Passion, Therapy, Proving Yourself & More | AMA 5 Vol. with Dr. Michael Gervais

Michael Gervais (0:00)

Can you drop that first vine that you've been swinging on well to reach and stretch for a new vine that you're not sure if it's gonna work out or not? That's a big leap. That's a big risk to take. Again, I'll just be uber clear that what got you here is probably not gonna get you there.

Welcome back to another Ask Me Anything on Finding Mastery. I keep saying it, but it's an honor to answer the questions you all are sending in. I'm really excited about this one. Michael Rosenbaum, a friend of Finding Mastery has dropped in for today's AMA. Michael's an actor, comedian, podcaster, and all around incredible human. He's famously known for portraying Lex Luthor on the Superman TV series Smallville, and has recently entered the Marvel Universe in Guardians of the Galaxy. He hosts his own podcast, Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum. And in this AMA, we dive into psychological safety, therapy, living with passion, and what to do when your motivation is running thin.

Your questions took us to some fascinating places and some real fun at the end. When Michael trots out his Adam Sandler impression, he reveals why he left Smallville and walks us through the plot of his dream turned movie pitch, Saving Chris Farley. As always, feel free to email info at findingmastery.net with feedback or any questions you may have or future AMAs.

And if you're enjoying this podcast and haven't already, just a quick reminder to hit the subscribe or follow button and to drop us a review wherever you're listening. It is the easiest and zero cost way to support the show. With that, let's jump right into the Mastery Lab with my friend, Michael Rosenbaum, for another round of Ask Me Anything.

Michael Rosenbaum (1:49)

Can you swear on this thing? Are you recording?

Good, you should.

Michael Gervais (1:54)

Yeah, it's good to see you, dude.

Michael Rosenbaum (1:55)

It's good to see you. What does AMA stand for?

Michael Gervais (1:58)

Ask Me Anything.

Michael Rosenbaum (1:59)

Hmm, did you guys know that?

Michael Gervais (2:01)

Yeah.

SPEAKER_3 (2:02)

What are we doing?

Michael Rosenbaum (2:06)

All right, so yeah, we could do this.

Now, let me ask you. So these questions, tell me who they come from.

Michael Gervais (2:12)

From all over. So we all over. Now, we post on social.

We've got a nice little international crew that's part of our community. And so they posted, or they ask some questions that they want us to wrestle with.

Michael Rosenbaum (2:23)

Right.

This is from Amanda. Mike, I'm a huge fan. Thank you for what you bring to the world. My question is, how do we succeed, accomplish, become more effective and efficient, and at the same time have peace in our soul? How does one balance a life of striving and getting better with being okay with who you are?

Michael Gervais (2:41)

That's a big question.

Michael Rosenbaum (2:43)

That's a lot of questions within a question.

Michael Gervais (2:44)

That's a lot of questions. Yeah, Amanda's on it.

SPEAKER_3 (2:47)

It's deep.

Michael Gervais (2:48)

I think what I hear her talking about is the tension between being and becoming, right? So being here, being yourself, being in the present moment, and at the same time, striving to become the person you want to be more often.

So that tension between being, becoming is real. There's not an easy way through this, but I do think that the reason that I train my mind, the reason that athletes and people that I work with train their mind is so that they can be in the present moment more often. It's the more often part. So you train up a skill, psychological skills, so that you can be you in the present moment more often. So you got to work your ass off, most of us do, to kind of return to that brilliant innocence of taking your hands off the steering wheel and kind of being in the present moment as it unfolds.

So no easy answer, but just like I said across, set aside time to kind of train my body or to train something in my technical craft that I want to get better at, I also set aside time to train my mind. And so it's discreet. So it's not this bleeding thing that's running throughout the day. It's the discreet time that I'm training my mind.

Michael Rosenbaum (3:59)

It sounds to me like that is, like it's habit.

Like people, if you want instant gratification, if you want to be feel this way, doing it one time, you're probably, oh, that's not working, two or three times, it's not working. But it's like you have to make it a habit like anything else. And it takes X amount of days or weeks to create this habit, to make things start, to feel like they're part of your everyday routine.