Acta Non Verba

In this episode, Dr. Megan McElheran, a clinical psychologist and CEO of Before Operational Stress, Inc. discusses stoicism's practical applications and the misinterpretations associated with it. Dr. McElheran shares her extensive work with trauma-exposed professionals, including military personnel and first responders, and highlights the importance of managing stress and trauma. Marcus and Dr. McElheran delve into the concept of post-traumatic growth, the necessity of facing adversities, and maintaining mental health resilience. The conversation also touches on Dr. McElheran's Bataan Death March experience, underscoring the significant lessons in resilience and determination. Episode Highlights: 02:29 The Misconceptions of Stoicism 08:04 The Impact of Trauma on First Responders 29:32 Stoic Wisdom for Overcoming Hardship 31:10 The Hero's Journey and Personal Growth 32:22 Embracing Pain and Suffering 37:55 Curating Thoughts and Building Confidence 40:20 The Bataan Death March: A Lesson in Endurance Dr. Megan McElheran, CEO of Wayfound Mental Health Group in Calgary, AB, is a Clinical Psychologist with 16 years of expertise in Operational Stress Injuries (OSI). Specializing in active-duty military, Veterans, and public safety personnel, she focuses on assessment, diagnosis, and treatment. Driven by a passion for OSI prevention and resilience enhancement, she developed the BOS program. Exploring innovative approaches, she's delving into psychedelic medicine for psychological injuries. A sought-after speaker and educator, Dr. McElheran shares her insights nationally. Her recent publication in the European Journal of Psychotraumatology, "Functional Disconnection and Reconnection," sheds light on novel strategies for public safety personnel's well-being. You can find out more here: https://www.beforeoperationalstress.com/ Learn more about the gift of Adversity and my mission to help my fellow humans create a better world by heading to www.marcusaureliusanderson.com. There you can take action by joining my ANV inner circle to get exclusive content and information. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Rick Williams, author and host of the Create the Future with Rick Williams Podcast, joins Marcus Aurelius Anderson to talk about the decisions that shape leaders and the organizations they run. Rick traces his path from physicist at Itek to Harvard Business School, Arthur D. Little, and founding The Equity Company, and explains why leadership and management are two different skill sets. He shares the Johnson & Johnson story that shows why a junior employee has to feel safe saying something is wrong, the Casablanca lunch where he sketched Create the Future on the back of a placemat, and his call to stop racing 100 miles from Bermuda after his boat lost its backstay. Rick also talks about driving donated supplies from Warsaw to Kyiv and what most Americans miss about the war in Ukraine. EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS: 6:57: Rick explains why leadership and management are two different skill sets, and why successful leaders need management skills plus the ability to set a vision and build trust. 15:01: Rick shares how a junior Johnson & Johnson employee caught mislabeled bottles before they shipped nationwide, and why that only happens in a culture where people feel safe saying something is wrong. 44:41: Rick describes the lunch in Casablanca where he turned over a placemat and wrote down the title and core idea of Create the Future, that the decisions you make today create your organization's future. 48:09: Rick walks through the Newport to Bermuda race where a failed backstay 100 miles from the finish forced him to choose between crossing the line and protecting his crew and boat. Rick Williams is a keynote speaker, author, and board member who shares his experience as a scientist, management consultant, company founder, and CEO. After studying physics at the University of Pennsylvania, he worked on high-level optics and reconnaissance systems at Itek, then went on to Harvard Business School and spent more than ten years at Arthur D. Little before founding The Equity Company, an award-winning real estate investment and development company. Rick is the author of Create the Future: Powerful Decision-Making Tools for Your Company and Yourself and hosts the Create the Future with Rick Williams Podcast, a forum for leaders to share the tough decisions they have made for their organizations. He is also an offshore sailor who has raced from Newport to Bermuda, and he has helped drive donated supplies into Ukraine. Learn more at rickwilliamsleadership.com. Learn more about the gift of Adversity and my mission to help my fellow humans create a better world by heading to www.marcusaureliusanderson.com. There you can take action by joining my ANV inner circle to get exclusive content and information. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Richard Kaufman, known as The Comeback Coach and host of the Vertical Momentum Resiliency Podcast 2.0, sits down with Marcus Aurelius Anderson to talk about what happens when the identity you built your whole life around is taken away. Richard shares how he went from being thrown out of the military for addiction to being named Soldier of the Year, and how losing his vision and his uniform in 2012 left him asking who he was without it. He opens up about the moment his six-month-old daughter pulled him back from the edge on Labor Day 2012, the lunch with Gary Vaynerchuk that launched his podcast, and the Ed Mylett lesson that everything in his life happened for him. Together they talk about why nobody is coming to save you, how success leaves clues, and why taking full responsibility for your life is where living begins. EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS: 13:50: Richard shares how a lunch with Gary Vaynerchuk led to the push to start a podcast and write a book before he had any social media following at all. 18:37: Richard explains that the biggest revelation from 14 years of therapy is that nobody is coming to save you, and how Ed Mylett taught him that nothing happened to him, it all happened for him. 22:34: Richard describes how losing his military ID and his identity as Sergeant Kaufman left him asking who he was, and why so many veterans and first responders struggle after taking off the uniform. 25:53: Richard describes how a George Strait song about a father seeing his daughter for the first time came on the radio seconds before he planned to end his life, and how thinking of his own daughter saved him. Richard Kaufman, known as The Comeback Coach, is a military veteran, author, speaker and host of the Vertical Momentum Resiliency Podcast 2.0, which has passed 1,400 episodes and nearly five million downloads. After being discharged in 1988 for drug and alcohol use, he fought his way back into the Pennsylvania National Guard, was named Soldier of the Year and served more than 20 years before his medical retirement in 2012. Richard has been sober since 1989 and is the author of A Hero's Journey From Darkness to Light, a book about recovery, addiction and depression, and The Podcast Blueprint, a guide to starting and sustaining a podcast. He lives in New Jersey with his wife and three kids. Learn more about the gift of Adversity and my mission to help my fellow humans create a better world by heading to www.marcusaureliusanderson.com. There you can take action by joining my ANV inner circle to get exclusive content and information. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this solo episode, Marcus Aurelius Anderson introduces his newly released book Acta Non Verba, drawing on his harrowing personal story of being paralyzed from the neck down and flatlining twice on the operating table. He reads from the book's opening section on adversity, laying out his core philosophy: that adversity is the ultimate catalyst for change, the gateway to self-awareness, and the force that strips away everything you are not to reveal who you truly are. EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS: 1:25 — Marcus describes spending four years writing, scrapping, and rewriting the book based on his own near-death experience and recovery. 4:28 — He explains why knowledge that is acquired but never put into practice is no different from ignorance, and why reading alone can never equal mastery. 5:22 — Marcus reframes a familiar idea: "Necessity is not the mother of invention. Adversity is," arguing that adversity strips away pretense to reveal your true self. 7:15 — He connects adversity directly to self-awareness, calling it the gateway through which every great philosophy in history has been built. Learn more about the gift of Adversity and my mission to help my fellow humans create a better world by heading to www.marcusaureliusanderson.com. There you can take action by joining my ANV inner circle to get exclusive content and information. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

George Bryant sits down with Marcus Aurelius Anderson for a conversation about what happens when you survive a childhood no child should survive, serve 13 years in the Marine Corps, build a seven-figure business, and then realize none of it filled the void. George shares his story of growing up in Massachusetts surrounded by addiction and abuse, nearly losing his legs in Somalia, attempting to take his own life, and eventually finding God in a Costa Rican jungle through a shaman who refused to give him plant medicine. They talk about the difference between forgiveness and reconciliation, the danger of distracting yourself from your own feelings, and how the person you are most qualified to help is the person you used to be. This is a raw, honest conversation about doing the work you have been avoiding and learning to sit with yourself. EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS: 3:13: George opens the conversation by sharing that his mother is on hospice and explains the difference between forgiveness and reconciliation. 14:53: George reveals he was named honor graduate out of 1,300 Marines after spending 13 weeks believing he was a complete failure. 42:03: A shaman in Costa Rica refused to give George plant medicine and instead asked him one question about the purpose of his life that changed everything. 1:16:30: George breaks down his triage nurse approach to emotional regulation and how to know when to push through versus when to pause and process. George Bryant is a Marine Corps veteran, New York Times bestselling author, and host of The Mind of George Show podcast. He built a seven-figure food blog brand called Civilized Caveman, wrote a cookbook that spent 22 weeks on the bestseller list, and launched an app that Apple named the number one health app of 2015. After losing everything and rebuilding from scratch, George developed his Relationships Beat Algorithms model and now helps companies scale through customer journey consulting, email marketing, and leadership coaching. He has appeared on close to 10,000 podcasts as a guest and lives in Montana with his family. Learn more about the gift of Adversity and my mission to help my fellow humans create a better world by heading to www.marcusaureliusanderson.com. There you can take action by joining my ANV inner circle to get exclusive content and information. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.