The One You Feed isn’t just a proverb—it’s a practical framework for how your thoughts, habits, and inputs shape who you become. In this episode, Ashley and I break down the “two wolves” story (the good wolf vs. the destructive wolf) and get brutally honest about what most people miss: the negative path is usually the default… and changing it takes reps.

We connect the proverb to real life—gratitude, media consumption, dopamine loops, “neurons that fire together wire together,” and why your environment and inputs matter more than you want to admit. We also share a defining moment from our marriage (a serious ATV accident) and how choosing the right mindset in a hard season didn’t just help us survive—it made us stronger.

Takeaways:

• Identify what you’re feeding daily (media, self-talk, habits, relationships)
• Interrupt negative spirals with simple practices like gratitude and “pause + evaluate”
• Rewire habits through small, consistent reps instead of all-or-nothing swings
• Protect your mind by being selective about what you consume
• Choose responses on purpose—especially when life punches you in the face

Hosted by Josh Negron, entrepreneur, leader, and serial optimizer with his co-host, Ashley Negron.

If this hit home, share it with someone who’s been feeding the wrong wolf—and commit to one better “meal” today.

Mindset coaching, habit change, gratitude practice.

Full show notes → [OptimizingBeyond.com

Most people underestimate how much leadership accountability shapes their homes, teams, and communities. When good men — or good leaders — do nothing, disorder fills the vacuum.

This episode digs into the quiet dangers of abdication and why passivity always creates unintended consequences. We explore how appreciation fuels responsibility, why strength must be controlled not hidden, and how servant leadership calls you to show up long before you feel ready.

You’ll learn why avoiding conflict creates bigger conflict, why stepping back invites chaos, and why the people you lead need clarity more than they need perfection. We break down the difference between peacekeeping and peacemaking, why accountability is an act of love, and how intentional presence stabilizes relationships, teams, and culture itself.

These are the lessons that transform marriages, raise healthier kids, build trustworthy teams, and shape strong communities — all starting with one person deciding to take responsibility.

Takeaways

• Recognize how abdication creates disorder
• Show up before you feel fully prepared
• Practice servant leadership through controlled strength
• Communicate truth in love instead of avoiding conflict
• Model responsibility to elevate everyone around you

Hosted by Josh Negron, entrepreneur, leader, and serial optimizer.

If this challenges you, share it with someone who’s ready to step up and lead where it matters most.

Related phrases: responsible leadership, servant leadership, emotional maturity

Most people don’t realize how much their mindset is shaped by untested assumptions. In this episode, we unpack three life lessons that would have changed everything in our 20s.

We break down three foundational lessons every young adult — and honestly, every adult — needs to master:

1. Assuming positive intent, credit Jonathan Dawson.
2. Controlling your emotions, credit Danelle Delgado.
3. Controlling the second thought, credit Glenn Lundy.

These aren’t theories. These are the real skills that shape your relationships, your decision-making, and your long-term growth.

We talk about how assumptions distort reality, why reacting without thinking creates unnecessary damage, and how learning to pause, evaluate, and respond can transform your daily life. You’ll hear practical examples, frameworks, and ways to begin changing how you think today — not someday.

This episode is direct, honest, and packed with simple tools that build emotional maturity and better relational outcomes.

Takeaways

• Identify and interrupt harmful assumptions
• Practice second-thought awareness before reacting
• Communicate with clarity instead of emotional heat
• Reframe your perception of intent and motives
• Build long-term relational trust through thoughtful responses

Hosted by Josh Negron, entrepreneur, leader, and serial optimizer. Featuring co-host and wife, Ashley Negron.

If this episode challenges you, share it with someone who needs these lessons right now — especially someone in their 20s, or raising someone in their 20s.

emotional intelligence, mindset growth, relational maturity.

Overcoming depression while building a business, carrying family responsibility, and holding on to faith is not a theory for Michael Cirillo—it’s lived experience. In this conversation, Michael walks through his journey from family phone-book hustle to leading FlexDealer, LiftKit, ASOTU, Dealer Playbook, and more - and the seven-year mental health battle that nearly took him out.

You’ll hear how he reframed cancellations, financial pressure, and darkness into reps, responsibility, and response. We unpack the difference between reacting and responding, why mediocrity is more dangerous than failure, and how faith shifts your view from “God isn’t helping me” to “I’m already equipped to move.”

Michael shares specific practices that helped him move from paralysis to progress: small steps, honest self-inventory, clearing mental clutter, and redefining sacrifice as making room for who you’re becoming—not just what you’re losing.

Key Takeaways

• Reframe cancellations and setbacks as data, not a death sentence
• Plan your response to hard things before emotions spike
• Break big goals into tiny, winnable actions that build confidence
• Treat sacrifice as the act of becoming, not punishment
• Stay the course when it feels like nothing is changing

Hosted by Josh Negron, entrepreneur, leader, and serial optimizer.

If this episode hit home, take a minute to reflect, subscribe, and share it with someone who’s in the fight but hasn’t quit.

Related: resilience habits, faith and mental health, entrepreneurial mindset.

Most couples don’t wake up one day and suddenly feel distant—disconnection is the result of neglected intentional marriage habits, tiny drifts, and conversations that never happen.

In this episode of Optimizing Beyond, Josh and his wife Ashley get real about what it actually takes to stay best friends after years together. From drifting “side by side on separate rafts” to turning toward each other daily, they unpack how small, consistent choices protect connection, trust, and respect over the long haul.

They talk practical rhythms, not perfection—things like sending the small “I see you” texts, scheduling time together in busy seasons with kids or careers, and learning when to listen instead of fix. They also dive into check-ins, emotional safety, who you’re allowed to vent to (and who you’re absolutely not), and how faith and modern gender roles can work together instead of compete.

Takeaways:

• Practice daily micro-moments of connection.
• Use relationship check-ins before resentment builds.
• Choose curiosity over judgment in conflict.
• Guard who you talk to about your spouse.
• See roles as teamwork, not competition.

Optimizing Beyond is a podcast designed to help you live beyond every limit.

Hosted by Josh Negron, entrepreneur, leader, and serial optimizer.

🎧 If this helped you see your marriage differently, share it with your spouse and another couple you care about.

marriage intentionality • relationship growth • communication in marriage

elevate • advance • refine

Most people don’t burn out from lack of ambition — they burn out from mismanaged energy. We live overstimulated, underslept, and over-caffeinated, constantly trying to push through fatigue rather than manage it. But here’s the truth: energy isn’t created, it’s managed.

In this episode of Optimizing Beyond, Josh Negron reveals how to build and protect daily vitality through disciplined stewardship over four pillars: sleep, circadian rhythm, inputs, and recovery. Drawing from both science and lived experience, Josh breaks down the practical, sustainable habits that help you build consistent clarity, strength, and focus — no hacks required.

Takeaways:

• Master the four energy pillars: sleep, rhythm, inputs, and recovery.
• Learn why consistency beats intensity and discipline expands freedom.
• Apply the “30-Minute Rule” to transform sleep quality and recovery.
• Discover how nutrition, hydration, and movement shape mental performance.
• Build daily systems that automate health instead of relying on willpower.

Freedom isn’t the absence of structure — it’s the reward of mastering it. This episode gives you a real-world playbook to optimize energy for work, leadership, and life.

Hosted by Josh Negron, entrepreneur, leader, and serial optimizer.

If this episode recharges your mindset, share it with a friend and subscribe for more Optimizing Beyond.

energy management • sleep optimization • discipline and freedom • health habits • vitality and focus

Practical Playbook: 7 Plays to Start

Feel free to swap anything in or out. Remember to keep it low friction and repeatable. You can always adjust later!

1 — Pick Your Pillar

• Choose one pillar: sleep, nutrition, movement, recovery to schedule in your calendar this week.
  • Like scheduling your sleep window, preplanning meals for the week, reminders for wind down cues.

2 — Add Time-in-Bed

• Add +30 minutes. Don’t overthink it.
• Park your phone out of the bedroom.
• 5-10 minute wind-down: light stretch, prayer, journal, or gratitude, then lights out.

3 — Get Morning Light & Take a Walk

• 5–10 minutes of outdoor light.
• 20–30 minute Zone-2 walk.

4 — Planned Meal & Protein Anchor

• Eat a planned meal (for example: protein + 2 colors + fiber) without debating it.
• Hydrate earlier in the day so you’re not chugging late.

5 — Strength You Can Repeat

• Find a fun movement activity to start this week.
• Simple full-body: push, pull, hinge, squat, carry.
• Post-session fuel within a few hours: protein + carbs.

6 — Target Two Gold-Standard Evenings

• Choose two nights this week for warm light, stretch, journal/prayer, lights out on time.
• Protect them.

7 — Gratitude Fuel

• Gratitude before bed: write 10 things you’re grateful for that day.

Bonus — The “When Life Happens” Rule:

If the day gets wrecked, still hit a viable habit — For example: a 10-minute walk and phone parked for the last 30 minutes of the day. Don’t fold and give up!

Most of us don’t get crushed by a single boulder — we get worn down by gravel. Those small moments of over-responsibility, constant re-checking, and endless overthinking slowly drain our peace. In this episode of Optimizing Beyond, Josh Negron dives deep into the art of letting go — not as apathy, but as disciplined stewardship.

Control promises certainty it can’t deliver. Letting go, however, is wisdom in motion: doing your part with clarity and excellence, then releasing outcomes, timing, and other people’s emotions. Josh offers a practical roadmap to reclaim peace through focus, boundaries, and trust.

Takeaways:

• Apply the Selective Focus Framework to right-size your responsibility.
• Practice boundary reps with real-life language you can use today.
• Learn the Trust Transfer Protocol to release control under stress.
• Understand how control disguises insecurity and fuels burnout.
• Build systems and faith habits that protect peace and clarity.

Letting go isn’t quitting — it’s quitting the illusion of control. This episode will help you act where your action matters most, lead with calm clarity, and finally recover your peace.

Hosted by Josh Negron, entrepreneur, leader, and serial optimizer.

🎧 If this message helps you breathe easier, share it with someone who needs peace today — and subscribe for future episodes.

Letting go • control and peace • boundaries and leadership • emotional intelligence • mindset growth

What if one simple daily habit could lower your stress, reshape your perception, and even extend your life? A Harvard-affiliated study found that people who practice gratitude regularly have roughly a 9% lower risk of death over three years. Gratitude isn’t just a feeling—it’s a measurable advantage.

In this episode of Optimizing Beyond, Josh Negron reframes gratitude from a fluffy mindset trick to a strategic neural practice that rewires your brain for clarity, calm, and growth. He unpacks how gratitude trains attention, builds resilience, and strengthens leadership through the Logic–Faith–Practice framework.

Takeaways:

• Learn the neuroscience behind gratitude and emotional rewiring.
• Apply the 3-step Logic, Faith, Practice framework.
• Use the 5-minute daily gratitude drill to retrain attention.
• Turn failure and frustration into focus and feedback.
• Level up gratitude with the “Gratitude 100” and team culture cues.

Gratitude doesn’t ignore reality—it trains perception to see what’s true and useful, especially under pressure. Start small, stay consistent, and watch your reactions shift into responses that build strength, empathy, and leadership.

Hosted by Josh Negron, entrepreneur, leader, and serial optimizer.

🎧 If this episode helped you see good differently, share it with someone who needs perspective—and subscribe for more Optimizing Beyond.

gratitude training • emotional intelligence • mindset rewiring • daily growth habit