In this Business Blast Podcast episode, host Tyler Wagner interviews Brad Kearns, a professional speed golfer and New York Times bestselling author. Brad explains speed golf—a hybrid of running and golf where time and strokes are combined—to illustrate how the sport creates a flow state and intense workout. He shares a personal story from his youth about over‑training as a competitive runner and triathlete, which taught him to temper his competitive drive and prioritize health. Brad then discusses his work on the Primal Endurance program, emphasizing the counter‑intuitive principle of slowing down workouts to build an aerobic base, improve fat‑burning efficiency, and ultimately race faster. His broader business advice centers on listening to one’s inner voice rather than external hype, and pursuing passions for sustainable success. He offers a concise piece of advice to his younger self: relax, get over yourself, and go with the flow. When asked about happiness, Brad highlights presence, appreciation of the moment, and health as foundational, distinguishing happiness from fulfillment. He mentions his favorite books—including his own works and The Way of the Peaceful Warrior—and quotes from Mark Twain and Roger Bannister that shape his philosophy. Finally, he directs listeners to his website (bradkerens.com) and Instagram (bradkerens1) for more content.
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Welcome to the Business Blast Podcast. I'm your host, Tyler Wagner. This episode is brought to you by Authors Unite. Authors Unite provides you with all the resources you need to become a successful author. You can learn more about Authors Unite and join the free community at authorsunite.com. Now let's jump into the episode. Alright everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Business Blast Podcast. I'm your host Tyler Wagner. Today I have Brad Kearns with us. He is a professional speed golfer and New York Times bestselling author. So welcome to the show, Brad.
Tyler, I am ready to blast, man. I love your style here and you called me a speed golfer, so I'm a guy that likes to go fast. Play that slow, boring sport in a whole different manner. We have these speed golf tournaments where they time you on the course, they count your time to play the whole course, and they count your strokes as well, and they add them together. So it's a whole cult sport, not very, not very well known, but a lot of fun and the best way to play the course because you get a workout and you get to be in that zen-like flow state where you just react to what's in front of you because you're running all the time to the next shot.
Yes, and I— and for everybody listening, I just want to, uh, say, so I just found out about professional speed golf before we started the, uh, uh, recording, and it does sound like an amazing sport, man. So I'm really excited. I'm gonna go out and try it. I live down in Miami, so I'm gonna see if there's any, uh, spots down here that do it. But, um, very cool. We will dive in. The first question I have for you, man, is what is the best story from your life that has an underlying valuable message?
Well, I was a very competitive athletic kid. I wanted nothing more in my life than to be a great athlete, and I drifted my way over to the long-distance running because that's what I was best suited for. I wanted to be the star quarterback, but I was a little small and skinny, and I was good at running, so I tried very, very hard and succeeded as a high school athlete. I was nationally ranked in the mile when I was 16 years old. Then, when I went to college, I had that competitive intensity, and drive, and focus, and all these attributes that we want so much. What happened was I kept getting sick and injured over and over because I was training too hard. I wasn't looking after my health. I was doing anything the coach said to get better and to try to keep up with my teammates, but it was too much for me. I lost my own voice and just threw myself into this. Highly competitive measuring and judging world where if you were fast, you could have your self-satisfaction, and if you were injured or slower, you felt bad about yourself. And so, I had to learn that lesson the hard way that I needed to tone down my competitive instincts, get over myself and the incredible importance of these silly little races that now even though I was a professional for 10 years in triathlon, everything resides in a file folder in a file cabinet. It means nothing to the significance of daily life. And so, it's all about the journey and it's all about just going with the flow and being intuitive rather than just trying to force things to happen in your life just because you want to succeed. It's not the whole puzzle there. You have to tone things down and be intuitive rather than just be driven, driven, and focused, and intense, and all those things. So, that's the story from when I was a youth and had to grow out of that and learn through trial and error. That relaxing and, and trying a, a more balanced approach where I respected my health was gonna lead to more success as an athlete.
And what is the most valuable piece of information we should know that's within your expertise or industry?
Well, today I still work in the endurance athlete scene. I wrote a book with Mark Sisson called Primal Endurance, and we have an online mastery core course, the most comprehensive of its kind for endurance athletes in the world ever developed. It's at primalendurance.fit. And, one of the main takeaway messages is that you can slow down the pace of your workouts and build your aerobic base properly. And, by slowing down, you will actually go faster on the race course because you'll become more efficient at burning fat, you won't overstimulate the stress response and lead to breakdown, burnout, illness, and injury. That's a great one-liner where the concept of slowing down and taking it easy but building and building and becoming stronger and stronger and faster even at the comfortable heart rate, that's what translates directly into competitive success when you're going all out in the race mode.
What is your best piece of overall business advice, so not necessarily industry-specific?
Beware of taking advice from pop-offs on a podcast and listen to your own voice instead. That goes back to my first answer where I was trying to be part of a program and listen to the coach and respond to outside external variables rather than listen to my own voice because even as a kid, as a young runner, I knew when I was doing too much. I knew when things weren't right. I knew when my health was falling apart, but I didn't listen. So, the overall business advice is listen to what's in your heart and try to tone down the influence from the outside world. But to answer the question with a less chippy, more direct answer, I would say that pursuing the things you're passionate about— this is what I tell my son. He's a college student looking at his career ahead of him. If you pursue the things that you like the most, that you have the most interest and passion for, that's a really good success formula to end up being what we consider successful in a in a literal or material manner, but you have to enjoy what you're doing or you're probably not going to succeed anyway.
And if you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would that be?
Get over yourself, man. Relax. Don't worry about it. It's going to be okay. And you know what? If it's not okay, you got to go with the flow anyway. You got to make the best of whatever happens to you. People— I love the inspiring stories from people that have had tragedy and setbacks in their lives. That fresh perspective that they get. But rather than having to go through something tragic, you can take the insight that worrying about things is not going to get you anywhere. And, poof, we're all going to get old someday and have to reflect back, and we sure as heck better enjoy those decades of our teens and our 20s and our 30s no matter what. So, just have that positive attitude that's within your control every single day.
And it might tie in, but in your opinion, what's the key to happiness?
Well, I think you have to appreciate the moment and get out of your head, understanding that your thoughts are the source of all your pain, as Carrie Sisson likes to talk about with her spiritual psychology. And whoo, that's a pretty profound insight to realize that when we stress about the future or when we lament the past, that's when we let go of the opportunity to be truly happy. And so, when you can just wake up with a smile, look out and see the sun shining or look out and see the rain pouring and make the best of it and figure out a way to appreciate whatever you're facing, that's when you tee yourself up for the possibility to be happy. And we know that we can't be happy all the time, but we can pursue a fulfilling life. And in the journey of pursuing a fulfilling life and doing things that are making a contribution to others around us, that's when we can access those fleeting moments of happiness and blissful experiences. But happiness goes hand in hand with fulfillment, but they are different. And just to add to that answer, I think it's essential to put your health as your number one priority. And when you're not doing that, when your life is out of balance, when you're overly stressed because you're working too hard in your important job because you're coming up on the IPO or you're building a new business or you're trying to get through make it to partner in the firm, those things are going to get in the way of your happiness every time because when you're fatigued and stressed, you put a mental— you put a roadblock up that prevents you from just feeling happy about general everyday life.
And what is the best book that you've read and what's the number one thing you learned from that?
Not counting my own, Tyler? Is that what you're saying?
Yeah. Well, you can count your own if you want.
You know what's really funny is when you're writing a book, I've written, I believe, something like 17 books over my life. And when you're writing a book, it's, you know, it's a creative process. It's not easy. It's fun and it's rewarding, but it's not the same as reading it. So one of the things I like to do is finally when the book, you know, is published and I get one in the mail from the publisher fresh off the presses and I get to sit down and read it. That's a really wonderful feeling because I'm in an entirely different mindset than I ever was for the duration of the journey, including, you know, editing my own work on the final draft and, you know, looking at it from the mindset of an editor or a writer. And then finally I get to be a reader. So that's my first answer, reading my own books. And then since I said to get over yourself earlier in the show, I'll also mention that The Way of the Peaceful Warrior by Dan Millman, back in I believe 1988, and the insights that he provided there about the importance of going with the flow and enjoying the moment and the realization that sometimes the thing that you want the most in life is the most difficult to obtain because of that drive and that focus and that intensity that can sometimes get in the way of happiness and get in the way of achievement. So, the idea of competing with great competitive intensity because we're in a competitive world but releasing the attachment of your self-esteem to the outcome.
And what is your favorite quote and why?
Oh my gosh, there's a lot of favorite quotes. I like Mark Twain, perhaps Mark Twain, not positive, but he said, "Everything in moderation, including moderation." And I like to apply that to the concept of eating healthy because we're surrounded by such horrible food choices and temptations and garbage that's going down our throats every single day that's compromising our health and literally killing us. To the tune of hundreds of thousands of people a year with diet-related diseases. So when it comes to diet, you have to have a very extreme and strict approach and high standards for what foods you choose to eat. And the, the concept of everything in moderation just doesn't apply, in my opinion. Another great quote from Roger Bannister, who just passed this year, the great sub-4-minute miler and physician in England. And back when he was in the midst of his competitive career, he gave a great quote in his book, and it was, "Struggle gives meaning and richness to life." And to find something that's a valiant struggle, something that you're doing the right way. I'm not talking about struggling through a half Ironman race with a fever of 101, because that's not a valiant thing to do. You're destroying your health for no reason, for an arbitrary goal. But when you have something to struggle for and challenge and bring out, you know, the maximum of your abilities and test you to the maximum. That's what gives meaning and richness to life. Love that quote.
Yes. Thank you so much. This episode was so valuable. The last question I have for you before we let you go is, where is the best place for people to find you online?
Yeah, go look at bradkerens.com. K-E-A-R-N-S is my last name. I have a crazy Instagram account of silly, funny stuff, bradkerens1, the number 1 after my name. And look forward to connecting with you.
Perfect. Thanks again for coming on, man. We really appreciate it.
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