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Passion Struck with John R. Miles

Passion Struck with John R. Miles

Written by: Passion Struck with John R. Miles
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You built the life you were supposed to want. So why doesn't it feel like enough? Passion Struck is the #1 Health and Fitness podcast — and it exists to answer exactly that question. I'm John R. Miles — Navy veteran, former Fortune 50 executive, bestselling author — and I built this show because I lived the "successful but empty" version of life myself, and I wanted to find a better way. Each week, I sit down with the world's top voices in neuroscience, psychology, medicine, and elite performance — including Angela Duckworth, Susan Cain, Robert Waldinger, Daniel Amen, and Ryan Holiday — to unpack what the research tells us about purpose, connection, and resilience, and how to apply it to your own life. Fridays, I share what I'm learning directly, in solo episodes built around the same ideas. New interviews every Tuesday and Thursday. Solo episodes every Friday.Copyright 2020-2026 John R. Miles Alternative & Complementary Medicine Hygiene & Healthy Living Psychology Psychology & Mental Health Self-Help Success
Episodes
  • Why Success Can Leave You Feeling Like You Don't Matter | John R. Miles & Linda Hurtado – EP 834

    Why Success Can Leave You Feeling Like You Don't Matter | John R. Miles & Linda Hurtado – EP 834
    Oct 16 2026
    What happens when you achieve the life you thought you wanted, only to realize you no longer feel connected to it?For John R. Miles, that question became impossible to ignore. After years of executive success, demanding workweeks, and responsibilities that kept growing, a simple question from his young son stopped him in his tracks: “Dad, why don't you ever laugh anymore?”In this special live conversation from the launch of The Mattering Effect at the St. Petersburg Museum of History, John sits down with Emmy Award-winning Fox 13 anchor Linda Hurtado to explore the experiences that led him to investigate a question millions of people quietly carry: Do I matter?John explains why success and mattering are not the same, how the environments around us can reward what we produce while overlooking who we are, and how this gradual loss of connection can lead to what he calls the Great Erasure.In this conversation, you'll discover:Why achievement doesn't always lead to meaning or fulfillment.How the Great Erasure happens when systems extract our value without reflecting our worth.Why loneliness, burnout, and disengagement may share a deeper underlying cause.How the M.A.T.T.E.R. framework identifies six conditions that help people feel significant: Meaning, Autonomy, Trust, Time, Energy, and Reciprocity.What John learned from transforming a struggling employee engagement team at Lowe's.Why the Slow Fade can leave you feeling increasingly disconnected before you recognize what's happening.How to begin rebuilding mattering through personal choices, stronger relationships, and environments that support your well-being.What leaders and parents can do to help people feel seen, including the power of undivided attention and asking what support someone needs.How Linda's decision to leave a workplace where she no longer felt valued illustrates the importance of recognizing your own worth.The conversation also explores John's personal turning points, the experiences that prompted him to reconsider his priorities, and why rebuilding a sense of mattering starts with how we treat ourselves and the people closest to us.The central takeaway: You can climb the mountain you always wanted to climb and still discover it was the wrong mountain. Sometimes the next step isn't working harder. It's asking what kind of life you're actually building, and whether it allows you and the people around you to feel that you matter.This is a special episode about the ideas, experiences, and human stories behind The Mattering Effect: Creating a Life of Meaning and Worth. 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 JohnWebsite: https://johnrmiles.comBook 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.DisclaimerThe 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.
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    1 hr and 7 mins
  • Stop Being So Hard on Yourself. It’s Not Helping You | Dr. Kristin Neff - EP 833

    Stop Being So Hard on Yourself. It’s Not Helping You | Dr. Kristin Neff - EP 833
    Oct 15 2026

    What if the voice you use to motivate yourself is the very voice keeping you stuck?

    You push harder after a mistake. You judge yourself for falling short. You tell yourself that if you were more disciplined, more successful, or simply better, you would finally feel worthy. But what if being hard on yourself isn't making you stronger? What if it’s making it harder to recover, grow, and move forward?

    According to today’s guest, self-compassion isn’t self-pity or letting yourself off the hook. It’s learning how to respond to difficulty without turning against yourself.

    Dr. Kristin Neff is a pioneering researcher in self-compassion and the creator of the Self-Compassion Institute. In this conversation, she explains why so many of us tie our worth to achievement, how our inner critic can intensify shame and disconnection, and how self-compassion can help us respond to life's challenges with greater clarity and care.

    In this conversation, you’ll learn:

    • Why being hard on yourself doesn't necessarily make you more motivated or successful.
    • The difference between self-esteem, which evaluates your worth, and self-compassion, which responds to your humanity.
    • How achievement, appearance, status, and external approval become measures of worth.
    • Why shame, loneliness, burnout, and emotional numbness can be connected to a deeper sense of disconnection.
    • How self-compassion creates space between what you feel and how you choose to respond.
    • Why compassion can help you recognize your needs, set boundaries, and act with greater intention.
    • How parents can model self-compassion for children without turning it into another expectation.
    • A simple practice for responding to difficult moments with warmth instead of self-judgment.

    Kristin shares a powerful phrase to return to when you’re struggling: “I will not abandon you. I am here for you. I care.”

    You don’t have to earn the right to treat yourself with compassion. You can begin in the very moment you feel you’ve fallen short.

    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.
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    1 hr and 3 mins
  • Why You Keep Repeating the Same Patterns | Terri Cole – EP 832

    Why You Keep Repeating the Same Patterns | Terri Cole – EP 832
    Oct 13 2026
    What if the behaviors that made you successful are the same ones keeping you from feeling fulfilled?You learned to be dependable. You became the overachiever, the caretaker, the person who never asks for help. People praised your strength, relied on your generosity, and rewarded your ability to get things done. But what if those behaviors began as ways to feel safe, earn love, or prove you were worthy?On this episode of Passion Struck, psychotherapist, relationship expert, and bestselling author Terri Cole joins John R. Miles to explore how childhood wounds can shape our adult identities, relationships, and sense of worth. Drawing on her new book, Father Wound, Terri explains why achievement can become a way of proving our value, why emotionally unavailable partners can feel more familiar than healthy love, and why saying no can feel frightening even when we know we have every right to do it.Together, John and Terri examine how the roles we learned in childhood can become the very patterns that disconnect us from ourselves. They explore how to recognize the difference between being driven by fear and acting from genuine desire, and why healing does not mean losing your ambition or your strengths. It means reclaiming the freedom to choose how you want to live.In this conversation, you'll discover:Why childhood survival strategies can follow you into adulthood, even when your circumstances have changed.How achievement can become a lifelong attempt to prove you're worthy of love and attention.Why healthy relationships may initially feel unfamiliar when you've learned to associate love with unpredictability.How family roles such as the hero, caretaker, good girl, and lone wolf can shape your identity.Why successful people can look like they have everything together while struggling internally.How to recognize when you're running toward something you genuinely want versus running away from the fear that you're not enough.Why saying no can feel emotionally dangerous, and how boundaries help you stop abandoning yourself.What it means to mourn the parent you wished you had so you can stop repeating old patterns in new relationships.How healing helps you preserve your strengths while choosing a life driven by your values rather than your wounds.You can honor the person you had to become to survive without remaining that person forever. The goal isn't to erase your past or diminish your ambition. It's to understand what shaped you, reconnect with who you are, and build a life in which you no longer have to prove your worth.About Terri Cole: Terri Cole is a psychotherapist, relationship expert, and bestselling author of Boundary Boss, Too Much, and Father Wound: How Childhood Wounds Shape Worth, Relationships, and the Life We Build.Click here for the full shownotes.Explore her work at terricole.com and fatherwoundbook.com. 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 JohnWebsite: https://johnrmiles.comBook 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.DisclaimerThe 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.
    Show More Show Less
    55 mins
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