Advertise on podcast: Divorced Dads of America: The Rebuild

Why it’s so hard to stop thinking about your marriage — and the daily practice that actually rewires it. Point 1: the highlight-reel trap your brain defaults to. Point 2: the specific-vision, daily-reps system that builds a new one. Links: Skool bit.ly/3Z83e97 | Coaching bit.ly/3PfPU0f | IG @divorceddadsofamerica

Divorce doesn't just break trust in your ex — it breaks trust in yourself. This episode: the 3 a.m. panic loop that reading the Bible alone couldn't fix; the chair at my parents' house where I finally asked God what He wanted from me; the childhood memory of waiting on a dad who was always late but always got you there; and why rebuilding trust after divorce means trusting the process instead of forcing the outcome. Coaching: https://bit.ly/3PfPU0fSkool community: https://bit.ly/3Z83e97Instagram: @divorceddadsofamerica

Divorce ends a marriage, but it quietly ends a lot of friendships too — and almost nobody warns you about it. In this episode: the chair where everything got real after a cross-state move and a business too small to count; a call from a wealthy man walking alone in another country with no one he could trust; why "ambiguous loss" means divorce grief gets no ritual and no casserole; David alone in a cave in Psalm 142; and what it actually costs your kids if you become the friend who goes quiet too. Coaching: https://bit.ly/3PfPU0fSkool community: https://bit.ly/3Z83e97Instagram: @divorceddadsofamerica

A dad in the community has it together on kid-days but drifts hard on kid-free ones — losing time, skipping workouts, running reactive instead of intentional. This episode is about why an "unstructured" day isn't actually unstructured — it's just running whatever system shows up by accident. In this episode: the grocery cart that used to cost an hour of drifting, and the one change that fixed it; the workout system that always worked, and why; James Clear's real line on goals versus systems; the guardrail your kids already are on some days, and how to build your own on the days they're not there. Coaching: https://bit.ly/3PfPU0fSkool community: https://bit.ly/3Z83e97Instagram: @divorceddadsofamerica

A guy in the community asked how to stop replaying what he lost. This episode is about why that replay isn't harmless — it's a loop that gets deeper every time you run it — and what actually breaks it: not forgetting, but refusing to let the old story be the destination. In this episode: Why ruminating isn't remembering — it's a psychological loop that reinforces itselfThe research on why dwelling on pain without action prolongs it, not heals itA real story from a casino parking lot exchange point and a 40-minute drive homeThe practice that broke the loop — worship music, a self-built "I am" list, and a choice repeated every time the old record started playingWhat your kids see when your attention is stuck in the past instead of with them right nowCoaching: https://bit.ly/3PfPU0fSkool community: https://bit.ly/3Z83e97Instagram: @divorceddadsofamerica

Why Divorced Dads Panic the Moment Their Kids Stop Wanting Them AroundOne dad hasn't seen his kids in over a year — a DVPO, five minutes away, total silence. Then Anthony's own teenagers started pulling away, with nobody keeping them out but time. This episode is about what happens to your identity when the kids you can't live without start learning to live without you — and why that was always supposed to happen. In this episode: sitting with a client's impossible year of silence; the moment his own kids' quiet withdrawal shook something deeper than sadness; the lie that their distance means he's not enough; the Statue of Liberty from three different heights and what it taught him about identity that doesn't move; what a secure, consistent dad actually looks like from a kid's side of the room. Coaching: https://bit.ly/3PfPU0fSkool community: https://bit.ly/3Z83e97Instagram: @divorceddadsofamerica

Why Divorced Dads Think a Victoria's Secret Model Is Coming to Save ThemHe downloaded the dating apps a few months after his divorce and lasted a week. This episode isn't about dating rules — it's about the eight months between a cracked tooth and a phone call, and why the wait wasn't wasted time, it was the actual work. In this episode: the dating-app unicorn fantasy and why it collapses fast; the decision to leave dating in God's timing during the broke, praying season; the dentist story, told in full, three separate times he didn't make a move; what "getting your own recipe right" actually looks like day to day; what your kids see when you choose focus over chaos; the race-car rebuild metaphor for why timing this wrong doesn't just cost you. Coaching: https://bit.ly/3PfPU0fSkool community: https://bit.ly/3Z83e97Instagram: @divorceddadsofamerica

Anthony gets brutally honest about the voice that used to run his head every time he looked at his bank account — the one that told him he'd never recover. He breaks down the loop that voice runs on, and walks through The Peace Engine, the four-move practice that finally shut it down: catching the loop, getting accountable to it, giving it an end time, and installing a daily gratitude walk he learned from mentor Jon Gordon. If you've ever believed the voice that says you're done, this episode is for you. In this episode: The voice that told Anthony he'd never recover — and the loop that fed itWhy running the spiral alone in your own head is what lets it winThe Peace Engine: the 4-move practice for catching and shutting down the loopThe daily gratitude-walk practice learned from mentor Jon GordonWhat his kids feel when he's stuck in the loop vs. when he catches itStandard CTA links: 1-on-1 coaching: https://bit.ly/3PfPU0fSkool community: https://bit.ly/3Z83e97Instagram: @divorceddadsofamerica

Anthony gets honest about the years he spent waiting for his life to change on its own — hoping, not building. He breaks down why "just be more disciplined" was never the real problem, and walks through The Vision Stack, the four-move framework that took him from vague hope to an actual written vision for his business, his time with his kids, and his exchange days. If you've ever fallen off a habit and called yourself undisciplined, this episode is for you. In this episode: Why waiting for things to just change on their own kept Anthony stuckThe real difference between being interested in change and being obsessed with itThe Vision Stack: the 4-move framework for building a specific, written vision before you touch a single habitWhy "10 habits" is the wrong goal — and what to build insteadWhat his kids are actually watching him modelStandard CTA links: 1-on-1 coaching: https://bit.ly/3PfPU0fSkool community: https://bit.ly/3Z83e97Instagram: @divorceddadsofamerica

A former family court judge who ruled on over 5,000 custody cases sits down to talk about the side of divorce nobody prepares you for — because she lived it first, as the kid in the middle of her own parents' split. Michele Locke spent decades on the bench before returning to private practice to fight the hardest custody and alienation cases in Texas. In this episode: what parents get wrong after divorce, the real mistakes dads make in and out of the courtroom, the new danger AI poses to your case, and what she tells good dads who are scared they've already lost their kids for good. In this episode: Michele's own story as a child of divorce and what it taught her about what not to doThe most common mistakes dads make in custody cases, with a lawyer and without oneHer BIFF communication framework, in plain language with real examplesHow AI can be used against you in a divorce case — and how it can be used to fake evidence against youWhat she tells good dads who are afraid they've already lost their kidsFind Michele Locke: Website: https://www.michelelocke.com/Podcast: lovelustlaw — https://www.michelelocke.com/podcastBlog: "The Lockedown" — via michelelocke.comInstagram / LinkedIn: @attorneymichelelockeStandard CTA links: 1-on-1 coaching: https://bit.ly/3PfPU0fSkool community: https://bit.ly/3Z83e97Instagram: @divorceddadsofamerica

My sixteen-year-old dropped a car off at a shop by himself last week, and something about watching him handle it broke something open in me. Patrick Bet-David said the line that's been going around — this episode is what it actually means to train a kid on purpose, knowing the whole point is that he leaves.In this episode: Why watching your kid succeed without you is supposed to sting — Peter Blos's research on adolescent "individuation"What the still-maturing teenage prefrontal cortex means for how long your job as a dad actually lastsDiana Baumrind's parenting-styles research and the difference between training and controlThe Stoic "dichotomy of control" and what it means for fatherhood specificallyThe Loose Grip framework — four moves for training hard without gripping outcomes you never ownedBowlby and Ainsworth's "secure base" research — why your calm makes his independence possibleProverbs 22:6 and Hebrews 12:11 on what training is actually supposed to feel likeApply for 1-on-1 coaching: https://bit.ly/3PfPU0fJoin the free Skool community: https://bit.ly/3Z83e97Instagram: @divorceddadsofamerica

Eleven years ago, Garry Junkuhn's girlfriend moved in with him — and that day became the last time he saw his two sons for three years. He found out how bad things had gotten from a school notification: his son had legally changed his last name to his mother's. Founder of 100K Fathers, Garry has since guided thousands of estranged dads through the same reunification process that eventually brought both of his own sons back — built on patience and inner work, not lawyers or court orders. In this episode: the Instagram message from his son that ended three years of silence, why fighting for access through the courts usually backfires, and the practical, day-to-day moves that actually draw an estranged child back. In this episode: Garry's own three-year estrangement from his two sons, and the school notification that changed everythingThe Instagram message from his son that ended the silence — and what he did nextWhy the "fight for access" instinct backfires, and the counterintuitive alternative that worked for him and thousands of the fathers he's since coachedPractical rules on text frequency, showing up unannounced, and working around a hostile co-parentThe "silver bullets" — false allegations, protection orders — he sees in roughly 40% of the fathers he's worked with once they push legallyHow to know you're actually ready to reconnect, versus just desperate toReal reunification stories, including a father who hadn't seen his kids in 5 and 7 yearsFind Garry Junkuhn / 100K Fathers: Website: https://www.100k-fathers.com/Note: he said directly on the recording that he hasn't built out Instagram/YouTube much yet — the website (and booking a call from it) is the real destination, don't oversell social links you can't back up.Standard CTA links: 1-on-1 coaching: https://bit.ly/3PfPU0fSkool community: https://bit.ly/3Z83e97Instagram: @divorceddadsofamerica

I waited years to tell anyone about a habit that was quietly running my life — and it didn't die until I did. This episode is about the pattern I now see in dad after dad who reaches out: crisis, relief, silence, and a worse crisis later. What's actually happening underneath it, and the exact process that breaks it before it gets 10x harder.In this episode: Why the urge to hide something is actually the clearest evidence of where your real problem livesKahneman and Tversky's research on why pain — not opportunity — is what actually moves most men to actJames Prochaska's stages-of-change research and the exact point where people mistake feeling better for being doneJulian Rotter's locus-of-control research and why gripping outcomes you never controlled burns you outPierre Azoulay's Harvard Business School research on founder age — why real success takes far longer than it looks from outsideThe Chop Wood, Carry Water framework — four moves for exposing what you're hiding before it gets 10x harderSheldon Cohen's research on social support and why accountability is a measurable stress buffer, not just a feelingAngela Duckworth's grit research and what it actually predicts about who sustains changeAlbert Bandura's Bobo doll studies — what your kids are actually learning by watching youGalatians 6:9 — the timeline promise behind doing the hard thing anywayApply for 1-on-1 coaching: https://bit.ly/3PfPU0fJoin the free Skool community: https://bit.ly/3Z83e97Instagram: @divorceddadsofamerica

This week on Sunday Table, the Sunday faith segment from Divorced Dads of America, Anthony Thompson asks a simple but exposing question: what does seeking God actually look like for you — compared to what seeking money looks like? Anthony walks through his own list of moments God came through for him, from landing a job at the #1 PR firm in LA to building a six-figure business in Australia by seeking the Lord every morning, and challenges dads to build their own list before they forget what God has already done. Key Takeaways: See the difference between what you actually give your attention to and what you say you believe.Hear Anthony's own list of specific moments God came through — a new job during the 2008 financial crisis, a six-figure business built in Australia, a decade alongside the founder of a major global brand.Learn the story behind the word "Ebenezer" from 1 Samuel 7 — a stone Samuel set up specifically so Israel wouldn't forget what God had already done.Hear Charles Spurgeon's take on "hitherto hath the Lord helped us."Get one practical challenge: build your own list of wins before you forget them.Timestamps:00:00 Introduction — What Does Seeking God Look Like?01:30 Welcome to Sunday Table03:00 What You Chase vs. What You Remember11:00 The Verse — Psalm 63 and the Ebenezer Stone15:00 This Week's Idea + The Rattle Question19:00 Prayer for Dads Who Forget What God's Already Done22:00 Closing Thoughts + How to Connect Scripture & Resources Mentioned: Psalm 63:1 — "O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee."Psalm 63:7 — "Because thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice."1 Samuel 7:12 — "Then Samuel took a stone... and called the name of it Ebenezer, saying, Hitherto hath the LORD helped us."Charles Spurgeon — "Hitherto the Lord hath helped us. Through poverty — through wealth — through sickness — through health — hitherto."This Week's Idea: Build your own list of wins — every time God came through — before you forget them.Rattle Question: Stop right now and name five things God has come through for you. Not someday — right now. If you can't get past two, that's not a faith problem. That's a memory problem. Connect: Work with Anthony 1-on-1: https://bit.ly/3PfPU0fFollow Divorced Dads of America on Instagram: https://bit.ly/insta_DDAJoin the Divorced Dads of America community on Skool: https://bit.ly/3Z83e97

Episode Title: Divorced Dads Ask: How Do You Deal With Missing Your Kid?Description: A photo memory pops up. Your kids, two years younger, laughing about nothing. And it wrecks you before you've even had coffee. Anthony answers a question every divorced dad eventually asks — how do you actually deal with missing your kids — by naming the two ramps most guys default to (run into busy, or spiral into shame) and why neither one works. He brings in Dr. Pauline Boss's concept of ambiguous loss — grief without closure, because the person isn't gone, just not here right now — and research on post-traumatic growth, which found that growth comes not from the pain itself but from what you do with it afterward. Then walks through The Bridge, four moves to stop waiting for your kids to come home and start building the man, and the home, they're coming back to. In this episode: The two default ramps when a memory hits — running into busy, or spiraling into shame — and why neither worksDr. Pauline Boss's concept of ambiguous loss — grief that never fully closes because the person isn't gone, just not currently presentWhy missing your kids isn't a sign you're failing — it's proof you love themResearch on post-traumatic growth — growth comes from the work, not the pain itselfThe Bridge — four moves to stop waiting for your kids and start building for themWhat your kids notice about a dad who builds through the ache instead of running from it or drowning in itApply for 1-on-1 coaching: https://bit.ly/3PfPU0fJoin the free Skool community: https://bit.ly/3Z83e97Instagram: @divorceddadsofamerica