The Normal 40 Podcast
Hosted by Lon Stroschein I walked away from the career I built—at the top—because it was costing me my life. Now, I help high performers make The Trade. This podcast is for the ones who have everything… and still feel like something’s missing. Real stories. Raw truth. No more waiting. Let’s Ramble. normal40.substack.com
Episodes
Most of us do exactly what we were told to do: we work hard, climb the ladder, check the boxes, and live the life we set out to build. From the outside, it looks like success. But inside, many of us wrestle with the same silent question: “Is this it?”
In this conversation with Justin on Grody and Unprofessional, I go back to the beginning of my story—the moment I realized I had everything I thought I wanted, yet felt empty inside. W...
At some point, your success starts to feel like a trap.
You’ve got the title, the money, the corner office—but something’s off.You’re restless. You’re starting to wonder, is this it?And no one around you seems to get it.
This episode is for you.
Lon and Adam are back to break down Lon’s next book, The Gap—the emotional, spiritual, and practical space between the life you’ve built and the life you know is still out there.
They dive deep...
What happens when you’ve built a perfect résumé, then lose everything it stood for?
Laverne McKinnon was doing everything right.Climbing fast. Getting promoted every 18 months.She was a powerful voice behind some of the biggest shows on television—including CSI and Criminal Minds.
And then, one day, it all ended.
No warning. No performance plan. Just a quiet conversation behind closed doors… and a single word that changed everything:
L...
There’s a moment—quiet, invisible—when you stop asking for someone else’s approval… and start listening for your own.
That moment is called permission. And in this episode, Lon and Adam unpack what it actually means to give it to yourself, and why it’s often the hardest, most courageous thing you’ll ever do.
Lon reveals the real pattern behind over a thousand coaching conversations, and how nearly everyone who reaches out is stuck in...
Most people open ChatGPT to get answers.
Rob Cressy opened it and found a new life.
In this episode, Lon sits down with Rob—entrepreneur, creator, and AI enablement coach—to talk about the real power of ChatGPT. Not as a shortcut. Not as a gimmick. But as a tool for clarity, creativity, and reinvention.
Rob discovered ChatGPT five days after it launched. And within minutes, he knew: this wasn’t just a tool—it was a turning point.
Toget...
At some point, every man has to ask:What’s this life I’ve built actually doing to me?
In this episode, Lon sits down with Tait Arend—fundraiser, leadership coach, and Co-host of the Bridging Connections podcast, for one of the most honest conversations we’ve ever had. Together, they unpack what happens when you’ve done everything right, checked all the boxes, built the image… and still feel like something’s missing.
This is not a con...
Some trades don’t make sense—until they do.
This is one of them.
Keith Pochick was an ER doctor. Twenty years in. Saving lives. Leading teams. Teaching residents. Everything he was trained to do and everything the world told him he should want.
Until it stopped working.
This conversation started the way most do: a quiet nudge, a LinkedIn post, and a DM sent without a plan. Forty-eight hours later, Keith and I sat down for the first tim...
Lon sits down with Dr. Eric Arzubi, a former Wall Street bond trader who walked away from Morgan Stanley to become a psychiatrist and mental health advocate. But the real story isn’t the résumé.
It’s what happened in between.
Eric shares his remarkable, winding path. From early success to devastating anxiety....
Lon sits down with Nicholas Whitaker, former Googler, entrepreneur, and founder of the Conscious Lead Collective.
Nicholas shares his journey from punk anarchist to Google executive and the unraveling that began in a hotel room in Japan. At the peak of a global career, Nicholas found himself crumbling under the weight of performance, loneliness, and a...
Before the diagnosis, there was the drinking. The parties. The wrecked cars. The spiral most people didn’t see coming, not even him. But then came the mass on his neck. A cancer diagnosis at 18. And suddenly, the path he was speeding down came to a screeching halt.
In this episode, Lon sits down with Steve for a ...
It begins with a simple question: What if you followed your passion 10 years ago? And what if that passion has changed?
What follows is a masterclass in midlife clarity. Lon and Adam unpack the invisible tension between time and passion—how your career...
Why?
Because she knew deep down, staying was safer... but leaving was honest.
In this episode, LouAnne shares the deep...
In this episode, Lon Stroschein sits down with Parker Hays, a physician who spent 33 years in emergency medicine before making the courageous decision to leave and build a life of purpose and impact.
Parker shares his journey, from a pivotal moment in his youth that inspired him to pursue medicine to the reali...
In Part Two of Brandon Meyer’s story, we start the exploration about what really matters and how you chase it.
This episode is about the people who show up when you stop pretending. The friends who bet on you before you bet on yourself. The quiet acts of rebellion that help you remember who you were before the titles...
....
In this episode, Lon Stroschein sits down with Dr. John Shufeldt — a physician, entrepreneur, attorney, and pilot — to explore his unconventional career journey. From overcoming academic struggles to founding multiple successful ventures, Dr. Shufeldt reveal...
Stephanie Stuckey, CEO of Stuckey’s Corporation, joins Lon Stroschein to discuss her unexpected journey from law and public service to buying back an iconic brand her grandfather start in 1937.
“You never know when opportunity will knock—but when it does, you have to be willing to bet on ...
Judgment starts at the moment you even consider doing something new or more. From colleagues, from society, from that inner voice that says, you should just be grateful for what you already have.<...
In this episode, Lon Stroschein sits with Kevin Hoover, an elite performer whose life has been shaped by pivotal moments of triumph and heartbreak. From humble beginnings in Mooresville, North Carolina, to a whirlwind career in hospitality, coaching, and real estate, Kevin shares his story with vulnerability...
In this raw and energizing kickoff to Season 2, Lon Stroschein and Adam Eaton dive deep into the emotional crossroads elite performers face when they least expect it.
They unravel the "Eight Universal Struggles" of transition and share their proven process to help you trade comfort for clarity and reclaim your best days ahead.
If you've ever wondered, "What's nex...
Popular Podcasts
My Favorite Murder is a true crime comedy podcast hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. Each week, Karen and Georgia share compelling true crimes and hometown stories from friends and listeners. Since MFM launched in January of 2016, Karen and Georgia have shared their lifelong interest in true crime and have covered stories of infamous serial killers like the Night Stalker, mysterious cold cases, captivating cults, incredible survivor stories and important events from history like the Tulsa race massacre of 1921. My Favorite Murder is part of the Exactly Right podcast network that provides a platform for bold, creative voices to bring to life provocative, entertaining and relatable stories for audiences everywhere. The Exactly Right roster of podcasts covers a variety of topics including historic true crime, comedic interviews and news, science, pop culture and more. Podcasts on the network include Buried Bones with Kate Winkler Dawson and Paul Holes, That's Messed Up: An SVU Podcast, This Podcast Will Kill You, Bananas and more.
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Listen to 'The Bobby Bones Show' by downloading the daily full replay.