Passion Struck with John R. Miles - How Life‘s Transition Points Impact Your Success EP 82

Starting point is 00:00:00 Hello everyone and welcome back to the PassionStruck podcast. Thank you for coming back each and every week to listen, learn, and grow. And if you're new to the show or you want to introduce it to a friend or family member, we now have Starter Packs. These are collections of our favorite episodes grouped by topic to give you a one-place shop where you can learn everything about our show and what we do here. Just go to passionstruck.com slash starter packs to get started. And now I want to feature our fan of the week who this time happens to have been a past guest on

Starting point is 00:00:36 the podcast. Her name is Amy Malin and she's the co-founder of TrueHeart.com and Amy writes honored to be a guest on the Passion Start podcast. John is one of the best hosts in podcasting. He did so much research before our episode and asked thoughtful and interesting questions. I am so grateful for the opportunity to be on his amazing show. Amy, thank you so much for that endorsement and for being a guest on the Passion Start podcast. And if you haven't caught Amy's episode, it was a recent one, number 79.

Starting point is 00:01:11 And she talks about her vulnerabilities of overcoming human trafficking along with domestic violence and sexual harassment for a long period of time and how she's turned her life completely around now, has gotten married and started her new venture true heart. So please if you haven't seen it or listen to it go back and check it out. And speaking of watching if you haven't gone there before we have a YouTube channel John Armiles which has over 200 different videos now somewhere long form and many are short form two to five minutes long that we call mine set moments But it's a great venue to also getting a different taste of what the show can offer now today's episode

Starting point is 00:01:56 I'm gonna talk to you about an important topic and One you probably are unfamiliar with the topic is transition points And I'm gonna talk to you about what they are why they are so important and one, you're probably unfamiliar with. The topic is transition points, and I'm gonna talk to you about what they are, why they are so important for your journey, and also how you can build them up. Thank you for choosing the Passion Start podcast, and choosing me as your hosting guide

Starting point is 00:02:20 on your journey, when locking a no regrets life. Now, let the journey begin. Welcome visionaries, creators, innovators, entrepreneurs, leaders and growth seekers of all types, to the Passion Struck podcast. Hi, I'm John Miles, a peak performance coach, Malt-Bin Industries CEO, Navy Veteran, and entrepreneur

Starting point is 00:02:41 on a mission to make Passion Co-Viral for millions worldwide. And each week I do so by sharing with you an inspirational message and interviewing eye achievers from all walks of life to unlock their secrets and lessons to become an action-struck. The purpose of our show is to serve you the listener. By giving you tips, tasks, and activities,

Starting point is 00:03:04 you can use to achieve peak performance, and for too a passion-driven life you have always wanted to have. Now let's become passion-struck. I want you to think about some important events in your life. It could have been preparing for a wedding in the actual wedding day, or maybe a major career milestone that you were going after or an important meeting that you just had to get right, like one with an investor,

Starting point is 00:03:36 or maybe it was something sports related like a marathon you wanted to race, or a tennis match that you just had to win, or it could be a performance that you had to give, maybe theatrical, or maybe you're in a band. And oftentimes when we're preparing for a big event like that, we have a ton of momentum that's building up as that preparation is occurring. But then the event happens, and oftentimes afterwards we get too laxodasical or another situation is we have this big event coming up on the horizon but it's months and months or maybe even a year away and so we don't put

Starting point is 00:04:19 that intense focus into what we're doing to make the proper preparations for it, or maybe we do it has or do it. Whatever it is, it is those moments before and after these events that I am calling transition points. Now, let me define a little bit more what a transition point is, so you can have more clarity about this concept. In writing, which I love to do, the transition is a word or phrase that connects one idea to another. This connection can occur in a paragraph or between paragraphs. And these transitions are used to show how different subject matter is connected to other subject matter

Starting point is 00:05:03 that you're relating to the reader, and how they relate to the overall theme of the blog post, paper, or book that you're producing. Similar to these transition points in writing, we have transition points in life that connect us between one important moment in our life and another. A great way I think to look at this is in the military sense. Oftentimes in the military you are preparing for a certain mission. Let's say you need to go into you know a certain town and look for a high-value target. When you're doing that a lot of your attention is put on that final point when you're going after in the moment, the high value target, and the steps that you're going to need to take. However, what we often fail to put attention on are those moments leading up to that event and the moments following it.

Starting point is 00:05:56 And those are the moments that I consider transition points. These are the periods of time where we often let our guard down, where we get into the status quo or into the daily motion of whatever it is that we're doing. And in a military sense, based on my experience when I served, these are some of the most important times that you could possibly have because they are the time when something comes up unforeseen and bite you when you least expect it. This is where I have seen more so than the actual event. People get injured or lose their life,

Starting point is 00:06:31 whether it was from an IED, a surprise ambush, an unexpected terrain issue, an EVA crowd that we weren't expecting that we had to take and weren't properly tuned in for. The important thing here is that these transition points are all around us in our everyday lives. There are choices that we make, just as easy as the choice of going to a gas station,

Starting point is 00:06:54 going to a convenience store, going to the supermarket, picking up our children from school, but it's what you do with these transition points that really matters. So why do they matter? The reason these transition points matter so much is because they are the make it or break it for you achieving your goals. And you might be saying, what the heck is he talking about transition points? Our outputs, meaning our long-term ambitions, these goals we have, let me go back to the examples earlier,

Starting point is 00:07:26 whether it be potentially a wedding or a big sporting event that we're competing in, or a major career event. Whatever it is, these are the steps leading up to in coming out of that event. And oftentimes, we approach these in a way that's laxedaisical like we're going through the motions like we're just showing up but we're not conscious about our actions and implications that they can have and that's what the importance of transition points is all about is Not treating them in that way not treating them as a trivial event but treating them along the way as an important circumstance for your end goal. We will be right back to the PassionStruck podcast. This episode is sponsored

Starting point is 00:08:12 by ShipStation. The holidays are the most wonderful time of the year, but if you're running an online store, you also know that it can be the craziest part of the year. I know this firsthand from my experience running both Loes.com and Dell.com. There is inventory to manage, orders to fill, and a growing list of stressed-out customers who are waiting for their packages. With ship station,

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Starting point is 00:09:45 click on the microphone at the top and enter the code passion struct. Shipstation, make ship happen. This episode is also sponsored by Issue. I know for me, first impressions are everything. So if you're looking to make an impact with your online content, you absolutely need issue. The easiest way to make your creative ideas come to life and share everywhere that you want to be seen.

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Starting point is 00:12:00 So we put them in a convenient place, the show notes for each episode. Please consider those who support us and make the show possible. Now, let's get back to the Passion Struck podcast. Now, let me give you a great example of this because I think sports are a great metaphor for these transition points. Earlier in my life, when I was a Division 1 athlete, and even before that, when I was in high school, at first I was a mediocre runner. And part of the reason I was a mediocre runner is because I wasn't taking the transition points seriously enough.

Starting point is 00:12:36 And so I would get to the meets, and I wouldn't be prepared, or my nerves would get the best of me. And either way, I wasn't performing optimally. Then the light bulb went off, somewhere around my sophomore year in high school. And I began to treat my practice sessions in the same way that I was treating the meats that I was running in.

Starting point is 00:12:58 And an amazing thing happened, as I started to focus more in those transition points where that everyday practice and started treating it as it was actually an event, and I was racing my teammates. My performance started skyrocketing, and then when I became that Division I runner, it got me to thinking, you know, what is the difference between someone who's a good collegiate athlete, and someone who is absolutely the peak performer and an all-american. And you could say that it could be talent, etc. I think

Starting point is 00:13:33 it really comes down to the transition points along the way of achieving it. These are the moments when you could be making a decision such as what am I going to eat and am I going to be laxodaisical about that meal or am I going to be intentional about what I'm eating. It could be your work effect like I talked about and how you're treating practice sessions and are you giving it your all or you just going through the motions or it could be mental strength. Are you mentally preparing? Are you getting yourself in the right psyche? These actions that we take during the transition points that have such a profound impact on the achievements that we're able to have and the

Starting point is 00:14:18 magnitude of those achievements over time. So let's take a couple other examples of this, also in the sports sense. So let's look at the life of Hall of Fame, basketball player Michael Jordan. For those of you who aren't familiar with his story, Michael was actually cut when he was early in his high school career by his basketball coach. Some of it had to do with his height disadvantage against other people who were on the team,

Starting point is 00:14:45 but Michael had a choice at that point. He could either give up on his dream or he could double down on it. And that's exactly what he did, the latter approach. He started waking up 5 a.m. every single day, going to school early and shooting and practicing from 530 to 730. He was using the transition points in his life to prepare so that he would never face that rejection again. And he continued that pattern throughout his entire NBA career. And when other teammates were treating practice laxodasically, he would show up two hours

Starting point is 00:15:24 before practice even began and would have shot hundreds if not thousands of baskets preparing and making himself mentally ready to take on that practice. He did the same thing when it came to games showing up early and doing those daily iterations, those inputs along those transition points that led him to be in many ways the greatest player who ever played the game. A similar dynamic has happened with quarterback Tom Brady on the football field. Looking back and being a Michigan fan, I would have never predicted in a million years that Tom Brady would still be playing football or that he would win as many Super Bowls as he had

Starting point is 00:16:06 and had the career that he's had. But Tom embraces football the same way that Michael Jordan embraced basketball. He concentrates on the transition points of his daily life and treats them all around with intentionality and with the goal of being the best player that he can be. And you see that in his diet, you see it in his work ethic, you see it in the way that he shows up, you see it in the intentionality that he has as an encouraging his teammates, and it's his observance of the transition points and making the most of them that I think has led to the amazing career that he has had just as Michael Jordan had. So with that said, how do you get better at the transition points in your life? A few months ago I had

Starting point is 00:16:57 on one of my favorite guests of the podcast. He's a Naval Academy classmate of mine, retired astronaut and Navy SEAL Captain Chris Cassidy. And during our conversation, I asked him, what was the most important thing that you would teach midshipman if you could, if you came back and gave a talk? And he said, the power of being present in the moment. And that's what transition points are all about.

Starting point is 00:17:26 It's being in the moment, whether that's in your daily interaction with your families, in your interactions with your friends, in your interactions at work, when you're in a meeting. It's being present in that moment, and treating each and every moment as the most important thing that is going on.

Starting point is 00:17:47 And just like I'm giving this podcast to you right now, right now you, the audience, are the most important thing in my life. However, if the house around me suddenly caught on fire and I had to do something differently, of course, the podcast wouldn't be anymore And I would have to deal with that emergency But if you think about the long-term goals that you're after and the steps leading up to making them happen It's being present in the moment Along that continuum that matters most It's putting in the reps if you're an athlete

Starting point is 00:18:24 It's practicing your craft and being a better leader every single day if your aspiration is to be a leader in a company. It's being present in the moment with your family so that you can be the best version of yourself for them when you show up for them. The second step to getting better at transition points is to come up with a system of prioritization for your actions. In a previous episode, I talked about the Ivy Lee method, which is something that I like to use to help prioritize my tasks. And the Ivy Lee method is just a simple way of you take the five most critical things that you have to get done

Starting point is 00:19:03 of you take the five most critical things that you have to get done the next day and you jot those down before you go to sleep. And then the next day, you go in rank order of the prioritization that you laid out to get done those daily activities that are leading you closer to your goals, that we can do prioritization. But without prioritization, it is so easy to fall

Starting point is 00:19:28 in the trap of just doing the status quo, of just showing up, but not doing it in a way that shows commitment or that you're prioritizing the actions that you're taking and how that prioritization impacts the inputs that will ultimately achieve the output that you desire. The third step that you can take to building better transition points is to focus on building habits that lead to you taking better initiative. An easy way to think about this is to take out a piece of paper, think about your days and write down all your good habits and then write down all your bad habits.

Starting point is 00:20:12 You can take this then one of two directions. Either you can take one of your good habits and double down on it to maximize that habit even more, or you can take a negative habit and take steps to try to eradicate it from your daily activity. Either way, whether you're taking something away, or you're building something up, you're using your transition points in the form of habits to your advantage,

Starting point is 00:20:39 and you're making progress on your goal and your journey of living a no regrets life. The fourth step that you can take on this road to creating better transition points is to not look too far in the rear view mirror. Similar to the effect that we can have when we're looking too far ahead, we're focusing too much on the outcome and not about the steps leading to it, oftentimes we can do the same thing coming out of an event. Think about Rafael Nadal playing tennis

Starting point is 00:21:08 and he just wins the French Open and he knows he's got the US Open coming up just around the corner. It would be so easy for him to just take that moment of winning the French Open and running with it for the rest of the year. One amazing accomplishment. But what really takes work is putting yourself

Starting point is 00:21:30 in that mental place where you're not focusing on the fact that you just won that event, but you're reshifting your focus to the next opportunity that's coming up, which for him could be the next grand slam, which would be the US Open. And then making sure that he's focusing on the transition points between those two events and ensuring that he's getting mentally ready, physically ready,

Starting point is 00:21:56 and doing everything that he can spiritually as well to prepare so that he can try to win a grand slam. The same thing happens in all our personal lives. It's in the business world going between one critical moment to another one, one critical investor meeting, to another critical investor meeting, and making sure that you were focused in between those and taking the steps

Starting point is 00:22:20 to learn and make better pitches each and every time you do it. That's what the transition point is all about. And the last and final step that you can take on your transition points is to be intentional about them. Now this is similar to being present in the moment, but intentionality is something that I think so many people are missing today. All you have to do is go into a restaurant and just observe people's intentionality. Are they on their phone?

Starting point is 00:22:50 Or are they really, really paying attention to each other with intentionality? And I think we go through so much of the pattern of our days with good intentions, but we let all the distractions that are happening around us cloud our intentionality because we get focused on what is urgent versus what is important. And that's what being intentional is all about, is putting your focus on those inputs that are taking you to where you

Starting point is 00:23:19 want to go. Transition points are all around us, as I said before, in our relationships, in our physical way that we treat our body, and the way that we mentally get prepared for things, and the way that we approach each and every day, and the ways that we approach events leading up to a major thing that we're working for, and in the way that we're looking back upon our past successes as we're preparing for our future. And it is so important to be present in the moment, prioritize your actions, focus on building those good habits and guiding rid of the bad ones,

Starting point is 00:23:59 not looking in the rearview mirror and being intentional each and every day. And I hope you can apply these lessons to your own life and learn to use transition points to your advantage. And I just wanted to highlight a couple of the episodes that I talked about today. The original way I got the idea for transition points was in an interview that I did with William Brannum, who's a retired Navy SEAL senior chief. I talked about the concept of being present from my interview with astronaut Chris Cassidy,

Starting point is 00:24:33 which you can also check out. I talked about prioritization and the Ivy League method. If you want to learn more information about that, I did a whole episode earlier in the year on the Ivy League method and the difference that it can make in your life. I am so thankful for each and every one of you being here supporting the show, supporting our YouTube channel and helping us continue with our movement of trying to help

Starting point is 00:25:03 people worldwide regain their passion and turn that into a no regrets life. Please DM me on Instagram at John Armiles. If there's a topic that you would like me to discuss, a question that you can ask me that you want answered or a guess that you would like to have me on the show. You can also reach out to me at LinkedIn, at also John Armiles. Now, go out there and become PassionStruck. 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 PassionStrike

Starting point is 00:25:45 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 group-minded friends so they can post it as well to their social accounts and help us grow our PassionStrike 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 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.

Starting point is 00:26:30 Thank you again for joining us. you

Passion Struck with John R. Miles - How Life‘s Transition Points Impact Your Success EP 82

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