Dr. Jim Polk was supposed to spend his life on a Flint assembly line.

A car threw him 120 feet at 14 and ended his running. Bad eyes grounded his flying at 16. At 20 his parents' marriage came apart and he went home to raise his sister and clean a bar at night. At 3 in the morning, on his hands and knees scrubbing a toilet while guys he grew up with laughed at him, he decided he was done.

He ended up in the back seat of an F-15 at 65,000 feet working with NASA, where he watched the engine stall and the aircraft tumble over.

Today he is a neuropsychologist and peak performance coach who has trained 25,000 people on 5 continents.

In this conversation he gives away the entire method he uses with clients:

The one question he opens with every time, and why almost nobody has written down an answer.

The 5 year and 10 year vision exercise, including why the list has to reach 50 items before it gets honest.

Why he refuses to coach anyone who will not spend 10 minutes a day doing nothing.

The Navy captain who came off 2 blood pressure medications in 3 months and later made 2 star admiral.

The attorney who walked away from $300,000, took a $35,000 internship, hated every day of it, and came out free.

How to tell the difference between changing your goal and quitting.

Why nobody under a CEO will bring them bad news, and what that costs.

If this one lands, follow the show and leave a rating. It genuinely helps this reach the person who needs it.

DR. JIM POLK

https://drjimpolk.co

Also on Substack and on LinkedIn as Dr. Jim Polk.

FULFILLMENT PROJECT

Substack, including the free weekly reflection guide: https://fulfillmentproject.substack.com

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6709cKjw4GWkTTzbu7xPJM

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fulfillment-project/id1804384788

A written reflection guide for this episode drops on the Substack 2 days after this video. It's free, and it turns everything below into questions you can actually answer.

Subscribe so you don't miss next week. Like the video if one thing in here was worth your time.

Jeff Wickersham spent 10 years at American Express before walking away 8 years ago to found the Warrior Dad Experience. His mission: help 1 million dads become better men and impact 2 million kids by 2053. But his path there ran through his mother's death, a failed gym business, a $30,000 gambling bet he hid from his wife for years, and a battle with alcohol he finally won 4.5 years ago.

In this conversation, Jeff and Andy talk about the fragility of life, the courage it takes to confess your worst moments to the people who love you, and the simple morning system Jeff has run for 3,155 straight days. This is a raw, honest look at what it actually takes to become a better man, husband, and father, told by someone who's lived through the worst of it and came out the other side.

IN THIS EPISODE:

- Why Jeff calls himself a guide instead of an influencer

- Carrying his mother down the stairs after she passed away from breast cancer

- The deathbed exercise Jeff uses to help men find their purpose

- Why he walked away from a stable 10-year career at American Express

- The $30,000 bet he hid from his wife, and the courage it took to confess it

- How that confession made his 20-year marriage stronger

- Quitting alcohol 4.5 years ago and never looking back

- The 15-minute morning system: 7 wins, 3,155 days and counting

- Why perfection is the enemy of progress, and what to do on your worst days

- Answering every bid: the simple habit that keeps his teenage sons still asking him for time

- Why he's open with his kids about his failures instead of hiding them

- The John D. Rockefeller story about the power of small, repeatable improvements

LINKS:

Warrior Dad Experience: warriordad.com

"Rise, Fight, Love, Repeat" by Jeff Wickersham: available on Amazon and Audible

FOLLOW FULFILLMENT PROJECT:

Substack: https://fulfillmentproject.substack.com/

YouTube: @fulfillmentproject

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6709cKjw4GWkTTzbu7xPJM

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fulfillment-project/id1804384788

If this episode hit home, share it with a dad who needs to hear it, and leave a review wherever you listen. It helps more than you know.

A bat and a ball cost $1.10 together. The bat costs $1.00 more than the ball. How much is the ball?

If you said 10 cents, you're in good company. I got it wrong too. It's 5 cents. That riddle is the door into this episode.

In May I invited writer Ruth Gaskovski onto the show. She said no. Then she did something that has never happened to me in a year of running this podcast: she gave me a comp subscription to her paid work, offered to open the paywall on anything I wanted to share with you, and sent me 3 of her articles chosen for the questions she knew I wanted to ask.

One of them wrecked me. It's called "Learning, Fast and Slow: Why AI Will Not Revolutionize Education." This solo episode is me sitting with it out loud.

The argument starts with Daniel Kahneman. We think with 2 systems: a fast one that's instinctive and automatic, and a slow one that's deliberate and exhausting. Ruth and her husband Peco give it a picture. You have a hare brain and a tortoise brain. And you cannot become a hare without first being a tortoise. The slow part is where the fast part comes from.

Almost every promise AI is making right now is a promise to spare us the slow part. Edison said in 1922 that movies would replace textbooks. Radio was going to fix education in the 1930s. Television in the 1950s. Personal computers in the 1980s. Online courses 10 years ago. Meanwhile reading scores for 13-year-olds peaked in 2012 and have fallen ever since. As of 2023 they sit barely above where they were in 1971.

I use AI every day, 50 times a day, and I'm grateful for it. The promise that it can spare us the slow work of becoming someone is the same promise radio made, wearing better clothes.

There is no shortcut to a self.

Chapters

00:00 The bat and the ball

00:42 I asked Ruth Gaskovski to be on the show. She said no.

01:55 The article: Learning, Fast and Slow

02:25 Hare brain, tortoise brain, and Kahneman's 2 systems

03:00 100 years of broken promises, starting with Edison in 1922

03:50 Where this stopped being about school for me

04:40 Why I use AI daily and still don't buy the shortcut

05:20 Why you can't scale a Ruth

06:45 The question to sit with this week

Links

Ruth's article, opened free for Fulfillment Project readers: https://schooloftheunconformed.substack.com/p/learning-fast-and-slow-why-ai-will

School of the Unconformed: https://schooloftheunconformed.substack.com

"Thinking, Fast and Slow" by Daniel Kahneman

Read Ruth's piece slowly. That's the only way it works.

Fulfillment Project is a weekly conversation about meaningful work, faith, family, and building a life on purpose. Subscribe at https://fulfillmentproject.substack.com

AMDG

One year. $5,215 spent. $306 earned. And 490 followers built from absolute zero.

In this radically honest solo episode, Andy pulls back the curtain on 14 months of building Fulfillment Project — the money, the numbers, the failures, the faux pas, and the people. This isn't a get-rich-quick story. If anything, it's the opposite: the most worthwhile bad investment he's ever made.

You'll get the full ledger, line by line — the gear that was worth every penny, the $326 mistake, and the expense that quietly got episodes pulled offline. Andy shares the single lesson that took a full year to crystallize (and will save you a year of wasted effort), why roughly 90% of podcasts quit before episode 3, and why he's re-upping for another year anyway.

Underneath the numbers, it's a story about showing up, staying a beginner, and the real return on a "bad" investment — becoming a better husband, father, businessman, and man.

Whether you're thinking about starting something of your own or you just need a reminder that the only way up the mountain is one step at a time, this one's for you.

If it resonates, share it with one person who'd love it.

Listen & subscribe:

Substack: https://fulfillmentproject.substack.com/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@fulfillmentproject

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6709cKjw4GWkTTzbu7xPJM

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fulfillment-project/id1804384788

Credit card debt is trapping more Americans right now than at almost any point since the 2008 recession — and most people don't even realize how the trap works.

In this episode of Fulfillment Project, business attorney and debt-relief expert Bill Mitchell (author of Say Goodbye to Credit Card Debt) breaks down exactly how credit card companies design the minimum monthly payment to keep you in debt for years, why Buy Now Pay Later can be even more dangerous than a credit card, and the four real paths out.

Bill has spent 40 years as a business attorney and the last 20 helping consumers work through credit card debt. We get into the actual math behind minimum payments (why a $1,000 balance can balloon instead of shrink), the 25-30% credit utilization rule that protects your score, why freezing your credit is free and underused, and how to know which debt relief option actually fits your situation, without getting sold something you don't need.

This isn't a lecture. It's the conversation I wish someone had with me before I racked up my own credit card debt in my twenties. If you've got a balance you've been avoiding, this episode is your permission slip to stop avoiding it.

In this episode:

The real 2026 credit card debt numbers vs. the 2008 peak

Why the minimum monthly payment is a trap by design

Buy Now Pay Later: smart tool or debt trap in disguise?

The 25-30% rule for credit utilization and your score

Freezing your credit for free (and how often to check your report)

The 4-step ladder of debt relief: consolidation → credit counseling → debt settlement → Chapter 7

Why your credit score doesn't matter until your debt problem is solved

The financial literacy gap nobody talks about

Andy's own story of climbing out of credit card debt

About Bill Mitchell Bill Mitchell is a business attorney with 40 years of experience and the author of Say Goodbye to Credit Card Debt. Through Legal Edge Debt Solutions, he offers a free, confidential 19-question assessment to help consumers identify the right debt relief path for their situation.

🔗 Free book + confidential debt assessment: Legal Edge Debt Solutions

Get the book on Amazon

Fulfillment Project — more ways to listen:

🎧 Substack: https://fulfillmentproject.substack.com/ 🎵

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6709cKjw4GWkTTzbu7xPJM 🍏

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fulfillment-project/id1804384788

If this episode hit home, subscribe, hit the thumbs up, drop a comment with where you're at with your own debt, and share it with someone who needs to hear it.

#CreditCardDebt #PersonalFinance #DebtFree

At 24, Tommy Cotter walked off a Big Three factory floor, took a massive pay cut, and bet on himself, building the invisible systems behind the financial news millions of us read every day.

In this episode of Fulfillment Project, Tommy (Head of Product at Benzinga) and I get into the courage to walk away from a "safe" career, where to find meaning in work no one ever sees, and the one skill AI can't replace: knowing what's actually worth building.

If you've ever felt stuck in something stable but unsettled, this one's for you.

👉 If this resonates, SUBSCRIBE — we're fully bootstrapped, and the only way this show grows is people like you sharing it. Hit subscribe, drop a comment, and send it to one friend who needs it.

💬 I want to hear from you: What did YOU walk away from, and what did it teach you? Tell me in the comments.

🔗 FIND TOMMY

https://x.com/cotterp1n

https://www.linkedin.com/in/tommy-cotter

https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/benzinga-apis

Benzinga APIs: https://www.benzinga.com/apis

🎧 LISTEN & FOLLOW FULFILLMENT PROJECT

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fulfillment-project/id1804384788

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6709cKjw4GWkTTzbu7xPJM▶️

YouTube: @fulfillmentproject

Substack: https://fulfillmentproject.substack.com/

We are the most comfortable generation in human history, and by almost every measure that matters, the most restless. Peter Range and I get into why.

Peter is a husband, a father of six, Senior Fellow for Strategic Initiatives at the Center for Christian Virtue, and host of the "Say Yes to Life" radio show. He came to the studio, and I threw him every hard question I had: Is America a Christian nation? Public school or homeschool? What does fulfillment actually mean?

His answer to that last one — the Eucharist, and love that shows up when the feeling is gone — might cause you to change your mind about some things.

If you care about meaningful work, faith, family, and what it actually takes to live well, this one's for you.

WHAT WE GET INTO

- Why comfort is quietly costing us

- "We are not made for comfort. We are made for greatness."

- Is America a Christian nation?

- Homeschool, public school, or neither?

- Life is good vs. life is a mistake

- Less stuff, more kids

- Love when the feeling is gone

- What fulfillment actually means

CONNECT WITH PETER RANGE

Center for Christian Virtue: https://www.ccv.org/peter-range

Say Yes to Life (Annunciation Radio): https://www.annunciationradio.com/say-yes-to-life

Say Yes to Life (Cleveland's The Rock): https://am1260therock.com/

X / Twitter: https://x.com/PeterRange12

—

The Fulfillment Project explores meaningful work, intentional living, faith, and what it takes to build a life that actually fulfills. New conversations every week.

Read the full written breakdown and reflection guide on Substack: https://fulfillmentproject.substack.com/

One question I'd love your answer to: When was the last time you did the right thing while feeling absolutely nothing?

If this conversation challenged you, share it with one person who needs it.

She was 21, asleep five blocks from the Twin Towers, when her university locked the students inside the building on 9/11 and refused to evacuate. Meg Keene was certain she was going to die, and that morning shaped the rest of her life.

Meg founded A Practical Wedding, the largest independent wedding publication in the English language, grew it into an eight-figure business, sold more than 150,000 books, and now writes "Field Notes for the Brave" on Substack.

In this conversation we cover what bravery actually is, the grandfather who survived a WWII POW camp, getting kicked out of Sunday school for asking the wrong question, raising kids who think for themselves, why the "word people" will be just fine in the age of AI, the conversion story she rarely tells, and the simplest gut-check for a numbed-out life I've ever heard.

If you've been going through the motions, this episode is for you.

Read the full essay on this episode and subscribe to The Fulfillment Project: https://fulfillmentproject.substack.com

Meg Keene's "Field Notes for the Brave" on Substack.

https://megkeene.com/

Fulfillment Project is about performance, fulfillment, and self-actualization — the search for meaningful work and an intentional life. If this one resonated, follow the show and share it with someone who needs to hear it.

We're Not in a Dating Slump. We're in a Civilizational One. | Matchmaker Madigan on Commitmentism, the Bid, and Rebuilding Marriage

Catholic marriages have collapsed 69% in the last fifty years. The U.S. fertility rate just hit the lowest point in American history. 80% of Gen Z reports feeling lonely. And by Match Group's own 2026 admission, an entire generation is paralyzed by what they're calling a "readiness paradox", they want commitment, they can't move.

This week on Fulfillment Project, I sit down with Matchmaker Madigan, founder of Commitmentism, a Catholic-only matchmaking service running at double the male engagement of the matchmaking industry average. We unpack why dating apps function like gambling for men, how conversational chemistry beats the algorithm, and the asymmetry between male and female "bids" for attention that makes or breaks every marriage on earth.

If you think this is a dating episode, you're missing it. This is a leadership episode. A family episode. A who-rebuilds-the-church-and-the-culture episode.

Quotable Moments

"We've built an Amazon culture. Then we wonder why romance feels like a return policy."

"Common interests aren't actually a good indicator of whether or not you're going to be married."

"If a woman makes more money than you, you need to stop ruling her out."

"The die-to-self is that you don't want to do them when you're tired or angry. But the bids constantly exist. If you honor them, you have a healthy marriage."

"Women's bids have more to do with emotional connection than they do the topic itself."

Guest

Matchmaker Madigan — Founder, Commitmentism 🌐 commitmentism.com 🌐 catholicdatingevents.com 💼 LinkedIn: Matchmaker Madigan

Resources Mentioned

The Gottman Institute — long-running research on marital "bids" for connection

Arthur and Elaine Aron — 36 Questions study, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 1997

Aristotle's three friendships — utility, pleasure/commonality, and virtue/values

Match Group 2026 Annual Report — the "readiness paradox"

Love Is Blind and Married at First Sight — inspiration for conversation-first matchmaking

More of a Man — Madigan's husband's upcoming work on Catholic masculinity

Read the Companion Essay

Full long-form breakdown at fulfillmentproject.substack.com

Stay Connected with The Fulfillment Project

🎙️ Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts 📧 Free Substack newsletter: fulfillmentproject.substack.com 🎥 YouTube: The Fulfillment Project

If this episode hit you, share it with one single friend and one married friend. That's how we build this thing.

— Andy Leonard

What happens when the version of you that knows the truth finally overrides the version of you that's been performing? Amelia Wilson found out on November 30, 2017. The morning she called her brand-new boss at 8 a.m. and quit a job she hadn't even started yet.

Amelia is the writer behind Happy On Purpose, a Substack with over 14,000 subscribers about happiness habits and how to actually thrive in midlife. Her work has been featured in Cup of Joe, Culture Study, and Modern Mrs. Darcy. She blew up her own career at 44 and found her calling on the other side — and now she helps thousands of women do the same.

In this episode we cover:

- Why "midlife reckoning" is the better frame than "midlife crisis"

- The biggest belief Amelia held at 35 that she now thinks is dead wrong

- Her 12-item happiness checklist (and which items most people skip)

- Why happiness is a daily practice, not a destination

- Capping news consumption — and what 40 days off actually does to your life

- Parenting teens: the groundwork you have to lay in the tween years

- Reinventing yourself after 40, and why you have to do it badly first

- Famous people who started their big thing after 40 (the list is comically reassuring)

Quote of the episode:

"Happy On Purpose is the daily practice of building a meaningful, joyful life, one small decision at a time." — Amelia Wilson

Find Amelia:

Substack: https://ameliawilson.substack.com

Find Fulfillment Project:

YouTube: https://youtu.be/812Hru7FAcs">youtu.be/812Hru7FAcs

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6709cKjw4GWkTTzbu7xPJM">Listen on Spotify

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fulfillment-project/id1804384788">Listen on Apple Podcasts

If this conversation moved you, the best thing you can do is rate the show 5 stars and share it with one person who needs it. Fulfillment Project grows one honest forward at a time. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts so you don't miss the next one.