Daily Boost Podcast - Are You a Rule Bender? - Episode 5,005 Host: Scott Smith Episode Description Scott Smith explores the complex relationship between following rules and bending them, sharing personal experiences from his high school days and radio career. Through engaging storytelling, he reveals how sometimes we unconsciously follow the rules while thinking we're breaking them and the importance of understanding when rule-bending crosses the line. Key Takeaways - Rules in jobs, relationship...
Jan 10, 2025•10 min
The Daily Boost - Episode 5,004 "Why You Shouldn't Trust Your Brain" Host: Scott Smith Episode Description Scott explores the fascinating relationship between our brain's chemical rewards system and decision-making. He explains why our brains, while essential for survival and success, shouldn't always be trusted blindly due to their addiction to neurotransmitters like dopamine, serotonin, and oxytocin. Scott shares his unorthodox yet practical approach to managing this relationship for better de...
Jan 09, 2025•11 min•Season 19Ep. 5004
Daily Boost Podcast - Episode 5003 Monkey Effect: When Others Dump Their Problems on You Host: Scott Smith Episode Description: Scott explores how people try to burden us with their problems (their “monkeys”) and how this affects our ability to pursue our goals. Through a personal story from his fifth grade, he illustrates why we should be mindful of taking on others' responsibilities while managing our challenges, especially during New Year's resolution season. Key Takeaways: - External influen...
Jan 08, 2025•11 min•Season 19Ep. 5003
Love vs Grind: Counterintuitive Path to Success Host: Scott Smith Episode Description: Scott explores wanting success "bad enough" through personal experiences and an enlightening interview with Ann Beiler, founder of Auntie Anne's Pretzels. He discusses the reality of "the grind" and how passion transforms challenging work into meaningful pursuits. Key Takeaways: - True desire for success requires embracing difficulty rather than seeking easy paths - Sometimes, not knowing the challenges ahead ...
Jan 07, 2025•11 min•Season 19Ep. 5002
The Daily Boost - Episode 5,001 When Resolutions Meet Bathroom Breaks Hosted by Scott Smith Episode Description Join Scott for this milestone 5,000th episode, where he shares a hilarious road trip story that perfectly illustrates the difference between goals and resolutions. Through bathroom breaks, Bucky's stops, and visiting his 92-year-old mom, Scott reveals powerful insights about setting and achieving your biggest dreams. In This Episode - Celebrating 18 seasons and 5,000 episodes of The Da...
Jan 06, 2025•11 min•Season 19Ep. 5001
Don’t Break Your Success Chain I’ll never forget the day a friend called and made me an offer I couldn’t refuse - and I didn’t. Rob was an event promoter who had snagged the chance to book an up-and-coming comedian named Jerry Seinfeld into a local venue. He needed somebody to warm up the audience and introduce Jerry. I was all in when he agreed to cover my drink tab and let me hang out with Jerry before the show. It was 1986, and Jerry’s television series about nothing was still in development....
Jan 03, 2025•8 min•Season 18Ep. 5000
How To Make Change in 2025 As we get into the New Year, I've noticed that people are getting back to their old ways. That's okay. It's a journey. But what is that journey? Winston Churchill said, "To improve is to change, so to be perfect is to have changed often." And it helps if you understand the stages of change: 1) Pre-Contemplation. You may intend to take action but are unaware that your behavior is the problem. 2) Contemplation. You recognize the problem and start to debate the pros and c...
Jan 02, 2025•9 min•Season 18Ep. 4999
Wouldn’t it be great to have a plan to help you get what you want? What you need is MAPSS. - a system that gets thinking out of the way and focuses on actions in four areas: Motivation: Everything begins with motivation and knowing ‘WHY’ you set your goals. Stay motivated. Accountability: Being accountable and accepting responsibility for your results will empower your success. Saying, ‘If it’s to be, it’s up to me,’ is a great way to get started. Planning: Plan your work, work you plan. It’s si...
Jan 01, 2025•8 min•Season 18Ep. 4998
Creating a difference in your life is a non-stop process that requires simple actions to help you get what you want. And it is, after all, about getting what you want and keeping what you love. You’ll always go through these steps: 1) Decide. Everything begins with your decision to head off in a new direction. While sometimes you may feel like you’ve made a decision, if you’re not moving, you haven’t. 2) Define. Aimless wandering is fun when that’s what you’ve decided to do. Otherwise, it’s frus...
Dec 31, 2024•8 min•Season 18Ep. 4997
I'm a big fan of setting big-ass goals. Dreaming BIG is my natural state - which is why S.M.A.R.T. goals are not all that smart. S.M.A.R.T. stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-Bound. While it may seem like a good plan, I can't wrap my head around not setting goals because they don't seem achievable or realistic. Excuse me? When did big goals seem achievable and realistic? If that were true, you would already be doing them. Anytime you are moving from dreaming into do...
Dec 30, 2024•8 min•Season 18Ep. 4996
Around this time every year, people begin to declare to me the WORD they have chosen to guide their lives for the following year. I like words - especially when combined with wisdom and a few wisecracks - but that might be just me. Still, I'm always amazed at how excited people get and how much they believe their WORD will guide them into the next year. I'm jealous. I need a WORD, too - and that's where the trouble begins. I can't imagine choosing a word to represent 365 days of getting after it...
Dec 27, 2024•9 min•Season 18Ep. 4995
In 300 BC, political life was driving people crazy. To calm the masses, several schools of philosophy popped up. Stoicism still resonates powerfully today. 1. Don't enslave yourself to annoying people. 2. Choose reasonable expectations. 3. Pre-meditate those expectations. 4. You are a mind that is operating a bag of chemicals you call a body. 5. Stop pretending you know that things are bad. 6. You were put here to reason, so use it already. 7. Life is NOT too short. 8. Feel your emotions like a ...
Dec 26, 2024•9 min•Season 18Ep. 4994
When will you get to do what you want to do? More people than you know lose sleep over that question. If that sounds like something you have experienced, you’re not alone. Almost everybody begins their journey when a thought pops into their mind. Then, day-to-day life keeps them busy, and they spend frustrating months fixin’ to get ready. You know, starting to prepare… so you can begin to do… so you can do… and say you did. If that doesn’t work, you summon your friend, Will Power. Will is not a ...
Dec 25, 2024•9 min•Season 18Ep. 4993
I’m not sure how you feel about the Universe and how things work in the world, but does the Universe speak to you? I can’t tell you if the ‘Universe’ stands alone or if ‘God’ created the ‘Universe’ and runs the show. That’s above my pay grade. What I can say is this. We live and breathe every day in a world that is ganging up on us and trying to get our attention. The question is, are you listening? While there are many ways people seek to receive messages of guidance as we make life decisions, ...
Dec 24, 2024•9 min•Season 18Ep. 4992
A few years ago, my friend Louis Gates taught me about the nine-year life cycle. It's an easy way to get what you want using the Law of Attraction. 9-year cycles begin the day you are born and repeat throughout your life. Happiness is as simple as paying attention to your cycle - and asking for what you want. In year 1, start asking for a new purpose in life. It will reveal itself in year 2. Your focus will tighten. Things start moving in year 3. You'll enjoy the changes happening in your life. ...
Dec 23, 2024•9 min•Season 18Ep. 4991
I'm sure you have a lot to do today. You’re probably in for a busy day if you use a traditional To-Do list. If I may, I’d like to pass on some advice to make your days much more fun. LOSE your "To-Do List." Replace it with a "Did I Do It List." Of course, a traditional To-Do list will get the job done. But it’s far too easy to focus entirely on your list of things to do instead of what you're supposed to be doing. Don’t get me wrong, when you are inside any project, you may need a list. I can’t ...
Dec 20, 2024•9 min•Season 18Ep. 4990
The Law of Attraction should be called the Law of What You Think About Most. Like attracts like, what you think about, you get. If you think, "I won't get it because I never do," - you are correct. Dreaming of something new while focusing on current problems is a sure way to keep spinning your wheels. The secret is to focus your attention and actions on what you want to attract. That will require a dedicated effort. Vision Boards, lists of goals, and daily journaling are all great ways to stay o...
Dec 19, 2024•9 min•Season 18Ep. 4989
It’s Time To Explore What’s Possible I’ve spent the last couple of days saying things like — “What do you do when you are doing you, and your purpose is to find your purpose?” Now, I realize that something so simple is also something most people will ignore. I also realized that for some people, as soon as they begin reading and realize they’ve already heard it, tune out and open the next email. That’s unfortunate. Studies have long ago proven that repetition is the Mother of all skills. Yes, it...
Dec 18, 2024•10 min•Season 18Ep. 4988
Say YES to Yourself More This Year Do you ever wish you had a less complicated life? Even if your job and life are overcomplicated out of necessity, like launching a rocket or performing brain surgery, you can still simplify everything. How do you do it? Your actions in your life and your job are probably not causing the overwhelm. It's the people and the results that are causing you to feel that way. The easier way to under-complicate is to begin saying "No" to the arbitrary and unattainable de...
Dec 17, 2024•10 min•Season 18Ep. 4987
My friend Sid called to tell me he had found his next big thing. He decided to take flying lessons and couldn't wait to get started. After hearing my Mom's stories over the years, I have always wanted to learn to fly. Her father was a contractor in Wilmington, North Carolina. When an airport client couldn't pay, he offered lessons. She was 15 years old. Her stories of landing on the beaches of North Carolina were thrilling. Flying solo before an arriving hurricane was captivating. We'll forget t...
Dec 16, 2024•10 min•Season 18Ep. 4986
One thing that I'm always going to do is refine my morning routine — it's a never-ending process. You hear a lot about using morning rituals to get more done. But what if you could use your mornings to get more done for YOU? In the fast-paced world we live in today, there seem to be two groups when it comes to how to use mornings — personal and productive. Once folks remove themselves from the craziness of jumping out of bed, taking care of the kids, and hitting the drive-through, they choose on...
Dec 13, 2024•10 min•Season 18Ep. 4985
Over the years, I've witnessed dozens of people set themselves up for failure by following seemingly wise advice - "When you set a goal, make it public and tell everybody you know so they can support you." In my experience, that could have worked better - especially on long-term goals. The reason is that nobody outside my close relationships knows me well enough to understand why I'm doing what I'm doing. That makes it challenging to provide support in meaningful ways, difficult for me to accept...
Dec 12, 2024•10 min•Season 18Ep. 4984
Creating a difference in your life is a non-stop process that requires simple actions to help you get what you want. And it is, after all, about getting what you want and keeping what you love. You’ll always go through these steps: 1) Decide. Everything begins with your decision to head off in a new direction. While sometimes you may feel like you’ve made a decision, if you’re not moving, you haven’t. 2) Define. Aimless wandering is fun when that’s what you’ve decided to do. Otherwise, it’s frus...
Dec 11, 2024•10 min•Season 18Ep. 4983
I’ve noticed in my life that humans are hoarders when it comes to keeping stuff that works and doesn’t. They keep hanging on; their life depends on it. Now, before I go on, I think there are two situations at play here: 1) Hanging on to what has worked well but needs to go so you can do more of what you want to do. 2) Hanging on what doesn’t work in hopes that it will work well someday. Both can go on for years, leading to frustration as you long for something else. I was on the phone with a cli...
Dec 10, 2024•10 min•Season 18Ep. 4982
Every day, we all jump into the craziness of life with little thought to the basic rules we use to run our day. Here are a few of mine. You can borrow them if you would like: 1) Do what makes your heart sing. You'll always feel better when you are dancing down your path. 2) Believe anything is possible. As soon as you believe - everything IS possible. 3) Be nice to others. Expect them to do the same. No further explanation is required. 4) Believe in people and encourage their dreams. When you do...
Dec 09, 2024•10 min•Season 18Ep. 4981
The Gift of Making a Decision As we approach the most spiritual time of year, I find more and more of my thoughts are focused on what my future will bring. But instead of drafting a list of goals, my mind seems to settle into a different place— What if I could give myself a gift that instantly gives me what I want? What if I don't have to chase my dreams and start living them instead? What if there was nothing in my way - ever? While that way of thinking may seem out of touch today, it's not. It...
Dec 06, 2024•11 min•Season 18Ep. 4980
All You Need is ONE Goal Let me start by saying that goal setting is powerful, and you should be doing it - but there is a good chance that you are overdoing it. It's human nature to set goals; you do it daily without thinking. That's why it's so powerful. It's also why it's so easy to set so many goals that you can never get any of them done. Let me define how I see goals. No matter what distracts me, I've come to think of goals in two ways: 1) Legacy Goals that I will spend my entire life achi...
Dec 05, 2024•11 min
Why Slow is Fast and Fast is Slow. I was riding my Harley-Davidson Road King a few days ago when my mind suddenly thought - “The Chinese Philosophical concept of Yin and yang describes how opposite or contrary forces may be complementary, interconnected, and interdependent in the natural world.” What? What? Huh? It happened right before the Daytona Speedway and got me thinking about the advice I give my clients about slowing down. It goes like this - “You must slow down to get what you want.” Ad...
Dec 04, 2024•11 min•Season 18Ep. 4978
Expectations in Love And Everything When I first met my wife, Joi, I knew we would be married and live happily ever after. But there was a problem. Joi didn’t see it that way - at least not right away. If life has taught me anything, almost nobody is on the same page when they first meet. We might be in the same book but not on the same page. In the early weeks of our relationship, I was in full-on action mode and on a mission to achieve my goal as quickly as possible. I was also frustrated sinc...
Dec 03, 2024•11 min•Season 18Ep. 4977
Exploring Your Possibilities What do I want to be when I grow up? The first time you ask yourself that question is when you are very young - if you ever asked it at all. Frankly, somebody else usually asks you, and you probably don't have an answer, so you just take off running with this thing called life. And then it happens — Forty or fifty years later, people start asking themselves that question again after a family and career. The smart ones in the crowd don’t wait either; they question who...
Dec 02, 2024•12 min•Season 18Ep. 4976