The Audacious Living Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Who Needs to Hear from You Today? with Janice Porter Oct 18, 2026

Show notes

Someone crossed your mind today. Did you reach out, or did you talk yourself out of it?

Signature Quote

"Send the unexpected note or card. Send a card to someone when they least expect it, because it always comes at the right time."

Janice's mentor taught her this practice, and the story she tells to prove it, a thank-you card that stopped a church organist from quitting, is the beating heart of this conversation.

Janice Porter asks herself one question every morning: who needs to hear from me today? That simple practice has shaped her entire philosophy of relationships, and it might change how you think about the people in your own life.

In this conversation, Janice, host of the Relationships Rule podcast, shares her five relationship rules, from doing what you say you will do to sending the note nobody expects. She tells the story of a thank-you card that arrived on the exact day a church organist was about to quit, and why the note you almost do not send is so often the one that matters most.

This is a warm, practical conversation about turning connections into real relationships, one small courageous reach at a time.

This episode is for you if...

- You have ever thought of someone and then talked yourself out of reaching out

- You want to turn your network into genuine relationships instead of a contact list

- You believe trust is built in small moments and want a system for it

- You are curious how a simple card can change someone's whole week

Janice Porter is the host of the Relationships Rule podcast, where she has recorded nearly 400 conversations with people who believe, as she does, that it is all about relationships.

A former teacher of 14 years and longtime corporate trainer, Janice found her way back to teaching through LinkedIn, where she now helps business owners build their presence and turn connections into real relationships. She is known for her five relationship rules: be curious, do what you say you will do, add value, follow up, and send the unexpected note.

Janice lives what she teaches. Her daily practice starts with a note on her computer that reads, "Who needs to hear from me today?"

Connect with Janice:

Website: https://janiceporter.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/janiceporter/

Listen on Major Platforms

🎧 Spotify → https://open.spotify.com/show/2jVR6V7X2kRiCCDXE0FTyl?si=IR3TsfEWR3WA6BzfBRnVXQ

🍎 Apple Podcasts → https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-audacious-living-podcast/id1547447345

📦 Amazon Music → https://music.amazon.ca/podcasts/9f7902bb-dec8-4bd9-918d-d1fef21b7c67/the-audacious-living-podcast?ref=dm_sh_pGv57yQvAmAQVp2IIaXoDwtFt

Enjoying the show?

Share this episode with someone who needs to hear this.

⭐ Leave a review:

👉 https://ratethispodcast.com/audacious

Rewrite the Story Your Childhood Wrote with Rochelle Cook Oct 16, 2026

Show notes

What if the reason you keep ending up in the same place has nothing to do with willpower, and everything to do with a story you learned before you were old enough to question it?

Signature Quote

"When we worry, we pray for what we don't want."

Rochelle says this about the subconscious mind, which takes our worries as instructions. It reframes anxiety not as a feeling to fight, but as a broadcast we can change.

Rochelle Cook has spent more than twenty years as a clinical hypnotherapist, working where real change happens: the subconscious mind. In this conversation she explains why willpower keeps losing, why we keep attracting the same relationships and the same struggles, and why none of it means anything is wrong with us. We simply learned a story as children, and we have been playing it out ever since. She calls it storybook syndrome.

She also brings her own story to the table. Childhood abandonment, brain surgery, a lung cancer diagnosis less than a year ago, and the long climb out of depression. She calls herself a wounded healer, and she does not speak from theory. She speaks from the chair on both sides of it.

You will hear why hypnotherapy is nothing like the stage show, where the inner critic actually comes from, and the small daily practices that interrupt old patterns: challenging the thought, writing down what disturbs your peace, and the three words she repeats to herself, I don't do that anymore.

This episode is for you if...

- You know better but keep doing the same thing anyway

- Your inner critic is loud, convincing, and exhausting

- You keep attracting the same kind of relationship or the same kind of trouble

- You are curious about hypnotherapy but carry the stage-show stereotype

- You want practical ways to challenge the thoughts running your life

Rochelle Cook, MA, Cht, is a clinical hypnotherapist with more than twenty years of practice, specializing in trauma. She is the author of The Soul's Coach: Seven Paths to Healing Your Relationship and a co-founder of Joymind.com.

Her path into this work runs through her own life. She describes herself as a wounded healer: childhood abandonment, brain surgery twelve years ago with an eight-year recovery, and a lung cancer diagnosis less than a year ago as a non-smoker. She did, in her words, all the therapies in the world, until a friend hypnotized her and her fear of public speaking vanished. She went back to school, and she has been helping people change the perception of the subconscious mind ever since.

She joined the podcast to make the case that lasting change does not live in willpower. It lives underneath it.

Connect with Rochelle: https://joymind.com

Her book, The Soul's Coach: Seven Paths to Healing Your Relationship, is available on Amazon.

Listen on Major Platforms

🎧 Spotify → https://open.spotify.com/show/2jVR6V7X2kRiCCDXE0FTyl?si=IR3TsfEWR3WA6BzfBRnVXQ

🍎 Apple Podcasts → https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-audacious-living-podcast/id1547447345

📦 Amazon Music → https://music.amazon.ca/podcasts/9f7902bb-dec8-4bd9-918d-d1fef21b7c67/the-audacious-living-podcast?ref=dm_sh_pGv57yQvAmAQVp2IIaXoDwtFt

Enjoying the show?

Share this episode with someone who needs to hear this.

⭐ Leave a review:

👉 https://ratethispodcast.com/audacious

Audacity Without a System Is Just Hope with Jason Vanderground Oct 14, 2026

Show notes

What if your dream is not stalling for lack of passion, but for lack of a plan?

Signature Quote

"Audacity without a system is probably just hope. And hope's great, but it's not a strategy and it's not a plan."

That line landed like a bell in the middle of this conversation, because it names the gap most of us live in. We have the vision. We have the wanting. What we do not have is the next most important action written down anywhere.

Jason Vanderground has spent thirty years closing that gap for brands and movements, including the He Gets Us campaign that reached the Super Bowl. In this conversation he walks through his DREAM framework, Define, Research, Experience, Apply, Measure, the same system he has refined across three decades, and shows why it works just as well on a personal dream as on a national campaign. He also gets honest about the detours: losing his corporate job at forty, missing a live radio interview for his own book launch, and the two words, "only forward," that pulled him out of the spiral.

This is a conversation about giving your boldest vision some scaffolding, and about the quiet kind of audacity that does not need a spotlight.

This episode is for you if...

- You have a dream you have rehearsed more than you have built

- You want a practical system for turning vision into measurable progress

- You are navigating a detour and need the pivot from "why" to "what's next"

- You believe audacity is quiet courage, not loud performance

Jason Vanderground is the president of Brand Haven, a Grand Rapids, Michigan agency, where he has spent thirty years using the principles of marketing and branding to build things that matter. His team was part of the work behind He Gets Us, the faith-based campaign that became a Super Bowl advertiser. His first book, DREAM to Reality, was published this September and lays out the framework he has refined across three decades of practice.

What sets Jason apart is where he points all of that expertise. His name means healer, and he describes his life's work as healing and reconciliation, finding where things are broken and helping make them whole. He is a self-described introvert and a father of three boys who still feels the same spark he felt in his first college marketing class.

He joined the podcast to share the system behind the dream, and to make the case that audacity without one is probably just hope.

DREAM to Reality is available on Amazon.

[ADD GUEST WEBSITE LINK]

Listen on Major Platforms

🎧 Spotify → https://open.spotify.com/show/2jVR6V7X2kRiCCDXE0FTyl?si=IR3TsfEWR3WA6BzfBRnVXQ

🍎 Apple Podcasts → https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-audacious-living-podcast/id1547447345

📦 Amazon Music → https://music.amazon.ca/podcasts/9f7902bb-dec8-4bd9-918d-d1fef21b7c67/the-audacious-living-podcast?ref=dm_sh_pGv57yQvAmAQVp2IIaXoDwtFt

Enjoying the show?

Share this episode with someone who needs to hear this.

⭐ Leave a review:

👉 https://ratethispodcast.com/audacious

It Took 20 Years to Finish His Book: Paul Hlabse on Grief, Faith, and "Violent Disturbance" Oct 12, 2026

Show notes

Some books take a weekend to read and twenty years to write. Paul Lapsey knows, because his sat on a shelf for eighteen of them.

Signature Quote

"Whatever you start, you have to finish it. It may not be the outcome you want, but you have to see it done."

Paul dusted off a twenty-year-old manuscript after his daughter was born, determined to show her that finishing matters more than the outcome. That decision became his debut psychological thriller, Violent Disturbance.

Paul Lapsey started writing his novel when he was a young man, put it down for eighteen years, then picked it back up two years ago after his daughter was born. He wanted her to see that whatever you start, you finish. The result is Violent Disturbance, a psychological thriller with true crime elements that asks what if, and keeps readers up at night.

In this conversation, Paul opens up about the grief that reshaped his writing, the faith that pulled him through it, and the hard question at the center of his book: what does revenge actually cost? He and Audley compare notes as two fairly new authors, including the surreal moment of holding your first finished book in your hands.

If you have ever shelved something that mattered to you, this one might be the nudge to dust it off.

This Episode Is For You If...

- You have a project sitting on a shelf that you keep meaning to finish

- You want to hear how grief and faith can shape a creative life

- You are curious what it really takes to publish your first book

- You love a thriller that leaves you thinking about it for weeks

About the Guest

Paul Lapsey is a first-time author and the writer of Violent Disturbance, a psychological thriller with true crime elements that explores grief, faith, and the cost of revenge. He started the book twenty years ago, shelved it for eighteen, and finished it after his daughter was born, determined to show her that whatever you start, you finish.

By day, Paul works full time as a process improvement manager in manufacturing plants, a career spanning twenty-five years. Writing has always been his true passion. He lives in Perry, Ohio, where his book is already finding its way into local stores.

Paul is nearly finished with his second novel and is planning a third, a prequel to Violent Disturbance. He joined the podcast to talk about finishing, faith, and what happens when you finally put your work into the world.

Connect with Paul

https://paullapsey.com

Violent Disturbance is available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and anywhere books are sold in the United States.

Listen on Major Platforms

🎧 Spotify → https://open.spotify.com/show/2jVR6V7X2kRiCCDXE0FTyl?si=IR3TsfEWR3WA6BzfBRnVXQ

🍎 Apple Podcasts → https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-audacious-living-podcast/id1547447345

📦 Amazon Music → https://music.amazon.ca/podcasts/9f7902bb-dec8-4bd9-918d-d1fef21b7c67/the-audacious-living-podcast?ref=dm_sh_pGv57yQvAmAQVp2IIaXoDwtFt

Enjoying the show?

Share this episode with someone who needs to hear this.

⭐ Leave a review:

👉 https://ratethispodcast.com/audacious

From Napkin Sketch to QVC: Lisa Ascolese on Inventing the Right Way Oct 10, 2026

Show notes

You have an idea. Maybe you have had it for years, sketched on a napkin or sitting in a journal. The difference between you and the inventor on QVC is not talent. It is knowing the right way to move.

Signature Quote

"Do not share your information until the ink dries."

Lisa learned the hard way that an unprotected idea is a vulnerable one. This line from her book is the rule she lives by, and the one she wants every new inventor to hear first.

Lisa Ascolese, known as The Inventress, has spent decades turning everyday frustrations into products that sell. Her first invention came from being embarrassed to breastfeed in public, so she created the Bosom Buddy nursing cape. A sock she used to tie her hair into a church-ready bun became the Bun Tie, her first product on QVC. A lost pair of scissors while wrapping gifts became the Wrap and Store organizer, which sold out on QVC.

In this conversation, Lisa shares what inventing the right way actually means. Do your due diligence. Build a working prototype before you ever call a patent attorney. Do not add so much to a simple product that it can never get made. And keep your idea close until it is protected, because the naysayers will talk you out of it before it has a chance.

She also talks about the audacity it took to pick up the phone and call buyers and celebrities, including a 30-year relationship with Dionne Warwick that started with one cold call, and why she founded the Association of Women Inventors and Entrepreneurs to lift other women up. This is a practical, no-fluff conversation for anyone sitting on an idea.

This episode is for you if...

- You have an idea sketched somewhere and no clue what to do next

- You have wondered whether to patent first or prototype first

- You want to get a product onto QVC, HSN, or a store shelf

- You have been burned before and want a trustworthy guide this time

- You believe inventors should lift each other up

Lisa Ascolese is known as The Inventress, a name her publicist coined years ago and one she has since trademarked. Born in London and raised in Brooklyn by West Indian parents, she was inventing as a child, taking things apart around the house and making them work for her. Her first product, the Bosom Buddy breastfeeding cape, sold nationally and internationally, and she went on to sell multiple products on QVC, including the Bun Tie, the Wrap and Store organizer, and the Perfect Pockets organizer, which she later redesigned for HSN.

Today Lisa helps inventors go from a napkin idea all the way to the marketplace, teaching them to do it the right way with due diligence, working prototypes, and protected ideas. She is the founder of the Association of Women Inventors and Entrepreneurs, now celebrating its 13th year, and host of The Inventors Podcast. Her book is "The Inventress Guide to Inventing the Right Way: All or Nothing, Now or Never." Her mission is simple: lifting each other up two hands at a time.

🌐 Website: https://inventingatoz.com/

Her podcast, The Inventors Podcast, and her social channels are all linked from her website.

Listen on Major Platforms

🎧 Spotify → https://open.spotify.com/show/2jVR6V7X2kRiCCDXE0FTyl?si=IR3TsfEWR3WA6BzfBRnVXQ

🍎 Apple Podcasts → https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-audacious-living-podcast/id1547447345

📦 Amazon Music → https://music.amazon.ca/podcasts/9f7902bb-dec8-4bd9-918d-d1fef21b7c67/the-audacious-living-podcast?ref=dm_sh_pGv57yQvAmAQVp2IIaXoDwtFt

Enjoying the show?

Share this episode with someone who needs to hear this.

⭐ Leave a review:

👉 https://ratethispodcast.com/audacious

Don’t Take a Coward’s Way Out: Green Beret Ray Dillman on Courage, Purpose, and Faith Oct 07, 2026

Show notes

What does it take to choose the fight when every instinct tells you to run? Retired Green Beret Major Ray Dillman spent 23 years in the Army answering that question, rising from enlisted private to senior medic on a Special Forces combat dive team, with time in Ranger battalions, command of the U.S. Army Sniper School, and a professorship at West Point.

Yet for years he kept that Green Beret past quiet, living the creed of the silent professional: when you are good, you do not have to crow about it. In this conversation, Ray opens up about what that creed taught him and what came after. He breaks down his signature challenge, refusing to take a coward's way out, and explains the difference between feeling fear and letting fear decide. He shares why no one survives the battlefield alone, how purpose works as stewardship of everything God puts in our hands, and why childhood wounds must be recognized and overcome rather than carried for life.

Signature Quote

"The coward's way out is to talk yourself out of being audacious."

The coward's way out is not failing. It is letting fear talk you out of trying in the first place. Control the fear, do not let the fear get the best of you, and go forth.

THIS EPISODE IS FOR YOU IF...

- You have been talking yourself out of something you know is right

- You want to understand the difference between feeling fear and obeying it

- You are searching for purpose and what it actually looks like in daily life

- You carry old wounds that still shape your decisions

- You believe no one wins alone and want to hear it from a man who lived it

MEET RAY DILLMAN

Ray Dillman is a retired U.S. Army Major and the founder of Discipled Warriors, a men's ministry that builds cohorts of men who disciple one another in churches. Across 23 years of military service, he rose from enlisted private to commissioned officer, serving as a Green Beret senior medic on a special forces combat dive team, in Ranger battalions, as commander of the U.S. Army Sniper School, and as a professor at the United States Military Academy at West Point.

After retiring, Ray spent ten years full-time at Mid-America Christian University and continues there part-time today. In 2024 he launched Discipled Warriors, and he is the author of the Discipled Warriors Handbook, the ministry's core text. He is a husband, a father, and a grandfather of six who goes by Pop-up.

CONNECT WITH RAY

https://discipledwarriors.org/

Listen on Major Platforms

🎧 Spotify → https://open.spotify.com/show/2jVR6V7X2kRiCCDXE0FTyl?si=IR3TsfEWR3WA6BzfBRnVXQ

🍎 Apple Podcasts → https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-audacious-living-podcast/id1547447345

📦 Amazon Music → https://music.amazon.ca/podcasts/9f7902bb-dec8-4bd9-918d-d1fef21b7c67/the-audacious-living-podcast?ref=dm_sh_pGv57yQvAmAQVp2IIaXoDwtFt

Enjoying the show?

Share this episode with someone who needs to hear this.

⭐ Leave a review:

👉 https://ratethispodcast.com/audacious

What Hypnosis Really Is (and Isn’t) with Jason Palter Oct 05, 2026

Show notes

Most of what you believe about hypnosis came from a movie or a cruise ship stage show. Jason Palter has spent more than a decade undoing that damage. A former professional magician turned certified hypnotist, Jason works in a clinical setting helping people quit smoking, lose weight, manage stress, and get past the fears and habits their conscious minds cannot talk them out of.

Signature Quote

"You can't steal second base with your foot still on first."

Jason's favorite line is the episode in miniature. Every meaningful change asks you to lift your foot, to leave the safety of what is familiar. You cannot reach what is next while gripping what is.

In this conversation, Jason pulls back the curtain on what hypnosis actually is: not mind control, not a swinging watch, but a deeply relaxed state where the subconscious becomes open to new suggestions. You will hear why some clients transform in a single session while others stay stuck, why he turns away anyone who does not truly want to change, and how the words after "I am" quietly shape a life. He also shares the audacious pivot behind his practice: starting over as a hypnotist in the middle of a divorce that leveled everything.

THIS EPISODE IS FOR YOU IF...

- You have always wondered what hypnosis really is beyond the stage show

- You know a habit is hurting you and still cannot stop

- Your own self-talk is your harshest critic

- You are standing at the edge of a change and afraid to leap

- You want to understand the subconscious patterns running your decisions

MEET JASON PALTER

Jason Palter is a certified hypnotist and the owner of the Greater Toronto Hypnosis Centre in Toronto, Canada. He helps clients quit smoking, lose weight, manage stress, build confidence, and move past fears and performance anxiety, working with people in person and over video anywhere in the world.

Before hypnosis, Jason lived as a performer: a professional magician, corporate speaker, actor, and voiceover artist. In 2012, during a difficult divorce, a friend who worked as a hypnotist offered to train him and help him rebuild his life. He opened his practice in 2013 and never looked back.

Jason practices clinical hypnosis only, never stage hypnosis, and he is direct about what the work can and cannot do. His message is simple: all hypnosis is self-hypnosis, change begins with the person willing to do the work, and it is never too late to build on everything you have already lived through.

CONNECT WITH JASON

https://greatertorontohypnosis.com/

Listen on Major Platforms

🎧 Spotify → https://open.spotify.com/show/2jVR6V7X2kRiCCDXE0FTyl?si=IR3TsfEWR3WA6BzfBRnVXQ

🍎 Apple Podcasts → https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-audacious-living-podcast/id1547447345

📦 Amazon Music → https://music.amazon.ca/podcasts/9f7902bb-dec8-4bd9-918d-d1fef21b7c67/the-audacious-living-podcast?ref=dm_sh_pGv57yQvAmAQVp2IIaXoDwtFt

Enjoying the show?

Share this episode with someone who needs to hear this.

⭐ Leave a review:

👉 https://ratethispodcast.com/audacious

Breaking the Bias That Keeps Great Leaders Invisible with Michael Dowling Oct 03, 2026

Show notes

What if the reason you have never seen yourself as a leader is not a flaw in you, but a flaw in the picture you were given? Michael Dowling spent years in Hollywood performing a version of himself he thought leadership required, until one conversation with his dad flipped the script.

Signature Quote

"You have a superpower. By being that emotionally aware, you can see things that maybe others don't see. You could see angles, you can see opportunities."

This is what his father told him when Michael confessed he was trying to detach from his emotions to look like a leader. That single reframe became the seed of his book and this conversation: the very things we are told to hide may be our greatest strengths.

Michael Dowling is a former Hollywood talent agent turned CEO and the author of The Unlikely Leader: Breaking the Bias That Keeps Great Leaders Invisible. He calls it the great leadership myth, the belief that leaders must look and act a certain way. Confident. Charismatic. Pedigreed. That myth does not just mislead companies, it convinces countless capable people to screen themselves out of the leadership conversation entirely.

In this episode, Michael introduces his "leadership recognition problem": companies do not have a leadership shortage, they reward the wrong signals. He shares the mindset behavior outcome shift, a practical way to catch the default stories your mind tells under pressure, and the question that unlocks them: what else could be true? You will also hear why every billion-dollar CEO in his networking group suffers from imposter syndrome, and the five-year-old art student who taught him one of his best leadership lessons.

THIS EPISODE IS FOR YOU IF...

- You have ever thought "I'm not leadership material" and believed it

- You lead quietly and wonder if that counts (it does)

- You want a practical tool for reframing self-doubt in real time

- You hire or develop leaders and suspect you are rewarding the wrong signals

- You need permission to stop performing and start practicing leadership as yourself

MEET MICHAEL DOWLING

Michael Dowling spent years as a Hollywood talent agent, where he learned to spot potential in others while struggling to see it in himself. Performing the power-player role eroded his joy until he walked away and eventually became a CEO, where he discovered that the traits he had tried to suppress, emotional awareness, humility, thoughtfulness, were the very things that made him effective.

He is the author of The Unlikely Leader: Breaking the Bias That Keeps Great Leaders Invisible (Sutherland House Experts), written for the people who never saw themselves reflected in the leadership stereotype: first-generation professionals, neurodivergent thinkers, quiet contributors, and everyone who was never expected to lead. He works with companies to audit the signals they reward and with individuals to reframe the mindsets holding them back.

CONNECT WITH MICHAEL

https://theunlikelyleader.com/

Listen on Major Platforms

🎧 Spotify → https://open.spotify.com/show/2jVR6V7X2kRiCCDXE0FTyl?si=IR3TsfEWR3WA6BzfBRnVXQ

🍎 Apple Podcasts → https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-audacious-living-podcast/id1547447345

📦 Amazon Music → https://music.amazon.ca/podcasts/9f7902bb-dec8-4bd9-918d-d1fef21b7c67/the-audacious-living-podcast?ref=dm_sh_pGv57yQvAmAQVp2IIaXoDwtFt

Enjoying the show?

Share this episode with someone who needs to hear this.

⭐ Leave a review:

👉 https://ratethispodcast.com/audacious

Undefeated: What a Pastor Turned FBI Agent Learned About Human Nature Oct 02, 2026

Show notes

What if the person sitting across from you in the interrogation room is not a monster, but a human being who lost their way? Eric Robinson spent 24 years in the FBI learning to find the human in everyone, and the training started in the pulpit.

Signature Quote

"I am through everything I've experienced undefeated. Everything that's come at me, I have gotten past."

This is the mindset that carried Eric through two extraordinary careers. It is not bravado, it is arithmetic. Whatever has come at you, you got past it. You are here to tell the story.

Eric Robinson traded the pulpit for the FBI and spent 24 years staring into the darkest corners of human nature. Fifteen of those years were on SWAT. He investigated gangs, drug cartels, public corruption, and counter-terrorism threats, earning two Attorney General's Awards along the way.

What he found in those dark corners will change how you see everyone, including yourself. His best interrogation tool was the same as his best pastoral tool: suspend judgment, find something in common, and let curiosity do the work. Compassion, it turns out, disarms.

This conversation travels far beyond the cool FBI stories into identity, purpose, and our shared humanity. Eric also introduces his memoir, Irreverend, and shares the simple mindset that carried him through it all: he is undefeated, and so are you.

THIS EPISODE IS FOR YOU IF...

- You are standing at the edge of a bold career pivot and need proof it can work

- You want to understand people better, even the difficult ones

- You are curious how compassion could be a tactical advantage in your own life

- You need a reminder that your track record is stronger than your fear

MEET ERIC ROBINSON

Eric Robinson is a retired FBI Special Agent, former SWAT operator, and former Baptist pastor whose unlikely career pivot took him from the pulpit to Quantico. In 2002 he preached his final sermon on Easter Sunday. The next week he was at the FBI Academy, becoming the first Eric Robinson in Bureau history.

Over 24 years he investigated gangs, drug cartels, public corruption, civil rights cases, organized crime, crimes against children, financial crimes, and counter-terrorism threats, spending 15 years as a SWAT operator. Two of his investigations earned the Attorney General's Award, among the highest honors in the Bureau.

He is the author of the memoir Irreverend: From Saving Souls to Chasing Sinners in the FBI. He speaks on courage, human nature, and the power of curiosity drawn from both of his careers.

CONNECT WITH ERIC

https://preachertobreacher.com/

https://www.instagram.com/_eric_robinson/

Listen on Major Platforms

🎧 Spotify → https://open.spotify.com/show/2jVR6V7X2kRiCCDXE0FTyl?si=IR3TsfEWR3WA6BzfBRnVXQ

🍎 Apple Podcasts → https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-audacious-living-podcast/id1547447345

📦 Amazon Music → https://music.amazon.ca/podcasts/9f7902bb-dec8-4bd9-918d-d1fef21b7c67/the-audacious-living-podcast?ref=dm_sh_pGv57yQvAmAQVp2IIaXoDwtFt

Enjoying the show?

Share this episode with someone who needs to hear this.

⭐ Leave a review:

👉 https://ratethispodcast.com/audacious

The Performed Man: When the Armor That Protects You Starts Keeping Out the People You Love Sep 29, 2026

Show notes

What happens when the armor that protects you starts keeping out the people you love? Mike Poliwoda knows. He wore it for years.

Signature Quote

"Remove it slowly. Connect slowly."

— Mike Poliwoda

Why This Quote Matters

This is Mike's entire philosophy in five words. No dramatic transformation, no abandoning responsibility. Just a slight shift, enough armor off to be present with the people you love.

Mike Poliwoda started writing in 2022, in his fifties, in the middle of a dark time. He began with stories on Substack. In under four years he published five books across genres, from speculative fiction to poetry to nonfiction. His nonfiction book, The Performed Man, names something most providers feel but rarely say out loud: the quiet cost of always being the strong one.

In this conversation, Mike gets honest about the years he feels he missed with his kids while trying to be the strong provider, how responsibility slowly morphed into his identity, and the moment he realized the armor had become his permanent skin. He shares why real strength, to him now, is responsibility and endurance, plus connection, communication, and presence.

This is not a conversation about abandoning responsibility. It is about a slight shift. As Mike puts it: remove it slowly, connect slowly.

This Episode Is for You If...

- You are the one everyone counts on, and you are tired of carrying it all alone.

- You have ever wondered whether the provider role cost you presence with your family.

- You want to be strong without the emotional armor.

- You love someone who never takes the armor off.

About the Guest

Mike Poliwoda is a Canadian author, originally from Toronto and now based in Western Quebec. He started writing in 2022, in his fifties, during a dark time, beginning with stories on Substack. In under four years he published across genres: speculative fiction, literary fiction, poetry, and nonfiction. He now has five books out, with three more in the works.

His nonfiction book, The Performed Man: When Financial Responsibility Becomes Identity - A Field Guide, grew out of a lifetime of observations about providers, pressure, and self-worth. It examines how responsibility can slowly morph into identity, and how to reconnect with the people you love without abandoning the strength they count on.

A working man, family guy, and former drummer, Mike writes with kindness and zero judgment. His invitation is simple: take an honest look, make a slight shift, and be better for the people you love.

Connect With Mike

Mike's Substack: https://mikepoliwoda.substack.com

The Performed Man on Amazon: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0H14PBQ3B/ref=mp_s_a_1_1

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-poliwoda-78a9459

Listen on Major Platforms

🎧 Spotify → https://open.spotify.com/show/2jVR6V7X2kRiCCDXE0FTyl?si=IR3TsfEWR3WA6BzfBRnVXQ

🍎 Apple Podcasts → https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-audacious-living-podcast/id1547447345

📦 Amazon Music → https://music.amazon.ca/podcasts/9f7902bb-dec8-4bd9-918d-d1fef21b7c67/the-audacious-living-podcast?ref=dm_sh_pGv57yQvAmAQVp2IIaXoDwtFt

Enjoying the show?

Share this episode with someone who needs to hear this.

⭐ Leave a review:

👉 https://ratethispodcast.com/audacious

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

The Audacious Living Podcast

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected