Priority Living: How to Make Your Life Count with Bill Goodwin

In this week’s powerful episode of Inside OUT, Jojo is joined by leadership coach, author, and international speaker Bill Goodwin. Bill opens up about his near death experience, the afterlife encounter that changed everything, and how it led him to live with deep purpose. Together, they unpack his book Priority Living and explore the seven pillars to a fulfilling life: Purpose, Growth, Impact, Rhythm, Explore, Connect, and Give.

From navigating burnout to setting better boundaries, this conversation is filled with spiritual wisdom, actionable mindset shifts, and deeply personal stories. Whether you’re searching for direction, stuck in “busy mode,” or simply want to be more intentional in how you live and love, this is a must listen.

We get MESy: mentally, emotionally, and spiritually and discover how to live from the inside out.

🎧 Episode Highlights
• Why identity starts with purpose
• The power of rhythm and the dangers of burnout
• How to set priorities with intention
• Why generosity is the key to living abundantly
• What to do when your calendar is full but your soul is empty

📚 Get Bill’s book Priority Living: https://prioritylivingbook.com

🏢 Learn more about Priority Living Consulting Group: https://www.prioritylivingcg.com 

📲 Connect with Bill: @coachbillspeaks or Linktree 

📰 Subscribe to the Substack: HERE 

Thank you for listening! Don't forget to follow along on social media @_insideout.podcast, rate and review. And Join the MESy Mailing List for exclusive content, insights on what is coming up and more!

Transcript

Inside Out podcast. I'm your host JoJo and this is where we'll navigate the mess together that is mental, emotional and spiritual. Let's get messy.

Jojo (00:25.529)
everyone. Welcome back to Inside Out. Today I am thrilled, so excited to have my new friend, Bill Goodwin. He's here to talk to us about, well, we're going to get into that, but Bill is an author. He is a leadership coach and an international speaker. And you guys, let's just get into it. Bill, welcome to Inside Out. Jojo, thank you for having me. I have been looking forward.

to this opportunity since we first connected. Me too. And our first connection, just so you guys know, it was instant. was like, I was exhausted. I think I had like three hours of sleep the night before and I had a jolt of energy just having this initial intro with Bill. And it was just like, I was like zooming. It was like I'd had like six shots of espresso. It just energized me and I think it just really brought to life.

and into the reality of like really what we're going to speak about today. And well, I wanted to ask you first and foremost, what made you get into this line of work? Well, great question because I didn't really start out this direction, but it does really go back to when I was a teenager, probably 15, 16. I was struggling with my identity and who I was as a teenager and who I was becoming as a young man. And I had one of my uncles, my mother's

eldest brother, my uncle Tom and his wife, Carolyn, they lived in Cincinnati, Ohio. Entrepreneurs, small business owners, quite successful. I was growing up in outside of Phoenix, Arizona, and they would come out to Arizona to visit the extended family. But my uncle took me under his wing. He saw something in me. I'll say he saw potential in me and he invested in me. And so my uncle back in the day started giving me cassette tapes that dates me a little bit.

But cassette tapes of Zig Ziglar gave me Aug Mandino books. These are personal development strategy, goal setting type content that I began to devour. And I started to get excited about my life and the direction of my life. And my uncle was such a winsome, positive, encouraging, uplifting individual that, you know, when you're young, you start looking at

Jojo (02:48.355)
people in your life and you start wondering who do I want to be like when I'm older. And he was one of those, you know, bigger than life figures that was just an every ordinary person, but he was bigger than life to me. And the way that he was investing in me and giving me hope and direction and tools for my future. So that's kind of where it all started, Jojo. And then I've really ever since have been on this personal growth journey of wanting to

grow myself to be better in many ways. And that is messy at times, both emotionally, spiritually, mentally, growing myself. So often we realize you can't give away what you don't have. Well, I have been being poured into and pouring into myself literally for decades. So along the way, I started pouring into others. If you and I were to just sit down and have a cup of coffee, I would ask two questions. What are you doing to grow yourself?

And what are you doing to grow others? And so I've applied those to my life. I'm continuing looking at how am I growing myself and then how then can I grow others? Because I don't want to be a reservoir where I just learn and grow myself. I want to be a river. Let's be rivers instead of reservoirs where we're growing ourself first and now we're able to add value and lift up.

and encourage others. So that's kind of the backstory. And I really attribute that first and foremost to my uncle Tom and he's graduated to heaven since, and I had the privilege being asked to read a poem at his memorial service. It was really meaningful to me to be a part of a man's life that was so important to me. There's something very key that you said identity. And I think a lot of people struggle with direction, identity, purpose.

What would you say is besides what your uncle Tom was able to kind of instill in you and kind of direct you on that path, what would you say is something that A, you learned from him outside of those things that he gave you and B, how do you help other people sort of find that? Yeah, well, I think one of the encouragements that I learned young from my uncle Tom

Jojo (05:05.443)
was it's important to people that you surround yourself with. And I think that is so true, whether you're a teenager trying to find your identity, you're in your 20s, maybe in college, or it can even be you're retired and you're trying to find a new stage of life in your senior years. I think it's important to people that you surround yourself with. know, JoJo, we are all elevator people. We are either taking people up or we're pulling people down. So who do you surround yourself with? I don't know the exact quote, but it's something like,

you will become most like the five people you spend the most time with. it's something. Five people you spend the most time with. Thank you. Thank you for helping me with that. That's it. And I see that to be true. Who's in your inner circle and are they negative? Are they, are they always complaining? Are they, you know, are they pulling you down or are they life giving and building you up? Maybe that's where we resonated on that first conversation was that I think we're both in this, in this growth mindset.

this kind of space and I find it over and over again when I meet men and women that are also working to better themselves and better the people around them. We try to get out of the people pile and get with people that are like us. You know, there is a big people pile out there of a lot of people going nowhere, just complaining about life, not making a difference, not making a difference for themselves. But if we can, if we can get out of that people pile and find the ones and twos and the people that are

in our inner circle, going to be much better off. And that's what I found in my life. I try to surround myself with those kind of like-minded people. I've noticed similarly in my life, at least in the past year specifically, with the transformation and just the shifting that's happened for me personally, how many people have sort of fallen away? How many friendships have sort of just not been dismantled, but just disintegrated and just evaporated, for lack of a better word?

and who are the people that have stayed? And I remember it being such a struggle and like a forcing of like trying to like always be positive or like just making like their world a little easier or like trying to help them and like kind of like the elevator theory, I like that. But more so like it was almost like instead of an elevator, it was like a ladder where I was like putting them on my back and trying to up with all this weight. And now it's like,

Jojo (07:31.642)
effortless. It's like I walk into the elevator, I push the button and the people are coming with me. I'm finding that to be such a beautiful and painful process. I love what you said about the five people you spend the most time with because that's something that I very much stand by and work my life around. So you're an author and you recently wrote a book called Priority Living and there's seven pillars, literally on the front of this book, it says seven pillars to make your life count. Do you want to walk us through?

those seven pillars and maybe we can break down a few. Oh, I'd love to do that. I'd love to do that. You know, I just, I, we just add one more thought to that last question. Cause again, this goes back to honoring my uncle. I, my uncle also taught me, taught me that people want to be around people who are positive. So it wasn't just about the people that I find to surround myself with. But he said, he, he, he, taught me about even how I greet somebody.

He taught me that the way that you, whether it's a first impression, you meet someone, a salesperson or a clerk at a store, or whether it's somebody that you're introduced to or whatever it is, it's the energy and the enthusiasm and the smile that you bring when you first connect with someone. We know the phrase, you never get a second chance to make a good first impression. People are deciding, we are all deciding immediately.

Do I like this person? Do I want to be around this person? Is this the person I want to get to know more? And so, so my uncle, his his phrase always when somebody said, how are you doing? He'd always say, I'm terrific. I'm terrific. And I learned from him watching him, people do what people see. And I learned from watching him that he was so magnetic because he was that person that instantly when you met him, you thought.

I want to know him more. The other thing about my uncle was he loved to give candy to children. So he always had Werther's in his pocket. Always. So at his celebration of life, there were baskets of Werther candies because he was known as that one always giving. So he found ways to always interact. so even in my book, a little piece of it I talk about, especially wanting to help those that are maybe, you

Jojo (09:56.774)
finding their way, maybe they're in their teens or 20s or whatever, and it's for anybody, but it's the way that you show up is the way that is going to either make you magnetic to people or make you, you know, the other phrase is that, you know, people rarely remember what you said, but they'll always remember how you made them feel. And so I just wanted to add that to that last question and then we can jump into the seven pillars, but.

I don't know, Jojo, I just felt like I wanted to add that in there about it's the way that we show up. And that is, that's a, an important piece. And I want to encourage, you know, our friend that's listening to think about how do I show up and how do people, is there a change I can make even in the way that I show up in the room or on the phone or, know, even at a store or with, you know, the people that I know. I'm so glad that you, that you stopped me from moving forward because that reminds me of something, one of my teachers.

has kind of instilled in me in the last, I don't know, five something years, but he always says, sunshine, need nothing and shine light everywhere. I like that. Because the sun is always shining. It doesn't need anything else to just be. It doesn't rely on anything else for its energy. It just is. And the minute the sun stops shining, the world ends. So if you are just constant,

radiating positivity because that's what we associate. I'm pretty sure we associate the sun with happiness. At least I do. I do. But constantly radiating that sunshine and that energy, that's typically what you're going to receive back. So I'm really glad that you said that. I love that. Good. Good. Well, I hope that was helpful for someone. So yeah, let's talk about these seven pillars. Maybe it'd be helpful if I even give

a short backstory as to why I even wrote this book and developed these pillars. Would that be helpful too? Absolutely. Yeah. So November 23rd, 1999, we're coming up around 26 years ago. I had a severe asthma attack and on that day, November 23rd, 1999, I died. That day should have been on my tombstone. Obviously I was resuscitated or we wouldn't be having this conversation right now.

Jojo (12:22.965)
Full angels, full angels. And so someone wants to do the math here. How old were you? I was 28. I'm 54 now. I know I don't look it, no. I should have died. should have not. That date should have been on my tombstone. And so being that I was resuscitated in the ER and I share the full story of what happened, how that asthma attack came about.

and what happened that day. Not only in the natural, but I also share what happened. I had an afterlife encounter in heaven. So there's things that took place. My spirit left my body when I died. And I had an afterlife encounter in heaven that I share the whole story in my book. And it will be, I love that people can get some understanding, at least of my encounter, after I took my last breath. So anyway,

From that point on, I realized I really want to make my life count. Now, JoJo, we both know you don't have to die to want to make your life count. I believe we all want to make our life count, right? But Bill, why does it happen that it takes trauma or a near death experience or an actual experience like that for people to actually make a change? Why can't it be merciful? Why does it have to be with judgment that these catalysts for change happen and through pain? Like, what is that? Right, right.

Definitely a wake-up call and an eye opening to like whoa like I've been given a second chance And I think I've been given more than the second chance with some other situations car accidents different things over my life But that was the one that was like well I've been given a second chance and so I really want to make my life count So I went on this this you know this focus like how do I make my life count? I want to be intentional. You see Jojo most people just accept their lives

They don't lead their lives. And the only guarantee, my friend, that tomorrow will be better is if we are growing ourself today. So we have to be intentional. That is the key word for me. And so I didn't create a framework. I didn't create the thought, I'll have a book someday. You know, none of that. It was just, how do I make my life count? And so over the course of 20 plus years, I've been living these seven areas, which since I've now created into a framework of priority living.

Jojo (14:46.453)
that I call the seven pillars. And I've been intentional about these areas. So let's unpack them. The first one, or I'll just tell you what they are. You can, you can lead me and we can talk about whichever ones jump out to you and we'll go there. We'll go a little deeper. So the first pillar is purpose. Mark Twain said the two greatest days of your life are the day you were born and the day you discover why. That's all about our purpose. And so for me discovering my purpose at 28 and since then,

Watching it evolve in my book. I have ten questions that help you unpack your purpose The second pillar is growth again that goes back to what my uncle started teaching me as a teenager and since then amazing mentors in my life including best-selling author John C Maxwell is one of my personal mentors and and others as well So it's all about personal growth and in that chapter of the book that pillar

We talk about health, we talk about spirituality, we talk about our mental health, and we talk about all of that. The next pillar is impact. We want to make a difference. How do you make impact? If you discover your purpose and you're clear on that, and you are growing yourself so you have something to offer others and offer the world, now you can make an impact. And so I unpack what it looks like in the pillar of impact. The fourth is rhythm. Rhythm, there is a rhythm to our life.

And I see many people going nowhere fast. We're just busy, busy, busy, busy. That's a word, the B word I want to take out of my vocabulary. I don't want to be busy. I don't mind having a full plate. I don't mind being productive, but busy just means I'm just, just scurrying around, not with intentionality. So many people are going nowhere fast. So direction is more important than speed. So to get clarity on that. So

Rhythm is really an important part. In that chapter, I talk about in 2010 into 2011, I hit a wall, I hit complete burnout. As a optimistic type A driven person, I was numb. was just absolutely didn't want to get out of bed and went into this funk and was not living rhythm. And so I unpack how do we live rhythm in our life? That's the pillar number four. It's really important.

Jojo (17:06.655)
then pillar number five is I call it explore. That I want to have fun. Like I work hard, but man do I play hard. And so when I travel for speaking and work and just travel for fun, I will always want to find things to explore, people to meet, cultures to experience. There's so much beauty in this world and we're to explore it. We're to have fun in some way every day.

So then the next pillar is connect. It's all about relationships. I really believe that Maya Angelou said it correctly, the quality of your life will be determined by the quality of your relationships. So show me a person that says, my relationships around me are pretty solid right now. You're gonna be living a pretty good life. But if you have stress and strain and loneliness or things like that in one or more relationships,

it really does affect the quality of your life. So in that chapter, I actually have a relationship pyramid that starts from when you are a complete stranger, how you meet somebody, that's where I talk about how you show up, and then how you go up the pyramid to greater connectivity with those personally and professionally in your life. And then finally, the seventh pillar for me is the pillar of give. It's all about generosity, it's all about lifting others up, it is...

It is a combination of how you give back to others, finance with all of your resources, your time, your talents, your treasure. Success is what we can gain for ourselves and there's really nothing wrong with that with the right mindset. But really significance, JoJo, is what we give to others and how we make a difference in the lives of others. So anyway, that's the framework of the seven pillars for me that make up a life of priority living in order to make my life count.

And now I felt like it's time after all these years to share this with others because one or more of those pillars could really help an individual to say, I need to grab onto that pillar so that I can be more intentional.

Jojo (19:11.694)
You know, as you were talking, the pillar that there's a couple that stood out, but the one that really stood out is rhythm.

what you said about burnout and busy. I actually had this moment last night where I was reflecting and journaling and laying in bed and just kind of like reassessing. And I realized that while October was a beautiful month and I'm really, so many things happened and just, really grateful for everything. You know, it was my birthday. There was a lot of flow, lot Happy birthday. Thank you. But there was a lot of like love and family and

friends and just like connectivity and then also like career stuff and things were really good, but it was just, it was so fast and not in the way where I could kind of sit back and relax and enjoy it more of just like the, the next and the, after this and then I'm going here and it was like nonstop and that's actually kind of been more or less the last like four ish months of my life. And it kind of made me sad.

because I was like, hang on, like if I continue at this pace, I'm gonna miss my life. And that was really like something that landed for me last night. And it's almost like, I feel like we get into this rhythm or this busyness and we don't really know how to stop or get out of it and really like, you know, shift something to the back burner or like the something's gotta give.

And that's also what I'm feeling. And it's just this like, well, I can't really, you know, give anything up right now or shift anything. But I think that's just a limiting belief and a mindset that is untrue and a lie that I'm telling myself. So that's definitely, that is definitely like the pillar that is like front and center for me right now. Yes. Well, I'd love to talk more about rhythm. I should also add that. the

Jojo (21:17.806)
My book is 10 chapters. It's an easy read. got a lot of stories as well as principles in there as a leadership coach and a personal development guy. But the last three chapters, I just want to point out are, so there's a chapter on priorities. Obviously it's priority living. So how do you take these pillars and how do you assess your priorities? There is an exercise in there for the reader to look at what's on your plate and how do you assess your time and how do you set priorities.

Some of the how to set priorities is things that I learned from my mentor, John Maxwell. I talk about that in the book. So then we get into foundation, that the pillars need to be built on a foundation. So we need to look at what's your foundation. And then, and that's the chapter where I outline the full story of when I died and the heaven experience. And then the last chapter is all about leaving a legacy. And inheritance is what we leave to people. A legacy is what we leave in people. And so I unpack that.

So I wanna talk about rhythm, but if you'd allow me, I wanna read from my introduction because I think it applies to what you were just saying when you assessing your last four months. I think others can relate to this. So this is part of my introduction. Let me just take a moment and read this. Too many people are going through the motions of life. After a restless night with not enough sleep, the alarm clock summons you to start the day. It's the start of another series of hours you spend awake.

before you lay your head on the pillow again? What awaits you? What will you encounter today, both planned and unplanned? What emotions will you experience? Whom will you interact with today? Will there be a moment today you will never forget? Maybe something so positive and unexpected that you will never forget something you see or hear. Or maybe today will be just another day. That's right, just another day.

Another day that starts with you hitting snooze on your alarm before you start scrolling on your little screen. Staggering out of bed to the bathroom, scrolling on that little screen some more and then a cup of coffee. A moment of delight with your coffee before you are off to your scheduled events. You drive to work to look at a medium sized screen for eight hours and meetings, so many meetings.

Jojo (23:40.27)
while your to-do list seems to be growing, not shrinking. After work, you juggle the kids' schedules, paying the bills, figuring out what's for dinner, fitting in some exercise, drinking from the fire hydrant of problems blasting in your face. You gather in the evening to relax with others, to watch your big screen, while everyone has their little screen in their hands and faces. You're four feet apart from those the ones you love.

You know they love you too, but you feel 4,000 miles apart. You are lonely, even in the room with others. Your day is a continual bombardment of emails, social media, trying to figure out AI, your hybrid work environment, the 24 hour news cycle and never ending demands that you add to your to-do list for another day. No wonder your chest is tight. You can't breathe at times. This is your life. Well,

This is just a Tuesday. Now you know why you're so exhausted. Is this how life is supposed to be? I just feel like when I said earlier that many people, you know, they're so busy, they're going nowhere fast. And I feel like when I wrote this, that that is a description, bits and pieces of it, of so many of our lives. We came out of the pandemic thinking, well, I'm never going to let my life get that full again.

And if I could just be fully honest and transparent, I think my life and so many have just put everything on, you know, twice as fast speed to try to take in everything. And so that's why I believe the seven pillars that make up a priority living life can really make a difference in someone's life. And like you said, Jojo, it comes into this rhythm stage. So while you were reading, I had a

visceral and emotional reaction to that. I was definitely like tears were flowing, which is it just struck something so deep in me. And I don't even know if I'm able to articulate it at this point, but it's just that monotony and that same cycle that just happens when we're not present.

Jojo (25:58.719)
That's right. And I think it's just so sad because we wake up one day and we're just like, and I hear it from, you know, from people a lot older than me, but they wake up one day and they're like, what happened? Or one thing I'm hearing a lot, it's like, just go for it. Whether that's love, whether that's a career, whether that's moving, whether that's anything, it's just like, do it. Because so many people miss the opportunity and they don't. And they're like,

That was the that got away. That was the situation that could have changed my life. That was a move I could have made that would have changed the foundation of my legacy, of what I'm leaving behind. And regret is just something that I do not want to live with. that was so powerful, what you just read. Thank you for sharing that.

Thank you. do believe in a few that have given me their endorsement of the book or one or more of them have said, you know, this book is a wake up call for our life. And one said it helps you get off the treadmill of life. I just really, like I say, I've been living this for over 20 years, not as succinctly as a framework and pillars and all that, comes with time and that comes with packaging to say, how do I put this in a book form?

But now I do keynote speaking on this topic. I do workshops, I do half day workshops for teams. you know, if that can be beneficial, I definitely would want, you know, someone to reach out to me and say, why we have a conference coming or an event coming, we'd love to have some of this content brought. So the aspect of rhythm is I'm a person of faith.

And so, I love that your podcast is also about spirituality, which is wonderful. So, I actually share what would be a biblical principle to give us foundation of rhythm. so, in the scriptures, in Genesis, it says that, you know, God created the heavens and the earth and the creation took place in seven days. Now, there's a lot of questions. Was that a literal 24-hour period? I'm not getting into all that. But what I am going to say is that humankind, human beings,

Jojo (28:18.471)
were created on the sixth day. And then it says God rested on the seventh day. So what does that mean for Adam and Eve? It means that they rested on their first day. They weren't created and work and then rest. No, they were created, they rested, and then they worked. So here's the principle that I give in that chapter on rhythm.

And it's actually a quote from a gentleman named Mike Breen. I need to give him proper credit for it. Mike Breen says that we are to work from rest, not rest from work. So when we go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, we're exhausted, we're depleted, we're like, my gosh, I need a break. Now we're resting from our work versus having a rhythm of our life of rest. So it's out of that rest.

that now I'm ready to work again. And there is, it seems, well, is that really a big deal? Yeah, it is a significant shift when we embrace the fact that we were created to rest, then work, not rest, not rest from our work. And so there's a framework there and I unpack that even more when, the individual reads the book. Also, Mike Breen in his work shares about the life shape of a semi-circle.

And that semicircle represents the rhythm of our life. So if you have a upside down semicircle, if you can just visualize that, and it's like a pendulum that swings back and forth, and that should be the rhythm of our life. We go from rest, the pendulum swings to work, and back to rest. And in between there, there is opportunities for growth, there's opportunities for play and enjoyment in life, but there is this rhythm to our life.

And unfortunately for many years of my life, Jojo, I was just fifth gear, full throttle. And ultimately I ended up, as I said, hitting a wall, complete burnout, and I needed to learn how to apply the rhythm of life. And now that has become so dear to me, the way that I spend my day starting out in the morning, slow mornings, reading, writing, thinking, carving out time for my life that creates this rhythm.

Jojo (30:38.313)
that then I can move from that even rest in the morning to work throughout my day and finding times for growth and play along the way and exploring, which is that next pillar. But it all comes back to the rhythm of my life. And I want to encourage others to look at what's the pace and the rhythm of your life. And is there some changes that can be made in order to live a more fulfilling life? I'm just thinking about

the total lack of structure that I have when it comes to my vocation. And, and I have like a several different things that I do for work and none of it is scheduled and none of it is succinct and it's totally random. I could be getting up at 3 a.m. one day or 9 a.m. the following. Like it doesn't make sense. And I could be on any time zone.

And it's just like how in those moments or like, let's say people travel for work or, you know, kids, I don't know, just there's so many different, you know, aspects of life that could throw a wrench in that. How do you find that balance of the rhythm or the equilibrium of good word of making that your baseline so that you're not, you know, headed toward burnout. Yeah. So I'm going to jump.

to some of what I talk about in that eighth chapter, which is all about priorities, because in order to get the rhythm, we have to come back to assessing what are our priorities. So quick story, one day when I was with John Maxwell and a few others, I asked John, said, you know, my company is called Priority Living. This is long before I wrote the book, but my company is called Priority Living Consulting Group. And I said, Papa John, how do I help myself and others with priorities? And he said,

He said what I'm about to tell you, Jojo, I've shared it with so many people. He said, a leader's calendar will always be full. I can stop at that. Like there's so much about that where I want my calendar not to be full, but I'm a leader or I'm in a position of leadership or something. So that was helpful. A leader's calendar will always be full. Now don't miss what I'm about to say. John told me. He said, the question isn't, will your calendar be full? The question is who's filling your calendar.

Jojo (33:05.341)
And I was like, mic drop moment. Who's filling your calendar? He said, so when you set priorities, when you know what your priorities are and you get it on your calendar first, now other things will come in around those things. And you have more clarity to be able to say yes to things and no to things. And so for me, what I have adopted into my life since then is I'm

building out my calendar, sometimes three to six months in advance. I'm putting on my calendar, this is my time in the morning for reading and my personal development for refreshing me. You know, it's the thing on the airplane where they say, the mask over your nose and mouth before helping someone around you. You know, so it's like I'm taking care of myself first. If I'm gonna be intentional about exercise or I'm gonna be intentional about the things I want in my life, well,

It's not gonna come as an afterthought or if I have time, it's going to be a priority for me, which means I put it on my calendar first. It makes it a lot easier than to say no to other things. I don't have to explain what I'm doing or whatever to say, well, you know, that's gonna be my time to exercise, so no, I can't meet with you. I mean, I can say it, but it's like, no, all I have to say is, I'm booked at that time in the morning, could we schedule a little bit later? And now I'm beginning to.

create this rhythm to my life of things that I'm filling on my calendar that actually I want to put on my calendar. And quite honestly, I love people. I love opportunities. I would usually say yes to stuff. then I don't know you can relate Jojo, then when the time comes, it feels like an obligation. Like, oh, why did I say yes to this? I've got so much already going on.

So now, when you invited me on your podcast, it was an easy yes, because I know what my priorities are, and I'm like, yes, that fits with my priorities. Because it goes into, boy, I'm giving a lot of value right here. I'm about to share three questions that John shared. I was gonna save it for the book, but here, let me just give them. So now you take your priorities, JoJo, and you say, what is required of me? What are the things that are required of me?

Jojo (35:24.677)
You add those onto your calendar at the top of the list. Second, what gives me the greatest return? What gives me the greatest return? So when you invited me on your podcast, it's an easy yes, because I believe this gives me a great return because I can add value to people that are listening and hopefully I'm going to make a difference. So that's going to give me a return. not doing, I don't give to get, but it's a return factor.

Then the last question is, what's most rewarding? And this conversation with you, my friend, is also very rewarding for me. So it's gonna be an easy yes on my priorities to put it on my calendar. So those are just a quick framework there of some additional pieces that help us to determine our priorities. I go into a whole coaching exercise in that chapter on the book, but.

But it really then comes back to rhythm. So now I can live a life of rhythm, not feeling guilty, saying no, not living out of alignment with my purpose, but focused in being purpose aligned and being able to live a more fulfilling life. Is my calendar full? Yeah, I'm a leader. My calendar will be full. I've come to accept that. But now it's filled up with the things that I can filter through what should be on my calendar.

And those things come in around the things that I've already put on my calendar and have prioritized first. hope that's helpful. Definitely. There's from what I've experienced with myself in a, in a switch of mentality and mindset that I'm working through right now is the guilt of saying no, and then providing a reason because sometimes no is a full sentence. No. Correct. And it doesn't require.

anything. If someone is going to respect that boundary, those are your people, the people that don't, not your people. saying no, because as you mentioned, rest is so important. Sometimes I just have to say no. And it's not because I have other things to do. It's because I have to fill my cup. I have to put my mask on first. I have to sit my butt on the couch and download, recalibrate, recoup.

Jojo (37:49.276)
just so that I have the wherewithal to work, to be, to give back to the people, to show up in my relationships because I can't have a full day of doing whatever I do and then get home and then have to, not have to, this is not what I mean. But if I want to have a conversation with my mom or catch up with a friend, I'm not gonna have the space, the mental clarity, the capacity to do that unless...

I stop unless I slow down, but that is so hard to just say no. Because those are the people you want to spend your time with. That's what is energizing. But if you can't put yourself first, there's no way. There's no way. And that's a very hard and large pill that I am learning how to swallow because it is so difficult just to be like, my God, I can't. Like, no, it is so hard to say no.

Yes. Well, I also want to speak to the individual that maybe is the more type A driven driver like I am. I'll talk about rhythm and they'll say, yeah, I just can't sit and watch binge Netflix. that's just not I have. I want to be doing something. And then it's the reminder that we are human beings, not human doings, and that rest can look different from one person to the next. So.

Rest for somebody is, hey, I need to get out in my yard and work in my garden. Rest for somebody else is, I need to get on my bike and go for a bike ride. That's what fills me up. That's where I get my alone time and I get my thoughts going when I'm out riding my bike on a long bike ride. It's different for every single person. And so, you I live in Minnesota, so the winter, don't even want to be in Minnesota, first of all, but I definitely don't want to be outside. But the summers are so beautiful.

And so I love to be up early. And so I love to be out on, on long walks. And those are my thinking times. Those are the times that I shift my, my priority from being home, sitting with my coffee, reading and all that in the, in the summertime, because I want to get that morning time for me out on a run, out on a walk and be able to refill my cup that way. So my point is.

Jojo (40:13.715)
All of us need to look at what does rest and replenishing and filling our cup, what does it look like for you? It might be different than somebody else. I listen to a lot of podcasts because that is so fulfilling for me. And there's different things that I do to fill my cup so that I'm not depleted. Whereas JoJo, you might do it different or someone else that's listening might say I need to do something different in order to rest. So friends, rest, it could be.

Binging Netflix, but if that's not your cup of tea, then find what is the way that you get refreshed. last pillar that I want to maybe unpack is giving and that circuitry that giving and receiving sort of, and not giving to receive, but giving to give and naturally how that sort of flows back to us. Yeah, I love to talk about this because

This helps me to just remind myself, first of all, that all of these seven pillars, JoJo, you don't arrive. This isn't something you set out to quest and then you go, I checked the box. I've got this one down. These are constant opportunities for growth throughout our life. So it isn't like, hey, one and done, I did that, bought the t-shirt, I got the priority living shirt, good deal.

That was something I did at one point when it comes to all of these, we're always growing and we're always improving. So we want to become the best version of ourself. And so we can become even 1 % better every day or every week could be super important. But I say in the book, here's something I'll just quote from the book. This is so important. Giving is contagious and rewarding. You know, when we lift others up, we move from a scarcity mindset.

and we move into an abundance mindset. And that there's always, always more to give. And so, this principle again for me, goes back to my spirituality. That you cannot out give God. Every good and perfect gift in our life is the result of our Creator said, I'm blessing Jojo with this gift. Whatever it is. And so, then we have the

Jojo (42:37.332)
privilege and the opportunity to be generous in return. was, gosh, there's so many different directions we can go on talking about giving because there's so much here. And I've been on the receiving end of incredible generosity that has shown me that I want to be on the giving end of that generosity. A short version of a longer story that's in the book. Many years ago, I was serving in a ministry as a youth pastor.

and we were needing some financial resources and to my surprise, exceedingly abundantly, I was gifted a $110,000 Hummer for the ministry. And so as I drove it to figure out what to do with it, I ended up trading it in and was able to get two vans so we could do trips and things with the teenagers and a refund check.

Jojo of $63,000 that we were able to apply in them. Talk about receiving, you know, super abundantly. So the full story is in the book. It's, it's an incredible story. That's one of many, many times when I've been on the receiving end of generosity. And so it's not just financial. It's in the way that we show up and the way that we, we connect people, the way we help people, the way we lift people. so being on that receiving end.

helps me to say I don't want to just be on the receiving end, I want to be a giver. I want to be able to bless people with my time, with my treasure, with my talents. I want to be able to bless people with a new car, or a used car, it's a new car to them. I want to be able to bless people with financial resource. I want to be able to say how can I help, how can I serve you, how can I lift you up? so giving really becomes, generosity really becomes contagious.

And it's really out of an abundance mindset versus a scarcity mindset that we live. So here's some things that I just want to say about generosity. I share about the example of, could you imagine a Amazon driver or FedEx or UPS? They are the delivery person. If the items that get put in their truck,

Jojo (45:01.48)
And they, instead of delivering them to where they're supposed to go, they end up just taking them to a storage unit that they own. And they end up just storing up all the stuff for themselves. First of all, they get fired, but in the, in the example, they're the delivery person. So I'm always thinking about what do I have in my life? Skills or material things even, what do I have in my life that I'm only the delivery person for? I'm supposed to share these things with others.

so that it actually gets to where it's supposed to go versus me just obtaining it myself. And to me, that's a mindset that helps us to live abundantly and that helps us live a life of generosity. Think about how we can be generous with others, absolutely. Unfortunately, I haven't had the opportunity to read this book yet because from us being introduced to each other to us recording this episode was a matter of- Really quick. Yeah, it was a quick, quick turnaround.

I know that this book is definitely the next thing that I pick up and I read and God knows I need it. So I'm really excited and I'm really hoping that our listeners can find, you know, priority and peace and purpose and rhythm and all these things that your book is so jam-packed filled with. mean, it's just like you dropped some golden nuggets of wisdom and your story.

I just feel so almost speechless, which is a problem since I have a microphone in front of my face. Just of how much and how crazy aligned this conversation is and how much this conversation needs to be shared. So thank you so much for that. Before I let you go, Bill, I wanted to get messy mentally, spiritually. Mentally, what is one belief or mindset that

helped you move through a season of either fear or doubt? Well, I think mentally, one thing that's always helpful for me is the belief that my best days are still ahead. And I just believe that even this year, we're, you know, in this part of the season of the year, or whenever you're listening to this, it might be a different time of the year. But the rest of this year is going to be the best of this year. I believe that every year.

Jojo (47:27.666)
And I also believe that my best days are still ahead. And I hope that should I live into my, you know, seventies, eighties, nineties, I hope that I'll still be believing my best days are still ahead. And that mentally really helps me to realize no matter what I'm going through, because we all go through stuff, but I can look back over my life and go, you know what? That seemed like.

the biggest deal in the world and it's no longer a part of my life. I made it through that. It was messy maybe, but I got through it. So the mindset to always believe your best days are ahead and the rest of this year, JoJo is going to be the best of this year for you. What is it? Frank Sinatra says the best is yet to come. I love that. Okay. Emotionally, how do you manage emotional low points?

I think for me, emotional low points, my goodness, they sure do come, don't they? Life is kind of a roller coaster. Say that again. Yeah. You know, for me, where my faith comes in, where I just, I lean on the stability of Scriptures and of the opportunity to have conversation with my Creator through prayer, those are the times, not just in the low points, but those are the times

that I really can lean on something solid. And when life seems like it's shifting, that's where the solid rock of my faith really helps me to navigate those emotional times that are most challenging. Well, this might tie it or that might also tie in a little bit spiritually, but what grounds you when life feels out of control? What grounds me when life feels out of control is,

Yeah, I think it does go back to that last answer, you know, I also think it goes back to the last two answers. Actually, when things are out of control, really, Hey, my best days are ahead. It's going to be okay. All is well. Don't sweat the small stuff. And it's all small stuff. You know, it's interesting in our world today, we're so caught up in political things or all of these things. And not to belittle things that they don't matter, but

Jojo (49:44.434)
In the scheme of life, let's try to keep the main thing the main thing. And for me, the main things are, am I living my purpose? Am I growing myself? Am I making an impact? Am I living a life of rhythm? Am I exploring and enjoying every day? Am I having great connections with other people? And am I being generous? Am I being a giver? Those are the things that are most, those are the main thing for me. And if I'm focused on those things, I can navigate a lot of the challenges.

that are going to come in life, whether it be mentally, emotionally, or spiritually, because JoJo, our best days are ahead. Wow. What a beautiful way to just wrap that all together. I have one final question, actually. This just came to me as you were speaking. If you were to impart intuitively a pillar that we can sit with or unpack or just focus on for the rest of this week, what pillar would that be?

Good question.

Jojo (50:48.882)
I think I would encourage you to take which one resonates most with you. It might be a different answer for each person. And for you, said rhythm really captured your imagination or your attention. So I would say find which one really, really captures your attention. But they're really not in the book in a particular order with the exception of number one. We have to start with purpose. We have to start with purpose.

When we get clarity on our purpose while we were born, then a lot of these things start to fall into place in our life. So we start with purpose and that might be if someone's unclear where to start, I would say start with purpose. However, if another one really resonates with you right now, like you said, rhythm, then great, start with that one. But I think that for me, I start with purpose because every day it's important to know

Am I just busy or am I being productive living out and fulfilling my purpose? By the way, purpose, Jojo, is the best of what you have to help others. So if I'm living that out, if I'm living my purpose, I'm giving the best of what I have to help others. Isn't it something how that's full circle to giving? When we're giving, we're living our purpose. And there's a specific purpose that each of us have that

We are most fulfilled in our life when we are living our purpose. So that might be something someone wants to explore a little deeper. As a leadership coach, I have an assessment that I give people online. You can find that by reaching out to me. That will take you through that purpose factor assessment. And in the book, get the book because there's 10 questions to help you get clarity on your purpose. Last thing I'll say to that is, clarity always precedes peace.

Jojo (52:46.89)
Clarity always precedes success. So get clear on your purpose, purpose first, and a lot of things will start to align for you.

Bill, thank you so much for this beautiful conversation and for, first of all, finding Inside Out and connecting with me. This was just such a treat. And where can our listeners find you and connect with you? Yeah, I'm on social channels. So if you're on LinkedIn or Facebook, find me by my name, Bill Goodwin, G-O-O-D-W-I-N, find me there. And I'm on Instagram at Coach.

Bill Speaks at Coach Bill Speaks. And then my website is really a great place. And on my website, you can get a free chapter of Priority Living Book. So you go to prioritylivingcg.com. That stands for consulting group. So prioritylivingcg.com. There is a URL that will take you there as well if you go to prioritylivingbook.com and you can get a free chapter of the book, Priority Living, Seven Pillars to Make Your Life Count.

The book is available on Amazon and it is an ebook, a paperback or a hardcover. And maybe someday I'll be able to get an audio, an audible book done. Like how I read that chapter to you. Maybe I need to, maybe I need to move forward on that too. Honestly, that's what I was thinking when you reading. I was like, this needs to be, he needs to read this to people. This is amazing. Thank you for that. And thank you for having me. What a, what a joy to connect with you and share with your friends that are listening on the other end.

and they can be a part of our conversation. yes, thank you so much. And I always like to say, make it a ridiculously amazing day. Jojo, my friend, keep smiling. Thank you so much, Bill. And all of this will be linked in the show notes for you guys. So don't worry, scroll down, you'll find all of the links, everything that Bill just said. And guys, you have to get that chapter, not just the chapter, read the chapter, but that's going to inspire you to buy the entire book and just gobble it up.

Jojo (54:56.455)
Well, you guys know where to find me and also that I have made a little switch over to Substack. But if you need to find the Substack easier, you can go to at underscore inside out dot podcast as I have stepped away mostly from social media. But all of this again is linked in the show notes and you guys have an amazing week. Talk to you soon. Bye.