Permission to be Powerful Podcast

I’m going to explain the con to you… While running the con on you… See if you can keep up. THIS FIRST BIG JUICY IDEA TICKLES YOUR LIZARD BRAIN. Then I Double Down Here And Make Even More Outlandish Claims with More Specifics. This One-Two punch combination is designed to grab your attention and never let go. In this game, you learn that specifics are king. This makes your stories more believable a...

I’m going to be straight with you. I have one rule. Friendships must be based on mutuality. Give and take. The day I wake up and find myself in a one-sided dynamic— I drop you like a sack of potatoes. Sorry, not sorry. I don’t care who’s mad. Extreme? Call me biased if you must. But I stand by this principle. I’ve seen what happens too many times when connections become one-sided. There’s a corrup...

Dear Permission to be Powerful Reader, I can’t overstate how much my judgment has improved over the past ten years. WOW. Even more incredible? I’m not done yet. If I knew then what I know now… I would have saved myself a whole lot of trouble. But, alas — such is the way of things. I suffered so I could learn. And I wouldn’t have grown if I didn’t suffer. Suffering creates the desire to heal. It’s...

A survey was taken a few years ago that asked 300 freelance copywriters one question: "What’s the worst thing that can happen in this business?" Some said writing a promo that flops. * "Zero conversions. Client pulls the plug." Others said pouring your soul into a campaign, only to have the client rewrite it themselves. * "We love it—just gonna tweak a few things." Some said it was writing a promo...

Not everyone deserves you. This includes blood relatives. People you’ve known your whole life. Even some of our children. In fact… most people don’t. This is a great starting point when thinking about yourself. If my writing resonates with you, I’d bet good money that you’re still holding on to people who deserve to go . This sounds simple. But if you’ve spent your whole life believing you’re unwo...

Every few generations… A tool comes along that redefines human capability. The printing press. The internet. The smartphone. And now, AI. But here’s the brutal truth: most people are using ChatGPT like a toy. They’re asking it trivia, using it for quick email drafts, or having fun with chatbot conversations. That’s like using a supercomputer to play solitaire. Meanwhile, a small group of power use...

No need to answer that question. Really. Frankly, I don’t want to know. But it’s a question worth asking all the same. Because the answer says everything about you. But what? Ah, yes. The million dollar question. Well… Think about it. Pay attention. Listen closely… Do you feel policed by societal norms… Even when you’re by yourself?! You know what that means? It means you’re overly domesticated ....

Have you ever had the feeling that you were on the brink? Of what? That’s just it. You don’t know… But… You can feel it. It stinks. Like death. Hot air breathing down your neck. It’s at the tip of your tongue. You can almost put your finger on it. It’s more familiar than familiarity. But the words won’t impregnate your mind. Nor will any images. It’s like someone’s name that you just learned… That...

It sat there, right at the entrance of Barnes & Noble— Codependent No More. It felt like a divine conspiracy, like the universe had left me a message I couldn’t ignore. I picked it up, skimmed the first few pages, and something inside me shifted. The words reached into my chest and pulled at a problem I couldn’t name until that moment. For years, I had lived my life in someone else’s shadow. We we...

There are things in this world we take for granted… Things we think we understand… I used to think I understood my place in the world. But then, the deeper I looked, the more reality unraveled… Take eels—no one has ever seen them mate. Not in the wild. Not in captivity. Not once in human history. How do they even reproduce? Freud studied eels trying to find their reproductive organs (he failed). W...

I’ve had an invisible disease my whole life. And I never knew. It’s not cancer. It’s not the flu. It’s not something anyone can see. But it shaped everything —how I read, how I learned, how I saw myself. And for years, I thought it was just me. Imagine This: You have the flu. A bad one. You feel weak, exhausted, unable to keep up. But no one tells you. In fact, every time you say, “I think somethi...

Being "The Chauffeur" wasn't just about driving people around—it was about how I lived my life. For years, I lived in a constant state of self-abandonment, seeking approval and validation from everyone else. I let others dictate my journey while telling myself I was in control because I was the one holding the wheel. But the truth? I was merely a passenger in my own life, steering toward destinati...

There’s an epic scene in The Wolf of Wall Street where Jordan Belfort’s empire crumbles. The FBI storms in, and the game is over. No negotiation. No escape. I kid you not… I once worked for a company where the same thing happened. A surprise raid. People were shredding evidence. Others have panic attacks. What followed was a massive lawsuit. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) sued the investment a...

Growing up, I was bombarded with the message that I was supposed to do what I was told… Bow to authority. From watching my mother stay in a relationship long past its expiration date. From watching her complain endlessly about him without seemingly doing anything about it. From living in a home with a tyrannical father. That oppressive energy left its mark. I never received the required love and v...

I’m really weird. Some would say crazy. I’m one of those people I keep talking about. I’m crazy, but I pass for normal. Or at least… I used to be. One would have to be crazy to be in the one-sided relationships I was in for as long as me. Let me clue you in on something: Sometimes, there are people who are emotionally dependent on others. They NEED other people to solve their problems. They EXPECT...

Luigi Mangione pressed his back against the damp alley wall… His breath short, controlled bursts. The air smelled of burning plastic… The scent of a city suffocating under its own corruption. Above him, a drone hovered, its infrared scanner sweeping the streets. The Board’s Enforcers had every corner of this city locked down. Facial recognition systems, neural ID trackers, AI-driven predictive pol...

It was almost noon when they came. A cold wind swept through Geneva, New York. The sky was heavy with the threat of snow, and the air was thick with winter’s silence. But silence wouldn’t last… Three men stood at the edge of the property. They wore dark tactical vests, black utility pants , and thick jackets lined with armor. Their badges gleamed in the early light, clipped high on their chests—to...

I was a workaholic through and through. Eventually, it all caught up to me. I kept telling my Copy Chief at Tony Robbins company that burnout would be the only way I would fail at this job. I constantly monitored my energy levels and quickly cut loose anything or person that drained my energy. I once went to the doctor while I was getting divorced and told him how fucked up my world was and how mu...

I’ve noticed something I’ve never heard anyone talk about: When you break up with someone… How they react to rejection reflects who they are fundamentally. What do I mean? When you start dating someone, they have the maximum incentive to lie to you. The whole agenda is to keep your flaws under wraps for as long as possible. Hopefully, the other person will feel too invested in you by the time they...

I just discovered another obvious truth that I hadn’t noticed. My various family members are always casually placing the weight of the world on my shoulders. I only recently registered that they’re constantly giving me new problems to solve, yet they’re never helpful when it’s time to meet my needs. It’s not all their fault. I have my part to play, too. Pathological giving is a coping strategy. It...

When you’re someone who craves external validation, it says something important about you. And if you’re honest with yourself, it says something about how you see yourself. It points to the fact that you don’t fully believe in your worth. But here’s the thing: A mature adult should feel valid in and of themselves. They should know, without question, that they count and matter. They should know the...

I walked into the Rochester Zen Center a year ago, not knowing I was about to sign up for the Meditation Olympics. Spoiler alert: It changed my life. Here’s what no one tells you about meditation—most people suck at it because they don’t know how to sit. Literally. I was one of them. Turns out, sitting still is an art form. And if you don’t know how to do it properly, you’re screwed before you eve...

For more videos, join the calendar here . Also, bookmark this page . Dear Permission to be Powerful Reader, Being The Chauffeur was my default setting. I felt inadequate, drowning in overwhelming shame, convinced something was fundamentally wrong with me. I saw myself as the sidekick in everyone else’s story, drawn to subservient roles, a slave to my insatiable need for approval. I pretended not t...

There is an enormous difference between how I date in my 30s vs my 20s. I think the key distinguisher is I was a pure “chauffeur” back then, and now, I navigate the dating world through Mike Tyson’s eyes. I talk about being the chauffeur in many places so I won’t go into detail here. Just to say that being the chauffeur was my trauma response to growing up in a toxic environment. I believed that I...

Abandoning yourself isn’t loud. It doesn’t come with warning signs or sirens. It doesn’t scream for attention. Instead, it whispers. 👉 It begins quietly— one compromise here… 👉 Another overlooked boundary there… The whispers become a constant. So familiar, you don’t even notice… Self-abandonment is insidious. 👉 It’s turning the other cheek. 👉 It’s agreeing to things you don’t want to do. 👉 It...