Finding Mastery with Dr. Michael Gervais

This week’s conversation is with Mick Fanning, a professional surfer from Australia, regarded as one of the best surfers ever. Mick won the ASP World Tour in 2007, 2009 and 2013 and is the living embodiment of professional surfing. He’s spent the better part of two decades as one of the biggest gravitational forces on the Tour, racking up 22 Tour wins, 11 Top 5 finishes in addition to those t...

This week’s conversation is with Angela Naeth, currently ranked among the top triathletes in the world with 3 sub 9-hour Ironman performances. Angela is a multiple 70.3 and Ironman Champion and has 30+ podiums at the 70.3 and Ironman distances. If you're not familiar with the 70.3, that's the total distance in miles for what's considered a half-ironman. A full ironman triathlon is 140+ miles...

This week’s conversation is with Brian Volk-Weiss, the founder and president of Comedy Dynamics. Brian stands at the forefront of comedy’s evolution in the 21st century. Since the launch of Comedy Dynamics in 2008, he has guided the award-winning brand to becoming the nation’s largest independent producer and distributor of one-hour comedy specials, while initiating innovative partnerships with Am...

This week’s conversation is with Tyler Lockett, a football player who currently plays Wide Receiver for the Seattle Seahawks. Tyler was drafted by the Seahawks in the third round of the 2015 NFL Draft, and played college football at Kansas State, where he broke multiple records. This is the first time I’ve had a current member of the Seahawks on the podcast and it was a special conversation. Both...

This week’s conversation is with Corey Rich, a director and photographer. Corey has built a life and career around his passions for travel, adventure, and telling stories with his camera. With a background in rock climbing and photojournalism, Corey’s work spans a range of genres, from iconic still imagery for leading editorial publications, to television spots and films, to directing high-product...

This week’s conversation comes from the Finding Mastery Live that we recently hosted in Seattle with Seattle Seahawks head coach, Pete Carroll. In 2009, a mutual friend put Coach Carroll and I together for dinner and instantly, I knew it was right. We were talking about ancient principles, we were talking about modern science, we were talking about really collectively, how do you help people pursu...

This week’s conversation is with Apolo Anton-Ohno, an eight time Winter Olympics Medalist and a flat out legend in short track speed skating. . With two gold, two silver, and four bronze medals, Apolo is the most decorated American Olympian at the Winter Olympics. Apolo remains involved in the Olympic movement as an ambassador to the Olympic Games, the Special Olympics, and also serves as a broadc...

This week’s conversation is with Dr. Krista Scott-Dixon, a former university professor and researcher who now designs curriculum for Precision Nutrition. She focuses on helping people make meaningful change through the Precision Nutrition Coaching and coaching Certification programs. Krista is also the author or co-author of several books, with the latest being Why Me Want Eat: Fixi...

This week’s conversation is with Dr. David Sinclair, a professor in the Department of Genetics and co-director of the Paul F. Glenn Center for the Biology of Aging at Harvard Medical School, where he and his colleagues study longevity, aging and how to slow its effects. More specifically, their focus is on studying sirtuins—protein-modifying enzymes that respond to changing NAD+ levels and to calo...

This week’s conversation is with 2016 Olympian Katie Zaferes, the #1 ranked triathlete in the world. Katie recently captured her first ITU World Triathlon Series title. The world title is years in the making for Katie, who finished fifth in the ITU World Triathlon Series in 2015, fourth in 2016, third in 2017 and second in 2018.  A native of Hampstead, Maryland, Katie began her career as a cr...

This week’s conversation is with Tero Isokauppila, the founder of Four Sigmatic , a wellness company helping people nourish their bodies inside and out. Tero grew up in Finland working on his family’s farm. He earned a degree in Chemistry, Business, and a Certificate in Plant-Based Nutrition at Cornell. I’m stoked to be partnered with Tero and Four Sigmatic and I think you’ll see why in this podca...

This week’s conversation is with Meb Keflezighi, the only runner in history to win the Boston Marathon, the New York City Marathon and an Olympic medal. Known all over the world by his first name, Meb is a four-time Olympian and history’s oldest marathoner to qualify for the US Olympic team. Meb was born in the East African nation of Eritrea, a beautiful land torn by war at the time of his birth....

This week’s conversation is with Emmy Award winning journalist, Jemele Hill. Jemele is the co-founder of Lodge Freeway Media and a Senior Staff writer for The Atlantic. She was previously the chief correspondent and senior columnist for The Undefeated, ESPN’s content initiative exploring the intersections of sports, race and culture. Prior to joining The Undefeated, Jemele co-anchored SportsCenter...

This week’s conversation is with inventor and entrepreneur Nolan Bushnell. In 1972 Nolan Bushnell created an industry when he founded Atari and gave the world Pong , the first blockbuster video game. Today his design credo—that games should be “easy to learn and difficult to master”—is inspiring a new generation of developers. A prolific entrepreneur, Bushnell has started more than 20 companies, i...

This week’s conversation is with NBA stars DeMar DeRozan and Kevin Love and it’s unique. It comes from a live panel we did at Aspen Ideas Festival a few weeks back. Presented by the Aspen Institute in partnership with The Atlantic, the Aspen Ideas Festival is the nation’s premier, public gathering place for leaders from around the globe and across many disciplines to present and discuss the ideas...

This week’s conversation is with Vicki Golden, a professional freestyle motocross rider and four-time X Games gold medalist. Vicki is the first female member of the SoCal freestyle motocross team Metal Mulisha and also performs in Travis Pastrana's Nitro Circus Tour. In 2008, at age 16, she became the Loretta Lynn's AMA Women's Amateur Champion. Three years later, she earned her fir...

This week’s conversation is with Jermaine Jones, a German-American soccer player who played as a defensive midfielder for most of his career. Born in Frankfurt, Germany to an American father and German mother, he came up through the German club system and represented Germany at the U21 and senior level. He later filed for a switch to the United States making his debut in 2010 and played in the 201...

This week’s conversation is with Bethany Hamilton, a professional surfer and shark attack survivor. Bethany has become a source of inspiration to millions through her story of determination, faith, and hope. At the age of 13, Bethany lost her left arm to a 14-foot tiger shark, which seemed to end her career as a rising surf star. One month after the attack, Bethany returned to the water and within...

This week’s conversation is with Matthew Walker, a Professor of Neuroscience and Psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, and Director of the Center for Human Sleep Science . He is also the lead sleep scientist at Google. Matthew has received numerous funding awards from the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health, and is a Kavli Fellow of the National Academ...

This week’s conversation is with Georges "Rush" St-Pierre, also known as “GSP,” a Canadian professional mixed martial artist and UFC world champion who holds black belts in both Kyokushin karate and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Georges is recognized as one of the planet's best pound-for-pound MMA fighters and all around athlete. He retired from the sport on December 13, 2013, holding the UFC record for mo...

This week’s conversation is with Dierdre Wolownick, the mother of legendary adventure rock climber Alex Honnold. You may recognize him from this year’s Academy Award Winning film, Free Solo, where he became the first person to ever free-solo El Capitan in Yosemite. Alex was a previous guest on this podcast, episode 108 . I wanted to speak with his mother Dierdre for a couple of reasons. First, Ale...

This week’s conversation is with Matthew Futterman, the deputy sports editor of The New York Times. He has previously worked for The Wall Street Journal, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and the Star-Ledger of New Jersey, where he was a part of the team that won the Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News in 2005. Matthew grew up in Larchmont, New York, and eventually found his way to Columbia University’s Gra...

This week’s conversation is with Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder & CEO of sweetgreen, the destination for simple, seasonal, healthy real food. Jonathan and his co-founders Nathaniel Ru and Nicolas Jammet started sweetgreen in 2007, opening their first location in Georgetown, DC, just three months out of college. The mission driven brand's strong food ethos, embodiment of passion and purpose, tech-f...

This week’s conversation is Akshay Nanavati, a Marine Corps Veteran, endurance athlete, philanthropist and creator of Fearvana. After overcoming drug addiction, PTSD and depression from fighting the war in Iraq with the US Marines, and alcoholism that pushed him to the brink of suicide, Akshay has since built a global business, run ultramarathons, and explored the most hostile environments on the...

This week’s conversation is with Abby Wambach, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, FIFA World Cup Champion, and the highest all-time international goal scorer for male and female soccer players. She is an activist for equality and inclusion, and author of the #1 New York Times bestseller  WOLFPACK  as well as the New York Times bestseller Forward: A Memoir . Abby i...