
My Wakeup Call with Dr. Mark Goulston
I’m Dr. Mark Goulston, and this is My Wakeup Call. Everybody has personal wakeup calls, but not everybody wakes up. In this podcast, we speak to people who did. In fact, they not only woke up, but their wakeup calls changed their lives, often helped them discover their purpose and then changed how they would spend the rest of their life. In most cases, the wakeup call was not pleasant, sought-after, and often shook people to the core of their being. But in every case, it made our guests more authentic, better at life, better in life and better human beings. I hope you will listen in and become as inspired as I am from every episode. I also hope it will help you persevere if you are going through a wakeup call and haven’t yet gotten through the pain of it, or landed in your future as the better person you’re meant to be, with the better life that you’re meant to have.
DISCLAIMER: Any information or advice I give is purely based on my own experience. Comments made are as a coach- this is not medical or psychiatry advice. There is no guarantee as there are many variables that will impact outcomes. Everything stated should be taken as opinion.
Latest episodes

Jun 23, 2023 • 57min
Ep 514 - Harry Nelson
In this episode I speak with Harry Nelson, one of the leading healthcare lawyers in America, Founding Partner of Nelson Hardiman Healthcare Lawyers, author of, "Obamacare to Trumpcare: Why You Should Care," and "The United States of Opioids: A Prediction for Liberating a Nation in Pain," whose origin story and wakeup calls was being a Rabbi's kid, but deciding to go into law instead of becoming a Rabbi. https://www.nelsonhardiman.com/attorney/harry-nelson/

Jun 21, 2023 • 45min
Ep 513 - Mindy Sterling
In this episode I speak with Mindy Sterling, American actress, two time Emmy nominee for her work in "Con Man" and "Secs and Execs," who also played the iconic Frau Farbissina in all three Austin Powers whose through line has been always making people laugh and whose wakeup call was adopting her son Max and discovering that he is on Spectrum and her devoting her life to giving him the best life possible... Max also joins us for a little bit. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mindy_Sterling

Jun 18, 2023 • 53min
Ep 512 - John Baldoni
In this episode I interview returning guest, John Baldoni, thought leader and top executive and Marshall Goldsmith 100 Coach, author of 14 books including, "Grace Under Pressure: Leading Through Change and Crisis," whose wakeup call was seeing how "grace" is now needed from their leaders given how much the world is hurting. http://johnbaldoni.com

Jun 16, 2023 • 1h 2min
Ep 511- Sheryl Utal Layna Dakin
In this episode I speak with Sheryl Utal, CEO and co-founder, and Lanya Dakin, COO and co-founder, of Japa Health whose wakeup calls were seeing how a wholistic, spiritual and mindful approach to health could treat and cure many conditions that conventional medicine had not been helpful with. http://japahealth.com

4 snips
Jun 14, 2023 • 47min
Ep 510 - Michael Greger, M.D.
In this episode I speak with Michael Greger, M.D., physician and internationally recognized speaker on nutrition, founder of his nonprofit, NutritionFacts.org and author "How Not to Die" and "How Not to Diet." His wakeup call was seeing his mother live 36 years after being told she had a terminal illness by changing her diet and being an early client at the Pritikin Longevity Center. https://drgreger.org/

Jun 12, 2023 • 56min
Ep 509- Luke Russert
In this episode I speak with Luke Russert, author of, "Look For Me There: Grieving My Father, Finding Myself," an exploration of finding oneself and one’s place in the world in the face of crushing expectations and grief. He is an author and an Emmy Award winning journalist who served as an NBC News correspondent from 2008 to 2016. Primarily covering American politics, he was seen on popular outlets such as NBC Nightly News, Today, NBCNews.com, and MSNBC. He is the son of the late Tim Russert of NBC’s Meet the Press and Vanity Fair writer Maureen Orth. His wakeup call was prompted by a talk with House Speaker John Boehner who advised him to get out of the suffocating political bubble in Washington, D.C. to find out who he was and wanted to be. https://www.lukerussert.net/

Jun 9, 2023 • 40min
Ep 508-Tiffani Bova
In this episode I speak with returning guest, Tiffani Bova, author of, "The Experience Mindset: Changing the Way You Think About Growth," and the Wall Street Journal bestselling book, "Growth IQ." She is also the global customer growth and innovation evangelist at Salesforce whose wakeup call was transitioning from being a practitioner to an analyst and now thought leader. https://www.tiffanibova.com/

Jun 7, 2023 • 1h 26min
Ep 507- Sam Horn
In this episode I speak with returning guest, Sam Horn, CEO of the Intrigue Agency, author of 10 books with her latest book, "Talking on Eggshells," a not-to-be-missed extension of her incredibly smart, wise AND "doable by you," insights and ideas, and whose wakeup call has been her continued noticing, being astonished and then telling and teaching the world what she's learned. https://samhorn.com/

Jun 5, 2023 • 1h 3min
Ep 506- Melissa Bernstein
In this episode I interview Melissa Bernstein, co-founder of Melissa and Doug , author of, LifeLines: An Inspirational Journey from Profound Darkness to Radiant Light and co-founder of Lifelines whose wakeup call was discovering that her lifelong battle with depression and anxiety could be alleviated by her "search for meaning" and taking an existential approach to life.

Jun 2, 2023 • 1h 2min
Ep 505- Lilly Tam
In this episode I speak to Dr. Lilly Tam, who helps organizations improve their company culture and employee engagement with her 6-session SISPEP Method program which teaches her clients to achieve 6 dimensions of well-being through a process that includes stopping all the lies they tell themselves and whose wakeup call was coming from a deeply traumatic childhood and realizing how lying to herself to cope with it nearly destroyed her. https://lillytam.com/
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