Dr. John R. Weisz, Ph.D., is a Professor of Psychology at Harvard where he focuses his research on developing interventions for youth mental health problems.  He is a past president of the Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology and the International Society for Research in Child and Adolescent Psychopathology as well as a recipient of the James McKeen Cattell Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association for Psychological Science. At Harvard, Dr. Weisz's Lab for Youth Mental Health focuses on developing, implementing, and testing psychological treatment interventions to help alleviate anxiety, depression, conduct problems, ADD/ADHD, and post-traumatic stress in kids. The thing is, most children present multiple problems at the same time. To best treat kids with a profile of mental health issues, Dr. Weisz and his team have worked hard to combine components of the best tested and proven interventions into one comprehensive approach. On top of explaining what that transdiagnostic approach looks like, we talk more generally about other treatments I'm trying to better understand like CBT and medication and also dive into brief digital interventions. They are 30 to 45 minutes, interactive, delivered online without any supervision needed, and most importantly proven - making them a great way to expand the accessibility of mental health care that is so desperately needed. Please enjoy. 

Dusty Watten is a member of the Team USA National Volleyball Team and currently playing professionally in Lublin Poland. Off the court he is a coach, student of Stoicism, meditation advocate, and vegan athlete.  While we cover a lot, this conversation is all about striving for and working towards the highest version of ourselves. That might sound lofty and a bit ridiculous. Fine. But that's what I'm aiming towards and want to talk to people about. Find Dusty @dustinwatten on Instagram and at dustywatten.com  Full show notes here at chrismcgrory.net

Today, Harvard Business School Professor Michael Norton joins the show. His research covers a range of topics, but in this one we really tackle rituals - what they are, when to implement them, and why they help - and then cover his older research on money - does more money make us happier? How should we spend our money to change how we spend our time? What about buying experiences? - and a lot more. While he’s no doubt an expert, that says nothing about how thoughtful and kind Mike is - an entirely different lesson I take from this conversation and from having known him. Full show notes here at chrismcgrory.net

Jake Gronsky is a former Minor League Baseball player with the St. Louis Cardinals organization and has since become an author featured on ESPN, Best American Sports Writing, FOX Sports, and more. We dive deep into: why following your passion isn't the best advice and really tactical advice on what to do instead the importance of stability in a day job to give you freedom to take necessary risks in your other projects daily routine as a web-growth consultant by day and writer by night fiction, and particularly romance - recommendations and why fiction is just as important in the world to starting conversations and uncovering truths Full show notes at chrismcgrory.net

David Ogle is a cognitive behavioral coach for business leaders and professional athletes around performance. At Dose Performance Coaching, David's specialty is in creating an environment for individuals to have their own moments of insight... then helping them take action. In this episode, David blends actionable tactics with the neuroscience to back it up. We cover how to cultivate moments of insight, establish a healthy pace after graduating college, set goals - and a lot more. This conversation really centers around how we can use what we know about the brain and human behavior to get us to live more in alignment with what we learn to be true in the world and about ourselves over time. Connect with David at dosecoaching.com and on Instagram @dosecoaching Full show notes here at chrismcgrory.net

Adam Stone is a pitcher for the Team USA Collegiate National Team, Falmouth Commodores of the Cape Cod Baseball League, and Harvard Baseball. He's a top professional prospect as a starting pitcher, standing at 6 foot 6 and over 215 pounds, and getting it up to 98 miles an hour with a wipeout slider—but he won't tell you that.  After listening back, I realized that Adam gives a crash course in sports psychology in this one. stress appraisal—how he re-frames his pre-game jitters as getting locked in self-talk—what he says on the mound and how he gathers confidence mental imagery—seeing a game before it happens positive mental approach—bouncing back from Tommy John surgery (a rehab process that takes a whole year) Beyond that, we talk about what he learned about preparation from playing alongside the best college guys in the country and we even dive into how he gained 40 pounds in a little over a year. Full show notes here at chrismcgrory.net

David Havelick is a Senior Sustainability Manager at Harvard, focused on overseeing the university's climate impact.  While there are a bunch of different areas for improvement, David is especially committed to Harvard's climate impact through food. He helped champion Harvard joining the Cool Food Pledge which is a commitment to reducing the school's green house gas emissions from food by 25% by 2030 - an effort we connected over. In this one we talk about how you and I can be more environmentally friendly - and the answer isn't a reusable water bottle or recycling. His answer actually might surprise you by focusing more on groups and less on individual responsibility.  Then we dial in on food. Since it's a top contributor to global climate change, what can be done? How's Harvard thinking about this issue?  Then we wrap up with learning more about David and especially his journey towards acting in alignment with his values - particularly with his food choices as someone who avoids animal based products for moral and environmental reasons. Full show notes at chrismcgrory.net

John Toracinta is the co-founder of NOSOLO, a brand on a mission to end the stigma of mental illness through their hats and other merchandise.  NOSOLO is a symbol that represents support for those who may have felt alone at some point. Because we already know mental illness does not discriminate, the logo really says nobody goes solo in whatever battle they're fighting. While the awareness and support born out of the product is important, NOSOLO has also committed 20% of profits to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) who help individuals and families get the support they need. In this conversation John shares: the origin story of NOSOLO and inspiration to build a mission focused brand how something as simple as a hat can lead to open and honest conversation about mental health what he's learned personally over the past few years from building a company from nothing. NOSOLO's mission aligns deeply with what I care most about and I'm so grateful to have had the opportunity to chat with its co-founder and expand its reach. If you're interested in doing a small part in helping end the stigma surrounding mental illness, head over to @nosolobrand on Instagram and nosolobrand.com. Also check out the NOSOLO Team participating in the 2021 NAMIWalk in Rhode Island (also virtual!) on October 24th. Full show notes here at chrismcgrory.net

Michael Bervell is a Ghanaian-American angel-investor, entrepreneur, and soon to be author, working in venture capital at Microsoft.  Michael graduated from Harvard in 2019 where he studied philosophy with a focus in computer science. He blogs daily on his popular website "Billion Dollar Startup Ideas" and has advanced that passion for startups into writing a book called Unlocking Unicorns, due out in August of 2021. The book is unique because it profiles 10 startup founders from Africa, Asia, and the Middle East - most of whom you've never heard of - who built billion dollar companies. In this conversation, we riff on the personal tactics of startup founders from his book that can be applied in our own lives - because not everybody has aspirations to build a billion dollar company, right - as well as dive into his own story - purposefully getting rejected everyday in high school, business lessons learned from his Ghanaian grandma, personal maxims that guide his decision making, and how he redefines time to be most productive. Full show notes here at chrismcgrory.net

I'm on vacation for the month in Costa Rica trying to hit pause, but I just finished a book, and as I was going through it and putting my notes into my computer, I figured it could be cool to do a book summary. Main take-aways, important arguments, interesting opinions, and anything else I feel was valuable after reading. So in this one I'm going to talk about The Story of the Human Body by Harvard Professor Dan Lieberman. My roommate took his class this semester that basically went through the book and from overhearing his lectures, I was intrigued. The book first outlines the human body's evolution - how the search for food and the globe's climate change together shaped us into the bodies we have today. Then, Part II looks at how the Agricultural and Industrial Revolutions greatly changed our environments - which is not good since we evolved for a very different way of life. Lastly, Part III explains how modern ailments - from diabetes to flat feet - can be understood from our evolution and what we can do to change the direction of a largely unhealthy future. So, with that said, please enjoy!