SuperSelf

In this powerful episode of the SuperSelf Podcast Series, Pete Ferrari sits down with retired Marine Special Operations veteran, author, and leadership coach John Dailey to talk about mental toughness, discipline, resilience, leadership, Stoicism, and what it really takes to become stronger through adversity.John spent more than 20 years in the Marine Corps, including serving as one of the founding members of Detachment One, the groundbreaking Marine special operations unit that helped pave the way for today's Marine Raiders.He was in Australia when the 9/11 attacks unfolded. Within months, he was in Afghanistan. Later, he helped build a team of men selected for one defining quality: they had to be "tough, rugged bastards."But being tough was about far more than physical strength.Pete and John explore how deliberately doing difficult things builds mental resilience, why preparation and consistency matter more than motivation, how to handle rejection without quitting, and why true leadership requires knowing what you can and cannot control.They also dive into John's memoir, Tough Rugged Bastards, the personal reflection that came from writing about his military experiences, the influence of Stoic philosophy, and his belief that toughness must evolve as we get older.This conversation is not about pretending hardship doesn't exist.It's about building the capacity to face it, learning from it, and becoming someone who can handle whatever comes next.Episode Highlights:04:20 – The emotional responsibility of leading Marines into combat13:04 – Why mental toughness needs consistent maintenance25:54 – Why traditional work-life balance is an unrealistic goal35:15 – Controlling your preparation and actions instead of obsessing over the uncontrollable49:47 – RTFU: What "Ruck the Fuck Up" really meansKey Takeaways:Mental toughness is built, not inherited.Growth happens when you willingly challenge yourself, discover what you can handle, and gradually expand your capacity.Doing hard things prepares you for other hard things.Rejection is feedback, not a final verdict.Persistence without improvement is not enough.Know the difference between what you can control and what you cannot.Toughness isn't about never struggling. It's about becoming capable of responding when things get hard.About the Guest:John A. Dailey is a retired U.S. Marine Corps Special Operations veteran, author, leadership coach, and founder of Walking Point.John enlisted in the Marine Corps at 17 and spent more than two decades serving in demanding military roles, including Force Reconnaissance and the historic Marine Special Operations Command Detachment One.His experiences include deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq, leading elite teams, and helping develop the foundation for what would become today's Marine Raiders.Following his military retirement, John continued working with Marine special operations personnel while pursuing his passion for writing, leadership development, and human performance.He is the author of Tough Rugged Bastards: A Memoir of a Life in Marine Special Operations, a personal account of leadership, combat, adversity, resilience, and the lessons that remained long after deployment.Through Walking Point and his newsletters, John shares practical lessons on discipline, personal growth, mental toughness, and becoming better at getting better.Connect with John Dailey:WebsiteLeadership CoachingInstagramLinkedInWalking Point NewsletterRTFU NewsletterThis episode is brought to you by Jaca Rare Sugar.Jaca is a revolutionary, rare sugar called allulose with 0 net carbs, 0 glycemic index (diabetic & keto friendly), and 90% fewer calories than sugar. Jaca tastes, cooks and bakes like old school sugar with none of the harmful effects.  www.jacasugar.com 

In this powerful episode of the SuperSelf Podcast Series, Pete Ferrari sits down with Army veteran, trauma therapist, former undercover anti-human trafficking operator, educator, and Krav Maga expert Joseph Gleed to talk about trauma, fear, resilience, psychological flexibility, and what it really takes to rebuild a life after something difficult happens.Joseph’s career has taken him from the military and self-defense training to undercover anti-trafficking operations and, eventually, the treatment of complex trauma.The turning point came after seeing a young trafficking survivor one year after her rescue. She was physically safe, cared for, and surrounded by resources—but she was still suffering.Joseph realized something critical:Rescue is only the beginning.Pete and Joseph explore why trauma recovery cannot follow a one-size-fits-all protocol, why what matters is not only what happened to you but what you continue carrying forward, and how people can rebuild confidence, agency, and flexibility after their world has been narrowed by fear.They also unpack the mind-body connection, self-defense as one piece of trauma recovery, values, committed action, why motivation is unreliable, and Joseph’s belief that pain and fear can become some of our greatest teachers.The goal is not to eliminate every hard thing from your life.It is to build the capacity to carry the hard stuff while still doing the important stuff.Episode Highlights:06:15 – Why physical safety is only the beginning of recovery17:09 – The swamp analogy: why suffering needs a purpose32:37 – Psychological flexibility explained40:51 – Stay curious instead of judgmental48:21 – Trauma does not have to become a lifelong identityKey Takeaways:Rescue is not recovery. Removing someone from danger is essential, but safety alone does not erase what happened.Trauma treatment cannot be one-size-fits-all.You are more than what happened to you.The goal is not controlling everything that happens. It is becoming more capable of choosing how you respond.Fear and avoidance are not necessarily evidence that something is wrong with you.Stay curious. Stay present. Stop judging everything.About the Guest:Joseph Gleed is an Army veteran, trauma therapist, educator, Krav Maga instructor, and former undercover anti-human trafficking operator.He has spent approximately two decades working with veterans, first responders, survivors of violence, trafficking survivors, and individuals dealing with PTSD, complex trauma, chronic pain, burnout, and other difficult psychological conditions.His background also includes training special operations personnel and participating in anti-human trafficking operations that helped rescue hundreds of children and adults.Joseph teaches at Utah Valley University and the University of Utah and is the owner of Renova Wellness & Consulting, where the team specializes in complex and treatment-resistant presentations, including complex PTSD.His work focuses on psychological flexibility, personal agency, values, committed action, the mind-body connection, and helping people build the capacity to live meaningful lives alongside the inevitable difficulties of being human.Connect with Joseph Gleed:Website: https://renovawc.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joseph-gleed-64a676b1/This episode is brought to you by Jaca Rare Sugar.Jaca is a revolutionary, rare sugar called allulose with 0 net carbs, 0 glycemic index (diabetic & keto friendly), and 90% fewer calories than sugar. Jaca tastes, cooks and bakes like old school sugar with none of the harmful effects.  www.jacasugar.com 

In this powerful episode of the SuperSelf Podcast Series, Pete Ferrari sits down with human performance pioneer Dr. Jack Groppel to talk about performance, recovery, purpose, movement, relationships, reinvention, and the hidden cost of achievement.Jack has spent decades studying what separates elite performers from everyone else. His work has taken him from the tennis court to corporate boardrooms, professional sports, healthcare, the United Nations, and conversations with national leaders.But some of his biggest lessons did not come from success.They came from failure, divorce, fatherhood, illness, and climbing Mount Kilimanjaro with his son.Jack explains why elite athletes understand something most professionals have forgotten: you cannot perform continuously without recovery.Athletes practice, recover, and then perform.Most of us simply perform, perform, perform, and wonder why we eventually burn out.Pete and Jack also unpack achievement addiction, why quality matters more than quantity, how movement affects far more than physical fitness, the power of micro-recovery throughout the workday, changing negative thought patterns, finding purpose at every stage of life, and the question Jack uses to recalibrate his own decisions:What matters most right now?This is not about accomplishing less.It is about learning how to bring better energy to the things and people that actually matter.Episode Highlights:11:03 – Breaking generational cycles instead of repeating them16:39 – Why managing energy can matter more than managing time27:26 – Why Mountains Within had to include the failures as well as the wins40:27 – Purpose, spirituality, and what gives life meaning47:34 – Why important tasks cannot truly be multitaskedKey Takeaways:Quality beats quantity. More hours do not automatically produce better performance.Presence is not the same as being present.You are allowed to break the cycle.Keep your childlike curiosity.You cannot create more hours in a day. But you can influence the energy you bring to those hours.Your energy affects everyone around you.Purpose is allowed to evolve. Human beings need meaning.Do not just fight the thought. Change the picture.About the Guest:Dr. Jack Groppel is a pioneer in sports science, human performance, executive performance, and leadership.His career began in tennis and biomechanics before expanding into the broader science of human performance. He co-founded the Human Performance Institute and pioneered the concept of the Corporate Athlete, applying principles traditionally associated with elite athletic performance to business, healthcare, leadership, and everyday life.His work has taken him around the world, working with athletes, executives, corporations, coaches, and organizations while studying the relationship between energy, recovery, physical movement, mental focus, emotional state, purpose, and sustainable performance.Jack is also the author of Mountains Within, a deeply personal memoir exploring achievement, failure, relationships, faith, fatherhood, reinvention, and the lessons he confronted while climbing Mount Kilimanjaro with his son.Connect with Dr. Jack Groppel:Website: https://jackgroppel.net/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jackgroppelYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@jackgroppel1This episode is brought to you by Jaca Rare Sugar.Jaca is a revolutionary, rare sugar called allulose with 0 net carbs, 0 glycemic index (diabetic & keto friendly), and 90% fewer calories than sugar. Jaca tastes, cooks and bakes like old school sugar with none of the harmful effects.  www.jacasugar.com 

In this fascinating and unexpectedly funny episode of the SuperSelf Podcast Series, Pete Ferrari sits down with former FBI Special Agent Eric Robinson to talk about what nearly 25 years investigating criminals, recruiting informants, working SWAT operations, and interviewing people at their worst taught him about human nature.Eric’s path into the FBI was anything but typical.Before federal law enforcement, he spent 12 years in Christian ministry, including time as a pastor. Ironically, Eric says he joined the FBI because he needed a job with less stress. Ministry had become so emotionally consuming that he experienced daily headaches for years. The day the FBI offered him a position, the headaches stopped.Eric went from never having handled a gun to becoming a firearms instructor and spending 15 years on SWAT. Along the way, he investigated white-collar crime, gangs, drugs, threats, trafficking, crimes against children, and cases that stretched well beyond the United States.Pete and Eric unpack the lessons behind those extreme experiences: how to stay calm when emotions run high, build genuine rapport, use silence strategically, understand people without excusing them, process repeated exposure to trauma, and prepare so thoroughly that fear begins to disappear.This is not simply an FBI story.It is a conversation about curiosity, preparation, emotional control, human connection, and learning how to understand people before reacting to them.Episode Highlights:07:36 – Going from pastor to FBI agent and eventually firearms instructor19:21 – What working with criminals taught Eric about human nature28:28 – Processing trauma through community, storytelling, and humor46:54 – Why asking the question and staying quiet can be incredibly powerful57:41 – Teaching himself financial crime despite having a religion degreeKey Takeaways:Boundaries are not a lack of compassion.Understanding someone does not mean excusing them.Good conversations come from curiosity, not scripts. Pay attention to what people reveal.If the question is valid, let the other person sit with it.Preparation Kills Fear. Yet preparation dramatically reduced fear.Competency replaces uncertainty.Curiosity does not mean gullibility.About the Guest:Eric Robinson is a former FBI Special Agent whose career with the Bureau spanned nearly 25 years.Before entering federal law enforcement, Eric spent approximately 12 years in Christian ministry, including time as a pastor. During his FBI career, he worked investigations involving financial crime, gangs, narcotics, threats, human intelligence, trafficking, crimes against children, and other complex cases.He also spent approximately 15 years as a SWAT operator and later became a firearms instructor.Eric is now bringing those experiences together in an upcoming memoir about what happens when a Baptist pastor who had never handled a gun gets dropped into the FBI for a quarter century.The book combines serious investigations, unusual characters, hard-earned lessons, and the dark humor that helped Eric process an extraordinary career.Connect with Eric Robinson:Website: https://preachertobreacher.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_eric_robinson/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eric-robinson-9220053a4/This episode is brought to you by Jaca Rare Sugar.Jaca is a revolutionary, rare sugar called allulose with 0 net carbs, 0 glycemic index (diabetic & keto friendly), and 90% fewer calories than sugar. Jaca tastes, cooks and bakes like old school sugar with none of the harmful effects.  www.jacasugar.com 

In this deeply personal and wide-ranging episode of the SuperSelf Podcast Series, Pete Ferrari sits down with medical anthropologist, author, educator, and strategist Dr. Pardis Mahdavi for a conversation about trust, identity, resilience, self-awareness, relationships, culture, spirituality, and what happens when the systems we have been taught to trust stop making sense.Pardis has spent decades studying people, institutions, migration, culture, health, human relationships, and the spaces where science, spirituality, and lived experience collide. But this conversation quickly moves beyond academics.Together, Pete and Pardis explore a simple but powerful idea:Sometimes you are not being buried. You are being planted.Pete and Pardis also unpack the difference between making decisions from a suffering state versus a beautiful state, why meditation and self-awareness can create space between emotion and action, how parents unknowingly “splatter” their internal state onto their children, and why learning to love yourself may be one of the least selfish things you can do.They go deep into relationships, intuition, the danger of ignoring red flags, the “tyranny of the should,” intergenerational trauma and strength, and why Pardis believes horses became some of her greatest teachers.This episode is not about avoiding hardship.It is about learning how to recognize the valley, harvest what it has to teach you, and use what you find there to become more aligned with who you actually are.Episode Highlights:06:54 – The difference between being buried and being planted18:38 – “Relational awakening” and why other people can sharpen your self-awareness25:31 – Parenting is “caught, not taught”36:31 – Why love does not automatically mean someone is the right partner for you44:39 – Why taking care of yourself can also be an act of taking care of your children54:39 – Intergenerational trauma versus intergenerational strengthKey Takeaways:Success feels good, but the top of the mountain is not always where the deepest learning happens.Being planted implies that something new may still grow from what is happening.Growth does not require pretending suffering feels good.Trust does not disappear when institutions fail, it migrates.Community becomes especially important during uncertainty.Ancient practices lose something when separated from their cultural context. The practice is only one piece. The culture surrounding it matters too.Meditation can help you notice yourself before you react.Trauma can become coded before you have language for it.Self-love is not selfishness.About the Guest:Dr. Pardis Mahdavi is a medical anthropologist, author, educator, speaker, and strategist whose work explores culture, identity, migration, human rights, institutional change, trust, education, and the relationship between individual experience and the larger systems surrounding us.Across her career, she has served as a university president, provost, dean, professor, researcher, and institutional leader. Her current work continues to examine what happens when traditional institutions no longer reflect the realities of the people living within them.Pardis is the author of numerous books, including Riding, Book of Queens, Hyphen, Gridlock, Passionate Uprisings, and Crossing the Gulf.Today, Pardis also advises leaders and organizations navigating education, culture, institutional transformation, and a rapidly changing world.Connect with Dr. Pardis Mahdavi:Website: https://www.pardismahdavi.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pardis-mahdaviInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/mahdavipardisThis episode is brought to you by Jaca Rare Sugar.Jaca is a revolutionary, rare sugar called allulose with 0 net carbs, 0 glycemic index (diabetic & keto friendly), and 90% fewer calories than sugar. Jaca tastes, cooks and bakes like old school sugar with none of the harmful effects.  www.jacasugar.com