The Inciting Incident

What if the very traits that make you successful are the same ones holding you back?

Dr. Tracey Marks, psychiatrist, educator, author of Why Am I So Anxious, and creator of a YouTube community of more than 2 million subscribers, joins Tim to explore the hidden costs of high performance and the psychology behind why we push ourselves beyond our limits.

Drawing on more than 25 years of clinical experience, Dr. Marks shares how our brains develop patterns of anxiety, how childhood experiences shape our emotional responses, and why even the things we desperately want can trigger fear. She also opens up about her own journey from electrical engineering to psychiatry, her experience with ADHD, and the personal reckoning that led her to rethink success, resilience, and the pressure to always be the dependable one.

In this conversation, they explore:

• The Performance Paradox: Why high achievers override their own needs and how to recognize when ambition becomes self-sabotage.

• Rewiring the Brain: How neuroplasticity, childhood conditioning, and our nervous system shape the way we think, feel, and respond to the world.

• Anxiety and the Fear of Change: Why we sometimes avoid the very things we want most and how to stop letting fear dictate our decisions.

• Finding Your Calling: Why aligning your work with your natural interests and strengths can transform your relationship with success.

Dr. Marks also shares the story behind building her 2-million-subscriber YouTube community, why meaningful work matters more than chasing views, and how education can become a lifeline for people navigating mental health challenges.

Whether you're struggling with burnout, questioning your path, or trying to reconnect with the person you were meant to become, this conversation is an invitation to slow down, understand yourself more deeply, and build a life that doesn't require you to sacrifice yourself to succeed.

What if the thing standing between you and your next chapter isn't a lack of talent, but a lack of courage?

Ryan Berman spent three years studying courageous leaders, elite athletes, entrepreneurs, and high performers to understand what separates those who move toward their fears from those who stay stuck. That journey transformed his career from running creative agencies to founding Courageous, a consultancy that helps leaders and organizations navigate fear and create meaningful change. In this conversation, Ryan shares the lessons behind his book Return on Courage, his experience collaborating with soccer legend Landon Donovan on his memoir, and why some of our biggest breakthroughs begin when we're willing to take a risk.

In this episode, we explore:

• The formula for courage: Why knowledge, faith, and action must work together to create meaningful change.

• Breaking free from fear: How self-doubt, workplace culture, and the need for approval keep us from reaching our potential.

• Taking the leap: Why you don't need all the answers before you act, and how taking the first step can unlock possibilities you can't yet see.

Whether you're sitting on a big idea, navigating a career change, or struggling to put yourself out into the world, Ryan's message is a powerful reminder that courage isn't about being fearless. It's about choosing to move forward anyway. Start by asking yourself one question: Where do you need courage the most?

What if performing at your best has less to do with confidence and grit, and more to do with how you care for yourself when life gets hard?

In this episode of The Inciting Incident, Tim Shields sits down with Dr. Amy Athey, clinical and performance psychologist, executive coach, and expert in high performance and resilience. Drawing on more than two decades of experience working with Olympic champions, U.S. Special Forces, and corporate executives, Amy shares what it really takes to navigate pressure, overcome adversity, and show up for the moments that define us. She also opens up about her own journey through personal heartbreak, single motherhood, and the hard-won lessons that reshaped her understanding of success.

Together, Tim and Amy explore:

• The Four C's of High Performance: Composure, clarity, connection, and courageous action, and how to put them into practice when the stakes are high.

• The Cost of Relentless Grit: Why a rigid focus on results and pushing through at all costs can undermine our well-being, relationships, and long-term success.

• Reconnecting Mind and Body: How slowing down, recognizing our emotions, and listening to our bodies can help us navigate stress and reconnect with ourselves.

• Redefining Success: Why recovery, meaningful relationships, and curiosity matter more than quick fixes, and how to discover who you are beyond a single role or identity.

Amy's forthcoming book, Moment Ready: How to Show Up When It Matters, offers a powerful reminder that life isn't about being perfectly prepared for every challenge. It's about building the skills, resilience, and self-awareness to meet each moment as it comes.

You don't have to feel completely confident or have everything figured out to take the next step. Sometimes, showing up means slowing down, reconnecting with what matters, and finding the courage to begin again.

What if the experiences that shaped your deepest wounds could also hold the keys to your greatest transformation?

Modern alchemist and vibrational medicine pioneer Adora Winquist joins Tim Shields to explore how childhood experiences, generational trauma, and the wisdom of nature can shape our journey toward healing and self-discovery. Drawing on more than three decades of work with aromatherapy, energy medicine, and spiritual development, Adora shares how essential oils, intentional breathing, and sensory experiences can help us reconnect with ourselves and create new patterns of well-being.

In this conversation, we explore:

• Generational trauma and transformation: How unresolved family patterns can influence our lives and how we can begin to break those cycles.

• The healing power of nature: How essential oils, scent, and conscious breathing can support nervous system regulation and help us cultivate new associations.

• Finding your soul's purpose: How childhood memories, meaningful experiences, and unexpected connections can guide us toward the life we're meant to live.

Adora also shares her journey from a childhood shaped by anxiety and uncertainty to a lifelong calling as a healer, including her work bringing sensory healing tools to military communities and veterans.

Your past doesn't have to define your future. Join Tim and Adora for a conversation about self-love, forgiveness, and the extraordinary possibility of transforming old wounds into wisdom.

What if the life you're fighting against is actually asking you to let go?

At 19, Daryl Dittmer was caught in addiction, fear, dishonesty, and a life that felt increasingly out of control. Nearly four decades of sobriety later, he has built a life around personal responsibility, surrender, trust, and the willingness to keep learning. From entrepreneurship and sales to coaching, writing, and his podcast Show Up, Daryl has discovered that the more he stops fighting what he cannot control, the more freedom he finds.

In this conversation, Daryl shares: • Why taking 100% responsibility for your life can actually be freeing • What surrender really means when you don't have all the answers • How rejection can build confidence and resilience • Why success can be as simple as waking up with a smile on your face • How letting go of an old version of yourself creates room for something stronger

You don't have to know exactly where you're going. Sometimes the next step is simply to stop fighting, show up, and trust the journey.

What if healing begins not with fixing yourself, but with finally listening to yourself?

After a lifetime of chronic illness, including asthma, severe allergies, celiac disease, chemical sensitivities, mold illness, and an MS diagnosis at 38, Christine Ruch spent years searching for answers. Her journey eventually led her beyond nutrition and conventional approaches into nervous system regulation, somatic healing, trauma work, spirituality, and the deeper wisdom of the body. Today, she helps others reconnect with their own capacity for healing and learn to trust what their bodies are telling them.

In this conversation, Christine and Tim explore:

• Why true healing requires more than addressing physical symptoms • How trauma, emotional patterns, and inherited beliefs can shape the way we experience our bodies • What it means to build emotional capacity and hold space for yourself • Why surrender and self-trust can be more powerful than control • How to recognize when you're living in service of old wounds rather than your true self

Christine shares how walking away from her businesses, marriage, home, and entire identity ultimately led her to a deeper understanding of herself and her healing.

If you feel stuck, disconnected from your body, or caught in the same patterns again and again, this conversation offers an invitation to slow down, listen inward, and discover what might be waiting underneath.

What if the deepest part of who you are is something you were born to remember?

Tim Shields welcomes back Dr. Alisha Doss, internationally recognized spiritual teacher, angel expert, and author of Your Angelic Ancestry, for a conversation about our celestial roots and the possibility that we are far more than our human identities. Alisha shares how connecting with our angelic ancestry can help us access higher consciousness, awaken our sense of purpose, and experience the divine more tangibly in everyday life.

Together, Tim and Alisha explore: • How to quiet the thinking mind and receive intuitive guidance • The "soul ache" that calls us toward awakening and remembering who we truly are • Why nature, creativity, and surrender can open the door to deeper insight • How pain, challenges, and life's initiations can become catalysts for spiritual growth • What it means to follow your calling instead of choosing the safer path

If you've ever felt that you're here for something bigger, this conversation offers an invitation to listen more deeply, trust what comes through, and remember the part of you that has always known the way.

What happens when surviving should feel like a second chance, but you still refuse to change?

After surviving not one but two Widowmaker heart attacks, AJ Jones was forced to confront a question many high achievers eventually face: Is the life you're building actually the life you want? From a 20-year career in financial services to discovering his biological family, launching a new company, and writing Powered by Authenticity, AJ shares how near-death experiences pushed him to stop living by other people's expectations and start honoring his authentic truth.

In this episode, Tim and AJ explore: • Why external achievement doesn't guarantee internal fulfillment • The role of fear, faith, surrender, and trust in major life changes • How ignoring your inner calling can create a deeper kind of pain • Why we should stop postponing the life we actually want

If you've ever felt trapped by a career, identity, or expectation that no longer fits, this conversation is an invitation to listen to that quiet voice and take the next step.

What if the life you've built is actually keeping you from the life you're meant to live?

After nearly 25 years producing breaking news and world events for CNN, CBS, and Univision, Cesar Marin found himself asking a radically different question: What story was he actually living? A psychedelic experience at 55 became a catalyst for rethinking his relationship with cannabis, his career, his family, and his own sense of purpose. Today, Cesar is helping others explore presence, personal reinvention, responsible psychedelic education, and deeper connection.

In this conversation, Tim and Cesar explore:

• How psychedelics can disrupt old patterns and change the way we see ourselves • Why integration and presence matter more than the psychedelic experience itself • The difference between providing for your family and truly being present with them • What happens when you stop chasing success and start asking what actually matters • Why our greatest transformation may come from learning to let go

Cesar's message is simple but powerful: today is the best day of your life. The question is whether you're actually present enough to live it.

What happens when the identity you built your entire life around suddenly disappears?

Emmy Award-winning investigative journalist and communications advisor Ann Kiel-Dux joins Tim to talk about the cancer diagnosis that changed everything. After years of reporting from crime scenes, natural disasters, and other people's worst days, Ann suddenly found herself facing her own. Her experience taught her that the biggest communication problem most people face isn't a lack of knowledge or preparation. It's losing access to themselves when the pressure hits.

In this deeply personal conversation, Ann explores:

• Why confidence is an output, not a starting point • The difference between confidence and certainty • How to stop performing authenticity and actually uncover who you are • Why preparation matters, but knowing when to let go matters more • The power of breathing, pausing, and showing up as your whole self • How our biggest setbacks can reveal the values and gifts that were there all along

From marrying the love of her life five weeks after being diagnosed with cancer to working for the cancer center that saved her life, Ann's story is a powerful reminder that sometimes the greatest pivot isn't away from who we were, but toward who we've always been.

Your bruises aren't something to hide. They might be the very things that teach you how to show up fully.