Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Megan Miller. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Megan, thanks for joining us today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

Achievement. Getting the validation from the outside world that you’re worthy, it can become intoxicating. It can become addicting, like a drug. You’re always jonesing for the next ‘high’. You’ll sacrifice yourself at all cost for it & it squeezes the joy out of life & while you’re exhausted & beyond burnout & resentful & ashamed, you keep on doing it.

Hand raised. I have fought the drug of achievement for my 15 year corporate career. Thinking that happiness was on the other side of the promotion. After having a mental breakdown on the busiest highway in Philadelphia (talk about the irony in that) & for the first time seeing my life for what it was: exterior ‘success’ & an impressive resume but behind the mask, someone who was popping lexapro, binge drinking, $20k in debt, cutoff from those closest to me.

I realized that the core denominator in every decision of my life was me & if I wanted to change anything, I had to get to know the person I never took time to get to know: myself. This led me down a 7 year journey of learning & discovering & unpacking things I spent my whole life running from. I am now passionately leading & teaching others on the power of Intentional Living & science backed microsteps to move from information to action.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I got into this business of teaching & speaking on Intentional Living as a way to save myself & realized that if I needed these tools & this language & if it changed how I read the emails, showed up in the boardroom & at the dining room table, then others needed it as well.

We live in a consumerism world. We love a buzz word. We love to throw an app at you. We love to put the highlight reel of our life on social & it can feel like everyone has it figured out but you & instead of dealing with it, run to the thing to numb. The food, the booze, the overspending, or my personal favorite, the email.

If we want to change the way we show up at work, at home, and in every area of our life: we have to change the conversations we have with ourselves & that begins by doing the hardest thing there is to do: put down the mask you’ve been taught to hide behind. In our workshops, you leave feeling seen, you leave with a toolkit and you leave feeling inspired again & connected to yourself & those in that room. You don’t experience life, you experience the life you focus on. It is possible to create a life you can’t wait to wake up, not one you need a vacation from.

I am most proud of the vulnerable & real conversations, mask down & human first, that have resulted as I’ve had enough courage to put down my own mask (which I hide behind so for long) & here’s the really cool thing, there were people in my life for 20+ years that as I’ve shared my own journey, they have begun to share their own & I can now realize, that I am only know getting to know them, not the façade.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I’m still a work in progress that my achievements, the social following, the P&L, it does not dictate my worth.

As someone who has been addicted to achieving, who finds her validation in the outside world telling me that I’m worthy & I’m good and this constant desire to ‘get you to like me’, I’ve had to come to terms with the fact that not everything will land, not every workshop will go as planned, not everyone is going to like me, and not everyday am I going to have massive wins. When this happens, it is not a reflection on my worth, or my knowledge, or who I am as a person.

My advice to you, you brave soul who gave your vision life: your worth is not dictated by your achievements or what the P&L statement says.

There is one person that you need to ask before you make decision ‘does it feel right to me?’ and if it did, that’s what matters. And when it doesn’t go as planned (because it will), ask yourself ‘what did I learn here’ because when you look for the lesson, the scraps & the bruises that come with entrepreneurship, it won’t sting as bad.

We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.

I heard Sara Blakely say to Warren Buffet ‘ you have the best, easy to follow strategies on getting wealthy. Why don’t you think more people follow it?’ Warren had a mic drop moment ‘because no one wants to put in the work’

Our world loves to glamorize making your side hustle, your full time hustle & that once you do that, boom all is right in the world. Here’s the thing, there’s a whole new set of obstacles in entrepreneurship & it is a journey. Your mindset is the number one thing you need to focus on.

For the first two years, I moved into a consulting role with the organization I worked at for 15 years, so I could have the time to build up the business. There were a lot of times I had to ‘eat the sh*t sandwich’ do work I was no longer passionate about so that our family could afford the mortgage. As much as I wanted to throw in the towl, I kept going because I had this inner knowing that there were people out there struggling like I was who needed this content.

You have to celebrate the wins. You put up the website (celebrate it). You book your first customer (celebrate it). They come back again (celebrate it). It is EASY to get wrapped up in the insatiable appetite for constant growth that it can consume you. No one is going to write you a permission slip to celebrate you but you & you need to get in the habit of it early. I never did (still struggle with it) and I think what a disservice I did to myself.

Never underestimate the power of showing up with kindness & empathy. It’s not always about WIFFM (what’s in it for me). Some of the biggest highs that I’ve had in this journey has been making the connections, offering my own struggles & lessons learned & receiving the messages ‘you have no idea how much I needed that’ Kindness, it is free & when you show up with kindness, it’s amazing what comes back to serve you.     

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.megan-miller.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/megan.b.miller/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXNb7-EE27xaOHA-V0E9eYw
• Other: TEDx talk / Detoxing Off The Drug of Achievement: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_wJHAnlqzc

Image Credits
Gianna Balasco