The Competitor’s Brain

This equation appeared on the front of our team shirts in 2022. Event plus response equals outcome. What does it mean? Why does it matter for you in life?  Holocaust survivor and psychotherapist Victor Frankl wrote in Man's Search for Meaning (great book, btw) that "Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth an...

Marcus Aurelius was a Roman emperor and Stoic philosopher. He wrote Meditations not for us, but for himself... if you want more on this topic, you can check out Ryan Holiday's Daily Stoic podcast. At the beginning of Book 2 of Meditations, he writes about people and our relationships with them. People are outside of our control, but our expectations of them are very within our control, as are our...

It took me a long time to realize this, but I can't control everything. I can control how I react, the process I follow, my attitude, my character, my effort, and several other things... and that's it.  Epictetus, who was born in 50 A.D., speaks about this in Discourses (which was all written down by a student of his... amazing). But what we need to consider is what's in your control and what isn'...

I promise, I have watched baseball since the 80s. It's just that things stick in my mind. The Dodgers had a group of supersubs on their 1988 team called " The Stuntmen ." Those dudes may not have loved their roles, but they knew them.  Do you know your role? If you lead people, do they know theirs? 

When things aren't going well, we all get caught up in trying to do too much. We try to hit a three run home run with nobody on base. We try to make up all of the sales we haven't gotten yet with one big sale. Instead of taking it one play at a time, we try to make up for everything with one big thing. In the movie Rounders, Matt Damon's character Mike McDermott talks about beating " this guy, thi...

Yes, we all want to have a cool walk-up song. But if your goal is peak performance, you need to choose wisely to get yourself into a peak performance state when you step into the box. Here's why. (And a good excerpt from the Tim Ferriss Show where he speaks with Josh Waitzkin.)

In her book Bird by Bird, the author Anne Lamott tells a story about her brother attempting to complete a school project at the last minute. He is frantically trying to do it, when their father steps in with sage advice . This advice can be applied to just about any task you're undertaking, even if you've procrastinated it. 

Hall of Fame pitcher Satchel Paige pitched in the Negro Leagues until he was over 40, then made his major league debut after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier. Paige pitched in MLB at the age of 58 and threw three scoreless innings for the Kansas City Athletics. I'm sharing this one because of his Six Rules for Staying Young... they're an awesome perspective, particularly the last one. 

It's hard to get stuff done. Your phone is dinging with texts and snaps, DMs are lurking, and you have no idea how to get anything done. Time blocking can be a huge help for your productivity. Here's a great article by Cal Newport that shows more about the process if you're interested.

Legendary MLB manager Joe McCarthy had 10 Commandments he expected his players to follow. The man wasn't wrong. I could add more, but this is a great start.

When Alabama won their Elite Eight game to go to the Final Four, guard Mark Sears was interviewed after the game and said "Hard work is undefeated." He should know. He took tens of thousands of shots after being lightly recruited out of high school. Listen and learn how you can use hard work to your advantage. 

Aaron Boone described his guys as "savages in the box." There are other opportunities for you to be a "savage," whether it's in college, job interviews, or work. How will you set yourself apart?

One of the keys to success is honest self-appraisal. You can look at yourself too critically and beat yourself up (not good) or you can look at yourself uncritically and never improve (also not good). Sometimes it requires a conversation with people you trust who are going to be honest and real with you. But you need to be ready to listen. 

Why does relaxation matter? Well, relaxation is the key for keeping you in the present moment, and present moment focus unlocks peak performance. We discuss some of the options available for relaxation and how breathing and routine can also get you to a point of peak performance.  I mention trigger work (although not by name) and Josh Waitzkin. Here's the actual clip from the interview with Tim Fe...

When you get to a point of relaxation, when you can slow your heart rate down and are truly in the moment, you will find peak performance. We review some techniques to elicit the relaxation response. I am a 6-2-8 guy, but I do 4-7-8 every day as well. Take a listen and then read the info below for more details. Dr. Andrew Weil 4-7-8 Dr. Herbert Benson Brian Cain 6-2-8

When you're a hitter (or anything), you need to have a pre at-bat routine to ensure that whatever you're doing gets you ready for whatever you're going to do. This is adapted from Dr. Ken Ravizza's seminar on the pre at-bat routine and how to take possession of the batter's box. 

When former USC football coach John McKay was asked about his team's execution, he said "I'm in favor of it." He didn't mean *this* kind of execution. This podcast is a pretty tight adaptation of Harvey Dorfman's chapter on execution from the Mental ABC's of Pitching , available wherever fine books are sold. Or Amazon.

Think I wanted to get up this morning? Heck no. But by getting up, I cast a vote for who I am today. Acting differently than you feel allows you to feel differently and ultimately improve the output, effort, and perception of your day. 

Sometimes you have to do MTE to get yourself to the next level. MTE is short for More Than Expected. Here's why it matters. 

If you've got habits, does this mean you should continue them? Well, it depends if they're good or bad habits, and also whether you actually need them anymore. Start, Stop, Continue is an excellent way to reassess whether your habits are helping you achieve your goals. 

Well, I won't record in the car again. This episode discusses the need to surround yourself with people who will push you and influence you positively. If you can surround yourself with people who want you to become a better version of yourself, you will. Who will your five people be? 

Whether you are participating in a sport, working at a job, or in school, a growth mindset is critical to success. Learn what a growth mindset is and how you can identify when you're stuck in a fixed mindset - and how to fix it by reappraising failure and turning setbacks into successes. 

You can’t just visualize the perfect situation. There is a Stoic concept of premeditatio malorum: thinking of bad things that could happen. It could be traffic, bad calls, errors, you name it. They're going to happen. How will you react?

Visualization and imagery are critical because, as Bob Tewksbury says, "the body does not know the difference between a real and imagined event and therefore the body will go where the mind takes it." Referenced the Ken Ravizza visualization routines in this podcast. They're here .

Motivational speaker Jim Rohn says “success is a few simple disciplines practiced every day while failure is simply a few errors in judgment repeated every day.” Again, every action you take casts a vote for the type of person you wish to become. It starts with you. What habits will become strong cables for you?