“When you’re prepared and you’re really hungry and ready for something, you will make way to make those things happen.”
There’s a moment most people don’t talk about.
It’s the moment when you realize the path you’re on isn’t going anywhere and you have to decide whether to stay comfortable or start over.
In the very first episode of the Purpose and Progress Podcast, Dr. Jim Price takes you back to that exact moment in his life. Before the books, before the doctorate, before the impact, there was uncertainty, frustration, and a decision to walk away from what wasn’t working.
That decision changed everything.
From Struggle to Purpose
Dr. Price’s journey didn’t follow a straight line. He struggled academically, worked jobs that felt like dead ends, and had to rebuild his confidence from the ground up. But through those experiences, something started to take shape: a deeper understanding of people, especially children, and what they need to grow.
As a school counselor, he saw firsthand how kids navigate emotions, friendships, and self-worth. Those everyday moments—on the playground, in classrooms, during conversations—became the foundation for his work.
That work eventually turned into a children’s book series focused on social skills, emotional awareness, and confidence-building.
Why Purpose and Progress Matter
The heart of this podcast is simple: purpose is not something you wait for, it’s something you build—and progress is what keeps it alive.
In this episode, Dr. Price shares:
- Why self-worth is the starting point for growth
- How self-care impacts your ability to show up for others
- The role of consistency in achieving long-term goals
- What it really means to overcome obstacles
He also challenges the idea of “quick success,” reminding listeners that real growth happens over time, through small, intentional steps.
What You Can Expect from the Podcast
The Purpose and Progress Podcast is designed to bring real, honest conversations to the surface.
You’ll hear from educators, creators, and individuals who have faced challenges and found ways to move forward. Each episode focuses on the journey behind the success—the lessons, the setbacks, and the mindset shifts that made the difference.
Start Where You Are
If you’re feeling stuck, uncertain, or just trying to figure out your next step, this episode is a reminder that progress doesn’t have to be perfect—it just has to start.
Your purpose isn’t out of reach. It’s built in the choices you make next.
Episode Highlights:
01:22 Meet Your Host: Dr. Jim Price
04:30 Lessons from The Adventures of Harold from the Hood
10:10 Ready and Prepared to Step Into Purpose
16:27 The Snail: Lessons About Social Skills
19:47 Great Things Take Time
22:49 Dr. Jim’s Purpose
Resources:
📖 The Adventures of Harold from the Hood Book Series:
🚙A Trip to the Park: https://bit.ly/40Lvv6h
🤝🏽Friends Like Different Things: https://bit.ly/4ocAQxq
🍟 Fun Time Lunch Time: https://bit.ly/4odUCJ1
😤 When I Feel So Annoyed: https://bit.ly/4l6WSPt
Meet Jim:
Dr. Jim Price was born and raised in Springfield Massachusetts. This is the same city as another famous children’s book author in Dr. Suess. He is a former basketball player who was a member of a basketball state championship team at Springfield Central High and was nominated Junior College All American for basketball at Springfield Technical Community College. His basketball Jersey number was retired at Springfield Technical Community College. In 2017 he was inducted into the Springfield Public Schools Sports Hall of Fame for basketball.
Jim earned his Associates Degree in Liberal Arts from Springfield Technical Community College where he also made the National Dean’s List Publication. Jim earned his bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Western New England University. He earned both his master’s degree in Rehabilitation Counseling and his Certificate of Advanced Graduate Studies in School Counseling from Springfield College. He currently is a candidate for Doctor of Education at American International College. When not writing he enjoys helping mentor the youth in any way he can though coaching the youth in basketball and with the work he does as a school counselor in the public-school setting.
Quotes:
07:07 “Being angry and upset is okay. It’s the choices you make when you’re angry and upset that causes the issues.” —Dr. Jim Price
08:27 “We get caught up a lot of times helping others that we forget about ourselves, and it’s hard to give the best of yourself if you’re not where you need to be.” —Dr. Jim Price
14:05 “When you’re prepared and you’re really hungry and ready for something, you will make way to make those things happen.” —Dr. Jim Price
19:47 “Everything takes time. People often want instant gratification… but it’s not always about the fast, quick movement— it’s about being consistent.” —Dr. Jim Price
22:50 “My purpose is all about inspiring youth worldwide to be the best person they can be, while inspiring themselves to understand that they can grow, they can nurture themselves, and they can help others along the way.” —Dr. Jim Price
transcript:
Believe in what you’re doing, and you’re doing positive things to try to get there, things that usually work out because the universe says you get what you put out. So a lot of times, if you’re putting out the positive in the universe, and you really die hard about working on, maybe it’s a new business, maybe it’s a new podcast show, maybe it’s writing books, or whatever it might be, sports or whatever, when you put things in a positive framework and you look at it from that way and have a self-conscious consciousness of understanding, awareness of being positive, then you can overcome the obstacles and stuff you need to reach that goal.
Dr. Jim Price: Hello, I’m Dr. Jim Price, and welcome to The Purpose and Progress Podcast. This is the place where we explore how purpose can guide our actions and how growth can become a part of our everyday lives. On the show, I talk with amazing guests from educators and creators, to everyday people with extraordinary stories about the challenges they face, the lessons they’ve learned, and how to keep moving forward. My goal is to share conversations that inspire you to live intentionally, embrace growth, and take meaningful steps to your own purpose. Let’s get started.
Hello, I am award-winning author Dr. Jim Price, and welcome to The Purpose and Progress Podcast where purpose becomes action, and growth never stops. I’m your host of The Purpose and Progress Podcast show, and I just want to touch upon a little bit about what this podcast is going to be, consisting of what it’s going to be about, and then share a little bit about myself as well.
So of course, I’m a Children’s Award-Winning Book Author, and my progress has been quite the journey in terms of a lot of things that are happening and stuff like that with me. But on the show, we’re definitely going to be sharing a lot of guests. Having a lot of guests that are going to be sharing their journey, sharing their progress of how they became to where they’re at now, their success and things that they do, like how did they get to where they’re at? How do they steer that advice, tips and points that they would give for other folks that are trying to go on the same track as them? So a lot of times, we see, even myself, a lot of my journey kind of started off when the pandemic was going on and everybody was locked inside and had to stay home and stuff like that.
During the pandemic, I was home and was thinking to myself, I like to do maybe a social skill book. Because at that time, I still do counseling, but I’ve been in counseling for a long time. I was thinking, you know what? I want to do something around social skill building, maybe do a book. At least one book. I only had the idea of doing one book at the time. I started putting together a framework for the first book, the award-winning book, A Trip to the Park, The adventures of Harold from the Hood: A Trip to the Park. I worked on the framework for that. And eventually, got to the point where I felt it was ready and everything. And once it was ready, I was fortunate enough to get it published and everything like that. And then at that time, I had no idea about marketing and promotion or anything, I didn’t know anything about it. It’s like, I have a book now, what’s the next step? What should I do?
There are a lot of things. I had to learn about the process of marketing and promotion, and how that is so important in terms of what you do. How you can spread your message. Of course, my message is inspiring the youth to be the best version of themselves through self love, understanding their self worth, understanding their self care is important too. So at that time, I was very much trying to figure things out in terms of the marketing, promotion of the books and stuff like that.
Fast forward, I start to get opportunities to do media in terms of promotion and marketing. And I think even in college when I first got out of high school, my grades in high school were horrible. And when I went to college, I didn’t really have too much of any study skill so I had a difficult time. But one of the things that was going on, we had to still do powerpoint presentations for things, and I was one who didn’t really like to be in front of a lot of people. But then you think about the progress or how that helped me move forward. After that, I kind of learned to be in front of people and learn to be okay speaking in front of people. So once I got to the books, dropped the first book and everything like that, I started to get on media opportunities. I was in a better place because I was prepared for that. Doing presentations in college, that helped tremendously. Having that opportunity to be doing presentations in college, and then having Metcare over to the media opportunities as I have now so I wasn’t nervous to be in front of campuses and stuff like that. There were a lot of people there. Kind of like that.
I got nervous and stuff like that to be in those kinds of situations. But for me, I kind of embrace those things. So by the time the first book came out, I was already thinking about a second book. And not too long after that, my second book came out, which is The Adventures of Harold from the Hood: Friends Like Different Things, and that was based on making friends, keeping friends, playing with others. In that way, that was the social lessons within that book. Then by the time the third book came out, The Adventures of Harold from the Hood: Fun Time Lunch Time, that was based on my experience of being a school counselor and seeing my experiences during recess, kids and stuff like that. Because you go out to recess, it’d be a nice day, like today, Sunday, nice day, and the kids were out there playing soccer, they were playing volleyball, they’re playing tag and chase, basketball. We had all these activities for the kids. Today, it was such a beautiful day. They were all enjoying the sun, and I was out there enjoying the sun too. But a lot of times, I will see some of the interactions that the kids will have and stuff like that outside, and that kind of became the part element where Fun Time Lunch Time came about.
So even in the story with Fun Time Lunch Time, Harold has to advocate for himself in terms of what he wants to eat. He might want French fries, but they have some big choices about those things. Then he’s eating with one of the best friends, Andy’s aunt, and he’s understanding and doing that social interacting thing that we see the kids do at recess. We’re seeing them do it real time and stuff like that. And then, of course, they go outside and they’re playing games. So now, they have to learn how to take turns, share all those things, coping skills, and waiting. You have a plethora of social skills that happen just within that dynamic framework where kids are at recess and doing those kinds of things. That was primarily what the third book, Fun Time Lunch Time, was about.
Then the newest book in the series, which is Adventures of Harold From The Hood: When I Feel So Annoyed is about understanding how to deal with frustration and anger in a healthy way. I always tell the students that in school, being angry and upset is okay. It’s the choices you make when you’re angry and upset that causes the issues. So if you’re able to problem solve and utilize coping skills and things within your toolbox, you’re able to do those things, then it makes it more likely that you’ll work through that problem and get back to where you need to be, focus and on task, whatever it is that you’re working on prior to that, and you’re learning problem-solving skills with other people. A lot of that stuff became connected to my purpose in terms of not just being a school counselor, counseling kids and stuff like that, but also having the kids’ books be a part of inspiring youth and families to be the best version of themselves. And also to understand their self-worth, have a consciousness about understanding their self-worth, understanding what it means to involve themselves in self care.
A lot of times, I would say people, families, anybody get so wrapped up in the circle of just paying bills and doing this, and all the responsibilities and stuff like that, that we also forget to take care of ourselves through self-care. I always make a pretty good point to make sure, however my day goes, so at least take like 15 minutes just to do something that I enjoy myself, for me. We get caught up a lot of times helping so many other people, helping others that we forget about ourselves. It’s hard to give you the best of yourself if you’re not where it needs to be, or your mind is not where it needs to be, things like that. That’s what I mean, that’s why I always feel so important to go through those elements of self care.
And even doing something for yourself that makes you feel good. Because of course, when you’re doing things that feel good, that lifts up your positive spirits and makes you feel better about yourself, makes you feel a level of confidence and self esteem building, and all those things that happen. I mean, that could just be aspects of just exercising. I go to the gym. Some people go to the gym, and that’s how they get their therapeutic process. And in terms of self-care and stuff, making sure they take care of their bodies, and eating right too, being able to eat right. A lot of these parts are what’s included with that, and all that is kind of connected to my purpose and my progress. And even being able to network and meet so many different people in so many parts of different parts of the country and the world. And the awesome community is always so wonderful, grateful and graceful in terms of helping and being okay with giving answers.
Sometimes, I would want to pick brains and see how they would do things. When I was trying to learn about marketing, promotion and all those things, I would want to pick the brains of somebody who’s been there, somebody who has experience, somebody who’s been through those trenches. I would want to pick their brain to ask some questions about how I go through that process in terms of promotion and stuff like that. Even with the networking aspect of it, you go through those rigors of everything.
I remember when I got put out of college and everything and my dad was like, okay, now you gotta have to figure out what you gotta do. Either gonna go to college or the junior college around the way, not far away, but around the way. Or you’re gonna get a job. And I chose to work at that time. Now, during that time, of course, I was very relatively young, and everything still. There were a lot of odd jobs that were dead-end and stuff like that. I remember a particular job that really was difficult work and everything. I used to have to run these big machines and stuff, all that stuff. And the machines could never shut down. You had to keep them running. So if I had to use a bathroom, I had to call on the walkie to get somebody to come, and then wait for them to come so they could keep the machine running, and I could go to the bathroom.
I remember right before that, one of the supervisor guys came over. He was better. He came over and he was like, oh, yeah. I asked him where one of our other buddies was, and he’s like, he stopped working here. He decided he was going to go back to school. He got his degree and everything, and now he’s working over somewhere else. And I was thinking when he said that, I was like, that’s a pretty good idea. That’s probably something I should look into. But I kept working on that machine. Then I guess I had hit my wall that day because it was tedious work. I remember that day like it was yesterday. I needed to use the bathroom, making the calls, nobody was coming. Nobody was coming at all. Making the call, nobody was coming. So then I figured, okay. Well, I really need to use the bathroom. I couldn’t wait too much longer so I stopped the whole machine, and then went to the bathroom. I go to the bathroom thinking, they don’t really pay me enough to really be doing all this. What am I doing with myself? This is not leading me to anything. So that day while I was in the bathroom, I decided that I’ve had my fill. I was in my early 20s. I said. I had my fill. I took my goggles, put them on top of the urinal, and walked out the door. I was done. I quit. I walked out.
It was interesting because at that time, I was using my dad’s car to get back and forth to work. My cousins are working there too. And so when I left, I didn’t say anything to anybody. I just kind of just put out my goggles and left. And so not too long after that, because I had stopped a machine, so now they had to get all that going, I don’t know what happened after I left. I guess they were calling me to the main office. Price to the main office. Price to the main office, and I wasn’t replying or responding. And so they went to my cousin to ask him, hey, what happened. What’s going on? He’s not answering. What did you do to him? They’re like, oh, we don’t know. And so they pulled up the footage from the cameras outside, and they caught me walking off to my car real hard. I was walking real hard back to the car. I was done with that. And not too long after that, that’s when I was like, okay, well, I’m going to roll back in school. So then I started at community college level and enrolled, and my grades were horrendous in high school and stuff.
I always did enough to play basketball, but I wasn’t really pouring my all into the grades and stuff. I would always do the bare minimum just to play basketball to be on the high school basketball team, get a state championship and everything like that, help get state championship spring for Central High and stuff like that. I just did the bare minimum. So now, I have to work all these odd jobs and work this job, and it made me really see that that’s not what I wanted to do so I ended up going back to school and starting a community on college track. I was running, I was hungry, I was ready to do the thing. I was ready. So by the time those first grades came out, I had all these B’s. My mom and dad were like, you got all of A’s and B’s. What’s up with that? I was hungry, I was ready.
When you’re prepared and you’re really hungry and ready for something, you will make way to make those things happen. And ironically, even after that, I was named to the National Dean’s List publication. Who would ever have imagined that. Considering how my grades were in high school, and I would be in college getting A’s and B’s, and on the National Deans of Publication. They took my picture, it was a wonderful thing. I had a little bio of me in there and stuff like that. It really boosted my self-esteem and confidence. Okay, I’m seeing my progress, experiencing it, and seeing it happen real time.
And from there, of course, I went on to work on my master’s at Springfield college where I was thinking about working in the public school systems at that time. I was primarily just working as a clinical therapist, psychotherapist for adults and children, going through the rigors of doing sessions, doing diagnosis and things like that. I always thought diagnosis is definitely a different kind of animal because you’re studying and making sure that you’re going through all these diagnoses to get it right. And having a clear understanding that when you sign the paperwork, that person is going to have that label with them for the rest of their life.. So it’s such a tedious process when you’re trying to go through the idea of diagnosing someone, giving someone a diagnosis, and then dealing with the insurance companies. It was a lot. I definitely learned a lot through that process, and I think a lot of that prepared me moving forward to do the things I do now even after that experience.
I did go into the private sector for a little bit. I was working with kids, behavioral kids in an alternative school and stuff like that. A lot of those kids had struggles dealing with poverty, dealing with dysfunction in the family and things of that nature. So you were seeing all that manifest itself within the classroom and school settings and stuff. I was always one to try to be one that would listen. Because a lot of times, the kids just want to be heard. They felt like they’re not being listened to or anything like that – they’re not being heard. And sometimes, that would cause them to have more outbreaks and stuff. I have that experience at a private school. That’s actually where the idea of Harold From The Hood came from. I was doing social skill groups with elementary kids. They behave all too, and their attention span is not too great so I ended up bringing in a snail puppet. It was like a little cloth stale puppet, or a navy hero from the hood.
And so once we got through the social lesson, I would bring out the snail and have them talk to the snail. I also have them just use the puppet to have them understand social cues. I’ve used the puppet to model socially appropriate behaviors and stuff like that in terms of social interactions and stuff. The puppet became an entertainment thing for the kids, but it also helped me to get them through understanding the social skill lessons better and stuff like that. Sometimes, you have to do it like that. I just never imagined back then that that idea would become a children’s book series, social book series, Harold From The Hood. I never imagined that. But now, I’m here.
You meet so many wonderful people, and you network around. And all of a sudden, one person knows this person, this person knows that person. And all of a sudden, you’re presented with the opportunity to do cartoon material. I’ve been learning the framework and the aspects of how that all works because people think that they watch the final product of having even a snippet of a cartoon and it’s processed. Because you have to go through having a script produced, think about breaking down the scenes, how the scenes are going to play out, the lines of the characters and all that stuff. There’s so much more to it before putting together the animated part of it. I’ve definitely been blessed to go through the process of learning all the stuff as I go along growing my kids channel. Kids YouTube channel that’s based on social skills.
Looking for books that spark imagination, and teach valuable lessons. The Adventures of Harold From The Hood has four wonderful titles: A Trip to the Park, Friends Like Different Things, Fun Time Lunch Time, and When I Feel So Annoyed. Kids can enjoy animated videos, fun coloring pages, and interactive activity books that make learning about empathy, friendship, and social skills exciting. All books are available on every platform. Dive in today at jimpricebooks.education. jimpricebooks.education. Stay blessed.
My story has been quite unique. I’ve been able to have a lot of meetings, and then have opportunities to promote and market in a lot of different areas, whether it’s radio, TV, podcast, whatever the case may be. I have been tremendously blessed to be in those areas, in those spaces, to be able to do that. I think it gets back to networking and connecting yourself with people who can help you push your purpose. Help you make progress in pushing your purpose. A lot of times, the people I would interact and meet to push my purpose would be people I was introduced to. That person introduced me to this person, and this person was like, okay, well, let’s have a conversation around these things. And all of a sudden, now you got a production company working on your animated cartoon material and stuff like that, and you’re having dreams and aspirations for that. So it’s paying itself out. But everything takes time.
People often want to rush to quick success and everything. You have instant grits, and everybody want quick gratification, quick validation, fast, fast, fast. And a lot of times, they say the tortoise and the hare. When they had the race, the tortoise won. But it’s not always about the fast, quick movement. It’s about being consistent, knowing that you know you take your time, and you’re trying to do things the right way. And at the same time, being able to overcome obstacles and challenges in your life that may seem challenging. But you actually can grow stronger from those challenges in facing adversity, because now you will show and prove to yourself that you can get through those opportunities, those situations, and come out with a positive part to it.
A lot of times, we do forget that even though you go through a lot of struggle, or whatever the case might be, even myself, I’ve gone through my struggles and stuff like that, but I always try to keep a positive mindset and understand that sometimes, things will always go the way we want them to. But sometimes, things just happen in their divine timing. Sometimes, it’s just not the right time. When I first got out of high school, went to college, it wasn’t the right time, obviously, because I didn’t do too much of anything. My grades are horrible, and they end up saying bye bye. I learned from that experience. And then when I was really ready and really set, ready and hungry, when I went back, I just rolled up my sleeves and went to work.
And fast forward, you get into the doctorate program, and you’re figuring out, wow, the time went by so fast. You’re going through the dissertation defense, and you got the panel looking at you, and you’re going through your presentation, all the material, the data, and all that stuff, and then you get to the end and you’re like, oh, my goodness. You feel the pressure. You’re gonna ask the panel, ask you all these questions, and you’re hoping that you answer these questions in the way that makes things be good for your for yourself. And it was just such a great thing to hear the panel say, and now henceforth your day will be Dr. Price. I was like, oh, my goodness. I’ve crashed that finish line. Now I was so glad to get there.
By the end of the program, I had hit the wall. I was pretty much ready to be done. I was very emotional that day. I was thinking about how my dad struggled in the South for me to come here. My dad and mom, they experienced in the South the civil rights movement, and I’ve had to move up here because things were turbulent down there. I think about how their life experiences and the challenges are, the stuff that I faced and the obstacles that I overcome to do a lot of things I do outside of the books just to get into the field my purpose of counseling the kids, giving them guidance, helping them understand about self-care, self-worth, boosting self-esteem, all those things that are important and critical for kids in their development. So when they are adults, they can be very productive citizens in the community that they are in.
My purpose is all about inspiring youth worldwide to be the best person they can be while inspiring themselves to understand that they can grow, they can nurture themselves, and they can help others around the way. A lot of times, people will see your story and they’ll be inspired. Because maybe they were going through a similar thing, and now you know they see your story and they’re able to make it through and overcome obstacles in their lives that have similar connotations.This podcast show will be having a lot of guests that will be sharing their story, sharing their journey, sharing how they got to where they’re at in terms of things, and being able to give the audience tips and pointers of what is their journey. How did they get there? What do they consider their purpose? What do they consider being part of the progress for them?
We’re going to be having a lot of amazing guests on the show, and I’m happy to definitely be your guest on the show and bring awareness and more understanding about unconsciousness, about self-awareness, and understanding that we can overcome obstacles. And if you really put your dreams and stuff where you believe in what you’re doing, and you’re doing positive things to try to get there, things usually work out because the universe always get what you put out.
A lot of times, if you’re putting out the positive in the universe and you really die hard about working on, maybe it’s a new business, maybe it’s a new podcast show, maybe it’s writing books, or whatever it might be, sports or whatever, when you put things in a positive framework and you look at it from that way, and have a self-conscious, consciousness of understanding awareness of being positive, then you can overcome the obstacles and stuff you need to reach that goal. You start with one small goal and another small goal, and all of a sudden, you reach a big goal. The doctorate program was kind of like that. I took on small steps, small steps, small steps. And then all of a sudden, I got to the big steps.
There’s going to be a lot of exciting guests we’re going to be having sharing their story, sharing their journey, sharing how they got to where they’re at on their journey to purpose and progress with our show here, so I appreciate the audience tuning in. We’re going to be having exciting guests. And of course, if you want to check out my material and stuff like that, you can go to my website, jimpricebooks.education. That’s jimpricebooks.education where you see all my cartoon material, all my social skill books for Pre-K through 5th grade. I also have activity books that are educational that supplement the books and stuff like that. So for school teachers, counselors, families, a lot of that material can help you in terms of your child nurturing and growing their social skills, which is part of my purpose as well. Thank you for joining us, and we’ll see you next time. We’ll have a fabulous guest to share their story on The Purpose in Progress Podcast with Dr. Jim Price. Thank you for joining us, and have a blessed, wonderful day.
Thank you for joining me on this episode of The Purpose in Progress Podcast. I hope today’s conversation gave you insight, inspiration, or a fresh perspective to help you move forward with purpose. If you enjoyed the episode, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with someone who could use a little encouragement. You can also support the podcast through the donation link in the show notes. Every contribution helps us keep sharing stories that uplift and inspire. Remember, your purpose is waiting, and progress never stops. I’ll see you next time.