The Grateful Podcast with Jack Wagoner

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.

The Grateful Podcast with Jack Wagoner Episode 154 Two years ago I sent 200 cold emails and got zero replies. This week I turned down offers from two of the biggest podcast networks in the world. The distance between those two things is 150 conversations with founders, psychologists, behavioral researchers, and authors. I went in looking for tactics. I came out with six rules, and they are the only six I still follow. One of them I fought for a long time. Alex Hormozi says confidence is a stack of evidence that you are who you say you are. After 150 interviews I think the order runs the other way, and the day I acted like it, I drove to Toronto with a negative bank balance to record two episodes I could not afford. If you are waiting for something to arrive before you move, start with rule five. ⏰ TIMESTAMPS 00:00 — The only six that survived 00:21 — Rule 1: Volume beats talent, always 02:09 — Why consistency was the wrong goal 06:53 — Rule 2: Embarrassment is the cost of entry 08:20 — 200 emails, zero replies 09:58 — Rule 3: Attention is the real currency 11:28 — The people one level below guard everything 13:14 — Rule 4: Gratitude has to be earned 13:56 — Anyone can be grateful on a sunny day 16:31 — Rule 5: Bet on yourself when the evidence says stop 16:40 — Where Hormozi has the order backwards 17:47 — Negative money and a drive to Toronto 20:13 — Breaking the terror barrier 22:36 — Rule 6: Have faith the dots connect 25:23 — Ask what if now, or ask it later 📺 Listen on your favorite platform: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-grateful-podcast-with-jack-wagoner/id1725776061 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5EsTEpQAjU4BxUrDoFyZ6b 🧠 InnerVue — a complete self-awareness tool: → https://yourinnervue.com Use 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 153 Guesting Alex Wieckowski, known online as Alex & Books @AlexandBooks Subscribe for more deep conversations with thinkers, seekers, and soulful creators.Alex Wieckowski has read over 750 books and built an audience of more than a millionpeople teaching other people how to read. So I asked him the question everyone isquietly asking right now: why not just let AI summarize it?His answer was not what I expected. He did not tell me to read more out of discipline.He told me the shortcut is slower. That reading at normal speed is the fastest way toactually get a book, that speed reading costs you more than it saves, and that theperson who benefits most from a summary is the person who writes it, not the personwho reads it.Then he told me about the 100 days he spent reading one book summary every morning,and what he had left at the end of it.If you have been reading less and feeling worse about it, this is the conversation thatmakes the case on your terms, not on guilt.Recorded live at BookThinkers Live 2026.⏰ TIMESTAMPS0:00 — The only legitimate shortcut left0:38 — "Why can't I just have AI summarize it?"1:30 — Information only moves one direction2:17 — 100 summaries in 100 days, and what was left3:03 — Why reading slower gets you there faster3:39 — Four years of experience, or four months repeated4:37 — What writing a book does to how you read one5:57 — What James Clear told him about the first 30 pages6:35 — What people are actually buying when they buy a book9:33 — The professor, the Carnegie book, and the shy kid10:41 — Hobby, side hustle, part-time, full-time11:38 — Read to live, do not live to read12:01 — The Englishman in the desert12:29 — Finishing the book is the halfway point12:53 — The famous book he is embarrassed he has not read13:44 — 75 books a year and the two windows that make it work14:42 — Long form attention is built, not born16:18 — The 8 month rule I set for my first business16:58 — Book a reading meeting🔗 GUEST LINKSAlex Wieckowski (Alex & Books)Website: alexandbooks.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/alexandbooks_/X: https://x.com/AlexAndBooks_YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/alexandbooksBook: Learn To Love Reading 📺 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.