Passion Struck with John R. Miles - Applying the Power of Choice — Why Our Choices Matter w/ John R. Miles EP 19

Episode Date: April 16, 2021

Today’s show is a very personal one about applying the power of choice in your life. Choices occur in our life every day, both unknowingly and knowingly. These can range from simple decisions like purchasing groceries or gas to the heavier ones about friends, influences, and beliefs. One thing is true for everyone: we all have the power of choice. It’s a critical part of our self-development and every one of the choices we make shape our experiences and brings you to where you are in your life.  John uses his own personal journey to highlight the importance of choices and how they can influence your passion journey. Can you expect to achieve your biggest goals and live the life of your dreams without making intentional choices? Back in the day, when John transitioned from military life to civilian life, he went on to make massive strides in corporate America. And before he was 40, he was the Chief Information Officer of a Fortune 50 company. But all his material success did not bring him fulfillment because he was not truly passionate about his chosen profession. Whether it is not your professional life or your personal life, job, or relationship, listening to today’s show will inspire you to face your insecurities and take the harder right. Learn how John chucked his seven-figure job to follow his passion for creating the Passion Struck brand. Enjoy! Quotes “Making a choice might be the most difficult thing to do. But without work, nothing happens.” “You are, so passion struck by what you are doing that you are willing to risk it all to go after it." “Until you start taking the step, embracing the sharp edge, and doing something every day that scares you, nothing is going to change." Follow Passion Struck on Instagram -https://www.instagram.com/passion_struck_podcast -- Combat veteran, multi-industry CEO, and Author John R. Miles is on a mission to make passion go viral by helping growth seekers to overcome their fear, self-doubt, and adversity. He loves taking his own life experiences, lessons from his time as a CEO and Fortune 50 C-Level Executive, and the truths he has learned to help others' lives better. His new podcast Passion Struck provides inspirational interviews and powerful guidance for people to take their lives to the next level. Watch as these high achievers weigh in on life's biggest questions and challenges as we journey on the path to becoming passion-struck. -- Follow John R. Miles Here: Website - https://passionstruck.com/​ ​​ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/john_r_miles ​​ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Johnrmiles.c0m​ ​ Twitter: https://twitter.com/Milesjohnr​ ​​ Medium: https://medium.com/@JohnRMiles​ ​ John's Website: https://johnrmiles.com/​ - John's New eBook - The Passion Struck Framework https://passionstruck.com/coaching/​

I sat there for weeks just wondering, why do I allow myself to get in these situations where I am pumping other people achieve their dreams, but I'm not pursuing mine. And I made a choice that very day that I was going to do something different, that I was going to start facing my insecurities, facing the lack of confidence that I had at that point, facing some of the brutal reality of what was going on that was holding me back from actually pursuing the dream that I had. Welcome to the Cash and Struck Podcast. My name is John Miles, a former combat veteran and multi-industry CEO, turned entrepreneur and human performance expert.

Each week we showcase an inspirational person or message that helps you unlock your hidden potential and unleash your creativity and leadership abilities. Thank you for joining us today on the show and let's get igniting. Welcome to Momentum Friday and I awoke today with some amazing news I just had to share. I checked in to my Listen Notes account this morning and learned that the Passion Start podcast is now ranked in the top 2.5% of all podcast globally which are over 2 million. And I wanted to thank all of you who listen and watch regularly for helping action go viral and for joining us on this mission and for believing in our cause. Thank you so much. Today's episode is one I am totally stoked about. I'm gonna talk to you about

the power of choice. And I know as you're hearing this you may be wondering, you know, why is he talking about choices? What the simple fact is, we make them every single day all the time. And most of them, we make blindly at a convenience, at a habit, at a ritual. But what do we do when we're truly faced with life altering choices? And how do we prepare for them? And what are the steps that you can take when leasing them in your own life, when that moment comes, and you need to make that critical choice. You know recently my sister was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and she

had a choice to make like so many cancer victims do. Was she gonna make the choice to fight it and not give up? Or was she gonna make the choice to give in to the disease. And my sister turned into the biggest warrior I know. She made that choice that whatever it was going to take she was going to survive. And I remember we were both sitting in her house after she had shortly received news that the cancer had metastasized and she was now in stage 4B. And I remember her just looking at me and saying, I don't want to die. And I said, you're not going to.

Let's continue to make that choice of survival. And I'm happy to report that just few months after that happened, and she tried different homeopathic remedies, eating differently. In addition to the chemo that she was on, that liver metastasis disappeared and she was able to have successful whipple surgery. A true unbelievable blessing, but it all started with her making a choice. And while I

was researching cancer survivors, I ran across a British woman named Skatskya Lightstar. And Skatskya is a British wellness coach, spiritual leader, and also a breast cancer survivor. And in her book that she wrote after surviving cancer, she talks about how she was living her life on autopilot. Like so many of us do, she was not living that fashion driven life, that purpose driven life, that really made a difference. And for her, it was that diagnosis and getting through cancer that opened up her eyes

to making a choice for future version of her. And in the book, she has a quote that I wanted to share. She says, we underestimate the power of choice, power, power to suddenly wake up one day bored of our own bullshit and decide to do things differently. And there's so much truth to her quote that I'm going to talk about today because we all have our own bullshit. We all have our own brutal reality of what's going on in our life. But until we make that choice to face it, nothing is going to change. I hope you enjoy today's lesson in the story I'm going to tell you.

I'm going to tell you. I'm going to tell you. I'm going to tell you. I'm going to tell you. I'm going to tell you. I'm going to tell you. I'm going to tell you. I'm going to tell you.

I'm going to tell you. I'm going to tell you. I'm going to tell you. I'm going to tell you. I'm going to tell you. I'm going to tell you. I'm going to tell you. I'm going to tell you. are all about choices. It is what separates us from every other species on the planet. Not to say that monkeys don't make choices or hiders don't make choices, they do, but our choices can have such a profound impact on everything around us. And yet, the majority of choices that we make are benign. They're based out of convenience.

Like, what gas station are we going to pick pick? Are we gonna go to the Wawa? We gonna go to the Shell? Most of us choose it based on our commute route or what's convenient to our house. Some of us may make a bigger choice and go a little bit out of our way to pick the cheapest gas. Or it could be where do you buy your food?

Down here in Florida, you know, you've got the choice of publics, windix-y, whole foods, fresh market, sprouts, whatever it may be, it's often a choice of ritual. A few years ago, when my girlfriend and I started dating, after a few months, she asked me a pretty profound question. She said, do you choose me? And since that day, we have a ritual where it's not every day, but often, we say to each other, I choose me. And since that day, we have a ritual where it's not every day, but often we say to each other,

I choose you. And that statement means so much more to me than telling her, I love her. Of course, I do love her, but I choose in her. I am choosing to be engaged in that relationship. I am choosing to work through whatever difficult times we may be facing. I am choosing to be by her side when she needs someone. I'm choosing to love her unconditionally. I'm choosing to trust her. I'm choosing to be vulnerable with her. Yet so often, too many of us choose to be in things such as an unfulfilled job, an unhappy relationship where you may love the person, but you know it's not the right thing for you. Or we may have trauma in our life and instead of making the decision to face that trauma and do something about it, we choose to ignore it. Or it

could be a drinking problem where you know you could choose differently, but you continue to do the same path, the same thing with friends, and I could go on and on and on. No, I didn't just get here today and start passion struck out of the blue. It was a journey in the making. And if we read the website on the About Us page,

I talk about the journey, but I'll explain small aspects of it to you today. Like many of you, I was living that portfolio life that I often talk about in previous episodes. And by most standards, it was a great life. I had done well in the military, had come out with a deep understanding of information security. I'd gotten to be on shifts, aircrafts, combat situations, deployed with silt teams, deployed with green beret, everything that I had wanted. Been on a joint flag command, had gotten all this experience, and then had just an explosive

growth in the civilian world. Becoming a senior manager by the time I was 28 and a big four consulting firm, being up for partner by the time I was 31, being a sea level in an Australian top 10 company, by the time I was 32, a vice president, an unfortunate 50 company by the time I was 35, and the CIO of a fortune 50 company before I was 40 years old. And throughout all of that, you know, I was putting in the work, but in the back of my head, I was ignoring something, and that something was, I wasn't fulfilled by what I was doing. And it was becoming harder and harder for me

to go into work and feel passionate about what I was doing. But yet, I made the choice to ignore that and to continue down this path. And I went into private equity companies, and it was that realization when I had reached this milestone where I was the CEO of a software company, which for me was that pinnacle that I thought I had always wanted. When I reached one of the lowest points in my life, yet I still chose to ignore it. I still chose not to make change and not pursue what I was truly passionate about. And I started a new venture after that

where I was doing fractional consulting to different companies. And it was probably after I had done 15 or 20 assignments over four or five years that I was on my last one that I chose to do. And I remember, you know, I was working for this company and had brought in about 90% of their revenue was working well over the amount of time I had agreed to give them.

When that person I was working with said, not only am I not going to keep paying you as much, I'm not going to give you equity and I'm going to give you two-thirds of what you're making now. And you can be just like every other sales rep that we have in the company. And finally, for me, I had had enough. I sat there for weeks just wondering, you know, why do I allow myself to get in these situations where I am pumping other people achieve their dreams, but I'm not pursuing mine. And I made a choice that very day that I was going to do something different, but I'm not pursuing mine. And I made a choice that very day

that I was gonna do something different, that I was going to start facing my insecurities, facing the lack of confidence that I had at that point, facing some of the brutal reality of what was going on that was holding me back from actually pursuing the dream that I had. So I made that choice, but things didn't change overnight. Because once you make a choice, just like I explained with my girlfriend, that's when

the work actually starts. Making a choice may be the most difficult thing to do, but without work, nothing at all happens. You could say, for instance, that you're giving up drinking, but if you actually don't do the work that it takes to get you to stop that habit, you're going to just eventually fall back into it. If you're in a bad relationship and you don't do something to fix it, whether that's go to counseling or face up to maybe this relationship is just completely unhealthy for you, and you don't do the work to change that situation, nothing is going to happen.

And I know from personal experience that these things can be scary. You know, for me, making this choice meant leaving behind the safety of, for me, at one point, a multiple seven figure a year salary. But it was a salary that I was basically owned by those companies who I was working for. When they needed me in Japan, I had to get on a plane no matter what was happening to my family and go to Japan and deal with things. If they needed me

in Brazil, I had to go to Brazil. If we were looking in a new acquisition, I had to stop everything and deal with it. And how many of us are in that situation, where we find ourselves unfulfilled, we're going to work, and we absolutely hate every moment of it. We don't want to get up. We're not inspired by what we're doing, and we're letting others own our own trajectory. And so when that happens,

but when you're faced with that choice, that could be life altering. So often the choice that we make is we say no, instead of preparing ourselves to be in a position to say yes, for those opportunities, that could completely change the trajectory that we're going. And so I had to start doing the work. And for me, that work was continuing on the research that I was doing about why just so many great leaders break through. What makes them different from the rest of us?

Because there's not much that separates them from any of the rest of us. Except that they make a choice that they want to do things differently. They make a choice that they want to follow their passion. And then they actually do the work to get there.. They make a choice that they want to follow their passion. And then they actually do the work to get there. They figure out what is that goal that they want to achieve. And then they work on it on a daily basis and they tackle things in bite-sized chunks, but not losing sight in where they're trying to go.

But I can tell you, after interviewing, working with, speaking to hundreds and hundreds of leaders from billionaires down to people who have completely turned their life around, all of them will tell you there is no way to short circuit doing the hard work. So for me, what that meant was I had to take all this research that I had done and distill it. And so I ended up writing after the laying for years the passion struck a book. And I got the name from talking to a long term friend of mine, Keith Crotch,

currently the Assistant Secretary of State. And we were talking about, you know, what makes people like him, like the Mark Benioffs, Tony Robbins of the world, those who are living their passion-driven life break through. And we came up with this term passion struck. They are so passion struck about what it is that they're pursuing, that they're willing to risk it all, to go after it. That's exactly what Elon Musk did. It's what Jeff Bezos did.

It's what so many entrepreneurs, small business owners, and others who are out there have done. It's what I had to do. I had to take that risk, and I know it is so difficult, because when you're doing it, it's like you're looking over the edge with no parachute to hold on to you, and you've got to be willing to take that step. But once you're willing to risk it all, that's when the true work really begins, because there's no safety blanket, there's no parachute, there's nothing there, and you've got to go after it. You've got to put your 150% into it.

And the last point is in doing so, you have got to start facing those fears. I call them sharp edges that are blocking you from achieving that choice that you've decided to make. In my case, one of the biggest ones was I had to overcome a gun of trauma in my life. And for years, I had ignored this trauma. I had to pretend it wasn't there. I pretended it. I was too busy for it. But for me, it led to depression. It led to me being more and more introverted. It led to me complaining about it, but not doing something

about it. And so one of the biggest fears I have is actually speaking to people, because the trauma that I experienced causes me to trust issues, safety issues, confidence issues, especially self-confidence ones. And so doing episodes like this one I'm doing today come with a ton of baggage for me. But until you start taking that step, embracing those sharp edges and doing something every day that scares you, nothing is going to change. So if you listen to this podcast, I just described our motto,

through my own personal story, a founding passion strike. You've got to make a choice. Then you have to do the hard work that goes along with making that choice a reality, I'm stepping into your sharp edges and actually doing something every single day that scares you so that you can overcome those fears, those obstacles, those uncertainties in your life and do something about it. And like I said at the beginning of this podcast, had I not finally embraced those fears and done something

to get over them, I wouldn't be here talking to you on this podcast. We wouldn't be literally reaching over 15,000 people in the first month through the YouTube channel and our podcast. We wouldn't be ranked 2.5% globally when it comes to podcasts. It's because I made the choice. And is that work easy? Is embracing those fears easy? No. Is being in any relationship easy? Is trusting someone easy? No. But it all comes down to the choices

we make. Did you know that Forbes Magazine recently cited that 70% of individuals who do personal development, masterminds, and one-on-one coaching, benefited from better work performance, increased communication skills, and overall better relationships. And we, at PassionStruck, are obsessed with self-development, coaching, and mentorship.

That is why we've created a free resource to help you unlock your hidden potential. Because people doing great things in business and life are just like you, only they've had a coach along the way. And we've got that covered too. Let us show you the systems and frameworks that we teach for both minded individuals to help them step into their sharp edges Execute on their passion journeys and get predictable results time and time again

Go to passionstruck.com slash coaching right now and let's get igniting So I'm gonna give you six areas of your life where you have the opportunity to make a choice. You have the power to choose wellness. You can say yes to your health. You can say yes to eating better, yes to going to the gym, yes to your mental health. And I can promise you if you do that, if you put those efforts into your wellness, you're going to feel better. You're going to look better. You're going to perform better. Second, you have the power to say yes to healthy relationships. So many of us today are stuck in unhealthy relationships. They could be unhealthy relationships with friends, with colleagues, with loved ones,

with our spouse or partner. But we choose to allow that to happen. It's not until you make the choice to do that mosquito audit and start weeding out those people from your lives who are holding you back who are keeping you in these unhealthy relationships that things are gonna change. You have the power to choose happiness.

I see so many people today in the world who are unhappy and negativity as we've all seen around us and hate are all around us, not just in the United who are unhappy. And negativity, as we've all seen around us and hate are all around us, not just in the United States but globally. And I think COVID-19 has only made that worse. The happiness is a choice that we each get to make. We can choose to look for things that bring us happiness or we can choose to allow negativity to fill us,

to allow the nightly news to take over and consume us with fear, doubt, crisis, and everything else, but the reality is so much of the world around us is positive. And if we start focusing on what is good instead of what is evil, it's a great place to bring more happiness in your life. Or you have the power to choose to be fulfilled. Be fulfilled in what you do for 11. Like I talked about earlier, you could choose to be like I was, you can choose to be burned out, you could choose to be depressed,

you can choose to be frustrated, you can choose to not want to go to work every day, you can choose to just put in the hours so that you can do what you really feel passionate about or you can make a choice to actually make your passion your career and what actually fulfills you. You have the power to show up but so often most of us feel to do it. I didn't hold episode on this earlier in the season when I talked about what I learned from Matthew McConaughey and my relationship with him and how he impacted,

not only me, but my whole family. You see, too many of us today fell to be present in the moment. We fell to be there when things that are important are right in front of us and why? Because we get so stuck with what appears to be urgent instead of showing up in the moment in being there and being present and making the choice

and the little things that we do that matter the most, being there with our work colleague, being there and showing up with our spouse, being there and showing up with our kids, being there and showing up with our friend who we're having lunch with instead of being on our phone. It's a choice to show up and it's a choice that you can make every

single day. Lastly, we have the power to choose a guide, a coach, a mentor to help us along this journey. And I know for me, as I covered in a previous podcast, having a coach has been so instrumental at helping me embrace challenges in my life. Whether that's a licensed psychologist, a social worker, helping me get through PTSD treatment, it could be a life coach, it could be a purpose coach, it could be a fitness coach. Often those things that are holding us back for making a choice, we can overcome

with the help of a coach, a mentor. Someone who is there who can help be a guide to us and inspiration to us, a motivational factor, an accountability partner, but so often we say no to those choices in our life. So let me recap the points that I just brought out. Like my sister, like myself, like the relationship between my girlfriend and I, like the cancer survivors, the scaleite star, we all have the ability to make a choice. We make them every single day. And yet, so many of us, when it comes to making the most important decisions, make them

out of convenience, make them out of comfort, make them out of fear. But once you make that choice, that's the starting point. That is when the role work starts. That's when you have got to think about that choice and not only believe in it, but do things every day that align yourself towards that decision you made. And you do that by doing something every day that scares you and stepping into those sharp edges, facing that brutal reality of your life, of whatever is going on, and not sugarcoding, but dealing with it. Now, I know these things aren't easy to do, but you're capable of doing it. And if you need help making a choice, doing the work, analyzing the work, facing your fears, we are here to help you. We're here to help you by

giving inspirational content like I'm trying to do today through the interviews that we do on a weekly basis and through our coaching programs that are both held in group sessions and one-on-one. You can find them at passionstruck.com slash coaching, But regardless of whatever option you pick, most important thing is to make that choice. Make that choice to love yourself. Make the choice of you. Make the choice that you are good enough that you can do this,

that you, regardless of where you are in your life, you can face these fears and you can live that life that you want. I'm living proof of it. It wasn't an easy journey, but I am so happy I did it because look at the results. I'm well on my way already to making passion go viral for millions. But it wouldn't have started if I didn't make a choice and you can too. So if you've listened this far, the podcast, let me discuss what led us to this point.

Over the course of the past eight or nine episodes, I've been building up what it takes to exceed on launching, working on your passion journey and overcoming those fears. I started this journey out by talking about the contagions that are impacting humanity today. That of the pages of the human mind, the human spirit, and the human ego. I took it a step further the next week.

They're going into an episode where I use the story of Admiral Stop Down, this time as a POW, to discuss the brutal reality facing whatever it is that's happening in your life, that's stopping you from achieving that passion driven life. I then went into an episode called The Mosquito Principle where I talked about how you could do a mosquito audit in your own life of those influences, behaviors, people who are holding you back from either starting or working on this journey.

I then had an episode where I talked about the importance of showing up and how being present in the moment is so important for you who achieve your life goals. I then went into an episode where I talked about the need to stop being a visionary arsonist. Stop self-sabotaging your own passion dreams. On that, I talked about four keys that I have found that are important in choosing a mentor, a guide, a coach, a counselor, whatever it may be, and what's worked for me in my past with some personal examples. I then went into an episode where I talked about what we must do to face difficult decisions because along your passion journey,

I guarantee you there are going to be difficult journeys out there that you're going to have to overcome, and difficult decisions, and times where you're going to be tested on doing the right thing. And then laid out the personal agility process that we use so you could understand what that is, and then did the last episode for this one on finding your purpose in life. So they're all there as guides. Along with all the inspiring interviews we do each week, where we have different leaders talk about their passion journeys and how they made a choice. They're working hard and they're stepping into their sharp edges and you can too. Thank you so much for joining us. The purpose of our show is to make Passion Go viral. And we do that by sharing with you the knowledge and skills that you need to unlock your hidden

potential. If you want to hear more, please subscribe to the Passion Start podcast on Spotify, iTunes, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to your podcast ad. And if you absolutely love this episode, we'd appreciate a five star rating on iTunes, and you sharing it with three of your most growth-minded friends, so they can post it as well to their social accounts and help us grow our passion start community. If you'd like to learn more about the show and our mission, you can go to passionstruck.com

where you can sign up for our newsletter, look at our mission, you can go to passionstruck.com where you can sign up for our newsletter, look at our tools, and also download the show notes for today's episode. Additionally, you can listen to us every Tuesday and Friday for even more inspiring content. And remember, make a choice, work hard, and step into your sharp edges. Thank you again for joining us. you