Living The Sweet Life with TJ Sweet

TJ Sweet
  • 4.8 (28)
  • Self-Improvement
  • Updated Weekly

We all have moments of impact. What are you going to do with yours? That's the heart of Living The Sweet Life. Hosted by keynote speaker, author, and coach TJ Sweet, this is a show about who you are beneath the titles, achievements, and expectations others have handed you. Every Mindset Monday, TJ sits down with a guest who's lived something real, then gets honest about what it took. These conversations are about gratitude, purpose, and human connection, but they don't stay on the surface. They go to the moment that changed everything. New episodes every Monday. Come as you are.

  1. 1d ago

    He Wasn't Supposed to Survive... But He Did

    Happy Mindset Monday! What do you do when life changes in a way you never could have prepared for? That is the question underneath this conversation with Wes Bruns. On Christmas Day in 1992, Wes survived a carbon monoxide poisoning that took the lives of his mother, stepfather, and two older brothers and left him in a coma for five days. He later learned that his survival itself was extraordinary. What interested me most was not only how Wes survived that night, but how he has lived since. For more than three decades, he has coached young people, built a family he is deeply grateful for, carried forward the influence of his father, and continued finding ways to turn some of the hardest chapters of his life into something that might help somebody else. That eventually became his book, When Life Changes the Game: A Story of Survival, Second Chances, and the Power of Perseverance. Wes and I talked about grief and gratitude, taking care of ourselves for the people we love, the relationships that shape us, the responsibility coaches have in young people’s lives, and the strange way that some of our hardest experiences make us recognize what matters most. We also talked about those little nudges we sometimes feel to call someone, text someone, say goodbye, say “I love you,” or simply show up. I have learned to pay attention to those. Because we spend a lot of time assuming there will be another opportunity. Sometimes there is. Sometimes there is not. One of the things my best friend told me after my own car accident was: “God’s not done with you yet. Don’t waste it.” Listening to Wes, I kept thinking about that line. His story is heartbreaking, but this episode is not about staying inside the heartbreak. It is about what you do next. It is about the people you love. It is about the life you still have. And maybe it is about recognizing that your moment of impact does not have to be the end of the story. It might be the beginning of what you are meant to do with it. Listen to the full conversation and then ask yourself: What am I going to do with the life and the people I still have in front of me? Website:https://wes-bruns.com/ About Wes:https://wes-bruns.com/about Book:https://www.amazon.com/dp/9798891654358 Website:https://tjsweet.com Instagram:@thetjsweet LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/thetjsweet/ YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/@thetjsweet Connect with WesConnect with TJ

  2. Sep 7

    A Life Well-Lived: High Performance Without Losing Yourself with Benjamin Smith

    What if you accomplish everything you are working for and lose yourself getting there? That is not meant to make you afraid of success. I want you to be successful. I want you to achieve the things that matter to you. I want you to perform at your highest level. I just do not believe you should have to lose your health, your relationships, your purpose, or your connection to yourself to get there. That is what Benjamin Smith and I explore in this episode. Benjamin works with high performers and has spent much of his life asking two questions: What does it mean to be human? And: What is a life well-lived? Those questions took us into a conversation about performance, identity, pressure, rest, purpose, connection, and self-worth. We talked about what happens when your accomplishments stop being something you do and start becoming evidence of who you are. Because when you begin believing your worth depends on your performance, success does something strange. You do well. You feel relief. Then you immediately start worrying about the next thing. I know that cycle. Maybe you do too. Benjamin offers a different way of thinking about high performance. What if your performance became an expression of who you are instead of proof that you are enough? That does not make you less ambitious. It may actually make you better. Because now you are free to compete. Create. Lead. Learn. Fail. Recover. Try again. You are not asking every outcome to tell you whether you matter. We also spend a lot of time talking about rest. That is personal for me. I spent years believing rest was what happened when the work was finished. The problem is the work is never finished. There will always be another email. Another meeting. Another goal. Another person who needs something. So at some point, you have to decide that recovery is part of the work. I wish I understood that earlier. Maybe you need to hear it now. Listen to this episode and ask yourself: Am I building a successful life, or am I building a life I actually want to live? Hopefully the answer becomes both. Connect with BenjaminInner Life of Sport:https://www.innerlifeofsport.com/ Meet Benjamin:https://www.innerlifeofsport.com/meetbenjamin Newsletter:https://innerlifeofsport.substack.com/ LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/bcsmith2 Connect with me:⁠https://tjsweet.comInstagram: @thetjsweetLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thetjsweet/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thetjsweet

  3. Aug 31

    Discipline Will Take You Further Than Talent Ever Will

    What if social media worked better when we stopped treating people like prospects and started treating them like people? That's where my friendship with Michelle Berman-Mikel began. Michelle initially reached out to me from a business perspective. But the message didn't feel cold. It didn't feel transactional. It felt personal. One message became a conversation. The conversation became a friendship. And that friendship eventually became this episode. Michelle is a keynote speaker, author of The Black Line, founder of Berman Media PD, creator of Beyond The Method and Drivers & Levers, and host of Coffee & Questions. We talk about how to turn social media from a vanity platform into a relationship tool, why connection has to come before conversion, and why chasing followers and views may be distracting us from the people sitting right in front of us. But we also go much deeper. Michelle spent 20 years as a competitive swimmer, including four years at Rutgers. She shares what staring at the black line at the bottom of a pool taught her about discipline, consistency, affirmation and doing the work when nobody is clapping. We talk about the relationship between talent and discipline. We talk about healing. We talk about quiet. We talk about taking away the phones, headphones and noise long enough to actually hear yourself again. And Michelle shares deeply personal parts of her story, including loss, motherhood, faith and what ultimately helped her stop trying to fit into somebody else's definition of who she was supposed to be. This episode is about social media. But it's really about people. It's about knowing who you are. Doing the quiet work. Building real relationships. And having enough discipline to keep moving toward what matters even when the applause hasn't started yet. We all have moments of impact. What are you going to do with yours?

  4. Aug 24

    Stop Asking "Why Me?" and Ask Yourself This Instead

    What is your highest value? Not ten things you care about. The one thing that should become your true north when life gets difficult and decisions become complicated. My conversation with Assaf Raz made me ask myself that question differently. Assaf is an entrepreneur, author and devoted father whose life changed when he began thinking more seriously about responsibility, purpose and the world his children would inherit. But one of the most powerful parts of our conversation came from a much darker period in his life. Assaf described looking successful on the outside while privately falling apart. During one of the hundreds of recordings he has made as a journal for himself and his family, he asked: “Why me?” Then came the answer: “Why not me?” We unpack what that means without denying pain, minimizing difficult circumstances or pretending everything that happens to us is our fault. Because fault and responsibility aren't the same thing. You may not have caused what happened. But what you do next still belongs to you. From there, we talk about purpose, values, family, integrity, doing good in the world, connection and why the people who rely on us can become a powerful reminder of who we want to be. Assaf also gives me a question I am still thinking about: What is your highest value? Because it's one thing to say what matters. It's another thing to live in a way that proves it. This is a thoughtful one. I hope you'll give yourself enough space to really listen. Then ask yourself: What matters most to me? And: Does my life reflect it? We all have moments of impact. What are you going to do with yours?

  5. Aug 17

    The Story You Tell Yourself Is Shaping Your Life

    What story are you still living, even though that chapter of your life is already over? Amanda Johnson, known as The Story Oracle, joined me for a conversation that started with storytelling and writing books and became something much deeper. We talked about the stories we inherit. The ones other people tell us about ourselves. The stories we create to survive something difficult. And eventually, the stories we get to choose for ourselves. Amanda shared a moment from when she was 27. On the outside, people saw a high achiever who could accomplish anything she decided to do. That wasn't the story she was living internally. Then a mentor asked her: What value do you have to give today? That question changed everything. We talk about why so many capable people believe they still need another degree, certification, accomplishment or permission before their story has value. We talk about writing as a way to see yourself differently. We talk about how unprocessed stories can keep showing up in our lives. And we talk about something I believe deeply: Sharing your story creates connection because it gives another person somewhere to see themselves. I also share a story about an eight-year-old boy I met while shoveling snow, my own struggle with reading when I was younger, and why becoming an author once felt impossible to me. This is not an episode about becoming an author. It's about becoming more connected to your own story so you can decide what the next chapter looks like. And maybe your story becomes medicine for someone else along the way. We all have moments of impact. What are you going to do with yours?

  6. Aug 10

    Doing Everything Right But Still Feel Stuck? Midlife Health, Peptides & Feeling Like Yourself Again | Jennifer Woodward

    What happens when you're doing everything "right" but still don't feel like yourself? Jennifer Woodward joins me for an honest conversation about peptides, GLP-1s, hormones, midlife health and something much bigger than weight loss: feeling at home in your own body again. Jennifer is a Functional Diagnostic Nutrition Practitioner, hormone health educator and host of the Peptides for Women podcast. In this episode, she breaks down what peptides actually are, why GLP-1s are only one part of a much bigger conversation and why education and strong health foundations matter before chasing another solution. But we also go deeper. We talk about what it feels like when your body changes and you don't recognize yourself anymore. We talk about food noise, judgment, gratitude, relationships, motherhood, presence and why caring for yourself isn't selfish. Because the real "why" usually isn't a smaller number on a scale. It's having enough energy to play with your kids. It's traveling without obsessing over food. It's being fully present at the birthday party. It's feeling confident enough to participate in your own life again. Jennifer also shares a moment she isn't particularly proud of, when she told a friend using Ozempic was "cheating," and how becoming curious instead of judgmental eventually changed the direction of her own work. This is a conversation about health. But even more than that, it's a conversation about the relationship we have with ourselves. Listen with curiosity. And remember: we all have moments of impact. What are you going to do with yours?

  7. Aug 3

    You're Not Stuck. You're Running Old Code

    Happy Mindset Monday! Jerrid Sebesta told me something I can't stop thinking about. Most people who feel stuck try to fix it with more. More hustle. More discipline. Another goal. Another strategy. He says the problem is usually four layers down. Jerrid is a keynote speaker, Amazon bestselling author of Life-Undeferred, and what he calls a performance reprogrammer. He walks people through four layers: your actions, your beliefs, your identity, and underneath it all, the source code that got written when you were a kid. And here's the part that got me. He says he can get someone on the phone and, in about twelve minutes, connect the result they're not getting today to a piece of code that got written thirty or forty years ago. We got into a lot in this one. Why more effort can actually reinforce the wrong pattern The difference between performance and presence (I opened up about my own here) His ocean and hurricane metaphor for where peace actually lives Why he stopped "chasing" goals, and what the word chasing is really telling you The three thoughts I come back to every single morning And then Jerrid shared the story of his mom. Being in the room when she passed. Realizing that tens of thousands of phone calls over forty years had been preparing him for the work he does now. That part stayed with me for days. If you're doing everything right and it still feels heavy, this one's worth your time. You might not need to work harder. You might need to get honest about who's doing the work. 📍 Jerrid Sebesta:Website: jerridsebesta.comLinkedIn + Instagram: @jerridsebestaAuthor of Life-Undeferred New episodes every Mindset Monday.If your team needs a speaker on gratitude, purpose, and connection, visit TJSweet.com. #Mindset #PerformanceReprogramming #LifeUndeferred #JerridSebesta #LivingTheSweetLife #TJSweet #MindsetMonday

  8. Jul 28

    The Hard Truth About Becoming Your Real Self

    Happy Mindset Monday! Who are you beyond your job title, achievements, relationships, responsibilities, and the expectations other people placed on you? In this episode of Living The Sweet Life, TJ Sweet sits down with author, speaker, podcast host, coach, and corporate leader Tetika Buchheit for an honest conversation about identity, healing, survival, strength, and human connection. Tetika came to the United States at 17 without speaking English. She went on to earn her doctorate, build a successful corporate career, lead and develop others, survive cancer, endure loss, and continue rising through life’s most difficult chapters. For years, achievement looked like thriving. But beneath the performance was a deeper need to reconnect with the person behind the titles. Tetika shares how she began moving from external approval toward authenticity, from survival toward healing, and from asking, “Why is this happening to me?” to asking, “What is this trying to teach me?” TJ and Tetika discuss: Why achievement does not always create fulfillmentHow survival habits can prevent us from thrivingWhat it means to be both strong and softWhy asking for help creates deeper connectionHow to forgive yourself for choices made with an earlier level of awarenessWhy waiting for an apology can keep you emotionally stuckHow to separate your identity from your painWhy being fully seen begins with showing people who you really areHow honest conversations create safety, healing, and belongingTetika leaves us with a powerful reminder: Every meaningful transformation begins with one honest moment. You do not need to have the entire path figured out. You only need enough courage to tell yourself the truth about where you are and what needs to change. Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/tetikabuchheit/ Listen to The Rise of You: A Truth Discovered:https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-rise-of-you-a-truth-discovered--6658837 Apple Podcasts:https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-rise-of-you-a-truth-discovered/id1821504549 Purchase Rise in Truth in paperback:https://www.amazon.com/Rise-Truth-Tetika-Buchheit/dp/B0FPQYFBT4 Purchase Rise in Truth on Kindle:https://www.amazon.com/Rise-Truth-Tetika-Buchheit-ebook/dp/B0FPBT1QK8 Website shared during the episode:https://ttalks.com Rise in Truth explores pain, healing, grace, and the process of accepting yourself as enough. Website:https://tjsweet.com Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/thetjsweet/ YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/@thetjsweet

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We all have moments of impact. What are you going to do with yours? That's the heart of Living The Sweet Life. Hosted by keynote speaker, author, and coach TJ Sweet, this is a show about who you are beneath the titles, achievements, and expectations others have handed you. Every Mindset Monday, TJ sits down with a guest who's lived something real, then gets honest about what it took. These conversations are about gratitude, purpose, and human connection, but they don't stay on the surface. They go to the moment that changed everything. New episodes every Monday. Come as you are.

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