‘The War of Art’ Author Steven Pressfield on Conquering Fear, Self-Doubt, and Procrastination
8 January 2025 - 1 hour 9 minsIs the real battle for mastery fought outside of us—or within—and what does it take to win that fight every day?
I’m so excited for this week’s guest, Steven Pressfield. Steven is a bestselling author and thought leader on creativity, known for his groundbreaking works like The War of Art and The Legend of Bagger Vance.
Steven’s journey is a testament to perseverance—he didn’t publish his first novel until he was 52—and his story proves that it’s never too late to embrace your calling. In this conversation, Steven and I dive deep into the nature of Resistance—how it manifests as fear, procrastination, or self-doubt—and what it takes to overcome it. We explore the concept of the “unlived l...
Series Episodes
The Psychology of Inner Peace | Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, founder of the Art of Living Foundation and author of Notes for the Journey Within, joins Dr. Michael Gervais to share how much stress is actually useful, what he means when he says success is exhibiting your limitation, and why he believes peace is a state you return to rather than one you build.
33 mins
30 September Finished
The Psychology of Pain | Dr Tom Walters
Dr. Tom Walters, board-certified orthopedic physical therapist, strength and conditioning specialist, educator, founder of Rehab Science, and author of Rehab Science: How to Overcome Pain and Heal from Injury, joins Dr. Michael Gervais to explain the difference between pain and injury, how fear and language shape the pain experience, and what to do when something hurts.
1 hour 17 mins
23 September Finished
The Psychology of Motivation | Dr. Masud Husain
Dr. Masud Husain, clinical neurologist, neuroscientist, Professor of Neurology and Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Oxford, Editor-in-Chief of the journal Brain, and author of Our Brains, Our Selves, winner of the 2025 Royal Society Trivedi Science Book Prize, joins Dr. Michael Gervais to explain how the brain builds motivation, what happens to a person when that system fails, and why he believes the self is not set in stone.
1 hour 44 mins
16 September Finished
The Psychology of The 10 Commandments| Jamie Metzl
Jamie Metzl breaks down the question behind his new set of ten principles, what happens when you read the original ten commandments literally, and why values collapse under pressure without the skills to hold them.
1 hour 16 mins
9 September Finished
The Psychology of Menopause | Tamsen Fadal
Tamsen Fadal, Emmy Award-winning journalist, menopause advocate, executive producer of the documentary The M Factor, and New York Times bestselling author of How to Menopause, joins Dr. Michael Gervais to explain what menopause actually is, why its symptoms are so often mistaken for anxiety or depression, and what women, partners, and leaders can do with better information.
58 mins
2 September Finished
The Psychology of Fighting Dementia | Dr Tommy Wood
Dr. Tommy Wood, physician and neuroscientist, Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Neuroscience at the University of Washington, and author of The Stimulated Mind, returns to Finding Mastery to join Dr. Michael Gervais on what we can do today to minimize our chances of developing dementia, how much of the risk is modifiable, and the three buckets he sorts every risk factor into.
1 hour 18 mins
26 August Finished
