Episode Details
December 6, 2024
31 minutes
- Accountability to Yourself vs. Others: Jeremy and Doug discuss how holding yourself accountable can be more challenging than meeting work or family obligations.
- Work and Personal Life Boundaries: They share insights on how they’re still learning to set boundaries and the importance of taking breaks to maintain balance.
- Core Values and Personal Growth: Jeremy and Doug reflect on how their values have evolved with age, with a focus on authenticity and integrity.
- The Role of Family in Values: They discuss how living in alignment with your values positively influences family dynamics and teaches discipline.
- Being a Role Model for Children: Doug highlights how he's striving to teach his kids values like trustworthiness, accountability, and honesty.
- The Power of Saying “No”: The episode emphasizes how aligning commitments with core values, instead of people-pleasing, leads to greater fulfillment.
Featured Quotes
"Commitment is about taking ownership of your responsibilities and not making excuses."
Jeremy Axel
"I’ve learned how to refocus through my personal growth"
Doug Cox
Episode Transcript And Overview
Are you living in alignment with your core values? Do you know what your values are? In this episode of Never in Reverse, Doug and Jeremy discuss their core values and the strategies they use to live in alignment with them. Our values may feel like no-brainers in the abstract, but when put to the test we can default to people pleasing and excuses. When we do not align with our values, we stunt our ability to reach our full potential.
Doug and Jeremy are both hard workers who believe in putting their families first. They have had to learn when to pull themselves away from work to spend time with their loved ones and set good examples for their children. Additionally, Doug and Jeremy are working to stay accountable to themselves and fulfill their own needs.
To have integrity, we must fulfill our promises. Sometimes, balancing this value with the importance of our own needs requires us to decline certain commitments. Gain valuable insights on how to determine what to commit to, how to turn commitments down, and how to find your core values in this conversation.
Timeline Notes
The amount of obligations that Jeremy and Doug have to complete can be overwhelming. Doug notes that his work relies on building a layer of trust with his team and clients. That trust is built by consistently getting things done on time.
Jeremy notes that Doug and himself also have obligations to themselves, which they can have more difficulty meeting. In many ways, being accountable to yourself is harder than being accountable to your work and loved ones.
Jeremy and Doug are still growing and learning how to set boundaries in their work and personal lives. They live in the heat of the moment and often forget to take breaks.
Doug notes that his work obligations can pull his focus not just from his own needs, but from the needs of his family as well. He has learned how to refocus through his personal growth.
Do values change with age? Jeremy believes that his values have changed with maturity, particularly his awareness of his own values. Doug has also become more aware of his values with age.
Integrity and authenticity are core values for Jeremy. He does not align with people who do not present themselves honestly, and he is authentic in how he shows up for his family.
Doug has always had a strong connection with his wife, but she has also challenged him. He has learned from her throughout their relationship.
Being committed around your core values is also a positive influence on your family. It teaches your loved ones how to be true to themselves and learn discipline.
Doug is trying to be a good example for his children; teaching them to be trustworthy, accountable, and honest. He understands that he is a role model, but also recognizes the impact of the people he surrounds himself with.
To Jeremy, commitment is about taking ownership of your responsibilities and not making excuses. He has had to learn to abandon excuses and take ownership of his mistakes.
Integrity is also a core value to Jeremy. When he does not complete his commitments and makes excuses, he is not aligning with this value. He is often his harshest critic.
Sometimes, the best answer is “no.” Making commitments in alignment with your core values instead of constantly people pleasing will leave you in a better place to fulfill the commitments you do make.
Notable Guests
Bill Fairman
Fund Manager, Private Lender
Bill Fairman
Fund Manager, Private Lender
A best-selling author, national speaker, and serial entrepreneur with 30+ years of experience in mortgage banking.
Over the years, Bill has worked closely with hundreds of high-net-worth individuals, helping them strategically grow wealth as a Fund Manager for more than 13 years.
He’s also a trusted voice in the industry, serving on the Government Relations Committee of the American Association of Private Lenders.
Nick Kiridzic
Founder and CEO
Nick Kiridzic
Founder and CEO
I'm the founder of StaffHero, where we help growing businesses scale without the chaos connecting them with skilled remote assistants and automation systems that save time and cut costs.Before this, I spent over ten years in healthcare and business development, constantly spotting the same problem: amazing teams burning out under the weight of busywork. That’s what pushed me to build StaffHero.
Now, I focus on helping business owners get their time back and build systems that let them grow with freedom and focus.
Paul Glover
The No B.S. Executive Coach
Paul Glover
The No B.S. Executive Coach
Paul Glover is No B.S. Executive Coach, whose mission is to Challenge the Best to Become Better.
He is also:
• An Ex- White-Collar Felon.
• A “Recovering” Federal Trial Lawyer.
• A Subject Mater Expert on failing and recovery.
• Who is a TEDx speaker, Vintage Speaker, Forbes contributor, and an author whose book, WorkQuake™, is endorsed by Marshall Goldsmith, a Top 10 Business Thinker.
• An Executive Coach With 30 years of experience who advises and coaches executives in organizations with up to $1 billion in annual revenue.
• A Starbucks addict, and
• A Chicago Bears fanatic.
Adi Klevit
Founder | CEO
Adi Klevit
Founder | CEO
Adi Klevit is the Founder of Business Success Consulting Group and the host of the Systems Simplified podcast. With nearly three decades of experience as an industrial engineer and process consultant, she has helped hundreds of growth-focused companies systematize their operations to scale successfully.
Known as “The Process Guru,” Adi specializes in designing and implementing turnkey systems that reduce dependence on the owner, empower teams, and increase profitability. Her clients range from fast-growing trades businesses to multi-location professional service firms, and she is a trusted advisor to CEOs across the U.S.
Joe Dillon
Divorce Mediator & Founder
Joe Dillon
Divorce Mediator & Founder
Joe is a pioneer in divorce mediation who has been helping couples navigate the end of their marriages with dignity and financial wisdom for over 17 years. As co-founder of Equitable Mediation Services, Joe combines his MBA in Finance with specialized training from Harvard, MIT, and Northwestern University to guide couples toward agreements that protect both their emotional wellbeing and financial futures.
Joe pioneered virtual divorce mediation in 2011, nearly a decade before others adopted online practices during the pandemic. His results speak for themselves: Equitable Mediation Services maintains a 98% case resolution rate, significantly higher than the industry average of 70%.
