OS 68: Pivot with Adam Markel

Adam Markel is a transformational teacher who inspires, empowers and guides people to live authentically, purposefully and powerfully from their hearts. He’s trained thousands of people from Singapore, Europe, Canada, Malaysia, Vietnam, Australia and all across the United States. Adam uniquely bridges the worlds of business, psychology and spirituality, to facilitate MASSIVE and LASTING personal and professional transformation. In this ground-breaking book on personal and professional reinvention, Adam reveals his top strategies and tools to creating a new path towards your ultimate happiness and fulfillment. Adam shares life-changing exercises and declarations, so you can start taking action, release negative patterns and replace them with powerful intentions and rituals that will produce MASSIVE TRANSFORMATION in your life overtime. This interview is about giving leaders tools for making a successful pivot. Here's the transcript: Hugh Ballou: Greetings, this is Hugh Ballou. My guest on this session is Adam Markel, an amazing guy. I have seen Adam over the years, and we have had some conversations about things. Last time we met, we had some real resonance in transformational leadership and the programs he’s got that are really helpful. I love watching Adam’s keynotes. I love listening to his podcast. So I said, “Adam, why don’t we share some of these things with my audience who are orchestrating success and converting passion to profit?” Adam, welcome to this podcast. Adam: Hugh, thank you so much for inviting me. I couldn’t think of any place I’d rather be right at this moment. Hugh: Great. I am in the mountains of southwest Virginia, and you are way down in San Diego, where it’s always disgustingly nice. Adam: Disgustingly nice is the way I would put it. Hugh: There are maybe a couple of people in this audience who don’t know Adam Markel. I like to start out by asking people to share a little bit about yourself. What is the background? You have written a book, you do programs, you give keynotes on this thing you are calling pivot, which I think is a profound paradigm. What is your journey here, and what is pivot all about? Adam: Hugh, thank you for asking me that. First and foremost, what I want people to know about me is I am a daddy. I have four healthy kids, the most incredible beings, and I feel so blessed that we were able to have four kids who are great contributors in the world today. My wife and I got married 28 years ago in two weeks’ time. I feel very blessed to be a daddy and husband for that length of time. I have also been an entrepreneur since I was 15 years old. I started off selling baseball cards. I was a teacher. Just before the interview, you and I were reminiscing about our teaching careers. I spent two years teaching junior high school English, way back when. I had a short stint in publishing. I was a lifeguard. I learned a lot of great lessons from all those things: teaching, my little bit of space and time in the publishing field, and then being in service as a lifeguard and swimming instructor taught me a lot about life, including some things I have written about in the book I wrote many years later. I spent 18 years as a practicing full-time attorney. I am a recovering lawyer. Hugh: Oh my. Adam: I had a lot of hair before I started practicing law. You’re listening to a guy who has no hair. I am totally bald. By choice is what all bald guys say. I lost my hair primarily because I spent so many years doing work that I totally despised. I went into the practice of law because I wanted to provide a better life financially for my family. My wife Randi and I met in college. We got married a couple years later, and we had kids. I realized pretty quickly that kids are expensive. I wanted to provide a good life, have a house. I grew up and didn’t have very much financially. I shared the room a size of a closet with my brother in an apartment.