ABOUT THIS EPISODE
Dr. Tommy Shavers, founder of NESTRE Health & Performance, and Carlos Perez, a retired Special Forces officer, join Joe to explore a powerful idea: the brain is not fixed. It can be measured, trained, strengthened, and improved.
This episode was recorded after Joe visited NESTRE’s performance center in Lake Nona, Florida, where he went through their cognitive assessment and brain training process firsthand. What followed was a conversation about performance, recovery, military transition, stress, and what happens when high performers spend years operating in survival mode and then struggle to turn their minds off.
Tommy shares the story of how multiple concussions ended his college football career and nearly changed the course of his life. After being told his brain would only continue to decline, he began searching for a different answer—one that eventually led him to develop a model for cognitive recovery and performance training. Carlos explains why, as a retired Green Beret, he immediately saw the potential for this work inside the military and veteran communities.
Joe, Tommy, and Carlos also discuss:
- Why the brain should be trained like the body
- What Joe learned from having his own brain “mapped”
- How high performers can operate well under pressure but pay a hidden cost over time
- Why veterans often struggle to shut their brains off after leaving the military
- The difference between treating the brain as broken and training it for performance
- How cognitive assessments could help military units better understand, train, and build teams
- Why stress, sleep, focus, and emotional regulation are performance issues—not just personal struggles
This episode is for anyone who has spent years pushing hard, performing under pressure, and wondering why slowing down feels so difficult. It’s also for leaders, veterans, athletes, and high performers who want to better understand how their brain works—and how they can train it to support the next chapter of their life.
Special Offer from NESTRE
NESTRE is offering From the Green Notebook listeners 50% off a consultation with code TEAMG.
A consultation includes a full brain map, a mindset profile to help you understand how your brain prefers to operate, and cognitive scorecards that show how you’re performing and where you can improve. With the discount, listeners pay $150.
NESTRE currently has three in-person locations: Monterey, California; Winter Park, Florida; and Lake Nona, Florida.
Listeners can also download the NESTRE app and get 30 days free with code TEAMG at sign-in. After that, it’s $9.99 per month.
