excellence, actually

The psychologist and philosopher Erich Fromm argued that there are two fundamental orientations we can bring to the world: a having orientation and a being orientation. The difference between the two—which Brad lays out today, and in his most recent book, Master of Change—is the difference between getting stuck in your identity, and being durable, flexible, and versatile over the course of one's l...

When times get difficult, people often turn to sport and fitness to help. It's a way to build confidence and mental strength, and an outlet for frustration. But if that's why you get into athletics, what happens when you get your life back on track? Can you still have the same drive? That's the opening question of today's episode, but it leads into a broader discussion about how to navigate change...

There's plenty of information out there about the "best" routine for your morning, your night, and every time in between. Of course, as we always say, there is no "best" anything. What works for one person may not work for another. That being said, there are some general guidelines that can help you think through how to build the daily routines that are most effective for you. Here, Brad shares hi...

We all know walking is good for us—but just how good is it, exactly? Today we go deep on running's more leisurely and oftentimes less celebrated (dare we say underrated?) cousin. What are the aerobic benefits of walking? If you're a regular runner, is there a case for why you should mix in more walking? Why is everyone so obsessed with 10,000 daily steps as a metric, and should you be? What is the...

If you’re someone who lives in a place with seasons (or decided to travel somewhere especially warm) you might be slogging through heat and humidity during your workouts these days—particularly if you’re training for a fall marathon. Lucky for you, Steve Magness deals with this problem nearly year round since he lives in Houston. So today he offers his best tips for adjusting your workouts and sur...

Hilary Hahn first picked up a violin when she was 3, and made her major orchestral debut at 12. Now in her forties, she has spent four decades playing, and more than thirty of those years playing with some of the best orchestras in the world. Over that time, she has gathered some—actually, A LOT of—wisdom about what goes into an elite performance. Though her experience is in music, her tips are ac...

Studies have shown that elite performers—like those we're watching in the Olympics right now—experience the exact same feelings of nervousness and anxiety that we all feel before an important event. But they're experts at turning that anxiety into fuel using a specific psychological tool. Today, Brad breaks down what that tool is and how it can help you next time you have pre-performance jitters....

Nike recently released an ad for the Olympics whose message is that you have to be a "bad person"—in the ad's telling, a competitor who lacks empathy, compassion, and respect—to be a winner. So Brad, Steve, and Clay debate: Is this true? Is it possible to be a ruthless competitor and still be a good person? What separates true greatness from pseudo-greatness? And what do we get wrong, culturally a...

When it comes to being productive, there’s nothing more important that prioritization. You don't just want to get things done; you want to get the right things done. Unfortunately, when life (and our to do list) gets overwhelming, we can resort to just getting through what’s loudest and latest, which means we ignore our important, long-term projects to tend to what’s urgent. That can keep us from...

The Olympics kick off tomorrow, so the guys share the events they're most excited for, and discuss the mindsets that the world’s top performers use to gain a mental edge. You’ll get Steve’s breakdown of what to watch for in this year’s most compelling track races, what we expect to see from Simone Biles, thoughts on how the USA’s men’s basketball team will stack up against the international compet...

"Respond, not react." It's easy to say and extremely difficult to do, especially in the heat of the moment. Luckily, Brad has an actionable, four-step plan that will help you respond thoughtfully rather than react emotionally next time you find yourself in a stressful situation. Plus: how you can use affect labeling, self-distancing, and physical exercise to help put the 4 P's into practice. If yo...

This week, we discuss Brad's recent article in The New York Times, and announce some exciting news: On Monday, we launched "The Growth Equation Academy for Human Performance." The Academy is something we created after readers and listeners continue to ask for a place to go deeper on performance and well-being. We couldn't find a program out there that we liked, so we created our own, filled with c...

We live in a data-heavy age, rife with smart watches and fitness trackers. But objective metrics have their limits (such as heat, fatigue, stress, technical difficulties, or when you forget your watch/tracker). In these cases, RPE can be a helpful metric to use, because it's based on feel. Today, Brad explains what it is, how to use it, and how it can be applied outside of physical exercise to lif...

In a 2021 Pew Research survey, only 17% of Americans mentioned their work as a source of meaning. But a 2023 poll, also from Pew Research, said 71% of Americans thought that having a job they enjoy was an important element of a fulfilling life. This creates a big disconnect. If we believe meaningful work is important to a good life, but we're struggling to find meaningful work, where does that lea...

There are many reasons why your workout routine might get disrupted. Maybe you're traveling, maybe something comes up and you have less time than expected, or maybe you just can't get yourself to drive to the gym. In these moments, it's better to try to do something rather than nothing (if you can). So next time you're in a pinch, try the workout from today's Coach Up. It's something you can do in...

You're probably familiar with the phenomenon of the "second wind." You're doing something difficult, going all out, giving max effort, and just when you feel like you've hit your wall—BOOM—you get an unexpected surge of energy to push you to the finish line. It's great when it happens, which begs the question: why does it happen? And how can we make it more likely to occur again? Today, the guys b...

Reading is a skill that we may not spend a lot of time trying to improve. But in an age of constant noise and distraction, being able to focus and go deep on a good book isn't just one of life's great pleasures, it's also a way to improve your attentional fitness (not to mention a great way to learn). On a year when he's not writing his own book, Brad can read 50 to 100 books. He shares his tips f...

Steve, Brad, and Clay discuss a question posed by the writer and runner Sabrina Little in a recent article (link below) from Aeon titled "Performance-Enhancing Vices:" How do the personality traits that make for better competitors impact moral character? Is it possible that things like envy, selfishness, and pride—traits we'd likely label as "vices"—make us more competitive? Does good character hu...

We all have hard workouts and hard days. Often, what makes them hard is there's a problem we need to solve. On today's episode, we're going into the FAREWELL archives to pull one of the great problem-solving tools from ultrarunner Courtney Dauwalter's killer toolbox. As you might imagine, many problems creep up when you're running 100+ miles, and Courtney has one visual tool that's proven particul...

Adam Bornstein is a fitness and nutrition expert who has worked with LeBron James and Arnold Schwarzenegger and who came to the world of wellness after breaking his back (twice!) at a young age. It was the 1990's and doctors told him he'd have to change his athletic lifestyle—except for one, who put him through exercises that involved strengthened his core and focused on on functional, load-bearin...

Over the course of his basketball career, JJ Redick carved out a reputation as one of the game's best shooters. (Not to mention one of its smartest minds, which is why he's currently an analyst for the NBA Finals, and rumored to be a leading candidate for the next L.A. Lakers head coaching position.) To be that kind of shooter, you need an unflappable confidence. In 2020, Clay spoked with JJ about...

In recent years, there has been a growing obsession with longevity and life extension: people interested in improving the quality of their health at the end of their lives (or extending their life altogether). Steve, Brad, and Clay use a recent story from The New Yorker —"No Time to Die" by Dhruv Khullar (link below)—to break down the quest to live longer. How worried should we be about longevity?...

Every week, Brad Stulberg spends either Saturday or Sunday practicing a Digital Sabbath: he goes the day offline and without any of his devices (phone, computer, tablet). It's not because he's anti-technology, but because he wanted to make sure he still had access to many of the aspects of life that tech use can hamper: presence, creativity, silence, and emotional regulation, to name a few. On tod...

There’s a promise built into all the productivity and time management advice out there: that it’s possible, with the most efficient technique, to finally conquer that feeling that you have too much to do and not enough time to do it. But that’s a false hope, says today’s guest Oliver Burkeman, author of Four Thousand Weeks , which is about why time management strategies so often fail. “You cannot...

Rebecca Rusch is an athlete whose feats of endurance have included two self-supported, 350-mile bike rides on the Iditarod Trail and led a magazine to once dub her the "Queen of Pain." On today's episode of The Coach Up, Clay pulls from a conversation he had with her a few years ago where she shares her surprising approach to mastering her craft. You'll learn about the Zen concept of "Beginner's M...