The Purpose and Progress Podcast Show

"Don't be afraid of change… We have to keep going because life is never going to go the way we planned. But those twists and turns might really surprise you. Change is inevitable, and I'm going to embrace it." —Anne Montgomery

Career reinvention rarely happens on a straight line, and no one proves that better than former ESPN sportscaster Anne Montgomery. In this episode of the Purpose and Progress Podcast, host Dr. Jim Price talks with Anne about breaking into sports broadcasting as a teenager in 1972, anchoring at five TV stations, and then losing it all when she was pushed out of the industry in her late 30s. What follows isn't a highlight reel — it's an honest account of debt, depression, and the slow, uncomfortable work of career change after 40.

Anne shares how she hid from her old life by working as an amateur sports official, how a Vietnam veteran dying of Agent Orange poisoning reset her entire perspective on complaining, and how that shift eventually led her into teaching journalism. From there, her story becomes one about fostering six children, publishing six novels, and finding purpose in the last place she expected.

This episode is for anyone facing a career transition, job loss, or the fear that their best years are already behind them.

Key Takeaways:

• Anne's broadcasting career ended in her late 30s because the industry's target demographic skewed young, proving that career loss can hit even at the height of professional success.
• A conversation with a terminally ill Vietnam veteran and umpiring partner reframed Anne's self-pity into gratitude and forward motion.
• Discovering she was dyslexic in her 50s reshaped how she understood her own early struggles as a student.
• Becoming "nicer" as a teacher — not just tougher — came from learning that a student's homelessness, not laziness, explained his tardiness.
• Fostering six young people, including one who called her from foster care because he was going hungry, became the most meaningful chapter of Anne's life.
• Her advice for anyone in crisis: grieve the loss, then treat change as inevitable and worth embracing rather than resisting.

Listen to the full conversation for Anne's complete story of reinvention.

Connect with Jim:

Website

Instagram

Facebook

X

YouTube

Spotify

Chapters: 01:48 Meet Anne Montgomery: From Locker Room Outsider to ESPN Anchor 06:42 Why Female Sportscasters Got Pushed Out at 40 19:51 Life After the Camera: Hiding Behind an Umpire Uniform 14:05 The Veteran Who Changed How She Saw Her Own Complaining 16:39 Becoming a Teacher in a Title One High School 21:22 From Sports Scripts to Six Published Novels 22:39 The Phone Call That Made Her a Foster Mom 26:06 Anne's Advice: Don't Be Afraid of Change

Resources

📖 The Adventures of Harold from the Hood Book Series by Jim Price:

🚙A Trip to the Park

🤝🏽Friends Like Different Things

🍟 Fun Time Lunch Time

😤 When I Feel So Annoyed

Meet Anne:

Anne Butler Montgomery has worked as a television sportscaster, newspaper and magazine writer, teacher, author, and amateur sports official. Her first TV job came at WRBL-TV in Columbus, Georgia, and led to positions at WROC-TV in Rochester, New York, KTSP-TV in Phoenix, Arizona, and ESPN in Bristol, Connecticut, where she anchored the Emmy- and ACE award-winning SportsCenter.

She finished her on-camera broadcasting career with a two-year stint as the studio host for the NBA's Phoenix Suns. Montgomery was a freelance and/or staff reporter for six publications, writing sports, features, movie reviews, and archeological pieces. Her novels include Your Forgotten Sons, The Castle, A Light in the Desert, Wild Horses on the Salt, The Scent of Rain, and Wolf Catcher. Montgomery taught journalism and communication skills in a Title I high school for 20 years and was an amateur sports official for four decades, a time during which she called baseball, ice hockey, soccer, and basketball games and served as a high school football referee and crew chief.

Montgomery is a foster mom to three sons and a daughter. When she can, she indulges in her passions: rock collecting, scuba diving, and playing her guitar. She splits her time between Phoenix, Arizona, and St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Website

LinkedIn

Facebook

X

"The BIG success is getting your time back to yourself to choose how you want to spend it." —Alexandra Reid

Burnout recovery rarely starts with a five-year plan — sometimes it starts with a stick figure drawn during a Zoom call. In this episode of The Purpose and Progress, host Dr. Jim Price sits down with creative wellness coach and former research scientist Alexandra Reid to unpack how she rebuilt her sense of self after hitting a wall during the pandemic.

Alexandra spent her career climbing the science ladder — bachelor's, master's, PhD, postdoc — before landing in quality and regulatory affairs at a medical device company. When her team was assigned to fast-track emergency ventilators during the pandemic's earliest, most uncertain months, the pressure of juggling 24/7 work with two kids doing remote school pushed her into full burnout. She couldn't even step into the art studio she loved. What brought her back wasn't a big creative project — it was doodling through meetings, almost by accident.

That accidental habit became the foundation of her Creative Reset program, a 12-week curriculum that uses simple, judgment-free drawing exercises to help high-achieving women — especially those in STEM — set boundaries, manage stress, and reconnect with their own priorities. This conversation is for anyone who feels like their calendar is full, but their sense of purpose is running on empty.

• Burnout often builds slowly, like the frog-in-boiling-water analogy Alexandra uses — small overcommitments compound until exhaustion feels sudden.
• A five-to-ten-minute, judgment-free drawing exercise, done consistently, can lower stress in the moment and rebuild self-trust over time.
• The "batteries" exercise — sketching a battery for each area of life and rating how full it is — makes invisible energy drains visible.
• Creative wellness coaching differs from art therapy by staying forward-focused: it's about building new habits, not just processing the past.
• Most clients start Alexandra's program believing they don't have time, then finish it saying they've reclaimed hours they didn't know they had.
• Changing your physical environment — a walk, a café, a park bench — can reset your thinking faster than reflecting in the same space where the pressure lives.

🎧 Listen to the full conversation for Alexandra's boundary-setting advice and the exact doodling exercise that helped her recover.

Connect with Jim:

Website

Instagram

Facebook

X

YouTube

Spotify

Chapters: 02:01 Meet Alexandra Reid: From Bench Science to Burnout 03:21 The Ventilator Project That Triggered Her Burnout 07:55 Recognizing Burnout: Invisible Labor and Bad Habits 09:33 Reclaiming Time Through Self-Awareness 11:22 Inside the Creative Reset: Batteries and Boundary Work 16:01 The First Step: Change Your Scenery to Reset Your Mind 18:39 Where to Find Alexandra Reid's Wellness Program 19:15 Key Takeaways and Final Thoughts

Resources

📖 The Adventures of Harold from the Hood Book Series by Jim Price:

🚙A Trip to the Park

🤝🏽Friends Like Different Things

🍟 Fun Time Lunch Time

😤 When I Feel So Annoyed

Meet Alexandra:

Alexandra (Lexi) Reid is a creative wellness coach, business owner, and former research scientist who helps high-achieving women in STEM overcome burnout, rebuild purpose, and strengthen resilience through creativity, mindfulness, and reflection. Drawing on her background in quality and regulatory affairs and her own experience of pandemic burnout while leading emergency ventilator projects, Alexandra developed The Creative Reset, a 12-week, science-informed program that uses simple, pressure-free drawing and visual journaling to help women reclaim their time, set healthy boundaries, and reconnect with joy. Through 1:1 coaching, group programs, and online resources at Mind Art Wellness (mindartwellness.com), she supports women at every stage—from grad school to mid-career pivots and beyond—in building sustainable habits, deep self-leadership, and a more creative, aligned life.

Website

LinkedIn

Instagram

Facebook

YouTube

Pinterest

"You know yourself best. So listen to your own intuition and your gut, and do the inner work to really know what it is that you value, that genuinely brings you joy, that genuinely lights you up, and just take that courageous step and follow it. Choose progress before certainty. Choose taking that courageous step before feeling like you're ready, because at times you're not going to feel ready, and sometimes you just have to do it. There's no way of failing if you're willing to try." —Gloria Lorelai Lee

Learning to take aligned action before you're ready is the thread running through this conversation with certified high-performance coach and energy healer Gloria Lorelai Lee. She built her coaching practice out of a childhood marked by anxiety, depression, and loneliness — and years spent searching for meaning through travel, humanitarian work in Africa, and a hospitality career she eventually left behind entirely.

This episode is for anyone stuck between wanting to change and feeling ready to start. Gloria walks through what it actually looked like to move through anxiety and depression, why she nearly got stuck reliving her own trauma during the "inner work" phase of healing, and how she learned to balance reflection with forward motion. Host Dr. Jim Price draws out practical, personal-growth-driven insight on resilience, purpose, and mindset shifts that stick.

Listeners will leave with a clearer sense of how to define success on their own terms, why recognizing a problem is the real first step toward healing, and how to treat every attempt—successful or not—as useful data rather than failure.

Key takeaways:

• Progress beats certainty: taking a courageous step before you feel ready is often the only way forward.
• Doing "the inner work" without balance can trap you in your own trauma story instead of freeing you from it.
• Recognizing a problem exists is the first and most important step toward addressing mental health challenges.
• Defining success on your own terms — not society's — is what makes a goal sustainable.
• Every action you take, whether it "works" or not, is feedback you can use to refine your next step.
• Staying resourceful (books, podcasts, community) can fill gaps that formal support systems don't always cover.

Listen to the full episode for Gloria's story of rebuilding her life around purpose, and subscribe so you don't miss the next conversation.

Connect with Jim:

Website

Instagram

Facebook

X

YouTube

Spotify

Chapters: 01:53 Meet Gloria Lorelai Lee: A High-Performance Coach's Origin Story 05:47 Facing Anxiety, Depression, and the Search for Meaning 08:12 Why Recognizing the Problem Is the First Step to Healing 09:06 Redefining Success: Living an Authentic, Aligned Life 13:49 Future Vision: Books, Retreats, and a Purpose Festival in Africa 18:27 Take Aligned Action Before You're Ready: Gloria's Core Advice 20:41 Where to Find Gloria Lorelai Lee Online

Resources

📖 The Adventures of Harold from the Hood Book Series by Jim Price:

🚙A Trip to the Park

🤝🏽Friends Like Different Things

🍟 Fun Time Lunch Time

😤 When I Feel So Annoyed

Meet Gloria:

Gloria Lorelai Lee is a certified high-performance coach and energy healer who helps purpose-driven individuals create clarity, courage, and resilience so they can take aligned action—even before they feel fully ready. Drawing from her lived experience with mental health challenges, anxiety, depression, and poverty, as well as her international work in Australia and South Africa, Gloria brings a grounded, compassionate approach to personal development, mindset, and spiritual growth.

Through her coaching, upcoming books, and global wellness retreats, she empowers clients to transform adversity into a meaningful life of service, authenticity, and impact. Gloria's long-term vision includes hosting a global personal development festival in Africa, uniting seekers, leaders, and change-makers committed to healing and growth.

Website

LinkedIn

Instagram

"There's a story in everything. If you just look in your environment or the people you're around, or you listen to other people talking, there's a story, and if there's a story, you have a vision. Just start writing." —Avalon Brown

A 43-year nursing career doesn't usually end with a bookshelf full of published titles — but for this episode's guest, becoming a nurse turned author wasn't a plan, it was a habit that finally caught up with her. In this episode of Purpose and Progress, host Dr. Jim Price sits down with registered nurse, healthcare leader, and author Avalon Brown to trace how jotting down thoughts on scraps of paper eventually became a growing library of children's books, nursing anthologies, memoirs, and even a spiritual poetry collection.

Avalon walks through the exact moment her writing career began — pushed forward by a mentor at church who told her to stop talking about writing a book and go write it — and how that first manuscript grew into a full self-publishing career after retiring from nursing in 2023. Listeners will hear how she built a nursing anthology series that gives working nurses a platform to share their own stories, why marketing (not writing) has been her biggest challenge, and how everyday moments — a sick grandchild, a squirrel in a church garden, a car seat safety day at the local firehouse — became the seeds for an entire children's book catalog.

This conversation is for anyone sitting on an idea they haven't started, anyone rebuilding an identity after retirement, or anyone curious about what self-publishing actually looks like once you get past the writing itself.

Key takeaways:

• Avalon's first book began as a way to process nursing adversities she was living through in real time, starting in 2012.
• She built a 10-author nursing anthology, "Nursing Is Our Passion, We Can't Quit," by inviting working nurses from different specialties to each write their own chapter.
• Her children's books are drawn directly from real life — a granddaughter's frequent colds, a garden squirrel, and a fire station's car seat safety day all became published titles.
• Marketing, not writing, is the hardest part of being an author, which is why she still sells books in person at book fairs and festivals.
• She started with traditional publishing but moved to self-publishing after networking with other authors taught her how.
• Her nursing "How to Flourish" series will grow to seven books, each pulling from a different role she held — charge nurse, clinical manager, kidney transplant designee, and more.

Enjoyed this episode? Subscribe to Purpose and Progress so you never miss a conversation.

Connect with Jim:

Website

Instagram

Facebook

X

YouTube

Spotify

Chapters: 03:23 Meet Avalon Brown: From Nursing Career to Author 05:57 Her Biggest Obstacle: Marketing a Self-Published Book 08:17 How a Book Festival Sparked Her Children's Books 10:51 Finding Story Ideas in Everyday Life 12:42 Inside Her 7-Book Nursing "How to Flourish" Series 13:46 Where to Find Avalon Brown's Books 17:13 Her #1 Advice for Aspiring Authors 18:29 From Traditional Publishing to Self-Publishing 19:54 Key Takeaways and Final Words of Encouragement

Resources

📖 The Adventures of Harold from the Hood Book Series by Jim Price:

🚙A Trip to the Park

🤝🏽Friends Like Different Things

🍟 Fun Time Lunch Time

😤 When I Feel So Annoyed

Meet Avalon:

Avalon Soulette Brown is a passionate author, storyteller, and educator whose mission is to inspire, encourage, and empower readers through the written word. Since publishing her first book, It Was the Devil All Along, in 2021, she has built a growing collection of books that span children's literature, Christian inspiration, memoirs, nursing education, poetry, and collaborative anthologies.

Whether she is writing heartwarming stories for children, faith-filled books that strengthen the spirit, or practical guides that encourage professional growth, Avalon writes with authenticity, compassion, and purpose. Her children's books celebrate family, imagination, kindness, and life lessons, often featuring her grandchildren as beloved characters. Her memoirs and inspirational works reflect resilience, faith, and the power of overcoming life's challenges, while her nursing publications draw upon decades of experience to mentor and inspire healthcare professionals.

Avalon believes every book should leave a lasting impression. Her goal is not simply to tell stories, but to create books that educate, encourage meaningful conversations, strengthen faith, and inspire readers to pursue their own purpose with courage and confidence.

Before becoming a full-time author, Avalon devoted 43 years to the nursing profession, where she served with excellence in clinical practice, leadership, and mentorship. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN), and her extensive healthcare experience continues to shape many of her non-fiction works.

Website

Instagram

Facebook

LinkedIn

X

YouTube

"What we're trying to do with the campaign: long-term, build credibility, trust within the marketplace, and have some community impact. If it's PR, you want to do good things in the community, but we want a return on investment… If you do it the right way, I believe you'll be successful." —Steve Turner

The 5 M's of PR could save your brand from years of wasted ad spend — and PR veteran Steve Turner breaks down exactly how on this episode of Purpose and Progress. Steve is the founder of Solomon Turner, a St. Louis PR firm named to Small Business Monthly's top PR firms list 18 years running, and author of PR That Works: Real Strategies, Real Campaigns, Real Results.

This episode is for small business owners, entrepreneurs, and anyone trying to build a personal brand without throwing money at tactics and hoping something sticks. Steve walks through his signature framework — Mission, Market, Message, Media, and Measurement — and shows how each piece builds on the last to create a campaign that actually moves sales, not just visibility. Along the way, he shares how a career broadcasting minor league baseball led him into advertising, why third-party media coverage outperforms self-promotion, and what it really takes to become a go-to thought leader in a crowded industry.

Listeners walk away with a repeatable structure for building a brand — not another vague pep talk about "getting your name out there."

Key takeaways:

• Every PR campaign needs a measurable objective tied to a real business goal, like unit sales, not just "getting press."
• Defining your audience by demographics alone (like "women 25–54") is too broad — niche down to the specific role, industry, or problem you solve.
• Third-party coverage from outlets like the Wall Street Journal or a local business journal builds more credibility than anything a company says about itself.
• Measurement isn't optional: track what's working, cut what isn't, and reinvest in the tactics producing real ROI.
• Writing a book, even a short one, instantly elevates your standing as a thought leader and opens doors to speaking and client opportunities.
• Finding a mentor who's already reached the level you're aiming for can save years of costly trial and error.

Listen to the full episode for Steve's complete breakdown of the 5 M's and how to start applying them today.

Connect with Dr. Jim:

Website

Instagram

Facebook

X

YouTube

Chapters: 03:39 Meet Steve Turner: From Baseball Broadcasting to PR 07:54 The 5 M's of PR: Mission and Market, Explained 12:03 Message, Media, and Measuring Your PR ROI 15:57 Why Third-Party Press Builds More Trust Than Ads 19:13 Inside Steve's Book: PR That Works 23:02 Turning a Book Into Authority and Speaking Gigs 26:03 Get Comfortable Being Uncomfortable: Steve's Advice 28:43 Find a Mentor: The Secret Sauce to Growth

Resources:

Get Steve's Book

📖 PR That Works: Real Strategies. Real Campaigns. Real Results. by Steve Turner

📖 The Adventures of Harold from the Hood Book Series by Jim Price:

🚙A Trip to the Park

🤝🏽Friends Like Different Things

🍟 Fun Time Lunch Time

😤 When I Feel So Annoyed

Meet Steve:

Steve Turner is a veteran public relations strategist and co-owner of Solomon Turner PR, an award-winning PR firm based in St. Louis. A graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism, Steve began his career in broadcasting, calling high school, college, and minor league baseball games for organizations including the Kansas City Royals, before transitioning into advertising and public relations.

Over more than three decades, he has led successful campaigns for high-profile clients such as Tony Robbins, Brian Tracy, Steve Forbes, Northwestern Mutual, Coldwell Banker, and HealthSouth, as well as numerous regional and local brands. Under his leadership, Solomon Turner PR has been named one of Small Business Monthly's Top PR Firms in St. Louis for 18 consecutive years, and Steve has been recognized as a "Rock Star Publicist" by Authority & Media.

Steve is the author of "PR That Works: Real Strategies, Real Campaigns, Real Results," which outlines practical PR tactics, case studies, and expert insights to help businesses and thought leaders build credibility and measurable visibility. A sought-after speaker and educator, he presents to universities, businesses, and professional groups on topics including branding, media strategy, and the evolving role of AI in PR, often centering his talks on his signature 5M's framework: mission, market, message, media, and measurement.

He is passionate about helping organizations clarify their story, amplify their brand, and turn PR into real-world results and ROI.

Website

Website (Rockstar Publicist)

LinkedIn

Instagram

Facebook

"I wanted to engineer the human psyche because it is the area of greatest mystery, of greatest unknown, and more importantly, it is the area in which we, as a race, are failing miserably. Ninety-five percent (95%) of the problems in industrialized society are because people don't understand people." —Jim Marshall

Septemics sounds like science fiction until you realize it's built on 40 years of clinical observation. On this episode of Purpose and Progress, host Dr. Jim Price sits down with human development engineer Jim Marshall — the creator of Septemics and author of Septemics: Hierarchies of Human Phenomenon — to unpack the 35-scale system he spent 25 years turning into a book anyone can use.

Jim walks through how an engineering education aimed at physical systems turned into a decades-long study of the human psyche, using Socratic dialog paired with biofeedback to get results faster than traditional therapy. He explains how patterns he recorded across roughly 9,000 client sessions eventually revealed themselves as seven-level scales — mathematical, repeatable, and, in his words, natural law rather than opinion. The conversation moves from the discovery of the scales to how listeners can use them today: spotting where a spouse, business partner, or new romantic interest sits on a given scale, and using that insight to understand behavior instead of reacting to it.

This episode is for anyone who's ever felt blindsided by a relationship, a business deal, or a decision that didn't add up in hindsight — and who wants a more structured, less emotional way to read people.

Key takeaways:

• A person's position on a given scale — not their words in the moment — predicts how they'll behave under pressure.
• Biofeedback paired with Socratic dialog can surface the same insight in 30 minutes that traditional therapy takes a year to reach.
• People at or near the bottom of most scales are consistently the source of relationship, business, and social conflict — regardless of their individual personality.
• Recognizing someone's level early, even in the first few conversations, can save years of wasted investment in the wrong relationship or partnership.
• The 35 scales function like a periodic table for human behavior, where every scale reinforces and cross-references the others.
• Using this framework repeatedly builds a compounding skill — the more you apply it, the faster and more accurately you can read new people and situations.

Listen to the full conversation with Jim Marshall now and subscribe to Purpose and Progress for more stories on living with intention.

Connect with Dr. Jim:

Website

Instagram

Facebook

X

YouTube

Chapters: 02:08 Meet Jim Marshall: The Engineer Behind Septemics 03:11 From Child Prodigy to Human Development Engineer 07:41 How Biofeedback Made Septemics Faster Than Therapy 12:17 The Elephant Effect: Discovering the 35 Scales 16:24 20 Years Turning Data Into a Philosophical System 21:08 The Garden Analogy: Why Most People Can't Read People 24:31 Spotting Red Flags Fast Using the Septemics Scales 27:38 Why These Scales Are Natural Law, Not Opinion 31:20 Where to Find Septemics and Marshall's Book

Resources:

• Get Jim Marshall's Book:

  📖Septemics: Hierarchies of Human Phenomena— Analysis, Prediction & Management of Human Affairs. by Jim Marshall

📖 The Adventures of Harold from the Hood Book Series by Jim Price:

🚙A Trip to the Park

🤝🏽Friends Like Different Things

🍟 Fun Time Lunch Time

😤 When I Feel So Annoyed

Meet Jim:

Jim Marshall is a polymathic scholar and autodidact who has devoted over 50,000 hours to the study and practice of multiple dimensions of human development. He received a classical education as an honor student at a Jesuit Military Prep School, was accepted into engineering school while still a junior in prep school, and attended college on academic scholarship. He graduated college with a Bachelor of Science cum laude. While still an undergraduate, he began the study of "alternative" Arts and Sciences, which today would be described as Transformational and Holistic.

Eventually, he became a professional practitioner and, after 28 years of formal education, had a long career as a Human Development Engineer. Jim has integrated the best aspects of the most advanced techniques on the planet and expanded their limits through his own Research & Discovery. He has successfully treated and/or trained hundreds of clients over a 40-year career, and is the inventor of Septemics and several consciousness-expanding systems, including Multi-Dimensional Processing, Conflict Matrix Processing, and the Tripartite Path to Human Development.

His areas of expertise include psychology, philosophy, theology, parapsychology, science, engineering, mathematics, law, literature, history, metaphysics, military science, political science, physical culture and music.

Website

Instagram

Facebook

"Try to stay open to other possibilities, but do not give up. I don't think you should give up on yourself or what you need for yourself." —Kim Shea

Planning for aging isn't about giving up your independence — it's about protecting it.

In this episode, Dr. Jim Price sits down with retirement coach and author Kim Shea to talk about what it actually takes to age well, on your own terms. Kim spent nearly 24 years working with older adults, first as a family caregiver, then as an activities director, and eventually as a retirement coach — and she brings all of that experience into a conversation about the decisions most of us keep putting off.

This episode is for anyone thinking about retirement, caregiving, or what comes after 65 — whether that's you, your parents, or someone you love. Kim breaks down why working past retirement age isn't something to be ashamed of, how to think through senior housing before a health crisis forces the choice, and why getting a power of attorney or a will in place now means you can stop thinking about it later. She also speaks candidly about dementia prevention, the value of therapy for older adults, and why comparing your timeline to someone else's is a waste of energy at any age.

Dr. Price and Kim also dig into purpose-driven living more broadly — how staying socially connected, mentally stimulated, and useful to others is protective at every stage of life, not just after retirement.

Key takeaways:

• Working past age 65 is common and nothing to be ashamed of — many people continue for financial and social reasons alike.
• A will, a power of attorney, and a housing plan are decisions worth making before a crisis forces them.
• Asking for help gets harder as independence decreases, so building that habit early matters.
• Volunteering and part-time work after retirement provide the same social connection and purpose that a full-time job once did.
• Comparing your progress to someone else's timeline steals energy better spent on your own next step.
• Online therapy has made emotional support more accessible for older adults who never grew up with that option.

You can purchase Dare to Plan Your Aging Experience by Kim Shea through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or the Book Baby Bookshop.

Listen to the full conversation and hear Kim Shea's story of turning caregiving into a career devoted to helping others age with purpose.

Connect with Dr. Jim:

Website

Instagram

Facebook

X

YouTube

Chapters:

02:26 Meet Kim Shea: Caregiver Turned Retirement Coach 03:08 How Caregiving at 42 Sparked a Career in Aging 06:32 The Real Obstacles Behind Building Aging Expertise 09:37 Why Comparing Your Journey to Others Wastes Time 11:44 Proudest Wins: Her Book and Her Senior Community Work 13:51 Inside "Dare to Plan Your Aging Experience" 16:07 Why Working Past 65 Isn't Something to Be Ashamed Of 18:06 Getting Your Affairs in Order Before You Need To 20:29 Dementia Prevention and the Confidence to Face Aging 25:21 Where to Find Kim Shea's Book and Website

Resources:

Dare to Plan Your Aging Experience, written by Kim Shea, can be found for sale at:

• Amazon: https://tinyurl.com/Dare-To-Plan-Your-Aging
• Barnes & Noble: https://tinyurl.com/Dare-to-Plan
• Book Baby Bookshop: https://tinyurl.com/Kim-Shea-Dare-to-Plan

📖 The Adventures of Harold from the Hood Book Series by Jim Price:

🚙A Trip to the Park

🤝🏽Friends Like Different Things

🍟 Fun Time Lunch Time

😤 When I Feel So Annoyed

Meet Kim:

Kim Shea is a retirement coach, author, and aging advocate with nearly 24 years of experience working with older adults in caregiving, senior living, and mental health settings. She is the author of "Dare to Plan Your Aging Experience", a practical guide and workbook that helps adults prepare for retirement, senior housing, and purpose-driven living later in life. Drawing on her background as a caregiver, activities director, and senior services leader, Kim specializes in helping people stay engaged, feel needed, and navigate aging with confidence, dignity, and connection. She also leads community programs that reduce loneliness among older adults and create spaces for meaningful friendships and support.

Website

LinkedIn

Instagram

Facebook

YouTube

"Asking for help is not saying that you're not able to do something necessarily, but sometimes other things need your focus more." —Benjamin Speich

If you've ever set a goal and had no idea what to actually do on Monday morning, this episode breaks down leading vs. lagging indicators in a way that finally makes goal-setting feel doable.

Dr. Jim Price sits down with Benjamin Speich, a fractional COO and EOS integrator who went from remote repair technician to VP of global mergers and acquisitions managing $500M+ budgets, before leaving it all to build his own consulting business.

Benjamin unpacks how curiosity and humility — not credentials — carried his career forward, why asking for help is a strength rather than a weakness, and how he learned to function as an introvert while leading teams across the globe. The conversation turns practical fast: Benjamin shares the exact framework he now teaches CEOs and managers for turning big, vague goals into a single, measurable next step.

This episode is for anyone who feels stuck between where they are and where they want to be — whether that's in a career, a business, or a personal goal that keeps getting pushed to next month.

• Asking for help isn't admitting you can't do something — it's redirecting your attention to where it matters most.
• Lagging indicators tell you what already happened; leading indicators are the actions you can control today to move toward a goal.
• You don't need to map out steps five through ten — just define the goal and take the very next step.
• Saying "I'm an introvert" out loud can become permission for someone else to ask for help navigating the same struggle.
• A bad week isn't a pattern — it's one data point, not a verdict on your progress.
• Working yourself out of a job can be the clearest sign you've actually done it well.

Listen to the full episode for Benjamin's complete breakdown of the leading and lagging indicator method and how to apply it to your own goals.

Connect with Dr. Jim:

Website

Instagram

Facebook

X

YouTube

Chapters: 03:15 Meet Benjamin Speich: From Curiosity to Career Growth 06:23 Why Asking for Help Isn't a Weakness 07:45 Overcoming Introversion in a Global Career 13:08 From Remote Repair Tech to VP of Global M&A 16:42 Building a Fractional COO Business From Scratch 20:30 The First-Step Method for Reaching Any Goal 22:00 Leading vs. Lagging Indicators Explained 25:01 Why One Bad Week Doesn't Break Your Progress 27:00 Takeaway

Resources:

Books

📖 The Adventures of Harold from the Hood Book Series by Jim Price:

🚙A Trip to the Park

🤝🏽Friends Like Different Things

🍟 Fun Time Lunch Time

😤 When I Feel So Annoyed

Meet Benjamin:

Benjamin Speich is a fractional COO and EOS® integrator with more than 15 years of experience helping founders turn vision into structure, accountability, and consistent execution. Starting his career in the Air Force and later moving into the private sector, Benjamin worked his way up from a remote service repair role to Vice President of Mergers & Acquisitions at a global company, leading operations, managing $500M+ budgets, and building high-performing teams worldwide.

As founder of Speich Consulting, he partners with creative and education-focused businesses to streamline operations, clarify priorities, and design systems that run smoothly without constant founder oversight. An introvert turned global operator and coach, Benjamin is known for his curiosity-driven problem-solving, practical approach to goal setting, and his belief that asking for help is a strategic strength, not a weakness.

Website

LinkedIn

Instagram

Facebook

YouTube

TikTok

"If I can reach a point of relative stability where I'm doing meaningful stuff— anyone can. But the first thing you have to commit to is your stability." —Mark Blacknell

Overcoming PTSD isn't about finding a cure — it's about finding a foundation, and that's exactly what former Marine Mark Blacknell learned the hard way.

In this episode, Dr. Jim Price sits down with Blacknell, a veteran who spent two decades battling suicidal depression, panic attacks, and heavy drinking before he ever heard the word "meditation."

Blacknell is the author of the best-selling book "Just Stare at the Wall" and founder of Stareatthewall.org, where he now teaches meditation to everyday people and, controversially, to inmates on Florida's death row. This conversation traces his path from a chaotic childhood in working-class Philadelphia, through a punishing overseas deployment, to the day he walked into a VA vet center and finally asked for help. It's a story about mental illness, veteran recovery, and mindful living told without the polish — Blacknell is candid about medication, relapse, and the years it took just to stabilize.

This episode is for anyone carrying more than they let on — veterans, caregivers, or simply people quietly convinced that suffering is something you're supposed to hide.

• Meditation only became effective for Mark Blacknell after he achieved clinical stability through therapy and medication — not before.
• A year of trial and error with a VA doctor was required to find the right medication combination, and he still manages it today.
• Blacknell now teaches meditation inside Florida's prison system, including to men on death row, while remaining mindful of victims' families.
• His book "Just Stare at the Wall" repeatedly tells readers to stop reading and go meditate instead, using instructions in the back of the book.
• He credits community — one trusted, stable person willing to "not leave you alone" — as the resource that changes outcomes for people in crisis.
• Self-appreciation, not external validation, is what finally allowed him to stop performing recovery and start living it.

Listen to the full episode for Mark's unfiltered account of PTSD, prayer, and purpose — then subscribe to Purpose and Progress so you never miss a story like this one: https://tinyurl.com/24yjtt9g

Connect with Dr. Jim:

Website

Instagram

Facebook

X

YouTube

Chapters: 01:50 Meet Mark Blacknell: Marine Veteran Turned Meditation Teacher 03:07 Childhood Anxiety and the Roots of PTSD 05:29 The Marines, Trauma, and Life After Combat 08:39 Walking Into the VA: The Moment Everything Changed 09:56 Why Meditation Only Works After Stability 10:36 Jail, the Justice System, and a Wake-Up Call 11:17 Teaching Meditation on Florida's Death Row 19:54 Writing "Just Stare at the Wall": A Four-Year Struggle 23:00 The Power of Silent Prayer and Listening 27:03 His Advice: Make Stability Your Number One Priority

Resources:

Get Mark's Book: Just Stare at the Wall: Living the Universe from Where You Sit

Books

📖 The Adventures of Harold from the Hood Book Series by Jim Price:

🚙A Trip to the Park

🤝🏽Friends Like Different Things

🍟 Fun Time Lunch Time

😤 When I Feel So Annoyed

Meet Mark:

Mark Blacknell is a former U.S. Marine, bestselling author, and mindfulness teacher who transformed years of PTSD, depression, and inner turmoil into a life of purpose and service. After struggling with suicidal ideation, anxiety, and brushes with the law, Mark began his healing journey through clinical support at the VA, carefully managed medication, and a deep commitment to meditation.

He is the author of Just Stare at the Wall!—a candid, hard-hitting book that guides readers to stop self‑sabotage and discover inner stability through simple, consistent meditation practice. As the founder of StareAtTheWall.org, Mark now helps individuals, communities, and even death row inmates cultivate mindful living, emphasizing stability, purpose, and silent prayer as powerful tools for personal and collective healing.

Website

LinkedIn

Instagram

Facebook

YouTube

TikTok

"The present moment is the most powerful part of our daily life that we don't spend a lot of time with. But that's where the change is: the awareness of the present moment, and from that is born so much of the power that you need to go on." —Billy Mandarino

What does true present moment awareness actually feel like — and why does it matter more than any meditation technique you've tried?

In this episode of The Purpose in Progress Podcast, Dr. Jim Price sits down with Billy Mandarino, author of The Nowist, to unpack the difference between trying to be peaceful and learning to simply be peace.

Billy traces his path from a chaotic childhood divorce to a terrifying bout of Guillain-Barré syndrome that left him fully paralyzed during COVID lockdowns — and how choosing to serve his doctors and nurses from a hospital bed became the turning point in his recovery. He shares the exact mindset shift that happened just months ago: moving from years of chanting, meditating, and praying for peace to simply becoming it, and how that shift opened doors emotionally, financially, and physically. The conversation also covers prayer as a felt experience rather than a repeated ritual, the concept of unrealized childhood trauma quietly sabotaging adult lives, and Billy's upcoming feature film built around that very theme.

If you've ever felt like you're doing all the "right" spiritual practices without feeling different, this conversation offers a real reframe. Tune in, subscribe, and let this conversation move you one step closer to living intentionally: https://tinyurl.com/24yjtt9g

Connect with Dr. Jim:

Website

Instagram

Facebook

X

YouTube

Chapters:

03:39 Meet Billy Mandarino: The Nowist

06:34 Prayer as a Feeling, Not Just Words

09:24 Paralyzed by Guillain-Barré Syndrome During COVID

12:17 Serving Others From a Hospital Bed

14:37 The Shift From Being Peaceful to Being Peace

18:55 Making Inner Peace Part of Your Everyday Life

20:31 New Film Explores Unrealized Childhood Trauma

24:22 Where to Find Billy Mandarino

25:30 Closing Reflections on Purpose and Progress

Resources:

Movies

📽️For Now— The Movie

Books

📖The Nowist: Finding the Signs to Your Ultimate Desires in No Time by Billy Mandarino

📖 The Adventures of Harold from the Hood Book Series by Jim Price:

🚙A Trip to the Park

🤝🏽Friends Like Different Things

🍟 Fun Time Lunch Time

😤 When I Feel So Annoyed

Meet Billy:

Billy Mandarino is a Santa Barbara, California-based author, speaker, and Now-ist whose bestselling book, The Now-ist, teaches readers how to embrace present moment living and discover the spiritual gifts hidden in everyday life; drawing on decades of personal growth through a large, multi-divorce family upbringing and deep study of diverse religious and spiritual practices, Billy Mandarino shares life-changing wisdom, mindfulness insight, and practical guidance for awakening spiritual awareness, and today lives with his wife, Desa Marie, and daughter, Gianna, continuing to inspire readers worldwide through his transformative teachings on presence, purpose, and self-discovery in The Now-ist.

Website

LinkedIn

Instagram

Facebook

YouTube

The Nowist Book