Leverage Your Time Balance Your Life

Every once in a while it's good to return to the fundamentals, so we think it's time for another book summary! The Compound Effect is a classic productivity book by motivational mentor Darren Hardy that hits all the highlights: purpose, goals, persistence, attitudes, and influences. Since we're constantly bombarded with bad news and negative influences, it's important to keep feeding your mind with positive, encouraging, and inspirational material. This book does not disappoint!

We also mentioned another great book in this episode. Click HERE to jump to our book summary of Atomic Habits by James Clear.

Dr. Walker recently completed a novel! He knew the manuscript had some structural issues, so he asked Claude (Anthropic's AI large-language model) to diagnose the book and make recommendations. What Claude was able to do was not only fascinating, but has potential to change the publishing world. 

Let us know your thoughts about AI: how do you use it to enhance your creative work? 

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Sometimes high acheivers unintentionally design lives that outpace their capacity. Heather Kidwell, founder and CEO of Humanity Driven Leadership, has the antidote! She helps highly productive people move through burnout so they can lead lives of clarity and confidence. Heather will be a featured speaker at the Fearless Women's Summit on March 28, 2026 in Charlotte, NC. She also plans to beta-test a cohort called BurnUP starting in April 2026. 

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Our guest Joni Woods is a relationship and communication coach whose work helps individuals and couples build healthier relationships, communicate more effectively, and create lives that feel balanced, intentional, and sustainable. How we communicate at home, at work, and with ourselves, directly affects how we manage our time, energy, and overall well-being. Joni shares her personal journey of being "burned" from a unhealthy relationship and how she used that experience to teach her to set boundaries and create better communication strategies.

Joni's book Burned, Blocked, and Better than Ever is available in paperback on Amazon a...

This week we take a field trip to the beautiful, peace-filled Starrette Farm Retreat Center on the outskirts of Statesville, North Carolina to speak with founder Ann Starrette and host Nancy Bellamy. We speak about the importance of nature, silence and solitude to foster a deeper spiritual journey. Wish you could have been with us! 

Besides running the Retreat Center, Ann and Nancy lead spiritual formation coaching and deeper journeys including the School of the Spirit through the Lydia Group. 

The private Retreat Center offers "Quiet Space Fridays" on the 2nd Friday of each month to...

This week we continue our conversation about anxiety. We share several techniques to help you self-regulate stress and deal with milder forms of anxiety, including mindfulness meditation, breathing exercises, and more. Be sure to check out the previous episode to learn more about clinical forms of anxiety. 

NOTE: This podcast is not meant to diagnose or treat anxiety. Please share any concerns you have about your anxiety with your doctor or mental health provider. 

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Seems like everyone is feeling existential anxiety these days! We had so much to talk about that we divided our conversation into two parts. In this first part, Dr. Walker explains several of the clinical diagnoses of anxiety, including General Anxiety Disorder (GAD), OCD, PTSD, and more. Dr. Walker draws on his 50 years of practicing psychiatry to bring us a wealth of information in this podcast. Click HERE to take the GAD-7 assessment mentioned in this episode. 

NOTE: This podcast is not meant to diagnose or treat anxiety. Please share any concerns you have about your anxiety w...

We recorded this episode during the aftermath of the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minnesota. Current events in America are dark indeed. We grieve for the families who have been impacted by the violence and horror of recent ICE raids. We want to maintain compassion, empathy and love for our fellow humans, but we're exhausted, burned out and tired of being constantly sad and fearful. Today's Big Question is: How can you find the balance between staying informed and nurturing your mental and emotional health? 

This important conversation highlights several tips to maintain emotional b...

This episode is long overdue...we had some technical difficulties but are SO excited to finally welcome our wonderful guest, Dr. Mike Durnin! Mike is a leadership expert, educator and coach who walks us through his signature framework, the "Handful of L's." Mike encourages individuals to pursue excellence, resilience, and Christ-centered transformation in life and leadership. Learn more about Mike and connect with him on LinkedIn HERE. Be sure to ask him for your copy of the Handful of L's resource he offered!

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After a highly entertaining story by Dr. Walker about an accidental arctic adventure, we dive into another one of our popular Book Summaries! This time we discuss Chris Bailey's The Productivity Project. Bailey took an entire year to experiment with dozens of productivity "hacks" so you don't have to! He tells what worked and what didn't for him. Wende has already successfully implemented two new disciplines from Bailey's suggestions, and Dr. Walker is eager to try one too.

Also mentioned in this episode: Lucinda Halpern's book Get Signed.

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Welcome to Season 6 of Leverage Your Time Balance Your Life! (We started this podcast in 2023 and do two seasons per year.) Our mission with this podcast is to help you develop meaning and purpose by...you guessed it...leveraging your time and balancing your life! This year we plan to showcase a variety of life-affirming topics through insightful conversations, book summaries, and wisdom from powerful guests. Enjoy today's conversation about our hopes, dreams, projects, and goals for 2026.

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Today we explore the Spiritual dimension of life with Interfaith Pastor and Spiritual Life Coach, Rev. Mimi Sherman! Mimi walks alongside people on their spiritual journeys, helping them flourish in new and abundant ways. Mimi describes her own journey of climbing the corporate ladder, only to discover it was leaning against the wrong wall! Discover how Mimi reset her life's compass to a Spiritual foundation.

Discover more about Mimi's Spiritual Coaching practice at www.pathsofgrace.org

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It's hard for busy people to find margin in their packed schedules to find time to volunteer. But volunteering not only helps others in need, it improves our own lives by fostering gratitude, generosity, and connection. Our guest Stephen Melton talks about why he chooses to volunteer his time with a prison ministry. 

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Most of us will be caring for someone at some point in our lives, whether part time or full time. It may be caring for an ill spouse, an elderly parent, or a child with a disability. As we're caring for others, we must prioritize our own health and well-being to avoid chronic stress and burnout. We're so excited to have Carolyn Dowdy from Caregiver Mental Wellness join us in studio for this episode about taking care of yourself as a caregiver! 

Carolyn is a speaker and workshop leader who launched the non-profit organization Caregiver Mental Wellness o...

Most of the time we focus on "what" and "how" without thinking about the underlying "why". Listen to this episode with a spirit of curiosity: think about WHY you might fall into the same bad habits over and over? WHY do you pursue the goals you've committed to? 

Join the conversation:

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Today we take a break from serious topics and discuss our favorite movies, why we love them, and why movies matter. The best movies reinforce positive values, offer hope, and inspire us to live extraordinary lives. Grab the popcorn as you listen to us break down our favorites. Do any of our top 3 make your list? Share your favorites in the comments or send us a text!

Movies mentioned in this episode: What About Bob, The Shawshank Redemption, Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid, The Princess Bride, The Legend of Bagger Vance, The Truman Show, The Secret Life...

Wende is back fresh from her annual vacation! In this episode, she & Dr. Walker talk about the benefits of taking regular vacation breaks from "normal" life.

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Want more resources? The Leverage Your Time Balance Your Life book is available on Amazon! Visit www.leverageyourtimebook.com to order the book, read the blog, and listen to the podcast.

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We bring in the spouses today to discuss some of the secrets to a long and happy marriage. So grateful for Wende's husband Greg and John's wife Vicki -- thank you for joining us in the studio today to share your wisdom!

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We explore Simon Squibb's bestselling business book, What's Your Dream? Even though this book was written to help encourage entrepreneurs, the applications extend beyond the business world. Everyone has a dream, and this book can help you identify your passion and pursue your purpose. 

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Our guest today is Brian Lafontaine, a successful professional actor with roles in hit productions like Ozark, Stranger Things, Outer Banks, The Hate U Give, Homeland, Nashville, and The Vampire Diaries. 

Today we speak with Brian about how he leveraged his acting skills to blossom in a new role: helping people communicate with clarity, confidence, and authenticity as a public speaking coach.

Brian also created and hosts Speak Easy, a live event series for speakers who want to practice being seen in a new way. It's held in Charlotte, NC on the first Monday every m...

Comedian Kim Coleman helps us kick off season 5 with a ton of laughs! Kim explains the importance of laughter and levity, which helps us regulate stress and balance the negative energy surrounding us on a daily basis.

After hearing this episode, you'll want to follow Kim on her socials and learn about her corporate events and laughter yoga: Instagram , LinkedIn , and Facebook

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Today we discuss 12-step programs, most commonly associated with Alcoholics Anonymous. These programs are beneficial for anyone struggling with any kind of addiction, as well as their family members. But what are the 12 steps? And how did AA begin? We explore the history of AA and unpack each of the twelve steps, showing you how they work together to help people achieve freedom from addiction.

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We made it to the final section of our series based on the bestselling book, Life Worth Living. Today we put all the pieces together by asking the question: are your actions matching your philosophy of a life well lived? In other words, are you walking the walk or just talking the talk? 

If you've read the book & followed along with the podcasts, we'd love to hear from you. What did you think? What's your definition of a live worth living?

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We return to our discussion of what makes Life Worth Living. This section caused us to dive really deep into who we are and where we are in the universe. We use the book as a jumping off point to dive into what we (Dr. Walker and Wende) believe is most important in life. We invite you into the conversation!

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Today we discuss how Wende wrote a book in 12 weeks using the 12 Week Year method, and how you can use this method to make incredible progress on a long term project in a short amount of time without sacrificing rest

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Our conversation today is loosely framed around section 4 of the book, Life Worth Living. What happens when one's personal philosophy butts up against a corrupt or immoral system? We examine how religious and political figures dealt with this in the past, and discussed what we can and can't control about the systems we live under. 

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We continue the conversation based on the bestseller Life Worth Living with a deep dive to "The Depths!" (Section 2). Join us!

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Want more resources? The Leverage Your Time Balance Your Life book is available on Amazon! Visit www.leverageyourtimebook.com to order the book, read the blog, and listen to the podcast.

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We continue our deep dive into life's most essential questions by unpacking the book Life Worth Living. Today we ponder chapter 2: is living a long, happy, healthy life the ultimate goal? 

Now that we've laid the foundation, In future episodes we'll tackle one entire section at a time instead of chapter by chapter. Grab your copy of the book and join us on the journey to discover what makes Life Worth Living.

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We continue our deep dive into life's most pressing questions by examining four modes, or layers, of being in the world. These layers--autopilot, effectiveness, self-awareness, and self-transcendence--are explained in the book Life Worth Living by Volf, et.al.  We do our homework and encourage you to do yours. You may even discover what a platypus is along the way!

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What makes life worth living? What exactly consists of a "well-lived life"? These are the Big Questions we'll be tackling over the next several weeks. We'll use the book Life Worth Living: A Guide to What Matters Most as our guide. Follow along with us in this virtual "book club" as we explore deep questions about the meaning of life. 

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Today Vicki joins us in the studio (John's wife and Wende's momma) to talk about our favorite books! We're all avid readers, and we each like different genres. Join us for a "book club" discussion on why reading is so important to a well-rounded life!

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After reading "The Book of Joy" by Douglas Abrams, Dr. Walker realized he didn't know a lot about The Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu, so he did some research and discussed what he learned with Wende. You'll be sure to learn new things too as they go on different tangents like the Mandela Effect. This episode is proof that there's always new things to learn, no matter how educated you are!

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We hear a lot about mindfulness these days, staying focused on the present moment. But when is it most appropriate to be mindful? When is it OK to look back to reflect on the past? Can we look forward to make plans & set goals? We talk about all of it on today's episode.

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Leverage Your Time goes on a road trip to talk with Brad & Andrea Walker, owners of Lighthouse Films in Wilmington NC! This fun and fascinating episode is filled with inspiration, motivation, and a whole lot of laughter. Andrea discusses the company themes that the Lighthouse Family has adopted over the years, including this year's theme of "Wander and Wonder." This theme encourages the Lighthouse Family (and all of us) to choose to unplug, creating intentional space to foster creativity and work/life balance. You'll want to bookmark this episode and return to it again and again!

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Today we discuss not one but TWO classic books, Malcolm Gladwell's 2000 bestseller The Tipping Point and its follow up Revenge of the Tipping Point. We talk about Gladwell's theories of what causes social (and physical) epidemics to spread rapidly: what exactly is that "tipping point" that turns the tide of popularity? We're especially curious as to what the implications are in today's political climate: have we passed the tipping point towards autocracy and dictatorship in America? 

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Everyone talks about living longer, but how do you make sure those extra years are productive? We discuss ways to thrive, not just survive, as we age. Learn how to live a life full of meaning and purpose at any age.

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Today we take a detour from discussing personal development and talk about something that makes life fun: watching the Final Four! We're huge Duke fans, so we recorded a special basketball themed episode during halftime of the Auburn-Florida game on April 5. It doesn't age well. But we had a great time talking about our Final Four memories with Vicki, Greg, and even a special call into Brad. Hope you find some humor, entertainment, and even some life-balance application in this episode! 

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Today we discuss learning to look beyond our limited self-awareness. By examining our situation from different perspectives, we can view every circumstance from the past to the future, encompassing what happened and what we expect will happen. 

Join us as we discuss how to reframe our mindset and turn "negatives" into "positives." 

We'd love to hear your feedback about this podcast! Email us to share your comments or to suggest topics: wende@personalretreatday.com (or you can send us a text by clicking the link below)

For more on this topic check out Dr...

Today we talk about how to reorient towards the future by planning your next steps. Look at the month ahead: is it full? We'll talk about how to eliminate tasks to give you margin for what's most important. Or, is your upcoming month empty? Then it's time to work towards your long-term goals. Use the information you gleaned from reflecting on the previous month to help you reorient towards what's next. 

For best results: pair this episode with the one we did last month on REFLECTION.

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There's no doubt we live in divisive times. Sometimes it seems we'll never find any common ground. Today we discuss how we can bridge the gap by finding points of connection in our shared humanity. We discuss when it's important to stand up and speak out, and when to keep our opinions to ourselves. 

To read Dr. Walker's article on the subject, click HERE.

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