Bennett Sullivan has played banjo on Broadway, at the Grand Ole Opry, and on the Poker Face soundtrack. By any measure, he belongs on any stage. And for years, he couldn't convince himself of it. In this episode, Bennett is honest about the gap between what he's accomplished and how it's felt from the inside: the comparison that made him great and got in his way at the same time, the night on Broadway he was sure he'd ruined the show, and the shift that finally let him get out of his own way, which turned out to have almost nothing to do with the banjo. If you've ever been good at something and still felt like you were about to be found out, this one's for you.

Links:

• Bennett's teaching site: https://banjolicks.com
• Order The Genius and the Impostor: GeniusAndImpostor.com
• Bennett on Instagram: @thebennettsullivan
• Josh on Instagram: @brainjojosh

To get the "Genius Toolkit," head to GeniusAndImpostor.com.

Bryan Sutton is one of the best flatpickers alive, and like most great players, he'll tell you the guitar just came naturally to him. In this follow-up to my conversation with Bryan, I dig into what's really behind the making of a "natural," and what it means for you.

Links:

• Pre-order The Genius and the Impostor (out August 25): https://GeniusAndImpostor.com
• The full interview with Bryan Sutton: https://youtu.be/mF0MSRkrriM?si=oNmQxHoMon-UaRKT
• Instagram: @brainjojosh
• More at performanceneurology.institute

Bryan Sutton is a three-time Grammy winner and one of the most-recorded session guitarists in Nashville, with credits from Garth Brooks and Taylor Swift to Dolly Parton and Doc Watson. Yet, he's driven home from sessions convinced he'd never work in the town again. In this conversation we get into how he built his playing growing up immersed in the mountain music of Western North Carolina, why performing under pressure is a completely separate skill from playing well, and the mental shift he uses to get out of his own way.

Links:

• Pre-order The Genius and the Impostor: GeniusAndImpostor.com
• Take the Pressure Profile: PerformanceNeurology.institute/pressure-profile
• Bryan Sutton at ArtistWorks: ArtistWorks.com/Bryan-Sutton
• Bryan on Instagram: @bryansutton28
• Josh on Instagram: @brainjojosh

In this Genius Arc breakdown, Dr. Josh Turknett takes the story of Nelson Dellis — 6× USA Memory Champion and author of Everyday Genius — and runs it through the Genius and Impostor framework from his forthcoming book. You'll see how a man who says he "truly would have said my memory is average" built a championship-level skill from scratch, why five titles still couldn't stop his body from going into revolt before the sixth, and the reset that let him step on stage as "the most chill version of myself I've ever been." It's a clear, worked example of how capability is built, how pressure hijacks it, and how you get it back.

• Take the free Pressure Profile assessment (3 min): https://performanceneurology.institute/pressure-profile
• Pre-order The Genius and the Impostor: https://GeniusAndImpostor.com
• Read Brains, Banjos and Beyond: https://joshturknett.substack.com
• Nelson Dellis's book Everyday Genius: nelsondellis.com/everyday-genius
• Follow on Instagram: @brainjojosh

Links:

• Pre-order The Genius and the Impostor: GeniusAndImpostor.com
• Nelson's Instagram: @nelzor
• Josh's Instagram: @brainjojosh

Music by Jullienne Ellen (@julienneellencomposes)

Nelson Dellis can memorize a shuffled deck of cards in under 30 seconds, and he's won the USA Memory Championship six times. But he didn't start with a special memory. He built it from scratch, and he's adamant that nobody wins a memory competition on natural talent. In this conversation we get into how he actually trains, how watching his grandmother's decline from Alzheimer's set him on this path, and what it would take for you to build a memory like his.

Links:

• Nelson Dellis's book Everyday Genius: nelsondellis.com/everyday-genius
• Pre-order The Genius and the Impostor: GeniusAndImpostor.com
• Nelson's Instagram: @nelzor
• Josh's Instagram: @brainjojosh

Music by Jullienne Ellen (@julienneellencomposes)

Dr. Josh Turknett — neurologist and author of The Genius and the Impostor — introduces the show, the framework, and the two characters living inside your brain that determine whether you rise to the moment or fall apart.

In this episode:

• What performance neurology is and how it differs from clinical neurology
• What's happening in your brain when you collapse under pressure
• Meet the Genius and the Impostor — two systems in your brain fighting for control
• What to expect from this podcast

Links:

• Pre-order The Genius and the Impostor (August 2026): GeniusAndImpostor.com
• Learn more about Performance Neurology at performanceneurology.institute
• Subscribe to the newsletter: Brains, Banjos and Beyond on Substack
• Instagram: @brainjojosh

For more on how to apply neuroscience to practice smarter, check out the book "Anyone Can Play Music: Unlock Your Musical Potential with the Laws of Brainjo"

To learn more about music courses based on The Brainjo Method, head to brainjo.academy

The book: "Anyone Can Play Music: Unlock Your Musical Potential with the Laws of Brainjo"

To learn more about music courses based on The Brainjo Method, head to brainjo.academy

For more on how to apply neuroscience to practice smarter, check out the book "Anyone Can Play Music: Unlock Your Musical Potential with the Laws of Brainjo"

To learn more about music courses based on The Brainjo Method, head to brainjo.academy