Finding Mastery with Dr. Michael Gervais cover art

Finding Mastery with Dr. Michael Gervais

Finding Mastery with Dr. Michael Gervais

By: Dr. Michael Gervais
Listen for free

Summary

Dive into the minds of the world’s greatest athletes, leaders, thinkers, and doers with Dr. Michael Gervais—a high performance psychologist and world-renowned expert on the relationship between high performance and the mind. Dr. Gervais’s client roster includes Super Bowl winning NFL teams, Fortune 50 CEOs, Olympic medalists, internationally acclaimed artists, and more.

On Finding Mastery, Dr. Gervais sits down with the best at what they do, like David Goggins, Brene Brown, Toto Wolff, soccer legend Abby Wambach, neuroscientist Dr. Andrew Huberman, and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella — translating their life stories, mental skills, and personal practices into applicable tools you can use to unlock your potential.

Walk with us to the edge of human possibility and learn what you are capable of. New episodes every Wednesday.

© © All rights reserved 66694 Hygiene & Healthy Living Personal Development Personal Success Psychology Psychology & Mental Health
Episodes
  • The Psychology of Being a Super Communicator | Charles Duhigg

    The Psychology of Being a Super Communicator | Charles Duhigg
    May 13 2026

    Why do so many conversations break down, even when both people are trying to connect?

    Charles Duhigg is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and the bestselling author of The Power of Habit and Supercommunicators. This is his third conversation on Finding Mastery, and the timing matters. The world has shifted since the last time he and Dr. Michael Gervais spoke. Families, friendships, even whole countries are talking past each other. AI has quietly eroded the signals we used to read each other by. And the ability to genuinely connect with another human has gone from useful to essential.

    The first thing Charles makes clear is that being a great communicator is not a gift reserved for a lucky few. It's a habit. And it starts with noticing something most of us miss in real time: we are all moving through three kinds of conversations every day. The practical, the emotional, and the social. Most of our misunderstandings happen for one simple reason. The person across from us is in one kind of conversation while we're in another.

    Charles unpacks what he calls the matching principle and one of the most useful questions a teacher ever taught him: do you want to be helped, hugged, or heard? He explains why looping for understanding tends to work when arguing does not, why deep questions invite people to reveal worldviews they didn't even know they had, and why polish and fluency no longer mean what they used to in a world where AI can make any email sound thoughtful.

    The conversation also gets personal. Mike shares the story of a professor who once interrupted him mid-trauma with a single odd question and walked away, an act of communication so strange it took him years to understand. Charles talks about how he tries to stay genuinely connected to his two teenage sons, how to navigate Thanksgiving with someone you voted against, and the quiet research finding that strangers can become friends in under an hour if the questions are deep enough and the back-and-forth is real.

    If you've ever walked away from a conversation feeling unseen, struggled to get through to someone you love, or wondered why connection feels harder than it used to, this conversation offers a practical, science-backed way back in.

    Anyone can be a super communicator. Charles will show you how it actually works.

    _____________________________________________________

    Links & Resources

    Subscribe to our Youtube Channel for more conversations at the intersection of high performance, leadership, and wellbeing: https://www.youtube.com/c/FindingMastery

    Get exclusive discounts and support our amazing sponsors!

    Go to: https://findingmastery.com/sponsors/

    Subscribe to the Finding Mastery newsletter for weekly high performance insights: https://www.findingmastery.com/newsletter

    Download Dr. Mike's Morning Mindset Routine: findingmastery.com/morningmindset

    Follow on YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, and X

    Link: Charles and Mike reference “36 Questions” or the Fast Friends Procedure: https://www.stafforini.com/docs/Aron%20et%20al%20-%20The%20experimental%20generation%20of%20interpersonal%20closeness.pdf

    Citation: Aron, A., Melinat, E., Aron, E. N., Vallone, R. D., & Bator, R. J. (1997). The Experimental Generation of Interpersonal Closeness: A Procedure and Some Preliminary Findings. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 23(4), 363–377.

    Link: New York Times Article: “36 Questions That Lead to Love.” https://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/09/style/no-37-big-wedding-or-small.html

    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
    Show More Show Less
    52 mins
  • 5 Questions to Unlock Your Inner Potential | Dr. Mike Gervais - AMA Vol.29

    5 Questions to Unlock Your Inner Potential | Dr. Mike Gervais - AMA Vol.29
    May 6 2026
    What questions are tugging at you right now, and how might exploring the answers help you live and perform with more clarity?We're back with another special edition of the Finding Mastery podcast: an Ask Me Anything episode, built from the deep and sometimes vulnerable questions submitted by our community.Joining Dr. Michael Gervais again is Jeff Byers, former NFL player, Co-Founder and CEO of Momentous, and a longtime friend of Finding Mastery. Jeff built Momentous on a foundation of transparency and scientific integrity in an industry that can be full of noise, and he brings that same standard of honest engagement to the questions we explore here. His experience navigating the identity shift from elite athlete to entrepreneur makes him a uniquely grounded co-host for conversations about who we are, what drives us, and how we keep growing when the road ahead isn't clear.The questions we explored:Navigating a major life transition... how to work through the grief of leaving a sport, the psychology of identity foreclosure, and why transitions are actually an invitation to examine who you are and who you're becoming.When your life is good but something feels missing... the difference between being stuck and being in the fog, what the biology might be telling you, and how self-efficacy, agency, and your own life history factor into the picture.Finding your purpose when it hasn't revealed itself yet... the research on purpose as a cornerstone of a thriving life, the three components of a clear purpose, and a practical framework to start building one right now.What community actually means... why belonging goes deeper than shared interests, what we lose when we slide toward digital connection only, and why community is built on responsibility as much as relationship.AI and human potential... whether the race toward AI is pulling our attention away from mindfulness and human development, and how to think about this new tool without losing sight of what makes us human.Who and what shaped us... a personal look at the heroes, idols, and influences that shaped both Mike and Jeff, and what those figures reveal about the values and first principles we carry forward.The questions in this episode came from real people wrestling with real things. If any of them resonate with something you're carrying right now, that's the point.__________________________________Links & ResourcesSubscribe to our Youtube Channel for more conversations at the intersection of high performance, leadership, and wellbeing: https://www.youtube.com/c/FindingMasteryGet exclusive discounts and support our amazing sponsors! Go to: https://findingmastery.com/sponsors/Subscribe to the Finding Mastery newsletter for weekly high performance insights: https://www.findingmastery.com/newsletter Download Dr. Mike's Morning Mindset Routine: findingmastery.com/morningmindset Follow on YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, and XSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
    Show More Show Less
    1 hr
  • The Psychology of Performance Under Pressure |Andrew Whitworth

    The Psychology of Performance Under Pressure |Andrew Whitworth
    Apr 29 2026
    What does it really take to stay at the top for 16 years and still know who you are when it ends? Andrew Whitworth is a Super Bowl champion, four-time Pro Bowler, and the oldest left tackle in NFL history to start a Super Bowl. He spent 16 seasons protecting the most valuable position on the field, finished his career by winning a championship at 40, and walked off in one of the most viral moments in NFL Films history, sitting in a circle with his kids, telling them “that was daddy’s last game.” In this conversation with Dr. Michael Gervais, Andrew pulls back the curtain on what made it all possible, and what almost broke him along the way.The first thing you notice about Andrew is the contradiction. 6'7", 345 pounds, built to dominate. And the engine underneath all of it is empathy. He explains how he prepared for opponents not by lifting more or running more, but by inhabiting them, studying their bodies until he could feel what they were going to do before they did it. “I'm going to study them to a point where we can dance together because I can actually feel everything they're going to try and accomplish before we do it,” he says. That is the offensive line position rendered as jazz. But this conversation goes a lot deeper than craft. Andrew is candid about the anxiety, self-doubt, and self-punishment that shadowed much of his career. He talks about walking home alone in the dark after college games to punish himself for mistakes, about needing to watch tape of the all-time greats failing just to feel okay running out of the tunnel, and about how Sean McVay eventually helped him believe he was “worthy of the light.” He also shares what Nick Saban taught him about process, what Marvin Lewis taught him about consistency, and what fatherhood taught him about everything. In this conversation, we explore:Why empathy, not size or strength, was Andrew’s greatest competitive advantageHow to study an opponent so deeply you can feel their next move before they make itWhy mastery of self always has to come before mastery of craftHow to hold people accountable in a way that builds rather than breaksWhy vulnerability comes before trust, not the other way aroundWhat changed about how Andrew competed once he became a fatherWhy telling someone what you see in them may be more powerful than telling them you believe in them Andrew's story is a reminder that empathy can be one of the most powerful tools on the path to mastery. And that the greatest thing you leave with anyone is how you made them feel._____________________________________________________Links & ResourcesSubscribe to our Youtube Channel for more conversations at the intersection of high performance, leadership, and wellbeing: https://www.youtube.com/c/FindingMasteryGet exclusive discounts and support our amazing sponsors! Go to: https://findingmastery.com/sponsors/Subscribe to the Finding Mastery newsletter for weekly high performance insights: https://www.findingmastery.com/newsletter Download Dr. Mike's Morning Mindset Routine: findingmastery.com/morningmindset Follow on YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, and XSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
    Show More Show Less
    1 hr and 25 mins
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_c
No reviews yet