Human School

Nicolle mentions her time at Onsite's Living Centered Group Intensive in this conversation and the transformation thathappened for her during that program. If you want to know more about that experience, visit experienceonsite.com or give our team a call at 1(800)341-7432.Have you ever built a life that looks like everything you wanted and realized you left the most important version of yourself behind?What if going home and getting quiet enough to hear yourself was actually the bravest thing you could do?Nicolle Galyon is one of country music's most decorated songwriters — BMI Songwriter of the Year, ACM Song of the Year winner, and the writer behind hits for Dan + Shay, Lee Brice, Kenny Chesney, Miranda Lambert, Keith Urban, andcountless others. But beyond the number ones, Nicolle has done something harder: she stopped, looked inward, and rebuilt her life around what matters most. In this conversation, you'll learn: How to Recognize When Achievement Has Become Your Medicator How to Find the Childhood Script Running Your Life Without Permission How to Trade the Pressure of Outcomes for the Freedom of Loving the Process How Stillness Unlocks the Creativity That Noise Has Been Blocking How to Build a Career Without Losing Yourself in It How to Cultivate an Abundance Mentality When Someone You Love Is Winning How Community — Not Achievement — Is the Real Marker for a Meaningful Life How to Navigate Success in a Marriage Between Two Creatives How to Raise Kids Who Feel Belonging Instead of PressureHow to Know When It's Time to Go HomeFollow Human School: YouTube - Human School Podcast Instagram - @humanschoolofficial Threads - @humanschoolofficial TikTok - @humanschoolofficialMentioned in This Episode:Songs & Daughters - @songsanddaughtersNicolle's MusicWhat We Discuss: 00:00:00 – Meet Nicolle Galyon00:05:07 – Why Stillness Is Essential 00:07:51 – The Psychology of Boredom 00:15:08 – What Nicolle Rediscovered When She Finally Slowed Down 00:19:00 – Reframing Boredom 00:22:18 – Onsite's Living Centered Program Changed Everything 00:25:38 – Where the Drive to Achieve Really Came From 00:30:06 – Money Scripts And How They're Driving You00:35:20 – Why Success Still Makes Her Emotional 00:45:53 – Love or Money? The Exercise That Shifts Everything 00:49:08 – The Moment She Knew She Belonged in Nashville 00:56:09 – Navigating Rejection When the Odds Are Against You 01:00:56 – Falling in Love with the Process Over the Outcome 01:03:55 – Songs and Daughters: Mentoring the Next Generation of Women 01:08:44 – The Moment She Felt Like a Hypocrite and What She Did To Change It01:09:53 – Marrying a Songwriter01:13:16 – How to Build an Abundance Mentality in Any Relationship 01:16:19 – Sterling, Kansas Was Her Superpower All Along 01:25:41 – The Most Meaningful Song Nobody Knows 01:30:51 – How She Found Out "Tequila" Blew Up01:32:43 – What She Wants Her Kids to See in How She Lives 01:36:26 – Advice That Changed How Miles Shows up01:38:11 – Firstborn: A Letter Written for Her Children 01:39:10 – Closing: Go Do the Work So You Can Come Home More Completely

If this conversation moves you, Onsite might be the nextstep. Their immersive workshops are where people go to stop performing and start doing the real work. Visit experienceonsite.com or call 1(800) 341-7432 to find the experience best for you. What if the grief you buried as a teenager becomes the force that makes you human enough to lead thousands? What if the greatest leadership lessons come not from aboardroom, but from a bedside? Dr. Jeffrey Balser is the CEO and President of VanderbiltUniversity Medical Center, one of the most respected academic medical institutions in the world with 45,000 employees and over a billion dollars in annual community benefit. But beneath the title is a man who spent a lifetime learning what most leaders never slow down long enough to figure out: that the grief you don't deal with follows you into the boardroom, that the skills you build in crisis belong just as much at home, and that the most important thing you lead may not be on your org chart. In this conversation, Miles and Jeff move between thepersonal and professional, with the ease of two people who have spent years paying attention. They talk about losing a mother to cancer at sixteen, how he chose the wrong path in college, and what it cost to walk out of one room where a patient didn't survive and into the next where someone needed him at full capacity. They talk about the Saturday email that confirmed the COVID vaccine worked, how his wife is to credit for Melinda keeping Nashville's parks open during the city shutdown, and why he's had the same executive coach for 25 years. What emerges in this conversation is a portrait of a man leading one of America's great institutions not by having all the answers, but by staying honest about how much he still has to learn. In this conversation, you'll learn:How to Turn Personal Tragedy Into Emotional Resilience That LastsHow to Lead Tens of Thousands Without Losing the Human in the RoomHow to Use the "Weekend Rule" to Build a CultureWhere People Like Each OtherHow to Bring Work Home Without Destroying What's Waiting for You ThereHow to Emotionally Regulate the Way ICU Doctors Are Trained ToHow to Clean Out the Parking Lot Before It Runs Your LifeHow to Focus on the Middle Third When Unpopular Decisions Make You a TargetHow to Communicate Through Crisis in a Way That Builds TrustHow to Think About AI in Healthcare Without Losing WhatMakes Medicine HumanHow to Know When Your Most Important Role Isn't on YourBusiness Card Follow Human School:YouTube - Human School PodcastInstagram - @humanschoolofficialThreads - @humanschoolofficialTikTok - @humanschoolofficialWhat We Discuss:00:00:00 – Meet Dr. Jeffery Balser00:03:32 – Backing Into Medicine Through Math andEngineering00:05:54 – Losing His Mother at 16 and a Surprising Mentor00:10:37 – How Early Grief Taught Him to Handle Hard Things00:14:27 – Professions Don’t Stay at the Door00:20:53 – How Nashville's Parks Stayed Open in COVID00:23:19 – Leaving Johns Hopkins When His Gut Said Stop00:28:28 – Why Admin Rewards Take Longer but Run Deeper00:31:30 – What People Say Right Before Dangerous Surgery00:34:55 – The Medical Training Every Leader Needs: The ParkingLot00:44:00 – Having the Same Executive Coach for 25 Years00:48:50 – Empathy Is a Two-Way Street00:50:57 – Leading 45,000: The Only Thing That Scales Is WhoYou Recruit00:54:53 – The Weekend Rule That Transformed Vanderbilt'sCulture00:59:20 – The Tension of Scaling & Culture01:04:00 – Communication is Critical01:07:30 – Leading Tennessee Through COVID01:13:30 – What COVID Taught Us01:15:09 – The Saturday Email He’ll Never Forget01:19:45 – The Role of Medical Services in Overall Health01:27:29 – AI Saved a Life Before Surgery01:34:07 – Where Leaders Should Aim Their Energy01:46:10 – What 40 Years of Leadership Taught Him AboutBeing a Father01:53:48 – What Matters Most When the Statue's Just for theBirds

If something in this episode resonated, it might be worth a conversation. Onsite offers intensive workshops near Nashville and San Diego for people navigating burnout, trauma, relationships, and addiction. One free call with their team can help you find the right fit. Visit ⁠experienceonsite.com⁠ or call 1-800-341-7432. Have you ever been so buried in survival that you couldn't feel your own worth? What if everything you survived was quietly shaping you into exactly the person someone else needs?Kathleen Murphy, M.A., LMFT, LPC, is one of the most respected trauma clinicians in the field. Before that, she was homeless, addicted, and living on the streets with a one-year-old daughter, cycling through fourteen treatment programs before her life changed.She opens up about her childhood trauma and how it stuck with her, growing up as "a sin" in her mother's eyes, and what it felt like to be "symbolically annihilated." She reveals how Viktor Frankl’s book, a newspaper found on the street, and a shelter bed that arrived two weeks instead of six months later changed everything — and how those experiences became the foundation for the way she teaches today. She goes deep on why our hearts are like music, how we tune each other back to the key of life, and what it really means to stop arguing with reality.In this conversation, you'll learn: How to Find Your "Heart Home" and Why It Changes Everything How Suffering Becomes Your Greatest Gift to Others How to Stop Arguing With Reality and What Changes When You Do How to Tell the Difference Between a Boundary and Reaching Your Limit How Borrowing Someone's Eyes Dissolves Conflict Without Losing Your Voice How to Tune Your Heart Back to the Key of Life How to Help Someone Without Giving Advice How to Wake Up From a Trance of Unworthiness How to Hear Someone New Even If They've Told You the Same Thing Before How to Let Your Mess Become Your MessageFollow Human School:YouTube - ⁠⁠Human School Podcast⁠⁠Instagram - ⁠⁠@humanschoolofficial⁠⁠Threads - ⁠⁠@humanschoolofficial⁠⁠TikTok - ⁠⁠@humanschoolofficial⁠For anyone who missed it or wants a replay, this episode is back in your feed!What We Discuss: 00:00:00 – Meet Kathleen Murphy 00:03:15 – Kathleen’s Onsite Story: a leap of faith and right timing00:05:45 –Our hearts are more like music than machines00:07:50 – A "heart home" and where you flourish00:08:57 – The ocean, the storm, and the nature of the mind 00:10:30 – How to know if you're in wellness00:13:00 – Who are you beyond your roles and your story? 00:22:04 –Learning to receive love00:30:19 – Symbolic annihilation00:32:55 – July 27th, 1983 00:35:21 – Standing in a courtroom at age six00:39:25 – The moment love broke through on the streets 00:47:08 – Stepping into full surrender 00:55:13 – A book and borrowed courage 00:59:30 – The Message on the wall & the right to be angry01:04:08 – The Wires are Crossed: Danger & Safety 01:20:15 – New vulnerability: saying the scary thing out loud01:24:34 – There’s clinical language…then there’s conversational language01:29:14 – Trauma becomes the goal 01:31:56 – The tool that dissolves arguments01:35:10 – Kathleen’s tool on how to hear someone like it's the first time 01:37:35 – Words to take with you

With campuses near Nashville and San Diego,Onsite supports people navigating burnout, relationship strain, addiction, trauma, or the sense that life feels off. Learn more at experienceonsite.com or call 1-800-341-7432. A simple conversation can be the first step toward livingmore fully.What if the music you've been making your whole life was actually the therapy you never knew you needed?What if chasing someone else's version of success is the very thing keeping you from discovering who you actually are?Hunter Hayes has been on stages since he was a toddler. He earned Grammy nominations before most people have figured out what they want to do with their lives. He toured with Taylor Swift, scored radio hits, and built the kind of career that looks flawless from the outside. But behind all of it was a kid whofelt deeply lonely, who learned early that love and acceptance were things you earned by performing, and who spent years chasing a version of success that someone else had defined for him. In this episode, Hunter goes into the emotional terrain behind his music: the relationship between performance and belonging, the cost of tying your identity to external validation from the time you're five years old, and what it feels like when early success levels off and you must decide who you are. Hereveals how years of therapy, intensive work, and learning to understand his brain finally gave him permission to stop performing his life and start participating in it. He shares the moment that songwriting stopped being about writing hits and became therapy set to a melody.What makes this conversation unique is that Hunter and Miles don't just talk about the destination, they walk through the actual work. This is a conversation about what it looks like to come back to yourself after years of giving yourself away and how creativity, when it's rooted in honesty rather than performance, can become the most powerful tool for healing you've ever had.In this conversation, you'll learn:How to Use Songwriting, Journaling, or Any Creative Outlet as a Form of Emotional Processing How to Rebuild Your Identity When Your Career Has Always Been Your Entire Senseof Self How to Redefine Success So the Numbers Stop Running Your Life How to Invite Your Inner Child Back Into Your Creative Process Instead of Locking Him Out How to Protect Your Energy on Social Media Without Disappearing How to Find the People in Your Life Who See You for Who You Are, Not Just What You Produce How to Use Structure, Checklists, and Consistency as Mental Health Tools How to Write About Where You Want to Be Before You've Arrived There How to Be Proud of Yourself Out Loud Even When the Road Looked Messy From the OutsideFollow Human School: YouTube - Human School Podcast Instagram - @humanschoolofficial Threads - @humanschoolofficial TikTok - @humanschoolofficialWhat We Discuss:00:00:00 Welcome to Human School00:02:30 Why Hunter Spent 10 Years Chasing Someone Else's Version of the Dream00:05:00 What's Different About Hunter Today00:06:35 How an Onsite Intensive Became a Turning Point00:08:28 The Music That Taught Hunter He Had Permission to Write With Hope00:12:55 Music at Two Years Old and a Career No One Planned00:34:07 The Move to Music City from Louisiana00:43:15 Songwriting Became His Version of Journaling00:46:58 The Loneliness That Hid Inside an Idealistic Childhood00:56:25 The Sentence That Shattered Him at 1501:02:40 Letting the Inner Child Back Into the Creative Work01:05:30 Transactional and Purely Relational Friendships01:16:12 Storm Warning, Dan Huff, and the Radio Tour That Changed Everything01:26:48 Navigating Life After the Biggest Season of Early Success01:32:50 Why He Started Talking Openly About Mental Health01:39:46 Learning to Fly and the Life Metaphors Hidden Inside Every Pre-Flight Checklist01:48:04 The New Project: Evergreen Season One01:53:40 How Hunter Manages Social Media Without Letting It Manage Him

With campuses near Nashville and San Diego, Onsite supports people navigating burnout, relationship strain, addiction, trauma, or the sense that life feels off. Learn more at experienceonsite.com or call 1-800-341-7432. A simple conversation can be the first step toward living more fully. What if the discipline that made you a champion is the same thing quietly destroying your most important relationships? What happens when two elite athletes stop chasing gold medals and start chasing something far more meaningful — each other, their kids, and a life that actually feels like home? Shawn Johnson East is an Olympic gold medalist and one of the most decorated gymnasts in American history. Andrew East is a former NFL long snapper, entrepreneur, and now holds a doctorate in psychology. Together, they've built a marriage, a family of three young kids, businesses, and a media platform in full public view. But what stands out in this conversation is the radical honesty they bring to the parts of their story. In this deeply personal conversation, Shawn opens up about the dark side of elite gymnastics — going professional at 12, being trained to go emotionally numb under pressure, and how that survival skill followed her into adulthood and marriage. She reveals her years-long battle with disordered eating and how retiring from gymnastics left her without an identity. Andrew shares the performance anxiety that blindsided him and how losing football forced a painful gift that ultimately shaped everything good that came next. He also opens up about losing his father, Guy East, and how his dad's relentless curiosity modeled the kind of partner and father he's worked hard to become. We talk about what it means to protect a marriage when the odds are stacked against you, and why commitment, not chemistry alone, is the thing that makes it last. Shawn and Andrew also share more about their upcoming book, The Courage to Commit, and how the title is the foundation of how they live their lives. In this conversation, you'll learn:How to Use Your Athletic Background to Build a Stronger Marriage How Going Numb Under Pressure Creates Hardness at Home and What to Do About It How to Navigate the Identity Crisis That Comes After Leaving a High-Performance Career How to Recognize When Your Greatest Strength Has a Shadow Side That's Hurting the People You Love How to Create Daily and Weekly Rhythms That Keep a Marriage Connected Without Over-Complicating It How to Relearn How to Play, Fail, and Start Over After Reaching the Top of Your CraftHow to Use Curiosity Instead of Criticism When You Don't Understand Your Partner How to Commit Fully to Something and Discover That Sticking With It Creates Beauty You Could Never Have Planned Welcome to Human School, where we learn what matters most - Miles Adcox Follow Human School: YouTube - Human School Podcast Instagram - @humanschoolofficial Threads - @humanschoolofficial TikTok - @humanschoolofficial What We Discuss:00:00:00 Meet Shawn and Andrew East 00:05:02 The Athletic Brain Meets Married Life 00:08:34 The Special Forces Experience00:10:21 Going Professional at 1200:13:26 Two Different People Behind Closed Doors00:15:15 The Debate That Started an Honest Marriage Conversation 00:18:23 Andrew's Dad Taught Him About Curiosity00:22:00 Having Each Other Changed What Was Possible 00:27:52 Their Marriage Game Plan Day to Day00:37:47 What Miles Learned Watching Thousands of Couples 00:40:27 Having Kids Rewired Andrew's View of Optimization 00:44:12 Depression, Eating Disorders, and Breaking the Cycle00:51:27 The Career He Thought Would Last 15 Years 00:56:18 How to Navigate a Major Life Transition01:01:04 Miles's Two-Word Prayer That Got Him Through His Darkest Season 01:03:32 What The East's Are Most Excited About Right Now

If this conversation resonated, Onsite offers immersive therapeutic experiences to help you slow down, reconnect, and get honest about what matters most. With campuses near Nashville and San Diego, Onsite supports people navigating burnout, relationship strain, addiction, trauma, or the sense that life feels off. Learn more at experienceonsite.com or call 1-800-341-7432. A simple conversation can be the first step toward living more fully. What happens when you stop performing your life and start living it?What if the exhaustion you're feeling isn't a sign you're doing something wrong, but proof you're finally doing something real? Mallory Ervin has lived much of her life in front of people—as Miss Kentucky, on The Amazing Race, as a creator who's built an expansive online community, and as the founder of brands like Living Fully and In My Sundays. But what makes her story compelling isn't the resume. It's what she's done underneath all of it. Instead of hardening or hiding, Mallory has softened. She's let her life shape her work, and she hasn't rushed past the hard seasons or cleaned them up before telling the truth. In this conversation, Mallory opens up about the cost of being known, the weight of building businesses while raising young kids, and the moments that forced her to ask whether she was living fully or just filling her days. She talks about the difference between being busy and being present and why rest became the foundation of her most successful business. She reveals what it's like to rebuild your sense of self when the world already has an opinion about who you are. This isn't a conversation about balance or having it all figured out. It's about what it takes to stay human in the middle of a life that moves fast, feels full, and demands more than you sometimes have to give. In this conversation, you'll learn:How to stop living in the performance and start living in the presenceHow grief doesn't follow a timeline and why that's okayHow motherhood forces you to confront who you really areHow to build a business around rest when you've spent your life runningHow to navigate the gap between who you are in public and who you are at homeHow to stop waiting for permission to take up spaceHow to let your life shape your work instead of the other way aroundHow to stay soft in a world that rewards being hardHow to honor the liminal space instead of rushing to the next thingHow to stop apologizing for being human Welcome to Human School, where we learn what matters most - Miles Adcox Follow Human School:YouTube - Human School PodcastInstagram - @humanschoolofficialThreads - @humanschoolofficialTikTok - @humanschoolofficial What We Discuss:00:00:00 Intro - Welcome to Human School00:00:17 Meet Mallory Ervin00:02:02 Showing Up Tired and Grateful00:05:19 Why Authenticity Became Non-Negotiable00:07:32 Why Recovery Was the Greatest Gift of My Life00:17:20 Rock Bottom, Surrender, and Radical Honesty00:23:10 You Don’t Have to Hit Rock Bottom to Change Your Life00:32:57 Distraction, Social Media, and Avoiding Yourself00:41:15 When Help Turned Into Addiction: Mallory's Journey to Recovery00:58:52 What Recovery Support Actually Looks Like01:08:30 Earning a PhD in Yourself01:13:38 The Temptation to Go Back to Old Patterns01:18:58 What Recovery Taught Me About Daily Life01:35:52 Defining What "Live Fully" Really Means in Life01:40:33 The Balance in Being Driven to Excellence and Staying Present01:43:44 Creating a Life Your Kids Can Learn From & Be a Part Of01:55:33 The Entrepreneur: Live Fully & In My Sundays 01:59:03 Closing Reflections on Authentic Living

Ready to do deeper work? If this conversation resonates and you’re feeling stirred to look more honestly at your own story, visit experienceonsite.com or call 1-800-341-7432. Onsite offers immersive therapeutic experiences just outside Nashville and San Diego—spaces designed to help you slow down, look under the hood, and reimagine what’s possible in your relationships and life.Have you ever wondered why the villain's journey matters more than the hero's? What if the worst thing that ever happened to you could become your greatest competitive advantage?Donald Miller didn’t set out to become one of the most influential voices in modern communication. He started by trying to write his way out of pain. From feeling invisible as a kid in Texas to becoming a bestselling author and the creator of StoryBrand, Donald’s work is built on one core truth: clarity creates connection.In this conversation, Donald opens up about the experiences that shaped him—father abandonment, poverty, ambition, and the inner villain stories we rarely examine. He shares why understanding the villain’s journey matters as much as the hero’s, how pain can become fuel rather than a prison, and why one of the most powerful phrases in leadership and parenting is simply, “Will you forgive me?”Donald and Miles explore how cognitive load impacts nearly every area of life—from relationships and parenting to business, culture, and politics. Donald reflects on becoming a father at 49, the fear of loving something you can’t control, and why congruence—not perfection—is the most effective parenting tool we have. He also offers a thoughtful critique of modern political messaging and the incentives that keep problems unsolved.This is a conversation about responsibility, healing, and learning to tell the truth—first to yourself, then to others.Follow Human School:YouTube – Human School PodcastInstagram – @humanschoolofficialThreads – @humanschoolofficialTikTok – @humanschoolofficialIn this episode, you’ll learn:How Pain Can Become the Birthplace of PurposeWhy the Villain’s Journey Deserves as Much Attention as The Hero’sHow Reducing Cognitive Load Helps People Actually Hear YouWhy "Will You Forgive Me" Is as Powerful as "I Love You" How One Single Sentence at Onsite Unlocked Years of Stuck Pain Why Congruence Is the Most Powerful Parenting and Leadership Tool You Have How to Know When to Get on the Plane and When to Stay HomeWhat We Discuss:00:00:00 Intro – Welcome to Human School00:01:37 The Origin Story of Human School00:06:55 When StoryBrand Got Busy and Life Took Over00:08:38 The Three-Ring Binder That Changed Everything at Onsite00:10:26 How Onsite Reshaped Don’s Relationships00:13:07 Connection Is Where You Get the Most Meaning00:14:16 How Early Wounds Quietly Fuel Ambition00:19:12 Heroes, Villains, and The Stories We Avoid Examining00:24:10 "Onsite Healed and Redirected My Villain Story" 00:30:03 When Don Realized Writing Was an Effective Tool for Struggle00:38:15 How Don Went to Onsite in His Mid-Thirties and Everything Changed00:45:27 Having Your Heart Run Around the Room - The Fear and Wonder of Parenthood00:49:51 The Power of an Apology to Your Kid00:54:10 A Costly Business Mistake00:57:50 Why Leaders Fall into the Wizard of Oz Trap01:01:29 From Memoirs to Business Messaging01:06:15 The Spectrum Brands Story: "Kids Love Aquariums" 01:08:30 The Jeb Bush Campaign vs. "Build a Wall" 01:10:08 Why Cognitive Load Applies to Parenting, Music, and Everything 01:14:05 The Doubling Tool: How Therapists Reduce Cognitive Load in Real Time01:17:48 How Onsite Gave Don His Sister Back01:19:26 AI, Clarity, and Communication01:25:20 Why Political Incentives Rarely Reward Solutions01:33:42 Why Nuance Doesn't Work in Storytelling 01:37:07 America’s Capacity for Self-Correction01:42:21 WeeklySoundbite.com and Don’s current work

What if the loneliest position you'll ever hold is the one you worked your whole life to achieve?What if everything you learned about leadership left out the most important part?Janet McDonald, CEO of Onsite, didn't start her career planning to lead with vulnerability. She started at 14, running a ladies boutique in downtown Franklin, TN while her friends worked as her employees. At nine years old, she was already holding her family together after her parents' divorce, learning early that "if it is to be, it's up to me." That message drove her through a successful career in management consulting, always climbing and achieving, until she realized something was missing. Janet first heard about Onsite the way many do: someone told her, "It changed my life." Then another person said it. Then another. Her curiosity piqued, but she was skeptical. Either they had a really good marketing campaign, or something real was happening an hour outside Nashville, TN. When she applied to be Chief Operating Officer, she thought, "Who in their right mind is going to drive an hour every day out here?" But as she drove up the hill to the campus, something shifted immediately. What makes Janet's leadership distinctive is that she bridges two worlds that rarely meet: strategic clarity and courageous vulnerability. In this conversation, Janet opens up about the cost of leadership, including the loneliness and isolation, and reveals how her pre-teen self still shows up in boardrooms. She shares why curiosity is the number one skill of any leader, and why the 18-inch journey from head to heart is the hardest one you'll ever make.In this conversation, you'll learn: How to Lead from Behind Instead of in FrontHow Your Nine-to-Fourteen-Year-Old Self Still Shows Up in BoardroomsHow to Change Your Observer to Open Up New Possibilities for ActionHow to Ask "What Is It Like to Be on the Other Side of Me?"How to Depersonalize Conflict After Establishing ConnectionHow to Navigate the 18-Inch Journey from Your Head to Your HeartHow to Bring Soul Back into Leadership and LifeHow to Love Others Really Well by First Learning Everything About YourselfHow to Unlock Capacity in Already Successful PeopleHow to Fill in the Blanks Without Assuming You're Right Welcome to Human School, where we learn what matters most. - Miles AdcoxLearn More About OnsiteDiscover the transformational experiences that changed Janet's life and leadership. Visit experienceonsite.com to learn about Onsite's immersive programs in Tennessee and Southern California, or call 1-800-341-7432 to explore how we can support your journey.Follow Human School:YouTube - Human School Podcast Instagram - @humanschoolofficial Threads - @humanschoolofficial TikTok - @humanschoolofficialWhat We Discuss:00:00:00 Welcome to Human School00:00:31 Meet Janet McDonald: Leading from Alongside, Not in Front00:03:04 Getting Interested in Leadership at a Young Age00:06:56 Second Half of Life: Helping Others Have Their Best Career00:09:23 What Leadership Afforded Her and What It Cost00:11:48 What's Missing from Traditional Leadership00:15:30 Everyone Kept Telling Her About Onsite00:17:25 Applying to Be COO at Onsite00:22:00 Teaching What Traditional Leaders Are Starving For00:25:42 The Onsite Effect: Watching Transformation Happen in Real Time00:26:58 You Become a Better Leader by Becoming a Better Human00:29:00 Our Observer & It's Impact00:31:56 Your Inner Child Is Always with You00:35:49 The Exercise: What's It Like on the Other Side of Me?00:38:30 Making Assessments and Acting Like They're Facts00:40:00 Onsite: Growth as a Human, Not Just a Leader00:45:28 How Dialog Changes After Connection00:50:10 The Myth of Work-Life Balance 00:57:00 The Number One Skill Is Curiosity 01:00:25 Regenerative Leadership: Bringing Soul Back 01:01:58 Three Lessons from Janet's Living Centered Program 01:04:28 The Plot Twist: It's Not Just Leadership, It's Life

What does it mean to have more number one songs than anyone in country music history and still struggle with sleepless nights, wondering if any of it matters?What if the machine everyone thinks you are is actually just a person trying to figure out why they're here? Ashley Gorley has written more number-one songs than anyone in country music history. His work has shaped the sound of modern country music through hits recorded by Luke Bryan, Carrie Underwood, Blake Shelton, Morgan Wallen, and countless others. But the numbers don't tell his story. Ashley grew up in Danville, Kentucky, a small farm town where sports were everything and nobody he knew loved their job. He moved to Nashville for college, then spent eleven years grinding before his first real success. He has built a career on a simple goal: to write "songwriter" on his taxes. Despite achieving what most would consider impossible, including 85+ number one songs, induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, and running one of Nashville's most successful publishing companies, Ashley found himself wrestling with the weight of wondering what it all means. Partnering with The Onsite Foundation, the success of the hit "I Am Not Okay" with Jelly Roll funded the Creatives Support Network, a place where songwriters can process their stories and struggles in a therapeutic space for no charge. Today's conversation is an honest look at what it takes to stay human when everyone expects you to be a machine, how to carry success without letting it carry you, and why the best legacy has nothing to do with the songs you write. In this conversation, you'll learn:How to Navigate Rejection Even at the Top of Your FieldHow Your Greatest Compliment Might Have Nothing to Do With Your CareerHow to Set Goals You Can Actually ControlHow to Recognize When Being "Used" Is Actually OkayHow to Build Time for Vulnerability Into High-Pressure Creative SpacesHow to Dissolve Yourself and Write for Someone Else's VoiceHow to Protect Your Family When Your Career Demands EverythingHow to Process the Gap Between Achievement and FulfillmentHow to Turn Success Into Service for Your Creative Community Welcome to Human School, where we learn what matters most. - Miles Adcox Follow Human School:YouTube - Human School PodcastInstagram - @humanschoolofficialThreads - @humanschoolofficialTikTok - @humanschoolofficial What We Discuss:00:01:38 Ashley Gorley: Introduction00:07:03 Growing Up in Danville, Kentucky: Where Sports Were Everything 00:14:18 The ACL Tear That Changed Everything 00:17:08 The Moment He Discovered Songwriting Was Actually a Job 00:19:01 The Eleven-Year Grind Before Anything Made Money 00:21:13 The Truth About Networking in Nashville00:26:00 When the Spotlight Gets Too Bright: Protecting Privacy in a Public Industry 00:30:05 Why Being Critical of Songs for a Living Makes Life Harder 00:38:35 The Counterbalance: His Wife 00:41:09 Curating Environments vs. Living in Them—The Trap of High Expectations 00:43:17 The Myth That You Have to Choose Between Success and a Life 00:49:03 Why "I Am Not Okay" Became More Than a Song00:52:08 The 95% Rejection Rate Nobody Talks About 00:58:11 Never Set Goals You Can't Control—The Wisdom That Changed Everything 01:03:53 His Daughter's Hall of Fame Speech: The Greatest Thing Ever Written About Him 01:06:15 Why Being Present Matters More Than Being Prolific 01:09:34 The Myth of the Machine—And the Human Behind the Hits 01:14:05 Opening the Door to Vulnerability in the Writing Room 01:18:03 Writing "I Am Not Okay"—The Ten-Minute Freestyle That Became a Movement 01:21:29 The Creative Support Network: Fully Funded Therapy for Struggling Songwriters 01:29:30 The Struggle He Still Can't Shake: "Does This Even Matter?" 01:31:30 Go After Your Core Relationships the Way You Go After Your Career 01:34:25 The Moving Target of Success and Why Small-Town Sideline Parents Might Have It Right

What if the thing that's exhausting you is actually the life you once begged the universe for? What if your tiredness isn't evidence of failure, but proof that you're living a life that asks something of you? In this solo episode, Miles Adcox shares a message that unexpectedly resonated with millions. But before unpacking why this landed so deeply, he tells a story that changed his entire perspective on gratitude, loss, and what we choose to focus on. Miles opens up about the tension between being tired and being grateful, between feeling overwhelmed by the life you built and remembering you once dreamed about having it. He reveals why so much of the advice we hear about rest and unplugging can feel idealistic when you're in the thick of raising kids, leading teams, or building something from nothing. This isn't about glorifying burnout or romanticizing exhaustion. It's about learning to hold two truths at once: you can be stretched and still be exactly where you're supposed to be. Miles goes deep into the concept of reframing, explaining how shifting the way we interpret our experience changes how our brain and body hold it. He shares the psychological principle that "gratitude without honesty is denial, but honesty without gratitude is despair." This conversation will help you see that not everything stretching you is breaking you; sometimes it's growing you. In this conversation, you'll learn:How to distinguish between exhaustion that drains you and exhaustion that sustains youHow a brown dead spot in a yard became a prized possession and shifted everythingHow to reframe "I have to" into "I get to" without denying the weight you're carryingHow psychological reframing changes the way your brain and body hold stressHow to hold both tiredness and gratitude without falling into denial or despairHow to recognize if your overwhelm is evidence of purpose, not failureHow the life you dreamed about still asks something of you (and why that's not a problem)How to notice whether you're the victim of your momentum or the author of itHow to find dignity in your fatigue by asking one simple questionHow to practice honesty and gratitude at the same time without choosing just one Welcome to Human School, where we learn what matters most. - Miles Adcox Follow Human School: YouTube - Human School Podcast Instagram - @humanschoolofficial Threads - @humanschoolofficial TikTok - @humanschoolofficial What We Discuss:00:00:00:00 Intro - Welcome to Human School 00:00:30 Miles's Introduction 00:01:35 The story of Dakota00:09:00 How subtle perspective shifts get our attention 00:11:04 Why advice to "slow down" can feel idealistic 00:13:27 The psychology of reframing: how shifting interpretation changes everything00:14:35 The art is learning to hold both

What does it cost to be exceptional at something? And is that price worth paying? How do you know when competitiveness becomes calling—or when it just becomes noise? Will Guidara grew up in restaurants, watching his father balance being a Hall of Fame dad while caring for Will's mother, who developed quadriplegia after a brain cancer diagnosis. At 12 years old, a single dinner at The Four Seasons changed everything. That night sparked a journey that would take him from Cornell to working for legendary restaurateur Danny Meyer, eventually transform Eleven Madison Park into the #1 restaurant in the world. But this isn't a story about climbing to the top; it's about what happened after. Will opens up about the night he came in dead last on the World's 50 Best Restaurants list and how that became the catalyst for completely reimagining what excellence could mean. He shares the legendary stories behind the restaurant's most magical moments. Then COVID hit, allowing Will to rethink his next steps in the New York restaurant scene. Miles and Will explore the danger of tying your entire identity to your work, what it means to welcome people truly, and why small gestures matter more than grand productions. This conversation is about hospitality as a philosophy for life—turning toward people with curiosity, being fully present, and remembering that excellence and empathy can live in the same room. In this conversation, you'll learn:How to Turn Adversity Into Your Greatest Teacher Instead of Your Biggest EnemyHow to Know If Competitiveness Is Serving You or Destroying YouHow to Create Unreasonable Hospitality in Any Relationship or Work You DoHow to Recognize When Your Identity Has Become Too Wrapped Up in What You DoHow to Be Intentional and Creative in the Pursuit of the Relationships That MatterHow to Give Yourself Grace to Feel Disappointment Before Jumping Into Cheerleader ModeHow to Create Margin When Everything You're Invited to Feels MeaningfulHow to Make People Feel Seen With the Smallest GesturesHow to Evaluate Opportunities Using Three Simple Questions Welcome to Human School, where we learn what matters most.Miles Adcox Follow Human School:YouTube - Human School PodcastInstagram - @humanschoolofficialThreads - @humanschoolofficialTikTok - @humanschoolofficial What We Discuss:00:00:00 Intro - Welcome to Human School with Will Guidara 00:01:36 Why We All Still Need Praise and Affirmation No Matter How Much We've Accomplished00:04:06 Criticism Is Not a Bad Word - Why We've Given Negative Connotations to Helpful Things00:10:27 How Hospitality Could Actually Heal the Division We're All Feeling00:14:01 How Will's Dad Became His Hero While Caring for His Mom and Running Restaurants00:16:36 The First Time Will Went to The Four Seasons and Fell in Love With Fine Dining00:18:00 Why Understanding the Higher Purpose of Your Work Changes Everything on Hard Days00:21:20 The Email That Changed Everything - Being Ranked #50 on the World's 50 Best List00:26:10 Why Leaning Into What Never Changes Is the Answer When Everything Is Changing00:29:16 The Dream Weavers - Hiring People Whose Only Job Was Turning Details Into Memories00:31:49 The Night They Became the #1 Restaurant in the World in Melbourne00:47:08 Why They Immediately Closed the Restaurant to Rebuild It Into Their Dream00:49:41 How COVID Gave Will the Gift of Deciding What to Do Next Instead of Just Reacting00:52:05 The Conversation About Margin - Why It's So Hard to Create Space in a Full Life00:55:05 Why "No" Is Not a Bad Word - Learning to Protect Your Time and Energy00:59:36 Knowing There Will Be a Day When No One Cares Who You Are01:05:21 The Reminder That You Hold the Flashlight01:10:20 Becoming a Producer on The Bear01:13:00 What Will Is Working on Now - A Season of Going With the Flow01:17:03 The Three Buckets for Saying Yes01:20:10 Will's Dad's Advice on Finding Inspiration Everywhere

Have you ever felt like you're performing your life instead of actually living it? Today, Miles Adcox sits down with pastor, author, and communicator Judah Smith for a conversation about confidence, criticism, and the courage it takes to lead with gentleness in a world that rewards strength. Judah grew up as a seventh-generation pastor, watching his father build a church from 20 people in a Courtyard Marriott to a thriving community. But what shaped Judah most wasn't the legacy—it was his father telling him from age seven: "People like you, and they want to hear what you have to say." This conversation goes deep into the duplicity that haunts anyone in the public eye—the chasm between who we are on stage and who we are at home. The label "celebrity pastor" gets unpacked as Judah shares what it's really like to be a safe place for public figures while his own profile grows, navigating interviews that aren't about his message but about his friends. Miles reflects on one of the saddest realities for well-known people: they lose the ability to ever make a first impression again. Everyone makes up a story about who they are before they even open their mouth. From breaking tennis rackets to breaking down barriers, from his dad getting on his knees to ask his son to pray for him before he died to parenting his own kids with radical repair instead of toxic comparison, Judah reveals what it means to stop performing and start participating. He shares his preparation method—studying himself full, praying himself hot, and letting himself go—and why he imagines the life story of a stranger in the audience before every sermon. Miles and Judah discuss why the best family moments happen in the environment of repair and why artists are the ones who bring us together when the world gets polarized. In this conversation, you'll learn:How Confidence Gets Built (Or Broken) in ChildhoodHow to Stop Performing and Start Being YourselfHow to Close the Gap Between Public and PrivateHow to Handle Criticism Without Becoming DefensiveHow Repair Defeats Comparison in ParentingHow to Prepare Without OverthinkingHow to Love Your Audience More Than Your MessageHow to Separate the Human From What They DoHow to Lose the Ability to Make a First ImpressionHow to Reach Out to People Who've Hurt YouHow to Make the Table Big Enough for Everyone Welcome to Human School, where we learn what matters most.Miles Adcox Join the Human School community at humanschool.com for exclusive content, resources, and conversations that support the betterment of humanity. Follow Human School:YouTube - Human School PodcastInstagram - @humanschoolofficialThreads - @humanschoolofficialTikTok - @humanschoolofficial What We Discuss:00:00 Intro - Welcome to Human School03:41 Playing Tight End at a Small School: Graduating With 94 People06:42 Why Judah Quit Football for Tennis (And Basketball)08:43 Where the Drive to Be the Best Comes From09:11 "People Like You and Want to Hear What You Have to Say" 12:17 The Day Confidence Broke14:59 His Dad's Response20:46 Meeting People Where They Really Are, Not Where You Think They Are24:50 "I Didn't Believe I Was Smart" 27:48 Imagining the Life of a Stranger in the Audience Before Every Sermon30:24 The Human Behind the Craft: How Does It Serve You?36:58 "Here's Where I Get It Wrong Sometimes"41:14 Working With Celebrities51:04 Handling Criticism01:07:12 Repair, Not Compare01:15:39 Losing His Dad at 3001:35:26 Why Storytellers Need More Grace and Less Comparison