August 18, 2025 • 35 mins
Have you ever felt stuck, disconnected from your purpose, or unsure how to turn your personal struggles into something meaningful?
In this inspiring episode, leadership communication coach Rob Wentz shares how a life-changing dream and a deep commitment to self-integrity reshaped his life - and how you can use the same principles to unlock your own breakthrough. If you're navigating a midlife shift, battling self-doubt, or searching for renewed clarity, this conversation is packed with grounded wisdom and transformative insight.
- Discover the profound impact of shifting your focus from self to service, and how it can reduce anxiety and unlock clarity.
- Learn the one question that reveals your childhood essence, and how it can reconnect you to your true calling today.
- Understand why embracing your strengths, not your weaknesses, is the key to growth, fulfillment, and real impact.
Tune in now to uncover how your past holds the clues to your most purposeful future and how to start living from that truth today.
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KEY POINTS AND TIMESTAMPS:
02:37 - Rob's Life-Changing Grandmother Dream
07:47 - Shifting Focus from Self to Service
13:02 - Receiving Feedback and Recognizing Personal Strengths
19:40 - The Childhood Aspiration Question and Discovering Purpose
26:01 - Practical Steps to Reconnect with Childhood Passions
29:52 - Personal Contact and Website Information
30:16 - Personal Development Meaning
32:51 - Advice to Younger Self
34:20 - Closing Wisdom and Parting Thoughts
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MEMORABLE QUOTE:
"Choose your friends wisely and find a mentor. Be very selective about who you let into your life."
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VALUABLE RESOURCES:
Rob's website: https://www.leadimpacttransform.com/
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To explore coaching with Agi: https://personaldevelopmentmasterypodcast.com/mentor
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🎙️ Want to be a guest?
Message Agi on PodMatch: https://www.podmatch.com/member/personaldevelopmentmastery
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Personal development interviews exploring key principles of personal development, self improvement, self mastery, personal growth, self-discipline, and personal improvement — all supporting a life of purpose and fulfilment.
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Personal development podcast offering self-mastery and actionable wisdom for self help and living with purpose and fulfilment.
A self improvement podcast with inspirational and actionable insights to help you cultivate emotional intelligence, build confidence, and embrace your purpose. Discover practical tools and success habits for motivation, personal growth, self mastery, mindset shifts, growth mindset, self-discipline, meditation, wellness, spirituality, personal mastery, self growth, and personal improvement. Personal development interviews and mindset podcast content empowering entrepreneurs, leaders, and seekers to nurture mental health, commit to self-improvement, and create meaningful success and lasting happiness.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Agi Keramidas (00:00):
Why chasing purpose is overrated and what to
focus on instead. Welcome topersonal development mastery,
the podcast that helpsintelligent, busy professionals
develop self mastery and gainclarity so you can thrive in a
fulfilling, purposeful life.
Join us every Monday for aninsightful conversation with a
(00:24):
guest, and it's Thursday for ashorter episode where I reflect
and share with you. I'm yourhost, agiramidas, and this is
episode 528 if you are lookingto reclaim your sense of purpose
and lead with integrity. Thisconversation explores how
(00:45):
shifting your focus from self toservice can create real
transformation by listeningtoday, you will also going to
learn the one question thatreveals your childhood essence
and how it can reconnect you toyour true calling. Today, if you
(01:06):
are feeling stuck, unfulfilledor questioning your next step in
life, then this episode is foryou before we dive in. If you
resonate with the topics on thepodcast and find yourself in a
transition, I offer one to onementoring and coaching. It's a
(01:27):
space to gain clarity, reconnectwith what truly matters and move
forward with purpose.
If you are curious about whatthat could look like
for you, just reach out usingthe link in the show notes. Now
let's get started. Today. Myguest is Rob Wentz. Rob, you are
(01:54):
a leadership communicationcoach, speaker and the host of
the UNK movement podcast, youhave transformed your own story
of addiction and self sabotageinto a powerful message of
integrity driven leadership andintentional change. You are
(02:14):
passionate about helpingentrepreneurs and professionals
turn their personal strugglesinto breakthroughs by mastering
communication and reclaimingtheir self worth. Rob, it's a
real pleasure to have you on theshow today and a full circle
moment after being guest on yourshow a few months ago. Well,
(02:37):
yes,
Rob Wentz (02:37):
yeah, thank you.
Thank you for having me here.
Agi, it's really cool to be hereand talking to you and
connecting with you. And I lovewhen, when things come full
circle. So thank you for havingme on
Agi Keramidas (02:47):
Indeed, I would like to start there are some
things. The first thing I wantedto so we can get a little bit of
idea of your background. You'vementioned a dream that changed
your life. So can you tell usabout it and how it's influenced
(03:09):
your path?
Rob Wentz (03:10):
Oh, yeah, sure. So, yeah, a few years ago, I think
it was like in November of 2021I had this dream. My grandma had
passed away a few years before,probably a decade before that,
I've been in this dream. I'm inthe car with my grandmother, and
she's driving the car, which sheusually didn't drive, so that
was odd. And she's holding myhand in the dream, except I had
(03:34):
a little kid's hand. I was like,a little like, like, four year
old kid, and while she'sdriving, she leans over and hugs
me, and I start screaming,Graham, you know, pay attention
to the road. You're going towreck the car. What are you
doing? Like, what's going onhere? And I, whenever I said
that, she said, Don't worryabout where we're going. Just
(03:56):
love me, right? Don't worryabout where you're going. Just
love people, and I was, that wasthe dream that was it that just
ended right there. I woke upthere was so, so profound. I was
just like, bawling my eyes outwhen I woke up. It was such a
strange situation, because Iliterally woke up out of a dead
sleep, just like crying. Icouldn't, like, catch my breath.
(04:17):
And I don't know, I've never Imaybe have cried like that two
or three times in my life. Itwas like this uncontrollable,
like, weeping. And so I wrote itdown, just took some notes on it
and, like, just journaled it soI had it to remember, and so I
can process it. And clearly, I'ma Christian, right? So I believe
that what God said about people,that we're supposed to love God,
(04:38):
and we're supposed to lovepeople, and that's like our goal
on earth here, and that's howthat's how we're going to grow,
that's how we're going tosucceed. That's how we're going
to get to. Where we're supposedto go, is to stay connected to
God, and stay connected to thisunderstanding of loving people.
And so for me, if I'm. I tellyou, man, I think about the
(05:01):
dream every day, because everyday I struggle with this of
like, not worrying about me. Solike in the dream, she said,
Don't worry about where you'regoing. I'm always worried about
where I'm going, right and notand so changing that from taking
the word worry out, but have avision for where I'm going. When
you have a vision for whereyou're going, you're not worried
about it. But when you don'thave a vision and you're
(05:23):
wondering aimlessly, hopingsomething's going to work out,
then you worry. And just lovepeople, right? So it's like,
just, just focus on, like,really helping people. And it's
funny, right before this, I wasreading, I have a book back
here, the 177 mental toughnesssecrets of the world class.
(05:43):
Great book by Steve Seybold. Iwas just reading it like 20
minutes ago, and in there, oneof the secrets is to when we're
doing things in life, doing themfrom a stress free place, so a
place of joy and excitement, notfrom a place of fear and worry,
because those are two ways toget where we're going. If you're
(06:04):
getting to where you're going bybeing afraid and worrying, man,
everything's a struggle. But ifyou're getting to where you're
going through confidence andthrough this vision, then things
are going to be so much easier.
And when people come into yourlife, you see them as it's an
opportunity to help otherpeople. How can I shift my focus
from what am I going to gainfrom this to how can I help
(06:25):
somebody else get better? And ifyou truly believe in what you're
doing me as a business coach,you know it can be intimidating
to walk into a business and tellthem that I know how to help
them, because if I'm focused onme and I'm worrying about me,
it's like, oh, they might notbelieve me. Do I even believe
myself? Am I even qualified todo this? You know, all of the
(06:47):
imposter syndrome stuff thatcomes up, but if I come in
knowing I'm trained to do this,I love doing this. I love
helping people. I know I canmake a difference. I've made a
difference before. Now I'mfocused on, how can I help them,
and so I don't have to worryabout me anymore. I'm focused on
them and how I can help them getbetter. And so that dream,
especially when I talk about it,which thank you for bringing it
(07:09):
up, it's helpful, because ithelps me to remember, Oh, that's
right, that's what I'm supposedto be focused on. I'm supposed
to be focused on my vision andhelping people. And if I can do
that, things are going to getbetter, not get worse. I'm going
to be excited, not worried, ingeneral. And that goes into
personal and professional everypart of life. But yeah, that
(07:32):
dream had a really, and this iswhat I love about that man. It's
always the simple things. It wassuch a simple dream. I mean, it
was like, It's barely even adream, it was like five seconds,
but it had this, like, extremelyprofound impact on me.
Agi Keramidas (07:47):
Many times rob the profound insights are caused
by simple things and not the youknow, the ground. Sometimes they
do, but many times they don't.
Thank you for sharing that. Andyou know, when you were saying
about loving people the way youwere describing it, there was
the word service that came to mymind, and I liked very much how
(08:11):
you were talking about shiftingthe focus from you to the other
person. You actually remindedme, because it is very similar
in public speaking, which I knowyou also do, it helps to take
the focus away from you. If youare nervous about speaking, take
away the focus from yourperformance, because I think
(08:35):
that's where we are afraid thatwe some our performance will not
be whatever. Take the focus awayfrom it and put it on how can I
best serve these people that I'mgoing to speak with? So thank
you for the reminders, Isuppose. The next question I
would have to follow up withthis is, how can one go into
(08:57):
that more without having to seea dream, an insightful dream
with their grandmother thatchanged that, yeah,
Rob Wentz (09:12):
I tell you, man, it's even, even with the dream, it's
so it's hard for me to do what Ifound through this journey,
especially after having thatdream. And I knew this before
the dream, but after the dream,especially, I found I'm very
self centred, like I very muchthink about myself all the time.
And trying not to do that asmuch is hard, because I have to
constantly re re i to reshift myfocus, to focus outwardly, not
(09:37):
inwardly, on what am I feeling?
You know, my worried, nervousand and focusing on other
people, making sure that that'swhere my my attention is. It's
difficult. I I struggle with itevery day. It's like I have to
continually remind myself not tofocus on me and how I'm feeling,
because our feelings are veryfickle, and so for anybody else,
right, it's, it's just a dailypractice of that. It's a. Daily
(09:58):
practice of when I go into thispodcast, right? I can't see
myself. This is one of theproblems with screens now too,
with with with streaming andstuff, you can always see
yourself. I don't want to seeme, because I'll stare at me the
whole time. I'll stare at mypicture the whole time, and I
like, it's like, I'm talking tomyself. And that's weird. That's
just really weird. I don't thinkwe're designed to do that. And
(10:20):
so it's kind of like that. It'slike, okay, just ignoring me.
And because something that Ithink everybody goes through, I
mean, something that I gothrough all the time, is, Do I
look okay? Did I say that right?
Why did they make that face? Wasthat face? Did that face mean
something that I'm not doingsomething correctly? Did I just
say that word wrong? You know,do I have a booger in my nose?
(10:42):
Why is my nose itchy? You know,it's just like, a million things
of like, oh, it's exhausting.
And so if I set my intention oflike, listen, Rob, it's not
about you, it's about helpingthat person. And it's a, it's a
daily habit. It could be a goinginto a coaching session with
somebody. It's a habit of, it'snot about me. It doesn't matter
(11:03):
if they disagree with me. Itdoesn't matter if, whatever it
doesn't I'm there to help them.
And setting that intention oflike, I'm here to help that
person is just, I mean, that'ssuper simple, too, and it's
easier said than done sometimes,but having that be a constant
reminder of, like, I need to,how can I help this person? What
(11:28):
is it that I'm doing that'd bebeneficial for them? And
blocking out or justsurrendering over all those
things that I worry about whenit comes to to me, because it's
not helpful. And for somebodylike myself, if people are more
geared to be self centred, maybea little bit neurotic, it's
(11:49):
understanding that's nothealthy, understanding that's
not the correct way to thinkbecause it doesn't benefit you,
and understanding that it's theoutward mindset that is going to
help you. It's going to helpyou, number one, be more
focused, be more clear, but it'salso going to help you get ahead
(12:09):
in whatever you're doing andbuild better relationships.
Because we should have a anintention of being of service,
like you said, being of service,and having this mindset of,
okay, I'm here to help otherpeople. It's not this. We're
stuck in a culture of self help,right? We got I got to help
myself. I need to get better.
And what I've found is the moreI'm of service to people, I get
(12:32):
better. Instead of sitting in myroom by myself, if I was going
to be just going to self helpall the time, I'd be getting
massages and going to the spa.
And you know, who's doing allthese things for me and not
doing things for others, and notsaying you shouldn't do things
for yourself. That's that's goodto do, but when that's your sole
(12:52):
focus, you can really getwrapped up in just you, and that
can be very unhealthy.
Agi Keramidas (13:02):
Thank you. That's a very good point, and also a
reminder, since you started andevolved shifting your focus away
from you to how can you help orserve the other person? Have you
heard some kind of feedback orcomment from those people that
(13:27):
you want to serve, that youknow? Do they sense that in a
way? Do they get some kind of Ihope you are trying you
understand what I'm trying toask.
Rob Wentz (13:41):
Yeah, I think throughout the years, one of the
reasons that I was led tocoaching was I always got
compliments of, you're a reallygood listener, you're a really
good communicator, and I wasn'teven well I did. I spent 20
years in radio broadcasting,right? So most of my life was in
broadcasting, so I was not agood communicator. Growing up as
(14:02):
a kid, I was very shy,introverted. You might call me
weird, and I didn't know how tobe myself, and so unknowingly, I
got into radio broadcasting tolearn how to be myself, to learn
how to talk and to be moreextroverted, because I think I
was more I was way moreextroverted than I let on. I
(14:24):
just didn't have the confidenceto be putting myself out there
into the world. And so over theyears, I think I just got better
and better at it. And so I wouldget these compliments. And so
often, I'm sure you know thistoo, so often people will, if
you listen to people, they willtell you about the they will
tell you things about yourselfthat you don't see because we
(14:46):
have blinders on to a lot of thethings that go on in our own
life. And so if you listen topeople, you'll be like, Oh,
okay. This person says that I'ma good listener. This person
says I'm a good communicator.
This person says that I'm, youknow, very comfortable to. Be
around. But then at the sametime, I'd hear, I feel like you
don't believe in yourself thatmuch you you know you don't see
yourself how others see you.
(15:08):
Because I would get thesecompliments of, like, Wow,
you're so good at this, good atthis. And I'd be like, That's
not me. And I wouldn't receiveit. So then starting to receive
it, I was like, Okay, so theseare the things that I'm good at.
People think I'm good at thesethings, so I need to embrace
them and trust somebody. Whenyou trust that person, you know
(15:29):
their intentions are good, thenbelieve what they say. And so
over the years, those would bethe kind of compliments that I
would get. And so as I was kindof going through a wilderness
phase of my life, I was tryingto figure out what to do with my
life. And those complimentswould come up when I was kind of
just praying about it andmeditating about it. I was
(15:51):
journaling, like, what am Isupposed to be doing with my
life? And those things wouldcome up. And then I had a good
friend who I'd had on thepodcast who had been a coach,
and she said, Hey, if you everwant to be a coach, I think
you'd be really good. I'd loveto train you. And I called her
up one day and said, Let's dothat. Let's let's do that
training. So just picking up onthose signs throughout the
(16:13):
years, and so I still hear thosetoday, right? And I think those
skills are getting better andbetter. And one of the things
that I've had to remember, and Ithink it's helpful for all of us
to remember, is to focus on yourstrengths and work on your
strengths. Don't focus on yourweaknesses, but it's so much
easier to focus on yourweaknesses, right? Because we
(16:33):
think, Oh no, I'm not good atnumbers. Right? For me, it's
like numbers are just it's notmy thing. So I've spent so much
time, like beating myself upabout not being good at, say,
math and being like, I got toget better at that. Instead of
looking at, wow, I'm a goodcommunicator, wow. I'm a great
listener. I'm good at doing thisbroadcasting. I should just
(16:56):
double down and focus on that.
Put your focus on what you'rereally good at, and that's going
to get better and better andbetter and better, instead of a
little incremental growths onthe things that you're not that
good at. If you put your focuson things you're good at, they
will expand and everything elsewill rise because you're
focusing on your strengthswhich, which seems
counterintuitive, but that'sactually the way that it is. So
(17:17):
I think I've gone way off courseon the question that you asked.
But the answer is, yeah, I wouldget those. I would I still hear
those things. But I encouragepeople to look back at what
people have told you aboutyourself that is good and choose
to receive those things. Becauseso often what we do is we reject
those things and we're like, oh,that's what they think. If they,
(17:39):
if they really knew me, theywouldn't think that. You know,
that's that's what we do a lot.
So don't do that. Believe it andput it, put on it into practice.
I'm going to believe it and tellyourself, I received that
compliment. I received thatbecause if they said it, it's
true. And that's been extremelyhelpful.
Agi Keramidas (17:59):
That's great. And you know from the things that
you said, that will pick onething, and with that we will
switch gears. And you said atsome point the question what to
do with my life, and I thinkthere are many people,
(18:21):
especially in midlife, that dohave a desire, shall we say, of
doing something else thanbecause there is not, you know,
fulfilment, or whatever else itmay be. So when you were saying
about that, the question oftrying to find what to do with
(18:41):
my life. I can't stop I thinksomeone listening to this
conversation that the wordpurpose comes to my mind, and
even though you know it can beon the context, depending it can
be a very powerful word,especially for some people, they
(19:02):
think it is something like theflaming Bush appearing in front
of you, or something like that,whereas many times it's much,
much, much simpler than that.
But anyway, I don't want tocomplicate the question too
much. The question is, forsomeone who does feel lost or
disconnected from this purpose,internally or fulfilment, if you
(19:26):
want. I was reading that youhave a simple question that you
ask your clients that helps themuncover that. So I would like to
hear what that is and why itworks. Sure
Rob Wentz (19:40):
I love this question.
I ask it to everybody becauseit's like the most fun question.
So I'll ask it to you, Agi, I'mcurious what your answer is.
What did you want to be? Whatdid you want to do when you were
10 years old? And it can belike, it can be anywhere from
eight to 12 years old, really.
But is there something inparticular that you wanted to do
at that point in time with yourlife? I.
Agi Keramidas (20:01):
Uh, regardless of the the age, if I don't stick
with a eight to 12 and gofurther down in my, you know,
teenage year, like I was 15, forexample. Yeah, acting was much
more something that I feltdrawing into.
Rob Wentz (20:17):
What was it about acting? Why? Why did you want to
do that
Agi Keramidas (20:23):
playing a role, I suppose. And that is an answer
that at that time, it didn'tcome, but it has come since
then, I reflecting on it, Isuppose, also being visible,
and, you know, expressingyourself, things like that,
which at some point I discoveredthat by doing the podcast, to a
(20:46):
large extent, I'm sure I'm noton a on a stage, on a theatre
stage, but I am on a stage,speaking and perform, performing
in in a way. Yeah. So yeah forthe question,
Rob Wentz (21:01):
sure, sure. Yeah. The point of the question is, you
know, we don't always end upbeing the thing we wanted to be
when we were a kid, but there's,there's an essence of what we
wanted to do that speaks to whatwe're doing now, which, like you
just said, acting into thepodcast, also playing a role,
wanting to be somebody. And Ithink as far as actors, too,
(21:22):
it's like number one, of course,there's like, the adulation of,
like, I'm an actor, but there'salso you're making a difference,
like, you're playing a rolethat's going to make a
difference in somebody's life.
Whenever they watch you, right?
You're going to leave an impacton somebody. And you get to,
especially when we're a kid, wewant to be somebody of at least
(21:43):
I did be somebody of notoriety.
So we could go into that for awhile and figure that out,
right? But the whole point is,there's something to like, 10
years old. And around that ageyou can go into like, you know,
1415, years old, you were youngenough that you just liked
something, and you didn't need areason to like it. You didn't
need anybody to tell anybody totell you to like it. It was
like, I just love this thing,but you were you were old enough
(22:05):
to just like it, but you wereyoung enough that the world
hadn't beaten it out of you yet.
The world hadn't convinced youotherwise and influenced you,
right? So it's just naturallyyou just like that thing. So if
you look at that thing as a goodexample, I had a woman one time
that I was talking to. She whenshe was 10, she wanted to be a
palaeontologist. So she wantedto dig up dinosaur bones and
(22:27):
discover them, right? And so wewere talking about that. And so
she had become a, some sort ofholistic nutritionist, coach,
something along those lines. AndI was like, so what was it about
being a palaeontologist that youloved? She said, Well, it was
like, it was like a mystery,like I was uncovering these
mysteries, and I was like,revealing these secrets, and I
(22:48):
was digging through all of thishistory, this dirt. Like the
dirt was history to find, tounearth these hidden things. And
so it was like, Well, that'swhat you're doing now. For
people like you're diggingthrough their history to bring
up something that they need tohelp them move forward right,
and to understand the path wecan understand the future better
(23:10):
when we understand the past. AndI just that's one of my
favourite examples, because itliterally was like digging up a
mystery and solving somethingthat was lost and so many times.
So for her, that's what she didas a job. That's what she did.
That was her career, not apalaeontologist, but helping
(23:30):
people figure out theirnutrition, figuring out their
life, and helping them moveforward by unearthing the past.
And so I just, I love thatquestion, because, number one.
It's fun to think about, if youlike, if you give it more time,
I'm sure more would come up. Butif you go back, it's kind of fun
just to think about when youwere that age. Because I
remember when I was that age, Iwanted to be a professional
(23:53):
wrestler and I wanted to be aradio DJ, right? There were two
things I wanted to be the most,and the professional
professional professionalwrestler didn't play out, but
there was elements of that thatI loved, entertaining being
physical, like being physical,but also still playing. So I
love play. And then also theradio DJ part, like you were
(24:16):
saying, like playing a role,being somebody, and I didn't
know how to be myself. So likeradio is like a way to turn up
myself, and like I get to be, Iget to be who I am. I'm allowed
to be who I am on the radio,because I have permission. And
that really helped me tounderstand why I was in radio
for so long, and the things thatit helped me with. And so I
(24:39):
just, that's the question I loveasking, because it is always
fun. It's always interesting.
There's always laughter thatcomes with it. Sometimes there's
sadness that comes along withit, but there's always a story,
and there's always things.
Almost every time I talk aboutthat with somebody, and we spend
time digging into it, they'llhave an aha moment of like, oh
yeah. Like, I'm doing this jobright now. But I'm leaving out
(25:01):
these elements that I love. Andso with you, right? With anybody
say a podcast, right? Because somany people want to do a podcast
or have one because it's it'smeeting a need that they're not
getting met throughout theirjob, whatever that might be, and
podcasting is a great way to dothat. But for many people,
(25:21):
there's like, small littletweaks you can make, things you
can add in to what you're doingnow that will make you feel more
satisfied and fulfilled. And itcould be just a hobby, or it
could be an actual part of yourjob that you include. And so
that's how that question, whensomebody asked me that question.
I was, I just, I loved it. I waslike, that's such a good
(25:43):
question. It was so much fun totalk about. I started asking
other people, and they get,always, I always get great
responses. People get lit up byit. They're like, Oh, yeah,
here's what I wanted to do. Andyou get to talk about, you know,
just that part of their life.
And it's just, it's a funquestion all around. And you can
learn a lot,
Agi Keramidas (26:02):
apart from the fun, which is definitely fun.
Someone listening now andsaying, okay, Rob, I get it. I
remember when I was 10 yearsold, I wanted to be x, but right
now, my career is wide. It iscompletely different. What can I
do with that, apart from, youknow, having fun and remembering
(26:25):
what I liked as a kid, what canI do practically as a step to
perhaps move towards thatdirection of reconnecting
Rob Wentz (26:35):
where you hire you, or You hire me as a coach?
That's it
Agi Keramidas (26:41):
is, indeed, if
Rob Wentz (26:45):
you know, just as a as a beginning stage, you know,
it's okay. So I loved doing thething, whatever it was, what was
it like somebody, you know,singer is a common one. I wanted
to be a famous singer. Well,then are you singing now? Go
sing like you don't have to doit professionally. If you're in
(27:05):
a church, be a part of theworship team. If you're if you
love karaoke, go out and dokaraoke if you if you love, I
mean, whatever. I mean, there'sso many opportunities, in the
shower, whatever, in your car,whatever, do more of the thing
that you love to do, just you'reallowed to do it. And I think it
goes back to that past a certainage where you feel like you're
(27:29):
not allowed to do the thing thatyou love because you had to
become a grown up. And I reallyadmire people who never embraced
that, who like just kept doingthe thing they love to do just
because they love to do it. Theydidn't listen to anybody else. I
kind of did that in a way, butstill kind of didn't. So I
really there's so much valuethere in just sticking to your
(27:52):
guns. I love doing the thing, soif you've lost whatever, maybe
you can incorporate it into yourjob. Maybe you can't, but either
way, you've got to do more ofthe thing. It'll just bring you
more joy. And that's what youneed,
Agi Keramidas (28:07):
absolutely, absolutely, and it is, I will
add to that and close off, butthat it also is a step that
leads to a path that may ismaybe completely unclear, or at
the moment, yeah,
Rob Wentz (28:25):
yeah, that's a great point. It's you might uncover
something that you didn't evenexpect something, and most of
the time, something miraculouswill happen from doing that
thing.
Agi Keramidas (28:36):
I like the word miraculous. I remember, for me
it was the word was enthusiasm.
But both words have the element,you know, of spiritual or of
God, element on it. So it isdefinitely a sign, shall we say,
or a verification or avalidation, perhaps that there's
(29:02):
more for you towards thatdirection follow that. That's
why you feel so good, orenthusiastic, or whatever is
100%
Rob Wentz (29:13):
and honestly, you know how I know is when we talk
about it, like, literally, aswe're talking about it, I get
like goosebumps. I get kind oflike chills, yeah, so that's how
I know is like, right whenyou're on the right track, you
get, you can feel like, oh, man,there's magic there. You can
feel the magic. And that'ssomething you have to pay
attention to. If you feel themagic in something, pay
(29:34):
attention to that. What is itabout that thing? Go towards it.
Agi Keramidas (29:38):
Brilliant. Rob, before we start wrapping up this
fascinating conversation, wherewould you like to direct our
audience? The mastery seekers togo and learn more about you,
sure
Rob Wentz (29:53):
you can go to lead, impact, transform.com. That's my
website. My company is litcoaching, the L, I T is lead in.
Impact Transform. So lead,impact transform.com you can
find out everything about me.
You can book a complimentarydiscovery, call with me and
connect with me there. Or if youwant to find me on social media,
just search Rob Z Wentz on anyplatform you can find me.
Agi Keramidas (30:17):
That's great. And Rob, I have also two final quick
questions. And the first one is,what does personal development
mean to you?
Rob Wentz (30:30):
It's basically just what we should always be doing.
I don't know. Like growingthere's nothing else to do in
life. I don't know. There's justnothing. You should always be
developing. We should always beif you're not improving, you're
getting worse. And there's nomiddle ground. There's no grey
area. It might seem like thereis, like I can just coast
(30:52):
there's no coasting. You'reeither getting you're either
deteriorating, or you'regrowing. And I think you know,
as we get older, it is they. Thecommon thought is, well, I'm
getting closer to dying. Like mybody's not as like I'm 40 I just
turned 42 I have a lot, a lotmore aches and pains than I used
(31:14):
to have, right? Things aren't aseasy physically as they used to
be, but I'm mentally way sharperthan I used to be. And so I just
think, like personal developmentis, like number one, exercising
in a way that is it feels good,because the way I used to
exercise, I can't do anymorebecause it hurts now, when I
(31:35):
exercise those ways, like I usedto just lift a lot of weights,
and it was now when I do that, Ido lighter weights, I do more
reps, like kind of like hitinterval training workouts. So
that's like developing, likeunderstanding yourself and
learning yourself so you can bebetter and and then doing more
(31:57):
of what you love to do, andbeing curious, maybe that's
when, that's where I'm gettingto Here Be personal development
is getting curious and followingthat curiosity.
Agi Keramidas (32:10):
And they say now that you said that, that the
better you understand a topic,the simplest you can explain it.
And now you just, in the lastfew words, you just explained it
very
Rob Wentz (32:24):
I could have cut a lot of talking. There was an old
saying in radio. There's an old,old saying in radio that if you
don't know what to say, justkeep talking and you'll figure
out what to say. So that's whatI just did.
Agi Keramidas (32:37):
That's great to remember as a quote there Rob
and a hypothetical quickquestion, if you could go back
in time and meet your 18 yearold self, what's one piece of
advice you would give?
Rob Wentz (32:51):
Pick the right friends, be very selective on
who you're friends with. When Iwas 18, I was at the beginning
of my drug addiction phase of mylife, and I literally, I can
recall one day driving my carand saying, I just need more
friends. I don't care who theyare. I just need to have more
friends that because I had,like, a couple friends from high
(33:11):
school. But I like, I like,needed to have more friends for
whatever reason. So I justanybody who wanted to be my I
didn't have good my self esteemwas low. So anybody who wanted
to be my friend, I becamefriends with, and so I became
friends with the wrong people,people who they weren't bad
people. They were just lost likeme. And that led me down a
really tough road for a longtime. So I learned a lot of
(33:33):
lessons from it. I wouldn'tchange anything, but at the same
time, if I could go back, chooseyour friends wisely and find a
mentor. Understand what mentorsare, find a mentor and be very
selective on who you're friendswith.
Agi Keramidas (33:47):
That's great.
Rob. I want to thank you verymuch for this insightful
conversation. I really enjoyedit, and I believe there were
some very useful and practicalelements that came through for
the listener of thisconversation, I want to wish you
all the very best with yourcareer and your life and your
(34:08):
mission, and I will leave it toyou with your Any parting wisdom
for us well.
Rob Wentz (34:20):
Thank you, Agi, same to you, man, glad we met, glad
we got to do the podcast swap.
Really appreciate what you do.
Great questions, by the way. Andwhat I want to leave people
with, what gives you energy andwhat drains your energy? So look
at the things in your life thatwhen you do them, you're drained
and you're you're just like, Ineed to take a nap and look at
(34:42):
the things you do in your life,like where you could do them all
day long and not get tired. Andhow can you do more of the
energy giving things and do lessof the draining things? How
could you spend time with thepeople that make you feel really
good and less time with thepeople who make you feel bad and
focus on that? Rob
Agi Keramidas (35:04):
Thank you for listening to this conversation
with Rob Vance. I hope it hasgiven you a fresh perspective on
how to reconnect with yourstrengths, align with your
purpose, and lead a life ofmeaningful impact. If this
conversation inspired or helpedyou, if it gave you something
(35:25):
meaningful, consider supportingthe show. Just visit personal
development masterypodcast.com/support
or tap the link in the episodedescription as a thank you, I
will send you a small gift andmention you in a future episode.
Thank you for being part of thisjourney until next time. Stand
(35:47):
Out. Don't fit in.
Why chasing purpose is overrated and what to
focus on instead. Welcome topersonal development mastery,
the podcast that helpsintelligent, busy professionals
develop self mastery and gainclarity so you can thrive in a
fulfilling, purposeful life.
Join us every Monday for aninsightful conversation with a
(00:24):
guest, and it's Thursday for ashorter episode where I reflect
and share with you. I'm yourhost, agiramidas, and this is
episode 528 if you are lookingto reclaim your sense of purpose
and lead with integrity. Thisconversation explores how
(00:45):
shifting your focus from self toservice can create real
transformation by listeningtoday, you will also going to
learn the one question thatreveals your childhood essence
and how it can reconnect you toyour true calling. Today, if you
(01:06):
are feeling stuck, unfulfilledor questioning your next step in
life, then this episode is foryou before we dive in. If you
resonate with the topics on thepodcast and find yourself in a
transition, I offer one to onementoring and coaching. It's a
(01:27):
space to gain clarity, reconnectwith what truly matters and move
forward with purpose.
If you are curious about whatthat could look like
for you, just reach out usingthe link in the show notes. Now
let's get started. Today. Myguest is Rob Wentz. Rob, you are
(01:54):
a leadership communicationcoach, speaker and the host of
the UNK movement podcast, youhave transformed your own story
of addiction and self sabotageinto a powerful message of
integrity driven leadership andintentional change. You are
(02:14):
passionate about helpingentrepreneurs and professionals
turn their personal strugglesinto breakthroughs by mastering
communication and reclaimingtheir self worth. Rob, it's a
real pleasure to have you on theshow today and a full circle
moment after being guest on yourshow a few months ago. Well,
(02:37):
yes,
Rob Wentz (02:37):
yeah, thank you.
Thank you for having me here.
Agi, it's really cool to be hereand talking to you and
connecting with you. And I lovewhen, when things come full
circle. So thank you for havingme on
Agi Keramidas (02:47):
Indeed, I would like to start there are some
things. The first thing I wantedto so we can get a little bit of
idea of your background. You'vementioned a dream that changed
your life. So can you tell usabout it and how it's influenced
(03:09):
your path?
Rob Wentz (03:10):
Oh, yeah, sure. So, yeah, a few years ago, I think
it was like in November of 2021I had this dream. My grandma had
passed away a few years before,probably a decade before that,
I've been in this dream. I'm inthe car with my grandmother, and
she's driving the car, which sheusually didn't drive, so that
was odd. And she's holding myhand in the dream, except I had
(03:34):
a little kid's hand. I was like,a little like, like, four year
old kid, and while she'sdriving, she leans over and hugs
me, and I start screaming,Graham, you know, pay attention
to the road. You're going towreck the car. What are you
doing? Like, what's going onhere? And I, whenever I said
that, she said, Don't worryabout where we're going. Just
(03:56):
love me, right? Don't worryabout where you're going. Just
love people, and I was, that wasthe dream that was it that just
ended right there. I woke upthere was so, so profound. I was
just like, bawling my eyes outwhen I woke up. It was such a
strange situation, because Iliterally woke up out of a dead
sleep, just like crying. Icouldn't, like, catch my breath.
(04:17):
And I don't know, I've never Imaybe have cried like that two
or three times in my life. Itwas like this uncontrollable,
like, weeping. And so I wrote itdown, just took some notes on it
and, like, just journaled it soI had it to remember, and so I
can process it. And clearly, I'ma Christian, right? So I believe
that what God said about people,that we're supposed to love God,
(04:38):
and we're supposed to lovepeople, and that's like our goal
on earth here, and that's howthat's how we're going to grow,
that's how we're going tosucceed. That's how we're going
to get to. Where we're supposedto go, is to stay connected to
God, and stay connected to thisunderstanding of loving people.
And so for me, if I'm. I tellyou, man, I think about the
(05:01):
dream every day, because everyday I struggle with this of
like, not worrying about me. Solike in the dream, she said,
Don't worry about where you'regoing. I'm always worried about
where I'm going, right and notand so changing that from taking
the word worry out, but have avision for where I'm going. When
you have a vision for whereyou're going, you're not worried
about it. But when you don'thave a vision and you're
(05:23):
wondering aimlessly, hopingsomething's going to work out,
then you worry. And just lovepeople, right? So it's like,
just, just focus on, like,really helping people. And it's
funny, right before this, I wasreading, I have a book back
here, the 177 mental toughnesssecrets of the world class.
(05:43):
Great book by Steve Seybold. Iwas just reading it like 20
minutes ago, and in there, oneof the secrets is to when we're
doing things in life, doing themfrom a stress free place, so a
place of joy and excitement, notfrom a place of fear and worry,
because those are two ways toget where we're going. If you're
(06:04):
getting to where you're going bybeing afraid and worrying, man,
everything's a struggle. But ifyou're getting to where you're
going through confidence andthrough this vision, then things
are going to be so much easier.
And when people come into yourlife, you see them as it's an
opportunity to help otherpeople. How can I shift my focus
from what am I going to gainfrom this to how can I help
(06:25):
somebody else get better? And ifyou truly believe in what you're
doing me as a business coach,you know it can be intimidating
to walk into a business and tellthem that I know how to help
them, because if I'm focused onme and I'm worrying about me,
it's like, oh, they might notbelieve me. Do I even believe
myself? Am I even qualified todo this? You know, all of the
(06:47):
imposter syndrome stuff thatcomes up, but if I come in
knowing I'm trained to do this,I love doing this. I love
helping people. I know I canmake a difference. I've made a
difference before. Now I'mfocused on, how can I help them,
and so I don't have to worryabout me anymore. I'm focused on
them and how I can help them getbetter. And so that dream,
especially when I talk about it,which thank you for bringing it
(07:09):
up, it's helpful, because ithelps me to remember, Oh, that's
right, that's what I'm supposedto be focused on. I'm supposed
to be focused on my vision andhelping people. And if I can do
that, things are going to getbetter, not get worse. I'm going
to be excited, not worried, ingeneral. And that goes into
personal and professional everypart of life. But yeah, that
(07:32):
dream had a really, and this iswhat I love about that man. It's
always the simple things. It wassuch a simple dream. I mean, it
was like, It's barely even adream, it was like five seconds,
but it had this, like, extremelyprofound impact on me.
Agi Keramidas (07:47):
Many times rob the profound insights are caused
by simple things and not the youknow, the ground. Sometimes they
do, but many times they don't.
Thank you for sharing that. Andyou know, when you were saying
about loving people the way youwere describing it, there was
the word service that came to mymind, and I liked very much how
(08:11):
you were talking about shiftingthe focus from you to the other
person. You actually remindedme, because it is very similar
in public speaking, which I knowyou also do, it helps to take
the focus away from you. If youare nervous about speaking, take
away the focus from yourperformance, because I think
(08:35):
that's where we are afraid thatwe some our performance will not
be whatever. Take the focus awayfrom it and put it on how can I
best serve these people that I'mgoing to speak with? So thank
you for the reminders, Isuppose. The next question I
would have to follow up withthis is, how can one go into
(08:57):
that more without having to seea dream, an insightful dream
with their grandmother thatchanged that, yeah,
Rob Wentz (09:12):
I tell you, man, it's even, even with the dream, it's
so it's hard for me to do what Ifound through this journey,
especially after having thatdream. And I knew this before
the dream, but after the dream,especially, I found I'm very
self centred, like I very muchthink about myself all the time.
And trying not to do that asmuch is hard, because I have to
constantly re re i to reshift myfocus, to focus outwardly, not
(09:37):
inwardly, on what am I feeling?
You know, my worried, nervousand and focusing on other
people, making sure that that'swhere my my attention is. It's
difficult. I I struggle with itevery day. It's like I have to
continually remind myself not tofocus on me and how I'm feeling,
because our feelings are veryfickle, and so for anybody else,
right, it's, it's just a dailypractice of that. It's a. Daily
(09:58):
practice of when I go into thispodcast, right? I can't see
myself. This is one of theproblems with screens now too,
with with with streaming andstuff, you can always see
yourself. I don't want to seeme, because I'll stare at me the
whole time. I'll stare at mypicture the whole time, and I
like, it's like, I'm talking tomyself. And that's weird. That's
just really weird. I don't thinkwe're designed to do that. And
(10:20):
so it's kind of like that. It'slike, okay, just ignoring me.
And because something that Ithink everybody goes through, I
mean, something that I gothrough all the time, is, Do I
look okay? Did I say that right?
Why did they make that face? Wasthat face? Did that face mean
something that I'm not doingsomething correctly? Did I just
say that word wrong? You know,do I have a booger in my nose?
(10:42):
Why is my nose itchy? You know,it's just like, a million things
of like, oh, it's exhausting.
And so if I set my intention oflike, listen, Rob, it's not
about you, it's about helpingthat person. And it's a, it's a
daily habit. It could be a goinginto a coaching session with
somebody. It's a habit of, it'snot about me. It doesn't matter
(11:03):
if they disagree with me. Itdoesn't matter if, whatever it
doesn't I'm there to help them.
And setting that intention oflike, I'm here to help that
person is just, I mean, that'ssuper simple, too, and it's
easier said than done sometimes,but having that be a constant
reminder of, like, I need to,how can I help this person? What
(11:28):
is it that I'm doing that'd bebeneficial for them? And
blocking out or justsurrendering over all those
things that I worry about whenit comes to to me, because it's
not helpful. And for somebodylike myself, if people are more
geared to be self centred, maybea little bit neurotic, it's
(11:49):
understanding that's nothealthy, understanding that's
not the correct way to thinkbecause it doesn't benefit you,
and understanding that it's theoutward mindset that is going to
help you. It's going to helpyou, number one, be more
focused, be more clear, but it'salso going to help you get ahead
(12:09):
in whatever you're doing andbuild better relationships.
Because we should have a anintention of being of service,
like you said, being of service,and having this mindset of,
okay, I'm here to help otherpeople. It's not this. We're
stuck in a culture of self help,right? We got I got to help
myself. I need to get better.
And what I've found is the moreI'm of service to people, I get
(12:32):
better. Instead of sitting in myroom by myself, if I was going
to be just going to self helpall the time, I'd be getting
massages and going to the spa.
And you know, who's doing allthese things for me and not
doing things for others, and notsaying you shouldn't do things
for yourself. That's that's goodto do, but when that's your sole
(12:52):
focus, you can really getwrapped up in just you, and that
can be very unhealthy.
Agi Keramidas (13:02):
Thank you. That's a very good point, and also a
reminder, since you started andevolved shifting your focus away
from you to how can you help orserve the other person? Have you
heard some kind of feedback orcomment from those people that
(13:27):
you want to serve, that youknow? Do they sense that in a
way? Do they get some kind of Ihope you are trying you
understand what I'm trying toask.
Rob Wentz (13:41):
Yeah, I think throughout the years, one of the
reasons that I was led tocoaching was I always got
compliments of, you're a reallygood listener, you're a really
good communicator, and I wasn'teven well I did. I spent 20
years in radio broadcasting,right? So most of my life was in
broadcasting, so I was not agood communicator. Growing up as
(14:02):
a kid, I was very shy,introverted. You might call me
weird, and I didn't know how tobe myself, and so unknowingly, I
got into radio broadcasting tolearn how to be myself, to learn
how to talk and to be moreextroverted, because I think I
was more I was way moreextroverted than I let on. I
(14:24):
just didn't have the confidenceto be putting myself out there
into the world. And so over theyears, I think I just got better
and better at it. And so I wouldget these compliments. And so
often, I'm sure you know thistoo, so often people will, if
you listen to people, they willtell you about the they will
tell you things about yourselfthat you don't see because we
(14:46):
have blinders on to a lot of thethings that go on in our own
life. And so if you listen topeople, you'll be like, Oh,
okay. This person says that I'ma good listener. This person
says I'm a good communicator.
This person says that I'm, youknow, very comfortable to. Be
around. But then at the sametime, I'd hear, I feel like you
don't believe in yourself thatmuch you you know you don't see
yourself how others see you.
(15:08):
Because I would get thesecompliments of, like, Wow,
you're so good at this, good atthis. And I'd be like, That's
not me. And I wouldn't receiveit. So then starting to receive
it, I was like, Okay, so theseare the things that I'm good at.
People think I'm good at thesethings, so I need to embrace
them and trust somebody. Whenyou trust that person, you know
(15:29):
their intentions are good, thenbelieve what they say. And so
over the years, those would bethe kind of compliments that I
would get. And so as I was kindof going through a wilderness
phase of my life, I was tryingto figure out what to do with my
life. And those complimentswould come up when I was kind of
just praying about it andmeditating about it. I was
(15:51):
journaling, like, what am Isupposed to be doing with my
life? And those things wouldcome up. And then I had a good
friend who I'd had on thepodcast who had been a coach,
and she said, Hey, if you everwant to be a coach, I think
you'd be really good. I'd loveto train you. And I called her
up one day and said, Let's dothat. Let's let's do that
training. So just picking up onthose signs throughout the
(16:13):
years, and so I still hear thosetoday, right? And I think those
skills are getting better andbetter. And one of the things
that I've had to remember, and Ithink it's helpful for all of us
to remember, is to focus on yourstrengths and work on your
strengths. Don't focus on yourweaknesses, but it's so much
easier to focus on yourweaknesses, right? Because we
(16:33):
think, Oh no, I'm not good atnumbers. Right? For me, it's
like numbers are just it's notmy thing. So I've spent so much
time, like beating myself upabout not being good at, say,
math and being like, I got toget better at that. Instead of
looking at, wow, I'm a goodcommunicator, wow. I'm a great
listener. I'm good at doing thisbroadcasting. I should just
(16:56):
double down and focus on that.
Put your focus on what you'rereally good at, and that's going
to get better and better andbetter and better, instead of a
little incremental growths onthe things that you're not that
good at. If you put your focuson things you're good at, they
will expand and everything elsewill rise because you're
focusing on your strengthswhich, which seems
counterintuitive, but that'sactually the way that it is. So
(17:17):
I think I've gone way off courseon the question that you asked.
But the answer is, yeah, I wouldget those. I would I still hear
those things. But I encouragepeople to look back at what
people have told you aboutyourself that is good and choose
to receive those things. Becauseso often what we do is we reject
those things and we're like, oh,that's what they think. If they,
(17:39):
if they really knew me, theywouldn't think that. You know,
that's that's what we do a lot.
So don't do that. Believe it andput it, put on it into practice.
I'm going to believe it and tellyourself, I received that
compliment. I received thatbecause if they said it, it's
true. And that's been extremelyhelpful.
Agi Keramidas (17:59):
That's great. And you know from the things that
you said, that will pick onething, and with that we will
switch gears. And you said atsome point the question what to
do with my life, and I thinkthere are many people,
(18:21):
especially in midlife, that dohave a desire, shall we say, of
doing something else thanbecause there is not, you know,
fulfilment, or whatever else itmay be. So when you were saying
about that, the question oftrying to find what to do with
(18:41):
my life. I can't stop I thinksomeone listening to this
conversation that the wordpurpose comes to my mind, and
even though you know it can beon the context, depending it can
be a very powerful word,especially for some people, they
(19:02):
think it is something like theflaming Bush appearing in front
of you, or something like that,whereas many times it's much,
much, much simpler than that.
But anyway, I don't want tocomplicate the question too
much. The question is, forsomeone who does feel lost or
disconnected from this purpose,internally or fulfilment, if you
(19:26):
want. I was reading that youhave a simple question that you
ask your clients that helps themuncover that. So I would like to
hear what that is and why itworks. Sure
Rob Wentz (19:40):
I love this question.
I ask it to everybody becauseit's like the most fun question.
So I'll ask it to you, Agi, I'mcurious what your answer is.
What did you want to be? Whatdid you want to do when you were
10 years old? And it can belike, it can be anywhere from
eight to 12 years old, really.
But is there something inparticular that you wanted to do
at that point in time with yourlife? I.
Agi Keramidas (20:01):
Uh, regardless of the the age, if I don't stick
with a eight to 12 and gofurther down in my, you know,
teenage year, like I was 15, forexample. Yeah, acting was much
more something that I feltdrawing into.
Rob Wentz (20:17):
What was it about acting? Why? Why did you want to
do that
Agi Keramidas (20:23):
playing a role, I suppose. And that is an answer
that at that time, it didn'tcome, but it has come since
then, I reflecting on it, Isuppose, also being visible,
and, you know, expressingyourself, things like that,
which at some point I discoveredthat by doing the podcast, to a
(20:46):
large extent, I'm sure I'm noton a on a stage, on a theatre
stage, but I am on a stage,speaking and perform, performing
in in a way. Yeah. So yeah forthe question,
Rob Wentz (21:01):
sure, sure. Yeah. The point of the question is, you
know, we don't always end upbeing the thing we wanted to be
when we were a kid, but there's,there's an essence of what we
wanted to do that speaks to whatwe're doing now, which, like you
just said, acting into thepodcast, also playing a role,
wanting to be somebody. And Ithink as far as actors, too,
(21:22):
it's like number one, of course,there's like, the adulation of,
like, I'm an actor, but there'salso you're making a difference,
like, you're playing a rolethat's going to make a
difference in somebody's life.
Whenever they watch you, right?
You're going to leave an impacton somebody. And you get to,
especially when we're a kid, wewant to be somebody of at least
(21:43):
I did be somebody of notoriety.
So we could go into that for awhile and figure that out,
right? But the whole point is,there's something to like, 10
years old. And around that ageyou can go into like, you know,
1415, years old, you were youngenough that you just liked
something, and you didn't need areason to like it. You didn't
need anybody to tell anybody totell you to like it. It was
like, I just love this thing,but you were you were old enough
(22:05):
to just like it, but you wereyoung enough that the world
hadn't beaten it out of you yet.
The world hadn't convinced youotherwise and influenced you,
right? So it's just naturallyyou just like that thing. So if
you look at that thing as a goodexample, I had a woman one time
that I was talking to. She whenshe was 10, she wanted to be a
palaeontologist. So she wantedto dig up dinosaur bones and
(22:27):
discover them, right? And so wewere talking about that. And so
she had become a, some sort ofholistic nutritionist, coach,
something along those lines. AndI was like, so what was it about
being a palaeontologist that youloved? She said, Well, it was
like, it was like a mystery,like I was uncovering these
mysteries, and I was like,revealing these secrets, and I
(22:48):
was digging through all of thishistory, this dirt. Like the
dirt was history to find, tounearth these hidden things. And
so it was like, Well, that'swhat you're doing now. For
people like you're diggingthrough their history to bring
up something that they need tohelp them move forward right,
and to understand the path wecan understand the future better
(23:10):
when we understand the past. AndI just that's one of my
favourite examples, because itliterally was like digging up a
mystery and solving somethingthat was lost and so many times.
So for her, that's what she didas a job. That's what she did.
That was her career, not apalaeontologist, but helping
(23:30):
people figure out theirnutrition, figuring out their
life, and helping them moveforward by unearthing the past.
And so I just, I love thatquestion, because, number one.
It's fun to think about, if youlike, if you give it more time,
I'm sure more would come up. Butif you go back, it's kind of fun
just to think about when youwere that age. Because I
remember when I was that age, Iwanted to be a professional
(23:53):
wrestler and I wanted to be aradio DJ, right? There were two
things I wanted to be the most,and the professional
professional professionalwrestler didn't play out, but
there was elements of that thatI loved, entertaining being
physical, like being physical,but also still playing. So I
love play. And then also theradio DJ part, like you were
(24:16):
saying, like playing a role,being somebody, and I didn't
know how to be myself. So likeradio is like a way to turn up
myself, and like I get to be, Iget to be who I am. I'm allowed
to be who I am on the radio,because I have permission. And
that really helped me tounderstand why I was in radio
for so long, and the things thatit helped me with. And so I
(24:39):
just, that's the question I loveasking, because it is always
fun. It's always interesting.
There's always laughter thatcomes with it. Sometimes there's
sadness that comes along withit, but there's always a story,
and there's always things.
Almost every time I talk aboutthat with somebody, and we spend
time digging into it, they'llhave an aha moment of like, oh
yeah. Like, I'm doing this jobright now. But I'm leaving out
(25:01):
these elements that I love. Andso with you, right? With anybody
say a podcast, right? Because somany people want to do a podcast
or have one because it's it'smeeting a need that they're not
getting met throughout theirjob, whatever that might be, and
podcasting is a great way to dothat. But for many people,
(25:21):
there's like, small littletweaks you can make, things you
can add in to what you're doingnow that will make you feel more
satisfied and fulfilled. And itcould be just a hobby, or it
could be an actual part of yourjob that you include. And so
that's how that question, whensomebody asked me that question.
I was, I just, I loved it. I waslike, that's such a good
(25:43):
question. It was so much fun totalk about. I started asking
other people, and they get,always, I always get great
responses. People get lit up byit. They're like, Oh, yeah,
here's what I wanted to do. Andyou get to talk about, you know,
just that part of their life.
And it's just, it's a funquestion all around. And you can
learn a lot,
Agi Keramidas (26:02):
apart from the fun, which is definitely fun.
Someone listening now andsaying, okay, Rob, I get it. I
remember when I was 10 yearsold, I wanted to be x, but right
now, my career is wide. It iscompletely different. What can I
do with that, apart from, youknow, having fun and remembering
(26:25):
what I liked as a kid, what canI do practically as a step to
perhaps move towards thatdirection of reconnecting
Rob Wentz (26:35):
where you hire you, or You hire me as a coach?
That's it
Agi Keramidas (26:41):
is, indeed, if
Rob Wentz (26:45):
you know, just as a as a beginning stage, you know,
it's okay. So I loved doing thething, whatever it was, what was
it like somebody, you know,singer is a common one. I wanted
to be a famous singer. Well,then are you singing now? Go
sing like you don't have to doit professionally. If you're in
(27:05):
a church, be a part of theworship team. If you're if you
love karaoke, go out and dokaraoke if you if you love, I
mean, whatever. I mean, there'sso many opportunities, in the
shower, whatever, in your car,whatever, do more of the thing
that you love to do, just you'reallowed to do it. And I think it
goes back to that past a certainage where you feel like you're
(27:29):
not allowed to do the thing thatyou love because you had to
become a grown up. And I reallyadmire people who never embraced
that, who like just kept doingthe thing they love to do just
because they love to do it. Theydidn't listen to anybody else. I
kind of did that in a way, butstill kind of didn't. So I
really there's so much valuethere in just sticking to your
(27:52):
guns. I love doing the thing, soif you've lost whatever, maybe
you can incorporate it into yourjob. Maybe you can't, but either
way, you've got to do more ofthe thing. It'll just bring you
more joy. And that's what youneed,
Agi Keramidas (28:07):
absolutely, absolutely, and it is, I will
add to that and close off, butthat it also is a step that
leads to a path that may ismaybe completely unclear, or at
the moment, yeah,
Rob Wentz (28:25):
yeah, that's a great point. It's you might uncover
something that you didn't evenexpect something, and most of
the time, something miraculouswill happen from doing that
thing.
Agi Keramidas (28:36):
I like the word miraculous. I remember, for me
it was the word was enthusiasm.
But both words have the element,you know, of spiritual or of
God, element on it. So it isdefinitely a sign, shall we say,
or a verification or avalidation, perhaps that there's
(29:02):
more for you towards thatdirection follow that. That's
why you feel so good, orenthusiastic, or whatever is
100%
Rob Wentz (29:13):
and honestly, you know how I know is when we talk
about it, like, literally, aswe're talking about it, I get
like goosebumps. I get kind oflike chills, yeah, so that's how
I know is like, right whenyou're on the right track, you
get, you can feel like, oh, man,there's magic there. You can
feel the magic. And that'ssomething you have to pay
attention to. If you feel themagic in something, pay
(29:34):
attention to that. What is itabout that thing? Go towards it.
Agi Keramidas (29:38):
Brilliant. Rob, before we start wrapping up this
fascinating conversation, wherewould you like to direct our
audience? The mastery seekers togo and learn more about you,
sure
Rob Wentz (29:53):
you can go to lead, impact, transform.com. That's my
website. My company is litcoaching, the L, I T is lead in.
Impact Transform. So lead,impact transform.com you can
find out everything about me.
You can book a complimentarydiscovery, call with me and
connect with me there. Or if youwant to find me on social media,
just search Rob Z Wentz on anyplatform you can find me.
Agi Keramidas (30:17):
That's great. And Rob, I have also two final quick
questions. And the first one is,what does personal development
mean to you?
Rob Wentz (30:30):
It's basically just what we should always be doing.
I don't know. Like growingthere's nothing else to do in
life. I don't know. There's justnothing. You should always be
developing. We should always beif you're not improving, you're
getting worse. And there's nomiddle ground. There's no grey
area. It might seem like thereis, like I can just coast
(30:52):
there's no coasting. You'reeither getting you're either
deteriorating, or you'regrowing. And I think you know,
as we get older, it is they. Thecommon thought is, well, I'm
getting closer to dying. Like mybody's not as like I'm 40 I just
turned 42 I have a lot, a lotmore aches and pains than I used
(31:14):
to have, right? Things aren't aseasy physically as they used to
be, but I'm mentally way sharperthan I used to be. And so I just
think, like personal developmentis, like number one, exercising
in a way that is it feels good,because the way I used to
exercise, I can't do anymorebecause it hurts now, when I
(31:35):
exercise those ways, like I usedto just lift a lot of weights,
and it was now when I do that, Ido lighter weights, I do more
reps, like kind of like hitinterval training workouts. So
that's like developing, likeunderstanding yourself and
learning yourself so you can bebetter and and then doing more
(31:57):
of what you love to do, andbeing curious, maybe that's
when, that's where I'm gettingto Here Be personal development
is getting curious and followingthat curiosity.
Agi Keramidas (32:10):
And they say now that you said that, that the
better you understand a topic,the simplest you can explain it.
And now you just, in the lastfew words, you just explained it
very
Rob Wentz (32:24):
I could have cut a lot of talking. There was an old
saying in radio. There's an old,old saying in radio that if you
don't know what to say, justkeep talking and you'll figure
out what to say. So that's whatI just did.
Agi Keramidas (32:37):
That's great to remember as a quote there Rob
and a hypothetical quickquestion, if you could go back
in time and meet your 18 yearold self, what's one piece of
advice you would give?
Rob Wentz (32:51):
Pick the right friends, be very selective on
who you're friends with. When Iwas 18, I was at the beginning
of my drug addiction phase of mylife, and I literally, I can
recall one day driving my carand saying, I just need more
friends. I don't care who theyare. I just need to have more
friends that because I had,like, a couple friends from high
(33:11):
school. But I like, I like,needed to have more friends for
whatever reason. So I justanybody who wanted to be my I
didn't have good my self esteemwas low. So anybody who wanted
to be my friend, I becamefriends with, and so I became
friends with the wrong people,people who they weren't bad
people. They were just lost likeme. And that led me down a
really tough road for a longtime. So I learned a lot of
(33:33):
lessons from it. I wouldn'tchange anything, but at the same
time, if I could go back, chooseyour friends wisely and find a
mentor. Understand what mentorsare, find a mentor and be very
selective on who you're friendswith.
Agi Keramidas (33:47):
That's great.
Rob. I want to thank you verymuch for this insightful
conversation. I really enjoyedit, and I believe there were
some very useful and practicalelements that came through for
the listener of thisconversation, I want to wish you
all the very best with yourcareer and your life and your
(34:08):
mission, and I will leave it toyou with your Any parting wisdom
for us well.
Rob Wentz (34:20):
Thank you, Agi, same to you, man, glad we met, glad
we got to do the podcast swap.
Really appreciate what you do.
Great questions, by the way. Andwhat I want to leave people
with, what gives you energy andwhat drains your energy? So look
at the things in your life thatwhen you do them, you're drained
and you're you're just like, Ineed to take a nap and look at
(34:42):
the things you do in your life,like where you could do them all
day long and not get tired. Andhow can you do more of the
energy giving things and do lessof the draining things? How
could you spend time with thepeople that make you feel really
good and less time with thepeople who make you feel bad and
focus on that? Rob
Agi Keramidas (35:04):
Thank you for listening to this conversation
with Rob Vance. I hope it hasgiven you a fresh perspective on
how to reconnect with yourstrengths, align with your
purpose, and lead a life ofmeaningful impact. If this
conversation inspired or helpedyou, if it gave you something
(35:25):
meaningful, consider supportingthe show. Just visit personal
development masterypodcast.com/support
or tap the link in the episodedescription as a thank you, I
will send you a small gift andmention you in a future episode.
Thank you for being part of thisjourney until next time. Stand
(35:47):
Out. Don't fit in.
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