In this episode of the OpenEd podcast, we sit down with Joey Mascio, founder of Sidekick to Hero, a program designed to teach self-development skills to teenagers. Joey, a former middle school teacher and Disneyland performer, shares his insights on the importance of teaching cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and other personal growth techniques to young people.

Key Themes

1. The gap in traditional education around self-development and resilience
2. Using storytelling and gamification to engage teens in personal growth
3. The impact of technology on teen mental health and productivity
4. Reframing negative thoughts and building self-confidence
5. The importance of real-world action in learning and growth
   

Highlights:

The Missing Piece in Education Joey reflects on his time as a teacher: “There’s no education, no class, no curriculum that really teaches self-development, resilience, or anything like that. We find this stuff as adults, and we always say, ‘I wish I knew this when I was a teen.'”

Rewriting Our Stories Drawing from his own experiences with bullying, Joey explains: “I was rewriting my unhelpful thoughts that weren’t getting me the results I wanted. Teens are capable of doing this, but they don’t know they can. They’re not aware of the difference between the facts around them and their stories or thoughts about those facts.”

The Hero’s Journey in Personal Development Joey describes his approach: “Sidekick to Hero is my way of teaching CBT and other self-development concepts to teens. The hero is the person in the story who rises up to change the ending. Nobody else in the story does that – it’s the hero.”

Technology as a Tool, Not a Lifestyle On the impact of excessive screen time, Joey notes: “If you play Fortnite for four hours and get to level 95, when you turn it off and look around in your real life, there’s been no change, no improvement. It doesn’t transfer over, and your real life is not improving.”

Closing Thought: “Teens can do so much more than they’re currently doing. They just have to change their mind about themselves so they can change their story.”

This episode offers valuable insights for parents, educators, and teens themselves on the importance of self-development skills and how to cultivate them in a world full of distractions. Joey Mascio’s Sidekick to Hero program presents an innovative approach to teaching these crucial life skills, emphasizing real-world application and personal growth.

Chapters:

00:00 Understanding Negative Thinking in Kids

00:21 Introduction to the OpenEd Podcast

00:23 Meet Joey Mascio of Sidekick to Hero

01:07 The Importance of Open Education

01:53 Joey’s Journey from Teacher to Sidekick to Hero

02:36 The Missing Piece in Education: Self-Development

04:35 Teaching Self-Development Through Humor and Stories

05:18 Joey’s Disney and Improv Background

07:05 The Impact of Sidekick to Hero on Kids

09:20 The Power of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

14:14 From Sidekick to Hero: Teaching Teens to Reframe Their Mindset

17:06 Introduction to the Hero Arenas

17:15 Exploring the Four Hero Arenas

18:07 Gamification and Real-World Application

19:34 Balancing Screen Time and Real Life

20:49 Teens and Technology: A Deep Dive

29:22 Improv Game: One Sentence Summaries

30:47 Wrapping Up and Final Thoughts

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Transcript

Introduction [00:02]

Charlie Deist: Welcome back to the Open Ed podcast. I’m Charlie Deist, here today with Joey Masio of Sidekick to Hero. Joey, how are you doing?

Joey Masio: I’m doing fantastic. It’s a beautiful day.

Charlie: It looks that way where you are, and likewise here. We’ll channel that outdoor energy into our indoor conversation. I’ve been eager to talk with you ever since seeing your booth at the Utah Fits All vendor fair back in June. You weren’t there personally, but you had some great help handing out flyers, which caught my eye.

Joey: I think so, yeah.

Charlie: I believe there was a sticker giveaway. I grabbed one for my daughter, and she loved it. She might be a bit young for Sidekick to Hero, but this is an exciting time to pursue what we’re calling open education. It’s broader than traditional homeschooling categories. People are finding that whether you’re in Utah with access to programs like Open Ed or Utah Fits All, there are opportunities to customize and mix-match different curriculums to find what works for your child.

Let’s start by having you talk about what you’re doing with Sidekick to Hero – the structure of the program and how you see it fitting into the broader ecosystem of what’s happening in education today.

The Genesis of Sidekick to Hero [01:36]

Joey: Definitely. I was remiss not to be at that convention. I do like to be mysterious, but that weekend I was at the GHC convention in California.

What I noticed at these conventions is something I observed as a middle school teacher. I taught English and theater for seven years, and halfway through, I volunteered to be the teacher in the discipline office in Southern California. I realized I was encountering many teens there – both troubled teens and the general population – who ended up there for various reasons.

One thing missing from their education was how to use their brain effectively. They didn’t understand how their brain affects them, how it sometimes plays tricks on us, and how it does things that get us further away from our goals. This would lead these kids to end up in the discipline office for various reasons.

It also causes teens and adults everywhere to do things like procrastinate, self-doubt, and other counterproductive behaviors. It hit me during that time that there’s no education, no class, no curriculum that really teaches self-development, resilience, or anything like that. We find this stuff as adults. We discover these books and love them, and we always say the same thing: “I wish I knew this when I was a teen.”

The Hidden Curriculum [03:29]

Charlie: Exactly. I think it was actually the little postcard you were giving out that caught my eye, with the cover of “Deep Work” by Cal Newport and “Atomic Habits” by James Clear. He’s got the perfect name for what he does. His whole thing is about how you don’t lack motivation, you lack clarity. These are things that, if I had learned as a kid, could have saved me so many frustrated hours.

You’ve got a whole list of books on your website, but I’m curious how you break these down. Do you need to do like the Cliff Notes version for teenagers? I imagine that past a certain age, you can just read the source material directly. But how do you actually approach this sort of hidden curriculum or the real-world skills that are absent in the traditional school model?

Teaching Self-Development to Teens [04:29]

Joey: When teaching concepts from these books in my Sidekick to Hero curriculum, I’ve found that they’re often way longer than they need to be. Many could really be pamphlets. The stories in books like “Atomic Habits” are great, but the concepts are what teens need at this point. They need them quicker and in video format with a lot of humor. That’s what I do.

My background is in theater. I was the only actor in Disney history to have played both Darth Maul and the Mad Hatter during my nine-year stint as a Disneyland performer. So, I bring that theatrical background to my teaching.

I make short videos that are fun and engaging and teach teens these important skills. They’re simple when it comes down to it. I recently heard from a new mom in our homeschool co-op who noticed a difference in her kids’ attitude and confidence after just the first two videos they watched. It doesn’t take much to introduce a new way of thinking that we all should adopt.

Kids are programmed to think negatively as a protective mechanism, but it’s often unnecessary. If you introduce these concepts in a way where kids go, “Yeah, that makes sense,” using humor, stories, and metaphors, they realize they don’t have to think that way anymore. They start experiencing positive change.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Teens [09:31]

Charlie: You mention CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) on your website. Can you talk about CBT a little bit for those who might not be familiar with that term?

Joey: CBT, or Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, says that what we think affects our behavior. Our behavior can be how we react outwardly or inwardly – our actions and our feelings. CBT posits that the solution to almost any problem is to identify the thought causing you to feel and take actions that are getting you results you don’t want.

I have my master’s in education and took a couple of classes that dabbled in CBT, but it was when I was in that middle school discipline office that I decided to get certified. I became a certified life coach through the Life Coach School with Brooke Castillo. She teaches what she calls “the model,” which is her version of cognitive behavioral therapy.

That certification was just as rigorous and expensive as my master’s program, but I learned so much. The biggest thing I learned was that my way of thinking my whole life wasn’t necessarily right. As a kid, I was bullied in middle school. Kids called me “moon head” because of the shape of my head, comparing me to Mac Tonight from the McDonald’s commercials.

That bullying shook my confidence for weeks. But one day, I decided, “You know what? Yeah, I do have a big head, and I’m still freaking awesome.” I thought I was cheating the system, but what I was really doing was coaching myself. I was rewriting my unhelpful thoughts that weren’t getting me the results I wanted.

Teens are capable of doing this, but they don’t know they can. They’re not aware of the difference between the facts around them and their stories or thoughts about those facts. They think statements like “I’m weird looking and nobody’s going to like me” are facts. But these are opinions that can be rewritten.

That’s a skill that should be taught to every single adolescent. If they want to be successful, they need to know how to build self-confidence and push forward after failure. Without these skills, even great book smarts won’t be enough in the real world because they’ll be stopping themselves with unhelpful “sidekick thoughts,” as I call them.

The Hero’s Journey in Sidekick to Hero [14:24]

Charlie: You break down your program into four arenas, and it just clicked that the acronym – Headspace, Emotions, Relationships, Objectives – adds up to HERO. The name Sidekick to Hero says it all, but can you explain how you conceive of that progression? It sounds like you’re saying we can consider ourselves a sidekick in life or be the main character of our story. Is that another one of these reframes? Can you talk through some of these four arenas and what each one represents as a skill set?

Joey: Sidekick to Hero is my way of teaching CBT and other self-development concepts to teens because they understand that concept. I love Joseph Campbell’s hero’s journey. I teach that to the teens and explain that the hero is the person in the story who rises up to change the ending. Nobody else in the story does that – it’s the hero.

The sidekick is on the hero’s team, which is an important distinction. It’s not about being a victim or a villain. A sidekick has the same goals as the hero, unlike an NPC (non-playable character) who’s just there in the background.

That’s how I felt as a teen. I had goals and things I wanted, but I faced challenges like a stutter and being teased for my appearance. I wanted to be on stage and be the center of attention, but I felt people were laughing at me in a bad way. When you give up and think, “I’ll never be able to get that,” that’s sidekick mode.

It’s not inherently bad to think like a sidekick – we all do sometimes. I teach teens how to catch themselves when they’re thinking like a sidekick and shift into hero mode. When you think like a hero, you get hero results. A hero result is the result you want.

In Sidekick to Hero, teens start by creating a hero name for themselves. It’s their name plus a descriptor, like “Joey the Creator.” This helps them channel a new mindset and motivate themselves when needed.

The Four Hero Arenas [17:37]

The four hero arenas in Sidekick to Hero are:

1. Headspace: What they’re thinking
2. Emotions: How they’re dealing with their feelings
3. Relationships: How they’re dealing with other people
4. Objectives: How they’re dealing with their goals (including procrastination)

In the program, these arenas are presented like stages in a video game. Each “stage” has challenges for teens to complete in the real world. When they complete these challenges, they can claim points and coins in the app, which also serves as a journal for self-reflection.

Teens can choose which arena to focus on based on their needs and interests. Some might start with the Objectives arena to learn about entrepreneurship or overcoming procrastination, while others might spend more time in the Emotions arena. It’s really like a choose-your-own-adventure experience.

Balancing Screen Time and Real-World Experiences [21:31]

Charlie: You’re speaking about the gamification element, which I find really interesting. I want to use that as a lever to explore the idea of balancing screens and the real world. It’s usually framed as an either/or situation, and we all know kids (and adults) spend too much time on screens. We want to do better but don’t really know how.

One answer could be reframing what we’re doing on the computer to be oriented towards getting us out in the real world. It sounds like that’s what your experience is doing – creating real-world quests where the computer is a tool, a means to an end. Being in touch with all these teenagers who are really in the thick of it, what do you see as the state of the union on teens and screens? How do you conceive of that problem?

Joey: Teens know they spend too much time on screens. They get it. Deep down, they know it’s stopping them from reaching their real-life goals. I explain it to them like this: If you play Fortnite for four hours and get to level 95, when you turn it off and look around in your real life, there’s been no change, no improvement. It doesn’t transfer over, and your real life is not improving.

I love video games, but there’s a time and a place for them. Technology is a tool, but we’ve created this false narrative that if we’re not constantly connected, we’re missing out. I teach teens the concept of “more and before” – spend more time living your own life before you live somebody else’s life in a video game or on YouTube.

Sidekick to Hero: A Tool for Real-World Growth [24:28]

Charlie: You make the point that you don’t need a smartphone for this. You can actually get the whole program for less than the cost of a cell phone subscription. I think it’s $250 a year or $25 a month, which seems like a perfect fit for any open ed families looking for something to slot into a custom-built curriculum.

What I love about this is that if you’re a parent wondering about the right balance between screen time for educational purposes and real-world experiences, you’ve answered that. The curriculum – or quests, as you call them – take you out of the computer with some structure and frameworks to try things in the real world. It’s real support for anyone interested in self-directed learning, providing guidance that might be lacking if a kid is left entirely to their own devices.

The Anxious Generation and Technology [26:52]

Charlie: Have you followed any of the discussion around Jonathan Haidt’s new book, “The Anxious Generation”?

Joey: No, I haven’t read that one, but I’ve read one of his other books. Can you give me the pamphlet version?

Charlie: Sure. Haidt presents data showing a sharp increase in mental health issues, including suicides, coinciding with the advent of smartphones, particularly around 2012 with the introduction of the front-facing camera and the rise of social media platforms. This led to people constantly comparing themselves to others, resulting in different but equally concerning problems for both boys and girls.

Haidt points to various aspects of our technology use that lead to more anxiety. While he doesn’t claim to have a silver bullet, he recommends certain societal changes, like establishing a cultural expectation that children don’t get their first cell phone until they’re 16. He suggests enforcing these norms not through laws, but through culture and convention.

Ultimately, I think it’s up to parents and young people themselves to make the decision to break from the pack and take ownership of their lives.

Empowering Teens to Make Informed Choices [28:29]

Joey: That’s what I’m hoping to do. I’d love it if all parents followed that counsel – no cell phone until they’re 16, no smartphone until they’re 18. That’s probably what my wife and I are going to do. But I’m hoping to inspire teens and tweens to make that choice for themselves.

I explain to them that platforms like YouTube, Minecraft, and TikTok are designed to hook their attention so other people can make money. When I pitch it to teens that way, saying, “They created their product to hook you specifically, so you waste your life while they make money off your attention,” they start to get it.

Yes, it’s fun, but not for long, as you mentioned about your college experience with video games. That’s why I created really short videos in my program. It’s designed so a teen can log in on Monday, watch a four-minute video, complete a challenge over the next day or two, and then come back to report. It’s not meant for binging – it’s meant for small consumption followed by real-world action. Because when they’re doing, that’s when they’re learning.

One-Sentence Book Summaries [30:54]

Charlie: Let’s play a quick improv game called One Sentence Summaries. I’ll give you the title of a book you teach, and you give me the pamphlet version in as few words as possible. Ready?

1. Carol Dweck, “Growth Mindset” Joey: You do not have to stay stuck.
2. Simon Sinek, “The Infinite Game” Joey: Play like the game never ends.
3. Nassim Nicholas Taleb, “Antifragile” Joey: When you break, you get stronger.
4. Napoleon Hill, “Own Your Own Mind” Joey: Don’t let your thoughts control you. You control them.
5. Dave Ramsey, “Total Money Makeover” Joey: Stop spending money!

Closing Thoughts [32:58]

Charlie: We’ve covered a lot of ground in just 30 minutes. For someone considering this program, what’s the best place for them to go to learn more?

Joey: They can go to sidekicktohero.com or joemascio.com. Both will have links to learn more and start a two-week free trial.

Charlie: Excellent. We’ll make sure our families are aware of this opportunity. Any closing thoughts or words of wisdom, Joey? Are you working on a book of your own?

Joey: Yes, one day that will be coming. To any teens listening, or parents who can pass this on to their teens: You can do so much more than you’re currently doing. You just have to change your mind about yourself so you can change your story.

Charlie: Change your mind, change your story. Joey Mascio, thanks so much.

Joey: Hey, thank you very much, Charlie.