Men Talking Mindfulness: Mental, Physical, and Emotional Fitness to Elevate Performance and Resilience for Leaders and Teams Under Pressure!

Leadership theater is killing your team (and it's killing you)

Leaders are exhausted from a job they're not actually doing. They're exhausted from the performance of doing it. The mask, the armor, the carefully calibrated version of themselves they put on every morning before walking into the office. In this solo episode, Jon breaks down what leadership theater is costing you, your team, and your family. Why most leaders are running on imposter syndrome and don't know it. What happens when you finally drop the armor. And five honest questions to ask yourself this week to start dismantling the mask. Awareness to Action is here. The course Will and I have been building for the last year officially opens May 27th. Twelve modules that walk you through this exact work. Sit in on the live launch webinar that same day and you'll get a coupon code for 40% off the course, good for 48 hours after the webinar ends. Register for the webinar here: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_HY7Nta6rQXaoAWZTEEPQGA [https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_HY7Nta6rQXaoAWZTEEPQGA] Text MTM to 33777 to get the course info, the webinar link, and everything else we're doing. Or just click here: https://mentalkingmindfulness.com/linkinbio [https://mentalkingmindfulness.com/linkinbio] Timestamps: (00:01) The Mask of Leadership: Authenticity in the Workplace (02:21) "Leadership Without the Mask: Embracing Authenticity" (07:29) Cultivating Authentic Leadership: Steps to Building Trust and Real Connections (10:05) "Embracing Authentic Leadership: Five Questions for Self-Reflection" (13:53) Embracing Authentic Leadership Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy [https://ausha.co/privacy-policy] for more information.

Start Ugly: What 275 Episodes Taught Us About Getting Started and Finding Your People

We've got a new course, Awareness to Action, launching May 27. Text MTM to 33777 or hit this link to stay in the know: https://focusnowtraining.com/a2a-course-interest [https://focusnowtraining.com/a2a-course-interest] Episode notes: We almost didn't make it past the first few episodes. Jon was filming from a yellow Fiat with black racing stripes in a Starbucks parking lot, stealing their wifi. Will was in his old apartment. The dogs walked through every shot. The phone overheated so badly Jon would drop off and Will would carry the show alone. We had no plan, no audience, no producer, and no idea what we were doing. 275 episodes later... we're still figuring it out. And that's kind of the whole point. Today's episode is about two things. Starting before you're ready, and why community is the thing that actually keeps you going once you do. We talk about the moment Will convinced Jon not to quit the show. The gold mine story... how close we came to stopping right before things broke open. Why Gene Roddenberry was embarrassed by the first episode of Star Trek (and why that's a good sign). What we've learned from 275 conversations with people like Jocko Willink, John Eldredge, Sean Fargo, James Nestor, Dr. James Doty, Nir Eyal, Steven Kotler, Howard Behar, Stanley Cup winners, SEALs, Special Forces, Olympic athletes, monks, psychologists, and guys who rebuilt their lives from scratch. Every single one of them started before they were ready. Every single one of them had somebody in their corner. If you've been sitting on something... a project, a business, a conversation, a creative thing you keep putting off... this one's for you. The timing will never be perfect. You will never feel ready. Start anyway. Start ugly. And find your people. We also talk about our new course, Awareness to Action, launching May 27. Text A2A to 33777 or hit this link to stay in the know: https://focusnowtraining.com/a2a-course-interest [https://focusnowtraining.com/a2a-course-interest] Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy [https://ausha.co/privacy-policy] for more information.

From the Dark Edge to Paralympic Podium: Rebuilding When Everything Is Stripped Away - Dennis Connors

Who are you when everything you've built your identity on gets taken away? For Dennis Connors, that question wasn't hypothetical. A teenage USA rock climber turned Marine Corps intelligence operator, he served three combat tours in Iraq supporting Tier 1 Special Operations, ran 250 interrogations, and came home with multiple undiagnosed TBIs, severe PTSD, and two strokes — the second partially paralyzed his left side. In March 2018, his call sign was still Villain and he had a plan to end his life the next day. What happened on the other side of that moment took him to the Paris 2024 Paralympic podium as a Silver Medalist and to a TED stage where he made 4,000 people cry. IN THIS EPISODE: 1. Why Dennis stood at the dark edge in March 2018 — and the single moment that stopped him 2. How undiagnosed TBIs compounded PTSD for years — and why he toughed them both out 3. Vulnerability reframed: not disclosing weakness — opening a conversational gate 4. Self-worth tied to results vs. self-love that doesn't collapse under pressure 5. Why community with shared passion goes deeper than shared service alone 6. The four pillars of perseverance: vulnerability, self-love, disciplined action, community RELATED EPISODES: 1. Ep. 123 — Bipolar General: Maj. Gen. Gregg Martin's Forever War with Mental Illness [https://smartlink.ausha.co/men-talking-mindfulness/bipolar-general-gregg-martin] 2. Ep. 106 — Transcending Trauma with Dr. Frank Anderson [https://smartlink.ausha.co/men-talking-mindfulness/transcending-trauma-dr-frank-anderson] 3. Ep. 135 — The Lie of Self-Sufficiency: Jon Macaskill on Why Men Carry Too Much Alone [https://smartlink.ausha.co/men-talking-mindfulness/lie-of-self-sufficiency-jon-macaskill] FOLLOW DENNIS CONNORS: * Website: [https://dennisconnorsusa.com]dennisconnorsusa.com [http://dennisconnorsusa.com] * LinkedIn: Dennis Connors [https://www.linkedin.com/in/dennis-connors/] GET MORE FROM MTM: Text MTM to 33777 — free weekly newsletter * Subscribe & All Episodes: [https://mentalkingmindfulness.com]mentalkingmindfulness.com [http://mentalkingmindfulness.com] * FNT Website: [https://focusnowtraining.com]focusnowtraining.com [http://focusnowtraining.com] A2A COURSE: 12 modules on attention, presence & performance. Self-paced. Built for people who hate the word mindfulness. * focusnowtraining.com/a2a [https://focusnowtraining.com/a2a] → This conversation maps directly to Module 3 of A2A: Building Unshakeable Self-Awareness Under Pressure BRING FNT TO YOUR TEAM: Custom attention, resilience & leadership training. In-person or online. * focusnowtraining.com/contact [https://focusnowtraining.com/contact] Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy [https://ausha.co/privacy-policy] for more information.

The Shadow You've Been Hiding From: Connor Beaton on Shame, Anger, and Men's Work | MTM AI Read Short

Text A2A to 33777 to stay in the know about our upcoming Awareness to Action Course! Carl Jung said that when a man deals with his own shadow, he does something real for the world. On this episode of Men Talking Mindfulness, host Will Schneider sits down with Connor Beaton, founder of Man Talks and author of Men's Work, to get into what shadow work actually looks like for men and why most of us have been trained since childhood to avoid it. Connor explains why men tend to carry a denser shadow than women. Masculine culture teaches strength through suppression. Stuff it down, hide the weakness, perform. The result is that the parts of yourself you've rejected... anger, vulnerability, self-compassion... don't go away. They go underground. And they start running the show from there. Connor walks Will through the mechanics of how anger gets repressed and creates the nice guy pattern, how shame gets used on boys to gain compliance and then keeps grown men living small, and what he calls shame-based motivation... using pain as fuel to achieve, which works until it doesn't. Connor shares his own story of bottoming out in his late twenties, living in the back of a Pontiac G5, apprenticing with a Jungian mentor, and the conversation with a close friend that changed everything. He and Will get into relationships as mirrors for shadow, the difference between guilt and shame, psychedelics and the default mode network, and why the real work for men is growing down into yourself rather than always building up and out. What you'll hear in this episode: * Why masculine culture creates a denser shadow through suppression * The nice guy pattern and what happens when anger goes underground * Shame-based motivation and why it has a shelf life * Connor's crisis story and the two things that pulled him out * Separating personhood from behavior and why it matters for fathers and sons * Relationships as the clearest mirror for your shadow * Psychedelics, the default mode network, and accessing the unconscious * Growing down instead of growing up as the real path to maturity Connor's book: Men's Work Connor's website: ManTalks.com [http://ManTalks.com] Man Talks Alliance: ManTalks.com [http://ManTalks.com] (courses, live calls, community) Connor's platforms: Instagram, YouTube, Spotify Full episode: https://pod.fo/e/33c406 [https://pod.fo/e/33c406] Text MTM to 33777 for updates on new episodes and resources from Focus Now Training. Jon's book, DIAL in Your Leadership: 4 Non-negotiables for Leading with Clarity, Trust, and Purpose, is available now on Amazon. https://a.co/d/0hYwI2Sz [https://a.co/d/0hYwI2Sz] Follow Men Talking Mindfulness, Jon Macaskill, and Will Schneider for more. shadow work for men, Connor Beaton, Man Talks podcast, men's shadow work, shame and masculinity, anger suppression men Men Talking Mindfulness podcast, Will Schneider, nice guy pattern, shame-based motivation, Jungian shadow, men's personal development, separating personhood from behavior, default mode networkwhat is shadow work for men, why do men suppress anger, how does shame affect men, what is shame-based motivation, nice guy syndrome and anger, how do psychedelics help shadow work, Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy [https://ausha.co/privacy-policy] for more information.

Beyond Belief NY Times best seller - Nir Eyal on why you keep quitting on yourself

You've read the book. You nodded at every page. And then you changed absolutely nothing. Sound familiar? Nir Eyal helped Silicon Valley build the systems that capture your attention — then turned around and wrote the books on how to fight back. Hooked became the playbook for habit-forming products. Indistractable showed you how to resist them. And now Beyond Belief cracks open the real reason most men read all of it, agree with all of it, and still don't change. It's not discipline. It's not information. It's belief. Specifically, the stories you've been telling yourself about who you are, what you're capable of, and whether change is actually possible for someone like you. Nir calls them limiting beliefs — and he spent six years researching how to replace them with something better. This one hits different if you've ever blamed your ADHD, your past, your upbringing, or the algorithm for the gap between who you are and who you know you could be. IN THIS EPISODE, YOU'LL LEARN: 1. Why 90% of distraction isn't your phone — it's a feeling 2. The motivation triangle: behavior and benefit fail without belief 3. How a diagnosis becomes a cage — and how to break out 4. The man who almost died from a placebo overdose 5. Richter's rats: how one belief produced 240x more persistence 6. Why to-do lists are broken — and what to do instead FREE RESOURCE FROM NIR: * 5-Minute Belief Change Guide — nirandfar.com/beyondbelieflive [https://www.nirandfar.com/beyondbelieflive] FOLLOW NIR EYAL: * Website & free resources: [https://www.nirandfar.com]nirandfar.com [http://nirandfar.com] * Books: Hooked, Indistractable, Beyond Belief — Amazon [https://www.amazon.com] Go Deeper here are Three Supporting EPISODES FROM MTM: 1. Ep. 92 — Overcoming Procrastination [https://smartlink.ausha.co/men-talking-mindfulness/overcoming-procrastination] 2. Ep. 121 — Managing Your Mind: How to Kick Out Negative Thoughts [https://smartlink.ausha.co/men-talking-mindfulness/managing-your-mind-kick-out-negative-thoughts] 3. Ep. 138 — Curiosity Is Key to Breaking Men Free from Judgment and Rumination [https://smartlink.ausha.co/men-talking-mindfulness/curiosity-is-key] Follow MTM: SUBSCRIBE - Thursday Three Things or Text MTM to 33777: newsletter.focusnowtraining.com [http://newsletter.focusnowtraining.com] FREE Training Content or Corporate Workshop: focusnowtraining.com [http://focusnowtraining.com] More Episodes & Resources: mentalkingmindfulness.com [http://mentalkingmindfulness.com] Coaching with Will: willnotfear.com [http://willnotfear.com] Book Jon to Speak: jonmacaskill.com [http://jonmacaskill.com] Co-produced by Robert Lopez | cratesaudio.com [http://cratesaudio.com] Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy [https://ausha.co/privacy-policy] for more information.