The B.rad Podcast

Amazingly, Vinnie’s home base is the great nation of Woodland Hills, CA, which happens to be my hometown. That little aside is representative of the direction of the conversation on this show—get Vinnie and I revv’d up and they take off in assorted directions. One thing is for sure, this guy is the real deal. He shoots straight and has no problem calling out BS when he sees it. He’s not afraid to call out Oprah and Jillian Michaels and others in the fitness game who prey upon your weaknesses and dispense ineffective advice. E.g., Oprah buying a big chunk of Weight Watchers stock in 2015, then telling her followers she’s going on Weight Watchers (again)! That’s some nasty stuff if you pause to think about it. Check out Vinnie’s Fitness Confidential show and you will see that this guy is perhaps the most prolific podcaster on the planet. He cranks out five lengthy shows every week! I appeared recently on episode one-thousand-something! The show starts with Vinny going on a political rant, then Vinny recounting his amazing story as America’s Celebrity Trainer. He relates a crossroads in life and career that happened in 2007 when was stricken with cancer, couldn’t train clients, and was running up big medical bills. A Hollywood writer friend urged him to write a book. Vinny’s Fitness Confidential was self-published (why suck up to publishers who might dilute his message?), became a bestseller and inspired the launch of the podcast. Thirty years ago as a New Orleans coach and trainer, Vinnie made the brilliant connection between the Atkins diet and what is today called the Compensation Theory of Exercise—the idea that calories burned during workouts don’t really help you lose weight. He has been preaching his tag line, “No Sugar, No Grains” since that time with great success. One of the most heart-warming character-revealing insights was how Vinnie helped an office admin who couldn’t afford his services to lose over 100 pounds. This caught the attention of her employers, and soon Vinnie was helping Playboy centerfolds stay trim during their 15 minutes of fame on the party circuit. Soon he became the go-to guy in Hollywood to keep people drop excess body fat and stay healthy. Vinnie does some crazy stuff in his own life, including 500-mile ultra marathon bicycle races. He is currently training for a solo 100-mile kayak excursion from his hometown in the Louisiana Bayou to the Pacific Ocean (that’s his super bad ass kayak in the photo, what a beauty!).Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-get-over-yourself-podcast/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As a follow up to my detailed account of breaking the Guinness world Speedgolf record, I discuss how, on the day of my record attempt, I experienced a flashback to my high school track days. Relaxing in my childhood bedroom before heading to the golf course, for the evening attempt, I reflected on doing the same thing—killing time relaxing after school and before heading to track and cross country meets. Well, “after school” often came at midday, as I would ditch afternoon classes on account of pre-race nervousness. Indeed, back then I would feel a profound sense of dread and negativity, fearful of the pain involved in distance racing and anxious about the outcome. Speaking of pain, when I raced in high school I didn’t realize the severe burning of the lungs and coughing for hours afterward was not due to the effort, but due to the terrible smog in Los Angeles at the time. This only became clear after my first collegiate meet on the oceanfront course and pristine air at UCSB! As a young runner, my self-esteem and sense of belonging was tied to my athletic success. While this serves as a significant source of external motivation, it’s not as effective as cultivating a process-oriented approach. A results-oriented mentality can easily be shaken by failure to the extent that competitors in any area of life get discouraged and give up instead of persevere. I relate how I felt those same nervous butterflies before my Speedgolf effort, but only in the positive sense of striving for a fun peak performance goal, with a light-hearted approach. I had trained very hard and was highly interested in breaking the world record, but without the unhealthy dynamics of having self-esteem tied to outcome. This represents the ideal peak performance mentality, best captured by a beautiful quote from the late Sir Roger Bannister (first man to break the four-minute mile): “The essence of sports is that while you're doing it, nothing else matters, but after you stop, there is a place, generally not very important, where you would put it.” While I’m committed to getting over myself per show mission statement, I also strive to keep the competitive fire burning and have ambitious peak performance goals that hopefully inspire you too.  Consequently, the place generally not very important where I put my Speedgolf World Record performance is on YouTube, baby! Hit the link and make it viral!Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-get-over-yourself-podcast/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Get ready for an breathlessly-enthusiastic account of what I consider to be a miracle athletic performance, where I accessed that lauded flow state and transcended my normal athletic limitations to deliver a top performance under pressure and break, for the second time, the Guinness World Record for the fastest hole of golf ever played (minimum hole length of 500 yards.) On June 1st in Los Angeles, I played a 503-yard par-5 hole in one minute, 38 seconds. The effort entailed an all-out sprint from start to finish, carrying only one club (3-wood) and making a birdie four on the hole. The record performance came on the heels of months of specific practice simulating the competitive effort (“Context Specificity” as my Speedgolf coach Christopher Smith calls it), and strategy improvements such as choosing to play with only one club (that means pitching and putting with a 3-wood—not easy!) to save time. My first record attempt came in Sacramento, CA on May 8th, 2018. My time of 1:40.24 busted the previous Guinness record of 1:50. On this occasion, I scored a smooth 6 on the 503-yard par-5 ninth hole at Bing Maloney Golf Course. I kept his shots straight and in line with the hole to save time, but hit a couple less than stellar shots and was not completely satisfied upon reflection. As I reviewed video and photos for my Guinness submission, I saw a couple distinct areas for potential improvement, and the competitive juices started flowing again. Soon, I was orchestrating another do or die effort, this time in Los Angeles. The most rewarding aspect of this whole journey was sharing it with family and friends. As you can see on the video, we had a fun time celebrating out on the course! Per Guinness record attempt guidelines, I had to rally a separate dream team of supporters in each city (Mia Moore saw both records) to fulfill the Guinness record attempt guidelines. Here’s what it took to break the world record: Humility: In late 2017, I stumbled upon this awesome YouTube video of British Speedgolfer Steve Jeffs breaking the Guinness World Record for the fastest golf hole. Dig the 161,000 views (okay well, 1,000 of them are mine, but still…pretty viral!) and the dog pile celebration at the end. Jeffs did a 1:50 to beat the old record of 1:52 at his course in England. Being the soñador that I am, and knowing my basic competency in sprinting and Speedgolf, I thought I could easily bust this record. The very next day I made an official attempt at Bing Maloney. I ran pretty hard, hit some good shots, and was absolutely shocked to see the digits on my stopwatch read 2:12 – 22 seconds off the pace! A few days later, I tried again. This time I really opened up the throttle, going a nearly full-speed 400-meter sprint pace. Thanks to a couple off-center shots and sloppy putting, my time was 2:13. Clearly, this record was legit, and it was time to train hard and prepare carefully! Do or Die Mentality: Due to the sprint speed required to take a healthy dent out of the record, I realized that I had best make the magic happen on my initial attempt. Returning to the tee to make successive efforts of sprinting 500 yards would clearly result in losing several seconds of sprint speed due to fatigue. Guinness rules allow multiple attempts, but I didn’t even wanna go there in my mind. Do or die! Excellent Shots: Hit any shot flying significantly off the center line and the smooth fairway grass and you are done. Hit a chip shot slightly too hard and past the hole and you are done. Muff a chip shot and you done. Miss a short putt and you are done. These latter examples are all easy to do when you are holding a highly inappropriate club for these delicate shots. Strategy: Get comfortable with one club, hit the ball straight and never past the hole, and train mind and body to swing virtually right after arrival to the ball. There is no time to waste catching your breath before a shot. I trained my brain and body to immediately take a full swing, a delicate pitch, and a smooth putt while my chest was heaving and heart pounding out of my throat! This contrasts the typical approach in Speedgolf tournaments, where running pace is steady but not sprint, and you take several seconds over the ball to get settled and take careful aim before swinging. Logistics: For official Guinness status you have to complete a 12-week application process, get approved for an official attempt, then arrange for 10 people to time, witness, film, and photograph the attempt, and complete sworn statements and evidence submissions afterward. It’s a big deal with lots of pressure! My friends Shawn and Maria drove three hours to support my Sacramento attempt, so I knew I had to come through on the big day! In the show, I detail how it’s essential for peak performers, especially those with an athletic background, to maintain a passion and competitive intensity throughout life, a concept detailed in the MarksDailyApple.com post called, “Going Through Life With an Edge” Your competitive goals should be constantly recalibrated and updated to be age appropriate, promoting health and longevity (instead of compromising these things, as with elite level triathlon training), and fitting nicely into a healthy, balanced lifestyle. I relate how my competitive focus transitioned from the pro triathlon circuit, then to the goal of dominating young athletes whom I coached in basketball, soccer, and track. Indeed, I dominated the kids from their 3rd grade through 8th grade seasons. In a short time coinciding with growth spurts, I quickly matched (in height and abilities) and then left in the dust. When my youth sports dynasty wore off, I turned my attention to my present day passions of high jump and Speedgolf. This Guinness effort is just a sideshow for my main focus on professional Speedgolf tournaments, where we play a normal 18-hole round or 36-hole tournament and add strokes and minutes together to post a Speedgolf tournament score. For example, my best round in competition is a 78 in 47 minutes = a Speedgolf score of 125—good for 3rd place in the 2017 California Professional Championships. I’ve also placed in the top-20 in the Speedgolf World Professional Championships three times. I relate how these are mostly personal challenges and “just for fun,” but not really. I’m very focused and serious about clearing the high jump bar or breaking the world Speedgolf record, but in a way that promotes personal growth and self-satisfaction, without an unhealthy attachment of self esteem to the results. Developing this mindset requires getting over yourself, a concept I elaborate upon in a follow up Breather show. Enjoy this hopefully inspiring account about taking aim at a unique and challenging competitive goal and going for it!Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-get-over-yourself-podcast/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chris Kelly is the founder of the comprehensive health and peak performance testing and consultation service called NourishBalanceThrive.com. This is the absolute cutting edge of progressive health for athletes and anyone wanting to achieve peak performance. The NBT program goes beyond traditional medicine to identify hormonal and nutritional deficiencies through extensive blood, urine, stool and saliva testing, expert consultations, and targeted supplementation.  Chris is also a high performing masters mountain bike racer who has overcome serious health challenges and training mistakes to embody a healthy peak performance mindset and training regimen that doesn’t compromise his health. Visit the Primal Endurance podcast channel and listen to my past shows with Chris, and his associate (and future podcast guest) Dr. Tommy Wood, where we detail my journey through the NourishBalanceThrive testing and consultation program. Yes, I play real-life guinea pig and we talk through the crazy stuff found in my blood, stool, urine, and saliva and how I can fix things up! Chris talks about his journey from Silicon Valley tech geek to intensely competitive mountain bike racer and ultimately to pushing too hard, sleeping too little, eating like crap, and burning out. His journey back to health led to an empowering career change, where he applies his computer programming skills to the challenge of solving health problems that are not generally addressed by mainstream medicine. Chris is deep into making predictive models that can very accurately guess health problems that would otherwise cost hundreds of dollars in sophisticated testing. Chris covers so many interesting topics in this wide ranging conversation, especially the hot button items like gut health and adrenal burnout (is there really such a thing?). Try taking the “7 Minute Analysis” questionnaire on at NourishBalanceThrive.com to identify areas where you might be deficient in your functional health. It’s free and can be highly accurate start leading you down the path to further healing. Here is a sneak preview of what NBT calls the “five performance killers”: Low Oxygen Deliverability Glucose Intolerance Gut Dysbiosis Hormone Imbalance Circadian Dysregulation Good stuff! Worth doing for anyone, not just athletes. If you are currently spending money on vitamins or meds or super healthy food and have an inflamed gut, you are literally wasting your time until you attack the cause of the problem.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-get-over-yourself-podcast/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Some topics and quotes that I offer color commentary on: Mark Manson, author of Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck, offers great one-liners relating to the clever title of his runaway bestselling book. This guy has really delivered a masterpiece and you should check it out. Mark, come on the podcast man: email info@getoveryourselfpodcast.com! Tim Ferriss about having objectives and measurements for everything, and also on the dangers of email. I feel that one, ouch! What would we do without email? Ferriss is big on batching, which is a tough challenge at times, possibly due to humans being wired for that addictive hit of dopamine we get whenever we are exposed to fresh and novel stimulation in our environment. In primal times, it was a rustling in the bushes requiring our acuity. Today, each text message or new inbox arrival gives us that same hit of dopamine. We are drawn to novel stimulation as a hard-wired survival attribute. More commentary comes on quotes from Sam Harris and Dan Millman, on the topic of separating who you are from your thoughts.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-get-over-yourself-podcast/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

One evening prior to 2018 election day, I discover an intriguing YouTube video from an unlikely candidate for the Governorship of the great nation of California. A couple weeks later, after a longshot email solicitation to her campaign office, I find myself chilling in the Silicon Valley home of the remarkable Amanda Renteria. We hit it off immediately, discussing Mexico’s chances in the World Cup (not great, as it turned out when they got stuck with Brazil in the first knockout round), and then onto more important matters such as the importance of giving the people a real voice in the political process. Through hard work and determination, this child of a former immigrant farm workers in California’s central valley found her way to Stanford University, then Harvard Business School, then into a fast rising political career where she became the first Latina Chief of Staff in the history of the US Senate, then National Political Director for the Clinton Presidential Campaign, then taking a crisp 7th place in the California governor’s race against the behemoth candidates of big politics. In her spare time, Amanda became a two-sport varsity athlete at Stanford (walking on, literally with the wrong shoes, to the defending NCAA champion women’s basketball team! Then earning a scholarship in another sport!), ran the State of California Department of Justice (they wanted her so bad they said she could telecommute to oversee her 1,000 member staff!). She also did some time at Goldman Sachs to pay off student loans, taught high school back in her hometown, and is raising a couple little children. Uh, how about you? Whatcha been up to the past couple decades since college? WOW! Yes indeed, you might call Amanda a true peak performer, o en Español: chingóna. This is a great conversation that will inspire you and awaken you to the power of dreams, resolve, fearlessness, and hard work and all that cool stuff we talk about but rarely get to experience personified.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-get-over-yourself-podcast/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Check out the Medium.com they have great articles on assorted topics. An article by Clint Carter offers insights from eight technology leaders about how to best manage our mobile devices to minimize stress and make life more productive and relaxing. Carter makes the convincing argument that we are feeding the tech beast with our obsessive use. We must recognize that companies are working hard to get and keep us addicted. Heed some awesome tips as follows: Get a solid hour of work done before you launch your browser. Quit video games cold turkey if they are messing with your life. Manage your use of email with group project apps and the Gmail snooze function. Take breaks from social media when you feel overwhelmed. Keep your device at a safe distance, both to avoid EMF and also to avoid temptation. Get email off your mobile device so you aren’t constantly compelled to keep up. Consider swapping out social media apps for legit news resources. Schedule down time from phone use, like using airplane mode on weekends and taking photos instead. A great quote from Dr. Peper in the article: “The phone hijacks our evolutionary patterns. We don’t do good with multitasking, so if you’re writing an article, and every five minutes you pop back to answer a message, you’re much less productive in the long term.”Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-get-over-yourself-podcast/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Andrew is an evolved coach of endurance training and life, my longtime friend and triathlon mate from the pro circuit and popular recurring guest on the Primal Endurance Podcast. Andrew had dozens of wins on the pro triathlon circuit from ’86-’93, as well as some extraordinary performances as a master, including a national XTerra triathlon title and destroying the Wildflower 50+ course record with a pro-level performance even as an old dude. Andrew’s lifelong commitment to health and fitness involves exceptional dietary quality standards (along with constant experimentation and evaluation), maintaining elite level fitness in the decades after his retirement from the pro circuit, and a deep immersion into functional medicine, both as a patient and as a coach.   Andrew is a strong proponent of how mindset affects physical health and promotes the importance of being an intuitive athlete above all else, especially with our modern obsession with technology potentially compromising intuitive skills. In this show, the pair talk about how important it is to make health your number-one priority in life, for you can’t reach your potential, nor be of best service to others without a baseline level of health. Unfortunately, many of us just don’t do it. We make excuses and rationalizations, we become martyrs, workaholics or overtraining junkees, we disconnect mind from body, and finally wake up with regrets when the aging process takes aggressive action. Andrew says, “The new wealth is time, not money,” and how he knows a great many affluent people, but, “I don’t know too many happy rich people.” He also observes that many people have never experienced optimum health or fitness, so they think they are “okay” without any better reference point.    How to get better and make health #1: Understand and take action with what you can control, and let go of what you can’t control. Get your physical body right (with healthy diet, exercise and lifestyle practices), and get your logistics right (sleep routines, de-stressing behaviors, healthy home environment.) Only then can you have a fighting chance at peak performance.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-get-over-yourself-podcast/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Wendy blows into the SoCal Get Over Yourself studios (aka my old childhood bedroom)  and leaves a vapor trail! What a wild and fast moving show, with plenty of asides, profanity, Borat references, and Brad rapping to punctuate the conversation. Dr. Wendy Walsh is a Psychology Professor, an Award winning television Journalist, a radio host and a brand ambassador. As a Silence Breaker, she was named one of Time Magazine’s Persons of the Year. Her voice helped pave the way for the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements.   We start off covering the fascinating story of how she called out Bill O’Reilly for harassment, a critical step in exposing his long-standing and long covered up pattern of harassment behavior that led to his downfall. Previous victims had been paid off to the tune of millions of dollars before Wendy bravely stepped up and told the story of how her Fox appearances magically dried up after she rebuffed O’Reilly’s cheesy advances at a business dinner. Wendy gives big credit to Mercedes Benz for taking the extraordinary step of yanking their advertising from Bill’s show upon the breaking of Wendy’s story, which led to dozens of other advertisers pulling the plug.   The conversation proceeds into Wendy’s main area of distinction and expertise: evolutionary psychology and Attachment Theory—why we bond with romantic partners and the complex interplay between our hard-wired genetic drives and the influence of culture and civilization. Wendy explains why we engage in repeated relationship patterns that are suboptimal, and the idea that we really can change with the right approach. She talks about the complex interplay between our hardwired genetic drives and desires and the influence of civilization and modern culture. We are in wild times when it comes to romantic partnerships, because culture is changing so quickly and the long-standing currencies and exchanges that framed partnerships and marriages no longer apply.   Hang on for a wild ride, because Wendy is definitely high energy with a high spice factor. We will learn the top three things men, and women, look for in a prospective partner, and how we must navigate these hard-wired drives in the modern dating scene.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-get-over-yourself-podcast/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Enjoy some reflection inspired by my lengthy conversation with Mark Sisson. This show features extensive color commentary and outright tangents on matters relating to the big themes of Mark’s story, such as the ideals of entrepreneurism and competitive success, and how we often distort these ideas to day. Having worked closely with Mark for a decade and known him for over 30 years, I have a deep appreciation for the attitude and behavior characteristics that make him not only a successful entrepreneur but also able to actualize his branding motto of “Live Awesome.” He calls himself a stress-head at times, and admits to assorted shortcomings and imperfections, but he has a marvelous ability to take both success and failure in stride and keep pursuing his grand mission to help people live healthy, awesome lives.   In contrast to a wise, well-balanced peak performer, we seem to be living in an age characterized by social media overload, self-absorption facilitated by social media overload, extreme consumerism, and assorted highly offensive disconnects from our genetic expectations for health—hyper-connectivity, insufficient sleep, sun exposure or play time, eating crappy food, and not moving enough throughout the day. Regardless of our level of affluence, we suffer from FOMO (fear of missing out) and FOKU, too (fear of keeping up.)   Yes, Mark’s entrepreneurial story is quite inspiring, but we have perhaps gone overboard glorifying the risk takers and the solo flyers of today. The thought leaders in new media—YouTube sensations like Casey Niestat, and podcasters like Joe Rogan, Ferriss and many others, are communicating a message that might easily be misconstrued because of their rare and unique perspective. The people we are listening to are those compelled to step outside of the mainstream channels, create original content, and promote the crap out of their message until it catches on. They can’t help communicate from their own point of view, and that’s where their greatest value and beauty are found. However, it’s important to appreciate how their values and recommended approach to life might not be a good fit for you. It’s super important to recognize this distortion in modern media—particularly the “life is perfect” aspects of social media—and have some compassion for yourself whenever you feel like your life is not cool or grand enough. With a healthy perspective, you can honor your own basic nature and calling for whatever kind of life feels most comfortable to you. Stay true to your own path, and you will protect yourself the excess of blather and positive energy and self-glorification and narcissism that prevents you from focusing sufficiently execution, patience, and paying your dues the old fashioned way.   Alert to the prevailing cultural phenomenons of helicopter parents and entitled millennials! Reflect when Mark observes during the show on the value of investing in yourself, and how there is a shortage today of skilled laborers—perhaps because the millennials don’t want to engage in hard physical labor. You can invest $4k in welding school apprentice training and go make a six-figure income!   Reflecting on all the twists and turns and detours and dead ends in Mark’s journey, it’s likely that the Mark Sisson coming of age today woulda become a doctor. That’s just fine, but it turns out that Mark’s destiny was to save 10 million people from needing a doctor, and the steady decline into old age and extensive medical care, by making lifestyle changes that optimize gene expression. Seriously. Look at MDA success stories and the explosive popularity of the ancestral health movement that was fringe and highly criticized at the outset, but has now gained mainstream acceptance. Yes, Mark has had a mission statement of “influencing 10 million people” for over a decade. Recently, I noticed someone in the health space had repurposed it with a mission to affect 100 million lives!   This example (sorry I can’t remember who it was, but all power to them for their ambitions) is exactly what I’m talkin’ about! Too much hype and blather and not enough focus on execution, appreciating the process, and paying one's dues. Mark’s once preposterous statement is now emerging as a reality, what with Primal Kitchen products in 9,000 stores and total book sales in the millions of units. Besides, Mark has published a post every day for 12 years in support of actualizing his mission statement.   Indeed, there backlash to this today’s frenzied ethos of “believe in yourself, think positive, dream big, conquer the world.” Most visible is the modern cultural trend of helicopter parenting and entitled millennials. We seem to want to force the destiny of our golden children today—make every kid valedictorian (impossible, but at a recent high school graduation I noticed 13 of them) or every a superstar athlete with an NCAA division 1 scholarship handed to them. It’s become so ridiculous today that high school sports now resemble college sports of past generations, and college sports represent professional sports of the past. In the high school scene, you have kids routinely holding back a grade for non-academic reasons, the better to mature physically and dominate in competition.   Two ridiculous examples out emerge out of sports powerhouse Mater Dei HS in Santa Ana, CA. A point guard and top student held back two years to star on the court and gain a coveted Ivy League student-athlete opportunity. Current USC quarterback JT Daniels repeating 9th grade, becoming one of the greatest high school quarterbacks in California history, then skipping his senior to jump over to USC and earn the starting spot as a freshman. They usually call athletes who have not redshirted “true freshmen” but not much about this story rings true or morally acceptable.   We also have the many disturbing high profile examples of peak performers who become incredibly poorly adjusted to normal life, most spectacularly Tiger Woods and Lance Armstrong. What’s great is to see both of these dudes, now in their 40s, work hard to learn and grow from their flameouts and present more mature and well-adjusted public personas in recent years. So if you are young and ambitious, or a parent of people young and ambitious, or someone of any age wondering if you can or should be more than you are, let's take a deep breath, take a cold plunge and get over ourselves for a moment. Maybe it’s highly overrated to be a go getting hustler super performer as glorified today in a 24/7 manner by hyperconnectivity and social media? Maybe it’s healthier to honor your basic nature, strive to be a kind, happy, well-adjusted person who finds a comfortable fit into society, makes a positive contribution, but doesn’t necessarily have to win awards or become famous. Recall the Martin Luther King (remember him?) message to the street-sweepers of the world: “If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as a Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, 'Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.’ " Back to the Sisson show, Mark’s inspiration as a scrawny high school sophomore from Maine to apply to the most badass prep school in the land was simply an unfiltered, unregulated, uncompromising answering of his calling and his destiny. You can’t will anyone into this type of disposition and mindset. Certainly not a young person, and most likely not that manager on your team who is underperforming and doesn’t seem to harbor that competitive fire that you wish for him or her. Add to this insight the many detours on Mark’s journey, where he seemingly had it made but hopped off the train to stay true to his calling: bailing on med school opportunity to do crazy stuff like run marathons and ironman triathlons and build refrigerated salad bars; bailing on a lucrative job while feeding a young family to take massive risk and go it alone; and also the recent occasion where he stretched himself too thin and embarked on a disastrous restaurant venture that he is still unwinding. And while we see Mark as a huge success and living the awesome dream life, it’s important to acknowledge that there is an extreme negotiation and price to pay if you are gonna blaze a big trail. The complexity and intensity of Mark’s career life would make most people crack. Recall how Elon Musk told Joe Rogan point blank: “You would not want to trade places with me.” Ditto for Mark. Get this - he thinks he is, “fairly risk averse.” Obviously, his insight comes from his unique point of view, because this guy has been swinging for the fences, buoyed by one from a list of life changing insights he has dispensed to me over the years: “All you need is one home run.” Enjoy the Breather show and be sure to listen to the full-length Ultimate Mark Sisson Interview!Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-get-over-yourself-podcast/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.