• 24 minutes 30 seconds
    Small Pursuits That Rebuild a Disconnected Marriage featuring Joe Bailey

    This is a Wednesday Wins Q&A, with Larry joined by his longtime co-host Joe Bailey to tackle a question that lands for almost every married dad. Mike from Washington State wrote in about a marriage that isn't broken, no fighting, no affairs, but feels more like two coworkers running a small company called the family. He and his wife talk schedules, kids, and bills, physical intimacy has slowed, and as he puts it, he misses her even though she's only six feet away.

    Larry breaks down the four pillars of marriage from Lance and Brandi's work, individual, partnership, friends, and intimacy, and explains how couples get stuck in the partnership loop and skip straight to intimacy, which backfires. Joe follows with the idea of getting used to the light again after emotional disconnection, releasing resentment, and making small pursuits without attaching expectations. If your marriage feels more like a business partnership than a romance, this one is a practical roadmap back.

    Timeline Summary

    [1:02] – Setting up Mike's question about a marriage that feels like a business partnership

    [2:12] – Mike's full letter: coworkers running a company called our family

    [3:46] – Larry on his own first decade feeling exactly the same way

    [4:05] – The four pillars of marriage from Lance and Brandi's book

    [4:46] – Pillar one, individual: self-care and emotional check-ins by percentage

    [5:42] – Pillar two, partnership: the bills, roles, and chores, aka the partnership loop

    [5:59] – Pillar three, friends: shared interests and real alignment

    [6:21] – Pillar four, intimacy, and why it collapses when the others are neglected

    [6:47] – How couples skip friendship and self and jump straight to intimacy

    [7:26] – Disrupting the partnership loop by cultivating friendship first

    [7:49] – The walk-and-date boundary: be Larry and Jessica, not Mom and Dad

    [8:13] – Bookending conversations with appreciation so your partner feels seen

    [8:30] – Adventuring together and asking bucket-list questions

    [9:34] – Why men eradicate their own self-care and isolate

    [12:12] – Joe on living this exact dynamic in his own marriage

    [12:32] – The dark-theater analogy: getting used to the light again

    [13:35] – Step one, release resentment when reconnection feels uncomfortable

    [14:02] – Be persistent and stop attaching sex to every act of connection

    [14:27] – Small pursuits: flowers and a coffee dropped off at Ivy's work, just because

    [15:46] – Small investments compound like a financial portfolio

    [16:40] – Stop keeping score and get in the habit of just investing

    [16:59] – The car story: we love the things we invest in

    [20:07] – Loving your wife publicly and without agenda

    [20:44] – Loving her in front of the kids and her mother

    [21:48] – The Hitch analogy and winning over the people around her

    [22:14] – The marriage hack: your mother in law as your greatest ally

    5 Key Takeaways

    1. Marriage Has Four Pillars — Individual, partnership, friends, and intimacy. When you neglect self-care, friendship, and quality time and jump straight to intimacy, it falls flat. Intimacy is the natural result of the other three working.
    2. Escape the Partnership Loop — If every conversation is about schedules, bills, and who needs to be where, you're stuck in the partnership loop. Break out by rebuilding the friendship: dates, walks, adventures, and conversations where you're a couple, not just co-parents.
    3. Get Used to the Light Again — After emotional disconnection, reconnecting feels awkward and uncomfortable for both people. Expect that, release resentment about it, and don't attach worst-case scenarios to the discomfort.
    4. Make Small Pursuits Without Agenda — Drop off flowers just because, and don't attach any expectation of sex, because she'll sniff that out instantly. Stop keeping score and keep making small investments, and the connection compounds over time.
    5. We Love What We Invest In — Don't wait to feel the love before you invest. As the car story shows, investment creates love, not the other way around. Love your wife publicly and without agenda, and let her people, especially her mother, become your allies.

    Links & Resources

    Enjoyed This Episode?

    If Mike's letter read like a page out of your own marriage, pick one small pursuit and do it this week with zero agenda. Drop off her favorite coffee, take a walk where you're just the two of you again, and stop waiting to feel connected before you invest. If the show keeps delivering, follow, rate, and leave a review so more fathers can find these conversations.

    12 August 2026, 12:00 am
  • 1 hour 5 minutes
    Connection Before Correction With Your Wife & Your Kids

    This is a special live Q&A recorded inside Apogee, where the hosts turned the tables and interviewed Larry alongside his wife Jessica for a rare joint conversation. Married 23 years with four sons, the two open up about what actually creates safety in a home, and their answer surprises the room: it starts with relentlessly prioritizing the marriage.

    From there they get honest about the early years when Larry admits he floundered and didn't lead well, how Jessica learned to call him forward without emasculating him, and why connection always has to come before correction. They talk repair as the true measure of a relationship, letting kids witness the full cycle of a disagreement, and Larry shares the hardest parts of his own story, an estranged mother and a father who left twice, and what forgiveness has and hasn't looked like. If you want a real look inside a marriage that leads, this one delivers.

    Timeline Summary

    [1:05] – Larry and Jessica join Apogee, and the watermelon splitter jokes begin

    [5:03] – The Freud quote on a child's need for protection, and Larry's book for his boys

    [6:19] – What's really happening in a home when a child feels deeply safe

    [7:01] – The frying pan on the back burner: how marriages slide after kids arrive

    [8:29] – Marriage as a skill, not just a feeling, and the tactical work it requires

    [9:09] – Telling his 12 year old he prioritizes mom, and why that creates safety

    [10:04] – The 18 year old who wants to be home because of how his parents love

    [11:05] – Jessica on kids modeling what they see, and her daughter wanting flowers

    [13:16] – Jessica's loving, family oriented upbringing versus Larry's chaotic one

    [15:08] – Jessica's honesty: he did not lead very well in the early years

    [15:51] – Calling him forward with love instead of a finger in his face

    [17:28] – Connection before correction, and picking one when forced to choose

    [20:55] – Why calling someone forward implies connection and trust already exist

    [22:08] – Without connection you have no influence, even with your own kids

    [23:14] – Having tough conversations through activity: walks, workouts, the range

    [23:38] – Hold On to Your Kids and why attachment precedes instruction

    [24:51] – Parenting across developmental stages and the two bigs, two littles dynamic

    [28:01] – Why Larry found the young years hardest and came alive in the teens

    [29:23] – Jessica as the boy mom of empathy, affection, and don't cross me

    [30:29] – What repair looks like after losing patience with the kids

    [32:22] – Figs O'Sullivan on harmony, disharmony, and quality living in the repair

    [33:05] – Growing up with parents who never apologized, and breaking that cycle

    [35:05] – Coach Whittle's house rule: if you see the collision, you see the repair

    [36:12] – The deck argument Ethan witnessed and the repair he described back

    [38:20] – Repairing with your own parents, and the letters Apogee members are writing

    [41:53] – Larry's estranged mother, the milk incident, and an unsafe environment

    [42:37] – A father who left twice and the Starbucks reunion 18 years later

    [43:36] – Mason at 15 asking how he could ever forgive him

    [44:34] – Forgive and co-create the future, or live in the past with a grudge

    [46:18] – Screen time boundaries, dumb phones, and earning time through fitness

    [49:37] – The three page contract for an adult son living at home rent free

    [50:28] – Why doom scrolling infuriates Larry, and his own guilt with the work phone

    [57:08] – The Apogee host thanks Larry, and an early zoom happy birthday

    5 Key Takeaways

    1. Protecting Kids Starts With the Marriage — The deepest safety a child feels comes from parents who prioritize each other. It's a long tail game, not a short term action, and kids who see their parents love each other feel warm, safe, and want to be home.
    2. Call Each Other Forward, Don't Tear Down — Jessica changed Larry by naming what she saw with love and respect instead of criticism, which made him want to change. That same energy, connection before correction, is exactly how they lead their sons.
    3. Without Connection You Have No Influence — Kids tune out discipline from someone they don't feel attached to. Building connection first, often through shared activity, makes every hard conversation land far better.
    4. The Relationship Lives in the Repair — Every relationship cycles through harmony, disharmony, and repair, and the quality resides in how you repair. Letting kids witness the whole cycle, including your apology, teaches them it's safe to mess up and own it.
    5. Forgiveness Is a Choice About the Future — Larry's father owned his two abandonments completely and earned a 21 year relationship, while his mother's unsafe patterns went unrepaired. You can forgive and co-create the future, or live your whole life in the past with a grudge.

    Links & Resources

    Enjoyed This Episode?

    If watching Larry and Jessica lead their marriage out loud gave you something to aim at, take one piece into your own home this week. Prioritize your spouse in front of your kids, or let them witness a full repair the next time you lose your patience. If the show keeps delivering, follow, rate, and leave a review so more fathers can find these conversations.

    10 August 2026, 12:00 am
  • 1 hour 14 seconds
    The Difference Between Sight and Vision featuring Harry Psaros

    Harry Psaros is an author, neuroscientist, health coach, and third degree black belt, known to Pittsburgh sports fans as the Pit Guru, but the title that matters most to him is dad. He and his wife Michelle have been married 24 years and raised two sons, and it was his journey raising Gus, who's on the autism spectrum, that led him to write his Amazon bestselling, award winning book From Struggle to Strength. He's one of the rare male voices in the autism space, and he doesn't shy away from calling other fathers forward.

    Harry and Larry, who's walked a similar road with his own oldest son, get into why so many dads resist an autism diagnosis, the devastating fall that erased years of Gus's progress, and the mindset that pulled the family through. Harry breaks down the two ideas from his book that have resonated worldwide: the 2% rule for cutting through overwhelm, and the difference between sight and vision. If you're a father facing a diagnosis you didn't expect, this one meets you where you are and refuses to let you stay there.

    Timeline Summary

    [1:02] – Two martial artists connect over a shared lifelong passion

    [7:13] – The fall down two flights of stairs and the concussion that changed everything

    [9:14] – Total regression: years of therapy and even the piano, gone

    [9:37] – Picking yourself off the mat because the endgame never changed

    [10:45] – Gus graduates Kent State and starts a physical therapy graduate program

    [12:16] – The full bio: author, neuroscientist, the Pit Guru, and a dad

    [14:51] – When Gus was diagnosed and why Harry was so stubborn at first

    [15:31] – The oddities Michelle saw that Harry couldn't accept

    [16:28] – The birthday party, the fan, and the teacher who said it out loud

    [17:57] – The two hour drive home and the moment he decided, game on

    [19:16] – The two types of dads, and why both need to hear this

    [22:26] – Gus at 22, the vision board, the degree, and the Ram truck

    [23:09] – The three levels of autism and why mild is never easy

    [24:19] – A nonverbal keynote speaker with two degrees and a full life

    [25:31] – Larry's own son: low muscle tone, food textures, and an IEP that led to drum major

    [29:33] – Larry's younger son, PANDAS, and the strep connection

    [31:47] – The 2% rule: one thing a day to silence the cacophony

    [41:58] – Sight versus vision: the daily grind and the long term picture

    [43:19] – Brain Balance, Dr. Robert Melillo, and lifting the autistic fog

    [45:21] – Why the vision piece includes estate planning for some families

    [47:33] – Filotimo and doing good for the sake of good, asking nothing in return

    [49:16] – Wanting to become a preeminent male voice in the autism space

    [51:10] – Your number one job as a dad is to be there for your kid

    [53:19] – Gus wins a National Courage Award and says yes to help one person

    [55:09] – Where to find the book and connect with Harry

    5 Key Takeaways

    1. Control the Controllable — When a devastating setback erases years of progress, you can't change what happened. You can refocus on the endgame, pick yourself off the mat, and keep fighting toward the best version of your child.
    2. The 2% Rule — Parenting a child with extra needs floods you with everything that needs fixing at once. Pick one thing each day and make your child 2% better at it. Anything beyond that is icing on the cake.
    3. Mild Doesn't Mean Easy — A level one diagnosis still means years of therapists, neurologists, and countless hours on the road. Improvement applies at every level, and no one should tell you what your child can't do.
    4. Sight and Vision Are Both Required — Sight is the daily grind of therapies and goals. Vision is the long term picture, and it can change dramatically as your child grows, so keep both in view and adjust the vision as gains come.
    5. A True Man Shows Up — Your number one job as a dad is to be there for your kid. Resisting the diagnosis or staying on the sidelines is doing the opposite of what fatherhood requires. Get your emotions out, then dive in.

    Links & Resources

    Enjoyed This Episode?

    If Harry's message reached something in you, whether you're facing a diagnosis yourself or you know a dad who's still resisting one, pass it along. Send this episode to a father who needs to hear that showing up is the whole job, and pick one small thing to get 2% better at with your own kids this week. If the show keeps delivering, follow, rate, and leave a review so more fathers can find these conversations.

    7 August 2026, 12:00 am
  • 34 minutes 45 seconds
    How to Actually Be There When You're With Your Kids featuring Joe Bailey

    This is a Wednesday Wins Q&A, with Larry joined by his longtime co-host and friend of nearly a decade, Joe Bailey. The two open up about the Bible study they've been doing together before digging into two listener questions that hit at the heart of hands-on fatherhood.

    First, Steve asks how to prepare his three year old daughter for a new baby sister arriving in a few weeks, and how to keep the first child feeling seen. Then Brad from Florida sends in a question that lands hard: his wife says that even when he's home, he's not really there, and his 11 year old recently cut off a story with "never mind, dad, you're not listening anyway." Larry and Joe get practical on capacity for love, protecting margin, and the exact tools they use to actually be present. If you've ever been physically home but mentally somewhere else, this one is for you.

    Timeline Summary

    [1:02] – Larry and Joe celebrate nearly a decade of friendship and their ongoing Bible study

    [3:09] – Steve's question: transitioning a three year old into big sister life

    [4:57] – The fear of not having enough love to go around, and why it's unfounded

    [5:19] – The Love and Logic lesson: what a new sibling feels like to a toddler

    [7:05] – Kids spell love T-I-M-E, and why one on one time matters most

    [9:36] – Joe on quality over quantity once you can't match the same hours

    [11:39] – Becoming a subject matter expert in whatever your kid is into

    [13:03] – Inviting the older child into the role of big sister without pressure

    [14:14] – Watching for behavioral cues before jealousy goes full fledged

    [14:34] – Being depth on the bench for your wife and beating the guilt monster

    [15:37] – Larry's chapter on raising daughters and leaning on Meg Meeker's work

    [16:26] – Chris Berry's daddy-daughter dates and setting the standard sky high

    [18:01] – Why three years old isn't too early to start dating your daughter

    [19:19] – Brad's question: present in body, absent in mind

    [21:03] – Why perception is reality when your family feels you're not there

    [22:16] – The name cue: teaching your family to signal when they need you fully

    [23:26] – Being relentless about creating margin and hard stops for work

    [25:24] – Larry on notifications as the window that steals your presence

    [25:43] – The Gary John Bishop river metaphor for the past, present, and future

    [28:28] – Larry's Full Presence Training and grounding through the five senses

    [31:07] – Joe on great expectancy with no expectations

    5 Key Takeaways

    1. Your Capacity for Love Isn't Fixed — Every parent fears they can't love a second child as much as the first. Both hosts describe the same surprise each time: a fresh reserve of love shows up that you didn't know you had.
    2. Quality Beats Quantity — With more kids, you simply can't give each one the same number of hours. Get intentional instead: enter your child's world, learn what they love, and make the time you do have count.
    3. Perception Is Reality — You may feel like you're present and carrying the load, but if your wife and kids experience you as checked out, that's the reality you have to address. Validating their experience comes before defending your own.
    4. Protect Margin With Hard Stops — Decide when work starts and when it ends, and hold the line even when customers call at night. Give your family a simple cue, like saying your name, that signals you'll drop everything and give full attention.
    5. Ground Yourself in the Five Senses — When your mind drifts to the past or the future, you miss the present entirely. Deliberately noticing what you see, hear, feel, and smell in a moment with your kids pulls you fully into it.

    Links & Resources

    Enjoyed This Episode?

    If Brad's question hit a nerve, or if you've got a new sibling on the way like Steve, take one idea from this episode and put it to work this week. Set a hard stop on work tonight, or ground yourself in the five senses the next time your kid is talking to you. If the show keeps delivering, follow, rate, and leave a review so more fathers can find these conversations.

    5 August 2026, 12:00 am
  • 54 minutes 58 seconds
    The 4 Survival Responses Hiding Inside Your ADHD featuring Jenna Free

    Jenna Free is a counselor who specializes in ADHD, and she doesn't teach it from a textbook, she lives it, having been diagnosed herself at 32. Her work zeroes in on the piece she says the field keeps missing: dysregulation. Through her ADHD regulation groups and her training for mental health professionals, she teaches a method built around regulating the nervous system, thoughts, and behaviors, and she's put it all into her bestselling book The Simple Guide to ADHD Regulation, a Toronto Star and Globe and Mail bestseller.

    The core idea here reframes almost everything men think they know about ADHD. Jenna argues that most of what gets labeled ADHD is actually an ADHD brain stuck in chronic fight or flight, and that it's fixable. She and Larry get into what's happening in the brain during dysregulation, the four survival responses, why potential keeps you stuck, and how simply refusing to fight with reality can change your whole day. If you or your kids have ever felt like putting on socks is a full body assignment, this one explains why.

    Timeline Summary

    [1:58] – Getting diagnosed at 32 and finally making sense to herself

    [3:28] – Four careers by 35, from marketing to modeling in South Africa to teaching

    [9:14] – Two kids under a year and a half apart and max fight or flight

    [9:57] – Your mess becomes your message

    [10:16] – The full bio: the ADHD regulation method and a bestselling book

    [13:16] – What's actually happening in an ADHD brain stuck in fight or flight

    [14:43] – Why the fight or flight symptom list looks almost identical to the ADHD one

    [15:49] – The socks story and how different life feels once you're regulated

    [18:58] – Fight, flight, freeze, and fawn, and how each one shows up

    [20:39] – Why your body can't tell a to-do list from a bear

    [22:01] – Which survival response dominates, and whether gender or age matters

    [24:41] – Why this work is hard for kids and lands better with bought-in adults

    [25:28] – Hyperactive, inattentive, and combination types across the lifespan

    [26:28] – Where regulation actually starts, and why buy-in comes first

    [27:43] – Putting on your dysregulation goggles to see symptoms differently

    [29:26] – Giving yourself permission to regulate when survival mode resists it

    [32:44] – Physical regulation first: slowing down to signal safety to the body

    [35:14] – Potential versus reality and the shoulds that pull you back into panic

    [36:50] – The spilled box of gems and dropping the fight with reality in five seconds

    [38:27] – Larry's disputed parking charge and staying calm while everyone else panicked

    [43:12] – Do people with ADHD have less energy, or is it pouring onto the floor?

    [45:13] – Why Jenna's calming tone regulates her own body in real time

    [48:14] – How fawning and people pleasing trace back to the amygdala

    5 Key Takeaways

    1. It's Often Fight or Flight, Not Just ADHD — Many of the symptoms people write off as permanent ADHD traits, the overwhelm, paralysis, and procrastination, are actually a nervous system stuck in survival mode. That part is treatable.
    2. Your Body Can't Tell a To-Do List From a Bear — Under chronic stress, blood flow leaves the prefrontal cortex so you can fight or run, which is exactly why you can't think clearly when you sit down to work.
    3. Buy-In Comes Before Any Technique — Regulation work is uncomfortable because your system thinks its old patterns are keeping you alive. You have to genuinely want the change to push through the resistance.
    4. Start by Physically Slowing Down — Walking instead of rushing, dropping your shoulders, and typing at a reasonable pace all signal safety to the body. Small shifts over time retrain the nervous system far better than fast, intense change.
    5. Stop Fighting With Reality — Shoulds, what-ifs, and "this shshouldn't have happened" throw you straight back into panic. Naming what is real and asking "now what" is one of the fastest ways to calm the system down.

    Links & Resources

    Enjoyed This Episode?

    If Jenna's reframing of dysregulation gave you a new way to understand your own brain or your kid's, put one piece of it to work. Catch yourself the next time you're rushing and physically slow down, and notice how quickly your body follows. If the show keeps delivering, follow, rate, and leave a review so more fathers can find these conversations.

    This episode discusses ADHD, disordered eating, and mental health. If any of it resonates personally, consider reaching out to a licensed professional who can offer support tailored to you.

    3 August 2026, 12:00 am
  • 1 hour 10 minutes
    Why Willpower Never Beats Your Subconscious featuring Thais Gibson

    Thais Gibson is the co-founder of the Personal Development School and the creator of Gibson Integrated Attachment Theory, whose work on attachment and subconscious rewiring has reached more than 75 million people. He holds a PhD, is certified in over 13 therapeutic modalities, and his research shows that 88% of the more than 70,000 people he's worked with developed a secure attachment style in just 90 days. He got there the hard way, through a six and a half year opioid addiction that only broke when he understood he wasn't running from his outside world, he was running from his inside one.

    This one gets unusually personal. Thais breaks down the difference between the conscious and subconscious mind, why willpower alone never sticks, and the exact rewiring exercise he uses, then Larry opens up about childhood bullying and body-image fear he says he's never shared in 1,500 episodes. If you've ever set a goal your behavior refused to follow, this conversation explains why and what to do about it.

    Timeline Summary

    [1:44] – Growing up in a tumultuous household and one of Canada's longest divorce cases

    [2:46] – A knee surgery, painkillers, and the start of a six and a half year spiral

    [4:00] – The idea that changed everything: you're numbing your internal reality, not your external one

    [5:52] – Why sobriety finally stuck the third time around

    [6:20] – The sentence in a psych class that began his recovery

    [8:04] – Finding God, meditation, and building a real support system

    [11:33] – The full bio: 75 million people reached and an 88% success rate in 90 days

    [13:09] – The actual difference between the conscious and subconscious mind

    [14:14] – The Freudian iceberg and where your conditioning is stored

    [16:03] – Why there's no such thing as self-sabotage

    [19:18] – The Monday drinker: a case study in wanting to quit but not quitting

    [20:36] – The three pillars of why we keep choosing what we say we don't want

    [24:05] – Upgrading the form: how Thais turned his own anger into vulnerability

    [28:55] – The red converse shoes and how we wire by emotional association

    [29:42] – The cost benefit rewiring exercise, step by step

    [32:37] – What's actually happening in the brain when you reflect, write, and repeat

    [36:09] – Larry shares being a bullied, overweight kid and the dance that changed him

    [41:05] – Why body image got wired to so much pain, and what it's really about

    [48:34] – The three step exercise for rewiring a core wound

    [50:37] – Building confidence rooted in character instead of appearance

    [57:04] – The four attachment styles explained

    [1:00:14] – The fearful avoidant style and the unworthiness wound

    [1:04:17] – Why your attachment shows up most where you were most wounded

    5 Key Takeaways

    1. Willpower Can't Beat Your Programming — Your conscious mind can't outwill your subconscious. When you keep repeating a pattern you swore you'd quit, that isn't weakness, it's your subconscious running a different program than the one you set.
    2. There's No Such Thing as Self-Sabotage — What feels like sabotage is your conscious intention and your subconscious conditioning pulling in opposite directions. Nobody wakes up planning to wreck their day.
    3. Upgrade the Form, Don't Just Kill the Habit — Every habit meets a real need. Instead of white-knuckling it away, identify what the behavior gives you and build a healthier way to get that same need met.
    4. Rewire Through Repetition, Emotion, and Imagery — The subconscious speaks in images and feelings, not logic. Recording your costs and benefits and listening back daily for 21 days builds new neural pathways while the old ones atrophy.
    5. Root Your Worth in Character, Not Appearance — Confidence based on your body or achievements can be taken away by an injury or a setback. Confidence built on evidence of who you are at your core can't be infringed.

    Links & Resources

    Enjoyed This Episode?

    If Thais naming the gap between what you intend and what you actually do landed for you, take it as the starting point. Send this episode to a man who keeps setting the same goal every Monday, and pick one core wound to run the 21 day rewiring exercise on this month. If the show keeps delivering, follow, rate, and leave a review so more fathers can find these conversations.

    This episode touches on addiction, bullying, and body image. If any of it hits close to home for you, it's worth talking with a licensed professional who can offer personalized support.

    31 July 2026, 12:00 am
  • 1 hour 1 minute
    Raising Daughters Who Hold Themselves to a Standard featuring Sterling Seizert

    Sterling Seizert spent his career as a US Army Special Forces Green Beret, serving as a senior communications and intelligence sergeant in 10th Special Forces Group and as a Special Operations liaison at the US Embassy in Nigeria. When he transitioned out, he carried the same discipline into entrepreneurship, and today he's the founder of Patriot Capital and Legends Lodge, overseeing eight self storage facilities worth over 58 million dollars and serving 3,100 clients. He's also the author of the new book Buy Your Freedom.

    This one goes deeper than either man expected. Sterling opens with a harrowing 2013 combat story, then he and Larry get into how training builds calm under pressure, servant leadership in marriage, raising daughters who hold themselves to a standard, and why honesty in a home should be celebrated rather than punished. If you want a masterclass in staying grounded when the stakes are high, this is it.

    Timeline Summary

    [2:54] – The 2013 mission in northwest Africa and the firefight that changed everything

    [6:11] – Holding a soldier's heart and being told to keep the rhythm

    [8:11] – Did training take over, or was there disbelief in the moment?

    [10:26] – How repetition inoculates you to the sights, sounds, and smells of the battlefield

    [12:32] – Advice for the average man facing his own hard situation

    [14:25] – Why action creates clarity and keeps you out of rumination

    [15:11] – The full bio: Green Beret, Nigeria, and 58 million in self storage

    [17:36] – Growing up in small-town Wisconsin and a colder father

    [20:59] – The deep question: would he still eat Taco Bell knowing what he knows?

    [22:21] – Did quitting ever cross his mind in selection? It never did

    [26:07] – The frozen ambush in North Carolina and putting suffering in perspective

    [30:35] – Getting recycled through small unit tactics and choosing to be an asset

    [32:09] – The first responder divorce rate and how he and Rebecca stayed tight

    [32:36] – Marriage as service, and why keeping score never works

    [35:09] – Serving your wife without becoming the nice guy or the domineering man

    [38:33] – Servant leadership, apologizing, and holding a standard at the same time

    [39:03] – Larry and Sterling compare their household standards for conflict

    [41:07] – The one question that disarms almost any argument with someone close

    [43:44] – The plan for when his daughters start dating, sniper school included

    [45:10] – Raising strong daughters to look for ambition and a standard

    [48:14] – What this generation of young men is missing, from social media to porn

    [52:03] – Cultivating real connection with daughters in the teenage years

    [54:13] – The one hard rule he'll raise his voice over, and why honesty gets celebrated

    [57:29] – The two books that changed his life, plus his own new release

    5 Key Takeaways

    1. Action Creates Clarity — When you're facing something hard, assess what needs to get done and execute in order. Movement keeps you out of the rumination loop and steadily reveals the next right step.
    2. Marriage Is Service, Not Score — Approach your marriage as the person there to serve, and assume your spouse will meet you halfway. Keeping score guarantees you'll always find a way to justify why you're winning.
    3. Serve Without Being a Doormat — Servant leadership isn't groveling and it isn't domineering. Hold a real standard for how you're treated, model that same standard yourself, and pick the battles that actually matter.
    4. Assume the Best Interest — In conflict with someone close, ask whether they truly lack your family's best interest at heart. Nine times out of ten they don't, which turns the fight into the two of you against the problem.
    5. Celebrate Honesty, Don't Punish It — Make ownership safe. When kids know honesty is welcomed rather than met with punishment, you can address the actual problem instead of untangling a lie on top of it.

    Links & Resources

    Enjoyed This Episode?

    If Sterling's line about action creating clarity gave you something to hold onto, put it to work this week. Send this episode to a man who's stuck ruminating instead of moving, and take one honest look at the standards you're actually modeling at home. If the show keeps delivering, follow, rate, and leave a review so more fathers can find these conversations.

    29 July 2026, 12:00 am
  • 49 minutes 5 seconds
    How You're Stealing Time From Your Kids and Don't Even Know It featuring Joshua Becker

    Joshua Becker is the founder of Becoming Minimalist, a New York Times bestselling author, and one of the leading voices in the world on intentional living. His work reaches more than 4 million followers across social media and over 1 million readers a month on his website. He spent 15 years as a pastor before discovering minimalism in his own driveway, and his newest book Uncluttered Faith makes the case that owning less isn't just practical, it's profoundly spiritual.

    The conversation starts with the Memorial Day garage cleanout where Joshua looked up and saw his five-year-old son swinging alone in the backyard, and goes into what he realized about Jesus' teachings on money, how he and his wife Kim navigated wanting to get rid of very different amounts, and the parable that showed him he wasn't the soil he thought he was. If you've ever spent a day off managing your possessions while your kids waited, this one will land.

    Timeline Summary

    [1:02] – Joshua on finally making the New York Times list with his fourth book

    [2:51] – The Memorial Day garage cleanout that started everything

    [4:40] – A neighbor named June changes his life in one sentence

    [5:23] – Seeing his son swinging alone and realizing possessions were taking him away

    [6:37] – Telling Kim, and starting Becoming Minimalist that Monday

    [7:02] – Why the very first thing he decluttered was the cars

    [8:57] – Starting with the easiest, most lived-in rooms instead of the garage

    [11:50] – Easier to clean, more money, more generosity: cataloging the benefits

    [13:11] – Owning fewer things means owning higher quality things

    [13:58] – Full introduction: 4 million followers, 1 million monthly readers, 15 years pastoring

    [16:32] – Realizing June wasn't the first person to tell him about minimalism, Jesus was

    [17:47] – Why Jesus wasn't inviting him to a boring life but a better one

    [20:56] – Knowing the verses for years without knowing how to actually live them out

    [22:39] – Five thousand advertisements a day and the world's definition of a good life

    [25:16] – Kim was on board, but she wanted to lose 40% and he wanted 80%

    [27:21] – It's always easier to see everyone else's clutter than your own

    [28:28] – Why men and women tend to accumulate differently

    [29:44] – The three moments it got hard, including "let me handle the children's clothes"

    [32:40] – Would he still be a minimalist if he weren't a Christian?

    [34:32] – Raising Salem and Alexa in it, and the test that comes with the first big paycheck

    [37:23] – The foundation kids can always come back to

    [41:03] – How minimalism forced him to redefine success

    [43:45] – The parable of the four soils and the weeds nobody names correctly

    [46:15] – Discovering he was the third soil, not the fourth

    5 Key Takeaways

    1. Your Stuff Is Taking You From What Matters — It isn't just that possessions fail to make you happy. Managing, cleaning, and organizing them actively pulls you away from the people and purpose that do.
    2. Start With the Easy Rooms — Most people think decluttering means attacking the garage or the storage unit. Begin with the car and the most lived-in spaces, where you'll feel the benefit immediately and build momentum.
    3. Clean Up Your Own Clutter First — It's always easier to see your spouse's or your kids' excess than your own. You have little standing to ask anyone to let go of their things until you've dealt with yours.
    4. Owning Less Redefines Success — When you stop earning to accumulate, you're forced to answer what you're actually working for. That question reshapes your filter for nearly every decision.
    5. Worries, Riches, and Pleasures Choke Fruitfulness — In the parable of the four soils, Jesus names riches themselves, not merely the love of them. Many who assume they're the fourth soil are living as the third.

    Links & Resources

    Enjoyed This Episode?

    If the image of Joshua's son swinging alone in the backyard while he sorted boxes stopped you cold, take that as the nudge. Send this episode to a dad who spends his days off managing his possessions, and go clean out one small space this week just to feel the difference. If the show keeps delivering, follow, rate, and leave a review so more fathers can find these conversations.

    27 July 2026, 12:00 am
  • 1 hour 4 minutes
    The Healed Version of You Versus the Broken One featuring Jon Gustin

    Jon Gustin is the founder of Tired Dad, a community of more than 2 million followers built on one honest premise: parenting is only hard for good parents. A former personal trainer of 14 years who started making short videos during the sleepless newborn stretch of 2020, he became one of the first men online talking openly about the mental load of fatherhood. He co-hosts the Tired Dad and Tired Mom podcasts with his wife Jessica and released his book The Tired Dad: 100 Reflections on Showing Up for What Matters Most in May.

    Larry and Jon get into the exhaustion that comes from doing the work right, both of their fathers coming home from Vietnam unable to talk about it, the rebellion and loss that followed Jon's parents' divorce, and the ego death that pulled his marriage out of the roommate phase. If you're tired in the best way possible and still wondering whether you're doing a good job, this conversation is for you.

    Timeline Summary

    [1:02] – Parenting is only hard for good parents, and why tired means invested

    [3:19] – Tired from parenting, not tired of parenting

    [6:23] – How the newborn stretch of 2020 accidentally birthed Tired Dad

    [8:10] – Nobody was talking about the mental load of fatherhood, so Jon did

    [12:16] – The Justin Gustin problem and Larry's own Hagman mixup

    [13:29] – Full introduction: 2 million followers, two podcasts, and the book

    [16:54] – Growing up the baby of the family with siblings seven and eight years older

    [20:18] – A Vietnam veteran father, a World War Two grandfather, and night terrors that never left

    [21:55] – Watching your dad go from Superman to human during the divorce

    [26:38] – Running from it: partying, drugs, theft, and total chaos at 14

    [28:26] – Losing friends to overdoses and deciding to get out

    [29:48] – Moving to Tennessee, meeting Jessica, and marrying 11 months later

    [34:08] – The Gottman research and why only 12% of marriages truly thrive

    [36:27] – Marry the right person for the right reasons, because marriage fixes nothing

    [37:59] – Postpartum, the roommate phase, and the darkest stretch of their marriage

    [40:56] – Killing the ego and why keeping score breeds resentment

    [43:48] – Getting sober three and a half years ago and what changed

    [46:42] – Ego death without becoming a doormat or a nice guy

    [48:55] – Eliminate the guessing and learn what your wife actually needs

    [52:42] – Inside the book: the weight fathers carry and the mantra to keep showing up

    [54:47] – Wearing exhaustion as a badge of honor versus being the healed version of you

    [57:18] – Legacy, being a home worth coming back to, and the 3am call

    5 Key Takeaways

    1. Tired Means You're Doing It Right — If parenting feels hard and exhausting, that's evidence you care enough to invest in it. You're tired from the work, not of it.
    2. Marriage Fixes Nothing — Your partner isn't responsible for healing your wounds and you aren't responsible for healing theirs. Two people can both do their own work and build something great, but expecting rescue guarantees misery.
    3. The Ego Is a Heavy Backpack — Keeping score is the breeding ground for resentment. Dropping the ego means asking how you can help the situation, not tallying what you're not getting.
    4. Ego Death Is Not Becoming a Doormat — Killing the ego doesn't mean happy wife, happy life, or becoming a yes man. It means eliminating the guessing, expressing your own needs clearly, and understanding hers.
    5. Be the Healed Version, Not the Broken One — Carrying exhaustion proudly while running on empty leaves you injured at the end of the road. The goal is showing up tired but well, in shape for the job.

    Links & Resources

    Enjoyed This Episode?

    If Jon's line about being tired from parenting rather than tired of it reframed something for you, pass it along. Send this episode to a dad who's running on empty and quietly wondering if he's cut out for this, and ask yourself whether you're carrying the weight well or just carrying it. If the show keeps delivering, follow, rate, and leave a review so more fathers can find these conversations.

    24 July 2026, 12:00 am
  • 1 hour 2 minutes
    Why You're Surrounded by People and Still Alone featuring Marc Hildebrand

    This episode flips the script. Instead of Larry hosting, Marc Hildebrand, one of the top coaches in the Dad Edge Business Brotherhood, a 20-year LAPD veteran, life coach, and founder of Modern Leadership, sits Larry down and interviews him. The jumping-off point is a hard statistic: most men are lonely, and the majority don't have a single friend they could call at 3am.

    Larry opens up about the mastermind that changed his life eleven years ago, the "cost of doing nothing" question that got him to say yes, the BRAVE MAN system his Boardroom runs on, and the August 2017 morning his wife told him he was losing her. If you're a man who's surrounded by people but still feels alone, or a business owner pouring everything into work while the rest of your life drifts, this one is a roadmap.

    Timeline Summary

    [1:02] – The loneliness statistic and why Larry isn't surprised it's that high

    [3:17] – Marc introduces Larry and the role-reversal format

    [7:04] – The first mastermind eleven years ago and mentor Aaron Walker

    [8:45] – Rusty relationships and why "fine, good, busy" keeps men shallow

    [10:03] – The $500-a-month invitation that sounded like snake oil

    [11:55] – The question that changed everything: the cost of doing nothing

    [13:45] – Sitting with the chills, imagining life a year out, and calling back in 12 minutes

    [16:24] – What pulled Larry to lean in instead of talking himself out of it

    [19:03] – "Show me your calendar and I'll show you what's important to you"

    [22:59] – Why it's never the business, it's the person running the business

    [25:41] – The BRAVE MAN system explained category by category

    [29:53] – Why the room, not just the strategies, is what gets men to change

    [30:52] – The black belt lesson: that's when the training actually begins

    [35:02] – Attracting your wife back to you instead of chasing

    [36:22] – The August 2017 morning Jessica said "you're losing me"

    [40:30] – Masculine and feminine energy, and helping your wife soften

    [44:11] – Inside the quarterly Goal Setting Intensive

    [47:19] – Why the Boardroom is only 20-25% about business

    [50:26] – Living an "and" life instead of an "or" life

    [52:36] – The Dad Edge core values, read in full for the first time

    [58:04] – Who the room is for, and how to join the intensive

    5 Key Takeaways

    1. The Cost of Doing Nothing — When weighing an investment in yourself, the real question isn't the price. It's what your life looks like a year from now if you change nothing at all.
    2. It's Never the Business — Entrepreneurs blame the business for their disconnection, burnout, and lost health. The hidden truth is that it's the person running the business, and reactivity is the pattern to break.
    3. Attract, Don't Chase — Chasing your spouse reads as needy, desperate energy. Leading from a grounded, positive masculine presence lets her soften and pulls her back toward you.
    4. Set "And" Goals, Not "Or" Goals — You don't have to choose between growing your business and connecting with your family. The right question is how one could actually strengthen the other.
    5. The Room Is the Gold — Skills and strategies matter, but transformation happens in a room of trusted men who share wins in detail, hold public accountability, and call each other forward.

    Links & Resources

    Enjoyed This Episode?

    If the "cost of doing nothing" question landed for you the way it landed for Larry, don't let it sit. Send this episode to a man who's surrounded by people but still feels alone, and ask yourself honestly who your own 3am call would be. If the show keeps showing up for you, follow, rate, and leave a review so more fathers can find these conversations.

    22 July 2026, 12:00 am
  • 1 hour 14 seconds
    How Childhood Trauma Quietly Runs Your Marriage featuring Stefanos Sifandos

    Stefanos Sifandos returns to the show six years after his first appearance, and this time the conversation goes straight to the bone. A behavioral scientist and relationship expert who's worked with Olympic gold medalists, world champion fighters, special forces operators, and high-performing couples, Stefanos helps successful people confront the emotional armor and old patterns that achievement can't hide. He's also the author of the new book Tuned In and Turned On.

    Larry and Stefanos both grew up with volatile, abusive fathers, and they open up about the exact moments they stood up to the men who terrorized them, the survival patterns that followed them into adulthood, and the slow inner work of forgiveness. If you're a man carrying more than you've ever said out loud, this conversation names it and points to a way through.

    Timeline Summary

    [1:02] – Stefanos returns after six years and revisits growing up in violence

    [3:09] – A gambler father, criminal company, and never knowing which version you'd get

    [4:39] – How the abuse shifted between two brothers over the years

    [6:24] – Leaving the country at 18 and the eldest-child savior role

    [7:40] – Larry shares his own story of standing up to his mom's abusive boyfriend

    [10:09] – Why a terrifying confrontation can be a painful gift with a long trajectory

    [12:40] – Stefanos on the night at the kitchen bench when he told his dad "I'm not small anymore"

    [18:46] – Stefanos' full background in behavioral science, performance, and embodiment

    [21:24] – The unconscious, fractured initiation from boyhood into manhood

    [23:44] – Larry on deliberately taking his sons through rites of passage

    [24:26] – Where the relationship with his father stands now, and the memoir project

    [27:15] – Forgiveness as an inside job and letting go without relying on the other person

    [29:37] – Scarcity, hypervigilance, and why the nervous system prepares for the worst

    [36:18] – Why 80% of healing is how others show up and meet you

    [38:41] – How children internalize abuse as proof they're unworthy

    [41:24] – The book's practices: get a friend, and why men are so isolated

    [46:20] – Deliberate solitude in nature and learning to slow down

    [48:55] – Seeking physical challenge as the path to real confidence

    5 Key Takeaways

    1. Standing Up Is an Initiation — For many men, the shift from boyhood to manhood happens through a raw, unchosen confrontation rather than a healthy rite of passage. Naming that moment helps you understand who you became because of it.
    2. Forgiveness Is an Inside Job — Closure doesn't require the other person to change or even participate. Peace comes from your own diligent inner work, not from waiting on an apology.
    3. Your Survival Patterns Made Sense Once — Scarcity thinking and catastrophizing were hypervigilant survival tools in childhood. The work isn't to shame them away, but to notice them and stop feeding the beast.
    4. Healing Is Relational — Around 80% of transformation is being met with compassion and nonjudgment by someone who can relate to you. Insight matters, but connection is what actually changes you.
    5. Get a Friend, Then Get Alone — Men are epidemically lonely, so build real friendships despite the risk. Then balance that with deliberate solitude in nature and physical challenge that builds genuine confidence.

    Links & Resources

    Enjoyed This Episode?

    If Stefanos' line about men leaking their pain sideways into aggression and avoidance hit home, don't carry it alone. Send this episode to a man in your life who might be quietly isolated, and think about who your own 3am friend would be. If the show keeps showing up for you, follow, rate, and leave a review so more fathers can find these conversations.

    20 July 2026, 12:00 am
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