Feeling Stuck, Busy, or Unfulfilled? How to Discover Your Calling | Scott Maderer

Many people today are working hard...

but quietly wondering if they're building the right life.

They achieve goals.
They stay busy.
They keep moving forward.

Yet underneath the surface, there is often a lingering question:

"Is this really what I was made for?"

In this episode, I sit down with Scott Maderer, founder of Inspired Stewardship, author of Inspired Living, coach, speaker, and host of the Inspired Stewardship Podcast.

Scott shares his journey through financial hardship, personal struggle, leadership, faith, and the slow process of discovering his true calling.

If you've ever felt stuck, overwhelmed, restless, or unsure about your next season in life, this conversation offers practical wisdom, hope, and encouragement.



What if the problem isn't that you're working too little...

but that you're working hard toward something that no longer fits who you are?

In this thoughtful conversation, Scott Maderer shares how a season of financial crisis and personal pain became the catalyst for a completely different life.

Together we explore:

• Why many people feel busy but unfulfilled

• The difference between productivity and purpose

• Why time management and money management are really forms of self-management

• How to identify and live out your calling

• The importance of mastering your time, talent, and treasures

• Why lasting transformation happens through small consistent steps

• Leadership, stewardship, faith, and personal growth

Scott is the founder of Inspired Stewardship and author of Inspired Living: Assemble the Puzzle of Your Calling by Mastering Your Time, Your Talent, and Your Treasures.

His message is especially powerful for people navigating transition, questioning their direction, or sensing that there is more to life than simply staying busy.

One of my favorite insights from this conversation is that your life is not a photograph - it's a film strip.

You are still becoming.

And perhaps your next chapter begins with one small aligned step.

https://inspiredstewardship.com
https://www.facebook.com/InspiredStewardship

https://inspiredstewardship.com/lifeleadershipconnected/

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Clarity in Transition – From Identity to Sustainable Impact
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https://lifeleadershipconnected.com

📧 Contact:
david.dahlendcruz@lifeleadershipconnected.com

Thank you for listening. If this episode encouraged you, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with someone who may need it today.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:04

You have the power of choice and change. Where you are today will not be where you are tomorrow. Period. Your life is always a film strip, not a photograph. So whether you're at the top of the mountain right now and everything is going fantastic, or whether you're in the deepest, darkest valley and this is the dark night of the soul, you know, the worst time of your life, what I can promise you is a week from now, a month from now, six weeks from now, six months from now, a year from now, the future will be different. It will change. And that realization means now you can step back and go. So what small action can I take today to move this in a positive direction? Not to change everything, not to fix everything, but just to take a tiny step today. Because if I take that tiny step today and I take it tomorrow and I take it the next day, and I take it the next day, then that film, you know, a year from now will be better. It has to be. Yeah. Because I took those tiny steps to make it a little better. But 30 years in education, I actually started my career going into medical research even before I became a teacher. And I figured out that medical research was about chasing grant money, and I really didn't want to chase grant money the rest of my life, so I pivoted and that's when I went into education. Became a school teacher, did that for 16 years, loved it, always had a very Socratic kind of style of teaching, asking questions, engaging with the students, did a lot of what I know now is coaching, but at the time I didn't call it coaching because you know that's not the label that I put on it, but that's really what I was doing. Began developing those kind of coaching skills and how to engage. Honestly, if you want to learn how to connect to people and that don't really want to be there, go teach public school. Right. You know, it's like most of the time they're not real thrilled about being in class all day. And you've got to learn to engage and entertain, but not in a dog and pony show way. So I began to develop those skills then, did that for 16 years, kind of going on with the corporate side, and I'll circle back to the personal side in a moment. I eventually left teaching, went into the corporate world, did that for 11 years, worked up into a senior kind of executive position, you know, had leaders reporting to me, had a big team, on planes all the time, flying all over the country, all of the normal stuff that goes along with kind of corporate work. It was still an education. I went from teaching to testing, I went from teaching to writing tests for a living. My students said I joined the dark side, but really didn't. So I was doing all of that work uh in a testing company and again really enjoyed it. Part of the reason that I was promoted multiple times and got into a leadership position was again, I think my leadership style was much more of a coaching leadership style than it was a directive or authoritative leadership style. You know, I started doing leadership before I was in a quote leadership position, and then they noticed that and they promote you and that kind of thing. All of that was going on, and then eventually I kind of climbed back down the corporate ladder and started the coaching business. I still remember one of our friends came over one day and they kind of looked around and they went, Y'all are weird. Do you think you could help us be weird? Meaning him and his wife. And I'm like, Yeah, why not? We could do that. And we sat down and started coaching and working with them. And out of that, the coaching business was born, and eventually that became inspired stewardship. And now what I do full-time. My wife's still part of the business, but kind of behind the scenes. And I've been doing it now since 2011. Uh, 2017 is when I went full-time and worked with over a thousand clients in 20 countries and 38 states, and this is this is my calling. This is what I love to do.

SPEAKER_09 4:16

Hello and welcome to this episode of the podcast. Life connected podcast. What is David Connected Group? We talk about life. We talk about life and leadership. What gives us life? And how do we become and continue to be good leaders with great impact and influence with other people? How do we combine life and leadership in a healthy and sustainable way? These are questions we will discuss in this podcast. If you want more information, go to life and leadershipconnected.com. Life and LeadershipConnected.com. I'm your host and coach, David Daliano Cruz. Let's dive right into this episode. Hello and welcome to a new episode of the podcast Life and Leadership Connected. Today I have a guest here whose name is Scott Meeder. Scott Meeder, and he's a personal coach, podcast host, speaker, and he's the author of a book called Inspired Living Assemble the Pasil of Your Calling. And he's also founder of something called Inspired Stewardship, which is a platform dedicated to helping Christians master their time, talent and treasures so they can live out their true calling. Scott has reinvented himself multiple times. From a thirty-year career in education to building a full-time coaching business. He has walked through some deep valleys in his life, including a financial crisis that nearly ended his marriage. But that experience became a turning point in his life. And he and his wife chose healing over giving up. And Scott began the journey toward alignment instead, towards stewardship and calling. With nearly one thousand six hundred podcast episodes and his new book and a faith-rooted coaching business, his message is one of realignment. Small consistent steps and building a life of impact that flows from a purpose. And his story will inspire anyone who's feeling stuck, busy, and misaligned, especially those who feel a deeper call within. So thank you for um wanting to be a guest of this podcast.

SPEAKER_01 6:30

Scott. Absolutely. Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_09 6:32

Great. So Scott, for those new to your work, take us a bit back a bit to and tell us a bit about who you are. Who were you before inspired stewardship? And what were some of the key ch uh chapters in your story that shaped the calling you walk in today?

SPEAKER_01 6:50

Absolutely. I'd be happy to you know, you mentioned some of it, but to give it a little bit more detail.

SPEAKER_05 6:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:56

Thirty years in education. I actually started my career going into medical research even before I became a teacher. And I figured out that medical research was about chasing grant money, and I really didn't want to chase grant money the rest of my life, so I pivoted and that's when I went into education. Became a school teacher, did that for 16 years, loved it, always had a very Socratic kind of style of teaching, asking questions, engaging with the students, did a lot of what I know now is coaching, but at the time I didn't call it coaching because you know that's not the label that I put on it, but that's really what I was doing. Began developing those kind of coaching skills and how to engage. Honestly, if you want to learn how to connect to people and that don't really want to be there, go teach public school. Right. You know, it's like most of the time they're not real thrilled about being in class all day. And you've got to learn to engage and entertain, but not in a dog and pony show way. So I began to develop those skills then, did that for 16 years, kind of going on with the corporate side, and I'll circle back to the personal side in a moment. I eventually left teaching, went into the corporate world, did that for 11 years, worked up into a senior kind of executive position, you know, had leaders reporting to me, had a big team, on planes all the time, flying all over the country, all of the normal stuff that goes along with kind of corporate work. It was still an education. I went from teaching to testing, I went from teaching to writing tests for a living. My students said I joined the dark side, but really didn't. So I was doing all of that work uh in a testing company and again really enjoyed it. Part of the reason that I was promoted multiple times and got into a leadership position was again, I think my leadership style was much more of a coaching leadership style than it was a directive or authoritative leadership style. You know, I started doing leadership before I was in a quote leadership position, and then they notice that and they promote you and that kind of thing. All of that was going on, and then eventually I kind of climbed back down the corporate ladder and started the coaching business. So the coaching business was really born out of the personal side of this. So my wife and I, while I was still a teacher, I looked up one day and I realized that we had more debt than I made in a year by almost double. And I felt like a terrible husband, I felt like a terrible provider, we weren't, you know, able to live the way we wanted to live, we weren't able to do the things that we wanted to do. I began to go to a very dark place. I was actually suicidal because of finances. My wife and I, as you mentioned, nearly divorced because what was happening is I wasn't talking to her because I wanted to protect her, and she's not talking to me because she didn't want to stress me out and add to my stress.

SPEAKER_05 9:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:41

You know, and not communicating with each other is a great recipe for a healthy marriage, right? You know, it it wasn't working and we were drifting apart. Yeah. And eventually some messaging came into our life that made me and her both realize that if we needed to either go our separate ways or decide we're gonna radically change the way we live, the way we make decisions, the way we communicate, everything from the ground up.

SPEAKER_02 10:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:05

And we decided to do that. So when I say we radically changed our life, we ended up paying off $78,000 in debt in two years, 11 months while I'm while we were making an average of $55,000 a year. People could do the math and realize we were living on nothing. We we radically changed. I went and took this high-powered corporate job, and I'm driving an old Ford car that the headliner literally is melting off of the roof and falling down and hitting me. I had to glue it up about once a week so that it wouldn't fall and hit me in the face. And people are like, go buy a new car, but nope, you know, we're just doing what we're doing to get out of debt. And what ended up happening is some folks started noticing that. And I still remember one of our friends came over one day and they kind of looked around and they went, Y'all are weird. Do you think you could help us be weird? Meaning him and his wife. And I'm like, Yeah, why not? We could do that. And we sat down and started coaching and working with them. And out of that, the coaching business was born, and eventually that became inspired stewardship, and now what I do full-time. My wife's still part of the business, but kind of behind the scenes. And I've been doing it now since 2011. Uh 2017 is when I went full-time and worked with over a thousand clients in 20 countries and 38 states, and this is this is my calling. This is what I love to do.

SPEAKER_09 11:31

Wow. Wow. Amazing, amazing story. Thank you for sharing. In the first place, what sparked your interest in education and leadership early on?

SPEAKER_01 11:40

You know, I I think I I grew up in it. I was surrounded by it. My my father was originally in corporate leadership and then eventually ran his own small business, and that's kind of where the entrepreneurial bug, you know, I saw him doing that. I worked for him. I actually started my first company when I was 12 years old and started a business when I was 12. I actually filed taxes when I was 12 years old, you know. That's you know, that kind of thing. I then uh, you know, I've always kind of had that. My mom was an educator. My dad actually started his career as an educator and then went into business. And, you know, so I kind of had that pattern behind me. It also was honestly something that because I had some hard science degrees and had, you know, the knowledge, it was relatively easy for me to get into education. There were some programs where you could do that, you know, kind of through the back door. What it was really meant for is somebody who'd like worked 30 years in another industry and then wanted to come teach. So I kind of took advantage of it when I was still I hadn't worked 30 years in another industry, but it still It gave me so there was an opportunity. All of that was together, you know, it was just sort of the pattern that showed up. So I didn't really go into it thinking, oh, I'm gonna do this the rest of my life, or this is what I'm meant to do.

SPEAKER_05 12:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:59

But then as I started doing it, I discovered there were things about it that was like, oh yeah, this is yeah, this is cool. I like this. This is what I am meant to do.

SPEAKER_08 13:09

Yeah. Isn't that wonderful? I mean, to discover what your passion is.

SPEAKER_01 13:15

Well, and I argue that's what you have to do. I don't think most of us really know. You know, we we all have some inklings and some ideas, but until you start taking action and doing things and getting feedback, yeah, you really don't know.

SPEAKER_05 13:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:30

It's just a guess, it's just a dream. It's through taking action that you begin to discover it.

SPEAKER_05 13:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:35

And so I talk about calling. It's not something that you quote know or find, it's something that you discover through the journey. The calling is the journey, not the destination.

SPEAKER_09 13:46

Yeah.

unknown 13:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_09 13:46

It's amazing, interesting, really interesting. You said that you have reinvented your life a few times. Can you explain what you mean by that? Uh what caused that?

SPEAKER_01 13:54

Well, it just the changes. You know, I went from, again, medical research. I thought I was gonna be a doctor, I thought I was gonna have a PhD and an MD and do research work. Yeah. And then as I got into it, I realized it didn't give me joy, it didn't give me energy. So I moved away from that.

SPEAKER_08 14:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:13

And I've been blessed. I've always moved from something that I like to something that I like more. You know, because there, again, I liked medical research. It just this isn't what I want to do the rest of my life. Went into teaching, love teaching. Again, had to reinvent myself because it's a whole different set of skills to be a good teacher than to be a good researcher, you know?

SPEAKER_08 14:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:35

And so I deliberately went and tried to immerse myself in whether it's books, whether it was courses, whether it was learning from other people, whether it was just experimenting and learning on the job. But it's a very deliberate I if I'm gonna do this, I want to be the best one of these that I can be. Not the best of the world, but the best one of these that I could be. And that takes skill and learning and developing and identifying what you're good at and what you're not good at, and you know, what do I need to support. And then again, when I pivoted to to corporate, same thing. I went into it with the idea of okay, this is a new set of skills, this is a new set of knowledge. It's building off of what I did before and the knowledge I already have, but I've got to add to it, I've got to change the way I'm I'm doing it because it's in a different environment, it requires a different set of skills. And within that corporate job, I was promoted six times in five years.

SPEAKER_03 15:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:34

So I literally went from position to position to position to position, each of which had new expectations that came with it. And so again, it was that constant identity of okay, wait, I'm in a new position. I I always tried to not only develop the skills for that position, but look kind of up and down and sideways and go, what other skills do I need to add so I'm ready for what's next?

SPEAKER_08 16:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:01

And begin to kind of build ahead, if that makes sense. I think that's one of the reasons I was promoted in corporate, because it was kind of like I basically trained enough people that they could do my job that I wasn't needed in my job anymore. There was somebody who was going to be good, and they'd give me the next job.

SPEAKER_08 16:16

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:17

And they'd promote them to my job and they'd give me another job or another position.

SPEAKER_02 16:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:22

And so it's it's really just that constant identity, and again, in a personal setting, that did that. My wife and I have gone through therapy and counseling, and we've gone through courses and you know, trying to make our relationship better. I've learned through disc and other things how to communicate better with my wife and with my son, because I again I want to be the best dad that I can be. You know, I want to be the best husband that I can be. So it's that constant identification of what are my roles, what are my opportunities, and what do I need to do to be better at that tomorrow than I am today.

SPEAKER_09 17:02

Yeah. I can imagine that you're a very self-disciplined person.

SPEAKER_01 17:07

Somewhat. Uh I actually don't really lean on self-discipline in that I don't try to do things through willpower. I try to build habits and systems.

SPEAKER_05 17:19

Yeah. Yeah, that's good.

SPEAKER_01 17:20

And it's so it's not a I'm gonna suck it up and do this this morning. It's uh I built, you know, I try to build systems where it's just sort of inevitable that I do it. Um, you know, again, exposing myself to new things or whatever. I'm really an introvert. I'm really not an outgoing person. So as an example, if I go to a conference, I know that my personality type, I'm not going to go actively start interacting with other people at a conference. But that's what I'm at a conference for, is to make connections. So what do I do? I volunteer. Now all of a sudden I'm the guy in the volunteer shirt, and people are come up to me to ask for help and directions.

SPEAKER_05 18:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:03

I have to start talking to them. And before you know it, I know a bunch of people. And then when I'm not volunteering, when I take that shirt off and put on my regular shirt, it's like, you know, hey David, you know, how are you doing? Yeah, because I've already talked to you, I've already met you. And now all of a sudden I don't feel like I'm in a room of 2,000 people and I know no one, I'm in a room of 2,000 people and I know a couple of hundred people. Yeah. You know? And so it it it forces me to act in a way that if I really had to force myself to do that and do it through discipline or willpower, yeah, it would drain me and I would never be able to do it. But if I create the environment where it just sort of happens naturally, boom, it's easy.

SPEAKER_09 18:44

Yeah, yeah, yeah. L let's talk about leadership, because most leadership, and I would say all leadership start with leading yourself. Yeah, absolutely. Obviously, I I hear that you you do lead yourself. So I wonder, tell me about your leadership of yourself and uh and others, and what challenges or milestones changed you? Well shaped sorry, shaped you into the person you are today.

SPEAKER_01 19:05

Yeah, my mother and my father are my biggest influences pretty much on everything in my life, both good examples and bad. You know, neither one not neither one was a perfect person, and and you know, there's times that I've seen things and gone, I'm not gonna do that. And then there's times where I've seen it and went, ooh, that yeah, I can learn from that. But it's leadership for me is actually what I just described, but for others. And and what I mean by that is as a leader, I can't make choices for people, I can't motivate people, I can't make people do anything or change or believe or act. But what I can do is try to create an environment where that's sort of the natural result. And then it's up to people to to live into that or not. You know, and sometimes people won't or can't. Okay, they need to move on and go to a different place. Not because they're a bad person, this just isn't the right place for them. Yeah, other times it's like, yeah, they step up to that. It it gives so it's less about making people do things and more about my job as as the leader is to create the culture and the environment that facilitates people being able to do and be what they need to do and be to get the job done. You know? And it it's it's a it's an interesting way of thinking about it because I think it is people focused, but it's not people focused in terms of directive, it's people focused in terms of you really gotta dig in and figure out what does this individual person need? What how do they communicate? What are their strengths? What are their weaknesses? Yeah, and how do I support them? Yeah, you know, and then at the same time pull back and say, now there's a group of people.

SPEAKER_05 20:54

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:54

What do I need to do to support the whole group of people? So it's it's individual, but it's also grouped.

SPEAKER_05 20:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:59

And I think it's much harder to do leadership that way, but it's much more effective. It does take longer though. Yeah, yeah. I mean, if I just walk in and start ordering people to do things, you know, it's quicker. But it's not effective in the long term.

SPEAKER_02 21:14

No.

SPEAKER_09 21:14

And this is something you've learned during your your life, so to speak. Yeah, you're not sure.

SPEAKER_01 21:18

Somewhat by doing it wrong, you know, especially as a teacher. Um, you know, when I started teaching, it's you come into a classroom, it's like these are my rules, you're gonna follow my rules, blah, blah, blah. And then, you know, it stifles learning. It creates a community that they don't really want to be there. And it's like, oh if I change the way the culture of the classroom and create an environment where they want to be there, you know, now all of a sudden they also want to learn, you know, in part just because they don't want to disappoint you, you know, because they like you, you know, and it's like they don't want to disappoint you. And so I really think I started learning the leadership approach. Pretty early in teaching because I was kind of thrown into the deep end and put in an environment where I just I had to. You know, it was either learn this or die. You know, not literally, but that's kind of, you know, that's kind of what it felt like. And so I had to. And luckily I had some good mentors. I had, you know, my mother and other teachers and other people that that mentored me and said, you know, that's not going to work. You need to do this, and began to practice it early.

SPEAKER_09 22:29

Yeah. You mentioned that w one of your biggest low points, obviously, was in your personal story when when you and your wife had problems. Are there other kind of struggles or problems in life that that have been milestones that have shaped you to the person you are today?

SPEAKER_01 22:45

Aaron Powell Yeah, both. Both in terms of there's been high points that shape me and there's been low points that shape me. And I think it's important to say that because I think sometimes we just focus on the low points. Yeah, that's good. And I tend to think of rather than I think of low or high points, now I try to think of those in terms of challenges that I've I've had to face and overcome that have forced me to get better at certain things. But now instead of quote, fighting with it, I try to dance with it. It's a different mindset, it's a different frame. And I've had, for instance, when I was in the corporate job, one of the last promotions I took, I put in for the promotion, and I was the youngest with the least experience who put in for the promotion. Everyone else that put in for it had many more years of experience. They'd been in leadership longer, they'd been in the company longer, you know, all of the indicators that they would be a better choice for this position. And I got the position. And now three of the people reporting to me were people that had put in for the position, that had more experience than me, you know, and on paper are a better hire than me. And now they're reporting to me, you know, and that was hugely challenging because immediately you're kind of set up to fail because these folks, well, to be honest, one of them actually took it very well and was like, okay, you know, what can I do to help you succeed? The other two really kind of took approach of, I'm gonna make sure that you fail at this job just to prove that you're not the right person, you know. And it took me about a year to get both of those folk folks on my side where they were supporting me in the position. And I I knew I'd finally done it when one of them came into my office one day and closed the door and said, I need to talk to you. And I'm like, Oh, great, because usually when he came in and talked, it's always something, it's bad news. I'm like, Yeah, what do you need? What can I do? And he looked at me and said, You were the right person to get this job, not me. And it's like, okay, I've done it. You know, I've I've managed to bring him onto my side. But it's again, it was it was challenging in that I knew from day one, okay, this is gonna be tough. This is gonna be, I'm I'm set up for failure. It would be very easy for me to fall on my face.

SPEAKER_05 25:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:13

What do I need to do? How can I cultivate that environment where the team succeeds? Because ultimately, if they succeed, I succeed.

SPEAKER_05 25:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:24

You know, it's not it's not what can I do to make myself succeed? It's what can I do to make the team succeed, because then that reflects on me.

SPEAKER_05 25:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:34

And you know, started doing the things like making sure that if there was something that went wrong, I took all the blame. If there was something that went right, I gave away all the credit. You know, I was making it, you know, protect the team, make sure they got the resources they needed, the things that they needed. And eventually, if you keep doing those sorts of things, people naturally begin to align themselves with what they need to do, you know. So again, it's that creating that environment. So that would be an example of one that shaped me because it it really put to test because it would have been very easy for me to go into an authoritative, you know, directive kind of role out of almost defending myself. And and I will tell you, I initially started to do that. And then I was like realizing, uh, this isn't right. You know, this isn't who I am, this isn't how I lead, this isn't gonna work. Let me shift the way I'm doing it. So that would be an example of a pretty challenging point when I was in the career, you know, kind of job-wise, um, to to kind of counterpoint with the personal one.

SPEAKER_09 26:41

Yeah. Let's shift to the issue of beliefs. I mean, I wonder what were some of the beliefs you had earlier in your life that have you had to change in order to to grow as a leader.

SPEAKER_01 26:53

Uh I think so. Some of them are around uh you know, it's always hard to think back to beliefs that you had because the beliefs you have now are the beliefs you've always had, even though they aren't. You know, we we we have a tendency to edit our our memory of our past beliefs. Yeah. But in some ways, you know, that idea of, for instance, learning that you don't discipline, you don't you don't do things through willpower, neither does anyone else. Yeah. Um, you do it by creating habits and systems, you know, being more systems-minded and environment-minded rather than discipline-minded or willpower-minded. That is a huge shift for me. I it took me probably oh, probably 20 years, you know, 16 as a teacher. Um, I I don't really think I learned that until I got in the corporate environment. Uh-huh. I tended to be a pull yourself up by your bootstraps, you know, suck it up, just get it done, you know, kind of person. And shifting that mindset, I think, is a huge one. I also had a focus early on on kind of event-based or or what I would call rapid-based change, you know, the the kind of the resolution mindset of you just set a new thing and and you change everything at once, you know, and and let's let's just shift it. We've gotta we've gotta fix this, so let's just fix everything. And now I'm much more likely to go in and say, no, figure out where we want to go. And now what small changes do we need to start making so that over six months or a year we get to where we need to go because it's more sustainable.

SPEAKER_05 28:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:32

Um, you know, because when you do the rapid change, a lot of times you do make the change, but then you rebound. You go back to the old default position. And again, whether that's in a corporate leadership position and you're talking about the team, or whether that's an individual, employee, or direct report, or whether that's you as a leader, it's true, you know, in all cases, that that looking at things as what can I do to create sustainable change as opposed to what could I do to, you know, I just gotta fix it all right now. Um getting, I guess, patience is the the phrase. And that is definitely something, you know, it's still frustrating to me. I still look at it and go, I just want to fix it all right now. I can see what's wrong. And learning to step back and go, no, that's not gonna work. Take your time, move slow, going slow to go fast. That would be another belief that I think has radically changed over the years.

SPEAKER_09 29:28

Many people today are externally motivated to think that success comes from what you do. Now, as a leader, I believe, from what I've heard of you and and what you s what you say here, you are internally motivated. And how has that journey looked for you? And how did you turn to to internally motivated?

SPEAKER_01 29:44

I think I've probably pretty much always been pretty internally motivated. Um, yes, I I there's always some level of extern I I don't think anyone is purely one or purely the other. I think you know it's more of a matter of degree.

SPEAKER_03 29:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:58

Um and I definitely always had more or a lot of you know, I just don't want to disappoint myself, I don't want to disappoint the people I care about. You know, you you the way I phrased it around my wife, you know, I was I felt like I was a bad provider, I felt like I was a bad husband. You know, the worst thing my parents could say to me when I was growing up was, you disappointed me. You know, it's like, uh, you know, that was worse than a beating. You know, it's a I would much rather get a spanking than be told that. Yeah. Um and so there, you know, that internal motivation I think goes back to the very, very beginning. But it also is a matter of I I think where the learning for me is, is recognizing that just because I'm internally motivated doesn't mean everyone is. And figuring out what what do different people need to be given from the environment standpoint, you know, what what do I need to put into this environment for this person to help them be motivated? You know, I can't really motivate them, but I can create an environment that that helps them be motivated. And so, you know, if they're externally motivated or motivated by rewards, okay, great. What can we do to make sure that they get kudos and rewards and something tangible? You know, if if they're not, okay, great. You know, that's good too. So it's it's less about my motivational system changing and more about me recognizing that my system isn't the system that everybody has.

SPEAKER_09 31:27

Yeah. Yeah, that's good. Thank you. Thank you. I wonder what gives you purpose and meaning in life? That goes back to motivation. What is your why behind the work you do today?

SPEAKER_01 31:37

You know, ultimately my why lens are or leans on faith and family and those sorts of pillars. Um so it's it's being free to be who I am in terms of of the way I express my faith, which is not the way a lot of the people around me necessarily do, but it's who I am, you know, and the way I interact with my family, and that's not just my wife and my child, but you know, my my mom, my mother-in-law, my adopted daughter, my goddaughters, you know, all of those people that I've chosen to say this is my family. So some of them are biological family, some of them are not. And then from that, it's extending that to truly caring and loving for my neighbor, and you know, my neighbor is everybody. So, what can I do to be a more loving person today than I was yesterday? Again, do I succeed at that every single day? Nope. You know, but it's that's kind of my drive, is to be able to look up at the end of the day and go, I did things that show people a little better picture of the world than they would have seen without me in it, you know, without my interaction, without my thing. And that comes when I work with my clients, that comes when I talk to my son. It it it's you know, what can I do to reflect a little bit of that that love out into the world? And again, that is not how I was wired as a kid. That is a complete rewiring of of my why. When I was younger, my my why was much more self-focused than that.

SPEAKER_09 33:28

Yeah. Um we'll come back to that in in a little while, but we will take a short break here for maybe twenty, thirty seconds, and we'll come back very soon. Hey, I just want to pause for a moment and say thank you for being here and listening to this uh conversation today. My hope is that uh these episodes don't just give you more information, but that they help you reflect a little deeper about your own life, your direction, your leadership, and uh the kind of person you truly want to become. And maybe right now you're in a season of transition yourself. Maybe you feel uh successful on the outside, but internally you know something feels unclear, misaligned, unfinished. It helps you. I want to encourage you. You don't need to figure out your whole life overnight. Sometimes clarity begins simply by slowing down enough to ask the right questions. And uh if you want to uh go a little little deeper in that journey, I've created two resources that may help you. The first one is my identity alignment scorecard, a simple reflective tool that um helps you discover how aligned your current life really is with who you are becoming. And the second is the upcoming Life and Leadership Connected Summit 2026. Clarity in Transition from Identity to Sustainable Impact. It's a gathering designed for people who want to grow with greater clarity, purpose and alignment. Both in life and leadership. You'll find the links and cure codes here on the screen if you are a viewer. And also down in the description below this episode, if you're a listener. I generally love to see you there. And now let's continue the um conversation. Hello and welcome back to the Life and Leadership Connector Podcast. Today I I have a conversation here with Scott Maider. Scott Maider. Scott, before we ended for the pause, you spoke a bit a little about your faith. And you said that your journey didn't I mean you uh that how that affects who you are today. And but you said that it didn't start that way. How did you how was your faith born, so to speak? And how did that change come about? That faith became so important for you?

SPEAKER_01 35:54

So when I started my journey, I actually was raised in the church. My you know, mom and dad took me to church every Sunday. I was very faith-minded.

SPEAKER_06 36:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 36:04

Very kind of religion-minded and this sort of thing. I actually thought about going to seminary. I mean, you know, I was really all in. You know, yet led the youth group, did all of those things. And like a lot of folks, I had interactions with with the church and with people in the church, really, that began to make me feel like there was a lot of hypocrisy and a lot of people believing things that were not in alignment with what I thought the message was and and this kind of thing. And I began to develop a lot of friction around church and God and and my beliefs and what it was. Like a lot of folks, I went through a period where I kind of drifted away and said, you know, I don't need any of this stuff. I'll be fine on my own, you know. And it really wasn't, and for years I I did that. Now, I've always been an intellectual and philosophy-minded person. So even when I was, quote, away from the church and away from God, I was I was studying religion. You know, I I took classes on different faiths around the world and you know, read different books from different backgrounds, and but it was it was more academic than it was belief, if that makes sense. Um and eventually, over time, uh I began to realize that what I was kind of asking for wasn't I was asking for like the perfect church full of perfect people and the fur perfect belief full of perfect people. And then eventually I realized that even if I found it, they wouldn't let me in, you know, because I I'm not far from the perfect person. And I began to realize that the the things that I was mad about weren't really about faith or belief or or grace or any of those things. They were about they were about people and in a negative way, you know, sort of judging other people in the worst light possible as opposed to in the best light possible. And as I began to shift that, I returned to faith, returned to eventually, you know, even church and all of those things.

SPEAKER_05 38:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 38:19

And I it's kind of one of those, I'm all in or I'm all out, so I'm now heavily involved in in different parts of the faith environment. But it it you know, the real shift was more around. So I believed in God all throughout, but I kind of didn't believe in my relationship with God all throughout, if that makes sense. And then eventually I kind of was reborn to that idea that you know, I don't have to be perfect to belong, I don't have to, and nobody else has to be perfect to belong. You know, I'm not gonna find a church or a place or a community where every single person in there is perfectly aligned with each other because it doesn't exist, you know. But that doesn't mean I don't be part of it and try to reflect what I am and what I can bring to that community. You know, and so it's more about learning to be comfortable with my beliefs and my relationship and and open to that and focused on that, not in a selfish way, but in a, you know, this is who God has made me to be, so this is who I'm gonna be. You know, this is my skin and I'm gonna wear it, you know, kind of thing.

SPEAKER_09 39:33

You you help others steward their time, talent, and treasures. You say that on your webpage, and you help them to live out the calling. Or did you be begin to realize that this was so important to you and this was something you should you should do or call to do?

SPEAKER_01 39:47

A lot of it came out of, again, the personal journey my wife and I went through. You know, we started with the idea of finances, money, treasures, because that was of course our source of pain. And and then what I realized was money was really the symptom, not the cause. The actual cause was that that self component, that talent component, that mindset, that belief, that communication, the leadership, the the piece that was the connecting thread was talent. And then as I moved into the corporate world, I began to have people that were struggling with time stuff, productivity stuff. And I noticed that the mindsets and the beliefs and the habits and the behaviors and all of that, the systems and the processes that helped them in time were exactly the same as what helped them with money. They were just, you know, they were different applications, but it's really the same core problem, if that makes sense. And so eventually, also as I kind of returned to faith, I realized what I discovered, you know, was the idea of stewardship, which is we're blessed with certain resources, but we don't own them. We manage them. And our job is to manage them well. By the way, even if you're not a perfect person of faith and don't believe in God and any of that, this concept still applies because you don't own anything. You just temporarily manage it. And uh you know, the old joke is if you don't believe that, have you ever seen a U-Haul following a hearse, right? The answer is no. At some point you pass away and the stuff that you have goes to someone else. I mean, you know, it's just that's just a fact of the way the universe works and the way life works. So though it's a religious concept, because the idea here is that God is giving us the blessings and our job is to manage them. Again, it doesn't have to be a religious concept. It's the idea that you're only a temporary manager of what you have. And I think for leaders especially, this is so important because you know, we we talk about and you see stories of leaders who make very short-term, very selfish decisions that help them, but maybe kill the company in the long term or harm their team or you know, whatever. And that's that's leaders that don't have a stewardship mindset. You know, they're looking at it as me, me, me, me, me, as opposed to, no, I'm just the temporary manager of this. What can I do to make sure this lives beyond me and grows beyond me and continues to bless others? And when you shift that mindset, you start making different decisions. And so that's where I got called to, you know, at first it was money, and then I realized, well, wait, money's not really the problem. It's just where it's showing up. And then I saw time and I realized, wait a minute, time's not really the problem, it's just where it's showing up. And so I jokingly say I talk about time and money because that's what everyone thinks the problem is. But the real truth is, you know, I hate to tell you this, but you're the problem. Um, you know, the good news is you're also the solution, so you know, you can work on it, uh, that talent component. And so really all I ever coach on is talent, but I talk about time and money because that's where most people recognize the struggle, if that makes sense. That's where it shows up.

SPEAKER_09 43:10

Yeah. Great. Thank you. You have in your own podcast that's called Inspired Stewardship Podcast. And you have recorded over 1,600 episodes. They're quite asking.

SPEAKER_01 43:19

I'm actually up to about 1,700 now.

SPEAKER_09 43:21

Oh, that's quite a quite a feat. I mean, great. Uh and uh what made you start it? What have you learned from recording all those episodes?

SPEAKER_01 43:32

So one of the reasons I started it, and in fact, the main reason I started it is I don't like to write.

SPEAKER_05 43:38

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 43:38

So I knew I needed to process information and I knew I wanted to share some of my thoughts. And at that time, this was seven years ago, yeah, everybody was like, go start a blog. And I'm like, I really don't want to have to write a blog every week or every day or every month. You know, that just sounded like work. You know, I don't want to do this. And I'm like, how can I write something without writing it? I'm like, well, I love to talk. I mean, I'm I'm good at that. I've been doing public speaking since I was 12 years old. You know, give me a mic in five minutes and you know, I'm ready to go. Let's let's go. And so I'm like, well, and I literally had discovered podcasts looking for what is a way I can process information, think about things. And then I also realized, wait a minute, a lot of podcasts interview people. Well, I want to make connections and I want to network and I want to connect to people. But again, I hate doing that. That's you know, that that's I that's not normal for me. But if I have a podcast and I'm inviting people to come on my show, well, that then I could do that. You know, there's a purpose behind the connection. And then I can get to know people and make connections with people. Okay, so I should start a podcast. And so that's literally the podcast was born out of me thinking about what I ultimately wanted to achieve and how can I create a system and a process that forces me to do it just because it naturally is part of it.

SPEAKER_09 45:03

Yeah, yeah. What would you say is your biggest takeaway or learning from your maybe if if I frame it like this, can you um pick out maybe two or three highlights that you've learned from all those episodes?

SPEAKER_01 45:16

I think a lot of it is, you know, I I'm gonna kind of give two sides. Because I've done I've done a ton of interviews, I've done over 500 interviews, and and then I've done over a thousand solo episodes. So, you know, I've got some of both. Yeah. Um the interview side, I think what I've learned is number one, everyone has a story. Everyone has things that they've gone through, good, bad, indifferent, you know, it it everyone has a story. And if you dig in and ask questions, everyone has an interesting story. You know, it's it's not even just and by the way, most of the time they don't think it is. You know, that they just see it as that's just their life. And it's like from outside looking in, dude, this is cool. You know, you you've you've you've had an interesting journey, you've had some interesting experiences. And recognizing that, again, gets back to that. It it helps me now to when I'm interacting with anyone, you know, the the bagger at the at the grocery store. You know, I I interact with them in a different way because I know that that person has a cool story and an interesting life, and you know, they are a person. They're not just a name tag putting bags in a grocery, you know, kind of thing. Or groceries in a bag, bags in a grocery. But that's they're a real person. And you know, and again, that's not my natural natural wiring. So I think doing the podcast has helped rewire my brain to see people differently.

SPEAKER_08 46:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 46:55

And then on the solo side, for for a year and a half, I was doing four solo episodes a week. And for two and a half years, I was doing four solo episodes and two interviews, and for the year and a half, I was doing four solos and one interview. So I, you know, this is why, by the way, that's why I have so many episodes in seven years, is because for a long time I was doing it five, six days a week.

SPEAKER_02 47:16

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 47:17

And the solo episodes, what I've discovered is our brains are actually really good at finding stories to tell once you train your brain to look for stories. And what I mean by that is part of the reason I forced myself to do so much solo content is I was training my brain to constantly be finding things to talk about. Because I I had to, you know. Yeah, yeah. I got an episode coming out tomorrow. I gotta come up with something to talk about. Yeah. And it created a situation where like I can walk down the street now and see five things that I'm like, oh, I could talk about that, I could talk about that, that's a story, that's a story, that's a story. And again, that's not how my brain was wired. That's not how I was seeing things. So it rewired my brain to look at the world differently, both in terms of people and in terms of connection or community. Stor because story to me is connection and community. Um, and you know, that helps me now as a coach because when a client says something, you know, I've got this huge data bank of people and story and information that I can connect with them with, even if my personal background wouldn't overlap, if that makes sense.

SPEAKER_09 48:38

Yeah. Yeah, thank you. Thank you. I haven't done so many podcasts uh as you have, but I I I'm I'm still learning. Uh so it's great to hear what what you say here. Um I'm still learning too. Uh Scott, what gives you life energy in the work you do now? And and how do you keep your energy at high level day by day?

SPEAKER_01 48:57

Connection is what gives me energy, which is ironic to me because I'm an introvert and you know normally and it still does, you know, interacting with people drains and fills, which is a weird way of phrasing it. But you know, it it drains energy in that a lot of times after, especially like if I'm working with a crisis client or someone that's going through something, it's like you know, I've worked with them for an hour, now I need a nap, you know, that kind of thing. But it also so ultimately when I step back at the end of the day and I'm kind of doing that review at the end of the day and going, what went well today? It's on the list. You know, it's like that was that was what went well. And it's because I think the reason it drains energy and yet fills my cup is because it's a transference of energy. It drains energy because I'm literally taking my hope or my belief or my confidence that you know they can you can get through this. And I'm pushing it into them, you know, I'm letting them borrow it or them take it for a little while.

SPEAKER_05 49:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 50:00

And that drains energy that takes energy, but it's also fulfilling in a way that that fills your cup.

SPEAKER_05 50:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 50:08

And so it's how do I find my energy during the day? One is just habit systems and process, you know, in terms of I've created an environment where you know, I have a morning routine, I do it every morning, I have an evening routine, I do it every evening. It you know, it is just it's it's so hardwired that I can't not do it, you know, um, because I've been doing it like I thought I think I was last time I checked, I was over 7,000, you know, routines in a row, you know, kind of thing, where I haven't skipped a day. Because I just keep doing it. Um I, you know, and those sorts of things is part of it in terms of helping maintain energy in the day. And then the other is doing the reflection, um, doing the gratitude exercises, doing the time where you sit down and go, you know, what what was good about today? Because the interesting thing is, even if I do that at the end of the day, it gives me tomorrow morning when I wake up, I've got energy, you know, because my brain is going, you know, hey, yesterday was good. Today's gonna be good too. You know, it you kind of almost trick is not the right word, but it, you know, I guess program is more the right word. You you begin to wire your brain in a way to do that. And again, it's never perfect. Um, you know, there's still days where I get up in the morning and it's it's a rough day, it's hard to get started and all of that. And a lot of times on those days, one of the best things I can do if I'm able to is go take a walk, you know, get outside. Um and I in my case, I judge waffles by the number of floofs I see. Floofs are dogs. You know, so it's like I'll come back from a walk and it's like, it was a three-dog walk. You know, this was awesome. You know, I got to talk to three dogs. I talk to their owners too, but you know, the dogs are more important. You know, that kind of thing. It's just it's getting outside and seeing birds and the weather and the sunlight and the those sorts of things can be a good reset on the days where your brain's not cooperating.

SPEAKER_09 52:12

In in your book, Scott, uh, you talk about assembling the puzzle of of our calling. I wonder what what does that process look like? And and where do most people get stuck?

SPEAKER_01 52:22

So I think where most people get stuck is, and and I use the idea of a puzzle, but it's it's kind of a trick in that the puzzle that you're putting together, the reason why it's so difficult and why people get stuck is imagine for a minute that you were putting together a jigsaw puzzle and you start putting together the frame, right? We always start with the outside and work in, right? That's how 99.9% of people do a puzzle. And those of you that don't do it that way are insane. But you know, you start putting the puzzle together and you're looking over at the box to see what the picture is supposed to look like, and you about the time you get the frame together, you look over the box and the picture is completely different. It's not the same picture anymore. And it and it's you realize, by the way, that in the box there's puzzle pieces missing. And what's more, in the box, there's puzzle pieces from a different puzzle, you know, and that's really what assembling the puzzle or calling is like is first off, the picture changes. It it shifts over time because you get feedback and you get more information and you begin to learn, you know, and I love your question about energy, because you begin to learn what gives me energy, you begin to learn what what feeds my soul, what gives me joy, and you begin to learn what doesn't, you know, and that changes the picture.

SPEAKER_05 53:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 53:40

And what's more, sometimes you discover you're on a path, and then you realize wait a minute. The only reason I'm on this path is because you know, somebody told me that you know you should do that because that's a good job or whatever. It's not my belief, it's a belief that someone else gave me. And by the way, that's not necessarily good or bad. It's just until you own it, it's not yours, you know, until you decide, huh? Yeah, I do want to do that. The joke is, right? The world's somebody somewhere has an appointment to see a doctor tomorrow who doesn't really want to be a doctor. You know, it's a horrible thought, right? I want to go to a doctor that's like, this is their passion, this is what they want to do. They want to heal people. They want to, that's my doctor, that's right. I want that doctor. But yet there's somebody that's a doctor just because somebody told them they should be a doctor, you know, and it's it's completely not their passion and not their belief and not their calling, but they're doing it because those pieces were put in their box by somebody else and they put together the wrong puzzle. And so that's why it's so hard. That's why we get stuck. And so the reframe, what I like to tell people is just stop thinking of it as a puzzle that you ever complete. It's a puzzle that you get closer and closer and closer to completion if you if you do the work and you you put the pieces in there and you really look at them and you reflect, but you never really finish it because you're always refining that picture. You're always adding more detail, you're always growing in the depth of your connection to it and reprogramming and recreating yourself, and that's okay. That is what putting that puzzle is. Is it's that process of refining it.

SPEAKER_09 55:33

I wonder, I mean, uh as a Christian, a as a baseline, do you think there is a master puzzle? I will return to something we talked about before, that that is your purpose or is who you are discovered, or is it something that you create? Uh what do you think?

SPEAKER_01 55:48

I I think the answer to that question is yes. I think it's a false dichotomy. And when if we set those up as an either-or, okay, in my theology and my belief, God is a god of both and, not a god of either or. As humans, we want to put things in boxes. You know, it's either this or it's that.

SPEAKER_05 56:11

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_01 56:12

It's up or it's down, you know? Yeah, yeah. And God is kind of a no, it's yeah, it's both. It can be it can be up and down at the same time, which to our brain makes no sense. You know, how can something be up and down at the same time?

SPEAKER_05 56:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 56:26

But it's because it's not our reality, it's our interaction, it's our community, it's our creation. You know, we're creators because we're made in the image of God who's a creator. So, yes, we're creating it. But we're also uncovering deeper truths and things that were there all along that we just weren't able to see. So I don't think it's an either-or. I don't think it's a we create it or we discover it, or you know, it was there all along, or I think it's both. And it's both at the same time. And honestly, uh to me, that's what makes it beautiful is we're not trapped in the box of we have to do all the work. We're also not trapped in the box of it's fate, and you know, I have no free will and no decisions and no control. It's a yeah, you know, it's a partnership, not a dictatorship.

SPEAKER_09 57:20

I wonder what would you say are some myths people believe about time and money that might hold them back?

SPEAKER_01 57:26

So I'm gonna give you two, and they're really the same one, but they're different. So in time, the phrase that we use all the time is we talk about being busy, we talk about not having enough time, right? Everyone always, oh, I just don't have time for that. My challenge is change your language because you'll change the way you act. And the language changes, stop saying I don't have time for that. Stop saying I'm too busy for that. Instead, say that's not a priority for me right now. Here's what's interesting: you'll make a different decision. I mean, stop and think for a minute. I'll give you a real world example. Imagine you're you know, cubicle worker, you're sitting in your little cubicle, you're typing away, getting close to the end of the day, your coworker comes over and goes, Hey, didn't you have to leave early today to go to your daughter's soccer game? Well, if you look at your coworker and you go, you know, I'm I'm really busy with this work right now, and I just don't have time to go to the daughter's soccer game, they'll sympathize with you. You know, they'll pat you on the back and go, Oh, yeah, I'm really busy too. That's too bad, so sad, you know, work sucks, right? You know, we'll do all of that stuff. If on the other hand you looked at your coworker and you said, you know, it's really just not a priority for me to make it to my daughter's soccer game. That sounds icky, you know? And most humans would go, dude, really? What do you mean? Sign off the computer and go to the game. You can answer that email later. You can log on later tonight. Or you nowadays we can do it from our phone at the soccer game. You know, just leave. It's fine. Because it's here's the truth. That's what you're doing. When you sit there and answer the email instead of going to the soccer game, what you are saying is this email is more important than the soccer game.

SPEAKER_02 59:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 59:10

And by the way, if you're an open heart surgeon and you're in the middle of the OR, yeah, please stay, finish the surgery, don't go to the soccer game. But 99.9% of the time, that's not what's happening. We're allowing something that's actually less important to take away the time that we should have prioritized for the thing that's more important.

SPEAKER_05 59:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 59:34

And so that's around time. Money, it's, and again, remember I told you earlier that the reason I started doing time is because I recognize that the ideas are the same. We also say the same thing about money. We'll look up and we'll go, you know, I just don't have time, I don't have the money for that. Well, yes, you do. You're just using it somewhere else. Okay. And by the way, I don't care if you make $37,000 a year, $370,000 a year, $3.7 million a year, you know, or euro if you're in the European Union. I don't care what the amount is, there's a limit. There's always a choice. There's always a point where you have to go, I can get that, but I can't get that. Okay. You know, Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, by the way, there's still a limit. You know, there is still a point at which he would have to say, I can't do this, I need to do this. Okay. Now, and granted, his limit is astronomically large, but there's there is a limit. And so the truth is, if there's always a limit, it's always a choice, it's always a prioritization. And so around money, people have a tendency to say, I had to buy a car or I had to do this, I had to, it's a have to. It's not a have to, it's a choice. You chose to.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:55

And the minute you reprogram your brain to realize it's a choice, you'll start making different choices and you'll start spending your money in different places because you've always got the power of choice. And once you realize that, that's, and again, this is why it all comes back to talent, is because you'll notice in both of these cases, it's really going, wait a minute, I have that power that I'm giving up, you know, and if I take that power back, I can make different choices and therefore get different results.

SPEAKER_09 1:01:26

Yeah. Okay, great. Thank you. And something else that that's really important around this, to set boundaries around how you're living. How do you set healthy boundaries around leadership, for example, and around your personal life, so you can lead and live in a healthy, sustainable way? And and I think also in the perspective of mentally, emotionally, and also spiritually.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:45

Yeah. So boundaries are very important. I mean, what we were just talking about is an example of boundaries, right? You know, you're you're able to make the choice, so you're able to draw the boundary that I'm choosing to do this rather than that. And and I think for me, recognizing that and owning that for a while was almost depressing. You know, because there was a period where it's like, wait a minute. That means the results that I've gotten are because I've done stupid. The reason we're so deeply in debt is because I've made stupid choices. The reason my wife and I are almost divorced is because I've made stupid choices. You know, and and I mean her too, but you know, I'm gonna own my part of it. But it's it's when you realize and look up and go, that's reality, but then owning that and going, but that means if I make different choices, I'll get a different result. So what can I do to make different choices? So for me, the boundaries is always around examining and owning the fact that I am an active participant in this, whatever it is. So if it's a relationship, I'm an active participant. I can choose to continue the relationship, I can choose to not continue the relationship. You know, I have that power. And what's interesting is once you start recognizing that, you'll you'll say things, you'll do things, you'll be a different person. You know, going back to the corporate, I mentioned I was promoted like six times in five years. One of the promotions really traces back to I'd got into a position where I didn't need the job anymore from a money position. I'd already started the coaching business, it was already growing, you know, everything. Like if I'd gotten fired, I'd be fine. You know, I would have just walked out the door, taking the severance and started my business, and it wouldn't have worried me. And because of that, all of a sudden I'm going to meetings and I'm saying out loud the things that I probably should have said all along, but was too afraid to say, you know, because I'm worried about getting fired.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:44

And people are like, this guy needs to be promoted, you know, because he's brave enough to say this. And and he, you know, he I called out the VP in a meeting, and and to the VP's credit, he owned it and said, You're right. You know, he because I he was basically talking in a way that was against our stated mission. And I called him out and said, you know, that's not in alignment with what we say we are. You know, is that really the position we want to take? And again, to his credit, he went, You're right. And and backed up and rephrased and restated what he was doing. And came and talked to me later and and you know, we had a really nice conversation about it. So it was interesting that what allowed me to take on leadership was getting to a position where I had enough ownership of who I am and what I own and what my choices are, and didn't worry as much about the the results of it or you know what anyone else thought. And again, that sounds kind of bad in a way, but it's not. It's not I don't care what anyone else else thinks, so I'm just gonna do whatever and you know to heck with them. It's I'm gonna be true to who I am and make choices that are good for not just me, but everybody. You know?

SPEAKER_02 1:05:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:05

Sometimes that means being the unpopular person and saying the thing that needs to be said that nobody else wants to say because it's unpopular. You know, you're you're you're in the meeting saying the emperor has no clothes, and you know, nobody wants to hear that. Um you know, especially the emperor, you know. But it it it that's kind of the shift that that happened, and the way I've drawn boundaries now is stronger because of it, and yet there's in a way fewer boundaries because I'm more open to other people because of it.

SPEAKER_09 1:05:37

Yeah. Yeah, great. Thank you. And in your book and and your coach work, you focus on lasting transformation through small, consistent steps. And I wonder what encouragement would you give someone listening who who's feeling overwhelmed or misaligned to to get out of that?

SPEAKER_01 1:05:53

Yeah, that you have the power of choice and change. Where you are today will not be where you are today. Tomorrow, period. Your life is always a film strip, not a photograph. So whether you're at the top of the mountain right now and everything is going fantastic, or whether you're in the deepest, darkest valley and this is the dark night of the soul, you know, the worst time of your life. What I can promise you is a week from now, a month from now, six weeks from now, six months from now, a year from now, the future will be different. It will change. And that realization means now you can step back and go, so what small action can I take today to move this in a positive direction? Not to change everything, not to fix everything, but just to take a tiny step today. Because if I take that tiny step today and I take it tomorrow and I take it the next day and I take it the next day, then that film, you know, a year from now will be better. It has to be.

SPEAKER_09 1:06:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:59

Because I took those tiny steps to make it a little better.

SPEAKER_09 1:07:01

Yeah. And how can someone know they are on the right path? I mean, even if the sounds are slow, how what can we do? It's feedback.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:10

Yeah, you you always get echoes back. So you have to do the work of you make a plan, you execute on the plan. Most people are pretty good at that, actually. Here's where most people fail. You actually then have to reflect on what happened, revise and repeat. You know, plan, execute, reflect, revise, repeat. So that it becomes, you learn from it. And if you consistently do that over time, you're going to make things move in a better direction. And you'll get feedback along the way because people will recognize it. You'll recognize it. You'll get echoes that come back to you. Those echoes may be something you hear on a podcast. Those echoes may be a conversation with a friend. You know, again, for me, somebody coming up to us and going, You and your wife are weird. Do you think you could help us be weird? You know, think about what that was. That's a feedback from the world going, You're doing something different, and people are noticing in a good way. You know, I mean, because honestly, they meant that. That was a big compliment. You know, it may not feel like it, but you know, I I've gotten echoes back from clients where they've looked at me and said something like, you know, like one of my clients who was a Muslim, you know, looked at me and said at the end of our three-year coaching relationship and said, Yo, Scott, I I want to pay you a compliment. I'm like, okay. And he's like, I'm not sure if you're going to take it as a compliment. I'm like, all right, you know, at this point we've built a good enough relationship. Tell me. And he said, You're Christian, but you're not annoying about it. I went, dude, I'll take that as a compliment. Absolutely. You know, because you get those echoes from the universe, those feedbacks that come and echo into your mind and go, you're on the right path. You haven't arrived yet, but you're moving the right direction.

SPEAKER_09 1:09:00

Yeah. Great. If people want to know more of you, Scott, uh, and find, you know, maybe have some coaching with you or search out the resources you have, connect with you perhaps. Where can they go?

SPEAKER_01 1:09:12

I actually put together a landing page just for your listeners. So if you go to my website, which is inspiredstewardship.com, then just put in forward slash Life Leadership Connected. There's no A and in there, but Life Leadership Connected, all one word.

SPEAKER_05 1:09:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:29

What you'll find there is there's some free resources. There's a link to my podcast if you're interested in checking that out.

SPEAKER_05 1:09:35

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:35

Um, there's a place you could book a small call if if you're interested in coaching. My book's on there, all of that. And you can find it at inspired stewardship.com forward slash life leadership connected.

SPEAKER_09 1:09:47

Wow, amazing. Thank you. Thank you so much. I've been really enjoying this conversation, Scott. It's been uh wonderful. I mean you're you express so much joy when you speak and energy. So it's uh influencing. Thank you. So so thank you for being part of this podcast. And uh I want to speak to you, listeners and viewers, thank you for being here today. And I hope you've learned something, just as I have. Make choice to subscribe to the podcast so you don't miss when the next one comes out. Thank you for today and see you next time. Bye-bye.