What Are You Holding Onto… That’s Holding You Back?

Welcome back to The No Cry Zone, the place where we set down shame and blame and finally give progress a fair chance.

In this episode, Jim Best invites you into an honest conversation about one of the most overlooked reasons people stall in life - not because they don’t know what to do, but because of what they’re still carrying.

Not physical weight…

Emotional weight. Mental weight. Identity weight.

We often believe effort is the problem. That if we just tried harder, things would change. But what if what’s really slowing us down… is what we refuse to let go of?

In this episode, Jim explores the idea that forward movement isn’t blocked by lack of ambition - but by attachment. Attachment to old hurt. Old fears. Old stories. Old versions of ourselves that once protected us… but now quietly trap us.

You’ll hear reflections on:

• Resentment that masquerades as power
• Cynicism that pretends to be wisdom
• Guilt that never learned when to stop teaching
• An outdated self-image that governs from the past
• Beliefs about what you “deserve” that quietly sabotage your future

This is not an episode about blame. It’s about awareness. And clarity. And the kind of courage it takes to set down what no longer fits.

If you’ve ever wondered:

• “Why does progress feel heavier than it should?”
• “Why do I know better… but still not move?”
• “What am I protecting that isn’t protecting me anymore?”

This episode is for you. Because real growth doesn’t come from adding more effort… It comes from dropping what no longer belongs.

And December is a good month to lay things down.

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Hosted by Jim Best / Lead Curator of the No Cry Zone

Focused on:

• Personal performance

• Human potential

• Persistence without pressure

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Intro music: “Sally and Me” by Brazen Candor (from an upcoming album)

The No Cry Zone is an UpwardsBest production, created by BestStoryAlive, LLC.

Thanks for listening.

Follow the journey and join the conversation at UpwardsBest.com and explore more insights at MomentumGPS.com.

A Prosperity-Based Thanksgiving Message

Most Thanksgiving messages stop at gratitude - “be thankful,” “count your blessings,” “appreciate the little things.”

But gratitude is only half the story.

The other half - the part almost no one talks about - is prosperity.

In this 10-minute, clarity-rich TheNoCryZone episode, Jim Best reframes the holiday message through prosperity principles: the mental, emotional, and behavioral patterns that generate abundance, wellbeing, opportunity, and renewal.

You’ll learn:

• Why abundance isn’t vague positivity - it’s prosperity in action
• How gratitude without prosperity becomes passive and predictable
• The three prosperity skills that create outcomes worth appreciating
• Why receiving without resistance is essential for growth
• How prosperity intersects with Perpetual Momentum to create lasting change
• How to see Thanksgiving through the deeper lens of causation, not just celebration

This episode isn’t about forcing gratitude.

It’s about understanding the architecture behind abundance - and using it to create more to be thankful for in the year ahead.

If you want a Thanksgiving message that is clear, grounded, forward-driven, and Net Positive… you’ll want to hear the other half of the gratitude story.

Follow the journey and join the conversation at UpwardsBest.com and explore more insights at MomentumGPS.com.

Your mind has a cabinet — a full-blown inner government — and whether you realize it or not, it’s been running your life. Some of its members are outdated. Some are unqualified. Some are downright destructive. And very few of them were ever intentionally appointed.

In this NoCryZone episode, we swing open the cabinet door and reveal the six internal voices shaping your decisions, your habits, and your future:

• Identity — The Speaker of the House
• Fear — The Defense Secretary
• Pride — The Press Secretary
• Ego — The Attorney General
• Desire — The Department of the Future
• Momentum — The Transportation Secretary

You’ll discover which voices have been holding you back, why they gained so much power, and how to restructure your internal leadership so your best self is finally the one in charge.

This episode delivers a clean, honest look at the political circus happening inside your head — and shows you exactly how to take back control. No drama. No excuses. No crying required.

If you’re ready to stop being run by old fears, outdated identities, and unqualified internal advisors… this is your episode.

The No Cry Zone is an UpwardsBest endeavor, aligned with Best Story Alive, LLC. All rights proudly reserved.

Follow the journey and join the conversation at UpwardsBest.com and explore more insights at MomentumGPS.com.

Coming to you from Egypt with an important message… Jim Best invites you into The No Cry Zone—a space where personal growth meets grit, humor, and real human truth.

Each episode explores the mechanics behind motivation, momentum, and mastery—because growth isn’t just emotional, it’s architectural. From the heart of Cairo to the hearts of listeners worldwide, Jim brings decades of leadership, insight, and creative depth to help you build a life you actually want to live.

Expect a mix of story, strategy, and sound perspective - served with the unmistakable energy of someone who’s seen both sides of the struggle and still believes in the climb.

Whether you’re here to refine your focus, reignite your motivation, or rebuild your momentum, the No Cry Zone is your weekly recharge:

Performance. Growth Potential. Bonafide Persistence.

Because personal development shouldn’t feel like punishment - it should feel like progress.

Follow the journey and join the conversation at UpwardsBest.com and explore more insights at MomentumGPS.com.

This week on NoCryZone, host Jim Best broadcasts from Cairo before setting off to explore the legendary Nile River - and dives into one of the most vital conversations of all: what it truly means to be human.

We’ve all said it - “I’m only human.” But somewhere along the way, that phrase became an apology. In this episode, Jim reclaims it as a declaration of strength. Being human isn’t a limitation - it’s an incredible advantage.

Through his signature clarity and grounded insight, Jim explores four human powers that define growth and sovereignty:

• Movement — You’re not a tree. You can change your environment, your mindset, your future.
• Learning — Turning every experience into wisdom is your superpower.
• Adaptation — Adjust without abandoning your principles.
• Connection — The courage to reach out, empathize, and grow together.

This episode will remind you that courage, compassion, and creativity are muscles - and they only grow when you use them.

Tune in for a dose of perspective that’s bold, liberating, and distinctly NoCryZone.

Because the most empowering way to live… is fully human.

Follow the journey and join the conversation at UpwardsBest.com and explore more insights at MomentumGPS.com.

In this NoCryZone episode, Jim Best tackles one of the most overlooked habits holding people back from their potential - the quiet, polite, socially approved act of shrinking yourself.

We don’t disappear overnight; we disappear in millimeters - every time we downplay a win, silence an idea, or soften our truth so others stay comfortable. Shrinking feels safe, even noble. But it drains confidence, dulls creativity, and erodes authenticity.

Jim exposes why we do it, how the world rewards smallness, and the high cost of living below our own potential. He then reveals practical, powerful ways to stop shrinking — to reclaim confidence, voice, and visibility — and how that shift ignites the Perpetual Momentum Engine that drives lasting growth.

This episode is a direct challenge to play bigger, live truer, and stop apologizing for your full presence.

Because the moment you stop shrinking, you start expanding - not just yourself, but what’s possible for everyone watching.

Key themes: Authenticity • Courage • Confidence • Personal Sovereignty • Momentum • Growth

Listen now - and step into your full size.

Follow the journey and join the conversation at UpwardsBest.com and explore more insights at MomentumGPS.com.

Where vitality meets purpose - and enthusiasm becomes your most powerful advantage.

Most people treat enthusiasm like weather - something that comes and goes. But what if you could create it on demand? What if enthusiasm wasn’t a mood, but a mastery?

Welcome to Intentional Enthusiasm, the podcast where author and thought leader Jim Best reclaims enthusiasm as a purposeful, powerful force - not the noisy cousin of positivity, but the disciplined art of living with energy, focus, and direction.

Drawing from his upcoming book Intentional Enthusiasm: Purposeful Force for Your Optimal Future™, Jim explores what it means to be “filled from within” - to harness enthusiasm not as a reaction to life, but as a way of animating it. Each episode blends insight, story, and practical strategy to help you:

• Fuel belief, focus, and creativity through self-generated energy.
• Reignite your spark when the world wears you down.
• Use enthusiasm as your professional edge - not a personality trait.
• Turn inspiration into momentum, and momentum into mastery.

Because enthusiasm without intention burns out.

And intention without enthusiasm burns down.

But together - they form the sustaining flame of a meaningful life.

If you’re ready to live from a renewable source of energy and joy, this is your space.

Upwards to Your Life Well-Lived™

Follow the journey and join the conversation at UpwardsBest.com and explore more insights at MomentumGPS.com.

What if the voice in your head isn’t telling the truth - it’s just telling you what’s familiar?

In this episode of The NoCryZone, Jim Best explores the quiet habit that shapes all others: your self-talk.

You’ll discover how your internal “tape loop” - that constant narration of thoughts, doubts, and predictions - can either reinforce your growth or restrict it. Jim breaks down the invisible architecture of mindset, showing how to recognize your mental loops, interrupt the ones that hold you back, and record over them with language that supports your Perpetual Momentum.

If you’ve ever wondered why progress feels hard to sustain - even when you’re motivated - this episode will change how you think about thinking.

Learn to stop arguing with your old self and start recording over the past. Because momentum multiplies when your self-talk stops rehashing yesterday and starts reinforcing your future.

Tune in, stay aware, keep taking effective action, and stay in The NoCryZone.

Follow the journey and join the conversation at UpwardsBest.com and explore more insights at MomentumGPS.com.

Welcome back to The No Cry Zone, where happiness, success, and personal growth are not just ideas - they’re commitments.

In this episode, Jim Best asks one deceptively simple question: “What are you working on?”

It’s the question that separates motion from momentum, busy from better, and progress from performance.

Jim introduces the concept of Mega Advancers - the key areas of personal growth that create a ripple effect across every part of your life. From communication and emotional maturity to self-image mastery, focus, resilience, authenticity, and decisive action, these are the upgrades that make everything else work better.

You’ll learn:

• Why vague goals like “getting better” keep you stuck in the fog of self-improvement.
• How to define what you’re working on in clear, momentum-building terms.
• How expanding your comfort zone - not escaping it - leads to sustainable growth.
• Why clarity is confidence, and confidence builds momentum.

Whether you’re working on communication, rebuilding resilience, or reclaiming your focus, this episode will help you turn awareness into advancement -  one clear decision at a time.

Challenge of the Week: When someone asks, “What are you working on?”, answer with clarity, not apology.

Next Episode Preview: How to measure progress in ways that keep you moving — because invisible progress can feel like failure, even when it’s not.

Stay in the Zone. Expand your comfort zone. Build your momentum.

#NoCryZone #PersonalDevelopment #MegaAdvancers #JimBest #Momentum #GrowthMindset

Follow the journey and join the conversation at UpwardsBest.com and explore more insights at MomentumGPS.com.

Welcome to the No Cry Zone - where you are always welcome, but regret has no place. I’m your host, Jim Best, coming to you from Jackson Hole, Wyoming, on a very special day: the First Annual Maximum Momentum Day!

This episode is more than just a conversation - it’s a commencement. Think of Maximum Momentum Day as our annual ignition switch, the rally point where we stop waiting for momentum and start building it intentionally. I’ll introduce you to the Perpetual Momentum Engine - Mindset → Focus → Action → Habits → Momentum - and show you how to get it running in your own life.

Together, we’ll explore:

• Why momentum should be fun and celebrated
• How small shifts in what you do or how you view things can unlock big progress
• How to align habits with the expansion of your comfort zone instead of reinforcing its walls
• The importance of sharing your commitment publicly to spark admiration and accountability

Maximum Momentum Day is about choosing motion, growth, and possibility - and it’s only the beginning. October becomes Maximum Momentum Month, giving you time to set meaningful goals, build momentum-building habits, and finish the year strong.

Join me in making today your spark. View something differently. Do something differently. Start the engine - and keep it running.

Follow the journey and join the conversation at UpwardsBest.com and explore more insights at MomentumGPS.com.