The Range Project

David Ogle is a cognitive behavioral coach for business leaders and professional athletes around performance. At Dose Performance Coaching, David's specialty is in creating an environment for individuals to have their own moments of insight... then helping them take action. In this episode, David blends actionable tactics with the neuroscience to back it up. We cover how to cultivate moments of insight, establish a healthy pace after graduating college, set goals - and a lot more. This conversation really centers around how we can use what we know about the brain and human behavior to get us to live more in alignment with what we learn to be true in the world and about ourselves over time. Connect with David at dosecoaching.com and on Instagram @dosecoaching Full show notes here at chrismcgrory.net

Adam Stone is a pitcher for the Team USA Collegiate National Team, Falmouth Commodores of the Cape Cod Baseball League, and Harvard Baseball. He's a top professional prospect as a starting pitcher, standing at 6 foot 6 and over 215 pounds, and getting it up to 98 miles an hour with a wipeout slider—but he won't tell you that.  After listening back, I realized that Adam gives a crash course in sports psychology in this one. stress appraisal—how he re-frames his pre-game jitters as getting locked in self-talk—what he says on the mound and how he gathers confidence mental imagery—seeing a game before it happens positive mental approach—bouncing back from Tommy John surgery (a rehab process that takes a whole year) Beyond that, we talk about what he learned about preparation from playing alongside the best college guys in the country and we even dive into how he gained 40 pounds in a little over a year. Full show notes here at chrismcgrory.net

David Havelick is a Senior Sustainability Manager at Harvard, focused on overseeing the university's climate impact.  While there are a bunch of different areas for improvement, David is especially committed to Harvard's climate impact through food. He helped champion Harvard joining the Cool Food Pledge which is a commitment to reducing the school's green house gas emissions from food by 25% by 2030 - an effort we connected over. In this one we talk about how you and I can be more environmentally friendly - and the answer isn't a reusable water bottle or recycling. His answer actually might surprise you by focusing more on groups and less on individual responsibility.  Then we dial in on food. Since it's a top contributor to global climate change, what can be done? How's Harvard thinking about this issue?  Then we wrap up with learning more about David and especially his journey towards acting in alignment with his values - particularly with his food choices as someone who avoids animal based products for moral and environmental reasons. Full show notes at chrismcgrory.net

John Toracinta is the co-founder of NOSOLO, a brand on a mission to end the stigma of mental illness through their hats and other merchandise.  NOSOLO is a symbol that represents support for those who may have felt alone at some point. Because we already know mental illness does not discriminate, the logo really says nobody goes solo in whatever battle they're fighting. While the awareness and support born out of the product is important, NOSOLO has also committed 20% of profits to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) who help individuals and families get the support they need. In this conversation John shares: the origin story of NOSOLO and inspiration to build a mission focused brand how something as simple as a hat can lead to open and honest conversation about mental health what he's learned personally over the past few years from building a company from nothing. NOSOLO's mission aligns deeply with what I care most about and I'm so grateful to have had the opportunity to chat with its co-founder and expand its reach. If you're interested in doing a small part in helping end the stigma surrounding mental illness, head over to @nosolobrand on Instagram and nosolobrand.com. Also check out the NOSOLO Team participating in the 2021 NAMIWalk in Rhode Island (also virtual!) on October 24th. Full show notes here at chrismcgrory.net

Michael Bervell is a Ghanaian-American angel-investor, entrepreneur, and soon to be author, working in venture capital at Microsoft.  Michael graduated from Harvard in 2019 where he studied philosophy with a focus in computer science. He blogs daily on his popular website "Billion Dollar Startup Ideas" and has advanced that passion for startups into writing a book called Unlocking Unicorns, due out in August of 2021. The book is unique because it profiles 10 startup founders from Africa, Asia, and the Middle East - most of whom you've never heard of - who built billion dollar companies. In this conversation, we riff on the personal tactics of startup founders from his book that can be applied in our own lives - because not everybody has aspirations to build a billion dollar company, right - as well as dive into his own story - purposefully getting rejected everyday in high school, business lessons learned from his Ghanaian grandma, personal maxims that guide his decision making, and how he redefines time to be most productive. Full show notes here at chrismcgrory.net

I'm on vacation for the month in Costa Rica trying to hit pause, but I just finished a book, and as I was going through it and putting my notes into my computer, I figured it could be cool to do a book summary. Main take-aways, important arguments, interesting opinions, and anything else I feel was valuable after reading. So in this one I'm going to talk about The Story of the Human Body by Harvard Professor Dan Lieberman. My roommate took his class this semester that basically went through the book and from overhearing his lectures, I was intrigued. The book first outlines the human body's evolution - how the search for food and the globe's climate change together shaped us into the bodies we have today. Then, Part II looks at how the Agricultural and Industrial Revolutions greatly changed our environments - which is not good since we evolved for a very different way of life. Lastly, Part III explains how modern ailments - from diabetes to flat feet - can be understood from our evolution and what we can do to change the direction of a largely unhealthy future. So, with that said, please enjoy!

Eric Winters is a self-leadership coach and author of Swipe Right on Your Best Self which answers the question: how do we avoid the number one regret of the dying? The book is super straightforward with three hurdles we need to overcome, three ways to prepare the body, three ways to prepare the mind, and seven steps at the end to encourage behavior change towards being our authentic selves. But most importantly to me is that it is evidence-based and offers actionable tactics.  In this conversation we dive into questions I had about the book and actually make a lot of connections to Stoic philosophy.  We talk about how junk values from culture, that we've blindly adopted as our own, get in our way.  We talk about how to use the reality of our mortality to motivate us towards action.  We cover the importance of self-compassion and how it helps us achieve our goals.  We strip away the hippie lingo of mindfulness and chat about why it's such an important tool to train attention.  And, as you could guess, there's a whole lot more.  Full show notes here at chrismcgrory.net

Dr. Jacob Rode is a post-doc in the Harvard psychology department where he researches and teaches about the intersection of psychology and environmental sustainability.  Broadly speaking, he looks at why some people just do not care about the environment and how can we influence their opinion. And right now, Jacob is looking at how we can use renewable energy solutions to avoid the political polarization of climate change and environmental policy. On top of that, this past spring, I took his class called Nature Can Nurture. So, we dive into the benefits of spending time in nature and how he uses surfing for relaxation and meditation in his own life before talking about just how politicized our environmental opinions are and why that makes it hard to change others' beliefs. Please enjoy this one all about cool applications of social psychology.  Full show notes here at chrismcgrory.net

Derek Schaedig is outspoken about his experiences with mental illness because he hopes that it can reduce the stigma and help someone like himself know that it's okay to not be okay. See chrismcgrory.net for full show notes. I want to first say I think this episode is the most important one to date. In this one, I sit down with Derek Schaedig and we talk all things mental health. Back in 2019, Derek was courageous enough to put pen to paper and ink an article chronicling his experience with Major Depressive Disorder - later diagnosed properly as Bipolar II - as a first year student-athlete on the Harvard Hockey team. In this conversation, Derek tells the same story he shared in that article, Down but Not Out, plus a whole lot more. Specifically, much of our conversation centers around the importance of language — both in how we describe mental illness using words like diagnosis, symptoms, and treatment plus what support networks can say to best be there for those we know who are struggling. Personally, I learned so much from Derek. Explaining mental illness in terms of having "symptoms" really clicked for me and made me realize how unfair my (close minded) judgements have been at points in the past.  More generally, he taught me how mental illness does not discriminate — I mean on paper, what could be better than being a D1 athlete, playing the sport you love, at a school like Harvard? You'll quickly tell that Derek is upbeat, positive, personable, and more than just what we talk about today — but like I said, mental illness does not discriminate. Before listening, I do want to preface that we discuss some mental health episodes that may be triggering for some - so, please, use your discretion. With that said, I know there is something for everyone in this one, so please enjoy Derek Schaedig.

Matt Freese played two seasons as goalkeeper at Harvard before signing with the MLS team, Philadelphia Union.  Full show notes at chrismcgrory.net Now, what's even cooler than just being in the MLS is the fact that Matt grew up going to games, rooting for the Union, and playing on their academy team before coming to Harvard. On top of playing for the Union, Matt represented the USA on the Olympic qualifying team - so as you can guess, we talk about what it's like to represent your home city and country on the field. But the majority of our conversation centers around what he's learned and how's he's changed since turning pro when he signed with the Union two years ago. What I'm going to steal and think about in my own life is the advice he got from his teammate and best goalie in the league, Andre Blake, who told Matt "Rome wasn't built in a day" ... and with that, we have fun talking about how that commitment to the longview guides how Matt goes about his business from nutrition, to recovery, to training and everything in between. Before we rock it I do want to say that the audio quality on this one is a little less than perfect... that's because Matt was on his pre-game walk around DC when we connected. So if you can get beyond the occasional background noise, I hope you have some fun listening to Matt and learning what he's learned reflecting on his two years as a professional athlete. So with that said, please enjoy, Matt Freese.

Listen to hear Stephen Turban (Harvard '17, ex-McKinsey, Harvard Business School PhD student) talk to me about what he's done and learned from his four years since graduating.  By hearing his story, he got me thinking about: a career "structure" for the first few years after graduating (he went from Beijing with McKinsey to working on building a new university in Vietnam and now to starting an education company of his own) language learning (he's learned Spanish, Mandarin, Vietnamese, and now Hindi...) building a writing habit (while in college he wrote a book - yes you heard me right a literal book you can buy on Amazon called Your Relationship GPA) strategies to cultivate friendships in the real world (he built a group at Harvard, the Franklin Fellowship, that did exactly that) Let me tell you, this one left me with a dumb smile on my face... I've never met Stephen before, but within seconds we were laughing. And throughout the whole conversation he kept it light while at the same time giving the most thoughtful and insightful answers to the questions I want answers to before I head off into the next chapter of life post-graduation.  I loved this one, I hope you do it. Please enjoy Stephen Turban. Full show notes here at chrismcgrory.net

Listen to hear me, Chris McGrory, synthesize the 80/20 Principle and share how I see it fit in to my own life. Hopefully, you'll learn the main ideas from Richard Koch's book, The 80/20 Principle, and start to think of how you can start identifying (and investing in) the minority of inputs in your life that are responsible for the majority of results. Together, we can try to live more simply and happily.  For full show notes, visit chrismcgrory.net

Ian McClanan is a Harvard graduate, adventurer, YouTuber, and food tech startup marketer living in Berlin, Germany. Ian graduated from Harvard (albeit virtually) in the spring of 2020 with a degree in Social Studies and is now working in marketing at a cool food tech startup called Choco in Berlin, Germany. On top of that full time job, Ian is a video creator on YouTube where he posts really thoughtful and polished tutorials (some that I've utilized include his Notion page tourand Google Sheets personal finance run-down), life reflections, and video essays on everything from books, to movies, to ads. So why did I want to chat with Ian? Most simply, it's because he blends a lot of the attributes I admire. He cares about personal wellbeing and productivity. He's unafraid to take the untraditional path. He invests in a creative pursuit that is both fun and serious. And, as you'll quickly tell, Ian has a lot of positive energy that you can't help but feed off of. Not unlike other conversations, in this one I get selfish and ask questions to help me out. So at its core, this conversation is advice from someone a year post-grad to someone just about to reach that milestone and transition into the real world for himself. We cover how he thinks about big projects and ideas. The importance of having a passion outside of work. Ritualizing physical space and other daily, weekly, and monthly routines. Other real world pro-tips (I especially liked his farmers market and meal prep weekend hack) and of course, book recommendations and a whole lot more. Please enjoy this one with Ian McClanan. Full show notes here at chrismcgrory.net

Today, I sit down with John Fish who you might know from his YouTube channel, with nearly a million subscribers, that chronicles his growth throughout college. And that's what we talk about in this episode. The channel started growing with his vlogs as a computer science and psychology student at Harvard but has transitioned into much more. John reflects deeply on his experiences, documents what he's thinking about, and then shares his insights. His videos cover everything: books, productivity tips, programming projects, and importantly general wellbeing and mental health. And this conversation really revolves around the theme of growth. John has obviously put a lot of content out there that doesn't change once it's published... but the guy behind the videos has. Today, John shares the ways he's updated and changed the way he thinks. How does he set goals? (not what you think). How does he plan his days? (it's not down to the minute). How does he take care of his mental health? (he keeps it simple). And that's just scratching the surface of what we talk about...along the way we discuss internal pressure, unrealistic expectations, and of course, books. Since John thinks about his mental frameworks and tactics more than most, I think this conversation is especially insightful with actionable takeaways for all. Please enjoy. Full show notes here on chrismcgrory.net

Tony Shu is a Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree, Harvard senior, and co-founder of the non-profit Breaktime which is on a mission to end young adult homelessness by providing a first step into the workforce and personally empowering their people.  Just prior to COVID-19, Tony and his co-founder, Connor Schoen, were ready to open Breaktime Cafe - a brick and mortar cafe that would employ around 15 young adults experiencing homelessness and give them on the job training as baristas. Now, in spite of circumstances that prevented plans literally years in the making - not to mention the pressure of having financial backing from major financial institutions, Harvard, the City of Boston, and more - Tony and his team gracefully pivoted. Over the past year, Breaktime has transitioned to a double impact model - employing young adults experiencing homelessness and feeding food insecure communities around Boston. At this point, these young people have prepared and delivered well over half a million meals - all the while receiving a living wage and on-the-job skills. In this conversation, Tony provides a behind the scenes look into all that and in the back half, gives a deep dive into his daily meditation practice that lets him check in with himself and the affirmations he says every morning that guide his own life. So maybe you're a budding social entrepreneur and have a project of your own in mind. Maybe you want to learn about the realities of homelessness and the state of solutions like me. Or maybe you just want an uplifting story about a college student making a positive impact in his community. Whoever you are, I hope you take something away from this conversation. Please enjoy this one with me and Tony Shu. ----- Full show notes here at chrismcgrory.net