Transcript

Stress Doesn't Have to Destroy You—It Can Elevate You | David Nurse

From John R. Miles · Episode page · Watch on YouTube

· 34 min · 6,351 words · 68 timestamped sections

This is the full, timestamped transcript of "Stress Doesn't Have to Destroy You—It Can Elevate You | David Nurse", an episode of John R. Miles published December 30, 2025 (34 min, about 6,351 words). It mentions 37 people, works and ideas, including Flow code, Deep practice, QEEG (Quantitative electroencephalography), TAP (Trust–Acceptance–Presence), David Nurse.

What this episode is about

David Nurse discusses how stress can be categorized into two types: pointless stress, which hinders performance, and positive stress, which enhances it. By reframing our relationship with stress and embracing the positive aspects, individuals can elevate their performance and achieve their goals.

Key takeaways

  • Eustress fuels, doesn't fry; it's the nervous jolt that propels you onto greatness.
  • Protein gummy revolution: two grams per gummy, 10 per bag, zero sugar; chew on that!
  • Hyper-speed lifestyles: everyone's sprinting; remember your 5-second cameo in their story.
  • Essential living: ruthless about purpose, banishing non-essentials to thrive, not just survive.
  • Passion Struck journey: intent unlocks potential, transforming guidance into your growth GPS.

Who speaks in this episode?

What is discussed, and when

  1. – 5:00: Collagen Power Powder, David Nurse
  2. – 10:00: Flow code, Optimal anxiety, Will and Ariel Durant
  3. – 15:00: Deep practice, Attributes, Brook Lopez, Davidson College
  4. – 20:00: Allison Felix, Chris Cassidy, Flow code
  5. – 25:00: Flow code, Free Solo, Cross-crawl, Metavisualization
  6. – 30:00: Attributes, Instagram
  7. – 33:54: David Nurse, David Nurse MBA, Flow code

Notable quotes from "Stress Doesn't Have to Destroy You—It Can Elevate You | David Nurse"

  • I am so excited today to bring my good friend David Nurse on Passion Struck.
    about David Nurse · at
  • I love it. I have a sponsor of this show, Collagen Power Powder.
    about Collagen Power Powder · at
  • That sweet spot where anxiety sharpens you instead of crushing you. You call it flow code.
    about Flow code · at
  • Really knows about you. Best player in the world. we've got some LeBron's, Kevin Durant. all right, we'll we'll see. So, the very first workout, we try to crush their souls…
    about Will and Ariel Durant · at
  • Coached with also with the Nets years before and that player was a 17-year-old Kobe Bryant that wanted more deep practice is what it's called. Deep practice is the one of the…
    about Deep practice · at
  • Understood deep practice. Two, he also had this vision of where he wanted to go. We call it metavisualization is where you and it's a daily practice. We can dive deeper into…
    about Metavisualization · at
  • Million years did I think he would turn into the player that he's become using some of the attributes that you're just talking about. But whether it's Jeremy Lynn or Brook Lopez or Steph Curry, what's one specific thing those athletes.
    about Attributes · at
  • Incredible flow state people, the one common theme, no matter if it's Alex Hano climbing free solo, if it's Shay Alexander, if it's a top coffee barista, if it's whatever it might be, is they have passion for what they do.
    about Free Solo · at

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

  • David Nurse — Person · 2 mentions · first at
  • Steven Kotler — Person · 2 mentions
  • Will and Ariel Durant — Person · 1 mention · first at
  • Brook Lopez — Person · 1 mention · first at
    Using some of the attributes that you're just talking about. But whether it's Jeremy Lynn or Brook Lopez or Steph Curry, what's one specific thing those athletes do that helps them drop into the zone quickly, especially when the stakes are.
  • Chris Cassidy — Person · 1 mention · first at
    The book, the person who I profiled on this topic was an astronaut, turned out to be the chief astronaut, Chris Cassidy. And Chris is a former Navy Seal.
  • Allison Felix — Person · 1 mention · first at
    Actually formulaically train it. And I'd interview these top athletes like Allison Felix, a track star, and I'd ask her Have you ever been in flow?
  • Jeremy Lin — Person · 1 mention
  • Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi — Person · 1 mention
  • Rich Diviney — Person · 1 mention

Books & papers

Companies & orgs

  • U.S. Navy SEALs — Company · 2 mentions
  • Lowe's Home Improvement — Company · 1 mention · first at
    I love that answer. I used to work at Lowe's Home Improvement and Lowe's is headquartered in Morsville, which is about 30 minutes north of Charlotte and I used to go to Davidson College when I lived there to watch basketball games.
  • Davidson College — Company · 1 mention · first at
    Headquartered in Morsville, which is about 30 minutes north of Charlotte and I used to go to Davidson College when I lived there to watch basketball games because they're not…
  • Instagram — Company · 1 mention · first at
    What's happening in that text message conversation what's happening on that Instagram thread and it takes us away from the ability to lock in the zone so more than anything…
  • David Nurse MBA — Company · 1 mention · first at
    Social media, David Nurse MBA, the website, david nurse.com. All of it's pretty much there. I'm pretty active on social media. Of course, check out the new More or less protein gummies. Think.
  • Brooklyn Nets — Company · 1 mention
  • BUD/S — Company · 1 mention
  • davidnurse.com — Company · 1 mention
  • IRB (Institutional Review Board) — Company · 1 mention
  • Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball — Company · 1 mention

Products & tech

  • Chomps — Product · 1 mention

Concepts & topics

Places & events

Sponsors

Full transcript with timestamps

If there's only bad stress and think of that in your life as like the overwhelm or feeling like you have too much stuff on your plate, it's pointless stress that is going to keep you out of the ability to get in the zone because you have just too much like nonsense, the non-essentials really. But the ustress, the positive stress is the the nerves that you feel before you walk on stage. It's the pressure that you might might feel before you go onto a sporting arena. That type of stress allows you to perform at a higher level if you have a relationship with it that you're accepting of it. Welcome to Passion Struck. Hi, I'm your host John R. Miles.

And on the show, we decipher the secrets, tips, and guidance of the world's most inspiring people and turn their wisdom into practical advice for you and those around you. Our mission is to help you unlock the power of intentionality so that you can become the best version of yourself. If you're new to the show, I offer advice and answer listener questions on Fridays. We have long- form interviews the rest of the week with guests ranging from astronauts to authors, CEOs, creators, innovators scientists military leaders, visionaries, and athletes. Now, let's go out there and become passionruck.

I am so excited today to bring my good friend David Nurse on Passion Struck. Dave, man, what is up? It's been a minute. How's life? Oh,

it's good, John. It's crazy that it goes so fast. I feel like every year flies by faster and I don't even have kids yet. I really got no excuses there, but it's going good, man. Thank you.

I can't believe it. Mine are now 21 and 27 and I'm I thought you were 27. I am so upset with my 21-year-old not coming home for Thanksgiving, but

kids will be kids. Yeah. Well, okay. You let them know if you need me to lay down a hammer from an outside voice. I got you.

Thank you, man. Well, dude, I love watching you on the socials and when we catch up because Thanks, man.

Dude, you are always climbing. You're sprinting. You're cooking with chefs. You're visiting remote islands. What's the most recent experience, man, where you felt yourself growing again?

You know what? The most experience of growth in this past three to six months has honestly been starting a company, a better for you CPG health and wellness company. I've actually got the first iteration that were protein gummies. So, this came by way, John, of my wife eating a Chomp's beef stick and me calling her bluff because I know she doesn't like beef jerky. Then she went on this thing of saying she needs to get her protein in. I was like, "Who are you? I've never heard you say this." By way of asking hundreds and thousands of people of what they do for healthy protein on the go. It came to this conclusion. There's no answer for it.

Nobody really wants a glossy beef stick or a protein bar with too many ingredients and too many calories in it. So, we created this protein gummy. I brought together some of my good friends who have all done this and scaled. So, this allar team. So, it's been a really growth process for me of two things really. Learning this new space and also being part of a company that's building an actual product. Usually I just go talk, I go speak, I go coach, I use my voice. But now we've got this gummy that's two grams of protein per gummy.

And it's got only 50 calories in a bag. So 10 grams of protein per bag and only 50 calories. All clean ingredients, no sugar. It's the best thing for onthe-go protein. So that's what's been juicing me up and what's been really challenging me for further growth.

I love it. I have a sponsor of this show, Collagen Power Powder. Yeah. And it's named after a seal who died in combat, which is why I'm so aligned with it being a military guy. But we drink this stuff and I looked at the ingredients for the collagen power powder, but my wife is looking at it the other day and she do you know every time we take this we're getting 20 grams of protein and we didn't even know. So

dude, see there you go. And that's the craziest thing. Like the whole world's talking about getting more protein. the GLPO Zimpic like it's hard to get enough protein in and especially on the go and with clean and healthy ingredients because me and my team we just we're sick of being lied to of these other companies that are like, "Oh yeah, it's all clean. It's all good. It's all healthy." And then you come to find out there's things you can't even pronounce that rip and tear your gut apart. So we wanted to give people a healthy, clean option that's guiltree and tastes good.

Man, I love it. Dave, you are a man on the go and across the company you're building, keynotes, clients you work with, professional athletes, people you're interviewing, is there anything that genuinely surprised you in the last few months you heard from one of them?

That's a great question. I honestly think that it's a surprise and it's not a surprise of just how truly in people's own lives that they are. We often think and I often think of I text somebody or having a conversation with somebody, but really everybody's living their own life at their own speed. And right now it seems like a lot of people are living at hyper speed. So for someone to think of, oh, I remember this conversation I had with David, or oh, I should have got back to this text. We we often assume that everybody knows what we know in terms of where we're at in that conversation dance with them, but people like they might think of us for 5 seconds. They might just think of that in that moment, but everybody's living their own lives. And I see this with athletes, with CEOs, with just people that I interact with on a daily basis.

And I think it's one of the most important things and I think one of the most beautiful things when people can just take that step back, reassess, realign, figure out where their essential is, figure out where their non-essential is. And ultimately, that's what I call the flow of life. And that's what I think in from what I've seen and people are seeking that and searching for to just be in, you know, a rhythm of life that doesn't feel ultra hurried. Nobody wants that that hurried feeling.

I know that to be the case with myself. And you and I have been talking about flow and optimal performance for years.

And as we were talking about doing this conversation in my book, Passion Struck, I refer to this flow state as optimal anxiety.

That sweet spot where anxiety sharpens you instead of crushing you. You call it flow code.

Where do you see these two worlds meeting? Yeah. And that's I like that too, man. I think it's the ability to operate in an attention an attention state, right? It's high stress, but it's also complete clarity. So, I think that those worlds do intermix. I don't think it's ever going to be the world where you just wake up and you can sip coffee on your patio and things are just going slow and everything just is in perfect euphoric polyiana just dimensions. It's dealing with the stress. It's dealing with the real life. It's dealing with the you've got to be on. You've got to be focused. You got to be locked in. But then how do you create that clarity? So I think it is exactly like you you said, it's a dance and it's a rhythm, but it's also it is attention.

Yeah. And for the people who don't know you, you've coached over 175 NBA players, big basketball player yourself, brothers, big basketball name. But I wanted to ask you this directly, like out of all the people you've coached or observed, who was the biggest flow master you've ever worked with? Like the guy who could flip that switch the fastest, and what did they do differently from everyone else?

Man, so good. So, let me tell you this story. All right. So, it was 2018. I was doing NBA pre-draft. Now, this is where the college players, they come and prepare for the NBA. And it's just this like heightened state of preparation where millions of dollars are on the line. They have to do great in their workout, show the NBA teams that they're worth the money, they're worth the the pick. And I've been doing this for years. And I'd always ask the players that came in, I'd be like, "Hey, what are your goals? I want to see where they want to get to." And often the answers are, "Ah, I want to be drafted in the first round or I want to be an NBA allstar. I want to win a championship."

And that's pretty normal and I get that. But I had this player come in 2018. He was a freshman from Kentucky. He wasn't highly touted. Nobody was really talking about him. He was this gangly kid with just this big smile on his face, just this over exuberated smile on his face. And I asked him, "Hey, what are your goals?" And he looked at me with this smile. is I want to be the best player in the world. And I was like, I didn't say anything. I was like, okay, no one really knows about you. Best player in the world. Like, we've got some LeBron's, Kevin Durant. Like, all right, we'll we'll see. So, the very first workout, we try to crush their souls basically to see what they're made of, to see if they can take it. And it's like a two and a half, three hour workout. And most guys at the end of it, they're just passed out or going to the locker room and just it's exhausting.

It's like the equivalent. It's like hell week. It's like hell week. Obviously not as important as Navy Seals, but that's what we try to set it up like exactly. So this kid that I alluded to, this Kentucky kid after the workout, he comes up to me with that big smile on his face again. He says, "When are we going tonight?" He wanted to do another workout because he said there were certain things that he didn't master in that workout. There were certain footworks. There were certain in basketball there's just like anything there's so many details but there's these intricate details in these moves he didn't master is I want to work on these and I'd never had anybody say that they wanted to do those two a days especially how grueling of a workout these days are and there's only been one person that I'd ever heard of before do the same thing and a friend of mine had coached with also with the Nets years

before and that player was a 17-year-old Kobe Bryant that wanted more deep practice is what it's called. Deep practice is the one of the main steps of flow state. So, as I come back to that story and I'll tell you who this guy was. For example, if I'm shooting bow and arrows at a target and I just keep shooting and shooting, that's fine, but that's just practice. I'm not learning from every rep. Deep practice, if I shot that bow and arrow, I'd go walk up to it. I'd see the angle it hit at. I'd check the video. I'd see where my feet were at. my balance, the trajectory of it. Every single rep, I'm learning from and mastering. That's deep practice verse practice. And that's what helps you get into flow state faster and more regular. So, we do these workouts day, morning night morning night working on this deep practice, deep focus. And this player last season won the MVP, won the NBA championship, won the scoring

award, and he is known as the best player in the world. And it's Shay Gilis Alexander. That's who that player was. So his ability to tap into flow I saw from that first moment. One, because he understood deep practice. Two, he also had this this vision of where he wanted to go. We call it metavisualization is where you and it's a daily practice. We can dive deeper into that. It's but it's even on a daily basis of if you're just going through your day letting your day happen to you, you're probably going to get caught up in emails or text messages or get overwhelmed because you don't have a plan for it. So this visionary plan for him to become the best player in the world. And then he's just he's got this cool calm confidence about him where he's just smiling all the time having fun. And at the end of the day, the people that I see have this ability to tap into flow state. Steph Curry I've

been around a lot. He's the same kind of way. They're having fun and they're playing their sport or doing whatever they do with a free sense to them. It's fun and free. And I know that sounds so basic, but one of my one of my favorite terms, and I'll end this question with this, and I think it's really important. It's called simplicity on the far side of complexity. And it sounds sciency and everything, but what it really means is

when you start something, call it basketball or whatever your passion is. It's pretty simple, right? You're just having fun. You're playing free. You don't really know everything that goes into it. But as you rise up the ranks, there's details. There's this, there's that. You got to think about this. And it can become overwhelming. But at the top of it, when you reach that top echelon, you're actually back to just having fun and playing free. And that's the beauty of when you know you're in your flow.

I love that answer. I used to work at Lowe's Home Improvement and Lowe's is headquartered in Morsville, which is about 30 minutes north of Charlotte and I used to go to Davidson College when I lived there to watch basketball games because they're not good in any other sport. And Steph Curry happened to be there so I got to see him play. And he's another one where when I saw him in college, he was good, but never in a million years did I think he would turn into the player that he's become using some of the attributes that you're just talking about. But whether it's Jeremy Lynn or Brook Lopez or Steph Curry,

what's one specific thing those athletes do that helps them drop into the zone quickly, especially when the stakes are highest? This is something like I even think Jaylen Herz does in the big games as well.

Great. So they aren't defined by results. That's one of the biggest things that you have to be okay with failure to be able to succeed. So if you're worried about if you're going to lose, if you're worried about if you're going to miss shots, then you'll never be able to play free enough because you'll be aiming, you'll be pressing. So that freedom is a huge piece of it. But one of the biggest things that you know that I've worked with athletes and that I see that they do, I call it tap. It's literally you tap your wrist because it is this signal of the physical cue with the mental. And tying those together, the brain body connection is very powerful. But what tap stands for, it's just a reminder to the athlete or the person. It's trust. So the T is trust and trust is do you trust that the process you are on today, the work you're putting in today will lead to the results that you want tomorrow. So

basically, do you feel like you have a plan and you feel like the plan if you stick with that it will lead to where you want to get? And that's the first one. The second one is the A and that's acceptance. Are you willing to accept that God has you at the exact spot in life where you're supposed to be? You're not supposed to be any further ahead right now or any behind. he's got your feet at the right spot. That's a big one because a lot of people want to think they should be further than they are when their time hasn't come yet. And then P is presence. Are you able to stay present in that moment without ruminating on the past or having anxiety about the future? And that right there allows them they take away like it's not about that game alone. It's trusting the process for the goals that they have in a bigger picture. It's acceptance that no matter what happens, win or lose, made shot, miss shot, you know, that

God's got them right where they're supposed to be. And then it's the presence that they're able to stay present without having to carry the baggage from the past or the future anxieties to come. So that's the best way and just like an all-encompassing way of if you want to tap into flow state, if you can hit those three things and just keep that reminder, that cue of tapping your wrist for the tap in. In the book, the person who I profiled on this topic was an astronaut, turned out to be the chief astronaut, Chris Cassidy. And Chris is a former Navy Seal.

I see. And he told me he learned this flow state practice when he was going through buds. And he told me for him, I loved the tap analogy. He uses the analogy of a rubber band. He said, "Sometimes in life you're a rubber band that's elastic and other times there are moments when you need to learn how to tighten that rubber band." And it can never be tightened all the time and it can never be loose all the time. And the real key is how do you trigger yourself, which you're just describing, not many people do, of how to make it tight when you need it the most. and he said helped him when he was in combat. It helped him when he was doing training exercises. It helped him when he was doing space walks because he was able to get into this zone

of concentration that is trainable. And this is where I wanted to go with you because as I was reading the work that you've been doing, what you are finding is that flow is trainable. You've been working with neuroscientists mapping the 10 hertz brain wave signature.

What broke this open for you? What made you go, man, we can actually teach people how to do this?

I love this. So, I've always been a nerd for flow state and reading Mihi chick sent me mihi, the father of flow and you know his eight characteristics of flow and then Steven Cutotler's 22 cues of flow. I love it, but I've also thought that there's something more because they just talked about it and when someone was in the state of it, but not how to actually formulaically train it. And I'd interview these top athletes like Allison Felix, a track star, and I'd ask her like, "Have you ever been in flow?" I can remember her saying, she's like, "Yeah, I've been there three times."

Like, that's very specific. I'm like, "How did you get there?" She have no idea. And then talking with a friend, Michael Chandler, who's a big UFC fighter. He was telling me about this fight where he could see the guy's feet moving before they moved and he knocked him out cold. I was like, "Man, that's amazing. How did you get to that state?" He's like, "Yeah, I got no clue." So, I was like, "There's got to be a way, right?" So, I went on this journey to, you know, find the top neuroscientists who have done this before, who have trained this flow state. And I found them. They're out of Denver, just phenomenal people. And we I was like, "Hey, can we do a study, get some participants and see if this code, this flow code that we've put together, and I'll go into what that flow code is, can train people to get closer to be able to get into flow state more on a regular basis and stay in that state longer."

Obviously, it's a novel state where you can be kicked out in a lot of different situations can happen there.

And they're like, "Yeah, like we we've seen it in these brain QEGs." Now the state of flow that is generally accepted of this is when the deepest focus and this flow this freedom and fun rhythmic come together is what's 10 known as 10 hertz. It's in the alpha state. So alpha is between eight and 12 hertz of the brain. So you're trying to get into that state the most you can possible. So we got 60 participants. We did this whole IRB scientifically approved study and let me tell you that is a pulling teeth to get through to get a scientific study approved and we get 60 participants in we get it funded. We have 20 of them in the upraining of the brain. So when we QEG them at the start, that scans their brain. That tells you if you're either in a slower brain, so think about more laidback and chill or you're in a faster kind of type A brain like myself and you need to calm and bring it down. So we

had 20 and 20 and then we put 20 in the control group. In the control group, we gave them Steven Cutotler's 22 cues of flow, the highest flow state thing there was at the time, and said, "Hey, you know what? just pick whichever one you want. So we go through this study and what we come to find as we're writing this white paper right now is that the people who are uptraining their brain they brought that presence of the we did a QEG at the end their brain did get closer to overall in the delta got closer to this 10 hertz and bringing it from a downtrain situation got closer to the 10 hertz. Now, not everybody was as high of a delta, which means the change in variance as some of them were. But that's also like in any study that you do. You never know what everybody's doing every single day of their life.

But we wanted to give it a see if this flow code formula which we put together based on science and neuroscience of what can gets that brain closer to that state. So the first stage of it is metavisualization and box breathing. So box breathing, this is just a way to slow down the central nervous system is 4 seconds in, 4 second hold, 4 second breathing out, and 4 second holding out. We had them do a minute rounds of box breathing. The meta visualization is what I was talking about earlier. It's mixing the meditation and the visualization together. So the meditation is you on whatever word that you have or whatever picture is in your mind and the visualization we had them visualizing something. So if you're uptraining the brain you're visualizing something that is more of a faster pace. If you're downtraining the brain the visualization is more something of a calm peaceful morning. So there's more details in this

but as the study goes but it's a box breathing with meta visualization for one minute. The next one is a autogenic mind muscle activation. And it's just a really cool way of saying if you're sitting there, think about you feel like there's water flowing from your head, you know, through your neck, through your arms, through your legs. You're basically just activating every aspect of your body. You're feeling one with it. So, it's just a calming mechanism as well. The third part, that's for about a minute as well. Each one's for about a minute. So, it's an easy one that you can do anywhere, any day, on the go.

Also, the third one is bilateral tapping. Now, bilateral tapping is either tapping of your temples to slow it down or temp tapping of your heart to speed it up. So, there's different ways to it's also a regulation of the central nervous system. And the fourth one is a cross crawl disorganization. That just means you're having some kind of movement. Now the cross crawl disorganization is both sides of the body are doing something the opposite at the opposite time. So it' be like high knees. If you're trying to uptrain your brain doing high knees. If you're trying to down train your brain you could slowly just touch your opposite toe feel every vertebrae.

Just something very calming and going to the opposite side stimulates the opposite side of the brain connection. And then the fifth piece, I know this might sound like a lot, but it's once you do it a couple times, it's pretty easy. You get it in this formula, is just a neuro connection. And I think this is the most important part. This is the part where you're doing it for a higher purpose. You're connecting for me, it's God, Jesus, for it's whatever your higher connection is that makes the reason that you're doing what you do more important. you understand this with passion, with purpose, and we can dive more into this too, but like the interviews that I've done with these incredible flow state people,

the one common theme, no matter if it's Alex Hano climbing free solo, if it's Shay Alexander, if it's a top coffee barista, if it's whatever it might be, is they have passion for what they do. They love what they do. They got into it because they absolutely loved it. It's personified, meaning that they're actually doing it and they're not worried about the flow code. And there's some more details to it, but for these people that have gone through this study to get into flow state.

Yeah. So, they're passion struck is what you're they are passion struck, man. That's why this is perfect. Seriously. But it was so cool to see like when I was interviewing Alex Honold, Free Solo Guy. If you haven't seen this documentary, watch it. It's mindblowing what this guy did. and we're climbing on his climbing wall out there in in Las Vegas and he's just talking about he's like I didn't ever set out to try to have a documentary. I didn't think climbing was an actual thing you could do to make a career because I just love doing the thing and I just kept doing the thing and it just led to this. So they're absolutely passion struck.

Yeah. What freaks me out is when I watch them when they sleep up there and they put that little bed there with no guard rails. I'm like, it's bad enough that you're trying to free climate, but to have to sleep out there,

man. Right. Just some crazy Yeah. Yeah. The extreme sports is crazy. So, earlier this morning as I was preparing for this, I was listening to another podcast episode you did back during the summer and you were talking to a gentleman uh who has a brother who's an astronaut. And

you guys, since this is an alternative health podcast, got to talk about epigenetics. You were talking about epigenetics. And I think something people don't realize is that we're really all 99% the same. So

for sure when you think about that, what role does epigenetics play and how does our environment shape our ability to get into flow?

I love it, man. I think epigenetics plays a huge role. I think there's first on the basis of genetics, yes, is your foundation and your starting point. A good friend of mine, Rich Deini, wrote this book, attributes, and it outlines, I think, the 28 attributes that people have. So, for example, I might be born with more of one thing and you have less of it, or you have more of this and I have less of that. That's just our starting point, our genetics. Now, the epigenetics is everything we do from there on out to develop that. So, it's the point of why does somebody come from absolute obscurity in nowhere and become someone great, does something great?

because they have powerful epigenetics. And I think a lot of that too, do you have the unwavering belief [snorts] and sometimes incompetent confidence that you can do it? I think that's a blessing of mine that I've had is just like, I'm going to go try it. I'm going to go do it. Let's see what happens. And if it doesn't work, I'll try something else. But I don't really care that failure piece that, you know, most people want to avoid of that pain isn't something that I really worry about. So I think epigenetics of people understanding that would do the world a great deal if that was out there more and people talked about that more because genetics can also be one of the biggest excuse makers there is of oh my parents were this way or ah I was just born this way. Yeah but so what what are you going to do from that? Well, that's where neuroplasticity comes into play, right?

Absolutely. So, based on your research, what do you think knocks people out of the flow state the fastest? Is it distraction? Is it fear? Is it overthinking?

I think it's a culumulation of them. But I think distraction is the main one. I think distraction and especially now in the world that we live in today that is constantly on and you feel like you have to be constantly on. I think it's harder than ever to get in a in the flow state and just in the flow of your life. The answer of busy is the answer that everybody has. Whether it's an excuse or whether it's a truth, I do think that the way you get out of flow state the fastest is if you're distracted. If you have because now more than ever, we live in two worlds, right? We live in the world of the interpersonal that we're having on the like a physical interaction and we also live in the life of what's on this what's on our phone right and I think the next generation does even more you could be in a conversation but you're thinking of what's happening in that text message conversation what's happening on that

Instagram thread and it takes us away from the ability to lock in the zone so more than anything else distraction is the number one thing so creating an environment at least especially if you're trying to get into deep focused work of where the phone's off, the notifications are off, the browsers are off. And I know you might think, well, I have to have them on. No, you don't. You really don't have to have the connectivity of the world ultimately being your dictator for your life.

I want to make this applicable for all the listeners. We talked about how sports stars use this. I gave examples about the corporate environment, some other things. Um, how does this state apply to things like being a better parent or being a better partner? Can flow state positively impact those relationships too?

Absolutely. And I think that's where the big picture win of this all is and how to train to be in the zone because what we saw also not just was the QEG readings of the brain, but we also sent out surveys every single week for more of the the feeling type and just the state of mind that they were in. And every single one of those ones increased in terms of feeling more peaceful. They felt more purposeful. They felt more of not in a rush. like all of these aspects that people seek for on a daily basis this helped with. So I think it's very applicable and just thinking of it in like a one word or one sentence a few words is just the effortless effort and I think it's summed up in that is man doesn't that sound so attractive if you can go through your day and not feel like you're just putting out constant fires and not feel like you're just trying to get your head above water but it's just effortless effort. You're

patient with your kids. You're not worried about what your boss says. you just have this sense of calming peace. And I think we see it in these people. I always find it so attractive in people that I'm around. I'm just like, man, they're so present. They're so calm. They're listening to me. They're engaged in this conversation. And I think ultimately that's what people want. And that is what the flow code is about. And one thing that you would want listeners who are taking this interview in to do today to experience flow even if it's just 60 seconds. What is a starting point?

Yeah, I would say the breathing honestly. I think that's one of the best resets you can do. Box breathing anytime like and not just in the mornings either. Morning routines are great to start off your day. That's why there's halftimes. That's why there's third quarters. Take a break during the day and reset. do a minute of box breathing and just think about it like where do you want the rest of the day to go analyze the first half of the day you know what was good what can I adjust game plan for the second half of the day so I think that taking break one minute break in the middle of the day doing some box breathing and having some analyzation of how the day went and where you want it to go

David last question I have for you given you are on passion struck what does it mean for you to be passion struck

you know what it means Man, I'm glad you I think this is the best question there is. I love that you always ask this question. For me, it is pouring into my wife and my relationship with God. The two most important constants in my life is my relationship and my marriage with my wife and my relationship with Jesus Christ and God. And I have through those two things, being passionate about pursuing those two things on a daily basis gives me the freedom to not have to worry about the other stuff, not have to worry about where money might come from or if I get this deal or what this person thinks of me. I know I have the two most I've hit a home run in the two most important areas of life. Everything else like it can work itself out. It's fixable,

man. I love it. And last thing for the listeners, you've got multiple books, you're on stages throughout the country, people want to learn more about you. Where's the best place for them to go?

Social media, David Nurse MBA, the website, david nurse.com. All of it's pretty much there. I'm pretty active on social media. Of course, check out the new More or less protein gummies. Think you'll really like these. That's the next big thing. But yeah, reach out, please. I'd love to hear from you,

David. Such an honor to have you today. So glad we could finally get this booked.

Appreciate you, man. I love your podcast. I think what you're doing for your listeners and for the world at a whole, man, is just it's a if more people could live passion struck, honestly, passion struck for a purpose. Think about think how much better the world would be. Like I say, like you go run on that for your political stance. Passion struck. People are going to be passion. I'm voting for you, man. I'm voting for you.

Thank you, man. That is my main message. People always say, "All these people you highlight, I could never be like them." And it's like epigenetics. All it does is come down to the choices that you make to see yourself where you want to be.

Thank you again, man, for coming. Thank you, brother.

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "Stress Doesn't Have to Destroy You—It Can Elevate You | David Nurse"?

John R. Miles (Host), David Nurse (Guest).

What is "Stress Doesn't Have to Destroy You—It Can Elevate You | David Nurse" about?

David Nurse discusses how stress can be categorized into two types: pointless stress, which hinders performance, and positive stress, which enhances it. By reframing our relationship with stress and embracing the positive aspects, individuals can elevate their performance and achieve their goals.

What is mentioned in this John R. Miles episode?

37 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Flow code, Deep practice, QEEG (Quantitative electroencephalography), TAP (Trust–Acceptance–Presence), David Nurse, Metavisualization. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "Stress Doesn't Have to Destroy You—It Can Elevate You | David Nurse"?

The episode runs 34 min; the transcript is about 6,351 words in 68 timestamped sections.

More from John R. Miles

About this transcript: the episode's spoken words as captioned on YouTube, split into timestamped sections. Reclip.Me locates every person, work and idea in the text, keeps the time it is first named, and quotes the words around it verbatim. Last updated January 24, 2026.