How to quiet your mind, in twelve minutes, with a rep you can run in your truck. High performance coach Steve Barton, creator of The Game of Ten, hands Chris Anderson six sentences and makes him say them on air. This is the most valuable stretch of the conversation, released as its own episode.

Steve Barton ran his father's floral business in Maine for about thirty years before he started coaching. He is seventy, and he says his job is to help a man stop punishing himself.

Chris opens with the question every man in our audience is carrying. There is a voice in my head that never stops. How do I quiet it? You cannot quiet it by trying harder. We were trained from childhood to think our way out of every problem, and that training is the reason the voice runs all day. Eighty percent of what it says is negative, and most of it is from the past.

Then he gives Chris the rep. Six phrases. About thirty seconds. Chris repeats each one on air, and by the end of it he says out loud that it worked. That is the moment this episode was built for.

In this episode:

- Why trying to stifle the voice makes it louder
- Why we were trained to think, and what that costs us
- Let go of control to be in control. The only control you have is inside you.
- Respond versus react, and what that has to do with a football sideline
- The six phrases, done live, with Chris repeating each one

Questions this episode answers

How do I quiet the voice in my head?
Steve Barton says stop fighting it. Say six short phrases out loud, starting with "I am enough," and the mind runs out of questions to ask.

Why does trying to stop overthinking make it worse?
Steve Barton says the more you try to stifle a thought, the louder it gets. Thinking your way out of thinking is rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

Do the six phrases actually work?
Chris Anderson did them on air and said so. He noticed the difference before the rep was over.

Find Steve Barton at stevebartoncoaching.com. Download The Father, the Son, and the Aha Moment free at thegameof10.com. He posts every week on LinkedIn as Coach Steve Barton.

The Upgraded Man is hosted by Chris Anderson. Full episode with Steve is out now. Send this one to the friend who says he cannot shut his brain off.

#theupgradedman #quietyourmind #mensmentalhealth

This episode may or may not be sponsored. Some product links are affiliate links, meaning we'll receive a small commission if you buy something.

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⚡️ PODCAST: Subscribe and listen on all major platforms

⚡️ Want to be a guest on The Upgraded Man? Apply here ➡ https://upgraded-man.com/guest

⚡️ For support or business inquiries, email us ➡ chris@upgraded-man.com

Our mission at The Upgraded Man is simple — help men upgrade every area of their life through real conversations, honest stories, and actionable insight from men who have done the work.

Want to be a guest on The Upgraded Man? Send Chris Anderson a message on PodMatch, here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/upgradedmanpodcast

The content on The Upgraded Man is for informational and entertainment purposes only. The views expressed by the host and guests are their own and do not constitute professional legal, financial, medical, or therapeutic advice. Always consult a qualified professional before making decisions based on information discussed on this podcast.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

How to be more present when your head will not shut up. Brett Ashby paints two meter portraits while rolling a half pipe in front of 500 people, and he tells Chris Anderson the rule that keeps him upright: if you have a thought, you fall off.

Brett Ashby is a contemporary artist from Melbourne, Australia. He grew up on vert ramps, spent years behind a camera, then ended up in front of it painting rock stars, pro skaters, and Barack Obama. He is a cancer survivor. After treatment he could not do a push up for six years, so he put an easel on the ramp and rebuilt his life one small change at a time.

In this episode:

- Why a vert ramp teaches the same lesson as a marriage: the second you think, you fall
- How to be more present when the magic is not in the past or the future, only right now
- Four things to try this week: get away from people, get outside, write the noise down, build a ritual
- What Brett gave up to live with a light backpack, and what it lets him do
- Surviving cancer: forget everybody, the only guy who gets you through is you
- Small changes every day: remove a friend, remove some clutter, donate things, cut the TV
- How to make someone feel seen with one sentence, and the name tag rule
- Why he is never nervous in front of 500 people: there's nobody there, it's just me

Questions this episode answers

How do I stop overthinking and be more present?
Brett Ashby says dissolve the thinking, not the fear itself. On a ramp, one thought puts you on the ground. Calm and trust are what let your body do the amazing thing.

What small changes actually change your life?
Brett Ashby says remove some friends, remove some clutter, push things out, donate things, and start with the bare basics. Little changes every day, and you can soon change your entire life.

How do I make someone feel seen?
Read the name tag and say the name. Brett Ashby says when you say hello to Emily, the light bulb goes off in her and that force comes right back into you.

Find Brett Ashby at brettashby.com and on Instagram at @brettashbyartist, where he answers direct messages. His live skate-painting shows are on YouTube at @brettyashby.

The Upgraded Man is hosted by Chris Anderson. Follow the show, and send this one to the man who is in every room and never actually there.

#theupgradedman #howtobepresent #mensmindset

This episode may or may not be sponsored. Some product links are affiliate links, meaning we'll receive a small commission if you buy something.

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⚡️ PODCAST: Subscribe and listen on all major platforms

⚡️ Want to be a guest on The Upgraded Man? Apply here ➡ https://upgraded-man.com/guest

⚡️ For support or business inquiries, email us ➡ chris@upgraded-man.com

Our mission at The Upgraded Man is simple — help men upgrade every area of their life through real conversations, honest stories, and actionable insight from men who have done the work.

Want to be a guest on The Upgraded Man? Send Chris Anderson a message on PodMatch, here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/upgradedmanpodcast

The content on The Upgraded Man is for informational and entertainment purposes only. The views expressed by the host and guests are their own and do not constitute professional legal, financial, medical, or therapeutic advice. Always consult a qualified professional before making decisions based on information discussed on this podcast.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Every episode of The Upgraded Man ends the same way. There is a journal. The guest reads what the last guest wrote, answers it honestly, then leaves one line for whoever sits in the chair next. They do not get to know who that is.

This week it is Florian Kemmerich, impact investor, author of On Vocation, and co-founder of Human Planet. He is a father of five, a former paratrooper, and a man who has moved close to a billion dollars of capital into places most investors will not go.

The entry waiting for him was from Joel Bein:

"Men need more empathy."

Florian does not hedge. He says empathy is the link between humans because it goes further than tolerance. Tolerance puts up with someone. Empathy tries to understand a man who is different from you. Then he takes it one step past feelings and says the part men actually need to hear. Men who are more empathetic end up more successful.

Chris answers with a line he has been saying all season. Better to be a warrior in a garden than a gardener in a war. A man can be gentle, understanding, and still get things done and still defend what is his. Then he adds the piece almost nobody says. Men need empathy for themselves too, because they are getting hit from every direction with what a man is supposed to be.

Then Florian writes his own entry for the next guest, and it lands on the thing every man is worried about right now.

In this episode:

• Joel Bein's entry, and why empathy is more than tolerance
• Why empathy makes a man more successful, not softer
• Warrior in a garden, and empathy pointed back at yourself
• Florian's new entry on identity, vocation, and the AI economy
• Why the answer is not inside the AI, and what to use the tool for instead

Find Florian at on-vocation.com, human-planet.com, and vocating.ai. The full episode with Florian Kemmerich is out now.

The Upgraded Man is for men who refuse to stay complacent. Full episodes Monday, Best Moments Wednesday, Journal entries Friday.

This episode may or may not be sponsored. Some product links are affiliate links, meaning we'll receive a small commission if you buy something.

===========================

⚡️ PODCAST: Subscribe and listen on all major platforms

⚡️ Want to be a guest on The Upgraded Man? Apply here ➡ https://upgraded-man.com/guest

⚡️ For support or business inquiries, email us ➡ chris@upgraded-man.com

Our mission at The Upgraded Man is simple — help men upgrade every area of their life through real conversations, honest stories, and actionable insight from men who have done the work.

Want to be a guest on The Upgraded Man? Send Chris Anderson a message on PodMatch, here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/upgradedmanpodcast

The content on The Upgraded Man is for informational and entertainment purposes only. The views expressed by the host and guests are their own and do not constitute professional legal, financial, medical, or therapeutic advice. Always consult a qualified professional before making decisions based on information discussed on this podcast.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.