The Hard Way With Joe De Sena

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078: Clint Wattenberg| Recovery Nutrition - What You Need to Know Feb 23, 2016

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Synopsis: Which diet will optimize your obstacle resistance-- Paleo, raw foods, clean eating or some emerging trend? According to Cornell head nutritionist Clint Wattenberg, there is a time and a place for almost any kind of food as long as you eat it in moderation and your grandma would recognize it. Trying to be “perfect” with your diet will often drive you to the other extreme or, worse, to an eating disorder. If you love food and eating, then Wattenberg has some great news.Lessons:1. Be moderate with your diet, not extreme.2. Only eat foods that your grandma would recognize and as many whole foods as possible.3. Nutrition is the foundation to build a performance, not the golden key.

077: Bart Yasso | Runner's World Chief Running Officer (C.R.O.) Feb 16, 2016

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Bart Yasso earned the title of Chief Running Officer at Runner's World magazine through a rugged initiation that involved life altering missteps in his adolescence. It took a stark confrontation with his own mortality via the loss of a close friend to jolt him onto his path of pursuing his passion. This experience upheaved his frame of reference from a toxic one to one of redemption. It's a running theme in our tales of grit: climbs to great heights very often begin at rock bottom. Yasso's love for running and for life shines through in this episode. Lessons: 1. You are the average of your five closest friends, so choose wisely. 2. You need to think like a champion before you can become one. 3. Say yes often to new experiences; embrace and love them.

076: Thom Beers | "Deadliest Catch" Producer Feb 09, 2016

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Thom Beers, successful producer of shows including Deadliest Catch, Ice Road Truckers & Monster Garage has taken a treacherous path to achieve his success himself. Starting at the bottom he worked his way up through grit, persistence and staying one step ahead of everyone else. His passion, apparently very much alive, propelled him through the rough patches. He has some valuable tips on how to navigate those icy roads and stormy seas that one will inevitably encounter along the way to any achievement worth pursuing. Lessons: 1. Passion is the most important thing in the world: If it doesn't make your heart pump Kool-Aid, it's not worth doing. 2. Develop an optimal business culture by gathering together people with the same passion as you. 3. Hire really good people and then let them run.

075: Dandapani | This Monk's Success Secret Feb 02, 2016

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What could Dandapani, a Hindu monk turned adviser to entrepreneurs, have to offer to a world seemingly far removed from the monastic life? Plenty it turns out. Through his practice he has come to personify the calm in the midst of the storm, and if there is one way of being that would be a boon in the tumultuous climate of the business world, this would have to be it. Calm reflection is the key to creating positive habits of the mind and Dandapani has mastered this in his many years of practice. He has built a solid foundation of wisdom which he will touch on in this week’s podcast.Lessons: 1. Motivation requires a lot of energy, therefore it is important to let go of the things that drain your energy including negative media, tv, toxic friends and sometimes even family. 2. One of the greatest gifts you can provide yourself is taking a few moments each day to clarify your direction in life; once you do that, you can overcome almost every obstacle. 3. Use positive affirmations to shape and change your mind in order to attract good things into your life.

074: Sami Inkinen | San Francisco to Hawaii by Rowboat Jan 26, 2016

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Entrepreneur and athlete Sami Inkinen, along with his wife, rowed 2,750 miles over 45 days without using any of the traditional “athlete foods” conventional knowledge says are essential: sugars and carbs. They didn’t starve, far from it. They came out of it healthier than can be expected from such an endeavor. Why? As fit as Inkinen is, he developed prediabetes by following the standard diet and surmised that sugar was the culprit. If someone like Inkinen is vulnerable, we should all be aware. Inkinen recounts his amazing journey from California to Hawaii.Lessons: 1. The key to success is anything is a growth mindset: Don’t go through an experience, grow through it. 2. Sometimes you have to face a challenge as if you were eating an elephant, one piece at a time, slowly, as best you can. 3. The only way to escape an unpleasant experience is to embrace it fully, not fight it.

073: Mike Roberts | Lessons from Outside Magazine Jan 19, 2016

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As Outside Magazine Editor, Mike Roberts has access to the stories of the top outdoor athletes in the world and to their wisdom as well. He's seen Kelly Slater, "the Michael Jordan of surfing," heal his life through the zen of the water, and age gracefully through his sport. He has also seen top climbers act boldly, but with a skill honed through the culmination of years of dedicated practice. Through these stories we can garner how to be a better human, how to risk without risking it all, how to truly be alive and not just live. Lessons: 1. In tough times you can either be afraid or think "what an interesting time to be in" and seek creative solutions. 2. Use the lessons that you find in pursuit of your passion in the other areas of your life to help make you a whole person. 3. Excellence in sport doesn't necessarily have to waver once you reach middle age: for one thing, you often gain the wisdom to keep going, to learn to suffer a bit better.

072: Isaiah Vidal | How to Overcome Circumstances Jan 12, 2016

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Spartan pro Isaiah Vidal, through the rough circumstances of his life, took the road less traveled to success: He saw the troubled path of his father and didn’t take it. Sons often repeat the mistakes of their fathers, how did Vidal manage to turn things around? In a nutshell, it was a combination of will, determination, and an orientation towards positivity as well as turning towards other strong role models in his life like his mom and grandfather for inspiration. Their influences, as Vidal will describe, laid the foundation for his transformation.Lessons: 1. When proceeding with your life, think of the legacy you want to leave, the example for your children to follow. 2. Take measures to guard against negativity in your life. 3. If you want to get back on your feet, first you have to get off of your ass.

071: Chris Kresser | The Most Important Thing Jan 05, 2016

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No one should ever wish tragedy into their own or other’s lives, but it has the potential to lead to some incredibly beneficial life changes. Chris Kresser transformed a decade long struggle with a rare chronic disease into something that benefits society. He was able to restore himself to health and is now doing the same for others. His main piece of advice, “eat real food,” is deceptively simple until you look at the food trends in American culture and realize that the majority of the people the majority of the time are doing no such thing. It may be the single most important thing you can do for your well being. Kresser explains why.Lessons: 1. To stay focused, create a pointed mission in life; do everything that delivers you towards that mission, eliminate those things that don’t. 2. In order to accomplish your goals, you have to be a whole person: if you don’t optimize your physical and mental well being, then you’re not much help to others. 3. Eat real food. Maximize nutrient dense whole foods and minimize those that come from a box, bag or can or use sugar, white flour or seed oils.

070: Jay Jackson | The Story You Won't Believe Dec 29, 2015

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Jay Jackson is the subject of Joe’s ultimate wrestling story, but you’ll have to wait to the very end of the episode to hear it. Jackson,assistant principal and wrestler, recognizes a need to nudge students into uncomfortable situations that will develop their grit, but that are often absent in an increasingly bubble wrapped society. He got his grit from his parents. His father, as a wrestling coach, would push his physical boundaries and his mom had clever strategies to develop his social skills. Jackson shares some valuable advice about how to advance towards your goals with a smile on your face.Lessons: 1. To raise your children to be resilient, practice pushing them out of their comfort zone gradually through time, but not without building a solid foundation of security and love when they’re young. 2. Since a majority of your life is spent getting to a destination it is vital to find a way to enjoy the process. 3. If you can persist in every area of your life, physically, mentally, morally, you’ll succeed.

069: Dean Karnazes | Advice: Fail Boldly Dec 22, 2015

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In world renowned ultra runner Dean Karnazes, Joe tracked down a real Spartan by both disposition and bloodline. Does he eat gruel for breakfast, take cold showers, and run wearing a hundred pounds of armor? Maybe. He’s run marathons in every state and is now setting out to do the same in every country. Certainly that falls within the same spirit. So you might be taken aback to hear that Karnazes tells us that we should set out not only to fail, but to fail big. His advice is backed up by a life changing experience that he will describe in this episode.Lessons: 1. To achieve great things take small steps and ask yourself at every step if you’re conducting yourself with discipline. 2. Never stop exploring: don’t be afraid to try new things and eventually you’ll discover your passion/s. 3. Fail boldly: the most useful lessons are learned from the most dramatic failures.

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