The Art and Science of Thriving

Are you doing everything you can to stay positive, focused, and supportive of the people around you—but the pressure just keeps piling up?

You know the usual advice: sleep more, exercise, take breaks, set boundaries. But what happens when your workload is genuinely too heavy, resources are stretched, and there simply isn't enough time or capacity to do everything you're being asked to do?

In this episode of The Art and Science of Thriving, I tackle a question I hear constantly from overwhelmed leaders and professionals: How do you protect your well-being when you can't remove all the pressure?

I'll explain why sustained pressure isn't always an attitude or resilience problem. Sometimes it's a demand-resource problem—and no amount of positive thinking or better coping skills can permanently compensate for a workload that has outgrown your capacity.

You'll learn:

• Why “staying positive” isn't the same as wellbeing—and how pretending everything is fine can actually drain you further.
• How pressure changes your attention, thinking, patience, and ability to regulate your emotions—and the warning signs to watch for before you reach your limit.
• Why forced positivity and emotional masking can leave leaders more exhausted and less connected to their teams.
• How to create a minimum viable wellbeing floor—a small, realistic set of practices that protects your capacity during demanding periods.
• How to distinguish between something you need to cope with and something you actually need to change.
• The four-step CBRA protocol—Clarity, Boundaries, Rhythms, and Adjust—to help you turn the ideas into practical action.

I'll also share a simple approach for having the conversations that overwhelmed leaders often avoid: making the workload and its trade-offs visible so you can ask, “Which priority would you like us to change?”

And if you're leading others through a genuinely difficult season, I'll show you how to be honest about the pressure without becoming helpless, detached, or falsely positive.

If you're ready to protect your ability to feel well and function well—even when the pressure is real—this episode will give you practical tools you can start using immediately.

Plus, download the free Wellbeing Under Pressure Plan at Invictus.coach/resources and use the worksheet to map your demands, identify what's draining your capacity, establish your wellbeing floor, and decide what needs to change.

Instantly Unlock Performance Now

The "Thrive Hive" is a monthly membership to help teach, coach and support individuals, organizational teams and their leaders in reaching their full potential, and living a flourishing life with balance and well-being.

You get access to group coaching, monthly education, webinars/livecasts and other events, topic-based support and tools, and access to a private community of other like-minded individuals.

You can find out more or sign up clicking here!

Have some of your goals quietly disappeared under the weight of work, unexpected demands and everyday life?

You’re not alone—and the answer isn’t to push harder for the final months of the year.

In this episode of The Art and Science of Thriving, I share an evidence-based process for deciding what still deserves your limited time, energy and attention—and what you should consciously let go of.

You’ll learn:

• Why falling behind on your goals is often a capacity and attention problem—not a motivation problem.
• Why some goals should be kept, others redesigned and some consciously released.
• How unfinished and unresolved goals continue to consume mental bandwidth.
• Why real prioritization requires deciding what you will not do.
• How small, deliberately protected pockets of control can help you make progress—even when you don’t control all the demands coming at you.

I’ll also walk you through my five-step Fall Reset protocol: Pause, Assess, Reprioritize, Realign and establish a New Operating Rhythm.

Plus, you can download the free Fall Reset Worksheet at Invictus.coach/resources to audit your capacity, reconsider your goals and create a realistic plan for what still matters this year.

If you’re ready to stop reacting, let go of the guilt and deliberately refocus your attention, this episode will help you reset—without simply adding more to your already-full plate.

Instantly Unlock Performance Now

The "Thrive Hive" is a monthly membership to help teach, coach and support individuals, organizational teams and their leaders in reaching their full potential, and living a flourishing life with balance and well-being.

You get access to group coaching, monthly education, webinars/livecasts and other events, topic-based support and tools, and access to a private community of other like-minded individuals.

You can find out more or sign up clicking here!

What can a career in special operations teach us about staying calm when life feels overwhelming?

In this episode of The Art and Science of Thriving, I sit down with retired U.S. Navy Chief Matt Wheeler, whose career in special operations and explosive ordnance disposal required him to make critical decisions under extraordinary pressure. Since leaving the military, Matt has navigated disability, mental health challenges, single parenthood, and the transition into business leadership—giving him a unique perspective on what it really takes to thrive.

Together, we explore practical lessons that apply far beyond the military: how to stay focused when everything feels chaotic, why structure and habits matter, how great teams handle conflict, what leaders can do to build trust and accountability, and why purpose is often the key to overcoming adversity.

Whether you're leading a team, balancing work and family, or simply trying to become a little more resilient, you'll find practical, evidence-based ideas you can apply immediately.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Why calm isn't something you're born with—it's something you train.
• How breaking overwhelming problems into smaller actions reduces stress.
• The habits and routines that create resilience under pressure.
• Practical leadership lessons for building high-performing teams.
• How purpose, service, and continual growth help us navigate life's toughest challenges.

If you're looking for practical strategies to lead better, think more clearly, and thrive through adversity, this conversation is one you won't want to miss.

Instantly Unlock Performance Now

The "Thrive Hive" is a monthly membership to help teach, coach and support individuals, organizational teams and their leaders in reaching their full potential, and living a flourishing life with balance and well-being.

You get access to group coaching, monthly education, webinars/livecasts and other events, topic-based support and tools, and access to a private community of other like-minded individuals.

You can find out more or sign up clicking here!

Do you come back from vacation feeling like you need another vacation?

If so, you're not alone—and according to the research, it's probably not because you took too little time off. It's because most of us have been taught to vacation in ways that don't actually maximize recovery.

In this episode of The Art and Science of Thriving, I explore what decades of research from psychology and high-performance science tell us about how vacations really work—and why many of our assumptions are wrong.

You'll discover:

•  Why taking one long vacation each year may be less effective than several shorter breaks 
•  Why vacation benefits fade much faster than most people realize 
•  How detaching from work, relaxing, and having meaningful conversations have a bigger impact than your destination 
•  Why the days before you leave and the days after you return are just as important as the vacation itself 
•  A practical, evidence-based protocol for planning vacations that leave you genuinely refreshed instead of exhausted 

Whether you're planning a summer holiday, a long weekend, or simply trying to avoid burnout, this episode will help you use the vacation days you already have in ways that improve your performance, well-being, and long-term resilience.

Instantly Unlock Performance Now

The "Thrive Hive" is a monthly membership to help teach, coach and support individuals, organizational teams and their leaders in reaching their full potential, and living a flourishing life with balance and well-being.

You get access to group coaching, monthly education, webinars/livecasts and other events, topic-based support and tools, and access to a private community of other like-minded individuals.

You can find out more or sign up clicking here!

Do you come back from vacation more tired than when you left? 

You're not alone — and it's not a discipline problem.

In this episode of The Art and Science of Thriving, I break down what the actual research says about breaks, recovery, and vacations, because a lot of what gets repeated in the wellness world is either wrong or way overstated.

Most high-achievers treat breaks as a reward you earn after the work is done — or worse, a sign you're not tough enough to push through. I want to flip that completely, using real research instead of the productivity-hack version of it.

In this episode, I dive into:

• Four popular "rules" about breaks that the science doesn't actually support — including the 90-minute focus cycle, the willpower "tank" that supposedly drains, and whether the Pomodoro Technique's 25/5 split is really optimal.
• What actually works at every timescale — daily micro-breaks, weekly detachment, a monthly lighter week, and a genuinely surprising finding about vacations: several short trips beat one long one, every time.
• The single question you can ask about any break, at any timescale, to know whether it's actually working — or just relocating the thing that's straining you.
• A complete, periodized recovery protocol you can start building into your life this week, based on the same principles elite athletic programs use to turn hard effort into real, sustainable gains.

Plus, I've created a free one-page recovery protocol you can download from Invictus.coach/resources — daily, weekly, monthly, and annual recovery, laid out so you can start using it right away.

Instantly Unlock Performance Now

The "Thrive Hive" is a monthly membership to help teach, coach and support individuals, organizational teams and their leaders in reaching their full potential, and living a flourishing life with balance and well-being.

You get access to group coaching, monthly education, webinars/livecasts and other events, topic-based support and tools, and access to a private community of other like-minded individuals.

You can find out more or sign up clicking here!

What do you do when life gets overwhelming?

Research from neuroscience, sport psychology, resilience science, and Special Forces performance points to a surprisingly simple answer: regulate, refocus, and re-engage.

In this short, practical episode, Michael Schiel shares three evidence-based strategies to help you maintain your performance—or get back on track quickly—when stress, setbacks, and overwhelm show up.

You'll learn how to:
• Regulate your nervous system under pressure
• Refocus on what you can control
• Re-engage quickly when you've been knocked off track

Because peak performers aren't people who never lose their balance. They're people who know how to regain it quickly.

Breathe. Focus. Act.

Instantly Unlock Performance Now

The "Thrive Hive" is a monthly membership to help teach, coach and support individuals, organizational teams and their leaders in reaching their full potential, and living a flourishing life with balance and well-being.

You get access to group coaching, monthly education, webinars/livecasts and other events, topic-based support and tools, and access to a private community of other like-minded individuals.

You can find out more or sign up clicking here!

Why do so many ambitious, capable people eventually end up overwhelmed, emotionally exhausted, disengaged, or burned out — even when they are working hard and trying to succeed?

In this episode of The Art and Science of Thriving, I unpack what modern neuroscience, psychology, sport psychology, behavioral science, and performance research actually say about sustainable peak performance.

High performance is not simply about grinding harder, pushing endlessly, or relying on motivation. The evidence increasingly shows that sustainable peak performance is built through:

• Clarity
• Recovery
• Emotional regulation
• Adaptive stress
• Meaningful goals
• Strong systems and habits
• The ability to recover and adapt under pressure over time.

In this episode, I walk you through the five major components that consistently show up across elite performers in sport, leadership, business, learning, and life:

1. Clarity — including clarity of goals, meaning, purpose, and identity
2.  Homeostasis and Wellbeing — sleep, recovery, stress regulation, movement, nutrition, and relationships
3.  Learning and Adaptation — deliberate practice, feedback loops, progressive challenge, and recovery cycles
4.  Mental and Emotional Capacities — emotional regulation, attentional control, resilience, and psychological flexibility
5.  Habits and Behaviors — routines, environmental design, prioritization, consistency, boundaries, and recovery-protective systems

I also explore one of the biggest shifts in modern performance science:
 The highest performers are often not the people who can tolerate the most stress.

They are the people who can:

•  Regulate themselves most effectively
•  Recover most effectively
•  Adapt most effectively
•  Sustain performance over long periods without breaking down physically, mentally, or emotionally.

Later in the episode, I also briefly discuss how sustainable performance systems may need to look different for:

• Adults with ADHD and neurodiversity
•  Post-menopausal women

The science in this episode applies to anything in your life - sports, business, leadership, school, hobbies - you name it. 

And if you want a good summary, check out invictus.coach/resources, where I will have an executive summary of the main concepts!

Instantly Unlock Performance Now

The "Thrive Hive" is a monthly membership to help teach, coach and support individuals, organizational teams and their leaders in reaching their full potential, and living a flourishing life with balance and well-being.

You get access to group coaching, monthly education, webinars/livecasts and other events, topic-based support and tools, and access to a private community of other like-minded individuals.

You can find out more or sign up clicking here!

What actually separates the people who continue growing, succeeding, and reinventing themselves from those who stop after setbacks, rejection, or failure?

In this episode of The Art and Science of Thriving, I sit down with Steven Puri for a fascinating conversation about resilience, reinvention, high performance, failure, identity, and what it really takes to keep moving forward when life does not go according to plan.

Steven is one of the few people in the world who has been both a senior executive at major Hollywood film studios and also raised more than $20 million in venture capital.

He produced the digital effects for Independence Day, which won the Academy Award for Visual Effects, worked on films including Braveheart, founded multiple technology companies with both successful exits and failures, and later served as a VP at 20th Century Fox and an EVP at DreamWorks Pictures.

But what makes this conversation so powerful is not just Steven’s success.

It is his perspective on rejection, persistence, failure, reinvention, and learning.

Throughout this episode, we explore:

• Why tenacity often matters more than talent
• How high performers learn from failure instead of being defined by it
• The psychology of rejection and why most setbacks are not as personal as we think
• How to know when to keep pushing forward versus when to pivot or reinvent yourself
• The role of timing, luck, and preparation in success
• Why being around elite performers accelerates growth and learning
• How identity, mindset, and emotional regulation shape long-term performance

We also discuss the neuroscience and psychology behind failure, learning, resilience, and sustainable high performance — including why the brain is naturally wired for adaptation and growth if we approach setbacks the right way.

This episode is packed with practical insights for leaders, entrepreneurs, professionals, creators, and anyone navigating uncertainty, pressure, transition, or growth in their own life.

If you have ever struggled with failure, questioned whether to keep going, or wondered how high performers continue moving forward through setbacks and reinvention, this is an episode you will not want to miss.

Instantly Unlock Performance Now

The "Thrive Hive" is a monthly membership to help teach, coach and support individuals, organizational teams and their leaders in reaching their full potential, and living a flourishing life with balance and well-being.

You get access to group coaching, monthly education, webinars/livecasts and other events, topic-based support and tools, and access to a private community of other like-minded individuals.

You can find out more or sign up clicking here!

If you’ve ever set goals that truly mattered to you—only to lose momentum, get pulled in different directions, and eventually stop following through—you’re not alone.

In this episode of The Art and Science of Thriving, I break down one of the most common and frustrating challenges high-performing people face:
“I know what to do… so why am I not doing it?”

The answer is not what most people think.

Most people assume they’re not achieving their goals because they lack discipline, motivation, or consistency. But when you look at the science of behavior change, neuroscience, and performance, a very different picture emerges.

This isn’t a goal problem—it’s a system problem.

In this episode, I walk you through:

•  The real reason behavior change fails, and why effort and discipline are often the wrong solution 
•  The four core breakdown points that stop people from following through—especially under pressure 
•  The five-stage pathway of behavior change, and where most people get stuck 
•  A clear, evidence-based protocol you can use to change any behavior in your life 

You’ll learn how your behavior is actually driven by identity, habits, environment, and your nervous system—and why your goals will not sustain unless those systems are aligned.

Free Worksheet to Help You Apply This to Your Own Life

I have created a self-audit you can use to apply the most important parts to your own life. You can find it at invictus.coach/resources

Instantly Unlock Performance Now

The "Thrive Hive" is a monthly membership to help teach, coach and support individuals, organizational teams and their leaders in reaching their full potential, and living a flourishing life with balance and well-being.

You get access to group coaching, monthly education, webinars/livecasts and other events, topic-based support and tools, and access to a private community of other like-minded individuals.

You can find out more or sign up clicking here!

How do you actually get people to care about their work?

Not just show up—but bring energy, focus, ownership, and commitment every day.

In this episode, I break down what employee engagement really is—and more importantly, how leaders actually create it in real-world environments.

In this episode, I walk you through:

•  A clear, evidence-based definition of employee engagement (and what it really looks like in practice) 
•  The measurable impact of engagement on performance, well-being, retention, quality, and client outcomes 
•  The 7 core drivers of engagement: meaning, safety, clarity, autonomy, support, growth, and connection 
•  Why managers—not just senior leaders—are the most critical factor in shaping engagement 
•  How engagement is built (or broken) through everyday leadership behaviors and interactions 

And most importantly, I give you 3 practical, high-impact actions you can apply immediately to improve engagement on your team:

•  How to create clarity and focus every single week 
•  How to turn your 1:1s into powerful engagement conversations 
•  How to respond in key moments (mistakes, input, challenges) to build trust and ownership 

If you lead people—or want to create a team that is focused, committed, and performing at a high level—this episode gives you a clear, evidence-based model you can start applying right away.

Free Livecast on Employee Engagement and How to Build It

If this topic is really important to you, you should come to my free livecast on Wednesday April 15th, 2026, where I go over the model, ways to tell whether you need to apply this, and introduce some ways to do so. 

Click here to find out more or to register for free

Instantly Unlock Performance Now

The "Thrive Hive" is a monthly membership to help teach, coach and support individuals, organizational teams and their leaders in reaching their full potential, and living a flourishing life with balance and well-being.

You get access to group coaching, monthly education, webinars/livecasts and other events, topic-based support and tools, and access to a private community of other like-minded individuals.

You can find out more or sign up clicking here!