Spartan Up! - A Spartan Race For The Mind!

Trauma care is a creative process for Dr, Jeffrey Upperman. He mentors young surgeons by throwing them in a room together with very little to work with  and let their ingenuity and communication skills come to the fore to solve a problem under duress. He points out that these skills are becoming a lost art in the age of texting and tweeting but they are no less vital in forming a successful person. Upperman in his years as a general surgeon took cues from his father, a man who prided himself in working with his hands, and stresses the importance of upbringing, yet acknowledges that the whole community bears responsibility for nurturing a success.   Lessons:     1.    Creativity is key in emergencies, and it can be learned.     2.    We are all responsible to hold each other accountable.     3.    We need rites of passage to learn to cope under duress.

Cal Fussman, author as well as a writer for Esquire, went on a ten year worldwide journey with little money to his name. He subsisted on the good will of others, most often on those he met on the bus ride to his next destination. It was the perfect way to satisfy his insatiable curiosity and hone his interviewing skills. In this episode Fussman will talk about how to make everyday an opportunity for adventure and connection. Lessons:     1.    Ask a canned question and you’ll get a canned answer. Talk to people with authenticity.     2.    When starting a big project don’t reflect long enough to talk yourself out of it; just keep going forward.     3.    Treat each day like a unique experience. CREDITS Producer – Marion Abrams, Madmotion, llc. Hosts: Joe De Sena with Johnny Waite, Sefra Alexandra, Col. Tim Nye, Dr. Delle & David Deluca Synopsis – Matt Baatz © 2016 Spartan

When your business is in trouble, this is the guy you need. Tim Gentry develops people to motivate his own success. As an Ironman competitor he exemplifies strengthening the body as a way to maintain a powerful mind, something he believes many business people neglect to their detriment. His suggestion: keep it simple and do just one thing every day. Listen for more tried and true methods to persevere and thrive. Gentry shares some gems on this week’s podcast. Lessons:     1.    Focused on the people in your business,and let hurdles dissolve to white noise.     2.    To revive someone who is lagging, put them in charge of others.     3.    Write down all the great things that are happening in your life and read them when you need inspiration.

Mortgage officer and part of a Vermont family maple sugaring business, Ray Morvan found extreme multi day racing at random, after a battle with alcohol and opiate addiction. By helping him find community and a way to exert and build mental resilience it’s exactly what the doctor ordered . He  went on to compete in nine Peak Death Races which is almost certainly a record. We spoke with him at the Spartan Winter Agoge. Morvan credits stoicism for getting through life challenges that would break a lesser man. He is now championing  the issue of addiction by assisting anyone who is willing to reach out to him. Morvan’s phone line is open. Lessons:     1.    Figure it out. There’s always a way.     2.    Simply put yourself out there, everyday, and have faith that it will get better.     3.    In addition to PTSD think about PTSG - Post Traumatic Growth. CREDITS Producer – Marion Abrams, Madmotion, llc. Hosts: Joe De Sena with Johnny Waite, Sefra Alexandra, Col. Tim Nye, Dr. Delle & David Deluca Synopsis –

Damion Hahn came a hair’s breadth away from making the Olympics and advises those not achieving there goals “be mad about it, then turn your attention to tomorrow.” He channels that drive training a team that has been  near dynasty for the last quarter century of Ivy League wrestling. They got there by honing raw talent. The best persist, the rest need to find their niche elsewhere. Hahn has seen this success translate into the wrestler’s everyday lives and he shares the methods that have built such consistent winners. Lessons:     1.    Everybody’s motivated differently; adjust your approach accordingly.     2.    Enter each day with a purpose!     3.    Be part of a community that motivates you achieve.

This week’s podcast features two Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, Christian Johnson and Chad Grills, disrupting the world of business. Johnson started Fotition a platform to unite brands people and charities to create a positive social outcome. He arrived at this idea by following  his lifelong mantra, “creativity will save the world,” which lead him to a vocation that will leave a legacy. Grills, a former Army infantryman, took note of better ways to do things during deployments in Egypt and Iraq and channeled them into a sharing and trading service for business assets called Twist.com. He discusses the ways he has used the challenges of the military and life to overcome obstacles. Lessons: 1, The problem is the solution (permaculture principle). 2, Learn to love the word no. Turn it into an opportunity to overcome challenge. 3. Ask yourself if you are living up to your life’s mantra and serving the greater good. CREDITS Producer – Marion Abrams, Madmotion, llc. Hosts: Joe De Sena with Johnny Waite, Sefra, C

Nini Meyer created Positive Tracks as a way to get kids moving and involved with a cause through athletics. She has witnessed it not only helping the causes, but connecting the youth with each other and teaching them to manage risk, take on challenges and get active. Since not every child enters the program with the same resources, it also teaches them the vital lesson of using what they got at the moment and building from there. A lifelong volunteer who adopted ultra-endurance running well into her adulthood, Meyer found a way to combine the two into something exceedingly positive. Lessons:     1.    Whenever you see the hazy outlines of a starting line begin to form, don’t turn away. Run straight towards it.     2.    You can’t cross the ocean by staring at the sea.     3.    Achieving challenging acts with groups creates a sense of shared struggle and perseverance propelling you towards your goal through

Helping runners move faster and injury free is the mission of Nathan Helming. A former Ironman qualifier, Nathan Helming runs programming for San Francisco Crossfit with a focus on helping runners and triathletes become better rounded athletes. He’s taking this passion into a startup called The Run Experience which guides athletes through strength, conditioning and problem solving to reach their goals through online webinars. Frustration with chronic injury spurred by a too narrow focus on conditioning caused Helming to seek out SF crossfit with its philosophy of a more balanced approach. He is now adapting his experience to propel athletes past their limitations. Lessons:     1.    Be process focused: set aside fear of the outcome and engage in the task at hand.     2.    Understand that you have a choice at every moment.     3.    Don’t be afraid to ask for help.

The founder of Charity Water, Scott Harrison was a successful nightclub promoter living a life of decadence many might envy. He found himself hobnobbing with the beautiful people on a daily basis, but he had an epiphany on the beaches of Uruguay. Though he didn’t lack materially he was morally, spiritually and emotionally bereft.  He sold everything, took up residence in a friend’s closet and volunteered in war torn Liberia, paying for the privilege. While there he found his mission: He would use his influence to help remediate the lack of clean water that often leads to disease for the 660 million people in third world nations who are affected. Lessons:     1.    To change your life, and the life of others, it may be necessary to step into a new story of your life and scrap the old one.     2.    The best way to motivate change is through the promise of positive action with tangible results and not through shame or guilt.     3.    Do not compromise your values and morality; maintain your tenacity and you

With a military career spanning 26 years, retired Col. Fellinger has become a model of resilience and fitness. He asks that you bring him the hardest problems you have because he lives to overcome them. As he explains, it’s a process and one that can be practiced but not necessarily mastered. After all, if you’re not at least a little off balance, how are you challenging yourself and growing stronger? Joe and he discuss the most vital element to fitness--building mental strength through motivation, risk taking, mental agility and mental resilience. Lessons:     1.    Remember the French Paratrooper’s Prayer (to paraphrase): Give me Lord what others don’t want, uncertainty, doubt, torment and battle, but also the courage, the  energy and spirit to face them.     2.    To stay motivated take the first step and you will soon create irreversible momentum, inertia that will take on a life of it’s own.     3.    Build mental resilience through facing challenges you didn’t anticipate and generalizing the resultan

The “man whisperer” Mammarella-D'Cruz runs men’s groups that set them on a course to fulfillment. Clients, even billionaires, find they need help understanding how to achieve happiness. His ability was honed by the dire circumstances of his own childhood. After his family was placed on the death list in Uganda, Mammarella-D'Cruz spent a significant portion of his formative years on the run. This summoned his survival instincts, which were vital at the time, but when the threat eased were not helping him live the life he had dreamed. After a string of successful endeavours that left him wanting, he learned to live life to it’s fullest and is helping others do the same. Lessons:     1.    Find how your life’s “script” impedes you, to move on.     2.    It’s more efficient to learn from other’s mistakes than to make them yourself.     3.    If your life is entirely run by your internal protector you are surviving and not living.

Adaptive athlete Amy Winters, is so resilient she was chosen to help struggling athletes complete the brutal 60+ hour Spartan endurance event Agoge. If you ask her, she won’t credit rugged individualism for her perseverance. She relies on the strength of others to buoy her up as she does the same for them. It may be that the wellspring of grit that her loss summoned helped her to recognize and rouse that same potential in others. Lessons:     1.    When you see something different about a person, smile with them.     2.    Working as a team, as a community, you bring to the fore each other’s strengths and lift each other towards completing the improbable.     3.    To connect with people, disconnect from the screen. LINKS: One Step Ahead Foundation https://onestepaheadfoundation.wordpress.com/ One Step Ahead Foundation on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/OneStepAheadFoundation/

Coach of the highly successful wrestling program at Cornell, Rob Koll wasn’t an overnight success. His virtuosity was years in the making, working hard and surrounding himself with the kind of motivating people that would eventually transform the program into a powerhouse. When asked, Koll denies that his methods involve any mystique. He simply doles out his nose to the grindstone, meat and potatoes work ethic with devastating consistency. Those who don’t have the discipline to endure it fall by the wayside. Those who do, find themselves competing with the best and winning often. Lessons:     1.    It’s not how much you want to win that day; it’s how much you want to win on all the days leading up to that day.     2.    Even a mildly active wrestler is going to go through more pain, hardship and sacrifice than the average person on the street.     3.    A supportive upbringing that instills good values is crucial.   sfvd2d36

A restaurateur with 7 NYC restaurants and a passion for fitness, his restaurants have succeeded in large part due to Chernow’s keen sense of emotional intelligence. One of the unique ways he keeps his staff happy is the emphasis he places on fitness in the workplace and the program he started to cultivate this. The interview takes place in Seamore’s which specializes in locally caught species that are delectable but often overlooked. Dogfish, for example, is just as tasty as trendier fare. Chernow is working new projects with a voracious diligence Chernow can trace back to his childhood. As a kid he walked dogs and delivering food to transcend his family’s modest lifestyle. Lessons     1.    Don’t underestimate anyone. There’s no way of gauging how valuable a relationship will be down the line.     2.    Don’t “want,” “need,” or “wish” …. “do.”     3.    Cultivate a happy, cohesive team and the guests will be made happy as a matter of course.

UFC fighter “The Spaniard” and lifelong wrestler, Charlie grew up in normal circumstances. As he puts it “I’m just like you,” he didn’t have to overcome a great deprivation or trauma, he just worked hard and went on to great successes. Brenneman dispels the myth that you must follow a Rocky type trajectory to compete with the best. Instead he shares the simple steps he took, including surrounding himself with good mentors and Consistency. He arrived by realizing that in a sport like wrestling in which “heartbreak far outweighs the triumph” the journey is what matters. Lessons:     1.    Being in a normal family that provides good core values and a supportive environment is an underestimated advantage. It doesn’t take extraordinary circumstances to do extraordinary things.     2.    Every opportunity, no matter how small, counts. Things add up.     3.    If you don’t move the proverbial line in the sand, you’re never going to get best.

A former infantry officer Josh Mantz was shot by a sniper in Baghdad.  He flatlined, and his life was in the hands of a nineteen year old medic in the heat of battle. Mantz was revived ten minutes after the period that’s considered survivable. When asked why, the medic said simply that he never gives up.  Mantz moved on to Tesla, pioneers in electric vehicles. The atmosphere there is in some ways as intense as the military.  Why? They too are mission driven. Outside of Tesla Mantz has harnessed his healing to help veterans heal from their trauma. Lessons:     1.    You can’t do it all alone, sometimes even your very life is in the hands of others.     2.    Recognizing and absolving yourself of guilt and shame is the first step in overcoming trauma.     3.    A solid sense of mission and purpose precedes any great accomplishment. CREDITS Producer – Marion Abrams, Madmotion, llc. Hosts: Joe De Sena with Johnny Waite, Sefra, Col. Tim Nye, Delle & David Deluca Synopsis – Matt Baatz © 2016 Spartan

Former Olympic downhill skier Doug Lewis decided at 8 he’d compete on the Wold Cup level. Success came very early, but during his first World Cup race at age 17 he broke his back.  Failure, he now says, is critical to building confidence. He went on to win World Cup Bronze and represent the US in 3 Olympic games. The problem with peaking early is the looming question of what to do next - and will anyone care. Lewis chose to pass on the lessons he learned by creating a youth development program called Eliteam. He also chose to stayed close to ski racing and is a Skiing analyst for NBC for World Cup and Olympic games. Lewis is content with his life, but continues every day to look for new adventures and inspire kids to set lofty goals then dig deep to achieve them. Lessons:     1.    Good coaches set goals challenging enough to spur growth but not so overwhelming they create despair.     2.    Students should set goals they may never reach, they will provide direction and inspiration.     3.    Confidence requ

The founder of a massive sports promotion company Matchroom Sport, started off without a clear direction. He says just start, take a scattershot approach and eventually you’ll find your direction by the process of elimination. Aim high, then adjust. Hearn wanted to be a heavyweight boxing champion, but his path lead him to be a promoter instead. His own passion could comes across as draconian, but that’s only testament to how strongly he believes in the power of the individual to create a meaningful life. Lessons:     1.    At first take a scattergun approach in life; don’t set limits and then adjust to find your place.     2.    Start an hour earlier and end an hour later.     3.    Champions are impressive, but the people at the back of the field who refuse to give in may be even more impressive.

His first memory is the moment his mother gave him away. Former NFL player, Anthony Trucks, wants to matter because his first memory in life was feeling like he didn’t. At 14 a harsh remark by a girl in school shocked him into self awareness. Sheer force of will it set him on a course that has defined his life to the present day as a successful business owner, athlete speaker & author. Lessons:     1.    Live a life that will produce a huge turn out at your funeral.     2.    If you think the hand you’ve been dealt is an excuse, think again.     3.    Practice effortless effort--that activity that resonates so deeply with you that the work you do starts to feel effortless.

Explorer and mountain biker Shannon Galpin brings cycling to Afghan women.  The 2014 National Geographic Explorer believes bicycles are a vehicle for transformation in a society where this simple freedom and pleasure is denied to women and girls. This simple act, easily taken for granted in the West, provides them with a stronger voice so vital in what often appears like an insurmountable obstacle--positioning Afghan women in a place of greater equality. Lessons:     1.    Simply doing something right can a powerful form of activism since it will inspire others to mirror you.     2.    Hope and change prevail over fear.     3.    Don’t take even the simplest things for granted.