How to Rebuild After Trauma (with Adam Lucero, "Superhuman")
Release Date: 07/09/2023
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info_outlineAdam Lucero went to a 2 p.m. movie by himself because he had four hours to kill in a city where he knew no one. He never saw it coming: a hard hit to the throat that he first mistook for a punch, then his arm, then his chest. By the time the lights came up, he was bleeding out on the theater floor, yelling at bystanders to call 911 while paramedics quizzed him on the president's name to keep him conscious. He woke up seven days later from a coma, six feet tall and 130 pounds, unable to walk, unable to eat without falling asleep at his plate, with the cognitive function of a four-year-old.
What Adam does with that story is the reason I wanted him on Phoenix and Flame. He had every reason, as I told him, to wrap himself in the victim cloak and wear it for the rest of his life. Instead, within a year of the attack, he ran a 4:59 mile. He talks about the moment he realized victimhood "wasn't benefiting my life in any way," the corporate job that felt like his soul being sucked out even after he'd fought so hard to get his body back, and the mindset work, energy science, and daily habits he now teaches as what he calls Superhuman performance.
We get into why spending time in total silence, no phone, no noise, is one of the most uncomfortable and most powerful things you can do for your mental health, how to actually kill procrastination instead of just feeling bad about it, and what it means to operate from commitment instead of emotion when you're trying to rebuild after trauma.
Watch this episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSkcsYyxfV8
In this episode
- How Adam survived being stabbed in the throat, arm, and chest in a movie theater, and the 7-day coma that followed
- Why choosing acceptance over the victim mentality, even when you have every reason to claim it, changes your trajectory
- How a single one-year goal took him from unable to walk to running a 4:59 mile
- Why a "great job" with good pay and real flexibility can still feel like your soul being sucked out, and what to do about it
- Why spending time in total silence, uncomfortable as it is, is one of the fastest paths to real growth
- The "mind linking" technique Adam uses to actually kill procrastination instead of just feeling guilty about it
Timestamps
- (00:01) Welcome and guest intro: meet Adam Lucero
- (02:01) The 2016 movie-theater stabbing, in Adam's own words
- (05:49) Waking up from a 7-day coma, "living off tubes"
- (08:59) Choosing acceptance over the victim mentality
- (10:37) The one-year goal that turned into a 4:59 mile
- (15:16) Why wrapping yourself in the victim cloak doesn't serve you
- (18:52) Realizing a "great" job can still feel like your soul being sucked out
- (23:59) Why spending time in silence is the key to growth, and why it's so uncomfortable
- (28:02) Food, fasting, and using fat instead of carbs for stable energy
- (31:16) The "mind linking" technique for killing procrastination
- (36:31) Where to find Adam and SuperhumanCEO.com
About Adam Lucero
Adam Lucero is a performance coach who, after surviving a near-fatal stabbing in 2016 and a seven-day coma, rebuilt his physical and cognitive health from scratch and now helps entrepreneurs and driven professionals optimize their energy, focus, and mindset, work he calls Superhuman performance.
Learn more at SuperhumanCEO.com.
Favorite quotes
"I told myself, in one year I'm going to be faster, I'm going to be stronger, and I'm just going to be happier than I was before." —Adam Lucero
"It's not serving me. I'm not gonna do this anymore if it's not serving me." —Adam Lucero, on letting go of the victim mentality
"Once you silence your mind, anxiety, depression, any internal turmoil will vanish from your life the instant you're actually fully present in the moment." —Adam Lucero
Resources mentioned
- SuperhumanCEO.com: Adam's website, client results, and where to book a call with him or his team
Related episodes
- Victory Over Quadruple Amputation: Interview with Wendy Wallace: another conversation about rebuilding a body and an identity after a sudden, violent loss.
- From Rock Bottom to Mountain Top: Interview with Kevin Palmieri: more on choosing to rebuild instead of staying in the wreckage.
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