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

The Gap Between Stimulus and Response Changes Everything | A2A Course Launch Webinar

What happens in the space between a trigger and your reaction? That gap — the one most people don't even know exists — is where everything changes. In this special episode, Will and Jon break down the concept live during the Awareness to Action (A2A) course launch webinar, walk the audience through a real-time breathwork exercise to experience the gap firsthand, and explain how training this skill can transform the way you lead, parent, and show up in every relationship. Whether you're a maxed-out leader running on fumes, someone searching for a change that actually sticks, or just going through a hard season, this one's for you. Sign up for the Awareness to Action (A2A) course: https://focusnowtraining.com/A2A-course [https://focusnowtraining.com/A2A-course] Or text MTM to 33777 Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy [https://ausha.co/privacy-policy] for more information.

Your Nervous System Is Destroying Your Relationship — and You Don't Even Know It with EJ & Tarah Kerwin

Have you ever been mid-conversation with your partner, felt your jaw tighten, your stomach drop, your brain go sideways — and some part of you already looking for the exit? That's not a character flaw. That's your nervous system treating your partner like a threat. EJ and Tarah Kerwin are couples therapists, founders of Relationship Renovation, and parents of twins born on their honeymoon. EJ — a yoga teacher and therapist — turned avoidant the moment real chaos arrived, and Tarah had a name for it: Buddhist motherf***er. They had to learn everything they now teach by surviving their own marriage in real time. This conversation goes deep on why your success traits destroy your closest relationships, how your childhood nervous system patterns are running your marriage without your consent, and what emotional safety actually feels like when a man finally builds it. IN THIS EPISODE: 1. Why the traits that made you successful at work become your biggest relationship wreckers 2. What a genogram reveals about your patterns — and why compassion always follows 3. FINE = Feelings Inside Not Expressed — and what that silence costs you 4. The difference between hypo arousal and being regulated — most men confuse the two 5. Triple H — Heard, Hugged, or Helped? Ask before you fix 6. Your partner is your greatest teacher — if you stop running from the lesson RELATED EPISODES: 1. Ep. 105 — Learning to Respond Without Reactivity with Dr. Charles Freligh [https://smartlink.ausha.co/men-talking-mindfulness/learning-to-respond-without-reactivity] 2. Ep. 120 — Creating Emotional Stability with Jay Fields [https://smartlink.ausha.co/men-talking-mindfulness/creating-emotional-stability-jay-fields] 3. Ep. 124 — No More Mr. Nice Guy with Dr. Robert Glover [https://smartlink.ausha.co/men-talking-mindfulness/no-more-mr-nice-guy] FOLLOW EJ & TARAH: * Website, Podcast& Couples Coaching: [https://www.relationshiprenovation.com]relationshiprenovation.com [http://relationshiprenovation.com] * Book: Relationship Innovation at Homework — Amazon [https://www.amazon.com] GET MORE FROM MTM: Text MTM to 33777 — free weekly newsletter * Subscribe & All Episodes: [https://mentalkingmindfulness.com]mentalkingmindfulness.com [http://mentalkingmindfulness.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 4 of A2A: Regulating Your Nervous System 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.

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.