You're Not Losing Time. You're Giving It Away. | Neal Schore – EP 806

**SPEAKER_1** (0:00)
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**John R. Miles** (1:29)
Have you ever caught yourself saying, I have to do this before you even started? I know I have. When I sat down with leadership coach Neal Schore, he explained why those little moments matter far more than we realize.
They don't just shape our mood, they quietly drain our time, our energy, and our ability to stay present. Take a listen to this.

**Neal Schore** (1:52)
The AUX are very negatively contagious and they spread very quickly, and it is absolutely part of what drains time and energy and focus. So it winds up being, I got to go to that meeting or I have to sit with this person again, or, oh man, I really just don't want to go to that event tonight. And that negativity that we forecast and we spread winds up just being a presence that we create, that we can manage, that winds up just being like weights on our shoulder, just weighs us down.

**John R. Miles** (2:34)
It's your friend John, and welcome to Passion Struck. I'm so glad you're here. Whether you're a longtime listener or someone who just discovered the show, thank you for pressing play today.
Maybe you've built the life you were supposed to want, but you've quietly wondered why it still doesn't feel like enough.
If that's you, you're in the right place. Every week, I sit down with the world's top scientists, researchers, and thinkers to uncover what it actually takes to build an intentional life that matters.
Thanks for joining me. Let's get into it.
Welcome back to episode 806 of Passion Struck. I am so glad you're here. Today, we're continuing our series, The Adaptive Brain, How Your Mind Learns, Changes, and Heals. There's a question I hear all the time from this community. Whether it's in emails, comments on a sub stack or messages on social media, how do I find more time for what matters most? It's a question almost all of us ask. We assume the answer is a better calendar, better habits, or somehow squeezing more time into the same 24 hours. But what if we've been thinking about time all wrong? That's exactly why I wanted to bring Neal Schore onto the show. Neal is an executive coach, leadership advisor, and the author of the new book The 25th Hour. After spending decades working with CEOs, entrepreneurs, and senior leaders, he's discovered something that surprised me. The people who seem to have the most time aren't necessarily better at managing their calendars, they're better at managing themselves. In today's conversation, we explore why emotional self-regulation may be one of the most overlooked leadership skills of our time. Why our reactions often cost us more than our responsibilities. How one simple question can completely change difficult conversations, and what it really means to become intentional with the hours we've already been given. But here's what stayed with me the most. I expected this to be a conversation about productivity. It wasn't. It was a conversation about attention. Neal challenged me to think less about how I spend my time, and more about what quietly steals it. That shift alone made me rethink how often I give my focus without even realizing it. I think you're going to feel the same way. So let's dive in. Here's my conversation with Neal Schore. Thank you for choosing Passion Struck and choosing me to be your host and guide on your journey to creating an intentional life that matters. Now, let that journey begin.