John sits down with Dr. Abbie Maroño to discuss imposter syndrome, social media pressure, and finding your personal True North. Dr. Abbie shares her journey from becoming a professor at just 23 to working with organizations including the FBI and U.S. Secret Service. She also talks about her books, Work in Progress: The Road to Empowerment, The Journey Through Shame and The Upper Hand: Mastering Persuasion and Getting What You Want with the Science of Social Engineering, and explains why being open about our mistakes can actually make us more relatable and trustworthy. About Dr. Abbie Maroño: Dr. Abbie Maroño is a keynote speaker, behavioral scientist, and author, specializing in trust, influence, and nonverbal communication. She is known for challenging conventional thinking and translating complex behavioral science into practical insights that audiences can immediately understand and apply. Her interest in human behavior did not begin in a classroom. Growing up in an unstable and traumatic home, she learned early that no one was coming to save her. At 16, she faced a choice no child should have to make: continue down a path of addiction or fight for a different future. She chose the latter. That decision sparked a lifelong fascination with why people make the choices they do and how understanding human behavior can change the course of a life. Earning her PhD in Psychology, Dr Abbie became a Professor of Psychology at just 23 years old. She was later recognized by the U.S. Department of State for extraordinary ability in behavioral science and named one of Central Florida's 40 Under 40 by the Orlando Business Journal. She is the creator of The Upper Hand, a proprietary framework focused on trust, influence, communication, and decision-making. Dr Abbie has trained representatives from 29 U.S. federal agencies, including the U.S. Secret Service, FBI, and Department of Homeland Security, as well as senior leadership at INTERPOL. The U.S. Secret Service also recognized her contributions with an award for outstanding contribution to their forensic services. As a bestselling author, TEDx speaker, Forbes contributor, Court TV contributor, and media commentator, her work has been featured on BBC News, Fox News, WIRED, Reuters, Forbes Breaking News, Apple News, and many more outlets. She also provides expert witness services in matters involving behavioral analysis, nonverbal communication, and human behavior, including high-profile civil and criminal cases. Listen to this episode to learn more: [00:00] - Intro [02:17] - Dr. Abbie's bio [03:23] - Two very different books [06:08] - The myth of having it all together [09:25] - We're trained to wear masks [10:11] - Social media's impossible standards [11:50] - Finding your True North [13:08] - Dr. Abbie's personal principles that keep her grounded [16:04] - Don't let praise or criticism define you [19:26] - Pain is a prerequisite for purpose [22:09] - When John realized that he needed to work on himself [26:04] - Growth isn't new year, new me [30:13] - High life is a lie [33:27] - Happiness vs Joy [35:27] - Finding purpose and joy takes discipline [38:43] - How difficult retirement can be for professional athletes [42:37] - Adversity is a gift only when it's healed [45:51] - Dr. Abbie's childhood and addiction NOTABLE QUOTES: "If people can't relate to you, they will stop listening." "There's just some things that nobody should know. People don't need to know every little detail about our lives." "We don't need to hide ourselves, but we don't need to overshare everything." "Each of us has to have a true north, something that we can hold on to, no matter what. So that when those voices get loud, it's like that we can find a way to at least quiet them down a little bit, and then refocus that true north, so that we can continue to head in the direction we need to be heading." "Let people show you who they are and decide if that's enough for you. Stop trying to convince people that you're worth enough and that you deserve to be in their life, and they deserve to be in yours. Just let people be who they are." "We need principles to ground us when the money is coming in, when the work is going well, when everybody's looking at you like you're the best. It's so easy to lose sight of yourself. Money comes and goes so fast, and fame and success come and go so fast. If you don't have something to ground you, you're gonna falter." "Always remember, you're never as good as they say you are, and you're never as sad as they say you are. You're somewhere in the middle." "You can have very little and be so much happier than someone with everything. It's how you live in your head that determines how peaceful your life is." "When you find your bubble of happiness, you build an impenetrable bubble. You don't let outside words come in. You don't let outside perspectives come in. You protect that little bubble of happiness." "Pain is a prerequisite for purpose. You have to go through it. You don't bypass it. You don't ignore it. You don't pretend it doesn't exist, and you don't numb it. You have to work through it. That's how you get to purpose." "If you don't understand how someone can treat another person like that, it's a blessing." "If you can find something that brings you joy, don't let the world tell you you need all this other stuff. You don't need all this other stuff. It's great to have, but you don't need it to feel complete, and you don't need it to feel at peace." USEFUL LINKS: https://www.abbiemarono.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/drabbiemarono/ https://www.instagram.com/doctorabbieofficial/ https://www.facebook.com/DrAbbieofficial TEDx Talk "How to Turn Your Personal Shame Into a Source of Strength" - https://youtu.be/ptvCTuct4GE?si=A8vpm6D5n9UfG0Td The Upper Hand: Mastering Persuasion and Getting What You Want with the Science of Social Engineering - https://a.co/d/0ctZMkgv Work in Progress: The Road to Empowerment, The Journey Through Shame - https://a.co/d/04nYbXkh The Doctor Abbie Show - https://www.youtube.com/@TheDoctorAbbieShow CONNECT WITH JOHN Website - https://iamjohnhulen.com LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnhulen Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/johnhulen Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/johnhulen X - https://x.com/johnhulen YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@iamjohnhulen EPISODE CREDITS Intro and Outro music provided by Jeff Scheetz - https://jeffscheetz.com/
