Today, Commander Divine is joined by his friend, Amy Jurkowitz, to answer questions from his followers on Facebook Live, as well as questions submitted prior to the livestream. Mark shares interesting insights on what it takes to be a great leader, how to cultivate compassion, how to start a mindfulness practice, and other suggestions on improving our mind, body, and spirit.  Key Takeaways: There were several questions about leadership including the following: @drpedre: What do you think it takes to really be a leader? What characteristics?  @pthompson34: What qualities and characteristics do you feel a strong leader obtains?  Mark broke down the top 4 characteristics needed in a great leader. Self-Awareness: Great leaders need to understand their strengths and weaknesses, as well as a general understanding of human nature and how we show up in the world. Self-Control: The next step after becoming aware is using that awareness to guide in self control. A great leader is able to show restraint and remain calm under pressure. Humility: It’s not about the leader. It’s about the team and the mission. A great leader knows when to step aside, and let the team take the credit. Openness: A great leader has an open heart and is inclusive of all people and listens to all points of view. @pablo_vasconez27 How does a leader confront other peoples’ views after explaining a decision made? Unless this is new information that impacts the decision, the decision has already been made, but it’s important to listen and thank people for sharing their perspective. @AnnShippymd How do you show up when you really don't feel like it? Do something hard to change that feeling; that could be a cold shower or a hard workout. If that doesn’t work, fake it till you make it! @its_meeh_hanna What is your evening routine 3 hours before bed? - Beach walk and/or aikido or acupuncture -Prepares dinner with his partner(sharing builds intimacy!) -Debriefs the day over dinner. -Reflective practice in bed. -Pays close attention to sleep hygiene.  @truehealthproject Do you find that breathwork brings up anxiety? If breathwork makes you anxious, you’re either doing it incorrectly, or you’re doing the wrong type of breathwork to activate a parasympathetic response. You need to focus on a slow inhale, and a slow exhale. Box breathing is a great practice for this!  @zenthesavage listened to the conversation you had with Dr. Fleet Maull. Interesting convo. Among the topics you discussed, I’d like to learn more about cultivating compassion for oneself and others, especially to overcome atmospheres of shame or hate. When we have difficulty with others, it is often a sign we recognize things about them that we dislike about ourselves. We must first love and accept ourselves, flaws and all. We can also practice a loving kindness meditation. This is a great way to send kindness to ourselves and others. Another part of this is the practice of forgiveness. We must forgive ourselves and others, whether in writing, in person, or just in our minds. Forgiveness is crucial to healing. How to get started with meditation? Joining a community with a qualified teacher is really the best way to go. If you must get started on your own, it can be extremely helpful to start with a practice like box breathing to calm the central nervous system first. Box breathing(deep belly breathing with a count of 4 in, hold for 4, exhale for 4, hold for 4, repeat.) Outlook on accelerated pace of digitization and decentralization? We are changing at an exponential rate. People are starting to awaken. However, the direction the world takes is really going to depend on asking the right questions, and more and more people waking up.

Mark Divine speaks with Jimmy, Jake, and Jordan DeCicco, founders of Super Coffee. Today, Mark Divine speaks with Jimmy, Jake, and Jordan DeCicco, founders of the healthy coffee brand, Super Coffee. All under the age of 30, these young entrepreneurs began their business in a dorm room, and now lead a company valued at over $500 million. The DeCicco brothers share how their fiercely competitive upbringing instilled in them drive, passion, and grit that first helped them succeed in football and basketball, then carried over into the world of entrepreneurship. “The lessons learned as athletes empower us to do what we do on a daily basis in terms of overcoming obstacles.” Key Takeaways: Surround yourself with the best possible people who have experience and knowledge. The strength of a team is only as good as its people and the brothers never were shy about reaching out to the best of the best. They took this philosophy to finding the best mentors as well. Seth Goldman, the founder of Honest Tea, had a similar mission to the brothers (to provide an alternative to unhealthy, sugar-laden beverages.) They sought him out, pitched their business and he proved to be a valuable mentor, who also graciously extended his network to the start up. If you want to start a business, look for a problem to solve. For the DeCicco brothers, the problem was that there were no healthy coffee or energy drinks available on campus. As athletes, they were downing protein regularly and coffee regularly, so it made sense to combine the two. There’s no silver bullet. You’ve just got to hustle.The DeCicco brothers were pushed hard to win at a young age, by their competitive, athletic parents, and by each other. They developed a strong work ethic, understood the value of teamwork and the value of family. They attribute their success mostly to their parents and what they taught them and the values they instilled in them. Businesses need a strong culture and set of defined values to succeed in today’s world. The great resignation is proving that employees are fed up with poor leadership and working for companies that don’t value them. The DeCicco brothers have implemented a value system called C.O.A.C.H. (Curiosity, Optimism, Ambition, Compassion, Humility.) These values help create a positive culture that values and rewards employees for embodying these values.

Today, Mark Divine speaks with his friend Tom McCarthy and uncovers how Tom helps people overcome their perceived limits to push through to greatness. Tom shares his own transformation from an introverted, shy kid to a student of Tony Robbins, and eventually a masterful public speaker for audiences of thousands. Tom’s vision for the world is one of abundance, health, and prosperity. He believes empowered individuals can push all limits and do the impossible, even reverse pollution and restore the health of the entire planet. His new book, The Breakthrough Code: A Story About Living A Life Without Limits, comes out this month. Tom McCarthy is a father of two, husband of 30 years, CEO/Board Member of eight companies, early stage investor in 40+ companies and a worldwide philanthropist.  After a successful career on Wall Street, Tom found his true passion…helping people in business, athletics and life break through their limitations and step into their full potential. Tom has been the peak performance coach for athletes who have won World Championships and Olympic Gold Medals. “We Eat Pressure for Breakfast" Key Takeaways: Create your network of empowerment. Having great relationships with people allows your business to build itself. You don’t have to go looking for people. They will come to you. Use the power of your subconscious mind to create the vision of your results. The best time to do this is when you’re in a semi-awake state right after waking up, or before drifting off to sleep. Create this vision of yourself, feel it, and believe it. Let go of the old baggage to upgrade your story and your life. You can’t just pile positive on top of negative. That’s just covering it up. You have to be curious about what’s holding you back, root it out, and then extract it. Tom’s OPT (Optimal Performance Thoughts) help create your upgraded story. It doesn’t matter if your story is absolute truth; your story is there to serve you in being your best. There’s always an advantage. Find that advantage when life throws you a curveball. T he pandemic could have destroyed Tom’s business, but instead he focused on adapting by virtualizing, and now his business is more successful than ever. The Breakthrough Code • Tom McCarthy Facebook Instagram LinkedIn Twitter

Today, Mark Divine speaks with endurance athlete and co-founder of Rewire Fitness, Sun Sachs, about overcoming childhood trauma through physical training in extreme sports, and the lessons he learned along the way that led him to co-founding Rewire Fitness. Rewire Fitness is a unique app that provides assessments and prescriptions for holistic resilience focusing on emotional and cognitive areas, as well as physical. Key Takeaways: Work smarter, and harder. Tough workouts can make you more resilient, but toughness is not the only thing that matters. Cultivating self-awareness allows you to be more in touch with what your body needs. Having a calm mind gives you an edge on the competition. Whether you are trying to win a race, or lead a seminar, having a calm mind allows you to enter a flow state and operate at a new level of peak performance. It’s important to assess your frustration levels. If you are edgy and easily frustrated, you are experiencing cognitive fatigue. When you identify this, use your favorite mindfulness technique to help you relax and recover. Learning to see failure as part of the learning process is key. Being afraid to fail paralyzes us, and prevents us from even trying. When we embrace failure, we learn how to build our successes from our failed attempts. A good mental health approach is multidimensional. It is not one size fits all, but we all require some form of mindfulness, connection, and reflection.

First Call Out: Mark speaks with social psychologist, Aylet Fishbach about the science of motivation and how to set better goals. Ayelet Fishbach, PhD, is the Jeffrey Breakenridge Keller Professor of Behavioral Science and Marketing at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, and the past president of the Society for the Study of Motivation and the International Social Cognition Network (ISCON). She is an expert on motivation and decision making and the author of Get it Done: Surprising Lessons from the Science of Motivation. Ayelet’s groundbreaking research on human motivation has won her several international awards, including the Society of Experimental Social Psychology’s Best Dissertation Award and Career Trajectory Award, and the Fulbright Educational Foundation Award. Her new book Get it Done: Surprising Lessons From the Science of Motivation is coming out in January of 2022. Today, Commander Divine speaks with Ayelet Fishbach, a social psychologist who focuses on the science of motivation. Dr. Fishbach speaks about how to set goals that are enforced by our intrinsic motivation, how to analyze our goals and evaluate how well they are working, and why it’s crucial to have people in your life who want you to succeed. Key Takeaways: Motivation is a force. It starts with a goal, but motivation is the force that moves us towards our goal. Willpower is what we use to resist a negative behavior, while motivation pushes us towards the positive. Focus on adding positive actions to your life instead of ending negative habits. When we focus on ending behaviors, rather than replacing them, we reinforce those negative behaviors by thinking about them. Identity is important. When the goal is related to who you are, people are much more likely to persist. Example: I am a life-long learner, and I will read a new book every week. It’s important to analyze your goals. A goal shouldn’t be too abstract or too specific. It should be a goal that is good for you. It should be challenging, but not too challenging, or you will quit. Don’t set a goal that doesn’t fit in with your life or conflicts with another goal. If your goal is to advance in your career, but you also want to start a family, it might not be the time for one of those goals. Try to create habits that align with more than one goal. Example: You want to eat healthier, and you also want to save money. Create a habit around food prep, so that you will have healthy foods easily accessible and avoid eating out. Have a support system. T he people you need in your life are not necessarily experts in the area of your goal, but they are people who are rooting for you. If you don’t have that in your life, find it. Links: Ayelet Fishbach Twitter

Fleet Maull, PhD, CMT-P, is an author, meditation teacher, management consultant, trainer and executive coach who facilitates deep transformation for individuals and organizations through his philosophy and program of Radical Responsibility©. He is a tireless and dedicated peacemaker and servant leader working for positive social transformation and a more just and sustainable global society.    He is the founder of Prison Dharma Network, Prison Mindfulness Institute, Center for Mindfulness in Public Safety, National Prison Hospice Association, and Windhorse Seminars. He is also the co-founder of Engaged Mindfulness Institute, Transforming Justice Initiative, Upaya’s Institute’s Buddhist Chaplaincy Training Program, the Rwanda Bearing Witness Retreat & Peace Initiative, and the Center for Contemplative End-of-Life Care at Naropa University. He currently serves as the CEO and Director of Training, Research & Development for Prison Mindfulness Institute, Center for Mindfulness in Public Safety and the Engaged Mindfulness Institute, as well as CEO and senior trainer for Windhorse Seminars & Consulting.

Fleet Maull, PhD, CMT-P, is an author, meditation teacher, management consultant, trainer and executive coach who facilitates deep transformation for individuals and organizations through his philosophy and program of Radical Responsibility©. He is a tireless and dedicated peacemaker and servant leader working for positive social transformation and a more just and sustainable global society. He is the founder of Prison Dharma Network, Prison Mindfulness Institute, Center for Mindfulness in Public Safety, National Prison Hospice Association, and Windhorse Seminars. He is also the co-founder of Engaged Mindfulness Institute, Transforming Justice Initiative, Upaya’s Institute’s Buddhist Chaplaincy Training Program, the Rwanda Bearing Witness Retreat & Peace Initiative, and the Center for Contemplative End-of-Life Care at Naropa University. He currently serves as the CEO and Director of Training, Research & Development for Prison Mindfulness Institute, Center for Mindfulness in Public Safety and the Engaged Mindfulness Institute, as well as CEO and senior trainer for Windhorse Seminars & Consultin

Today, Commander Divine speaks with Eric Rogers about how he learned to face the pain of his childhood trauma and overcome his self-destructive habits. Eric shares that drugs kept him alive, by numbing what he was unable to face, and how hitting rock bottom gave him the reason he needed to change, find a higher purpose, and face all that he had been running from.    Key Takeaways:   Adverse Childhood Experiences are linked with increased risk for many types of illnesses: both physical and mental, as well as addiction. The stigma and silence around sexual abuse prevents many children from ever speaking up and getting the help they need.    Nature is a powerful tool. When we spend time in nature, we are reminded that we are part of nature. We are part of something bigger, and simply being away from all of the distractions of modern life allows us the space to go deeper into self reflection.    Running from pain doesn't work. It eventually catches up with you. Instead of running from pain, sit with it, embrace it, try to understand it, so that you can learn from it and move past it.  Replace your bad habits with positive habits that serve you-Eric channeled his intensity into extreme fitness, which gave him structure and purpose, and led him to a meaningful career helping others.  We need to do hard things. Creating daily rituals that challenge us physically, mentally, and spiritually make us more resilient. When we spend time challenging ourselves, we develop the strength to face whatever curveballs life throws our way.    Links: Rogers Fitness Academy Instagram What does your ACE score mean?

Today, Commander Divine reflects on 2021, and speaks about the problems many have faced with mental and physical health, being derailed from goals, and feeling stuck. He shares how we can step into 2022 with intention and integrity to face this complex, rapidly evolving world by going inward and finding our 'why", so that we can create habits, practices, and rituals that move us towards our goals and values.   Key Takeaways: Change is inevitable. We must learn to roll with the punches and focus on the one area we have control over, ourselves.  Integrity means to be integrated or in alignment with. Each person's integrity looks different. We must ask, what does integrity mean to me, and how can I do the work to be in alignment? The first step to becoming integrated is determining your core values through the practice of sitting in contemplative meditation. You must ask yourself, who am I?  Through our practice of self discovery, we must find 4-6 core values. We will form our habits, rituals, and practices to bring us in alignment with these values. 1 in 4 employees has resigned in the great resignation and we continue to see around 4 million people a month resigning. Companies will need to do a better job at valuing people over profit if they want to keep fully staffed.  Automation is coming! As robots replace much of our manual labor workforce, we need to focus on adaptability and learn to be creators.    Q&A with Listeners and Mark: @ironjim41 - why are some of us so much slower at finding our why and facing our true fear?   There is no magic formula to finding your why, but through daily introspection and asking yourself the right questions, you will get there.  @teastarr - The Netherlands went into another lockdown this Sunday. Any tips on how to deal with this (mentally, emotionally)?   We can not control the external world, so focus on what you can control.   Breathe deeply. We encourage the practice of box breathing. Here are some  breathing exercises to try. Practice mindful awareness, by sitting and examining your thoughts without judgment. Use visualization to develop a positive self-image of yourself in the future. Set micro-goals for yourself.     @magnetie - How to deal with slander and/or hate crimes If one of your core values is social justice, you will develop plans and strategies to work towards your goals. Remember to combat hate with love. Only love wins.  @philippe_durandin - How to overcome destructive and demotivating habits? Finding your why is crucial in overcoming destructive habits. You must have a clear vision of your values and purpose. You don't fight an old habit by beating yourself up about it. When you are focusing on your purpose, you gradually replace those destructive habits with positive ones.  @pthompson34 - How much work is too much work?   It's too much work if you're not passionate about it, and you're feeling burned out.    @arthur.v.ortega - what is the 5th plateau you talk about? The fifth plateau is a developmental stage of pure integration. You are living in complete alignment with your core values. You are living in harmony with the earth and have compassion for all living beings.  Links:  PwC/Oxford Study: 4 Possible Versions of the Workplace In 2030 | Observer

Today, Mark Divine speaks with Dr. Gabrielle Lyon about her muscle-centric approach to medicine, why obesity is a secondary problem, and how resistance training, high quality protein, and sleep are crucial to health and longevity.   Key Takeaways:   Dr. Lyon's muscle-centric medicine focuses on the root cause of obesity, loss or defect of skeletal-muscle-skeletal-muscle is not only important for the well-known reasons of strength and increased metabolism. It is an endocrine organ. Every time skeletal-muscle contracts it excretes myokines. Myokines affect immunity, brain health, and the way we use nutrients.    There are two ways to drive skeletal muscle, resistance training, and dietary protein. Resistance training looks different for everyone, but it is important to train to the point of muscle failure. Protein should be high quality, animal protein.  Worldwide, over 100 million people suffer from sleep apnea.  Some of the risk factors for sleep apnea are: environmental exposure, inability to lose weight, anxiety, hypertension, and TBIs. Untreated sleep apnea is incredibly dangerous, as it is linked to hypertension, poor cardiovascular health, hormonal imbalances, anxiety, and depression. The good news is that it is easy to diagnose with an at-home sleep test.  Testosterone naturally declines as we age. Training, diet, sleep, and reducing stress can all increase our testosterone levels, but it may not be enough to reach optimal levels without supplementation.. Optimal levels of testosterone affect quality of life in several ways including mood, energy, sex drive, and ability to maintain muscle.  Links: Dr. Gabrielle Lyon Twitter Instagram YouTube