Author, The Epic of You
This week, Ira spoke with Peter H. Bailey, author of The Epic of You. In this episode of “Ira’s Everything Bagel,” It’s not if life will disrupt your plans—it’s when. Careers stall. Relationships shift. That little voice wakes you up at 5 a.m. and starts whispering doubt. And suddenly, you’re wondering whether you’re falling behind.
This week on Ira’s “Everything Bagel,” Ira sits down with Peter H. Bailey, author of The Epic of You, for a powerful conversation about reframing crisis, silencing the “disease of comparison,” and discovering the hero inside ordinary life.
Peter draws on a 45-year career in leadership and coaching—and the timeless wisdom of Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey—to explain why being heroic doesn’t mean climbing a mountain. It means staying with your challenges long enough to uncover the gift at the end.
Every culture tells a version of the same story: someone leaves the village and returns transformed—or a stranger arrives and changes everything. Peter believes that story is a map for your life—past, present, and future. The “call to adventure” isn’t about drama. It’s about growth. And often, the hardest seasons produce the greatest expansion.
When Peter couldn’t find a book to guide him through his own turning points, he wrote one. The Epic of You is both a personal processing tool and a leadership framework built on one simple formula:
Experience + Reflection = Real Education.
In this thoughtful and energizing episode, Peter shares why curiosity matters, why comparison shrinks your future, and why the word “epic” belongs to all of us.
Because the chaos we fear may just be the doorway to the life we’re meant to live.
ABOUT PETER:
Peter H. Bailey is an author, global facilitator, and leadership strategist whose four decades of workhave taken him to more than 50 countries. As President of The Prouty Project, a leadingstrategic planning and leadership developmentfirm, he has guided executives and teams through
organizational transformation with a rare blend ofinsight, empathy, and hands-on learning
expertise.
A TEDx speaker on “Developing Your Heroic Journey Mindset” and award-winning global educator, Peter has delivered leadership programs worldwide and previously ran a corporate training adventure center in Indonesia.
He holds a Master’s in Experiential Education, serves on the Board of Voyageur Outward Bound School, and writes regularly on human performance and personal transformation.
Fluent in Indonesian and conversational in German, Peter brings deep cultural awareness shaped by extensive travel, including multi-month overland expeditions across Asia, Europe, and Africa. His personal pursuits are as wide-ranging as his professional work—rock climbing, sailing, scuba diving, dog-sledding and fly-fishing.
His attempt to learn the instruments of cultures around the world prompted him to learn the didgeridoo from Australia, playing the chanter from Scotland, and the low whistle from his time in Ireland are examples of his curiosity and love for life!