Leaving The Massive Output of Early Life For The Wise Input of The 2nd Half w/ National Columnist & Professor Arthur Brooks

The Kevin Miller Podcast

Kevin Miller

Nutrition, Relationships, Mental Health, Education, Social Sciences, Science, Society & Culture, Self-improvement, Health & Fitness, Religion & Spirituality, Spirituality, Medicine, Life Sciences, How To

4.5 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 1 May 2026

⏱️ 86 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Out of the 1700 shows and hundreds of people I've had on my podcasts, people, often when they have me as a guest on their podcast, ask me what shows stood out. And my answer is citing shows where a message had a particularly valuable impact on my personal life. My first conversation with Arthur Brooks about the message in his book, Strength to Strength: Finding Success, Happiness, and Deep Purpose in the Second Half of Life, is one of these. The book came across my desk at a time when I was feeling burnout in multiple areas of my life. I'll always remember sitting on the couch in my study and reading the first chapter where Arthur depicts the exhaustion I and others in the 2nd half of life are feeling. And the propensity to look at just grunting out the rest of life, just trying to retire and escape, or...another option. To realize that our brains and beings were equipped, neurologically, to function one way in our early life, and a different way in our later life. My paraphrasing is to say, in the first half of my life, I was wired to create and build and innovate and conquer the world in essence. But that wiring decreases in strength over time. But now you have the wiring that is in essence, earned by all that effort. I now have knowledge of experience to impart. I have some guidance and wisdom to offer. It works this way in my life today, in the past, I'd start a new company and be CEO and lead the charge. Now I start a company, and I influence the charge. But I don't want to lead it. I've done that. I've been there. I have other things to offer now. I have recommended Arthur's book, Strength to Strength, to so many people. My peers. And I recommend it again as I queue it up for your benefit now. Since this book and conversation, Arthur co-authored a book with Oprah and I had him back on the show, and today finds him...everywhere. Harvard professor, multiple NYT bestselling author, and national columnist. If you want to connect with him just type in Arthur Brooks anywhere and you'll find him. I get his weekly article he writes for The Free Press. Sign up for your $1/month trial period at shopify.com/kevin Go to shipstation.com and use code KEVIN to start your free trial. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Welcome. I'm Kevin Miller and I have conversations with people that help us make better meaning of our lives.
0:07.8	In this episode, leaving the massive output of early life for the wise input of the second half.
0:16.8	So out of the 1700 shows and hundreds of people I've had on the podcast, I often get asked,
0:24.1	often when I'm a guest on somebody else's show, what shows really stood out?
0:29.0	And my answer usually goes to shows where a message had a particular impact on my life at that
0:36.7	specific time.
0:38.3	So my first, one of them is my first conversation with Arthur Brooks.
0:42.3	It was about the message in his book, Strength to Strength, Finding Success, Happiness, and Deep Purpose in the Second Half of Life.
0:52.4	It's one of those shows that stands out.
0:55.1	The book came across my desk at a time when I was feeling burnout in multiple areas of my own life.
1:00.2	And I always remember sitting on the couch in my study, reading the first chapter where
1:05.8	Arthur depicts the exhaustion that I and so many others in the second half are feeling, second half of life
1:12.7	are feeling. And it hit me right where I was. And we had this propensity to look at this big
1:19.2	output that we're doing in our life and we're just kind of grunt it out for the rest of our
1:23.1	life. Or we finally just get worn out and retire and try to escape and he shows another option to realize that our brains and beings are equipped, we're equipped neurologically to function one way in our early life and our wiring changes to provide something different in our later life. My paraphrasing is this,
1:46.7	that in the first half of my life, I was wired and equipped to create, build, and innovate,
1:52.8	and conquer the world, in essence. But that wiring decreases in strengths for those
1:58.2	activities over time. Doesn't mean it goes away, but it decreases.
2:03.4	And now I have the wiring that is, in essence, earned by all that effort.
2:08.9	I now have so much knowledge and experience to impart.
2:12.9	I have guidance and wisdom to offer.
2:16.3	And it works this way in my life today where in the past,
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Kevin Miller, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Kevin Miller and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.