Young and Profiting with Hala Taha (Entrepreneurship, Sales, Marketing)
Dr. Michael Gervais: How to Perform Under Pressure Without Destroying Your Mental Health | Mental Health | E383
26 Jan 2026
Chapter 1: How can we master ourselves in an AI-driven world?
The world right now is saying we're more anxious, more depressed, more addicted, more loneliness than we've seen in our lifetime, at least. If you want to live in a way where you have buoyancy and joy and happiness and a fire in your belly, then you need to train the skills. And those skills are psychological skills.
Chapter 2: Why is mental training essential for entrepreneurs?
Today, we're diving deep into the mental side of greatness with one of my favorite returning guests, Dr. Michael Gervais. He's a high-performance psychologist, and he's here to show us that real success starts in the mind.
When we study the greats, they are not trying, for the most part, to be the best.
Chapter 3: What daily practices can enhance mental resilience?
They are trying to be their best. The mastery of self is really when you understand who you are and how you work. And it is really about...
Talk to us about why we need to avoid FOPO and how we can.
Chapter 4: How does breath work improve performance under pressure?
Fear of people's opinions, we believe, according to our research, is the greatest constrictor of somebody's potential. This is not not caring about other people's opinions, okay? This is about the excessive worry. Now, the thing about this, Hala, is that...
Yap gang, we talk a lot about mastering our craft, but how often do we talk about mastering ourselves? Today, we're diving deep into the mental side of greatness with one of my favorite turning guests, Dr. Michael Gervais. He's a high-performance psychologist who's coached Olympic athletes, Navy SEALs, and top CEOs, and he's here to show us that real success starts in the mind.
In this conversation, we're unpacking the science of mental training, how we can sharpen our focus and emotional control.
Chapter 5: What psychological skills are crucial for high-pressure situations?
And Dr. Gervais shares powerful tools like breathwork, mental imagery, and journaling to help us unlock our potential in both work and life. And hey, if you're new here, make sure you hit that follow button on your favorite podcast players so you can keep listening, learning, and profiting. Michael, welcome back to Young and Profiting Podcast.
I love being on this podcast and having conversations with you. So thank you again.
I'm really looking forward to this conversation. I know last year we talked a bit about mastery, but since we last talked, the world has changed so much. Everything is so AI driven. We're using AI every day in our lives.
Chapter 6: How can goal setting be done without fear of judgment?
And so I'm wondering, since we last talked, how has mastery evolved in your mind?
The concept of mastery has not evolved. Let me just reground, but the world around us has. I think that that's one of the really important characteristics of the nature of mastery, is that there's a timelessness to the idea. I and others, I think, are really happy to upgrade when the timing is called for, but so far it still holds true.
Just to reground though, there's mastery of self and mastery of craft. And it really is about the path of becoming one's very best and moving toward the ability to artistically express yourself, whether it's on canvas or in Word or whatever it might be, to artistically express yourself on demand, independent of the conditions around you. And so that's mastery of craft.
The mastery of self is a requisite. And the mastery of self is really when you understand who you are and how you work, how your thoughts and emotions work in said environments. And you have a command of yourself no matter where you are or what the conditions are.
Chapter 7: What strategies help in managing emotions as a leader?
So that's the path of mastery of self and the path of mastery of craft. And AI has not changed that. If anything, it's called for a deeper investment in mastery of self and mastery of craft because the conditions are changing underfoot.
I'm really glad that you gave us this foundation of mastery of self, mastery of craft. Why don't we go a little bit deeper on that? Why don't you tell us what that really shows up like in our day-to-day lives? I know you work a lot with athletes, but if we're executives and entrepreneurs.
You can pick any craft that's of interest to you, whether it's athletics or entrepreneurship or artistic expressions.
Chapter 8: How can we create psychological safety within a team?
And whatever that thing is, is actually not as interesting to me as the other part, which is mastery of self. But mastery of craft is just the pond that we're agreeing to swim in, the pond that we think is interesting to swim in. Again, whether it's a sporting pond or an artistic pond or entrepreneurship. And it is almost like the excuse
to better understand who you are, how you're becoming, and the skills required to be artistic in your own sense of self. And so when I think about mastery of craft and self, that gives great range to explore who are we really capable of? Who are you capable of becoming? And that really is the quest of mastery of self. And again,
Just like psychology is not confined by the environment or the room that we're in, your psychology goes everywhere you go. Your mind goes everywhere you go. So whatever environment that you're inhabiting is the opportunity to work through and express yourself at the highest level.
Whether it's entrepreneurs who are trying to figure out deal-making or trying to figure out how to maximize output, whatever it might be, that's just the excuse. That's the agreed-upon pond that we're all swimming in. And it is really about, do you have the internal capabilities to be at home with yourself wherever you are? And that, again, is a different way of thinking about mastery of self.
What kind of obstacles and challenges do you see when people are trying to master themselves, especially when it comes to entrepreneurs?
Okay, so I said this the other day to a friend of mine, and he's a world-class singer. When I say world-class, I mean world-class. And so I said to him, wow, that is beautiful. I wish that I could sing a tenth of the way that you sing. I think I'm kind of tone deaf, and I just don't think I could ever get anywhere close to that. Like, thank you.
And he reflexively pointed back to me and said, asked me a question. He said, how often do you train singing? I said, oh no, I really think I'm kind of tone deaf. And he says, oh, that's really rare. He says, but so how often do you train? I said, no, I don't train. He says, well, how would you expect to be good at it? And I was like, fair point.
And I think the same holds up in my relationship to singing. I had this idea that I could never sing like that. And he's just pointing to like, if you put in the work, You might get close. You would definitely get better. And I hold that same framing for the becoming of your very best.
What I mean by that more particularly is dealing with stress well, dealing with frustration well, dealing with things that don't go according to plan well, working with emotions well. And the world right now is saying we're more anxious, more depressed, more addicted, more suicide ideation, more loneliness than we've seen in our lifetime at least.
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