The Morning Upgrade Podcast with Ryan Cote

Kevin Williams spent more than a decade dealing with serious concussions and then a Lyme disease diagnosis that took 10 years to find. Today he's the co-founder of Ravel Health, a virtual care platform for people with complex chronic illness like Lyme, mold toxin illness, long COVID, ME/CFS, and fibromyalgia.

We talk about Kevin's simple morning routine of meditation and breathwork, why he treats his energy as finite even while running a startup, and the big lesson from launching: they learned more in the first month of their pilot than in a year and a half of research.

Kevin also walks through what raising money really looks like, from friends and family to an accelerator to crowdfunding, and the pressure that comes with it. We wrap up with a great conversation on purpose and why the "meaning of life" question gets quieter when you're working on something that matters to you.

Take the ideas from this show and put them to work. Grateful Go-Getters is my daily accountability community...post what you're grateful for and your #1 task each morning. $5/month or $37/year. Free trial: https://www.skool.com/grateful-go-getters-8488/about

Versandra Kennebrew spent 26 years in holistic health as a massage therapist, energy healer, and yoga teacher. Today she calls herself a human connection speaker, which means she builds experiences where people reconnect with each other and with themselves. Her point is that with technology in the middle of everything, we forget we are human beings first.

She walks Ryan through her mornings, and gratitude is the first thing on her mind before she even gets out of bed. Breathing, intentions, an affirmation playlist she made herself, movement, and journaling on the days she needs it. She also spent over two years walking two miles to work and two miles home, not for a fitness plan, but because her legs work and using them is how she keeps them working. She is over 60 and went to yoga teacher training at 55.

The back half gets personal. Five years as her father's primary caregiver, what that showed her about her own aging, and why she is leaving in February for 27 months in Senegal as a Peace Corps maternal health specialist. If you need a reminder that a plan put on hold is not a plan canceled, listen to this one.

Take the ideas from this show and put them to work. Grateful Go-Getters is my daily accountability community...post what you're grateful for and your #1 task each morning. $5/month or $37/year. Free trial: https://www.skool.com/grateful-go-getters-8488/about

Joel Bein helps entrepreneurs find and clear the subconscious beliefs behind self-doubt, stress, overworking and procrastination. In this conversation he explains what a limiting belief actually is, why most of them get wired in during childhood, and how they quietly shape your thoughts, emotions and results without you noticing.

He also shares the question he uses to surface a belief: what would I have to believe for me to be experiencing this? From there he walks through the Santa Claus effect, the moment you realize you never had proof for the story in the first place, and why a belief that drops that way does not come back.

We also get into his morning routine, which he has been refining for 10 to 12 years: bed made, big glass of water, five minutes of meditation, sunlight and movement outside, journaling and a walk, then creative deep work. Ryan compares notes, including his eye ice pack experiment that his kids think is nuts.

Take the ideas from this show and put them to work. Grateful Go-Getters is my daily accountability community...post what you're grateful for and your #1 task each morning. $5/month or $37/year. Free trial: https://www.skool.com/grateful-go-getters-8488/about

Dr. Judy Toney is a functional medicine provider in Boulder, Colorado, and the founder of atoneMD. She came into functional medicine through hormone therapy about 12 years ago, then shifted her focus toward autoimmune conditions, environmental exposures, and detoxification after living through complex chronic illness herself. She is also a lifelong runner and has been rock climbing for the better part of 20 to 30 years.

In this conversation she walks through a morning routine built around a forced hour of waiting, and why she uses that hour for quiet breathing instead of rushing. She explains her version of Bulletproof coffee with ghee and coconut oil, where the gut actually starts (hint: much higher than you think), and the foods she keeps coming back to for gut health. She also gets honest about the overwhelm of endless health advice, including the fact that even the experts contradict each other, and how she narrows it down to something a person can actually live with.

Judy also opens up the business side. She left a large corporation because she was tired of being told how to practice, and she talks candidly about the freedom that came with it and the weight that came with it too. Plus the one thing she would do differently if she started over, and her number one habit that has carried her through every part of her life.

Take the ideas from this show and put them to work. Grateful Go-Getters is my daily accountability community...post what you're grateful for and your #1 task each morning. $5/month or $37/year. Free trial: https://www.skool.com/grateful-go-getters-8488/about

Gideon Enok spent five months walking solo from Denmark to the coast of Spain during the 2020 pandemic. No clear plan. No real explanation for why he started. Just a voice at the ocean one morning that said, "Why don't you walk from Denmark to Santiago?" Two weeks later, he was on the road.

In this conversation, Gideon breaks down the three phases of long walking (physical, mental, and spiritual), shares the story of his most painful day on the trail and how it led to forgiveness, and explains why this slow, simple practice changed his life more than anything else he's ever tried. He also talks about his new memoir, The Pilgrim Spirit, and what it was like working with Gregory David Roberts (author of Shantaram) as his writing mentor.

If you've ever been curious about walking the Camino de Santiago or wondered what happens when you strip life down to just putting one foot in front of the other for months on end, this one's for you.

Take the ideas from this show and put them to work. Grateful Go-Getters is my daily accountability community...post what you're grateful for and your #1 task each morning. $5/month or $37/year. Free trial: https://www.skool.com/grateful-go-getters-8488/about

In this episode, I talk with Dr. Michael Kaye, a chiropractor and functional medicine practitioner who has been helping patients improve their health for over 37 years.

Michael's story starts in ninth-grade Philadelphia, where he went from an overweight kid shopping at a store for "husky men and boys" to a competitive bodybuilder, all inspired by Dr. Franco Columbu (Arnold Schwarzenegger's best friend and a chiropractor).

We cover a lot of ground in this one: why Michael set a goal to live to 110, what longevity preparedness actually means beyond just staying healthy, a simple brain exercise using your non-dominant hand, his morning workout and supplement-loaded coffee routine, how he's using AI in his practice to stay present with patients, and what almost four decades of running a practice has taught him about avoiding burnout.

If you want practical habits to keep your mind sharp and your body strong as you age, you're going to enjoy this conversation.

Take the ideas from this show and put them to work. Grateful Go-Getters is my daily accountability community...post what you're grateful for and your #1 task each morning. $5/month or $37/year. Free trial: https://www.skool.com/grateful-go-getters-8488/about

In this episode of the Morning Upgrade Podcast, Ryan talks with Sheree Young, COO of Vitality Natural Wellness. Sheree shares how The Miracle Morning helped her create slower, more intentional mornings, why breathwork has become one of her go-to tools for stress, and how a consistent nighttime routine supports better sleep. She also opens up about life as an empty nester, working in functional medicine, navigating busy seasons, and the value of taking hard seasons one step at a time.

Take the ideas from this show and put them to work. Grateful Go-Getters is my daily accountability community...post what you're grateful for and your #1 task each morning. $5/month or $37/year. Free trial: https://www.skool.com/grateful-go-getters-8488/about

In this episode, Dr. Joseph Conerty shares practical lessons from psychology, therapy, and business ownership that can help you think clearer, communicate better, and build healthier routines. He breaks down how to listen more effectively, build trust faster, and protect your energy through exercise, sleep, and work-life balance. You’ll also hear what surprised him most about going from employee to business owner and the mindset shift required to make it work.

Take the ideas from this show and put them to work. Grateful Go-Getters is my daily accountability community...post what you're grateful for and your #1 task each morning. $5/month or $37/year. Free trial: https://www.skool.com/grateful-go-getters-8488/about

In this episode, Matt Kutz shares how a life-changing cancer diagnosis pushed him to rethink health, work, gratitude, and resilience. He talks about his morning routine, the danger of comfort zones, and why small doses of “curated disruption” can help us become stronger, more adaptable, and better prepared for life’s bigger challenges.

Take the ideas from this show and put them to work. Grateful Go-Getters is my daily accountability community...post what you're grateful for and your #1 task each morning. $5/month or $37/year. Free trial: https://www.skool.com/grateful-go-getters-8488/about

Alex shares how he and his wife launched a beverage brand on the side while he continued working as a firefighter, and what it really took to figure out the product, branding, distribution, and legal side as they went. He also talks about pushing through uncertainty, making smart investments, and staying resilient when the business nearly got wiped out before it had a real chance to grow.

Take the ideas from this show and put them to work. Grateful Go-Getters is my daily accountability community...post what you're grateful for and your #1 task each morning. $5/month or $37/year. Free trial: https://www.skool.com/grateful-go-getters-8488/about