Passion Struck with John R. Miles

If you’ve been trying to change your life but keep falling back into the same habits, this episode is for you.

Today, John R. Miles sits down with Angela Duckworth, one of the world’s leading psychologists and the bestselling author of Grit. Angela has spent her career studying why some people are able to achieve their goals and reach their potential. But in her new book, Situated, she shares a powerful idea that changes the way we think about personal growth.

We tend to believe that change comes from within. We tell ourselves to be more disciplined. Try harder. Find more motivation. Have more willpower.

But Angela explains that we often overlook something incredibly important: what’s around us. The people we spend time with. The spaces where we live and work. The mentors we learn from. And the culture that surrounds us. All of these things are shaping our behavior more than we realize.

The good news is that you don't always have to force yourself to change through sheer willpower. Sometimes, changing your situation can make it easier to become the person you want to be. Angela shares her research-backed framework for understanding the four parts of your environment that can shape your life: your space, your peers, your mentors, and your culture.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

Why changing what’s around you can help you change your life

Why grit and willpower alone are not enough

How the people around you shape your behavior and goals

How to create an environment that makes better choices easier

Why the right peers and mentors can change what you believe is possible

How workplace and social culture influence who you become

The four parts of your situation you can intentionally change

How to make your environment an ally instead of an obstacle

This episode is about taking a different approach to change. Because sometimes the answer isn’t to ask yourself to try harder.

Sometimes, you need to look around and ask: What in my life is making it harder to become who I want to be?

Click for the full Shownotes

Pre-Order The Mattering Effect: https://matteringeffect.com/. Take the 90-second diagnostic to see if you're disappearing.
Explore the Show: https://passionstruck.com/starter-packs/. New to Passion Struck? Start with the best episodes curated for you.
Connect with John
Website: https://johnrmiles.com
Book John to Speak: https://johnrmiles.com/speaking/
Substack: https://www.theignitedlife.net/
Children’s Book — You Matter, Luma: https://youmatterluma.com/

Support the Movement: https://startmattering.com/. Every human deserves to feel seen, valued, and like they matter. Wear it. Live it. Show it.
Passion Struck — #1 Alternative Health Podcast. 85M+ downloads.

Disclaimer

The Passion Struck podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only. The views and opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of Passion Struck or its affiliates. This podcast is not a substitute for professional medical or psychological advice.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

If you constantly feel like you should be doing more, achieving more, or becoming more, this episode is for you.

Today, John R. Miles sits down with Caleb Campbell, a former NFL player and author of the new book Unstriving. For much of his life, Caleb believed that success would finally make him feel like he was enough. But after spending years pursuing achievement and reaching goals he once dreamed about, he discovered something many high achievers eventually learn:

You can get what you wanted and still feel like you're not enough.

Today, Caleb is sharing a different way to think about ambition, success, and the pressure so many of us feel to constantly prove ourselves.

His message is not about giving up on your goals or becoming less ambitious. It's about learning how to pursue the things that matter to you without making your worth dependent on whether you achieve them.

You can use this advice for anything: Your career. Your goals. Your relationships. The pressure you put on yourself. The next accomplishment you're chasing.

The part of your life where you keep thinking, “Once I get there, then I'll finally feel like enough.”

In this episode, you'll learn:

Why success and achievement can never permanently make you feel like enough

The difference between healthy ambition and constantly striving for approval

Why reaching a major goal can sometimes leave you feeling empty

How to stop tying your identity to your performance

What Caleb learned from pursuing his dream of playing in the NFL

How to pursue big goals without losing yourself in the process

Why you don't need to stop being ambitious to stop striving

This is an episode for anyone who has ever felt exhausted by the pressure to constantly do more, be more, or prove more.

By the end, you'll have a different way to think about success—and a clearer understanding of what it means to pursue your potential without making achievement responsible for proving that you matter.

Read the full Show Notes

Download the FREE Companion Digital Workbook

Pre-Order The Mattering Effect: https://matteringeffect.com/. Take the 90-second diagnostic to see if you're disappearing.
Explore the Show: https://passionstruck.com/starter-packs/. New to Passion Struck? Start with the best episodes curated for you.
Connect with John
Website: https://johnrmiles.com
Book John to Speak: https://johnrmiles.com/speaking/
Substack: https://www.theignitedlife.net/
Children’s Book — You Matter, Luma: https://youmatterluma.com/

Support the Movement: https://startmattering.com/. Every human deserves to feel seen, valued, and like they matter. Wear it. Live it. Show it.
Passion Struck — #1 Alternative Health Podcast. 85M+ downloads.

Disclaimer

The Passion Struck podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only. The views and opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of Passion Struck or its affiliates. This podcast is not a substitute for professional medical or psychological advice.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

What if everything you’ve been told about midlife is wrong?

If you’ve ever worried that your best years are behind you, that it’s too late to change, or that getting older automatically means losing your energy, purpose, or sense of possibility, this episode is for you. Today, John R. Miles sits down with Dr. Margie Lachman, a leading lifespan psychologist and author of Primetime: A New Vision for Midlife, who has spent more than 30 years studying what actually happens to us during the middle years of life.

Margie reveals why the idea of a “midlife crisis” is largely a myth—and why midlife can actually be one of the most powerful periods of growth, confidence, purpose, and control. She explains why you are not locked into who you are, why the choices you make in midlife can shape how well you age, and how your relationships, health, and sense of purpose can influence the decades ahead.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

Why midlife isn't the crisis we've been led to believe it is

Why your personality and sense of control can continue to change

Why it’s never too late to make meaningful changes

How your choices in midlife can affect your health later in life

Why purpose and contribution become so important as we age

How giving and receiving support affects your well-being

Why staying connected can protect against loneliness and isolation

What “generativity” means and why it matters

How to think differently about the second half of your life

This is an episode about challenging the story you've been told about aging—and realizing that you may have far more time, possibility, and influence over your future than you think.

Your best years may not be behind you. They may be ahead of you.

Catch the full show notes.

Download the FREE Digital Workbook.

Pre-Order The Mattering Effect: https://matteringeffect.com/. Take the 90-second diagnostic to see if you're disappearing.
Explore the Show: https://passionstruck.com/starter-packs/. New to Passion Struck? Start with the best episodes curated for you.
Connect with John
Website: https://johnrmiles.com
Book John to Speak: https://johnrmiles.com/speaking/
Substack: https://www.theignitedlife.net/
Children’s Book — You Matter, Luma: https://youmatterluma.com/

Support the Movement: https://startmattering.com/. Every human deserves to feel seen, valued, and like they matter. Wear it. Live it. Show it.
Passion Struck — #1 Alternative Health Podcast. 85M+ downloads.

Disclaimer

The Passion Struck podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only. The views and opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of Passion Struck or its affiliates. This podcast is not a substitute for professional medical or psychological advice.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

What if the thing you regret most someday isn't what you did—but what you never tried?

In this episode of Passion Struck, John R. Miles sits down with behavioral economist and bestselling author Dan Ariely to explore why we make decisions that don't always serve our long-term well-being.

Dan's research reveals a surprising pattern: in the moment, we tend to regret the risks we take. But when we look back over our lives, we often regret the risks we didn't take.

The conversation goes far beyond risk.

John and Dan explore why vulnerability is one of the biggest areas where people play it safe, how bureaucracy can drain passion from work, why companies struggle to measure the things that matter most, and what we may lose when we optimize everything for efficiency.

They also discuss:

Why we often choose short-term safety over long-term fulfillment

The difference between regretting action and regretting inaction

Why romantic relationships are one of the biggest areas where people avoid risk

How bureaucracy can quietly kill motivation and passion

Why companies measure productivity but struggle to measure care, connection, and meaning

What happens when organizations treat people like functions instead of human beings

Why AI's pursuit of efficiency could come at the expense of meaning and human development

How feeling appreciated can influence motivation and performance

Why investing in human capital should be treated differently than simply treating people as a cost

The question you should ask yourself: Where in your life are you playing it safer than you really want to?

Dan's larger message is difficult to ignore: the life we build isn't shaped only by the choices we make. It's also shaped by the chances we decide not to take.

Full shownotes here

Download the FREE Companion Digital Workbook

Pre-Order The Mattering Effect: https://matteringeffect.com/. Take the 90-second diagnostic to see if you're disappearing.
Explore the Show: https://passionstruck.com/starter-packs/. New to Passion Struck? Start with the best episodes curated for you.
Connect with John
Website: https://johnrmiles.com
Book John to Speak: https://johnrmiles.com/speaking/
Substack: https://www.theignitedlife.net/
Children’s Book — You Matter, Luma: https://youmatterluma.com/

Support the Movement: https://startmattering.com/. Every human deserves to feel seen, valued, and like they matter. Wear it. Live it. Show it.
Passion Struck — #1 Alternative Health Podcast. 85M+ downloads.

Disclaimer

The Passion Struck podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only. The views and opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of Passion Struck or its affiliates. This podcast is not a substitute for professional medical or psychological advice.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

What would change if you stopped worrying so much about what everyone else thinks of you?

Actor, entrepreneur, and father Josh Duhamel has spent decades in the spotlight, but he says one of the biggest things he has learned with age is that he no longer needs to pretend for anyone—and that caring too much about other people's opinions once kept him from living his “full version” of himself.

In this deeply personal conversation, John R. Miles sits down with the actor, entrepreneur, and father to talk about identity, success, fatherhood, presence, and what it means to build a life that actually feels like your own.

Josh opens up about:

Why success doesn't automatically make you feel like you've done enough

How the need for validation can keep you chasing the next achievement

What helped him stop caring so much about other people's opinions

Why his cabin in Minnesota brings out a different version of himself

How changing his environment helped him become more present

Why fatherhood completely changed his definition of success

What he hopes his children remember about him

Why family memories now matter more to him than material success

How he's learning to embrace simplicity, curiosity, and being present

One of the most revealing moments comes when Josh talks about what success means to him now. Despite everything he has accomplished, he admits that he still feels like he has more to prove and achieve.

Click here for the full show notes

Learn more about Gatlan

Download the FREE Companion Digital Workbook

Pre-Order The Mattering Effect: https://matteringeffect.com/. Take the 90-second diagnostic to see if you're disappearing.
Explore the Show: https://passionstruck.com/starter-packs/. New to Passion Struck? Start with the best episodes curated for you.
Connect with John
Website: https://johnrmiles.com
Book John to Speak: https://johnrmiles.com/speaking/
Substack: https://www.theignitedlife.net/
Children’s Book — You Matter, Luma: https://youmatterluma.com/

Support the Movement: https://startmattering.com/. Every human deserves to feel seen, valued, and like they matter. Wear it. Live it. Show it.
Passion Struck — #1 Alternative Health Podcast. 85M+ downloads.

Disclaimer

The Passion Struck podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only. The views and opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of Passion Struck or its affiliates. This podcast is not a substitute for professional medical or psychological advice.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.