Passion Struck with John R. Miles - Become Passion Struck: Ignite Your Inner Drive for Success w/John R. Miles EP 411

Starting point is 00:00:00 Coming up next on Passionstruck, my new book, Passionstruck, I delve into the heart of what it means to live life full of passion and purpose. Drawing on luminaries such as Oprah Winfrey, Mark Benioff, and astronaut Chris Cassidy, the book offers 12 science-based principles designed to awaken the dormant potential within all of us. It's a journey through overcoming self-doubt, catalyzing personal growth, and embracing a life filled with unwavering intention. Welcome to PassionStruck. Hi, I'm your host, John R. Miles, and on the show, we decipher the secrets, tips, and guidance of the world's most inspiring people and turn their wisdom into practical advice for you and those around you. Our mission is to help you unlock the

Starting point is 00:00:44 power of intentionality so that you can become the best version of yourself. If you're new to the show, I offer advice and answer listener questions on Fridays. We have long form interviews the rest of the week with guests ranging from astronauts to authors, CEOs, creators, innovators, scientists, military leaders, visionaries, and athletes. Now, let's go out there and become Passionstruck.

Starting point is 00:01:10 Hello friends, and welcome back to Momentum Friday, an episode 411 of Passionstruck. Consistently ranked as the number one alternative health podcast. A heartfelt thanks to each and every one of you who returned to the show weekly, eager to learn how to live better, be better, and make a meaningful impact in the world. If you're new to the show, thank you so much for being here, or you simply want to introduce this to a friend or a family member, and we so appreciate it when you do that. We have Episode Starter Packs, which are collections of our fans' favorite episodes that we organize into convenient playlists that give any new listener a great way to get acclimated to everything we do here on the show. Either go to Spotify or passionstruck.com slash starter

Starting point is 00:01:49 packs to get started. And in case you missed it, earlier this week I had three phenomenal interviews. We kicked off by welcoming back my good friend, Dr. Judd Brewer, and we discussed his brand new book, The Hunger Habit. And we explore the reasons why so many of us are eating based on emotion instead of hunger and how to fix it. I also interviewed Stanford professor Bob Sutton and we discussed his latest work, The Friction Project, which explores the impact that friction has on organizations and, more importantly, how you become a friction fixer. Lastly, I interviewed Dr. Marie Helene Peltier, who's an award-winning mental health specialist

Starting point is 00:02:28 and psychologist. We discuss her new book, The Resilience Plan, which identifies why resilience is so essential in modern society, as well as the importance of having your own resilience plan. Please check them all out, and if you liked any of those three episodes or today's, we would so appreciate you giving it

Starting point is 00:02:44 a five-star rating and review. These go such a long way in bringing more people into the Passionstruck community where we can bring them weekly doses of hope, inspiration, and meaning. And I know we and our guests love to hear your comments. Now let's talk about today's Momentum Friday episode. I cannot believe that we are only four days away from the launch of my new book, Passion Struck. And I want to mention that the book has already been given two incredible honors. It was selected by the next Big Idea Club, which is curated by Adam Grant, Malcolm Gladwell,

Starting point is 00:03:15 Dan Pink, and Susan Cain as one of their must reads for 2024. I was so blown away when I got that honor. And additionally, last week, we just found out that it also was awarded the Best Business Minds Book Award for 2024. I am so flattered by both of those awards and the recognition that they provide for passion struck and the impact it can have on so many readers. Over the past seven weeks, I've taken you on a journey of exploration of some of the key themes that come out of the new book. Themes like living intentionally, overcoming self-doubt, handling toxic influences, discovering your matter meter,

Starting point is 00:03:49 maximizing anxiety optimization, crafting your ideal self, and exploring quiet desperation. Each episode was a vital piece of the puzzle inspired by the book's wisdom. In today's episode, I'm gonna guide you through the essence of what it means to become passion struck.

Starting point is 00:04:04 I'll share why I felt compelled to write this book and who can benefit from it, and how it's structured around the transformative Passionstruck model. Expect an insightful overview of the book, providing glimpses on how it has the potential to change lives. Join me as we count down to the book's release and delve deeply into the world of Passionstruck. Thank you for choosing Passionstruck and choosing me to be your host and guide on your journey to creating an intentional life. Now, let that journey begin. It is so hard to believe that the book is going to be released in just a couple of days. I'm so

Starting point is 00:04:41 happy for the early recognition that we have gotten from the Next Big Idea Club and from the Best Business Minds Award. Today, I wanted to walk you through why I decided to write Passionstruck, what it means to be Passionstruck, who can benefit from this book. And more importantly, I'm going to guide you through the structure of how I wrote it. So interestingly enough, this whole concept of Passionstruck didn't even exist four years ago. It's, I think, back to that point. I'd been on a journey of me-search that had taken me on this quest that at that point was seven years into understanding why is it that some people are able to break through the people that Robin Sharma calls the 5% or you often hear it called

Starting point is 00:05:21 the people who 10x their life. What makes them so different from the rest of us who tend to get stuck where we are in life, unable to break through and create this ideal life that we only dream about? It was during this exploration that I began to think back about my times with Salesforce founder Mark Benioff. I was fortunate enough that when I was a CIO at Dell, Mark had approached Michael Dell about me accompanying him on a number of visits worldwide to help advocate for this new vision that he had for cloud computing. And through those various stops that we took along that journey, I got to see someone who was completely obsessed with a problem that he had found,

Starting point is 00:06:03 that he was so emotionally golfed in, that he was willing to do whatever it took for him to achieve his goal. He had learned how to intentionally align his actions with his long-term ambitions and aspirations. And as I started thinking about that, it launched me on over nine to ten years now of research on over 700 different luminaries that I examined from all walks of life, whether they were CEOs or entrepreneurs like Mark, professional athletes, actors or actresses, military leaders, educators and professors. And what I discovered when I started to investigate them and look at their lives further was this key trait that they all possessed.

Starting point is 00:06:49 It was this intense, almost inexplorable drive for them to achieve and go after their ideal self. And it stemmed from a deep-seated passion that went beyond just ambition. It was a relentless quest for growth, for impact, and ultimately, for fulfillment. It's that kind of passion that turns obstacles into stepping stones and challenges into opportunities for growth. And I remember, as I was doing this research, I happened to have a conversation with my friend, Keith Crotch. If you're not familiar with Keith, he was the founder of a company called Arriba, which is where I first met him years ago, which he sold to SAP. And then more recently, he was the assistant secretary of state and was also the chairman

Starting point is 00:07:33 and CEO of DocuSign. And I remember talking to Keith about this concept, and he said to me, you know, John, it sounds like what you're talking about is someone going from being stuck in whatever that stuckness may be to becoming passion struck. It was like the light bulb just clicked. I did what anyone would do. I was so excited about this new phrase that I immediately started searching for it on the internet. The only thing that was popping up was a fragrance from Victoria's Secret. I did the next Bex thing, which is I went to go daddy to see if the domain could possibly be available. And there it was. I was able to obtain it. And from there, this whole

Starting point is 00:08:10 brand podcast book was born. So why did I feel compelled to write this book? During my time, when I was at Lowe's, I happened to start going to United Methodist Church, and I was taking some in-depth courses that they have around discipleship. And as I was going through these, these things are like 36 weeks long, so they're not short courses. They're actually long, probing questions into understanding the Bible. I started to open myself, I think, more for inspiration to come in. And I started hearing this voice at that time was telling me that the life journey that I had been on it to that point, becoming a senior executive wasn't my final destination.

Starting point is 00:08:51 But I think like many of us, when I hit that point, it's often hard to understand this voice that you're hearing, especially when it's telling you to take this complete detour from the life that you've been living to do something quite different. And so, like many people, I started to fight it. And the more I started to fight it, the more different negative consequences started to occur in my life. And I think we are given this calling to pursue our authentic selves. If we're not doing it, I think it often leads us into struggles, whether that be mental health struggles, physical struggles, job loss, relationship issues, etc. But when we do find that calling, to me, it really lights your life up.

Starting point is 00:09:34 It takes you to this incredible place where everything just seems to be going on all cylinders. And for me, when I went from that place of being so stuck, so emotionally numb, so burnt out from chasing the rat race, something I referred to in my last solo episode is quiet desperation, and realized that even though I was achieving these high pillars of societal excess by being a C-level and a Fortune 50 or the CEO of a startup or CEO of a software company. Inside, I was feeling more and more meaningless. I was getting up in the morning and just going through the motions. And nothing that I was doing made me feel like any of it really mattered. And I think so many people feel this way today.

Starting point is 00:10:17 In fact, all you've got to do is look at Gallup and the figures that they are producing showing that there are over 900 million people in 142 countries that feel unfulfilled by their life. And so to me, I started seeing that there's this huge gap that's in my mind affecting more than just 900 million people. I think it is actually impacting billions of people. And that is this strong sense of un-mattering that what we're doing in life, we don't feel like it holds any significance to ourselves, to others, nor is it making an impact in the world.

Starting point is 00:10:53 And so the purpose for writing Passionstruck was to help close this gap, was to offer millions, if not billions of people, hope that there's a different way to pursue your life. And what I found my own self doing is there's a different way to pursue your life. And what I found my own self doing is there's something called self-discrepancy theory, which is really looking at three dimensions of yourself. Your actual self, which is who you really are at this moment in your life, your odd self, which is who you feel you should be because it's dictated by things like obligations, burdens, and then your ideal self, which is who you

Starting point is 00:11:25 ultimately could become. And where I found my own self at, and where I think so many of us find ourselves at, was living our odd self. I was so weighed down by the burdens of life, having to continue with the rat race, having to continue to make money so I could afford my mortgage, so I could afford this high-lying car that I wanted to drive, the standard of living that I had found myself living in. Yet, at the same time, I felt more apathetic than I had ever had in my entire life at that point. And I want to help any of you who might be listening, who might be feeling the same way, learn how to break free from that. So who is the book for? Well, one, it's for that person I just described,

Starting point is 00:12:06 that person who feels stuck in their life. Maybe you're feeling the quiet desperation that Henry David Thoreau talks about that I was feeling, where you've been chasing the wrong things throughout your life and all it's brought you is a lack of significance and a feeling of unfulfillment. Or perhaps you're a new college graduate and you're looking for the key principles towards taking your career and your life overall to where you want it to be. Or it could be for the high achiever who has maybe this long-term vision for where they want to go. But as Marshall Goldsmith said, what got you here isn't going to get you to where you want to be in life. Or it could be for the athlete who's trying to break through and propel

Starting point is 00:12:45 themselves from where they are now to elite status. So I wrote the book so it could serve a wide array of purposes and individuals. And what Passionstruck really does for any of those groups is it creates a compelling case for the secrets that lead ultimately to living a life that's true to ourselves, a life that's authentic, a life where we are embracing who we are. Because I got a secret for you. The most incredible person that you ever are going to meet in your entire life. And I learned this from my friend, Lisa Edwards, is you. But on the flip side, the greatest competitor you're ever going to meet is also you. How do you learn how to break through your self-imposed competition with yourself? This concept that I refer to often as being the

Starting point is 00:13:31 visionary arsonist to your own life, where you're arsoning the very ambitions and aspirations that you long for. Passionstruck is your guide to how do you break through? How do you start taking small actions that align with your ambitions and your aspirations so that you too can break through and become one of the 5% or the 10Xers? And it all revolves around the harmonious interplay between passion, perseverance. The two combined are what Angela Duckworth refers to as grit. And spoiler alert, I have some amazing news that Angela is actually going to be joining us Tuesday to help launch the book. I'm so excited to have her here. So those two components, passion and perseverance, which make up grit plus intentionality.

Starting point is 00:14:16 And this alignment of those three key things, passion, perseverance, and intentionality, is the cornerstone, I believe, to self-realization, guiding you through a transformative journey that ends up 10xing every facet of your life. And what I'm hoping is this will not only show you how to intertwine these three core elements, but also help you to develop a deeper understanding of what it truly means to achieve success on your own terms. So now I want to walk you through why I constructed the book the way I did it. Because I was studying those 700 plus luminaries that I mentioned earlier. An interesting thing happened. I originally started with a list of between 30 and 40

Starting point is 00:14:54 key things that I was observing. But the more I studied, the more I started to realize that there were really 12 principles that were driving the incredible success that these people were having in their lives. As I started to delve into these even more, they were actually aligned with different principles that come out of behavior science and psychology. The way I ended up grouping these was in the Passionstruck model. As I explained the Passionstruck model, I just want you to visualize it for a second. Imagine you're looking at Mickey Mouse, and Mickey Mouse has two ears. One of those ears

Starting point is 00:15:30 are mindset shifts. The other ear are behavior shifts, and you can think of his nose and mouth as a third circle that represents deliberate action. Those are the three different sections that I break the book down into. When you think of mindset shifts, our mindset absolutely molds our beliefs and our values. It clarifies our why and influences how we approach our different actions and behaviors that we take. I find that mindset shifts are deeply intertwined with passion because passion serves as the catalyst for redefining our values and beliefs. It fuels transformation and helps us clarify our why.

Starting point is 00:16:08 This profound connection to passion not only transforms learning and growth, but also plays a crucial role in overcoming limiting beliefs that are inherent in one's current mindset. So once our mindset has been recalibrated, the next logical progression is a shift in behavior, where the role of perseverance becomes extremely crucial. This integration of perseverance into our behavior shifts is absolutely transformational in making our new mindset actionable.

Starting point is 00:16:37 It is through perseverance that the principles of self-mastery are actualized, guaranteeing that our actions are not only considered, but also resiliently aligned with our aspirations and our values. You can think of perseverance as that consistent motor behind our behaviors. We're even in the face of adversity and setbacks. It ensures that we keep pushing forward, keep iterating. And then lastly, there's what I call the psychology of progress in the book, which is really about how do you take deliberate action in your life. Because action plays a non-linear role when it's intertwined with the processes of reshaping our mindset and behaviors, acting both as a driver and an outcome of these transformations.

Starting point is 00:17:17 Through repetition, our actions evolve into habits, seamlessly integrating into our behavior as our brain's neural pathways adapt, making these actions become more automatic. This process is guided by immediate feedback, where positive outcomes reinforce behaviors and negative ones prompt reassessment. Importantly, it's not only having the courage to act, but the strategic intent behind the actions that you're taking. This blend of boldness and intention directs our decisions on when and where to act, aligning our actions with our goals and our long-term aspirations. In this way,

Starting point is 00:17:52 action is an integral part of personal evolution, constantly refining our mindset and reshaping our behaviors, fostering continuous growth and adaption. And then lastly, in the passion-struck model, intrinsic motivation acts as the glue that links mindset, behavior, and deliberate action. This internal drive fuels our journey toward a life that's filled with passion and purpose. And most importantly, it embeds a deep sense of mattering within us. The feeling of being significant and valued. This feeling of mattering anchors us towards our why, energizing our pursuit of goals and relentless determination to pursue them.

Starting point is 00:18:28 The center spark not only influences how we persevere through challenges, but also steadfastly guides our mindset shifts, informs our behavior shifts, and directs our deliberate actions, ensuring a harmonious and resilient progression towards our goals. In conclusion, in the passion-struck model, mindset shifts lay the groundwork for transformation. Behavior shifts translate this transformation into intentional actions, and the psychology of progress provides a detailed roadmap to how you actually implement the mindset

Starting point is 00:18:57 and behavior shifts into your life. Making this not just theory, not just a book that you read, but something that you can actually live and implement into your life. With that backdrop, I want to introduce you to the 12 principles and how they are organized throughout the book. They're divided in six different principles that make up the mindset shifts and six different principles that make up the behavior shifts. And I ended up using some catchy names so that these would be memorable for you. And I'm going to go through these at a 50,000-foot level.

Starting point is 00:19:27 But let me just introduce you to how each one of these chapters is written. So in each one, I introduce the principle. I talk about why it's so important. I go into my interviews that I've done with psychologists and behavior scientists that reinforce the principles in each chapter. I then tie it into a personal experience that I've had on my own through my own research. And then I give powerful example, both from some well-known individuals and lesser everyday heroes that showcase how these different principles were actuated in their lives. And then at the end of each chapter, I give you guidelines on how to apply it into your own life with exercises that I provide at the end of each chapter. So let's go through them.

Starting point is 00:20:08 So the first mindset shift is something that I call being a mission angler. And I came up with this because I live here in Tampa Bay where we're able to have some of the best fishing in the world. But for those of us who fish, it's not as if you just decide one day that you're going to go out in the boat, go 20 miles into the Gulf of Mexico, and think that you're going to catch fish. The experienced fishermen I know, these people who are truly anglers of catching all the fish that they possibly can, they're looking at the tides. They're looking at the moon phases.

Starting point is 00:20:37 They're looking at what fish are in season and where they're typically located, where other people have reported finding them, and they're typically using a fish finder. But how many of us actually craft our lives that same way? So this chapter really explores what it means to do life crafting. And I interview behavior scientist Hal Hirschfeld to do a deeper dive in what it means to life craft. And then I provide two great examples of Jim McKelvie, found it square in Gary Vee in this chapter on how they implemented it in their own life. The second mindset shift is something that I call a brand reinventer. In this chapter, I highlighted a gentleman, Dan Schwabel, who looked at 1,200 remarkable

Starting point is 00:21:16 individuals. And what we both found is that what these luminaries do is they practice consistent reinvention. And that's what this whole chapter is about. It's the importance, especially in this era that we're going into with AI, robotics, automation, so much uncertainty. Reinventing ourselves by being a constant learner is extremely important to this ongoing journey. In this chapter, I discuss both Dwayne The Rock Johnson and then my friends who are the horse soldiers who were once green braze

Starting point is 00:21:45 and have now become some of the leading distilleries of Berman in the country. The third principle I go into is called the mosquito auditor. I decided that this was the third most important principle because once you've decided that you have this new angle on life that you want to craft and you start reinventing yourself, the next logical thing that happens is you're showing up differently to your friends, family, peers, whoever it may be. We don't realize the incredible impact that these invisible influences, especially if they're negative in nature, can have on your life. And so in this chapter, I go through identifying three types of mosquitoes that you'll experience on your journey to becoming passion struck. And then I used the story of both Thaddeus Bullard, who's a famous WWE wrestler, and

Starting point is 00:22:31 also the story of Oprah Winfrey to reinforce the points. The next chapter after this is the fear-confrontor. And this is where I talk about the importance of overcoming self-doubt, or what I referred to earlier as being the visionary arsonist. And in this chapter I explore why do we become a visionary arsonist? What are the things that lead to it? And why do so many of us find that we keep saying can't instead of can to life-changing opportunities to change our life in the way that we want it to unfold? And in this chapter, I go through the story of Kirstie Ennis, a former

Starting point is 00:23:05 Marine Corps sergeant, underwent a terrible helicopter accident, but has completely rebuilt her life by saying she can. To life-altering experiences, she has now climbed five of the six tallest peaks throughout the world. In this chapter, I highlight the work of Ethan Cross, who's a psychologist at the University of Michigan, around his book Chatter and the negative thought patterns that we have and the importance of doing introspection and self-reflection. The fifth mindset shift that I go through is becoming a perspective harnacer. And this chapter is all about expanding our viewpoints. So many of us find ourselves living in a world where we look at things in a linear way, as either or or.

Starting point is 00:23:45 In this chapter, I explore the incredible journey of my friend astronaut Chris Cassidy and how much harnessing different perspectives, especially when it came to adversity that he faced, made such a profound difference in how he was able to build this incredible life that he's led. In this chapter, I introduce both Anne thinking, the work of Marianne Lewis and Wendy Smith, and how it helps us to start reframing the way we're living life from looking at things in that linear fashion that I talked about, to embracing it as both Anne. Think of this as balancing hard work and rest, merging self-discipline and self-compassion, finding harmony between solitude and community, accepting oneself as sufficient yet capable of growth, and so forth.

Starting point is 00:24:31 This chapter is really about how do you use cognitive restructuring to see things in a different way. And then the sixth mindset shift that I go through is a topic called the action creator. And in this chapter, I highlight my friend and long-term mentor, astronaut Wendy Lawrence, who speaks to people throughout the world about this concept that you've got to give yourself permission to dream your dream. In this chapter, I also highlight Mark Cuban and how it's the consistent pursuit of the choices, which I call micro-choices, that we make day in, day out, ultimately lead to us either living a life that's

Starting point is 00:25:06 an incredible tsunami of greatness or a waterfall of despair. Because every choice that we make throughout the 60,000 to 90,000 decisions that we get to make every day is a choice to either becoming or not becoming our ideal self. And in this chapter, I go through the pioneering work of University of Michigan behavior scientist, Michelle Siever, and the science of micro choices. So that rolls out the first six mindset shifts. Next, I'm going to go through the six behavior shifts that I cover throughout the book. The first one is called an anxiety optimizer. And this is really how do you transform your nervous energy into productive fuel? It's all about how do you create peak performance? This is so important for those who desire to be passion struck because Mackenzie

Starting point is 00:25:51 has done over 10 years of research examining hundreds of different people who have perfected anxiety optimization. And what they have found is those individuals outperform their peer group by over 400%. I guide you through the story of my friend, former Navy SEAL Mark Devine, and how he was able to harness this anxiety optimization to propel himself through Buds and through his Navy SEAL career. I also go into the work of Stephen Kotler that he discusses about the peak performance equation. And I tie it all together through the story of NASCAR driver Jesse Uweji and how he learned to harness anxiety optimization by being on the edge without going over the edge.

Starting point is 00:26:32 The second behavior shift that I talk about is the need to become an originality embrace. This is really about celebrating your uniqueness. And it ties into the first two chapters that I covered in the mindset shifts. This is really about how do you embrace your unique capabilities to the world. And in this journey, I explore the journey of Jeff Bezos in creating Amazon, as well as Claude Silver, whose Gary Vee's right-hand person at VaynerMedia. In this chapter, I discuss things such as self-discovery, embracing your quirks, cultivating confidence, learning continuously, creativity and experimentation, as well as the importance of authentic communication. The third behavior shift I call the boundary magnifier.

Starting point is 00:27:12 In this chapter, it is really about defining and setting your personal boundaries. And it really builds upon what I talked about in the mosquito auditing mind shift. This is about how you define your space for growth and self-respect. And in this chapter, I explore Gretchen Rubin, New York Times bestselling author who is an expert on happiness and the profound journey of why being a boundary magnifier really comes down to understanding ourself. I also go through the story of Steve Jobs and how by being a boundary magnifier, it propelled him to the heights of the tech world because he was willing to do whatever it took, even if it meant being alone, to do the right things and following his core values and aligning them with his actions,

Starting point is 00:27:58 his aspirations, and his ambitions. The fourth behavior shift that I talk about is being an outward inspirer. And this is all about how do you empower others? Because we all know that we can't do this journey to become impassioned struck on our own. We've need the positive influence of others. And as we're on this journey, we're going to start influencing others, especially if we want to make the world a better place. I highlight some of the guidance that I was given by my long-term mentor, Jay Skibinski, who was my CIO when I was the Chief Information Security Officer at Lenlice, as well as I profile Susan Wozzykiew, who is the former CEO of YouTube. This chapter is really about how do you become an outwardly inspiring individual, winds up influencing others

Starting point is 00:28:42 through your positive action? It's so important to understand that our actions speak louder than words. This concept is often phrased as people speak with their feet. And it connotes that the actions that we perform speak louder than any of the words that we ever say to anyone. This chapter is all about how do you embrace action-oriented leadership? How do you foster innovation through example? How do you create impactful change? How do you encourage action-oriented leadership? How do you foster innovation through example? How do you create impactful change? How do you encourage others by doing?

Starting point is 00:29:09 How do you create a positive environment around you through your actions, whether that's in your personal life or your professional life? How do you approach people with empathy and understanding? How do you use social media to demonstrate your values? And importantly, how do you show up with consistency in your actions? This then leads us to the fifth behavior shift, a concept that I call the Gardener Leader, which is all about leading with intention. A Gardener Leader intentionally nurtures their team's growth, akin to how a Gardener tends to each of the plants that he or she is trying

Starting point is 00:29:41 to grow. This process requires a deep understanding of every individual unique talents and capabilities coupled with providing the right environment and the right resources for them. It's something that I call an eyes-on, hands-off approach. And in this chapter, I explore this through the example of General Stan McChrystal and also Keith Crotch, who I brought up earlier. And I go through five different key components of what it takes to become a gardener leader. And then the last of the behavior shifts is something that I call the conscious engager. And this is one of the last chapters that I wrote for the book, and I think it's one of the most important.

Starting point is 00:30:17 And this is really about how do you invest your full attention to being present in the moment so that they align with driving your passions and the actions that you're taking every single day. And in this chapter, I really go through the analogy that so many of us today are living life as if we're a pinball, bouncing off things throughout our days, throughout our weeks, throughout our months, the distractions that we see in social media, the habitual patterns that we form in our life. We end up in these constant loops of being stuck in mediocrity because we're acting like that unintentional pinball. Instead of learning how to play the game of pinball, all its intricacies which resemble the game of life. In this chapter,

Starting point is 00:30:57 I go through the stories of Abraham Lincoln and Winston Churchill, and I really give some concrete information for how do you go from subconsciously engaging in life to really becoming a conscious engager where you keep the main thing in your life, the main thing. And so that rounds out the six mindset shifts and the six behavior shifts. And then in the third section of the book, I go through the psychology of progress. This is where I really bring in the importance of taking deliberate action, along with the intrinsic motivation that I talked about at the beginning of this episode when I was introducing the passion-struck model. The reason I wrote this third chapter, it starts out with me explaining the five different

Starting point is 00:31:38 plateaus that I commonly see on the path to becoming passion-struck, something that I call the subsister, the imitator, the vanquisher, the orchestrator, and the creative amplifier. I explain each one of them, and then you can go to the Passionstruck website and take a quiz that will show you where you are on this continuum. I then, through the next chapters in the book, then start going through the psychology of progress, how you take this deliberate action. I then introduced this concept of the Be In Turtle effect, where I examine how Elon Musk has been able to take both a long-term view and also an intense focus on daily action and how you can perfect this in your own life

Starting point is 00:32:17 through a deliberate action process that I've been using now for 20-plus years. I then go into the important aligning aspiration, ambition, and our actions. I guide you through some work that Marshall Goldsmith has done around this topic. Then I round out the book by discussing the importance of self-love and the role that significance plays in our life. That is a high-level overview of the whole book. I hope through talking about it that I've given you more desire to want to purchase this, these preorders that you often hear about matter so much to an

Starting point is 00:32:51 author in their book because it gives credibility for people to do book reviews about them. It gives credibility for people to want to buy the book. It gives credibility to your publisher to want to print more copies of your book. It gives credibility to news agencies to want to cover the book. It has so much bearing on so many things. So I would just ask, if you're listening to this, we're just a couple of days away from this thing going live. And if you do pre-order it, you get over $300 of added goodies. If you just put your order link, go to the PassionStruck website at passionstruck.com forward slash passionstruckbook. You'll get the first chapter of the book before the book comes out.

Starting point is 00:33:30 You'll get access to my masterclass on five ways to find your passion or purpose. And you'll get two incredible ebooks, one that takes a deeper dive on intrinsic motivation and another one that's about 70 pages long that shows you how you implement deliberate action in your life. Thank you so much for supporting me on this journey, not only of creating the Passionstruck podcast, but also in supporting me on this journey of becoming a first-time author. I hope you all enjoyed this show, and I wanted to thank especially those who tuned in to listen to it, and those who wrote in this week. We truly appreciate it.

Starting point is 00:34:03 You can find our videos on YouTube at both our main channel at John R. Miles and our clips channel at Passionstruck Clips. Advertiser deals and discount codes are in one convenient place at passionstruck.com slash deals. You can find me on all the social platforms at John R. Miles. You can sign up for our weekly personal development newsletter, live intentionally at passionstruck.com or johnrmiles.com. or you can sign up for our work-focused newsletter, Work Intentionally on LinkedIn. You're about to hear a preview of the Passionstruck podcast interview that I did with Angela Duckworth. Angela and I explored so many different aspects of both her book, Grit, but also how Grit and self-control applies to creating a

Starting point is 00:34:42 Passionstruck life. And then Angela also gives some amazing teasers for a brand new book that she's now just starting to write. And I can't wait for you to explore this interview. It's one that I've wanted to bring you now for over two years. Please go and check it out. I'm wearing this vest that says Character Lab. And I'll just say they started it with me when I was already a psychological scientist. I think the idea of character is everything, everything about you that's good for you and equally good for other people.

Starting point is 00:35:10 I think that includes grit. I honestly do think that when you have passion and perseverance for long-term goals, it is good for you and I think it's good for other people. But character also includes honesty and kindness and generosity and humility and creativity. And the list goes on. So character is plural.

Starting point is 00:35:31 And when people say, oh, grit character, I want to say grit, which is one aspect of character. And when you talk about intentionality and integrity, honesty, to me, that is a great illustrative example, if you will, to explain the point. Remember that we rise by lifting others, so share the show with those that you love and care about. And if you know someone who would be interested in buying the Passionstruck book, then definitely share today's episode with them.

Starting point is 00:35:59 The greatest compliment that you can give us is to share the show with those that you love and care about. In the meantime, do your best to apply what you hear on the show so that you can live what you listen. Until next time, go out there and become passion struck.

Passion Struck with John R. Miles - Become Passion Struck: Ignite Your Inner Drive for Success w/John R. Miles EP 411

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