Extraordinary Lifestyle Episodes

We often receive emails from parents or spouses asking questions -- we love it. (Email us your questions at support @ extraordinaryfamilylife.com) This email asked us: “How can our family create balance and not feel guilty for doing things we enjoy (Netflix, video games, etc.) that aren’t necessarily productive (toward achieving our goals)?” Great question! We've also experienced the 'gap' between the reality of where we are and where we want to go/be (our BIG dream or goal). Sometimes that gap ...

In our last episode (#158), Greg hinted at doing another episode about the v*ccine. I wasn't so sure. But after thinking and discussing it, we decided to do it together -- partly because our individual views balance each other out and help us both to come to a more centered truth. We discuss how C*vid and the v*ccine have become politicized and what implications that has. We also examine C*vid's significance now compared to other times in history, and examine how politicizing a topic can skew ea...

What happens when you share a 'controversial' meme on social media? Lots of comments and ensuing arguments. In this podcast, Greg and Rachel respond to comments on a meme that was shared which said: "If you've ever wondered if you would have complied during 1930s Germany, now you know." The reactions included words and phrases including: incomprehensibly stupid asinine comparing people who have been vaccinated to Nazi Germans and a lot more... An adequate response was not feasible in a Facebook ...

How do you know if you’re winning in life? It’s easier in sports where there’s a scoreboard—but even that doesn’t always reflect true winning. You might lose the game but still be winning in personal improvements, performance, effort, giving your best, sportsmanship, integrity, grit, etc. What about each area of your life? How do you know if you’re winning? Do you have a scoreboard? Are you keeping score? In what ways? Are you competing with others, yourself, or with an ideal? Some aren’t keepin...

Being good is not enoughMost of our default thinking is that if we’re a good person it will be enough. That’s just not true!You can be a good person and a piss poor husbandYou can be a good person and a lousy loverYou can be a good person and a poor loserYou could be a good person and be terribly unproductiveYou can be a good person and a lousy listenerYou could be a good person distracted absent fatherYou can be a good person and a terrible businessmanYou can be a good person and a very Foolish...

What are good beliefs and practices around money in your marriage? What if one spouse brings in the income and the other stays home, who should be in charge of how it’s spent? Does the non-income earning spouse have any say on how the money should be spent?What if one spouse wants to save every penny and the other sees it as a tool for experience and growth?What if one spouse wants to approve every purchase before anything can be spent? What if they become upset when they feel you spend in a way...

Many marriages are merely okay, or even slowly dying simply because men are inadvertently neglecting their wives. Gentlemen, you’re living far below your privileges in your marriage. Inadvertent negligence is costing you the spark, romance, and relationship you could have. With a little awareness and a few simple habits, you can totally transform your marriage. How is your health and fitness? It is affecting your relationship!Do you have clear boundaries between work life and family life? That i...

Creating a great sexual relationship in marriage isn’t about checking a box or meeting expectations—it’s about cultivating a deep emotional connection, understanding your partner’s real needs, and shifting your mindset around intimacy. In this episode, we explore how men and women experience love and stress differently, and how miscommunication can cause resentment and disconnection. We share the habits, perspectives, and emotional awareness that have helped us transform our own marriage—and how you can do the same to build lasting connection and passionate intimacy.

What Mark are you making in the world? What Mark are you making in your family?We all have the privilege, opportunity, and even responsibility to make a mark in the world and in the lives of others.Interestingly, we are always making a mark. We can’t not. And so we must be responsible for the mark we are making.Some of you are making a significant mark, while others are leaving an insignificant scratch that will quickly wear way. What Mark are you making? What Mark do you need and want to make?H...

"Just because you've been with yourself for your entire life, doesn't mean you understand yourself." This is true about your spouse too. Just because you've been married to them for ___ years, doesn't mean you understand them And these statements are especially true when it comes to sexuality... understanding your own sexuality, and your shared relationship with your spouse. Just because you have sex with your spouse doesn't mean you're good at talking about it or doing it. Sexuality is a part o...

Every day we have a choice. In fact we have many choice moments throughout the day. Choose to be a champion, or by default we can choose to be a chump.The champion chooses to do things in a great way, even the little things that seem not to matter much. By default when we choose to be the chump we cut corners, we cheat ourselves and others, we take the easy way, and of course we end up with mediocre results. This is true even in how we start our day and how we choose to feel at the beginning of ...

We all have little corners in our lives where the dust and the dirt and the stuff begin to gather. This is both literal and figurative.

It may be the corner of your closet or your garage, or the corners of your mind or your spirit.

Which “corners” of your life are unattended and neglected? Which “corners” have piled up with dirt and garbage and unused things? Which corners have you been avoiding, and have become chaotic and disorderly?

Examine the corners of your rooms, your garage, your yard...

While I was climbing a big peek in Ecuador with my wife we met a man who we quickly connected with. In just a few minutes he told us the short version of his life story and how he totally transformed his life.His story is packed with proven principles and practices for all of us to transform ourselves into who we can really become. You have the power and the potential to take your greatest weaknesses and your greatest struggles in transform them into strengths and power!There are a few things th...

Failure hurts. A lot. It’s not some thing any of us want to do, but I think it’s something we all need to do.We attempted to Summit Orizaba and failed. Epic story. But in that failure were many successes—if we look for them. In life, if we will acknowledge the successes and learn from the failures we can have all the growth and ultimate success we want.Are you willing to fail in order to succeed? RESOURCES: Let us help you in your extraordinary family life journey. How We Raised 7 Well-Adjusted ...

If you’re on the right path and it’s the appropriate time for you, find a way to make it work or make a way to make it work!Too many of us give up too often and too soon. We give a first attempt or maybe a feeble second and then throw in the towel thinking there’s nothing else we can do. But we have found again and again in our life that the most incredible experiences come after we commit to find away or make one.Here are two examples from our road trip across Mexico it turned into extraordinar...

Formidable -very strong, especially in character; producing respect and a little fear in others: -Worthy of respect - tending to inspire awe or admiration because of great size, strength, excellence, etc. -If you describe something or someone as formidable, you mean that you feel slightly frightened by them because they are very great or impressive. -a formidable opponent: capable, able, proficient, adept, adroit, accomplished; impressive, strong, powerful, mighty, terrific, tremendous, great, r...

Serendipity: the Occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial wayI believe that God and the universe are conspiring in your favor and are presenting wonderful opportunities to you all the time! But you have to believe it, be open to it, and accept it. We have had literally Countless experiences that have been a gigantic blessing in our lives that have come through serendipity. There’s simply no way we could have planned for them to happen or even dreamed them up.Serend...

What is the greatest tragedy in life? If we look at the whole picture of life, it seems to me that the greatest tragedy is when an amazing human being fails to live a life that is meaningful, fulfilling and maximized. Each person has so much potential and vast amounts of untapped greatness ready to be utilized towards some meaningful purpose.But so many people settle for a life that is far less than their potential. Many live life‘s that are boring, unsettling, and frustrating.There are a few si...

“The second most deadly instrument of destruction is the dynamite gun; the first is the human tongue. The gun merely kills; the tongue kills reputations and, ofttimes, ruins characters. Each gun works alone; each loaded tongue has a hundred accomplices. The havoc of the gun is visible at once. The full evil of the tongue lives through all the years; even the eye of Omniscience might grow tired in tracing it to its finality. The crimes of the tongue are words of unkindness, of anger, of malice, o...

Every single day I condition myself to be at my best! I recently asked a friend how often he hast to tune his musical instrument. “Every time I pick it up.“ The same is true for you and me. Your mind is your instrument. Your body is your instrument. Your spirit is your instrument. And they need to be tuned every time you pick them up. That is every morning at a minimum, but I would suggest tuning multiple times throughout the day so that we make sure we are at our best when we’re engaging with t...

Are you living an expanding life? Or perhaps a shrinking one? Are you growing, improving, progressing, and really living? Are you moving at a pace that makes you feel alive? Or do you feel like you’re just existing, or merely coasting along?In every important area of your life do you feel expansion or contraction?Every one of us has the privilege, opportunity, and responsibility to live an expanded life! What a privilege it is to feel the thrill and joy of learning new things! RESOURCES: Let us ...

If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you, If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too; If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies, Or being hated, don’t give way to hating, And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise: If you can dream—and not make dreams your master; If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim; If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster And ...

Every person I have ever met wants more freedom! We were born to be free. We were created for freedom. Freedom from guilt, pain, poor health, debt, addiction. We want money freedom and time freedom. We long to be free enough to live life on our terms!What kind of people enjoy the most freedom in this life?Those who consistently make good choices!In every area of your life the choices you make are either stacking in your favor or stacking against you. In a very real way you and I are choosing our...

There are two ways to experience life. You can let it happen to you or you can make it happen for you.For most people, the only things that happen in their lives are the things that happened to them. They live like puppets, where other people and things manipulate the strings of their lives.I want to invite and challenge you to take full responsibility and ownership for everything in your life. Step into the extraordinary life of envisioning, designing, and creating the desired details of your l...