Explore every episode of the podcast The Mark Divine Show
| Title | Pub. Date | Duration | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 Principles for High-Performance Leadership From Legendary Blue Angels Commanding Officer | 27 Aug 2024 | 01:01:45 | |
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Greg Wooldridge, three-time leader of the Navy's elite Blue Angels, reveals four core principles that propel the team to unparalleled excellence. These pillars—rigorous debriefing, trust-based humble leadership, powerful visualization techniques, and an unwavering "glad to be here" mindset—enabled the Angels to execute precise, high-stakes maneuvers with remarkable consistency. Wooldridge demonstrates how these principles can eb applied to leaders across all high-performance domains. He provides a blueprint for building and inspiring peak-performing teams in any field.
Greg Wooldridge, a distinguished veteran of the United States Navy, is renowned for his exceptional leadership as the Commanding Officer of the Blue Angels, the Navy’s elite flight demonstration squadron. A seasoned aviator, Wooldridge’s career includes a broad range of command and operational roles, demonstrating his deep expertise in aviation and leadership. Post-service, Wooldridge has continued to inspire as a speaker and mentor, sharing his insights on leadership, teamwork, and performance with diverse audiences. His legacy with the Blue Angels endures through the principles he championed, emphasizing transparency, humility, and relentless pursuit of excellence.
Takeaways
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| What Is Narcissistic Personality Disorder? 4 Steps To Outsmart a Narcissist with Rebecca Zung | 20 Aug 2024 | 00:50:16 | |
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It’s believed 1 in 6 people are narcissistic. Dealing with a narcissist can be exhausting, often involving manipulation, gaslighting, and emotional abuse. Rebecca Zung, a top-rated attorney and expert on narcissism, breaks down how to recognize and deal with narcissistic personalities in both personal and professional settings. She teaches methods for negotiating with narcissists and emphasizes the importance of setting boundaries, protecting your energy, and understanding that narcissists operate from a place of fear and childhood trauma.
Rebecca Zung is a top-rated attorney, recognized by U.S. News & World Report as a Best Lawyer in America. She's the author of bestselling books on divorce and negotiation, including "Negotiate Like You MATTER" with a foreword by Robert Shapiro. A sought-after expert, Rebecca has been featured on major media outlets like Extra, Forbes, and NPR. Based in Los Angeles, she continues to share her expertise through keynote speeches, media appearances, podcasts, and on-demand programs.
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| Transforming Your Life by Building Gratitude Habits with Sohale Sizar | 18 Jun 2024 | 00:53:48 | |
Gratitude and inner work challenge us to explore beyond ego-centric thinking and embrace a more expansive mindset. By confronting our fears and shifting our language to align with life's infinite possibilities, we can transform our understanding of ourselves and our place in the world.
Sohale Sizar is a visionary entrepreneur, musician, and writer dedicated to empowering individuals through technology, education, and spirituality. With an MBA from Stanford and a background in Government from Georgetown University, Sohale has founded four education-focused digital ventures, including the Bring on the Books Foundation, impacting the lives of millions. He has also consulted for Fortune 500 companies on digital product strategy and launch.
Key Takeaways
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Links for Sohale Sizar
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| Break Your Trauma (with Michael Unbroken) | 27 Sep 2022 | 00:39:48 | |
Mark speaks with Michael Unbroken, survivor of childhood trauma and a powerful voice of resilience. Through dealing with ultimate rock bottoms, addressing his traumas, and healing his mind, Michael became passionately known for being Unbroken. He’s the host of the Think Unbroken Podcast, a coach, entrepreneur, advocate, and author of Think Unbroken, available for free on his website. Today, Commander Divine speaks with Michael Unbroken, an entrepreneur, coach, podcast host, award-winning speaker, best-selling author, and advocate for adult survivors of childhood trauma. In the episode, Michael shares his experiences of childhood trauma, crime, death, and alcoholism, outlining his story from rock bottom to mountaintop in an effort to restore faith in your own ability to heal. Key Takeaways: Facing your uncomfortable Truth (with a capital ‘T’). To live an inspirational and creative life, it takes the hard work of addressing and facing your darkness. Michael looked himself in the mirror and made a decision that changed his life forever. Mentors make a difference, near and far. In the absence of acceptable role models at home, Michael shares the power of childhood mentors at school and even Mark’s podcast helped shape his life for the better. If you want to transform, you can’t play the victim. In fact, life can change in a matter of moments, days, or weeks when you leave that victim identity behind. More likely, it takes consistent effort and doing the simple things extraordinarily well. And take control. | |||
| Breaking The Bonds of Abuse (with Jennifer Fraser) | 20 Sep 2022 | 00:42:44 | |
Mark speaks with Jennifer Fraser, best-selling author, award-winning educator with a PhD in Comparative Literature. Through personal experience and extensive research, Jennifer uncovered how bullying affects the brain and how the brain can heal, which she details in her new book, The Bullied Brain: Heal Your Scars and Restore Your Health. Today, Commander Divine speaks with Jennifer Fraser, best-selling author, award-winning educator with a PhD in Comparative Literature. In the episode, Jennifer shares how bullying affects the brain and how the brain can heal—detailed in her newest book, The Bullied Brain: Heal Your Scars and Restore Your Health. Key Takeaways: The brain science of abuse. A bullied brain is an unhealthy brain, displaying neurological changes whether the bullying is physical or emotional. We can analyze this on brain scans, brain mapping technology, and correlate it to psychological manifestations in the brain. The psychology of bullying: the Victim and the Favored. Jennifer shares the psychology of the bully stories such as Larry Nassar, which feature bully normalization, co-opting parents into being complicit, and the extensive damage caused in athlete victims AND those witnessing the abuse. Child abuse is indicative of later chronic illness. Child abuse comes in many forms (emotional, physical abuse and sexual, emotional, and physical neglect). Jennifer shares insights from Rolland Summit and Alice Miller’s work that discovered child abuse of all forms accounts for half of the main indicators of later midlife chronic illness. Astounding! | |||
| Act Your Way Out Of The Dark (with Josh Peck) | 12 Sep 2022 | 00:47:09 | |
Mark speaks with Josh Peck, author and one of Hollywood's rising acting talents that made the seamless transition from child actor to leading man. Originally being known for children’s series Drake and Josh, he became fascinated with the process of child stardom, weight loss, recovery, and fatherhood, leading him to publish his own memoir, Happy People Are Annoying. . Today, Commander Divine speaks with Josh Peck, actor and author of Happy People Are Annoying. In the episode, Josh shares his experience with child stardom, weight loss, recovery, fatherhood, and the story of writing his memoir about finding happiness. Key Takeaways: Transitioning takes reinvention. Mark and Josh discuss the power of starting from scratch and not resting on your laurels when it comes to successful transitions. Whether it be from the military or taking on your next acting plateau, the skills of humility and honor are your best friends. You must act your way into right thinking. Josh shares his battle with food addiction, alcohol and drugs, and recovery - detailing his darkest moments and how he was lucky enough to shake himself out of it. It was through action, not thinking, that he was able to shift. Trying new things gives us the material to form lasting change. Happy people are annoying… to unhappy people. Happiness is a fleeting feeling, and is not found through joyful moments. It’s through doing your best and finding contentment in doing it that way. The inspiration for Josh’s book title has less to do with finding happiness and more to do with authenticity amidst the facade of it. | |||
| Female Founder Secrets (with Julia Boorstin) | 06 Sep 2022 | 00:44:34 | |
Mark speaks with Julia Boorstin, CNBC’s Senior Media and Tech Correspondent and creator of CNBC Disruptor 50. Throughout her on-air career, Julia became fascinated with entrepreneurship and closing the equality gaps in our business leadership circles, leading her to author her book, When Women Lead, out October 11th. Today, Commander Divine speaks with Julia Boorstin, CNBC’s Senior Media and Tech Correspondent and newly published author of When Women Lead. In this episode, Julia shares her experience of interviewing over 60 passionate female CEO’s in the startup space and what we can all learn from their leadership. Key Takeaways: Women lead more profitable startups. Female founded VC-backed companies yield higher and faster returns than their male founded counterparts. However, every year 10’s of Billions of dollars go into venture capital, and women only draw about 3% of all VC funding. Julia’s working to change that. Communal leadership is the future, and it’s female-driven. Of the 60+ female CEO’s she interviewed, Julia found that almost all of them approached decisions from a communal perspective. Meaning, they involve those at the ground floor and gain as many perspectives as possible before taking committed action. This, she believes, is a concept many men find difficult to embody. People can smell inauthenticity a mile away. Julia and Mark converge on the topic of men and women’s leadership styles, agreeing it’s not about men or women being better leaders… but about different leadership styles. And our future is dependent on more men softening their walls and more women making it into positions of leadership. Authenticity, as Julia describes, is a hallmark of female founder leadership. | |||
| Control Your Destiny (with Ryan Holiday) | 30 Aug 2022 | 00:44:43 | |
Mark speaks with Ryan Holiday, an author, modern Stoic, public-relations strategist, bookstore owner and host of the podcast The Daily Stoic. Ryan became fascinated with Stoicism in college and dropped out at age 19 to apprentice under Robert Greene, author of The 48 Laws of Power. One illustrious marketing career and 11 books later, Ryan lives on a ranch outside Austin, Texas where he writes, works, and raises cattle, donkeys and goats. His newest book Discipline is Destiny comes out in September 2022. Today, Commander Divine speaks with Ryan Holiday, Stoic author, PR strategist, and host of The Daily Stoic podcast. In this episode, Ryan shares his passion for how Stoic philosophy can be practical and useful in real life, and how discipline is key to destiny. Key Takeaways: Discipline is a practice of moderation. As Seneca would say, “Live immediately.” Yet, also know the importance of planning and investing as though tomorrow may happen. Furthermore, discipline does not need to be sacrificial. You can enjoy the fruits of the present without that enjoyment impacting your future enjoyment. The high performance paradox. It’s a fantasy to think there is such a thing as balance. Finding balance is like jumping into the music of life. And while many aspirers believe that more work will get them where they want to go, in fact stillness and calmness and security are what paradoxically allow you to do whatever it is that you do so much better. Zen and Stoicism, cut from the same cloth. It’s said in Zen that sometimes the best action is inaction. And the best inaction is action. Yin and Yang. Ryan and I discuss in depth the paradoxes of equal opposites and the beauty of living in the tension between the poles of life. Real philosophy takes practice. Ryan shares candidly about the West’s version of Zen monasteries… academia. There has never been a more needed time to bring the practice of leadership to fruition in our world and our nation. | |||
| Why You SUCK at Relationships (with Eric Barker) | 23 Aug 2022 | 00:40:08 | |
Why You SUCK at Relationships (with Eric Barker) Mark speaks with Eric Barker, Wall Street Journal best selling author and former Hollywood screenwriter. Eric left Hollywood and scripted a new challenge: organizing the counterintuitive nature of relationships, vulnerability, and cognitive biases. Key Takeaways: Do you have friends? Do you smoke? The two biggest determinants of your mortality one year after a heart attack. Eric shares the surprising science by Robert Garfield at University of Pennsylvania detailing how not being open and vulnerable in relationships leads to prolonged minor illnesses and even increased lethality from a second heart attack. He also shares effective strategies for forming deep friendships to counteract these data. Friendships are our most coveted relationships, taking the cake over our romantic partners (by 5%). While romantic partnerships are backed by a legal document, as are colleagues with job descriptions, friendships are different. They’re indefinite… which might be just what makes real ones so special. Think about The Scary Rule, which Eric coined. If it feels scary, say it. Start small, but opening up and sharing something that could be used against you is what builds trust, says Diego Gambetta’s research. It starts with you. The placebo effect is in your hormones. Contrary to popular belief, the placebo effect isn’t just in your head… it’s actually in your endorphins, which are what carry the signal of the placebo effect. If we shut down the exchange of endorphins, we lose the mystical placebo. What’s more, placebo effect goes up when we experience trust in not only the medication and treatment, but in the doctor’s bedside manner and empathy. Your first impressions barely beat a coin flip. It turns out, 70% of first impressions are drawn correctly. The trouble is, that 30% of assumptions are what create unhelpful biases, the ones we must confront and try to unlearn. | |||
| What I Learned From the Shark That Took My Leg | 16 Aug 2022 | 00:40:15 | |
Mark speaks with Mike Coots, shark conservation activist, photographer, shark attack survivor, and all-around inspiration. Mike became an amputee when he lost his right leg in a tiger shark attack at 18 years old while bodyboarding, but he didn’t let that stop him from getting back in the water. Today, Commander Divine speaks with Mike Coots, shark conservation activist, photographer, and shark attack survivor. In this episode, Mike discusses his incredible shark attack survival story and journey as an amputee, as well as the unsung role sharks play in the ocean’s ecosystem. Key Takeaways: Sharks are the garbagemen of the sea. Think about what would happen if you didn’t have someone collect your trash. Your house would get unlivable pretty quickly. This is what sharks do: they get rid of the sick, the dying, the diseased, and the trash in the ocean. If we lose our sharks, we lose our oceans. The scourge of shark fin soup. One of the biggest dangers to sharks is shark fin soup. It’s supposed to be a delicacy, but it has no nutritional value and very little cultural value. Shark flesh of a shark has very little commercial value, whereas a shark fin commercially can go for hundreds and hundreds of dollars a pound. So fishermen just keep the fins only because they have limited space out at sea. They dump the rest of the shark overboard, still alive, and it will swim in circles for a couple of days and end up dead on the seafloor. You're taking such a little part of an animal that's much needed, all for a soup that isn't needed at all. De-scarifying the shark. Mike’s underwater photography is a little different than other photographers… he shoots sharks as if they were humans. When he edits photos, he emphasizes attributes of the shark that humanize it; maybe a slight smirk, or a catchlight in its eye. His goal is to have people see a bit of themselves in the image. He says, “If you can relate to something, it makes you want to learn more about it and protect it.” | |||
| Changing the Future with Good Design (with Kevin Bethune) | 09 Aug 2022 | 00:35:21 | |
Commander Divine speaks with Kevin Bethune, Founder & Chief Creative Officer of dreams • design + life, a "think tank" that delivers design & innovation services using a human-centered approach. In this episode, Kevin discusses the power of design and innovation, and how it can help us face the challenges we have today. Key Takeaways: How to mitigate conflict in diverse teams. We all come from different disciplines with varying thought processes. When leading diverse teams, the very first step is to get everyone to openly talk about where they’re coming from, how they like to work, and what their triggers are. Finding a balance in servant leadership. The leader of any team has to strike a balance between articulating the vision and making sure the team feels like they’ve helped inform the vision. It’s up to the leader to carve up the work that needs to be done to give the team the runway, role clarity, and license to own the pieces of that collective vision. The power of quiet leadership. Leadership isn’t always about carrying forward as a facilitator to constantly serve and unblock a team. Sometimes the team needs to see the leader do the work, too. There are many opportunities to provide quiet leadership while you get your hands dirty alongside your team. These are the moments that build better trust and enable the team to hit the ground running on their own. What does growth look like for your business? Every organization has to think about what growth actually looks like for them – it’s not one-size-fits-all. There might be parts of the business that are maturing or are out of date, and they need to be refreshed, renewed, and rejuvenated. This can lead to a new source of business growth. Ideally, that growth is respectful and considerate of both the environment and the people who are part of the engine. Design is young at the strategy table. Strategy is currently still predominantly biased toward business and technology. When considering building more multidisciplinary teams moving forward, design needs to be prioritized and meshed into problem-solving culture. We should appreciate where we've come from, but be honest... | |||
| It's the End of the World As We Know It, and I Feel Fine (with Charles Eisenstein) | 02 Aug 2022 | 00:37:20 | |
Today, Commander Divine speaks with Charles Eisenstein, writer, speaker, and author of The Coronation, his new book that searches for ??meaning as we emerge from the troubled time of Covid. In this episode, Charles talks about why reality isn’t working anymore for most people, his philosophy about the emerging economy, how to take back our sovereignty, and more.
Key Takeaways: Reality isn’t working anymore for most people. The implicit promise is that if you do certain things (like climbing the corporate ladder, buying a house, following the latest diet trend, etc.) then you'll be healthy and happy. But nowadays, people who obey the formula are running headlong into a sandstorm of confusion – whether it's chronic health problems, or dead end careers, depression, or divorce. Something has to change. Considering sovereignty. Lately, the capacity to experience life has become increasingly dependent on technology. For example, most parts of the US are addicted to air conditioning, and to comfort in general. The more comfortable we become, the less tolerant we are to any conditions outside of that small range. This extends to our addiction to the intense stimuli of the virtual world. This trend has accelerated in the last few years, but it's nothing new. It’s time for us to think about what the alternative is…. and to consider this: What is the vision of humanity that underlies this movement toward more and more dependency on things outside of ourselves? The Emperor has no clothes. The elites govern not so much through everybody's agreement with them, but through the perception that everybody agrees with them. It's like the Emperor's new clothes – the Emperor is naked, but everybody else is acting as if he's not. But everybody's thinking it. Charles argues this is why it's so important now to come out about things that go against the status quo, whether it's psychedelics or paranormal experiences, or health. On building a parallel society. You don't change things by fighting existing reality – you build a new model that makes the old one obsolete. We’re currently doing this in many areas of society, from Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies (a parallel financial system), to holistic health modalities (a parallel healthcare system). We're recreating all of these institutions, but also... | |||
| 60 Swims, 2 Treaties Signed, and 1 Whale Saved: The Incredible Life of Lynne Cox | 26 Jul 2022 | 00:44:08 | |
Mark speaks with Lynne Cox, a long-distance open-water swimmer, writer and speaker. Lynne holds over 50 world records and firsts, including setting the record for swimming the English Channel (twice). Lynne was also the first and only person to ever swim between the United States and the Soviet Union in the Bering Strait. This effort took her 11 years to coordinate during the height of the Cold War, and it helped the world to see that there was a very short distance between these two nations (just 2.7 miles). Today, Commander Divine speaks with Lynne Cox, a long-distance open-water swimmer, writer and speaker. Lynne holds over 50 world records and firsts, including setting the record for swimming the English Channel (twice). Lynne was also the first and only person to ever swim between the United States and the Soviet Union in the Bering Strait. This effort took her 11 years to coordinate during the height of the Cold War, and it helped the world to see that there was a very short distance between these two nations (just 2.7 miles). In this episode, Lynne discusses what it takes to make record-breaking swims, the fascinating process of greatness, and her incredible interactions with dogs, whales, and other creatures in the water. Key Takeaways: Find the others. When asked why she was compelled to embark on such unprecedented swims, Lynne said it’s because swimming is her “song in the world.” When you follow your song in the world, you tune into who you are and are driven to figure out what you're capable of doing. But more importantly, finding your song in the world almost always involves other people. How do you get a team of people around you that can complement your passion? Together, you can do something that's never been done. How do people become who they are? Throughout all her varied interests (swimming, history, exercise physiology), Lynne says that her common thread of inspiration is figuring out how people become who they are, and how they influence change in a positive way. Who was Gandhi before Gandhi? Who was Amelia Earhart before she became who she was? The interesting part is found in the in-between. Everyone is a genius. Lynne owes much of her contributions to the amazing help of other people, from the teams who helped her on her swims, to those who gave her advice about book publishing. There are so many different little worlds out there that you can tap into through others. And if you can just connect at one point, it leads you to directions you couldn’t have dreamed of on your own. | |||
| What is Post-Humanism? Deconstructing Western Paradigms with Bayo Akomolafe | 11 Jun 2024 | 00:42:29 | |
Posthumanism invites us to think beyond human-centric thinking and embrace a more inclusive, interconnected worldview. By confronting cultural challenges and seizing opportunities in life's unexpected disruptions, we can transform our understanding of the world and our role within it.
Dr. Bayo Akomolafe is a philosopher, psychologist, and professor from Nigeria. He is the Chief Curator of The Emergence Network and host of the online course, 'We Will Dance with Mountains'. Dr. Akomolafe's work explores themes of post-humanism, decolonization, and the deconstruction of conventional Western paradigms. He seeks to challenge and reframe dominant narratives around human supremacy, individualism, and progress.
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| How to Become a Peacemaker (with Jeremy Pollack) | 19 Jul 2022 | 00:42:59 | |
Mark speaks with Jeremy Pollack, a social psychologist and conflict resolution consultant. Jeremy’s company, Pollack Peacebuilding Systems, teaches leaders and employees how to communicate more effectively and rebuild mutual trust through coaching, training, and conflict resolution services. His company has helped dozens of other companies, large and small, in all varieties of industries around the world, to resolve conflicts and foster greater peace. Key Takeaways: Care comes first. People need to feel safe, respected, and accepted at an identity level. To be able to solve a conflict with a person, you need to find out what’s threatening them. People have to know that you hear them, you care about them, and are actually considering what they're saying. As soon as they feel heard, their defenses come down, they can breathe a little bit, and they're more able to have a conversation about solutions. The connection between martial arts and peacebuilding. If you're learning from a good teacher, martial arts is not about violence. At its core, martial arts is built on embodying a level of humble confidence that allows you to feel confident, grounded and present wherever you are. This is so translatable to conflict resolution, because as a peacebuilder, you have to be humble, but you also have to be confident enough to hold a neutral space so that people can feel safe to express and explore. Conflict resolution vs. peacebuilding. Conflict resolution is about being able to solve an acute problem, whereas peacebuilding recognizes that there are presenting problems that could be resolved, but there's a larger system-wide structural or cultural situation that's allowing these types of conflicts to emerge. When we peacebuild, we address both the acute conflicts and the long-term structural elements that are causing these types of conflicts over and over again. Breaking free from conflict identities. Many people form identities around being victims, being in conflict, or being in control. And if that identity is threatened, it leaves a large gap in the way people see themselves. When someone finally decides... | |||
| How to Get What You Want in Any Negotiation (with Ashley Stahl and Chris Voss) | 12 Jul 2022 | 00:48:03 | |
In this episode, Mark hands the mic to Ashley Stahl, a former counterterrorism professional turned career coach. In this feed drop from Ashley’s You Turn podcast, Ashley interviews Chris Voss, the lead international kidnapping investigator for the FBI, author of Never Split the Difference, and CEO of the Black Swan Group. Today, Mark hands the mic to Ashley Stahl, a former counterterrorism professional turned career coach. In this feed drop from Ashley’s You Turn podcast, Ashley interviews Chris Voss, the lead international kidnapping investigator for the FBI, author of Never Split the Difference, and CEO of the Black Swan Group. In this masterclass on negotiation, Chris and Ashley cover salary negotiation tactics, how to use empathy to get what you want, negotiation psychology, and so much more. Key Takeaways: Never go first. Chris says the secret to gaining the upper hand in negotiations is giving the other side the illusion of control. That’s why the smartest and best negotiators let the other side go first. He who speaks first loses, since you're giving the other side a lot of information right off the bat, and you’re not learning anything you can use in your favor. If you’re asked a question first, respond, but don’t answer the question right away. Pivot as much as possible back to the other person and make them divulge first. There are no bad teams, only bad leaders. Chris says that if his people are responding to him poorly, then he’s failing as a leader, and he needs to make some changes. The more work-focused a leader gets, the more the work product suffers. If a leader isn’t happy with the job somebody's doing, they’re likely treating that person as a commodity and not as a human being. Make sure you’re spending enough time nurturing and encouraging your people and finding out who they are. Empathy means understanding, not caring. Empathy has become a synonym for caring about the other side. But Chris says empathy is really about completely understanding where the other side is coming from. If you need to like, agree with, or sympathize with someone to exercise empathy, then what happens if you don’t like them? What happens if you don't agree with them? You can't exercise empathy if those are necessary requirements. But if you don't need any of those things, you can exercise empathy with any human being on the planet. Seek first to understand, then be understood. In any negotiation, this is the fastest sequence to get your way. You don’t have to agree that the other person’s perspective is true, fair, or even reasonable. All you have to do is reflect their perspective back to them, so that they feel like you understand them. Focus on fixing losses vs. accomplishing gains. The reasons why we won't do something are more important in our decision-making than the reasons we will... | |||
| Jessica Buchanan: Survival Against Impossible Odds | 05 Jul 2022 | 01:02:07 | |
Mark speaks with Jessica Buchanan, a humanitarian worker and activist who was kidnapped and held hostage for 93 days in Somalia. Today, Jessica works to help women foster their authentic self-expression through the development of their own manifestos. Key Takeaways: Finding strength in the unthinkable. As a teacher from Ohio, Jessica never thought such an extraordinary event could ever happen to her. But her experience taught her that not only was she not immune to having bad things happen to her, but she also learned she’s a whole lot tougher than she ever gave herself credit for. She says that she can now look back on her story as a reminder of her inner strength in moments of imposter syndrome. Trust your gut. The night before her kidnapping, Jessica’s intuition was screaming at her not to travel to southern Somalia as she was instructed to do for work. In fact, she tried to cancel the work engagement twice, but was pressured by her colleague to go. The whole night before her kidnapping, she had nightmares that she was being kidnapped by pirates. She says her decision to go anyway was the biggest self-abandonment moment of her life. She has since vowed to always go with her gut, no matter what. Finding humor in a hopeless place. Jessica says she relied on her “warped sense of humor” to keep her hopeful and strong over the course of her 93-day kidnapping. At one point, when her captors locked the keys inside all 3 getaway vehicles, she turned to her co-hostage and said, “It's official, we’ve been kidnapped by the world's dumbest pirates.” Humor is a hope-builder. Surviving survival is not a linear process. Jessica says that surviving her survival has been two steps forward and 10 steps back. Whether you’ve experienced large or small traumas, you just don't know what's going to trigger you from day to day, so be gentle with yourself. | |||
| Jane McGonigal: Gaming for a Better Future | 28 Jun 2022 | 00:46:15 | |
Mark speaks with Jane McGonigal, game designer and author of the new book, Imaginable: How to See the Future Coming and Feel Ready for Anything, Even Things that Seem Impossible Today. After she created a game to help herself recover from a debilitating concussion in 2009, Jane was inspired to build a more positive and collaborative world through the use of modern technology. Jane believes that games can generate a higher collective intelligence that can be put toward a better quality of human life. Key Takeaways: Translate gaming into real life. To maximize the positive skills learned from gaming, the critical questions to ask yourself (or your kids) is this: “What have you gotten better at since you started playing this game?” If the gamer can answer this question, they’ll have a much better chance that the game will produce a positive impact on their identity in the real world (vs. a pathological gaming addiction or means of escapism). Don’t spend all your time playing one game. Jane suggests exposing yourself to new games so you’re always growing. In fact, in aging seniors, there's less risk of cognitive decline and fewer symptoms of dementia for people who expose themselves to games that they've never played before. Gamers adapt better to change. fMRI studies show that gamers are able to process, make sense of, and respond effectively to multiple streams of information much faster. Their brains are already coming up with new strategies before they have conscious recognition that something has changed, which is a crucial skill to develop for the fast-paced VUCA world. Playing games can help people prepare for the future. Back in 2010, Jane ran a future simulation game asking people to imagine their response to a pandemic set 10 years in the future. When she followed up with the simulation participants after the 2020 pandemic, they reported feeling... | |||
| Daniel Amen: Building a Happy, Healthy Brain | 21 Jun 2022 | 00:44:29 | |
Mark speaks with Daniel Amen, a double board-certified psychiatrist and twelve-time New York Times best-selling author. The founder of Amen Clinics, Dr. Amen’s goal is to “end mental illness by creating a revolution in brain health.” Dr. Amen has helped millions of people improve their brain health and their lives. Today, Commander Divine speaks with Daniel Amen, a double board-certified psychiatrist and twelve-time New York Times best-selling author. The founder of Amen Clinics, Dr. Amen’s goal is to “end mental illness by creating a revolution in brain health.” In this episode, Dr. Amen discusses the link between brain type and personality, the ideal supplementation for brain health, how obesity affects your brain, and more. Key Takeaways: Obesity is literally dumbing us down. Studies have shown that as your weight increases, the actual physical size and function of your brain goes down. Being overweight decreases blood flow, ages your brain, increases inflammation, stores toxins, and changes your hormones. And with 72% of Americans overweight and 42% of them obese, it's the biggest source of brain drain we’re currently facing. Brain scans allow us to diagnose more accurately. Most psychiatrists will talk to you, look for symptom clusters, and then diagnose and treat you - but this process could be much more effective with biological data. Dr. Amen believes that psychiatrists don’t have to fly blind, and that new technology like SPECT brain scans can help us diagnose and treat mental conditions more effectively. The 3 pillars of brain health. Dr. Amen says that boosting your brain health comes down to three specific strategies: 1) brain envy – you must passionately care about your brain and pay attention to it, 2) avoid anything that hurts your brain, and 3) regularly engage in habits that boost your brain’s health. The lowest-hanging fruit for brain health. Dr. Amen says that if he could get all his patients to eat better, 30% of them would be better in a month. In terms of brain health interventions, nutrition definitely comes first. The best happiness supplement. Dr. Amen’s favorite happiness supplement is saffron. He makes a product called Happy Saffron, which includes saffron, zinc and curcumin – and 24 randomized controlled trials showed it to be equally effective to antidepressants to boost mood, with virtually no side effects. What NOT to do for brain health. Dr. Amen says to avoid processed foods,... | |||
| Mark and Melanie Talk About Mental Health | 14 Jun 2022 | 00:44:41 | |
Mark sits down with Melanie Sliwka, Certified Unbeatable Mind Coach. For the past 12 years, Melanie has trained and worked with Navy SEALs, thought leaders, and top-performing executives. Join Mark and Melanie for a candid conversation about mental health, suicide, the unique mental health challenges of veterans, and how we can take our well-being into our own hands. Today, Commander Divine sits down with Melanie Sliwka, Certified Unbeatable Mind Coach, to discuss one of the most pressing issues of our time: mental health. This important episode covers a lot of ground, from the state of veterans’ mental health to the best techniques to take our well-being into our own hands. Key Takeaways: Always remember to PBTA. Due to childhood trauma and other traumatic life events, most of us are operating in a constant hyper aroused state. (And for veterans, combat stress can exacerbate underlying trauma that already existed.) The acronym Pause, Breathe, Think and Act can be a literal life-saver to bring the body out of “fight or flight” and back into “rest and digest” mode. Who’s your swim buddy? If you’re having trouble managing your own internal dialogue and thinking processes, it’s important to reach out to a positive person you can trust. Think about it right now: who is your go-to swim buddy when shit gets really bad? And how can you be someone else’s swim buddy? Pharmaceutical drugs are a short-term solution. The rate of suicide among those who are taking SSRIs vs interventions through other nonpharmaceutical means is 2:1. While antidepressants can be great for short-term mental health interventions, it’s important to include nonpharmaceutical interventions for long-term well-being. Get re-balanced with the basics. The big four practices for physiological rebalancing are: breath training, proper nutrition, exercise, and sleep. For 20 minutes every morning, try box breathing: inhale for five counts, hold your breath for five counts, exhale for five counts, and hold your exhaled breath for five counts. This is a completely free anti-stress medicine that you can do anytime, anywhere. Balancing the physiological system then leads to psychological space, which enables you to make better decisions across all areas of your life. The 3 best healing modalities for vets. Mark recommends electrostimulation (especially for TBI), EMDR therapy, and psychedelics. Electrostimulation works at the brain level, EMDR therapy works in the heart, and psychedelic assisted therapy works at the heart and the psycho-spiritual level. There’s no one thing that works for every person. Everyone should try multiple things on their healing journey. The most important thing is for healing to be multi-dimensional. | |||
| Perianne Boring: Busting the Biggest Bitcoin Myths | 07 Jun 2022 | 00:56:30 | |
Today, Commander Divine speaks with Perianne Boring, founder and president of the Chamber of Digital Commerce, the world's largest trade association representing the blockchain industry. Perianne’s mission is to advocate and educate the public and lawmakers about the future of blockchain. In this episode, Perianne busts some of the biggest myths about the cryptocurrency space, including Russian sanctions, environmental impact, and more. Key Takeaways: Myth #1: Bitcoin is bad for the environment. It currently takes 189 terawatts to mine Bitcoin.This is about .1% of the world's energy production. And, over 60% of the energy going to mine Bitcoin is coming from sustainable sources. (We’re also starting to see use cases where crypto mining can actually help stabilize the energy grid.) The energy used to mine Bitcoin is a small fraction of the emissions that are created to mine gold, power our financial sector and support our military sector. Myth #2: Russia is using crypto to evade sanctions. There's a current narrative that says Russians are flocking to crypto to evade sanctions. But there is no evidence of that, and there is nothing that would lead us to believe that that would ever be the case in the future. Since Russia entered Crimea in 2014, they've been working to sanction-proof their economy and diversify out of US dollar reserves. Crypto was not a part of their like sanction-proofing strategy at all. Even if they wanted to start using crypto for illicit finance, law enforcement has significant tools to track and trace the flow of cryptocurrencies, due to the open-source nature of blockchains. Even the Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network put out a statement saying that we are not seeing crypto used for sanctions evasion. The conversations that are happening on the regulatory front are negotiations between the industry and the regulators on what regulatory frameworks look like. There certainly will be winners and losers in those conversations, but those are winners and losers between different companies and platforms in the space, not the technology itself. The case for this technology has been made, and we're seeing that play out on the global stage right now. Myth #5: It’s too late to invest in Bitcoin. It’s not too late to get in if you want to. We are still in incredibly early days, and there's a lot of opportunity. (This is not investment advice. Just Perianne’s own opinion!) We are living in a currency experiment. For most of human history, we’ve used objects of scarcity as money – salt, stones, shells. After that, we used a gold standard for thousands of years. It wasn't until the 1980s that all industrialized nations moved to a fiat system. This is the first time in world economic history that all industrialized nations are using a currency that is only backed by the full faith and credit of the government. Our current economic inflation and collapse is the aftermath of this shift. Perianne believes we're coming back to our original principles of having a sound monetary system, and that Bitcoin could potentially be the path to get there. Bitcoin is the new gold. Bitcoin is a store of value, which means it’s playing the role gold has played in portfolios for many decades. The Fed Chairman himself, Jerome Powell,... | |||
| Beena Sharma: The New Age of Leadership Development | 31 May 2022 | 00:59:32 | |
Today, Commander Divine speaks with Beena Sharma, international consultant and president of the Vertical Development Academy. Beena has worked for more than two decades in the area of whole-system, large-scale change. In this episode, Beena discusses polarity thinking, how language affects our reality, and the difference between horizontal and vertical development. Key Takeaways: We are entering the age of vertical development. Vertical development fosters essential growth of new perspectives and gives leaders a greater ability to handle the complex problems of our changing world. Fortunately, we can now measure how an individual grows through these stages of maturity thanks to assessments like the ones provided by the Vertical Development Academy. We need both horizontal and vertical development. While horizontal development gives you more knowledge, information, skills, credentials, and certificates, it doesn't fundamentally change any assumptions you have about yourself. It doesn't challenge any beliefs you have about how the world works. Vertical development, on the other hand, recognizes that you have certain beliefs, and that you’re invested in and identify with certain assumptions. And then these get challenged over time because of life experiences. How can a MAP assessment help? The MAP (Maturity Profile) assessment analyzes our developmental anatomy. It shows us how language reflects development, how we express our meaning-making, and what we see in the world through language. This then reveals what we are aware of, what we're not aware of, and the hidden beliefs and assumptions that we hold. By challenging those beliefs and assumptions, we can open up to new perspectives. Our new psychological development models mirror ancient spiritual traditions. Traditionally, the Eastern spiritual and wisdom traditions have talked about unitive consciousness. And now, we have a model that mirrors the stages of consciousness for psycho-emotional development, which is a fascinating and valuable parallel. The paradox of polarities. Polarities are tensions or interdependent values that we struggle with. Sometimes, we pick one value over the other thinking one is better than the other. But as we grow, we realize that it's not this or that; it's both. It's like inhaling and exhaling; we have to both inhale and exhale to live and breathe. You would never be able to pick one, because you need both to survive. So, not all problems are problems that can be solved. Sometimes it’s not about solving a problem; it's just about harmonizing, integrating, and managing both sides of the spectrum. Don’t let labels box you in. In early stages of development, we like to orient ourselves by boxing ourselves in and labeling ourselves as a “type” (i.e. “I’m a thinking type” or “I’m a feeling type”). This is helpful to a point. But as we grow, we continue to define ourselves in more expansive ways, until we eventually arrive at the style of no style. This is where you’re not bound by anything and you can be anything, because you realize that your conditioning has been keeping you in a box. This happens systematically and progressively, and it can sound like a tall order. But it’s the process. We all have the potential for unity consciousness. The idea of seeing others as the enemy is a very early stage idea. Many of us grow through that and recognize that it’s a limited way of viewing the world. And so our circle of embrace expands. While this might never happen for some people due to life circumstances and a lack of inner and outer resources, it has the potential to grow in every human being. In fact, it’s our birthright. | |||
| Gary John Bishop: Love Unfu*ked | 24 May 2022 | 00:48:43 | |
Today, Commander Divine speaks with Gary John Bishop, humanist, podcaster and author of the new book, Love Unfu*ked. A hilarious Scotsman with a brilliant mind, Gary esposes a unique brand of no-nonsense urban philosophy. In this episode, Gary discusses the nature of relationships, how to just be as opposed to being a victim, and recognizing that you are your behavior rather than your thoughts. Key Takeaways: Our relationships are our best and most potent opportunity to gain self awareness. They grind to the surface everything we think we can get away with, including the shadow or “junk” parts of ourselves that we feel like we’ve already handled. Instead of defending your junk when it comes up in your relationship, see it as a lesson to understand and explore. Don’t try to “control” your anger. This only leads to a buildup of repressed emotions that will eventually explode. Instead, realize and accept that anger is a natural human expression, and find a way to express it in a healthy way that works for you. The turning point in personal development is taking responsibility for how you show up in the world. This requires great introspection and awareness of the nature of your own thoughts and the energy you put out in the world. You create your external world based on what’s going on inside you. And the energy you get back is always a direct reflection of what you’re putting out, so choose wisely! Don’t be a triumphant victim. A triumphant victim is someone who has overcome a terrible event, but still holds onto great anger about it. This only perpetuates their victimhood; it is only their resentment that keeps them stuck. When you just let go and let people off the hook for how things turned out, you finally free yourself from being the victim for good. Sometimes, fixing isn’t the answer. When people come to us for advice, our first reaction is usually to try to fix or change the problem. But sometimes, all the person needs to sort themselves out is silence and space to say whatever they need to say. When you give somebody the freedom to just be themselves, it creates a lot of space. | |||
| Inspiration, Creativity, and Didgeridoo Magic | 17 May 2022 | 00:48:31 | |
Today, Commander Divine speaks with Simon Drew, a multi-talented philosopher, poet, pianist, podcaster, and didgeridoo player. In his latest book, The Poet and the Sage, Simon digs deep into philosophy, mysticism, and metaphor. In this episode, Simon discusses his creative process, how philosophy and art are intertwined, and how to achieve enlightenment by playing the didgeridoo. Key Takeaways: Life is about asking better questions. Simon believes that life is a game with an objective, but it’s up to us to ask the right questions to know what that objective is and how to seek it out. It’s crucial to strengthen our questioning ability and face life with the degree of seriousness it deserves… and then being willing to hear the answers when we ask the questions. Not everybody is built as an artist. Simon says that inspiration typically hits him just a few minutes before he starts his writing routine, and it almost always comes to him easily and naturally. He says that the artistic experience is something that many people just don’t necessarily have access to – not because some people are superior and others are inferior, but because not everybody is built as an artist. Different art forms play different roles. Simon plays music, writes poetry, and hosts a podcast because all of these mediums allow for completely different forms of expression. One format may get across to people in different ways that aren’t possible with another medium. Practice “Po.” Simon talked about a beautiful principle called “po,” which means to sit with a question once it’s posited, rather than trying to answer it immediately. Simon hopes that when people read poetry, they will sit with the question in the poem and allow it space to seep into the mind, body, and soul… and see what happens. Between two worlds. The stoic definition of wisdom is “a knowledge of things human and divine.” Since we are strange beings stretched between the heights and the depths, Simon asks: How much could you truly contribute in life if you became highly skilled at living between those two worlds? | |||
| The Psychology of Resilient Leadership with Neuropsychologist Dr. Julia DiGangi | 04 Jun 2024 | 01:05:09 | |
There is a surprising factor that limits your leadership potential – Unresolved trauma. Trauma is a disruption of the patterns our brains trust to navigate life.
Dr.Julia DiGangi is a neuropsychologist who completed her clinical training at a consortium of Harvard Medical School, Boston University School of Medicine, and the US Department of Veterans Affairs. She has nearly two decades of experience studying the connection between our brains and our behavior. Dr. DiGangi has worked with leaders at the White House Press Office, global companies, international NGOs, and US Special Forces. Her understanding of stress, trauma, and resilience is also informed by her work in international development and humanitarian aid, where she served some of the world's most vulnerable communities. The founder of NeuroHealth Partners, a neuropsychology-based consultancy, DiGangi shows people—at work and at home—how to harness the power of the brain to lead more satisfying and emotionally intelligent lives.
Key Takeaways
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Links for Dr. Julia DiGangi
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| Chris Duffin: How to Focus on Impact for Maximum Results | 10 May 2022 | 00:44:58 | |
Today, Commander Divine speaks with Chris Duffin, health and fitness entrepreneur, author of The Eagle & the Dragon, and founder of Kabuki Strength. In this episode, Chris shares about growing up homeless as a child, his philosophy on fitness, and how he hopes to help people build resilience across every area of their lives. Key Takeaways: Weightlifting teaches you about life. Weightlifting can teach so many applicable lessons, but we often miss the connection. For example, some high-powered businessmen may execute amazing deals and strategies in the office, but then start flailing when they get to the gym. All they have to do is apply their planning and management skills, set expectations, and follow through. The inverse applies for people who get amazing results in the gym, but lack discipline in their work and home lives. Strength training should be empowering. As a trainer, you should lead someone toward not needing you. The individual has the largest amount of power in overcoming pain and creating change in their body. The trainer’s job is to provide the right methodology, the right tools, and the right mindset. When people learn those three things, they can own everything. Focus on impact. When it comes to fitness, Chris focuses on efforts that are going to make the biggest impact. For example, the ability to manage and control spinal mechanics has the largest global impact on the body, which is why Chris decided to do a 1,000 pound squat and deadlift for 3 reps each. Chris takes the same high-impact approach in business as well. Case in point: the mechanics of the foot has the second largest global impact on the body, which is why Chris started Bearfoot, a minimalist shoe company. Chris’ Grand Goals. Chris has three main Grand Goals that he lives his life by: 1. Demonstrate. Chris walks the walk to show what you can accomplish with the principles he teaches. 2. Inspire. Go for it. Shoot for something that is just so crazy that nobody's ever done it. Chris revels in showing people that if you set your mind to it, you can pull off things that seem impossible (like 3 reps of 1,000 pounds). 3. Be charitable. Chris has done a lot of feats of strength that also tie back into charity fundraisers for causes he believes in. The future of fitness. Chris’ company Kabuki Strength makes purpose-built barbells to help athletes train more safely and efficiently. They currently produce groundbreaking equipment for 90% of the NFL and MLB teams, but they’re not stopping there. Chris hopes to create a complete ecosystem of education, training tools, and data as it relates to the technology and art of coaching. He hopes to reinvent the typical gym in the future and change the face of fitness, eventually scaling to integrate with clinical care. | |||
| Jay Glazer: How to Turn Depression and Anxiety Into Motivation | 03 May 2022 | 00:53:18 | |
Today, Commander Divine speaks with Jay Glazer, iconic NFL sports insider, mental health advocate, and founder of MVP (Merging Vets and Players). | |||
| Brian Estes: The Beauty of the Blockchain | 26 Apr 2022 | 00:58:40 | |
Today, Commander Divine speaks with Brian Estes, CEO & CIO at Off the Chain Capital. Off the Chain is a cryptocurrency fund that finds value opportunities across the industry. In this episode, Brian discusses myths and truths about cryptocurrency, how it really works, and the future of blockchain technology. Key Takeaways: Our money experiment is no longer working. The dollar is going down, so it looks like commodities are going up in price. But in reality, what's happening is the dollar is losing all its value. For the last 51 years, the world's been an experiment. We’ve been experimenting with money that's only backed by the full faith and credit of the government that issues that money out. And that experiment is failing. Something has to give. Bitcoin is not as difficult to buy as you might think. While Coinbase is ubiquitous, it’s also really hard to use. Brian recommends buying Bitcoin on PayPal, Venmo, Square Cash App, or Robin Hood. Or, if you have a Fidelity or Schwab brokerage account, you can invest in the private Grayscale Bitcoin Trust or the Osprey Bitcoin Trust. Bitcoin can’t be outlawed. Congress decided not to outlaw Bitcoin for two reasons: 1. It would drive innovation outside the US; and 2. Back in 1996, the Supreme Court had already decided that cryptographic computer code is language and is protected by the First Amendment as speech. Therefore, you can't outlaw Bitcoin in the United States; it's technically protected speech. The Internet wasn’t supposed to be built this way. When we built the internet 30 years ago, there was a piece of software that was missing. The internet was built on top of the banking and credit card systems. The only reason it was built on these systems is because no one could figure out how to create software to allow us to do peer to peer transfer. And that's all Bitcoin and the blockchain is. It's that solution that we were looking for for 30 years. And someone figured it out and gave it to the world for free. Over the next 10 to 20 years, our internet will be a blockchain based internet. Since Bitcoin’s invention, we've been rebuilding the entire Internet. We're taking it off the banking system and putting it on blockchain technology. It's going to be very disruptive. The banks, credit card companies, and traditional finance people don't like it, but it's going to happen. Bitcoin, blockchain, and decentralized finance will replace the current financial system. It’s not going to happen overnight, but over the next 10 to 20 years, our internet will be blockchain based. You can’t put the toothpaste back in the tube. The government has been waging a massive misinformation campaign over the last 14 years. T hey’ve branded Bitcoin as something nefarious. They’ve said it’s bad for the environment, which is totally false. And then they've taxed it as property. Therefore, you can't use it as currency, which has slowed down the adoption. But you can't stop it. It's almost like religion. Once the thought is out there, you can't unlearn it. What will one Bitcoin be worth in the future? We're in a period of price discovery. We're trying to figure out what this asset is worth, and we have models that help us predict that. These models are between 91 and 99% correlated to the historical price of Bitcoin. And according to those models, Bitcoin should be worth somewhere between $10 million to $18 million per Bitcoin by 2029. Is Bitcoin really destroying the environment? If you look at how much electricity is generated in the world, Bitcoin consumes 0.1% of the world's electricity. That's about what we use for Christmas lights or electric dryers in the United States. So even if you turn it off, you gain 0.1%. Of that 0.1% of electricity, 56% of it comes from renewable energy sources. So crypto is actually the greenest industry in the world. There's no other industry in the world that... | |||
| Naveen Jain: Building a More Compassionate, Connected World | 18 Apr 2022 | 01:03:46 | |
Today, Commander Divine speaks with Naveen Jain, entrepreneur, thought leader, and Founder and CEO of VIOME Life Sciences. In this episode, Naveen discusses the nature of human consciousness, the key to entrepreneurship, and the future of disease prevention and AI technology. Key Takeaways: We’ll soon have more control of our own health than ever. With emerging innovations like Naveen’s company VIOME, we can learn what causes us to have different diseases with a simple saliva and stool sample test – and then receive precision diet and supplement recommendations based on the results. We are slowly becoming trans-human. Right now, we’re connected to the Cloud. One day, the Cloud will become part of our bodies. Today it’s the watch, tomorrow it’ll be the chip, and then one day it’ll be part of our brains. Naveen imagines a world where we bypass speech and communicate through instant thought, and where we can subscribe to people’s thoughts like we do to a Twitter feed. What is human consciousness? Are we actually humans or a manifestation of universal consciousness? Naveen says that religion and science are starting to speak the same language. Religions say there is a God or creator, and your destiny is pre-written. And scientists say we are living in an algorithm-driven simulation, which means our destiny is pre-written. We’re all saying the same thing, which is: we are a manifestation of universal energy and universal consciousness. Making money is a byproduct of doing things for others. Naveen says this is the fundamental key that people need to know about entrepreneurship. Never go out and say, ‘I want to create a company, what should I do?’ When you are an entrepreneur, your job is to find something that improves people's lives. And if you do that, you can create an amazingly great, sustainable company. We become who we are with every interaction. When people say “that was the last straw that broke the camel's back,” it's never the last straw. It’s all the other straws that happened before that. That’s who we are as human beings; every single thing we’ve done has changed us. Whenever you learn something new or talk to someone else, your mindset changes. And then suddenly, one day, you wake up to find yourself completely different. | |||
| Max Lugavere: How to Eat for Optimum Health | 12 Apr 2022 | 00:55:46 | |
Today, Commander Divine speaks with Max Lugavere, NYT best-selling author and health journalist. His latest book, Genius Kitchen, delivers nutritious recipes to help keep a sharp brain and strong body. In this episode, Max debunks common food myths, discusses the best diet for brain and metabolic health, how much protein you really need, and more. Key Takeaways: Meat is the most bioavailable protein found in nature. Animal proteins are building blocks that are ready to easily plug and play in our bodies. Omega-3s derived from plants, on the other hand (walnuts, chia seeds, flax seeds, etc.) have to undergo a complex biological transformation before they can be used in the body. The efficacy of those processes differ from person to person. Prevention is the cure. 60% of deaths worldwide occur due to noncommunicable, preventable conditions… and most of them start brewing well before the first symptoms occur. However, there is good research linked to certain diets (like the ketogenic diet) and their ability to prevent noncommunicable diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. That’s why it’s critical to adopt the right diet as early as possible. Some meat is better than none. Meat is nutrient dense, has fat-soluble antioxidants to protect the brain, and is a great source of highly bioavailable protein. It also has unique nutrients like creatine for brain energy metabolism. While dose matters of course, the benefits of eating meat generally outweigh the risks. Coffee is good for you... if you use a filter. Coffee contains a compound called cafestol, which is a very powerful elevator of LDL cholesterol. While cafestol is almost completely absorbed by a paper filter, using a French press allows it to filter through to your cup. If you’re prone to high cholesterol levels, run your coffee through a paper filter. | |||
| Mark and Amy Q&A: Leadership and Handling Stressful Situations | 05 Apr 2022 | 00:57:44 | |
Today, Commander Divine does a Q&A with his producer, Amy Jurkowitz. They discuss the future of leadership, the importance of cultivating a positive mindset amidst fear, how to handle stressful situations, and more. Key Takeaways: The future of leadership is world centric. The only way we can hope for a more peaceful world is to get all leaders to move beyond merely an egocentric view (“I matter”) or an ethnocentric view (“my tribe matters”) and into a world centric view (“everyone and everything matters”). Negative thinking = negative action. The reason we have such violence on this planet is the collective negative mindset that has accrued and been projected out into the world over thousands of years. If we can change that collective mindset to one that’s positive and inclusive, then we’ll start to see the outer environment change really quickly. Try pattern interrupts for more productive conversations. The next time someone you’re working with becomes reactive instead of constructive, try a pattern interrupt. Very calmly, point out the obvious to the individual who's lost control. For example, pause, take a breath, look at the individual and say, “Well, yelling at me isn't going to help X, is it?” Turning the mirror on their behavior will likely make them stop and think about their actions. The best way to face a crisis. If you're facing a crisis, don't meet that crisis with more activity, because it might be the wrong activity. Press the “pause” button, take a retreat, spend some time on the meditation bench. Just take some time to go inward so you can ask better questions and find out where to point your arrow for the future. The next several years are about to get interesting. Between now and 2030, we’re going to see a lot of changes in global structures and culture as the Industrial Age structures fall apart. It’s up to us to not contribute to the negativity through fear, but to maintain a positive mindset that we can move to a better place. | |||
| Dylan Beynon: The Future of Psychedelic Therapies | 29 Mar 2022 | 00:46:51 | |
Today, Commander Divine speaks with Dylan Beynon, founder and CEO of Mindbloom, a new telemedicine company for clinician-prescribed psychedelic therapy. Dylan has been named a Top 25 Consumer Health Tech Executive, and is one of the top 100 Most Influential People in Psychedelics. Dylan shares his thoughts on the future of psychedelics, how his upbringing inspired him to found Mindbloom, the benefits of ketamine therapy vs. mainstream therapies, and more. Key Takeaways: Why psychedelic therapy? Mental healthcare is the #1 public health crisis in the United States. Yet when you dig into the clinical research around existing treatment options, they just aren’t good enough. SSRIs only work 40-47% of the time, and over 50% of people have severe side effects. Plus, it takes 6-8 weeks to work, if it works at all. At-home ketamine therapy gets immediate results 80% of the time, with less than 5% of clients having mild side effects like nausea. How does ketamine therapy work? Patients are sent a flavored ketamine tablet that absorbs directly into the bloodstream. You keep the tablet under your tongue for 7 minutes while listening to a guided meditation. Then, you spit it out and go through a guided therapy session with a provider via video chat for about an hour. How can we make psychedelic therapy mainstream? By radically increasing access to treatments and creating a product that gives people better outcomes and experiences. In order to see widespread adoption of psychedelic therapies, we need to do 3 things: 1. Educate and make it approachable for people since it’s so stigmatized; 2. Make it less expensive so more people can afford it; 3. Use telemedicine to make it accessible to people no matter where they live. What does the future of psychedelic therapy look like? Assisted psychedelic therapies are growing rapidly. Oregon recently passed a law that has started the process to enable the prescription and administration of therapeutic medical psilocybin. Therapeutic MDMA is just about a year out from FDA approval. The Multidisciplinary Association of Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) has also been working on psychedelic advocacy, legalization, and medicalization for over 50 years. It’s all happening, and Dylan believes that psychedelic therapies will eventually overtake existing treatment options as the predominant treatment. | |||
| Dre Baldwin: How to Borrow Confidence and Cultivate Discipline | 22 Mar 2022 | 00:47:13 | |
Today, Commander Divine speaks with Dre Baldwin, who helps entrepreneurs and athletes dominate their “game” from the inside out through his business and podcast, Work on Your Game. Dre shares his incredible journey from being benched on his high school basketball team to becoming a professional basketball player, plus his best advice on personal development, the power of discipline, and more. Key Takeaways: Borrow your confidence. When you fake it til you make it, you allow your confidence to come and go. Think of someone whose confidence you admire, and assume their internal, emotional, energetic posture. You’ll eventually build up your own confidence based on what you’ve already done from that borrowed posture. Discipline is everything. Showing up every day can easily separate you from everyone else when skill level is equal. At the pro level, everyone has talent. It’s not a talent to show up every day; it’s a choice. Discipline gives you a leg-up. Don’t be a PIG. More and more people are becoming “PIGs” – Professional Information Gatherers. At some point, you have to take your knowledge and do something with it. And cut yourself off from all the “information” out there, because there’s more of it than you have time for. Why are you here? You need to know why you showed up in the first place. If your reason is to prove something to someone else, it’s the wrong reason. There’s going to come a point when you have to have your own answers. If you need someone else to answer for you now, it’s only going to make you weaker for the future. | |||
| James Clear: How to Grow Good Ideas and Position Yourself for Success | 15 Mar 2022 | 00:48:51 | |
Today, Commander Divine speaks with James Clear, the best-selling author of Atomic Habits (which has sold over 5 million copies). James discusses his process for writing and content creation, the joys and pitfalls of notoriety, how to position yourself for success, and a behind-the-scenes look of how he’s built his audience of over 1 million subscribers. Key Takeaways: When you’re struggling creatively, don’t write more – read more. Writing is like driving a car; reading is like filling your car up with gas. You need both to get anywhere on your journey. Be careful who you follow. When you choose who to follow online, you’re choosing your future thoughts – choose wisely. Consistency is the most important practice for better writing. James prefers to not be dependent on a single circumstance to be able to write. As long as you’re doing the work, you don’t have to get hung up on having a specific routine. Ask yourself: How can you give people the highest value in the easiest way possible? When you apply this philosophy to every area of your business, it’s hard not to get better results. A lot of success comes from good positioning. Take advantage of external forces that work in your favor, create work that keeps working for you after it’s done, and choose work that has a limited downside and an unlimited upside. You don’t need things to go perfectly all the time when you have a lot of really strong forces working in your favor. Quotes: “Pretty much every idea that you have is downstream from what you consume” “This is one of the huge benefits of having an email list and audience… Not only do you have an audience to launch a podcast or a product to, but it’s also live testing… I knew by the time I signed my book deal that these were the top 20 ideas that did really well” “I put all this pressure on myself to spend more time writing, but it ironically got worse. If the writing isn’t good enough, if I feel like I’m struggling to come up with something creative, I actually don’t need to spend more time writing – I need to spend more time reading.” “Coming up with good ideas is mostly reading more and crafting good information flows.” “Writing is one of the ultimate forms of delayed gratification.” “Just keep showing up and banging the rock with the hammer, keep shipping, and you’ll eventually break through” “Having specific calls to action to a well-designed page and backing all of that up with really exceptional work is the 80/20 of it all – that’s the stuff that drives the majority of the outcomes.” “Strategy is mostly about positioning yourself well to benefit from external forces.” “There’s a chance for anyone, regardless of industry or project, to position yourself in a way where your hard work is multiplied and you get more value out of each unit of effort” Links: James Clear Instagram Twitter IP Vanish Promo Code Divine Progressive | |||
| Robin Sharma: How to Be World-Class without Hustling | 08 Mar 2022 | 00:48:44 | |
Today, Commander Divine speaks with humanitarian, leadership expert, and best-selling author Robin Sharma. Robin’s father was a rotarian and brought his children up with strong values of humility and service to others. These core values have inspired Robin’s career. Today, he discusses his new book, The Everyday Hero Manifesto, and the practices he uses to gain perspective, process trauma, and live a life of courage and service to others. Key Takeaways: We are all capable of great success. We don’t need to be billionaires, politicians, poets, or spiritual leaders to lead meaningful, productive lives. However, we must determine what success means to us personally. Prayer is a powerful tool. Robin shares how we can pray, even if we are not religious. We all experience trauma, and we must all learn to uncover and process our trauma; only then can we be who we are meant to be. Robin is a big fan of journaling to explore and uncover hidden emotions and unpack trauma. There isn’t a linear path to winning at life. There are many tools, and there are many ways, but concentrating on a certain formula for success neglects to address our hearts and spirituality, and often leaves us feeling empty. Don’t forget to rest. Rest is crucial for refueling our creativity, patience, and willpower. Quotes: “If someone is living a life that feels true to them, and it brings joy to their heart, and it honors their values, even if they are an army of one and no one knows them, I think they're almost enlightened in many ways." “Coming from a place of serving people is actually an incredible formula for elite performance and exponential productivity.” “Rest is not a luxury. It's a necessity.” "Healing and inner work is for the bravehearted." Links: Robin Sharma Instagram Twitter Better Help Mag Breakthrough Promo Code Divine10 IP Vanish Promo Code Divine | |||
| Performing Under Pressure with Stuntman Psychologist Dr. Brian Hite | 28 May 2024 | 01:00:17 | |
Brian Hite, Ph.D., is a seasoned professional with over 40 years of experience in performance, psychology, and coaching. He has a rich background as a stuntman and coordinator in film and TV, an adjunct faculty member at Grand Canyon University, and a performance psychology consultant for the U.S. Army. He holds a Bachelor's in Psychology, a Master's in Sport Psychology, and a Ph.D. in Organizational Psychology, along with certifications as a Certified Mental Performance Consultant®, Certified Leadership Coach, and Certified Executive Coach. Brian founded Begin Again Performance Psychology to enhance the mental strength and well-being of athletes, performers, and business leaders.
Key Takeaways
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| Nate Zinsser: Taking Control of Your Story | 01 Mar 2022 | 00:41:52 | |
Mark speaks with Nate Zinsser about his career at West Point and work training elite athletes. Today, Commander Divine speaks with psychologist and human performance expert, Dr. Nate Zinsser. Dr. Zinsser has coached cadets at West Point for the past 30 years. He’s also worked with several high profile athletes, including professional football player Eli Manning. Dr. Zinsser shares how he became interested in the psychology of human performance in high school by noticing the connection between expectations and outcome in team sports. Today, he discusses his new book, The Confident Mind, and shares many different ways we can leverage our minds to increase performance in everything from business to athletics. "When you affirm something in the present tense. It just becomes more immediate.. It just becomes more palpable.” "Being able to say to yourself I am enough for this moment." "Our human nervous system in so many important ways does not distinguish between something that we actually experience and something that we vividly imagine experiencing" Key Takeaways: T he self-fulfilling prophecy is real. Although it sounds a bit cliche, our expectations truly do influence outcomes. It’s not magic. Our expectations guide our actions along the way. Detailed visualization with a multi-sensory approach is a powerful tool that can benefit anyone in any type of performance field. This tool has to be developed by starting small; layers of complexity can be added in slowly. Train your mind to look for the good things! We need to be deliberate about reinforcing our positive memories and reminding ourselves about what worked well. Don’t focus on imperfections. Sometimes we just have to power through with whatever training and preparation we’ve had and focus on doing the best we can. Links: Nate Zinsser Twitter | |||
| Mark Divine: Hanging Out With Mark AMA | 22 Feb 2022 | 00:51:24 | |
Today, Commander Divine is joined by his friend, Amy Jurkowitz, to answer questions from his followers on Facebook Live, as well as questions submitted prior to the livestream. Mark shares interesting insights on what it takes to be a great leader, how to cultivate compassion, how to start a mindfulness practice, and other suggestions on improving our mind, body, and spirit. Key Takeaways: There were several questions about leadership including the following: @drpedre: What do you think it takes to really be a leader? What characteristics? @pthompson34: What qualities and characteristics do you feel a strong leader obtains? Mark broke down the top 4 characteristics needed in a great leader. Self-Awareness: Great leaders need to understand their strengths and weaknesses, as well as a general understanding of human nature and how we show up in the world. Self-Control: The next step after becoming aware is using that awareness to guide in self control. A great leader is able to show restraint and remain calm under pressure. Humility: It’s not about the leader. It’s about the team and the mission. A great leader knows when to step aside, and let the team take the credit. Openness: A great leader has an open heart and is inclusive of all people and listens to all points of view. @pablo_vasconez27 How does a leader confront other peoples’ views after explaining a decision made? Unless this is new information that impacts the decision, the decision has already been made, but it’s important to listen and thank people for sharing their perspective. @AnnShippymd How do you show up when you really don't feel like it? Do something hard to change that feeling; that could be a cold shower or a hard workout. If that doesn’t work, fake it till you make it! @its_meeh_hanna What is your evening routine 3 hours before bed? - Beach walk and/or aikido or acupuncture -Prepares dinner with his partner(sharing builds intimacy!) -Debriefs the day over dinner. -Reflective practice in bed. -Pays close attention to sleep hygiene. @truehealthproject Do you find that breathwork brings up anxiety? If breathwork makes you anxious, you’re either doing it incorrectly, or you’re doing the wrong type of breathwork to activate a parasympathetic response. You need to focus on a slow inhale, and a slow exhale. Box breathing is a great practice for this! @zenthesavage listened to the conversation you had with Dr. Fleet Maull. Interesting convo. Among the topics you discussed, I’d like to learn more about cultivating compassion for oneself and others, especially to overcome atmospheres of shame or hate. When we have difficulty with others, it is often a sign we recognize things about them that we dislike about ourselves. We must first love and accept ourselves, flaws and all. We can also practice a loving kindness meditation. This is a great way to send kindness to ourselves and others. Another part of this is the practice of forgiveness. We must forgive ourselves and others, whether in writing, in person, or just in our minds. Forgiveness is crucial to healing. How to get started with meditation? Joining a community with a qualified teacher is really the best way to go. If you must get started on your own, it can be extremely helpful to start with a practice like box breathing to calm the central nervous system first. Box breathing(deep belly breathing with a count of 4 in, hold for 4, exhale for 4, hold for 4, repeat.) Outlook on accelerated pace of digitization and decentralization? We are changing at an exponential rate. People are starting to awaken. However, the direction the world takes is really going to depend on asking the right questions, and more and more people waking up. | |||
| The DeCicco Brothers: Super Brothers make Super Coffee | 15 Feb 2022 | 00:42:08 | |
Mark Divine speaks with Jimmy, Jake, and Jordan DeCicco, founders of Super Coffee. Today, Mark Divine speaks with Jimmy, Jake, and Jordan DeCicco, founders of the healthy coffee brand, Super Coffee. All under the age of 30, these young entrepreneurs began their business in a dorm room, and now lead a company valued at over $500 million. The DeCicco brothers share how their fiercely competitive upbringing instilled in them drive, passion, and grit that first helped them succeed in football and basketball, then carried over into the world of entrepreneurship. “The lessons learned as athletes empower us to do what we do on a daily basis in terms of overcoming obstacles.” Key Takeaways: Surround yourself with the best possible people who have experience and knowledge. The strength of a team is only as good as its people and the brothers never were shy about reaching out to the best of the best. They took this philosophy to finding the best mentors as well. Seth Goldman, the founder of Honest Tea, had a similar mission to the brothers (to provide an alternative to unhealthy, sugar-laden beverages.) They sought him out, pitched their business and he proved to be a valuable mentor, who also graciously extended his network to the start up. If you want to start a business, look for a problem to solve. For the DeCicco brothers, the problem was that there were no healthy coffee or energy drinks available on campus. As athletes, they were downing protein regularly and coffee regularly, so it made sense to combine the two. There’s no silver bullet. You’ve just got to hustle.The DeCicco brothers were pushed hard to win at a young age, by their competitive, athletic parents, and by each other. They developed a strong work ethic, understood the value of teamwork and the value of family. They attribute their success mostly to their parents and what they taught them and the values they instilled in them. Businesses need a strong culture and set of defined values to succeed in today’s world. The great resignation is proving that employees are fed up with poor leadership and working for companies that don’t value them. The DeCicco brothers have implemented a value system called C.O.A.C.H. (Curiosity, Optimism, Ambition, Compassion, Humility.) These values help create a positive culture that values and rewards employees for embodying these values. | |||
| Tom McCarthy: Breaking Through Your Perceived Limits | 08 Feb 2022 | 00:52:32 | |
Today, Mark Divine speaks with his friend Tom McCarthy and uncovers how Tom helps people overcome their perceived limits to push through to greatness. Tom shares his own transformation from an introverted, shy kid to a student of Tony Robbins, and eventually a masterful public speaker for audiences of thousands. Tom’s vision for the world is one of abundance, health, and prosperity. He believes empowered individuals can push all limits and do the impossible, even reverse pollution and restore the health of the entire planet. His new book, The Breakthrough Code: A Story About Living A Life Without Limits, comes out this month. Tom McCarthy is a father of two, husband of 30 years, CEO/Board Member of eight companies, early stage investor in 40+ companies and a worldwide philanthropist. After a successful career on Wall Street, Tom found his true passion…helping people in business, athletics and life break through their limitations and step into their full potential. Tom has been the peak performance coach for athletes who have won World Championships and Olympic Gold Medals. “We Eat Pressure for Breakfast" Key Takeaways: Create your network of empowerment. Having great relationships with people allows your business to build itself. You don’t have to go looking for people. They will come to you. Use the power of your subconscious mind to create the vision of your results. The best time to do this is when you’re in a semi-awake state right after waking up, or before drifting off to sleep. Create this vision of yourself, feel it, and believe it. Let go of the old baggage to upgrade your story and your life. You can’t just pile positive on top of negative. That’s just covering it up. You have to be curious about what’s holding you back, root it out, and then extract it. Tom’s OPT (Optimal Performance Thoughts) help create your upgraded story. It doesn’t matter if your story is absolute truth; your story is there to serve you in being your best. There’s always an advantage. Find that advantage when life throws you a curveball. T he pandemic could have destroyed Tom’s business, but instead he focused on adapting by virtualizing, and now his business is more successful than ever. The Breakthrough Code • Tom McCarthy Facebook Instagram LinkedIn Twitter | |||
| Sun Sachs: Holistic Resilience | 01 Feb 2022 | 00:42:20 | |
Today, Mark Divine speaks with endurance athlete and co-founder of Rewire Fitness, Sun Sachs, about overcoming childhood trauma through physical training in extreme sports, and the lessons he learned along the way that led him to co-founding Rewire Fitness. Rewire Fitness is a unique app that provides assessments and prescriptions for holistic resilience focusing on emotional and cognitive areas, as well as physical. Key Takeaways: Work smarter, and harder. Tough workouts can make you more resilient, but toughness is not the only thing that matters. Cultivating self-awareness allows you to be more in touch with what your body needs. Having a calm mind gives you an edge on the competition. Whether you are trying to win a race, or lead a seminar, having a calm mind allows you to enter a flow state and operate at a new level of peak performance. It’s important to assess your frustration levels. If you are edgy and easily frustrated, you are experiencing cognitive fatigue. When you identify this, use your favorite mindfulness technique to help you relax and recover. Learning to see failure as part of the learning process is key. Being afraid to fail paralyzes us, and prevents us from even trying. When we embrace failure, we learn how to build our successes from our failed attempts. A good mental health approach is multidimensional. It is not one size fits all, but we all require some form of mindfulness, connection, and reflection. | |||
| Ayelet Fishbach: Harnessing the Power of Motivation | 25 Jan 2022 | 00:43:02 | |
First Call Out: Mark speaks with social psychologist, Aylet Fishbach about the science of motivation and how to set better goals. Ayelet Fishbach, PhD, is the Jeffrey Breakenridge Keller Professor of Behavioral Science and Marketing at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, and the past president of the Society for the Study of Motivation and the International Social Cognition Network (ISCON). She is an expert on motivation and decision making and the author of Get it Done: Surprising Lessons from the Science of Motivation. Ayelet’s groundbreaking research on human motivation has won her several international awards, including the Society of Experimental Social Psychology’s Best Dissertation Award and Career Trajectory Award, and the Fulbright Educational Foundation Award. Her new book Get it Done: Surprising Lessons From the Science of Motivation is coming out in January of 2022. Today, Commander Divine speaks with Ayelet Fishbach, a social psychologist who focuses on the science of motivation. Dr. Fishbach speaks about how to set goals that are enforced by our intrinsic motivation, how to analyze our goals and evaluate how well they are working, and why it’s crucial to have people in your life who want you to succeed. Key Takeaways: Motivation is a force. It starts with a goal, but motivation is the force that moves us towards our goal. Willpower is what we use to resist a negative behavior, while motivation pushes us towards the positive. Focus on adding positive actions to your life instead of ending negative habits. When we focus on ending behaviors, rather than replacing them, we reinforce those negative behaviors by thinking about them. Identity is important. When the goal is related to who you are, people are much more likely to persist. Example: I am a life-long learner, and I will read a new book every week. It’s important to analyze your goals. A goal shouldn’t be too abstract or too specific. It should be a goal that is good for you. It should be challenging, but not too challenging, or you will quit. Don’t set a goal that doesn’t fit in with your life or conflicts with another goal. If your goal is to advance in your career, but you also want to start a family, it might not be the time for one of those goals. Try to create habits that align with more than one goal. Example: You want to eat healthier, and you also want to save money. Create a habit around food prep, so that you will have healthy foods easily accessible and avoid eating out. Have a support system. T he people you need in your life are not necessarily experts in the area of your goal, but they are people who are rooting for you. If you don’t have that in your life, find it. Links: Ayelet Fishbach Twitter | |||
| The Importance of an Ethical Foundation | 18 Jan 2022 | 00:59:34 | |
Fleet Maull, PhD, CMT-P, is an author, meditation teacher, management consultant, trainer and executive coach who facilitates deep transformation for individuals and organizations through his philosophy and program of Radical Responsibility©. He is a tireless and dedicated peacemaker and servant leader working for positive social transformation and a more just and sustainable global society.
He is the founder of Prison Dharma Network, Prison Mindfulness Institute, Center for Mindfulness in Public Safety, National Prison Hospice Association, and Windhorse Seminars. He is also the co-founder of Engaged Mindfulness Institute, Transforming Justice Initiative, Upaya’s Institute’s Buddhist Chaplaincy Training Program, the Rwanda Bearing Witness Retreat & Peace Initiative, and the Center for Contemplative End-of-Life Care at Naropa University. He currently serves as the CEO and Director of Training, Research & Development for Prison Mindfulness Institute, Center for Mindfulness in Public Safety and the Engaged Mindfulness Institute, as well as CEO and senior trainer for Windhorse Seminars & Consulting. | |||
| The Importance of an Ethical Foundation | 18 Jan 2022 | 01:01:39 | |
Fleet Maull, PhD, CMT-P, is an author, meditation teacher, management consultant, trainer and executive coach who facilitates deep transformation for individuals and organizations through his philosophy and program of Radical Responsibility©. He is a tireless and dedicated peacemaker and servant leader working for positive social transformation and a more just and sustainable global society. He is the founder of Prison Dharma Network, Prison Mindfulness Institute, Center for Mindfulness in Public Safety, National Prison Hospice Association, and Windhorse Seminars. He is also the co-founder of Engaged Mindfulness Institute, Transforming Justice Initiative, Upaya’s Institute’s Buddhist Chaplaincy Training Program, the Rwanda Bearing Witness Retreat & Peace Initiative, and the Center for Contemplative End-of-Life Care at Naropa University. He currently serves as the CEO and Director of Training, Research & Development for Prison Mindfulness Institute, Center for Mindfulness in Public Safety and the Engaged Mindfulness Institute, as well as CEO and senior trainer for Windhorse Seminars & Consultin | |||
| Eric Rogers: Facing Pain Head On | 11 Jan 2022 | 00:55:56 | |
Today, Commander Divine speaks with Eric Rogers about how he learned to face the pain of his childhood trauma and overcome his self-destructive habits. Eric shares that drugs kept him alive, by numbing what he was unable to face, and how hitting rock bottom gave him the reason he needed to change, find a higher purpose, and face all that he had been running from. Key Takeaways: Adverse Childhood Experiences are linked with increased risk for many types of illnesses: both physical and mental, as well as addiction. The stigma and silence around sexual abuse prevents many children from ever speaking up and getting the help they need. Nature is a powerful tool. When we spend time in nature, we are reminded that we are part of nature. We are part of something bigger, and simply being away from all of the distractions of modern life allows us the space to go deeper into self reflection. Running from pain doesn't work. It eventually catches up with you. Instead of running from pain, sit with it, embrace it, try to understand it, so that you can learn from it and move past it. Replace your bad habits with positive habits that serve you-Eric channeled his intensity into extreme fitness, which gave him structure and purpose, and led him to a meaningful career helping others. We need to do hard things. Creating daily rituals that challenge us physically, mentally, and spiritually make us more resilient. When we spend time challenging ourselves, we develop the strength to face whatever curveballs life throws our way. Links: Rogers Fitness Academy Instagram What does your ACE score mean? | |||
| Stepping into 2022 with Integrity and Courage | 04 Jan 2022 | 00:53:18 | |
Today, Commander Divine reflects on 2021, and speaks about the problems many have faced with mental and physical health, being derailed from goals, and feeling stuck. He shares how we can step into 2022 with intention and integrity to face this complex, rapidly evolving world by going inward and finding our 'why", so that we can create habits, practices, and rituals that move us towards our goals and values. Key Takeaways: Change is inevitable. We must learn to roll with the punches and focus on the one area we have control over, ourselves. Integrity means to be integrated or in alignment with. Each person's integrity looks different. We must ask, what does integrity mean to me, and how can I do the work to be in alignment? The first step to becoming integrated is determining your core values through the practice of sitting in contemplative meditation. You must ask yourself, who am I? Through our practice of self discovery, we must find 4-6 core values. We will form our habits, rituals, and practices to bring us in alignment with these values. 1 in 4 employees has resigned in the great resignation and we continue to see around 4 million people a month resigning. Companies will need to do a better job at valuing people over profit if they want to keep fully staffed. Automation is coming! As robots replace much of our manual labor workforce, we need to focus on adaptability and learn to be creators. Q&A with Listeners and Mark: @ironjim41 - why are some of us so much slower at finding our why and facing our true fear? There is no magic formula to finding your why, but through daily introspection and asking yourself the right questions, you will get there. @teastarr - The Netherlands went into another lockdown this Sunday. Any tips on how to deal with this (mentally, emotionally)? We can not control the external world, so focus on what you can control. Breathe deeply. We encourage the practice of box breathing. Here are some breathing exercises to try. Practice mindful awareness, by sitting and examining your thoughts without judgment. Use visualization to develop a positive self-image of yourself in the future. Set micro-goals for yourself. @magnetie - How to deal with slander and/or hate crimes If one of your core values is social justice, you will develop plans and strategies to work towards your goals. Remember to combat hate with love. Only love wins. @philippe_durandin - How to overcome destructive and demotivating habits? Finding your why is crucial in overcoming destructive habits. You must have a clear vision of your values and purpose. You don't fight an old habit by beating yourself up about it. When you are focusing on your purpose, you gradually replace those destructive habits with positive ones. @pthompson34 - How much work is too much work? It's too much work if you're not passionate about it, and you're feeling burned out. @arthur.v.ortega - what is the 5th plateau you talk about? The fifth plateau is a developmental stage of pure integration. You are living in complete alignment with your core values. You are living in harmony with the earth and have compassion for all living beings. Links: PwC/Oxford Study: 4 Possible Versions of the Workplace In 2030 | Observer | |||
| Breaking Mindset Myths with Neuroscience ft. New York Times Best-Selling Author Jean Gomes | 21 May 2024 | 00:52:29 | |
Jean Gomes is an author, researcher, and consultant focused on the science of mindset. He studied neuroscience before transitioning into consultancy, where he works with global corporations to transform leaders through mindset training. He is the founder of Outside, a company that offers programs like More Human, which aims to address issues of depletion, defensiveness, and disconnection by building mindsets of well-being through simple practices.
Key Takeaways
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Links for Jean Gomes | |||
| Gabrielle Lyon: A Muscle-Centric Approach to Longevity | 28 Dec 2021 | 01:02:19 | |
Today, Mark Divine speaks with Dr. Gabrielle Lyon about her muscle-centric approach to medicine, why obesity is a secondary problem, and how resistance training, high quality protein, and sleep are crucial to health and longevity. Key Takeaways: Dr. Lyon's muscle-centric medicine focuses on the root cause of obesity, loss or defect of skeletal-muscle-skeletal-muscle is not only important for the well-known reasons of strength and increased metabolism. It is an endocrine organ. Every time skeletal-muscle contracts it excretes myokines. Myokines affect immunity, brain health, and the way we use nutrients. There are two ways to drive skeletal muscle, resistance training, and dietary protein. Resistance training looks different for everyone, but it is important to train to the point of muscle failure. Protein should be high quality, animal protein. Worldwide, over 100 million people suffer from sleep apnea. Some of the risk factors for sleep apnea are: environmental exposure, inability to lose weight, anxiety, hypertension, and TBIs. Untreated sleep apnea is incredibly dangerous, as it is linked to hypertension, poor cardiovascular health, hormonal imbalances, anxiety, and depression. The good news is that it is easy to diagnose with an at-home sleep test. Testosterone naturally declines as we age. Training, diet, sleep, and reducing stress can all increase our testosterone levels, but it may not be enough to reach optimal levels without supplementation.. Optimal levels of testosterone affect quality of life in several ways including mood, energy, sex drive, and ability to maintain muscle. Links: Dr. Gabrielle Lyon Twitter Instagram YouTube | |||
| Tim Grover: Infinite Steps to Keep Winning | 21 Dec 2021 | 00:48:23 | |
Today, Commander Mark Divine speaks with Tim Grover about his drive for success as a first generation American, his career training elite athletes, and how we can all develop a winning attitude. Tim S. Grover is the CEO of ATTACK Athletics, Inc., founded in 1989. World-renowned for his legendary work with elite champions and Hall of Famers, including Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade, and hundreds other NFL, MLB, NBA, and Olympic athletes, he is the preeminent authority on the science and art of physical and mental dominance and achieving excellence. Author of the national bestseller RELENTLESS: From Good to Great to Unstoppable and his latest book, Winning: The Unforgiving Race to Greatness, creator of digital training platform The Relentless System, Tim appears around the world as a keynote speaker and consultant. He is a featured columnist at SI.com and Yahoo.com; he also appears on ESPN, FoxSports, and other media outlets. Key Takeaways: Greatness is not an end goal. It is something to strive for every single day. After each win, start over and continue to strive for the next victory. It's crucial to determine and address weaknesses and injury prone areas before focusing on building overall strength. You have enough haters! Don't be one of them. The importance of being your own biggest fan can not be stated enough. Fear is a natural and necessary part of life, but we can't allow it to control us. We must trust ourselves and let go of doubt, so we can control fear and have better control of the outcome. Wisdom from Michael Jordan: If you get knocked down, don't just stand back up. If you stand up before you have figured out why you fell, you haven't learned anything. Figure out why you fell, then stand up a changed person less likely to repeat the same mistake. Tim Grover - Best-selling author and Keynote Speaker Instagram Twitter LinkedIn | |||
| Q & A with Mark Divine | 14 Dec 2021 | 00:48:27 | |
Today, Commander Divine is joined by his friend Amy Jurkowitz, who reads listener questions posted to the @realmarkdivine Instagram account. Mark shares his perspective on important issues from breathwork and self-awareness, to dealing with toxic teammates and bullies. Key Takeaways: Q: How do you turn the volume down on the demotivating voice in your head? @summa_der_hamma A: Our thoughts do not define who we are-Mark explains how to observe our thoughts without judgment, allowing us to eventually disidentify from these thoughts. We become empowered when we realize that we are not our thoughts, just the person thinking them. Q: What training is most effective for crucible events? @be_unbeatable_ A: Training for crucible events starts with the why-you must first have a clear vision of why you are undertaking this challenge. You will need to draw on that vision to keep going. Training itself involves doing work that is extremely uncomfortable. Run with a weighted vest. Drag things. Push things. Do slow pull-ups and pull-ups with weight. The most important skill to develop is durability. It takes about nine months to a year to train for these incredibly intense events. Q: As a leader, how do you deal with a hostile/toxic team member? @acedaddyjohnson A: Working with difficult people is inevitable. It is important to call in a troublesome team member gently, but firmly. Sometimes they are unaware that their behavior is toxic. They should be given detailed criticism about their unacceptable behavior and the expectations of all team members. If they are unable to meet these expectations, it is important that they be removed from the team to keep the team healthy and focused on the mission. Q: Any tips or advice for breathing? @charlesb_1503 A: Best practices for breathing are, "low and slow"-There are many types of breath training and awareness. For most people, simply breathing in through the nose, slowly to a count of five, and exhaling to a count of five is the best place to start. Just don't forget to focus on the low, which is using your diaphragm and breathing deep into your belly. Q: How to stand up to bullies? @nccfitsharma A: It's important to realize that bullies are wounded individuals suffering from low self-esteem. The first method of dealing with bullies is to ignore them and not feed the negative energy. If this doesn't work, try showering them in unconditional love. If the first two methods do not end the bullying, it is important to stand up to a bully. Sometimes we may need to enlist the help of others, but never back down to a bully or they will continue to victimize you. | |||