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Legendary Life | Transform Your Body, Upgrade Your Health & Live Your Best Life

660: How the Ultra Successful Think (and Why Most People Self-Sabotage) with Dr. Julie Gurner

Legendary Life | Transform Your Body, Upgrade Your Health & Live Your Best Life

Ted Ryce

Health & Fitness, Fitness

4.8848 Ratings

🗓️ 2 February 2026

⏱️ 46 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Many high achievers look successful on paper but feel constrained, overwhelmed, or quietly dissatisfied behind the scenes. 

In this episode, Ted sits down with executive performance psychologist Dr. Julie Gurner to explore why driven people struggle with stress, control, motivation, and identity as their responsibilities grow. The conversation breaks down how success can outpace personal growth—and what happens when it does. 

This episode offers a clear, grounded look at the psychological shifts required to sustain performance, health, and fulfillment at higher levels. Listen now!

 

Today's Guest 

Dr. Julie Gurner 

Dr. Julie Gurner is a doctor  psychology and executive performance coach who works with high-level executives, founders, and elite performers in tech, finance, and other high-stakes industries. She is the founder of Ultra Successful, a widely read newsletter focused on the psychology of exceptional performance, and has been described by The Wall Street Journal as a real-world counterpart to Wendy Rhoades from Billions. 

 

Connect to Dr. Julie Gurner 

Website: DrGurner.com  

Substack: DrGurner.substack.com  

X: @drgurner 

Instagram: @drgurner 

 

You'll learn: 

 

  • Why high performers often sabotage success as their identity lags behind growth 

  • How control, stress, and overload quietly limit cognitive performance 

  • The difference between productive stress and stress that undermines decision-making 

  • Why motivation, discipline, and grinding are often misunderstood at high levels 

 

What Ted and Julie discuss in this episode: 

00:00 Introduction 

00:42 Meet Dr. Julie Gurner: Performance Psychologist 

02:13 High Performers and Fitness 

03:40 The Role of Sleep in Performance 

05:24 Cognitive Optimization for High Achievers 

11:05 Managing Stress for Executives 

14:01 Letting Go of Control to Succeed 

14:49 The 80% Rule: Delegating for Growth 

15:33 Building a Team: The Key to Scaling 

16:18 Personal Growth for Business Success 

17:03 Balancing Control and Delegation 

18:31 Choosing the Right Business Partner 

20:00 The Importance of Self-Belief 

26:17 Final Thoughts  

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

the wrong business partner is a very, very significant reason why even like startups fail.

0:06.0

Right. They have the wrong co-founder, the wrong dynamic. They're not aligned. You should choose

0:11.3

your business partner as carefully as you choose a spouse.

0:15.8

Welcome to the legendary life podcast, where it's all about taking control of your health,

0:21.1

losing fat, transforming your body, and living the life you deserve with celebrity fitness

0:26.5

trainer and longevity enthusiast Ted Rice. Now back to the show. Today I'm having

0:35.6

performance psychologist Dr. Julie Garner on the show to reveal why top

0:41.2

achievers self-sabotage, how to avoid identity lag, and how to unlock your next level

0:47.8

without burning out.

0:49.3

So if you've ever felt like you're capable of more, but can't quite break through. This episode is for you.

0:58.5

Dr. Julie Garner, thanks so much for coming on the legendary live podcast. Really excited to speak with

1:04.0

you today. I'm excited to be here, Ted. It's such a pleasure to meet you. Yeah, we've had a little bit of

1:10.3

back and forth on X, formerly known as

1:13.6

Twitter. And as soon as I saw you, I forget how I stumbled upon you, but I really liked what you

1:21.6

had to say. It was very different than a lot of maybe the positive psychology. You're very positive, but the

1:29.2

kind of pop positive psychology. So really excited to dive in. And the way I want to start this

1:36.7

conversation is why did the Wall Street Journal compare you to Wendy Rhodes of billions?

1:42.4

You know, that was such an interesting, an interesting thing that

1:45.4

happened. It was the first time I could tell my mom, like, this is what I do for a living. I think she's always been confused, you know, are you a therapist? Are you, like, what do you do? Are you business consultant? Like, what actually do you do? So it was a great opportunity for me to explain to family and others, like, this is kind of what I do, only far more ethically, I'm better with my clients. I like to think than that. But nonetheless, the reason why they made that comparison, I think, is because we generally do the same job, right? I work with people who are in high pressure, high stakes environments who are, you know, fairly well established in business, who have, you know,

2:19.3

are continuing to kind of push the envelope and really need and kind of want someone there who

2:24.8

helps to kind of steer that direction and help them grow in a way that's going to be effective

2:28.8

and kind of maximizes their potential, even in a seat where many people see them as being like kind of at the peak

...

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