If you Google "the American dream" right now, most of what comes back says it is dead. Carol Mathews spent this year proving otherwise. Carol is the founder of Hero Productions in Tulsa, the producer of the feature film Home Run, and one of my favorite human beings, which is saying something after 67 years. She just finished producing Reigniting the American Dream for Governor Kevin Stitt's year as chair of the National Governors Association: 56 interviews from every walk of life, from Mark Cuban and Governor Wes Moore to a woman who walked out of prison and now gives her life to other women. We talk about why the people who built this country were living for something larger than themselves, what makes America different (you can fail here and try again), why our lives are downstream from the stories we take in, and the one thing that decides who makes it: grit. Carol also gives the most practical advice in the episode: know your why, write it down, and ask whether it means something to the version of you at the very end of your life.

Chapters:
0:00 Coming up
0:30 The David Leifeste Show
0:51 Welcome: Carol Mathews
1:28 Home Run, and a year with the National Governors Association
2:49 Getting a pulse on America
3:07 What the documentaries taught David
4:25 The country was their dream
6:30 The nameless people who built it
7:10 Reigniting the American Dream
8:28 It is safe to believe
8:44 Grit, and the fear that Americans are getting soft
10:10 Fifty-six interviews: what the dream means
12:01 Cynt Marshall: from the projects to the NBA
14:10 Nobody overcomes alone
15:10 George Washington leaves Mount Vernon
16:40 What makes America different: you can fail and try again
19:10 Failure is just new information
19:50 The woman who is living the dream
21:10 Mark Cuban's best hug
22:23 Dolly Parton
23:25 Grit is a long game
25:50 How to keep going: know your why
27:40 Hang around people who pull the best out of you
29:00 Our lives are downstream from stories
29:32 Learn to think for yourself
31:40 Allocate your energy like a CEO
32:20 Thank you, Carol
32:45 Until next time

Watch Reigniting the American Dream on YouTube.

New conversations every week. Like and subscribe so you never miss an episode.

ABOUT THE GUEST
Carol Mathews is the founder and executive producer of Hero Productions in Tulsa, Oklahoma, with nearly three decades in film and television. She produced the feature film Home Run and the 2026 documentary Reigniting the American Dream for the National Governors Association.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carolspannmathews/
Hero Productions: https://www.heroproductions.com

ABOUT DAVID
David Leifeste, M.S., L.P.C., is a psychotherapist and executive coach, and the author of The Possibility of You. The David Leifeste Podcast brings the book's message to life: honest conversations about the stories that keep us stuck, and the way back to your true self.

CONNECT & GO DEEPER
Join the OASIS community: https://www.skool.com/oasis
Podcast website: https://davidleifesteshow.com
David's website: https://davidleifeste.com
Get the book, The Possibility of You: https://www.amazon.com/Possibility-You-S-I-S-Unlocking-Purpose/dp/B0F31QK65X

#podcast #americandream #grit #purpose #resilience

What if the most powerful medicine isn't a medication at all? Dr. Grant Daugherty is a psychiatrist trained at the Cleveland Clinic, now practicing in Tulsa — and someone I've had the joy of watching grow for fifteen years. In this conversation he shares the research that surprises almost everyone: the relationship between doctor and patient can be more powerful than the prescription itself. We talk about getting unstuck, journaling your way to clarity, why loneliness has become America's number one epidemic, and the simple daily practice of choosing connection over fear. I left this conversation full of hope, and I believe you will too.

New conversations every week. Like and subscribe so you never miss an episode.

ABOUT DAVID
David Leifeste, M.S., L.P.C., is a psychotherapist and executive coach, and the author of The Possibility of You. The David Leifeste Podcast brings the book's message to life: honest conversations about the stories that keep us stuck, and the way back to your true self.

CONNECT & GO DEEPER
Join the OASIS community: https://www.skool.com/oasis
Podcast website: https://davidleifesteshow.com
David's website: https://davidleifeste.com
Get the book, The Possibility of You: https://www.amazon.com/Possibility-You-S-I-S-Unlocking-Purpose/dp/B0F31QK65X

Dr. Matt Griswold has spent his adult life asking one question: what happens when you create the right conditions and let the body do what it was made to do? In this conversation, one of my dearest friends — and one of the most respected healthcare professionals in our region — shares the story behind his practice, the rituals that carry him through a hundred patients a day, and why the physical and the emotional are two wings of the same bird. I left this one grateful, and I believe you will too.

ABOUT THE GUEST
Dr. Matt Griswold — 918 Chiropractic, Tulsa, OK
YouTube: @thegriswoldmethod
Instagram: @dr.mattgriswold
918 Chiropractic on Instagram: @918_chiropractic

ABOUT DAVID
David Leifeste, M.S., L.P.C., is a psychotherapist and executive coach, and the author of The Possibility of You. The David Leifeste Podcast brings the book's message to life — honest conversations about the stories that keep us stuck, and the way back to your true self.

CONNECT & GO DEEPER
Join the OASIS community: https://www.skool.com/oasis
Podcast website: https://davidleifesteshow.com
David's website: https://davidleifeste.com
Get the book — The Possibility of You: https://www.amazon.com/Possibility-You-S-I-S-Unlocking-Purpose/dp/B0F31QK65X

Julian Essolakina was born in Togo, West Africa, moved to France as a young student, and now works out of Washington, DC — with a recent chapter in Tulsa, where he and David first met. He reads Nietzsche, Dostoevsky, and Camus for pleasure, moves between languages and continents the way most of us cross state lines, dresses like no one else in the room, and organizes his whole life around one rule: never live the same year twice.

In this conversation, David — psychotherapist and executive coach with 40 years and more than 100,000 conversations in practice — and Julian dig into juxtaposition as a master key to growth: how contrast between cultures, places, and people wakes the soul up, why being "comfortable being uncomfortable" is a superpower you can practice, what the hamster wheel quietly does to a soul, and why you should always leave room in your life for the magic that happens in the margins.

ABOUT DAVID
David Leifeste, M.S., L.P.C., is a psychotherapist and executive coach, and the author of The Possibility of You. The David Leifeste Podcast brings the book's message to life — honest conversations about the stories that keep us stuck, and the way back to your true self.

CONNECT & GO DEEPER
Join the OASIS community: https://www.skool.com/oasis
Podcast website: https://davidleifesteshow.com
David's website: https://davidleifeste.com
Get the book — The Possibility of You: https://www.amazon.com/Possibility-You-S-I-S-Unlocking-Purpose/dp/B0F31QK65X

Dr. Jarred Michalski is a triple-board-certified forensic pathologist who investigates unexpected and unnatural deaths — and now works alongside Dr. Bennet Omalu, the physician Will Smith portrayed in "Concussion." He is also a gymnast, a juggler, and one of the most philosophically alive minds David has sat down with.

In this conversation, David — psychotherapist and executive coach with 40 years in practice — and Jarred go from the autopsy table to Albert Camus: why "autopsy" literally means to see for yourself, what daily proximity to death teaches about impermanence, why hope and regret may be the same trap, and how to build a life framework that is entirely your own.

ABOUT DAVID
David Leifeste, M.S., L.P.C., is a psychotherapist and executive coach, and the author of The Possibility of You. The David Leifeste Podcast brings the book's message to life — honest conversations about the stories that keep us stuck, and the way back to your true self.

CONNECT & GO DEEPER
Join the OASIS community: https://www.skool.com/oasis
Podcast website: https://davidleifesteshow.com
David's website: https://davidleifeste.com
Get the book — The Possibility of You: https://www.amazon.com/Possibility-You-S-I-S-Unlocking-Purpose/dp/B0F31QK65X

At ten years old, Dan Arthur was living in a tent at a campground, selling nightcrawlers and hand-poured sinkers to buy macaroni and cheese. At twelve, he was living in a 1966 Plymouth Fury with his dad — until the night someone broke in with a gun. Today he's an engineer, a geologist, the owner of multiple companies, and an expert called on around the world.

In this first conversation on The David Leifeste Show, David — a psychotherapist and executive coach with 40 years in practice — walks through how Dan's openness and relentless curiosity turned brutal circumstances into an extraordinary life: love, health, prosperity, and contentment.

ABOUT DAVID
David Leifeste, M.S., L.P.C., is a psychotherapist and executive coach, and the author of The Possibility of You. The David Leifeste Podcast brings the book's message to life — honest conversations about the stories that keep us stuck, and the way back to your true self.

CONNECT & GO DEEPER
Join the OASIS community: https://www.skool.com/oasis
Podcast website: https://davidleifesteshow.com
David's website: https://davidleifeste.com
Get the book — The Possibility of You: https://www.amazon.com/Possibility-You-S-I-S-Unlocking-Purpose/dp/B0F31QK65X