Behind The Human with Marc Champagne

Britt Lefkoe grew up surrounded by mindset work, learning from an early age that our beliefs shape our lives. But that awareness came with a cost: the feeling that every difficult emotion or limiting belief was another problem she needed to fix.

In this conversation, Britt and Marc explore what happens when self-awareness turns against us, why emotions aren’t the problem but the stories we attach to them can be, and the profound difference between having an insight and experiencing a true breakthrough. Britt also shares the simple phrase she uses when life feels overwhelming and why personal development was never meant to become our life. It was supposed to help us live it.

EXCITING STUFF!

• My second book now available for pre-order! You're Invited: A Life-Changing Conversation with History's Greatest Wisdom Teachers
• Get your MENTAL FITNESS BLUEPRINT here!
• A special thanks to our mental fitness + sweat partner Sip Saunas

Connect with Marc: https://konect.to/marcchampagne

Timestamps:

00:00 — The question that opens every interview: “Who are you?”
01:44 — Why Britt burned her first business to the ground
05:21 — Growing up in a family where mindset was everything
07:32 — “Am I a fraud?” When you can help others but struggle to help yourself
08:42 — Finding her own voice after her father's death
11:08 — Stop asking “why” and start asking “what next?”
13:00 — The healing power of simply telling the truth
13:57 — Why you shouldn't psychoanalyze yourself when you're triggered
16:17 — Emotions aren't the problem—the stories are
19:07 — Learning to forgive yourself for being human
21:02 — What anger, envy and disappointment can teach us
23:54 — Why Britt doesn't want to neutralize negative emotions
27:25 — “The truth is always simple”
28:15 — How to rewrite the stories running your life
29:00 — “The truth is always good news”
33:17 — Finding truth after unimaginable trauma
35:16 — Untangling love from pain
36:43 — When “hard work” becomes part of your identity
37:44 — Why saying “this is hard” doesn't make life harder
39:20 — The question that helped save a client's marriage
43:33 — The difference between an insight and a breakthrough
46:53 — Why changing through insight alone is exhausting
47:12 — Personal development isn't supposed to become your life
49:48 — The two breakthroughs that changed Britt's life
51:48 — Healing through love instead of endlessly fixing yourself
52:04 — Why Britt stopped following conventional business advice
54:00 — Personal development beyond suffering: infinite possibility

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Special props 👇

Music: Clouds - Joakim Karud

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Mentalist and illusionist Wayne Hoffman has built an extraordinary career reading minds, performing around the world and creating moments that make people question what's possible. But underneath the illusion is something even more interesting: an obsessive understanding of psychology, goal achievement, gratitude, risk and the small actions that quietly change the course of a life.

Wayne and Marc explore why he chose an unconventional path, what he learned from the highest highs and loneliest moments of performing, his system for turning enormous goals into achievable steps, and why his future self keeps giving him the same instruction: do what you're supposed to do.

And before the conversation ends, Wayne puts his mind-reading skills to the test on Marc!

EXCITING STUFF!

• My second book now available for pre-order! You're Invited: A Life-Changing Conversation with History's Greatest Wisdom Teachers
• Get your MENTAL FITNESS BLUEPRINT here!
• A special thanks to our mental fitness + sweat partner Sip Saunas

Connect with Marc: https://konect.to/marcchampagne

Timestamps:

00:00 — The question that opens every interview: “Who are you?”

02:12 — Discovering a hidden world inside a childhood magic shop

04:09 — Why Wayne became obsessed with creating wonder

08:16 — Turning an unusual passion into a career

10:13 — Choosing entrepreneurship instead of the “real job”

10:38 — The $10 business-card coupon that changed Wayne's life

13:13 — Who is your unsung hero?

13:58 — Honouring the man who unknowingly changed everything

17:21 — The moments Wayne realized: “This is actually working”

18:10 — Sitting beside Ellen and feeling like he'd stepped inside his television

20:26 — The strange loneliness behind enormous moments of success

21:29 — Fooling Penn & Teller — and barely remembering what happened next

22:59 — Reverse-engineering your greatest successes

24:15 — Why gratitude changed Wayne's life

26:01 — Could you be happy if everything you achieved disappeared?

26:43 — Is mind reading actually real?

29:55 — How psychology can make someone appear psychic

31:57 — What Wayne is actually doing when he “reads minds”

32:37 — How a professional mentalist trains his mind

35:45 — The one major goal Wayne still hasn't achieved

38:28 — Wayne's system for achieving enormous goals

38:46 — Feel. Define. Plan.

39:57 — The power of asking for the next doable action

40:56 — What would ten-year-old Wayne think of his life today?

42:39 — Meeting his future self

42:49 — “Do what you're supposed to do.”

45:05 — Wayne attempts to read Marc's mind

47:35 — The first impossible prediction

49:35 — And then things get even stranger

50:28 — Why Wayne would still do this work for free

51:19 — Why the world may need more wonder

52:11 — Adult recess and Wayne's deeper purpose

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Special props 👇

Music: Clouds - Joakim Karud

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

David Stewart has spent much of his life looking closely at people.

As a photographer, he worked around the world, shot his first Vogue ad in his twenties, and worked in New York during the Andy Warhol era. But as David got older, he began noticing something strange: while youth was marketed through aspiration, possibility and beauty, aging was increasingly framed through fear, decline and limitation.

He decided to challenge that story.

Today, David is the founder of SuperAge and AGEIST, building a new model around longevity that goes far beyond biomarkers or simply trying to extend lifespan.

In this conversation, we explore what it actually means to stay fully alive as we age, why optimism may be essential to pursuing wellness, how social connection fits into longevity, the danger of turning health into an endless optimization project, and why David believes we need to move from consuming information to taking action.

We also explore the creation of the Super Age Games, his personal practices for managing stress and mental fitness, and the simple morning ritual he uses to deliberately counter the negativity our minds naturally absorb.

This is a conversation about making the life you have worth extending.

EXCITING STUFF!

• My second book now available for pre-order! You're Invited: A Life-Changing Conversation with History's Greatest Wisdom Teachers
• Get your MENTAL FITNESS BLUEPRINT here!
• A special thanks to our mental fitness + sweat partner Sip Saunas

Connect with Marc: https://konect.to/marcchampagne

Timestamps:

00:00 — The question that opens every interview: “Who are you?”

01:12 — Building a life around values instead of internal dissonance

04:22 — The photographer who turned down work that didn't align

05:53 — Vogue, Paris and working around Andy Warhol

07:34 — The realization that changed how David thought about aging

10:03 — Why brands misunderstood people over 50

13:17 — The health crisis that forced David to change his own life

16:57 — How AGEIST evolved into SuperAge

22:25 — Why information alone rarely changes behaviour

24:30 — Building trust before building products

26:26 — The spontaneous idea that became the Super Age Games

29:42 — Why friendship and social connection belong in longevity

32:38 — “I've been in a gym for 40 years. What am I training for?”

33:06 — Why biomarkers aren't the destination

34:37 — Turning longevity into something you can actually measure

37:33 — The 78-year-old who became competitor number one

40:43 — What David wants people to feel after the Games

43:18 — Why pursuing wellness requires optimism

45:49 — David's “battery” model for stress and energy

46:58 — The morning “brainwash walk” that resets his mind

49:45 — Counter-programming the brain's natural negativity bias

51:59 — Why the journey itself has to be enjoyed

*

Special props 👇

Music: Clouds - Joakim Karud

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

New York Times editor and Saying No to New author Eric Athas explores why our brains are drawn to novelty, how businesses remove the friction between desire and consumption, and why reclaiming a few moments to think could radically change the choices we make.

From dopamine and social media to clutter, persuasion and the disappearing “new thing gap,” this conversation is ultimately about learning to say no to meaningless novelty so we can say yes to what actually matters.

EXCITING STUFF!

• My second book now available for pre-order! You're Invited: A Life-Changing Conversation with History's Greatest Wisdom Teachers
• Get your MENTAL FITNESS BLUEPRINT here!
• A special thanks to our mental fitness + sweat partner Sip Saunas

Connect with Marc: https://konect.to/marcchampagne

Timestamps:

00:00 — The question that opens every interview: “Who are you?”

02:44 — Why opportunities for deep thinking are disappearing

04:59 — Turning a childhood disadvantage into a strength

07:39 — Inside Eric’s work at The New York Times

10:09 — Navigating journalism, truth and trust in a chaotic era

13:09 — Why Saying No to New is a work of journalism

14:30 — The contradiction: an early adopter who learned to say no to new

17:13 — When new things start creating more problems than they solve

19:52 — Dopamine, discomfort and why our brains chase novelty

22:23 — Thinking as a superpower in a frictionless world

23:22 — The “new thing gap” — and why it has almost disappeared

27:07 — The sophisticated influence machine behind what we buy

30:52 — Decluttering as an audit of yesterday’s decisions

32:20 — What clutter and constant task-switching do to our attention

34:08 — Why saying no to new can help us discover the right kind of new

35:33 — The surprising relationship between exploration and happiness

37:24 — How to see novelty hiding inside familiar experiences

39:46 — Finding joy in what was hiding in plain sight

*

Special props 👇

Music: Clouds - Joakim Karud

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

After more than forty years working as a psychologist and executive coach, Dr. David Zelman has become fascinated by one question: how do we stop allowing the past to determine what we believe is possible next?

In this conversation, David explores the internal dialogue shaping our decisions, why awareness has to come before another tool or technique, and how we can create conversations that pull us toward the lives we actually want.

We also explore anxiety, meditation and self-awareness, why two competing conversations can't occupy the same mental space, and the remarkable story of how David transformed his relationship with his father by changing one deeply held interpretation.

David also shares his definition of readiness—the moment willingness meets awareness—and why he believes asking "what?" and "how?" can sometimes move us forward more effectively than asking "why?"

EXCITING STUFF!

• My second book now available for pre-order! You're Invited: A Life-Changing Conversation with History's Greatest Wisdom Teachers
• Get your MENTAL FITNESS BLUEPRINT here!
• A special thanks to our mental fitness + sweat partner Sip Saunas

Connect with Marc: https://konect.to/marcchampagne

Timestamps:

00:00 — The question that opens every interview: “Who are you?”

01:41 — From struggling student and college dropout to finding psychology

04:33 — What becomes obvious about life when you reach your seventies

05:10 — How our internal dialogue shapes our experience of life

07:19 — The question David starts with: “Where do you want to wind up?”

10:15 — Why we keep trying to build the future using information from the past

12:36 — David's decades-long Transcendental Meditation practice

14:33 — Asking: “What future does this action create?”

16:01 — Why awareness needs to come before another technique

17:35 — A simple demonstration of who's actually telling you what to do

19:54 — How the listener participates in creating their reality

21:52 — Possibility versus the certainty of already knowing

23:40 — What riding a bicycle teaches us about psychological distinctions

25:20 — Conversations from the past versus conversations for the future

28:33 — Anxiety, specificity and getting underneath generalizations

29:48 — The five-minute experiment David uses with stressed clients

31:50 — Why two competing conversations can't occupy the same space

34:20 — Changing the conversation during conflict with someone you love

36:21 — David's difficult relationship with his father

38:00 — The reframe that transformed “dominate and control” into “access and contribute”

39:36 — How changing one conversation helped David recover his relationship with his father

42:37 — Readiness: when willingness meets awareness

44:29 — Why journaling and resolutions aren't always enough

45:55 — Why another person can help us hear our real commitments

47:45 — Integrity, contribution and the future you're actually trying to build

50:32 — Why David prefers asking “what?” and “how?” instead of “why?”

51:38 — David's books and where to go deeper

*

Special props 👇

Music: Clouds - Joakim Karud

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Most 90-day plans die by week three, not because the practices were wrong, but because they were built as a new life stacked on top of the old one. In the final episode of the series, Marc walks through how to audit your existing routine for natural insertion points instead of carving out new time, how to set your minimum effective dose for travel weeks and high-pressure stretches, and how to let the people around you in on what you're doing so your environment supports the change instead of working against it. The episode closes by threading all seven pieces of the series — baseline, outcome and mantra, operating pattern, practice stack, blockers, and reset protocol — into one system.

This is episode two of a 7-part series teaching you how to build your own 90-Day Mental Fitness Blueprint by hand. Start with episode one if you haven't yet — this one builds directly on your baseline scores.

Have your plan built for you in 15 minutes → blueprint.mchampagne.com

Special props 👇

Music: Clouds - Joakim Karud

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Mandy Balak spent years being the founder, builder and person who could handle everything — until she began questioning what all that achievement was costing her. In this conversation, we explore the difference between chasing and choosing, why the leaders who pause may ultimately win, and how to keep your ambition without making your health, identity and peace the price of success.

Mandy is the President of The Gathering and author of Chasing Enough: The High Achiever’s Guide to Sustainable Success, publishing September 22, 2026.

EXCITING STUFF!

Connect with Marc: https://konect.to/marcchampagne

Timestamps:

00:00 — The question that opens every interview: “Who are you?”

02:31 — Leadership starts with knowing what you stand for

03:38 — Mandy’s weekly ritual for staying aligned with what matters

05:42 — Why comparison can pull us toward someone else’s definition of success

07:39 — Who was “Mandy Pandy” before the world told her who to be?

09:05 — The best parts of Mandy’s father — and the complicated parts of their story

12:22 — Learning that she had to earn her place

14:29 — The pause that finally interrupted decades of survival mode

15:52 — Why Mandy deliberately sought out healthier models of success

17:20 — How The Gathering came back into Mandy’s life at exactly the right time

21:04 — Why “the leaders who pause win”

23:28 — The chasing leader vs. the choosing leader

25:19 — Why capacity may be the most important leadership metric

28:46 — How Mandy resources herself during an intense season

33:10 — Perfectionism, the lone wolf and learning to ask for help

36:05 — Forget the to-do list. Why we need “done lists”

37:45 — Why the person who can’t stop and the person who can’t start may have the same problem

40:05 — Notice. Release. Rise.

41:08 — What Mandy Pandy would say to her today

*

Special props 👇

Music: Clouds - Joakim Karud

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

A plan that only works when you're feeling strong isn't a plan. In this episode, Marc builds out the reset protocol — Pause, Reset, Re-enter — a formalized version of "the power of the pause" from episode three, using your own operating pattern's restoration practice and your daily anchor from episode four as the actual tools inside it. Then he introduces the 90-day daily question: one reflection question, five days a week, for the whole season — the low-friction thread that keeps you in contact with the whole system, especially on the days you'd otherwise drift.

This is episode two of a 7-part series teaching you how to build your own 90-Day Mental Fitness Blueprint by hand. Start with episode one if you haven't yet — this one builds directly on your baseline scores.

Have your plan built for you in 15 minutes → blueprint.mchampagne.com

Special props 👇

Music: Clouds - Joakim Karud

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

What if we succeed in building a future beyond Earth only to realize we forgot to bring the parts of us that make life worth living?

Showmaker Natasha Tsakos is pioneering an extraordinary intersection of creativity, technology and space: developing performances for microgravity and imagining the role culture will play as humanity expands beyond Earth. But this conversation goes somewhere much more personal—into why imagination may become one of our most valuable skills in the age of AI, the power of suspending disbelief, our growing thirst for hope, and what it takes to keep pursuing a vision years before the rest of the world can see it.

EXCITING STUFF!

Connect with Marc: https://konect.to/marcchampagne

Timestamps:

00:00 — The question that opens every interview: “Who are you?”

*

Special props 👇

Music: Clouds - Joakim Karud

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Every blocker you have is trying to protect you from something — it's just not the protection you need right now. In this episode, Marc walks through three common blockers — the need for validation, the fear of effort not leading to results, and overthinking — what each one looks like from the outside, what it's actually protecting underneath, and the specific reframe that lets you stop fighting it and start working with it. The episode also connects the dots back to your operating pattern from episode three: your blocker usually isn't a new problem, it's the same pattern wearing a different name.

This is episode two of a 7-part series teaching you how to build your own 90-Day Mental Fitness Blueprint by hand. Start with episode one if you haven't yet — this one builds directly on your baseline scores.

Have your plan built for you in 15 minutes → blueprint.mchampagne.com

Special props 👇

Music: Clouds - Joakim Karud

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.