OWN. MOVE. ANCHOR.
OWN. MOVE. ANCHOR. is a podcast about staying steady when life gets heavy. Hosted by Kevin Pannell, a former U.S. Navy Hospital Corpsman, healthcare PMO leader, emergency management professional, coach, husband, father, and author, the show shares practical lessons from real life, not theory. Some episodes focus on leadership and project teams. Others focus on fitness, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, faith, stress, anxiety, discipline, or simply trying to be a better husband, father, friend, and human being while carrying real responsibility. This is not about perfection, hype, or pretending life is easy. It is about doing the work: getting up early, moving your body, leading people well, staying grounded, learning from failure, and finding ways to keep going when things get hard. Every episode is built around a simple idea: Own your mind. Move your body. Anchor your spirit. Whether you lead at work, serve others, raise a family, coach athletes, respond to emergencies, or are just trying to become more consistent and resilient, this show is here to help you stay ready for real life. Expect honest conversations, practical perspective, and lessons you can actually apply. No fake hustle culture. No empty motivation. Just real talk from someone still doing the work too. Godspeed y’all, Kevin Pannell
Episodes
In this episode of OWN. MOVE. ANCHOR., Kevin Pannell reflects on why so many people feel mentally overloaded, emotionally fragmented, physically disconnected, and spiritually exhausted right now.
After standing at attention with his family before completing Memorial Day Murph, Kevin began thinking about the contrast between real human experiences and the nonstop noise of modern life. Constant scrolling, outrage culture, comparison, ...
Magic and Logic: What Project Leaders Can Learn from Coach’s Billion Dollar Growth
In this episode of OWN. MOVE. ANCHOR., Kevin explores the balance between “magic” and “logic” in leadership, project management, and organizational growth.
Inspired by a story shared on Masters of Scale episode featuring Lew Frankfort and the rise of Coach from a $6 million company into a global public brand, this episode breaks down what leaders can l...
What can PMO leaders, healthcare IT teams, and organizational leaders learn from UFC Hall of Famer Matt Serra’s approach to onboarding new Brazilian Jiu Jitsu students?
Quite a bit.
In this episode, What Matt Serra Taught Me About Onboarding Teams, Kevin Pannell reflects on lessons from BJJ, emergency management, healthcare IT, and PMO leadership to explore why new employees are basically white belts and why good onboarding matters m...
Most real progress is not flashy.
The internet sells nonstop motivation, hacks, shortcuts, and perfect routines. Real life usually looks different.
This morning my phone died overnight. I overslept, missed Jiu Jitsu, and missed my workout.
That happens.
The goal is not perfection. The goal is resetting before one bad morning becomes a bad week.
Real progress is often boring: sleep, movement, consistency, hard conversations, discipline, ...
What do ICU medicine, Incident Management Teams, PMO leadership, coaching soccer, fatherhood, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, and fitness all have in common?
More than most people think.
In this episode, Systems Under Pressure | Organized Urgency vs. Wasted Calories, Kevin Pannell reflects on lessons learned from serving as a U.S. Navy Hospital Corpsman in critical care, working in EMS and emergency management, leading PMO teams, coaching youth...
What happens when the dashboards, templates, and systems are no longer enough?
This Five Minute Friday focuses on the difference between visibility and true alignment, and on why strong project managers lead people through communication, ownership, and calm decision-making rather than relying solely on tools and methodologies.
Drawing from project leadership, emergency response, and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Kevin Pannell shares why the b...
When the System Fails, Your Skill Shows
If technology, dashboards, and systems disappeared tomorrow, could you still do your job?
This episode explores why core skills, communication, and fundamentals matter more than tools when pressure is high. Drawing from emergency response, critical care medicine, project leadership, and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Kevin Pannell shares why strong professionals fall back on training, assessment, and cle...
What You Say Yes To
Trying to do everything spreads your attention thin. This episode focuses on choosing the right things to say yes to so your time, energy, and effort actually lead to results.
In this episode:
- Why doing too much leads to less real progress
- How attention and capacity affect outcomes at work and in life
- Practical ways to choose what deserves your focus
If you feel busy but not effective, this will help you rese...
You Can’t Do It All, So Do What Matters
We commit to too much, then wonder why nothing moves the way it should. This episode is about being honest about capacity and making better decisions so the right work actually gets delivered.
In this episode:
- Why portfolios fail when capacity doesn’t match commitments
- The difference between activity and real outcomes
- How to make better decisions about what to start, stop, and prioritize
I...
Why Caregivers and First Responders Feel It After
You’ve carried others through their worst days. Now do the work so you can carry yourself through yours.
In this episode:
- Why caregiver stress and first responder burnout often show up after the moment
- The impact of adrenaline, cortisol, and staying “on” too long
- A simple reset to manage stress and stay steady
If you’re the one people rely on in emergencies, at work or at home, t...
This episode is for the "anchors"; those in scrubs, uniforms, or family living rooms who step in when it gets real. From navigating a cancer diagnosis in the family to managing sudden cardiac emergencies at home, we discuss the "invisible toll" of being the person everyone looks to. Learn how to stay steady, process the stress that lives in your body, and ensure you don’t become the next person who needs a rescue.
Key Discussion Poi...
Are you a physical liability or a protector for your family? In this high-speed "Five Minute Friday" episode, Kevin Pannell breaks down the objective strength and agility standards every man in his 40s and 50s needs to meet to stay capable and dangerous. We move beyond vanity and focus on functional fitness for men, longevity, and the discipline required to lead your home with composure.
Kevin shares his personal journey of re-start...
The Discipline of Daily Movement
Movement is not about motivation, it is about identity and standard. In this Foundations Friday episode, Kevin focuses on why men, especially fathers and leaders, need to stop treating exercise as optional and start using it as a tool to build strength, resilience, and clarity.
This episode connects physical training to real life pressure, showing how pushing your body prepares your mind to handle st...
Move Your Body: From Optional to Non-Negotiable
Building fitness into who you are will always outperform trying to motivate yourself every day. In this episode of Own. Move. Anchor., Kevin breaks down how movement shifted from survival and identity to something many treat as optional, and why that needs to change.
From ancient culture to modern convenience, this episode connects movement to clarity, stress management, and how you sho...
This Foundation Friday, Control Your Reactions Before They Control You, builds on the concept of the space between reaction and response and brings it into real life.
Through a simple but relatable moment at home, Kevin walks through how quickly reaction can take over and how a brief pause can completely change the outcome.
He connects this to leadership, meetings, and high-pressure situations where tone, control, and clarity matter...
Stop reacting and start responding. In the premiere of the rebranded Own. Move. Anchor., Kevin Pannell explores the life-changing power of "The Space Between"—the split-second where you reclaim control, even when circumstances feel overwhelming.
Drawing on the profound survival insights of psychiatrist Viktor Frankl, this episode breaks down why we default to "automatic" reactions and how that cycle shapes our leadership, relationsh...
Most teams plan to 100% capacity and call it efficiency. In reality, that’s where things start to break.
In this episode, I walk through a better way to think about capacity, not as a percentage on a heatmap, but as a balance between people, workload, and real-world unpredictability.
You’ll hear how experienced and developing project managers handle workload differently, why not all work should be treated as a project, and how shifti...
Many projects struggle not because of poor execution, but because alignment was never built at the start. In this episode, The First 30 Days Will Make or Break Your Project, Kevin Pannell shares practical leadership lessons on why the first 30 days of a project matter most.
Drawing from experience in healthcare IT, emergency management, and cross-organizational initiatives, he explains how clear intent, open communication, and share...
A lot of young people feel like they are already late. Late to choose the right major, late to land the right job, late to make real money, late to figure life out. In this episode, Why Feeling Behind Is Killing Your Progress, I share the long arc of my own path, from joining the Navy at 19 to working IT support at 25, going back to college at 29, graduating at 32 with a newborn at home, serving in public health and emergency manag...
In this episode of People, Process, Progress, From the GWOT to Giving Back: How Clay Surratt Builds Others Through Martial Arts, host Kevin Pannell sits down with Clay Surratt, the founder of Guerrilla ATX. Together, they explore the transition from military service to civilian life and how the "mission" doesn't end when the uniform comes off—it just changes shape.
Clay opens up about his journey from joining the Army in the wake of...
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