Ever leave a call certain you were ignored, only to realize the format and your state stacked the deck? That’s where we start: a three-person coaching session, one of us driving and audio-only, and a story that morphed from “I was dismissed” into “what really happened here?” We unpack how missing nonverbal cues, split attention, and a hunger for validation can twist the read on even well-meaning people.

We take you inside the inner monologue, the death cycle of “I’m not good enough,” fueled by pride that wants gold-star questions and empathy that turns into self-accusation. Then we slow it down. What if the tech made it hard to be heard? What if our client weighted male feedback more in that moment? What if we trained others to expect us at any cost, even when conditions are wrong? Those may not excuse the sting, but they explain the friction and return agency. We share practical resets: pause the call when you can’t contribute well, switch mediums, name what you notice, and ask for space to finish a thought. Curiosity, What else could be true?, beats rumination every time.

We also talk about faith as a fast reset. A short prayer to notice God’s presence can cut the spiral when logic won’t. Sleep helps too; a rested mind writes kinder drafts. By morning, we remembered the bigger picture: this group has affirmed us before, the client got the clarity they needed, and one awkward slice doesn’t define the whole pie. For levity, we trade headlines about a candy-obsessed bear and a Nessie researcher calling it quits after five decades, because humor loosens tight stories and makes space for grace.

If you’ve ever felt sidelined on a call, this conversation offers tools to reclaim your voice without burning bridges: context over conclusions, generosity over judgment, and clear requests over quiet resentment. Listen, share with a friend who overthinks, and tell us: what question helps you stop the negative loop fastest? Subscribe, leave a review, and drop your thoughts, we’d love to hear how you pivot when emotions spike.

Support the show

The new year opened with warmth, travel stories, and a sky full of fireworks, and that energy sets the tone for everything we’re building next. We take a clear-eyed look at 2025, naming what worked, what didn’t, and the surprising places we found momentum: a Nebraska birding haul, real talk about forced heat and allergies, and the steady practice of dating each other even when life gets loud. Then we pivot with intention, walking through a simple, practical approach to goals that doesn’t rely on hype: tiny 1% improvements, SMART milestones, and language that calls out who we choose to be.

We get honest about how words shape reality. Generative language isn’t magical thinking; it’s identity in motion. Saying I will deliver turns into a calendar block and a delivered result. That mindset shows up in everyday places, guiding teens through new independence, starting a coaching business without the illusion of overnight success, and celebrating wins that look small but add up fast. Along the way we lean into three guiding words, power, exclusive, authentic, and show how repeating them, living them, and setting boundaries around them can change how we work and relate.

If you’re mapping your year, you’ll get a simple framework you can use today: body, mind, spirit. Think three gym days and push-ups on off days. Ten minutes of reading that grows. A prayer journal or a cover-to-cover reading plan with a date on it. We also talk joy and anticipation, why the World Cup’s communal surge, the Winter Olympics, and a summer IMAX epic can fuel discipline when motivation dips. By the end, you’ll have a handful of concrete, measurable ideas and a reminder that progress counts, even when it’s quiet.

If this resonated, tap follow, leave a quick rating or review, and share it with someone setting bold, specific goals this year. Tell us: what three words will guide your 2026?

Support the show

What if the most generous thing you could give isn’t money, but a chance? We kick off with playful family sparks, music versus screens, Christmas movie sacrifices, and The Office episode hot takes, then pivot into the heart of our series: how sharing talent, skill, and influence can change a life.

Olivia walks us through her path into sound engineering, from a teacher who trained and trusted her at the school console to a community that invited her behind the scenes at live events. You’ll hear how a simple yes became a week of real-world mixing, troubleshooting, and teamwork, and how thoughtful leaders used their network to introduce her to engineers, artists, and new opportunities. That generosity didn’t stop at access; it continued through follow-ups, studio help, and practical guidance that accelerated her growth and clarified her college direction.

We connect these stories to everyday life. A gaming assist becomes a mini-masterclass in mentoring: meet people where they are, share your playbook, and carry them through the moments that matter. We also recap the four lanes of generosity we’ve explored, resources, time, thought, and talent, and highlight why influence is the multiplier. An introduction can compress years of trial and error. A checklist can save someone’s first project. A studio hour can unlock confidence. Layer those acts and you build a culture where generosity is normal and momentum spreads.

If you’re looking for a nudge to use what you know and who you know, this one’s your map. Subscribe, share this with a friend who opens doors for others, and leave a review with the one introduction you plan to make this week. We’d love to hear who you’re lifting up next.

Support the show

What if the way you think about people when they’re not around is shaping you more than it affects them? Jami goes solo to dig into generosity of thought, assumption, and hope, showing how small shifts in our inner dialogue can create huge changes in peace, relationships, and results. This isn’t about pretending everything is fine; it’s about building tactical optimism, questioning snap judgments, generating kinder possibilities, and consciously choosing the most resourceful story.

We start by mapping our default lens. Do we approach strangers at the store, drivers on the road, or coworkers at the office with suspicion or generosity? Jami offers practical experiments: test your first five assumptions in the wild, set “everyone is awesome” as a baseline for a day, and notice what happens to your mood, decisions, and body. When a trigger hits, ask what else could be true and pick the interpretation that protects your peace. Assuming positive intent until proven otherwise isn’t weakness; it’s strategy that preserves clarity and reduces needless conflict.

From faith-fueled practices to ontological coaching insights, Jami shares how feedback, Scripture, and community help quiet the noisy “committee” in our heads and strengthen agency. We talk about holding space for potential over pattern, seeing the not yet instead of the never will, and how mindset leaks, people can feel it when you show up tight or open. If you’ve felt stuck in cynicism, ruminating on slights or carrying the weight of fixed narratives, this conversation offers accessible tools to reset your lens and move through the world with steadier hands.

If this resonates, subscribe, share it with a friend who could use a mindset reset, and leave a review. Tell us: what assumption will you rewrite today?

Support the show

A spilled cup sets the tone, and then we zoom out to the big stuff: a pristine Superman No. 1 found in an attic selling for over nine million dollars, a Titanic pocket watch stopped at 2:21 a.m., and what those artifacts teach us about how time preserves what we protect. From there, we get practical about generosity that isn’t about money, it’s about attention, presence, and the choices we make with our calendars.

We talk partners first: why a weekly date night matters, how phones-down moments become oxygen for connection, and the power of circling back to a conversation days later. Then we move into parenting with real rhythms, kitchen-table debriefs, car-ride honesty, and one-on-one rituals like coffee runs and gym sessions that help kids feel seen. It’s not all heavy; laughter and inside jokes keep the space light enough to hold the hard stuff.

Work gets the same lens. Preparation is generosity. Showing up ready, asking “Who do I need to be for this person today?,” and adding value beyond the job description can change the room. We share how community roles, school board, church leadership, study groups, demand integrity and the reliability that builds trust over time. And we make a case for margin: the personal time that lets you return to your people as the best version of yourself. Sometimes that means choosing a walk over a game if the game will wreck your mood.

If you’ve been wondering how to show up better for your partner, kids, work, or community, this conversation offers clear ideas you can try today. Hit play, share it with someone who needs a nudge toward presence, and tell us: where will you be more generous with your time this week? Subscribe, leave a review, and join us for the next part of the generosity series.

Support the show

Want to see what generosity actually does when it lands in a real place with real needs? We open part one of our series with a candid look at life as support-based missionaries in Guatemala, how monthly gifts keep our family afloat, how a pandemic turned highways into ghost roads, and how food bags and open doors led to something bigger than we imagined.

We trace the arc from a single remote village tucked inside miles of sugarcane to a thriving education pipeline. It started with one clear barrier: parents couldn’t afford basic school supplies, so half the kids stayed home. A Giving Tuesday drive changed the math, 100% attendance the next year, and momentum has carried through ever since. Today, 160 elementary students receive supplies annually, while a new middle and high school track brings teachers from the city twice a month. A tutor, shared computers, and safe transport round out the support. Graduations now include firsts for families: a grandmother arriving in sandals to honor her granddaughter, teens talking about university, and proud parents seeing options where there used to be walls.

We also talk about the other side of giving, hospitality from the community that hosts us. Coffee pots set aside without sugar because they remember our tastes. Fresh fruit after long days. The occasional plate of armadillo offered with a smile. Those gestures remind us that generosity isn’t only money; it’s time, attention, presence, and the decision to learn each other’s names. If you’re looking for practical ways to help, we share how to support school supplies, tutoring days, and teacher transport as Giving Tuesday approaches. Or start where you are: buy someone a coffee, offer an honest compliment, invite a neighbor to your table. Small gifts widen lives.

If this story moved you, follow and subscribe, share the episode with a friend, and leave a review so more people can find these conversations. Your generosity keeps this work going, and keeps hope growing.

Support the show

What do your weekend rituals, first concert, and secret talents reveal about you? We swap questions and pull back the curtain on our lives, sushi Saturdays, VIP movie nights, and that post-gym coffee that sets the tone. We talk about why a crowded city walk can reset a week, how sports now serve as a light backdrop rather than the main event, and why a good series can still surprise us.

Books become a map of how we think: Dallas Willard’s The Divine Conspiracy for careful, formational reading; big-idea and history titles like Atlas Shrugged and A People’s History of the United States for the other brain in the room. From there we drift into hidden talents: a calm, rhythmic love for fly fishing, a running past stacked with All-American honors, and a hyperactive sense of smell that turns scent into a daily instrument for focus and mood. We even trade OR peppermint hacks and laugh about how candles and colognes can change a day.

Music threads the memories together. First shows were humble; favorites grew cinematic, Sting accompanied by an orchestra, Coldplay’s color storms, Sigur Rós’ slow-bloom soundscapes. Then it’s hometown roots: Rochester, NY, with Kodak, Wegmans, lake-effect grit, and pickup games; North Platte, NE, with big skies, rail-yard history, park-side childhoods, and a great-grandmother whose balcony nights and police scanner made her a local legend. We round it out with wish-list hobbies, skydiving, guitar, and piano, and a breakdown of the infamous beer mile where carbonation, not alcohol, is the true villain.

If you love story-driven conversations about everyday life, personal growth, books, music, running, and the small details that make people who they are, you’ll feel right at home. Press play, then tell us: what hobby are you finally starting, and what was your first concert? Subscribe, share with a friend, and leave a review to help more curious listeners find the show.

Support the show

What if disappointment isn’t the end of the story but the beginning of a better one? We dive into the messy, everyday realities of marriage and dating, where unspoken expectations clash with real people and real seasons, and offer a path from silent frustration to practical hope. Instead of chasing an idealized script, we show how to translate “the gap” between fantasy and reality into clear language, compassionate listening, and small experiments that actually stick.

We start by tracing how expectations form long before vows: family models, cultural roles, and past relationships quietly draft the rules for who cooks, who earns, who plans, and who apologizes first. Those hidden contracts fuel resentment when they stay unspoken. Together we map a better route: write down the assumptions, compare them to what’s happening now, and co-create new agreements that fit this season. Along the way, we challenge two popular myths: that you can mold a partner into your ideal, and that the person you married will never change. People do change, often in response to the climate we create. Criticism shrinks; encouragement expands.

We offer concrete tools to resolve conflict before bitterness hardens: time-limited talks, impact language, and exact requests instead of vague complaints. If patterns feel stuck, we discuss when to bring in a therapist, pastor, or coach to mediate and translate. We also name how relational stress spills into work, health, and friendships, and share ways to interrupt that bleed. For listeners of faith, we reflect on disappointment as spiritual formation, an invitation to release idols of control and find steadier ground in God’s love.

By the end, you’ll have a simple audit for naming disappointment, a framework for rebuilding trust, and a rhythm for quarterly check-ins to keep roles, budgets, intimacy, and rest aligned. Subscribe, share with a friend who needs encouragement, and leave a quick review, then tell us: what expectation are you ready to rewrite?

Support the show