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Finding Mastery with Dr. Michael Gervais

Finding Mastery with Dr. Michael Gervais

By: Dr. Michael Gervais
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Dive into the minds of the world’s greatest athletes, leaders, thinkers, and doers with Dr. Michael Gervais—a high performance psychologist and world-renowned expert on the relationship between high performance and the mind. Dr. Gervais’s client roster includes Super Bowl winning NFL teams, Fortune 50 CEOs, Olympic medalists, internationally acclaimed artists, and more.

On Finding Mastery, Dr. Gervais sits down with the best at what they do, like David Goggins, Brene Brown, Toto Wolff, soccer legend Abby Wambach, neuroscientist Dr. Andrew Huberman, and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella — translating their life stories, mental skills, and personal practices into applicable tools you can use to unlock your potential.

Walk with us to the edge of human possibility and learn what you are capable of. New episodes every Wednesday.

© © All rights reserved 66694 Hygiene & Healthy Living Personal Development Personal Success Psychology Psychology & Mental Health
Episodes
  • The Psychology Of Spirituality | Dr. Lisa Miller

    The Psychology Of Spirituality | Dr. Lisa Miller
    Jun 10 2026
    What if the reason so many of us are struggling right now isn’t a lack of success… but a lack of connection to something deeper?Dr. Lisa Miller is a clinical psychologist, professor at Columbia University, and author of The Awakened Brain, and her research challenges something many of us have been taught to overlook: that spirituality isn’t optional, and it isn’t just religion… it’s a core part of how we’re wired. Her journey began at 26, on an inpatient psychiatric unit, where she watched the best available treatments fall short for people in their darkest moments. When the unit had no clergy for Yom Kippur, she showed up with her grandmother’s prayer book and led a service in the back hall… and watched patients who had been despairing for months sit up, brighten, and begin to heal. That day set her on a 30-year scientific quest.What she found reframes how we think about mental health. Buried in the back of large national data sets was a single question: how personally important is spirituality or religion to you? When Dr. Miller ran the numbers, a strong personal spirituality, with or without religion, turned out to be 80% protective against addiction and 82% protective against completed suicide — more protective against the diseases of despair than anything else known to the clinical sciences. Twin studies show this capacity is one-third innate and two-thirds environmentally formed, which means every one of us is born with it, and every one of us can strengthen it. Her MRI research, published in JAMA Psychiatry, found that a sustained spiritual life builds cortical thickness across the regions of the awakened brain, protecting against the recurrence of depression.In this conversation with Dr. Michael Gervais, Lisa walks through the difference between achieving awareness and awakened awareness, the three neural circuits behind feeling loved, guided, and never alone, and how parents and leaders can put this science to work. Mike opens up about his own path… the early pull he felt toward a spiritual life, the pendulum swing toward achievement, and the hypocrisy he witnessed as a teenager that nearly cost him his connection to what Lisa calls the flame.In this conversation, we explore:Why spirituality is an inborn capacity, not a beliefThe single research finding that reframes how we think about mental healthThe difference between the achieving brain and the awakened brainThe three neural circuits behind feeling loved, guided, and never aloneWhy a sustained spiritual life physically strengthens the brainHow parents can support a child’s natural spiritual awarenessWhy 90% of leaders made the most important decision of their lives through an awakened form of knowingHow to heal from spiritual injury when a bad messenger breaks your trustIf you’ve ever felt successful on paper but disconnected in your life, this conversation offers a science-backed way back to something deeper.Links & ResourcesThis episode is brought to you in part by our partner, Sunlighten, the company that has pioneered infrared sauna technology. Go to https://findingmastery.com/sunlighten to see how you can save up to $2,100 on their mPulse Intelligent Sauna.Subscribe to our Youtube Channel for more conversations at the intersection of high performance, leadership, and wellbeing: https://www.youtube.com/c/FindingMasteryGet exclusive discounts and support our amazing sponsors!Go to: https://findingmastery.com/sponsors/Subscribe to the Finding Mastery newsletter for weekly high performance insights: https://www.findingmastery.com/newsletterDownload Dr. Mike’s Morning Mindset Routine: findingmastery.com/morningmindsetFollow on YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, and XDr. Lisa Miller’s Books: The Awakened Brain and The Spiritual ChildSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
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    1 hr and 1 min
  • The Psychology of Awareness | Jon Kabat-Zinn

    The Psychology of Awareness | Jon Kabat-Zinn
    Jun 3 2026
    What if the real crisis we're facing right now isn't political or technological… but a crisis of attention?Jon Kabat-Zinn is a molecular biologist, professor emeritus of medicine, and the founder of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), the program that helped move mindfulness from contemplative tradition into modern medicine, psychology, and high performance. The last time Jon joined Finding Mastery was four years ago, as the war in Ukraine was beginning. Four years on, the world hasn't gotten quieter. The crises have multiplied, AI has accelerated, and the same noise we worried about then has become the air we all breathe.In this conversation with Dr. Michael Gervais, Jon argues that mindfulness is not a calming technique or a productivity tool. He calls it a radical act of sanity. A willingness to stop, drop into the body, and meet life as it actually is rather than the story running on top of it. The shift sounds small. Yet the implications are enormous. Health, relationships, performance, decision-making, and even how we treat each other as a society all live downstream of where our attention is.Jon and Mike also dig into the surprising overlap between elite performance and contemplative practice. Why athletes call it the zone, musicians call it the pocket, and scientists call it flow, and why all of it lives downstream of the same thing: presence. Jon introduces the idea of the "body politic," his framing of nations as organ systems inside a single planetary body, and what it would mean to actually live, lead, and parent from that recognition. He reflects on his grandchildren, on the digital and analog tension shaping the next generation, and on what he wants young people to know in a world that is moving faster than ever. And in his ninth decade, he is still, by his own description, perpetually optimistic.By the end, Jon and Mike land somewhere quietly powerful: presence is not something you achieve. It is something you remember. And remembering, even for one breath, changes the trajectory of the moment you are in.In this conversation, we explore:Why mindfulness is a radical act of sanity, not a relaxation techniqueThe difference between being aware and being with awarenessHow presence quietly shapes relationships, decisions, and healthWhy outcome attachment is one of the great hidden drains on performanceWhat Jon means by the "body politic," and why it changes how we think about leadershipWhy mind wandering is the practice, not a failureThe one instruction Jon hopes people remember: don't take personally what is not personalIf you've ever felt scattered, overwhelmed, or quietly disconnected from your own life, this conversation offers a science-backed, deeply human way back in.Links & Resources;This episode is brought to you in part by our partner, Sunlighten, the company that has pioneered infrared sauna technology. Go to https://findingmastery.com/sunlighten to see how you can save up to $2,100 on their mPulse Intelligent Sauna.Subscribe to our Youtube Channel for more conversations at the intersection of high performance, leadership, and wellbeing: https://www.youtube.com/c/FindingMastery Get exclusive discounts and support our amazing sponsors!Go to: https://findingmastery.com/sponsors/ Subscribe to the Finding Mastery newsletter for weekly high performance insights: https://www.findingmastery.com/newsletter Download Dr. Mike's Morning Mindset Routine: findingmastery.com/morningmindset Follow on YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, and XJon Kabat-Zinn's Books: Full Catastrophe Living, Wherever You Go, There You Are, Coming to Our Senses, and many more: https://jonkabat-zinn.comSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
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    1 hr and 1 min
  • The Psychology Of Not Giving A F*ck | Mark Manson

    The Psychology Of Not Giving A F*ck | Mark Manson
    May 27 2026
    What if the most important skill of our moment isn't knowing more, but knowing what's actually worth caring about?Mark Manson is the bestselling author of The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck and Everything Is F*cked, with three #1 New York Times bestsellers and tens of millions of readers around the world. The last time Mark joined Finding Mastery was in 2020, mid-COVID, when uncertainty was loud and the world felt strange. Five years on, the world is no less strange... it's just strange differently. The information ecosystem has fractured. Trust is harder to find. And the same noise we worried about five years ago has become the air we all breathe.In this conversation with Dr. Michael Gervais, Mark walks through the three principles he's organized his life and work around: radical ownership, radical honesty, and radical acceptance. He explains why ownership is the foundation under everything, because nothing else really works until you take it. He explains why his bar for honesty is anything "relevant or pertinent to somebody's wellbeing." And he talks about why radical acceptance, the Buddhist part of him, is what allows agency without collapse.The conversation moves into territory both timely and timeless. Mark and Mike dig into why the decline of religion has helped the self-help industry explode, why a spiritual framework remains one of the strongest known protective factors for mental health, and how the comparison machinery in our brains, designed for a tribe of thirty, now buckles under the weight of three hundred million people on Instagram.Mark also opens up about Purpose, the AI app he's built, and what he learned designing it to be intentionally disagreeable. He explains why a yes-man entourage, whether it's people around a star athlete or an AI that agrees with everything you say, quietly untethers people from reality. And he shares the stoic-style practice he uses to stay honest with himself: imagining what would be true if he were the problem, then holding that thought lightly enough to set it back down.By the end, Mark and Mike land on what feels like the heart of the episode... You can be perfect as you are, and you can always be better. Both can be true.In this conversation, we explore:Why sincerity has become the most valuable signal in a fractured information landscapeThe three principles Mark uses to navigate uncertainty: radical ownership, radical honesty, and radical acceptanceHow our ancient comparison brain breaks under the weight of social media at scaleWhy a spiritual framework remains one of the strongest known protective factors for mental healthThe premortem practice that helps Mark stay honest with himself, and why most of us avoid itWhy an AI (or a person) that agrees with everything you say is a slow-motion mental health riskHow to use AI as a thought partner without letting it do your thinking for youThe question that keeps Mark up at night, and might be worth asking yourselfIf you've ever felt like the noise is winning, or like you've lost the thread on what's worth caring about, this conversation offers a sturdier place to stand.Links & ResourcesThis episode is brought to you in part by our partner, Sunlighten, the company that has pioneered infrared sauna technology. Go to https://findingmastery.com/sunlighten to see how you can save up to $2,100 on their mPulse Intelligent Sauna.Subscribe to our Youtube Channel for more conversations at the intersection of high performance, leadership, and wellbeing: https://www.youtube.com/c/FindingMastery Get exclusive discounts and support our amazing sponsors!Go to: https://findingmastery.com/sponsors/ Subscribe to the Finding Mastery newsletter for weekly high performance insights: https://www.findingmastery.com/newsletter Download Dr. Mike's Morning Mindset Routine: findingmastery.com/morningmindset Follow on YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, and XMark Manson's Books: The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck, Everything Is F*cked: A Book About Hope, and Will (co-written with Will Smith)Mark's AI app, Purpose: https://markmanson.net (see Mark's site for the latest)See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
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    48 mins
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