Grow the Good

Sun Sachs, a long-time endurance athlete and software developer, is the CEO and Co-founder of Rewire Fitness, a mental fitness platform for athletes to avoid burnout by providing tools that improve mindset, readiness and resilience. He is passionate about animal welfare, the environment and human health. Sun co-created the plant-based media brand - www.thebeet.com - which merged with Forks Over Kn...

Hannah Otto, professional mountain biker and gravel racer for co-title sponsors Pivot Cycles and DT Swiss, started racing at nine years old. Just over a decade later, she received her professional license in triathlon and mountain biking.  She was a two-time high school state champion on the mountain bike and finished her college career as a 5x National Champion at Lindenwood University. She has a...

Jeff Patterson, M.A., P.C.C. is a success and leadership coach who works with innovators committed to changing the world. Jeff helps his clients elevate their vision of what’s possible, increase their impact and eliminate limiting patterns that keep people playing small.  His recent book, The Big Thing Effect: How to Transform Your Life Forever , shows you how to go beyond what you think is possib...

Dr. Taylor Sittler is the Head of Research at Levels Health , a company dedicated to helping people optimize their metabolic health. Levels provides real-time feedback on how diet and lifestyle choices impact metabolic health through biosensors like continuous glucose monitors. Dr. Sittler is a physician and entrepreneur, previously co-founding Color Health. He completed his residency in clinical...

I've been reading a lot of children's books and have been enjoying them. Some of the sentences jump right off the page. There are so many things we forget as we grow up, get set in our ways, and forget about the curiosity and openness of being a child. In this week's podcast, I take a look at the life lessons from Dr. Seuss. -------------- The Grow the Good Podcast is produced by Pa...

It's hard to make changes. Growth is hard. Stress is uncomfortable. However, there are ways to be more resilient when adversity rears its head or when your resolve is being tested. The first step is asking what do you notice when challenges or stress arise? You might first notice how you feel physically followed by the onslaught of thoughts and feelings that occur in response to adversity. Wh...

Steve Magness is an expert on performance and the author of the new book - Do Hard Things: Why We Get Resilience Wrong and The Surprising Science of Real Toughness . He’s also the coauthor of the book Peak Performance. His writing has appeared in Outside, Runner’s World, Forbes, Sports Illustrated, Men’s Health, and several other publications. His expertise on elite sport and performance has also...

Alex Soojung-Kim Pang, author and speaker, is the global programs and research manager for 4 Day Week Global, a non-profit focused on advancing the 4-day work week. He speaks around the world about the 4-day week and the future of work, and talks about how deliberate rest makes creative careers more productive and sustainable.  Alex is the author of four books including Shorter: Work Better, Smart...

Stephen Seiler, Professor in Sport Science at the University of Adger, is internationally known for his research publications and lectures about organization of endurance training and intensity distribution. His work has influenced international research around training intensity distribution and the “polarized training model.” His work includes descriptive and experimental approaches, where he’s...

Colin O’Brady is a 10-time world record breaking explorer, as well as a speaker, entrepreneur and expert on mindset. He completed the world’s first solo, unsupported and human-powered crossing of Antarctica. He set speed records for the Explorers Grand Slam and the Seven Summits and achieved the first human-powered ocean row across Drake Passage.  He graduated from Yale University in economics and...

My return to mountain bike racing after having kids has been so much fun! It's also had its fair share of challenges. I sat down with my husband, Matt to talk about what it's been like going from 1 to 2 children, traveling and racing with 2 small children, and the lessons we have learned along the way. We talked about expectations, how pre-race routines and rituals are now different (and...

Dr. Sasha Heinz is a developmental psychologist turned mindset coach. She has her own private coaching practice grounded in psychological science. Dr. Heinz teaches the tools to change lives for good, develop mental fitness and transcend stress, anxiety, and self-criticism. She teaches her clients the science of unstuck. She was one of the first 33 people in history to receive a degree in Positive...

Dr. Jonathan Foley is a world-renowned environmental scientist, sustainability expert, author and public speaker, and the executive director of Drawdown. Drawdown’s mission is to help the world reach the point in the future when levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere stop climbing and start to decline as quickly, safely and equitably as possible. Dr. Foley’s work focused on understanding the...

Olympian Lea Davison began mountain bike racing in 2001. Since then, she’s earned a silver medal at the 2016 World Championships, a bronze medal at the 2014 World Championships, and finished 3rd overall in the 2015 World Cup series. Lea competed in the 2012 Olympic Games where she placed 11th and also in the 2016 Olympic Games where she placed 7th. Lea’s passion is getting the next generation of f...

Mark Bowden is a body language expert, keynote speaker and bestselling author of the books Winning Body Language; Winning Body Language for Sales Professionals; Tame the Primitive Brain; and Truth & Lies, What People are Really Thinking. He’s well known for his TedX talk “The Importance of Being Authentic” and his YouTube channel and weekly show “The Behavior Panel.” Mark has a system of nonve...

On this week’s podcast, Sonya sat down with Jamie Mason Cohen, a resilience and leadership development expert. A Canadian native, Certified Leadership Coach, and a work history that includes Saturday Night Live, Jamie teaches resilience, wellness, leadership and communication to organizations.  Jamie works to cultivate resilience through unique performance assessment, the science of positive psych...

One of my most interesting realizations recently is that I am at my best when I'm living in the present moment and I am at my worst when I'm comparing myself.  I've been doing specific contemplative meditations on comparison to learn more because it's part of being human to compare ourselves to others. The human mind compares so it can make predictions about the future.  It can...

Michelle Segar is the director of the University of Michigan’s Sports, Health, and Activity Research and Policy Center, adviser to the Department of Health and Human Services, and chair of the United States National Physical Activity Plan’s Communication Committee, and author of the 2022 book The Joy Choice.  The NIH-funded researcher at the University of Michigan, has three decades of experience...

Frank Overton is a full time cycling coach and a USA Cycling Level 1 coach since 2006. He founded FasCat Coaching in 2002 to live out his dream to help cyclists. He focuses primarily on masters road, gravel, fondo, time trial, mountain bike and cyclocross athletes who take their training seriously. He previously worked for the Priority Health Professional Cycling Team in 2006 as well as the US Nat...

Focus on what you can do, not what you can't. Look there, go there. Where focus goes, energy flows. Perhaps you've heard one or all of those phrases. Our thoughts and emotions generate our perspective and life experience. What we believe about ourselves, our day, the people around us, and the way the world works has an impact on the actions we take, how we show up in relationships, and h...

Payson McElveen is not your traditional professional mountain biker. After cycling at Fort Lewis College and becoming a two-time Marathon National Champion, Payson decided to focus more on longer events, instead of the traditional World Cup racing and pursuit of the Olympics. In 2017, he won his first national title at the 2017 Marathon Championships, and then won again in 2018. He continued his s...

Wow, I can't believe I've had the privilege of doing this podcast for 5 years! Today is the 300th episode! Initially, I was going to do a mash-up of my favorite episodes. That is still coming. Instead, I decided to record an episode on what having a podcast has taught me (not lessons about what guests have taught me). Consistency There is No End Point Metrics Don't Matter As Much Co...

Britt Frank - therapist, teacher, speaker, and trauma specialist - focuses her work on helping others who feel stuck. Her life’s work developed out of a history of drug addiction, love addiction, borderline personality disorder, depression, an eating disorder and anxiety. It sounds like a lot, and it is, but her approach to her work comes from a deep understanding of what it feels like to be stuck...

Sometimes life can feel hard and overwhelming. Big life changes often cause discomfort and stress, but out of it comes growth. Growth is something most of us want, but it's normally not something that feels good all the time. With growth can come a period of struggling, and sometimes that feeling of struggling can feel like it'll last forever. Personally, I am struggling right now. Havin...

This week’s podcast features a discussion with Stanford Female Athlete Science And Translational Research (FASTR) Program Director Dr. Emily Kraus and Lead Researcher Dr. Megan Roche. The FASTR program seeks to help close the gender gap in sports science research with an emphasis on early identification and interventions to prevent injury and identify ways to optimize performance in female athlete...