Passion Struck with John R. Miles

In this episode of Passion Struck, John R. Miles sits down with clinical psychologist, TED speaker, and bestselling author Dr. Guy Winch to explore the hidden psychological effects of burnout, chronic work stress, emotional exhaustion, and the modern culture of overwork. Drawing from his new book Mind Over Grind: How to Break Free When Work Hijacks Your Life, Dr. Winch explains why so many high pe...

What if healing isn’t about asking, “What’s wrong with me?”—but understanding what’s happening inside of me? In this episode of Passion Struck, John R. Miles sits down with psychiatrist and trauma expert Dr. Paul Conti to explore how adversity reshapes our emotional lives, identity, and sense of self—and what it truly means to heal what hardship leaves behind.  Drawing from his new book What’s Goi...

What if the struggle currently breaking you is actually the diagnostic tool required to reveal who you truly are? In this kickoff to the Forged in Adversity series, John R. Miles challenges the conventional wisdom that struggle "builds" character. Instead, he presents a compelling case—backed by neurobiology and psychology—that adversity serves as a diagnostic tool, revealing and refinin...

What if protecting your brain is not about fighting time, but about learning how to partner with it? In this episode of Passion Struck, John R. Miles sits down with Dr. Majid Fotuhi, world-renowned neurologist and adjunct professor at Johns Hopkins University, to explore the revolutionary science of neuroplasticity. Dr. Fotuhi, author of The Invincible Brain, challenges the conventional narrative...

What if beating cancer isn’t just about survival, but about transforming your life in the face of it? In this episode of Passion Struck, I sit down with Kathy Giusti, two-time cancer survivor, healthcare innovator, and founder of the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation, to explore what it truly means to turn crisis into calling. After being diagnosed with multiple myeloma at just 37 and given onl...

What if the life you’ve spent years building is actually a masterpiece you’re just a guest in? In this installment of the Purpose by Design series, John R. Miles explores why so many people optimize their lives for everyone else’s convenience while leaving no room for their own aliveness. Drawing from the cinematic realization of The Truman Show and the real-world social exile of Truman Capote, Jo...

What if optimism isn’t about staying positive but about facing uncertainty with courage? In this episode of Passion Struck, I sit down with clinical psychologist and optimism expert Deepika Chopra to explore what she calls real optimism—a science-backed approach to resilience that has far less to do with positive thinking and far more to do with how we relate to possibility. Drawing from her new b...

What if the happiness, belonging, and meaning you are looking for is hiding in the conversations you never start? In this episode of Passion Struck, John R. Miles sits down with social psychologist Nicholas Epley to explore why we consistently underestimate how much social interaction improves our lives. Drawing from his work and new book, A Little More Social , Nick reveals a profound paradox: wh...

Does the silence of a new life feel like a threat to your safety? You’ve finally walked through the threshold, but the "silence" starts to itch. Suddenly, you feel a physical, vibrating urge to go back to being the "Fixer"—the version of you that is useful, busy, and predictable. That urge has a name: Identity Gravity. In this episode of Passion Struck, John R. Miles explores t...

What if the problem isn’t time management, but how you manage your energy? In this episode of Passion Struck, I sit down with psychologist Diana Hill to explore why energy management often matters more than time management—and how psychological flexibility can help you focus your effort on what truly matters. Drawing from her new book, Wise Effort: How to Focus Your Genius Energy on What Matters M...

What if the choices you make every day aren’t entirely your own? In this episode of Passion Struck, I sit down with Nobel Prize-winning economist Alvin Roth to explore how incentives, systems, and hidden structures shape human behavior—often in ways we don’t even realize. Drawing from his new book, Moral Economics: Why Good Incentives Are No Substitute for Good Citizens , Roth reveals a powerful t...

Does it ever feel like you’re waiting for your own life to start? You’re sitting in your car at the end of the day, staring at the front door, realizing you have to "gear up" just to walk inside. You’ve become a world-class manager of a life you’ve stopped inhabiting. You’re winning the efficiency game, but you’re losing the human one. In this episode of Passion Struck, John R. Miles exp...

What if the reason you feel unfulfilled is that you’ve been approaching it all wrong? In this episode of Passion Struck, I sit down with Bill Burnett and Dave Evans, the visionary minds behind Stanford's Life Design Lab and co-authors of How to Live a Meaningful Life. We tackle one of personal growth’s biggest myths: that meaning is something you find. Instead, Bill and Dave present a groundbreaki...

Shadow work helps you uncover the hidden parts of yourself, but what happens after that? In this episode of Passion Struck, I sit down with Keila Shaheen, the million-copy bestselling author of The Shadow Work Journal, to explore the step most people miss: integration. While shadow work helps us confront the “invisible bag” of childhood wounds and hidden traits we carry, it is only part of the equ...

Does your life look successful on the outside but feel empty on the inside? In this episode of Passion Struck, John R. Miles introduces a simple way to measure what truly matters: the ROI of Aliveness. Most of us spend our lives trying to be as productive as possible. We focus on checking off to-do lists and meeting everyone else's expectations, but we often forget to check in on ourselves. John e...

What if the question underneath everything in your life is this: Do I matter? In this episode of Passion Struck, I sit down with Angela Maiers to explore one of the most fundamental human needs—the need to feel seen, valued, and needed. For decades, Angela has studied what makes people feel seen, valued, and needed—and what happens when they don’t. What she’s found is simple, but powerful: when pe...

What if one of the biggest barriers to connection, performance, and trust isn’t prejudice—but something more subtle, more pervasive, and harder to detect? In this powerful episode of the Passion Struck podcast, I sit down with renowned social psychologist Claude Steele to explore his groundbreaking new book, Churn. Claude introduces the concept of churn—the internal psychological state we experien...

You’re doing everything right—so why does it still feel wrong? In this powerful solo episode of Passion Struck, John R. Miles launches the new April series Purpose by Design by exposing a hidden force shaping modern life: the Invisible Scoreboard. It’s the system of metrics you didn’t consciously choose—but that quietly defines how you measure success, spend your time, and evaluate your worth. Fro...

What if your exhaustion isn’t a personal failure, but the result of invisible systems shaping your life? In this episode of the Passion Struck podcast, I sit down with Wharton economist Corinne Low, author of Having It All, to unpack one of the most misunderstood challenges of modern life: why so many of us feel depleted even when we’re doing everything “right.”Corinne introduces a powerful idea c...

What if the real crisis of our time isn’t stress, burnout, or even anxiety—but a loss of meaning? In this powerful episode of the Passion Struck podcast, I sit down with Arthur Brooks—for the third time—to explore his most urgent work yet: The Meaning of Your Life: Finding Purpose in an Age of Emptiness. Arthur reveals a striking trend: since 2008, rates of depression and anxiety—especially among...

Your phone isn't just an app—it’s an architect of your self-worth. We’ve all been there: you sit down for "just five minutes" to check a notification, only to look up an hour later feeling anxious, drained, and empty. For years, we’ve blamed our own lack of willpower. But on March 25, 2026, a landmark legal verdict officially changed the story: It’s not you. It’s the machine. In this urg...

Your beliefs don’t just reflect reality—they shape it. Today, we explore a powerful and often uncomfortable truth: the script you live by is often written by assumptions you never chose. Joining me is behavioral expert and bestselling author of Hooked and Indistractable, Nir Eyal, to discuss his groundbreaking new book, Beyond Belief. In this conversation, we challenge the idea that our limits are...

If humans evolved for love, connection, and pair bonding, why does modern life feel so lonely? Today, we explore one of the most overlooked forces shaping human flourishing: intimacy. Joining me is evolutionary biologist and Executive Director of the Kinsey Institute, Dr. Justin Garcia, to discuss his groundbreaking book, The Intimate Animal: The Science of Sex, Fidelity, and Why We Live and Die f...

The biggest risk isn’t change, it’s staying exactly where you are. Most people treat life transitions as a gamble, clinging to the "Safe Bet" of a familiar routine even when that routine has begun to feel confining. We think we’re being responsible by sticking to the script, but in this episode, John R. Miles reveals the hidden "Soul Tax" that accrues when you perform a version...

What do you do when your life looks successful on the outside… but everything underneath it collapses overnight? Today’s conversation explores identity, resilience, and intentional reinvention with Bianca D’Alessio, a powerhouse real estate broker, entrepreneur, TV personality, and author of Mastering Intentions. In her late twenties, just as her career was gaining momentum, Bianca’s father was co...