The Ambitious Generation

The Ambitious Generation with Jack Wagoner Episode 159I researched Evan Carmichael for two days before this conversation. What I didn't plan for was walking in with the age parallel, him at 19, me at 19 now, and having him turn the interview around on me. This one isn't really about him. It's about the question I've been avoiding answering myself.We get into:0:00 — Cold open2:16 — The pinnacle of his life happened at the exact age I am right now4:11 — "Universities train you to get a job, basically"11:47 — "I never get asked what university I went to. People care, zero."13:36 — He challenges me to challenge him back, live16:37 — "So what am I actually building this for?"23:22 — How he met his wife, and the 90-day, 23-city tour that nearly broke them both24:27 — He broke his neck mid-tour and finished the tour anyway38:04 — The year everything actually changed for him: marriage, and getting a coach45:10 — What ownership really means, and why belief comes first48:36 — His Big Y, Little Y framework for surviving ambition without losing gratitude53:35 — The insecurity he still carries about not hitting 1,000 followers56:37 — "Ask the questions you most need to hear," and why that changed how I interviewIf you've ever wondered whether the safe path is quietly costing you the real one, this one's for you.🔗 Evan's LinksWebsite: https://believe.evancarmichael.com/homepageYouTube:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKmkpoEqg1sOMGEiIysP8TwInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/evancarmichael/?hl=enLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/evancarmichael/?isSelfProfile=false📺 Listen on your favorite platform:Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-grateful-podcast-with-jack-wagoner/id1725776061Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5EsTEpQAjU4BxUrDoFyZ6b🧠 InnerVue — a complete self-awareness tool:→ https://yourinnervue.comUse code GRATEFUL20 for 20% off a Tier 1 InnerVue, plus a complimentary coach-led debrief of your report.🧠 More from Jack:► Website: https://jackwagoner.co► Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jack_wagoner_/► 1:1 Coaching: [email protected]📺 Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Jack_Wagoner⸻🎙️ About Jack:I moved to France alone at 16, started my first business at 17, and launched this podcast because I kept meeting people who had the answers to questions I didn't even know I was asking. My philosophy: you can set massive goals while being deeply fulfilled right now. That's the duality of gratitude and ambition.Subscribe and turn on notifications so you never miss an episode.

The Grateful Podcast with Jack Wagoner Episode 158Guesting Suneet Bhatt, Author of Making Sense of PurposeSuneet Bhatt has spent twenty five years helping people answer one question: why am I here. He teaches purpose at Rutgers, he wrote the USA Today Bestselling book Making Sense of Purpose, and he has had the conversation thousands of times. So I asked him something nobody has asked him before. Not what a person with purpose does. What they never do.He stopped. He said he had never been asked that. Then he gave an answer that reframed the entire conversation: people with purpose do not carry guilt.This one is about what you are holding that is keeping you stuck. 0:00 — The three things every definition of purpose agrees on0:56 — "Who is a person with purpose?"2:22 — The question he has never been asked3:13 — Why people with purpose refuse to carry guilt3:35 — Community, religion, and the third arrow4:44 — Rock bottom, and the two immigrant parents who said no5:36 — Four years, two years, one year6:26 — "It was never about the job. It was the work."6:35 — He had everything and opened with "I don't know why I'm here"8:33 — Shopping for purpose while you're starving9:59 — Satiated is not sustained11:48 — The 700% problem12:41 — Why ikigai starts on step two14:37 — Happiness is a precursor, not a result16:36 — Be grateful on purpose18:11 — Where to find Suneet🔗 Suneet's Links:Book: makingsenseofpurpose.comWebsite: myauthenticstory.comLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/suneetbhatt/📺 Listen on your favorite platform:Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-grateful-podcast-with-jack-wagoner/id1725776061Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5EsTEpQAjU4BxUrDoFyZ6b🧠 InnerVue — a complete self-awareness tool:→ https://yourinnervue.comUse code GRATEFUL20 for 20% off a Tier 1 InnerVue, plus a complimentary coach-led debrief of your report.🧠 More from Jack:► Website: https://jackwagoner.co► Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jack_wagoner_/► 1:1 Coaching: [email protected]📺 Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Jack_Wagoner⸻🎙️ About Jack:I moved to France alone at 16, started my first business at 17, and launched this podcast because I kept meeting people who had the answers to questions I didn't even know I was asking. My philosophy: you can set massive goals while being deeply fulfilled right now. That's the duality of gratitude and ambition.Subscribe and turn on notifications so you never miss an episode.Stay grateful, stay hungry.

The Grateful Podcast with Jack Wagoner Episode 157 with Michael McLeodMichael McLeod thinks nobody should own a phone before 18. Not 16, not 14. Eighteen, the same way we handle alcohol and driving.He has worked with kids and teens since 2005 and watched valedictorians, athletes, and artists lose interest in everything inside a year of getting one. He also thinks history will look back on the last fifteen years of school and call it the great mistake.Later in the conversation he explains why employers are already skipping people in their early twenties, and what it has to do with a skill nobody ever taught you.I was in the first class handed a Chromebook in elementary school. So this one was personal.Michael's links:Website: https://www.grownowadhd.com/about/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/grownowadhd/?hl=enYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@grownowadhd📺 Listen on your favorite platform:Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-grateful-podcast-with-jack-wagoner/id1725776061Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5EsTEpQAjU4BxUrDoFyZ6b🧠 InnerVue — a complete self-awareness tool:→ https://yourinnervue.comUse code GRATEFUL20 for 20% off a Tier 1 InnerVue, plus a complimentary coach-led debrief of your report.🧠 More from Jack:► Website: https://jackwagoner.co► Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jack_wagoner_/► 1:1 Coaching: [email protected]📺 Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Jack_Wagoner⸻🎙️ About Jack:I moved to France alone at 16, started my first business at 17, and launched this podcast because I kept meeting people who had the answers to questions I didn't even know I was asking. My philosophy: you can set massive goals while being deeply fulfilled right now. That's the duality of gratitude and ambition.Subscribe and turn on notifications so you never miss an episode.Stay grateful, stay hungry.1898/5000

The Grateful Podcast with Jack Wagoner Episode 156Nicholas Epley studies why people struggle to connect for a living. He says the reason isn't what you're saying, it's what you're assuming before you even open your mouth.We go deep on why pessimism about how people will respond to you becomes self-fulfilling, the commuter train study that disproves what busy people assume about "wasted" time, and why connection outweighs income for daily happiness by seven times over.If connection has felt harder than it should lately, this one's for you.⏰ TIMESTAMPS00:00 — Are You Coming Across as Creepy?01:19 — Why We're Wired to Avoid What Helps Us02:59 — Socially Pessimistic (And Why That's Dangerous)05:55 — Connection Is a Series of Choices, Not a Feeling18:11 — Why "Being Articulate" Matters Less Than You Think20:11 — How to Not Come Across as Creepy22:49 — The "New York Moment" (Single-Serve Friendships)39:06 — Frequency Beats Duration in Every Relationship40:02 — Even Epley Gets This Wrong at Home43:18 — The Commute Study That Breaks the Productivity Myth45:49 — The 7x Gap Between Money and Connection🔗 NICK'S LINKSWebsite: https://www.nicholasepley.com/Book: A Little More Social — nicholasepley.com/booksLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/nicholas-epley📺 Listen on your favorite platform:Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-grateful-podcast-with-jack-wagoner/id1725776061Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5EsTEpQAjU4BxUrDoFyZ6b🧠 InnerVue — a complete self-awareness tool:→ https://yourinnervue.comUse code GRATEFUL20 for 20% off a Tier 1 InnerVue, plus a complimentary coach-led debrief of your report.🧠 More from Jack:► Website: https://jackwagoner.co► Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jack_wagoner_/► 1:1 Coaching: [email protected]📺 Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Jack_Wagoner⸻🎙️ About Jack:I moved to France alone at 16, started my first business at 17, and launched this podcast because I kept meeting people who had the answers to questions I didn't even know I was asking. My philosophy: you can set massive goals while being deeply fulfilled right now. That's the duality of gratitude and ambition.Subscribe and turn on notifications so you never miss an episode.Stay grateful, stay hungry.

The Grateful Podcast with Jack Wagoner Episode 155He runs a company with 250 people. Every Monday morning he plans his workouts and his family time before he plans a single hour of work. Ken Rusk started digging ditches at 15 through a hole in his high school fence, opened franchises across the Midwest before he was 23, and built his own company from six employees to 250. He has never worn the 80 hour week as a badge of honor, and he explains exactly why the people who do end up with the least to show for it.We go deep on the two mentors who taught him what a good life looks like, the object on his kitchen counter that keeps him grateful without any effort, the reason letting go of control is the only way to actually get control, and the specific question you can ask a stranger tomorrow that tells you exactly what business your town needs.If you have ever felt like you are winning at work and losing everywhere else, this one is for you.⏰ TIMESTAMPS0:00 — He Made It To The Peak. Now He Wants Your Hand.0:45 — You Can Increase Your Surface Area For Luck1:23 — A Hole In The Fence And A Summer Digging Ditches2:22 — At 18 He Turned Down College For Somebody Else's Dime3:48 — "I Earned Mine, So You Go Find Yours"5:19 — Where A Kid With No Money Actually Starts6:09 — Go Ask The Guy At The Contractor Counter6:42 — Why The Product Doesn't Matter (The Structure Does)10:59 — The Buckets You Have To Fill Equally11:46 — He Who Dies With The Best Memories Wins13:05 — The Badge Of Honor That's Costing You Everything15:00 — Get In The Helicopter🔗 GUEST LINKSKen RuskWebsite: kenrusk.comBook: Blue-Collar Cash: https://www.amazon.com/dp/006298960X?lv=shuf&channelId=500&plpRedirect=mhFallbackInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/kenruskofficial/?hl=enLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ken-rusk-2656a7175/📺 Listen on your favorite platform:Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-grateful-podcast-with-jack-wagoner/id1725776061Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5EsTEpQAjU4BxUrDoFyZ6b🧠 InnerVue — a complete self-awareness tool:→ https://yourinnervue.comUse code GRATEFUL20 for 20% off a Tier 1 InnerVue, plus a complimentary coach-led debrief of your report.🧠 More from Jack:► Website: https://jackwagoner.co► Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jack_wagoner_/► 1:1 Coaching: [email protected]📺 Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Jack_Wagoner⸻🎙️ About Jack:I moved to France alone at 16, started my first business at 17, and launched this podcast because I kept meeting people who had the answers to questions I didn't even know I was asking. My philosophy: you can set massive goals while being deeply fulfilled right now. That's the duality of gratitude and ambition.Subscribe and turn on notifications so you never miss an episode.Stay grateful, stay hungry.