John R. Miles

Today we're entering the final week of our May series called Forged in Adversity.

And over the course of this month, we've explored what it means to endure hardship, recover from pain, transform adversity into growth, and ultimately turn our struggles into something that contributes to the lives of others.

In case you missed it, last Tuesday, I sat down with Amy Purdy, one of the most inspiring adaptive athletes in the world, whose journey after losing both legs to bacterial meningitis became a powerful conversation about resilience, reinvention, and how adversity can become a catalyst for both meaning and purpose.

Then last Thursday, I spoke with Blake Mycoskie.

The Entrepreneur Behind Toms, and the global one-for-one movement about the hidden emotional cost of achievement, burnout, mental health, and why external success can never fully heal the feeling of never being enough.

And in many ways, those conversations lead directly into today's episode, because once we begin rebuilding our lives, another question naturally emerges.

How do we actually sustain change once life moves forward again?

Because most people don't struggle with insight, they struggle with consistency.

They know what matters.

They know what needs to change.

They know the habits, relationships, thought patterns, or behaviors that are quietly holding them back.

The real challenge is learning how to create meaningful transformations in a way that lasts.

And honestly, that's why I wanted to bring back my friend Eric Zimmer onto the show.

Eric is the host of the acclaimed podcast, The One You Feed, someone I deeply respect and one of the most thoughtful voices I know when it comes to behavioral change, self-awareness, and personal growth.

In today's conversation, we discuss his powerful new book, How a Little Becomes a Lot.

which explores why lasting transformation rarely happens through dramatic reinvention and almost always happens through small repeated choices over time.

What I appreciated most about our conversation is that Eric doesn't approach change from the perspective of optimization culture or self-improvement performance.

He approaches it from the perspective of being human.

We talk about why so many people abandon change in the long middle after the initial excitement fades.

We explore self-compassion, rebuilding trust with yourself after setbacks, learning how to stay present in uncertainty, and why tiny daily behaviors quietly shape the trajectory of our lives far more than dramatic moments ever do.