The Inciting Incident

What if the very traits that make you successful are the same ones holding you back? Dr. Tracey Marks, psychiatrist, educator, author of  Why Am I So Anxious , and creator of a YouTube community of more than 2 million subscribers, joins Tim to explore the hidden costs of high performance and the psychology behind why we push ourselves beyond our limits. Drawing on more than 25 years of clinical ex...

What if the thing standing between you and your next chapter isn't a lack of talent, but a lack of courage? Ryan Berman spent three years studying courageous leaders, elite athletes, entrepreneurs, and high performers to understand what separates those who move toward their fears from those who stay stuck. That journey transformed his career from running creative agencies to founding Courageous, a...

What if performing at your best has less to do with confidence and grit, and more to do with how you care for yourself when life gets hard? In this episode of The Inciting Incident , Tim Shields sits down with Dr. Amy Athey, clinical and performance psychologist, executive coach, and expert in high performance and resilience. Drawing on more than two decades of experience working with Olympic cham...

What if the experiences that shaped your deepest wounds could also hold the keys to your greatest transformation? Modern alchemist and vibrational medicine pioneer Adora Winquist joins Tim Shields to explore how childhood experiences, generational trauma, and the wisdom of nature can shape our journey toward healing and self-discovery. Drawing on more than three decades of work with aromatherapy,...

What if the life you're fighting against is actually asking you to let go? At 19, Daryl Dittmer was caught in addiction, fear, dishonesty, and a life that felt increasingly out of control. Nearly four decades of sobriety later, he has built a life around personal responsibility, surrender, trust, and the willingness to keep learning. From entrepreneurship and sales to coaching, writing, and his po...

What if healing begins not with fixing yourself, but with finally listening to yourself? After a lifetime of chronic illness, including asthma, severe allergies, celiac disease, chemical sensitivities, mold illness, and an MS diagnosis at 38, Christine Ruch spent years searching for answers. Her journey eventually led her beyond nutrition and conventional approaches into nervous system regulation,...

What if the deepest part of who you are is something you were born to remember? Tim Shields welcomes back Dr. Alisha Doss, internationally recognized spiritual teacher, angel expert, and author of Your Angelic Ancestry, for a conversation about our celestial roots and the possibility that we are far more than our human identities. Alisha shares how connecting with our angelic ancestry can help us...

What happens when surviving should feel like a second chance, but you still refuse to change? After surviving not one but two Widowmaker heart attacks, AJ Jones was forced to confront a question many high achievers eventually face: Is the life you're building actually the life you want? From a 20-year career in financial services to discovering his biological family, launching a new company, and w...

What if the life you've built is actually keeping you from the life you're meant to live? After nearly 25 years producing breaking news and world events for CNN, CBS, and Univision, Cesar Marin found himself asking a radically different question: What story was he actually living? A psychedelic experience at 55 became a catalyst for rethinking his relationship with cannabis, his career, his family...

What happens when the identity you built your entire life around suddenly disappears? Emmy Award-winning investigative journalist and communications advisor Ann Kiel-Dux joins Tim to talk about the cancer diagnosis that changed everything. After years of reporting from crime scenes, natural disasters, and other people's worst days, Ann suddenly found herself facing her own. Her experience taught h...

What if the biggest thing standing between you and the life you want is the question, "What if it doesn't work?" After a near-death experience transformed his life, Matan Cohen-Citron spent years exploring the connection between the body, mind, trauma, and consciousness. A former finance professional turned somatic educator and transformational coach, Matan shares how learning to trust yourself ca...

What if the voice in your head has been keeping you stuck without you even realizing it? Richard Waldman is a life coach, clinical pastor, veteran, speaker, and author who has spent decades studying why we suffer and how our own conditioned thoughts can keep us trapped. In this conversation, he explains why our brains are not always our best friends, how judgment fuels negative thinking, and how l...

What if the thing standing between you and the life you want isn't your mindset, but your body? Lauren Callahan went from therapist and chronic overachiever to ultra-endurance athlete and integrative wellness practitioner after a personal health crisis forced her to rethink everything she believed about healing. She shares how transforming her gut health changed her energy, mood, sleep, and athlet...

He built a $150 million company, then panic attacks forced him to face the one battle he could no longer outrun. Orthodontist, entrepreneur, and Men Under Pressure author Dr. Whitney Wright opens up about the hidden cost of relentless achievement, the childhood trauma he buried for decades, and the mental health crisis that brought his career to a halt. In this deeply honest conversation, he share...

What if the moment that felt like a setback was actually the beginning of your life's purpose? When J Johnson Jr. was 17, getting grounded by his parents unexpectedly set him on a path that would reshape his future. From overcoming childhood health challenges and ADHD to becoming the nation's top high school sprinter, successful entrepreneur, and founder of High Frequency Highway, J shares how cur...

What if the biggest communication problem isn't how we speak, but how we listen? Christine Miles, founder of EQQQ and creator of The Listening Path, shares how a childhood shaped by her mother's unseen struggles inspired a lifelong mission to teach the world's most overlooked leadership skill. In this conversation with Tim, she reveals a simple framework for transforming the way we connect, commun...

What if the hardest moments of your life are preparing you for the person you're meant to become? In this powerful conversation, Tim sits down with coach, speaker, and bestselling author Mike Ogelsbee to explore how childhood trauma, anxiety, rejection, and adversity can become catalysts for profound transformation. From a troubled past marked by addiction and self-destruction to helping others bu...

What if everything you thought about education was backwards? Andrew Freeman walked away from a successful career in tech after a lifelong calling to transform education refused to let go. Today, through Coherence Education, he is helping children discover their unique genius instead of forcing them to fit into a standardized system. In this inspiring conversation, Andrew shares how purpose, curio...

What if the thing holding you back isn't weakness, but the armor you've spent your whole life wearing? Authenticity and intimacy coach Rosey Leopold joins Tim Shields for a deeply honest conversation about depression, suicide attempts, psychedelics, sex work, and the surprising path that led her to helping high-achieving men reconnect with themselves. Together, they explore why so many men struggl...

What if the worst thing that ever happened to you became the catalyst for the most meaningful chapter of your life? In this powerful conversation, Tim sits down with Jennifer Greenhut-Tollin, a stage four triple negative breast cancer survivor who transformed fear, heartbreak, and uncertainty into a mission rooted in love, gratitude, and hope. From leaving home as a teenage gymnast training for th...

What if the animals in our lives are doing far more than keeping us company? In this thought-provoking episode, Tim Shields sits down with integrative veterinarian, educator, and author Dr. Barrie Sands for a conversation that bridges science, spirituality, consciousness, and the profound bond between humans and animals. Drawing on three decades in emergency veterinary medicine, as well as her wor...

What if the biggest obstacle in your life isn't failure, but the voice telling you you're not enough? In this powerful conversation, Tim sits down with Army veteran, entrepreneur, Ironman athlete, inventor, and author Scott Lackey to unpack the hard-won lessons behind his new book, Wake Up to Die Again . From surviving combat and business collapse to confronting self-doubt, identity, and purpose,...

What if the anxiety, fear, and self-doubt you carry today were never really about today at all? After building a successful career and checking all the boxes society told her to pursue, Jill Sitnick found herself blindsided by a PTSD diagnosis that traced back to a childhood she never realized was traumatic. Following years of conventional approaches that fell short, she turned to MDMA-assisted th...

What if the answers you've been chasing aren't outside you, but hidden deep within your own consciousness? In this mind-expanding conversation, Tim sits down with psychedelic pioneer Zappy Zapolin to explore how psychedelics, trauma, frequency, and surrender can radically transform the human experience. From becoming the youngest VP in Bear Stearns history to walking away from Wall Street in searc...

What if the life you're chasing is blocked by a story you keep repeating? In this powerful anniversary episode, Tim welcomes back actor turned author and spiritual teacher David Dayan Fisher for a raw and deeply introspective conversation on healing, identity, and conscious evolution. From navigating childhood wounds to walking away from external validation, David shares how he transformed decades...