Spirit of the Deal

Brandon Handley & Guests
  • 5.0 (15)
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Weekly

Spirit of the Deal is where sales meets soul. Hosted by Brandon Handley, this podcast explores the deeper currents beneath high performance and success—what happens when spiritual alignment, intention, and purpose converge in business. While rooted in the Superhuman Selling framework, each episode goes beyond tactics, tapping into the inner work that unlocks outer results. We're not just closing deals—we're opening portals to our highest potential. Tune in for unfiltered conversations, practical tools, and transformative insights designed to help you sell with power, presence, and purpose.

  1. 1d ago

    You're Not Broken, We're Wounded | Marci Hopkins

    Marci Hopkins walked into the wrong mall. That is where the story turns. She had a modeling gig. She had spent years carrying a bottle of wine in her bag, her liquid courage, because she was too nervous to be seen without it. That day she convinced herself she could walk the show sober. She was proud of herself. Then she found out she was at the wrong mall. So she drove to the right one, drinking the whole way. She met a friend afterward for drinks. She got her third DUI at forty-five years old. Her first two came around twenty. She went to bed a victim, the way she always had: her husband's fault, her life's fault, everyone's fault but hers. She woke up the next morning and heard her own voice for the first time in decades. What are you doing, Marci? You are about to lose this life that you built. Sober since October 4, 2015. The part most people get wrong, and the part she says out loud in this episode: she did not get sober to quit drinking. She got sober to get her life back. Those are two different deals and only one of them holds. Before any of that there was a house where her mother drank every day. A boyfriend who beat her at six years old. A choice, offered to a child, between her mother and her grandparents, and the abandonment that came when she told her mother what happened and nothing changed. At twelve her mother remarried, and the sexual abuse started six months in. She got drunk for the first time at that wedding. She ran. She drank. She achieved. A program at the Art Institute, then an internship in television, then Liberty Sports Communications, then a manager job at Fox Sports Rocky Mountain. Engaged, house in Denver, career climbing, and dying the whole time. A month before the wedding she left the job, sold the house, ended the relationship, and moved to Los Angeles. Then the party really started. What changed is not dramatic. She describes it as a switch, and switches are quiet. The work after the switch is what this conversation is actually about: letting go of the ego, learning to ask for help after a lifetime of never asking, eating the candy and the olives because her body was screaming for the sugar it used to get by the gallon, and getting quiet enough to find out who she was underneath the noise. A gratitude jar. Mornings that start with meditation instead of a screen. Kundalini yoga. Inner child work. The twelve steps, which she calls life-changing, especially the amends and the part where you stop being the only victim in your own story. And the reframe that runs under all of it: you are not broken, you are wounded. She says it twice, like she needs you to hear it. She built Coffee with Marci, then Wake Up with Marci, then three Telly Awards and two Anthem Awards and a nationally syndicated show she retired at the top, because the vehicle changed and the mission did not. Now there is a podcast, two more Tellys, and a new book, Wake Up, You're Not Broken: A Companion for Your First 30 Days of Sobriety. Ask her what she would do if she lost all of it tomorrow and kept only her sobriety, and she does not say rebuild the business. She says she would be with her kids. One brick at a time. That is the whole method. ACTION ITEMS: 1. Start a gratitude jar this week. One small thing, written down, every day. She says that is where her shift actually started. 2. In the first thirty days, stop white-knuckling and allow harm reduction. If your body wants candy or salt or olives, let it have them for now. 3. Put meditation before the phone. Ten quiet minutes in the morning before anyone needs anything from you. 4. Ask one person for help out loud. She survived by never asking, and unlearning that was the real work. 5. Do the honest inventory: write down your part in what happened, not only what was done to you. That was the step that broke the victim story open. 6. When the fear shows up, say yes anyway. The what-am-I-doing-here moment is the entrance, not a stop sign. RESOURCES & LINKS: - Wake Up with Marci (official site): https://wakeupwithmarci.com/ - Marci Hopkins (official site): https://www.marci-hopkins.com/ - Wake Up with Marci on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@wakeupwithmarci - Telly Awards: https://www.tellyawards.com/ - Anthem Awards: https://www.anthemawards.com/ - Alcoholics Anonymous (the twelve steps she credits): https://www.aa.org/ - Spirit of the Deal: session feedback and booking: https://brandonghandley.com/session-feedback/

    You're Not Broken, We're Wounded | Marci Hopkins

  2. Oct 26

    Breathwork, Brandon Novak, and the Space Between Versions of You

    Brandon's been gone a minute. Life happened — dog died, the daily grind wore thin, and the mic gathered dust. But here's the thing about silence: it's never empty. He's been over at Novak's place teaching breathwork — yeah, *that* Novak from Jackass — watching men's armor crack open in real time. The fascia hardens around your shoulders and chest when you're stuck in survival mode. Your body literally builds a cage. Breath is the solvent. But here's the kicker nobody talks about: when the armor dissolves, you don't feel free. You feel naked. A void opens up. And every old pattern, every anxious script, every 'crazy' you've ever known comes rushing back to fill it. That's the moment. That's the whole game. Brandon sits in that void with you — no toxic positivity, no bypassing. He talks about the Plymouth Horizon his grandmother gave him, how new tires taught him you don't notice things working until they're fixed. He references Sapolsky's *Determined* while stuck in traffic, wrestling with free will and generational inheritance. You are who you are because of everything that came before. Stop judging the armor. Stop judging the void. The question isn't how to avoid the crazy — it's who you're willing to become when the dust settles. One leg at a time. Like putting on new jeans. Uncomfortable at first. Then yours. Key Takeaways ·         Your body builds physical armor (hardened fascia) in survival mode — breathwork acts as a solvent to dissolve it. ·         The void after armor falls isn't failure — it's the opening where old patterns rush back *or* where a new self can emerge. ·         You don't notice what's working (health, friends, spirituality) until something breaks — like new tires on a beater car. ·         Judging your old patterns keeps you stuck; recognizing them as inherited survival wiring lets you breathe through them. ·         Becoming a new version of yourself feels wrong at first — like new jeans — and that discomfort is the proof it's real. Resources & Entities Mentioned ·         Brandon Novak ·         Jackass ·         Robert Sapolsky ·         Determined (book) ·         Plymouth Horizon ·         Novak's facility ·         Fatherhood for the Rest of Us ·         Spirit of the Deal podcast ·         Spiritual Dope podcast

    Breathwork, Brandon Novak, and the Space Between Versions of You

  3. Oct 19

    If I Would Have Overthought This, I'd Still Be in Germany | Dr. Christiane Schroeter

    Dr. Christiane Schroeterwalked into her Fulbright interview straight from work, zero prep, while everyone else recited statehood dates like scripture. She got the scholarship. Curiosity over credentials, presence over performance. That moment became her operating system. A German academic turned Cal Poly professor, TEDx speaker, and creator of the Petite Practice Framework, she built a top-1% podcast (Happy Healthy Hustle) and a coaching business while teaching full-time. Not by grinding. By going small. Her PhD mathematically proved what her life confirmed: tiny wellness steps shift body weight. Same math runs business. Same math runs transformation. The breakthrough wasn't a lightning bolt. It was exhaustion. She caught herself in photos looking hollowed out, sleep-deprived, running on fumes. That's when the hustle lie cracked. She didn't need more discipline. She needed permission to celebrate. So she took her birthday month. Pool days. No clocks. Dinner on the patio watching the ocean. Chocolate-chip moments sprinkled across the calendar: coffee with a friend, a walk through the botanical garden, a band on the beach. Not rewards. Fuel. She calls it praising progress. The P in her STEP system: Simplify the big hairy goal. Tell someone your first microscopic step (sneakers by the door, 30 seconds). Examine the data without judgment. Praise the progress. Again. And again. She reframes failure as FAIL: First Attempt In Learning. Then SAIL: Second Attempt In Learning. You fall. You study the fall. You adjust. You catch wind. Telling your goal out loud rewires your brain. Neuroscience backs what mystics knew: speech creates pathway. Accountability locks it in. This episode isn't about productivity porn. It's about surrendering the lie that worth equals output, and building a life that feels like yours, one petite, joyful, utterly doable step at a time. Action Items (for the listener) 1.       Shrink your next goal until the first step takes 30 seconds. Put the sneakers by the door. That's the whole game. 2.       Tell one person your first microscopic step out loud today. Speech creates pathway, accountability locks it in. 3.       Reframe your last failure using FAIL (First Attempt In Learning) and take the SAIL (Second Attempt In Learning). 4.       Schedule three celebration moments this week like meetings on the calendar: coffee with a friend, a walk, something that's pure fuel. 5.       Examine your progress data without judgment this Sunday. No inner critic, just the numbers and the next tiny step. 6.       Audit the burnout: when did you last look at a photo of yourself and think 'who is that?' Use that as the signal to reset, not to grind harder. Guest Bio Dr. Christiane Schroeter is a business and wellness coach, professor at Cal Poly, TEDx speaker, and creator of the Petite Practice Framework. She hosts Happy Healthy Hustle, a top 1% globally ranked podcast. She moved from Germany to the U.S. on a Fulbright scholarship and researches how tiny, joyful, fuel-based habits create big momentum without burnout.     Resources & Links ·         Happy Healthy Hustle Podcast (Dr. Schroeter's top 1% podcast): https://www.happyhealthyhustle.com/ ·         The Petite Practice Framework: https://www.happyhealthyhustle.com/ ·         Cal Poly Orfalea College of Business: https://business.calpoly.edu/

    If I Would Have Overthought This, I'd Still Be in Germany | Dr. Christiane Schroeter

  4. Oct 5

    Paul Salter: It's Not a Swing Problem. It's a You Problem.

    Paul Salter is a high performance hypnotherapist. He works with CEOs, founders, executives, and ambitious people who are quietly stuck underperforming relative to who they know they can be. He has coached over 3,000 clients, he is a certified hypnotherapist who finished top of his class with a perfect score, and his road here runs through competitive bodybuilding, sports nutrition, and a serious run at professional poker. His thesis is simple, and it is uncomfortable. It is not a swing problem. It is a you problem. We open on the thread that ties bodybuilding, poker, hypnotherapy, and the boardroom together. Paul's answer: every one of those arenas is a mirror of your own personal development. There is not a different you who shows up in the meeting versus the version of you at home. Same beliefs, same fears, same behaviors. So if you want to get better at the craft, you eventually have to look inward. Not because you are broken, as we get into, but because there are dials on your dashboard that got turned up or down long ago and never revisited. Turn down the anger and the anxiety. Turn up the kindness, the empathy, the love. From there Paul clears the ground on what hypnosis actually is. Not mind control, not brainwashing, not the stage show with the pocket watch and the chicken. It is a natural, safe state you already pass through multiple times a day. Meditation on steroids. The state you are in when you drift from sleeping to waking, when you fall into a book, when you find flow at work or on the course. In that state, we quiet the harsh inner critic and get access to the subconscious, where 95% of your daily behavior is actually being driven from. That is where the reframe lands. Everything we call self-sabotage was learned. Learned means it can be unlearned. Paul walks through the Microsoft Word version of memory: pull the original document up, rewrite the script, remove the charge, put it back, and let the change ripple forward to today. He also names the thing most high performers hit and almost never name out loud, Gay Hendricks's upper limit problem. That invisible resistance, the moment you get close to a new income tier and start creatively, sneakily sabotaging yourself, because some part of you does not feel safe out there past the familiar. The poker story is the spine of the episode. Paul went all in on the game he had loved since he was nine. First six months, he outworked and outstudied everybody, hired the coaches, treated it like a business, and still felt like he was lighting money on fire. He knew the game cold and still could not execute at the decision points, because emotion took the wheel. Sixty seconds later he would look back and think, I knew what to do. That gap between knowing and doing is the whole game. And poker, as he puts it, is a lonely freaking road, misunderstood and misjudged by people who assume you are gambling or crazy. We also get into memory itself, and how much of what you are sure of was stitched together by a lens you built before you could drive. Paul's on the money about this. The point is not the perfect picture. The point is the pattern. Find the theme that keeps repeating, and you have found the door. Paul closes with something you can use the second you need it. Sit in the emotion instead of outrunning it. Let it roll over you like a wave and wash back out. Thirty to ninety seconds, if you have the courage to stay in the chair for it. Emotion is just energy in motion. If you run on proving-yourself energy, wear your work ethic like a badge, and keep hitting the same wall despite doing everything right, this one is for you. Key takeaways Not a swing problem, a you problem: the same beliefs, fears, and behaviors run your boardroom and your home. Fix the operator, and every arena gets better. Self-sabotage is learned behavior, which means it can be unlearned at the origin, not managed with more willpower. The upper limit problem: when you approach an income or success threshold, your nervous system deploys sneaky behaviors to drag you back to what feels familiar and safe. Hustle is nitrous, not fuel: it will make you go fast for a short burst, and it is the wrong fuel for a legacy, a life well lived, and serving others. Emotion is energy in motion: sit with it for 30 to 90 seconds and it moves through you. Outrun it and it moves into your decisions. Paul Salter, CHt, is a high performance hypnotherapist and mindset coach. He finished top of his class in hypnotherapy certification with a perfect score, has coached over 3,000 clients across 17 years, and previously competed in bodybuilding, worked in sports nutrition, and played professional poker. He hosts The Unstuck High Performer Podcast (@thepaulsalter on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube).

  5. Sep 21

    The Debrief That Changed Everything: From FA-18 to $200M Exit

    Christian 'Boo' Bakusis walked into a recruiting office at nine years old. Walked in 104 more times before they finally said yes. That's not persistence. That's obsession. The kind that carves a groove in your soul so deep nothing else fits. He got his wings. Flew FA-18s for the RAAF — one of only 400 fighter pilots minted in four decades. Then the body betrayed him. Autoimmune disease. Grounded. The identity he'd spent 17 years building evaporated in a medical discharge letter. Here's where most men break. Boo didn't. He took the fighter pilot operating system — the debrief, the 1% improvement loop, the cold-eye separation of stimulus and response — and built a company from zero to $200 million in three and a half years. Now he runs Afterburner, teaching executives how to think like someone who makes life-or-death decisions at Mach 1.2. This conversation is raw. We talk about the night he watched his lead pilot swallow a seagull on takeoff, engine flaming, fire light glowing red. How Odie didn't panic. Split the throttle. Checked instruments. Shut it down. Calm as a Sunday morning. The terror came later, in the crew room, over beer. That's the fighter pilot paradox: you box the fear to survive the moment, but you better open the box before it rots you from inside. Boo found out he had ADHD at 51. Suddenly his report cards made sense. The kid who failed 12th grade twice, who couldn't memorize the atomic weight of carbon but could feel the air over the wings — he wasn't broken. He was built different. Built for the cockpit. Built for the chaos of entrepreneurship where resources are thin and the target moves daily. We go deep on the debrief. Not the corporate post-mortem where everyone covers their ass. The real thing: look backward only long enough to find the one thing that'll make tomorrow better. Then do it. That's it. One thing. Not ten. The rest is noise. Brandon and Boo trade stories about identity — the high school quarterback trap, the veteran who forgets to unpack the box, the founder who thinks the flight suit is the magic. It's not. The magic is the humility to say "I don't know" and the discipline to find out. If you've ever felt like the misfit, the slow learner, the one who keeps showing up when everyone else went home — this episode is your debrief. Listen. Find your one thing. Fly tomorrow. Key Takeaways ·         Obsession beats talent: 104 visits to a recruiting office from age 9 to 22 proves the only way you lose is when you quit. ·         The debrief isn't about what went wrong — it's about finding the one thing you'll do differently tomorrow, then actually doing it. ·         You box fear to execute in the moment, but you must open the box afterward or it poisons you. The crew room is where the real work happens. ·         Your identity isn't the flight suit or the title — it's the operating system you built: awareness, humility, and the discipline to hit the target with limited resources. ·         ADHD, failed grades, medical discharge — none of it disqualified him. The 'misfit' wiring was the exact circuitry needed for combat and entrepreneurship both. www.afterburner.com

  6. Sep 17

    Why Trying Harder Might Be Sabotaging Your Success

    Why is it that the harder you try, the more challenging success becomes? In this episode, Brandon G Handley dives deep into the paradox of effort and performance, revealing how our attempts to push harder can often lead to anxiety and self-sabotage. If you've ever felt overwhelmed by your ambitions or frustrated by stagnation, this conversation is your roadmap to understanding and overcoming that struggle.      Brandon introduces listeners to the Yerkes-Dodson Law, a psychological principle that illustrates how optimal performance exists at a certain level of arousal and stress—but push past that point, and your efforts can backfire. He explains how our survival instincts can hijack our cognitive abilities, trapping us in a cycle of stress and worry that clouds our judgment and stifles our creativity. You'll discover how a shift in mindset can transform your approach to challenges, allowing you to channel your energy more effectively and achieve your goals without the unnecessary weight of anxiety.      You'll learn about the importance of visualization and goal-setting, as Brandon emphasizes that without a clear vision, even the most diligent efforts can lead to frustration. He shares insights on how to break free from the constraints of traditional productivity expectations and embrace a more holistic, identity-based approach to success. By redefining what it means to strive, you can unlock greater potential and find peace in the process.      If you've ever felt like you're pushing against a wall with no progress, this episode is a must-listen. Brandon's unique perspective and relatable anecdotes offer not just understanding but actionable strategies for reclaiming your mental space and focusing on what truly matters.      Perfect for anyone grappling with the pressures of achievement, this episode invites you to rethink your relationship with effort and success. Tune in for an enlightening discussion that promises to reshape your approach to life and work, helping you navigate the paradox of trying harder to achieve more.   Transcript:   Brandon G Handley (00:00.046) Alright, let's have some fun here. First of all, if I told you that I was pulled over and parked in between a Chili's and an aspen dental in Pennsylvania, you'd be like, You could be just about anywhere, sir. You could be just about anywhere in the United States of America. I'm always telling the boys whenever we drive around, you know, just how much everything looks the same these days, isn't homogenized. But that's just me. being me, sometimes having grown up in backwoods, Virginia and having been exposed to kind of what real country living can look like and, you know, other different areas of of the country. All right. That is not the reason for this podcast. It's it's funny. But you know, how long does it take to actually make a podcast? Like ten, fifteen minutes, right? How long does it take to do the podcast? I mean that's a whole nother thing in in it and of itself. I've been Sitting on this one all week. And this one is one that I was going to bed the other night and I just wanted to put together like I had a question. I you know, it's like why literally I was like, why is it literally sometimes so hard? Right? Like, you know, the and why is it so hard, like the harder that you try? That was the question. The question was like, why is it why is it so hard the harder that you tried? And I was, you know, using Gemini and it it popped up with you know this thing and first of all first and foremost if you've been here you've been hanging out you know that I know the harder that you try the harder that it is. That doesn't mean that sometimes you just don't find yourself in that same trap. Trying harder. That being said here's what it gave back to me and I thought it was pretty awesome because I'd never heard of it before. The psychological curve, the Yerkes Dodson law right basically it just says hey when you try harder You increase your mental and physical stress up to a point this is helpful and sure. Yeah, it wakes you up, right? Focuses your attention and gets you into the growth zone. But once you pass that growth zone peak, your performance starts to plummet, right? And it starts to get you from challenged into this space of anxiety and panic, right? The extra effort actually works against you. Brandon G Handley (02:27.894) You become so stressed about the outcome that your cognitive bandwidth is consumed by worry rather than the task itself. And I was like, holy shit, man. I'd I had to pull over and and pull that up and and get it going. Now the rest I can give to you, right? and I said to it, said I was like, wow. I was like, this is very similar to one that I cite very often, which is out of a book called Subliminal. And in that book, it ties basically everything that you do that's related to your income, to your your amygdala, right? your your survival mechanism. It says, hey, if I have to you know if if I have to make money doing this thing that's actually tied to my survival And if it's tied to my survival, making that money is tied to my survival, it automatically just kind of it it takes it out of your prefrontal cortex and puts it down into demygula and applies like this stressor to it. Right? And so it's like mind blowing. And the thing is, is like I said, it's not like you don't already a lot of us already know this and you listen to this podcast, you probably are already aware of this. It doesn't stop it from happening. Why doesn't it stop it from happening? Because it's just normal for us now, right? That is our that our baseline is low-key hijacked stress, right? Our baseline is that there's always some level of ongoing stress running in the background. Brandon G Handley (04:21.922) That's our normal. And what do I mean by normal is simply that, hey, that's our that's our our baseline, right? That's our normal. And so we just don't even recognize that it's happening and going on. Right? We are we are that eternal frog in a pot of boiling water. And so every once in a while we can bring our awareness to it and or sometimes what needs to happen is our change in thinking. Okay? The change in thinking, where does that come from and how does that you know how does that impact what we do? And again, if you're listening to this podcast, you probably are familiar with people like Wayne Dyer, with people like Alan Watts, with Abraham Hicks, yada yada. The list goes on. You are you are familiar with asking and receiving and all this other stuff. But what you don't understand and what you may not understand that this is really already happening in you know maybe corporate America and all these other tools that have always been provided only they've been provided to you as strictly under the You are a productive unit. You are a cog in the machine. And so there's resistance when you see these tools like that. Visualization, for example, right? Visualization is not too different from having a goal in mind. Am I am I right? Right? Visualization is key to success, seeing yourself being successful in achieving a certain outcome. Brandon G Handley (06:07.064) Right. So seeing the the what is it? Seeing the end as the beginning, living from the end, right, as as Neville Goddard will talk about. but it's not too different from you know thinking backwards, right? Let's I let's where do we want this, you know, what's your desired end result? Put that image to your mind. And if you can't you know, or what is it that you most people don't know what they want. They don't know what they want, meaning that there's no image, there's no visualization, there's no goal. If don't have a goal, you can't achieve shit. Right? You're not gonna get there because you got nowhere there to get to. Right. And the flip side of it is if you keep focusing on where you are and all the ig to it, that's what you're you know, that's what you're gearing your mental algorithm to see. So it makes sense that the harder you try to achieve something is like you trying to force the outcome. It was the other image that came to my mind is that way back in the day, was it the Gary Larson comic, The Far Side, where that kid is just like literally, you know, pushing up against a solid wall. That's us. Sometimes we're just pushing this wall and it couldn't possibly go anywhere under our own Forces, right? We are like we're we're not getting anywhere with it. Okay. Not getting anywhere with it. And so it's interesting to see this paradox effect. And so when we go ahead and we start changing our our mindset and we start thinking about, like I already said, we think about like asking and receiving, visualization, applying these other two trust in the process, right? Becoming the architect of our own lives. We are now literally reprogramming ourselves and again. Brandon G Handley (08:02.872) These are all tools that I think that you have been exposed to in one way or other. The thing is, is like I already said, you've been exposed to it under the guise of you are a unit of production. This is how you must act in order to become productive, right? And sometimes that just so for me, right? For me, that was like f**k that. Right, I am so much greater than this unit of production and you literally can feel it you as a person, you can feel that in your body when you think that way. And so it's gonna get harder, as as this paradox effects is is is called out. and as also as we we relate it to our survival mechanism, right? If that thing that you're trying harder for is is related to the survival mechanism, you're you're gonna you're gonna feel like this stress. And you know, you're not really to blame for all of this. I mean, all of this comes and supersedes your whole life. This comes from all the way back in caveman days, right? If you got thrown out, if you were disliked, right? If you could not participate and be accepted by so

  7. Sep 7

    Ketamine, Faith, and the Night He Stopped Breathing

    Chris Boick had the LinkedIn profile. The agency. The truck paid off. The house. The whole damn thing looked like a masterclass in the American Dream. Katie Boick had the condo, the career, the youth group background, and a vision of a white picket fence that felt like a promise. They found each other in their twenties, two people who thought they had the script memorized. Then 2020 hit. The world caught fire. Katie lost her job in March. Chris lost his in October. The wedding they'd planned for New Year's Eve became another weight on a foundation already cracking. And Chris — the guy who only knew how to be the provider, the fixer, the knight in the shining armor he'd read about in storybooks — didn't just bend. He shattered. The addiction he'd been outrunning since childhood, rooted in trauma nobody saw, came for him hard. Katie did what women like her do. She became the keeper of secrets. The manager of chaos. The one who holds it all together while disappearing inside herself. She moved them into her parents' garage apartment. She applied for unemployment. She networked. She tried to love him back to life while he was busy dying. The gray area isn't a metaphor. It's the hospital room where Chris stopped breathing on dialysis, unconscious, and Katie prayed in the machine noise: *Okay. I'm staying. Even with the trust shattered. Even with the terror. I'm staying.* It's the seventh day of rehab when Chris finally called, expecting *I wish you well*, and got unconditional love instead. He still gets goosebumps talking about it. So does she. The lines they were told to color inside — the perfect recovery narrative (rehab, steps, done), the traditional marriage roles (he provides, she nurtures), the image management that kept everyone fooled — they burned every one of them. What cracked the door open? For Katie, ketamine therapy. Six sessions. Four of them talking to God in a field, plucking petals off forgiveness like they were weeds. For Chris, faith. Not the inherited kind. Not the Easter-and-Christmas-Eve kind. The kind you find when everything else is stripped away and you're left with the undeniable truth of who you are. They wrote a book about it. *Coloring Outside the Lines*. It's not a recovery manual. It's a love story set in the wreckage. And if you've ever loved someone through hell — or been the one dragging them through it — this conversation is the mirror you didn't know you needed. Key Takeaways ·         The 'perfect life' exterior often masks a private war — Chris's successful entrepreneur identity became a cage he couldn't escape when the provider role collapsed. ·         Real recovery doesn't follow a straight line; the Boicks lived in the 'gray area' of relapses, broken trust, and daily recommitment long before anything looked like success. ·         Unconditional love isn't a feeling — it's a decision made in hospital silence, on day seven of rehab, when every reason to leave exists and you stay anyway. ·         Different doors open for different people: Katie found forgiveness through ketamine-assisted conversations with God; Chris found himself again through faith stripped of performance. ·         The 'knight in shining armor' script destroys men — Chris had to learn his wife didn't need saving, she needed a partner willing to walk beside her in the dark. https://www.lovethroughthegray.com/

  8. Aug 24

    Dawn Ledet: Why I Sold My Car to Stop Lying to Myself

    Dawn Ledet sold her car to force herself into normal hours. Two miles walking through New Orleans pre-dawn darkness, hotel exec life crushing her, and one question stopped her dead: *Why am I having to force myself to do this?* That's the entry wound. Twenty-plus years executive leadership, six thousand coaching hours, and she'll tell you straight — self-trust isn't a mindset. It's a strategic advantage. A choice. Not a label you earn. We sit in the difference between *I can't* and *I won't*. Feel it in your chest. One shrinks you. The other hands you the keys. Dawn's 3E Method — Envision, Execute, Embody — flips traditional goal setting on its head. You don't follow through to build trust. You choose trust, then express it. The follow-through is just the receipt. She calls the noise in your head the Lobby. All-or-nothing thinking, your mother's voice, that mentor's praise, your own doubts screaming over each other. Most of us try to drown it with podcasts, TV, audiobooks — anything to not sit in the silence. Dawn did a three-year consumption fast. Didn't mean to. Just... kept going. Three years. The Inner Room is where your actual intuition lives. Not the Lobby. You visit. You don't move in. Monks do that. You've got a business to run. Comfort plans. Discomfort tolerance. The obstacles aren't roadblocks — they're the milestones proving you're on the path. And she rejects the whole self-sabotage industrial complex. No inner critic. No victim. No judge. Just you. Whole. Feeling angry when you want to. Owning it. Your internal sports agent negotiating the terms. This isn't soft skills. This is the hard infrastructure underneath every decision you'll make tomorrow. Listen if you're tired of fighting yourself. Listen if the external validation well ran dry. Listen if you're ready to stop drowning the Lobby and start walking into the Room. Key Insights The Lobby vs. The Inner Room Your mind's lobby is full of noise — all-or-nothing thinking, your mother's voice, that mentor's praise, your own doubts screaming over each other. The Inner Room is where your actual intuition lives. You visit it. You don't move in. I Can't vs. I Won't One shrinks you. The other hands you the keys. 'Can't' is a disguise for fear; 'won't' is a declaration of boundary. Feel the difference in your chest. The 3E Method: Envision, Execute, Embody Dawn flips traditional goal setting on its head. You don't follow through to build trust. You choose trust, then express it. The follow-through is just the receipt. The Three-Year Consumption Fast Dawn did three years without podcasts, TV, audiobooks — anything to avoid sitting in silence. The Inner Room doesn't need drowning. It needs visiting. Comfort Plans & Discomfort Tolerance Obstacles aren't roadblocks — they're the milestones proving you're on the path. Comfort plans let you navigate discomfort without abandoning your long-term desires. No Self-Sabotage Industrial Complex Dawn rejects the whole framework. No inner critic. No victim. No judge. Just you. Whole. Feeling angry when you want to. Owning it. Your internal sports agent negotiating the terms. Key Takeaways ·         Self-trust is a strategic choice you make in the moment — not a mindset you build over time. ·         Procrastination and 'self-sabotage' are labels that strip agency; reframing them as choices ('I won't' vs 'I can't') restores power. ·         The 'Lobby' (mental noise) doesn't need silencing — it needs relating to. The 'Inner Room' (intuition) is visited, not inhabited. ·         Discomfort is inevitable; comfort plans let you navigate it without abandoning your long-term desires. ·         A unified internal front — no critic, no victim, no judge — is the infrastructure beneath sustainable follow-through.   www.theselftrustcoach.com

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5
out of 5
15 Ratings

About

Spirit of the Deal is where sales meets soul. Hosted by Brandon Handley, this podcast explores the deeper currents beneath high performance and success—what happens when spiritual alignment, intention, and purpose converge in business. While rooted in the Superhuman Selling framework, each episode goes beyond tactics, tapping into the inner work that unlocks outer results. We're not just closing deals—we're opening portals to our highest potential. Tune in for unfiltered conversations, practical tools, and transformative insights designed to help you sell with power, presence, and purpose.

Information

  • Creator
    Brandon Handley & Guests
  • Years Active
    2020 - 2026
  • Episodes
    287
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Show Website
    Spirit of the Deal