Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Hosted by John R. Miles · 27 decoded episodes · newest Oct 6, 2026
You built the life you were supposed to want. So why doesn't it feel like enough? Passion Struck is the #1 Health and Fitness podcast — and it exists to answer exactly that question. I'm John R. Miles — Navy veteran, former Fortune 50 executive, bestselling author — and I built this show because I lived the "successful but empty" version of life myself, and I wanted to find a better way. Each week, I sit down with the world's top voices in neuroscience, psychology, medicine, and elite performance — including Angela Duckworth, Susan Cain, Robert Waldinger, Daniel Amen, and Ryan Holiday — to unpack what the research tells us about purpose, connection, and resilience, and how to apply it to your own life. Fridays, I share what I'm learning directly, in solo episodes built around the same ideas. New interviews every Tuesday and Thursday. Solo episodes every Friday.
Episodes 27
- Sep 8, 2026 · 1h 7mSeligman argues agency drives human progressThe conversation tests how people can preserve freedom, meaning, and resilience while collective systems and AI reshape everyday life.
- Sep 4, 2026 · 24 minJohn Miles examines why success can still feel insignificantThe episode frames disconnection and helplessness as problems of meaning and agency, while asking whether change must begin within a person or in their environment.
- Sep 3, 2026 · 1h 14mJared Diamond argues leaders matter when circumstances meet abilityThe episode tests whether history turns on indispensable individuals or on opportunities that many capable successors could have seized.
- Sep 1, 2026 · 55 minDuckworth argues environments shape who we becomeThe conversation reframes personal change as a shared responsibility: growth depends not only on grit, but on the people, places, and cultures surrounding us.
- Aug 28, 2026 · 1h 9mCaleb Campbell challenges achievement’s grip on identityThe conversation examines how ambition can secure external success while leaving personal worth dependent on performance and approval.
- Aug 27, 2026 · 57 minResearch reframes midlife as a period of growth and controlThe episode challenges decline-focused ideas about aging and shows how health, relationships, purpose, and contribution can shape later life.
- Aug 25, 2026 · 54 minBehavioral economist links unchosen risks to workplace meaningThe conversation connects regret in love and personal growth with a broader question: whether modern institutions leave enough room for people to be treated as human beings.
- Aug 21, 2026 · 52 minJosh Duhamel trades celebrity validation for a life built by handThe conversation examines how family, place, practical work, and personalized health care can reshape success beyond achievement and public approval.
- Aug 20, 2026 · 1h 2mDaily choices shape the brain decades before decline appearsThe conversation reframes cognitive decline as a process influenced long before symptoms, while highlighting the limits of prescription-centered medical care.
- Aug 18, 2026 · 54 minWhy insight fails to become meaningful changeThe conversation examines why self-awareness and self-help knowledge can preserve old identities instead of changing the behavior, systems, and relationships shaping a life.
- Aug 14, 2026 · 24 minSocial approval quietly shapes belief and behaviorThe episode shows how belonging can make group norms more powerful than personal values, while meaningful change demands tolerating identity loss and discomfort.
- Aug 13, 2026 · 1h 2mNeal Schore argues attention—not hours—determines how time feelsThe episode reframes time management as emotional self-management, showing how reactivity, rumination, and overcommitment divert attention from meaningful priorities.