In this episode, we talk to Patrick Dossett about the power of setting an intention and being your own best teammate.
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Patrick Dossett currently serves as CEO of Madefor, working alongside a team of subject matter experts in health and wellness to deliver world-class programming designed to help individuals be their best. Prior to Madefor, Dossett served in various leadership roles, first as an officer in the US Navy SEAL teams and later in the fields of technology and non-profit to create positive change at scale. Dossett holds a bachelor of science degree in Oceanography from the U.S. Naval Academy, a master’s in business administration from the Wharton School of Business and is the recipient of numerous awards and commendations for his service and leadership.
Social Media: @Madefor_Pat
Website: www.fastcompany.com
Memorable Moments:
2:49 We really believe that if we can help individuals show up better in their lives for themselves, then they are by proxy gonna lift everyone else up around them.
3:11 We're talking just a couple of minutes each day, but around some very foundational areas of wellness, things like hydration, gratitude, movement, nature, rests, social connection. Maybe what we might say are the macronutrients of wellness, [it's] things that our grandparents told us, Hey, go outside, drink more water, you know, do these things. These are good for you. But for whatever reason, we've maybe grown disconnected from our capacity to engage them in such a way that really is meaningful and transformational.
5:48 You might be doing something as simple as drinking water and thinking you're working on hydration, but you're also working on what happens when you pay attention to a small thing you do every day and how it affects you and the knock-on effects of that are you start to have awareness around "well, what are the other ways that I'm directing my attention and effort? Am I being present to my family? Am I being, how am I moving my body throughout the day? What am I putting in my body? How is it making me feel?"
10:39 Oftentimes when we're under the greatest amount of stress or we find ourselves navigating particularly challenging circumstances, that is the time when we have to pay even more attention to self care. Because if we stop caring for ourselves, we can't really progress and care for anything else [or] do anything else that we care about.
11:05 At the end of the day, you've got to be your own best teammate. You've got to be kind to yourself. You've got to extend yourself grace and recognize that you're human and that life is hard. But no matter what you're facing, there's still an opportunity to move closer to the things you care about.
12:31 We walk our members through the science of setting an intention and how to set an intention for what is it you hope to achieve as a result of going through this program. Where do you want to be in a year's time? And if you achieve that, why does that matter to you? Why is that going to inspire you to do the work between today and tomorrow and the end of this program? And, if you do that and you achieve it, what happens? What's different? How is it going to make your life better? But how also, is it going to make the lives of those around you better?
13:50 I can't overstate the importance of intentionality and really, look, there is no one way to achieve optimal wellness. There are some overarching principles and you all, you all are familiar with these. But there's no one way.
16:18 Past the age of about 25, there are really only two ways to change the brain. One is through a short, intense experience. It could be positive or negative. So birth of a child, loss of a loved one, car accident, food poisoning, getting married, but by definition, these are the peak experiences. These are things that they're either really high or they're really low, but they are the exception. The norm is what happens throughout. Between the peak and the trough, right? This is where most of our life is lived. And there is this, the second model for brain change really is around small, consistent actions done with awareness of cause and effect.
17:52 When you take time to pause and reflect on like, "wow, today was really hard. And even though it was really hard, I was able to do X, Y, and Z." And sometimes X, Y, and Z aren't going to be big things. Maybe they're small things, but I think the small things that we do in the face of challenge or adversity are sometimes the most impressive things.
18:12 And so taking time to register those wins and affirm them and celebrate them helps build a robust circuitry in your brain to recognize these wins more. And those wins can serve as fuel to help you build positive momentum. It's going to only increase your ability to get progress towards what you care about and give you that confidence and almost buffer you against uncertainty or setbacks that are bound to come.
18:44 The great thing about registering these wins or recognizing them is much like the practice [of] gratitude. The more you practice it, the easier it gets and the more attuned you're going to be to, "oh, these are things that I'm doing really well." These are things we're celebrating or these are things worth being grateful for and it can fundamentally change and alter the way you move through your day and the way you experience life.
22:41 I think the most powerful intentions recognize that we are social beings, right. That when we're serving causes outside of ourself, when we're recognizing that we're connected to something greater than ourselves, that is when we feel our best.
23:05 I find for our members, is that once they start engaging in self care and start [what we] like to say is “elevating their baselines” or feeling like they are improving their own mental and physical health, then they have more capacity to engage others around them.
24:53 Something that if you're in service for any length of time or in uniform for any length of time, that sense of mission and service, and again, serving causes that are bigger than yourself, just become a part of the fabric of who you are and so I knew when I left the military that I wanted to do something big and continue to serve big missions and I didn't have to carry a gun to do that.
26:56 You can focus on the negative and downside risk and harm reduction, or you can focus on what are the things that bring out the best in you and being in pursuit of whether they're it's habits or mindsets or things in your environment that are in line with the way that the brain and body are designed.
29:01 I think the thing that matters most to me is that I continue to find every opportunity I can to move closer towards the things that I care most about...making sure that I am taking every chance that I have to to move closer towards those things every day and when I don't and when I fall short, to be kind to myself and to re-engage as quickly as possible.
Dear Mind, You Matter is brought to you by NOBU, a new mental health, and wellness app. To download NOBU, visit the app store or Google Play.
This podcast is hosted by Allison Walsh and Dr. Angela Phillips. It is produced by Allison Walsh, Ashley Tate, and Nicole LaNeve. For more information or if you’re interested in being a guest on this podcast, please visit www.therecoveryvillage.com/dearmindyoumatter.
Allison: Hello and welcome to the Dear Mind, You Matter Podcast. My name is Allison Walsh, I’m a long time mental health advocate and Vice President at Advanced Recovery Systems. On each episode I will be joined by my colleague and clinical expert, Dr. Angela Phillips. This show along with our mental health and wellness app Nobu, are just some of the ways we are working to provide you with some actionable tips and tools to take care of yourself each and every day.
So sit back, relax, and grab your favorite note taking device. It's time to fill your mind with things that matter.
Patrick Dossett currently serves as CEO, for Madefor working alongside a team of subject matter experts in health and wellness to deliver world-class programming designed to help individuals be their best. Prior to Mayfor, Pat served in various leadership roles first as an officer in the U.S. Navy seal teams, and later in the fields of technology and nonprofit to create positive change at scale, he holds a bachelor of science degree in oceanography from the U S Naval academy, a master's in business administration from the Wharton school of business, and is the recipient of numerous awards and commendations for his service and leadership, you are going to love today's episode.
Please welcome Pat Dossett.
All right. Well, Patrick, thank you so much for being on the show today. Would you mind introducing yourself to our audience?
Patrick: Yeah, it's great to be here. Thank you for having me. So I am Pat Dossett born and raised in Texas. Went to the U S Naval academy spent just under 10 years serving as an officer in the Navy seal teams, deployed mostly overseas during that time.
And then left the military, went to business school and worked at Google for a few years, left Google to work on a company that I Co-founded and continue to run called Madefor which helps people build better habits, better mindsets, and ultimately unlock a better life. So that's my brief story.
Angela: Awesome. Well, again, we are so excited to have you here and you brought it up already. I'm just curious if you can give us a little bit more info because I was digging into this a little bit about you. Tell us about Madefor, and just kind of. What's the program's sort of, what are you emphasizing there?
We're just really curious if you can share more with our listeners.
Patrick: Yeah, absolutely. So, you know, we started working on Madefor about five years ago. My co-founder and I, and then our lead advisors, a gentleman named Dr. Andrew Huberman. So neuroscientists out of Stanford university really set about working on this mission of how can we help people show up better for themselves and their own lives.
How can they unlock potential within, as it relates to wellbeing? So physical, mental, emotional health, what does science have to say about that? And are there ways that we can help people do that? And we really believe that if we can help individuals show up better in their lives for themselves, then they are by proxy gonna lift everyone else up around them.
And so we got really excited around this mission and started working on it and ultimately built this year-long program that helps people direct their attention and effort, really the smallest ways possible. So we're talking just a couple of minutes each day, but around some very foundational areas of wellness, things like hydration, gratitude, movement, nature, rests, social connection.
Maybe what we might say are the macronutrients of wellness, things that our grandparents told us, Hey, go outside, drink more water, you know, do these things. These are good for you. But for whatever reason, we've maybe grown disconnected from our capacity to engage them in such a way that really is meaningful and transformational.
And so we use these foundational habits to help people unlock the best in themselves, but over the course of our program, we're not only building better habits, but we're helping people become better teammates to themselves. And so we'd like to say that the goal of Madefor is to get to the end of the program and have a checklist of 10 things you have to do every day to be your best, but rather that your reflexive self becomes your best self.
So you're extending yourself, greater-self, compassion, you're giving yourself grace, you're recognizing that the friction that you're experiencing or the challenges that you're facing, aren't a sign of your inability to be successful. Rather they're a sign of what it feels like to progress and move closer towards the things that you care most about.
So our members finished the program, feel more intentional, feel like they have greater energy, feel like they have greater agency and control over their lives and their wellness. And that's what we did. We've got a whole team of amazing advisors from Stanford and Harvard and the National Institute of mental health that helped us really design this program.
And so that's a little bit about me.
Allison: And I love this. And I think that like daily incremental change can add up to just a massive shift in the quality of your life. And we know that there's such a strong interplay between physical health, mental health, your quality of life, your satisfaction, how you feel just in general, about what you're going through on your day to day basis.
So what are you seeing? I mean, we love tech. We love the fact that you can put this in the hands of people easily, nowadays. We're so grateful for that. So what are you seeing as far as outcomes go and the impact that you're able to make with this?
Patrick: Yeah. You know, we've worked with over 10,000 people to date. So across every state we have international members now across the world from ages 17 to 82 really a very wide swath of people.
And what we've found is that when people engage our program, They feel better and they feel better in surprising ways. So you might be doing something as simple as drinking water. We have all these, these nice physical tools that accompany each of our month's challenge, but you might be doing something as simple as drinking water and thinking you're working on hydration, but you're also working on what happens when you pay attention to a small thing you do every day and how it affects you and the knock-on effects of that are you start to have awareness around Well, what are the other ways that I'm directing my attention and effort? Am I being present to my family? Am I being, how am I moving my body throughout the day? What am I putting in my body? How is it making me feel?
And so one of the things that we like to talk, we talk a lot about it and dive into the science on is this idea of interoceptive awareness so that we all have this power to recognize what our body is telling us and to respond in real time with via small things that we can control that bring out the best in our body and bring out the best in ourselves.
Oftentimes in the marketplace, we get pitched potions and powders and pills and things outside of ourselves and say, oh, we need these things to, to bring out the best in us for, to complete ourselves. But in actuality, there's a ton of value to be had to just understand what is my body telling me and how could I respond?
And so that's really what we work on with our members. And, you know, we hear it time and time again from better relationships to more energy, to resting better to, you know, our, our goal, our program is not about weight loss. We hear about members achieving goals from a physical standpoint, that they weren't expecting.
And so, yeah, it's just been, it's cool to see how the program comes to life for different people based on the phases of life they're in. And what you know is important to them.
Angela: That's awesome. That's gotta be amazing to see and I know Alison and I just kind of also being in sort of a healthcare, mental health crossover into tech space.
It's been amazing to see those changes as well, just with the folks that we've been able to work with. And you know, you, you've brought up a couple of things that are really making me think about. When we're in this space, especially providing a platform that's really easily accessible, but also has kind of like the double-edged sword of we are putting it in people's hands into people's hands.
But, but right. Also bringing up this other issue that maybe we see some disconnection or difficulty kind of deciphering, you know, what do I really need? Do I need to use this app? Do I need to use this program? Do I need to follow someone's Instagram? So there's just so much coming at people. And we talk about this a lot, but I think as someone who's really gotten into this space, I'd love to hear a little bit more about how do you typically guide folks, you know, either that are in your program or that are coming to you kind of like, is this right for me?
Or what do you recommend based on my situation? So it sounds like you kind of, you need to have some motivation there, obviously like an end goal, but for people who are kind of struggling to figure that out, you know, where, what's your kind of angle on how you present that with everything that's out there.
Patrick: So we have people that come into our program that really, I would say, fall into three buckets. The first one is I call them the bigger, faster, stronger groups. So these are people that are ever optimizers. They're trying all the latest and greatest things. They're constantly trying to they're on a constant course of improvement.
And those people, when they come into our program, I think are a little bit surprised. They're like, wow, we're actually moving slower and we're focusing just on one thing at a time, and we're focusing on very simple things, and this is maybe counter to what they traditionally engage in or how they traditionally think about performance or unlocking potential.
But those members, I would say find a ton of value in the methodical approach that we deliver in this stair-step very, just one simple thing at a time. And they find, I think, some surprising value in slowing down and maybe being a little bit more intentional and creating some awareness around how what they're doing is affecting them and maybe ways that they could do that better.
The second group that we see, I think, is at the other end of the spectrum. And there are people that. Are just really, really struggling. And they're looking for any port in the storm, any lifeline, they maybe have a family situation or a job situation or some acute, but major stressor that is an enduring source of stress for them.
And so for those people, I would say that our program can be a little bit more challenging, even though we distill it down to just a few minutes a day and we make it so simple and attainable and effective for everyone. Those people have a lot going on, right. They need to meet some foundational things to feel safe and secure and confident.
They have the bandwidth to pursue a program of growth. But what I do think that those members find is that, and I talk about this often, that oftentimes when we're under the greatest amount of stress or we find ourselves navigating particularly challenging circumstances, that is the time when we have to pay even more attention to self care. Because if we stop caring for ourselves, we can't really progress and care for anything else [or] do anything else that we care about. And so I find that those members really, really enjoy this, this constant drum beat that we have with like, Hey, at the end of the day, you've got to be your own best teammate. You've got to be kind to yourself. You've got to extend yourself grace and recognize that you're human and that life is hard. But no matter what you're facing, there's still an opportunity to move closer to the things you care about.
And so that's the second group. And then the third group really falls in the middle. And I would say that this might be the largest segment of members that we see is people that look back on their lives. They think, you know, at one point in time I was on this growth path, this trajectory, and for whatever reason, I got married, I had kids job, age, whatever the thing is, I feel like I've fallen off my path where I should be, and I don't know how to get back to there.
And so, you know, I've tried weight loss apps or, I've tried programs, I've tried joining gyms. I've tried wearing technology. I've tried all these things and I'm still not. I can't get back to where I was and the fact that they've tried so much and they haven't achieved what they'd hoped to has almost Instilled a sense of like inability, like they've lost their confidence and their certainty and their conviction, and they've lost some agency in the way.
And so those people find a ton of value in our program because we say, look at the end of the day what we're going to start with, and this is maybe to your, specifically to your question is, you're here for a reason. What is that thing that you care so much about?
And so we walk our members through the science of setting an intention and how to set an intention for what is it you hope to achieve as a result of going through this program. Where do you want to be in a year's time? And if you achieve that, why does that matter to you? Why is that going to inspire you to do the work between today and tomorrow and the end of this program? And, if you do that and you achieve it, what happens? What's different? How is it going to make your life better? But how also, is it going to make the lives of those around you better?
And so what we find is that by walking people through that intention process, they start to say like, okay, this is the bigger thing that drives me, that I'm working towards. And that clarity does a lot for people and then they really love the idea. We pair it down to just these simple steps at a time.
And you know, again, our program starts with hydration, something so simple that we all drink water every day. But members unlock these, these almost these points of connection as they're going through the program, they start to build momentum. As they're going through, it happens for different people at different points of the program.
They start to say, oh wow, I get it. I'm feeling better. I'm moving better. I have greater agency and I can see how I'm moving closer to life, my intention. And so that's kind of the types of members that come in, but I can't overstate the importance of intentionality and really, look, there is no one way to achieve optimal wellness. There are some overarching principles and you all, you all are familiar with these. But there's no one way. But there is a better way. Right? And it is on us to figure out what that is made for really tries to be the guide in that process to help someone determine what does right look like for them, so that they can be as effective as possible, moving closer towards the things that they care about.
Allison: Well, and I love so much of what you just said, and I want it just to kind of reiterate some of the points too, and how important it is, because you don't have to have massive change in order for you to get where you need to be. Right. Like you can add and stack and stack and stack. And you know, one of my favorite, I guess, mottos for life or mantra is just be 1% better today than you were yesterday.
1%. That doesn't mean that's not a lot. Right. And it's a small enough amount of progress, but you're absolutely right when you talk about that momentum, right. And momentum and consistency and what that does. And so much of what you were talking about is rooted in positive psychology and the science of wellbeing and happiness and success.
And like, I love it. I'm subscribing to all of it because we all need more of it. Right. And as you said, there's not one, one solution for all people. There are a lot of different resources. And so if people are listening right now and they're like, oh my gosh, I fall into one of those three buckets. You definitely should check out Madefor.
But lets talk about, even celebrating success or progress can do for somebody because that I'm sure is something that you see and even recognizing it and calling, calling it out because sometimes people are just like, okay. Yeah. So, what I'm doing a little bit better today, or I'm exercising more or I'm, you know, drinking my water, but if you actually celebrate it and you call it out, it can actually do a lot for you.
So can we talk about that for a second?
Patrick: Yeah, absolutely. And, and even to tie the earlier point back to this is that, you know, this appreciation for these small steps and how they add up and in substantial ways, I mean, it's very aligned with the way that the brain can change over time. So this, this phenomenon of neuroplasticity that we have the ability to change and rewire our brain.
And you can imagine the brain as a proxy for habits or mindsets or our life that we have this ability over the entire course for life.
But past the age of about 25, there are really only two ways to change the brain. One is through a short, intense experience. It could be positive or negative. So birth of a child, loss of a loved one, car accident, food poisoning, getting married, but by definition, these are the peak experiences. These are things that they're either really high or they're really low, but they are the exception. The norm is what happens throughout. Between the peak and the trough, right? This is where most of our life is lived. And there is this, the second model for brain change really is around small, consistent actions done with awareness of cause and effect.
I do this, this happens and you can reinforce that process through some different exercises that we incorporate into Madefor.
This is a much more sustainable approachable model for brain change and life change. And so I just want to underscore that point because there is tremendous opportunity in the smallest of moments. And I think that's a really, really important point. So to, to bring it back to, I lost the thread a little bit.
I apologize.
Allison: It’s celebrating success.
Patrick: Yeah. And so, and so great. And so, so coming back to this idea of celebrating these wins, right? This, it's not to say that, look, you need to celebrate every win and, and by no means, do we want to go through the motions here, you actually have to feel you have to have a sense of accomplishment and feel that it can't be something that you fake, but when you do that, when you take time to pause and reflect on like, wow, today was really hard. And even though it was really hard, I was able to do X, Y, and Z. And sometimes X, Y, and Z. Aren't going to be big things. Maybe they're small things, but I think the small things that we do in the face of challenge or adversity are sometimes the most impressive things.
And so taking time to register those wins and affirm them and celebrate them helps build a robust circuitry in your brain to recognize these wins more. And those wins can serve as fuel to help you build positive momentum. It's going to only increase your ability to get progress towards what you care about and give you that confidence and almost buffer you against uncertainty or, or, or setbacks that are bound to come. Right? We're all gonna, we're all gonna experience challenges, but yeah, it's just such an important thing.
And, and the great thing about registering these wins or recognizing them is much like the practice, like gratitude. The more you practice it, the easier it gets and the more attuned you're going to be to, oh, these are things that I'm doing really well. These are things we're celebrating or these are things worth being grateful for and it can fundamentally change and alter the way you move through your day and the way you experience life.
So such an important point.
Angela: Yeah, that's awesome and just to pick apart a little bit more, what you've already brought up, because there's so much in there that we could unpack. Right. I love that you also brought up just sort of maybe what would be a smaller pocket of the folks that you tend to see or support, but really.
You know, a lot of times where we're intervening, right? Which is when, when they're having a really difficult time, they have maybe there's a huge stressor. You know, they may not be at this stage of where they're really looking to jump in or have sort of that insight or awareness around, you know, maybe I do need to shift gears and it's really more about, you know, I just need that support to kind of get to the next thing, but then also, right.
Being able to say, I need to be able to reach out at this point, or I need to kind of have that sort of self-compassion whether it's for myself or just wanting to, you know, leave it in the hands of others. Right, and then just say that that's okay for me to do. But I think to the point of setting intention and what we, what we miss a lot, which I love that you brought up is we don't tend to, I don't even know if it's, you know, kind of give people the benefit of the doubt, but we've, we haven't really shown that importance around setting an intention.
And the way that we should, that not only gives people more of that power or level of empowerment, but also, you know, allows them to set their own expectations and, and kinda know what to do moving forward. Not only for themselves, but for others. Right. So I love how you've mentioned, how you sort of helping encourage individuals to then bring others in.
Maybe that's impacting relationships, the community around them. How do you see that impacting people as they're building these smaller steps or building habits and kind of expanding that mindset, especially as we're coming out of a time where a lot of us have been more isolated. Right. So I'm just curious.
Yeah. How do you see people sort of transitioning and building more community around a lot of these smaller habits and changes that are occurring?
Patrick: Well, I think there are two things here. What is this? Where are you getting your motivation from? Is it, is it extrinsic? Is that something outside yourself that's motivating you or is it more of an internal motivation?
And so the intention is such a powerful force for really uncovering. What is that internal driver of motivation? Like what is, what is compelling me to do the work and what, what am I, what am I excited about pursuing and, and moving closer towards I think it's, it's such an important element of this because that is the thing that allows you to look we're all individuals, we have unique experiences, unique stressors, unique values, unique situations, unique challenges. Like there is no two people on the planet that are the same, right? We have a unique experience of this world. And so because of that, we're going to have unique intentions.
And so the clarity that we can get around that intention is ultimately going to allow us to draw on that internal motivation to make sure like, Hey, the reason I'm doing this, whether it's a, an intervention with a trained professional, or if it's a program like made for is like, they're helping me, I'm outsourcing some level of guidance until I'm ready to guide myself.
But the reason I'm doing this as one that's central and core to me, that gets me into action and excited. So I think that's such a, it's such an important point. But what happens is over time and I think the most powerful intentions recognize that we are social beings, right. That when we're serving causes outside of ourself, when we're recognizing that we're connected to something greater than ourselves, that is when we feel our best. That's the way that we're wired. And we discover our best almost in, in, in the process of interacting with others.
And so what I think I find for our members is that once they start engaging in self care and start we'd like to say is elevating their baselines or feeling like they are improving their own mental and physical health, then that they have more capacity to engage others around them. And in that process, they're actually uncovering that like, oh, wow, this is actually making me even better. This amplification of, I, you know, I'm feeling gratitude. I'm sharing that gratitude. I'm feeling the reverberating effects of that and now all of a sudden I'm feeling more connected and more inspired by those that are around me and moving closer to those that I care most about.
So it's this interesting push-pull where you have to start with, I think something that's intrinsically motivated, but very quickly. You start to identify extrinsic motivations that empower you and fuel you in a, in a very positive way through social connections and community, and you know, things in that sort.
Allison: It's so interesting and I think there's such an interplay with everything that we do, our, our path that we're on. I'm curious if you wouldn't mind taking us back because you dropped a little nugget about your involvement you know, just your history, right. As being a seal and, and what that has looked like and how has that experience really shaped who you are now and why you do this work?
I'm sure there's gotta be something coming from there.
Patrick: Yeah. You know it's, it's a great question. The mission is something that's always been very important to me. Right. I essentially went to a military college. I, you know, I grew up in the seal teams. I spent the majority of my formative adult years inside the military and inside the seal community.
And something that if you're in service for any length of time or in uniform for any length of time, that sense of mission and service, and again, serving causes that are bigger than yourself, just become a part of the fabric of who you are and so I knew when I left the military that I wanted to do something big and continue to serve big missions and I didn't have to carry a gun to do that.
But one of the, one of the things really left an imprint on me and my time and the teams. And even going back to the beginning of seal training is just how unremarkable seals are and I know we, we see, we see all these movies and books and TV shows and everything that makes seals seem like these super, super human figures that are just different. And that they're like these, yeah, they're just different. They're wired differently, but that couldn't have been further from my experience.
And in fact, when I began seal training, we had 220 people that started five weeks in we were down to 150. SIx weeks in, we were down to 36 and the class went on to graduate 17 out of the original 220.
The thing that struck me about that is that those 17 people, or again, rather unremarkable looking and in fact, all of the biggest, fastest, strongest people, those that you would say they definitely most look the part and they're going to be the ones that make it. And sometimes they're the ones that show up with tattoos, seal tattoos, that, to start a training, there some of the first people to go.
And so what that told me was, wow, there's something interesting going on. This is not about. natural ability or, you know talent or physical attributes, but there's a, there's a mental component to this, a mindset that we all possess and we all have ability to cultivate, but you fast forward a couple years.
It wasn't until I left the teams, I was going through a graduate program that I got my first experience into the field of positive psychology taught by a woman named Dr. Angela Duckworth and that to me was a little bit of a light bulb moment because I said, wow. The way that they're talking about these things is that, you know, you can focus on the negative and downside risk and harm reduction, or you can focus on what are the things that bring out the best in you and being in pursuit of whether they're it's habits or mindsets or things in your environment that are in line with the way that the brain and body are designed and much of what they talked about and the research that's been done, mapped to what I saw those 17 individuals leveraging in the seal teams.
Now, the seals might use a different language. We might have a different way of talking about it. I don't hear gratitude a lot, come up in the seal teams. But underlying all of it, I found some similar connections.
And so that is what you know, ultimately got me down this path to want to work on Madefor and, and really yeah, help make this, these mindsets and these actions and really, helping people unlock their potential, the inner potential they have inside them. Just got me excited around that mission.
Angela: That's awesome. Well, we love what you're doing so much, and that actually makes us think a lot about, you know, the folks that we work with, a lot of firefighters, first responders, military. And so just so many of these things speak to what it is that we see too. And, and really, you know, a lot of what. So many people struggle with, in terms of, you know, feeling that greater connection or, you know, feeling something outside of yourself and, and then sort of losing track of that or having so many things pile up over time, these stressors, trauma, whatever it may be.
So it's just amazing that you're yet, you know, just what sounds like a really great resource for people who can really use it that are, you know, just again, coming from your experience and so many other experts that that's available and yeah, we love it. Thank you so much for sharing all of that.
And before we wrap up, because we could continue on probably for hours here with you today. We always ask all of our guests what matters most to you with where you're at in life, where you're sitting right now? What matters most?
Patrick: Wow. That's a big question, but an important one. I think the thing that matters most to me is that I continue to find every opportunity I can to move closer towards the things that I care most about. And it's not to say that I'm going to get it right a hundred percent of the time, but you know, I've got three young kids, I've got a family, I've got a mission that I'm serving with, Madefor, I've got my own physical health and my friendships and my teammates and I still am very close with the military community.
And so making sure that I am taking every chance that I have to to move closer towards those things every day and when I don't and when I fall short to be kind to myself and to re-engage as quickly as possible. So I think that's, that's what I'm working on continues to be my my intention and what's important to me.
Allison: Well, pat, we have enjoyed every moment of our conversation with you today and if people are listening right now and want to connect with you or learn more about Madefor where should they go, how can they follow you?
Patrick: Yeah, you can go to our website getmadefor.com, G E T M A D E F O R.com. You can follow us on Instagram @madefor, and you can find me on Instagram @madefor_pat
And yeah, reach out if you have any questions, just hit our team up. We're always here to help. And now I really appreciate the chance to come on and talk about what we do and really value what you all do as well. I think when someone finds himself in a position where they're really struggling and they've got a lot on their plate, it can be so easy to lose perspective.
And what I always like to say is when you find yourself in that place, sometimes you've got to outsource to a teammate to a professional and to really lean on someone to rely on someone else's expertise to help guide you through that moment until you're at a place where you can start to pick your head up and have some perspective again, and appreciate the work that you all do in the community that you serve.
It's important. So thank you.
Allison: Thank you so much for being here. We really appreciate you.
Patrick: Awesome. Thanks guys.
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