When small decisions can make big shifts | Success Redefined

Imagine building a life around helping others define success on their own terms — only to have everything he thought he knew get rewritten when he lost his father at 27, survived a stroke in his 40s, and realized the book he'd been sitting on for years was finally ready to be born.

My guest today is Chip Scholz, executive coach, woodturner, and author of ‘Small Decisions, Big Shifts’, and ‘Every Dog Has Its Day’.

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Today’s guest is Chip Scholz. Chip describes himself simply as a man with a lathe, a pocketknife, and a few stories. Over the course of a long career in business and coaching, he’s come to see that the moments that shape a life rarely arrive with fanfare. They show up quietly—in family conversations, unexpected detours, and even in a woodshop, shaping a piece of maple. His work explores how those small moments accumulate over time, changing how we see, how we live, and eventually what we’re willing to let go of. Those reflections come together in his book, Every Dog Has Its Day, a collection of stories about life, craft, and the decisions that quietly shape who we become.

http://www.scholzandassociates.com/ 

~~~ 

MS BELLA ST JOHN

✨ AI Literacy and Mindset Strategist | Professional Artist

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~~~ Success Redefined ~~~

PS:  No animals were harmed in the creation of this video.  Made with recycled data. 🌼 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Success redefined with Mr. Bellows and John.

SPEAKER_00 0:05

Imagine building a life around helping others define success on their own terms. But then you have a situation where everything you thought you knew gets rewritten. That's what happened to my guest when he lost his father at 27, survived a stroke in his 40s, and realized the book he'd been sitting on for years was finally ready to be born. My guest today is Chip Adult, executive coach, Wood Turner, and author of Small Decisions, Big Shifts, and Every Dog has its day. If you'd like to connect with Chip or reach out to me, all of the details and links are in the show notes and descriptions. But let's go join the conversation. And so something that I ask most of my guests is when you were growing up, what did success look like for you? What was what did you think your success would be?

SPEAKER_01 1:00

You know, I grew up in a Midwestern pretty normal setting, you know, mom, dad, brother, and and that kind of thing. And I I think success for me was uh um, and especially when I was a smaller child, is is doing what your dad did, you know, and uh and following in your father's footsteps. And and obviously that changed, and especially my my dad died when I was 27 years old. And so, you know, if you if you've been living that way for so long, um everything changes. And and that's that's a whole nother conversation. But uh, you know, the it was really doing what my dad did and and uh and following his footsteps, and and my mom to some degree as well.

SPEAKER_00 1:49

I think that's that's an interesting tangent if that we if we can just go off on this little side sidebar for a moment. True. The way that that society has very much changed now, where we don't have extended families around, we people don't even know their neighbors, etc. I think it's really interesting when we've come from, and you and I I think are of a simil similar ilk uh era wise, and when we've come from that where your role models of success were people who were intimately connected to you. Sure, you had movie stars or you had whatever, but how are you seeing that changing for the next generation coming through with regard to their you know what they're seeing and how they're considering success?

SPEAKER_01 2:37

Well, life has changed in so many ways since uh since I grew up. And and of course you're much younger than oh, I don't think so. When you take a look at uh um you take a look at at the changes that have happened, you know, I I still think if if you're if your typical um family, and and I don't I don't know that there's a typical family anymore, you know. I I don't think there is that definition of what uh um 2.5 children and and a husband and wife is. Um I I think there are a lot bigger definitions these days. Um and and so, you know, where do you find your role models? Is it is it from the movies? And you know, the movies aren't what they were when when we were um younger either. Um that's changed an awful lot. Media's changed an awful lot, you know, in the days of of everything being digital. Um, you know, I think about that often. Um, you know, when when I grew up, um there was a uh there was a phone on the kitchen wall and it had about a 40-foot cord that you carried all over the house and and you know, you had your conversations that way. What do we do now? You know, we've we've got things on our wrist that uh that we can talk to or just you know, our phones, our phones contain everything. And uh and especially, you know, if you're if you're talking about being in a new city, how do we get around? Well, we get around by our phones. We look at at uh Apple Maps or Google Maps or or whatever, and that's how we get around. And and so, you know, those are those are a lot of the changes. I think I think people are dealing with a lot more complexity these days.

SPEAKER_00 4:22

And so, what are your suggested tips for them to feel as though they're making a success of their life? Not from because this whole podcast is about success redefined. It's not looking at the old definition of success. And so for people on a day-to-day basis to feel as though they're making a success of their being, what what are some of your thoughts?

SPEAKER_01 4:46

Well, Bella, the first thing is to define success for you. You know, and and so I I came up with this thing called the five C's, and and I wrote a book about it. And uh um the five C's are context, clarity, conditioning, choice, and character. Um, context is understanding who you are, where you are, you know, what your what your what your daily life looks like. Um clarity is being certain to know in certain terms what you want. And that is that's a really hard thing to to tell, but it starts with what your definition of success is. And you know, I've asked this question of all my clients, I've asked these questions in in a lot of public situations, and I said, okay, so write down all the things that success is for you. And what I always get back, and it doesn't matter the age of the audience, it it can be a group of 20 somethings or it can be a group of 50 somethings, it really doesn't matter. Um, I always hear um good family, uh, raise great kids, uh fulfilling career, um a uh um financial independence or financial stability, um, health, happiness. Those are the things I hear. And that hasn't changed. That really hasn't changed. Um, so so it doesn't matter the age, it it matters that they take the time to write it down and say, okay, this is what success looks like for me. And then when we take a look at that, I I always ask the next question, which is, okay, so is that something you get to and check the box and then move on? And they don't. So so you don't say, I'm gonna be happy at 40 and then check the box and move on. Happiness is a lifelong pursuit, financial independence is a lifelong pursuit. Um, having a happy family, uh healthy family, health, you know, because health at at 60 or 70 looks a whole lot different than it does at 30 or 40 or at 18. Um, my my body reminds me of that all the time.

SPEAKER_00 6:59

Yeah, I turned 60 this year, so I'm I'm right there with you.

SPEAKER_01 7:02

Yes, yes. Well, and you and you don't look like it. I was gonna say maybe 40, you know.

SPEAKER_00 7:07

You can come at you can come again, sir.

SPEAKER_01 7:09

Okay, well, I appreciate that. I appreciate that. But um, but yeah, um it's it's taking the time to say, okay, what is my definition of success? And then saying, okay, how am I going to live that? If I want a great family, if I want a a uh um uh you know financial independence, if I want to be happy, what does that mean? And uh um and that that is how it fits into and it and it's also it's also changing the mindset to be able to get to what you want. So that's that's what conditioning is, is is changing your mind. So so that you know, listen, um here's here's a great stat. There are six there are um there are 70% of them are negative.

SPEAKER_00 8:02

And uh you just you just cut out. You said I got to I got to here's a great stat, and then you the the the the feed froze. So can you start from here's a great stat?

SPEAKER_01 8:12

Yeah, there there are 672 words for emotion in the English language. 70% of them are negative. So so we think more about what's gonna go wrong than what's gonna go right. We've got to find ways of changing our thinking so that we're thinking more about what's gonna go right. We're thinking more about uh um, you know, I one of my favorite sayings is is uh tag, which is treat everyone with respect, assume positive intent, and grant grace.

SPEAKER_00 8:48

I love that.

SPEAKER_01 8:50

But it but it's all mindset.

SPEAKER_00 8:52

Everything is.

SPEAKER_01 8:54

Yes, and and if I believe, if I believe you're out to get me, I'm going to treat you that way. But if I'm treating you with respect, if I'm treating you with the respect you deserve, then then it's all mindset. It's it's it's changing your mind. So so you gotta understand what you want, and then you gotta understand uh um that you've gotta change your mind in ways that that help you get it.

SPEAKER_00 9:18

And you mentioned your clients. So what are the sorts of clients that you have?

SPEAKER_01 9:23

Um most of the clients I have are are family businesses. They're uh um some rather large family businesses, but uh I've worked with a couple of of billion dollar companies, but uh um a lot of them are in the uh um 30 to 50 million dollar. Um, you know, um most of them are owners of those companies. And uh and one of the things they all struggle with is how do we go on to the next uh the next generation, the next thing. You know, do I hold on in in MI94 when I leave the office for the last time, you know? And and so uh um it's been interesting watching the multi-generational um companies that I work with. Um there's another company I work with that's a construction company, but uh um you know they're they're a uh ESOP company, so that's a little bit different.

SPEAKER_00 10:13

Yeah. And it's interesting, that brings us back full circle to what you were mentioning about growing up with regard to wanting to be very much like your father and doing what your father did, et cetera. That we we we did have a situation for for you know hundreds of years where the you know, usually the eldest would step in to take on the role of whatever it was, but where it's actually seeing that less and less and less now with the younger generation, yeah, particularly with farming. With the farming industry, the younger generations are not taking over the farms. And so it's that's a really interesting dynamic. And you also though mentioned your book. Can you tell us the story of how that came into being?

SPEAKER_01 10:55

Well, okay, yeah, so it's a little long story. I'll make it uh as short as possible. But uh um I wrote a couple of books with other people in um 2009 and 2011. In 2012, I had a stroke, and uh um, and so recovering from that, I said, you know, I just want to write a book by myself. And uh um, and so I started on on the book, so it was 14 years ago, and I started on this book, and uh I'm I just didn't like it. I got a hundred pages written and I just didn't like it, and I stuck it in a drawer for for five years, and then my uh my kids gave me story worth. I've I have three daughters, and and they gave me story worth for Father's Day a few years ago. So I don't know if you've ever heard of Story Worth, but um Storyworth.com is a platform that sends you a question a week, like, you know, how was your dad when you were a kid? How were your mom? Um, who are your prom dates? Where did you live? That kind of stuff. And over the course of a year, um, I wrote 60 stories. It they they end up sending you a book, so they publish a book, and uh and the book ended up being 411 pages, and that got me back into writing. And so uh um I pulled the manuscript out, I said, okay, let's take a look at it. I threw out the parts that I didn't like, I uh um I started adding and went to a publisher um December of 24, and uh um in so October of 25 it came out. And I love that. Yeah, yeah, and uh I'm I absolutely loved it. Um I I liked it so much that in the middle of uh of 25, um hold on just a second. Um in the middle of 25, um I wrote another book called Every Dog Has Its Day. And uh um and so that took me a month and a half to write. And then um I've written another one that's coming out this October called Handoffs. So it just got me into the writing mode, you know. I've at this point in my life, I I think I call myself a creative than more than uh more than a coach.

SPEAKER_00 13:08

And I just lost you again more than a and it just froze again. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:12

Yeah, a creative more than a coach.

SPEAKER_00 13:16

Yeah, I love that. And anybody who knows me really well knows that if something's really bothering me and I I want to have an interaction about it, I will write it to them first, and then I can talk with them. So I'm a I'm a writer at heart as well. So I I love that. And even coming circling back to the success redefined thing, so many people say, Oh, you know, I want to write a book. And then they they look at this as this big monumental task, and oh, and I could never, and I could never, and I could never. And that's why I love the idea of writing prompts that you were mentioning. So just get into the habit of just writing something. And there are wonderful examples like this where they'll they'll send you writing prompts or get involved. A very, very dear friend of mine who is also coming onto this podcast, uh, Karen, is she all always wanted to write a book? And she was like, Oh, I don't know if that's maybe. So hers wasn't a one day, it was, am I really, you know, is that really for me? Am I really good enough to? And she got involved with a writer's group, and now there's there's just no holding her back. She's you know, she's been published, she's doing amazing things, etc. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:34

Well, and and and I can't tell I can't tell you how many people I've run into on planes that say, I want to write a book. And yeah, I've got a uh incredible publisher. Um, the the publishing company, Aloha Publishing, is uh is great to work with. And they're one of those publishers that if you if you have a manuscript, um they will work with the manuscript, or if you have an idea, you can come to them and and they will write the book with you. And uh um it's you know um it's really great. Um all the books I've I've just turned in manuscripts. I'd I prefer to write myself. But you know, here's here's one of the things in as a as we head into an AI era, um I find that uh I I use Chat GPT an awful lot, and I find that ChatGPT does it, and and I'm I'm sure with Claude or or Groc or any of the other platforms, um they do a really good job of creating props for you. So so all you ask it is, okay, so what should I be asking? What what should I be uh what should I be answering about this? And uh um it's it's a great creative and an iterative process to work with AI because you're not working with somebody that is taking their time. You're you're you know, you're you're picking you're picking the LLM's brain.

SPEAKER_00 15:54

Exactly, exactly. And starting with something where you have some sort of heart involved, you know, or it's a passion, or whatever. I I remember one of my books, um uh the AI, AI A G I revolution, will this change what it means to be human? And it it was just after Chat GPT was launched, only a matter of, I think, two, three months after that. And I it was just within me. I'm going, you you people are not seeing what's right in front of you here. Where you know, where if we don't look at this and and and and go along on this journey with open eyes, we're going to lose something very precious. And that book just poured out of me. I wrote it over a long weekend and it's over 300 pages. And I think that also is something that if you want to write a book, find something where you already have that passion involved. And I've I've coached a number of people through the process of writing and getting to the point of self-publishing their book. And in almost every instance, it's oh, I'm I'm not sure if, or I'm not sure if. And then when we throw the I'm not sure if out the window, it's amazing what they come up with.

SPEAKER_01 17:08

Yeah. Well, and you know, the other part of it is that while you're in the process, you're going to think the book sucks at least three or four times.

SPEAKER_00 17:17

Or at least, yes.

SPEAKER_01 17:19

Yes. And and it's always good to have somebody, whether it be a publisher or whether it be a partner or a good friend, that can that can look at it and go, hey, no, this is really good. And uh, you know, maybe it'll be better if you did this. And and uh um, you know, I I think being open to that kind of a of I guess creative or constructive criticism. Yeah. Um I I wouldn't even call it constructive criticism, but I I think it's truth telling. It's like, okay, how can I make this better? But but you are going to get to the point where you think the book sucks at least three or four times while you're writing it. And uh um, and you know, it's it's hard to ignore the voices that uh that talk to you and tell you that.

SPEAKER_00 18:08

So actually, my very first historical fiction book that I wrote, because most of mine have been nonfiction and either business or personal professional development, the very first nonfiction book that I wrote, so I was in the middle of writing it, and uh it was based in dual times, uh late 1800s and around the time of the Second World War. And at one point, my character was woke me up in the middle of the night and said he wouldn't say it like that. I'm going, what, who wouldn't say what like what? And I'd actually had a scene where two of the characters were on a on a railway platform and he kissed her and she went, oh and then she said another man's name. And he says, in in my first draft, and he's British, by the way, and he says, Wow, how the dentist ego. And and my characters in the middle of the night waking me up and saying a British man in the 1940s would not say a guy, he'd say a chap or a fellow or whatever. And I was like, okay, now go away. Next time you have constructive constructive feedback, give it to me at 10 o'clock in the morning.

SPEAKER_01 19:16

Wow. But 10 o'clock in the morning, you might have other things on your mind, right?

SPEAKER_00 19:21

Yes, even so. It's like, please, guys, get a get a get a clock. But it is, and even as you mentioned, the like constructive criticism, or I was talking with another one of my guests where she actually encourages what she calls failure, you know, fail off and fail off and fail often. And I said, some people have a visceral response to that word, or they have a visceral response to the word criticism. But essentially it's just a feedback loop. Yeah, and that is the only way we improve. We do something, we get feedback, whether it's internal feedback, external feedback, where you know, what if if it's physical feedback? You know, wow, I shouldn't attempt to climb three steps in one go next time, you know, fall flat on my face. You get feedback. That's how we learn and how we grow.

SPEAKER_01 20:09

Well, and you know, I think that's part of humility and and part of being useful rather than performative. So if you're being performative, you know, a lot of times it's in imposter syndrome that's driving you. Um, whereas if you if you are being useful, um, you take the time to to listen. You know, one of my favorite books, and and this was a TED talk that uh um was done, Katherine Schultz, and I think the TED Talk was about 2011. Um, she wrote a book called Being Wrong. And she said, you know, it was an interesting career choice for her to study wrongness because not many people are doing that. But you know, she says in the in the TED talk, she says, you know what feeling wrong feels like, and it it doesn't feel like anything because you think you're right until someday that you learn you're wrong, and then it feels horrible and it feels shameful and all of that kind of stuff. And and you know, I I think I think you just have to realize that you're gonna be wrong most of the time. I realize that I'm wrong most of the time. I realize that I fail every day, and I I fail in so many ways every day, and uh um, and then so what do I do about that? Well, I can either curl a little ball and die and suck my thumb and and uh um you know, um, as Brene Brown um says, um eat a banana mutton nut muffin and and drink a beer. Or or I can say, okay, I made a mistake, let's move on. Let's let's figure out how we fix it and move on. And and I I think that helps me in the writing process, knowing that that, you know, hey, not everything I do is gonna be great. Let's talk about ways we can fix it. And uh and let's uh let's make the best product we can, um you know, as as a as a team rather than just strictly me saying, hey, this is this is the way it has to be. And and I I I think that humility is is one of those things that um or or the lack of humility gets in the way of of people being able to do things and do things in the best way. Because they they just, you know, if you're humbled, you you know, hey, you know, I'm gonna screw up. And how how do I how do I fix that?

SPEAKER_00 22:33

And even in the realm of science, I'm also a very much quantum physicist kind of girl. I'm not a quantum physicist, but I'm very much into that.

SPEAKER_01 22:41

So nothing really exists, right?

SPEAKER_00 22:43

And it doesn't. And consciousness is fundamental, not space-time. But one of my one of my favorite people within that that realm is uh Donald Hoffman. And uh he's a cognitive scientist, but he's he's always saying, you know, chances are I'm wrong. But let's start from here. And one of the challenges that I think science, more scientists, could and should embrace is you're you're all you're always starting with assumptions. What if your original assumption is, let's just say, not correct? And I think if we go through our life from that perspective, even if somebody interacts with you and you think, well, that wasn't very, very nice, you know, they must be this or they must be that, what if your original assumption is incorrect? So if we just tend to go through life going, okay, yeah, just take it on face value. And I think that is a that opens up a whole other different way of interacting with people and circles back to what you were mentioning with regard to respect. It's respect for self, respect for others, respect for the puppy dog walking along the street, respect for for your company, respect for your employees or your employer. And I think it does, it does give one an entirely different perspective on life.

SPEAKER_02 24:05

Yes, it really does.

SPEAKER_00 24:06

So, my friend, to wrap for somebody who's been watching or listening to this podcast, and they're at the point of saying, okay, I I know that I either don't have a good definition of what I want for success for myself, or that's it's no longer serving me, which was an area we didn't get into with your story. Um, what's a tip that you can give to them? And actually, probably even if we do the latter, they they the definition of success that they had, they have realized that's just no longer serving them. What's something practical that you can suggest as a first step?

SPEAKER_01 24:46

Well, I think the biggest thing is is find somebody, uh find a professional, find a coach. Um, I wouldn't recommend therapy unless you want to talk about your mother, but uh um you know, I would I would talk to a coach. Um, and I don't care, um, you know, look at look at nobody asks my credentials. You know, nobody asks if I'm certified. Um, and and I don't think that's really important for for a client to do. But uh, but find somebody that you're you're good to talk to, um, or talk to a good friend that knows you well and and that you can have an open conversation with. And uh um and you know, one that's an an honest conversation, one that is open, and you're able to have that honest conversation of hey, you know, it just doesn't feel right. Um there's a uh um a guy named Art Blanchford, and uh um Art runs a podcast called Life in Transition, and he is also you know, he's he's putting together these these groups of um of uh um uh middle-aged men. I and I want to say like you know, 50-year-old men that are that are trying to figure out because they've had a lot of corporate success, and now what does it mean to move to purpose and meaning? Yeah, and I think well, and I think so many people do. Um there's a a great book called Um Uh The Second Mountain by uh David Brooks, and uh um it it talks about the the m climbs up the two mountains. The first one is about success and fame and fortune and and money, and the second one is about meaning and purpose. And and at some point you're gonna have that that that valley, that crisis, that that uh, you know, maybe it's a layoff, maybe it's a a buyout, maybe it's who knows what what's gonna cause that. But you're going to have that that um thought about what it is to redefine yourself and what is important and what is your definition of success. And and uh um, you know, um God, there's just a lot of books that that can help you with that.

SPEAKER_00 26:55

There is, and so we need to wrap it there. My friend, thank you so much for being with me. We're going to have to do this again. So we've still got so much extra to talk talk about.

SPEAKER_01 27:04

So I would love to.

SPEAKER_00 27:05

Thank you. So I'm Bella St. John. This is Success Redefined. All of the details are in the show notes. So do feel free to reach out. And until next time. Bye.