The Hard Way With Joe De Sena

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118: Christian Johnson and Chad Grills | Disruption Nov 22, 2016

Show notes

This week's podcast features two Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, Christian Johnson and Chad Grills, disrupting the world of business. Johnson started Fotition a platform to unite brands people and charities to create a positive social outcome. He arrived at this idea by following his lifelong mantra, "creativity will save the world," which lead him to a vocation that will leave a legacy. Grills, a former Army infantryman, took note of better ways to do things during deployments in Egypt and Iraq and channeled them into a sharing and trading service for business assets called Twist.com. He discusses the ways he has used the challenges of the military and life to overcome obstacles. Lessons: 1, The problem is the solution (permaculture principle). 2, Learn to love the word no. Turn it into an opportunity to overcome challenge. 3. Ask yourself if you are living up to your life's mantra and serving the greater good. CREDITS Producer – Marion Abrams, Madmotion, llc. Hosts: Joe De Sena with Johnny Waite, Sefra, Col. Tim Nye, Delle & David Deluca Synopsis – Matt Baatz © 2016 Spartan

117: Nini Meyer | Sweat for Good Nov 15, 2016

Show notes

Nini Meyer created Positive Tracks as a way to get kids moving and involved with a cause through athletics. She has witnessed it not only helping the causes, but connecting the youth with each other and teaching them to manage risk, take on challenges and get active. Since not every child enters the program with the same resources, it also teaches them the vital lesson of using what they got at the moment and building from there. A lifelong volunteer who adopted ultra-endurance running well into her adulthood, Meyer found a way to combine the two into something exceedingly positive. Lessons: 1. Whenever you see the hazy outlines of a starting line begin to form, don't turn away. Run straight towards it. 2. You can't cross the ocean by staring at the sea. 3. Achieving challenging acts with groups creates a sense of shared struggle and perseverance propelling you towards your goal through

116: Nathan Helming | Running, Mobility & Business Nov 08, 2016

Show notes

Helping runners move faster and injury free is the mission of Nathan Helming. A former Ironman qualifier, Nathan Helming runs programming for San Francisco Crossfit with a focus on helping runners and triathletes become better rounded athletes. He's taking this passion into a startup called The Run Experience which guides athletes through strength, conditioning and problem solving to reach their goals through online webinars. Frustration with chronic injury spurred by a too narrow focus on conditioning caused Helming to seek out SF crossfit with its philosophy of a more balanced approach. He is now adapting his experience to propel athletes past their limitations. Lessons: 1. Be process focused: set aside fear of the outcome and engage in the task at hand. 2. Understand that you have a choice at every moment. 3. Don't be afraid to ask for help.

115: Scott Harrison |From Decadence to Service Nov 01, 2016

Show notes

The founder of Charity Water, Scott Harrison was a successful nightclub promoter living a life of decadence many might envy. He found himself hobnobbing with the beautiful people on a daily basis, but he had an epiphany on the beaches of Uruguay. Though he didn't lack materially he was morally, spiritually and emotionally bereft. He sold everything, took up residence in a friend's closet and volunteered in war torn Liberia, paying for the privilege. While there he found his mission: He would use his influence to help remediate the lack of clean water that often leads to disease for the 660 million people in third world nations who are affected. Lessons: 1. To change your life, and the life of others, it may be necessary to step into a new story of your life and scrap the old one. 2. The best way to motivate change is through the promise of positive action with tangible results and not through shame or guilt. 3. Do not compromise your values and morality; maintain your tenacity and you will find a way through the challenge.

114: Col. Fellinger | Key Principles of Mental Resilience Oct 25, 2016

Show notes

With a military career spanning 26 years, retired Col. Fellinger has become a model of resilience and fitness. He asks that you bring him the hardest problems you have because he lives to overcome them. As he explains, it's a process and one that can be practiced but not necessarily mastered. After all, if you're not at least a little off balance, how are you challenging yourself and growing stronger? Joe and he discuss the most vital element to fitness--building mental strength through motivation, risk taking, mental agility and mental resilience. Lessons: 1. Remember the French Paratrooper's Prayer (to paraphrase): Give me Lord what others don't want, uncertainty, doubt, torment and battle, but also the courage, the energy and spirit to face them. 2. To stay motivated take the first step and you will soon create irreversible momentum, inertia that will take on a life of it's own. 3. Build mental resilience through facing challenges you didn't anticipate and generalizing the resultant confidence throughout your life.

113: Kenny Mammarella-D'Cruz | How to Get Past Your Protector and Achieve Oct 18, 2016

Show notes

The "man whisperer" Mammarella-D'Cruz runs men's groups that set them on a course to fulfillment. Clients, even billionaires, find they need help understanding how to achieve happiness. His ability was honed by the dire circumstances of his own childhood. After his family was placed on the death list in Uganda, Mammarella-D'Cruz spent a significant portion of his formative years on the run. This summoned his survival instincts, which were vital at the time, but when the threat eased were not helping him live the life he had dreamed. After a string of successful endeavours that left him wanting, he learned to live life to it's fullest and is helping others do the same. Lessons: 1. Find how your life's "script" impedes you, to move on. 2. It's more efficient to learn from other's mistakes than to make them yourself. 3. If your life is entirely run by your internal protector you are surviving and not living.

112: Amy Winters | Exceptional Endurance Athlete Achieves More With One Leg Than Most With Two Oct 11, 2016

Show notes

Adaptive athlete Amy Winters, is so resilient she was chosen to help struggling athletes complete the brutal 60+ hour Spartan endurance event Agoge. If you ask her, she won't credit rugged individualism for her perseverance. She relies on the strength of others to buoy her up as she does the same for them. It may be that the wellspring of grit that her loss summoned helped her to recognize and rouse that same potential in others. Lessons: 1. When you see something different about a person, smile with them. 2. Working as a team, as a community, you bring to the fore each other's strengths and lift each other towards completing the improbable. 3. To connect with people, disconnect from the screen. LINKS: One Step Ahead Foundation https://onestepaheadfoundation.wordpress.com/ One Step Ahead Foundation on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/OneStepAheadFoundation/

111: Rob Koll | How to Make Champions Oct 04, 2016

Show notes

Coach of the highly successful wrestling program at Cornell, Rob Koll wasn't an overnight success. His virtuosity was years in the making, working hard and surrounding himself with the kind of motivating people that would eventually transform the program into a powerhouse. When asked, Koll denies that his methods involve any mystique. He simply doles out his nose to the grindstone, meat and potatoes work ethic with devastating consistency. Those who don't have the discipline to endure it fall by the wayside. Those who do, find themselves competing with the best and winning often. Lessons: 1. It's not how much you want to win that day; it's how much you want to win on all the days leading up to that day. 2. Even a mildly active wrestler is going to go through more pain, hardship and sacrifice than the average person on the street. 3. A supportive upbringing that instills good values is crucial.

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110: Michael Chernow | Hunger For Success Sep 27, 2016

Show notes

A restaurateur with 7 NYC restaurants and a passion for fitness, his restaurants have succeeded in large part due to Chernow's keen sense of emotional intelligence. One of the unique ways he keeps his staff happy is the emphasis he places on fitness in the workplace and the program he started to cultivate this. The interview takes place in Seamore's which specializes in locally caught species that are delectable but often overlooked. Dogfish, for example, is just as tasty as trendier fare. Chernow is working new projects with a voracious diligence Chernow can trace back to his childhood. As a kid he walked dogs and delivering food to transcend his family's modest lifestyle. Lessons 1. Don't underestimate anyone. There's no way of gauging how valuable a relationship will be down the line. 2. Don't "want," "need," or "wish" …. "do." 3. Cultivate a happy, cohesive team and the guests will be made happy as a matter of course.

109: Charlie Brenneman | Fighter's Mind Sep 20, 2016

Show notes

UFC fighter "The Spaniard" and lifelong wrestler, Charlie grew up in normal circumstances. As he puts it "I'm just like you," he didn't have to overcome a great deprivation or trauma, he just worked hard and went on to great successes. Brenneman dispels the myth that you must follow a Rocky type trajectory to compete with the best. Instead he shares the simple steps he took, including surrounding himself with good mentors and Consistency. He arrived by realizing that in a sport like wrestling in which "heartbreak far outweighs the triumph" the journey is what matters. Lessons: 1. Being in a normal family that provides good core values and a supportive environment is an underestimated advantage. It doesn't take extraordinary circumstances to do extraordinary things. 2. Every opportunity, no matter how small, counts. Things add up. 3. If you don't move the proverbial line in the sand, you're never going to get best.

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