Becoming UnDone® with Dr. Toby Brooks

Author Adam Barone once wrote that the American Dream is the belief that anyone, regardless of where or what class they were born into can attain their own version of success in a society in which upward mobility is possible for everyone. While that definition seems clear and fitting enough, for McKinney, Texas native Johnny Quinn, it wasn’t quite so simple. Dreams of professional football took ro...

Imagine for a moment that you are a young high school athlete. As your performance on the field and on the court continues to improve, the accolades roll in. Recruiting offers from across the country pour into your mailbox daily. You are told that you are among best basketball players to ever come from your modest city, and when you sign with your chosen University, you’re also told that you’re th...

What a week! I launched 6 days ago and the response has been better than I expected. Several people have reached out to encourage me and congratulate me for starting the Podcast, and I have really been excited to hear what people think so far. This is certainly a step outside my comfort zone and I’m still getting over trivial things…say for instance my dislike of the sound of my own voice or not f...

Helen Keller once said, “Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved.”  For Georgia native Michael Tyson, that trial and suffering started early. A tough upbringing found him growing up relatively poor and lacking much direction. By his mid-teens, he ended up in real trouble, e...

What would you do if you were an aeronautical engineer—a literal rocket scientist—but you just couldn't quite shake the feeling that there was more to life then lending your considerable brainpower to the creation of weapons of mass destruction? If you are Colorado native Bill Ryden, you'd set your first professional career aside and get back in the gym. Growing up in the Rockies as a self-profess...

On this 2nd of January, gyms are packed. People are eating better. A new year promises a new beginning. Motivation runs high. But none of my first four guests said a word about motivation. I never heard any of them complain about they were able to accomplish their goals because they’d been magically gifted an extra helping of internal drive.  Because success isn’t ABOUT motivation. I heard a great...

What would you do if your wildest dreams came mostly true, but then the door closed before you were able to step through and enjoy it? For Tucson, Arizona native Mike Meyer, big league dreams started early. But baseball was never supposed to be a profession to have as much as a passion to pursue. He knew he loved the game from the moment he began to understand the basics as a toddler. And the game...

Did you ever get exactly what you wanted, only to discover that maybe it wasn't exactly what you'd bargained for? Wisconsin native Brad Arnett landed a highly coveted Assistant Athletics Director and Head Strength and Conditioning position at his SECOND Power Five NCAA Division I school when he left the University of Minnesota for the desert of Tucson and the University of Arizona in 2000. A monum...

I am a musician. I have been a drummer since beating on my mom’s pots and pans when I was three. I love most music—especially hip hop. When I was 16, I tore my ACL and had to have surgery. The day I got home from the procedure, I was stuck in bed and I had gotten a new CD in the mail from Columbia House: a new release by the hip hop group Third Bass. I listened to that disc on repeat for the next...

Friedrich Nietzsche once said “He who has a why to live for can bear with almost any how .”  For the high achievers among us, the purpose and the enormity of our WHY can pull so forcefully and so relentlessly that we are willing to endure almost any HOW. Competitive athletes are often celebrated for their singleness of focus and for their commitment to making their dreams reality. But sooner or la...

My very first guest is Joseph Skrajewski , National Director of Business Development at the Hazelden Betty Ford Center in Rancho Mirage, California. Listen to Joseph's harrowing story of pursuing his dreams of high finance on Wall Street, surviving 9/11, overcoming addiction, and going on to become a world-renowned leader in bringing awareness, funding, and impact to the treatment of addiction dis...

YOU. AREN'T. DONE YET. Achievers aim high.  But to fall short? Well—that’s human.  Sometimes we fail.  Sometimes we just run out of time.  Either way, it is what we do with the end of one chapter that can make all the difference in the next.  Are we broken into pieces? Or can we see the bigger picture and realize that we aren’t finished? Can we recognize that the end of a chapter isn’t the same as...