Chasing Excellence

What if your triggers aren't random — they're a map back to yourself? In this close-out episode, Patrick reflects on the 21-day trigger challenge with two reframes that change everything: the tug of war between wants and reality, and the difference between surface triggers (your mental dojo) and the serious ones rooted in your own history.Learn why the fastest road to context-independent peace of mind runs through accepting reality — not fighting it — and why turning the spotlight on your triggers is the first step to responding instead of reacting.

What if the key to being capable at 75 isn't training harder — it's training more completely?In this episode, we introduce the Heavy, Fast, Far, and Free framework: a simple weekly approach to strength, power, endurance, and mobility that keeps every fitness bucket full.You'll learn why power declines 10x faster than strength (and why that matters for staying formidable at any age), why VO2 max has a 400% greater impact on all-cause mortality than smoking does, and what the minimum effective dose looks like for each pillar.If you want to be able to say yes to everything — forever — this episode shows you exactly how to train for it.

Coaches and mentors aren't essential — but they might be the best shortcut you'll ever find.In this episode, we answer Chase Club member David's question about whether coaches need coaches, and explore how Ben has built three very different mentorship relationships, each running on a different value exchange.You'll learn why reciprocity is the non-negotiable foundation of any real mentorship, and why curiosity, vulnerability, and patience are what you must bring as the mentee. Whether it's a paid business coach, a peer who trades expertise, or a friend who keeps you accountable — the best guidance always helps you see what you can't see from inside your own life.

What if the reason you keep falling back on old habits isn't a lack of discipline — but a failure of persuasion?In this episode, we sit down with New York Times bestselling author Jay Heinrichs to explore how ancient rhetoric holds the secret to becoming the person your best self already believes you can be.You'll discover Aristotle's three-part framework for identity — craft, caring, and cause — and why shifting your self-talk from past-tense shame to future-tense action is the single most powerful lever for lasting change.

What if you didn't need a prescription to fix your testosterone — and what if training through surgery was simpler than you thought?In this 5x5 episode, Ben answers five listener questions about training — covering HRT, surgery recovery, rucking, bite-sized movement for busy parents, and the essential home gym stack.

What if the most powerful thing you can do for your kids' emotional health is regulate yourself first?In this episode of our Raise series, Patrick sits down with Jenna Cain — a pediatric physical therapist, Level 3 Enlifted coach, and mother of two — to explore why the nervous system of the adult in the room determines what's possible for the child in front of them.We dig into why asking questions beats giving answers, how language shapes identity, and the simple daily practices that build psychological and emotional immunity in kids long before the crisis hits.

Ryan Rivard went from a homeless overdose survivor at 19 to summiting Mount Everest at 40 — and the most powerful thing he learned is that neither rock bottom nor the summit was the point.We explore how gratitude transforms daily life, why everyone is recovering from something, and why the person showing up at work needs to be the same one your family gets at home.Ryan walks us through the Dodek Method — a 12-dimensional operating system for aligned achievement that rewires how you move, think, connect, and execute, so success stops costing you yourself.

As we age, the Five Factors don't disappear — they shift. And most people wait until something breaks before they start paying attention.Answering a Chase Club member’s question, we break down exactly how to adjust how we train, eat, sleep, think, and connect across each decade of life — and why the most dangerous thing isn't aging itself, it's the drift that comes with it.You'll walk away with a clear framework for fighting back against the declines that are real (and faster than you think), protecting the things that matter most, and using more intention at the exact stage of life when everyone around you is using less.

We're launching a 21-Day Trigger Challenge: a structured daily practice built around five pillars (trigger identification, recovery speed, response vs. reaction, regulation strategies, and self-compassion) designed to shorten the gap between stimulus and choice.Whether you join the Chase Club, use the ChaseTracker app, or rely on nothing but a notebook and three questions at the end of each day, this challenge is an invitation to start chasing our highest goal: context-independent peace of mind.❤️‍

What does it actually mean to be fit for life — not just for a competition, a season, or a phase?In this episode, Ben, Cole, and Jamison unpack six foundational principles for anyone who wants to build fitness that serves them today, tomorrow, and forever. You'll walk away with a clear framework for training with sustainable effort, building real-world capability, and stacking weeks and months into compounding progress.This is the Health pillar in its most practical form: fitness not as the goal, but as the foundation for everything that matters.

In the first of our new 5x5 series, Ben takes five listener questions on the THINK factor, covering growth mindset, the Fragmented → Focused → Flow framework, and the distillation process behind the CE frameworks we talk about all the time.You'll walk away with a clear process for building a growth mindset in others, a new approach to retaining what you read and listen to, and a reframe on why letting go is the highest-effort move you can make at home.

What if most of what your kids are learning about emotions isn't coming from what you say — it's coming from what they watch you do?In this first episode of our new Raise series, we explore Doug Earl Johnston's groundbreaking book Choosing Emotions — now the single most comprehensive reference on human emotions in the English language — and what it means to parent as someone who chooses their responses rather than defaulting to them.Doug walks us through why the average adult operates with a vocabulary of 8-12 emotions when hundreds exist, and how precision with language is the key to naming — and taming — the feelings that derail us. The key takeaway: the vocabulary we give our kids now is the vocabulary they'll reach for when life gets hard.

What happens when the coach you hired tells you to do the opposite of what you expected? We dig into a listener's real dilemma — her coach told her to take six days off from training — and explore why the hardest part of being coached isn't the programming, it's the trust. Discover why a great coach's perspective is the single most valuable thing you're paying for, and why curiosity beats judgment every time.We break down the two pillars every coaching relationship is built on — experimentation and trust — and why resisting your coach's advice might mean you're not ready to grow. Learn why six days off won't cost you your fitness, why your identity might be more wrapped up in training than you realize, and how one low-risk experiment could change everything.

What if conquering fear has been the wrong goal all along?In this episode, Jim Murphy - author of Inner Excellence and The Best Possible Life - reveals that fear isn't the root problem: the root is self-centeredness, and fixing it changes everything. We explore the "affluenza virus," the three internal adversaries (the Critic, the Trickster, and the Monkey Mind), and why the ego's obsession with comparison quietly poisons everything it touches.Walk away with a practical ego check-in, a clearer understanding of what's actually driving your fear, and five daily paths to the presence that makes fearlessness possible. This is an episode for anyone who has chased success and still felt something missing - and anyone who wants to build a life that burns brighter the more they give it away.

What's really standing between you and the life you know is possible? In this deep-dive supercut, we unpack nine distractions that quietly pull us off course — from the supplement trap and toxic digital algorithms to the four idols, self-doubt, and comfort seeking. Discover why these distractions aren't random, and how recognizing them is the first step to breaking free.These nine distractions move from the outside in — starting with what we consume and who we surround ourselves with, then moving to the belief systems and psychological traps that keep us stuck, and finally to the existential fears that hold us back from a life on fire. Learn how to stop doing health, happiness, and purpose — and start actually being it.

What if the most powerful thing you could do for your child's confidence takes less than five minutes a day? In this short episode, we revisit a conversation with mindset coach Mark England that sparked something big — the idea of a wins journal — and we explore how one simple question before bed can reshape the story your kids tell themselves about who they are.We dive into why most of us have a black belt in dismissing our own accomplishments and how that pattern gets passed down to our children. Learn how replacing "what went wrong today" with "what went right today" connects to the Awareness → Intention → Action framework, and hear a full reading of Patrick's new children's book What's a Win I Won Today? — written to give families a way into the conversations that actually matter.

Are you unknowingly losing your edge — not in one dramatic moment, but through a thousand small, quiet compromises? In this episode, we diagnose the 10 forces of modern life that pull us toward what we call "the pool of dysfunction" — and, more importantly, we explore the countermeasures to swim against the current. Discover why drift is the true villain in the pursuit of health, happiness, and hearts on fire.From comfort everywhere and infinite digital distraction to food engineered for addiction and the erosion of awareness, we break down exactly where drift shows up and what to do about it. Learn how Thomas Aquinas's four idols and the concept of entropy frame the battle, why anything under zero compounds just as powerfully as anything above it, and how choosing useful discomfort is the first step back toward intention and action.

Most of us were raised with only two options for dealing with difficult emotions: act them out or stuff them down. In this conversation with Margaret Cullen, author of Quiet Strength, we explore a powerful third door — equanimity — and learn how to fully feel our emotions without being hijacked by them.Discover why equanimity isn't about dulling your feelings — it's about deepening them while staying free. We dig into practical cognitive hacks for breaking the cycle of reactivity, the 90-second rule that can transform how you respond to life's hardest moments, and how creating the right conditions can let calm arise naturally rather than being forced. Learn to widen your window of tolerance and connect with reality as it actually is.

What if the secret to lasting fulfillment isn't adding more to your life, but letting go of your attachment to the things you're chasing? In this conversation with NOBULL co-founder Marcus Wilson, we explore the reverse bucket list — a powerful framework for breaking free from the endless cycle of wanting more so you can actually enjoy what you already have.Inspired by Arthur Brooks and Simon Sinek, we dig into why checking off every goal on your list can still leave you feeling empty, and how true satisfaction comes from wanting less — not having more. Discover how to raise expectations for yourself while releasing expectations for the world around you, stay present instead of performing your life for others, and build the warrior mindset that keeps you calm and connected no matter what comes your way.

Can technology finally fix our nutrition struggles — or is it just adding more noise? We dive into why calorie trackers, wearables, and AI-powered diet tools consistently miss the mark, and discover the surprisingly simple, old-school method that actually gives you accurate, personalized results without any of them.In two powerful conversations with EC Synkowski, we explore why the friction of weighing and measuring your food isn't a bug — it's the feature that builds real awareness and lasting change. Learn why the path to dietary freedom runs straight through the inconvenience most of us are trying to avoid, and how your own weight trend is a more reliable guide than any app or algorithm.