The Competitor’s Brain

Well, it's three minutes and 30 seconds. But it's a collection of things I wish I'd heard when I was 18. Or maybe it's a collection of things I wish I'd listened to when I was 18. I probably heard them but I thought I knew everything. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

I recorded this in one take, which is ironic.  Nick Saban says "Don't practice until you can't get it right, practice until you can't get it wrong." And it's often said that you don't rise to the occasion, you fall to the level of your training. So if you practice to a point you can't get it wrong, what happens when the occasion happens? And what do you get out of it? 

I saw a quote that my colleague Kara LaMarche posted to Instagram: "I want AI to do my laundry and dishes so that I can do art and writing, not for AI to do my art and writing so I can do laundry and dishes." We have handed many uniquely human things over to AI. Designing, making art, making music, writing.  If you hand those things over to a machine, what is left of you?  Nothing. 

I've seen bits of the same quote from Daniel Chambliss about excellence in Olympic swimmers. I saw it in Billy Oppenheimer's Sunday email back in September, and James Clear had it in his last Thursday... so now you get it too. Excellence is created by doing the little things, one on top of the other. The little things that are going to make a ball fly 10' farther, add 3 mph of velo to your fastbal...

In this episode, I talk about how Marcus Aurelius' response to circumstances (ie what happens) isn't terribly unlike what Mike Damone's advice to his friend Rat is in Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Probably the first time that sentence has ever been typed. Probably also the last time. 

I considered this for a bit, and it finally hit me. Why, when I was in college, did I major in accounting, of all things. I met some amazing people, worked on some fun accounts, but accounting. I am not the best with rules and guidelines and I am generally pretty creative. You do that stuff with accounting, you go to jail, do not pass go, do not collect $200!  So to my graduating seniors: do not m...

This one's a great story from Billy Oppenheimer's weekly "Six at Six" email. It's here if you want to read it. The legendary lacrosse coach Tony Seaman told a room full of kids that if they wanted to play D1 lacrosse, they needed to shoot 100 shots a day every single day.  Paul Rabil followed that recipe to a D1 scholarship and a spot as one of the best lax players of all time.  Listen for the sto...

In the movie Field of Dreams, Ray Kinsella (Kevin Costner) goes to Minnesota to find Dr. Archibald Graham (Burt Lancaster). It's one of the best scenes in movie history ... I am biased. They discuss the significance of the half-inning 50 years later.  "We just don't recognize life's most significant moments while they're happening. Back then I thought, 'Well, there'll be other days.' I didn't real...

We all have inflection points in our lives. In the novel "Out Stealing Horses" by Per Petterson, the narrator tells a story about growing up where his life could have gone in multiple directions. He made a choice at that point to take the proper direction, and it greatly influenced his life. So the question I'll ask you is: are you ready for the next inflection point in your life? And how will you...

"Godfather of Sports Psychology" Dr. Ken Ravizza says that you don't have to have your best stuff to compete. Hall of Fame pitcher Bert Blyleven says that 10% of the time, you'll have your best stuff; 80% of the time you'll be mid; and 10% of the time you'll have no stuff. So how do you win when you have your best stuff? And, more importantly, how do you win MORE when you are in that 80%? Because...

Dr. Rob Gilbert says this all the time. And it's true. If you consider the strategic aspects of a situation, rather than just going ahead and executing, you will see better performance. Not all situations call for the same exact execution; a sales call with the same client on two different days can require different approaches based on factors you will need to learn on the fly. So how will you pic...

Well, I guess when you don't record podcasts, you lose momentum. In his podcast The Knowledge Project, Shane Parrish interviews Dr. Jim Loehr. (The title of his book I couldn't remember is "Toughness Training for Life."  Regardless, Loehr tells a story about interviewing a bullfighter that illustrates the confidence that is necessary to deal with fear - regardless of whether you're facing a bull,...

There is a fountain at Mudd Hall of Philosophy at USC that says "O stream of life, run you slow or fast, all streams reach the sea at last." If the sea is death or the end, this means that the stream of your life will get there eventually... so what will your stream be like? Meaningful, or meaningless? 

I am on a Springsteen kick... sorry. When someone goes to see The Boss, they know that he's going to give them their money's worth. (I saw him last weekend and he played for three hours. He is 74. My feet hurt standing up.) When someone comes to watch you play, are you giving them their money's worth? After all, time is money...

When Bruce Springsteen walked into the office of music executive John Hammond in 1972, he was nobody. He played a mental trick on himself at that point: he figured that if he failed, he was no worse off than if he'd never walked into the office.  Spoiler alert: he crushed it, and consequently, you know who he is. 

There have been a lot of fan favorites over the years, where people say "I'd buy a ticket to watch them play." Well, would you buy a ticket to watch yourself play?  What can you do to make yourself be the kind of player that people want to see? What kind of attributes can you portray? 

Slumps are not forever, and neither is perfection. If you start off slow, you're one hit away from a hot streak.  There's a great book from the late 80s by George Will called Men At Work. In it, Hershiser is asked whether he goes to the mound in the first inning planning to pitch a complete game. ‘A perfect game,’ he replies. ‘If they get a hit, then I am throwing a one-hitter. If they get a walk,...

This comes via Brian Cain and Dr. Rob Gilbert, but it's the first chapter of former St. Louis Cardinal Frank Bettger's book How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success in Selling . Short answer: enthusiasm. Being passive and unenthusiastic does not open doors for you. Being enthusiastic does. 10 minutes of me enthusiastically reading Bettger.  If you want a professional, here's Cain .  As always,...

This week is April break in Bedford. It means our players can just be baseball players. Sure, there may be other commitments to family and friends, and other leisure time... but for the most part, they're ballplayers who don't have to worry about school or other intrusions.  When was the last time you limited yourself to just one main focus?  P.S. I am jealous of these kids. 

The average person gets hundreds of notifications a day. They interrupt us at all times: when we're conversing with people we care about, when we're trying to do deep work, when we're sleeping. Improve your productivity. Turn off your notifications to everything except the stuff it's worth breaking stride for. 

Seneca the Younger defines "euthymia" as "believing in yourself and trusting that you are on the right path, and not being in doubt by following the myriad footpaths of those wandering in every direction." It can be hard when you see other people doing things you want to do, getting rewards you feel like you should receive. Finding that place of euthymia is challenging and requires a degree of com...

When you're trying to master a skill, it can be frustrating. It can also be frustrating when you let the expectations of others as well as external motivations creep in. Here's a great story about Novak Djokovic and finding the joy in playing his sport, remembering why he started playing to begin with. 

We all really love working on the things we're good at. But often the way to success and getting what you want is working on the things you're NOT good at. The lessons you learn along the way, coupled with a new skill, can be what you need to propel you to greatness.  It's also the title of a great book by Ryan Holiday . 

When suboptimal things happen to you, how do you react? Next time, say "good." Navy Seal Jocko Willink (I think his name was officially changed to that about 10 years ago - it's impossible to refer to him as only "Jocko Willink") has an excellent perspective on what to do when it hits the fan. Here it is on YouTube .

This is an episode where I wonder where this saying even came from, but then I dig a little deeper into what it actually means, and why it's not even about milk... I didn't drink much milk as a kid, anyway.