Finding Mastery with Dr. Michael Gervais

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...

This week’s conversation is with Steven Kotler. The name may ring a bell because he’s been on the podcast twice before and it’s a joy every time we have a chance to connect. As a refresher, Steven is a New York Times bestselling author, award-winning journalist, and Executive Director of the Flow Research Collective. His books include The Rise of Superman, Stealing Fire, Abunda...

This week’s conversation is with Jake Olson, an entrepreneur, athlete, speaker and most recently a graduate at the University of Southern California. When Jake was 8 months old, he was diagnosed with a rare form of eye cancer, retinoblastoma. The disease claimed his left eye at 10 months old and in November 2009, Jake lost his right eye after battling the cancer for 12 years. He has used his exper...

This week’s conversation is with Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, a clinician, researcher and teacher in the area of posttraumatic stress. He has spent his career studying how people adapt to traumatic experiences, and has translated emerging findings from neuroscience and attachment research to develop and study a range of potentially effective treatments for traumatic stress. You might be thinking, “Wel...

This week’s conversation is with Julie Foudy, a former Captain of the USA Women’s Soccer Team. Julie had a sensational soccer career while playing on the USA National Team for 17 years. She was a captain for 13 of her 17 years with the team winning two Olympic Gold Medals and two World Cups. Julie finished her National Team career with 45 goals, 59 assists and 273 international appearances (caps)...

This week’s conversation is with Harry Gregson-Williams, one of Hollywood’s most sought-after and prolific composers whose long list of film and television credits underscore the diverse range of his talents.  His recent projects include Warner Bros summer hit “The Meg” directed by Jon Turteltaub, and the action thriller “The Equalizer 2,” starring Denzel Washington. He wrote the score for Di...

This week’s conversation is with Dr. Tim Brown, the inventor of IntelliSkin. Tim grew to understand his future creation while working as the medical director on the ASP (association of surfing professionals) and the AVP (association of volleyball professionals) during the 1980’s. As an early innovator in functional taping, he developed a hybrid kinesiology technique known as SPRT (Specific Proprio...

This week’s conversation is with Dr. Antonio Damasio, a Professor of Neuroscience, Psychology and Philosophy, and Director of the Brain and Creativity Institute at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. Trained as both neurologist and neuroscientist, Antonio has brilliantly captured the complicated Interplay b/t biology and psychology and culture — and doing it in a way that pr...

This week’s conversation is with Paul Rabil, a professional lacrosse player and co-founder of the Premier Lacrosse League – a new professional lacrosse league launched in October 2018, with 160 of the best players in the world and a major media rights deal with NBC Sports Group. Paul has gone on to influence the sport at every level, winning championships and MVP’s twice in the NCAA’s, multiple ti...

This week’s conversation is with Andy Petranek, the co-founder of the Whole Life Challenge. Andy is also a Marine Gulf War veteran and was the oldest participant, at 43, to qualify for the 2009 CrossFit Games. He’s participated in dozens of adventure races that have varied in length from three hours to seven days, and became known for his ability to navigate in the wilderness, carry heavy loads, g...

This week’s conversation is with Brenda Tracy, the founder of the national campaign SetTheExpectation which aims to raise awareness around issues of sexual assault and domestic violence -- through the power of sports while also engaging, empowering and educating men as agents for change. Brenda was gang raped by four men in 1998. So heavy. In this conversation, she shares that even though law enfo...

On the final episode of Season 1 of The Process, Alex and Mike reflect on what they've learned over the course of the past year and discuss which skills will be necessary to succeed in a world where automation could soon be the norm. _________________ Subscribe  to our Youtube Channel for more powerful conversations at the intersection of high performance, leadership, and meaning:  https...

This week’s conversation is with Stephen Rollnick, the co-founder of Motivational Interviewing. The Motivational Interviewing style, strategies and skills have been used to address a wide range of challenges, including those very tough conversations in which there seems little hope of making progress in helping people. I doubt there’s many of us that enjoy having these difficult conversations, but...

This week’s conversation is with Cliff Avril, a former NFL defensive end. Cliff played college football at Purdue and was drafted in the third round of the 2008 NFL Draft by the Detroit Lions. He also played for the Seattle Seahawks, where he won Super Bowl XLVIII and made a Pro Bowl. Cliff and I met at the Seahawks and I had the pleasure of c...

This week’s conversation is with Kevin Harlan, a well renowned sports television and radio broadcaster. If you’ve watched just about any sporting event over the last few years, you’re familiar with Kevin’s voice. This is his 34th consecutive season broadcasting the NFL and his 31st season broadcasting the NBA, currently as a play-by-play announcer for the NBA on TNT. Kevin is in his ninth season a...

This week’s conversation is with Soren Gordhamer, the founder and host of Wisdom 2.0. He's a friend, incredibly purposeful with his life efforts, and what he's created is amazing. Wisdom 2.0 brings together leaders in technology, including the founders of Facebook, Twitter, and Paypal, along with wisdom teachers, entrepreneurs, activists and others to explore how we live consciously and wisely in...