What If Everything That Went Wrong Was Actually Right?

You Are More Qualified Than You Think Have you ever felt like your past disqualified you from living the life of your dreams? Maybe it was a failure, a setback, or even a season of just being “average” that made you believe you weren’t enough. In this episode, I want to shatter that lie once and for all. Because the truth is, those very experiences you think disqualify you are actually what qualify you most to make a difference—in your own life and in the lives of others. I share a deeply personal story about my dad, a man who overcame addiction and transformed his life. And what struck me years later was this—he didn’t do it alone. Someone, in one of his lowest moments, stepped in and helped him. That act of grace created a ripple effect that changed my dad’s life, my life, and now millions of others. The lesson? You are most qualified to help the person you used to be. In this episode, I’ll show you why your scars, mistakes, and setbacks are not your disqualifications—they’re your credentials. When you embrace your imperfections, you don’t just inspire others, you connect with them in the deepest way. And every time you grow, you expand your capacity to reach back and lift someone else up. This is not just about believing in yourself—it’s about believing that your story has the power to create ripple effects you may never fully see. Today, I’m asking you to stop holding your past against yourself and instead use it as proof that you are more than capable. Because the moment you decide you’re qualified, your destiny changes. Key Takeaways: Why your past failures and mistakes actually qualify you for greatness How to reframe setbacks as preparation for your purpose The ripple effect of helping “the person you used to be” Why sharing your imperfections connects you more deeply than projecting perfection The decision that instantly shifts your destiny: believing you are qualified Your past isn’t a prison—it’s a platform. And today, it’s time to step into the life you were born to live. Max out. ⁠⁠👉 SUBSCRIBE TO ED'S YOUTUBE CHANNEL NOW 👈⁠⁠ → → → CONNECT WITH ED MYLETT ON SOCIAL MEDIA: ← ← ← ➡️ ⁠⁠INSTAGRAM⁠⁠ ➡️⁠⁠FACEBOOK⁠⁠ ➡️ ⁠⁠LINKEDIN⁠⁠ ➡️ ⁠⁠X ⁠⁠ ➡️ ⁠⁠WEBSITE⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Ed Mylett?

  I hear so many small business owners say the exact same thing. They just never have enough time in the day. Well, I measure time differently. I've compressed, condensed, heck, I've bent time. My first day is 6:00 a.m. to noon. My second day starts at noon and goes till 6:00 P.M. And my third day, 6:00 P.M. to midnight. I now get 21 days a week. Stack that up over a month, over a year, over five years, and my life's completely different than it would have been otherwise. And if you want to win as an entrepreneur, you have to compress your time too. And you definitely can't afford to waste it. Waiting weeks on a big bank for capital? Your best bet's to work with my friends at Cardiff. They know how to compress time for entrepreneurs. They get your business approved in minutes and funded the very same day. They're America's favorite small business lender, and for good reason.

• 0:45Ed Mylett?

  Over 20 years in business, over 12 billion deployed to small business across America. Stop letting bank delays slow down your momentum. Head to cardiff.co/ed. That's cardiff.co/ed. Cardiff.co. Real growth, fast funding. Cardiff. Borrow better.

• 1:06Speaker 01

  This is the Ed Miliband Show.

• 1:10Ed Mylett?

  So, welcome back, everybody. I'm really, really excited about what we've been doing here. The ratings and reviews and shares are in the millions, and it's so exciting to see what's happening. So, today, what I want to talk about is qualifications for your dreams. You know, most times in life, we do everything we can to disqualify ourselves from our dreams and our potential. And I want you to think about this just for a minute. I really believe, and I want to make a bold statement in the beginning, that you were born to do something great with your life, and that you're not disqualified. No matter what's happened in your life, good, bad, or indifferent, or maybe it's just been average and ordinary the entire time, you are not disqualified from making your dreams, your purpose, your vision, a reality in your life. But what we do often, and I've done it many times,

• 1:54Ed Mylett?

  is I think my past disqualifies me, or some mistake I've made. So, we hold ourselves, it's almost like a weapon we use against ourselves, is we hold our past mistakes, our past failures, our past setback, our past average performance and behavior, as if it's a predictor of what our future is. We think we're disqualified. So... I'm here to tell you that the things that maybe that are the biggest setbacks of your life, the things you might be most ashamed of, the biggest disappointments, the biggest what you might call failures, where people have hurt you, or maybe you even hurt others, sins you've had, mistakes. You know, I've had a divorce, so I'm disqualified from winning. Not true. Or I've had this setback. No, you're not disqualified.

• 2:35Ed Mylett?

  Well, I've had a bankruptcy, or I had a business failure, or I've just always been invisible and average, so I'm disqualified from ever doing something great in my life. And nothing could be further from the truth. It's the great lie of life. The great lie of our lives is we begin to stack things that didn't work out as evidence that we can't win in the future, as evidence it's not going to work. We actually also literally think it disqualifies us somehow from winning. And I'm here to tell you that is a great lie that millions of people around the world are telling themselves. And what if I was to tell you that I think those same divorces, setbacks, failures, sins, mistakes, the average performance of your past are the very things that do qualify you

• 3:20Ed Mylett?

  to change other people's lives and fulfill your destiny. That's what I actually believe. See, in life, if you really want to impress people, show them how perfect you are. Show them your best Instagram photo, your biggest achievement, the best things you've done in your life, how happy and smart and amazing you are. You really impress people. And you'll connect with nobody. And you will change nobody's life. But, on the other hand, if your ambition is to change other people's lives, is to make a difference with your own life, to make an impact on people's lives, then show them your imperfections. If you show them your imperfections, you will connect with them. Let me give you the best example in the world. Someone said this on my show many times, I've said it before.

• 4:05Ed Mylett?

  You are most qualified to help the person or people you used to be. Say that to you again, you are most qualified in your life to help the person or people you used to be. Rory Vaden said that on my show. I've said that back since 1997, a version of that. I just didn't know how true it was until recently. So as you all know, I wrote the number one bestselling nonfiction book in the world this year called The Power of One More. If you haven't got that book, I would recommend you go get that book. I believe it'll change your life. But after I wrote that book and it became a bestseller, I woke up one night, and the book is really about the lessons I learned from my dad. As many of you know, but some may not, my dad was an alcoholic and a drug addict for the first

• 4:46Ed Mylett?

  thirty-five or first fifteen years of my life. And then he got sober when I was fifteen, and he made one decision to do that, and stayed sober one day at a time for the rest of his life. And I'm in the personal development, the change your life space, because I believe human beings can change. In fact, I don't believe it, I know it. And the reason that I know it is because my own hero did it. I watched my dad live a particular way that wasn't great the first fifteen years of my life. And then the next thirty-five years of my life, I watched him live as a completely different man, a magnificent life, a giving life, a kind life, a beautiful life, a heavenly life. So I know humans can change because

• 5:28Ed Mylett?

  I watched my hero do it. But what's most amazing about my dad's sobriety is I woke up one night, many months ago, crying in my sleep, and I woke up and I said to my wife, she goes, what's wrong? And I said, I said, well, you're not going to believe this, but I just realized something. Someone helped daddy. Someone helped my dad. She goes, what are you talking about? And I said, well, when dad got sober, someone helped my dad change his life. Some precious human being stepped forward and said, I can help you. See, we're born in our life to do great things in our life, big and small, but we don't know when we're doing them, whether they're big or small. We don't know the ripple effects. And I said, someone helped my father in the worst moment of his life. My dad was

• 6:09Ed Mylett?

  either going to take his own life or lose his family. And in that terrible moment, I don't even know where it was. Was it a bar somewhere, an alley? I don't know who they are or where. Where it happened, but what I know is some human being changed my dad's life, which then changed my life and I've changed millions of people's lives. This precious human being has no idea that that one act, that one generosity, that one helping one person is impacted millions of people because they helped my father in that alley or that bar somewhere. Is that not remarkable? That one act, the ripple effect has affected millions of people's lives. And that's not the most remarkable part of it, even though that's crazy to think that as a human, you have that power.

• 6:54Ed Mylett?

  You help one person, the ripple effects are unknown. That's not the most amazing part. The most amazing part is what was it that qualified that precious human to help my father? What were their qualifications?

• 7:12Ed Mylett?

  The very things that most people would think disqualified them. The things that that person was most ashamed of, their biggest failures, their biggest sins. You know what qualified that person to help my dad? They were also an alcoholic at one time. They were also a drug addict at one time. They also lied and cheated and stole money and lived in the shadows. The things that person would think, my gosh, my alcoholism, my drug addiction, my lying, my theft, my shadowy life, all those things, the worst things about me. I'm totally disqualified from having a great life, from living a dream, from helping other people. If anyone's disqualified, it's me. Wrong. Actually, those were the very things God was using, the universe was using to qualify that person, to meet the moment, to help my dad when he was gonna take his life or lose his family.

• 7:57Ed Mylett?

  I want you to understand and think about the power of that. The very thing that human being probably walked around most of their life thinking, now that's the weapon I use against me, why I can't win, why I can't be happy, why I can't help people, why I can't... Other people could win, just not someone like me. Not someone where I come from, not with my family, not with my background, not with my mistakes, not with the fact that I've always been average and ordinary, not the fact that I'm invisible. No, no, no, no, sorry. Guess what? Those very things that you use as a weapon against you that you think disqualify you are the very things that do qualify you. That person didn't know all those years they were using drugs and suffering. All those years that years they were drinking alcohol and making mistakes

• 8:41Ed Mylett?

  and hurting other people and probably lying and probably stealing and probably living in the shadows. Every single one of those things was preparing them for that moment. To help somebody who was the person they used to be. My dad. You are most qualified to help the person you used to be. In your life. I'm a living proof of it. By the way, so are you. As you're listening to this, or you're watching this, you are part of the ripple effect. Of that one act, that human being who helped my dad. Who helped me. Who's now helping you. What I hope you do today is, by the way, you share this episode with somebody so that ripple continues.

• 9:23Ed Mylett?

  I want the world to understand one thing, you are not disqualified for making your dreams come true. I don't care, some people think, well, that's what I look like, it's where I come from. It's the mistake I made, it's none of that crap. Those are the very things that are qualifying you right now, because you are most qualified to help the person you used to be, and by the way. That's why growing matters. Because every time you grow into a new version of you, you are most qualified to help the people who you used to be. And then you grow up, people, why do you still grow and read and expand? Because I know every time I grow and change, I now can help that person I used to be. Those people that I used to be. If you were once broke and now have figured out how to make money, you can help broke people.

• 10:05Ed Mylett?

  If you were once overweight and now are fit, you can help all those people. If you were once broke in and now are a little bit less broken, you can help broken people. If you were once invisible and average and ordinary and in despair. You can help people who feel average and ordinary and invisible and in despair. If you were once insecure and shy, and maybe you are right now. And lack self-confidence, or lack direction, or lack purpose, and then now you find it and discover it. You can help all those people in the world who currently lack purpose, lack confidence, lack inspiration. We are most qualified in our life to help the person or people we used to be. And never underestimate the ripple effect of you just saying, hey, I'm imperfect too.

• 10:50Ed Mylett?

  But this is what I've learned. And I'm here for you, and I love you, and I believe in you. I honestly believe that if this one message reached millions of people, we would have a different world. We'd be a little bit less judgmental. We'd give each other a little bit more grace. We'd have way more people pursuing their potential and their dreams. This episode is sponsored by Ro. A lot of people assume GLP-1's cost a fortune, and that assumption keeps them from even looking into treatment. Ro helps people find a more affordable path to FDA-approved GLP-1 treatment. Ro wants to help people lose weight. That's why they have more affordable GLP-1 options, whether you're paying with insurance or cash. Ro's free insurance checker makes it easy to see if you're covered for GLP-1 injections.

• 11:33Ed Mylett?

  Just submit your insurance card and Ro handles the rest. No paperwork, no waiting on hold, no confusing phone calls. And if insurance doesn't cover treatment, there are still options. Ro offers the lowest-cost, cash-pay FDA-approved GLP-1s, such as daily pills and multi-dose pens. I use products by Ro, and you should too. Go to ro.co/mylet to see if you qualify. That's R-O dot C-O slash my let to get started on Ro. For side effects of GLP-1 medications, including boxed warning, go to ro.co forward slash safety. R-O dot C-O slash safety. So when I ended up buying the island, we had to do all of our outdoor decorating, and I spent a fortune in the first half of the place. And I'm like, I don't want to do this anymore, but I want the best stuff.

• 12:17Ed Mylett?

  And that's where Wayfair came in. My wife wanted to get this new garden bed, and Wayfair was the place that offered the perfect solution. Wayfair also helps you create a home that stands up to real life with quality products, great value, and trusted reviews. Wayfair verified products are hand-vetted by product specialists that use a 10-point quality inspection system. Here's all I can tell you. The stuff has lasted over time, it looks great, and I get compliments on it. Shop thousands of products across every style and budget, whether you're trying to refresh your space for fall or transform your space for Halloween. Use filters, custom photos, and reviews to find the right fit for your home. More than 20 million verified five-star reviews. 20 million. So transform your space with the pieces that hold up to real life. Join Wayfair Rewards today and get 5% back on every purchase.

• 13:00Ed Mylett?

  Head to wayfair.com or shop the Wayfair app for all things home. That's W-A-Y-F-A-I-R dot com.

• 13:14Ed Mylett?

  I have an addiction, I have a lot of them, but my main addiction is I'm addicted to the expansion of my being. I'm curious and fascinated by what my capacity can be to do different things in my life. And that constant pursuit of potential, that constant pursuit of growth, that lack of judging myself, that lack of assessment of negative thoughts about myself and giving myself grace of knowing, yeah, I just made a mistake, but guess what? I've learned from that mistake, I've grown from it, and now I'm qualified to help the people who may make those same mistakes. The reason I do the show is because I just have a lot of experience with failure. I have a lot of experience with setbacks and frustrations. I know what it's like to live scared.

• 13:58Ed Mylett?

  I know what it's like to live with negative emotions. I know what it's like to live afraid, to live angry, to be depressed. I know what it's like to be broken. I know what it's like to be broke. I know what it's like to not have electricity in my house. I know what it's like not have running water. I know what it's like to beg for money at a gas station so that I could get to my house now that I think about it. I know what it's like. And you know what? That's what qualifies me to help people. See, it takes leaders with vision to help people with dreams, not perfect people. None of us are perfect. So you know those pieces in your closet that you find yourself wearing like on repeat all the time?

• 14:42Ed Mylett?

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• 15:22Ed Mylett?

  Download the Quince app for app-exclusive offers or go to quince.com/ed for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. Now available in Canada and the UK too. That's Q-U-I-N-C-E dot com slash ed.

• 15:38Ed Mylett?

  I want you to make your life something awesome. I want you to change other people's lives. And I know most of the time you feel disqualified to do it. And I hope today, maybe you get a little bit of a glimpse of exactly how qualified you are. I think God's a really interesting dude. And I think he sits there and goes, if I could just get my children to understand, I'm preparing you every day to make a difference in the world. I'm preparing you every day to change your own life, to change other people's lives. And that you're immensely qualified, that the DNA of the King of Kings runs through your bloodstream. I just want to remind you today, as you're listening to this, that you're born to do something awesome with your life.

• 16:21Ed Mylett?

  And I'm here to help you every step of the way, along the way. But you gotta take the first step today. And that step today is just to believe that you're qualified. You're immensely qualified. You're immensely capable. You're awesome. With all your mistakes, all your weaknesses, all your sins, all the things you're not so good at, all the things that you wish you were better at, that you see other people have, you wish you looked this way, or talked that way, or thought that way, or had that family. You're perfectly you. You're perfectly you in this moment. And the minute you accept that, you understand how qualified you are to change your own life and to change other people's lives. And I think one of the things you could do today that would qualify you is to share my message, is to share these thoughts with people.

• 17:05Ed Mylett?

  So that people maybe today get a little bit of a glimpse into what's possible. Your decisions shape your destiny, everybody. And the minute you decide that you're qualified, your life changes. And hopefully you decide to share this with somebody as well. I hope, by the way, that you get the power of one more of my book. I hope you share this podcast and subscribe. God bless you, everybody.