So without further ado, here’s my really good friend Scott Mader from Inspired Stewardship. Let’s level up. Hey, time to Shine today, podcast Varsity Squad. Welcome back to another powerful edition of Time to Shine Today. I’m your host, Scott Ferguson. Blessed to be your gap coach. Specialize in the performance mental [00:01:00] conditioning, work with professional and amateur athletes, business leaders, entrepreneurs, entertainers, C-suite, and students to help them bridge their success gap and to live a life of options and not obligations on this platform.

We are stoked to bring you high performers. Who are not just chasing and attaining success, but redefining it through, providing above and beyond service and today’s squad, I’m bringing the heat. With a guest who’s on a mission to help you live your life on purpose, not by accident. Scott Mader is the founder of Inspired Stewardship where he helps Christian men and couples align their time, talent, and treasures so they can live authentically, serve boldly, and provide powerfully.

He’s also the author of Inspired Living, which I’m gonna have a two book giveaway towards the end squad, so make sure you stick around, which the book is a powerful guide to mastering your calling. It was published by Morgan James in July, 2024. So get ready. Varsity Squad. Scott’s here to help you level up your life with clarity, purpose, and impact.

And Scott, thank you so much for coming on. Please introduce yourself to the Time to Shine Today, podcast Varsity Squad. The first, what’s your favorite color and why? [00:02:00] What’s

Scott Maderer: my favorite color? Blue is actually my favorite color and I’m wearing a blue shirt today, so there you go. You had, you

L. Scott Ferguson: had some double, it’s in your color wheel,

Scott Maderer: man.

It looks great. No, actually I, yeah, that’s one of the reasons I like it is it actually is in my color wheel and, and my wife will tell you, I’m actually the color person in our household, so she does tons of crafts, but I have to go with her to the craft store to pick out yarn and all of that because I’m the guy that can match colors like.

I can’t do that. So you gotta come

L. Scott Ferguson: with me and I’m a flip flop. My fiance, she makes sure I match. ’cause I’ll walk out with purple and something else on, ? So No, seriously man. I appreciate you coming here. I know that you’re highly sought after and thank you for carving the time to come on.

Absolutely love to hear. Kind of the origin story of kinda where you started. You, you like myself, I’m unabashedly Christian. And love my, love my Lord, love my savior, and people out there listening. And thank you again squad for making us the top 2% podcast globally. And it’s because we bring on people like Scott here, a fellow Christian, a friend of mine.

So let’s hear your, [00:03:00] let’s hear your origins here, Scott. Like kind of where you kinda started and how you get to providing the powerful, i’s say anecdote sometimes. Know the powerful energy to, to the people.

Scott Maderer: Well, I think like a lot of us, the journey that I have has definitely not been a straight line.

It’s not something where I sit down, , at 12 years old and I said, this is what I will be for the rest of my life. , It’s more of a. Ah, what do I wanna be when I grow up? And you just kind of keep asking that question over and over again. You know, I’m 57 now and I’m still asking what do I wanna be when I grow up?

You grow, you grow. I haven’t, I haven’t figured it out yet. Right. My joke is when I started my podcast, I’m like, I’m committed to doing it for six months. That was like three and a half years ago. I, I just, I haven’t figured out whether I like it or not. You’re chilling, , I’m still doing it.

Fantastic

L. Scott Ferguson: by the way.

Scott Maderer: Yeah. It’s that kind of idea, even there, so when I started, my, my father was a small business owner when I was growing up. He did other things as well, but by, by the time I was kind of of age, he was a small business owner. I’ve always been kind of that entrepreneurial. So I started my first business when I was 12 years old.

I started a painting business, I went and got the jobs, [00:04:00] but I figured out, ’cause I lived in South Texas, it was like, , 120 degrees. So I didn’t necessarily wanna do all the painting. So I hired my friends to do the painting and I just went the jobs and, , got the difference. And so it was truly a business.

I mean, it was. , I was doing all of the stuff that a business owner does. I did that, I kind of worked in different things. I’ve, I’ve done all of the stuff. Sure. And then when I went to college, I was like, , I really want to help people, so I’m gonna become a medical researcher. Sure. Because in my mind, , that was a good way of, of helping people.

So I went to love that college, did hard science stuff, started doing research work, and figured out that research work was about 90% chasing grant money. And about 10% actually doing research work.

L. Scott Ferguson: I went, wow,

Scott Maderer: I really don’t wanna chase Grant running the rest of my life. That’s not really what I wanna do.

So I pivoted and I kind of went into, my mother was always a school teacher, so I went into school teaching ’cause it was something I kind of knew. Sure. I’ve always been that kid that other people went to for help. , I was always tutoring kids. That’s part of the way I paid [00:05:00] for college, is I tutored the football team, , which is, it’s good idea when you’re kind of the skinny nerd kid to tutor the football team.

Nobody picked on me. Right. , It’s like, , all those big guys showing up going, really? You don’t, don’t leave him alone. He’s helping me pass chemistry. It’s like, okay, you go. That’s a great way to, . Figure that one out, right? It’s like, , you’ve got the, the whole team on your side, right?

So you’re kind of going through and I’m doing that. I was always that helper kid. So I’m like, okay, I’ll, I’ll become a teacher ’cause that’s something I can do. Yeah. So I did teaching for 16 years. Loved it. I really enjoyed pouring into the kids, , it’s not the content stuff even. Yeah. It was the, the times that you’re talking to ’em about their life and what’s going on and, what do they wanna be when they grow up, and all of those deeper conversations.

That’s the real. I you’ll, if you ask most teachers, that’s what they love, , the, the Absolutely.

L. Scott Ferguson: Yeah.

Scott Maderer: The, the doing the other stuff is kind of, we have to do that ’cause that’s what they pay us to do. Right, right. But, but that’s really the stuff that jazzes you. But teaching’s also really hard. And so at that time, my wife and I had gotten into a lot of debt.

We were struggling with, with [00:06:00] that, , school teachers surprise, surprise, they don’t get paid very much. Yeah. And, and it’s abolishment that, that’s, that’s crazy. By the, yeah. At that time I was making like 40,000.

L. Scott Ferguson: Yeah, I

Scott Maderer: was maybe about like 40 KA year. Right. And, and I had like 50, $60,000 in debt. Yeah.

And so it’s kind of one of these things of, wow, this, this is facing me. So I actually became suicidal because of it. I was beginning to think about taking my life. At that time I’d kind of moved away from the church. I was dealing with a lot of spiritual pain and, , just kind of that dark night of the soul kind of time period.

As things kind of came into my life, , at the time, coincidentally, now I look at it and realize, no, that was God putting the right messages, , in front of me. I began to realize that maybe I could do something about this if I would stop kind of hiding from my wife and actually open up to her and work together.

And we were pretty close to divorce. , Again, I was suicidal. I was planning to. Tried to take my life in a way that insurance would pay out insurance because, , she’d be taken care of [00:07:00] and all of this. And of course all of that’s baloney. I, I know that now. Yeah. But that’s, that’s what I was going through at the time.

And so we kind of, I went and sat down and talked to her and I said, , I’m hearing this Dave Ramsey guy on the radio at night when I’m driving home at like midnight because of teaching all day. And then I worked on science fair, and so I was often leaving school. Very late at night, and then I had like an hour and 40 minute commute.

So I’m on that long drive home. That’s when I was having all these dark thoughts. Yeah. And all of a sudden this message came in that maybe there was something I could turn it around. And so I went to her and I said, , hey, I’m listening to this stuff. And she said, really? Dave Ramsey? I’m listening to it during the day.

So she’d listen to the broadcast every day. That’s right there, man. That is God. I’d listen at night. Now, like I said, at the time it was a coincidence. Now it’s like, no, that’s not a coincidence. Wow. That’s awesome. You, that’s a miracle. Yeah. And so she’s like, well, yeah, we could do this. We could turn this around.

, I, I’m, she actually, by the way, I was protecting her and hiding all of the stuff from her. Yeah. She knew everything that was going on. ’cause , she’s a smart lady. Sure. And she’s like, we can turn this around. [00:08:00] Let’s do it. And so we completely upended the way we live. Wow. We ended up, by the end of it, in two years, 11 months, I am not allowed to round that to three years.

My wife will kill me. It was two years, 11 months. We paid off $78,842 and like 56 cents. Not that I owe it to the pity. Not at all. And by the way, you’ll notice at the beginning I said we were like 50, 60,000, and at the end I said we paid off over 70. Yeah. In the middle of that journey. I changed jobs, I changed careers, and I had two emergency surgeries for a collapsed lung.

Oh, wow. Which by the way, one of ’em was in December and one was in January, which if how insurance works, that’s really poor planning. You couldn’t wait the extra few days. Yeah. It’s like if I could have just. Pushed over a couple of days. They boat happened in January, but I walked around for three days with a collapsed lung before I finally went to the emergency room.

So my wife calls that testosterone poisoning. You may be familiar with it. Those of of you that are guys very, that are listening. Yeah. Yeah. And, and ladies, y’all, y’all also know what we’re talking about. Yeah. It [00:09:00] it’s because at the time I was selling cars, I’d left teaching, , I started selling cars and okay, it’s the end of the month in December.

That’s a big time. So I was like, oh no, I’m just gonna push through. I’m gonna push through. Finally, after about three days, I ended up getting rushed to the emergency room, had a collapsed lung. Is it hereditary?

L. Scott Ferguson: Scotty or Scotty? No, it’s called it.

Scott Maderer: It’s called I’m, I’m a tall, skinny, white guy. So it turns out that people who are tall, thin, and white have about a 20% clan chance of having what they call a spontaneous nemothorax fancy way of saying.

Collapsed lung and we don’t know why it happened, ? And it turns out that I’d actually had a collapsed lung before and didn’t know it because when they went in later to do surgery the first time, they just reinflated it, sent me home after about a week. But then. About three weeks later, I’m back in the emergency room and it turns out it had re collapsed.

It opened itself back up and it re collapsed. Got it. So now they had to actually go in and remove part of the lung and do surgery and all of that. Mm. And when they went in to remove the lung, they said, when did you have a [00:10:00] collapsed lung? The other two times? And I’m like. I’ve only had it once and they’re like, no, you had another one.

We found the scar tissue. Same lung.

L. Scott Ferguson: Same lung. Same lung.

Scott Maderer: All on the same side. Okay. So apparently when I was about 16 years old, I got hit in the chest with a baseball. Okay. And apparently had a collapsed lung and didn’t know it. Did one of the athletes, you,

L. Scott Ferguson: they failed their test and they just threw it at you or something?

Yeah, it was a boy. It was at Boy Scout

Scott Maderer: camp and, and somebody had a long fly and I’m not much of an athlete, so instead of catching it with my hands, I caught it with my chest. Wow. , I thought I was gonna catch it with my hands, but it plowed into me. And so, yeah. Apparently it had collapsed my lung and we didn’t even know it.

So I did all of that, had all of that debt from the medical, my wife and I turned our life around, started doing things different. Hmm. I then went to work for corporate. I was writing tests for a living. In the words of my students, I went from. , Teaching to testing. So I joined the dark side. They they, they were not impressed, but honestly, again, it was still part of that same thing of helping others, [00:11:00] connecting to others.

It was still in that same kind of purpose. Yeah. But it was a different way and in, and in corporate, what I loved was developing the leaders and working with clients. Again, it was that working with people stuff, it was developing people. Was the part that jazzed me. It wasn’t just writing the test questions.

L. Scott Ferguson: Right.

Scott Maderer: And I had moved up into leadership. I was a senior leader and , flying all over the country, big budget, big team, all of those things. But at the same time, simultaneously, people started realizing, my wife and I were living in a way that was really different. Hmm. We’d rejoined church and we kind of started turning our life away and we’re talking about what we’re doing.

We had the opportunity to give our testimony on stage in Houston in front of like 5,000 people. , All of these different things. Yeah.

L. Scott Ferguson: And

Scott Maderer: so people started coming to us and going, , how are you doing this? Could you help us? Wow.

L. Scott Ferguson: Oh wow.

Scott Maderer: And I’m like. Sure we could, we could help you. I have no idea what that is, but we can, , we’ll figure it out.

Let’s go. And so I started learning and training. My wife and I went through several different trainings on coaching and what is that? [00:12:00] How does that work? Yeah. And how, how do you actually engage with people in a way that helps them change their life? ’cause guess what? Standing in front of someone and saying.

Just do what I tell you. Doesn’t work. Doesn’t work. , They go, they gotta come with no. , By the way, if you don’t believe that, try that with anyone that you love, like your kids or your wife. See how long that operates for you. It won’t. Right. , Our boss with employees, see how long it works for you.

It only works for a certain amount of time. Right. But as I kind of did all of that and started draining and learning, we started working with people first as a ministry, just kind of benevolence. And then people started saying, Hey, we need what we, we wanna pay you for this. So. Started painting. So what ended up happening kind of by accident is we started a part-time coaching business and then over the next six years I grew that from a part-time business to, Hey, this is what I wanna do full-time.

Yeah, this is really my passion, this is really my calling. This is what we wanna do. And so I left the corporate gig. Started my own business and then converted it to full-time, and now I’ve worked with over a thousand clients in over 20 countries, over [00:13:00] 38 states, . Beautiful. My commute is a ton better.

It’s about 30 seconds in 30 to the Zoom office stuff. Yeah, yeah, because I’ve just, I’m, I’d worked virtual and so that because of that I get to work with people all over the world and Yeah. Help them do the same sort of thing, which is figure out what is it you’re supposed to be doing. And then, okay, now I know what I’m supposed to be moving towards.

I have a target. How do I get the excuses out of the way? Because the two most common excuses that people tell me for why they can’t do things. Right. Is because I don’t have enough time. Yep. Or I don’t have enough money. Yep. Yep. And so those are the two areas that I really focus on. Here’s the trick.

Those are the symptoms. That’s what people think they need help with. Yep. The truth is, all I ever work on is talent. Mm-hmm. Which is kind of the middle. I call myself a stewardship coach. Time. Yep. Talent and treasures. That’s great. I only work on talent. ’cause at the end of the day, it’s not about how you handle your time, it’s not about how you handle your money, it’s about how you handle yourself.

Yeah. And, and what I

L. Scott Ferguson: love that you [00:14:00] kind of. Kinda said a little bit under your breath is that you’re a coach and not a consultant, right? Not a consultant co. Absolutely. Consult, consult squad. The co consult consultants. Well, I’ve tried this before in my coaching and kind gave a recommendation to a client and he, he, he plays major League baseball and he went and had the worst game ever.

And he is like, Fergi, you’re an idiot. Right? Instead of sticking with his strengths. And , I believe everyone knows what they want. They just don’t how to talk themselves into it. And that as coaches through the, are I, I’m sure your superpower is like mine, curiosity. Mm-hmm. Right. We ask those questions and all of a sudden you see that light bulb go off and, and it goes.

So to that point, if you are maybe in a discovery conversation with a prospect, they’re coming to you, they’re like, I want Scott Mader to coach me. You are making sure you’re the right horse for the course, right? Mm-hmm. So. Is there any secret sauce, if you don’t mind sharing that you might use to help them kind of shine a light on that blind spot that they’re making excuses about and , stuff like that.

Scott Maderer: A lot of times, , it, it’s, it’s exactly what you [00:15:00] said. It’s getting your curiosity hat on. And I actually even use that language. I actually train other people how to be coaches. Phrases from another mother,

L. Scott Ferguson: man

Scott Maderer: is, , put, put your curiosity hat on, put your curiosity hat on. Literally, I have a note sitting on my desk that says, ask more questions.

Yes. And because it’s like, oh my gosh, when we’re done, I’m gonna flip my camera and show you something. Yeah. ? Yeah. It’s the same thing because it’s like, if, if I. It’s not about telling someone the answer, it’s about helping them discover it. Now, that doesn’t mean that there’s not times that you can give ’em a tool or a technique or something to try, but I always looked at it as a continuum where at one end is pure coaching.

Which is really just asking questions, getting curious that thing, and all the way at the other end is sort of the consulting, which is you have a specific problem, I have a specific tool, let me implement the tool to fig, to solve your problem. Right. It’s not that consulting’s bad. No. It’s just, it’s different.

Sometimes you have to become a coach. Salt sometimes. Absolutely. [00:16:00] Right? Yeah. So I even tell my clients like, okay, I’m taking my coach hat off and I’m putting on my consulting hat for a minute. , And let me, you’re

L. Scott Ferguson: doing the

Scott Maderer: same

L. Scott Ferguson: dude. I Exactly. Metaphor. Yeah. Okay, cool. Or, or

Scott Maderer: , Here, hey, let me go, , right now I’m going be in teaching mode.

, I’m gonna educate you on something. Let me give you some definitions. Well, so right now I’m gonna be in mentor mode. Yeah. , The way I tell ’em that is. Especially when I’m talking to a younger couple or something, I’m like, this is no longer Coach Scott. This is old gray-haired, married guy Scott.

Right, right. , Lemme give you, lemme give you some, some old gray-haired guy advice, ? Right. So it’s, I, I tell ’em when I’m in those different modes, because all of those modes are powerful. They just have different purposes. Yeah. And I think a lot of times as a coach. We go too quickly to answering the question.

Yes. And we don’t spend enough time. Yes. In that curiosity. So good. I call it the refocus phase. Yes. We go straight to plan, ? Yes. Here’s the plan. Go execute on the plan. The truth is 90% of the time needs to be spent at that beginning. So it’s refocused, gain control. Set a plan is kind of the framework [00:17:00] I use.

Go

L. Scott Ferguson: back to neutral, right?

Scott Maderer: Go all the way back to the beginning and so , what are the questions, , what do you wanna be when you grow up? What are the things that have been passionate for you? , One of the exercises I do with clients is I have ’em sit down and write a. On a piece of paper, everyone could do this.

Three columns, right? Left hand column, middle column, right hand column, left hand column. Just start writing down everything you’ve done in your life. And I don’t just mean things you’ve gotten paid for, I mean things you’ve, yeah. Done. , I got married, I had a kid, I was a camp counselor when I was 13.

, I swim on the weekends, whatever. I don’t care. Everything that you can brainstorm, right? And this is one of those things where I, I’d spend like a week on this, , keep coming back to it. Do, don’t just sit down and do it in one fell swoop, right? And then in the middle column. Write down for each of those activities, write down things about that activity that you loved, things that gave you joy, things that gave you energy, things that, that brought your soul alive.

, Those, what was it about that activity that brought you joy? [00:18:00] And by the way, even if you think there’s, oh no. When I was at that period of my life, there was nothing. Baloney. I challenge you to find something, , because there’s always some little piece that you forgot about, right? That was like, oh yeah, well there was that, ?

Put it down. Put it down, and then the last column put down the things that drained you about that activity, the things that stole energy from you, the things that , you felt like this, man, if I’d ever had to do this again, this would be awesome. Put those down. And then it’s sitting down with that big long list and starting to look for patterns.

Starting to look in there. What keeps showing up in the I love column. What keeps showing up in the I hate column? Yeah. , And what you wanna do. Is begin to bring your life in alignment where there’s more of the love showing up and less of the hate showing up. Yeah. And if you do, and it’s never gonna be perfect.

I mean, I always tell people the laundry still has to get washed. Sure. , There’s still stuff that has to be done just because you’re alive and you gotta [00:19:00] suck it up and do it. And nobody loves it, but do it anyway. Yeah. But there’s other stuff, but you could get more and more of your life in alignment then you’re moving that direction.

Right. And so that’s an example of something. Not necessarily in a prospect call because that’s too early. We haven’t gotten to that point, but getting clients to begin to discover what is those things that are really bringing them, bringing them the joy, feeding their soul. Yeah. And I, and I love that, like,

L. Scott Ferguson: I’m glad that you made the distinction.

I, I put my clients in a car. In their car. If I’m blessed to coach ’em here in South Florida, I do that. I go out to one. I want to kind of see how their car looks, is I can kind of coach around that as well. Also if they, they’re a Zoom or a FaceTime client, I kind of put ’em in their car and they put ’em in their driver’s seat.

And I say this, this mirror right here, it’s small, this small for a reason. That’s your pass. I can’t help you there. I don’t have the alphabet after my name. Right. It’s, , that’s therapist, this windshield. Oh my gosh. Big scary. Where are we going? ? And then, but. Since 2011, they’ve been putting this thing on the dash and now you can actually carry it in your pocket [00:20:00] as a GPS.

And that I’m their GPS. Mm-hmm. And , they, I can’t buckle their seatbelt. They so choose to start the car and drive, but if they hit one of those things or one of those things that’s draining them, they hit it again, we can help ’em Course correct. Course correct. Yeah. Yeah. And it, it’s like, I don’t believe in.

Balance so much. I’m a harmonic coach, kind of like I agree. Name of my book coming out, squat, harmonic, hustle. But anyways, it’s, , I love jazz, right? And so like I’ll sit and listen to a jazz band and I’ll say like, God, are spiritual is your drums. I’ll say, the horns might be your family. Personal growth might be the piano.

Throw the other eight pillars of what we have in life. If one of them’s outta tune, right? It sounds like junk. But all we have to do is just tune that up, get balance within the harmony, and then we’re tuning it up. Yeah. And to that point. If you’re maybe sitting in that discovery session and you’re starting to work, and , I love that the, the three columns, , with, , with everything you’ve done, everything you loved about everything that drains you, , is there any question that you [00:21:00] wish they would ask you but never do.

Scott Maderer: That’s a good question. The, the most common thing that I think probably people overlook asking when they’re sitting down with a coach. Yes, please. And, and this is gonna sound funny at first, but lemme say Tune Squad is, do you have a coach? Thank you

L. Scott Ferguson: dude. Because I, I can tell you’re a true coach. ’cause that is exactly, I,

Scott Maderer: I love it when people ask me that ’cause it’s like, no.

Yeah, lemme give you a list. I got a lot, , and I’ve got ones I’m working with now. I’ve got ones I used to work with. I’ve got ones I’m going to work with. Yeah. , I’ve got quote coaches I’ve hired and then of course I’ve got virtual coaches too that are, , people that have poured into my life through books and other things.

Right. But I’ve got, , all sorts of different places, places for that. Yeah. Because I think so often I’ve seen coaches that are like. Oh, coaching’s powerful. I believe in coaching, it’s like, well, how many coaches have you worked with? None.

L. Scott Ferguson: Yeah. Yeah.

Scott Maderer: Isn’t that kind of a little hypocritical?

L. Scott Ferguson: Right. It’s, it is crazy. So, have you seen the movie Back to the Future? [00:22:00] Yes. I have 40 years ago. Like literally this month? Yeah. A million years ago now, it seems like. So let’s get that delore back

Scott Maderer: in the late 19 hundreds. Right.

L. Scott Ferguson: Let’s get, let’s get that Delore with Marty Mc Fly. Right. Let’s let, let’s go back to the double deuce, the 22-year-old Scott.

What knowledge nuggets would you drop on him? Not to change anything. Okay. Because God had a plan for you. Mm-hmm. But to maybe help you. Shorten a learning curve or blast through maybe

Scott Maderer: just a little bit quicker. The one thing that I, I kind of realize now with maturity that I did not realize as, as a yes, please, a younger person, is our life is a film strip, not a photograph.

Oh my gosh, that’s strong. Say that again. Our life is a film strip, not a photograph, because I think so often. We look at whatever it is so cool. , We’re on the top of the world. Yeah. It’s like, wow, man, everything’s awesome. It’s always gonna be awesome. Yeah. Or when things are bad. Oh, it’s bad [00:23:00] Things are always gonna be bad.

Yes. And the truth is, neither one of those is true. ? Yes. You’re not always gonna be at the top of the world, and you’re not always gonna be at the bottom of the barrel. Thank you for saying this, man. Yes. Everything’s fine. And that’s okay. Yeah. That that’s not a bad thing. Yes. Even. It that even those high moments are temporary.

, It’s, it’s ’cause I think a lot of times we think that’s bad and it’s like, no, that’s not bad. That’s just life. Yes. But what is powerful is learning to dance with that kind of moment. , Learning to have those moments where you can lean into it, that’s what gives you contentment, which is different than happiness, ?

Mm. Happiness is those temporary moments. , Happiness is, your son is born and you get to hold him for the first time. That that’s a. Pinnacle moment. Yes, yes. But it’s also finite, , it only lasts so long. That

L. Scott Ferguson: is my state, that is my speech tonight in Dallas. Everything’s fine. Really?

Yeah, it is. Everything’s finite. Whether if I’m like, Hey, i, I, I booked a big speaking gig for you, Scott, and you’re like, yeah, I’m going to see Fergie man. [00:24:00] Yeah, we’re gonna hang out in Fort Lauderdale. We’re gonna go rock the stage, but guess what? You gotta go home. It kind of ends. Mm-hmm. Right? It is. And so I call it overlapping your happiness.

It’s like find something, whether it’s. Complimenting somebody or going out and doing something for your body, , get the movements medicine, go out and do that. Right. And, and that, that’s just overlapping the happiness and just keep it going. ’cause I have a lot, I’m speaking in front of a lot of C-suite people that don’t do that tonight.

Absolutely. And just getting them going. So how does Scott want is Dash remembered? That little line in between your incarnation date and your expiration date. Hopefully it’s way down the line, but your life date and death date. How does Scott want that dash remembered?

Scott Maderer: I, I always wanna say that at the end of the day, I want people to look back and say, Scott helped level up people.

I, I want my impact to be that. , And again, I’m, I know you, I know that’s your words, but I’m, I I’m not saying that just ’cause it’s on the screen with No, I appreciate you brother. It’s that idea of reaching out to people and just, , if, if I helped anyone take a half a step forward [00:25:00] yes. Then I’ve done what I was supposed to do, ?

Yeah. It’s, I, I don’t care if I took, made them take 10 steps. Yeah. Half a step, a quarter of a step. I just don’t wanna bring people backwards. Yeah. ? Yeah. And I know I’ve done that in my life, ? I know there’s times that I’ve impacted, I’ve been a negative influence. I’ve impacted people negatively.

Yeah. But every day it’s like, okay, what can I do to make today? Where I have less of those and more of the, Hey man, you, that, those two words you said to me, that one little thing you did, it really changed something. Yes. Okay. Awesome. Then I’ve done my job today. , I’ve, I’ve lived a good day.

Yes. Because, and that could be with people that, , my wife, my mother, my son, my friends, my family. Yeah. A client. I, I don’t, it could be that person in the. Grocery store aisle where , Hey, you want me to get that off the top shelf for you? Yes, absolutely. ’cause you absolutely, you seem like you’re struggling here.

Lemme get it for you. ? Yeah. It, it doesn’t have to be big impact to be big impact. Right. , Again, I was suicidal for a period, , some of the times that it made me not feel that way [00:26:00] mm-hmm. Was when somebody held a door open for me or smiled at me or said, Hey, I hope you have a good day today.

? Yeah. It little bitty things. But they were big to me because of where my mind and soul was at that period, act as. So, , I needed things that fed my soul. Right. And so I think a lot of times we think about all these things that we do as so small. Right. And don’t realize that they’re huge.

Right. , And they ripple out into the world and have effects on other people. Yes. Thank

L. Scott Ferguson: you for saying that. I mean, the, the ripple effect, and one thing I’ve noticed in Scott is that you do what you love in the service of people that love what you do. Like, you do what you love. You love coaching people, but people that see you coaching or get coached by you, they know you love it.

Mm-hmm. Yeah. You do what you love and I, I, I love that. So what do you think then, Scott, people might misunderstand the most about you?

Scott Maderer: , I’m an introvert. Really. I’m actually somebody. Yeah. I’m, I’m somebody that, it, it all of the things like [00:27:00] learning. I, I love public speaking, but I’m an introvert and people are like, isn’t that contradictory?

And it’s like, well, no, actually it’s not because when I’m doing public speaking, I’m kind of in control. Right. , And I, I have a, I, I like to be in control. I like to, to understand how things operate. That’s that curiosity thing coming in again, ? Mm-hmm. I wanna understand the stuff behind it.

Sure. And so, as an introvert, a a lot of times I think people mistake enthusiasm and energy and, and fun and all of those things with, oh, well, you , he must be like this all the time, yeah. It’s like, no, no, not, ? Yeah. Just, just ask my wife. , There literally, there’s days at the end of the day, my wife looks at me and goes.

You’ve peopled as much as you can today. You just need some quiet time. Right? It’s like, yep, that’s it. I’m done. People like, I, I just need to leave. Just leave me alone for half an hour. Lemme recharge my batteries and then I can, can you get alone at a restaurant? I

L. Scott Ferguson: will. Absolutely. Yeah.

Scott Maderer: It doesn’t bother

L. Scott Ferguson: me about it.

You and I are like brothers from different mothers or something. ’cause I’m this same way. I’m boisterous, ? [00:28:00] I, I’m six one, I’m two four. I’m pretty well put together. I’m a big guy. People expect that guy all the time. Big energy. Yeah, dude. I will sit in a coffee shop by myself and be content. Oh yeah.

When, when I’m traveling for speaking, a lot of people, they want your time and you graciously give it to ’em. You’re blessed to do it, but I cannot wait to go find a animal shelter to volunteer at or something just so I can do something. It’s on my own. That’s away from people. My Susan says the same thing.

He goes, she says the exact same words and you can ask her, you’re peopled out, right? Mm-hmm. And I’m like, yep. Alright, cool. Let’s put on a Netflix or still right. Go get a little quiet time and you’ll be okay. So Scott, what is. Your definition of a life well lived?

Scott Maderer: I think it’s living the life. That is two things.

One is intentional living a life on purpose. I think so often people haven’t done the work to actually become aware of what’s going on, and that awareness step is so important.

L. Scott Ferguson: Yeah.

Scott Maderer: Of, , what is it? [00:29:00] That is your passion. What is it that brings you joy? We don’t think about those things, , and we don’t do that intentionality.

And then the second thing is living in a life of alignment. , To me, an inspired life is living a life that’s in alignment. Meaning you’ve done the work to figure out what you want, and then you’ve begun to align your life with that. It it. Notice, I said begin to align your life with it. It’s, it’s a discovery process.

It, we think of finding our calling as a destination, and it’s not, it’s always a journey.

L. Scott Ferguson: Yeah.

Scott Maderer: It, it’s the route that we take. That’s the thing that matters. It’s the, and guess what, , you asked earlier about telling myself, but not changing things. I have the same philosophy. It’s like I’m not gonna have regrets about anything that I did, good or bad, because it’s made me who I am today.

L. Scott Ferguson: Right.

Scott Maderer: And I’m, and I’m happy with who I am today.

L. Scott Ferguson: But

Scott Maderer: guess what? I hope I’m happier with who I am in five years too. Right? Yeah. Otherwise, I, , otherwise why I wasted the last five years because I didn’t do anything to grow. ? [00:30:00] So it’s that, that idea of continuing to be on that, that journey of, of our calling, that’s what I want people to discover and do.

That’s what I call living an inspired life when it’s intentional. Yeah. And it’s an alignment. And I love that you say

L. Scott Ferguson: consistent movement. Like Psalms 23, , I walk through the valley, right? You’re consistently. It’s active and active and I love that.

Time to Shine today, podcast Varsity Squad. We are back. And Scott, one of these trips to Texas. We’ll have to meet Midway in those 90 minute drives or something and maybe talk about some of these. Spend 15, 20 minutes on each question, but today you got five seconds with no explanations and I promise you they can all be answered that way.

You ready to level up? I’m ready to go. Alright. Alright. Scott, what is the best leveling up advice you’ve ever received?

I think consistency. Love it. I. Share what of your personal habits that contributes to your success? Consistency. I give the same answer every

Scott Maderer: time. No, I, , honestly, [00:31:00] it’s, it’s being, I’m gonna use a different word. It’s intentionality. In that case, it’s being intentional. That’s beautiful.

L. Scott Ferguson: So you see me kinda walking down the street, maybe I’m in my doldrums.

Is that a networking event? Other than the good book? What book might you hand me that really has kind of flipped a switch for you to level you up mindset wise?

Scott Maderer: , The biggest one that’s recently made a, an impact on me is the five hats nice book. The, , I, I just read it. I, for some reason I missed it.

Right. I just read it and I’m like, oh, this is good. Right. Good. Sorry, explanation. It’s, I’ll shut up. No, no, it’s good. Right? I mean, I’ll

L. Scott Ferguson: break my rule on that one. So, Scott, any your most commonly used emoji when you text?

Scott Maderer: Probably smiley face. All right. Or winking. Wildly winking face. Actually, now that I think about it, , nicknames growing up.

Shadow Spirit was actually my nickname. Love that. Because I was good at hiding. I love that. So, any other than hiding, is there any hidden talent and or superpower that nobody knows about until now? Well, we talked about it earlier, [00:32:00] curiosity. Love it. Me too. Awesome. Chest checkers a monopoly. Chess. All right.

L. Scott Ferguson: Headline for your life. Inspired, yeah. Go to ice cream flavor. Oh cookie dough. There you go. There’s a sandwich called the shadow spirit. Build that

Scott Maderer: sandwich. What are we eating? Probably have a little bit of everything. So, ham, salami. Oh man. Roast beef. Swiss cheese. American cheese. Cheddar cheese.

Oh yes. Lettuce. No tomatoes. I’m allergic. Maybe some man candy. Throw a little bacon on there. Bacon, definitely. Actually, yeah. What is the sandwich without bacon? Right, exactly. And some sort of fancy bread. Something with some cheese in it. Baked into it, , ice.

L. Scott Ferguson: Yeah. We can hang out anytime.

Favorite charity and or organization like to give your time and or money to.

Scott Maderer: I’m actually on the board for a group called AOR that works with Neurodivergent Folks. Go deeper with that. What does that mean? Nor so AOR is to, we’re working to set up a community where high performing autistic and [00:33:00] neurodivergent folks could actually have a place to live that isn’t like a group home, but it’s more they’re living independently, but there’s still some support for ’em.

Okay. It’s kind of for those people that are in between. They’re high performing enough that they’re never gonna, but yet they can’t really ever live completely on their own. On their own. So we’re, we’re attempting to build that. And so we work with the neurodivergent community on education and , folks on how that, how to work with them.

So we’ve worked with like law enforcement and other groups on that. Thank you for doing that. And, and Donnie get,

L. Scott Ferguson: send him an email and get that info. Okay, thanks. Awesome. Last question. Best decade. Decade of music. Sixties, seventies, eighties, or nineties. Best music. Sixties.

Scott Maderer: Sixties. What do you like about the sixties?

I like the fact that I can understand the lyrics and yes, that is my age showing up. I love it.

L. Scott Ferguson: Yeah. What, you graduated right, right, right. Around 84, 85.

Scott Maderer: I graduated in, yeah, 84.

L. Scott Ferguson: 84, okay. Yeah, my Susan graduated in 83 and she always says [00:34:00] the sixties. Also, I’m kind of a seventies, eighties, like when I’m re-listening to a podcast before I let it drop.

I have kind of the seventies on, ’cause the storytelling’s in there and stuff, but the sixties is great too.

Scott Maderer: So, yeah, don’t get me wrong, I like seventies and I like eighties and I like nineties. But you asked best, so I had to pick what got you. So how can we find you, Scott? So I’ve actually set up a page just for your listeners.

So my website is inspired stewardship.com, but if you’ll go there and inspired stewardship.com and then forward slash shine, you’ll find a, a landing page. I put some information about the book. There’s some free resources, that activity that I shared earlier. There’s a a place you can sign up and you’ll get that emailed to you along with other activities that kind of help people with time, talent, and treasures.

Lovely. And then there’s more information about my podcast. You heard us talk about that earlier and all of that’s over. There, so you can find it@inspiredstewardship.com slash shine. If you’re watching Squad and

L. Scott Ferguson: Vimeo or YouTube, it’s, it’s right here in front of us. And, alright, so let’s go to the inspired living, assembling the puzzle of your calling by [00:35:00] mastering your time, talent, and your treasures.

So let’s, let’s go a little bit deeper. It came out what, July-ish slash year?

Scott Maderer: Yeah, about a year ago.

L. Scott Ferguson: Okay. Mm-hmm.

Scott Maderer: It’s gotta go through, like, give us the basis

L. Scott Ferguson: of the

Scott Maderer: book. So the idea behind it was a lot of these are the exercises and the frameworks that I’ve discovered work well with clients. Now, obviously you can’t put everything into a book, but at the same time it was kind of those broad frameworks,

L. Scott Ferguson: right?

Scott Maderer: For folks around their time, their talent, and their treasures. ’cause okay, like I said, what I’ve seen over and over again is folks coming to me and saying, , man, I, I really wanna. Do X, right? I need to do more of X and yet. I don’t have enough time. Sure. I don’t have enough money. I, I’ve got too much debt.

I’ve got whatever, , there’s something around those two areas that’s blocking them. And so this actually walks you through some frameworks, some exercises, some activities you can do to become, like I said earlier, yeah. Aware of what’s going on. Yeah. Love it. And then what are [00:36:00] tools and techniques you can use to begin to shift those areas of your life so that you begin to move in the direction, like I talked earlier, more alignment with what you’re.

What gives you joy? What gives you energy?

L. Scott Ferguson: I love that because you break it down, like I say, inch by inch, it’s a inch right by the yard. It’s hard. Right? So if you, you emphasize in the book that small incremental steps, , over massive shifts, right? So can you share a personal story kind of quickly, , of a, an example of where that approach was significant to a transformation for you?

Yeah. Dozens.

Scott Maderer: One

L. Scott Ferguson: other than the one you told earlier.

Scott Maderer: Yeah, I’ll pick one. So the, yeah, the paying off the debt works, the podcast growth work. Sure. , There’s a thousand, but , honestly the book is a great example of that because here’s the thing. I wrote a book and I hate to write. People are like, wait, wait, how did you write a book?

I’m like, well, I figured out. I hate to write. Guess what? I love to talk. Yeah. ? Yeah. So that’s why I started a podcast. Yeah. And really and truly the [00:37:00] podcast in part. Yeah. Yeah. It’s to meet great people and interview ’em and do all of that. But it was also, I took opportunities to talk through content outta my own brain, , and talk and process and think through and begin to do that.

To write the book. I went back to all of that stuff I already had. Right. And began to just put it together little by little, , let’s get an outline. Okay. Let’s do this. Sure. I worked with a great coach, , to help me do it. Yeah. Brought them in because again, that’s not my skillset, that’s not what I’m good at.

And it, it took us about two years to actually bring the book together. Okay. But again, it was that same process of. Little by little whittle away. And at the end of it, , I’ve got a book out in the world.

L. Scott Ferguson: This and it’s beautiful. It’s funny, Scott, like everybody is that’s in my world of coaching and stuff.

And my, my agent that book’s all of my speaking, she’s like, yeah, I have a book, man. One, you’re like, people need to hear your parable that you’re putting together. Right. And I hate writing. I. Thought I kind of [00:38:00] sucked at it, for lack of a better term. But, , Bob Berg, who wrote the Go-Giver was he’s my neighbor and he says, let me look.

And he’s like, you got something? ’cause it’s a business parable, like the Go-Giver. Mm-hmm. And, , so what I would do is he gave me kind of a lesson to where there’s five different people that he meets in the story. And he says, pretend that person’s leaning against the wall, arm folded, waiting on you.

For some reason, I could just let it spill because under pressure I perform. That’s just how I am. It felt, I felt the pressure there, right? So, and squat, I want to actually, I was gonna do it too. I’m gonna do a five book giveaway. Anybody that puts Shadow spirit into any of our social I don’t care if it’s Pinterest, LinkedIn, Instagram, anywhere out there.

Shadow Spirit. Let me know if you want the kind. Or the print version, I’m happy to send it to you and we’ll let if we’ve already did the five books already and then, , if you’re nice, maybe I’ll get you a book too if you’re a little late to the game. So just again, go to inspired stewardship.com/inspired diving [00:39:00] and the book is there.

And, or else you can also find it on Amazon as well, but oh, you can also text, , shadow Spirit to 5 6 1 4 4 0 3 3 0 and we can do it that way as well. So. Scott, this is just chockfull of awesomeness. Can you leave us with one last knowledge nugget we can take with us, internalize and take action on

Scott Maderer: at the end of the day?

I think it’s that idea of consistent small improvement going right back to, and I know I’m saying the same things over and over again. No, please. But they’re the key because I think so often it’s like you said, we try to hit it outta the park and one fell swoop, and then we. Stumble or we fall, or we, , it’s the, I’m gonna get fit this year, , go to a gym in January.

You can’t get on a machine, go to a gym on March 1st. There’s nobody there. There’s, , it’s like you, you, you got, you gotta, you pick a machines. Why? Because at some point in that journey, they failed one day. Right. And then they go, I’m a failure. I’m done. I’m not gonna [00:40:00] do it this year. And they quit.

And it’s that, no, just get back and go the next day. Who cares that you didn’t go yesterday? Yeah, go tomorrow. , Start the streak again. Grace and space, man. Give yourself and keep doing it. And if you do that consistently long enough. You’ll be fit. Love it. You’ll be rich, you’ll be happy. Thank

L. Scott Ferguson: you.

You’ll be all of those things. It all compounds. I love that. And squad, I just had, I have pages of notes. I don’t know about you, but I, I’m talking to another fellow coach that did not live a straight line journey. His father was a business owner, so he got bit by the entrepreneur. Peanut bug.

At 12 years old with a painting business, you learn how to kind of leverage other people, do some of the work for ’em. One thing I love about it is. He’s, he comes with the heart of service, , and he does what he loves and the service of people that loves what he does. And that’s coming from somebody that had a really dark time squad, something that was suicidal, which I also want to thank Scott as well for donating to the Suicide Prevention Lifeline.

, Before he came on the show, which is his huge heart again, heart of him, , he went from teaching to testing, so he kind of visited the dark [00:41:00] side there as well. But his wife, his, his confidant, his forever girl. God was working at them at the same time with Ramsey’s show. Like she was listening during the day.

Scott was listening at night. That’s just God working. So if you don’t think, mm-hmm. So it is okay, , there’s time, talent, and treasure. Scott really leans into that talent for you. , He want you to figure out what you’re supposed to be doing, have a target, and remove the excuses and just get after it.

And he also brought up an awesome column kind of thing. If you’re listening, , you have your left column with everything you’ve done, your middle column with everything you loved about it. And your last column with everything that drains you of your activity, there is a pattern there. Let me introduce you to Scott to help you figure that pattern out if you’re about to.

Hire a coach, ask him, do you have a coach? , And one thing, another dropped me knowledge nugget dropped on me. That life is a film strip, not a photograph. , Everything’s finite. Everything comes to an end. Lean into the good when you have it. ’cause there’s more happiness, like I say, overlapping your happiness that is there.

You know, life well lived is to, Scott [00:42:00] is a life on purpose, a life of alignment. And remember, it’s always a journey. There’s never a destination. And at the end of the day, consistent small improvements, inch by inches, a cinch by the yard. It’s hard. Me and Scott agree on that. And Scott, thank you so much for coming on.

You level up your health. You level up your wealth, you leveled us up. You’ve earned your varsity letter here at Time to Shine Today. Thank you so much for coming on, brother. I absolutely love your guts. Absolutely. I loved it. Thank you so much for having me. You bet. Bye now.