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Grit Meets Growth

Grit Meets Growth

By: Grit Meets Growth Podcast
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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
  • When The Wall You Built to Protect Yourself Becomes a Prison - Episode 132

    When The Wall You Built to Protect Yourself Becomes a Prison - Episode 132
    May 20 2026
    Most of us don’t plan to isolate. It just happens quietly. A tough week, a little pressure, a feeling that things aren’t fully under control, and before we know it, we start pulling back.

    In this episode, we unpack a question that stopped a room full of men in their tracks: when do you find yourself isolating? What surfaced was honest, familiar, and a little uncomfortable. From stress and overwhelm to imposter syndrome and the fear of not being enough, isolation often shows up as protection. But what we found on the other side of that conversation is just as important. Trust and real connection have a way of breaking through the noise in our heads and reminding us we’re not alone in the fight.

    Here are five insights that come through loud and clear in this conversation:
    1. Isolation is often a protection mechanism, not a need for rest. We tell ourselves we need space, but a lot of the time we’re actually trying to protect our image, our ego, or the fear of being exposed. It feels safer to retreat than to be seen struggling.
    2. Everyone has a version of “I’m not enough” running in the background. Imposter syndrome showed up in different ways for everyone, but the root was similar. Even capable, successful people quietly question whether they measure up. Isolation becomes the place where that doubt grows unchecked.
    3. The voice in your head gets louder and less accurate when you’re alone. Left unchecked, our internal narrative starts to distort reality. Problems feel bigger, perspective disappears, and we start believing things that aren’t true. Isolation doesn’t solve the issue, it amplifies it.
    4. Real connection creates clarity faster than going it alone. The moment guys opened up, things shifted. What could have taken weeks to process internally got worked through in minutes through conversation, perspective, and accountability. The right people help you cut through the noise.
    5. Brotherhood doesn’t happen by accident, it’s built intentionally. Vulnerability, curiosity, trust, care, no judgment, and accountability. Those aren’t automatic. They’re practiced. The depth of the conversation wasn’t luck, it was the result of a group choosing to show up that way consistently.
    ONE TRUTH: Isolation feels like protection, but it quietly pulls you deeper into the very thing you’re trying to escape.
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    45 mins
  • Why You’ve Stopped Trusting Yourself and How To Fix It - Episode 131

    Why You’ve Stopped Trusting Yourself and How To Fix It - Episode 131
    May 6 2026
    There’s a quiet kind of damage that happens when we stop trusting ourselves. Not because we’re incapable, untalented, or lazy, but because over time, we slowly build patterns of breaking our own word. We say we’re going to start Monday, make the call tomorrow, get back in the gym, have the hard conversation, show up differently, and then life, excuses, fear, or comfort pull us the other direction. This episode dives into the connection between self-trust, consistency, identity, and growth. Because real confidence is not built through hype or motivation. It’s built one kept promise at a time.

    Five insights from this episode:
    1. Self-trust is built or broken in small moments.
      Most people do not struggle because they lack information. They struggle because they no longer trust themselves to follow through. Every kept promise strengthens identity. Every broken promise chips away at it.
    2. Consistency shapes identity.
      The habits we repeat eventually become the story we believe about ourselves. When we repeatedly quit, delay, or make excuses, we slowly begin to believe we are someone who does not follow through. The opposite is also true.
    3. Accountability is not weakness.
      Sometimes other people see what we are capable of before we do. Accountability creates structure, support, and reinforcement while we rebuild trust in ourselves. Growth was never meant to be a solo journey.
    4. Confidence comes from keeping your word to yourself.
      Real confidence is not built from motivation or quick wins. It comes from doing hard things consistently, especially on the days you do not feel like doing them. The win is often in the follow-through itself.
    5. Big change starts with small promises.
      You do not rebuild self-trust overnight. You rebuild it through small, repeatable actions. Show up for the walk. Read the 10 pages. Make the phone call. Keep one promise this week, then build from there.
    ONE TRUTH:
    The fastest way to lose confidence in yourself is to repeatedly break your own word. The fastest way to rebuild it is to start keeping small promises again.
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    37 mins
  • 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.
    Show More Show Less
    26 mins
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