The Kevin Miller Podcast

An FBI special agent whose job was gaining trust and catching and recruiting spies, shares his relational strategy at home to win his family’s hearts. Now that is intriguing. Robin Dreeke was my guest in show 739 and we talked about the specific truths and methodologies he employed as a master in behavioral analysis. Robin’s testimony of family relationships based upon never judging or criticising is one of the most inspiring things I’ve heard, period. It is giving others what we all long for, but you are going to want to hear the details. He shares this and more in this Habits show where I walk Robin through the seven spokes in the Ziglar wheel of life. Robin is a sought after speaker at live events and working with business owners doing internal leadership, customer relations and sales. You can connect with Robin at www.peopleformula.com where he offers training, and find his book The Code of Trust wherever you get books. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How would you rate your communication skills when presenting something to a group of people at the dinner table, a meeting at work or on stage? Do you feel understood and heard? This is the question I posed to the Ziglar audience. Interestingly, many people cited they felt more adept at communicating to groups, whether personally or professionally, than to individuals. Like their family members. I asked my guest from episode 731 and 733 to join me, cognitive neuroscientist and communication expert Jared Cooney Horvath. Jared got his doctorate from the University of Melbourne and you can get a veritable doctorate in communicating...from this show. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In any conversation you can become a constant dopamine hit for the other person. How? By making them the topic, not you. But can you do it? Can you resist the temptation to talk about yourself and express your opinion and getting your own dopamine hit? Second, can you skillfully keep the focus on them with authenticity? This was a necessary skill for Robin Dreeke as a Special Agent in the FBI. To catch and recruit spies he became a master in behavioral analysis and applied his expertise in interpersonal communication, relationship building and Trust. These skills are used every day in leadership, sales, human resources, and all aspects of life, both business and personal. This is what we dig into in this episode, from Robin’s role with spies, right into his home and how it impacts his role as husband and father. Robin however is not just skillful of mind however, I asked about very personal and heart level issues and I think this brought out the most valuable issues of our conversation. Issues that are relevant to us all and that we can all apply right away. It’s convicting to hear methodologies verified by the gravity of life and death. I think what you will hear in this conversation will make massive sense to you, you’ll find yourself thinking, “Of course!” And inspired about how you can take advantage of these core, relational strategies. Robin does a lot of speaking at live events and working with business owners doing internal leadership, customer relations and sales. You can connect with Robin at www.peopleformula.com where he offers training, and find his book The Code of Trust wherever you get books. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What if you were diagnosed with a small, benign brain tumor that you’d had all your life and it had been limiting your cognitive ability. Once removed, you were 10% smarter! You have a personal story that, if you know and understand it well, will help the entire context of your life. You may not have a very flashy or seemingly monumental story, but it’s your story and along the way there have been events that matter and have influenced who and how you are. It is the foundation of your personal context. Zig Ziglar had the tragic deaths of his father and sister as a young boy and had to go to work at a very early age. But he had a solid upbringing and has written his own story in a way where he sees the positives. He used his story find his own place in the world and he used it very successfully to help others relate to him, and vice versa. In this show I’m going to let you hear, Zig’s story. From birth till he got married. This is his formative life span. I know you’ll appreciate hearing him, and then you’ll have context for clarifying, if you haven’t, your own story. I asked the Ziglar audience this question, “Do you feel your personal story is relevant for how you relate to your own life and the lives of others?” Then had Tom Ziglar join me to talk through the responses and this very necessary ingredient for our success of understanding and leveraging our stories.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I’ve always felt to know the true measure of a man, audit how his wife and kids and doing. So it stood out to me when Mark Batterson said a primary goal for his life was to be famous in his home, and to do so, he needed to be at home! Mark was my guest in show 735 where we discussed, “How to position yourself for blessings” from his new book, Double Blessing. He’s a best selling author and pastor of one of our country’s most influential churches, the National Community Church in Washington, D.C.. Mark also aspires to have those who know him best to respect him most. This sharing came from the “Family & Friends” spoke of The Ziglar Wheel of Life, as this is our habits show. Something else that resonated with me came from Mark’s sharing in the “Physical” spoke, that he staunchly believes the physical and spiritual disciplines foster each other. And I almost titled the show “The Holy Spirit plus caffeine equals awesome!”, another of Mark’s quotes. You’ll get great inspiration and ideas as always from this audit of the habits of one of our cultures big influencers. You can connect with Mark at markbatterson.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As a listener of The Ziglar Show I know you are a more “aspiring” person than the norm, as are our other listeners. So how do we all rate ourselves in our endeavors? In show 727 I talked with Neil Pasricha whose latest book, “You Are Awesome” just debuted as the #1 international bestseller. He asks why in our culture today where we have more conveniences and amenities than ever, are we playing it safe. It was from this I asked the Ziglar audience, “In your job or business, on a scale from 1-10, how would you rate yourself for playing it safe (1) or totally going for the gusto (10), and why?” Let me tell you this, we only had two people rate themselves as a 10, and we had plenty of threes and fours. I had Neil join me to co-host this Q&A and as usual, the comments and my guest’s responses were just profound. You’ll come away with a better understanding of your own propensities and why you may be going after things in one area of your life, and not others. He explains the very real role of “cognitive entrenchment” I believe you will very much resonate with. Neil also expounded on the issue of following our passions and made this brilliant comment that flies in the face of having work that is all fun and play, he said the point is finding work “You love so much you’ll endure the pain and punishment.” Absolutely. This was as solid a show as I’ve ever done regarding relevant issues we are all dealing with today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Blessings” is right there with the word “success” as far as having a lot of baggage connected to it, and I don’t bring the term to the show lightly. But right now, do you feel more or less, blessed? And before you think, “Well of course. My family, I have a job, I’m in decent health, of course I’m blessed…” This isn’t a count-your-blessings pitch. I mean right now in your day to day life. Are your relationships all you desire them to be? How are feeling financially? Do you feel purposeful and hopeful? How about just your level of ongoing joy? How is your stress level? How is your self-talk? Do you feel things generally work out for you and fall in your favor? Do you really feel like you are living within a flow of blessing? Then the question is...to have blessings and if I can say, “favor”, are there any requirements from you? I know, this is a slippery slope issue because the idea of “do this and get that” regarding God and blessings has really been misused. So I have someone for you today, and we’ll hit it head on. Back in 2006 I got ahold of a book with a crazy title, “In A Pit With A Lion On A Snowy Day,” by a guy named Mark Batterson. He was pastor of a church in D.C. Today, he is still that pastor, but now a prolific, best selling author and speaker. He has a new book titled, “Double Blessing - How to Get It. How to Give It.” Right off the bat in our talk together he hits on the “prosperity gospel” issue and actually cites, “The blessings of God will complicate your life”. I feel I brought the tough questions up and this show will open up some new perspectives for you on how you tangibly orient your life. If you don’t know Mark, he is the author of 15 books including the USA Today bestseller "Chase the Lion," which inspired the recently published "Chase the Lion Weekly Planner" and the New York Times best-seller "The Circle Maker." Mark is the founder and lead pastor of National Community Church (NCC), one church with 7 campuses throughout Washington D.C. National Community Church, known as one of the most innovative and influential churches in America, also owns and operates Ebenezers Coffeehouse, the Miracle Theatre, and the DC Dream Center. Connect with him at https://www.markbatterson.com/ and find his books...everywhere. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is about how you are arranging your life. Your days are not neutral, they are constantly forming you into the person you will be tomorrow and ongoing. As much as I and my peers in personal development would like to offer you the one, true holy grail of what will establish your life for the better, it doesn’t exist. But there are some fundamental and foundational awarenesses you must have for your greatest, personal success. Hearing them in this show won’t solve anything if you don’t do something about them. However, being aware, is truly, the start. There is very little chance you’ve thought out what you want in the primary areas of your life. Few have and as you’ll hear in the show, I never did really did either. I was brought up on goal planning and planning out your year and investing for the future. I didn’t do it. None of it. I wish I had and the reason for this ‘Special Edition’ show is due to a poignant event in my own life, which I’ll share in this show. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A key to a great story plot or comedy routine is to take people along a predictive path and then disrupt it. Our human nature loves this because it ignites pleasurable feelings in our brain, in our mind. A master of communication who led us through some of the ways to leverage prediction is Jared Cooney Harvath, our main guest in episode 731. This is our Habits show and in the mental spoke, Jared shared a common tactic he uses is to break his own predictive patterns so as to foster new programming for his brain. What a simple and effective tactic. We generally want to find a routine we like and take the ease of sticking to it. In some regards this is good, as our mind can be on autopilot and freed up for other thinking and tasks. But if we completely routinize our lives we can become stagnant and complacent. I once had a friend dealing with OCD who was charged by her therapist to drive a different way home each day from work. She about blew a gasket not taking her tried and true, routine path, but it helped do the trick...to wake her mind up to other possibilities. This and the other spokes of Jared’s habits, in this show. You can find Jared’s book, "Stop Talking, Start Influencing: 12 Messages from Brain Science to Make Your Message Stick" on Amazon or wherever you buy books! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Well, this is interesting. In the episode I play a clip from Zig Ziglar on the power of words we speak with and about other people. Then I posted a question on Facebook that went a different direction. I asked, “If you were daily being recorded in secret, what would you be proud of, and what would you be embarrassed by?” I was literally thinking about our spoken words, what we say out loud, to others or in private. Many of the replies addressed this, but the common thread also included thoughts and behaviors and unfolded into what people are proud and ashamed of regarding their personal character. Another testimony to richness of these Q&A episodes being due to audience testimonies than my leading. I had Tom Ziglar co-host with me as we talked through the very candid and vulnerable testimonies that I know you will relate to. I think this show will give you both grace for your shame while increasing your conviction to pursue what you are proud of in your personal character. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices