Ken Coleman | Finding Your Purpose: Insights on Career Fulfillment - Mick Unplugged [EP 18]
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Are you ready to change your habits, sculpt your destiny, and light up your path to greatness? Welcome to the epicenter of transformation. This is Mic Unplugged. We'll help you identify your because, so you can create a routine that's not just productive, but powerful.

You'll embrace the art of evolution, adapt strategies to stay ahead of the game, and take a step toward the extraordinary. So let's unleash your potential. Now, here's Mick.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another episode of Mick Unplugged, where we dive deep into what drives success, challenges conventional wisdom, and reveals what makes us the most unstoppable version of us that we can be. And today I'm honored. I have the privilege of speaking with a master career coach, an acclaimed author, and the host of one of my favorite shows, no exaggeration, The Ken Coleman Show. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome. A

person that I look up to and as one of my actual virtual mentors, Mr. Ken Coleman. Ken, welcome to the show, my brother. Oh man, that is so good. I should probably just quit what I'm doing the rest of the day after this. It just didn't get any better in that setup. But thank you, brother. And I love how you...

started that, you know, the idea of being unstoppable. I think that's absolutely possible. And we are in much alignment on that. So good to be with you, friend. Absolutely. I am honored. You know, I listen to, I'm not going to say tons of podcasts, but I listen to a good handful and I'm going to be very transparent and completely honest because I've never told you this. And now I get to look you in your eye and tell you this. Okay. The very first podcast that I ever listened to in life was

was Ken Coleman. Wow. Is that right? That is a thousand percent the truth. And I wanted to tell you that personally, because I've never got to tell you. Well, you're crushing it. I mean, this is no, I mean, you're crushing it in this space. You really are. I think we all have a duty, right? I think, I think we all have a purpose. And I just feel like my purpose is to help inspire if I can and bring on folks like Ken Coleman, that that's what you do. The show isn't about me. It's literally about the audience and the guests that I bring on.

We very much are in alignment and thank you for that. That's very kind. That's crazy. It's kind of wild. Very, very wild for us to now finally connect this way. So I got to get you to Nashville. Next time you're Nashville, hot meal on me. And if you like Nashville hot chicken, we've got it, brother. We'll throw a little waffle in there, a little bit of honey, you know, and if you don't like that, we'll come up with something else. There we go. No, I'm game. I don't like the hot. I don't like the hot, but I'll do chicken. We'll

mild it up. That's right. Just for me. Just for me. Well, no, that's an option here in Nashville for those who don't like the heat, you know? So question for you, this totally has nothing what we're going to talk about. We're going to go deep in a second. When did hot chicken become a thing in Nashville? I don't know. You know, I should know. And I'm never again, not going to be able to answer this question.

I'm not sure the actual timeline, but my publicist, Sam, she's amazing and she's pulling it up right now. So we're actually going to get that answer, but it's kind of what we're known for that hot, spicy chicken. What is the answer? 1930s. Oh, look at this. She's handed it to me. This is real time, folks. You don't get this anywhere else except for with Mick.

Let's see. Anecdotal evidence. Well, this is cool. The evidence says that spicy fried chicken has been served in nationals African-American communities for generations. The dish is believed to have been introduced as early as the 1930s. However, the current style of spice paste and it's national hot chicken is its own kind of unique mix here only dates back to the mid 1970s. So there you go. Interesting.

But that's cool. Got a great cultural. - We'll go 1930s, 1970s. - I'm gonna say 1930s 'cause that sounds better. - There we go. So another true story about Ken Coleman, ladies and gentlemen. - Oh no. - I spent literally crazy layover in Dallas, Texas. I'm sitting there, again, I listened to the Ken Coleman show and this is where I wanna start, Ken, because on the entire flight from Dallas to Raleigh, North Carolina, I listened to two of your podcasts on repeat.

The three daily habits of successful people, which just came out a few weeks ago, but I listened to it like I have so many notes. That's good. And then 96% of millionaires have this in common. I want to start with the three habits of successful people.

Well, we'll list them quickly and then we'll break them down. The three habits are they're always learning, they're always doing something with what they've learned, and they're always connecting. So learn, do connect. If you were going to just come up with a daily formula that would guarantee your growth and hearkening back to the start of the year podcast to make you unstoppable, it

We can be delayed, but we really can become unstoppable. And one of the ways that we become unstoppable is just become habitual, create habits of learning, doing, and connecting. So one of the rituals I love to teach folks is every Sunday night, it's a great exercise to begin to think about your week ahead.

And just write it down, do an audio note, whatever you want to do, and ask yourself, what's the one thing that I really need to learn this week? Now, this could be a professional application. This could be personal, could be spiritual, could be physical, could be relational. But what's the one thing that is most important in my life right now, an area where I need some knowledge or some wisdom?

Knowledge being fact, wisdom being insight. So what's the one thing you want to learn? And then the second question is, what's the one thing I need to do? This is kind of a crystallization. It's a way of just making the main thing the main thing. What's the one thing I need to do this week? And then who's one person that I really need to connect with this week?

Now, this is a formula. This is nothing more than a discipline structure. But I'm thinking about what I need to be learning, what I need to be doing, and who I need to be connecting with. So learn, do, connect. And I could add a fourth one in there that sometimes I do. And I think this is the way to cap a great day, and that's to reflect. So learn, do, connect, and reflect. I think if I were going to add a fourth one, that's something I need to be better at.

Frankly, I've got three teenagers, two dogs. Bless your soul. Yes, and a wife. So towards the end of the day, sometimes I'm, you know, and I think this is how it ought to be. I think you ought to be spent at the end of every day. I think if you're getting to the end of your day, it's in the evening and you still got a lot of juice left. Something's wrong with your life.

I mean that. Your son's a football coach. He understands this. I grew up playing sports. I'm now almost 50 and I'm working out. I'm in the gym and I'm watching these videos all the time and trying to get in the best shape of my life. And so I'm hitting the weights. And one of the things I'm learning is

is that a good workout is when you finish at exhaustion. So let's just take, say I'm doing a bench press. If I've got dumbbells, a good, solid workout, quality workout is where those last two reps are almost sheer exhaustion. You're barely getting it up. And that was new to me. I didn't realize that, but it makes a lot of sense. And the idea is, is that if I'm exhausting the muscle, if I'm going to exhaustion, the last two reps are

everything I got left, then essentially I am maximizing that muscle growth by getting the most resistance, the most tear down of the muscle so I can build back up. And so it's fairly simple in life too. I think that if you are getting at the end of the day and you got a bunch of energy and you can't hit the bed and just kunk,

then you need to change your life because you should be spent mentally, spiritually, relationally, physically. You should have nothing left. That's a life well lived. And I don't mean like, you know, some of you got to make sure you hear what I said. I don't mean to where you're fried. I mean, like in that workout, that's an intentional workout. And then I got nothing left. And so I have given everything to my family. I've given everything to my job. I've given everything to my creator. You know, that's the idea. Now I went on a little sermonette there because I,

I need to be better at the reflecting. I'm doing really good at the going to exhaustion and spending well. But that would be one little nugget I would add in there. And I think it's really powerful. I learned from a mentor of mine, John Maxwell, this idea of ending the day by thinking back over your day. But those are the three habits. And we could add that fourth one in there of very wealthy, successful people.

Yeah, I love that. And I love the reflection because I talk about that all the time. I end my day with reflection and more importantly, introspection. Yes. Did I give the most of myself that day? And then I always ask myself this question last. Did I set tomorrow's version of myself up for success? Because how many, it's the little things. It's, you know, if I just do this today or tonight, I'm going to appreciate it tomorrow.

It could be something as simple as picking the clothes out that you're going to wear so you don't have to think about it in the morning. It could be, you know, taking an extra five minutes to study something or to prepare for that first call that you're going to have or that first meeting that you're going to have to like. It's the little things that the tomorrow's version of yourself will appreciate because you took just a little bit of time.

So I'm always about the introspection. You know, did I get the most out of today? And did I set my tomorrow's version up for success? So I love that fourth piece. And then I'm always about the introspection.

I just wrote down, I highlighted, I circled, and I hope everyone else caught what Ken said too. Pushing yourself to that last rep, but for a purpose, not just to do it, to be fatigued, to be exhausted, to be done, to have to pass out. Doing it because that's what you meant to do. You meant to push yourself to that level. Yeah, I just got another thought. Okay, this is a little nugget here. We want to be maxed out, not burned out. There's a difference.

A burned out is somebody who life is happening to them. A person who's maxed out, they're happening to life, right? So if I'm burned out, it's my life is just everything is coming at me and I've got no intentionality and I'm just overwhelmed and all this versus maxed out. I went to the gym and I did absolutely every rep I possibly could. And that was a part of the schedule. And I love what you said. That made me think of that.

And there's a big difference there in that kind of life. Humongous. Dude, we could do this all day. I know. I was thinking the same thing. We can literally just have a seminar just on that. Like that's, that's crazy. All right. Second episode, 96% of millionaires have this in common. And I want everyone to write this down because it is simple. It's very simple.

They enjoy their work. They enjoy it. There's real joy there. You know, the word joy is something that is different than happiness. Happiness is a temporary emotion. Joy is a conviction. And so I'll equate it to parenting. There are a lot of times in parenting my three kids where I am not anywhere remotely close to happy with them. But

But I love them and they bring me joy. And in the midst of the most ridiculous or rebellious thing they've ever done, I can hold disappointment and anger and frustration and also love at the same time. And that's the way I'm describing this. And so the 96% of millionaires said they enjoyed their work. There was a true joy in it. And that causes a person to be willing to suffer

You know, the word passion also comes to play here. You and I talk about this a lot. And passion over history has kind of morphed into a romantic application, right? And even sexual, right? So it's more of that deep emotion for someone from a relational standpoint. But actually, the root word of passion means to suffer emotionally.

And so when you think of movies like The Passion of the Christ, they use that as an example of what passion really means. And the root word, again, in the German, in Latin, means to suffer. And so if I am willing to suffer through fear, through doubt, through failure, through rejection, through recession, whatever,

I could keep going here and I stay with it. There's something deeper here. So we know we love the work. There's joy there. So that was the big finding from the largest study of millionaires ever done by Ramsey Solutions, over 10,000 millionaires. So that is a piece of data that is rock solid and cannot be moved. So to understand how important it is, and I teach this, to use what you do best, talent,

to do work you love passion, to produce results that matter to you. When you understand that your heart's engaged in the work, it's going to be hard to stop you. And by the way, you're probably going to be very wealthy, whether you are a teacher who has a deep abiding passion for instructing the next generation. And so therefore you live on less than you make because the third largest group of net worth millionaires in the United States are teachers. How could that be when the

median salary across the United States is about $62,000, $63,000. What that means is, is they have a deep abiding passion. They are willing to suffer through the crappy public school system, the lack of discipline that they can do. The parents sending them eight volumes of emails over one little classroom, whatever. I could go on and on and on. Why do they do it?

Why do they suffer all of that? Why do they suffer making less money? Because they love teaching children. So that's how that comes together. And boy, you get that. I think it's like turning on that tuning fork inside your chest and you realize this is what I was wired to do. And so that's a pretty fun stat I love to throw out there to people.

Oh, I love it. And when I heard that, it made me connect to something that I always tell people about mastery. And I always tell people the first step to mastery is actually loving what you do, right? You need to find something that you love and master it. And I feel like the reason that a lot of people don't become the unstoppable version of themselves is number one, to Ken's point, a lot of times they're just showing up. There's no passion behind what they do. And then they don't love mastery.

the things that they do. And so I always tell people the first step to mastery is you need to find something that you love so that you can then master that. I'd love to hear your thoughts on that. Well, you're absolutely right. You just put a beautiful bow on what I was saying here. Let's take the person who wants to master a craft. So we really hear this phrase a lot of master craftsman. And so you think about somebody who's building something by hand, you just think about the painstaking process, the time, the effort, the gnarled fingers,

the injuries you know the frustration that is again a deep love of i want to build something from scratch i'm going to craft something by hand and it's intricate it's intimate you know the whole thing and it's really really hard and it takes a long time to master it and most of the master craftsmen would look at you and say i still working on it and boy

Boy, that is beautiful because what's going on there again is they love it so much that they're willing to put so much time into it. They're willing to wait on the great results. Now, understand this is waiting is an action here. They're still doing, but they realize, you know, it's going to take quite honestly more than 10,000.

hours. Absolutely. I love it. So now I want to go to you, Ken. Everything about me, I love Simon Sinek and start with why, but I also feel like there's a deeper sentiment than why. And I call it your because, right? That reason that makes us do what we do. And for you talking about passion, what was that defining moment or turning point in your life that sparked your passion into helping people find their dreams or their careers?

I grew up in a pastor's home. And so I saw my mom and dad in a very small church. This was not a mega church. This was kind of your average size church in America, somewhere between 100, 150 people. And I saw them my entire life, love and

and serve everybody. Poor people, wealthy people, every race that you could imagine had stayed in my home in the form of missionaries coming through. So my whole life, there was a soundtrack or maybe a movie playing in the background. And the theme was that God loved

the entire world john 3 16 for god's love of the world like that was a real soundtrack if you will in my life and i saw my mom and dad love and serve everybody it didn't matter what they looked like what they smelled like i mean they just did so that was kind of cool and you realize

"Wow, people matter." So you come out of that, whether you can articulate it or not, but you go, "People matter to my parents, so I kind of think people matter." And then you go another level and you go, "It's really amazing to watch my mom and dad and the missionaries love on people."

So that was always there. Now, I had what I thought was a public call into politics at the age of 16. I was very involved in history and it was all like, I want to make America a better place and I'm going to do that in the public space. Well, fast forward, I actually got in the system and was working for the governor of Virginia at 22. And all of the romanticism of a 16-year-old was crushed and thrown away and

Both parties, in my mind, it's just, it's a cesspool. There are good people in it, not many. And government is not the answer to our problems. We are actually the answer. Amen to that. And actually the church should be doing more too, but that's a separate podcast. So all I'm saying here is, is that that led me to, at the age of 27, 28, starting to question. I was in private business, building a resume that I thought was going to set me up to run for office somewhere.

And then I began to question everything and got to the point where I was like, that's, that was not the call. So what was the call? Now I know that that public call was as a communicator, as a coach. So going through that process is when it was that moment to answer your question and getting to the point of, I thought it was this.

It's not the political path. Then what is it? And it was really unsettling because I was like laser focused for a long time. And so then to go, well, that's not that. What is it? And then the process of going back into my own life and doing my own life mapping and then getting this idea that felt insane, but also so right.

Broadcasting, you don't have a college degree. You don't have any experience. You're 30. You're too old. You know, you should have been in red dirt, Idaho doing the weather when you were 21. If you're going to, you know, all that stuff and, and how in the world is this going to happen? But also believing that God had put it on my heart and

And so it was, to answer your question, it would have been, you know, late twenties, early thirties. And it wasn't a moment. It was a evolution. It was a series of life events and a lot of analysis, a lot of sleepless nights that led me to go, okay, there's something here because I'm figuring it out for me. And if I'm figuring it out, there's gotta be a lot of other people who need to figure it out.

And so my personal problem became a professional burden. In solving it for me on my own, then it was like, okay, this is interesting. And that's usually how it happens. You know, my wife has said this before, you know, out of great pain comes tremendous purpose. And so it was a really painful season for me. And then in trying to solve it for myself, here I am now solving it for a lot of other people. And you do it very, very well.

Well, thank you. I know you don't, I know you don't like pats on the back, but I promise you, you do it. I appreciate that. Thank you. Well, and you know, to that point though, you know, the only chance you have at doing something well is back to what we've been talking about is being so convicted that it must be done. And then you you'll stay with it long enough to go from suck to decent, but you got to embrace the suck.

I'm telling you, Ken, I mean, you've said it a lot. We have so much in common, right? And what you just said, it must be done. I tell people change will never happen until change is something that you must have.

Like people talk about change, you want change, you might put some effort into changing, whatever it is. But until it's something that you must have, and until you make it something that you must have, typically it doesn't happen the way it should or is supposed to happen. Freaking love that. So again, following you for a very long time, listening, reading. I would love for folks that haven't, I shouldn't say that because everybody knows Ken Coleman, right? No, not true.

Most people do. One of the things I love about you is I heard you talk about this a little bit. How does Ken Coleman define success? And then again, I know the answer, but this is for the listeners. Is your definition of success determined by traditional metrics or do you have your own criteria for it?

I think it's my own criteria, but I don't know that it's not original to me. You know, it's probably a quilt of things that I've learned and things that I have come to believe. The world defines success by status, right? So how many followers do I have or, you know, how big is my name? The world defines success by power.

How powerful am I? And then we also define it by how much money we have, right? But I think true success is based on achieving significance. And significance is very, very personal. So the criteria of that means if I am being the best version of who I was designed to be. So whether that is a teacher or a doctor, a business person,

Can I be honest with you? The guy who nailed this, I always come back to Martin Luther King Jr. on this because I don't know anyone outside of Jesus who has ever done a better job of describing what success is and the challenge to us all. If you've never heard the speech, I think it's the greatest speech he ever gave.

Most of you have heard pieces of it. He's known best for the, I have a dream speech. And then maybe the speech, I've been to the mountaintop the night before he is shot and that's in Memphis. But I think the most powerful speech he gave was to a bunch of middle schoolers in Philadelphia. And he was asked last minute to stop by a middle school and speak to young African-American students. And he did it. And it

The guy was a master. I mean, the guy's unbelievable order. I own a book of every speech he ever gave and I read it and I've got the CD and I've listened to it because the guy is just, I mean, if you just want to study the fundamentals of good communication, because he gets credit for being a great order and the power of what he said and what he stood for. But what he doesn't get enough credit for is his actual unbelievable fundamental skill of communicating. Like he really was just a master orator. Anyway.

he's in the school and most of you've heard this passage and i'm going to paraphrase it because i've got it close to memorize but he's speaking to these young people and he says if it falls your lot to be a street sweeper sweep streets like michelangelo you know he goes through this and he says and sweep streets so that all

All the hosts of heaven look down and say, there live the greatest street sweeper the world has ever known. And I get goosebumps every time I, and again, I'm paraphrasing it, but it's worth a read. And you can actually find a grainy video of it on YouTube and it's powerful stuff. So MLK gets that right there. He gets what success really is.

If you were designed and you're really good at being a mechanic, then be the best mechanic possible. And people may never know your name other than the customers that God has put you in their path to help. So to me, success is back to, did I fill the unique role that I was created to fill? And did I fill it to my absolute best? That means you have achieved significance.

And if you do that, then you are successful, whether anybody ever knows your name or not. So that's my definition of success. By the way, I would also say that we've been talking about a professional role, but I think there's two roles in life. There's relational and professional. And so because of the way God has designed it, I am a son and a brother. And then I became a husband and I'm a dad.

And I'm a teammate, I'm a coworker, I'm a friend. And so there are some, obviously I need to be my best in those roles too. So that to me is if we fill those roles in our professional and our relational life to the best of our ability, then we are successful despite the other metrics that the world kind of stacks up against us. The amazing Ken Coleman, brother. No, you're very kind. Thank you.

I could go on and on. We're going to have to do a part two. Let's do it. And a part four because there's so many places to go. I mean, again, you're someone I look up to. I meant it when I said I've been following you forever. I look at you as a mentor because a lot of your principles are some of my principles. And so I want to thank you for taking the time to bless me for being on the show today.

Well, I'm the one that's blessed, man. You've lifted me, gave me a little extra juice this morning that I'm going to use and I appreciate you and look forward to doing more with you, man. Absolutely. Where can people find you? Where do you want people to follow you? And also the latest book. Let's let's hit that too. Yeah, it's right there over the shoulder. It's actually this way. You always see it. There it is. There it is. You always get it right. So this is actually the Get Clear Assessment. We didn't talk about it, but this is a 15 to 18 minute assessment

And that small book that comes with it is about a 45 minute coaching session where I guide you through your results. What is the assessment? It measures what you do best, the work that you love to do. We've been talking a lot about passion today. And then what are the results of work that I actually want to put into the world? And this speaks to our personal mission. This is where we get motivation. No one can motivate you. No motivational speaker, no leader, no one. But you yourself can be naturally motivated when you understand what drives you.

And so the assessment gives you a deep report on all three of those, puts the answers together into a professional purpose statement that is effectively, if you would, an airplane looking down, 35,000 foot job description for you to go, okay, no matter where I'm at in life, as I continue to advance, pivot or whatever, I can come back to this purpose statement. And if I'm spending the majority of my day doing this, I am in

fact doing what I was wired to do. So that's the new book, Find the Work You're Wired to Do, but it comes with the assessment. Really the assessment is the compass. And then the book itself is I'm going to guide you up whatever mountain that you're being pointed to. And you can get the book at KenColeman.com, Amazon, wherever books are sold. And if people want to connect with me, KenColeman.com is the easiest way because you can get to the social media connections from there. We have a ton of free resources. You can get the show and all of its different platforms there as well.

Awesome. And I'll have links to the book and to Ken's connection and to the website and the show notes. And then I'll also make sure I do some drops for you as well. Ken, I appreciate you more than you know, this has been the best moment of my day. And I truly mean that.

Mick, you're so kind and you're doing good work. And I love that I've had some little insy, teensy, weensy input into that. Give yourself more than that. It wasn't here. It's been here, bro. Well, I appreciate that. We can argue about that offline, but man, you're a good man. You're doing really good work. Thanks for having me. I appreciate you. And to all the listeners, remember, your because is your superpower.

Unleash it. Thanks for listening to Mick Unplugged. We hope this episode helps you take the next step toward the extraordinary and launches a revolution in your life. Don't forget to rate and review the podcast and be sure to check us out on YouTube at Mick Unplugged. Remember, stay empowered, stay inspired, and stay unplugged.