The Dad Edge Podcast

In this episode, I sit down with Demir Bentley — Wall Street analyst turned productivity coach, co-founder of Life Hack Method, author of Winning the Week, and dad of three daughters under six. This one goes deep on two things most dads desperately need: a better system for planning their week, and a real conversation about what it means to raise confident, loved daughters.
Demir opens up about his time on Wall Street — 80 to 100 hour weeks, a hustle culture identity so baked in he didn't know who he was without it — and the health crisis that forced him to change everything. His digestive system began shutting down, he required three surgeries, and his doctors told him to cut his hours below 40 or face serious consequences. That pressure produced the Winning the Week method — a simple, three-pillar planning framework that helped him get the same work done in a fraction of the time.
We break down exactly how to run a real planning session — a calendar interrogation, not a calendar review — and why your calendar is lying to you right now. We get into why planning on Friday instead of Sunday is a game changer, what open loops are doing to your brain on the weekend, and how sharing the mental load with your wife is one of the most important leadership moves a man can make at home.
And then Demir drops one of the most memorable parenting concepts this show has ever heard: the idea of being the Keeper of Vibes — not just the lowest heartbeat in the room, but the painter of the energy canvas your family lives inside every day.
 
Timeline Summary
[0:00] Introduction to the Dad Edge mission and the movement to raise leaders of families and communities
[1:02] Introducing Demir Bentley — Wall Street to lifestyle design, productivity coach, dad of three daughters
[3:38] Freedom as a core value — and why Demir's shirt and hair are a statement, not an accident
[5:00] Being a girl dad — and Larry's experience running a daddy daughter retreat with men who had never lit up like that before
[8:33] Demir's slow start to fatherhood — and why a phone call from a friend before his first daughter was born may have saved him
[10:44] What Winning the Week is — and where it came from
[11:04] Wall Street, hustle culture, and the religion of outworking the competition
[13:30] The health crisis that changed everything — salaryman sudden death syndrome, three surgeries, and a doctor telling him to cut his hours in half
[14:36] Who am I if I'm not the guy who works 100 hours a week — the identity crisis behind the health crisis
[20:22] How the Winning the Week method was born out of raw necessity
[23:31] Pillar one — the calendar interrogation: your calendar is lying to you and here's how to catch it
[26:47] Pillar two — real prioritizing: if there's no tear in your eye when you're cutting things, you're not cutting enough
[27:27] Pillar three — the task list: stop hiding your commitments and start owning your time supply
[28:53] Marrying the tasks to the calendar — the test fit that tells you if you have 10 pounds of priorities in a 5 pound bag
[31:06] Start from the top down — your values first, then your calendar, then your priorities
[31:28] The number one complaint wives have about their husbands — and how planning fixes it
[33:06] Sharing the mental load and invisible labor — the new definition of leadership at home
[36:35] Leading by example: how planning together on Friday beats planning together Sunday night
[37:18] The team huddle — how Demir and his wife plan separately then align on a walk together
[39:24] Why good planning still produces anxiety — and why meeting after the sigh changes everything
[42:49] Why your brain won't let go of the weekend — open loops, unfinished sentences, and the science behind Sunday dread
[44:35] Why planning on Friday instead of Sunday gives you your whole weekend back
[46:39] Switching gears to daughters — what it really means to raise strong, confident girls
[47:10] The Keeper of Vibes — Demir's most important role as a dad and the canvas he's painting every single day
[49:47] Be the thermostat, not the thermometer — and what it means to hold the energy space for your whole family
 
Five Key Takeaways
Your calendar is lying to you. Every meeting, every drive, every task takes longer than you think. A real planning session is a calendar interrogation — sweat every entry until it's honest.
Real prioritizing hurts. If you're not cutting things that matter to you, you're not prioritizing — you're just rearranging. The hard tradeoffs are the whole point.
Open loops kill your weekends. When you leave Friday without closing the week, your brain keeps the loop running — on date night, on the couch, in the middle of the night. Plan on Friday and actually rest.
Sharing the mental load is modern leadership. Your wife shouldn't be the only one holding the calendar of family life. Taking full ownership of even one domain — sports, appointments, whatever — changes the entire dynamic at home.
Be the Keeper of Vibes. You are not just the lowest heartbeat in the room. You are the painter of the energy canvas your family lives inside. What are you painting every day?
 
Links & Resources
Roommates to Soulmates Cohort & Preview Call: https://thedadedge.com/soulmates
The Men's Forge: https://themensforge.com
Dad Edge Business Boardroom: https://thedadedge.com/mastermind
Winning the Week by Demir Bentley: https://winningtheweek.com
Life Hack Method Website: https://lifehackmethod.com
Life Hack Method Free Training: https://lifehackmethod.com
Follow Demir on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lifehackmethod_/
Follow Demir on Facebook: https://web.facebook.com/demirandcarey/
Follow Demir on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/demirbentley/
Life Hack Method on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/LifehackBootcamp
Episode Link & Resources (Episode 1461): https://thedadedge.com/1461

 
Closing
If there's one message from this episode that stands out, it's this: you cannot lead what you don't plan, and you cannot be present for the people you love if your brain is still stuck in last week.
Demir went from 100 hour weeks and a body that was shutting down to building a life centered on freedom, family, and intention. The method isn't complicated. The calendar interrogation, the real prioritization, the task fit — it's thirty minutes on a Friday that gives you your whole life back.
And then there's the canvas. What energy are you painting into your home every single day? Because your kids and your wife are living inside that painting whether you're intentional about it or not.
Go out and live legendary.

In this episode, I sit down with Jon Fogel — pastor, dad of four, PhD candidate in developmental psychology, and bestselling author of Punishment Free Parenting. Jon is one of those rare guys who can make you laugh so hard you forget you're learning some of the most important parenting insights you've ever heard.
We open with chaos — including the time his wife went into labor at Goodwill, insisted on finishing the bathroom tile and installing a toilet before going to the hospital, and the time Jon almost missed the birth of his fourth child because he stopped for Jimmy John's on the way back.
But then it gets real. Jon breaks down why punishment doesn't work — not as a philosophy, but as brain science. When you punish a child, you activate the threat response system, which is the exact part of the brain that shuts off learning. We dig into what to do instead, the landmark Bobo doll experiment proving kids follow the behavior of the men in their lives above everyone else, and how rupture and repair actually builds stronger relationships than if you'd never messed up at all.
Jon also walks us through Set My Feelings Free — his kids' book packed with emotional regulation games you can start using today to stop tantrums before they start.
 
Timeline Summary
[0:00] Introduction to the Dad Edge mission
[1:02] Introducing Jon Fogel — pastor, author, PhD candidate, and Whole Parent
[6:07] Why the parenting space desperately needs more men in it
[14:02] Jon's family — and the birth stories that will make you lose it
[26:12] Why Jon goes calm in a crisis but loses it over spilled milk
[45:34] The core message of Punishment Free Parenting — brain science, not philosophy
[49:12] Kids don't have the same negativity bias as adults — they want to see you in the best light
[50:18] Your kids aren't trying to give you a hard time — they're having a hard time
[51:07] Rupture and repair — why messing up and fixing it builds the strongest bonds
[55:39] The dad buried in his phone is a bigger problem than the dad who sometimes loses his temper
[57:42] The Still Face Experiment — and what a parent staring at a phone really communicates
[1:00:37] The Bobo doll experiment — kids follow the men in their lives above everyone else
[1:03:37] You don't have to fix your kids. Fix yourself. Your kids are fine.
[1:09:08] Why punishment shuts off the brain's learning system — and what to do instead
[1:17:16] Get Curious, Not Furious — the question every parent needs to ask
[1:20:12] The Doctor House analogy — stop managing symptoms, find the underlying problem
[1:24:05] Set My Feelings Free — emotional regulation games disguised as fun
[1:29:34] Why you should never check under the bed for the monster
 
Five Key Takeaways
Punishment activates the threat response system — the part of the brain that shuts off learning. Relationship and curiosity do the actual teaching.
Your kids are almost never trying to give you a hard time. They're having a hard time and you're witnessing it. Get curious, not furious.
The Bobo doll experiment proved it — kids follow the behavior of the men in their lives above everyone else. Fix yourself. Your kids are fine.
Every time you mess up and genuinely repair it, the relationship gets stronger than it was before. Rupture and repair builds the deepest bonds.
Kids solve problems through play. When screens replace play, they lose their primary tool for processing the hard stuff — and we're modeling that every time we reach for our phones.
 
Links & Resources
Roommates to Soulmates Cohort & Preview Call: https://thedadedge.com/soulmates
Join the Dad Edge Mastermind: https://thedadedge.com/mastermind
The Men's Forge: https://themensforge.com
Punishment Free Parenting by Jon Fogel: Available wherever books are sold
Set My Feelings Free by Jon Fogel: Available wherever books are sold
Whole Parent Academy: https://wholeparentacademy.com
Follow Jon on Instagram: @wholeparent
Episode Link & Resources (Episode 1460): https://thedadedge.com/1460
 
Closing
You cannot punish your kids into becoming who you want them to be — and you can't punish yourself into becoming the parent you want to be either.
Get curious before you get furious. Repair when you rupture. Model what you want to see. And give your kids the tools to regulate themselves when the world gets hard — because you won't always be there, but the way you showed them how to handle it will be.
Go out and live legendary.

In this solo episode, Larry gets straight to the point: the reason most men feel stuck isn't a lack of motivation — it's a lack of direction. Not the five-year-plan kind of direction, but the daily kind. What are you building in your marriage right now? What are you doing this week to move the needle? Because if you don't choose a direction, life will choose one for you — and it's usually the one that leaves you reactive, exhausted, and quietly frustrated.
Larry shares what's coming up in the Dad Edge community in April, breaks down what the Alliance is really about in plain English, and makes the case for why this is the moment to stop consuming content and start executing. He also announces the first ever First Form Dad of the Month — a man in the Alliance who has been quietly doing the work, keeping his promises to himself, and leading from the front without making a big deal about it.
This one is short, direct, and worth every minute.
 
Timeline Summary
[0:00] Introduction to the Dad Edge mission and the movement to raise leaders of families and communities
[1:02] The real reason most men feel stuck — it's not motivation, it's direction
[1:45] What happens when you don't choose a direction and life chooses one for you
[2:01] What's coming up in the Dad Edge community — events, programs, and announcements
[3:02] The Men's Forge event — what it is, who it's for, and why it's not a hype fest
[4:44] Why being in a room with the right men changes everything
[5:44] The April theme inside the Alliance — purpose, direction, and leadership for men
[6:06] The real reason men fail — not laziness, but an unclear target
[7:04] What the Alliance actually is in plain English — brotherhood, plans, execution, and no egos
[7:58] What April inside the Alliance looks like — getting clear on what you actually want and building a weekly rhythm that makes winning normal
[9:22] What men who show up and do the work actually experience — no longer feeling behind, making faster decisions, becoming more consistent at home
[10:07] The Roommates to Soulmates preview call — April 1st at 7pm Central — who it's for and what to expect
[11:43] Announcing the first ever First Form Dad of the Month — Jason Rowe — and why he earned it
[13:05] First Form product spotlight — Magic Charms, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, and Red Velvet Cake flavors
[15:09] Closing message — the world is loud, drift is real, and today is the day to do one thing your future self will thank you for
 
Five Key Takeaways
You're not stuck because you're lazy. You're stuck because your target is blurry. When direction gets fuzzy, discipline gets fuzzy right along with it.
If you don't choose a direction on purpose, you'll drift toward whatever is loudest and most urgent — and you'll look up one day and realize you've been living the same week for five years.
The Alliance is not a vent session. It's men telling the truth, getting tactical, and leaving every call with something they can actually execute.
Winning becomes normal when you're focused. Consistency over time beats motivation every single time.
Do one thing today that your future self will thank you for. That's it. That's the whole assignment.
 
Links & Resources
Roommates to Soulmates Cohort & Preview Call: https://thedadedge.com/soulmates
The Men's Forge: https://themensforge.com
Dad Edge Alliance & Business Boardroom: https://thedadedge.com/mastermind
First Form Supplements: https://1stphorm.com/dadedge
Episode Link & Resources (Episode 1459): https://thedadedge.com/1459
 
Closing
If there's one message from this episode that stands out, it's this: direction is a decision, and today is the day to make it.
The world is loud. The fires are always burning. And it is incredibly easy to spend your whole life responding instead of building. But the men who are winning at home — in their marriages, with their kids, in their health — are not the ones who figured out some secret. They're the ones who got clear, got consistent, and chose the right room.
Don't let April be another month on autopilot.
Go out and live legendary.

In this episode, I sit down with Matthew McConaughey — Oscar-winning actor, author of the bestselling memoir Greenlights, and a man who thinks about fatherhood, legacy, and what it means to truly live with the same intensity he brings to everything else.
This is not a conversation about Hollywood. It's about what it means to be a man and a father who doesn't half-ass the most important things in his life.
Matthew opens up about his own father — a larger-than-life man who taught him three rules that shaped everything: don't say can't, don't hate, and don't lie. We get into the stories behind each of those lessons, the "don't half-ass it" moment when Matthew told his dad he wanted film school instead of law school, and what it takes for a father to recognize that his son has made up his mind — not asking permission, but declaring a direction.
We also talk about Camilla, taking his kids everywhere he goes on set, and why three older actors all told him the same thing: they chose work over family time and would do it differently if they could. Then there's the passage from Greenlights that stopped Larry mid-workout — about living your legacy now, and the idea that most of us don't fly too close to the sun. We don't fly nearly high enough. Our alarms go off too early.
This one is timeless.
 
Timeline Summary
[0:00] Introduction to the Dad Edge mission and the movement to raise leaders of families and communities
[1:02] Why this replay is one of the top ten episodes in Dad Edge history
[2:18] What Matthew hoped would come from this conversation: waking men up to what being a dad really means
[4:29] What brings Matthew joy: bringing people together and watching them build their own independent friendships
[6:31] The role most relative to who he is as a husband and father — and why his family has always come with him on every job
[8:52] Camilla's one condition before they started a family: "You go, we go"
[11:02] Three older actors all said the same thing: they chose work over family, and they regret it
[12:39] The 80% statistic: most of your one-on-one time with your kids is gone by the time they're 12
[14:00] Fatherhood is a verb — on screen time, saying no with love, and why the easy answer is almost always the wrong one
[18:33] The birds and bees talk from his father: a lesson about respect for women that stuck word for word
[20:34] Don't say can't — the lawnmower story and the lesson that there's always another way
[21:57] Don't hate — saying "I hate you" at his own birthday party, and what happened next
[22:28] Don't lie — the stolen pizza, four chances to tell the truth, and what Matthew actually remembers
[24:10] "Don't half-ass it" — the film school conversation and what it means when a father hears conviction in his son's voice
[28:04] His dad was alive for just five days into Matthew's first acting job — the first thing he committed to that wasn't a fad
[30:55] How Matthew pursues Camilla in the middle of kids, career, and constant demands on his time
[35:26] Why Matthew and Camilla go on dates every week — and what they tell the kids about why mom and dad go alone
[35:43] The passage from Greenlights that stopped Larry in the gym: "Live my legacy now"
[38:33] The inverted Icarus problem: most of us don't fly too close to the sun — our alarms go off way too early
[41:59] The science in the rearview mirror — how everything connects, even the things that looked like mistakes
[42:36] Ten years from now: what Matthew hopes to be celebrating with his family
 
Five Key Takeaways
Fatherhood is a verb, not a label. It's not about helping make the baby — the work starts after. Teaching, shepherding, saying no, explaining why — that is the job.
The three rules Matthew's father gave him — don't say can't, don't hate, don't lie — are not just household rules. They are the weapons a man needs to negotiate the world.
When your child comes to you convicted — not asking permission, but declaring a direction — your job as a father is to recognize that and say "don't half-ass it."
Most of us don't fly too close to the sun. Our alarms go off too early. We put a ceiling on our own potential before we've even started to soar.
Your marriage needs intentional pursuit — even in the busiest seasons of parenting. It doesn't just hold itself.
 
Links & Resources
Roommates to Soulmates Cohort & Preview Call: https://thedadedge.com/soulmates
The Men's Forge: https://themensforge.com
Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey: https://a.co/d/017KxpPw
Episode Link & Resources (Episode 1458): https://thedadedge.com/1458
 
Closing
If there's one message from this episode that stands out, it's this: stop waiting for the right moment to live your legacy — it's already happening right now.
Matthew McConaughey's father gave him three rules, one five-second pause, and a standard he's been carrying ever since. Don't say can't. Don't hate. Don't lie. Don't half-ass it.
The men whose kids will remember them the way Matthew remembers his dad are the ones who show up every day knowing that fatherhood is not a label you earn once. It's a verb you live out in a thousand small moments that add up to everything.
If this episode hit you where it needed to, share it with a father who needs the reminder.
Go out and live legendary.

In this episode, I sit down with Joe Gatto — comedian, founding member of Impractical Jokers, author, and one of the most genuinely funny and surprisingly deep guys I've ever had on this show.
Yes, we laugh. A lot. But what surprised me most about this conversation is how quickly it got real. Joe lost his dad to pancreatic cancer at 19 years old — and watching his father face death with grace, humor, and a smile on his face left an imprint on Joe that shaped everything: the man he became, the dad he is today, and even the comedy career that followed.
We get into marriage and how humor can be the glue that holds a couple together through a tumultuous season — but also how humor can become a way to avoid the conversations that actually need to happen. Joe is honest that the last couple of years have been tough, and he talks about learning to know when it's time to stop laughing and start talking.
And Joe's kids' book — Where Is Barry? — gets the full story: how his son Remo losing his stuffed animal one night turned into a beautifully illustrated book about calming down, thinking logically, and handling life's little chaos moments.
 
Timeline Summary
[0:00] Introduction to the Dad Edge mission and the movement to raise leaders of families and communities
[1:01] Introducing Joe Gatto — Impractical Jokers, touring comedian, author, and a guy who's way more real than you'd expect
[4:23] Growing up in Staten Island: big Italian family, big backyard, and a nerdy kid who quizzed his dad with encyclopedia multiple choice tests
[5:40] How comedy shaped Joe's childhood — Home Improvement, Mel Brooks, Jim Carrey, and movie nights with dad
[8:10] The relationship with his dad — and losing him to pancreatic cancer at just 19 years old
[10:00] His dad's response to the diagnosis: "Get a fake ID, we're going to Vegas"
[11:02] What it was like to be in the ambulance when his father passed — and the smile on his face at the very end
[13:16] Larry's reflection: "You had more of a dad in 19 years than a lot of men have in a lifetime"
[14:20] How Joe's dad shaped the comedian, the father, and the man he is today
[15:02] Joe's new tour Let's Get Into It — tracing his journey from a geeky kid with no friends to who he is now
[16:23] The iconic memory: dad comes home in a full suit, kids are in the pool — and he just jumps in
[17:21] How Joe recreated that exact moment for his own kids without even planning it
[18:36] What Joe's kids would say about him if you asked them without him in the room
[19:37] His 9-year-old daughter who wants to be a DJ — and why Joe said yes without hesitation
[20:06] His 7-year-old son who asks questions like "why is the middle finger bad?" — and how Joe handled it
[24:08] The origin story of Impractical Jokers — day jobs, a bartender, a firefighter, and four friends doing comedy for fun
[33:24] The important line: humor can hold you together, but there's a time to stop laughing and start talking
[35:09] Where Is Barry? — the children's book inspired by his son Remo losing his stuffed animal
[38:48] Joe's son's first reaction to the finished book: "Where's Milana? My sister should be in it too"
[39:25] Why Joe believes teaching kids to cope with adversity is the number one job of a parent
[41:22] Leading by example: how kids see everything, reflect everything, and learn how to handle life by watching you
[42:06] Separating emotion from response — and catching things when they're little, not when they're boulders
[42:43] Why Joe always apologizes to his kids — and why he never says "because I said so"
[47:05] Joe's advice: surround yourself with people who make you better, and be the person who brings others up
[48:19] On balance: it's impossible — just be where you are, and say yes to the five minutes that matter most
 
Five Key Takeaways
The moments your kids will remember forever aren't the big planned ones — they're the split-second decisions to jump in the pool in a full suit. Be present for the small moments.
Humor is a powerful connector in marriage and family — but it has to know its place. There's a time to laugh through things together and a time to put the jokes down and have the real conversation.
Teaching your kids to cope with adversity is the single most important job you have as a parent. Not grades. Not manners. Coping — because you won't always be there, but their ability to handle life will be.
Never say "because I said so." If you can't explain why you're making a decision, question whether you're making the right one. Kids deserve a reason, and giving one builds trust.
Balance is a myth. You can't do everything equally all the time. But you can be fully where you are — and say yes to the five minutes your kid is asking for, because those five minutes will be the best part of their day.
 
Links & Resources
Roommates to Soulmates Cohort & Preview Call: https://thedadedge.com/soulmates
The Men's Forge: https://themensforge.com
Where Is Barry? by Joe Gatto — available on Amazon
Follow Joe Gatto on Instagram: @joe_gatto
Joe Gatto's website: https://www.joegattoofficial.com/
Episode Link & Resources (Episode 491): https://thedadedge.com/491
 
Closing
If there's one message from this episode that stands out, it's this: the moments that shape your kids forever are usually the ones you almost didn't take.
Joe Gatto watched his dad jump into a pool in a full suit on a summer evening — a split-second decision that Joe still talks about decades later. And without even thinking about it, Joe recreated that same moment for his own kids when they called him away from work. Three minutes. Full clothes. Right in.
That is the legacy. That is what your kids will tell their kids about.
You don't have to be perfect. You don't have to have all the answers. You just have to show up, say yes when it counts, and teach them how to handle life when you're not around to help.
If this episode made you laugh and think — which it will — share it with a dad who needs both today.
Go out and live legendary.