Finding Mastery with Dr. Michael Gervais

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**Finding Mastery with Dr. Michael Gervais**

Dive into the minds of the world’s greatest athletes, leaders, thinkers, and doers with Dr. Michael Gervais—a high performance psychologist and world-renowned expert on the relationship between high performance and the mind. Dr. Gervais’s client roster includes Super Bowl winning NFL teams, Fortune 50 CEOs, Olympic medalists, internationally acclaimed artists, and more.

On Finding Mastery, Dr. Gervais sits down with the best at what they do, like David Goggins, Brene Brown, Toto Wolff, soccer legend Abby Wambach, neuroscientist Dr. Andrew Huberman, and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella — translating their life stories, mental skills, and personal practices into applicable tools you can use to unlock your potential.

Walk with us to the edge of human possibility and learn what you are capable of. New episodes every Wednesday.

Latest Episodes:

What It Takes to Lead an NFL Franchise | NFL Coach, Dan Quinn Apr 08, 2020

Show notes

This week’s conversation is with Dan Quinn, the head coach of the Atlanta Falcons.

Dan became the head coach in 2015 and has compiled a 43-37 regular season record.

In 2016, he led the Falcons to an NFC title and its second Super Bowl appearance.

Entering 2020, Dan ranks second in the organization’s history among coaches with at least four seasons with a winning percentage of .538 and fourth in franchise history with 43 regular-season wins.

Dan earned his head coaching opportunity after becoming one of the NFL’s top defensive coordinators with the Seattle Seahawks, overseeing the top defensive unit in the NFL.

I had the pleasure of getting to know Dan in Seattle, he’s an amazing human.

In this conversation, we touch on how he got into coaching, his approach to overcoming difficult moments, and style of leadership.

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The New Science of Self-Actualization | Scott Barry Kaufman Apr 01, 2020

Show notes

This week’s conversation is with Scott Barry Kaufman, a humanistic psychologist exploring the depths of human potential.

He has taught courses on intelligence, creativity, and well-being at Columbia University, NYU, the University of Pennsylvania, and elsewhere.

In 2015, he was named one of "50 Groundbreaking Scientists who are changing the way we see the world" by Business Insider.

Scott was a previous guest on Finding Mastery (#078) where we spent time diving into his journey and what made him the man he is today.

I wanted to have him back on because he just published a new book titled, Transcend: The New Science of Self-Actualization… a bold reimagining of Maslow's famous hierarchy of needs--and new insights for realizing your full potential and living your most creative, fulfilled, and connected life.

And that’s what we discuss in this conversation.

If you’re not familiar with Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, definitely check it out.

The needs are: physiological, safety, love and belonging, esteem, and self-actualization.

The interesting thing with this conversation is the timing.

As Scott mentions, right now our focus is on more pressing needs at the potential sacrifice of realizing our full potential.

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Decoding Disruptors: Theresia Gouw, Founding Partner at Acrew Capital Mar 28, 2020

Show notes

Welcome to Decoding Disruptors, a special edition of the Finding Mastery podcast presented without interruption by Microsoft.

Decoding Disruptors takes a deep dive into the minds of extraordinary women who have disrupted the narrative in their businesses, industries, and communities.

Every conversation was filmed and is currently available at decodingdisruptors.com.

This conversation is with Theresia Gouw, a founder and partner at Acrew Capital and one of the most successful venture capitalists in the world.

During her career, Theresia has helped finance and support some of the most successful companies of our time, being an early investor in Facebook, Trulia, Hotel Tonight, Forescout, and Imperva, among others.

Time Magazine named her one of the 40 most influential minds in tech.

Equally impressive, Theresia helped break the gender barrier in Silicon Valley.

She was often the only woman in the room when she arrived in America’s tech capital…

Her focus on the elements she could control, like preparation and hard work, and her ability to gracefully reframe situations were keys to shifting the gender narrative inside the industry.

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Subscribe to our Youtube Channel for more powerful conversations at the intersection of high performance, leadership, and meaning: https://www.youtube.com/c/FindingMastery

Get exclusive discounts and support our amazing sponsors! Go to: https://findingmastery.com/sponsors/

Subscribe to the Finding Mastery newsletter for weekly high performance insights: https://www.findingmastery.com/newsletter

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Remembering Hilaree Nelson | Staying Confident in Life-Threatening Environments Mar 25, 2020

Show notes

This week’s conversation is with Hilaree Nelson.

With a career spanning two decades that includes dozens of first descents through more than 40 expeditions to 16 different countries, Hilaree is the most prolific ski mountaineer of her generation.

Some of these ‘firsts” in the world of ski mountaineering include linking two 8000m peaks (Everest and Lhotse) in one push, first ski descents on Baffin Island, a first American ascent and ski descent of Papsura peak in India , and a first ski descent of the 4th highest peak in the world, Lhotse.

Hilaree is the Captain of the North Face Athlete Team, an active leader on climate with Protect Our Winters, and an avid proponent of wild places such as the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

She was also named by Men’s Journal as one of the most adventurous women of the last 25 years, as well as National Geographic’s 2018 Adventurer of the Year.

In this conversation, Hilaree shares some key takeaways from her expeditions, where the wrong decision could mean the difference between life and death.

We touch on everything from confidence to managing anxiety --- and that’s applicable for the difficult times we find ourselves in now.

In Hilaree’s words:

Managing anxiety starts with being present and dealing with what you have right in front of you. I break it up into things I can manage instead of overwhelming myself by trying to figure out the whole picture all at once.

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Subscribe to our Youtube Channel for more powerful conversations at the intersection of high performance, leadership, and meaning: https://www.youtube.com/c/FindingMastery

Get exclusive discounts and support our amazing sponsors! Go to: https://findingmastery.com/sponsors/

Subscribe to the Finding Mastery newsletter for weekly high performance insights: https://www.findingmastery.com/newsletter

Download Dr. Mike's Morning Mindset Routine! https://www.findingmastery.com/morningmindset

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Overcoming Limiting Beliefs | Chip Conley Mar 18, 2020

Show notes

This week’s conversation is with Chip Conley, a boutique hotel entrepreneur who helped Airbnb's founders turn their fast-growing tech start-up into a global hospitality brand.

After selling Joie de Vivre Hospitality, the company he started as a rebel entrepreneur at age 26, Chip wasn't sure what was next.

He could have retired at age 52 but the young founders of Airbnb came calling.

Chip served as Airbnb’s Head of Global Hospitality & Strategy for four years — while also being CEO Brian Chesky’s mentor — and continues today as a Strategic Advisor to the company’s leadership.

Chip wrote about that experience in Wisdom@Work: The Making of a Modern Elder where he shares his unexpected journey at midlife — from CEO to intern.

While writing Wisdom@Work, Chip was inspired to build the world's first "midlife wisdom school," the Modern Elder Academy, with a 3-acre oceanfront campus in Baja California Sur, Mexico.

So why does Chip care so much about this idea of a “modern elder?”

It’s because there were a few key points in Chip’s life where something was eating at him… he knew he wasn’t on the right path but it could have been easy to stay the course.

Chip made the difficult but necessary decision in those moments to make a change and that’s at the heart of this conversation.

This is about authenticity, it’s about being in touch with your core principles, and ultimately, it’s about wisdom.

Chip’s seen it from every angle – entrepreneur, founder, mentor, and continues to make an impact on the next generation.

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Subscribe to our Youtube Channel for more powerful conversations at the intersection of high performance, leadership, and meaning: https://www.youtube.com/c/FindingMastery

Get exclusive discounts and support our amazing sponsors! Go to: https://findingmastery.com/sponsors/

Subscribe to the Finding Mastery newsletter for weekly high performance insights: https://www.findingmastery.com/newsletter

Download Dr. Mike's Morning Mindset Routine! https://www.findingmastery.com/morningmindset

Follow us on Instagram, LinkedIn, and X.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Being a Student of Progression | Snowmobiling Legend, Levi LaVallee Mar 11, 2020

Show notes

This week’s conversation is with snowmobiling legend Levi LaVallee, a 13 time X Games Medalist, Snocross Champion, and World Record holder

Levi first tasted podium success in 2004 when he won the HillCross snowmobile event at the Winter X Games, in Aspen, Colorado and then made the switch to Freestyle competition.

At the 2008 Winter X Games, Levi took gold in both the Speed & Style and Freestyle events and was later named Best Male Athlete of the entire competition.

He also made history when he became the first person to attempt a double backflip on a snowmobile at the 2009 Winter X Games.

After soaring more than 15m into the air, he went long on the landing and was thrown from his sled upon impact. The attempt was so tantalisingly close to succeeding that many people considered it a great achievement.

The X Games medals weren’t enough though -- in 2011, he took the torch from Travis Pastrana, Robbie Maddison and Rhys Millen for one of his greatest feats – Red Bull New Year No Limits.

Levi jumped across the San Diego Bay on a snow mobile, setting a new world record of 412ft (125m).

And that sets the tone for this conversation --- it’s about what led up to that world record-setting moment that gave Levi the confidence, the courage, the hunger to go for that type of feat.

Levi is a student of progression – he’s organized his life that way, from a young age to now, and it becomes evident how that’s allowed him to succeed at just about anything he puts his mind to.

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Subscribe to our Youtube Channel for more powerful conversations at the intersection of high performance, leadership, and meaning: https://www.youtube.com/c/FindingMastery

Get exclusive discounts and support our amazing sponsors! Go to: https://findingmastery.com/sponsors/

Subscribe to the Finding Mastery newsletter for weekly high performance insights: https://www.findingmastery.com/newsletter

Download Dr. Mike's Morning Mindset Routine! https://www.findingmastery.com/morningmindset

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Decoding Disruptors: Shivani Siroya, Founder & CEO of Tala Mar 08, 2020

Show notes

Welcome to Decoding Disruptors, a special edition of the Finding Mastery podcast presented without interruption by Microsoft.

Decoding Disruptors takes a deep dive into the minds of extraordinary women who have disrupted the narrative in their businesses, industries, and communities.

Every conversation was filmed and is currently available at decodingdisruptors.com.

This conversation is with Shivani Siroya, who built a near-billion dollar business on the back of a simple belief: people are trustworthy.

After holding jobs with big investment banks and with the United Nations, Shivani recognized a global problem: almost a third of the world doesn’t have access to credit because they have no way to build a credit score.

Without credit, people can’t get home loans, small business loans, life improvement loans. It’s difficult to progress personally or professionally.

So she did something about it.

Shivani founded Tala, a smartphone lending app designed to provide access to credit to two billion people who have historically been overlooked by traditional financial institutions.

Taking advantage of increasing mobile phone use in emerging markets, the Tala app uses behavioral data on the phone – texting, merchant history, overall app usage – to build a credit profile.

Based on the aggregated information, algorithms evaluate individual risk and provide instant loans to customers.

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Subscribe to our Youtube Channel for more powerful conversations at the intersection of high performance, leadership, and meaning: https://www.youtube.com/c/FindingMastery

Get exclusive discounts and support our amazing sponsors! Go to: https://findingmastery.com/sponsors/

Subscribe to the Finding Mastery newsletter for weekly high performance insights: https://www.findingmastery.com/newsletter

Download Dr. Mike's Morning Mindset Routine! https://www.findingmastery.com/morningmindset

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See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Leading with Your Heart | Big Wave Surfer, Garrett McNamara Mar 04, 2020

Show notes

This week’s conversation is with Garrett McNamara, an international big wave explorer known for discovering, pioneering and surfing the biggest wave in the world - The Everest of the Oceans - Nazaré, Portugal.

Garrett also lead the iconic two-man team who rode tsunami waves generated by a 300ft calving glacier in Alaska and is the first and only foreigner to receive the Vasco da Gama Medal of Honor from the Portuguese Navy for his contributions to Portugal.

He currently lives between Hawaii and Portugal with his family where he and his wife run the McNamara Foundation, a non-profit organization focused on providing children meaningful nature experiences, creating life long stewards of the Earth.

In this conversation Garrett shares some incredible stories from his upbringing – which help make sense of how he became the man he is today.

Garrett is known in the surf world for being a pioneer and a master of his craft.

_________________

Subscribe to our Youtube Channel for more powerful conversations at the intersection of high performance, leadership, and meaning: https://www.youtube.com/c/FindingMastery

Get exclusive discounts and support our amazing sponsors! Go to: https://findingmastery.com/sponsors/

Subscribe to the Finding Mastery newsletter for weekly high performance insights: https://www.findingmastery.com/newsletter

Download Dr. Mike's Morning Mindset Routine! https://www.findingmastery.com/morningmindset

Follow us on Instagram, LinkedIn, and X.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Passion, Risk, and Managing Stress | Snowboarder, Jeremy Jones Feb 26, 2020

Show notes

This week’s conversation is with Jeremy Jones, an accomplished filmmaker, entrepreneur, environmentalist and snowboarding pioneer.

Jeremy is widely regarded as one of the most legendary big mountain riders and explorers of all time.

Named a National Geographic “Adventurer of the Year” and ten times voted “Best Big Mountain Rider of the Year” by Snowboarder Magazine, Jeremy has starred in over a hundred snowboard movies and videos worldwide, including his highly acclaimed, foot-powered snowboarding trilogy Deeper, Further and Higher.

He is the founder and CEO of award-winning Jones Snowboards, dedicated to the development of the highest quality backcountry snowboards and accessories.

In 2007, Jeremy founded Protect Our Winters, a global cause uniting the winter sports community against climate change and was recognized in as a Champion of Change by President Barack Obama.

In this conversation we discuss passion, risk, and managing stress.

For Jeremy it comes down to understanding what the end goal is but not getting caught up in it.

_________________

Subscribe to our Youtube Channel for more powerful conversations at the intersection of high performance, leadership, and meaning: https://www.youtube.com/c/FindingMastery

Get exclusive discounts and support our amazing sponsors! Go to: https://findingmastery.com/sponsors/

Subscribe to the Finding Mastery newsletter for weekly high performance insights: https://www.findingmastery.com/newsletter

Download Dr. Mike's Morning Mindset Routine! https://www.findingmastery.com/morningmindset

Follow us on Instagram, LinkedIn, and X.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Decoding Disruptors: Cindy Eckert, CEO at The Pink Ceiling Feb 22, 2020

Show notes

Decoding Disruptors takes a deep dive into the minds of extraordinary women who have disrupted the narrative in their businesses, industries, and communities.

The team at Finding Mastery, Compete to Create, and Microsoft worked together to bring this series to life.

I had the chance to interview 9 amazing women, every conversation was filmed, and is currently available at decodingdisruptors.com.

On the website you’ll also find a Disruptor Assessment— this quick assessment tool will help you measure your mindset skills and illuminates where you are on the road to becoming a disruptive business leader.

We’re making a few of these conversations also available on the Finding Mastery podcast feed and this second conversation is with Cindy Eckert, a self-made serial entrepreneur.

In the past ten years, Cindy has founded and sold two billion dollar pharmaceutical businesses.

A modern day Erin Brockovich, Cindy took on the FDA – and won – to get approval of the first ever drug for low sexual desire in women, dubbed the “female Viagra” by the media.

At the time, there were 26 drugs on the market for low sexual desire for men and not a single one for women.

The drug was initially rejected by the FDA despite the data and science that supported its need and efficacy...

In Cindy’s view, she had to battle a gender bias in healthcare that wasn’t about whether women needed drugs for low libido, but “does women’s sexual pleasure even matter”.

Cindy’s company, The Pink Ceiling, champions the interests of women through its “Pinkubator”, providing funding and mentoring to help female entrepreneurs break through the “pink ceiling.”

If there’s a rule that exists for no reason other than a societal narrative, Cindy will break it – and she’ll do it wearing blazing hot pink.

_________________

Subscribe to our Youtube Channel for more powerful conversations at the intersection of high performance, leadership, and meaning: https://www.youtube.com/c/FindingMastery

Get exclusive discounts and support our amazing sponsors! Go to: https://findingmastery.com/sponsors/

Subscribe to the Finding Mastery newsletter for weekly high performance insights: https://www.findingmastery.com/newsletter

Download Dr. Mike's Morning Mindset Routine! https://www.findingmastery.com/morningmindset

Follow us on Instagram, LinkedIn, and X.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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