Ask Me Anything: Dr. Michael Gervais on Self-Worth, Resilience, and Finding Light in the Cracks

Yogi Roth (0:00)

Do you have any tips to change mindset and maximize the little free time I get to recharge?

Michael Gervais (0:06)

Isn't this the question of all questions? What questions are tugging at you right now? And how might exploring the answers to those questions help you unlock your potential? Welcome back, or welcome to a special episode of the Finding Mastery podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Michael Gervais, by trade and training a high-performance psychologist. And this week, we're turning the microphone around. Instead of diving into Mastery through the minds of our remark, guess we're going straight to you for another Ask Me Anything episode.

Yogi Roth (0:37)

What can we do as a healthcare worker? What frameworks or practices would you recommend? How do you maintain a sense of self-worth?

Michael Gervais (0:46)

You've submitted deep and thoughtful, vulnerable questions about life, performance, relationships, and navigating the complexities of the human experience. In this episode, with the help of author, documentarian, podcaster, football analyst, and all-around Renaissance man and friend of Finding Mastery, Yogi Roth, all offer insights and perspectives designed to help us think a little differently.

Yogi Roth (1:11)

What framing would you use to help instill a healthy sense of motivation?

Michael Gervais (1:16)

Nobody does it alone. So we need each other. Let's be great. We don't talk about working harder, we talk about recovering more intelligently.

Yogi Roth (1:23)

What I'm hearing you say is remind them of the things that we've been talking about and training upon.

Michael Gervais (1:28)

Make sure you're infusing it with what could be great if we do the work together.

Yogi Roth (1:32)

It's a good point. It's crazy.

Michael Gervais (1:34)

So with that, let's jump right into your questions, my reflections and an exploration of what matters most right here on Finding Mastery. This has been, I can't wait to do this with you. Like, the AMA series are really fun for me, and it's a little different doing it with you because of our history, of our friendship, and who you represent in my life, and as well as what you understand when it comes to helping people be better. And so you're deeply steeped in the football world, and it's a great working laboratory to understand humans. So I'm so stoked to do this with you.

Yogi Roth (2:21)

Yeah, me too, man. 2009, we met at LA Live in downtown LA. It was a long time ago. I remember having dinner with you that evening, and that birth, an incredible friendship, man.

Michael Gervais (2:32)

Was that the dinner that you introduced me to Coach Carroll as well?

Yogi Roth (2:35)

Yeah.

Michael Gervais (2:36)

OK. But we knew each other before that. That wasn't our first dinner. We knew each other before that.

Yogi Roth (2:42)

OK, I don't remember that.

Michael Gervais (2:43)

Yeah.

Yogi Roth (2:44)

So I got 2009 LA Live exhausted Yogi sitting next to Mike, and you being like, you're spent, right? And I was like, no, I'm fine. I'm good.

Michael Gervais (2:51)

You don't judge me. Yeah, that's right. You came out with some fire.

Yogi Roth (2:56)

Yeah. But I do remember AMAs because all football season, when I'm on the road, I'm in Nebraska, I'm in Ohio, I'm in Pennsylvania, I'm on the other side of the country as we sit in LA, I would listen to your AMAs. And it was really cool because I would always compartmentalize it either in the world of performance or parenting. One of the two buckets. So I'm so curious to hear what your community has to say with these set of questions we have today and where they are when they hear it. Because I bet if I listen to one of those now, maybe I'd be in a different place. I'd put it in a different bucket and how would it hit on me? Cool.

Michael Gervais (3:27)

Well, hold those two buckets because I think it's a huge part of our community. And so sometimes I think more like coaches and athletes and or I get I think about the executives that are friends that I'm trying to help. So yeah, stay in the lane. Let's see, by the way, our community is really smart. So these questions are hard. And thank you everyone for submitting the hard questions. So let's get into the first one.

Yogi Roth (3:54)

Okay, this is very thoughtful. And this is gonna I think reflect a lot of people who are listening because we all have dealt with this, me included, maybe you at some point. This comes from Bhakti. How do you maintain a sense of self-worth in a room full of high achievers without feeling overwhelmed by regret for not having tried harder in the past or feeling insignificant for not having accomplished as much as those in the room?