Living The Sweet Life with TJ Sweet

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

I used to think winning at work meant losing something at home. I was wrong. Living The Sweet Life is the show for people who refuse to make that trade. Each week I sit down with leaders, coaches, and everyday people who are rebuilding what matters most: connection, gratitude, and purpose. Real conversations about what it actually takes to lead well and live well at the same time. You will hear practical frameworks you can use the next day. You will hear stories that make you rethink what you have been chasing. And you will walk away with one thing you can do differently immediately.

  1. 2d ago

    You've Been Living in Survival Mode So Long It Feels Normal

    Happy Mindset Monday! What if you have more capacity, agency and possibility than you’ve allowed yourself to believe? Dr. Stephanie Rimka joins me for a conversation about the nervous system, identity, belonging, anxiety, human connection and what it means to feel fully alive. I also share part of my own experience with anxiety and what changed when I stopped trying to hide what I was feeling. But the bigger question in this episode is simple: Are you living from who you really are, or from who you learned you were supposed to be? This is one of those conversations that may make you see part of your own life differently. Listen with an open mind. Then ask yourself: Where could I take back a little more agency in my life?

  2. Oct 12

    Most Arguments Aren't Really About What You Think

    Happy Mindset Monday! You can have the best intentions in the world and still create an impact you never meant to have. That is not an indictment of your character. It is part of being human. The question is whether we are willing to become aware of it. Charlotte Brenner and I went deep into that on this episode of Living The Sweet Life. Charlotte is the co-founder and Head of Growth and Strategic Partnerships at InnerVue, where she is helping people better understand how they see themselves and how the people around them experience them. Her work sits right at the intersection of self-awareness, relationships, growth, and human connection. Pasted text Charlotte explained something I think most of us need to hear: Self-awareness is not only an internal exercise. You can journal. You can meditate. You can go to therapy. All of that can be incredibly valuable. But you are still seeing yourself through one set of eyes. Sometimes the people who love you, work with you, live with you, and experience you regularly can show you something about yourself that you cannot see alone. The goal is not to let other people define you. The goal is to become curious enough to ask whether your impact matches your intention. That becomes especially important during conflict. Charlotte shared a concept she calls the undertruth. The thing we are fighting about is often not what we are actually fighting about. The dishwasher is not the problem. The late arrival is not the problem. The couch is not the problem. Underneath the argument, somebody may be saying: “I don’t feel seen.” “I don’t feel appreciated.” “I don’t feel safe.” “I feel like I’m doing this alone.” Getting to the undertruth does not eliminate hard conversations. It makes them more honest. And honest conversations give us a much better chance at connection. Pasted text We also talked about trust, feedback, self-belief, and why the people closest to you often have the most useful perspective because they are not commenting on a highlight reel. They have actually experienced you. Charlotte said something else that I loved: awareness gives you the ability to choose. You do not have to change everything somebody says about you. You do not have to become a different person. You just get more information. Then you decide. That is power. And toward the end, we got into something that means a lot to me personally: consideration. I described consideration as the desire to give effort before the effort is required. I do not want the people in my life to have to fall apart before I notice them. I want to pay attention. I want to ask. I want to know what is happening in their week. I want to see them. That is not only romantic love. That is friendship. Leadership. Family. Community. Human connection. Listen to the full episode and ask yourself: Where might there be a gap between the person I intend to be and the person other people are actually experiencing? That is not a question for shame. It is a question for curiosity.

  3. Oct 5

    The Hardest Thing to Let Go of Is Who You Used to Be

    Sometimes the things we believe are protecting us are actually the things keeping us stuck. That is one of the ideas that stayed with me after my conversation with Corey Schonhorst. Corey and I met about a year ago in St. Louis, and from the beginning there was one of those connections that did not really make logical sense. We just knew there was something worth staying connected to. That became part of this conversation too. Corey talked about how he used to think about relationships and connections through the question, “What does this person bring into my life?” Now he asks something different: Why were we brought into each other’s lives? Because sometimes you are receiving something from another person, and sometimes you may be the person they needed without even realizing it. That shift alone changes connection from something transactional into something meaningful. Pasted text From there, we went into a much deeper conversation about peace, insecurity, imposter syndrome, painful relationships, self-awareness, gratitude, and responsibility. Corey shared how he eventually realized that constantly trying to understand why someone else hurt him was keeping his attention on something he could not control. The bigger question became: What does this teach me about me? What do I want to do differently? How do I respond differently next time? That does not excuse anybody else’s behavior. It gives you your life back. One of the most powerful images from our conversation was Corey describing his past as armor that he had been carrying. Armor made out of insecurity. The belief that he was not enough. The fear of not being loved. The need for approval. And what he discovered was that peace did not come from making the armor stronger. It came from putting it down. Corey said his peace came from humility and his confidence came when he began letting go of arrogance, because arrogance had often been a shield for insecurity. Pasted text That led us into one of my favorite parts of the conversation: what do you actually do every day if you want to become more peaceful? Corey does not claim to have a perfect formula. He talked about replacing motivation with consistency. Writing down worries instead of carrying them through the entire day. Practicing gratitude. Praying. Moving his body. Learning something. Giving himself grace when he does not do everything perfectly. I think there is a lesson in that for all of us. You do not need to redesign your entire life tomorrow morning. Choose one thing. Five quiet minutes. One walk. One journal entry. One gratitude practice. One intentional conversation. Then see what happens. Because peace usually is not one huge decision. It is a series of small choices about how you are going to live. Listen to the full conversation with Corey Schondhorst on Living The Sweet Life. And ask yourself: What am I still carrying that I am finally ready to put down?

  4. Sep 28

    Before You Set Another Goal, Ask Yourself This...

    Happy Mindset Monday! Jobert Abueva says January 1st might be the worst time to become a new person. We've stripped the reflection out of the new year and replaced it with resolutions that fail by February. Jobert is a global marketing executive, TEDx speaker, and author of The Janus Plan, named after the two-faced Roman god who looks to the past and the future at once. His message is about the threshold, that in-between moment where one chapter ends and the next begins, and what happens when you pause there on purpose. His own threshold hit in a Hong Kong hotel room in 1997, burned out and unable to get out of bed after three years of a jet-set career. In this one: Why reflection is the missing step in the new year The good, the bad, and the ugly Thresholds and why every ending deserves a pause Why achievement kept leaving him empty Contribution over accumulation The "threshold brief" for corporate planning 📍 Jobert E. Abueva: joeabueva.com | The Janus Plan New episodes every Mindset Monday.Keynotes: TJSweet.com #LivingTheSweetLife #JobertAbueva #TheJanusPlan #TJSweet

  5. Sep 21

    The Best Salespeople Don't Try to Sell You

    Happy Mindset Monday! Have you ever had somebody try so hard to sell you something that you stopped listening before they were even finished? Most of us have. That is part of what Cam Tolman and I talk about in this episode of Living The Sweet Life. Cam is the founder of PitchDown and calls himself the non-sales sales coach. His belief is simple: everyone is in sales, but you do not have to act like a salesperson. His work focuses on helping people create movement through better conversations instead of pressure, persuasion, or manipulation. What I loved about this conversation is how quickly it moved beyond sales. We talked about curiosity. Trust. Listening. Leadership. Parenting. Purpose. Time. Connection. And what happens when you care more about understanding another person than getting the outcome you originally wanted. Cam shared a simple word he uses early in conversations: If. Let’s see if there is a reason for us to work together. Let’s see if what I have can actually help you. And if it cannot, I will tell you. That immediately gives the other person some space. They are no longer something to close. They are a person to understand. That is a very different energy. We also talked about how trust is built when people feel genuinely heard, why asking better questions often creates more movement than giving better answers, and how these same skills show up at home. One of the more vulnerable parts of the episode came when Cam talked about how he wishes he had translated some of these skills into his personal life sooner. That is something I think a lot of people can relate to. We spend years becoming better at communicating professionally and sometimes forget that the people we love deserve the most patient, curious, present version of us too. Later in the conversation, we talked about purpose inside organizations and why leaders cannot assume employees automatically understand the impact of their work. Sometimes people are one conversation away from remembering why what they do matters. That is leadership. And maybe the biggest idea beneath this entire episode is this: People do not need to be convinced nearly as often as they need to be understood. Listen to the full episode and then think about the conversations you are having this week. Are you listening to respond? Or are you listening to understand? Website:https://www.pitchdown.com/ LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/camerontolman/ Website:https://tjsweet.com Instagram:@thetjsweet LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/thetjsweet/ YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/@thetjsweet Connect with CamConnect with TJ

  6. Sep 14

    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

  7. 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

  8. 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?

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4.8
out of 5
28 Ratings

About

I used to think winning at work meant losing something at home. I was wrong. Living The Sweet Life is the show for people who refuse to make that trade. Each week I sit down with leaders, coaches, and everyday people who are rebuilding what matters most: connection, gratitude, and purpose. Real conversations about what it actually takes to lead well and live well at the same time. You will hear practical frameworks you can use the next day. You will hear stories that make you rethink what you have been chasing. And you will walk away with one thing you can do differently immediately.

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