Meikles & Dimes

Justin Tozer is a math and science prodigy who grew up on a farm where formal education was all but prohibited. Yet, somehow Tozer would make his way to the world’s most prestigious firms, first in Silicon Valley and later in Los Alamos at the world’s preeminent scientific lab. Yet no professional accomplishment compares to the countless lives Tozer has saved, changed, and enhanced. In this episode we discuss the following: The Japanese tool maker who felt responsible for the suicide of an American. The flat tire that helped Tozer save a young man's life. How society lets too many young people suffer.   Follow Me: Twitter: https://twitter.com/nate_meikle LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natemeikle/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nate_meikle/

Justin Tozer is a math and science prodigy who grew up on a farm where formal education was all but prohibited. Yet, somehow Tozer would make his way to the world’s most prestigious firms, first in Silicon Valley and later in Los Alamos at the world’s preeminent scientific lab. Yet no professional accomplishment compares to the countless lives Tozer has saved, changed, and enhanced. In this episode we discuss the following: Tozer teaching himself calculus for fun. Tozer arguing with the financial aid office at BYU because they didn't charge him enough. Tozer working for 72 hours straight, and later saving a CO2 plant from burning down. Tozer receiving a mission call to Japan.   Follow Me: Twitter: https://twitter.com/nate_meikle LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natemeikle/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nate_meikle/

Justin Tozer is a math and science prodigy who grew up on a farm where formal education was all but prohibited. Yet, somehow Tozer would make his way to the world’s most prestigious firms, first in Silicon Valley and later in Los Alamos at the world’s preeminent scientific lab. Yet no professional accomplishment compares to the countless lives Tozer has saved, changed, and enhanced. In this episode we discuss the following: Tozer's grade school teacher would constantly bring him broken things to repair. Not knowing his birthday...only knowing that it was during the second cutting of hay.  Getting paddled in math class for answering too many questions. First time he used a baseball bat, he hit the ball, let go of the bat and hit his coach in the chest and knocked him down. Tozer's elementary school teacher still has letters on her fridge that Tozer wrote her. When Tozer told his counselor he wanted to go to BYU, the counselor asked if he was LDS. Tozer had never had that acronym but thought we was talking about LSD so Tozer responded that he didn’t do drugs.  Tozer was the first person in his grade to be accepted to college. First time Tozer took the ACT he scored perfect on math and got a 13 in English.   Follow Me: Twitter: https://twitter.com/nate_meikle LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natemeikle/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nate_meikle/

Brad Stulberg is a bestselling author, consultant, executive coach, and adjunct professor at the University of Michigan. Brad regularly contributes to the New York Times, and his work has also been featured in the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, and the Atlantic. In his coaching practice, Brad works with executives, entrepreneurs, physicians, and athletes on their mental skills and overall well-being. Brad earned both his undergraduate degree and master’s degree from the University of Michigan. In this episode we discuss the following: Fierce self-discipline requires fierce self-compassion. Doing hard things, showing up even when you don’t feel like it, is integral to having meaning and excellence in life. But you’ve got to be kind to yourself too. Because if you’re not kind to yourself, your self-discipline is not going to be sustainable. Self-discipline takes you to the really hard places and allows you to step into the arena, but if you beat yourself every time you fail, why would you take that risk in the future? Self-discipline and self-compassion end up getting pitted against each other. But as Brad observes people on the path of excellence, it’s not either or. It’s both and. Individuals who practice self-compassion are more resilient and tend to work through challenges more skillfully. “I knew intellectually that I should be self-compassionate, but it wasn’t until I had a severe episode of depression that I realized I wasn’t very kind to myself.” “I was carrying a lot of self-discipline, but no one really taught me the self-compassion side of the equation. And I had to learn that to get through the depression, because simply showing up is really hard when you’re depressed.” Self-compassion: “Have your own back.” Self-care is really community care. All the research on resilience shows that the number one factor of resilience is seeking support and being enmeshed in a circle of belonging and community. The things that work, work until they get in the way. Self-discipline works until you self-destruct because you’re pushing yourself so hard. Self-compassion works until you get so soft that you don’t actually start, and every time you feel a little bit off you let those feelings dictate what happens next. Follow Brad: Twitter: https://twitter.com/BStulberg LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brad-stulberg-009b168b/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bradstulberg/ Follow Me: Twitter: https://twitter.com/nate_meikle LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natemeikle/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nate_meikle/

Brian Nosek is a social-cognitive psychologist, professor at the University of Virginia, and co-founder and director of the Center for Open Science. In 2011, Brian and his colleagues launched the Reproducibility Project which would ultimately transform science forever. In this episode we discuss the following: Reputation is how people perceive us. But integrity is what we get to choose for ourselves. We can hold ourselves accountable for our integrity, but when we worry about our reputation, we’re prone to get led astray. If we try to control our reputation, we’re prone to avoid risk (e.g., we don’t do the things we should do because we might make people mad). If we try to control our reputation, we may deviate from our values in an attempt to keep other people happy. We undermine ourselves when we prioritize reputation over integrity. Our long-term reputation will ultimately derive from our integrity. You can’t control your reputation. You can control your integrity. Brian was told he was ruining his career. But by focusing on integrity over reputation, Brian and his colleagues revolutionized science.   Follow Brian: Twitter: https://twitter.com/BrianNosek LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-nosek-682b17114/ Follow Me: Twitter: https://twitter.com/nate_meikle LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natemeikle/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nate_meikle/

Dan Pink is the author of five New York Times bestsellers, including his latest, The Power of Regret. His other books include the New York Times bestsellers When and A Whole New Mind — as well as the #1 New York Times bestsellers Drive and To Sell is Human. Dan’s books have won multiple awards, have been translated into 42 languages, and have sold millions of copies around the world. Dan also hosted and produced “Crowd Control,” a TV series on the National Geographic Channel that aired in more than 100 countries. He hosts a popular MasterClass on sales and persuasion, and he appears frequently on NPR, PBS, ABC, CNN, and other TV and radio networks in the US and abroad.  He has been a contributing editor at Fast Company and Wired as well as a business columnist for The Sunday Telegraph. His articles and essays have also appeared in The New York Times, Harvard Business Review, The Atlantic, Slate, and other publications. Before venturing out on his own 20 years ago, Dan worked in several positions in politics and government, including serving as chief speechwriter to Vice President Al Gore from 1995 to 1997. He received a BA from Northwestern University and a JD from Yale Law School. In this episode we discuss the following:  Just get started. So often we want to wait for the perfect time or conditions to do something. But in reality, the best way to find motivation to do things is to just get started. Acting creates motivation. If you don’t feel like writing, but then you start writing, you will then feel like writing. Julius Erving: “Being a professional is doing what you love to do, even on the days you don’t feel like doing it.” “If I decided that I was going to write when I was inspired, I would never write a word.” Instead, I show up in my office, I give myself a word count, and I don’t do anything until I hit that number. Once I start writing I feel like writing. I wish someone had told me when I was younger that action created motivation. It took me a while to figure that out and put it in practice. Our intuition reverses the sequence. We think we have to feel a certain way to act, when in fact you can act your way into feelings. Don’t wait until you feel like doing something to act. Act, and then in most cases, you’ll feel like doing it. Start with generosity. In almost any interaction you have, lead with generosity. It makes us feel better, and there are also massive returns to us. If we make our default setting to be generous, we may have to switch off the default for some people, but most people are worthy of our generosity. Follow Dan: Twitter: https://twitter.com/DanielPink LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielpink/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/danielhpink Follow Me:  Twitter: https://twitter.com/nate_meikle LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natemeikle/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nate_meikle/

Justin Tozer is singular: one of the smartest, kindest, most generous, insightful, caring, understated, hardworking, impactful, selfless people to have ever lived. If you’ve never met Tozer, I bet you’re skeptical. If you have met Tozer, I bet you agree with me. A math and science prodigy, Tozer grew up on a farm where formal education was all but prohibited. Yet somehow Tozer would make his way to the world’s most prestigious firms, first in Silicon Valley and later in Los Alamos at the world’s preeminent scientific lab. Yet no professional accomplishment compares to the countless lives Tozer has saved, changed, and enhanced. Please take the time to get to know Justin Tozer on Sundays with Tozer. You will become a better person for it. And you will see that Tozer is Singular. In this episode we start at the beginning: Growing up on a farm. Tozer's first house that had no running water or toilets. School was everything to Tozer, so much so that he would set the clocks back so he could stay in school longer. Chasing his cousin with a pocket knife because the cousin was teasing Tozer. Tozer's father, who was mentally ill, in part from serving in the Korean War. How laughing at his dad one day changed their relationship forever. Follow Me: Twitter: https://twitter.com/nate_meikle LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natemeikle/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nate_meikle/

Robert Cialdini, known as the Godfather of Influence, is a professor emeritus at Arizona State University. His New York Times bestselling books Influence and Pre-Suasion have sold more than 7 million copies in 44 different languages. Robert is known globally as the foundational expert in the science of influence, and his Principles of Persuasion are used by some of the world’s most notable people. For example, Robert worked for both the Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton presidential campaigns. In this episode we discuss the following: If you do a favor for someone you work with, don’t say, “No problem.” Rather, say “It’s what we do for one another here.” To increase influence with people you don't work with say, "I know that if the situation were reversed, you’d do the same thing.” When you go into a situation with unfamiliar people, be generous with them. They will then like you and be more generous with you. Don’t ask, “Who can most help me here?” Rather ask “Whom can I most help here?” And after you help them, you’ll have an advocate. When we’re generous with others, two levers of influence apply: liking and reciprocity. They will like us more and will want to return the favor. Follow Robert: Twitter: @RobertCialdini LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertcialdini/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/robert.cialdini/ Website: https://cialdini.com/ Follow Me: Twitter: https://twitter.com/nate_meikle LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natemeikle/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nate_meikle/

Joshua Dewain Foster is an award-winning independent writer, thinker, and farmer in Rigby, Idaho. He is the author of The Crown Package: A Personal Anthology (2022) and The Clean Package: A Pioneer Assemblage (2023). Josh earned a PhD in literature and creative writing from the University of Houston, a master’s degree in fiction and nonfiction from the University of Arizona, and an undergraduate degree in English from BYU Idaho. In between his master’s degree and PhD, Josh was selected as a Stanford University Stegner Fellow, one of the most prestigious creative writing fellowships in the world. Josh also earned a minor in Spanish and studied at the University of Guadalajara. In his almost two-decade writing and publishing career, Josh has served in key editorial positions with notable magazines such as Terrain.org, DIAGRAM, and Gulf Coast. Josh now co-operates the creative cooperative and press FOSTER LITERARY with his wife, the poet Georgia Pearle Foster. Today’s interview with Josh is unique for at least three reasons: First, Josh has several advanced degrees, as do many past guests, but Josh’s degrees are in literature, making him the first literary fiction author I’ve had on the show. Second, scheduling this interview with Josh was difficult because it's harvesting season, and Josh is a farmer. Third, this episode is record-setting, coming in at nearly three hours. Josh is not only a professional storyteller, but also a professional observer of the human experience. And if anything, I wish our conversation were longer. In this episode we laugh, we cry, and we discuss the profound melodramatic disorder (as Josh calls it) that we each suffer from. Follow Josh: Website: www.FosterLit.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/foster.literary/ & https://www.instagram.com/jdfish9/ Follow Me:  Twitter: https://twitter.com/nate_meikle LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natemeikle/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nate_meikle/

Maurice Schweitzer is an award-winning professor at the Wharton School of Business and author of the book Friend & Foe. He has published more than 100 articles and been cited more than 10,000 times. He is also the former president of the International Association for Conflict Management. Maurice earned an undergraduate degree from Cal Berkeley in Economics and a PhD from Wharton in Operations and Information Management. In this episode we discuss the following: We struggle to separate what we know from how we've come to know it. When we think we know something, it’s important to remember the tools and methods we used to learn that information, because that determines how much we do know. Our environment is censored. We don’t know what we don’t know, and this makes learning difficult. So when we think we know something, remember that our environment is censored. So often when people lie, they do so for selfish reasons. But some lies are motivated by kindness, and therefore can have a different impact than selfish lies. Remember that we never truly get to see the counterfactual of our decisions. Follow Maurice: Twitter: https://twitter.com/ME_Schweitzer LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maurice-schweitzer-2a433534/ Follow Me: Twitter: https://twitter.com/nate_meikle LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natemeikle/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nate_meikle/