DREAM THINK DO I Motivation, Encouragement & Strategy

My guests today are Chris and Emily Norton. They have been at the center of multiple inspiring viral videos.  As a result, they have been featured on Good Morning America, The Today Show as well as USA Today and People Magazine! After a terrible accident that left Chris paralyzed from the neck down, he was told he would never walk again. After a lot of hard work, determination and some serious prayer... they proved the experts wrong when Chris walked across the stage (with Emily at his side) at his graduation. Their amazing adventure continued after graduation.  Chris and Emily got married, adopted 5 daughters, provided a home for foster children, published a book, started public speaking and so much more. We invite you to hear their incredible story of overcoming fear, depression, and anxiety when facing a dark season. We believe there are so many nuggets of wisdom in the episode you can apply to your life.  RESOURCES: chrisnorton.org Chris and Emily's Book Chris’s Instagram  https://www.instagram.com/chrisanorton16/?hl=en  Emily’s Instagram  https://www.instagram.com/emilysummersnorton/?hl=en  Emily's Facebook  https://m.facebook.com/profile.php?id=510521074 Chris's Facebook  https://www.facebook.com/chrisanorton16/ Quick Episode Summary: 2:43 Welcome Chris and Emily! 5:03 Chris's football career 5:21 When Chris got injured 7:25 When Chris realized he was paralyzed 8:55 When Chris and Emily met 10:25 What Emily is passionate about 12:23 How Chris reached his goal 16:04 The power of a public declaration 18:31 Chris and Emily's first nation interview 19:49 Emily's struggle with depression 26:49 The Norton's 5 daughters 30:22 How Norton's point their kids to God 33:32 The Norton's advice for overcoming hard seasons 35:04 How to connect with the Norton's 35:44 Mitch's biggest takeaways Connect with Mitch! Go to mitchmatthews.com or check us out on Facebook!

My guest is entrepreneur Jaime Cross. Two years after leaving her career in banking to be home with her newborn son, Jaime had this longing, I'd even call it a calling, to build a business that would be driven by purpose and that would have worldwide impact. Now, I'm betting that felt like a pretty audacious goal since she was at home, elbows deep in all the glorious messiness of raising kiddos and full-time parenting, but she was bold and she prayed. More specifically, Jaime asked God for a billion-dollar idea. Yeah, that's with a B, a billion-dollar idea, which is pretty big. I mean, right? Listen To The Podcast: RESOURCES: INSTAGRAM: @thehereffect @migsoap TWITTER: @migsoap WEBSITE: MIG Soap: https://migsoap.com/ TRANSCRIPT: Mitch Matthews: Well, a few days later, Jaime got hit with a business plan in her sleep. Literally, the idea hit her in a dream. I love this because I've done over 200 episodes of DREAM. THINK. DO., and I think this is our first person who got hit with a dream in a dream. I love that. Then Jaime embarked on her entrepreneurial journey the very next day and instantly became a millionaire. No, I'm just kidding. It wasn't that easy. It wasn't that simple. But she went after the dream right away. She went to work. Mitch Matthews: After eight long years of trial and error, a lot of mistakes and tears, her company now is one of the fastest-growing organic skincare companies in the world. They're selling millions of dollars of product. It's called MIG. Its tagline is seed to skin, skin to soul. That's what Jaime is all about. It's an amazing story. I heard it and I thought, oh my gosh, I got to have her on. So I'm so excited to do this. Jaime Cross, Welcome to DREAM. THINK. DO. Jaime Cross: Thank you. It's so great to be here. Mitch Matthews: Absolutely. Absolutely. I love, love, love your story. We got to meet at the conference. Pedro Adao, who was also a recent guest on DREAM. THINK. DO, introduced us and we got to meet at his conference in Texas a few months ago now, but I was like, oh my gosh, your story's awesome. Jaime Cross: Thanks, Mitch. Mitch Matthews: I love it. So you're in Colorado Springs. You and your husband have four boys. When this story started, you just had one. Now you've got four boys. Let's go back. We're going to time jump a little bit, and I want to hear about life now, but I think I want to hear about the genesis of this, and I mentioned it obviously in the intro a little bit. Let's talk about that. You had left a career in banking ... Jaime Cross: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Mitch Matthews: ... to be at home. Jaime Cross: Yes. Mitch Matthews: That's never an easy decision. Jaime Cross: No, I mean, I was making great money banking, doing the whole corporate thing. It took Nathan and I five years to get pregnant. When we finally found out that we were going to be parents, I just could not imagine not being home with them. Came home. It was about two years into full-time motherhood that I was starting to feel that pull and that stir. Actually, by then I had my second baby when I was starting to be like, okay, I know that I'm so satisfied as a mother, but something's stirring in me, and I know there's more. I think a lot of mothers feel guilty about wanting more, but I was just like, God, there's something inside of me and we were struggling to pay our bills. I'd given up this huge salary. Nathan was teaching, and teachers don't make very good money- Mitch Matthews: No.  Jaime Cross: ... and so it really helped- Mitch Matthews: They should. They should make tons of money, but they don't. Absolutely. Jaime Cross: Yeah, we were a one-income family, trying to live debt-free. It was a struggle. At that moment when I cried out to God, it wasn't just because we weren't meeting our bills. It was because there was this thing inside of me just raging to come out like, I know, I'm supposed to build something.

My guest is Annette Sharpe. Annette is a longtime entrepreneur. She is a business strategist, a culture builder, and a sacred gifts guide. We're going to be talking about what a sacred gift is here. But she helps people to identify what their sacred gifts are. Then she helps them apply that knowledge so they can feel more on purpose in their lives. She's been doing it for years. She's obviously having an impact on a whole lot of people including Rock Thomas. I wanted to dive in, find out more what these sacred gifts are, see how we could use them to apply them to dreaming bigger, thinking better and doing more of what we were put on the planet to do. So, let's get to this. Annette, welcome to DREAM THINK DO! Listen To The Podcast: RESOURCES: Your Sacred Gifts Twitter: @annettegfs TRANSCRIPT:  Annette Sharpe: Hey, Mitch, thank you for having me. I'm so excited to be here today. Mitch Matthews: Absolutely. I'm so excited to get to finally hit record and do this conversation with you. But I know people were leaning in during just that introduction going, okay, “sacred gifts.” That sounds interesting. How do you describe the sacred gifts to someone? Annette Sharpe: Well, we have a definition, actually, of what sacred gifts are and what they're not. But sacred gifts are unexplained abilities that we have, from birth till death, that allow us to do ordinary things extraordinarily well. There's a lot in that definition. When we talk about unexplained abilities, they really are that. There's a lot of mystery to them. But what's important, I think, in the definition is that we have them from birth, and we have them till the day we die. They're not things we learn, they're things that are innate in us and they're part of a bigger part of us. These sacred gifts reside there. We have them as our way of giving back and being a contribution to the world. Mitch Matthews: Absolutely. If we had them from birth, and we have them all through life, I would imagine that as people start to get clarity on that, though, it probably still feels pretty revolutionary, or at least reinforcing to be able to say, oh, yeah, that is something that I do well. As you help people figure this thing out, what do you see happen in people? Annette Sharpe: Oh my gosh, yeah. What do we see happen? Well, first of all, thousands of people have been through the program. We have, I think, two things that people say the most. Number one, why didn't I know this information before? And number two, thank God, I didn't have that gift. There are a couple of things that people really come to understand. Number one, they get a better understanding of who they truly are at the core of their being. One of the characteristics of the sacred gifts that we teach is that we are made up of our humaneness and our beingness. Our humaneness is everything that makes us human. That's our thoughts. That's our beliefs, that's our feelings, that's our ego. It's everything that we see. If we were to meet each other face to face, we'd have some ideas about who we are. But our sacred gifts are inside of us. They're part of our beingness. They are something that basically we have, that we can't explain, that allow us to do seemingly ordinary things in revolutionary types of ways. There are some people who go through the program as you said, and they say, "Yeah, I was really good at that. It's very affirming." But for others, they realize that something that they've been very good at actually is a sacred gift, and it gives it more reverence. It's something maybe they took advantage of or took for granted maybe and also helps them to reduce judgment on other people who they may have thought should be able to do things the way that they do. So, there's just a whole bunch of different things that people get when they start to realize who they truly are and why they're here. Mitch Matthews: That's awesome. Give us some examples of some sacred gifts.

My guest is Amy E. Smith. Amy E. Smith is the owner and founder of Joy Junkie Enterprises.  She hangs out at her site, the Joyjunkie.com. She's also the creator of the Joy Junkie Show.  It’s a popular weekly podcast designed to go after issues of worthiness, self-confidence, and let go of that people-pleasing to assist her listeners in creating and living radically joyful lives. How awesome is that? Listen To The Podcast: RESOURCES: Grab Amy's FREE eWorkbook, “Stand up for Yourself without Being a Dick!” http://thejoyjunkie.com/free   Twitter: @thejoyjunkie TRANSCRIPT:  Mitch Matthews: Amy uses her roles as a coach, a writer, a podcaster, and a speaker to move individuals beyond those limiting beliefs and sabotaging mindsets to a place of, listen to this, I love this, radical personal empowerment and self-love. I'd say the world needs a lot more of that. Amy's been instrumental in aiding countless women especially, but I'm guessing she's helped a whole lot of men too, in stepping into their authentic power and craft lives they actually want. Amy E. Smith is making a big impact, and it's just about dang time to have her on the show. So let's do this.  Amy, welcome to DREAM THINK DO. Amy Smith: Well, I sound really fancy when you read it. Mitch Matthews: I always say a good intro is my gift to my guests. You deserve a good intro, plus you're- Amy Smith: Are you available for voiceover work because that's- Mitch Matthews: I do have a face for radio, I'll admit. I love it. All right, so for you guys who can't see her, we'll put some of the videos up online and all that stuff. But she's got these awesome, awesome glasses. She's wearing a cool hat, the whole thing. She is a bold statement in and of herself. You got to go check out the Joyjunkie.com, all of that. Amy, obviously you're living this, you are helping people move past these limiting beliefs, kind of the self-sabotaging mindsets. You're living who you are bold, which I just want to honor. I just think it's so cool. Amy Smith: Thank you. Mitch Matthews: I'm guessing for someone like yourself, I'm guessing you've had to fight for that. Has this always been easy for you to live it as well as help others or is this something you've had to fight for? Amy Smith: Well, I pretty much came out of the womb speaking like Tony Robbins and dressing like Sophia Lauren, so, no, I've always had it.  Mitch Matthews: I'm here. Amy Smith: No, oh, quite the sordid tale of that. No. I think that is... I'm sure you can relate that sometimes the hardest things that we go through are in service of the mission and what we need to actually get out in the world, and we needed to learn those lessons in order to really be a viable voice for people to go, "Oh, I think she might be onto something here."  So, yeah, I grew up in an extremely conservative born again Christian family... very, very dogmatic. It's interesting even now for you and me to discuss faith kind of behind the scenes. It wasn't even until the last decade I'd say where I started to meet people of faith that were identified as Christians that I'm like, "That's not how I was raised." Mitch Matthews: Right. Amy Smith: I'm like, "You're cool. You're allowed to have an alcoholic beverage?"  Mitch Matthews: You're actually it seems like enjoying life and happy. Amy Smith: Yeah, exactly. I had a really tough time even saying the word God for a long time because I was quite scathed by my upbringing.  My father was actually an incredible human, and he had both a master's in divinity and a doctorate in ministry, so he was not messing around. Mitch Matthews: Right. Exactly. He paid for that. Amy Smith: He did. He did. He has since passed on. He passed away in 2007, which really was perhaps the impetus for the direction that I ended up taking in my career. At the time I had been studying personal development and started to get my feet wet.

Breaking Through with Mitch Matthews Welcome to episode 230 of DREAM THINK DO. This episode is a deep dive. Here's our focus, we're going to go after those areas where there is an inner voice that’s saying “I can’t.” Maybe one area for your brain knows you want to do something, but another area is saying “I can’t.” And you know those “I can't” are getting in the way of something BIG you’re wanting to do! Listen To The Podcast: TRANSCRIPT:  Maybe those “can't” are based on experiences. Maybe they’re based on setbacks, and maybe they’re just based on some fears, right? We're going to talk about a way to break through those “I can't.” Most of it is just going to involve a story of my puppy. How about that? We're going to focus in on a particular area because for us in the United States, I know we've got a dream, think, doers all around the world and I love you all, but specifically this week in the United States, it's 4th of July. Time to be with family, celebrate all of those things. It's great. I always, always think the Independence Day is a good day to question yourself and say, "Okay, what's something I want to break free of?" Right? Whether you live in the United States or not, it's a good question to ask and to be able to say, "All right, you know, this time next year, whether it's July 4th or even July 1st that's fine because that is also in the midpoint of the year, right?" “What's something I want to be doing differently by this time next year?” “What's something I want to break free from?” “What's something I want to experience, do, achieve all of those things?” These are great questions to ask. It's an important time to ask, but at the same time, when you start to think about doing something new or taking something to the next level, there's a very good chance there's a part of your brain that might start to scream, “BUT I can't do that.” Maybe those “cant's” are based on experiences. Maybe you've tried something new and it didn't go so well, or maybe you've tried that exact thing and it didn't go so well. Maybe you went down in flames in front of friends and family, whatever it might be, or maybe it's just straight-up fear of trying something new. Just fear that it won't go well. Fear that you might make a fool of yourself, those kinds of things, but there's a part of your brain that's screaming, "I can't." Well, I want to go after that part of your brain today as we're talking together. The way that I'm going to do that is to tell you a story involving our puppy, our dog Lily. That's right. Because I believe in puppies and dogs and the power of such, I will include multiple pictures of Lily on my website. You can go to mitchmatthews.com/230 because if you're a dog person, there's nothing better than puppy pictures, right? Now, Lily is an Australian Shepherd. She's absolutely a gorgeous dog, and I've been a dog person almost all of my life, well, I've been a dog person all of my life, and I've had dogs much of my life. I grew up with a Samoyed, have had multiple huskies, a Labrador Husky mix, which was an oops, but a beautiful, beautiful dog. Let's just say that one of our huskies and one of our neighbor's Labradors had relations. It wasn't planned, but it made beautiful puppies, I can tell you. Now we have Lily, our Australian Shepherd. See what I do? I go off on these tangents. That's why these podcasts get to be longer than maybe they should be. Breaking Through with Mitch Matthews Anyway, all right, so Lily, when we got Lily, Lily is an Australian Shepherd. If you're familiar with this breed, they're wicked smart. I've had multiple dogs. Again, been a fan of dogs for years, but this dog breed is incredible. I mean, within days of having her, she was tiny. We could hold her in her hands, but yeah she was starting to respond to voice commands very early on. I mean, I've taken Labradors and huskies to obedience training and it didn't always go so well,

My guest is best-selling author William Paul Young. Paul is the author of books like, ‘Lies We Believe About God,’ ‘Eve,’ and ‘Crossroads.’ He’s best known for his book, ‘The Shack.’ There's a very good chance that you've heard of it because over 23 million copies of the book are in print. It's been translated into over 50 languages. Listen To The Podcast: RESOURCES: Paul’s Website: http://wmpaulyoung.com TRANSCRIPT:  Mitch Matthews: When Paul wrote the book though, he wasn't a successful author, he wasn't sitting on a big advance. In fact, he was working three jobs and barely making ends meet. Heck, he wasn't even thinking about writing a book, he was simply trying to create a gift for his kids, but out of all of that came this international bestseller. It's an incredible story, it's made a huge impact on me personally and based on the feedback from all of you, geesh, I've heard from so many of you, so many of you that it's made a huge impact on you too. So, we're going to talk about this journey of writing it, some of the things he's learned along the way and what he's up to next, so let's get to this. Paul, welcome to DREAM THINK DO, buddy. Paul Young: Hey, I'm glad to be here. It's about time. Mitch Matthews: It is about time. It's funny because before I hit record, we were talking about that the last time we officially did an interview was for before the DREAM THINK DO podcast even existed, which means it was over 4, 5 years ago which is nuts. Paul Young: Yeah, and you've grown up. Mitch Matthews: I know, right, all grow up. I got a lot more gray in the old goatee I'll tell you, my friend, since the last time, sheesh, so...And things are good? Paul Young: Things are good. We've got 12 grandbabies who are eleven years old and under and nine of them are within 15 minutes, so... Mitch Matthews: That's an aerobic program! You don't need a gym membership, my man. Paul Young: I know. Mitch Matthews: You've got the grandkids plan. Paul Young: No kidding and it's the best. It's the best. I love being a grandfather. Mitch Matthews: That's awesome. That is so awesome. So, what's going to be fun about this interview is I've put this out, a lot of time if I've got somebody that I think DREAM THINK DO listeners are really going to be interested in, I put it out to them to say, "Hey, what questions would you ask?" And we got more questions for you than I've probably have had for any other guest, which is so cool. Some of them are so fun, so profound, all of that, deep. So, we're going to go after those as I pepper in some of mine because it's my show. I get to make the call. Paul Young: There you go. Mitch Matthews: I can have some of my questions too. All right, so, let's go back to... I alluded to the creation of The Shack but I... and I want to get into some of your earlier history, as well, but let's go back to how this started because for DREAM THINK DOers so many people are working on a dream. Or maybe they're at a place where they are like, "I don't know that I even have a dream." And I don't think that you would have said a book was your dream as you're writing The Shack. Paul Young: No. Not at all. Mitch Matthews: So, yeah. So, Jodie and Alicia both ask big questions about, “What was the initial inspiration for writing the book?” “How did the idea begin?” So, let's start there. Paul Young: I was trying to do like the Bible says and submit to my wife. Mitch Matthews: Good word. You married up. You married up. So, if Kim says, you do. Right? Paul Young: Yeah, well. Mitch Matthews: Her question wasn't, "Paul write a book." What was her question? Paul Young: It wasn't. It was, "Someday," this is almost verbatim, and she said it over about four years, I just didn't feel ready until the year I turned 50 but she said, "Someday as a gift for our children, would you please write something that puts in one place how you think because you think outside the box...

My guest is Orville's J Lee.  Orville's J Lee is an actor, writer, director, and musician. He’s been a part of numerous shows like The Family Guy and American Dad. He also helped to write and produce and do voices for The Cleveland Show. Most recently though he has been rocking it as Lieutenant Commander John LaMarr on Fox's hit show The Orville. You probably know it but if you don't, check it out, you'll love it. Plus he just wrapped up production on his own film, one that he wrote, directed, and produced, it's called Wednesdays, we're going to be talking about that as well. Listen To The Podcast: RESOURCES: Instagram: @jleefilm Twitter: @jleefilm The Orville on Fox TRANSCRIPT:  J's got this awesome story you're going to love. He moved to LA with about 200 bucks in his pocket, worked his butt off to make it happen. He's also proud of his St. Louis roots and if you follow him on Instagram, as you should, you will know that his battle cries are #dobetter and #dothework, so it just seemed right to finally get him on DREAM THINK DO. J. Lee, welcome to the show man. J Lee: Hey. Yeah, what's happening? Thanks for having me, I appreciate it. Mitch Matthews: Absolutely. J Lee: Yeah. Mitch Matthews: I can tell you... DREAM THINK DO family, I got to meet J last year when two-time DREAM THINK DO guest Howard Berger and a good friend took my family and me around the set of The Orville and we got to meet J, which was so cool. I was a huge fan already, but man… when we got to meet you... you loved on my family.  I so appreciated that, man. J Lee: Yeah, for sure. Mitch Matthews: Then I got to dig into your story and wow.  You're one inspiring dude. J Lee: Yeah. You know, listen, I try to just ... You know we only get to go around this thing once as far as we know so I try to just be happy and try to keep a positive attitude whenever I can because life is already hard enough, you might as well try to be happy. Mitch Matthews: Yeah, absolutely. J Lee: But it was great meeting you and your family. You guys are so sweet, your family was nice and they were kind to me, so yeah that was nice. Mitch Matthews: I loved it, man. You hung out with us, you guys were in the midst of running around, the production's going on, but you stopped and hung out with us so it was just awesome. Mitch Matthews: Let's dive into your history because I know DREAM THINK DOers are just going to love your story, man. You grew up playing the piano. J Lee: Sure. Mitch Matthews: You played Carnegie Hall as a teenager, right? J Lee: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Yeah. Mitch Matthews: You're an athlete, too. If I understand it correctly, your record still stands in your high school for the 300 hurdles. J Lee: I go back every year just to make sure nobody breaks it and if they do I told them, I'll lace my spikes back up and get back out there. I need to stand for a while. Mitch Matthews: That's right, let's do this. I love it. So then you go to Indiana University and the school of music there, Jacobs School of Music. You leave St. Louis after you graduate there, you move to LA with, if I'm understanding it, about two hundred bucks in your pocket. J Lee: Before I came to LA what happened was I had gone to school for classical piano and then I actually broke my thumb freshman year. I was on a scholarship and I break my thumb. Mitch Matthews: Holy cow. J Lee: That was the first time I had to look at my life and say, "Hey, what do I want to do?" Because I'd been playing piano my whole life. Mitch Matthews: Right. J Lee: I just didn't know if I wanted to continue down that path, being a concert pianist and everything. I had broken my thumb and that was the first time I had taken an acting class, so I kind of had that semester off. I remember my professor, Edmund Battersby. He has since passed away, he was a lovely, lovely man, an incredible teacher, and musician.

My guest is Rich Karlgaard. Rich is an entrepreneur turned publisher, in fact, he's the publisher for Forbes Magazine. He's an author and columnist, a board director, and Angel investor. He's experienced some true success, but he will also be the first to tell you that he was no child prodigy, and in many ways, he celebrates that. That's what led him to write his newest book called “Late Bloomer, The Power of Patience in a World Obsessed with Early Achievement.” Listen To The Podcast: RESOURCES: https://www.latebloomer.com/ TRANSCRIPT:  Mitch Matthews: I think you're going to love this, I think you're going to love what Rich has to say. So, let's get to it.  Hey. Rich, welcome to DREAM THINK DO. Rich Karlgaard: A joy to be on your show, man. Mitch Matthews: I love it, man. I tell you ... well, before I hit record, I was kind of telling you, you surprised me this book. Rich Karlgaard: Well, thank you. In a good way? Mitch Matthews: In a good way, I should clarify it, a very good way. Rich Karlgaard: Well, yeah. A lot of people thought that a book on late bloomers coming from a Forbes publisher would simply be biography's on famous late bloomers like, Ray Crock or J.K. Rowling, people like that, but I wanted to write about why it is that we celebrate early bloomers today excessively. The damage that causes, and why late bloomers have so many gifts is validated by findings in neuroscience and by just looking around at some of the stories we ought of paid more attention to. Mitch Matthews: Yeah. Well, and that's the thing, I just kind of ... like some of the folks, I was kind of thinking, I expected some good stories, and you've got some great stories and there's no doubt. So it is full of inspiration as well. This really is not just written to people in their '40s, '50s, and '60s. That's kind of what I was thinking, but this really is for everyone. You've got stuff in there that my high-schooler could benefit from, parents should read and be thinking about as we're talking about raising our kids. Millennials and the young ones in the workplace can benefit from this because it helps them to understand how a better career works, and how our brain functions, all of that. So, there's a lot of meat ... there's a lot of gold in them there hills, is a better way to put it. So, I love it. Now, let's get into your story here first. Obviously, you had a lot of success over the years. Publisher of Forbes being one of those things top of the list, but you are also very open that you were no star student, not necessarily a star athlete, you wouldn't consider yourself a child prodigy, but you kind of celebrate that. Why is that? With a little bit of perspective, why is that something to be celebrated? Rich Karlgaard: Well, I'll just start, the brief background that you're referring to here, I was one of those kids in high school, I was a good but not great middle and long distance runner in high school. I got B's, I went to my local junior college, I improved to B pluses. I was actually, captain of my junior college cross-country team, but was kind of a low bar, and by a series of flukes, I got into Stanford as a transfer student. Stanford is a much easier institution to get into back then. I was from North Dakota, they were looking for people from obscurer states, and with a slide on their track and cross-country team, not a scholarship level, but at a level where the coach had probably had spoken to the admission's director. Anyway, I got in. Sure enough, way over my head, I took the easiest classes possible, classes with names like, "Sleep and Dreams," and "Human Sex," and "Film Aesthetics." Still, barely graduated. At age 25, when my college roommates were doing spectacular things in law, phycology, and one was working for the state shuttle program, I could hold no job greater than temporary typist, dishwasher, and security guard. One night when I was 25,

My guest is Paula Faris. As you probably know, Paula is a Senior National Correspondent for ABC News, and she's had one heck of a journey. She's won multiple Emmys reporting on politics, sports, entertainment, major stories of the day, she's interviewed political leaders, athletes, newsmakers, and even celebrities. Listen To The Podcast: RESOURCES:  TWITTER: @paulafaris JOURNEYS OF FAITH WITH PAULA FARIS   TRANSCRIPT:  I've got to say, to my fellow geeks out there, Paula has interviewed the cast from the most recent Star Wars movies, as well as The Avengers... like as in ALL of the Avengers. I mean, come on, right? Last fall, she walked away from a couple of the most coveted positions within her industry, being the co-anchor of Good Morning America weekend edition, as well as being a co-host of ABC's The View, all to do something she felt called to do. One of those things was to launch a podcast called “Journeys of Faith with Paula Faris.” Now I can tell you, this podcast has become one of my own favorite podcasts because Paula's doing this incredible job of talking with some of the world's most influential people about how their faith and spirituality guide them through the best and worst of times. I've got to say, it's pretty revolutionary. I don't think that's too strong a word, because she's open about her own faith as a Christian, but she's talking with people from a wide array of faith backgrounds. Like when I say that, I mean she's really talking with people, she's connecting, she's not debating, she's talking. She goes in curious, she honors the people's stories, it's just so interesting, eye-opening, refreshing, you've got to check it out. Seriously, this was a bold move, to launch something like this and do it in the way that she's been doing it. The more I've been listening to her show, the more I've wanted to have her on DREAM THINK DO, so we could talk with her about her journey and dig into some of the things she's been learning along the way. Let's get to this, Paula Faris, welcome to DREAM THINK DO. Paula Faris: Thank you so much, Mitch, I'm so honored. Mitch Matthews: This is awesome. Okay, so I know people probably know your name, they've seen you doing your thing, but what is an average day, a "normal" ... I'm doing air quotes because I'm guessing there's not really a normal day. Paula Faris: Yeah, let's do some air quotes. Mitch Matthews: What does a normal day look like for you right now? Paula Faris: A normal day, well it's a lot different than my normal day, say, a year ago, which weekends I was getting up at like three, 3:30 in the morning and going to anchor at Good Morning America weekend edition, and just working crazy hours, Fridays I did “The View.” Now I work primarily Monday through Friday, a day for me is, like for instance, today I got up early to do GMA, I filed a story for Good Morning America weekday edition, and I'm doing this podcast now, I have a shoot later for Good Morning America at Disney down in Brooklyn. It's a little bit of everything right now because I am a Senior National Correspondent. I'll file for Good Morning America, I'll file for World News Tonight, for Nightline, the various ABC platforms that we have. Then I do podcasts, so I've recorded a couple of podcasts this week for my new podcast, Journeys of Faith. By the way, I appreciate you plugging it and listening and supporting it. It's a mixed bag, but I'm really enjoying this new lane and this new kind of venture. I walked away from those two dream jobs, as you mentioned because I just needed some more balance. Now it's primarily Monday through Friday, and I'll fly, I'll travel occasionally for those interviews like you mentioned, The Avengers, Star Wars, that took me to LA and Chicago for those interviews, which is great. Mitch Matthews: My wife freaked when she also heard you were at the royal wedding last year, like are you kidding me? Paula Faris: I know,

My guest is Angela Maiers. Angela founded Choose2Matter, which is a non-profit that helps individuals to embrace their value and their potential contribution. Choose2Matter has evolved into a movement that now supports students, parents, educators, and employees, literally around the world. Her work at over 60 thousand classrooms across 100 countries has rallied more than a million children to be together to launch over 170 social enterprises. Listen To The Podcast: Resources: www.AngelaMaiers.com www.Choose2Matter.org Transcription: Mitch Matthews: Angela, welcome to the podcast! Angela Maiers: Well, I'm so honored to be here my friends. It's wonderful to watch you in action and be a part of this, you were just a huge supporter of my mission and my work and I feel like we've connected at a soul level, so it's great to reconnect. Mitch Matthews: It's crazy because we go way back to when the Big Dream Gathering was just getting started. Angela Maiers: I know, yeah. Mitch Matthews: Your things were just starting to explode. So it feels like a class reunion. Angela Maiers: It does. Mitch Matthews: I love it. Well, DREAM THINK DOers are going to love you and love your story. Let's tell them a little bit more about Choose to Matter. Let's give them a snapshot of what it is that you do. As well as you can in a condensed way, tell us a little bit more about Choose to Matter. Angela Maiers: I think I have created a framework for people to make a commitment to contribute their best self to the world. And by best self or best selves, that could be individual, that could be organizational, it could be our entire community and humanity. And when you look at the reasons why human beings don't contribute their best self to the world, with not just confidence but with also a sense of calmness, is because there is a terror in the world, and I use that world not lightly, of insignificance. Angela Maiers: It is the single most common ailment of the modern world. And it doesn't discriminate. Even though Choose to Matter started with my mission in education, the feeling that we don't matter doesn't discriminate by age, by title, by position, by role. We're all fighting for our enough-ness in the world. Mitch Matthews: And you've been studying this, you've been teaching this. And I know it's a generational thing, you've been going back deep into the science of it and all that, but would you say, and this is probably just a softball question, but would you say, how has social media and all of that contributed to kind of that "see me" feel? That longing to be seen. Angela Maiers: I think that you see both the best of humanity, social media or media in general or technology is neutral. It is an amplifier of human behavior and emotion. Mitch Matthews: Yeah. Angela Maiers: So part of the addiction in social media is our DNA level need, not just desire, but DNA level needs to be seen, to be heard and to understand that we have value. And so just the simple act of saying another human being's name is such a rarity, believe it or not. It's a rarity even in schools. Kids can go period after period, week after week, semester after semester and never hear their name. It's the most important word in the human language. It defines our existence. Angela Maiers: And so when you hear your name over, or where we have not given people real pathways and real practices to acting and behaving as if they mattered, so they pick shortcuts, like the naughty kid. We just want to be noticed and so we'll do it in any way that we can. And we have a whole world of naughty kids. Mitch Matthews: I was just going to say, that's not limited to the classroom, right? Angela Maiers: No it's not. Mitch Matthews: It's so true. And I know that so much of what you do could be defined, the simple arts, but the simple arts are so important of literally looking someone in the eye and saying, "You matter" right?