Finding Mastery with Dr. Michael Gervais

Are you playing the game, or being played by it? Tom Bilyeu is an entrepreneur, co-founder of Quest Nutrition, and founder of Impact Theory, one of the most-watched interview platforms in the world. He has spent years studying the systems that shape financial outcomes, and in this conversation with Dr. Michael Gervais, he makes a case that most people find unsettling: the financial system you're w...

Why do we keep chasing happiness in ways that don't actually work? Dr. Laurie Santos is a cognitive scientist and professor of psychology at Yale, where she created the most popular course in the university's 300-year history, the Science of Well-Being . Since then, that course has reached millions of people around the world, and her podcast, The Happiness Lab , has become one of the most trusted...

Why do diets so often fail... is it discipline or biology? Dr. Jason Fung is a physician, nephrologist, and one of the most influential voices challenging how we understand metabolism, obesity, and chronic disease. He is the bestselling author of The Obesity Code , The Diabetes Code , and his newest book, The Hunger Code , which explores a deceptively powerful question: what is actually driving hu...

What separates the athletes who perform when it matters most from those who don't... and can that difference be trained? Michael Johnson is one of the greatest sprinters in history: four-time Olympic gold medalist, nine-time World Champion, and the former world record holder in both the 200 and 400 meters. He was also, by his own account, one of the most psychologically prepared competitors the sp...

There's a version of honesty most of us have never tried. Not brutal honesty. Not radical honesty. Something quieter and more demanding than either: a genuine commitment to saying what is true and useful, and nothing else. That is where this conversation begins. Sam Harris, neuroscientist, philosopher, bestselling author, host of the Making Sense podcast, and creator of the Waking Up app, joins Dr...

What if the biggest barrier between you and your potential isn’t talent - but a belief you’ve never questioned? Nir Eyal is a behavioral design expert and the bestselling author of Hooked , Indistractable , and his newest book, Beyond Belief . In this conversation with Dr. Michael Gervais, he explores a deceptively powerful idea: that beliefs operate like the hidden software of the mind, shaping w...

What does it look like to bet on yourself, embrace reinvention, and build a YouTube channel that reaches millions? Michelle Khare is the creator and host of Challenge Accepted , the award-winning YouTube series where sherains with elite performers, athletes, and professionals to take on some of the world’s toughest stunts and professions. But this conversation goes far beyond spectacle. It’s about...

What questions are tugging at you right now, and how might exploring the answers help you live and perform with more clarity? We’re back with a special edition of the Finding Mastery podcast: another Ask Me Anything episode, built from the deep, thoughtful questions submitted by our community. In this AMA, Michael Gervais is joined by Jeff Byers, former NFL player, Co-Founder and CEO of Momentous,...

What if the hardest part of money isn’t earning it, but knowing how to use it well? Morgan Housel, bestselling author of The Psychology of Money , returns to Finding Mastery to explore the core idea behind his newest bestselling book, The Art of Spending Money . In this next chapter of his work, Morgan shifts the conversation away from accumulation and toward a deeper question: after the basics ar...

Why are young people today reporting the highest levels of anxiety, depression, loneliness, and despair in modern history? Dr. Angela Duckworth is a professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania and one of the world’s leading voices on grit, self-control, and the science of thriving. In this conversation with Dr. Michael Gervais, Angela reflects on how her thinking about grit has evolv...

What if one of the biggest nutrition mistakes we’re making isn’t what we eat, but what we’re missing? Dr. Tim Spector is one of the world’s leading researchers on the gut microbiome and how it shapes metabolism, immunity, and even mental wellbeing. In this conversation Tim challenges the conventional nutrition playbook, explaining why calories are a poor guide to health, why most diets backfire, a...

Data on an NFL sideline is immediate. Decisions are filtered through fear, experience, and instinct. In this episode of The Game Inside the Games, Dr. Michael Gervais and NFL legend Brandon Marshall explore the tension between analytics and intuition—what happens when information is instant, comprehensive, and impossible to ignore. As technology reshapes decision-making on the NFL sideline, the re...

Some moments don’t fade. They wait. In this episode of The Game Inside the Games, Dr. Michael Gervais reconnects with Ricardo Lockette as returning to the Super Bowl setting brings old emotions back to the surface. The conversation moves beyond the game itself into grief, loss, and the weight of moments that never fully resolve. Lockette speaks candidly about the Super Bowl heartbreak, the injury...

The huddle is one of the quietest moments in football—and one of the most revealing. Before the play is called, before anyone moves, a team comes together in a space where trust, tone, and connection matter more than words on a whiteboard. In this episode of The Game Inside the Games, Dr. Michael Gervais and All-Pro wide receiver Brandon Marshall go inside the huddle to explore what really happens...

The noise at the Super Bowl can be overwhelming—tens of thousands of voices colliding into a single roar. But the loudest voice a player hears isn’t coming from the stands. It’s the one inside their own head. In this episode of The Game Inside the Games, Dr. Michael Gervais and All-Pro wide receiver Brandon Marshall sit down with former NFL MVP Cam Newton to explore one of the most overlooked forc...

The Super Bowl isn’t just a physical game — it’s a psychological one. In this special Game Inside the Games episode, Dr. Michael Gervais is joined by NFL coach Matt Patricia and former All-Pro Brandon Marshall to unpack one of the most defining moments in Super Bowl history: Malcolm Butler’s game-winning interception. This episode explores what it looks like to perform under pressure when the whol...

What does it mean to live wisely in a loud, distracted, and often reactive world? Ryan Holiday— bestselling author and modern Stoic philosopher— returns to explore how wisdom actually works… not as a theory or a prize of age, but as a daily practice of reflection, humility, and courage. Ryan breaks down why wisdom takes work, how Stoic philosophy applies to modern parenting and leadership, and why...

What if the real risk to our health isn’t aging itself, but becoming metabolically weak? Dr. Gabrielle Lyon — physician, researcher, and one of the leading voices redefining how we think about health and longevity — shares why muscle sits at the center of lasting strength, energy, and vitality. In this wide-ranging conversation with Dr. Michael Gervais, she explores why health isn’t something to m...

What changes when anxiety shows up—and you stop trying to outrun it, and start learning how to work with it? Dan Harris—journalist, bestselling author, and host of 10% Happier—returns to Finding Mastery to explore practical ways to work with anxiety. Dan unpacks how meditation, compassionate self-talk, and exposure built his capacity after a panic attack on live TV—and why curiosity is a powerful...

If you’re trying to be productive, what if the answer isn’t to do more… but to do less, better? On today’s episode, we welcome back Cal Newport — Georgetown computer science professor, bestselling author of Deep Work and Slow Productivity , and one of the most influential voices on focus, sustainable achievement, and the hidden costs of our digital lives. Cal and Dr. Mike pick up where their first...

The most powerful way to enter a new year is not with resolutions, but with a deeper understanding of how to connect with the people who matter most. As we close out the year, the Finding Mastery team is taking time to rest, re-calibrate and reflect — practicing the same principles we talk about on this podcast.  So today, we’re sharing a conversation from the Finding Mastery Vault with two l...

What if the greatest gift you could offer this season isn’t something you buy—but rather the way you choose to meet yourself and others—with kindness? As we pause new releases over the holidays, the Finding Mastery team is taking time to rest, reflect, and be with our loved ones — because we believe relationships are part of the practice of mastery itself. So today, we’re re-releasing a powerful,...

What would change if you stopped trying to push through fatigue — and instead learned what your biology is trying to tell you? On today’s episode of Finding Mastery , we sit down with entrepreneur, author, and biohacking pioneer Dave Asprey — founder of Bulletproof, Upgrade Labs, and widely regarded as the father of the modern biohacking movement. This is Dave’s second time on the podcast, and it’...

What if the future of work isn’t about technology at all — but about unlocking more humanity in each other? On today’s episode, we sit down with Kathleen Hogan , Chief Strategy and Transformation Officer at Microsoft, and one of the key architects behind the company’s cultural reinvention. Kathleen helped lead Microsoft’s shift from a “know-it-all” to a “learn-it-all” culture — embedding empathy,...

What does it really mean to live with courage and conviction? On today’s episode, we sit down with Dr. John Amaechi — organizational psychologist, New York Times bestselling author, and the first openly gay NBA player. Along his journey, John always set out to be himself in a world that repeatedly told him he was too big, too soft-spoken, too smart, too different.  In this conversation, John...