Grow the Good

Sun Sachs, a long-time endurance athlete and software developer, is the CEO and Co-founder of Rewire Fitness, a mental fitness platform for athletes to avoid burnout by providing tools that improve mindset, readiness and resilience. He is passionate about animal welfare, the environment and human health. Sun co-created the plant-based media brand - www.thebeet.com - which merged with Forks Over Knives. He is a plant-based culinary chef graduate and continues to advise for The Beet.

In this week’s podcast, Sonya chats with Sun about brain endurance training, performance and his app, Rewire Fitness. Rewire provides neuro-training, mental readiness assessments, and mindset recovery.

Key Takeaways

• What is brain endurance training?
• Tracking cognitive fatigue
• Cognitive fatigue and physical fatigue
• How to adapt your perception of effort
• What mental recovery looks like
• The power of priming
• Breath work for performance

--------------
The Grow the Good Podcast is produced by Palm Tree Pod Co. 

Hannah Otto, professional mountain biker and gravel racer for co-title sponsors Pivot Cycles and DT Swiss, started racing at nine years old. Just over a decade later, she received her professional license in triathlon and mountain biking. 

She was a two-time high school state champion on the mountain bike and finished her college career as a 5x National Champion at Lindenwood University. She has a degree in Athletic Training (healthcare) and Exercise Scientist, is a USA Cycling Coach and a Board Certified Athletic Trainer. Hannah was a 2020 Olympic Long Team Member and the 2022 Leadville Champion. 

In this week’s episode, Hannah and Sonya talked about managing expectations, prioritization, good coaching and advocating for yourself. 

Key Takeaways

• Should you be vulnerable?
• When doing your best is coming up short
• How to manage expectations
• How Hannah prioritizes her time
• The importance of a good coach
• Transitions sponsorships/starting her own team
• Learning to advocate for yourself
• Importance of riding easy

--------------
The Grow the Good Podcast is produced by Palm Tree Pod Co. 

Jeff Patterson, M.A., P.C.C. is a success and leadership coach who works with innovators committed to changing the world. Jeff helps his clients elevate their vision of what’s possible, increase their impact and eliminate limiting patterns that keep people playing small. 

His recent book, The Big Thing Effect: How to Transform Your Life Forever, shows you how to go beyond what you think is possible, and leave your true and lasting legacy.

Jeff is a certified professional coach and holds a Masters of Spiritual Psychology from the University of Santa Monica. Jeff lives in the Aspen Valley of Colorado with his wife, Lindsay, and their daughters Emory and Brooklyn. When he’s not fly-fishing in his backyard, you can find him inspiring audiences around the world.

In this week’s episode, Sonya and Jeff discuss goals, commitment, distractions, the idea of incompletes, and much more.

Key Takeaways:

• The importance of goal clarity
• Believing that you can reach your goal
• How you know if it’s a big thing
• Differentiating between a big goal and a big thing
• Creating commitment internally and externally
• What is spiritual psychology?
• How to know when to quit something
• The danger of small distractions
• Managing your incompletes
• Talking to your kids about the big thing

--------------
The Grow the Good Podcast is produced by Palm Tree Pod Co. 

Dr. Taylor Sittler is the Head of Research at Levels Health, a company dedicated to helping people optimize their metabolic health. Levels provides real-time feedback on how diet and lifestyle choices impact metabolic health through biosensors like continuous glucose monitors. Dr. Sittler is a physician and entrepreneur, previously co-founding Color Health. He completed his residency in clinical pathology at UCSF and started a genetics research group with David Patterson in the computer science department at UC Berkeley.

Dr. Sittler received a Howard Hughes Medical training grant and scholarship during medical school at the University of Massachusetts and UCSD and has published papers on pathogen detection and characterization, genetic sequence analysis and algorithms, and several other topics related to systems biology. 

In this week's podcast, Dr. Sittler and Sonya talk about defining metabolic health, what you need to consider to be metabolic resilient, and topics like blood glucose, sleep, chronic, and more.

Key Takeaways:

• Defining metabolic health
• What food is the worst for glucose spikes
• How sleep impacts your metabolism
• Tips to blunt glucose 
• What type of exercise is best for metabolic health
• Chronic stress’ role in metabolic health

--------------
The Grow the Good Podcast is produced by Palm Tree Pod Co. 

I've been reading a lot of children's books and have been enjoying them. Some of the sentences jump right off the page. There are so many things we forget as we grow up, get set in our ways, and forget about the curiosity and openness of being a child.

In this week's podcast, I take a look at the life lessons from Dr. Seuss.

--------------
The Grow the Good Podcast is produced by Palm Tree Pod Co. 

It's hard to make changes. Growth is hard. Stress is uncomfortable. However, there are ways to be more resilient when adversity rears its head or when your resolve is being tested. The first step is asking what do you notice when challenges or stress arise? You might first notice how you feel physically followed by the onslaught of thoughts and feelings that occur in response to adversity. What is an effective way to decrease stress, improve decision-making, and more effectively work toward our goals? It turns out it's all about changing our perspective: widening the aperture with big-picture thinking.

Big picture thinking, psychological distancing, and self-talk are some ways to deal with stress, pursue goals, and manage challenges.

--------------
The Grow the Good Podcast is produced by Palm Tree Pod Co. 

Steve Magness is an expert on performance and the author of the new book - Do Hard Things: Why We Get Resilience Wrong and The Surprising Science of Real Toughness. He’s also the coauthor of the book Peak Performance.

His writing has appeared in Outside, Runner’s World, Forbes, Sports Illustrated, Men’s Health, and several other publications. His expertise on elite sport and performance has also appeared in The New York Times, Business Insider, ESPN The Magazine and more. 

Steve has served as an executive coach and served as a consultant on mental skills development for professional sports teams.

He has an undergraduate degree from the University of Houston and a graduate degree from George Mason University. He also ran a 4:01 mile in high school, the 6th fastest high school mile in US history at the time.

In this week’s podcast, Sonya and Steve talk toughness, persistence, self talk and more.

Key Takeaways:

• Real toughness
• Persistence 
• Self talk
• Tuning into the pain
• Leadership styles 
• Clutch state vs. flow state
• Toughness to Rest
• Expectation
• Vulnerability

--------------
The Grow the Good Podcast is produced by Palm Tree Pod Co. 

Alex Soojung-Kim Pang, author and speaker, is the global programs and research manager for 4 Day Week Global, a non-profit focused on advancing the 4-day work week. He speaks around the world about the 4-day week and the future of work, and talks about how deliberate rest makes creative careers more productive and sustainable. 

Alex is the author of four books including Shorter: Work Better, Smarter, and Less - Here’s How, and Rest: Why You Get More Done When You Work Less.

He received his B.A. and Ph.D. in history of science from the University of Pennsylvania. He also studied corporate planning at the Wharton School. He taught history of science at Williams College, UC Berkeley and UC Davis and also worked for several years as the managing editor of Encyclopedia Britannica. He launched his company Strategy and Rest after working as a senior consultant at Institute for the Future and Strategic Business Insights in Silicon Valley.

In this week’s podcast, Alex and Sonya talk about the benefits of rest, the future of work, and more.

Key Takeaways:

• Why we overwork and don’t rest
• What is deliberate rest?
• Default mode network and mind wandering
• The power of naps
• Intellect and athletics
• The 4 ways to rest
• Power of routine for creativity
• How many hours should we work?

--------------
The Grow the Good Podcast is produced by Palm Tree Pod Co. 

Stephen Seiler, Professor in Sport Science at the University of Adger, is internationally known for his research publications and lectures about organization of endurance training and intensity distribution. His work has influenced international research around training intensity distribution and the “polarized training model.” His work includes descriptive and experimental approaches, where he’s investigated cyclists, rowers, cross-country skiers, orienteers, and distance runners.

Dr. Seiler has published over 100 peer reviewed publications and written over 100 science articles about exercise physiology and the training process, and is a founding editorial board member of the International Journal of Sport Physiology and Performance.

Dr. Seiler grew up in the US and earned his doctoral degree from the University of Texas at Austin, but has lived and worked in Norway for 20 years. While currently a professor at the University of Agder in Kristiansand, Norway, he was previously Vice-Rector for Research and Innovation and past Dean of the Faculty of Health and Sport Science at the same university. 

He has also served on the Executive Board of the European College of Sport Science, where he founded the Elite Sport Performance Special Interest Group in 2014.

In this week’s podcast, Dr. Seiler and Sonya talk about what separates champions, data, periodization, moderation zones and more.

Key Takeaways:

• Can you rely on wearable devices?
• Breathing as a source of data
• Distinguishing champions - intensity discipline and triangulations
• How athletes can recognize how they feel
• Sustainable training
• Model of periodization
• Not relying on just the numbers on your device
• Concentration threshold
• Rest days
• Measuring heart rate variability

--------------
The Grow the Good Podcast is produced by Palm Tree Pod Co. 

Colin O’Brady is a 10-time world record breaking explorer, as well as a speaker, entrepreneur and expert on mindset. He completed the world’s first solo, unsupported and human-powered crossing of Antarctica. He set speed records for the Explorers Grand Slam and the Seven Summits and achieved the first human-powered ocean row across Drake Passage. 

He graduated from Yale University in economics and worked on Wall Street.

He is the author of The Impossible First and the recently released The 12-Hour Walk: Invest One Day, Conquer Your Mind, and Unlock Your Best Life.

You can hear Colin speak on mindset and high performance in his TedX talk.

In this week’s podcast, Sonya and Colin talk about accepting hard moments, optimism and overcoming limiting beliefs.

Key Takeaways:

• Accepting the hard moments to have more peak experiences
• Where his optimism comes from
• Limiting beliefs
• How to manage criticism 
• Why do a 12-hour walk
• Which limiting belief do you struggle with the most 
• The importance of vulnerability

--------------
The Grow the Good Podcast is produced by Palm Tree Pod Co.