The Dr. Greg Wells Podcast

The Dr. Greg Wells Podcast

By Dr. Greg WellsScienceMedicineHealth & FitnessEducationSelf-ImprovementLife Sciences
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The Dr. Greg Wells Podcast episodes

  • #43 - Work Better, Rest Better: Dr. Lisa Bélanger on Tiny Habits for Big Performance
    Closing the gap between intention and action—making evidence-based mental health and performance habits simple enough to do daily at work and at home. 
    In today’s conversation Lisa Bélanger explores how to design days that reliably produce focus, energy, and calm—especially in uncertainty. She and Dr. Wells unpack why behavior change fails when it relies on motivation alone, and how to use “make it easy and attractive” design to make the right choice the default. They dig into exercise as first-line therapy for cancer-related fatigue, what nature does to the brain during recovery, and how “doormat” rituals separate work from home when boundaries blur. Expect practical micro-habits grounded in psychology, neuroscience, and behavioral medicine. 
    You will learn a simple behavior-design formula: engineer your physical and social environments so the desired action is the easiest one available. You will learn why exercise acts like a drug for fatigue (even during treatment) and how clinicians drove 97% adherence with a “just show up” contract. You will learn a three-bucket break model—connect to self, others, or nature—and why even three minutes off-screen changes mood and performance. You will also learn practical mindfulness (notice wandering, bring it back) and “doormat” rituals that bookend the workday so you can be fully present at work and fully present at home. 
    You will discover that motivation usually follows smart design—tiny, friction-free steps compound faster than willpower. You will discover that nature reliably downshifts the brain’s decision-making load, accelerating recovery and clarity. 
    Feeling overwhelmed by uncertainty, screens, and endless to-dos. Lisa gives you a playbook to regain agency—design the next three minutes, not the next three months.
    45 min
  • #185. Masterclass on Mental Health Part 1: With Dr. Gina Di Giulio, Michael Landsberg, and Dr. Bill Howatt

    Welcome back!

    In today’s Masterclass we’re going to dig into the most prevalent topic we’ve heard from our guests over the past couple of years: mental health. Since this is such a big and important topic, this is going to be the first of a two part series on mental health.

    This week we’re going to hear from Dr. Gina Di Giulio, who talks about managing stress and anxiety, Michael Landsberg, who has developed a movement around the idea of sick not weak, and Dr. Bill Howatt, who is an expert on mental health and who recently published a book No Regrets.

    Enjoy this Masterclass!

    1 hr 11 min
  • #42 - “Imagine If”: Simon Whitfield on Mastery, Visualization & Joy
    How to sustain a meaningful, healthy high-performance life—during and after peak achievement—by turning pressure, identity shifts, and fear into purpose, calm decision-making, and daily practices that actually stick. 
    In today’s conversation Simon Whitfield explores the mindset behind his Sydney 2000 Olympic gold and Beijing 2008 silver, and how visualization, breath control, and teamwork shaped those races. He shares the “imagine if” habit from his training log, the deliberate use of a domestique strategy in 2008, and the “do-nothing defense” for regaining composure in decisive moments. Simon opens up about the costs of fame, the post-career identity pivot, and why rebuilding around nature—specifically time on the ocean—restored his presence with family and joy in daily life. The result is a practical blueprint for anyone navigating pressure, change, or reinvention. 
    You will learn how Whitfield used mental rehearsal—“seeing the race” countless times—to solve scenarios before they happened. You will learn how a team-first plan (with Colin Jenkins as domestique) let him dictate Beijing’s race dynamics instead of reacting. You will learn a field-tested calm-under-duress protocol: nasal breathing, relaxing grip/tension, and delaying reactions—the “do-nothing defense.” You will also learn why seeking empty space (water, nature, boredom) is not a luxury but a performance tool that improves focus, relationships, and decision quality. 
    You will discover that mastery is largely the precise application of attention and energy—repeated with joy—more than raw talent. You will discover how simple pre-commitment cues (“imagine if…”) and environmental design (water, horizon, quiet) reliably flip your physiology from panic to presence. 
    Feeling hijacked by pressure or transition. Simon shows how to reset identity and agency—breath first, choose the controllable move, and build rituals that make composure your default under stress.
    50 min
  • #184. Masterclass on Overcoming Obstacles: With Silken Laumann, Tara Norton, and Lisa Bentley

    Welcome back to another Masterclass!

    Today we’re going to be looking at the topic of overcoming obstacles. We’ve had the incredible opportunity of interviewing some incredible athletes on this podcast and today you’ll hear from Olympic medalist Silken Laumann, Ultraman Champion Tara Norton, and eleven-time Ironman Champion Lisa Bentley. As you listen to this episode, you’ll start to see some patterns emerge around mindset and practices that these athletes have used to overcome obstacles and become the best of the best.

    Enjoy!

    51 min
  • #41 - No Health Without Mental Health: Dr. Gina Di Giulio on Practical Mental Health
    How to make evidence-based mental health care simpler, faster, and more actionable—so individuals and organizations can reduce anxiety, improve resilience, and access the right support without getting lost in a confusing system.
    In today’s conversation Gina Di Giulio explores why “there is no health without mental health,” and how to cut through confusion to get high-quality support quickly. She and Dr. Wells unpack practical strategies for coping with anxiety, protecting sleep, using exercise as “medicine,” limiting news exposure, and staying socially connected while physically distant. Gina explains her “action first” philosophy—take a small, controllable step to jump-start motivation—and shares how gratitude journaling and strengths-based psychology move people from neutral to flourishing. You’ll hear real-world, clinician-tested tactics that work for busy leaders, parents, and teams. 
    You will learn a simple decision filter for anxiety: identify what’s controllable and take one small step, because action reduces anxious rumination. You will learn the core pillars of brain recovery—sleep, screen-free time, time in nature, music, and movement—and how to implement them in a modern workday. You will learn why Gina prescribes exercise like a drug (the “3×30” guideline) and how social connection amplifies its mental health benefits. You will also learn how gratitude journaling and a strengths-based approach from positive psychology can shift mood from “minus” to “plus.”
    You will discover that motivation follows action—not the other way around—and that even a 1% step changes state. You will discover how small daily practices (news limits, scheduled self-care, brief nature breaks) build stress-resilience you can feel.
    Feeling overwhelmed by uncertainty and decision fatigue. Gina offers a playbook to regain agency—clarify control, take a single step, and build momentum—so you can lead, parent, and perform without burning out.
    45 min
  • #183. Masterclass on Gratitude: With John Foley, Steve Foran, and Pete Bombaci

    Welcome back!

    We’re going to change things up over the next couple of months.

    As we look back at the past few years of this podcast, some topics kept coming up over and over again. So we’d like to dedicate some episodes to digging deep into some of the key themes that have emerged over the past few years.

    This week we’re going to look back at three guests who talked a lot about gratitude: John Foley, Steve Foran, and Pete Bomabaci. John was our first ever guest and is a former lead pilot for the Blue Angels, Steve has dedicated his career to the power of gratitude, and Pete is the leader of the GenWell Project.

    Enjoy!

    59 min
  • #40 - Grief, Risk and Freedom: Climber Brette Harrington on Fear, Loss & Flow
    Brette is addressing how to keep living — and performing — fully in the face of fear, grief, and events you can’t control. She’s showing listeners how to trust their own inner voice, manage real risk, and rebuild a meaningful life after trauma instead of letting other people’s fears or expectations dictate their choices. 
    In today’s conversation Brette Harrington explores how a life built in the mountains has shaped her resilience, creativity, and sense of purpose. She shares her journey from skiing with her parents in Lake Tahoe to boarding school in New Hampshire, discovering rock climbing, and eventually becoming one of the world’s leading trad climbers, alpinists, and free soloists — including the first free solo of the 2,500-foot Chiaro di Luna (5.11a) in Patagonia. She and Dr. Wells talk through her serious ski accident and broken neck, the years of big-wall and alpine climbing with her partner Marc-André Leclerc, and the devastating avalanche that took his life in 2018. Brette explains why she chose to return to the mountains against others’ advice, how she now manages fear on big objectives, and why moving slowly, breathing deeply, and listening to her energy are non-negotiable for both safety and performance.
    You will learn how Brette’s progression from ski racing and freestyle skiing into sport, trad, big wall, and ultimately high-end alpine climbing gave her an unusually broad toolkit for huge mountain objectives. You will learn how she thinks about skill acquisition: layering disciplines over time (rock, ice, mixed, skiing) and deliberately seeking terrain that exposes her weaknesses so she keeps growing. 
    You will learn her practical process for managing fear on a route — starting with honest morning self-assessment, choosing objectives that match her mental energy, and then using breath, heart-rate awareness, and deliberate relaxation to prevent the “overgrip” that leads to mistakes. You will also learn how she navigated breaking her neck in a ski crash, the slow rehab and Atlas realignment work that followed, and how she used running, yoga, and core training to rebuild enough capacity to establish demanding new alpine routes like Life Compass, The Sound of Silence, MA’s Vision, and Just a Nibble after Marc-André’s death.
    You will discover that calm is a trainable physiological state, not a personality trait — by choosing your days carefully, focusing on breathing, and relaxing your grip, you can keep your brain and body working even when exposure, risk, or stress spike. You will discover that sometimes the most courageous move after loss is to ignore the chorus of “shoulds,” follow the environment where you genuinely heal, and honour the people you’ve lost by continuing the work you started together.
    Many people feel paralysed by fear — of failure, of risk, of what others will think — especially after something traumatic happens. Brette’s experience shows how to respect real danger while refusing to let fear or outside opinions shrink your life, giving listeners a blueprint for returning to their version of the “big mountains” after injury, grief, or setbacks.
    37 min
  • #182. Shawn Kanungo on The Bold Ones

    Welcome back!

    This week I had the amazing opportunity to sit down with Shawn Kanungo, an expert in disruption and innovation. 

    Shawn is a globally recognized innovation strategist. He previously spent 12 years at Deloitte working closely with leaders to better plan for the opportunities associated with disruptive innovation. Shawn is a Partner with Queen & Rook, where he advises leading organizations and executives on disruptive trends.

    His work and interviews have been featured in The Globe & Mail, The Guardian, CBC and CTV. His debut book, The Bold Ones: Innovate and Disrupt to Become Truly Indispensable, releases on December 6, 2022. This book unpacks the DNA of disruptors, showing us  how to make a dent in any field. 

    Enjoy the conversation!

    40 min
  • #39 - From Olympic Gold Medals to Great Traits: Mark Tewksbury & Debbie Muir on High-Performance Leadership
    Mark and Debbie are solving the problem of leaders and high performers chasing results without a clear, teachable framework for how to think, train, and lead like champions. Too many organizations default to hustle, pressure, and vague “motivation” instead of building fundamentals, mind–body awareness, and the habits that actually create sustainable achievement, strong teams, and meaningful legacy. Through The Great Traits framework, they’re turning Olympic-level performance principles into practical tools that anyone can apply at work and in life. 
    In today’s conversation Mark Tewksbury and Debbie Muir explore how an Olympic crisis turned into a blueprint for high-performance leadership. Mark shares the story of being “second best in the world” in the 100m backstroke, watching American rival Jeff Rouse blow the world record apart, and realizing he needed to find over a second of improvement in just ten months — the same improvement it had taken him seven years to earn. Debbie describes how she came out of retirement, brought her synchronized-swimming coaching genius across sports, and helped Mark rebuild his race from fundamentals: starts, turns, underwater dolphin kick, mental scripts, and the mind-body connection. 
    Together with Dr. Wells, they connect that Olympic journey to The Great Traits of Champions framework, their 24 Achiever–Leader–Legacy traits, and the 12-week Corporate Champions Program that now helps leaders around the world train like elite athletes while leading with values and impact.
    You will learn how Mark and Debbie broke down a seemingly impossible performance gap — 1.2 seconds in a 100m race — by going back to basics instead of chasing gimmicks, focusing on the 30% of the race that happens in the start, turn and underwater phase, where Mark was leaving huge potential untapped. 
    You will learn how Debbie’s “Utilize the Power of Thoughts” trait, metacognition (“think about what you think about”), and tools like the WAIT cue — What Am I Thinking? — help athletes and executives notice and rewire unhelpful mental loops in real time. You will learn how they translated their Olympic playbook into the Great Traits system of 24 Achiever, Leader, and Legacy traits, and why they structure their Corporate Champions Program as an “applied” 12-week training block rather than a one-off workshop. You will also learn how self-reflection, values, and legacy traits like Embody Your Values, Influence Others Wisely, and Continually Evolve can anchor performance so it’s not just about winning medals or hitting targets, but about the ripple effect of who you become in the process.
    You will discover that the same tools that win Olympic gold — fundamentals, deliberate practice, and mind-body awareness — are exactly the tools leaders need to navigate uncertainty, pressure, and reinvention in their careers. You will discover how bringing unconscious thoughts to the surface, challenging limiting beliefs, and aligning your inner dialogue with your values can unlock a completely different level of performance, confidence, and impact.
    Their expertise helps solve the challenge of how to systematically grow from talented, driven individuals into purpose-driven leaders who can sustain high performance without burning themselves — or their teams — out. Using The Great Traits framework, they show listeners how to transform vague ideas like “mindset,” “confidence,” and “legacy” into trainable skills that can be practiced week after week, just like an athlete practices starts, turns, and finishes.
    46 min

About The Dr. Greg Wells Podcast

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