What happens when the thing that defined you is taken away? When the path you were on disappears, and you're forced to discover who you are without it?

Joel Burgess was known to everyone around him as a force of nature. A semi-pro rugby player who powered through life with sheer brute force and will. A big man with a big presence. The last one to leave the pitch or the pub after the match. Then a devastating injury at the peak of his career didn't just end his rugby dreams—it shattered the entire identity he'd built around being unstoppable.

What followed was a winding path through corporate life in Dubai to founding his own company in London which was wiped out during the COVID-19 pandemic, where he kept trying to apply that same force-of-will approach to success. But his body kept breaking down. His spirit kept suffocating. And eventually, he had to face a profound question: What if the way forward wasn't about pushing harder, but about surrendering to something deeper?

In this raw, vulnerable and insightful conversation, Joel shares his transformation from someone who muscled through everything to someone who learned to lean into sensitivity, wisdom, and courage. From athlete to entrepreneur to leadership and business coach, his journey isn't a straight line to success. It's a steeper path of discovering alignment through annihilation.

Now living in Portugal, he built the Elevated Coaching Collective, a community of heart-led coaches who he helps to master both the inner and outer game of building a business helping others. More than that, he's living proof that our greatest breakdowns can become our breakthrough, if we're willing to step forward with an open heart and learn to laugh at the annihilation.

This isn't a story about hustle or willpower. It's about learning that resistance is the path. That anxiety and laughter are two sides of the same coin. That sometimes the way forward requires us to completely let go of who we thought we had to be and just dance.

If you're in the middle of your own transformation, or questioning whether to keep forcing your way through or to finally surrender to who you really are, this conversation is for you.

Connect with Joel:

• Instagram: @coach.joel.burgess
• Medium: joel-burgess-coach.medium.com
• Community: Elevated Coaching Collective

Follow The Steeper Path on social media for updates and behind-the-scenes content.

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennpryor/
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheSteeperPath
• Website: https://www.lennpryor.com

Produced by Lagom LLC | Hosted by Lenn

What happens when a life-threatening health crisis becomes the greatest gift you've ever received?

Helen Parker spent 14 years climbing the corporate ladder at O2 in the UK, building award-winning social impact programs while burning out repeatedly. Then emergency brain surgery in 2014 forced a complete stop—and became her portal to transformation.

Today, Helen is a clinical hypnotherapist and co-founder of Experience Carnival, taking women on journeys of radical self-discovery through Brazil's Rio Carnival. Her Complete Confidence Method helps high-achieving women move from exhausting performance to embodied self-leadership.

In this conversation, we explore:

• The "doer trap" and why over-performing leads to burnout
• Why you can't think your way into confidence—you have to feel it
• The psychology of trust from her groundbreaking "Think Big" youth program
• How Rio Carnival's matriarchal roots create cellular transformation
• The incredible story of a man who overcame 60 years of body shame in front of 90,000 people

If you're tired of performing success and ready to feel it instead, this episode is for you.

Connect with Helen:

Complete Confidence: https://completeconfidence.co

Experience Carnival: https://experiencecarnival.rio

Follow The Steeper Path on social media for updates and behind-the-scenes content.

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennpryor/
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheSteeperPath
• Website: https://www.lennpryor.com

Produced by Lagom LLC | Hosted by Lenn

From Ancient Temples to Digital Worlds: Leonardo Benitez's Journey from Archaeologist to Game Engineering Leader

What happens when a childhood obsession with Indiana Jones transforms into a career unearthing ancient mysteries and then pivots completely into building some of the world's most successful mobile games?

In this episode, I sit down with Leonardo Benitez, Head of Game Engineering at Scopely, the studio behind the phenomenon that is Monopoly Go! But before Leo was helping build games played by millions, he was decoding the astronomical secrets of ancient civilizations across the Americas.

Leo's path has been anything but conventional. His passion for archaeology led him deep into the world of astroarchaeology, studying how ancient peoples built elaborate structures to track celestial patterns and organize their societies. To bring these ancient mysteries to life, he taught himself software development, creating specialized models and visualizations that could reveal patterns invisible to the naked eye. That technical curiosity opened an unexpected door.

One interest fed another, pulling Leo from dig sites in South America into the creative world of animation and game development, starting with building Macromedia Flash games at Disney. Nearly 15 years later, he's leading engineering teams at one of mobile gaming's most successful studios.

This conversation explores the connective tissue between seemingly disparate passions, the courage it takes to follow your curiosity into entirely new fields, and how the skills we develop in one chapter of life can become unexpected superpowers in the next. Whether you're contemplating a career pivot or simply curious about how great journeys unfold, Leo's story offers a masterclass in following the steeper path.

Follow The Steeper Path on social media for updates and behind-the-scenes content.

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennpryor/
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheSteeperPath
• Website: https://www.lennpryor.com

Produced by Lagom LLC | Hosted by Lenn