What's on Your Bookshelf?
“What’s On Your Bookshelf” is a personal and professional growth podcast exploring the intersections of passion, potential, and purpose - featuring multi-certified coach and leadership development consultant Denise R. Russo alongside Andy Hughes, Scott Miller, and Samantha Powell.
What's on Your Bookshelf?
100 - Celebrating 100th Episode - A Journey Through Books with What's on Your Bookshelf
Remember the moment when a single book changed your perspective on life? Join us as we celebrate a milestone in our podcasting journey with our 100th episode of "What's on Your Bookshelf." Featuring a heartfelt conversation with our producer, Scott Miller, we revisit the origins of our podcast, starting with "Let's Be Real" in 2019 and evolving into a vibrant platform for book lovers. Scott shares the brainstorming sessions that sparked this literary adventure, emphasizing the transformative power of books in enriching lives. We express our gratitude to our listeners and hint at exciting special editions planned for this year.
Our shared passion for books has opened doors to unexpected opportunities and connections, enriching our podcast in ways we never imagined. As unexpected hosts alongside Scott and Sam Powell, we reflect on how thematic book selections, beginning with Coach Wooden's works, deepened our conversations and relationships. This literary journey evolved from a simple seven-episode plan into a hundred, illustrating the profound impact that books can have. From leadership insights with John Maxwell's "Failing Forward" to memorable discussions with Pat Williams, our podcast has become a tapestry of serendipitous encounters and powerful connections.
Books have not only been a source of knowledge for us but also a lifeline during challenging times. Sharing titles like "Atomic Habits" and "The Happiness Project" has brought immense joy and fulfillment. Planning forward, we're thrilled to share our vision for special edition episodes, including collaborations on "The 12 Week Year" with Michelle King. Thanks to our global audience, we've built an incredible community of book enthusiasts, and we're excited to continue exploring meaningful topics together. Join us as we embark on another enriching year of conversations, inspired by the books on our shelves.
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Welcome to what's on your Bookshelf, with your hosts Denise Russo and Samantha Powell.
Speaker 2:Hi everyone, welcome back to another episode of what's on your Bookshelf. Today is such a special day. My name is Denise Russo. I am here with my friend and co-host, sam Powell, and we have Scott Miller. He's still in the background, but Scott, our producer, is with us and I'm so excited about that. And so, scott, maybe will you share a little bit with our listeners why you're with us today.
Speaker 1:This is a very special day for us, so this is our 100th episode, episode number 100. So we're here celebrating this milestone, so really excited to be here. Thanks for inviting me.
Speaker 2:Are you kidding? So I'm so excited to dig in a little bit with you about some of our history and with Sam about our future. Sam, as always, it's just great to be with you here today. I am so happy to be on this call with you because, even though we're pre-recording this, it means that when this comes out, we're back together again.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's crazy. I can't believe we hit a hundred episodes Like it's. And then the funny thing is, the thing it's making me think about is like the Atomic Habits book we did and how it's those little. It's just, you know, one piece at a time and eventually it compounds, right, like you do, one episode. You know. We just set up a system that works to get these recorded, get them out there, right, like all the stuff that goes into it. And here we are at 100 episodes in like it's. It's crazy that some that we're here, but I think what we're learning and talking about is helping us even just get to this point, which is really cool. It's super cool.
Speaker 2:So maybe, scott, since our listeners don't get to hear from you very often, I would love for you to maybe just share a little bit from your mind and heart about what it was like when we only had this as a dream and you were really the catalyst for us doing this new one. So I would love for you to share with our listeners a little bit of the history, about how we got to where we are, but even before it started.
Speaker 1:Wow, we're going way back. So this all started in 2019, when we first had an internal work podcast, and this goes to when the podcast was called let's Be Real and Denise was able to get a lot of great guests, along with Andy Hughes, who is also one of our hosts, and we had some amazing guests. So I actually went and revisited that site yesterday and went through the many, many great guests we had, from Liz Wiseman to oh gosh, I'm trying to think of everybody we had. We had coaches, athletes, musicians, record producers, and you'll have to remind me of some of the other names but we had just some amazing, amazing guests. And this kind of evolved from that and we had many conversations and I know you kind of had an idea around.
Speaker 1:We had a few brainstorming sessions just thinking about an idea that you had a podcast, and we kind of just came on this idea of, you know, really diving into books and it evolved from trying to cover a book in the episode and I think we really kind of figured out that that's a lot of reading and we weren't really giving the listeners a deep dive into the books the way we are now, and that really, I think, was how we kind of evolved into where we are with what's on your bookshelf, and I think there's so much value that comes from the deep dive that you and Sam do every week and I learned something the deep dive that you and Sam do every week and I learned something.
Speaker 1:So being the producer is really a labor of love for me and being able to be, you know, the person behind the scenes, to hear every episode before it comes out, and I usually, you know, get these episodes and we'll listen to them. I'll edit three or four at a time and it's just so great to hear the sequence of you know how these episodes build on each other and the value you bring in your conversations, and so that's been just a joy for me. So I want to thank you both for that.
Speaker 2:Oh, thank you, Scott, so much. We value you so much, and even though, listeners, you don't get to see Scott very often or maybe even hear from him very often, he's like the. He is the third party of this group, and so we do have our other hosts that can't be with us today, but we're so thankful for them as well, as well as some of the secret special editions that will come out this year that I'm really excited about. I think for me, when we came up with this idea, it really happened even before the idea, which is that for so many years I've been involved in leadership development and coaching and what I have really found, I would say, over the last decade, is that anyone that thinks that you can be a leader after an hour or after one class is just mistaken. It takes growth over time, and I don't remember how many years ago it was now, but, scott, when we came together and built out the leadership development program that we did together at the former company that I worked for with you, one of the things that we set out to do was to have a continuous learning culture, and so we set out to have cohorts of leaders that would stay together for a whole year. That program still exists today and has impacted thousands and thousands of leaders. I think probably by now, well over 10,000 leaders have experienced that program, and what happened during that program was that we embedded books as part of the leader's journey and, in fact, sam got to experience that as a participant in one of the cohorts, and it didn't dawn on me then that, fast forward years later, that we would come up with an idea, and I want Sam to share a little bit about how she became the co-host with me. And before we do that, I'll just share a little bit about why she became the co-host with me. And before we do that, I'll just share a little bit about why we call this podcast what's On your Bookshelf, because this is credit to Scott and Andy.
Speaker 2:In that brainstorming session that we had, I just felt stuck. I didn't know what we were going to do. I really loved the old podcast. Andy was getting super busy at work. We were thinking we were going to have to scale down and not realizing that maybe we could build something up, and I can't remember which of the two of you started the conversation, but we just were talking about how people often ask me about information or advice based on some topic, and I would often refer to a book I read and say well, that's a great topic, have you ever read such and such book? And one of the two of you and I think it was you, scott said well, people just want to hear what's on your bookshelf. And it was kind of like a statement in passing, but it was like one of those weird cartoon moments where light bulbs are going off and we paused and said that's it. That's the name of the podcast what's on your bookshelf.
Speaker 2:I never intended to be the host. In fact, with let's Be Real, I was always behind the curtain, scott, with you, and Andy was the host of all the shows until we got to the end. I think Clint Hurdle was the first show that I jumped in with him, if I'm not mistaken, and it was fun. And so then we had a couple episodes and it was starting to be where Andy was getting really busy, and then we segued and enter Sam. So, sam, maybe you share a little bit about how you came to be part of this. I'm so grateful that you did and that you are.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's funny, I recommended four books to a client today and one of them was a book you had recommended to me.
Speaker 3:Another one was a book another friend had recommended to me.
Speaker 3:One was a book from a leadership development program I went through, and then the third one or the fourth one was a John Maxwell book, which the entire program you recommended to me. So it's that, I think it's that that concept of like what's on your bookshelf and sharing you know what people read and you know things like that. Like I recommend books to people all the time, people recommend books to me all the time and you know I we obviously love it because we read books all the time. But it's funny, I literally did that today and I said this with this one book. I was like you know who recommended this to me? I was like it was Denise, because it was somebody who we mutually know or who knows you, and you know it was just really it's funny. You know, thinking about this podcast and thinking about it just comes from that simple concept of like somebody needs something that's like, oh, there's a book on my bookshelf, let me go look at it. I even stood up in the conversation with her and was, like, let me go grab this book and like get you the author's name and so it's just, it's fun to watch that like live out loud.
Speaker 3:But yeah, you pulled me in for the Coach Wooden book and it was right as I think you all were having the discussion of like we need a little more, like you had done Ikigai, and it was a one episode thing, and then you'd done Everyone Communicates, few People Connect, which was a couple of episodes, and then you had had this idea about the Coach Wooden book because it had seven principles in it and you're like, well, we could do an episode per principle, like right, we could spread it out, see what that's like, like play around with it. And I don't even remember how many episodes we ended up actually doing, because I know we did a lot of part one, part two, go back and count them. But but yeah, from there I mean you sucked me in with the. You know it's a sports book, it's a leadership book, it's a life principle book, it's short, it's easy to read. Like you know, you really sold me on it and we had so much fun just going through that book and going through that experience together and really talking about the things that we were learning, that it just led to the next book.
Speaker 3:And talking about the things that we were learning, that it just led to the next book. And then, by the time that one was done, the year was up and we thought, well, let's do this, let's get a theme for next year and let's pick books that are all kind of related under an umbrella. And then, you know, same thing with this year. So it just sort of I don't know kind of snowballed into what it is today just from, I think, a natural progression of learning and, you know, loving the conversation and loving the I don't know, like I tell you this all the time, like I would do this if no one was listening. I would sit here and talk to you about books we're reading and be accountable to each other, to like actually finish chapters and things like that, Regardless, just because it's I get so much out of it and in sharing it right, in making this, you know, into a podcast that reaches people every week, like I've had some really great conversations with friends, with family, right, with people who I know who listen to the podcast and you know things that we normally wouldn't have maybe talked about, and it's just added such depth to some of my relationships in a way that, like I, you know, will forever be grateful for and, you know, absolutely enjoy.
Speaker 3:And you know, even if the lights were off and no one was watching, and still be, still be doing this because it's I don't know, I just I get that much out of it and you know it. Just I'm glad you invited me along and convinced me to join the first time and you know, then we, you know we got to where we are now, which is crazy to think it's 100 episodes in, because I was only supposed to be around for seven.
Speaker 2:Well, I definitely want to talk in our time together about how that came to pass, because you were such a great teacher of a series that helped us to do that. But I'm going to go a little bit before that for a minute and talk about something you just shared, which is about the relationships that we have with other people, and you had mentioned the John Wooden book. So I'll tell a story here, because it has something to do with Scott as well. So when we did that book, it was just a book on my shelf that I had read, that I admired and I admired the author, and the author of that book is Pat Williams May he rest in peace because he passed away last year. And Pat Williams gave me that book at a John Maxwell conference, which later, sam, you came to be a part of the John Maxwell team with me. The John Maxwell conference, my very first one ever, was 12 years ago, and I went there with Michelle King, who's one of our special edition hosts of what's on your Bookshelf. But it even started way, way, way way before then, so about 20, I hate to say this 23 or 24 years ago, and the only reason I know that is because it was before Olivia was born.
Speaker 2:I was working for Planet Hollywood. I was responsible for sales and marketing for the Atlanta chain and this lady came into the restaurant. This was before I was in leadership development. There was no such thing called coaching back then, not business coaching or anything. She came into the restaurant and she wanted to display her cookware to the chefs and I was about maybe a month away from having Olivia, or so maybe two months away from having her, so we're talking about 2001. So that dates when this happened, about 2001.
Speaker 2:So that dates when this happened and the lady came in and we got to chatting like I do with people I find myself making friends with people in the strangest places and she said that she really was looking for an opportunity to show us this cookware. Well, I asked her what do you do besides sell the cookware? Is it your full-time job? And she said no, I actually am a housekeeper as well. And I thought to myself ooh, I could really use some help right now because I'm about to have a baby. And, sam, I know you know this feeling because, even though you now have baby at home, we're on this podcast with you about to have your baby. And so I said to the woman oh gosh, I would really love for you to come to my house and help me get prepared for my baby. And she said oh, no, no, no, no, no, I'm not that kind of housekeeper.
Speaker 2:I have one client. She said I have this client and he he was a pastor from California, was a very successful pastor, and he ended up deciding to come out of being a pastor and write business books. And I thought that's interesting. And she said yeah, he's, he actually just wrote a new book and so he moved to Atlanta that's where I was living and and so now I'm his housekeeper, so I don't have any other clients. And she said I'll tell you what if you will let me come display this cookware, I'll give you a copy of his new book. And I thought, well heck, free food and a free book, I'm all in.
Speaker 2:So she came to the restaurant and she handed me this book called Failing Forward.
Speaker 2:It was my very first John Maxwell book, because John Maxwell was her client and I fell in love with the book.
Speaker 2:I loved his style of writing.
Speaker 2:I was not familiar with leadership development or John Maxwell. It ended up being that years later I had an opportunity with Michelle to get personally trained and mentored by John. And then, years later, sam, you did the same, and in that period of time we also built and grew an international leadership development program for a company with 110,000 employees. And it became one of my, I think, most humbling but proud achievements in my 15-year career at my former company that we all three got to meet each other at. And so I tell that long story because, had it not been for that woman who handed me that book that then became part of my career, that then lent me to a conference where I met a man who wrote another book and gave me a copy of his book that years later would be sitting on my shelf, come off the shelf, do some episodes, and then Scott did something miraculous for the last episode. So, Scott, why don't you share just a little bit about where the end of this story comes from, that series with Coach Wooden?
Speaker 1:Oh, probably my most memorable experience with this podcast series and so interesting story. So Denise tasked me with contacting Pat Williams myself, and so I had to say I was intimidated was an understatement.
Speaker 3:Yeah, just go contact some famous author, big guy in the sports world, no big deal.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. So I was a little intimidated making the call and Denise knows I put it off for about a week and I was trying to think about how the best way to approach this. And I picked up the phone and introduced myself and Pat was the most generous, kind man and he talked to me like we were old buddies. I had the conversation with Pat, kind of laid out what we were going to do, and so funny story here. So he was, I kind of explained you know, hey, we do this on a Teams meeting or a Zoom call, whatever he prefers. And he said I am an old man. He said if I can't pick up the phone and make the call, then that's got to be the way we do it. And so I said okay. So I called Denise immediately after. I said we've got to figure this out. I said you know, I think we can just put my phone next to my computer and sadly we lost about I don't know maybe 10 seconds of each of his answers at the beginning, just because it wouldn't recognize the different voice over the phone, I guess from background noise.
Speaker 1:I had another wrench in the works and, denise, you might remember this too, I was in Denver, colorado, visiting some family, and I was supposed to be home the next day to take this call and host with Denise, and so there was a storm that went through and I couldn't get on a flight. I was supposed to fly out in the morning and be home early afternoon the day before this interview and I'm thinking, ok, everything's going to be great, and ended up catching a red eye at 1 am to Miami. I live in Pensacola and so flew all night, landed in Miami, had a short layover and then had to fly into Pensacola, so I was on about 36 hours with no sleep. And then now I'm co-hosting this episode with Pat, and Pat and Denise both made it so easy on that episode and he's just such a kind and gracious man and I think that that was probably my most memorable experience being on this podcast.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was awesome.
Speaker 3:That's such a great episode If you will have a listen to that. I mean, you don't even have to listen to the whole. If you listen to the whole series, and then that it's better. But you can absolutely just pick up that one episode from two years ago now and it's it's definitely worth a listen to because you guys have some great questions and he's just got some interesting answers and perspective and things like that. So that, yeah, I love that.
Speaker 2:It was such a blessing to talk with him because that experience of being able to share why he wrote the book. But, more so, we learned so many leadership lessons directly from him. That came from his influence of being mentored by Coach Wooden directly. There were some other cool things about what we learned in that book was that the book mentioned Don Yeager, who's a friend of what's on your Bookshelf and Us. I met Don at the John Maxwell organization as well. Don's at ESPN, a very, very successful writer and has an incredible podcast himself. That is definitely, definitely should be something in your earphones, in your.
Speaker 2:We had just a really, I think, amazing first year. We didn't really have a strategy and a plan and yet everything fell into place so well. I had. After coach Wooden happened, I had gone to a conference and heard James Clear speak. And then the week after that conference, I was at another conference and heard James Clear speak again. And so I said to Sam I think around that time you know we're thinking about should we do a Simon Sinek book, or that was one of your favorite authors and I said you know what? I just heard this guy and I heard him twice. Maybe we should do this book and then it became, I think, a really important book for you on your shelf, sam. So why don't you walk us through a little bit about that? Because some of my favorite episodes were Atomic Habits and what I Learned From you.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean, that book definitely changed my life, right Like the Coach Quentin book, definitely got us started and made me want to do another book. The Atomic Habits book made me realize that, like, oh, this kind of this podcast doing this really can, like, change my life, change other people's lives. It's one of the books I've talked to a lot of people about. I use it all the time in my day to day life with family, family, with coaching clients all the time. I used it today with a client and just trying to help them move forward in something they were kind of stuck on of like little bits and tidbits from that.
Speaker 3:But you know, it was that exploration of really understanding how humans work, right, like, how do habits form? What are the little things we can do, how do we make things tangible to go grab the life that we want, go grab the identity that we want. And that exploration, that book, like I, I learned so much from reading it and I learned more from talking it out with you and listening to your perspective, talking, you know, just out loud, thinking about you know what I was doing with it and trying to turn it into something, and that really, I think was the thing for me that was like wow, this is this may. This is making a big difference for for my life and for, you know, the lives of people that I come in contact with too.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I to this day when I'm talking to people about trying to build better habits and break bad ones. I frequently talk about the episode where you mentioned about getting dressed with workout clothes on in the morning, and I talk about the episode where you floss your teeth. You're part of my daily conversations with people and so I often tell them these episodes you have to listen to, and when I think about where we were when we were at the stage of our let's say, our conscious competence of learning how to do those things, and we were walking through you, actually building up some habits that now today are second nature to you. It's just so cool to see these books come to life.
Speaker 2:And before we talk about how we then planned out the next year, there was one more thing that happened at the end of that first year. That was Scott's brainchild, and it was something that I was kind of like resistant to. I didn't really want to do it. I don't like talking about myself other than to tell you kind of funny stories of my failures or things that my kids would probably be embarrassed by. But at the end of that first year, scott came to me and had an idea to bring to life another book, and it just happened to be a book that I wrote. So, scott, why don't you talk a little bit about that? Because that was your brainchild and it was the first time that you were able to actually host a complete series.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that was a lot of fun and I'm hoping to do that again this year and just see how things have changed. But Denise had just released 12 Days and I picked it up and started reading it and it is such a great book. Denise actually wrote that in 12 Days, which is amazing, and it ended up being one of the Christmas gifts I gave to everybody on my list and it made such an impact on so many people. I said, denise, we have to do this. I know this kind of falls out of line with what we're doing, with what's on your bookshelf, but I said this is something that we really need to explore and I think that this fits the model with what we're doing here and this is something where we can really dive into this, and it may not necessarily have to do with leadership, but I said, this is really important information and such a great book.
Speaker 1:I said I think that this would be a great special series and I think that that was another memorable experience for me as well and being able to go back a year later and read that again. So I'm going to be picking that up for the third time and rereading it and I'm really looking forward to doing this again, and I don't even want to listen to the old episodes first, because I don't want to again, and I don't even want to listen to the old episodes first, because I don't want to. You know, plant things in my head. I want to have fresh ideas and bring that to the table, but I'm really looking forward to doing this again and thank you for writing that. That has been one of the most memorable Christmas gifts I've been able to give people, denise, so thank you for that.
Speaker 2:That's. That's an honor to me, scott, I'm so thankful that you and I were able to share that together and you and I actually got to meet in person. We had been working together for years and years and had never met each other and then we got a chance to not only meet each other but meet each other's families, which is such an honor and blessing for me, and I was just so thankful when you came up with the idea for what to do to bring that book to life, and I'm looking forward to recording new episodes with you. And it's funny what you were mentioning about not rereading or not re-listening to the episodes. Sam and I talk a lot about how I always listen to the episode the day they come out, and inevitably there will be something that I'll hear and I'll think, man, I should have remembered. I said that because that was good and I didn't live that out loud.
Speaker 3:You knew what they were doing.
Speaker 2:I need to do that. And then there's other things that I'll listen to be like man. Sam got that one right on the bullseye, and so the funny thing is is that when we think about what we did the following year, I had already read all the books that we were going to do the next year, but Sam and I and Scott, we had a brainstorming session about what we wanted 2024 to look like, and I wanna hear a little bit, sam, maybe from you about that, because you're such a systems and process and coordinated, organized person. You really were the mastermind behind giving us structure for the year, which, to me, I love every single book we've done, but I love the year of 2024 and what we did. So why don't you share a little bit with the listeners around what happened, to kind of bring the ideas together, to be a little bit more coordinated, to kind of bring the ideas together to be a little bit more coordinated?
Speaker 3:Yeah, definitely. And, scott, I also gifted the 12 Days book to people and because those recordings were coming out, you know, like they came out in between the episodes that we had done, like I think ours came out Wednesday and those came out Friday or whatever and so my grandma, just listening through, was listening to, she just started, she caught all, all of the 12 days episodes and she called me one day and she goes I know what I want for Christmas. And I was like, well, if it's Denise's book, it's in the mail, assigned copy on the way to you right now. She was so happy, she loved the book and it was like just right up her alley of like reading and learning and diving into it. I gave it to my mom, to my aunt, you know a couple of people. So, scott, I was right there with you. It was such a great Christmas gift for people and you know, and they loved it, so definitely a good one.
Speaker 3:But, yeah, as we went into, we were ending 2023 and thinking about 2024, I'm absolutely a systems person, I'm absolutely a strategy person. Like, what's the long term vision here? What are we doing? And so we were just talking about that and so we decided for some reason, like, let's pick a theme, let's pick a concept and then find books on that. And I think that's because there were so many books in the world. That's like, well, if we pick a theme, it'll be easier to narrow down the 900 books that we have between our two shelves here.
Speaker 3:So yeah, and I just remember asking you that question, and I think if you listen to our happiness episodes we say this a few times throughout the year is, you know, like, well, what do people want to talk about? What you know, what's top of mind for people? And Denise, you said, you know, I just want to be happy, right, and I think people just want to be happy. And it's like, well, then, let's just go figure out what happiness is and find some books on that. And yeah, I mean the, I hadn't read any. You had read all the books. I hadn't read any of the books. So it was kind of a fun experience of going through all of that.
Speaker 3:But I mean again, like we finished up Atomic Habits and went right into that, the how of happiness, which is all that science, research, you know, psychology, behind what makes people happy, what you know, what have we learned in that field? And then how to apply that to your life, and again, like right on the heels of atomic habits, of like how to make changes in your life in a tangible way, to to really like become the person you want to become like and then to learn how to be happy. In all of that, like like they just really back to back came together and like I felt like the months we were reading those books, exploring those books and going through that, and then, as I re-listened to episodes, like you do too it just again like made me and having, I don't know having the life that I want, having the happiness that I want in my life, very tangible and very real.
Speaker 3:And then we followed it up with some other great stories with Solve for Happy and the Happiness Project, and then, you know, rounded out with Intentional Living, like they just flowed so nicely. Like they just flowed so nicely and I felt like, through listening to the different was really such a gift and again, like something I just carry with me, right as we every book, it's like it just adds in to this repertoire of skills that I now have, in to this repertoire of skills that I now have and you know, I really I really loved that exploration and, I don't know, I will probably go back in perpetuity and revisit those episodes and rethink about you know what things are and you know, as life changes and you go through different phases of life, like just coming back to some of that, those concepts, is, I think, will be huge for me and is huge for me now what I loved about the series is something our listeners don't get to experience, which is our day before process.
Speaker 2:So, for those of you listening, sam and I meet the day before we record and we kind of just map out what we're going to do the next day, and it's where we talk about real life. And you're right, sam, 2024 was hard for a lot of people, ourselves included, and I remember many, many, many times talking with you about man. I just feel knocked down today and I have something going on today. That is just getting me. But let's talk about how this book is getting us past it and if it had not been for those books in 2024, my 2024 would have been a lot harder, I think, and I'm so thankful. I'm so grateful because I was able to lean on and lean into not just the books but my accountability, buddy, sam, and being there with you throughout the year. I'm so excited about this year.
Speaker 2:We had another brainstorming session to plan for this year, but one of the things we also wanted to do was to bring some special edition episodes to light, and so friends, scott's going to be releasing some special editions.
Speaker 2:The first one that will come out is a special edition with Michelle King, where we talk about the 12 week year, where we discuss a book that the authors say you can get more done in 12 weeks than most people get done in 12 months, and we put that process to the test as we recorded the episodes to prove that it could really work, and so I'm excited about that series. And then we have some other secret ones that we will announce as they come to pass, with some other authors that we admire. But as we got prepared for this year, sam, we had another brainstorming session and you came up really with a brilliant way for us to take a random collection of what was on my shelf to make a theme around that. So why don't you share just a really little bit with our friends, because they probably heard our intro episode on January 1.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we talked about what this year is all about, and I think that again, it kind of falls from that like we're just on a journey, right we? We thought about what journey we wanted to go on last year, which was all about happiness, and we're like, well then, what comes after that? Right, like, what's the next thing that makes sense? And you know it's it is the fact that life is is difficult, right, that things aren't easy, that it's happiness in the middle of the mess, and so it's well, what do people say about the mess? Really, Right, and how do you leverage that in a way that's really different. And so that's where we came up with this year's theme of breaking boundaries and really making bold moves for a resilient, a resilient life. And so it's really leaning into like, what are the choices that you need to make? What do you need to do when obstacles come your way? Right, how do you untangle all the mess that you become in the middle of life? And then, what are the things that you really have to kind of settle into to to stay on the path in the middle of all this? You know, in all this chaos, I'm super excited about this.
Speaker 3:You know, this year and you know we'll start next week with the five bold choices.
Speaker 3:You'll get to hear all about that and yeah, that's a very, very easily readable book, so that's a good one to go by and read along with us as we go through it.
Speaker 3:And, again, like that's got just some really great things for people to focus on to, you know, really learn from, think about. It's helped me as we've read it. You know, really kind of hone in on what is important, right, if I got to shuffle through all this mess and all this time, like what are the things that I need to make sure that I'm doing right, what are the choices that I need to make every day to make sure that I'm sticking with that happiness that those atomic habits are really, you know, becoming what they need to be, and you know that I'm living by the principles that you know I really I really want to, and some of the things we learned from, you know, the wooden book. So it's it's definitely an interesting journey. I'm really excited to see how this year goes as we, as we move through all of it. But yeah, in in year three of this podcast particularly like it's going to be super excited and I can't believe we've come so far already.
Speaker 2:I can't believe we've come so far already. I can't believe it either, so I guess I'll close my thoughts by just saying that if there was one thing in a hundred episodes that stands out the most for me and it's hard because you can't pick a favorite child, but I would say that for me it was the principle in the wooden book that said drink deeply from good books, especially the Bible, and that was one of the chapters in his books and that really became the foundation of this podcast to drink deeply from good books, and we included some that also had to deal with my faith, which is more important than all the rest, and so I think that's the one that stands out for me. So, as we close it up for today on our 100th episode, scott, what are any last thoughts or things that you can share with our listeners before they get ready for 2025 with us?
Speaker 1:You know, I want to take the opportunity to just thank our listeners, because without you this podcast doesn't exist and hopefully, you know, this has made an impact in your life and I'm just, you know, thankful to be a part of it, and thank you both for everything you do every week, and so I guess that's kind of my. My message to everybody is just, you know, thanks for being along for the ride.
Speaker 2:Awesome. Thanks, Scott, Sam. How about for you? What are any last closing thoughts for our friends before we see them again next week?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I like the gratitude lens right, like expressing gratitude is one of the ways to increase happiness, as we know from that exploration.
Speaker 3:And, yeah, I'm just, denise, I'm grateful that you invited me into this journey and just sucked me into this podcast because, like I said, it's, it's definitely changed my life. Scott, I'm so thankful for everything you do to make this podcast happen, because it doesn't happen without you at all. For sure, denise and I are not techie enough to make it happen. So we are so grateful for all the work you do to actually get this out to listeners, because it just wouldn't happen if, if you didn't do the work that you do. And, and yeah, I am, I'm grateful for the people that listen. I'm so grateful for the people who reach out and talk to me about this, talk to us about this podcast because, again, like that depth that it's adding to my life and getting not only in the doing the podcast, sharing the podcast, listening to the podcast but in talking about this stuff with people and with our listeners is, you know, is really something I will forever be grateful for and really does, for sure, bring joy into my life and increase my happiness levels.
Speaker 2:Ditto and ditto Friends. We hope you enjoyed today's episode, where we were able to share a little sneak peek behind the curtain. We're every week thankful that you join us. We love it when you reach out to us. Scott always has ways for you to communicate with us in our show notes. We love it even more so when you also share our shows with your friends because it helps us to get a bigger reach, not just to have better listeners and more listeners, but for us to be able to share what we're learning and living through on the books that sit on our shelves, living through on the books that sit on our shelves, that we've taken off the shelves and really, really have tried to find ourselves on those pages.
Speaker 2:I'm thankful for technology because it has allowed us to be able to do this and bring it to people literally from around the world. We have friends that write to us from many countries that are listening, and it's just such an honor to know that the things that we're doing in our own lives may actually help you with the things that you're experiencing in yours. I'd also like to thank our sponsors that have come along our side with us to help us to bring this podcast to more people, and I'm thankful for our co-hosts that couldn't be here today with us because they are definitely a part of the extended team. But for today, friends, thanks again for being with us. My name's Denise Russo and on behalf of my friends, scott Miller and Sam Powell. This has been the 100th episode of what's On your Bookshelf.