Make It a Great One with Dr. Dan: #1 Podcast for Inspiring Conversations to Live and Lead On Purpose

Make It a Great One with Dr. Dan: #1 Podcast for Inspiring Conversations to Live and Lead On Purpose

Make It a Great One with Dr. Dan is your weekly dose of inspiration, purpose, and practical wisdom for living a life aligned with your true self. Hosted by renowned psychologist and executive coach Dr. Dan Peters, this podcast helps you break free from autopilot and step fully into the life you’re meant to live. If you’ve ever wondered if you’re living up to your potential—or how to navigate challenges with more resilience and clarity—this show is for you. Dr. Dan combines expert insights, powerful interviews, and real-life tools to help you deepen your self-awareness, strengthen your mindset, and make a positive impact. With decades of experience guiding individuals and leaders toward lasting transformation, Dr. Dan brings heart, humor, and honesty to every episode—so you walk away feeling motivated and equipped to make each day count. Tune in to new episodes every Thursday to unlock your potential, ignite your purpose, and—most of all—make it a great one.

Episodes

Resilience, Integrity, and Finding Common Ground: From Dodgers to Damascus with Dr. David Lesch and Catherine Nixon Cooke

October 23, 2025 • 77 mins
Dr. Dan welcomes Dr. David Lesch, acclaimed scholar and former Los Angeles Dodgers draft pick, and Catherine Nixon Cooke, award-winning author and explorer, to discuss Dodgers to Damascus: David Lesch's Journey from Baseball to the Middle East a powerful biography that traces David’s extraordinary path from the baseball diamond to international diplomacy. Dr. Dan, David, and Catherine discuss how resilience, humility, and integrit...
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Healing, Spirit, and Surrender: The Energy That Connects Us with Travis Holp

October 16, 2025 • 70 mins
Dr. Dan interviews evidential psychic medium, speaker, spiritual teacher, and author Travis Holp for a powerful and deeply human conversation about healing, purpose, and the unseen energy that connects us all. Known as the "Unicorn Warrior", Travis helps people all over the world through his blend of evidential mediumship, intuitive guidance, and energy work to share messages of love, hope, healing, and joy to help us live the life...
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Outsmarting Addiction with Hope, Compassion, and Strategy with Amber Hollingsworth

October 9, 2025 • 60 mins
In this compelling episode, Dr. Dan Peters sits down with Amber Hollingsworth, master addiction counselor, founder of Hope for Families Recovery Center, and creator of the wildly popular YouTube channel Put The Shovel Down. Amber tells Dr. Dan how she has been dealing with addiction her whole life! - she grew up in an addicted family and later became a Master Addiction Counselor. She understands addiction from both perspectives Wi...
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The Secure Leader: How Attachment Styles Shape Life and Leadership with Dr. Jaime Goff

October 2, 2025 • 62 mins
Dr. Dan Peters sits down with Dr. Jaime Goff, founder of The Empathic Leader and author of The Secure Leader: Discover the Hidden Forces That Shape Your Leadership Story and How to Change Them. Together they explore how attachment styles—formed early in life—shape the way we lead, connect, and grow both at work and at home. Jaime shares her own leadership journey, from uncovering her avoidant attachment tendencies to transforming ...
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AI, Family, and Morality: Culpability and the Future of Humanity with Bruce Holsinger

September 25, 2025 • 64 mins
Oprah Winfrey’s recent Oprah Book Club pick Culpability continues to fuel important conversations around the question: What happens when morality, technology, and family collide? In this provocative new episode, Dr. Dan welcomes Bruce Holsinger, the author of Culpability to discuss and explore many of our deepest fears around AI, family, resilience, responsibility, and the future of humanity. A phenomenon, Bruce shares the impact...
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Little P Purpose: How Small Actions Create Big Impact and Lasting Happiness with Dr. Jordan Grumet

September 18, 2025 • 65 mins
In this energizing new episode, Dr. Dan sits down with physician, author, and podcaster Dr. Jordan Grumet (Doc G) to explore the difference between meaning and purpose—and how understanding this distinction can transform how we live, work, and love. During their insightful conversation, Dr. Dan and Doc G explore defining questions including: What does it truly mean to live a life of purpose? And why chasing big, audacious goals oft...
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The Courage to Be You: Overcoming Fear and Living with Purpose with James Robbins

September 11, 2025 • 67 mins
Today, Dr. Dan explores what it means to answer the call to climb with James Robbins—leadership strategist, keynote speaker, and bestselling author of The Call to Climb: A Story to Find Your Path, Conquer Your Fears, and Fulfill Your Destiny. On this must-listen-to episode, Dr. Dan and James explore the intersection of purpose, courage, authenticity, and resilience, offering listeners a roadmap to living a more aligned and meaningf...
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Habits of High Performance: James Laughlin on Purpose, Resilience, and Leadership with James Laughlin

September 4, 2025 • 66 mins
Dr. Dan interviews seven-time world champion drummer, leadership strategist, and author James Laughlin about his book Habits of High Performance and the key to achieving world-class performance without sacrificing well-being, relationships, and purpose. James has works with elite athletes, prime ministers, and business leaders, and on this episode he shares the secrets to unlocking the essential principles to thrive in life and wor...
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Commitment, Courage, and Connection: Lessons on Leadership, Life, and Love
 with Dr. Michael Chapman

August 28, 2025 • 67 mins
Dr. Dan Peters sits down with longtime family friend and trailblazing orthopedic trauma surgeon Dr. Michael Chapman for an inspiring conversation. A pioneer in his field, Dr. Chapman helped establish modern trauma surgery in the U.S., co-founded the Orthopedic Trauma Association, and led UC Davis’s Department of Orthopedic Surgery for over two decades. Dr. Chapman’s life is a testament to serendipity—recognizing unexpected opportu...
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Transforming Anxiety, OCD, and Fear into Courage and Connection with Renee Zukin

August 21, 2025 • 62 mins
In a candid and inspiring conversation, Dr. Dan talks to author and educator Renee Zukin to explore her transformative journey through anxiety, OCD, panic disorder, and agoraphobia—and the powerful mindset shifts that helped her reclaim her life.   Today’s episode is about courage, compassion, and connection—a reminder that we are never alone, and that bravery can be found in the smallest, most personal victories.  Dr. Dan and Ren...
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From Ally to Co-Conspirator: Leading with Courage, Compassion, and Purpose with Elise Carter

August 14, 2025 • 63 mins
Dr. Dan is joined by Elise Carter, an award-winning educator, advocate, Executive Director of NICE (Northern Kentucky Inclusive Students in Education), and DEI trailblazer.  Elise shares her transformative journey from being the first Black teacher at her high school to co-founding a nonprofit dedicated to inclusion and equity. During the moving interview, Elise opens up about the pivotal moment when her proposed elective on diver...
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Hope Comes to Visit: Rising from Grief, Addiction, and the Will to Live with Danielle Elliott Smith

August 7, 2025 • 66 mins
Trigger warning: discussion of suicide In this emotionally powerful conversation, Dr. Dan speaks with Danielle Elliott Smith — author, advocate, coach, and host of the Hope Comes to Visit podcast. Danielle opens up about her raw and personal journey through addiction, sobriety, loss, and transformation. With unflinching honesty and grace, she shares the story behind her sobriety, the grief of losing a partner to relapse, and how c...
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Flip the Box: From Belonging to Becoming with Shari Leid

July 31, 2025 • 62 mins
In this powerful and heart-opening episode, Dr. Dan interviews author, speaker, and life coach Shari Leid, founder of An Imperfectly Perfect Life and author of Table for 51: Lessons Learned from Sharing Meals Across America. Together, they explore the transformative journey from living someone else’s story to fully stepping into your authentic self. Shari shares her personal “flip the box” origin story—being found in a cardboard b...
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Fear, Flow, and the Courage to Begin Again: What Horses Teach Us About Relationships and Life with Tik Maynard

July 24, 2025 • 72 mins
In this powerful episode, Dr. Dan sits down with horseman and author Tik Maynard to answer the question “What does it mean to truly live with purpose?” and to explore what starting a colt, facing fear, and leaning into the unknown can teach us about self-awareness, resilience, and the courage to live authentically. On today’s episode and in his memoir Starting in the Middle: How Horses, Those Who Study Them, and 265 Minutes with O...
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Choosing Wholeness: Embracing the Shadow and Rewriting Your Story with Elise Loehnen

July 17, 2025 • 67 mins
In this profoundly insightful episode, Dr. Dan welcomes back New York Times bestselling author and cultural thought leader Elise Loehnen to explore the power and necessity of shadow work. Together, they dive into Jungian psychology, the cost of cultural conditioning, and the stories we unconsciously carry that shape who we believe we must be. Elise talks to Dr. Dan about the journey that led to her latest project, Choosing Wholene...
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Proof of Life: Stop Waiting for Permission to Live with Jennifer Pastiloff

July 10, 2025 • 73 mins
Dr. Dan interviews Jennifer Pastiloff, bestselling author of On Being Human and the newly released Proof of Life: Let Go, Let Love, and Stop Looking for Permission to Live Your Life. In this powerful and heart-opening conversation, Dr. Dan welcomes back the raw, real, and radiant Jennifer Pastiloff for a deep dive into what it means to live with authenticity, courage, and compassion. Jen shares the story behind her new book Proof ...
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Designing a Life of Purpose: Creativity, Courage, and Compassion with Debbie Millman

July 3, 2025 • 61 mins
Dr. Dan sits down with the incomparable Debbie Millman – acclaimed designer, illustrator, author of Love Letter to a Garden (foreword by Roxane Gay), and host of the groundbreaking podcast Design Matters. This moving episode is a conversation about creativity and a profound reflection on resilience, self-awareness, and the courage to heal and grow. Debbie shares the story of her nonlinear journey into design, the trauma that shape...
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Time to Pivot: Redefining Leadership, Success, and Family with Cathy Cassani Adams

June 26, 2025 • 70 mins
Dr. Dan interviews parenting expert, author, co-host of the Zen Pop Parenting podcast, and longtime friend Cathy Cassani Adams about self-awareness, life transitions, and the evolving journey of parenting.  On today’s episode, Dr. Dan and Cathy explore parental self-understanding, ways to raise resilient kids, how to listen to your body’s cues (your “dashboard”), and ending the myth of perfection in parenting, leadership, and life...
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How to Break Up with Perfection: Redefining Success, Love, and Self-Worth with Claire Berger

June 19, 2025 • 62 mins
In this inspiring episode, Dr. Dan interviews comedian, improv actor, speaker, and author Claire Berger about her thought-provoking book How Much Is Enough? Getting More by Living with Less. Claire challenges us to embrace the concept of “enoughness” and to live more authentically. Drawing from her multifaceted career—stand-up comic, warm-up artist for sitcoms, and HGTV host—Claire shares powerful insights on how to redefine succe...
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The End is the Beginning: The Story of a Mother, From End to Beginning with Jill Bialosky

June 12, 2025 • 61 mins
Dr. Dan invites back a favorite guest, author and poet Jill Bialosky, to talk about her new memoir The End Is the Beginning: A Personal History of My Mother.  Jill shares with Dr. Dan how the pandemic, the isolation of grief, and her mother’s decline due to Alzheimer’s inspired her to write this book as a way to preserve her mother’s life and legacy. Dan and Jill explore the complexities of parenthood and daughterhood, the weight ...
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