The Kevin Miller Podcast

Of course as the New Year is upon us we have many people making resolutions and thinking of goals, but this was a simple question to discern what is most on our hearts to make better in our life. As Tom Ziglar has shared, far more people relate to solving a problem rather than having a goal, which points to a reality of behavioral psychology, that we react and respond more readily to pain than des...

Jess Ekstrom is the renowned founder of Headbands of Hope and was my guest in episode 845 where we talked about the strategy of optimism. This is my habits show she began by citing coffee as her first priority habit of the day which will endear her to many of you as it did me! But then she hit on something very close to home for me, in saying she’s come to realize the value of seeking calm and cla...

I know a lot of you would love to have great counsel and personal guidance, for your businesses and business ideas, but time and money and who to trust is an issue. Again, I asked, “If you were given $10,000 to spend on business coaching, what are the top one to three issues you would want wise counsel on?” Tom Ziglar joined me to talk through your comments and it was really insightful to hear the...

“Optimism isn’t a mood, it’s a strategy,” quipped Jess Ekstrom in our talk. This is a very candid walk through an amazing amount of mistakes and corrections that led Jess to found the wildly successful company, Headbands of Hope. A favorite part of the discussion for me was Jess sharing how some of her earlier business endeavors were easier to embark on because she didn’t have the “wisdom” to thin...

I listened to a clip from Zig Ziglar about how he works at his goals and it got me to thinking about where we do and don’t generally work at personal growth. We may set goals but do we really work on them daily, like a task? If I want to get faster on my mountain bike, I work out. I go on rides, short, long, slow, hard. I am consistent. I track my progress. Am I this diligent with my goals? With w...

95% of the time I ask an influencer what their most valued daily routine is, they answer with the morning. In this show my guest from episode 841, Jonathan Milligan, does the same. However he goes further than devotions and exercise to further safeguard his morning time for creative work, leaving the afternoon and lesser energy for creativity for admin work. Jonathan is the author of “Your Message...

Do you know? I asked The Ziglar Audience and received over 400 comments. Real comments. And they fell into seven categories. To discuss it, Tom Ziglar and I brought in Ziglar’s Spiritual Director, Janie Seltzer. Janie is a very frequent personality on the Ziglar Facebook page which has over 5.5 million followers. Her Facebook lives are extremely popular as she brings true hope and inspiration to e...

Special insert - No intro, outro, or ads. Just a brief, solo message from Kevin Miller about a very important missing piece of personal development he’s learned after hosting The Ziglar Show for the past six years and hearing from over 150 of today’s greatest influencers and leaders. Why are they so successful and fulfilled? Why are you not? It’s the platform for a new podcast, Motive. Kevin’s new...

“Who are you to think you have something worthy to offer anyone?” This is perhaps the unspoken yet primary enemy of personal development. We want to be of value to people. We want to help them. We want to take some lessons we’ve learned and lift others up. But the biggest hurdle is our own self doubt. We as humans are far more prone to see our faults than our gifts. Which is why I have a tremendou...

I asked the Ziglar audience, “What are you grateful for, right now. First thought. And why?” We got 50 comments in less than three hours and they quickly fell into some specific categories, with two far outstanding. Tom Ziglar and I start off with the miscellaneous one offs that were really interesting and insightful, as we led up to the two main categories which you’ll hear about 20 minutes into...

I’m back with John Bevere to talk about the healthy habits and routines he relies on to support his life. His work. His calling. His new book is titled X: Multiply Your God-Given Potential and this was much the focus of our talk, how John personally strives to multiply his own God-given potential through the day to day goings on of life. If you didn’t catch my talk with John in episode 837, just y...

You have a product or service that can help someone. You are talking with them about it right now, you know it would benefit them and you know what you have is the best there is. But, they decline. They say no. Zig Ziglar gives us a three and a half minute message at the top of this show with an important reality. They will not change their mind. Hear that. You are not supposed to convince them th...

Most everyone had a parent or someone who told them they were special as a child. Someone who told them they were capable of so much. If not, you have undoubtedly read or heard someone claim you have greatness in you. However my experience is, very few of us actually believe it. At least not to a great level. Sure, we may have a knack for some things, but it’s not really that big of a deal. My gue...

What you want is often not what you truly want. It is based on a cultural or even personal expectation but in truth is not a core desire you have for yourself. Many of our goals we take on just because. Just because they are the norm. You are expected to buy a home, have a nice car, live a certain style. Work a certain type of job or start a business. In today’s social media culture we get indoctr...

If that sounds elementary as it does when I look at it, I encourage you to really think about it. Do you lead as a spouse, parent, employee, employer or in any capacity? Is this the primary spirit you lead from? Or do you lead from experience, authority, your inherent position and role, seniority, or even simply niceness? You can lead from all these aspects and be leading from or truly providing v...

Did you vote for a presidential candidate? Did you vote in spite of the candidates with focus on policies and platforms? In this show we reveal that you are voting every day in ways far more powerful than your official ballot. The contents for this show came from two strategic questions I asked the Ziglar audience. First I asked, “If your weekly purchases were audited to discern what you truly val...

Corporate America’s number one product is you. Your attention is today’s most viable commodity. They can’t get it if you don’t offer it, but the temptation is possibly the most enticing and addictive draw of any drug ever invented. The antidote? Purpose. The consequence of going with the flow? Purpose. Author and speaker Kary Oberbrunner brings us a message from his book and platform, Unhackable,...

You attempt to sell yourself everyday. To your spouse, your kids, your coworkers or employees, your boss or investors, and for some of you, to an actual customer. What is your process? When do you actually ask for the sale, or do you? I play a four minute clip from Zig Ziglar that is pure sales training. And of course I asked the Ziglar audience a question, “How or when do you ask people to buy yo...

We are all paid for what we produce, to varying degrees. But with a full time writer it is very tangible and acute. Renowned fiction author Charles Martin was my guest in episode 829 and his livelihood is 100% connected to his thoughts, ideas, and creativity and what he can get from his brain, out his fingers and typed onto a screen. In this Habits episode we walk through how he manages himself, h...

Should you keep your goals and aspirations secret? Should you share them with anyone? Everyone? In this episode I play a two minute clip from Zig Ziglar where he gives us two types of goals and who we will be best served to share them with, and why. Then I posted this question to the Ziglar audience, “Do you share your goals and aspirations with anyone? Why and why not? And if you do, who?” Loads...

A masterful weaver of provocative stories that will move you. You will experience excitement, anticipation, inspiration and you’ll likely cry. And get angry. He’s had readers send hate mail when his stories took a drastic turn and they didn’t stick to read the redemption. Charles Martin has written 14 fiction books, two non-fiction books and has one turned into a major motion picture, “The Mountai...

In the world of personal development, self-help, inspiration, and motivation, the point is to have BHAGs, right? “Big, Hairy, Audacious Goals!” Then why would Zig Ziglar, the king of BHAGs himself talk about negativity in goals and cite that often people are unrealistic? How can that be? It’s a very important question as we balance belief in and not limiting oneself, with some valid questions we n...

Some people struggle with having ambition in the world and being devoted to God, yet Deborah Smith Pegues holds these both with peace and joy. In episode 825 we heard Deborah’s profound story of having every right to be a victim and be minimized, but instead she went from a difficult upbringing and being a southern maid to being VP of a Fortune 500 Company. This is my Habits show and we get to hea...

First doesn’t mean most, but it is a relevant sequence. Here is a simple and easy analogy that you will get, but it will be an effort to truly...get. Before a busy week of caring for your family and running them around everywhere, you fill up your car with gas. I bet you don’t drive until you run out and end up stranded with your family, right? And you don’t get out and push and have one of the ki...

“Everything works together for my good; I’m never a victim.” Deborah Smith Pegues had every reason to be a victim but ultimately didn’t see the value in it. She was poor, underprivileged, black, she’d been molested, yet figured out how to get an education and went from southern maid to Fortune 500 V.P. and then on to become an international speaker and award winning author of 17 books including he...