The Competitor’s Brain

E + R = O

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 and our freedom.”
What response will you choose?

On Dealing With People

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 reactions to their behavior. 
There is a quote from Leslie Higgins in Ted Lasso:  “Human beings are never going to be perfect, Roy. The best we can do is to keep asking for help and accepting it when you can. And if you keep doing that, you’ll always be moving toward better.”

Control What You Can Control

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't, and, often more importantly, how we respond to it. 
This topic will stretch over several podcasts, but it starts here. Enjoy!

Know Your Role

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? 

This Guy, This Hand

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, this hand." How will you change your mindset to beat this guy, this pitch? Handle this question and not the whole test? Complete the next pass? Make the next sale?

Walk-Up Songs

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.)

Bird by Bird

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. 

Satchel Paige's Six Rules for Staying Young

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. 

Guarding Your Schedule (Time Blocking)

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.

10 Commandments of Baseball

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.