Grow the Good

Latest Episodes:

Positivity and Resilience with Olympian Lea Davison Jul 15, 2022

Show notes

Olympian Lea Davison began mountain bike racing in 2001. Since then, she’s earned a silver medal at the 2016 World Championships, a bronze medal at the 2014 World Championships, and finished 3rd overall in the 2015 World Cup series. Lea competed in the 2012 Olympic Games where she placed 11th and also in the 2016 Olympic Games where she placed 7th.

Lea’s passion is getting the next generation of females riding mountain bikes, so she co-founded Little Bellas, a mentoring program on mountain bikes for girls.

Prior to her start in mountain biking, Lea competed as a downhill ski racer.

In this week’s podcast, Lea and Sonya talked about positivity, resilience, goal setting and the importance of family. Her dream was to get a medal at the 2020/2021 Tokyo Olympics, but she missed making the team. Now, she talks about resilience and how to deal with that disappointment.

Key Takeaways:

How she stays positive
How to be Resilient
Why we should remain open
Mentorship collaboration
Goal-setting in her races
Her kit at UNBOUND inspired by Athlete Ally
Importance of family

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The Grow the Good Podcast is produced by Palm Tree Pod Co.

How to Read Body Language and Maximize Connection with Mark Bowden Jul 07, 2022

Show notes

Mark Bowden is a body language expert, keynote speaker and bestselling author of the books Winning Body Language; Winning Body Language for Sales Professionals; Tame the Primitive Brain; and Truth & Lies, What People are Really Thinking. He’s well known for his TedX talk “The Importance of Being Authentic” and his YouTube channel and weekly show “The Behavior Panel.”

Mark has a system of nonverbal communication called GesturePlane™ that helps audiences maximize the power of using their own body language to stand out, win trust and gain credibility.

He is also the founder of a communication training company TRUTHPLANE®, where he offers presentation skills training with live sessions or online learning.

Mark trains business and political leaders and he is the go-to media commentator on body language of politicians, celebrities and public figures for CNN, CBS, and Global News, and he is frequently quoted in The Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and GQ Magazine.

In this week’s podcast, Sonya and Mark talk how to be approachable when you walk in a room, body language, charisma and more.

Key Takeaways

Curiosity
Agreement vs acceptance of others
How to be approachable when you walk into a room
Levels of understanding someone: phatic, data, evaluation, emotion, self reflection
What is charisma
Truth plane vs grotesque plane
How you talk with your hands impacts energy

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The Grow the Good Podcast is produced by Palm Tree Pod Co.

Talking Resilience with Leadership Coach Jamie Cohen [Updated] Jul 02, 2022

Show notes

On this week’s podcast, Sonya sat down with Jamie Mason Cohen, a resilience and leadership development expert. A Canadian native, Certified Leadership Coach, and a work history that includes Saturday Night Live, Jamie teaches resilience, wellness, leadership and communication to organizations.

Jamie works to cultivate resilience through unique performance assessment, the science of positive psychology and leadership strategies. He uses a “Speed Analysis’ process, where each person learns how their strengths serve an organization in 60 seconds.

He is also a commentator on CNN, Forbes and the Morning Show, and is often recognized for his TEDx talk on leadership.

Sonya and Jamie talk resilience, values, drive, handwriting analysis and more.

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The Grow the Good Podcast is produced by Palm Tree Pod Co.

The Perils of Comparison Jul 02, 2022

Show notes

One of my most interesting realizations recently is that I am at my best when I'm living in the present moment and I am at my worst when I'm comparing myself.

I've been doing specific contemplative meditations on comparison to learn more because it's part of being human to compare ourselves to others. The human mind compares so it can make predictions about the future. It can be a positive thing, but it can also be detrimental to happiness and lack of fulfillment.

Comparing without awareness behind it leads to feeling like we are not enough.

Even comparing ourselves to a previous version of ourselves can become a problem if it is unrealistic and/or we have different inputs to our lives.

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The Grow the Good Podcast is produced by Palm Tree Pod Co.

How to Finally Make Behavior Change Work for You with PhD Michelle Segar Jun 23, 2022

Show notes

Michelle Segar is the director of the University of Michigan’s Sports, Health, and Activity Research and Policy Center, adviser to the Department of Health and Human Services, and chair of the United States National Physical Activity Plan’s Communication Committee, and author of the 2022 book The Joy Choice.

The NIH-funded researcher at the University of Michigan, has three decades of experience studying how people adopt healthy behaviors in ways that can survive the complexity and unpredictability of the real world.

Michelle combines research with real-world health coaching to create sustainable healthy behavior change. She is also the author of NO SWEAT! - used to train professionals in health coaching and patient counseling.

Michelle holds a doctorate in Psychology (PhD), a masters in Health Behavior/Health Education, a masters in Kinesiology, and fellowships in translational research and health care policy from the University of Michigan.

In this podcast, Sonya and Michelle talk about behavior change and dive into the topic of The Joy Choice, her new book that showcases the new science and method for breaking down all-or-nothing thinking and cultivating the in-the-moment decisions that support self-care, health, and well-being.

Key Takeaways

The problem with our system of behavior change
Why complex habits don’t fit in the cue behavior reward
Curiosity is king and queen
Value, positive emotion, and expanding our thinking
How executive functioning plays a role in behavior change
POP decision tool
Pick the joy choice.
Typical things that get in the way of behavior change

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The Grow the Good Podcast is produced by Palm Tree Pod Co.

All About Coaching Masters Athletes with Coach Frank Overton Jun 17, 2022

Show notes

Frank Overton is a full time cycling coach and a USA Cycling Level 1 coach since 2006. He founded FasCat Coaching in 2002 to live out his dream to help cyclists. He focuses primarily on masters road, gravel, fondo, time trial, mountain bike and cyclocross athletes who take their training seriously. He previously worked for the Priority Health Professional Cycling Team in 2006 as well as the US National Team in Europe for the 2007 World Cup race season.

Frank raced competitively first as a semi-pro mountain biker and then as a category 1 roadie for 10 years. He started Power Based Training, utilizing his sports science background to maximize athletic performance.

He has a masters degree in Physiology from North Carolina State University and comes from medical school spinal cord research and molecular biotechnology (he even holds a U.S. patent for discovering a gene).

In this week’s episode, Frank and Sonya talk masters athletes, recovery tips, performance goals and more.

Key Takeaways

What age do you become a masters athlete
Physiological changes that occur
Recovery tips
HRV
The role of meditation and mindfulness in training
How to make progress
How to set performance goals
Pre-ride rituals for masters athletes

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The Grow the Good Podcast is produced by Palm Tree Pod Co.

Look There, Go There - Why Your Focus Matters Jun 04, 2022

Show notes

Focus on what you can do, not what you can't. Look there, go there. Where focus goes, energy flows. Perhaps you've heard one or all of those phrases. Our thoughts and emotions generate our perspective and life experience. What we believe about ourselves, our day, the people around us, and the way the world works has an impact on the actions we take, how we show up in relationships, and how we move through life.

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The Grow the Good Podcast is produced by Palm Tree Pod Co.

Behind the Adventure Stache: Professional Cyclist Payson McElveen May 26, 2022

Show notes

Payson McElveen is not your traditional professional mountain biker. After cycling at Fort Lewis College and becoming a two-time Marathon National Champion, Payson decided to focus more on longer events, instead of the traditional World Cup racing and pursuit of the Olympics. In 2017, he won his first national title at the 2017 Marathon Championships, and then won again in 2018. He continued his success in 2019, taking third place at the US National Cycling Trials, second at the Whiskey Off-Road race in Arizona and first at the Land Run 100 in Oklahoma.

He’s the son of a mountain bike racer, first started riding a bike at age four and began racing by 14. He’s been a member of USA Cycling’s National Team since he was 17.

Payson is also known for his podcast “The Adventure Stache”, films, and physical challenges such as FKT’s and his “Trail Town” YouTube series.

In this week’s episode, Payson and Sonya talk mountain biking, fulfilling potential, patience and perseverance and balance.

Key Takeaways

How he got started in MTB
What it means to fulfill your potential
Why endurance events
How to have more patience and perseverance
Getting into gravel
How do you choose what sponsors to work with
Experience with his podcast
How to balance training and commitments

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The Grow the Good Podcast is produced by Palm Tree Pod Co.

6 Things I've Learned from 5 Years of Podcasting May 21, 2022

Show notes

Wow, I can't believe I've had the privilege of doing this podcast for 5 years! Today is the 300th episode! Initially, I was going to do a mash-up of my favorite episodes. That is still coming.

Instead, I decided to record an episode on what having a podcast has taught me (not lessons about what guests have taught me).

Consistency
There is No End Point
Metrics Don't Matter As Much
Continuing Education
How to Listen
Reaching Out, Rejection and Impostor Syndrome

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The Grow the Good Podcast is produced by Palm Tree Pod Co.

How to Be Honest with Yourself to Get Unstuck with Britt Frank May 12, 2022

Show notes

Britt Frank - therapist, teacher, speaker, and trauma specialist - focuses her work on helping others who feel stuck. Her life’s work developed out of a history of drug addiction, love addiction, borderline personality disorder, depression, an eating disorder and anxiety. It sounds like a lot, and it is, but her approach to her work comes from a deep understanding of what it feels like to be stuck.

Britt tried numerous things to get better, and got worse, but once she was on the path to recovery, she found purpose - to dismantle the mental health and motivation myths that keep us stuck, sick, and stressed.

Her recently released book - The Science of Stuck - is a research-based tool kit for moving past what’s holding you back in life, love, and in work.

Britt’s goal is to educate, empower, and equip people to transform their most persistent and long-standing patterns of thinking and doing.

In this conversation, Britt and Sonya talk about how to get unstuck, celebrate successes, use past experiences to help us now and more.

Key Takeaways