Built on Behavior

What makes some people execute under pressure while others freeze? In this episode of Built on Behavior, Brooke Trometer sits down with Hollywood actor, stuntman, and peak performance strategist Gian Shaw to explore the mindset behind confidence, discipline, identity, and execution. Known for his work on productions like S.W.A.T. and General Hospital, Gian shares the real-life experiences that shaped his philosophy on peak performance, from struggling financially with only $1.96 in his pocket to building a career in Hollywood and coaching high performers around the world. Together, Brooke and Gian unpack: why discomfort creates growth how to stop hesitating and start executing the psychology of performance under pressure why authenticity creates confidence the importance of environment and relationships how identity shapes success the mindset behind discipline and consistency why most people stay stuck even when they know what to do Gian also breaks down his G-CODE™ framework: Gratitude. Clarity. Ownership. Discipline. Execution. This conversation is packed with practical mindset shifts for entrepreneurs, leaders, creators, athletes, and anyone trying to break out of fear, self-doubt, or inconsistency and become the person capable of performing when it matters most. If you’ve ever struggled with confidence, overthinking, fear of failure, or taking action at the next level, this episode will challenge the way you think about growth and success. About Gian Shaw Gian Shaw is a Hollywood actor, professional stuntman, speaker, and peak performance strategist. Through his coaching and speaking, he helps entrepreneurs and high performers align their identity with the level of success they want to achieve. Topics Covered Peak performance mindset Performing under pressure Confidence and execution Personal growth and discipline Entrepreneur mindset Authentic leadership Identity and success Mental toughness and resilience High performance habits Self-discipline and consistency Motivation and accountability Overcoming hesitation and fear Website: www.GianShaw.com Book: www.thegcodebook.com Social media: @gianshaw #BuiltOnBehavior #PeakPerformance #Mindset #PersonalDevelopment #Entrepreneurship #SelfDiscipline #HighPerformance #Confidence #GrowthMindset

There’s a moment that doesn’t announce itself. It’s quiet and so very easy to overlook. It’s the moment you’re told everything is normal. The tests are fine, the labs are clean and there’s nothing to be concerned about. Yet, something in you doesn’t settle. You leave with “answers”, but not relief; “reassurance”, but not resolution. For a while, you try to accept it. You even tell yourself maybe this is just how it is. Maybe this is what getting older feels like. Maybe this is what everyone else is managing and I just need to figure out how to adjust. But the body doesn’t stop communicating just because it’s been dismissed. It shows up in the middle of the night when sleep is illusive and won’t come back. It’s in that steady hum of anxiety that doesn’t make sense and the fatigue that doesn’t lift. It’s the quiet but persistent sense that something is off. Not dramatic. Just… off. That space, between what you’re told and what you feel, is where this conversation with Leks Vucko lives. Leks doesn’t come at this from the outside. She was raised around medicine. Her father was a doctor and her mother was a pharmacist. So this isn’t about rejecting the system. It’s about recognizing where it’s incomplete, because people aren’t just symptoms. They’re patterns, histories, environments, and behaviors that don’t show up on a lab report but shape how the body functions over time. And when those things are left out, the answers can be technically correct while still missing the point. One of the simplest ideas in this conversation is also one of the most important: Normal doesn’t mean healthy. It means common. And we have normalized a lot! Chronic stress that never turns off. Sleep that doesn’t restore. Anxiety that blends into the background. A constant state of pushing through instead of actually feeling well. None of it feels extreme… and that’s why it stays. What becomes harder to ignore is how much of this is behavioral. Not intentional, but conditioned. The instinct to push through. To deprioritize discomfort. To treat resilience as endurance instead of awareness. Over time, that creates distance between a person and their own signals. It’s not because they don’t care, but because they’ve been taught not to listen until the body gets loud enough that it can’t be ignored anymore. Leks frames much of this through the nervous system. The body adapts to what it experiences repeatedly. It learns what to expect, and for many people, what it learns is that rest is unfamiliar, stillness is uncomfortable, and attention is always directed outward. So the system stays active not because something is broken, but because something has been reinforced. When we talked about empowerment, it didn’t come up the way most people expect. It wasn’t about confidence. It was about attention. It was the ability to notice when something feels off, to question what’s been accepted, and to respond before things escalate. It sounds simple, but for most people, it’s unfamiliar. We’re taught to look for answers outside of ourselves, to trust what can be measured over what can be felt. Shifting that, even slightly, can feel disorienting, but it’s often where change begins. It’s not all at once, but in small moments. A different question. A signal taken seriously. A pattern noticed instead of repeated. There isn’t a clean conclusion to land on here. There’s no promise that everything has an easy answer. But there is a shift in perspective. Feeling off isn’t something to ignore. That “normal” isn’t always the goal. And that there may be more information in what you feel than you’ve been taught to trust. Because for so many people, the change doesn’t start with a diagnosis. It starts with a realization. That realization is that nothing is fundamentally wrong with them. They may have just been taught to stop listening. If something in this conversation feels familiar, you don’t have to keep trying to figure it out on your own. Leks shares her work, resources, and ways to go deeper across her platforms, along with opportunities to work with her directly if you’re ready to start understanding what your body has been trying to tell you. You can find her here: Facebook: Leks Vucko Website: https://leks.pro/

When Winning Stops Feeling Like Winning At some point in many high performers’ journeys, something shifts. You’ve worked hard. You’ve built success. You’ve reached rooms that once felt out of reach. But instead of feeling more confident, things begin to feel heavier. The stakes rise. Expectations grow. The room gets bigger. And suddenly it can feel like you’re performing instead of leading. That’s where our conversation with Angus Nelson began. Angus is an executive coach, keynote speaker, and the author of The Neuro-Resilient Leader. During our conversation he shared something that immediately reframed the way many of us think about growth. High performers don’t plateau because they lack strategy. They plateau because their nervous system hasn’t caught up with their ambition. The Internal Ceiling Most Leaders Never See Angus explained that many leaders believe they have a strategy problem. They think they need better tactics, more productivity tools, or a stronger business plan. But the real issue is often something deeper. Capacity. He described three quiet beliefs that many high achievers carry, even when they appear successful on the outside: I don’t deserve this. I’m not worthy of this. I don’t have what it takes to keep this. These thoughts rarely appear as obvious statements. Instead they show up as pressure, hesitation, overworking, or the feeling that you constantly have to prove yourself. Even leaders at the highest levels deal with this. The Brain Is Still Wired for Survival One of the most eye-opening parts of our conversation was how Angus explained the nervous system. Our brains evolved to keep us alive. Thousands of years ago the threats were physical. Predators. Enemies. Dangerous environments. Our bodies responded with fight, flight, or freeze. Today those threats look very different. A promotion. A public speaking opportunity. Leading a larger team. Taking on more visibility. But the body often reacts the same way. Your nervous system interprets unfamiliar responsibility as danger. It activates protection mechanisms that try to pull you back to what feels safe. That’s why growth can feel uncomfortable even when it’s something you want. As Angus put it: You can’t scale what’s not regulated. Your Inner Critic Might Actually Be Protecting You Most of us think of the voice in our head as the “inner critic.” Angus gave it a different name. He calls it the guardian. This voice is constantly scanning for threats. When you step into something bigger, it quickly starts listing reasons why you shouldn’t be there. Why you’re not ready. Why you’ll fail. Why someone else is better suited. But that voice isn’t trying to sabotage you. It’s trying to protect you. The goal isn’t to eliminate that voice. The goal is to recognize it and choose differently. Instead of fighting it, Angus reframes the response. Thank you for trying to keep me safe. But I’m ready for the next level. That shift alone can change how people approach fear and growth. The Framework That Changes Everything Angus shared the leadership framework he teaches called the C³ Protocol. It focuses on three pillars that help leaders grow beyond their internal ceiling. Clarity First comes clarity. Clarity means knowing the direction you want your life or leadership to move. Angus made an important distinction here. A destination can trap you. A direction expands you. When we attach ourselves to a specific destination, we risk disappointment if we miss it. But when we pursue a direction, growth becomes continuous. Clarity lives in the mind. It’s cognitive. Capacity The second pillar is capacity. Capacity is your ability to carry the responsibility and pressure that come with growth. This is where many high performers get stuck. They may have the opportunity, but internally they don’t feel ready to hold it. Building capacity requires emotional awareness and nervous system regulation. This work happens in the body. Composure The final pillar is composure. Composure is the ability to remain steady under pressure. A regulated leader doesn’t react impulsively. They create safety for the people around them, even in stressful moments. When leaders maintain composure, teams trust them. People feel safe. Decisions become clearer. Composure is behavioral. It’s what others experience from your leadership. Raising Your Standards Changes Your Life Another powerful idea Angus shared is about standards. Most people tolerate conditions in their lives that quietly limit them. They tolerate habits that drain them. They tolerate beliefs that shrink them. They tolerate environments that hold them back. Your life often reflects what you are willing to tolerate. When you raise your standards, everything begins to shift. Not because you suddenly chase more achievement, but because you expect more alignment from yourself. Success Is Not a Finish Line One of the biggest takeaways from this conversation was the idea that success isn’t a destination. It’s a direction. Every level of growth introduces new challenges and responsibilities. Instead of asking when things will finally feel easy, Angus suggests focusing on becoming stronger. The weight may grow. But so does your ability to carry it. The Real Work of Transformation Toward the end of our conversation, Angus said something that stuck with me. Transformation isn’t about becoming someone new. It’s about removing what has been interfering with who you already are. Underneath the performance and pressure is a version of you that already holds the power you’re looking for. Growth is simply the process of uncovering it. Connect with Angus Nelson If you want to explore more of Angus’s work, he is offering his book as a free download. Free Book freebook.vip LinkedIn Angus Nelson Final Reflection What struck me most about this conversation is how many leaders assume their limitations come from outside factors. But the real ceiling is often internal. Clarity about where you’re going. Capacity to carry the responsibility. Composure when the pressure rises. When those three align, growth stops feeling like struggle and starts feeling like expansion. And sometimes the next level isn’t about doing more. It’s about finally allowing yourself to become who you already are.

AI, Ethics, & the Line Between Star Trek and Skynet | Christopher Trocola There is a difference between someone who talks about artificial intelligence and someone who has lived inside the tension of it. You can feel it quickly. It shows up in how they answer questions, and in what they don’t say. It shows up in whether they reach for hype or pause before they speak. When Christopher Trocola sits down to talk about AI, he doesn’t sound like a futurist chasing headlines. He sounds like someone who has already seen systems break and the devastation it causes. Christopher is the CEO and founder of ACT, an executive risk management firm focused exclusively on AI safety and compliance. He has helped influence legislation, worked alongside federal agencies, and protected over half a billion dollars in regulated contracts. But what makes the conversation compelling is not his résumé. It’s the behavioral lens he brings to technology. For him, AI is not a “tool” conversation. It is a “character” conversation. And that’s a distinction that matters more than most people realize. Resilience Before Regulation Long before he was advising executives on AI governance, Christopher was a sick teenager in Tucson, Arizona. He missed most of high school due to a severe illness that resulted in half of his right lung being removed. And what did he tell his doctor the day after surgery? He had regional choir auditions and was insisting on attending! This wasn’t because it was wise, and definitely not because it was medically advisable. It was because that’s just who Christopher was. The story is not a sentimental anecdote. It’s a pattern. Throughout his life, Christopher has shown a consistent instinct: when pressure increases, he moves toward it. After high school he enlisted in the Marine Corps. Later, he went into door-to-door sales, building his skill in persuasion and pattern recognition. He scaled a solar company to 27 territories, and it was inside that industry, watching regulatory blind spots widen, that he began to see something others were missing. He noticed how loosely structured systems create incentives for abuse. He watched financial models that mirrored pre-2008 fragility beginning to emerge. He saw gray areas that, if exploited, could cascade. Pattern recognition is not mystical. It’s disciplined attention over time, and it’s this ability to see structural vulnerabilities that eventually led him into AI compliance. He recognized something early… AI is not dangerous because it’s intelligent. It’s dangerous because humans are inconsistent. The Conversation Most People Avoid The public conversation about AI often centers on productivity. Faster writing. Faster coding. Faster marketing. Christopher’s focus, on the other hand, is different. He is concerned with shadow AI, bias, hallucinations that become legal liability, systems that autonomously delete production databases, market cap collapses following AI failures, and the legal precedent that may make hallucinations a company’s responsibility, just to name a few. During our discussion, he described an HR prompt that seemed reasonable on the surface: avoid candidates likely to take extended leave within the first year. The AI filtered out 100 percent of women between ages 18 and 30. This wasn’t malicious. It was just logical. Can you figure out why? Another system attempting to identify internal theft risk produced racially skewed outputs. AI does not possess malice. It possesses pattern acceleration. It amplifies what it’s given. If the data contains bias, the output scales bias. If governance is loose, then risk multiplies. Shadow AI, one of his primary concerns, refers to unapproved AI tools operating inside organizations. Employees use them to save time. Vendors embed them without disclosure. Data is shared casually. No one intends harm, yet sensitive financial data, personally identifiable information, and proprietary strategy can leak quietly. The cost is rarely small. The danger is rarely dramatic, but it is cumulative. Star Trek or Terminator When Christopher evaluates experts in the field, he asks a simple question: Where are we headed? Star Trek or Terminator? Star Trek represents augmentation. Humans being enhanced, not replaced. Technology disciplined by ethical frameworks. Terminator represents autonomy without restraint, and systems executing logic without context. His answer is neither fatalistic nor naïve. We are not doomed, he believes. But we are not safe either. The deciding factor will not be code. It will be behavior. There is a widespread myth that AI governance does not yet exist, and the field is a regulatory Wild West. In reality, many existing laws already apply, such as consumer protection statutes, data privacy frameworks, employment law, and fraud regulation. The issue is not absence of law. It’s the absence of disciplined application. Most “AI governance” conversations, he argues, are opinion. What’s required is integration of existing compliance structures into emerging systems. We don’t need futuristic ethics. What we actually need is operational maturity. The Workforce Question When the conversation turns to employment, the tone shifts. If AI handles repetitive cognitive tasks, what becomes valuable? Christopher’s answer is immediate: emotional intelligence. Not IQ. EQ. Judgment, discernment, human nuance, the ability to read a room, navigate ambiguity, and assume responsibility become exponentially more valuable. Automation won’t eliminate humanity. It will, though, eliminate passivity. Those who treat AI as a crutch may struggle, while those who learn to manage, govern, and collaborate with systems will remain essential. There will be disruptions like blue-collar robotics, autonomous transport, and consolidated departments. He doesn’t sugarcoat that, but he returns to the same principle: education first, accountability second. If individuals and companies learn how these systems function, where they break, and how they scale risk, adaptation becomes possible. Without that understanding, fear fills the gap. The Summit and the Standard On April 8, during Arizona Tech Week, Christopher is hosting the AI Safety Summit. It was originally designed as a paid executive event, but it is now free to attend in person! The focus is not hype. It’s structure. What will you experience there? Legal experts, insurers, security officers, policy professionals, LIVE ethical AI demonstrations, and breakout sessions on governance and risk! Not theoretical musings, but applied frameworks. Alongside the summit, his organization offers certification and advisory pathways for companies seeking to align AI use with compliance standards. For those interested in the AI Certification program, the link will be at the bottom. But beyond the event logistics, the deeper invitation is intellectual. The AI conversation is not about fear, but about stewardship. The Behavioral Line At the end of our conversation, I asked him what messa...

There are certain conversations that stay with you long after the recording ends, and my conversation with Taylor Harrell was one of them. When we sat down to record this episode of Built on Behavior, I knew pieces of her story. I knew she had built BeLively Company at a young age. I knew she was hosting the Legacy Conference. I knew she had been through significant health challenges. What I did not fully grasp until she said it out loud was this… She was dead for seven minutes. In 2024, Taylor was involved in a catastrophic hit and run accident. Her vehicle was struck at 100 miles per hour. She was declared dead on record. When she regained consciousness, she remembers the EMT telling her not to move because she was bleeding. She drifted in and out. The kind of trauma that forces your body to remember what your mind is still trying to process. And what struck me most was not just that she survived. It was what she felt about surviving. She talked about being angry. Angry to be sent back. Angry to leave what she described as a place of purity, light, and peace. She believed deeply, though, if she had been returned to this life, it had to be for something bigger. That question shaped everything that followed. If I am still here, what am I meant to build? The Business Was Never About the Business Before the accident, BeLively was already in motion. Taylor is twenty one years older than her youngest sister, Mattie. When Mattie was born, Taylor was in one of the hardest seasons of her life. She had been on her own since she was sixteen. Independence was not a personality trait. It was survival, but Mattie changed something in her. BeLively began as an ecosystem, not just a networking group, not just a brand. It was an ecosystem of strong, independent women who could rely on each other. A safety net that would exist even if Taylor did not. “I just wanted to create something Maddie could fall back on.” As she said that, I could hear it clearly. This was NEVER about ego. It was about protection. It was about legacy long before she ever used that word publicly. She started BeLively in 2019 with $500. No investors. No family funding. No trust account. $500 and a decision. And yet there is often an assumption when someone builds something successful at a young age that they must have been handed something. Taylor addressed that head on. She built it from scratch. She learned what she needed to learn. She asked questions she had never been taught to ask. And she noticed something frustrating along the way. No one teaches women how to build wealth. The Gap No One Talks About One of the themes that kept surfacing in our conversation was old programming. The belief that you must save every penny out of fear. The belief that you cannot build a business without massive capital. The belief that financial literacy is too complicated for the average person. The belief that women should rely on someone else for security. Taylor questioned all of it. Why are business credit and personal credit not clearly explained? Why are 529 plans rarely discussed beyond the surface? Why is wealth building language so inaccessible? She went through the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women program. She studied. She built frameworks. She became the youngest on record to be published in Academia for her financial literacy work. But what I appreciated most was not her credentials. It was her insistence on clarity. She told me she asks clients if the language she is using is digestible. She tells people to explain things to her in kindergarten terms if necessary. She refuses to hide behind jargon just to sound intelligent. And that matters, because I have seen too many people give up on learning simply because they felt talked down to. When Strength Meets Stillness Six months after the accident, Taylor underwent emergency surgeries. Recovery was not optional. It required limitations. No heavy lifting. Limited screen time. No pushing through. For someone who had been hyper independent since her teenage years, that loss of autonomy hit harder than expected. “I was mad that I had to rely on people.” That sentence spoke to my core. There is something uniquely destabilizing about being the strong one and suddenly needing support. Especially when you are responsible for others. Especially when you are building something that depends on your energy. She retrained her dog, Bella, into a psychiatric service animal. She navigated traumatic brain injury symptoms. She confronted the reality that just because someone looks fine does not mean they are fine. And in the quiet space of healing, something sharpened. If she had been sent back, she was not going to play small. The Legacy Conference and a Bigger Assignment Out of that season came the Legacy Conference. Scheduled for June 5 through June 7 in Austin, Texas, the conference is not built around hype. It is built around structure. Attorneys discussing wills and trusts. Conversations about wealth preservation. Business strategy. Financial literacy that removes gatekeeping. When Taylor talks about it, I don’t hear pressure. I hear responsibility. She knows people are trusting her with their time, their money, and their belief. She takes that seriously. But she also understands something crucial. She is not responsible for someone else’s success. She can provide the tools. She can create the room. She can build the ecosystem, but each person has to choose to act. As someone who works closely with entrepreneurs, that distinction resonated deeply with me. We can guide. We can teach. We can support. But we cannot drink the water for someone else. Redefining Success I asked Taylor what belief she no longer holds. Her answer surprised me. She no longer believes success is tied to income. For her, success is knowing Mattie is protected. Success is helping one woman leave a relationship she stayed in because of financial dependence. Success is giving someone the confidence to ask for the promotion. Money can be gone tomorrow. Legacy remains. That perspective reframes everything. I have met high earners who are deeply unhappy. I have met people who have sold companies for life changing amounts of money and still feel empty. Taylor’s definition is different. It is relational. It is impact driven. It is long term. The Final Question At the end of our conversation, I asked her something I ask many guests. If everything you have ever taught disappears, and you get one final message that people will remember forever, what would it be? She did not hesitate. Be well. Be you. Be lively. It sounds simple. But it is not. Be well requires boundaries. Be you requires courage. Be lively requires intention. Taylor Harrell was sent back. And instead of shrinking, she chose to build. Not just a business, but a LEGACY! Connect with Taylor Harrell