Becoming With Precious: The Journey of Personal Growth And Reinvention

Why do we assume that burning out at work means we are personally broken, rather than realizing the corporate system itself is fundamentally flawed by design?

Tony Tenaglier spent fifteen years in the high pressure world of aerospace manufacturing before realizing a hard truth. Burnout is not a personal failure, but a calculated system design flaw fueled by modern hustle culture. Instead of adopting the popular narrative that you have to burn your life down and quit your job to find happiness, Tony made the audacious move to stay and rewrite the rules of engagement. Drawing from his background in material science and psychology, he launched a platform to openly challenge how we experience our daily grind.

In this conversation, Tony dismantles the illusion of motivation, arguing that mastery and relentless forward movement are the real keys to survival. He dives into the psychology of flow states, explaining how we can redesign our relationship with our current jobs by aligning daily challenges with actual skills. If you are quietly resenting your nine to five but cannot afford a reckless exit, this episode provides a raw, gritty blueprint for reclaiming your values right where you are.

In this episode of Becoming With Precious, you will discover:

• Burnout is a product of infinite demands in a finite system, not a reflection of your personal weakness or lack of resilience.

• Motivation is deeply overrated; true progress comes from committing to the gritty process of mastery and relentless forward movement.

• Reaching a flow state at work requires matching specific skills with the right level of challenge to eliminate unnecessary friction.

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Connect with Tony Tenaglier on https://worksucksbutilikeit.com/

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What does it take to walk away from twenty-four years of established success in your hometown and have the audacity to rebuild your entire business from scratch in a brand new market?

Ashley Gill spent over two decades mastering the beauty industry, building a massive reputation and operating four highly successful salons in San Diego. But after years of pouring her identity into her hometown, her clients, and her children, she realized she was staying out of obligation rather than authentic desire. In a massive act of audacity, she decided to disrupt her own comfort zone. She packed up her twenty-four years of expertise and made the terrifying pivot to start completely fresh in Henderson, Nevada. This move was not just a business expansion; it was a deeply personal rebellion to finally put her own needs first and build a brand new chapter on her exact terms.

In this conversation, Ashley unpacks the raw reality of starting over as a seasoned veteran and the sheer grit required to navigate an entirely new market. She dismantles the modern obsession with viral fame, proving that unglamorous, relentless consistency is the true secret to surviving two decades in business. From redefining salon culture to giving employees control over their own schedules, Ashley shares how to transform transactional services into deeply emotional human connections. This episode is a masterclass in fighting burnout, scaling a service business, and finding the courage to reinvent your life when everyone else expects you to settle down.

In this episode of Becoming With Precious, you will discover:

• Chasing viral fame is a fleeting distraction; true business longevity is built on the unglamorous, everyday grit of consistency and reliability.

• Scaling a service-based business requires shifting your focus from treating clients like transactions to holding space for their raw, emotional human experiences.

• Authentic company culture cannot be faked with corporate buzzwords; it is actively built by giving your team autonomy and control over their own work-life balance.

• Reinvention does not have an expiration date; you have the right to completely pivot your life and put yourself first, even after decades of serving others.

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Connect with Ashley Gill on her website: fibersalon.com

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What does it feel like to look perfectly fine to the world while secretly feeling like a fraud in your own skin?

Maxim Shapiro spent decades living a life that appeared functional on the outside but felt hollow within. Disconnected, depressed, and lacking pride, he describes this period as living without a rudder—a state of passive drifting where his true self was buried under a performed identity. It took the catalyst of an extraordinary relationship and the crushing weight of being forty and unfulfilled to finally crack the shell, forcing him to confront the reality that he was not the hero of his own story.

In this raw conversation, Maxim breaks down why action is the only cure for the stagnation many men face today. He challenges the modern avoidance of real living—exacerbated by technology and shifting societal roles—and explains why reclaiming authenticity often requires weathering the discomfort of those around us. By moving from a muted existence to one of disciplined joy, Maxim illustrates that the journey of becoming is not about a sudden transformation, but the grit to start doing the small, scary things you have been putting off for a lifetime.

In this episode of Becoming With Precious, you will discover:

• Action is the primary antidote to paralysis; having an imaginary life in your head is not the same as living one.

• Authenticity is a requirement for true satisfaction, as living dishonestly prevents you from ever giving your full self to life.

• Society still desperately needs men to be brave, courageous, and upstanding, even if modern dynamics fail to communicate that need.

• 01:53 - The feeling of being rudderless while appearing successful.

• 05:29 - Why action is the specific antidote to male stagnation.

• 08:35 - Distinguishing between the performed self and the authentic self.

• 13:42 - Becoming the hero of your own story through small, immediate actions.

• 18:42 - Understanding joy as a result of discipline and high performance.

How do you step out of a lifelong survival mode and discover your true soul purpose when the very person supposed to protect you tried to take your life?Dr. Kaci was forced to develop an ironclad survival instinct before she was even old enough to understand it. After suffering extreme abandonment and surviving an unimaginable childhood trauma where her own mother attempted to end her life, she could have easily let the darkness define her. Instead, she leaned into a profound level of grit. Navigating a demanding military career, the collapse of her marriage, and the grueling reality of single motherhood, Dr. Kaci made the audacious pivot to stop merely surviving and start fiercely managing her own healing. She channeled her deepest pain into creating the concept of Spiritual Human Behavior, blending psychology, behavior science, and deep spiritual alignment to help others map their predestined soul purpose.

In this deeply human conversation, Dr. Kaci breaks down the raw reality of shedding the survival tactics that once kept her alive but ultimately blocked her growth. She explains how a devastating diagnosis of Graves disease forced her to radically prioritize unbothered peace over financial hustle, fundamentally changing her approach to leadership and business. From writing thirteen books out of the ashes of a painful divorce to stepping outside traditional religious boxes to find authentic faith, Dr. Kaci delivers an unapologetic masterclass on taking radical accountability for your own destiny.

In this episode of Becoming With Precious, you will discover:

• Transitioning from survival mode to thriving requires massive self-accountability and the audacity to rediscover who you are beneath your trauma.

• Spiritual Human Behavior teaches that every high and low in your life is part of a predestined soul contract, giving immense purpose to your deepest pain.

• Protecting your peace is a non-negotiable health strategy; true leadership sometimes means actively turning down money and opportunities that threaten your nervous system.

• Rebuilding self-trust after systemic betrayal starts with radical self-education and unapologetically following your own unique interests.

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Connect with Kaci Myers on https://speakingfreedom.org/

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When you are standing on the side of a mountain in the French Alps and realize your body is failing you, do you accept the decline, or do you build a bridge to the future of medicine?

In this episode of Becoming with Precious, we sit down with Adam Blum, a tech founder and elite athlete whose life took a sharp turn during a grueling bike expedition through the French Alps. What began as unexplained exhaustion led to a diagnosis of follicular lymphoma and a confrontation with a medical system that prioritized cost-efficiency over cutting-edge care. Adam shares the raw reality of navigating the UK’s NICE guidelines and the frustration of being told to watch and wait while knowing that better, more innovative treatments existed just beyond the reach of the standard protocol.

Refusing to be a passive passenger in his own treatment, Adam utilized his background in AI to solve a massive data problem: the messy, unstructured nature of clinical trial registries. He discusses the birth of CancerBot, a tool designed to help patients find precision trial matches in minutes rather than weeks. This conversation is a deep dive into the grit required to challenge medical gatekeepers, the audacity to build a company while in the throes of illness, and why every patient deserves to be at the forefront of medical innovation.

In this episode of Becoming With Precious, you will discover:

• The Standard of Care is Not the Ceiling: Just because a treatment is the standard does not mean it is the best available option for your specific survival goals.

• Being a Lab Rat is an Act of Service: Participating in clinical trials is not just about personal survival; it is about moving the needle of science forward for everyone.

• Data is the Final Frontier: The medical system is currently hindered by unstructured data, and AI is the key to unlocking life-saving connections between patients and trials.

• 02:04 - The Alpine Inventory: Transitioning from elite athlete to patient on a French mountainside.

• 05:03 - The Cost of Standard Care: Why Adam refused the 73 percent survival rate offered by traditional guidelines.

• 08:44 - The Science of the Future: Explaining bispecific antibodies, trispecific antibodies, and CAR-T cell therapy.

• 14:28 - Reframing the Lab Rat: Why phase three trials are often safer and more effective than people realize.

• 20:38 - The Metabolic Approach: How diet and exercise influence cancer outcomes and long-term remission.

What happens when you use relentless academic achievement as a ticket out of poverty, only to realize your Ivy League success is secretly being fueled by unprocessed childhood grief?Dr. Crystal T. Harrell climbed her way out of public housing to earn a PhD at Yale University, securing over $670,000 in scholarships along the way. For years, she used her ambition to escape the financial struggles of her childhood and mask the profound trauma of losing her father to cancer. But in 2018, the weight of living through the lens of a traumatized child finally broke her. Despite reaching the absolute pinnacle of traditional success, she found herself battling severe panic attacks and a devastating lack of will to live, forcing her to confront the gritty reality that high achievement cannot cure a broken nervous system.

In a massive, audacious pivot, Crystal stepped off the corporate treadmill, walked away from a deeply misaligned job, and committed to doing the raw inner work of returning to herself. Now a public health expert and holistic coach, she bridges the gap between evidence-based science and deep spirituality. In this conversation, Crystal breaks down the sheer exhaustion of operating in pure survival mode and explains how to completely transition into a state of flow. She provides a masterclass on soul alchemy, showing high achievers how to finally drop the mask of ambition and turn their deepest pain into undeniable purpose.

In this episode of Becoming With Precious, you will discover:

• You cannot out-achieve your unprocessed trauma; using relentless ambition to escape your past will eventually result in severe physical and emotional burnout.

• Letting go of a survival mindset does not destroy your competitive drive; it actually aligns you with a state of flow where creation becomes effortless and sustainable.

• Science and spirituality are not opposing forces, but rather complementary languages that help us articulate and physically manifest holistic healing.

• Turning chaos into clarity requires soul alchemy, which starts by stepping out of your head, observing your anxious thoughts on paper, and giving yourself permission to just exist without saving the world.

If this episode resonates with you; like, subscribe and share with someone. You can also leave a review and comment on the show.

Connect with Dr. Crystal T. Harrell on https://crystaltharrell.com/

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What happens when the very mental health system you work for forces you to compromise the safety and pacing of the trauma survivors you are supposed to protect?

Christina Simmons began her career on the front lines of child welfare and domestic violence advocacy, fiercely committed to helping survivors navigate their darkest moments. But she soon hit a breaking point. The traditional, agency-driven models prioritized bureaucratic compliance over genuine, trauma-informed care, pressuring her to rush survivors through their healing. Recognizing the profound limits and inherent harm in this system, Christina made the audacious pivot to walk away and build the integrative practice she knew the world desperately needed, specifically centering the lived experiences of Black women and women of color.

In this deeply human conversation, Christina strips away the clinical jargon to expose the raw reality of how trauma physically lives in the body. She challenges the limits of conventional talk therapy and tackles the dangerous allure of toxic positivity, revealing how spiritual bypassing is often just a trauma response in disguise. From redefining spiritual hygiene to offering highly accessible nervous system regulation techniques, this episode is a bold masterclass in moving beyond merely surviving your pain to radically reclaiming your whole self.

In this episode of Becoming With Precious, you will discover:

• Talk therapy helps you understand your pain, but somatic and integrative therapy gives you the grit to actually excavate and alchemize it from your body.

• Toxic positivity and spiritual bypassing are often unconscious fawning responses, keeping trauma survivors trapped in a cycle of performing wellness rather than experiencing it.

• Severe burnout is rarely sudden; it is the explosive result of chronic disconnection from your own needs and a complete breakdown of basic spiritual hygiene.

• True embodiment requires the audacity to stop intellectualizing your trauma and start physically releasing the tension, bracing, and holding trapped in your muscles.

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Connect with Christina Simmons on

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What happens to your identity when the very industry that gave you a voice no longer aligns with the man you have decided to become?

WB Dale joins Precious to discuss his radical departure from the glitz of Hollywood acting and television production to the high-stakes world of corporate leadership. Rather than chasing the standard metrics of success, Dale reveals that his transition was sparked by a desire for a healthier family life and a refusal to participate in environments that compromised his core principles. He shares raw accounts of standing alone in corporate boardrooms, challenging CEOs, and refusing to lie to employees, even when it meant risking his entire professional standing.

The conversation dives deep into Dale’s personal journey with Vitiligo and how a physical difference became a powerful filter for his life. By separating who he is from what he does, Dale has built a life of synergy, moving from a shy child who hid his face to an audacious author and advocate. This episode is a masterclass in the "why" over the "how," proving that true grit isn't just about surviving a change, but about driving impact through radical self-acceptance and unshakeable values.

In this episode of Becoming With Precious, you will discover:

• Be flexible about the how, but inflexible about the why; your mission must remain grounded even as your career path shifts.

• There is a vital distinction between being a nice guy and being a good man; a good man has non-negotiable values that he is willing to fight for.

• Adversity is often an indicator of purpose; encountering friction early in a venture usually means you are exactly where you are supposed to be.

• 01:51 - The Catalyst: Why I walked away from a Hollywood career.

• 04:33 - The Why vs. The How: Building a values-driven mental model.

• 07:23 - The Good Man Concept: Standing your ground in the corporate boardroom.

• 11:18 - The Audacious Move: Pitching the CEO and risking rank for impact.

• 16:32 - Benny’s Filter: Lessons on Vitiligo, self-acceptance, and finding your voice.

What do you do when a devastating divorce shatters your twenty-year marriage, and instead of shrinking into the pain, you pack up your life to serve one of the most marginalized communities in the country?

Hans Hageman grew up at the intersection of extreme privilege and raw human struggle, living in a Harlem drug rehabilitation center run by his parents while attending elite Ivy League schools. After landing a highly paid corporate law gig and later serving as a prosecutor and public defender, he felt a deep betrayal of his true calling. He walked away from the prestigious legal track to build educational programs for the youth that society had thrown away, ultimately bringing gardening and breathwork to teenage boys facing decades in maximum security prisons.

When a painful divorce upended his life after two decades of marriage, Hans refused to break. Instead, he leaned heavily into the concept of post-traumatic growth, moving to the Mississippi Delta to revive a failing community center before pivoting back North to expand his anti-fragile leadership programs across the state prison system. In this conversation, Hans breaks down the necessity of radical self-care, the profound healing power of scheduling peace, and what it truly takes to build a life of purpose out of the ashes of a setback.

In this episode of Becoming With Precious, you will discover:

• True grit is not about surviving a broken system; it is about stepping up to catch vulnerable people upstream before society discards them.

• Experiencing post-traumatic growth requires taking the raw lessons from your deepest pain and actively using them in service to others.

• You cannot lead anyone effectively until you learn to lead and regulate yourself through radical, unapologetic self-care.

• Scheduling deliberate moments of peace, or time under bliss, is essential to releasing the trauma stored physically in your body.

If this episode resonates with you; like, subscribe and share with someone. You can also leave a review and comment on the show.

Connect with Hans Hageman on https://querencialeadership.com/

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How do you find the grit to completely rewrite your life story when every attempt to change your destructive habits on your own has ended in raw failure?

Carl Grant grew up in a secular environment with zero concept of sin, conviction, or spiritual purpose. For years, he lived entirely driven by his own desires, falling into repetitive cycles of temptation and failed attempts to clean up his act. His audacious pivot did not happen in a comfortable setting. It happened during a 1990 military deployment to a newly invaded Panama, where a gritty decision to follow a fellow soldier to a dirt-floor alleyway church instead of a local brothel changed the entire trajectory of his life.

In this conversation, Carl gets incredibly real about the raw struggle of trying to fix your own flaws and the undeniable power of a true awakening. He shares the messy reality of his radical transformation, from running out on his past life to remaining celibate until marriage. We also dig into his audacious work today as the founder of Bridges of Faith, where he takes his deep convictions into the Middle East to lead respectful, groundbreaking dialogues between Muslims and Christians.

In this episode of Becoming With Precious, you will discover:

• You cannot always rely on sheer willpower to overcome deep-rooted habits. Real change often requires a profound internal and spiritual shift.

• Sometimes the most audacious move you can make is walking in the opposite direction of the crowd, even when you have no idea where you are going.

• True peacemaking and bridge-building do not require you to water down your convictions. You can hold your ground while still showing deep respect for others.