If you coach long enough and at a high enough level eventually you will get outcoached. Sometimes, other coaches have better ideas than you did or prepared their team (business or fighter) better than you did for that particular event.  It happens, its stinks, and it hurts!  When it happens you have to respond and you need to take responsibility for your failure...but how you respond will have a huge impact on you, your ability to lead, and how your team (organization) moves forward. In this episode, I discuss this reality all coaches will face at some point and offer some simple ideas and suggestions for dealing with this most uncomfortable and humbling of situations.  WARNING: Failing to recognize this reality will limit your potential as a coach/leader.           

 We ALL have a conversation running in our head 24 hours a day 7 days a week.  We are constantly talking to ourselves about our goals, our challenges, and our expectations yet most of us are not truly aware of what we are saying to ourselves or the power of this inner dialogue.  When we take the time to finally listen to how we speak to ourselves we are often shocked to learn that this internal dialogue is far different than what we might expect. Often times we are constantly running ourselves down, speaking negatively, and forecasting the things we fear most and DONT want to achieve rather than those things we do.  Often times our inner dialogue is one of the major roadblocks to achieving our biggest goals and aspirations.  In this episode, I discuss the importance of this inner conversation and I offer some simple steps to help you change the tapes in your head and, in doing so, help you get out of your own way in achieving the outcomes you desire.      

Taking care of yourself, staying in decent shape, eating well, and showing yourself and your body respect has an impact on both your ability to sustain the energy needed for the long hour's leadership requires and the way your athletes and staff view you.  It's a fact and taking the time to take care of yourself sends the right message to your troops.Secondly, you can't expect to be lead others if you can't lead yourself.   You cant ask others to do what you will not.  Your athletes/employees watch everything you say and do and if you are not taking care of yourself they will see it.  Take care of yourself and you will garner more respect... it's true!  Send the right message. Put yourself in the best position to lead and sustain. Take care of yourself first and you'll have a distinct advantage over those who don't.           

We all have doubts at one time or another.  Doubts, like water, can find their way into even the smallest cracks.  Suddenly the voice in your head begins to question yourself and the once small crack in your confidence threatens to blow wide open.  In my gym we call this voice of doubt  "the first voice" and we spend a great deal of time talking about how to ignore the first voice in your head and change that internal dialogue with "the second voice."  In this week's episode, we discuss how important it is to be aware of the inner dialogue and how to deal with the doubt that will inevitably show up in competition.      

If you want to be a better coach/leader then it is vital you understand your own strengths and weaknesses and that you challenge your strongest and most deeply held beliefs sometimes. Having the confidence to look at and evaluate yourself as a coach can be hard. For many of us, we coach the way we were coached and we loved and revere the men and women who were our teachers.  We try and emulate them and often our ideas and concepts go unchallenged. Recognizing our own shortcomings and admitting our mentors may not have had it right all the time can be difficult and rattle us to the core. Having the courage to turn your power eye inward is an essential element to becoming the best coach and leader you can be.    In this episode, I  discuss this process, my own feelings on the matter, and share some of my own weaknesses ...and encourage you to do the same! 

What happens when they have done everything you asked, paid the price, and yet still come up short.   If you coach long enough or at a high level this will happen many times in your career. Knowing how to handle your athletes (and employees) after a loss like this is an important part of the job. These moments, although painful offer some of the most powerful teaching moments and shouldn't be squandered.    In today's short show I talk about a short four-step formula for helping your athletes or team to overcome a big loss and get back on the road to success. 

s or employees they lead.Far too many athletes (employees) are waiting to be motivated in their jobs yet stand by in amazement with they are beaten or replaced by someone with the motivation they seek and lack.    There is game time motivation and that's great, but the motivation that creates the GRIT, and perseverance required for elite-level success must come from the player or employees themselves.  Pre-game speeches matter, daily motivational moments matter but they are only part of the motivation the athletes need to struggle thru the work and sacrifice needed to achieve big things.  "A coach can only fan the flame that burns in you...if you're waiting for your coach to motivate you then you've already lost"  

Everyone feels and experiences fear, the trick is turning fear into fire.  Learning to help your athletes manage the fear they will inevitably experience at some point prior to competition is one of the most challenging and important aspects of coaching.  In this episode, I discuss the subject and offer some easy ways you can use to help your athletes overcome this inevitable situation.   

Join me and best selling author Jim Afremow as we talk about his book The Champions Mind. Learn to think, train and thrive. There is a mindset that produces success. In my podcast today I discuss this mindset and how you can adopt this same mindset in your own lives and with your own team or organization. 

Fate seldom calls at a time of our choosing! We all wish success occurred on a schedule or on a predictable timeline but it most often does not.  Often time our greatest opportunities come when we least expect them and our ultimate success will boil down to our ability to seize upon these rare moments when they occur. Many great and talented athletes have never made it to the top or fulfilled their potential in their chosen sport or endeavor simply because they could only perform to a schedule. This is not to say schedules are not important but life and opportunity  DO NOT care about your schedule.  As a result, you must be mentally tough enough to stay ready and wait. Waiting, unfortunately,  is part of the process many times.  It can be frustrating and maddening at times but waiting for your opportunity is often required. The MOST important thing you must do is be ready when the moment arrives.It is also true that the more you work and the more you give to any worthwhile endeavor the greater the chances opportunity will find you.  There is an old saying: "the harder I work luckier I get." This is true and opportunity finds those who make themselves available for it. Always be ready and opportunity will find you!