Becoming UnDone

About The GuestShelby Perry is a Utah native who struggled with addiction from a young age. After seeking help and entering recovery, she founded EYEHESIVE, a community and coaching program for individuals dealing with eye and vision loss. Shelby is also a yoga instructor and uses her platform to inspire and support others on their journey to recovery and self-acceptance.SummaryShelby Perry shares her journey of addiction, recovery, and overcoming a life-altering accident that left her blind in one eye. She discusses the importance of sobriety and the support of the recovery community in her healing process. Shelby's experience led her to found EYEHESIVE, a community and coaching program for individuals with eye and vision loss. She emphasizes the power of self-acceptance and finding purpose in helping others.Key TakeawaysSobriety and the support of the recovery community played a crucial role in Shelby's recovery from her accident.Shelby founded EYEHESIVE to provide support and resources for individuals with eye and vision loss.Self-acceptance and finding purpose can help overcome adversity and create a fulfilling life.Quotes"Everything that I learned from the foundation of getting sober... has directly coexisted and helped me get through that eye loss." - Shelby Perry"I just thought about other people out there that might have an eye injury and not have as many people or support." - Shelby Perry"I can still move my body and get on the mountain today." - Shelby PerryReach out to Becoming UnDone! Text Toby here!Support the showBecoming UnDone® is a NiTROHype Creative production. Written and produced by me, Toby Brooks. If you or someone you know has a story of resilience and victory to share for Becoming Undone, contact me at undonepodcast.com. Follow the show on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn at becomingundonepod and follow me at TobyBrooksPhD. Listen, subscribe, and leave us a review Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

About The Guest:Pat Rigsby is a highly successful entrepreneur and business coach in the fitness industry. He has owned and operated multiple businesses, including fitness training centers and franchise organizations. Pat is known for his expertise in building successful businesses and helping others achieve their goals.Summary:Pat Rigsby is a former college baseball coach turned entrepreneur and business coach. He shares his journey from being a young baseball player with dreams of making it to the major leagues to becoming the youngest head college baseball coach in the country. Pat's coaching career led him to a successful business in the fitness industry, where he built and scaled multiple businesses. He eventually transitioned to coaching other business owners and helping them grow their own businesses. Pat emphasizes the importance of being adaptable, building systems, and focusing on relationships in order to achieve success.Key Takeaways:Perfect is a myth, focus on progress and learning from failures.Building successful businesses requires being willing to deviate from the norm and approach challenges differently.Systems are important for success, but they should be seen as blueprints to help others succeed.Failure is a part of the journey and can lead to better opportunities or temporary setbacks.Gratitude and paying it forward are important aspects of personal and professional growth.Quotes:"Perfect is a myth. Let's keep making progress and learning from failures." - Pat Rigsby"Being willing to deviate from the norm and approach challenges differently is key to success." - Pat Rigsby"Systems are blueprints to help others succeed." - Pat Rigsby"Failure is either a springboard to something better or a temporary setback." - Pat Rigsby"Gratitude and paying it forward are important in personal and professional growth." - Pat RigsbyReach out to Becoming UnDone! Text Toby here!Support the showBecoming UnDone® is a NiTROHype Creative production. Written and produced by me, Toby Brooks. If you or someone you know has a story of resilience and victory to share for Becoming Undone, contact me at undonepodcast.com. Follow the show on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn at becomingundonepod and follow me at TobyBrooksPhD. Listen, subscribe, and leave us a review Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

SummaryDr. Garfield Bright, a founding member of the R&B group Shai, shares his journey from being a college student at Howard University to becoming a successful musician. He discusses the challenges and triumphs of his music career, emphasizes the importance of being business-savvy in the industry, and reveals his passion for continuous learning, which led him to pursue a PhD in African American Studies.About The GuestDr. Garfield Bright is a founding member of the R&B group Shai. He has achieved multi-platinum success in the music industry and has also earned a PhD in African American Studies.Key TakeawaysGarfield's love for music and his fascination with harmony led him to join the R&B group Shai.The group's success was unexpected, but they quickly rose to fame with their hit song "If I Ever Fall In Love."Garfield's passion for learning and his inquisitive nature led him to pursue a PhD in African American Studies while still pursuing his music career.Quotes"We really thought just because we had a song that was incredible to us, that should get a record deal and we should be successful in the music industry." - Garfield Bright"I always got something out of putting my effort into school outside of just putting effort in." - Garfield Bright"I always wanted to know more. I'm not satisfied with what we know now, and I still am not even with the PhD." - Garfield BrightReach out to Becoming UnDone! Text Toby here!Support the showBecoming UnDone® is a NiTROHype Creative production. Written and produced by me, Toby Brooks. If you or someone you know has a story of resilience and victory to share for Becoming Undone, contact me at undonepodcast.com. Follow the show on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn at becomingundonepod and follow me at TobyBrooksPhD. Listen, subscribe, and leave us a review Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

SummaryDr. Phil Anton shares his journey from growing up in a small town in Michigan to becoming a renowned cancer rehabilitation researcher. He talks about his early career aspirations, the influence of his parents, and his transition from computer science to physical education. He discusses how he found his purpose in cancer rehabilitation and the impact of his cousin's battle with cancer on his career path. Dr. Anton also highlights the importance of listening to others and the power of exercise as a therapeutic tool for cancer survivors.Dr. Anton emphasizes the significance of exercise as a therapeutic tool for cancer survivors and caregivers, both physically and psychologically. He discusses the impact of the Strong Survivors program at SIU Carbondale and the need for more accessible cancer rehabilitation programs. Dr. Anton also expresses his desire to gain support from influential figures in oncology to make cancer rehab a standard part of care.About The GuestDr. Phil Anton is an Associate Professor and the Program Director for Exercise Science at SIU Carbondale. He is the director of the Strong Survivors Exercise and Nutrition Program for cancer survivors and caregivers, and he also directs the SIUC Cancer Rehabilitation Laboratory.Key TakeawaysExercise is a powerful tool for enhancing the physical and psychological well-being of cancer survivors.The Strong Survivors program at SIU Carbondale aims to break down barriers and improve the quality of life for cancer survivors.Dr. Anton emphasizes the importance of listening to others and seeking guidance in finding one's career path.He hopes to expand the reach of cancer rehabilitation programs and gain support from influential figures in oncology.Quotes"Exercise is that drug. It's a psychological agent as well." - Dr. Phil Anton"We're helping to break down barriers because there's not a whole lot that oncologists know about exercise or quality of life." - Dr. Phil Anton"You have to be able to assist them through uncomfortable conversations and be prepared for the loss of some participants." - Dr. Phil Anton"The answers are out there, the avenues are out there, and you'll get there eventually." - Dr. Phil Anton"Cancer rehab is where cardiac rehab was when it was first getting started." - Dr. Phil Anton"Eventually, a cancer diagnosis will mean that you are funneled immediately into a cancer rehab program." - Dr. Phil Anton"Strong Survivors allows all three of those things to happen very easily, and they all are tied together." - Dr. Phil AntonReach out to Becoming UnDone! Text Toby here!Support the showBecoming UnDone® is a NiTROHype Creative production. Written and produced by me, Toby Brooks. If you or someone you know has a story of resilience and victory to share for Becoming Undone, contact me at undonepodcast.com. Follow the show on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn at becomingundonepod and follow me at TobyBrooksPhD. Listen, subscribe, and leave us a review Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

About The Guest: Deron McBee is a former American Gladiator and actor known for his role as Malibu on the hit TV show American Gladiators. He has also worked as a stuntman and has appeared in movies and TV shows such as Mortal Kombat Annihilation and Walker, Texas Ranger. Deron is now focused on ministry and helping others overcome addiction and find faith.Summary: Deron McBee, also known as "Malibu" from American Gladiators, shares his journey of faith, resilience, and overcoming addiction. From his early days as a scrawny high school athlete to becoming a world-ranked racquetball player and a cultural icon on American Gladiators, Deron's life has been filled with highs and lows. He opens up about his struggles with addiction, the toll that the show took on his body, and the tragedies he faced with the loss of his wife and mother. Through faith and perseverance, Darren found the strength to overcome his addiction and now uses his experiences to inspire and encourage others.Key Takeaways:Deron McBee is a man of faith who relentlessly follows God and seeks to be the best version of himself.He transformed himself from a scrawny high school athlete to a world-ranked racquetball player and a cultural icon on American Gladiators.The toll of the show took a physical and mental toll on Darren and his colleagues, but he persevered through injuries and challenges.Deron struggled with addiction after a devastating hip injury and the loss of his wife and mother, but through prayer and multiple trips to rehab, he found freedom.He now uses his experiences to help others overcome addiction and find faith.Quotes:"Deron McBee is a man who loves God with all his heart and relentlessly follows him." - Deron McBee"Tough times don't last, but tough people do." - Deron McBee"Success is doing the job or the career that you enjoy doing or you're gifted to doing." - Deron McBeeReach out to Becoming UnDone! Text Toby here!Support the showBecoming UnDone® is a NiTROHype Creative production. Written and produced by me, Toby Brooks. If you or someone you know has a story of resilience and victory to share for Becoming Undone, contact me at undonepodcast.com. Follow the show on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn at becomingundonepod and follow me at TobyBrooksPhD. Listen, subscribe, and leave us a review Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Toby Brooks reflects on the concept of enablers, disablers, and unablers in our journey to success. He shares his thoughts on how some people are in our corner, cheering us on no matter what, while others secretly or openly want to see us fail. Toby emphasizes the importance of not assuming that everyone is either for us or against us, as there are also people who are neutral and indifferent. He shares a personal story from his childhood to illustrate this point. Toby concludes by encouraging listeners to give people grace and not pass judgment based on their level of support.Key Takeaways:Enablers are the people who support us and help us make our dreams happen.Disablers are those who want to see us fail or contribute to our failure.Unablers are neutral and indifferent, not actively supporting or sabotaging us.Quotes:"Just because someone isn't my friend doesn't mean they are my enemy.""Some people aren't even living in a common environment. We don't register in their world.""I'm going to find a way to win whether you want me to or not."Reach out to Becoming UnDone! Text Toby here!Support the showBecoming UnDone® is a NiTROHype Creative production. Written and produced by me, Toby Brooks. If you or someone you know has a story of resilience and victory to share for Becoming Undone, contact me at undonepodcast.com. Follow the show on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn at becomingundonepod and follow me at TobyBrooksPhD. Listen, subscribe, and leave us a review Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Summary:Ron McKeefery shares his inspiring journey from growing up in a broken family to becoming a successful strength coach. He recounts how a chance encounter with a football coach as a child changed his life and set him on a path towards his dreams. Ron discusses the importance of overcoming setbacks and embracing failure as a means for growth. He also emphasizes the value of building strong relationships with athletes and the impact that coaches can have on their lives beyond the sports field.About The Guest:Ron McKeefery is a highly respected and sought-after strength coach in the world of athletics. He has worked as a head strength and conditioning coach at the University of Washington, as well as with professional football teams such as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Cincinnati Bengals. Ron has been recognized as a two-time collegiate Coach of the Year and is also a best-selling author and motivational speaker.Key Takeaways:A chance encounter with a football coach as a child changed Ron McKeefery's life and set him on a path towards his dreams.Overcoming setbacks and embracing failure is a crucial part of the success journey.Building strong relationships with athletes and having a positive impact on their lives beyond sports is a key responsibility of coaches.Quotes:"That one split second decision literally changed my life." - Ron McKeefery"You never know who's watching. You don't know who's going to lead to your next job or your next opportunity." - Ron McKeeferyReach out to Becoming UnDone! Text Toby here!Support the showBecoming UnDone® is a NiTROHype Creative production. Written and produced by me, Toby Brooks. If you or someone you know has a story of resilience and victory to share for Becoming Undone, contact me at undonepodcast.com. Follow the show on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn at becomingundonepod and follow me at TobyBrooksPhD. Listen, subscribe, and leave us a review Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

About The GuestTim Kight is the founder and CEO of Focus 3, a company that teaches individuals and organizations how to develop a winning mindset and achieve their goals. He is a former track athlete and has worked with elite high performers in various fields, including sports and business. Tim is known for his expertise in observing and documenting the behavior patterns of high achievers.​SummaryTim emphasizes the importance of developing a winning mindset and competing against the things that hold us back. He shares his personal journey of battling stage four cancer and how he approaches it as a competition for his life. Tim discusses the five decisions that high achievers make to overcome challenges and achieve breakthroughs. He also highlights the significance of taking ownership of our 20 square feet, the sphere of control where we can make decisions and choose our responses.​Key TakeawaysDevelop a winning mindset and compete against the things that hold you back.Embrace productive discomfort and use mistakes as feedback for growth.Defeat fear and be coachable to continuously improve.Take ownership of your 20 square feet, the sphere of control where you can make decisions and choose your responses.Focus on your response (R) to events (E) to create the desired outcomes (O).Quotes:"Your job is to be the best version of you and to develop a winning mindset to live the life you want." - Tim Kight-"The number one person you compete against is the person you look at in the mirror." - Tim Kight"If it doesn't challenge you, it ain't going to change you." - Tim Kight"Don't let the frustration on the outside diminish the fire on the inside." - Tim Kight"You are responsible for your second impulse, not your first." - Tim KightReach out to Becoming UnDone! Text Toby here!Support the showBecoming UnDone® is a NiTROHype Creative production. Written and produced by me, Toby Brooks. If you or someone you know has a story of resilience and victory to share for Becoming Undone, contact me at undonepodcast.com. Follow the show on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn at becomingundonepod and follow me at TobyBrooksPhD. Listen, subscribe, and leave us a review Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Toby Brooks shares his journey of discovering his purpose and aligning it with his podcast, "Becoming Undone." He reflects on the impact of Viktor Frankl's book, "Man's Search for Meaning," and how it led him to redefine his mission, vision, and core values. Toby introduces his new program, GEAR UP, which aims to help aspiring high achievers define and achieve their goals through encouragement, accountability, and connection with like-minded individuals.Key Takeaways:Toby Brooks revised his mission, vision, and core values after reading Viktor Frankl's "Man's Search for Meaning."His purpose in life is to help others discover and pursue their own purpose.Toby plans to launch GEAR UP, a monthly cohort program that provides encouragement, accountability, and connection for individuals striving to achieve their goals.Quotes:"The meaning of your life is to help others find meaning in theirs." - Viktor Frankl"By connecting with you and your big goals, you're actually gassing me up to get after mine." - Toby BrooksLink:http://www.undonepodcast.com/gearReach out to Becoming UnDone! Text Toby here!Support the showBecoming UnDone® is a NiTROHype Creative production. Written and produced by me, Toby Brooks. If you or someone you know has a story of resilience and victory to share for Becoming Undone, contact me at undonepodcast.com. Follow the show on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn at becomingundonepod and follow me at TobyBrooksPhD. Listen, subscribe, and leave us a review Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

In episode 43, we got to meet the fantastic Chris Carr, a seasoned NBA veteran who overcame humble beginnings in small town Missouri all the way to the NBA stage and beyond. In part 1, we got to hear Chris’s story of stolen skateboards, carried shoes, and incredible growth spurts on his way to a D1 scholarship at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, where he helped the team to three straight NCAA appearances before declaring for the NBA draft. W heard Chris tell his tale of draft night, of making the crowded roster with the Phoenix Suns his rookie year, and going to the finals against an 18-year old Kobe Bryant in year two, In this episode, we get gritty and discuss the end of Chris’s playing career and the start of Chris 2.0 and now 3.0, a life as a basketball business owner and eventually a coach with dreams still ahead.I’m glad you came back to give the second half of Chris’s story a listen. Stay tuned for EP44: ELEVATE PART 2 with Chris Carr, NBA Veteran and SIU Saluki Basketball Legend, Assistant Men's Basketball Coach, Drury UniversityReach out to Becoming UnDone! Text Toby here!Support the showBecoming UnDone® is a NiTROHype Creative production. Written and produced by me, Toby Brooks. If you or someone you know has a story of resilience and victory to share for Becoming Undone, contact me at undonepodcast.com. Follow the show on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn at becomingundonepod and follow me at TobyBrooksPhD. Listen, subscribe, and leave us a review Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Growing up in a rural southeast Missouri town as the only African American family in the community, Chris Carr’s earliest dreams formed thanks to the example of Blair Underwood and the TV show LA Law, where he expected to become a lawyer and live the good life after college. However, the appeal of the game of basketball loomed large, with several family members before him paving the way to scholarships and championships. By middle school, Chris had decided to become a pro skateboarder, however, after his prized and hard-earned Santa Cruz skateboard was confiscated by a well-meaning basketball coach, he basically had no choice but to go all-in on hoops. After a stellar high school career, he ended up at SIU Carbondale where he led the Salukis to three straight NCAA tournament appearances before being drafted in the second round with the 56th pick by the Phoenix Suns in the 1995 NBA Draft. Today a coach at Drury University, Chris is proof positive that hard work and dedication can pave the way to a lifetime of achievement. Join me in a first for the show: a two-part episode where Chris talks about his humble roots all the way to the NBA’s brightest stage in, fittingly, episode 43: ELEVATEReach out to Becoming UnDone! Text Toby here!Support the showBecoming UnDone® is a NiTROHype Creative production. Written and produced by me, Toby Brooks. If you or someone you know has a story of resilience and victory to share for Becoming Undone, contact me at undonepodcast.com. Follow the show on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn at becomingundonepod and follow me at TobyBrooksPhD. Listen, subscribe, and leave us a review Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

In this episode of Word to the 3rd on Becoming UnDone, I reflect on the challenges I've faced this summer and share a personal story about my son's journey in baseball. Taye is a talented baseball player who had to make a tough decision about his future in the sport. Despite facing setbacks and injuries, Taye has shown resilience, determination, and a team-first attitude. I also discuss own experiences as a youth sports coach and the lessons I've learned about the importance of character over flashy appearances.Be sure to check out the show notes at www.undonepodcast.com/ep42 Reach out to Becoming UnDone! Text Toby here!Support the showBecoming UnDone® is a NiTROHype Creative production. Written and produced by me, Toby Brooks. If you or someone you know has a story of resilience and victory to share for Becoming Undone, contact me at undonepodcast.com. Follow the show on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn at becomingundonepod and follow me at TobyBrooksPhD. Listen, subscribe, and leave us a review Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

For Dr. Quincy Conley, days spent today helping faculty improve their teaching at AT Still University have become highly rewarding and fulfilling, but they weren’t exactly always what he’d expected or planned to do with his life. Self-described as a mediocre high school student who found most of his earliest successes in sports, it wasn’t until a mentor emerged later in high school that ideas of becoming an electrical engineer took root. He found himself in snowy North Dakota nearing the end of a degree with plans to be on the beach on the sunny island of St. Thomas—that is, until the terrorist attacks of 911 closed that door. A gifted teacher, Dr. Conley is also a skilled interviewer, as you’ll hear he turned the tables on me and got me monologuing about my past as only a talented researcher can. But above all, Quincy’s story is one of never being satisfied with what you know today and to relentlessly pursue your better, no matter what direction that pursuit might take you. I hope you’ll enjoy episode 41: LEARN with my friend Dr. Quincy Conley. Reach out to Becoming UnDone! Text Toby here!Support the showBecoming UnDone® is a NiTROHype Creative production. Written and produced by me, Toby Brooks. If you or someone you know has a story of resilience and victory to share for Becoming Undone, contact me at undonepodcast.com. Follow the show on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn at becomingundonepod and follow me at TobyBrooksPhD. Listen, subscribe, and leave us a review Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Roger Lipe, a longtime sports chaplain and author, shares his journey from a (his words!) mediocre high school wrestler to a successful sports chaplain and character coach. He discusses the importance of building trust and connection within teams, and how he helps athletes discover their purpose and passion. Lipe also talks about his new book, which focuses on developing the faith of elite sportspeople. Overall, his message is one of encouragement and inspiration, urging athletes and coaches to take risks and pursue their dreams.Long serving Southern Illinois University Carbondale and around the globe, his most recent move is as a Character Coach for Nations of Coaches where he helps teams connect and build trust while they compete. Now a 15-time published author, his work has been translated into countless languages and has been used around the globe. I hope you’ll enjoy episode 40: CHAMPION with my dear friend Roger Lipe. Reach out to Becoming UnDone! Text Toby here!Support the showBecoming UnDone® is a NiTROHype Creative production. Written and produced by me, Toby Brooks. If you or someone you know has a story of resilience and victory to share for Becoming Undone, contact me at undonepodcast.com. Follow the show on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn at becomingundonepod and follow me at TobyBrooksPhD. Listen, subscribe, and leave us a review Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

It is Word to the 3rd: my reflections on purpose, life, and growth. I’m Toby Brooks, and I am a speaker, author, professor, and forever student. Each week on Becoming UnDone, I bring you guests who have dared bravely, risked mightily, and grown relentlessly—high achievers who have transformed from falling apart to falling into place. But every third episode, it’s my turn to reflect, refine, and reprocess—on Word to the 3rd.Great to be back in the studio for another episode of Becoming UnDone! Continuing our reboot of my first foray into podcasting, a fairly short-lived show called “Better Every Week” co-hosted with my daughter Brynnan Brooks, I thought it would be great to dust this episode off, recut it a bit, and reproduce it here for my show. Now--as I was listening to our conversation, I was struck by the notion that it is pretty cool that we discussed the importance of being brave, of viewing failure through the lenses of growth, and the show was a little rough around the edges. Our microphones were pretty sketchy. The refrigerator kicked on mid-conversation. I mumbled into the mic too often. But we did it anyway. The best way to get better at something is to withstand sucking at it for a while. And we did.But after just four episodes, our good intentions were overtaken by pressures, packed calendars, and in some cases good old-fashioned excuses. But as disappointing as that may seem on the surface, there were victories. I learned how to host and post a show. I discovered some ways NOT to record and how NOT to edit. And while I’m still and forever will remain a work in progress, I got better. I persevered. And now we are closing in on our 50th episode.The conversation was a good one, too. In this installment, then-University of Oklahoma freshman and now Junior Texas Tech University vocal performance major (and my daughter) Brynnan Brooks leads the way to talk about all the ways that competitive athletes and professional artists are different. And even more so how they are a lot alike. It’s a fun topic that I hope you’ll find informative and thought provoking. I hope you’ll enjoy episode 39: COMPETE Reach out to Becoming UnDone! Text Toby here!Support the showBecoming UnDone® is a NiTROHype Creative production. Written and produced by me, Toby Brooks. If you or someone you know has a story of resilience and victory to share for Becoming Undone, contact me at undonepodcast.com. Follow the show on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn at becomingundonepod and follow me at TobyBrooksPhD. Listen, subscribe, and leave us a review Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Dr. Ram Haddas' story is one of resilience and perseverance. He emphasizes the importance of taking action towards your dreams and never stopping pushing. Comfort zones can be dangerous, and it's essential to stay motivated and be responsible for your outcomes. Ram shares a personal story of taking on a new position during COVID and not having any data to publish. Instead of waiting for his lab to open, he contacted people with existing data and taught himself how to publish in areas he wasn't comfortable with, resulting in his first systematic review papers. Ram also highlights the value of seeking feedback and learning from failures. He shares a story of getting a lower grade in class and taking responsibility for his outcome by identifying areas of improvement and working on them. Despite facing numerous challenges, Ram is a testament to the fact that it is possible to rebound from difficult situations and come out stronger on the other side. He has experience in various roles, including as an athlete, soldier, entrepreneur, researcher, and now a professor, and has learned that failure is a crucial part of the process and can teach valuable lessons.Reach out to Becoming UnDone! Text Toby here!Support the showBecoming UnDone® is a NiTROHype Creative production. Written and produced by me, Toby Brooks. If you or someone you know has a story of resilience and victory to share for Becoming Undone, contact me at undonepodcast.com. Follow the show on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn at becomingundonepod and follow me at TobyBrooksPhD. Listen, subscribe, and leave us a review Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Words matter. The choices we make the words we choose to speak and to write send powerful signals to the people we are trying to lead or inspire can make all the difference between a powerful connection or a missed opportunity. For San Diego, California transplant Reed Maltbie, decades of experience as an athlete, a coach, and as a speaker had taught him the importance of the perfect word applied at the appropriate time for the proper audience. But it wasn’t until a trusted advisor and those closest to him inspired him to stop talking about the idea and to put them to work. His newest book, just released in April 2023, The Spartan Mindset: Mastering the Language of Excellence shares powerful and personal insights that are supported by science. Hear Reed share his own story of battling through dark times and finding victory through persistence, will, and the love and support of his family in Episode 37: THE SPARTAN MINDSET.Reach out to Becoming UnDone! Text Toby here!Support the showBecoming UnDone® is a NiTROHype Creative production. Written and produced by me, Toby Brooks. If you or someone you know has a story of resilience and victory to share for Becoming Undone, contact me at undonepodcast.com. Follow the show on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn at becomingundonepod and follow me at TobyBrooksPhD. Listen, subscribe, and leave us a review Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

This week was hard. It was a wake-up call for me. I was told that several people had been asking why I hated my job. I was dumbfounded. Hate my job? I love my job. I so appreciate the opportunities I get to try to inspire and teach others. In fact, it aligns directly with my purpose to help others discover and pursue THEIR purpose. However, I’ve probably been too transparent about my ambitions. I have goals and plans to multiply my influence and inspiring on a larger platform. And after hearing that hard truth that people think I am unhappy in the now, it made me realize two things.First of all, not everyone in your circle is in your corner. If someone really has concerns about you, why would they talk to someone else without talking to you? Brene’ Brown talks about how the person who puts themselves in the arena shouldn’t concern themselves with the critics in the stands.I get that. I do. But secondly, I also understand that I have a role in this, too. There’s a fine line between being transparent for the sake of trying to inspire someone and the flip side of coming across like you are disrespecting your current place in life.I just got Kobe Bryant’s book, the Mamba Mentality, in the mail yesterday. I am looking forward to reading it, but Kobe is arguably one of the best examples of extracting every ounce of ability out of life through a borderline maniacal work ethic and commitment to excellence. But when Kobe was in high school at Lower Merion with dreams of NBA stardom, did people think he hated his high school? Did critics question his drive to reach the top? I doubt it.My goals and my aspirations are to become the absolute best version of myself that I can. I’m working on a new degree. I am being mentored by people I respect and trust. I am mentoring others who also aspire to become THEIR best. I am doing my absolute best to be healthy and fit, productive, and impactful in my world. That’s the message I’d hoped the example of my life was SENDING out into the world.And yet somehow apparently the message that was received was that I hated my job.I missed the mark.This show is my latest attempt at podcasting, but it’s not my first. That would be Better Every Week, a show my daughter Brynnan and I launched during her freshman year of college. I loved it, but it was hard for us to keep to a schedule. We ended up recording and producing just four episodes. I thought it would be fun to go back and perhaps re-release or repurpose some of the content here on my show now. And wouldn’t you know it: the first episode, we talked about how off-putting my drive and ambition has been even to my own family.That said, I hope you’ll enjoy this look back to a show my daughter Brynnan and I recorded during the first semester of her freshman year of college when she was at the University of Oklahoma.And I am also happy to say that she and her friends are working on a new show of their own, hopefully launching soon. So while Better Every Week was a well-intentioned but fairly short-lived effort, we don’t view it as a failure. It was simply a step on the path toward success. I hope you’ll enjoy episode 36: TOXIC MOTIVATIONReach out to Becoming UnDone! Text Toby here!Support the showBecoming UnDone® is a NiTROHype Creative production. Written and produced by me, Toby Brooks. If you or someone you know has a story of resilience and victory to share for Becoming Undone, contact me at undonepodcast.com. Follow the show on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn at becomingundonepod and follow me at TobyBrooksPhD. Listen, subscribe, and leave us a review Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Sometimes, life can throw us curveballs that, in retrospect, can set us off in new directions. For California native Stacie Salazar, it was a series of chance happenings and encounters centered mostly around softball early in her formative years that started her toward a life in sport. When her father was diagnosed with cancer early in her childhood, he set out to spend as much time with his family as possible, she started playing catch with him in the backyard. From there, her love of softball grew through rec leagues and early experiences on the diamond. However, when she wasn’t picked for her 12U all-star team, she decided to get serious about the sport and that pursuit eventually led to elite travel ball teams, specialized coaching, and college scholarship opportunities. Along the way, she realized that the field of athletic training was a great fit for her love of sport and medicine, eventually leading her to Texas to pursue a graduate degree and a series of jobs that have provided not just a career but a purpose. Listen in to Episode 35 with Stacie Salazar: CHANGE UP Reach out to Becoming UnDone! Text Toby here!Support the showBecoming UnDone® is a NiTROHype Creative production. Written and produced by me, Toby Brooks. If you or someone you know has a story of resilience and victory to share for Becoming Undone, contact me at undonepodcast.com. Follow the show on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn at becomingundonepod and follow me at TobyBrooksPhD. Listen, subscribe, and leave us a review Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Dr. Julie Partridge is a well-respected Professor and Sport Psychologist at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. Growing up in rural Kansas, her earliest dreams were to become a classically trained professional musician as a violinist. However, over time, those dreams made way for sports where she found success as a softball and a volleyball player. With her playing days done after two years of college, she felt drawn toward a career as a sport psychologist, ultimately earning both a masters and doctoral degree in the field. Today, she serves as a graduate program director and professor of sport and exercise psychology, but in 2019, she unexpectedly found herself in an emergency room with a diagnosis of a pulmonary embolism that could have cost her her life. Since then, she’s combined her skills as a speaker and researcher along with her experiences as a patient to raise awareness through work as an advocate of the National Blood Clot Alliance in Episode 34: PROFESSOR GEN XReach out to Becoming UnDone! Text Toby here!Support the showBecoming UnDone® is a NiTROHype Creative production. Written and produced by me, Toby Brooks. If you or someone you know has a story of resilience and victory to share for Becoming Undone, contact me at undonepodcast.com. Follow the show on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn at becomingundonepod and follow me at TobyBrooksPhD. Listen, subscribe, and leave us a review Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Just.In some contexts, we want things to be just. If I’m taking a test or standing in front of a judge, I want everything to be just. Just is fair. Just is unbiased. Just is something to strive for.But when it comes to comparisons, just is a thief. What a disappointment it is to just get to talk for a few minutes. How sad it is if just a few people tune in. How discouraging it is to feel like your work is just making a little impact.Speaking of impact, the inspiration of this show, Dave Holmes and his show, Waiting for Impact…out of the blue emailed me this week. Dave Holmes is a celebrity. He was a real-live MTV VJ in the late 90s and early 2000s and he is now involved with several great shows over all types of media. He also was the guest of Episode 16: IMPACT. So out of nowhere, Dave emails me just to encourage me, ask how things were going, and offer up assistance if I needed it.I reached out to Dave as a bit of a hail Mary via social media way back in October, not thinking he’d ever bother to return my message. After all, I was JUST some random guy in Texas with a dream to build a show. No episodes. No idea what I was doing. Literally JUST a guy and a dream.Not only was Dave kind enough to respond, he went beyond and sat for an interview. And now he’s continuing to reach out.That’s the kind of human I aspire to be. These aren’t JUST guests. You aren’t JUST listeners. Like Dave, I want to be the type of person who helps breathe life into people’s dreams. I want to inspire my friends and beyond to try bold things, not let either fear or failure get in the way, and to always remember what it was like to be starting out.So for the 60 or so of you I was referring to when I told my wife that it was JUST how many ever, I am deeply sorry. I am thankful and appreciative of every single one of you.Reach out to Becoming UnDone! Text Toby here!Support the showBecoming UnDone® is a NiTROHype Creative production. Written and produced by me, Toby Brooks. If you or someone you know has a story of resilience and victory to share for Becoming Undone, contact me at undonepodcast.com. Follow the show on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn at becomingundonepod and follow me at TobyBrooksPhD. Listen, subscribe, and leave us a review Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

For McKinney High School Athletic Trainer Dustin Emery, it started as a life of athletic success. A member of the 2007 Texas 5A State Champion Euless Trinity Trojan football team, Dustin was a 4-sport athlete in high school. A torn ACL and a life-threatening blood clot nearly derailed his career, but he was given the opportunity to continue playing at Hardin Simmons University in Abilene Texas. From there, our paths crossed when he decided to hang up his cleats and go to grad school, where he moved to Lubbock to study athletic training at Texas Tech. Today, he serves as a critical member of a McKinney High athletics program that consistently churns out Division 1 athletes like few places in the world.But for many of his athletes, he’s just Coach Emery. They don’t realize that he’s been there and done that. He’s not just the jacked CrossFit guy patrolling their sidelines with his trademark cap on backwards and sunglasses on. He’s not even the TikTok star they’ve love to watch in their spare time.He’s a driven, committed, and caring professional who doesn’t just HOPE his patients get better. He’s lived it. And he’s better for it. Join me for Episode 32: REMEMBER THE NAME with Dustin Emery Reach out to Becoming UnDone! Text Toby here!Support the showBecoming UnDone® is a NiTROHype Creative production. Written and produced by me, Toby Brooks. If you or someone you know has a story of resilience and victory to share for Becoming Undone, contact me at undonepodcast.com. Follow the show on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn at becomingundonepod and follow me at TobyBrooksPhD. Listen, subscribe, and leave us a review Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Mike Pinto III is a man of many talents, and a series of careers as diverse as they are cool, he’s been everything from a high producing real estate agent, a highly sought-after motivational speaker, a championship-winning minor league baseball manager, and now a professional musician. Through it all, he’s shown how being more prepared than the competition can pave the way to opportunity, how being your best means connecting with people, and how some seasons, no matter how hard we try, have to come to an end. But in the process of seeing one door close, others inevitably open. Join me as Coach Pinto tells me about his life on the diamond, in the dugout, and now behind the drums in Episode 31: PLAY. Reach out to Becoming UnDone! Text Toby here!Buzzsprout - Let's get your podcast launched!Start for FREEDisclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the showBecoming UnDone® is a NiTROHype Creative production. Written and produced by me, Toby Brooks. If you or someone you know has a story of resilience and victory to share for Becoming Undone, contact me at undonepodcast.com. Follow the show on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn at becomingundonepod and follow me at TobyBrooksPhD. Listen, subscribe, and leave us a review Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Toby Brooks is a speaker, author, professor, and forever student who hosts the podcast Becoming Undone. On the third episode of the podcast each week, Toby reflects on purpose, life, and growth. He recently realized that he had not been able to stick to his goal of three episodes a week since the start of the show, and that he had taken a week off for spring break. Toby admits to being off track for his vision of 150 episodes in the first year, but is determined to get back on track and continue exploring the topics of purpose, life, and growth.The speaker talked about all the long overdue stuff they got done around the house such as setting up the new studio space, getting the daily driver car squared away, and cleaning the shop. Despite all this, they did not manage to get any shows done and thus, they missed their audience. The speaker then discussed their lack of patience and how they are terrible with names, sports, and are insecure. To further illustrate their lack of patience, they discussed how they won't even wait in lines and if they have to go to the doctor, they resent the fact that they have to wait and the mere existence of a room dedicated to waiting.This conversation discusses the difference between health care for athletes and for the general public. The athlete is often given priority and seen much faster than the average person, such as having an MRI done that same night or surgery done in the early morning hours. The speaker is frustrated with their lack of success in applying for jobs and speaking engagements in the past three years, despite their qualifications and drive to get better. They have applied for jobs at the Olympic Training Center nine times, with no response. They urge the center to improve its culture.The speaker is feeling frustrated because they are not getting the results they want and feel like they are stuck in a waiting room. In order to move forward, they decide to take a step back and reflect on the positives of their situation. They use the basketball analogy of bricks and buckets to describe their highs and lows of the week. The speaker's bucket for the week was getting accepted to present at the 2023 Digital Teaching Symposium, and two other colleagues from their department also got accepted to present their work. The speaker is excited for the new paths of leadership and scholarship that are opening up for them.TIMESTAMPS 0:00:00 Reflecting on Purpose, Life, and Growth: Becoming Undone with Toby Brooks - Episode 30:01:41 Reflection on Long Overdue Tasks and Patience0:02:55 Reflection on Impatience and Professional Pursuits in Athletics0:06:06 Bricks and Buckets: Reflecting on the Highs and Lows of the Week0:08:27 Word to the Third: Health Care Teaching and EducationHIGHLIGHTS It's amazing to me just how antiquated health care teaching and education can be across our country. I'm thankful and grateful to work with great people who take their roles as educators seriously and are constantly honing their craft.I've thoroughly enjoyed my career as an AT educator these past two decades, but it is exciting for me to see new paths of leadership and scholarship start to show up in my world.Each week on BeReach out to Becoming UnDone! Text Toby here!Support the showBecoming UnDone® is a NiTROHype Creative production. Written and produced by me, Toby Brooks. If you or someone you know has a story of resilience and victory to share for Becoming Undone, contact me at undonepodcast.com. Follow the show on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn at becomingundonepod and follow me at TobyBrooksPhD. Listen, subscribe, and leave us a review Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Competing at the highest levels requires a rare combination of ambition, ability, drive, and opportunity. For highly decorated pitcher Katie Burkhart Gooch, she can recall authoring and signing mission and vision statements for herself before she’d even become a teenager. Ambition: check. Early successes on the softball field led to a steady stream of newer and greater opportunities as an athlete. Grand visions of Olympic victory might have seemed far-fetched at such a young age, but Katie believed that she had both the resolve and the talent to make them a reality. Ability and drive: check and check.Eventually, she found herself at Arizona State where, as a senior, she helped lead the Sun Devils to a 66-5 record and a National Championship in 2008. Awarded College World Series MVP honors, Katie was soon drafted first overall in the National Pro Fastpitch league where she remained dominant, posting 13 wins and a sparkling 1.87 ERA in route to NFP Player of the Year honors as a rookie. Opportunity: check.After wrapping up a successful professional career in the US and abroad, she moved on, dabbling in coaching and other pursuits. It was a fairytale story of athletic success.Except it wasn’t, exactly.There had been signs along the way. Behind a steel exterior and a crafted persona as a dominant and hungry competitor, Katie wrestled with doubts and with feelings of being an imposter. Tragically, as a freshman in college, she found herself picking up the pieces following a date rape, wondering if she would even continue to play. Struggles with alcohol had crept in over the years, and by 2017, she found herself at what she would describe as her rock bottom.From the pain and anguish, a new Katie emerged. Surrounded by those she loves and with new creative pursuits that allow her to express a different side than the dominant former pro athlete, she’s found herself in the unlikely but satisfying space between thrash and Zen; Limp Bizkit and meditation; diamonds drawn in chalk and those set in gold.And she’s not done yet.Join me for the inspiring story of Katie Burkhart Gooch in Episode 29: DIAMONDS Reach out to Becoming UnDone! Text Toby here!Support the showBecoming UnDone® is a NiTROHype Creative production. Written and produced by me, Toby Brooks. If you or someone you know has a story of resilience and victory to share for Becoming Undone, contact me at undonepodcast.com. Follow the show on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn at becomingundonepod and follow me at TobyBrooksPhD. Listen, subscribe, and leave us a review Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Whether in business, sports, the arts, or almost anywhere in between, the ability to assemble and grow a high- functioning team can be the difference between success and failure. And in some elite teams like the US military’s Special Ops, such can literally be the difference between life and death. Growing up in a pre-internet age with Cold War rhetoric and a steady stream of staples of my youth like GI Joe, the lure and appeal of groups like the Army Rangers and the Navy SEALs made them stuff of legend. They were real-life superheroes surrounded by mystique and trained unlike any others. At the same time, if you were like me and my friends, you didn’t know much about them like how to get in, how they trained, or what they did once they were admitted into their elite ranks.And you couldn’t just Google it at the time, either.Early in life, Rich Diviney wanted to fly. The appeal of being a pilot and serving his country was tremendous, and he found himself growing up in Connecticut with a dream to take to the skies. At the same time, Rich was also influenced by James Bond films and the U.S. Special Operations Forces, so the idea to pursue a career as a Navy SEAL took root, eventually leading him to Purdue University where he joined the Navy ROTC program. Upon graduation, Rich was able to complete BUD/S training and serve for over 20 years as a Navy SEAL Officer. During his career he held several leadership positions, to include the officer in charge of training for a specialized SEAL Command - where he focused on defining and refining the ways in which the cadre could successfully identify the candidates who would be best suited to serve in the Navy’s most elite and storied unit. As a result, the Attributes emerged, ultimately leading Rich to write and publish his highly informative and pragmatic book that can help leaders identify the aspects of specific team members that can help improve the way units train and operate.Listen in as Rich explains his journey from young aspiring pilot to Navy SEAL, from Navy SEAL to military team and leadership expert, and eventually to author, speaker, and influencer in Episode 28: PRECISION AGGRESSION Reach out to Becoming UnDone! Text Toby here!Support the showBecoming UnDone® is a NiTROHype Creative production. Written and produced by me, Toby Brooks. If you or someone you know has a story of resilience and victory to share for Becoming Undone, contact me at undonepodcast.com. Follow the show on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn at becomingundonepod and follow me at TobyBrooksPhD. Listen, subscribe, and leave us a review Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

This past week, we had family in town and Taye started his baseball season for junior year, so I chose to take a break from the show for a minute and enjoy this season. Guilt-free. And as I reflected back on my last two guests Bridgette Borzillo of CaZo Dance and Bill Benjamin of the Last 8% Academy, I realized that that was the right decision. In both interviews, the thing that resonated with me the most was the idea of being present and being brave in the face of big transitions in life.For Bridgette, it was stepping into entrepreneurship and founding her own dance company after a career as a college athlete and then as a dancer in other companies. For Bill, it was a similar decision to move from the safety of a good-paying job in the computer software industry to the possibilities of making a bigger impact in the world with the transformational teaching of lifelong friend JP Paliew-Frye. In both cases, the “safe” solution would have been to push forward in a career path that was predictable. But for both, the call and the potential of a deeper purpose became too much to ignore.So they pivoted. And they went all in in a new direction. Fully present.Taye’s head football coach and Athletic Director Chris Softley has several great coachisms, but a personal favorite of mine has become his encouragement to his players to “be where your feet are.” It took me a second the first time I heard it to really “get” what he meant by it, but it is more important today than it has ever been in my lifetime. See, in today’s world, it is easier than ever to be distracted by our technology or our thoughts. I’ve spent more time than I care to admit being physically present at important events but mentally somewhere else. Whether a wandering mind or a device that—ironically—connects me to the outside world while making me absent from the one I’m actually in, if my mind isn’t focused on the moment where my feet are, I miss out.Sometimes being where our feet are requires real discipline. As Bill talked about in his episode, our emotional regulation through the limbic system serves as a reward system that can be hard to shake. Dopamine release is a motivator no different than many other forms of addiction. If you don’t believe me, see what it would feel like to consider how it would feel if you accidentally left your phone at home for a day. Being where our feet are allows us to respect the past, but to savor the present. Understanding that distractions can pull our focus and realizing that goals and dreams—as helpful and motivating as they may be—can rob us of the joy of the moment, we need to pay attention both when and where we are. For so many of my guests, the real tendency for the high achiever is to plow forward after both successes and failures alike and be on to the next challenge is on one hand admirable. And on the other hand a missed opportunity. We never know when or even IF we will get a chance to come this way again.So my takeaway this week is to pay attention. Respect the past. Aim for the future. But relish the present and be all-in for the season in which we find ourselves. Reach out to Becoming UnDone! Text Toby here!Support the showBecoming UnDone® is a NiTROHype Creative production. Written and produced by me, Toby Brooks. If you or someone you know has a story of resilience and victory to share for Becoming Undone, contact me at undonepodcast.com. Follow the show on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn at becomingundonepod and follow me at TobyBrooksPhD. Listen, subscribe, and leave us a review Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Bill Benjamin grew up in Canada and initially found his success in the software industry after earning degrees in mathematics and computer science. On the surface, such would seem an odd combo of experience and training for someone who now serves as a highly sought-after speaker and coach who is a recognized expert in leadership training and developing emotional intelligence. However, when you consider the fact that his work today is all based on evidence about how humans communicate and lead most effectively, it all makes sense. Pull out your notebooks for this one, friends, because Bill has quote after quote that can inspire and direct as he talks about his story, the Last 8% academy, and how learning to control your emotions and thoughts can be the critical key to all your successes in Episode 26: THE LAST 8%Reach out to Becoming UnDone! Text Toby here!Support the showBecoming UnDone® is a NiTROHype Creative production. Written and produced by me, Toby Brooks. If you or someone you know has a story of resilience and victory to share for Becoming Undone, contact me at undonepodcast.com. Follow the show on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn at becomingundonepod and follow me at TobyBrooksPhD. Listen, subscribe, and leave us a review Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

If you’ve ever spent any time at all in the incredibly competitive world of travel sports, you know that it’s not difficult to become so singular in purpose that every spare moment, every spare dollar, and every spare opportunity (and then some!) can be consumed with a pursuit of being seen, hopefully capturing the attention of a recruiter or college coach. And sometimes, parents, coaches, and even the athletes themselves can feel the pressure to become great in this one aspect of life at the expense of all others. That can leave anyone—especially those with an artistic spirit—feeling unfulfilled and unnecessarily painted into a performance corner.For Bridgette (Caron) Borzillo, her love of sport actually came second in life behind a passion for dance. Choreographing for the first time at the age of six, she finally took her first formal dance class freshman year at Fallbrook High School in San Diego, California. Meanwhile, the talented athlete/artist also competed as a three-sport athlete in soccer, softball, and field hockey while also serving as a cheerleader, a member of the Dance Team, and a host of other activities. Ultimately, sport won out—at least for a while. The talented outfielder made her way to San Diego State and later Arizona State as a D1 softball player. But her love for dance continued to grow. Following graduation, she went all-in in dance, performing as a member of a number of different production companies. Ultimately, she took the plunge to form a company of her own, founding CaZo Dance in 2014. Working tirelessly to create and share her art and her lifelong love of dance, she—like so many—felt the effects of the global pandemic with full force when the world seemed to close for business, especially the performing arts. Hear Bridgette share her store of art and sport peacefully coexisting in her world, facing down the fear of entrepreneurship, and overcoming the Lost Season of the Pandemic in Episode 25: DANCE.Reach out to Becoming UnDone! Text Toby here!Support the showBecoming UnDone® is a NiTROHype Creative production. Written and produced by me, Toby Brooks. If you or someone you know has a story of resilience and victory to share for Becoming Undone, contact me at undonepodcast.com. Follow the show on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn at becomingundonepod and follow me at TobyBrooksPhD. Listen, subscribe, and leave us a review Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

This past week, I was on the road, travelling to North Carolina for work and trying furiously to claw my way back to some semblance of not-behind at work. Losing battle, I know. My most recent two guests both had inspiring stories, with Krickitt Carpenter overcoming a near fatal accident, a marriage she didn’t remember, and story that’s been chronicled in books, movies, and television the world over. Meanwhile, Rob Simms overcame the loss of his dad to cancer at an early age to go on to play four years of baseball at Division II Truman State University. After graduating and searching for his identity elsewhere in sports media and communication, he found a new career as a development and fundraising expert. Both undoubtedly have lived through their share of ups and downs. What I recognized is that they both have been able to remain positive despite incredible setbacks by relying on their faith and the connection it provides to other like-minded folks. But it didn’t just “happen” this way for them. For both, success and happiness have been a consistent and sometimes difficult active choice.Hear me discuss the LINE OF CHOICE in this Word to the Third Wins-Day and the BRICKS and BUCKETS (entropy and baseball, respectively)!Reach out to Becoming UnDone! Text Toby here!Support the showBecoming UnDone® is a NiTROHype Creative production. Written and produced by me, Toby Brooks. If you or someone you know has a story of resilience and victory to share for Becoming Undone, contact me at undonepodcast.com. Follow the show on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn at becomingundonepod and follow me at TobyBrooksPhD. Listen, subscribe, and leave us a review Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Growing up in a family of rabid fans for their hometown St. Louis Cardinals, Rob Simms recognized his love for baseball early in life. However, after Rob’s father passed away suddenly due to cancer when Rob was just 6 years old, baseball soon become more than just something to watch. It became something to live and something to be. Rob discovered peace and solace in the hours spent practicing and playing. Eventually, his efforts led to success in high school that opened the door to an athletic scholarship to Truman State University in Kirksville, Missouri.After four years of hard work both on the diamond and in the classroom, Rob endured the painful crossroads of the nearly simultaneous end of an athletic and academic career that had for so long been his identity. A career in sports media followed, eventually leading to a position as a sports information director at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska. Over time, he began to realize that his goals as a husband and dad were increasingly at odds with the demands of his job, and he left to pursue a career in non-profit fundraising, ultimately finding success in helping clients raise more than $100 million in capital while still getting to serve as a broadcaster as the voice of the Creighton Bluejays Women’s Basketball team for the past 21 years.Hear Rob tell his story of overcoming the painful loss of his dad early in life to eventually find his passion on the baseball diamond, jobs in professional sports and a Division I athletics department, and eventually a highly successful career as a non-profit fundraiser in Episode 23: GETTIN’ HECTIC Reach out to Becoming UnDone! Text Toby here!Support the showBecoming UnDone® is a NiTROHype Creative production. Written and produced by me, Toby Brooks. If you or someone you know has a story of resilience and victory to share for Becoming Undone, contact me at undonepodcast.com. Follow the show on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn at becomingundonepod and follow me at TobyBrooksPhD. Listen, subscribe, and leave us a review Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

"From Elite Gymnast to Near-Death Accident: Krickitt Carpenter's Amazing Story of Resilience"SUMMARY Krickitt Carpenter was an Arizona native and college gymnast whose dreams of a scholarship came true when she competed and earned her way to the Cal State Fullerton team. A knee injury cut her career short, but she managed to graduate with a degree in exercise physiology. An unexpected encounter led to a relationship and eventually a wedding, but a car accident that nearly took her life left her with a brain injury that erased all memories of her courtship, wedding, and husband. After a long recovery, Krickitt and her husband tried dating again and eventually remarried. Their story of unwavering commitment and refusal to turn their backs on their vows became a best-selling book and a hit movie. However, their marriage eventually ended.Krickitt was born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona and grew up in the gym her mother owned, Mary Pappas. She was naturally talented in gymnastics, competing at a high level, and her goal was to get a gymnastics scholarship for college. Krickitt overcame adversity and fought to overcome the emotional pain she was going through. She is now a successful motivational speaker and advocate for those who have gone through similar ordeals.This conversation is about the guest's journey from being a collegiate gymnast to transitioning out of sport and into the corporate world. The guest had gone to Cal State Fullerton on a gymnastics scholarship and had a great career, but blew her knee out her senior year. She transitioned into being involved in a great church in Southern California and shifted her focus from being in the gym all the time to being able to serve others. After graduating, she was connected with a sportswear company called Jammin Sportswear and was successful in sales. While working there, she met her husband, whom she married a year later in September 1993. They moved to a small town in New Mexico, where she worked as an exercise physiologist. On the day before Thanksgiving, they were driving to Phoenix to visit her parents when her husband got sick.The speaker was in a serious car accident just outside of Gallup, NM where he was t-boned by a one-ton Chevy truck. He was taken to a hospital and flatlined twice on the way, but miraculously recovered due to people praying around the world. When doctors asked her questions to assess her memories, she remembered her mom, dad, and unexpectedly, her husband, Todd, who was an old boyfriend. The speaker made a miraculous recovery and was able to tell her story.Reach out to Becoming UnDone! Text Toby here!Support the showBecoming UnDone® is a NiTROHype Creative production. Written and produced by me, Toby Brooks. If you or someone you know has a story of resilience and victory to share for Becoming Undone, contact me at undonepodcast.com. Follow the show on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn at becomingundonepod and follow me at TobyBrooksPhD. Listen, subscribe, and leave us a review Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Toby Brooks is a speaker, author, professor and student who interviews guests who have achieved success by taking risks and growing. Every third episode is dedicated to his own reflections, and this week, he is running behind in his plan to deliver a Word of the Third on Wednesdays. He has been using the Done app on his phone to help him keep track of his habits and this past summer, he completed the challenge of doing 75 hard.The speaker completed the 75 Hard challenge, an intense program that lasts 75 days and has strict requirements. They now use the Done app to keep up the good habits they developed during 75 Hard, but without the guilt or punishment of having to start over if they are not perfect. They also gained a love of reading after reading David Goggins' first book and were motivated to sign up for a 10K race. However, they pushed themselves too far and ended up injured. The speaker has now found the balance between being tough and being wise.In this conversation, the speaker is discussing the new book by David Goggins, and how it has resonated with him. He then talks about his own life story, which is vastly different from Goggins. His parents got married when they were 18, and his father worked hard in a coal mine to provide a safe and stable life for his family. While his father was working, the speaker felt resentment towards the coal mine, and wished he could have had his father around more. His father was simply doing his best to provide him with the life he never had as a child. He then talks about how his father inspired him to find something he enjoyed and go all in, and how he eventually ended up working nights, weekends, holidays and birthdays, until he came home exhausted one day and saw his daughter walk for the first time. This realization made him understand the importance of being present for his family.The speaker reflects on how his father missed out on his first day of school due to having to work, and how this has caused the speaker to be overly cautious in providing his own children with everything they need. He reflects on how he gave up on his dream of becoming an NFL athletic trainer and chose to move his family to Florida for a season of Arena Football, which was a great decision. He reflects on the words of Goggins about how effort should be the priority instead of enjoyment and how his parents taught him the value of effort more than anyone else. The speaker concludes by talking about the modern snow day, where due to the pandemic, there is no such thing as a true day off anymore.Timestamps0:00:19Word of the Third: Reflections on Purpose, Life, and Growth with Toby Brooks0:01:42Reflection on Completing the 75 Hard Challenge and the Impact of Reading David Goggins' Books0:03:36Reflection on David Goggins' "Discipline of Discipline" and Its Impact on My Life0:07:43"The Value of Effort: Reflections on Growing Up and Working Hard"0:09:10"Opportunity: A Reflection on Growth and Resilience"Reach out to Becoming UnDone! Text Toby here!Support the showBecoming UnDone® is a NiTROHype Creative production. Written and produced by me, Toby Brooks. If you or someone you know has a story of resilience and victory to share for Becoming Undone, contact me at undonepodcast.com. Follow the show on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn at becomingundonepod and follow me at TobyBrooksPhD. Listen, subscribe, and leave us a review Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Some corners of the internet can be scary places. Social media in particular can be rough, with self-proclaimed experts on every virtual corner at the ready to tear us down, be critical, and just generally tell us why we don’t stack up.However, bright spots exist, and hope remains. Take for instance Canadian Jonica Bullock. An interior designer by training and experience, she is in the midst of a major life transition to coaching and personal training, as years of hard work and experienced earned through relentless dedication not only changed her life, it changed the lives of those around her.While Jonica never intentionally set out to inspire her corner of the world, that’s what happened as she steadily became the face of the FitBod workout app’s Facebook group—not to mention the curator of the page’s “Flex Friday” and an instrument of hope and light who provides genuine, heartfelt encouragement to others who are also on the path of their fitness journey. The work eventually led to her being asked to regularly contribute to a new podcast that helps tell the stories of one of the most encouraging social media communities ever.It hasn’t been an easy climb for her, though. Overcoming the shame, stigma, and unhealthy habits of an eating disorder that first showed itself during her teens, her condition got better for a season, then reemerged like an angry monster in her early 30s. Jonica will forever be grateful for the persistence of a concerned physician and the family and friends who supported her. Through lengthy, deliberate, and difficult work to heal and a steady resolve to learn and live through healthy habits, she discovered her voice and found her power…with that power being at an all-time high thanks to a disciplined approach to healthy fueling and serious work in the gym. And with her healing, she also discovered that she has a true gift for helping others navigate similar paths. Hear Jonica tell her story of overcoming disordered eating, her road to recovery, and her current efforts to help others find success in Episode 20: INSPIRE. Reach out to Becoming UnDone! Text Toby here!Support the showBecoming UnDone® is a NiTROHype Creative production. Written and produced by me, Toby Brooks. If you or someone you know has a story of resilience and victory to share for Becoming Undone, contact me at undonepodcast.com. Follow the show on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn at becomingundonepod and follow me at TobyBrooksPhD. Listen, subscribe, and leave us a review Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Growing up in Germany, Sabine Ehgoetz learned early on what it meant never to be enough. Raised by a physically and emotionally abusive mother who made her believe she wasn’t smart enough, pretty enough and simply not loveable the way she was, she soon internalized these messages. Despite evidence to the contrary – a master’s degree in political science in her late 20s, modelling jobs, and a successful career as an editor, her self-doubt manifested in eating disorders and often blind, harmful ambition.Despite her constant drive and commitment to overcome the generational curse passed down through her mother and heal in order to earn the right to become a mother herself, despite years of therapy and personal development, she found herself in a toxic and abusive marriage – repeating the unhealthy patterns and dynamics she had associated with what love should feel like. As hard and frightening as breaking free from this marriage was, by now alone in Canada and single mother of barely 3-year-old twins, it was equally liberating and empowering. Having lost everything, Sabine set out to continue her journey of overcoming and becoming the strongest and best version of herself, driven by the purpose of loving herself the way she always longed to loved, being the mother she always wanted and empowering other women to be at their best so they could do their best.Competitive bodybuilding spoke to her ambitious nature, forever driven to get better, be better, be “enough”, but by the time she entered the sport, she has already done most of her healing work and was able to do so from a place of self-love, with a healthy body image and a healthy relationship with food. Bodybuilding for her has always been about much more about mental growth than physical growth – it has become her tool to consequently step outside her comfort zone, face any limiting beliefs she has left and to inspire other women to go after their dreams, no matter their obstacles and circumstances.Today, with a successful career in marketing and in pursuit of earning her pro card as a bikini competitor in the IFBB, she passionately shares the strength and healing she found on her own journey through her own business as a mindset advocate and fitness and empowerment coaches, helping others navigate their own paths towards radical self-acceptance and boundless self-love.Hear Sabine tell her story of early wounds and eventual healing, persistent doubts and hard-earned confidence in Episode 19: FLEX. Reach out to Becoming UnDone! Text Toby here!Support the showBecoming UnDone® is a NiTROHype Creative production. Written and produced by me, Toby Brooks. If you or someone you know has a story of resilience and victory to share for Becoming Undone, contact me at undonepodcast.com. Follow the show on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn at becomingundonepod and follow me at TobyBrooksPhD. Listen, subscribe, and leave us a review Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

This week, we were fortunate enough to have not one but TWO guests who have made their mark in the performing arts. For Dave Holmes, a four-year stint as an MTV VJ has turned into a successful career as an actor, comedian, author, and most recently podcaster. If you haven’t listened to his 10-part Waiting For Impact show on Exactly Right Media, you are missing out. It is informative, entertaining, and actually was a critical part of my motivation to do THIS show.My second guest, Jonathan Fruge is a world class performer who has taken stages and captivated audiences around the world in productions including choir, musical theatre, and vocal performance. He overcame tremendous adversity—most recently from the pandemic that shut down his show for months and resulted in him being furloughed and forced to make ends meet picking up a job at a supermarket. What stood out to me in talking with both of these wonderful guests was that they were careful to not ascribe blame to anyone or anything as they described their less-than-ideal situations. For Dave, he was even so bold as to specifically point out that his obstacles were almost exclusively of his creation. And for Jonathan, while 2020 certainly proved to be the most difficult year of his life, he recognized that it served an important purpose of putting him back on the right track in his relationship with God and redirecting him toward building his faith again.To me, this unabashed and unapologetic ownership of the bad without completely piling on and destroying themselves with negative self-talk was inspiring. Far too often for me, I have either side-stepped my role and looked for the person of the circumstance I could blame for my poor outcome OR I took the martyr’s role of taking responsibility while also verbally abusing myself in the process.There is a fine line between expecting our decisions and behaviors to be sound and demanding perfection. If we can’t seem to muster any grace for ourselves, we become victims of our own abuse. The gashes on our backs and the scars in our minds remain long after, and it was us cracking the whip the whole time.I’m learning that try as I might, I simply cannot be perfect. At best, I can usually approach “pretty good.” Admitting that and giving myself some credit for the effort is an important step, because if I expect perfection, then I will absolutely be disappointed in myself. And when I am disappointed in myself, it isn’t hard to just throw my hands up in disgust and quit.I expect best effort. I expect commitment. Those are attainable and those are possible. But perfection? Not going to happen.Likewise, for both Dave and Jonathan, their “undones” went beyond self. Dave went from an unhealthy butt of jokes late in his career at MTV in the early 200s to a competitive triathlete, marathoner, and crossfitter today. Jonathan’s goals for the future involve sending his two beautiful daughters to college and also seeing them come to ChReach out to Becoming UnDone! Text Toby here!Buzzsprout - Let's get your podcast launched!Start for FREEDisclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the showBecoming UnDone® is a NiTROHype Creative production. Written and produced by me, Toby Brooks. If you or someone you know has a story of resilience and victory to share for Becoming Undone, contact me at undonepodcast.com. Follow the show on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn at becomingundonepod and follow me at TobyBrooksPhD. Listen, subscribe, and leave us a review Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Finding our way in life can oftentimes be a difficult thing to do. Somewhere mixed between our passion, our opportunities, our skillset, and our purpose is what author and speaker Ryan Leak characterizes as our “Sweet Spot.” Oh sure, maybe you inherited a massive business from your family and you’re good at running it so it hits on the opportunity and skillset part of the equation. But if it isn’t something you’re passionate about and it doesn’t align with your purpose, it will always feel somewhat unfulfilling.The challenge for most of us is that—when considering our futures and our jobs, at least—it can be so difficult to adequately know whether or not something will provide that magical alignment where what we love, what we have a chance to do, what we are good at, and the purpose we feel in our soul is ours to fulfill can all align.Making things even harder still, some careers are particularly difficult to find your way into, with sports and the performing arts chief among them.For Lubbock, Texas native Jonathan Fruge, singing and performing wasn’t necessarily the dream early on, but it was always there. Through time and practice, it became clear that he had the passion and the skill to make it his work, but jobs in the performing arts aren’t exactly plentiful in the dusty plains of West Texas. With time and trials and an ever-present love for the power of music, he made a career of it and found success, resulting in opportunities to perform on stages around the globe.Then Covid 19 hit.Perhaps no industry was as decimated by the global lockdowns as the live entertainment business, and Jonathan found himself at a crossroads. With a beautiful young family to support and flickering professional dreams an uncertainty, he did what he needed to do for a season and put those dreams on hold. And while the future still remains unwritten for the talented and hilarious Tenor from Texas, one thing is certain: he was born to inspire.Hear Jonathan tell his story of overcoming fear and adversity while entertaining audiences around the world in Episode 17: SING. Reach out to Becoming UnDone! Text Toby here!Support the showBecoming UnDone® is a NiTROHype Creative production. Written and produced by me, Toby Brooks. If you or someone you know has a story of resilience and victory to share for Becoming Undone, contact me at undonepodcast.com. Follow the show on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn at becomingundonepod and follow me at TobyBrooksPhD. Listen, subscribe, and leave us a review Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Becoming UnDone was born from the collision of four ideas in my mind, not the least of which was the Dave Holmes podcast Waiting for Impact..And fittingly, the guest I absolutely KNEW I had to get on the show, the guy whose work had inspired the idea to begin with, was the absolutely perfect example of resilience on his own path to victory. I did my research and learned all I could about Dave Holmes.I discovered that after MTV, he’d gone on to become an actor and an author. he’d written and published a book, Party of One, in 2016. I immediately ordered it. When it arrived, I plowed through it in a couple of days, struck by just how in many ways he and I are so dissimilar in many ways. Yet so alike in so many others. I listened to Waiting for Impact in its entirety another four times. With each listen, I was less focused on being entertained and more focused on reverse engineering a show that could be so true to the research and journalistic integrity of telling the story in True Crime fashion, yet also be so wildly fun and entertaining. If podcasting was the house I intended to build, then Waiting for Impact was the blueprint I intended to follow.In the show, Dave acknowledges his own journey, failing out of college at Holy Cross as he battled depression and addiction. He’d been publicly outed as one of the only gay students at the conservative Catholic school. In his own words, he managed to pull out of the emotional nose dive of his “shame spiral,” clawed his way back in, and ultimately graduated with a degree in advertising. Taking a series soulless jobs in New York followed. On a whim that would forever change his life, he worked up the courage to take a shot at MTV’s reality contest Wanna Be a VJ. He finished runner-up out of a veritable sea of contestants, just missing the offer of a dream job. But he’d impressed network execs along the way enough to land his dream gig as a VJ anyway. A smoker and drinker who had been criticized in his MTV days for being overweight eventually become an avid Crossfitter and competitive triathlete. Through later experiences as an actor, author, and Editor at Large of Esquire, Dave has been open, honest, and vulnerable in sharing both his struggles and his triumphs on his path to a life of both success and significance.It seemed as though for every yin of disappointment, Dave had discovered and embraced a yang of accomplishment. If ANYONE knew what it meant to go from falling apart to falling into place, it was Dave. He had done so countless times. And in countless ways.Enjoy Dave share his story of getting kicked out of college before clawing his way back in, rolling out of bed at 4 am to change his life forever, and his current plans to continue to grow as a burgeoning podcaster and new media mogul on Episode 16: IMPACT with Dave Holmes.Reach out to Becoming UnDone! Text Toby here!Buzzsprout - Let's get your podcast launched!Start for FREEDisclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the showBecoming UnDone® is a NiTROHype Creative production. Written and produced by me, Toby Brooks. If you or someone you know has a story of resilience and victory to share for Becoming Undone, contact me at undonepodcast.com. Follow the show on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn at becomingundonepod and follow me at TobyBrooksPhD. Listen, subscribe, and leave us a review Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

It is Word to the 3rd Wins-Day: my mid-week reflections on purpose, life, and growth. I’m Toby Brooks, and I am a speaker, author, professor, and forever student. Each week on Becoming UnDone, I bring you guests who have dared bravely, risked mightily, and grown relentlessly—high achievers who have transformed from falling apart to falling into place. But every third episode, it’s my turn to reflect, refine, and reprocess—on Word to the 3rd Wins-Day. As you may be able to tell, my voice is not cooperating and I’m a bit under the weather. If the past few years have taught us anything, maybe distance yourself a bit from your airpods or speakers just in case I’m contagious. I don’t think what I HAVE is spreading, but it seems like word of the show IS, which makes me giddy. It has been yet another great week for me, and although this marks only the fifth Word to the 3rd, I thought it was time for a bit of fine-tuning and tweaking of the brand. I like the idea of a recurring mid-week show where we get to go back and examine what our most recent guests have taught us. At the same time, it’s also a chance for me to tell some stories from MY past or from stuff I’m learning that I think might be helpful for your growth journey. That said, Wed-nes-day seemed like as good a day as any, but I figured let’s spell it like we say it—and also celebrate the victories together on a Wins-day.This week, I had a great time interviewing both new connection author Steve Safranek and my long-time friend Branda Anderson. Both played Division I sports and both shared a new twist on what had started to emerge as a trend of lost identity following the end of competitive athletics. Namely, the identity shift that occurs when sports are eventually over. For Steve, as a walk-on on the Nebraska football team, he quickly realized that he was out over his skis a bit when he arrived on campus as a linebacker who was getting out run, out lifted, and generally overmatched by defensive backs and wideouts. It was a rude awakening, but he took it in stride and enjoyed the moment. For Steve, he said the realization that he was never going have any shot of playing at the next level, which really took hold in his mind two or three years into the program, was actually liberating. It allowed him to let go of sport gradually and without the pain we’ve heard from other guests whose careers ended more abruptly. Likewise, Branda Anderson had a painful and honest conversation with her coach following her junior year where she was informed she wasn’t going to see much of the floor as a senior. While it hurt to hear in the moment, it gave Branda a chance to really drink in the team experience and understand that her role was to help prepare her teammates for battle rather than to equip herself week in and week out. As a result, she spent less time bitter and angry that basketReach out to Becoming UnDone! Text Toby here!Buzzsprout - Let's get your podcast launched!Start for FREEDisclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the showBecoming UnDone® is a NiTROHype Creative production. Written and produced by me, Toby Brooks. If you or someone you know has a story of resilience and victory to share for Becoming Undone, contact me at undonepodcast.com. Follow the show on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn at becomingundonepod and follow me at TobyBrooksPhD. Listen, subscribe, and leave us a review Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Any high-functioning team typically has a number of people playing their role to the best of their ability. Whether a Broadway cast, a team of entrepreneurs for a new startup, or a sports team, most groups of people have a few stars, some up-and-comers, and a number of role players. When everyone understands their unique contribution to the shared success, then the unit can fire on all cylinders.Eagle River, Alaska native Branda Anderson never had aspirations of playing in the WNBA or even dominating the paint in college when she first started playing basketball in middle school. However, her growing skills and tireless work ethic eventually led to a storied high school career, capturing four total team state championships (one in basketball and three more in track), a state championship in shot put, and All-State and State Tournament Team honors in basketball. Such opened opportunities to continue pursuing her athletic aspirations in college, and she found herself on full scholarship at Division 1 Southern Illinois University in Carbondale shortly after.But things would not be so easy. A full 5-day journey from home and finding herself buried deep on the bench, she had a decision to make: quit altogether, go somewhere else, or be the best she could be at the role she’d been given. While it proved challenging, she stayed the course and finished her career as a respected and valued member of the team.In the years that followed, she’s balanced ministry service, teaching, coaching, and graduate school. And after nearly 20 years in the high school classroom, she recently made the decision to switch to a new role Teaching and Learning Specialist at the Holocaust Center for Humanity in Seattle, Washington while she works toward a PhD in Holocaust and Genocide Studies.Hear her tell her story of resilience, hard work, and being a servant leader before it was trendy and cool in episode 15: SWITCH Reach out to Becoming UnDone! Text Toby here!Support the showBecoming UnDone® is a NiTROHype Creative production. Written and produced by me, Toby Brooks. If you or someone you know has a story of resilience and victory to share for Becoming Undone, contact me at undonepodcast.com. Follow the show on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn at becomingundonepod and follow me at TobyBrooksPhD. Listen, subscribe, and leave us a review Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Life can take us on some unexpected journeys, and there’s little doubt that Omaha, Nebraska’s Steve Safranek has seen his share of twists and turns on his path forward. From his days dreaming of gridiron glory, to years spent working in retail management, to a quick detour in the snack food industry while—of all things—getting his fitness and wellness business off the ground, it has been a rewarding and meaningful climb. But along the way, he realized that he'd learned so much from coaches, teammates, colleagues, and coworkers that he finally decided it was time to also add “author” to his bio. Releasing his book, the Sh!t No One Wants to Hear: How to Accept and Embrace the Uncomfortable Truth in Our Lives in 2022, he also made a dramatic shift from his career path of nearly 20 years in retail and sales to fitness, wellness, and development as a yoga instructor and owner of a fitness studio. Hear Steve share how he ended up a Cornhusker, how he simultaneously became a health-conscious vegan while working for Frito Lay, and how the former linebacker traded his shoulder pads for a yoga mat in Episode 13: NAMASTE with Steve Safranek! Reach out to Becoming UnDone! Text Toby here!Support the showBecoming UnDone® is a NiTROHype Creative production. Written and produced by me, Toby Brooks. If you or someone you know has a story of resilience and victory to share for Becoming Undone, contact me at undonepodcast.com. Follow the show on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn at becomingundonepod and follow me at TobyBrooksPhD. Listen, subscribe, and leave us a review Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

This week, I had the opportunity to interview a couple of highly decorated former athletes, with former pro basketball player Josh Washington in episode 10: REBORN, and former pro football player and Winter Olympian Johnny Quinn in episode 11: PUSH. Both shared their stories of overcoming incredible challenges, adversities, and doubt to ultimately navigate through to victory. What jumped out to me was their common themes of identity and faith.For Josh, early success on the basketball court helped him avoid bullying and unwanted attention that a stutter likely would have brought. He went all in on his hoop dreams, ultimately receiving countless awards and honors as an athlete before being offered more than two dozen scholarships to prestigious college programs across the country.For Johnny, it was a similar journey in terms of success in competition, but dramatically different in terms of opportunity. With just one Division 1 offer coming through at the last minute before signing day, he headed to college with something to prove.For both, sport naturally grew as an extension of who they were as people. Josh Washington the basketball player and Johnny Quinn the football player were badges they both wore with pride.But as they say, pride cometh before the fall.But what I absolutely love about both Josh Washington and Johnny Quinn is that they made it through. A personal, professional, and spiritual wasteland awaits all of us when that thing we used to define ourselves is taken…or even given…at the end of a season in our life. It is human nature to try and bandage those wounds as best we can, pick up the pieces, and press on. What about you? Do you find yourself in that wilderness now, reaching for purpose? Or maybe you’ve already managed to walk through it, living to tell someone else about how you survived. I’d love to hear about it. Reach out to Becoming UnDone! Text Toby here!Support the showBecoming UnDone® is a NiTROHype Creative production. Written and produced by me, Toby Brooks. If you or someone you know has a story of resilience and victory to share for Becoming Undone, contact me at undonepodcast.com. Follow the show on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn at becomingundonepod and follow me at TobyBrooksPhD. Listen, subscribe, and leave us a review Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Author Adam Barone once wrote that the American Dream is the belief that anyone, regardless of where or what class they were born into can attain their own version of success in a society in which upward mobility is possible for everyone.While that definition seems clear and fitting enough, for McKinney, Texas native Johnny Quinn, it wasn’t quite so simple. Dreams of professional football took root early, and Johnny worked hard to be the best high school athlete he could be, eventually leading the football-loving state of Texas in receptions and finishing second in TD catches by his senior season. By most accounts, such performance SHOULD have opened the floodgates of scholarship offers from colleges across the country.Unfortunately, they didn't.Lightly recruited by a few programs at lower levels, Johnny finally received his first and only Division I offer from nearby University of North Texas just one day before the end of signing period.He took it.Disappointed but undeterred that his on-field production hadn’t translated to the opportunities he anticipated, he did what he always does in the face of adversity: he worked. Johnny committed to transforming his body in the weight room and went all-in on developing fully in the hopes of making his childhood dreams of professional football come true from UNT. Eventually, those efforts helped his team to three bowl appearances, a degree in pre-law, and legendary status as his alma mater’s all-time receptions leader.Surely the NFL, the prestige, and the money that come with it were within reach.Except they weren’t.Johnny went undrafted in the 2007 NFL Draft. In eerily familiar fashion, he found himself being productive on an elite level but without the recognition that you might expect. Disappointed but still determined, he did what he does: he worked.A professional career as an NFL free agent and later a signee in the Canadian football league followed. And when the door to football finally closed, Johnny literally and figuratively broke it down as a member of the U.S. National Bobsled Team, competing as a member of one of the two the 4-man teams who competed in the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. Now a successful author and highly sought-after professional speaker, Johnny has leveraged all the good that has come from his years as a high performing athlete and translated those lessons into stories that both encourage and inspire. Hear Johnny tell his story of grit, determination, and relentless pursuit—and why he always checks his pocket for his keys—in Episode 11: PUSH.Reach out to Becoming UnDone! Text Toby here!Support the showBecoming UnDone® is a NiTROHype Creative production. Written and produced by me, Toby Brooks. If you or someone you know has a story of resilience and victory to share for Becoming Undone, contact me at undonepodcast.com. Follow the show on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn at becomingundonepod and follow me at TobyBrooksPhD. Listen, subscribe, and leave us a review Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Imagine for a moment that you are a young high school athlete. As your performance on the field and on the court continues to improve, the accolades roll in. Recruiting offers from across the country pour into your mailbox daily. You are told that you are among best basketball players to ever come from your modest city, and when you sign with your chosen University, you’re also told that you’re the best recruit in school history.Where do you go from there? If you’re Lubbock’s Josh Washington, high hopes of leading his hometown Red Raiders to new heights were soon dashed with the cold realities of life at the next level. Through trials and circumstances that an introspective Josh fully admits he played a role in, his time at Texas Tech grew increasingly dark, with playing time scarce, anxiety and depression high, and spiritual battles raging as he tried to hold things together.In a pre-transfer portal world that required any athlete who changed schools to sit out a year, Josh finally acknowledged that he needed a new start. He transferred to Texas A&M Corpus Christi where he regained his footing, restored his confidence, and eventually led the nation in 3-point shooting percentage as a seniorThose experiences led to professional opportunities overseas, where he concluded a successful career and headed back to Lubbock older, wiser, and more mature.Today he serves as a basketball official and is the Owner and Founder of Josh Washington Elite Basketball, where he continues to pour not only on-court skills into the minds and bodies of some of Lubbock’s best and brightest hoops prospects, but also their hearts.Listen as Josh opens up and shares his journey of triumph, heartbreak, and resolute determination to succeed while helping and serving others in Episode #10: REBORN. Reach out to Becoming UnDone! Text Toby here!Support the showBecoming UnDone® is a NiTROHype Creative production. Written and produced by me, Toby Brooks. If you or someone you know has a story of resilience and victory to share for Becoming Undone, contact me at undonepodcast.com. Follow the show on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn at becomingundonepod and follow me at TobyBrooksPhD. Listen, subscribe, and leave us a review Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

What a week! I launched 6 days ago and the response has been better than I expected. Several people have reached out to encourage me and congratulate me for starting the Podcast, and I have really been excited to hear what people think so far. This is certainly a step outside my comfort zone and I’m still getting over trivial things…say for instance my dislike of the sound of my own voice or not fully knowing the ins and outs of proper audio production. Bet I’m getting there. I am not done yet.And that’s kinda the whole point of this thing, now, isn’t it??As promised, Word to the Third is my chance to reflect on the episodes of the recent past. This week, I dropped episode 7, fearless with former gymnastics coach Bill Ryden and episode 8, Recovery founder of Take Action Today Michael Tyson. Now, on the surface these two stories couldn’t have been different. But as I reflected I realized that they had one thing in common: the power of one person.For Bill Ryden, it was undoubtedly Diane Monty, the rising young star gymnastics student who helped Bill become a coach in the first place, then later petitioned her college coach to bring Jim Gault to bring Bill on staff at Arizona.For Mike Tyson, it was his wife Crystal who stood steadfastly by his side through incredible ups and downs, never giving up and never surrendering no matter how hard it got.For me, there have been more “one persons” than I can count. However, I thought it would be fun to share a story I recently shared with one of them, Dr. Jonah Rice.Forever “Jody” to me, Dr. Rice is now the president at Southeastern Illinois College where I started my collegiate career almost three decades ago. What follows is an adaptation of a story I wrote and sent to him a couple of weeks ago.And I promise: The cool Sky Walker Nike Dunks you see in the image art are part of the story, too. Listen to find out how!Reach out to Becoming UnDone! Text Toby here!Support the showBecoming UnDone® is a NiTROHype Creative production. Written and produced by me, Toby Brooks. If you or someone you know has a story of resilience and victory to share for Becoming Undone, contact me at undonepodcast.com. Follow the show on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn at becomingundonepod and follow me at TobyBrooksPhD. Listen, subscribe, and leave us a review Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Helen Keller once said, “Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved.” For Georgia native Michael Tyson, that trial and suffering started early. A tough upbringing found him growing up relatively poor and lacking much direction. By his mid-teens, he ended up in real trouble, eventually entering the juvenile justice system for the first time at the age of 15. Years of turmoil lay ahead, and after aging out of that system that had largely shielded him from the pain and spiral of addiction, he found himself battling a life that was headed toward destruction. Over time, he eventually experienced healing and recovery, with his relationship with God, his wife Crystal, and his community of friends providing much-needed support along the way. Soon after, he found steady income, benefits, and an identity working in the coal mines of Southern Illinois. But a sudden firing coupled with growing burnout and a search for purpose launched him in a new direction. Today, he finds himself in graduate school while leading Take Action Today, a non-profit faith-based recovery community organization that has flourished from a few volunteers meeting in a community park a year ago to three and soon to be four community resource centers and a staff of 15 professionals serving the needs of those struggling with addiction and lack of community in Southern Illinois.Hear Mike’s inspiring story in episode #8: RECOVERY.Reach out to Becoming UnDone! Text Toby here!Support the showBecoming UnDone® is a NiTROHype Creative production. Written and produced by me, Toby Brooks. If you or someone you know has a story of resilience and victory to share for Becoming Undone, contact me at undonepodcast.com. Follow the show on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn at becomingundonepod and follow me at TobyBrooksPhD. Listen, subscribe, and leave us a review Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

What would you do if you were an aeronautical engineer—a literal rocket scientist—but you just couldn't quite shake the feeling that there was more to life then lending your considerable brainpower to the creation of weapons of mass destruction?If you are Colorado native Bill Ryden, you'd set your first professional career aside and get back in the gym. Growing up in the Rockies as a self-professed adrenaline junkie, Ryden spent his youth racing dirt bikes. But eventually he found his way into a gym, where he quickly fell in love with the sport--especially the high bar. After a highly successful collegiate and brief exhibition career as a competitive gymnast, Bill thought he'd hung up his grips for good and turned to the life of a working stiff at Lockheed Martin. But the lure of the gym kept calling him back, and a chance to jump back into the sport as a coach was just too much to resist. A job offer at the University of Arizona in 1990 changed his life forever.Leaving the safety and security of the engineering world for the uncertainty and grind of college coaching was tough, but he followed his heart. Mentoring, coaching, and pushing young gymnasts to success in the gym and in life consumed the next two and a half decades of his life, eventually being named Head Coach of a Pac-10 program in 1998 where he stayed until 2015. But it wasn't all sunshine and rainbows from there. It was road trips and recruiting trails, exhilarating wins and gut-wrenching losses, and relationships--always relationships that made the journey simultaneously so very hard yet so very rewarding. And like every wild motorcycle ride at Mach speed with his hair blowing in the wind he'd taken years before, as exciting as it was, eventually it had to end. Hear Bill tell his story of dirt bikes and trampolines, Cold War science and chalked grips, and just how happy he is to have coached in an era BEFORE transfer portals and NIL agreements in Episode 7: FEARLESSReach out to Becoming UnDone! Text Toby here!Support the showBecoming UnDone® is a NiTROHype Creative production. Written and produced by me, Toby Brooks. If you or someone you know has a story of resilience and victory to share for Becoming Undone, contact me at undonepodcast.com. Follow the show on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn at becomingundonepod and follow me at TobyBrooksPhD. Listen, subscribe, and leave us a review Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

On this 2nd of January, gyms are packed. People are eating better. A new year promises a new beginning. Motivation runs high.But none of my first four guests said a word about motivation. I never heard any of them complain about they were able to accomplish their goals because they’d been magically gifted an extra helping of internal drive. Because success isn’t ABOUT motivation.I heard a great quote this morning: motivation has an expiration date. And when motivation dies, discipline must take its place.That’s what Joseph, Kara, Brad, and Mike all said. Whether outright or in reading between the lines, they told me consistently that the way they found success and overcame failure was not because they were motivated. It was because they were disciplined. So 2023 for me is a year of discipline. I will not just start well, but I will plan strategically. I will work and pursue relentlessly. I will set personal bests physically. I will finish the book I have been working on most recently. And I will commit to the process of making Becoming Undone something I can be proud and that serves to inspire people around the world.Reach out to Becoming UnDone! Text Toby here!Support the showBecoming UnDone® is a NiTROHype Creative production. Written and produced by me, Toby Brooks. If you or someone you know has a story of resilience and victory to share for Becoming Undone, contact me at undonepodcast.com. Follow the show on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn at becomingundonepod and follow me at TobyBrooksPhD. Listen, subscribe, and leave us a review Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

What would you do if your wildest dreams came mostly true, but then the door closed before you were able to step through and enjoy it?For Tucson, Arizona native Mike Meyer, big league dreams started early. But baseball was never supposed to be a profession to have as much as a passion to pursue. He knew he loved the game from the moment he began to understand the basics as a toddler. And the game loved him right back. From his early days playing on rec league teams to invite-only scrimmages and a starting spot on his highly competitive varsity squad before he was old enough to drive, success on the diamond came early and often. It was only natural, then, that those abilities would open opportunities for the future. And they did. A scholarship athlete at the University of Arizona, eventually he signed with the St. Louis Cardinals organization, spending three seasons in affiliated ball before completing six more in the independent leagues.When it was finally time to hang up his spikes for the last time, he--like so many--struggled with what was left after the critical core of his identity had been taken away. But after a cold and lonely search for meaning and purpose, he found his true calling...back in a dugout in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.Hear Mike tell his story of blue-collar work ethic, the relationship between study skills and grade point average for college athletes, and how a rockstar college gymnast changed his life on Episode 5: SOMEHOW I MANAGEReach out to Becoming UnDone! Text Toby here!Support the showBecoming UnDone® is a NiTROHype Creative production. Written and produced by me, Toby Brooks. If you or someone you know has a story of resilience and victory to share for Becoming Undone, contact me at undonepodcast.com. Follow the show on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn at becomingundonepod and follow me at TobyBrooksPhD. Listen, subscribe, and leave us a review Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Did you ever get exactly what you wanted, only to discover that maybe it wasn't exactly what you'd bargained for?Wisconsin native Brad Arnett landed a highly coveted Assistant Athletics Director and Head Strength and Conditioning position at his SECOND Power Five NCAA Division I school when he left the University of Minnesota for the desert of Tucson and the University of Arizona in 2000. A monumental responsibility and honor for anyone, Brad did it before he turned 30. One of the brightest, most creative, and most effective minds in the business, he ultimately decided to listen to the feelings of a new purpose and a new direction, leading him to step down just five years later and help launch a business of his own.Since then, his programs, his business savvy, and his ability to build relationships have all contributed to making NX Level Sports Performance one of the premiere facilities of its kind in the world, boasting a client list that includes JJ Watt.Hear Brad tell his story of resilience, bold action, and why he thinks every strength coach needs a couch in their office on Episode 4: STRENGTH! Reach out to Becoming UnDone! Text Toby here!Support the showBecoming UnDone® is a NiTROHype Creative production. Written and produced by me, Toby Brooks. If you or someone you know has a story of resilience and victory to share for Becoming Undone, contact me at undonepodcast.com. Follow the show on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn at becomingundonepod and follow me at TobyBrooksPhD. Listen, subscribe, and leave us a review Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.