Your greatest career success is going to come through relationships.

Your overall life satisfaction is going to be greatly effected through relationships.

So how do we do a better job building new relationships and strengthening current relationships? 

How do we shift from "networking" to this much more meaningful way in building strategic relationships.

Listen as author and speaker Paul Angone shares the 7 strategies to building better relationships.

If you want to read more about how to build better relationships, check out more about this in 101 Questions You Need to Ask in Your Twenties (and Thirties) 

You are more than the visible outcome of your work.

And the outcome of your work might be more than what is currently visible.

We have failure all wrong.

If we thought about failure like THIS, it will change everything.

Listen to today's episode to hear more.

You can read more about this as well in my new book 25 Lies Twentysomethings Need to Stop Believing.

"Sometimes the events in our life that are not necessarily easy are the most necessary." - 25 Lies Twentysomethings Need to Stop Believing

Does it feel like nothing has gone as planned in your life? I know the feeling. 

Yet, maybe our plans, our dreams aren't going to their grave right now. Maybe they're being planted.

Maybe the pain and problems we're going through right now aren't a distraction away from our purpose, but are the direct path right to it.

Hear one of the most incredible stories in history of the Ten Boom sisters who changed their lives, and everyone around them, as they fought to be thankful in one of those most thankless places in human history. They found purpose in the pain.

Listen to this amazing story of hope, resilience, and forgiveness, and be encouraged. 

Also you can read more about this lie in my book 25 Lies Twentysomethings Need to Stop Believing. Plus, read more about this incredible true story in The Hiding Place. 

"Marriage doesn’t just define you, you also define it." - 101 Questions You Need to Ask in Your Twenties

What are the myths about marriage that are holding you back from having a healthier, thriving relationship?

Whether you're a month into dating, or years into marriage, here are the seven biggest myths about marriage that we need to identify and overcome so that we can build our dating relationships and marriage on a strong foundation. Listen here. 

You can also read more about the myths of marriage that I discuss in this episode in my books 101 Secrets For Your Twenties and 101 Questions You Need to Ask in Your Twenties

"You might be going through a quarter-life crisis if you glare at your cat in the morning as you get ready for work and say, “Gosh, I wish I had your life.” - 101 Secrets For Your Twenties

A quarter life crisis can happen at any age. What are some signs you might be going through a quarter life crisis or that you've gone through a quarter life crisis?

Then more importantly, are there actual benefits of going through a quarter-life crisis? And what are some ways to cure this crisis?

Find insight and hope for your quarter life crisis in today's episode.

Also, you're not alone in these feelings of going through a quarter-life crisis. Millions of people have Googled and read my original article at AllGroanUp.com - 25 Signs You're Going Through a Quarter-Life Crisis

Have a friend going through an intense, crisis season of their life? Send them this episode for encouragement.

Also you can read more in full about the benefits and cures of going through a quarter life crisis in my book 101 Secrets For Your Twenties

If you don't figure this ONE THING out, pursuing your dream is going to be a real struggle.

Pursuing your dream will be riddled with much more sacrifice than sexiness. That's okay. That's how it's supposed to be.

Yet, when you're sacrificing for a "must", for a "have-to", for something you can not, NOT do, the sacrifice doesn't feel sacrificial at all. Actually the sacrifice is a little sexy because the sacrifice is freeing you up. The sacrifice is purposeful. 

So what are your "have-to's?" What is something you can not, not do? This is the necessary "why" you need to find when pursuing your dream.

Listen more in today's episode. Also hear more about the purposeful sacrifices my wife and I made in our lives because we had a vision for something greater. One of those sacrifices? Sleeping in a closet. 

Also you can read more about all of this is my new book 25 Lies Twentysomething Need to Stop Believing.

What if our pursuit of happiness is all wrong?

What if our pursuit of happiness is the exact thing that's keeping us most unhappy?

Here’s what I think is the truth: The more we pursue happiness, the less happy we’re going to be.

Is happiness a product we should pursue?

Or is happiness a product of something else? Can we seek happiness unto itself? Or is happiness a natural byproduct when we’re pursuing something else meaningful?

When we pursue happiness unto itself we end up merely pursuing a distraction from our unhappiness.

When we pursue being happy we usually come back feeling more miserable than before. Like going on that epic road trip to find happiness, only to return, and having more problems there waiting for you than when you started. 

I do want you to be happy. So stop pursuing it. Instead, pursue these things instead. 

 Find a consistent spring of life rather than trying to drink from the dried-up creek of happiness.

Read more about this in my new book 25 Lies Twentysomethings Need to Stop Believing. 

"Success in your twenties and thirties is more about what you're planting in the ground then it is about what you're harvesting." -  via 25 Lies Twentysomethings Need to Stop Believing


How do you consistently keep planting seeds even when you don't feel like it?

When you haven't seen much progress in awhile? When nothing seems to be growing as fast as you hoped it would?

Do you wait for inspiration and motivation, then do the work?

Or is there a better, more effective way to doing great, inspired work?
 
Listen here as I share the secrets I've learned about getting motivated and doing good work even when you don't feel like it.

"Pursuing a dream is like planting an avocado seed. It could take about ten years before you see any fruit."  --  Read more about staying motivated and doing good work in my book 101 Questions You Need to Ask in Your Twenties

No one can do what you do or be who you are.

Own it. Leverage it. And watch the returns pour in for years to come.

Keep changing by becoming more of who you were meant to be.

Listen to this fun episode as I tell the story of a WILD horseback ride and what it taught me about the importance of us getting off the trail ride and running the race we were made to run.

You can read more about this story in my book 101 Questions You Need to Ask in Your Twenties (and Let's Be Honest, Your Thirties Too)

What do you say to someone standing on a ledge? 

In this unique, straight-to-the-point episode I re-tell the story of the night my neighbor threatened to jump down to his death, and the lies that led him there. 

Hear what I told him that night and the power of those four simple words that we all need to hear. 

“I’ve missed my chance!” I've worked with too many twentysomethings who believe this lie.

I also spent too many years believing this lie myself.

In today's podcast, I jam-pack it with inspirational stories and lessons on why you haven't missed your chance in life.

One story I tell is of a twentysomething heavy metal rocker whose first album flopped. He was so discouraged that he’d lost his “one chance” at success that he tried to commit suicide.

Thankfully he was unsuccessful in his attempt and moved to LA to start playing piano in dive bars as what felt like a failure in complete exile.

There as he played through all the emotions and struggle, he would write his first hit song. This “failed heavy metal rocker” would then go on to be one of the most successful musicians in the United States and has sold more albums than Michael Jackson or Madonna! Know who this musician is??

Listen to this story and many more in this hope-filled episode.

You haven't missed your chance! Your future is waiting there in front of you, with arms wide open.  

Read more about ALL THIS in my new book "25 Lies Twentysomethings Need to Stop Believing"

If I'm being honest, this is a constant battle for me.

Stephen Pressfield in his book The War of Art called it "Resistance". I call it "The Liar".

The moment you start moving forward. The moment you start taking that chance. The moment you put yourself out there, the Liar is going to try and stop you. The Liar is going to try and convince you that you don't have what it takes.

I know from experience! As I move towards seeing my new book release where I'm going after the 25 Lies holding us back, I'm still battling the Liar's voice that's trying to keep me stuck in fear and insecurity.

What is the Liar and how do we stop it?

That's what I'm discussing in today's new podcast episode. Plus, the power and practice of listening to the Truth-Teller instead.   

As I write in 25 Lies Twentysomethings Need to Stop Believing: 

"The Liar doesn’t want you to do important work. That’s when its voice gets the strongest. Why? Because the Liar doesn’t want you to risk. The Liar is that “friend” who’s always telling you “That won’t work,” trying to project their own fear on you like you’re a drive-in movie theater screen.

Well, if we’re going to tackle lies, if we’re going to set ourselves up to succeed, build, and create, we first have to tackle the Liar. Because the Liar’s one goal is to make you believe that you don’t have what it takes."

How many amazing dreams were "never was" because the Liar took that person out before they could really even start.

If we're going to stop believing the lies, we have to stop listening to the Liar. Let's listen to the life and hope the Truth-Teller is trying to tell us instead.

Read more about how to build the habit and practice of listening to the Truth-Teller rather than the Liar in my new book 25 Lies Twentysomethings Need to Stop Believing

I don't want to embarrass myself. I'm pretty afraid of it actually.

But in this story I embarrassed myself in a completely different way. 

As more of an introvert than extrovert, my wife can attest that getting me to do something too social, too out-there, is like trying to give a cat a bath.

So over the years I've figured out the only way NOT to embarrass myself. But honestly, I don't like it much either.

The only way NOT to embarrassment myself? Not try anything great. Not put myself out there. Not share my voice. Not create things. Not write books. Not speak on stage. Basically, hide.

Because as you've maybe heard me say before, "The possibility for greatness and embarrassment both exist in the same space. If you're not willing to embarrass yourself, than you're not willing to do anything great." - 101 Secrets For Your Twenties

Listen to me share my really embarrassing story and what it taught me about the importance of putting ourselves out there for others to see.

And another perk of embarrassment, your embarrassing stories become YOUR BEST STORIES. My books are filled with embarrassing stories. I wouldn't have much to write about without all my failures. :)

Sure, I don't really yearn to embarrass myself. Yet, I know the biggest risks we can take in our lives is not taking any risks at all.

Listen to my embarrassing story about my lameness and what I learned from it.

I don't want fear to call the shots of my life. I'd rather take that chance, take that risk, put myself in a very real place to embarrassment myself, than constantly wonder my whole life "what if?"

You read more about this secret in my book 101 Secrets For Your Twenties

Most of us treat transition and change as something to rush through as quickly as possible to get to the next important seasons of our lives. 

That’s all wrong. 

“Transitions aren’t just a bridge to the next important season of your life. Transitions are the most important seasons of your life.” – 101 Questions You Need to Ask in Your Twenties 

There’s something of strange significance that happens to us when we’re stripped of everything we used to depend on.

Yet, transitions and change can feel like a bad break-up. It can be painful. You can feel lost and lone. 

One day, you think you’ve found The One and you’re planning out your 2.5 kids and your Labradoodle named Mittens.

 Then you get the “we need to talk” phone call. Now, it’s 9:00am in the morning and you’re eating crumbled up Oreos, out of a peanut butter jar, in your pajamas, and watching 23 straight episodes of a 90’s sitcom on Netflix.

In this episode I tell my own epic bad breakup story that you have to hear to believe. 

And more importantly how these hard transitions leads to amazing things in your life, if you’ll let it. 

If you want to read more about the importance of transitions, I write about it in my book 101 Questions You Need to Ask in Your Twenties

“Every culture must negotiate with technology, whether it does so intelligently or not. A bargain is struck in which technology giveth and technology taketh away.” - Neil Postman

 Obsessive Connection Disorder is a real, real problem.

We’re addicted to our phones as we are notified, headlined, and distracted to death. This need to constantly be connected, which in turn, leaves us incredibly disconnected.

Too many of us are struggling with what I define as Obsessive Connection Disorder. And the ramifications of what it’s doing to our lives is serious and dramatic. 

 In this episode, I discuss the problem of Obsessive Connection Disorder and what we can do about it. 

Our escape into our phone does not decrease our loneliness – it heightens it. We are all escaping into a disconnecting connection.

We need to be mindful of the ways that we’re using technology mindlessly. 

As Sherry Turkle aptly writes in Reclaiming Conversations “We are forever elsewhere.” 

 In this episode, we will find a way out of the jungle of Obsessive Connection Disorder. Also you can read about it in full in my new book 25 Lies Twentysomethings Need to Stop Believing

Have you ever felt this way? Like you’re the least likely to succeed. I know I have. 

When you’re scrolling through everyone’s amazingly sexy and successful lives on social media and you’re wondering why you can’t even get the energy to do your laundry. Not to mention actually fold the laundry sometime within the first week it comes out of the dryer.  

In this episode, I tell an AMAZING STORY of two hopeful twentysomething actors who were co-voted least likely to succeed from their acting classmates. 

Hear what steps these two unlikely candidates took next to make their dreams happen. And how they both ended up proving everyone wrong as they became two of the most prolific actors in American history. 

If success has felt elusive to you, listen to this episode and be encouraged. 

Also you can read more about this amazing story in my new book 25 Lies Twentysomethings Need to Stop Believing: https://bit.ly/25-Lies

It’s sure felt like we’ve been stacking dark days upon dark days, hasn’t it? 

 Well, this episode is full of light and hope! 

I share some encouraging and prophetic words from Winston Churchill that he spoke to a nation in the middle of the darkest days of WWII. 

This episode is a reminder that there is hope, even in what appears hopeless. The tunnels darkness might feel unending. Yet, it will end. We will step into the light and fresh air again. 

Listen more here from Winston Churchill to be encouraged that maybe these are the toughest, yet greatest, days imaginable.

If you want to read more about this in my book 101 Questions You Need to Ask in Your Twenties, check it out here: http://bit.ly/101QuestionstoAskinYourTwenties

There’s a joy and beauty in happy little accidents. At least that’s what Bob Ross taught us. 

Do you know Bob Ross? The Joy of Painting, huge afro star, who produced a whopping 31 seasons of his famous art instruction show on PBS. Bob would calmly sit on a stool and paint a landscape for an hour, yet completely entrance the viewer with his soothing voice and wisdom about the importance of happy little accidents and how “even a tree needs a friend.” 

But how did Bob Ross and his infamous afro become one of the least likely household names?

In this episode, I share some powerful principles from Bob Ross’s life as I discovered his secrets to success. 

Plus, I reveal the happy little accident that led to Bob’s signature afro look, and the secret behind how he painted so many paintings. The main secret – magicians are actually the least magical people in the room. I explain more what I mean here in this episode. 

If you’re working in the details. If you’re persevering. If you’re striving for something bigger and better, then this episode is for you. 

Success in your twenties is a lot like a Bob Ross painting. 

You start with a blank canvas. It feels like everyone is watching. You create by putting one layer on top of another. And along the way there will be many “happy little accidents” or crappy little failures, depending on what you do with them. 

Listen here about the secrets of Bob Ross’s success here and how we can learn from his life. If you want to read about this more in-depth, I write more about Bob Ross and his secrets of success in my new book 25 Lies Twentysomethings Need to Stop Believing, which you can check out here: https://bit.ly/25-Lies

“All you need is love” is a lie. 

This first episode might be a little controversial because I think saying “I love you” should not be the peak of relationship seriousness. Because for one, it’s really easy to say I love you to someone you don’t really know. 

I think we’ve gotten love all wrong and it’s messing up our expectations of what it means to have a healthy relationship. 

We talk about falling in love like we’re powerless against it. Love has taken control and we’re plummeting face first right into it. And whether we fall into a “Hallmark Movie Love” where the high-powered city businesswoman meets up with the small town farmer and they work together to keep Pine City from getting redeveloped. 

Or a “Shakespearean Love” where there’s going to be a bunch of tragedy waiting for you at the end, we talk about it like it’s out of our control. Because I’m in love. 

If all we need is love, why are so many people who are in love and getting married, falling out of love and getting divorced? 

Listen to the episode and hear why I think some other statements and parts of a relationship are WAY MORE IMPORTANT than saying I love you. 

If you want to read more about the lies of love, I write about it all in my new book 25 Lies Twentysomethings Need to Stop Believing, which you can find here: https://bit.ly/25-Lies