Run Your Life Show With Andy Vasily #294-Permission to Be Yourself: Creating a Life That Matters
Today's episode is with the brilliant Dr. Brent Hogarth who is a clinical psychologist, executive coach and team flow expert. He currently works with Dr. Michael Gervais and his team of coaches at Finding Mastery and is focused on enterprise size high-performance mindset training around the globe.
Brent spent years researching what he calls "the dark side of flow"—and what he discovered challenges everything we've been taught about high achievement and peak performance.
Flow states feel incredible. They're optimal for performance. The neurochemical cocktail they create—dopamine, norepinephrine, endorphins, anandamide, serotonin—makes us feel invincible. But Brent's groundbreaking research revealed something most performance coaches won't tell you: flow can also create addiction to peak experiences, lead to burnout and depression, cause us to neglect our relationships and values, and make ordinary life feel unbearable.
As the former Head Peak Performance Coach at Flow Research Collective, working under New York Times bestselling author Steven Kotler, Brent trained thousands of "corporate athletes"—Olympic athletes, Navy SEALs, startup CEOs, hedge fund managers, engineers, doctors, and creatives. He taught them how to access flow. But his most profound insight didn't come from a lab or a boardroom. It came from living in Buddhist monasteries in India, where he learned that sustainable high performance requires something radically different from what the hustle culture preaches.
The insight: We need to learn to cycle between flow-state and mindfulness. Flow gives us focused execution and optimal performance. Mindfulness gives us emotional regulation, behavioral flexibility, and the ability to stay connected to what truly matters.
In this conversation, Brent—now a father of two, licensed clinical psychologist, and ultramarathon finisher—sits down with host Andy Vasily for a discussion that goes far beyond productivity hacks and performance metrics. They explore:
- The science of inter-brain synchrony and why our nervous systems literally sync up when we're deeply connected with others—and what this means for team performance, parenting, and leadership
- How to transform suffering into growth using Buddhist teachings and psychological research
- The power of vulnerability in creating real intimacy, and why Brent's decision to share his deepest shame with his now-wife became the foundation of their marriage
- The inner narratives that shape our lives more than any external circumstances
- What legacy really means when you strip away ego, achievement, and societal expectations
Andy and Brent both share deep histories of loss, trauma, and grief. They've both done the hard inner work of rewriting disempowering narratives. And they both understand that the greatest achievements mean nothing if we lose ourselves—and the people we love—in the pursuit of them.
Connect With Brent:
Website LinkedIn. Finding Mastery
You can also connect with Brent by email at: brenthogarth@gmail.com