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.
About Tommy
Dr. Tommy Shavers is the Founder and CEO of NESTRE™ Health & Performance, a solutions-based company focused on improving and strengthening mental and cognitive fitness, to help the mind and brain perform, react and respond at its highest level. NESTRE™ is the first NEuro-STREngth company to leverage the science of neuroplasticity, which refers to the brain’s ability to change through growth and reorganization, with AI/Machine Learning to successfully apply a proprietary training method in the areas of brain health, mental wellness and cognitive human performance.
Dr. Shavers created a model of self-recovery and successfully healed himself from a decade-long mental and cognitive impairment and decline after suffering multiple career-ending concussions as a Division I college football player. Once he achieved what was deemed impossible, he aimed to create an efficient and scalable model to help others get better in the areas of brain health, mental wellness and cognitive performance. This breakthrough led to his discovery of the established science of neuroplasticity.
Dr. Shavers brings more than 10 years of organizational leadership and high-profile behavioral training experience to the company. He has spent the past decade consulting with college and professional sports as an NFL/NCAA behavioral consultant, as well as working with high-profile/high-performance individuals and organizations in the areas of performance, leadership, culture, and behavior. His client list of elite performers includes NFL athletes and coaches, medical professionals and business executives.
Dr. Shavers conducts NFL Rookie Symposiums and NCAA player conduct trainings in the areas of sexual assault, athlete behavior, and domestic violence. He is a former college professor, radio show host and TV guest expert. He has been featured in Bloomberg, Sports Illustrated, ESPN, Thrive Global and Authority magazine. He is the author of The Next CEO, None of the Above and Man Made Man, and has published works in the areas of social status, power and athlete behavior.
He also serves as the Sports & Health Chair for the Global Health Catalyst Summit, as a board member for the Society for NeuroSports, and is the creator of the HI-R Cognitive Performance Model™, HI-R Cognitive Performance Cycle™, and the NESTRE Training Model™.
Dr. Shavers was a 3-year letter-winner and football team captain at the University of Central Florida (UCF) where he also served as the athletics program’s first Life Skills Coordinator. He has earned a B.A. in Organizational Communication and M.A. in Interpersonal Communication from UCF, M.A. in Biblical Studies from Ambridge University, and a D.M. in Organizational Leadership from the University of Phoenix.
Dr. Shavers is married to his high school sweetheart, Tomica. They have been married for 25 years and have three children. Through his own personal experiences and life journey, he is passionate about giving back to underserved communities and helping individuals from all backgrounds reach their highest potential.
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.
