The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
From Wall Street Burnout to Mental Freedom: Evan Marks’ Journey Through Panic and Purpose
18 Oct 2025
Full Episode
At 46, I'm in a car going to the train station. And all of a sudden, my head starts to sweat. I think I'm having a heart attack. I got taken to the ER. And it was actually a massive panic attack. It was just the years of chronic stress. I didn't want to be a traitor. And luckily, I did well. But I hated every moment of it. I had an identity crisis. I was in more pain than anybody knew.
And this last 15 years, I suffered from fear of regret. I remember looking at my wife saying, this feels like spiritual suicide. I said, I got to get out of this. I know so many people going through it. I saw a neurologist and he says, you have to retire. I didn't know what to do. I went back to school at 46 years old to study psychoanalytical theory and neuroscience.
When I think about your podcast, you are providing such a great roadmap for the game of possibilities.
Hey, guys, and welcome back to the Level Up Podcast. This is Paul Alex, and today we have a phenomenal guest. He goes by the name of Evan Marks, guys. So he's a seasoned mental performance coach with over 25 years of experience. Guess what? On Wall Street. That's right, guys.
Evan has worked with a remarkable range of people from athletes, CEOs to NASCAR pit crews, guys, helping them harness focus, managing stress. and perform at their peak. So this is going to be a good one because you guys know how I am about mindset and stress, okay? So Evan, welcome to the show, brother.
Paul, thanks for having me, brother. We had a nice conversation before we went live, and unfortunately, I'm on a time crunch. But man, what a great story you have. I mean, it's really admirable of what you've accomplished, the lives you've impacted. It's a pleasure to be here.
No, I appreciate you, man. So let's get to know you, dude, because this show, this interview is about you, Evan Marks. So what is it that you do now? Yeah, you're a mental performance coach. But how would you describe your mission as a mental performance coach?
You know, it's a great question. And it's a very simple message. I create strong mental foundations for people in order to leverage them. So for me, performance is a very simple equation. Performance equals potential minus interferences. So once I better understand interferences and start to create new behaviors, we start to build really strong mental foundations.
And from there, what are the possibilities? And that's leverage. You know, how long does that take? I can't tell, right? Because you always have to know where people start from, where are they coming from? What was their programming early on? So sometimes we have to do a little rewiring
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