interpretation - Practical EMS earn 4 CME and learn the fundamentals through advanced EKG interpretation in under 4 hours. If you want to work on your nutrition, increase your energy, improve your physical and mental health, I highly recommend 1st Phorm. Check them out here so they know I sent you. 1st Phorm | The Foundation of High Performance Nutrition Everything you hear today from myself and my guests is opinion only and doesn't represent any organizations or companies that any of us are affiliated with. The stories you hear have been modified to protect patient privacy and any resemblance to real individuals is coincidental. This is for educational and entertainment purposes only and should not be taken as medical advice nor used to diagnose any medical or healthcare conditions.

This week, Pastor Tim Ingram dives into Habit #2 of the “Seven Habits of Jesus People” series: reading—and actually applying—the Word of God. Discover why simply reading the Bible isn't enough, and how engaging with Scripture four times a week or more leads to powerful transformation in your life, relationships, and faith. Ready to move from knowing the Bible to living it? Find out how Jesus people let God's Word shape their actions, attitudes, and outcomes.CONNECT WITH US:→ Request Prayer: https://bit.ly/3zMyf5E→ Request Care: https://bit.ly/3fBTX5G→ Share a Testimony: https://bit.ly/3Jo7Ped→ Find Events and More: https://bit.ly/3TcrkcR→ Leave us a Review on Google: https://bit.ly/47925jP→ Plan a Visit in Person: https://bit.ly/3sfQdg7FOLLOW US:→ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/illuminatec...→ Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@illuminate_ch...→ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/illuminatech...WE HELP PEOPLE FIND ABUNDANT LIFE IN JESUS!

What does it look like to live intentionally as a Jesus person in a world full of distractions? In this week's message, Christine Ingram kicks off the first habit in our “Seven Habits of Jesus People” series: establishing a Rule of Life. Discover how values and daily practices, rooted in God's Word, can help you become more like Jesus and experience abundant life. Ready to move from chaos to calling? Join us as we learn to live with intention, integrity, and Spirit-led transformation.CONNECT WITH US:→ Request Prayer: https://bit.ly/3zMyf5E→ Request Care: https://bit.ly/3fBTX5G→ Share a Testimony: https://bit.ly/3Jo7Ped→ Find Events and More: https://bit.ly/3TcrkcR→ Leave us a Review on Google: https://bit.ly/47925jP→ Plan a Visit in Person: https://bit.ly/3sfQdg7FOLLOW US:→ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/illuminatec...→ Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@illuminate_ch...→ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/illuminatech...WE HELP PEOPLE FIND ABUNDANT LIFE IN JESUS!

John 17:1–26

Is demarcation stunting your business? In this episode, Squirrel tells us about how his 500-year-old house restoration reminded him of dealing with team members whose strict adherence to demarcation i.e. “That's not my job!” led to mistakes, poor communication and lack of problem-solving - and why un-demarcation is the best route forward. SHOW LINKS: Links: - Demarcation: https://www.fordtransition.org.uk/stories/trade-unions-at-ford/demarcation - Psychological safety: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychological_safety - Seven Habits book: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_7_Habits_of_Highly_Effective_People -------------------------------------------------- You'll find free videos and practice material, plus our book Agile Conversations, at agileconversations.com And we'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show: email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick joined forces at TIM Group in 2013, where they studied and practised the art of management through difficult conversations. Over a decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing profitable organisations through better communication. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, and he's helped over 300 companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, and is an accomplished author and speaker. You can connect with him here: www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/

Wellness doesn't have to be overwhelming—it starts with small, consistent choices that reconnect you to your body, your rhythm, and your purpose. Dr. Michelle Robin celebrates 15 years of Wellness on a Shoestring by revisiting the simple habits that have helped thousands reclaim their energy, focus, and joy. From sleep hygiene to hydration, movement to mindset, she reminds us that transformation isn't about perfection—it's about showing up, tuning in, and making space for what truly matters. This summer, the invitation is clear: slow down, simplify, and start where you are. Key Takeaways: Sleep is foundational; even small shifts in bedtime routines can improve energy and mental clarity. Learning to reflect on what your body is telling you builds self-awareness and prevents burnout. Movement doesn't have to be complicated—just keep your body in motion, especially your spine. Food is fuel and information—cleaning up your diet can unlock better mood, digestion, and focus. Gratitude and emotional clarity are just as essential to health as nutrition and hydration.   Resource Mentioned: Body Talk- https://smallchangesbigshifts.com/download/7110/?tmstv=1736021312 Neuromuscular Neck- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuZM5QbwN3Y&t=55s Wall angles- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgiXvZ36_oI  Sleep posture tips - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXR_GUkdPBY Lists of good fats - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5boXiShAORI Connect with Dr. Michelle and Bayleigh at: https://smallchangesbigshifts.com hello@smallchangesbigshifts.com https://www.linkedin.com/company/smallchangesbigshifts https://www.facebook.com/SmallChangesBigShifts https://www.instagram.com/smallchangesbigshiftsco   Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below! Subscribe to the podcast If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can also subscribe in your favorite podcast app. Leave us an Apple Podcasts review Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts.

What does it mean to be a "peculiar person" in a world that values normal? In this kickoff to our summer series, "The Seven Habits of Jesus People," Pastor Tim Ingram explores how Jesus people stand out—not by being weird for weird's sake, but by living with radical forgiveness, true repentance, and Spirit-empowered kindness.Discover why God calls us to be different, how peculiar people raise the "average" everywhere they go, and why the Holy Spirit is the key to living abundant life. Peculiar people—Jesus people—change the world by letting the Holy Spirit empower their habits, bringing hope, healing, and transformation to their families, workplaces, and communities.CONNECT WITH US:→ Request Prayer: https://bit.ly/3zMyf5E→ Request Care: https://bit.ly/3fBTX5G→ Share a Testimony: https://bit.ly/3Jo7Ped→ Find Events and More: https://bit.ly/3TcrkcR→ Leave us a Review on Google: https://bit.ly/47925jP→ Plan a Visit in Person: https://bit.ly/3sfQdg7FOLLOW US:→ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/illuminatec...→ Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@illuminate_ch...→ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/illuminatech...WE HELP PEOPLE FIND ABUNDANT LIFE IN JESUS!

Discover all of the podcasts in our network, search for specific episodes, get the Optimal Living Daily workbook, and learn more at: OLDPodcast.com. Episode 3624: Rosalyn Palmer reveals why breaking old habits is harder than it seems and why willpower alone isn't the answer. She explains how rewiring your brain with new environments, triggers, and rewards can help replace destructive routines with lasting, fulfilling habits. Discover the practical framework that empowers lasting change by understanding the deeper patterns behind behavior. Read along with the original article(s) here: https://rosalynpalmer.com/how-to-break-old-habits-before-they-break-you/ Quotes to ponder: "Over 40% of our daily actions are habitual." "It is NOT because you lack willpower or are weak-willed." "Have the right environment to foster success." Episode references: Atomic Habits: https://jamesclear.com/atomic-habits Tiny Habits: https://www.tinyhabits.com/ The Power of Habit: https://charlesduhigg.com/the-power-of-habit/ Jud Brewer: https://drjud.com/ The Seven Habits of Highly Successful People: https://www.franklincovey.com/the-7-habits/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Discover all of the podcasts in our network, search for specific episodes, get the Optimal Living Daily workbook, and learn more at: OLDPodcast.com. Episode 3624: Rosalyn Palmer reveals why breaking old habits is harder than it seems and why willpower alone isn't the answer. She explains how rewiring your brain with new environments, triggers, and rewards can help replace destructive routines with lasting, fulfilling habits. Discover the practical framework that empowers lasting change by understanding the deeper patterns behind behavior. Read along with the original article(s) here: https://rosalynpalmer.com/how-to-break-old-habits-before-they-break-you/ Quotes to ponder: "Over 40% of our daily actions are habitual." "It is NOT because you lack willpower or are weak-willed." "Have the right environment to foster success." Episode references: Atomic Habits: https://jamesclear.com/atomic-habits Tiny Habits: https://www.tinyhabits.com/ The Power of Habit: https://charlesduhigg.com/the-power-of-habit/ Jud Brewer: https://drjud.com/ The Seven Habits of Highly Successful People: https://www.franklincovey.com/the-7-habits/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Discover all of the podcasts in our network, search for specific episodes, get the Optimal Living Daily workbook, and learn more at: OLDPodcast.com. Episode 3624: Rosalyn Palmer reveals why breaking old habits is harder than it seems and why willpower alone isn't the answer. She explains how rewiring your brain with new environments, triggers, and rewards can help replace destructive routines with lasting, fulfilling habits. Discover the practical framework that empowers lasting change by understanding the deeper patterns behind behavior. Read along with the original article(s) here: https://rosalynpalmer.com/how-to-break-old-habits-before-they-break-you/ Quotes to ponder: "Over 40% of our daily actions are habitual." "It is NOT because you lack willpower or are weak-willed." "Have the right environment to foster success." Episode references: Atomic Habits: https://jamesclear.com/atomic-habits Tiny Habits: https://www.tinyhabits.com/ The Power of Habit: https://charlesduhigg.com/the-power-of-habit/ Jud Brewer: https://drjud.com/ The Seven Habits of Highly Successful People: https://www.franklincovey.com/the-7-habits/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Have you ever paused to think about the areas of your life that might be slipping through the cracks? It's a common journey we all go through as we navigate this world, reprioritising and adjusting as things evolve.   In the sphere of life coaching, it's often emphasised that we need to pay attention to various parts of our lives to truly thrive. From finances and relationships to health, joy, and family, each aspect contributes to crafting a well-rounded existence.      Let's face it, it's all too easy to become hyper-focused on one area, sacrificing others along the way. Decisions about what we prioritise sculpt our life journey and outcomes. But how do we achieve balance, ensuring no part of our life is left neglected? That's the personal expedition each of us must embark on, deciding where to channel our life force and energy, understanding fully that every component impacts our future success and happiness. One insightful analogy, inspired by Stephen Covey's Seven Habits of Highly Successful People, is about "sharpening the saw." It's about maintaining readiness and support networks, so we're prepared for any situation, much like keeping a saw sharp to effectively cut wood. This rings especially true for workaholics who might overlook personal relationships, only realising their importance later on when those connections have faded. Today, I'm highlighting the importance of conducting a personal review of all aspects of life. Are your relationships flourishing, is your career on track, and are your finances aligned with your professional missions? Without regular introspection and attention, change won't come. And remember, "energy flows where attention goes." Neglect breeds stagnation, while attention fosters growth. Interestingly, I've observed how crucial it is to reignite our sense of play and fun, an element sometimes forgotten in adulthood. Watching children, their capacity for joy is infectious, reminding us that fun isn't just for kids. Regularly revisiting and enhancing this aspect can add a joyful spark to daily life—ask yourself daily: "Where did I have fun today, and how can I create more of it tomorrow?" When it comes to more structured areas, such as finances or relationships, thoughtful planning is required, but each can improve significantly with dedicated focus. So, here's my simple suggestion today: take a moment to assess where you stand across life's many dimensions. If you identify areas that need improvement, provide them with the necessary attention and time to flourish. And if you need any help with that, you know who to call. Always be well on the journey.      Life Passion & Business Podcast is about finding answers to life's big questions through weekly interviews with guest speakers. The Shortcast is my ongoing commitment to staying inquisitive and passionate about life, with whatever is alive for me each week. Follow the links below to discover what else is on offer.     The Five Questions eBook: https://lifepassionandbusiness.com/the-five-questions Focus Coaching: https://lifepassionandbusiness.com/focus-coaching/ Support The Podcast:https://www.buymeacoffee.com/lifeandpassion Midlife Survey: https://lifepassionandbusiness.com/midlife-challenge/              

What if everything we think about gender is wrong? In this episode of "So You're Living in a Simulation" ,  @JoliArtist  makes the case that "male" doesn't actually exist—it's just a performance we've all agreed to believe in.Starting with biology (we all begin as female fetuses), Joli walks us through how society trains people with certain body parts to suppress emotions and avoid anything coded as "feminine." The result? A male loneliness epidemic where men can only express feelings through alcohol or sports. "You live that for 70 years and you wonder why the suicide rates in this country are sky-high."Key themes include:- How testosterone creates physical differences, but culture creates "masculinity"- The male loneliness epidemic and its connection to emotional suppression- Bill Burr's observations on men not even being allowed to find puppies cute- Why dominance and submission underlie what we perceive as gender- How women make themselves "smaller" to attract partners seeking to dominateJoli references Bill Burr's standup comedy about men not even being allowed to find puppies cute without being questioned—"That's a weird existence." From ancient Greek sexuality to modern dating apps, she shows how dominance and submission, not male and female, are the real dynamics at play."Control isn't love. Dominance isn't love. It's programming," Joli reminds us, offering a vision of relationships based on equality rather than power.Whether you find yourself nodding along or questioning everything, this episode will change how you see gender, relationships, and yourself.youroneblackfriend.com•••Timestamps:00:00 Introduction and "Seven Habits of Master Procrastinators" book02:23 "The concept of males is actually an illusion."07:24 "Men are essentially socialized." How boys are taught to be masculine10:48 The dominance vs. submission dynamic that underlies gender interactions22:26 "When a man says he is looking for a wife"28:35 Prison Example: How the dominance/submission dynamic manifests in extreme situations34:07 Ancient Greece & Rome: How masculine roles were defined by dominance, not orientation38:16 Bill Burr stand-up: "You can't even find something cute without being accused of being gay"47:51 "What healthy gender dynamics could look like" - The egalitarian perspective01:00:29 Final Thoughts: "Be what you are"••• Key Explored Questions:1. Are males just a social construct?2. How do fetuses become male?3. Why can't men show emotions?4. Is gender about power dynamics?5. What causes male loneliness?6. Why are male suicide rates high?7. What does Bill Burr say about masculinity?8. What do prison relationships reveal about gender?9. Why do women hide their achievements when dating?10. Did ancient Greeks view gender differently?11. Why can't boys play with dolls?12. Is masculinity just a performance?13. How to balance masculine and feminine energy?14. Is true masculinity about self-mastery?•••#Masculinity #Femininity #Egalitarianism

#10MinuteswithJesus ** Put yourself in the presence of God. Try talking to Him. ** 10 minutes are 10 minutes. Even if you can get distracted, reach the end. ** Be constant. The Holy Spirit acts "on low heat" and requires perseverance. 10-Minute audio to help you pray. Daily sparks to ignite prayer: a passage from the gospel, an idea, an anecdote and a priest who speaks with you and the Lord, inviting you to share your intimacy with God. Find your moment, consider you are in His presence and click play.

Radical engagement with the system doesn't mean participating in that system, distractedly resigned, knowing it all hierarchically at arm's length, with arms crossed, superficially, impatiently. Saying take it or leave means taking part in it alertly, with hope and curiosity, horizontally, leaning forward, hands on, digging deep, persisting, and above all, reciprocally and relationally. So that's the core idea of radical engagement and Claude, that's how I experience your way of being in the world.My conversation with writer, facilitator and consultant and many other hats Adam Kahane, which took place on April 8, 2025, on the very day of the launch of his latest book and Everyday Habits for Transforming Systems, the Catalytic Power of Radical Engagement. Adam talks about seven habits that enable ordinary citizens to become extraordinary agents of transformation. We talked about the process of co creating the book with over 300 individuals, including myself, and how these habits can apply to the arts.Show notes generated by Whisper Transcribe AIAction pointsUnderstand the concept of radical engagement and its role in societal change.Identify the seven everyday habits for transforming systems: acting responsibly, relating in three dimensions, looking for what's unseen, working with cracks, experimenting a way forward, collaborating with unlike others, and persevering and resting.Recognize that systems are human-made and can be rebuilt through collective action.Explore how artists and individuals can apply these habits in their daily lives to contribute to meaningful change.Consider the importance of “acting responsibly” as a foundational habit for engaging with complex systems.Story PreviewImagine a world where everyday actions can ripple through complex systems, sparking real change. Adam Kahane shares the journey behind his book, revealing how a frustrating interview led to a deep exploration of how ordinary people can transform the world around them.Chapter Summary00:00 Radical Engagement: A New Perspective01:00 The Birth of a Book03:30 Understanding Systems Change06:00 The Collective Nature of Transformation09:00 The Seven Habits of Transformation12:00 Art and Systems ChangeFeatured QuotesIt's now completely obvious that these systems were largely built by humans and can be rebuilt by humans… This idea that things are just the way they are and they'll always be the way they are to me is now obviously not true.We might think of systems as these solid, immovable things that you can only change them by using a sledgehammer or dynamite, but that's not true.This idea that things are just the way they are and they'll always be the way they are to me is now obviously not true. They can be transformed. They are being transformed.There's a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in.” - Leonard Cohen (referenced by Adam Kahane)Behind the StoryAdam Kahane's book, ‘Everyday Habits for Transforming Systems,' emerged from a desire to understand how individuals can contribute to large-scale change. Inspired by a challenging interview and co-created with a community of over 300 people, the book outlines seven practical habits for engaging with complex systems in a meaningful way. The process involved deep exploration, iteration, and a commitment to uncovering the essence of effective systems change. *END NOTES FOR ALL EPISODESHey conscient listeners, I've been producing the conscient podcast as a learning and unlearning journey since May 2020 on un-ceded Anishinaabe Algonquin territory (Ottawa). It's my way to give back.In parallel with the production of the conscient podcast and its francophone counterpart, balado conscient, I publish a Substack newsletter called ‘a calm presence' see https://acalmpresence.substack.com. Your feedback is always welcome at claude@conscient.ca and/or on social media: Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, Threads or BlueSky.I am grateful and accountable to the earth and the human labour that provided me with the privilege of producing this podcast, including the toxic materials and extractive processes behind the computers, recorders, transportation systems and infrastructure that made this production possible. Claude SchryerLatest update on March 26, 2025

How do we work with AI in a way that keeps the human part intact? Because while AI can handle the process, it's still on us to bring the perspective, the empathy, and the meaning that make communication matter. In this episode of The Trending Communicator, host Dan Nestle reconnects with seasoned media analyst, communications strategist, digital innovator, and social media OG, Steve Rubel. Steve - now EVP of Media Insights & Measurement at Burson, a role he began after recording this episode - shares his journey from the early days of social media to his current focus on AI's impact on communications, discussing the dual nature of AI as both a creator and a disruptor of value in the industry. Steve and Dan discuss the challenges and opportunities AI presents, from its role in media analysis to its potential to redefine job functions. They highlight the importance of continuous learning and the need for professionals to become "companies of one," investing in their skills to stay ahead. Listen in and hear about... How AI is transforming the communications industry at unprecedented speed Strategies for professionals to stay relevant in an AI-driven landscape Leveraging AI to enhance media analysis and strategic insights Challenges in adapting billing models for AI-assisted work Importance of curiosity and continuous learning in the AI era Optimism for communications professionals who embrace AI's potential Notable Quotes On AI's Impact on Communications: "AI could be a value creator, but it also has equal power, if not more power, to be a value destructor." - Steve Rubel [22:57] On Disrupting Yourself: "It's disrupting yourself before somebody else disrupts you." - Steve Rubel [45:26] On the Future of Communications: "I'm just very bullish about the communications industry and its prospects going forward, especially given what I talked about at the top about this tremendous societal, geopolitical and environmental changes that are in front of us right now and the need for good, solid counsel all around to advise how to navigate all that." - Steve Rubel [1:17:20] On Adapting to AI: "Don't be afraid if it's destroying aspects of your work. There's nothing you can do about that other than figuring out how to also turn it and mirror it into a Net plus for you." - Steve Rubel [1:19:25] On Learning with AI: "But what I love about the experience of sitting down with it is it just indulges my curiosity and my, like, my kind of fantastical ideas." - Dan Nestle [1:08:44] Resources and Links Dan Nestle Inquisitive Communications | Website The Trending Communicator | Website Communications Trends from Trending Communicators | Dan Nestle's Substack Dan Nestle | LinkedIn Dan Nestle | Twitter/X Steve Rubel Steve Rubel | LinkedIn Timestamps 0:00 Intro 4:12 Discussion on "Seven Habits" and personal reflections 8:13 Steve Rubel discusses career evolution and blogging's impact 12:12 Dan Nestle discusses humility and change 16:19 Discussion on AI's Transformational Impact 19:07 Technological Change and Communications 24:44 Discussion on AI's impact on junior roles 27:23 Communications and Social Media Impact 29:51 AI and Workforce Adaptation 34:20 Leadership and AI's Role 37:13 Discussion on ANA AI Conference 41:01 Steve Rubel discusses AI experience 46:01 Steve Rubel discusses his role in qualitative research and adapting during the pandemic 49:04 Excel and Media Strategy 53:48 Experience and Evolution 57:08 Media Analysis and Strategy 1:01:20 Media and Client Expectations 1:05:40 Technological Revolution and Displacement 1:08:44 Curiosity and Learning with AI 1:12:03 Safe Use of AI Tools 1:17:20 Steve Rubel expresses optimism about the communications industry's future 1:19:25 Discussion on AI's impact on jobs 1:22:17 Outro (Notes co-created by Human Dan and Flowsend.ai) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this special episode of The Daily Mastermind, George Wright III collaborates with John Harding, an expert from the Franklin Planner, to discuss strategies for conquering overwhelm in today's digital world. They delve into the definition and causes of overwhelm, such as lack of clarity, overcommitment, and digital distractions. The discussion highlights practical solutions, including the principles of the Franklin Planner system, Stephen Covey's Seven Habits, and the unique benefits of using pen and paper to manage tasks, improve memory, boost creativity, and reduce stress. The episode aims to provide listeners with actionable insights and tools to lead a more intentional and focused life, both personally and professionally.00:06 Overview of the Franklin Planner Podcast00:43 Understanding Overwhelm in a Digital World02:12 Defining Overwhelm and Its Causes04:55 Addressing Overwhelm: Priorities and Focus06:57 Solutions to Overwhelm: The Franklin Planner Approach20:28 The Power of Handwriting and Paper PlannersThank you for listening and remember, "It's never too late to create the life you were meant to live". See you tomorrow.George Wright IIICheck out Franklin Planner Podcast at FranklinPlanner.com

Can't be bothered with email or speak pipe? Text us!We're back! It's been six weeks - sorry about that!Jason was finally struck down by covid... for the first time. Yes, really! Now he finally understands what everyone is complaining about. There's a lot to catch up on: the election, a digression into 'Married at first sight' and what happens to a sander when you use it for 6 hours straight on your boat hull. We get half way through a very full mailbag, before getting on to our dissection of chapter one of Stephen Covey's Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. This is the third time we've talked about this book, and we're only now doing Habit One: proactivity ... look, we have a lot to say! Check out episode 17, where we discuss how the book is really Mormonism pretending to be productivity, and chapter 38 where we talk about chapter three.Be warned - it gets very deep and meaningful. In fact, we get so into it that we forgot to do a two minute tip! We'll make it up to you, we promise.Things we mentionPrevious discussions of 7 Habits: episode 17 and chapter 38Academic Mean Girls Inger reckons Andy Kirk is your go to for Data visualisationBack to Zero - the paper Book: The voices within: the history and science of how we talk to ourselvesBook: Team DogBook: The presentation of self in everyday lifeThe Valley of Shit (blog post about Jason when he was doing his PhD)Book: Striking Ore: the rise and fall of union power in the PilbaraBook: Enemy FeGot thoughts and feel pinions? Want to ask a question? You can email us on - Leave us a message on www.speakpipe.com/thesiswhisperer. - See our workshop catalogue on www.ontheregteam.com. You can book us via emailing Jason at enquiries@ontheregteam.com- Subscribe to the free, monthly Two Minute Tips newsletter here (scroll down to enter your email address) - We're on BlueSky as @drjd and @thesiswhisperer (but don't expect to hear back from Jason, he's still mostly on a Socials break).- Read Inger's stuff on www.thesiswhisperer.com. - If you want to support our work, you can sign up to be a 'Riding the Bus' member for just $2 a month, via our On The Reg Ko-Fi site

In today's WEEKEND WISDOM episode, Jamy Bechler talks about one of Stephen Covey's principles in the book "Seven Habits of Highly Effective People". The "Success is a Choice" podcast network publishes these WEEKEND WISDOM episodes to provide food for thought as we look to finish the week strong and make a difference in the world around us. - - - -  If you like quotes, then you'll want to check out Jamy Bechler's new book "The Coach's Bulletin Board". It contains thousands of insights, thoughts, and quotes are contained in this book. Please visit JamyBechler.com/BulletinBoardBook to get your signed copy. - - - - - Please follow Jamy on Twitter @CoachBechler for positive insights and tips on leadership, success, culture, and teamwork. - - - - - Check out our virtual sessions for parents, coaches, students, and administrators at FreeLeadershipWorkshop.com. These sessions are free and cover a variety of topics. - - - -  The Success is a Choice podcast network is made possible by TheLeadershipPlaybook.com. Great teams have great teammates and everyone can be a person of influence. Whether you're a coach, athletic director, or athlete, you can benefit from this program and now you can get 25% off the price when you use the coupon code CHOICE at checkout. Build a stronger culture today with better teammates and more positive leaders.  Chin Up Chest Out is also a proud partner of the Success is a Choice podcast network. ChinUpChestOut.com is more than a great apparel brand, it's a movement. A portion of all sales of their fabulous merchandise and apparel goes to support mental health initiatives. Our listeners can get 10% off and free shipping with promo code PLAYBOOK. With the new NIL (name, image, and likeness) rules, they are looking for college athletes to be brand ambassadors.  - - - -  Please consider rating the podcast with 5 stars and leaving a quick review on iTunes.  Ratings and reviews are the lifeblood of a podcast. This helps tremendously in bringing the podcast to the attention of others. Thanks again for listening and remember that “Success is a choice. What choice will you make today?” - - - -  Jamy Bechler is the author of nine books including The Captain and The Bus Trip, host of the Success is a Choice Podcast, professional speaker, and trains organizations on creating championship cultures. He previously spent 20 years as a college basketball coach and administrator.  The Leadership Playbook is Bechler's online program that helps athletes become better teammates and more positive leaders while strengthening a team's culture. As a certified John Maxwell leadership coach, Bechler has worked with businesses and teams, including the NBA. Follow him on Twitter at @CoachBechler. To connect with him via email or find out about his services, please contact speaking@CoachBechler.com. You can also subscribe to his insights on success and leadership by clicking here.

What you focus on is what you get more of." - Cindy Zurchin In this episode, host Ana Melikian speaks with Dr. Cindy Zurchin, a visionary leader with over 30 years of experience in transforming workplace culture, about the power of creating fun and thriving work environments. Cindy enlightens us on how incorporating trust, positivity, and innovation into workplace culture can lead to enhanced productivity and satisfaction. Ana and Cindy delve into the challenges many face in traditional toxic workspaces and the steps one can take to shift from a culture of negativity to one of encouragement and growth. Cindy shares her own journey from adopting a tough management style to embracing servant leadership, highlighting the significance of building a people-centric organization. She presents her proven strategies encapsulated in the "Raise the BAR" initiative, focusing on Building trust, Activating positivity, and Redirecting mistakes. Listeners will gain valuable insights on how to initiate positive changes in their environments, from small business settings to large organizations, and the importance of recognition and gratitude in cultivating a healthy work culture. Motivation, acknowledgment, and the implementation of servant leadership are at the core of Cindy's approach, promising not only improved business outcomes but also a more fulfilling professional life. Let's dive in! This week on the MINDSET ZONE: 00:00 Recognizing Employees: The Power of Acknowledgment 00:28 Introduction to the Mindset Zone 01:06 Meet Cindy Surgeon: Transforming Workplace Culture 01:29 The Vision of a Fun Workplace 04:25 Understanding Toxic Workplaces 06:04 Cindy's Personal Journey in Leadership 12:17 From Toxic to Thriving: Real-Life Transformations 15:18 Raise the BAR: Building Trust and Positivity 18:23 Advice for Leaders: Changing Toxic Work Cultures 24:47 Conclusion: Creating a Thriving Work Culture About The Guest Dr. Cindy Zurchin has over 30 years of leadership experience as a motivational speaker, trainer, and author. She earned her doctorate in Educational Leadership from Duquesne University and has additional certifications from prestigious programs such as “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” and “Leading Change.”  Cindy has held various educational leadership positions, including Teacher, Principal, and Superintendent, overseeing a $62 million budget and 500 staff members. She transformed a struggling school into a nationwide success by applying the leadership principles detailed in her book, “The Whale Done! School,” co-authored with Ken Blanchard. Her signature approach focuses on fostering vibrant school environments for students, teachers, and parents.  As a consultant for the Blanchard Institute, Cindy collaborated with educators and parents nationwide, building trust in school communities, particularly in California, where her models gained rapid acceptance. She has been featured in Principal Magazine and TribLive.com.  Cindy is currently the CEO of her consulting firm. She resides in Pittsburgh with her husband, John, and is a proud mother of two grown sons. She advocates for trust, resilience, and success through strategic action. Connect with: Linkedin.com/in/cindyzurchin/ drcindyzurchin.com Resources: Book: The Whale Done! School: Transforming a School's Culture by Catching Students Doing Things Right Related Content: Expand What's Possible

In this episode of the Building Texas Business Podcast, I spoke with James Dieter, Chairman and CEO of Principle Health Systems. James shared his journey from orthopedic and interventional pain specialist to healthcare entrepreneur. Motivated by inefficiencies he witnessed firsthand, he created a more efficient healthcare model focused on mobile diagnostic services. Principle Health Systems has now conducted over 3.2 million mobile lab tests in 2024, demonstrating the success of his patient-centered approach. James opened up about leadership challenges and the importance of self-awareness when managing strengths and weaknesses as a CEO. By redefining Principle Health's mission, vision, and core values, his team created a unified direction that improved employee satisfaction and strengthened company identity. His insights on strategic partnerships showed how the right team can transform an organization. We explored their innovative "daily DON" program, an AI tool that helps Directors of Nursing prioritize patient care in long-term facilities. This technology enhances clinical decision-making while serving as a distinctive marketing asset for the company. James also discussed the Texas healthcare landscape, including Medicare conditions and reimbursement rates. Throughout our conversation, James shared practical advice on informed risk-taking and learning from setbacks. His experience navigating the healthcare industry offers valuable lessons for leaders and entrepreneurs looking to make an impact in this complex field. SHOW HIGHLIGHTS I explore James Dieter's journey from an orthopedic and interventional pain specialist to a leader in healthcare entrepreneurship, emphasizing his efforts to address inefficiencies in the healthcare system through mobile diagnostic services. We discuss the transformation of Principle Health Systems, highlighting its achievement of conducting over 3.2 million mobile lab tests in 2024, with a focus on patient-centric care. James shares insights on balancing strengths and weaknesses as a CEO, stressing the importance of self-awareness and strategic partnerships in building a thriving organizational culture. We delve into the development of a strong company culture at Principle Health Systems, driven by redefining mission, vision, and core values, which has enhanced employee satisfaction and strengthened company identity. The episode covers the innovative "daily DON" program, an AI-driven tool that aids Directors of Nursing in prioritizing patient care, which has been recognized for its impact on clinical decision-making and marketing. We examine the challenges and opportunities in the Texas healthcare landscape, including favorable Medicare conditions and low reimbursement rates, alongside the growing role of AI in insurance claims processing. James reflects on leadership and problem-solving, emphasizing the need for quick decision-making, informed risk-taking, and learning from setbacks to drive business growth and sustainability. LINKSShow Notes Previous Episodes About BoyarMiller About Principle Health Systems GUESTS James DieterAbout James TRANSCRIPT (AI transcript provided as supporting material and may contain errors) Chris: James, welcome to Building Texas Business. Thanks for taking the time to come on the show. James: Glad to be here. Thanks so much for having me. Chris: Yeah. So let's start at the beginning. Just tell us a little bit about your company and what it does and what it's known for. James: Yeah, so Principle Health Systems has evolved over the years. When we started out we really had multiple directions. We were going in just as a healthcare services company. So a little background on me. I started out in orthopedics and interventional pain. I was really just dedicated to practice inpatient, outpatient and surgery. So going through that for my first decade of work, I saw a lot of inefficiencies in the healthcare, outpatient and surgery. So going through that for my first decade of work saw a lot of inefficiencies in the healthcare services sector, specifically in the Southeast region of Houston where I worked. So I wanted to build a better system right. Our lab results took too long to get back. Our pharmaceuticals weren't in stock at the pharmacies we'd send our patients to. Mri results took too long and started to, through my entrepreneurship journey, go out and started to build little sectors of where I could have influence really over my own practice to have a better outcome and through that over time started over 20 businesses in the first 10 years Just had numerous pharmacies, laboratories, diagnostic facilities, did three surgery centers. I was involved in one large hospital system and then got to a point where I said, hey, let's wrap this thing together, let's put it together. I want to have really just one source solution where we could come in and work with physicians and provide a host of different services. That went fairly well. The service level was outstanding. The most difficult aspect for us was really the payers actually having reimbursements without being contracted with certain individuals. From there, we really, about six, seven years ago, found a niche and that was called long-term care. So we define long-term care as skilled nursing facilities, assisted living facilities and home health facilities and we provide laboratory and diagnostic services to those guys. So, in-house, you call it your house if you live in a skilled nursing facility or assisted living facility, or at home, but we provide mobile diagnostic services. So we go out and we offer labs, x-rays, ultrasounds, echocardiograms and ekgs in the home. So you bring it to the patient. Bring it to the patient, that's right. That's right. And last year, 2024, we performed over 3.2 million lab tests mobile. So, with a large amount of those being for stat tests, right? So tens of thousands of stat tests per month where somebody needs something in four to six hours and we get us turned around for them. Chris: Okay, so it sounds like the inspiration for you was maybe frustration born out of frustration, for sure, and a gap in our healthcare delivery service, so he's shedding more light on that. I mean, you've mentioned this entrepreneurial journey. I mean most physicians and doctors don't have that. So what was it for you that you kind of took frustration and turned it into action? James: Yeah, I mean just a matter of you know, I'd have a patient that was really suffering right, specifically on the interventional pain side. This is not uncommon. You have a patient who's in a very bad position and you're already jumping through hoops with insurance companies. So it might take three to four weeks to get something approved. And then you're in, then you set them up for surgery. Well, you, the assumption is okay, we're going to have the lab work back, we're going to have the MRI back in time, and then it just wasn't happening. So you're pushing off surgery, you're pushing off procedures and just over time it's just a great deal of frustration. At the end of the day, the mission was always to help the patient, and if it's all about the patient, we've got to do something different here. And that was the biggest frustration for us was just the delays and turnaround times on the imaging and laboratory specifically, but then also getting medications, you know, sending patients out and having sometimes three, four, five phone calls come back up. The pharmacy didn't have my medication, the pharmacy didn't have my medication, the pharmacy didn't have my medication. So that's when we started opening up our own pharmacies back then as well. Chris: So just there, right, you said we. Who did you partner with? How did you go about finding a business partner? If that's the case, going about setting up a business, because you don't just turn on a switch right. There's planning, there's financing. Entrepreneurs in any industry, in all industries, go through that when they're starting a business. Let's talk a little bit about that journey in the beginning, of how you got it going and some of the lessons learned in that process. James: Lots of lessons learned in that process. You know, speaking of that, we call it chewing glass, right, okay, I? heard that one. So much of it's just a grind right and just figuring it out. But as far as partnering goes, I've had numerous partners in different individual business units over the years. When I formed Principle Health Systems in March of 2016, I had to get really specific on who am I going to allow on the bus, who do I really want to partner with on the bus? So I pulled away from certain partners, left goes, let go of certain businesses and then brought some together. So, in total, I believe we started out with there were three of us on day one that we brought in, you know. But I had different skill sets, right. I mean, I was trying to always try to be very honest with myself about where are my weaknesses right. I'm I would say I'm highly visionary. I like to think big. I like to have that 50,000 foot view of where we're going, set goals, set mission, set vision. Big culture guy. I love to talk about culture and instill culture throughout the organization. Chris: We'll get to that in a minute. James: Cool yeah, but just frankly, I would say weaknesses are on details, right. So I've just always been someone who likes to move forward and not analyze every aspect of it. So partnering with some people that were strong in an analytics and detail side of the business was really important for me, and I still have some just phenomenal business partners today in that regard. Chris: That's great. You touched on two things that I think are very common, some of which when we're advising clients. The first is choosing your partners right and being clear about expectations, documenting what the deal is on the front end and making sure you know that where everyone's going and what the roles are. The second is understanding, especially when you're the leader, your weaknesses in hiring around that, because you can't do it all and you're not going to be good at everything, and so I think everyone that I've met that's been successful has that self-awareness Right. How did you go about getting comfortable letting go of some of those job responsibilities and whether it was a good hire or a partner that you chose. James: That's a tough one. I mean, some of it was truly difficult to let go of. And then other pieces. You know you tend to be good at what I would say you tend to enjoy what you're good at. Sure, yeah, and that's one of the so to really convince yourself like, let's go spend more time at what we're good at, more time at what we enjoy, I would say I didn't focus so much on letting go as focused I wasn't spending so much time focused on what I'm not good at as what I was good at right. So it was just a matter of, by virtue, of spending more time on what I enjoy, doing less and less of what I don't enjoy. And that was easier for me to let go. It was almost to to to let it slip to let it slip away rather than to give it away and know that because you weren't giving it attention. Chris: someone needed to Right. James: Right. And then you know, obviously just helping to build folks up I mean, we have right now an unbelievable director of human resources who was in project management at one point and just understanding the value of different people in the organization that you already have built trust and rapport and you believe in them. and then to find, hey, I really think they'd be good at this and then move them into these roles to fill gaps was so important and just finding, really analyzing the people that are around you to understand what are they great at and what might else they do from where they are today, that could be a greater opportunity and bring greater value to the company and organization. Chris: Yeah, so you touched on culture, let's go ahead and go there. Anybody you talk to at a CEO, entrepreneur, business owner, leader will say, right, culture's king. We believe it a hundred percent. We talk about that constantly around here. It's just part of our DNA. We believe it 100%. We talk about that constantly around here. It's just part of our DNA. So everyone goes about it differently. Let's talk about how you have gone about building the culture at Principal Health. How would you describe it first? And then, how have you gone about building it and nurturing it? James: Yeah, so great question. I mean, starting out, I couldn't tell you when we started the organization what was our mission, what were our core values. I couldn't even tell you what they were. There was something we came up with. I think two of us came up with one day, in a couple hours, some marketing stuff yeah marketing stuff. We hung it on the wall, just like you would expect right from most organizations to do most organizations do. And we had a phenomenal, you know, I would say the top 20 people in the organization just had a great relationship together and I would say that we thought culture was very strong. Four years in we polled the entire company and it was pretty, pretty terrible. I mean, it was like a 60% satisfaction, maybe even in the fifties, and we were kind of horrified like wow, we thought we had this great culture and everybody loved this company and it was. You know what it was. Well, I decided a couple of months later I did an offsite. So we did a two day offsite and kind of big hotel room, you know, or I guess I said conference room, with these big windows overlooking clear lake, and you know it know, the whole idea was like let's think big, and we brought in just management. So I think there was 46 managers at that time in the organization and we all came in the room we said, hey, we're here for two days to figure out three things Our mission, our vision and our core values. And we're going to sit together and this isn't going to be the C-suite telling everybody what we're about as a company. We as a people, as a community, are going to discuss what is this company? Who are we Not? What are we? Who are we? Chris: And what do you want to? James: be Exactly, and we did come up with a BHAG. We ended up throwing in a BHAG as well there. But where do we want to go? Classic Jim Collins. So we did get through that two-day period and we came out with a really strong mission, vision, core values. Our mission is to improve patient outcomes and experiences. Relatively simple, very difficult to do in healthcare. We decided our core values would be URPHS Principle Health System the acronym I should say is URPHS. Understand the mission, respect everyone. Patients are our purpose, happy to help and step up. So and we talk about simple, right, exactly, I would believe at this point, 90% of any you know we're approaching, I think, right, right, 500 employees today. I would think 90% of those folks could tell you that and not just tell you what they are, but give you examples of how they've done those things. We live culture. We no longer talk about it. We did that in the beginning. Now we live it. It's brought up in every management meeting. It's brought up in all the leadership training sessions, all the offsites and it's kind of what I call the North Star. So we look at culture as the direction. If you're not sure about a decision that you're going to make in any regard. I want you to think about the North Star. Is it in alignment with, are you walking towards, the culture, are you walking towards the mission of this company? And that helps to drive behaviors so important. Chris: I mean, that is the true key to the kingdom. I think the word I would use is it sounds like your culture has become institutionalized. Right, it starts out where it is you as the culture cop or maybe the C-suite, and getting it deeper in the organization. But once you've done that and everyone knows it and everyone lives it and everyone can hold each other accountable to it, then you've got a true directional tool To your point. I think the more you can tie behaviors to those values that's when they become real the more you can tie behaviors to those values. That's when they become real. And so when you're praising people because whatever they did connects with these two of our six or whatever number is of our values, it becomes real to them and they know how to repeat it A hundred percent. James: Yeah, I'm fairly unapologetic about the culture, so I would say it's even unusual Some of the things I'll say when I'm in management meetings or even when I do a quarterly coffee and conversation. So I meet with the entire company. It's usually takes six or seven sessions, but I go company wide, we bring the big groups and I'll sit down with the entire company for an hour every quarter and what I'll typically say when it comes to culture is that it's up to you to you know we can't police it from management. It's up to the people to police the culture. So one of our core values is respect everyone. So if there's someone who's not respecting everyone, I expect that the people of the company will kick that person out, go after them, make sure they don't work here, and I'll literally look out and I regularly look out across when I'm talking to the whole team. Chris: And I tell them. James: If you really can't say that you're here for the patient, if you can't say that you're really here to serve our mission, I was like I really don't want you here. I was like I prefer you to quit. I was like we will replace you and I would prefer to go without somebody for a short period of time. I'm unapologetic about it. We truly believe it. That's what we're about above all things. The rest of it, because at the end of the day, in our business, if we do a really great job treating patients, everything else will follow. Yeah, the doctors want to work with us, the facilities want to spend time with us, the payers will respect us. It's really about the patients. So we put patients first. Everything else comes next and if you can't get behind that, we don't want you. Chris: Yeah, I think that's a great point. Some of the words we use here, right. We're passionate about our mission and our values, which means they resonate in our heart and our gut. Right, we just it's in our fiber. If they don't resonate with you, it's really okay, because it means it's not the right organization for you, right there's a different organization out there that you're going to be happier with, you'll connect with and we'll go find someone that connects with us. Happier with you will connect with and we'll go find someone that connects with us, because they're going to be the better performer, the self-policer, the self-motivator. They're going to be the ones that connect with for us, similar to patient care, client service, right and mutual respect amongst everyone. So I agree with you it's okay to tell people if you don't connect with this. Actually, I use it in interviews when I'm interviewing someone. Here's who we are, we're very clear about it. And if you don't connect, it doesn't make you a bad person 100% doesn't. It just means it's in the right organization for you and there's a gazillion other organizations. Advert Hello friends, this is Chris Hanslick, your Building Texas business host. You're a Building Texas business host. Did you know that Boyer Miller, the producer of this podcast, is a business law firm that works with entrepreneurs, corporations and business leaders? Our team of attorneys serve as strategic partners to businesses by providing legal guidance to organizations of all sizes. Get to know the firm at boyermillercom and thanks for listening to the show. James: There's another team, there's another team that'll work just well for you. Yeah, totally. Chris: No, let's switch a little bit because I want to get back into kind of the business I'm always interested to ask about, like innovations and technologies I mean no-transcript. James: Yeah, I mean, you know, obviously, with the increased levels of compute, you know, now you have the large language models, you have artificial intelligence and that has already made an impact for us. So I would say that we are the next 18 months are going to be very interesting, but we are already using automation from AI that is changing the way we do things and I can give you one example in particular. Well, two really good examples. One in the back office, we have a team of I believe it's three ladies total. Still we had three ladies that would handle all of our facility invoicing right and it's very complex. We have the decipher between patient to patient each day who's part A, who's part B and how we do the billing, and some of it gets billed to facilities. Some of it's billed to without getting too much in the weeds. Some of it gets billed into the insurance company and we've been able to quadruple our volume with still having the same amount of people and not have to scale payroll because of implementing automation techniques through AI that help to decipher where those go. These get scanned in and it all gets brought up. Still have a little bit of a you know, a people component to it. But, just you know, we would be sitting here with and one division. It's just a great example, because that one division would probably be 10, 11 people, yeah, and the cost increase Exactly. Chris: That's an amazing statistic. James: So that is kind of a back office area that we're really focused on going. Where else can we, where else can we look at the bringing in this technology to help as we continue to scale, so that we don't have to just keep hiring bodies? which is you know, from a real estate perspective even difficult. So we're, you know, we're, we've been tapped out on space for two years and we're it's been very challenging. Where do you just put you know, where do you keep putting people Right? So, but on the I guess I'd say on the actual business, well, that's the back office on the front of the house. We've got a program. We call it the daily DON. So, right, so it's a DON is a director of nursing. A lot of the facilities we work within, you know, skilled nursing facilities, assisted living facilities, they have someone who really oversees the house. They're the clinical expert in there that makes sure that all the patients are taken care of. That's called the DON. So we have a form that's. Thousands of these go out every morning to all of our facilities and it's an AI program that picks out the most important things that happened the prior day. So here's, you know, bobby Sue had a stat test performed at X time and here's the result. Here's a critical result or whatever is most important. They kind of have a clinical mind and says, hey, this is where we think you should pay attention to your patients today. These people are trending in the wrong direction. These people if they're doing just fine, they're at the bottom of the page. The things that are most important are highlighted at the top of the page, but it's really helping us provide better healthcare diagnostics for our providers so that they can treat the patients better. So it's right, in line with our mission, but it's really just automation and again, it would take an army of people to do this. Chris: Yeah, that's really cool stuff. I have to believe that is also, if not already, will become a huge marketing tool. Oh, it's a big marketing tool. Right, people are worried about the family mergers they're putting in there, where they're really going to get care, because, you already know this, your industry doesn't have a great reputation as a whole. No for sure. James: And so the more you can say no, this is what we do to make sure we're taking care of your loved one, yeah, so there's a huge journal publication called McKnight's and it is the, you know, the premier publication for the long-term care space and you know, all over the country, the daily DON. We actually won a bronze medal this year against thousands of applicants for innovation. So it was actually yeah, we were awarded. Chris: I guess that was 2024, but last year yeah, close enough, yeah, so let's talk a little bit just about, you know, being in Texas, being a business, primarily in Texas. What are some of the advantages that you have experienced being here, not just in Houston, but taking advantage being in Texas? For us is related to the Medicare Advantage plan, right so? James: or, excuse me, the MAC right so? Different Medicare has Medicare administrative plans and they actually carry out Medicare's will in an area. Texas has a MAC that is somewhat more favorable than the rest of the country. Now there's a few states that share that, but just in general, for us, from a standpoint of clarity they're a little bit more clear. There's a lot of bureaucracy that goes on in just getting paid, so this might be surprising to people outside of health care, but today I believe we are paid on 61% of the business we do and we're actually probably one of the really high end. We've run studies on this and we're we are, better reimbursed than most companies out there in our space, and so we still, you know, roughly four out of 10 patients that we treat, we get paid $0. Chris: It's just fascinating to me that it's that poor it is very poor. James: However, we are in one of the more favorable areas, so I can only imagine if you don't have a lot of clarity and guidance on how to bill, it just becomes more and more challenging for you. Chris: Yeah, this may be one of those, but I'm just interested as you kind of look out going forward, what are some of the challenges or headwinds you see maybe coming at your industry? Some of the challenges or headwinds you see maybe coming at your industry, lots of changes going on in Washington right now will have an effect, I'm sure, on your business but maybe also affect what goes on at the state level. James: So one thing you're kind of worried about as you kind of look out, I would say just one of the concerns, and I mean I think again, everybody likes to point the finger to the big bad guys and I really look at them more as a partner than they're not a, you know, an adversary to us or more of a partner. But the insurance companies have become more active in utilizing ai to to identify discrepancies within chart notes to deny claims. So that's something where, you know, recently went to, one of the conferences I attended was for health care payers and they have booths set up, you know, trying to sell to the health insurance companies of how to use artificial intelligence to identify the to not pay. They're already not paying much and you know they're now. In reality, the reason they are not paying is because the notes are lacking in something. So, rather than paying a person to go and evaluate each note, which is very expensive, you think about the health insurance companies if they have to hire thousands of people to evaluate the charts, or they can use AI programs to evaluate the charts it's going to save them money and hopefully that money gets passed on to the consumer. So I actually don't think it's a long-term a bad thing, but I do expect in the meantime it's going to just decrease even further, decrease the amount of claims that get paid. Chris: Right, it sounds like it would be incumbent upon companies like you to kind of push back a little more in the short term. James: to be able to take advantage of those efficiencies later. Absolutely yeah, and I look at it from our perspective. We're in a really good spot. We're pretty developed to where we can handle those kinds of headwinds. Chris: So let's switch again a little bit. Just talk about leadership. How would you describe your leadership style? How do you think it's evolved over the past, you know, 12 to 15 years since you've kind of been moving forward with this company? James: Yeah, I mean. So starting out with a group, I think, start with five people and 500 folks. So leadership looks very differently as business scales. And, to start right, I mean I used to take out the trash and do the accounting. I mean I've worked every job in the company personally and in the beginning, worked with a lot of people who were for lack of a better, better word incompetent at what they did, and today, having been able to develop people and hire and bring in and partner with incredible people that are, frankly, better than I am, a lot of things it allows me to go and do what I'm really good at and, from a leadership perspective, I've probably, if I've, believed in you from the beginning. I've always given you. I'm not a micromanager. I don't believe you can't really grow a large company if you're watching over everything going on. So you have to truly, just, I would say, collaborate with those around you and I guess, if I had to define it who I am, I try to be a great collaborator, right. I try to really help, provide as many resources for the people around me as possible so that they can be successful. Chris: That's good. Let's talk about problem solving right. Especially where you are today and probably have been in your role, probably more of what you do is facing issues, and how are we going to work through this and solve an issue, solve a problem? What have you found to be the most effective way to kind of get the information you need to make those informed decisions that you believe would be in the best interest of the company? James: Yeah, I mean. So again, that's something that over time, has become, I would say, much more of a process, right? So now we have data analytics and we have incredible CFO that's been coming in and able to provide information. There. We have all these additional resources, from accountants to lawyers, to folks. We sit down. I like to surround myself with the right group. We try to sit in a room with the right people at the right time and analyze all the information, but very quickly. I do not like the old analysis paralysis. That's not us at all. I move very quick, I like to make decisions very fast and I don't look in the rear view mirror very often. I'm always looking out the front window and just moving forward. So when there's challenges that are hitting us, it's just a relatively. Let's get as much information as we can today, let's analyze it and let's go. Chris: Yeah, I love that because I agree, I think, the idea that stagnation will kill the company right, and so I think you try to get as much information as you can, knowing it's never going to be perfect. But I think the key then is, I agree with the mindset of kind of move quick. To me, the next piece of that is to evaluate the decision as it's implemented, because then you're continuing to learn and gather information. If you're doing that so that you can adjust right, Because the plan goes out the window as soon as you start to act right, so some people will act and then ignore, and I think that's a mistake. I think if you act, continue to analyze and then align behind what you've learned, it may not be a pivot, it may just be a tweak, but you've got to keep moving. James: I totally agree and you really touched on a great point that I like to speak about. Often and it plays a little bit in the culture. I tell people, guys, we've got to make mistakes here. If we're not making mistakes, we're trying nothing new. So I hesitate to say I encourage mistakes, but to some extent I think I did in my last meeting ask for mistakes directly. So the idea here is that it's okay to make mistakes, it's not okay to make the same mistake over and over again. But if we're not trying, we're not growing. If we're not growing, we're dying. So we've got to continue to move forward. And the culture is that if you are focused and I mentioned that North Star earlier but if you're heading towards the North Star and you make a mistake, you're okay, there's no problem If you're doing something new and you're trying something for the good of the company and the good of the patient, that's okay. Let's learn from it. Let's learn from it, let's change course and let's keep moving. Chris: Yeah, that's right. Comfort and complacency aren't good, and I think that that freedom to take risk as long as it's an informed risk, as long as it aligns with our mission and values, is the type of risk you want to encourage your people to be doing and learn from it 100%. So that's good. People always learn from setbacks. So let's talk about a failure or setback you've experienced, and I know there's probably two or three examples from yesterday. James: No, but yeah, I mean, where do we start here? Chris: But what was it you know, and how did you learn from it, and how did it make you better? How did it improve you or the company, whatever the example may be? James: Yeah. I think geez, you know, this is only a tough question because I have so many. Chris: Yeah, I think geez, this is only a tough question because I have so many. You're not alone in it. A lot of guests say the same thing and I can identify with that. James: Yeah, so. I think for one this just comes to mind somewhat early on in our business we had just one massive customer. We had a great deal of revenue concentration in one customer who ultimately had a bankruptcy and put us in a really bad financial position when we lost out on. You know they were way behind on paying their bills and you know such and such. You've heard the story. Chris: Oh sure. So not only did you not get paid. If you were that beholden to them, you didn't have a lot of other things coming in Correct. James: Correct, correct. And just to learn from that example of not letting yourself get too far out over your skis for one, but also just to diversify, not just the customer base. We were actually diversified in our revenue and how we were paid, but it was all one customer. So you've got to diversify your revenue base and your customer base and not have too much concentration. That was a really early on lesson that just comes to mind. That, I feel like, was still one of the most painful. I think I laid off 40 or 50 people that day and it was just a tremendous. That one scarred me pretty bad. Chris: Layoffs are never easy. Those are ones you'll remember. James: Yeah, that one still haunts me, so again I've. Which mistake would you like to talk about? Chris: we could do a whole show. Yeah, you really could, but yeah so kind of you know, bringing this more to a close, any advice you would share with our listeners, entrepreneurs and business owners out there that you know, if there's one thing you're if you're thinking about, if you've just started the journey or you're thinking about it, here's one or two things that you would kind of want to pass along. James: Yeah, I mean I just, you know, from an entrepreneurial standpoint, I had a one of my, one of my father's good friends when I was a young kid, you know, probably high school. He told me at one point he said, hey, your business really isn't going to fail unless it runs out of time or money. And just kind of keep that in the back of your head, because I can think of at least six or seven times that we were done, you know, and I had to sit there and go well, hold on, you know, we haven't completely, we're not completely done because we haven't run out of time or money. And that was how, you know, I spoke about chewing glass earlier. I think you know one of my buddies, he's a new entrepreneur. I always I tell him ready, shoot, aim. You know, at some point you can analyze all the data. And if you do analyze all the data, you're probably never going to start Right, because the odds are of starting a new business are challenging. Chris: For sure, as everyone says, it's not for the faint of heart. James: It For sure, as everyone says, it's not for the faint of heart. It's not for the faint of heart. And everyone will run into a lot of problems and challenges. And that's why because if it was easy, everybody would do this Correct, and so just I would. Just it might sound a little silly, but just don't give up. I mean, if it's something you believe in, if it's really a great cause, if your heart's in it, just keep your head down and push on, because you will be successful. Chris: That's great, and perseverance and grit is what it takes if you're going to be a true entrepreneur 100%. But the ready shoot aim is kind of like you were saying earlier, in decision making, at some point you got to make a decision, absolutely you got to go. James: Yeah, I see that as just a big mistake that folks are making over and over again is sitting around just waiting and by the time they actually make the decision, the opportunities passed. Chris: yeah well, let's, we're going to close with some more fun stuff. Talk a little bit more about texas, any favorite vacation spots within the state. James: Things you like to do in your spare time you know we have a little piece of land up in west texas so we're out in the lakey area okay it's kind of kind of over there by Garner State Park for those that know the river and just absolutely love. We go out there probably every month. You know I have two boys and a little girl so I spend a lot of time out there. The family makes it out there every now and then, but I definitely try to grab a boy and go out there every month. How fun is that? We just go and shoot guns and hang out and, you know, take the kids and their friends over to the Garner State Park, dance and do all that kind of stuff. Chris: God's country over there. James: It is God's country. It's fantastic. That was my favorite place. Chris: It's just beautiful out there, yeah, so any like books or anything that you've read lately that you might pass on to a listener as something to go spend some time reading or learning from. Reading or learning from. James: Jeez, you know I'm actually doing 10 books with my kids right now, so there's nothing new and exciting, but they're all you know. I've got them reading Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, so that was the book they read last week. They're reading a book a week, so this week they're on the Five Dysfunctions of a Team Peter Lencioni. Chris: Yeah. James: So those are kind of what's going on. That's what's on my mind at the minute. I like it At the moment, yeah. Chris: And teaching them young. James: I love that, yeah, I mean well, they're 15, 13, not too young. Chris: Right. James: But kind of when I was reading those books and trying to. So a bunch of oldies but goodies. Yeah, we're going through right now. Chris: We're doing Rich Dad, poor Dad world from that perspective. Last question do you prefer tex-mex or barbecue? James: barbecue, all right, yeah I guess you can't go out to lakey and and not have barbecue in that area or on the road trip to and from no, I mean I it's. Chris: That's a tough question I always save it for last and everyone says the same thing. It's a trick question what's yours? People turn that on me and I think I it's a tough one that they. You know, once it's turned on me and I think it's a tough one Once it's turned on me, I realize how unfair it is. Yeah, I think my answer has always been I love barbecue, but my go-to is probably Tex-Mex more than barbecue. James: So if I was going to say Tex-Mex with a margarita, that might go above barbecue For sure, but if it's just food, it's barbecue Okay. Chris: Yeah, because it's hard to have Tex-Mex without a margarita. James: Yeah. Chris: And then, of course, you have places now, especially here in Houston, I'm sure, other places where they're combining, you know, like the brisket into the Tex-Mex. James: so brisket, burritos or tacos, and that, to me, is probably the penultimate, it's fantastic. Chris: Yeah, there really is. It's challenging when it comes to healthcare. So, James, this has been great man. I really appreciate you coming on and sharing your story. It's pretty fascinating, and congratulations for all the success and what I know will be successful in the future. James: Awesome, thanks so much for having me, Chris: you bet. And there we have it another great episode. Don't forget to check out the show notes at boyermillercom forward slash podcast and you can find out more about all the ways our firm can help you at boyermillercom. That's it for this episode. Have a great week and we'll talk to you next time. Special Guest: James Dieter.

In this video, we explore the habits and practical tips you need to cultivate a healthy marriage that honors God and keeps the connection strong. There's no need to fear being a newlywed! The first year of marriage can be an amazing time if you follow these tips!JOIN thousands of women for the Called To Women Masterclass. FREE ONLINE EVENT Monday 2/17/25. Get Tickets At The Link Below!https://calledwomen.com/masterclass/?fpr=tim29|| LET'S CONNECT ON INSTAGRAM:We post updates in real time of dating tips and relationship advicehttps://www.instagram.com/wearejustdating/|| M U S I CMusic byMusician: Jeff Kaele || S U B S C R I B Ehttps://youtube.com/channel/UCjb3LN4J...New Videos Every Tuesday!Email Updates: https://www.wearejustdating.com/subsc...|| F O L L O W Website | www.wearejustdating.com Instagram | / wearejustdating TikTok| / wearejustdating Facebook | / wearejustdating Threads | https://www.threads.net/@wearejustdatingTwitter | @WeAreJustDating*Disclaimer: Some links are affiliate. By clicking and or purchasing, We may receive monetary reward. It does not alter the price or change your buyer experience. || YOU'LL LOVE THESE VIDEOS TOOWhy adversity is good in dating! | • ADVERSITY Is Good In Dating! | DON'T ... How to have conflict and argue well | • How To Have Conflict & Argue well In ... — T I M & P A U L I N EWe are Tim & Pauline and we have been married since 2018. We have an education and coaching business where we teach single Christians how to choose partners that produce godly marriages through courses, coaching, and community. We've worked with people fresh out of college, to recently divorced, helping them get clarity and strategy that attracts their ideal partner. This channel walks you through the journey of being single, dating, and the early stages of marriage, by sharing information on how to attract, maintain, and grow in a godly relationship of your own!This video is about Christian dating, dating, christian relationships, boyfriend, girlfriend, future spouse, finding the one, singleness, single in my 30s, single in my 20s, God-centered relationships, dating to marry, dating intentionally, mentorship, accountability, purity, faith based relationships

What does it take to create lasting change in an organization that is rooted in dignity, justice, and care? Too often, leadership and consulting focus on quick fixes instead of investing in deeper and necessary cultural shifts. Today, we explore how organizations can foster true transformation by embracing a more holistic approach and prioritizing what truly matters. Our guest, Ora Grodsky, is a mission-driven consultant and author of the new book Justice, Love, and Organizational Healing. With over 25 years of experience, she helps social justice organizations repair harm, strengthen leadership, and align with their values. Drawing from a unique background in acupuncture, nonprofit management, and organizational development, Ora brings a holistic, human-centered approach to change. In today's eye-opening conversation, Ora breaks down her approach to transformational consulting. She sees organizations as living systems where true change requires healing, connection, and cultural awareness. Quoting the Talmud, she reminds us: “You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it.” This belief guides her work, helping organizations move beyond surface-level fixes to deep, justice-driven transformation. She also explains how dominant cultural forces, including white supremacy, shape workplace dynamics and decision-making, before unpacking how organizations can begin to address and heal from these damaging patterns. By aligning values with action, she helps leaders create workplaces that don't just function but truly embody justice and care. Tune in for her powerful insights on how to build lasting, meaningful change together!   Key Points From This Episode: Ora's unique background ranging from acupuncture to nonprofit management. [02:40] Insights from a profound quote in the Talmud included Ora's book. [06:38] Ways that Ora's background in acupuncture has shaped how she consults. [11:51] The three different types of consulting and the details of transformational consulting. [15:01] How Ora chooses which organizations to partner with: shared values and goals. [18:43] Types of organizations that Ora typically works with and the issues she addresses. [22:00] Where to start in the process of undertaking organizational change. [23:53] The hardest, most intractable problems Ora has come up against. [27:53] Recognizing how the culture of white supremacy has shaped organizational cultures. [31:12] Ora's holistic understanding of systems, how it differentiates her as a consultant, and the top thing she wants listeners to take from her book. [35:50] For More Information: Ora GrodskyOra Grodsky on LinkedIn Justice, Love, and Organizational Healing   Links Mentioned in Today's Episode: Kathy's interview with Shawn Achor - How Your Happiness Level Directly Impacts Your Success Tema Okun's seminal work on White Supremacy CultureStephen Covey's Seven Habits of Highly Effective People Fatimah Gilliam's book Race Rules: What Your Black Friend Won't Tell You And Kathy's Finding Brave interview with Fatimah Gilliam  - Race Rules: What Your Black Friend Won't Tell You ——————— The MOST POWERFUL YOU LIVE COURSE - COURSE STARTS FEBRUARY 27 2025 I'm thrilled to announce that my 8-week LIVE course, The Most Powerful You is now open for early bird enrollment! We kick off the course on February 27th, and if you register by February 21, you'll save $300 on the full price and receive 9 powerful bonuses—including FREE access to my brand-new digital career coaching tool, Kathy Caprino AI! This transformative course is the perfect companion to my book, The Most Powerful You: 7 Bravery-Boosting Paths to Career Bliss. Over 8 weeks, I'll personally guide you through transformative steps to: Boost your confidence Step into your leadership power Build effective networks and allies Speak up for what you want and get it Share your talents in new, compelling ways And make the career changes and pivots you've been dreaming of Overall, rise, thrive and make the impact you long to, in meaningful work you love and are proud of By closing the 7 power and confidence gaps that we focus on, you'll transform how you see yourself, how others see you, and what's possible for your career—and your life. Spots are limited, so don't wait! Head to mostpowerfulyou.com to claim your $300 Early Bird savings and your 9 bonuses before February 21. I can't wait to support your growth and help you create the career and life you truly deserve. Let's do this together—see you in the course!   ——————— KATHY'S DIGITAL CAREER COACHING CLONE—‘KATHY CAPRINO AI”—IS HERE! I'm very excited to announce the release of my new Kathy Caprino AI career and leadership coaching clone!   Here's more about it! >> https://kathycaprino.com/kathyai Powered by Delphi.ai, this tool brings my career growth teachings, advice, and answers to your most pressing questions directly to you, 24/7. With a subscription, you get unlimited access and can message or audio chat with my AI clone anytime you need guidance. Drawing on my 40+ years of experience—from corporate life, therapy, and coaching to writing and speaking across 6 continents—I've trained Kathy AI using over 2.5 million words of my own content, including articles, books, podcasts, interviews, and workshops seen by over 41 million people. My mission? To make Kathy Caprino AI your trusted resource for real-time career, leadership, and personal growth strategies. Get tailored answers to your toughest career challenges and practical solutions to achieve your top goals. We offer two affordable pricing tiers, with Tier 2 unlocking great bonuses like membership to my new Career Breakthrough Community, including free monthly coaching calls with me, a 1:1 career consultation, a private Facebook group, exclusive discounts on my courses and programs, free LinkedIn support, and so much more. It also makes a fantastic gift for friends, family, or colleagues who want to thrive professionally! Check it out and subscribe today at kathycaprino.com/kathyai. Let me know what you think—and I truly hope it becomes a game-changer for you! For other career support programs, visit my Career Help page.   ——————— Order Kathy's book The Most Powerful You today! In Australia and New Zealand, click here to order, elsewhere outside North America, click here, and in the UK, click here. If you enjoy the book, we'd so appreciate your giving the book a positive rating and review on Amazon! And check out Kathy's digital companion course The Most Powerful You, to help you close the 7 most damaging power gaps in the most effective way possible. Kathy's Power Gaps Survey, Support To Build Your LinkedIn Profile To Great Success & Other Free Resources Kathy's TEDx Talk, Time To Brave Up & Free Career Path Self-Assessment Kathy's Amazing Career Project video training course & 6 Dominant Action Styles Quiz   ——————— Sponsor Highlight I'm thrilled that both Audible.com and Amazon Music are sponsors of Finding Brave! Take advantage of their great special offers and free trials today! Audible Offer Amazon Music Offer   Quotes:  “This comes from the Talmud, the Jewish text – ‘Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world's grief. Do justly now. Love mercy, now. Walk humbly, now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it.” — Ora Grodsky [0:06:40] “That's how I see transformational consulting: [it means] creating spaces within which people can have the kind of process where they deeply connect to self, deeply connect to each other, and see a wider view of the system that they're in and how we got here.” — Ora Grodsky [0:16:51] “Only looking at the single bottom line of ‘Where's profit?' is what has gotten us to the verge of potential extinction with climate disaster; because we're looking for cheaper and faster. As long as we're [always] looking for cheaper and faster – we are not going to be here for too long.” — Ora Grodsky [0:19:26] “I believe in working with people at all levels of an organization, but I do believe, as the crass saying goes, a fish rots from the head.” — Ora Grodsky [0:24:19] “Urgency is really often something that comes with an attitude of dominance and subjugation, which I think is the root of white supremacy – the idea that some people deserve to ‘have' and deserve resources and deserve to be human, and some people don't.” — Ora Grodsky [0:28:36] “That dominance and subjugation ideology [at] the root of white supremacy is [often] what drives urgency: ‘We need to be better. We need to accumulate more. We need to do better, faster.' There's so much pressure – for everyone, that letting go of that urgency is really hard.” — Ora Grodsky [0:28:55]   Watch our Finding Brave episodes on YouTube! Don't forget – you can experience each Finding Brave episode in both audio and video formats! Check out new and recent episodes on my YouTube channel at YouTube.com/kathycaprino. And please leave us a comment and a thumbs up if you like the show!

In this solo episode of The Next Level Health & Fitness Podcast (formerly The Key Nutrition Podcast), I dive into the critical role of sleep in optimizing health and share my personal seven-step nighttime routine for better rest. From mouth taping to setting a cool house temperature, using red light therapy, blue light blockers, and supplements like Cured Nutrition CBD, to heart-focused breathing meditations and avoiding food past 8 PM, I break down the habits that have transformed my sleep quality. Tune in to learn actionable tips to improve your own nightly routine and wake up feeling truly refreshed!   Swanwick Sleep (use code: keynutrition) - Order Here Titan Recovery Mouth Tape (use code: BRAD) - Order Here   Interested in working with a coach? Get a free nutrition consultation - Schedule Here   Submit your questions to be featured on our Q&A episodes.   Order from Cured Supplement Order from Legion Supplements and get 20% off your first order by using discount code: keynutrition   Connect with us on Instagram Host Brad Jensen – @thesoberbodybuilder Next Level Nutrition – @mynextlevelnutrition   Episode Timestamps 00:00 Four-month program: selective, dedicated, transformative community. 05:19 Seven sleep tips for better rest shared. 08:41 Use blue light blockers despite phone settings. 12:25 Red light, avoid blue light, cool temperature. 14:12 Cool environment aids restful sleep; avoid overheating. 17:58 High-quality, tested CBD products ensure efficacy. 21:51 Avoid caffeine after 2pm for better sleep. 23:42 Heart Focus breathing: stress reduction via meditation technique. 26:56 Checklist, meditation, improve sleep quality, try mouth tape. 31:34 Adapting to address mouth breathing during sleep. 33:42 Eating late disrupts digestion and sleep quality. 37:56 Struggling with waking up due to sleep habits. 40:50 Sleep impacts stress, health, and illness risk. 41:54 Sneak peek, bonus content, upcoming app developments.

Did you pre-order Rach's NEW book? Get all your FREEBIES here!Pre-order your audiobook of ‘What if YOU Are the Answer' narrated by Rachel on Audible today! You can also pre-order your e-book or hard copy at Amazon, Barnes & Noble (they have signed copies!), Books-A-Millon, Bookshop.org, or wherever books are sold!In this episode of The Rachel Hollis Podcast, we're talking about the small but mighty habits that can create massive change in your life. I'm sharing 7 simple, actionable habits that have helped me grow, stay grounded, and tackle big goals—and they can do the same for you! Whether you're looking to boost your energy, build better routines, or stay focused on what matters most, these habits are the perfect place to start. Let's dive into how you can transform your daily life, one step at a time!00:00 Scarcity vs. Abundance Mindset00:41 Welcome to the Rachel Hollis Podcast01:36 Seven Habits to Improve Your Life02:53 Habit 1: Move Your Body Daily06:21 Habit 2: Practice Daily Gratitude09:06 Habit 3: Add Good Nutrition12:57 Habit 4: Establish a Skincare Routine14:40 Habit 5: Curate Joy Every Day17:44 Understanding and Raising Your Vibration23:46 Habit 6: Go on an Artist Date Weekly24:28 The Artist's Date: A Weekly Creative Ritual25:38 Planning Your Week for Creativity26:23 Manifesting Abundance: A Deep Dive27:34 Debunking Manifestation Myths31:04 Steps to Manifest Abundance33:35 Shifting from Scarcity to Abundance39:16 Visualizing Your Abundant Future40:52 Taking Aligned Action for Abundance42:18 The Power of Letting Go and Having Faith49:12 Conclusion: Seven Habits for a Better LifeSign up for Rachel's weekly email: https://msrachelhollis.com/insider/Call the podcast hotline and leave a voicemail! Call (737) 400-4626Watch the podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/RachelHollisMotivation/videosFollow along on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/MsRachelHollis To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices.

*Patreon-only Bonus Episode Teaser* Kristen and Jolenta live by The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, by Stephen Covey. To hear the entire episode and get lots of other great bonus content, including a live monthly book club with Kristen and Jolenta, join patreon.com/listentobythebook  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Training for longevity vs. performance. (1:31) Chase health and aesthetics will follow. (5:30) 5 Worst Fitness Mistakes Damaging Your Overall Health & Longevity #1 - Not being consistent with movement. (9:20) #2 - Not lifting weights. (14:50) #3 - Doing too much. (21:54) #4 - Valuing calorie burn of activity. (27:40) #5 - Not viewing exercise as a skill. (32:43) Related Links/Products Mentioned Visit Our Place for an exclusive offer for Mind Pump listeners! **Promo code MINDPUMP at checkout to receive 10% off sitewide. Our Place offers a 100-day trial with free shipping and returns. ** Special Launch Promotion: MAPS GLP-1 ** Code: GLP70 for $70 OFF. Includes: Ultimate Medication Guide for Patients & Healthcare Professionals & Intuitive Nutrition Guide. ** August Promotion: MAPS Bands | MAPS 40+ 50% off! ** Code AUGUST50 at checkout ** Mind Pump #2300: Seven Habits of Truly Healthy People Mind Pump #2402: The 5 Reasons Why Walking is King for Fat Loss (Burn More Fat than Running & How to Do it Correctly) Mind Pump #2310: Don't Let Your Age Stop You From Getting in the Best Shape of Your Life Mind Pump #2387: How Much Should You Really Workout? Mind Pump #1990: Nine Reasons People Stop Working Out (& What to Do About It) Stop Working Out And Start Practicing – Mind Pump Blog Mind Pump Podcast – YouTube Mind Pump Free Resources  

In this episode of Quah (Q & A), Sal, Adam & Justin coach three Pump Heads via Zoom. Mind Pump Fit Tip: The smartest way to get developed 6-pack abs. (1:31) Father/daughter relationship balancing act. (15:08) The dark side of ‘reality' TV. (20:08) Where there is a will there is a way. (28:39) Is the ‘influencer' trend here to stay? (31:48) Red-light therapy is FDA-registered for pain and healing. (36:53) What a shitty way to lose! (41:26) Why does the Eiffel Tower change size? (44:16) BIG people problems. (45:09) Shout out to Travis Chapman Art! (52:54) #ListenerLive question #1 – How do you determine your “ideal weight?” (54:00) #ListenerLive question #2 – Why am I gaining weight/belly fat when I am not doing anything different as far as my diet, just a different program? (1:11:30) #ListenerLive question #3 – How do you go through a cut without messing up your hormones? (1:24:41) Related Links/Products Mentioned Ask a question to Mind Pump, live! Email: live@mindpumpmedia.com Visit Joovv for an exclusive offer for Mind Pump listeners! ** Code MINDPUMP to get $50 off your first purchase. ** August Promotion: MAPS Bands | MAPS 40+ 50% off! ** Code AUGUST50 at checkout ** Mind Pump #1855: How to Maintain a Beach-Ready Body All Summer Long Can You Achieve a 6-Pack if You Have Never Had Abs Before? Mind Pump #1285: The Ultimate At-home Ab & Core Workout Mind Pump #2085: Abs & Core Masterclass Watch Love Island USA | Netflix ‘Secret Lives of Mormon Wives' docuseries set to unpack viral Mormon momfluencer sex scandal Free Guy (2021) - IMDb The Creator (2023) - IMDb Visit Entera Skincare for an exclusive offer for Mind Pump listeners! ** Promo code MPM at checkout for 10% off their order or 10% off their first month of a subscribe-and-save. ** Pole Vault guy hits his junk on the bar signed print French Pole Vaulter Gets $250K Job Offer Thanks to His Viral Bulge Why does the Eiffel Tower change size?   Visit Xero Shoes for an exclusive offer for Mind Pump listeners! ** Enter to win one of FIVE FREE pairs of Xero Shoes! ** Mind Pump #2300: Seven Habits of Truly Healthy People Mind Pump #2312: Five Steps to Bounce Back From Overtraining Mind Pump #2040: Balancing Female Hormones With Dr. Becky Campbell and Dr. Krystal Hohn Reverse Dieting: What Is It and Should YOU Try It?? | MIND PUMP Mind Pump Podcast – YouTube Mind Pump Free Resources People Mentioned Paul Chek (@paul.chek) Instagram Chris Williamson (@chriswillx) Instagram Theo Von (@theovon) Instagram Sean Whalen (@seanwwhalen) Instagram Travis Chapman (@travis_chapman_artist) Instagram Bret Contreras PhD (@bretcontreras1) Instagram