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Grit Meets Growth

Grit Meets Growth

By: Grit Meets Growth Podcast
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About this listen

 Chris Cathers and John Gamades bring you Grit Meets Growth... The podcast where we explore the power of getting uncomfortable, making things happen, and creating a magnetic life. Are you ready?

Chris Cathers is the co-founder and CEO of Octellient, an information security expert, advisor and coach, and a cancer survivor.

John Gamades is a co-founder and partner at the marketing agency OrangeBall Creative and the author of the Depth Not Width blog.

Both are proud husbands, dads, and leaders in all they do. Having experienced adversity, challenges, the pressure of being entrepreneurs, Grit Meets Growth is the authentic and raw sharing of their journeys.Copyright Grit Meets Growth Podcast Economics
Episodes
  • The Standard You Keep Breaking (And Why) - Episode 130

    The Standard You Keep Breaking (And Why) - Episode 130
    Apr 22 2026
    Last episode forced a level of awareness most people avoid. You took an honest look at your body, your work, your relationships, your environment and somewhere in that audit, something didn’t sit right. You felt the misalignment. The problem is awareness alone doesn’t change anything. It actually makes things heavier, because now you can’t unsee it. So the question becomes simple and uncomfortable at the same time. Now what?

    This conversation moves past reflection and into the place where most people break. Not knowing what to do, but doing it consistently. Because at the end of the day, growth is not built on information. It is built on a standard you’re willing to live by when it gets inconvenient.

    Five insights from this episode:
    1. Awareness without action creates frustration, not progress. Once you see the gap, you can’t ignore it. But if nothing changes, that awareness turns into pressure. Growth only starts when you move.
    2. Most people aren’t stuck because they don’t know what to do. They’re stuck because they don’t start, or they don’t stay consistent long enough for it to matter.
    3. You’re negotiating with yourself more than you realize. “I’m tired.” “Not today.” “I deserve this.” Those small decisions quietly pull you away from who you said you’d be.
    4. Your standard defines your life more than your intentions. A simple standard wins: I do what I said I would do. When your word and your actions align, everything else follows.
    5. The real battle happens in small, daily decisions. Not the big moments. The fork in the road shows up in quiet, ordinary choices. That’s where alignment is built or broken.

    One Truth
    You build confidence by proving to yourself, over and over, that you do what you said you would do.
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    26 mins
  • Feeling Off? A Simple 4-Step Audit to Get Realigned - Episode 129

    Feeling Off? A Simple 4-Step Audit to Get Realigned - Episode 129
    Apr 8 2026
    Last episode hit a nerve. The idea that burnout might actually be misalignment stuck with people, but it also left a bigger question hanging in the air: what do you actually do about it?

    In this episode, we pick up right there and get practical. No long checklist, no overcomplicated framework. Just a clear way to slow down, face what feels off, and start identifying where misalignment is showing up in your life, because you can’t fix what you won’t face, and most of us feel it before we’re willing to name it. This conversation is about doing that audit, getting honest with yourself, and making one decision that shifts your direction.

    5 insights...


    1. Misalignment whispers before it breaks you - It doesn’t show up loud. It shows up in quiet moments. Driving home. Sitting in silence. Right before bed. You feel it before you name it, and most people stay busy just to avoid hearing it.
    2. Motion can hide the truth - Being busy feels productive, but it can be a cover. Activity without direction creates exhaustion, not progress. You can be tired every day and still not be moving your life forward.
    3. The small negotiations matter most - Skipping the workout. Grabbing the extra piece. Checking out mentally. These aren’t small. They stack. Over time, they either build trust with yourself or slowly erode it.
    4. Presence is the real metric in relationships - Being around isn’t the same as being there. Proximity doesn’t build connection. Attention does. Misalignment in relationships shows up as distance, distraction, and surface-level conversations.
    5. Clarity beats intensity every time - You don’t need a 20-step plan or more motivation. You need to see clearly where you’re off. Then make one decision. Not ten. One. That’s how direction shifts and momentum starts.
    One Truth
    You can’t change what you refuse to face. Misalignment doesn’t fix itself with time, effort, or distraction. It changes the moment you get honest, name it, and make one decision to move.
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    43 mins
  • Burnout Isn’t the Problem... This Is - Episode 128

    Burnout Isn’t the Problem... This Is - Episode 128
    Mar 26 2026
    This episode picks up right where a real conversation left off, around a table where nobody hid and nobody let each other off the hook. What started as a discussion about identity turns into something deeper, because a lot of what we call burnout isn’t burnout at all. It’s misalignment. When you’re doing the work but it feels heavier than it should, when you’re productive but not fulfilled, when rest doesn’t fix it, something is off. Today we dig into that tension, call it what it is, and walk through what it looks like to get back in alignment so your energy, clarity, and momentum actually come back.

    Here are five insights pulled straight from the core of this conversation:

    Not everything hard is burnout
    A lot of people are labeling friction as burnout. Hard things are supposed to feel hard. That tension is often the signal that you’re growing, not breaking. Burnout is overload without recovery. Friction is feedback. 2. Misalignment drains you differently than exhaustion

    When you’re aligned, hard work still gives you energy.
    When you’re misaligned, even simple things feel heavy. That constant mental processing, second-guessing, and lack of flow is the real tell. 3. Productivity can hide a deeper problem

    You can check every box and still feel like you got nowhere.
    Busy does not equal aligned. If you end your week feeling active but not accomplished, you’re likely moving without direction. 4. Drift happens quietly through small negotiations

    Misalignment rarely shows up overnight.
    It creeps in when you start negotiating with your own standards. One skipped workout. One compromised decision. One moment of “it’s fine.” Over time, you look up and realize you’re off course.

    You won’t fix misalignment alone.
    Left in your own head, you justify, overthink, and stay stuck. The right people call you out, give perspective, and pull you back into alignment faster. Community isn’t a nice-to-have. It’s a requirement for growth.

    ONE TRUTH:
    You don’t feel stuck because you’re burned out. You feel stuck because you’re out of alignment with who you are and where you’re meant to go.
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    46 mins
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