The Playbook with Colin Jonov

Michael "The Fort" McKenry- 25 Lessons on Identity, False Labels, and Performing on Your Worst Day

• Colin Jonov

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Michael Mckenry and I break down how identity in sport is built by daily actions, not labels, and why chasing “optimal” conditions keeps athletes fragile. Practical tactics show how to perform under chaos, pick fit over hype, and use systems to turn evidence into confidence.

• choosing identity over clinical labels and diagnosis culture
• creating useful personas and avoiding data anxiety
• redefining clutch and practicing pressure on purpose
• dropping limiting labels and language traps
• picking team fit and long-term compounding over quick cash
• building value through versatility, visibility and questions
• using scorecards, reflections and cross-lens learning
• gratitude, goalposts and defining your own hall of fame

Tune in next week. Check us out, athleticfortitude.com
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What Is Identity, Really

SPEAKER_00

Because the reality of it is it's like you can have a false identity, right? I mean, if you ever watch the show Dexter, right? Like and on the one day I was like grossed out. But I didn't know. Right. But I mean, but that's that's why I don't think it's necessarily that's a clinical like problem. But like he managed it in a way. And it's like you have to look at it, yeah, it's gonna lead to mental health, but like if you do have an identity issue based on your past, based on trauma, based on something that maybe even got trickled down to you, you can't say that like identity is the problem. It's an onslaught of just trauma, emotion, actions by chaos instead of like actions by actual thought. So I think it's sometimes you have to find the identity that plays now, the identity that's gonna play later, but like they have to create it for themselves. So it being clinical is really tough, right? Because then then you have to start talking about, okay, then are we gonna talk about microbiomes? Are we gonna talk about the gut? Are we gonna talk about all these other things that can actually take you down the wrong path? Are we gonna talk about that stuff's there? Who are you? And is that matching what your actions are showing? And that's a simple yes or no. That's identity for me. Because like we can create this image, but then we turn off the lights, put a light above our mirror, it shines on us. It's completely different, right? Because you have to actually tell yourself the truth. You know, when I hurt my knee again, I just I had to say, dang, man, me sitting all the time is so bad for my health. I'm overweight, I don't feel as whatever, but it's like I'm not moving as much. It doesn't matter if I can lift a house in the weight room, it doesn't matter if I have mobile mobility. Me sitting and being on the computer and watching video has become part of who I am. Therefore, what is it? My identity. That identity from those actions has turned me into something outwardly that I don't like. So I have to make changes. So it's like you have to understand where you're going and then actually look at it. So if it's a clinical diagnosis, someone's telling me my identity again. And I hate that. That's why I disagree with it, because I think you can beat things with that word identity in a way that's special, right? Like I think about Kirk Kent, he's Superman, right? Well, he had a different identity. Now he's a writer and a nerd. It's like, why can't we have that superhero complex even if it's not necessarily real, but we believe it's real, right? It's like it's taking that imagination that you had as a kid.

Clinical Labels Vs Self-Definition

SPEAKER_01

So let's unpack it a little bit.

SPEAKER_00

So when you I don't even know if we started this thing, but like that I I just hate the word clinical, right? Because then all that does is it puts money in front of it, it puts insurance in front of it, it puts something that probably won't be attacked, or it puts a checkbox. Oh, my doctor said I'm clinically dealing with an identity problem.

Social Media, Comparison, And Authenticity

SPEAKER_01

Well, are you or I read something today that the current generation of humans would much rather have an actual diagnosis so that they can have something that they can solve for rather than undiagnose just random sadness as humans. And what that tells me is we have become so enamored with certain feelings and just wanting to feel constant happiness and joy, or we want to engineer a certain life that sometimes we actually just forget to live life. And that understanding that feeling the realm of emotions is part of what makes you human, what makes you alive. And we get so caught up in I don't, I should be happy all the time. And I think part of this comes from it's hard to blame everything on social media, right? It's not all social media, it's not all media, but the constant comparison, the constant seeing of people posting pictures on Instagram or posting things to ex and Facebook and TikTok that give a presentation of, oh, we're happy all the time. Everything is happy go lucky. When in reality, when you turn the camera off, all these people are feeling the exact same emotions that you are. They're just not broadcasting those side of things. And that part of identity is like when you stretch out and you branch out and you dig deeper and have different layers. The reality is we all have different elements of our personality. We all have different personas that we can create and bring out it when it's needed. We've talked about before, I'm relatively reserved as a person. But you put a microphone in front of me, you put me in front of a team, you put me with an athlete, I can go, I can talk, I can spin it. But most of the time I'm pretty reserved. I if I'm sitting in a room and there's a conversation I want to be a part of, I will sit there in silence for hours and just observe and be there. And so you could ask, what different personalities are there? You don't have to name all of them. I like to name certain parts of my identity. When I wake up at, you know, my set an alarm, 3.45 in the morning, so I can go to the gym to go that superhero route. It's literally, I'll I'll read it to you right now. I set my alarm for 345 to go to the gym, and it says superhero comma every weekday. Every weekday at 345, that alarm goes off. Now, I will say there's times where I snooze, there's times where I don't get up. There's times where my, you know, my four-month-old will be up every hour. So I don't get up at 3.45 every single day. But that alarm goes off every single day to help trigger and switch me into that persona that I need to be. So I can go to the gym, I can get my exercise. Because if I don't, then I'm a different type of person and I'm a type of person I don't want to be. And so that's where like you can get super analytical, you can get super into the weeds, you can get super detailed. And sometimes you need to pull back, zoom out, and know when not to be like that. Because everybody's a little bit different. And if you get too analytical, you can just drive yourself nuts. And that's why some people don't wear wearables when it comes to health metrics. Because if they're sitting there, they're wearing their whoop, they're constantly analyzing, oh my gosh, did I get enough sleep last night? It creates undue pressure, undue anxiety. And so like you have to learn again, you have to learn yourself as a person and create awareness around what you need and when you need it, and when you can elicit certain parts of your personality when you need those things as well. You can train these different areas. It's just how many people actually spend time thinking about it or spending work there or creating processes and systems in those areas. And they don't. And that's where I love the work that I do with athletes is because I get to see them or I get to show them something from a different lens. And I get them to answer it for themselves. And that's the cool part is when they have a self-actualization or a self-realization. Right before we hopped on, I was having a conversation with a softball player, Division I softball player, and just rehashing poor performance and how much of it was imaginatively created. And I didn't answer, I didn't say anything. I just asked a couple questions. And she was able to self-actualize, self-actualize what had happened and then create her own solutions through the lens of who she was. And it's just different than what I was accustomed to coming up as a player. And even early on when I started some of the identity work, how much it's evolved in my own knowledge and space and working with different athletes.

Personas, Alarms, And Training Identity

SPEAKER_00

So I'm gonna, there's so much to unpack right there. Yeah, ground you all the way back to what you just read. People want a diagnosis. They want they want a fix. They want Ozepic. They want the the easy plan to go to Orange Theory for 30 minutes, checkbox, checkbox, instead of saying, what's my aim? What am I trying to do? And that may just be walk 30 minutes. That may just be try to eat healthy twice a week. That may just be read a book in a year. And it's going back to what you said, is like it's easy to have someone tell you what to do. And that's what a lot of coaches have have done. What I encourage players that I work with and coaches and teams is like assume I'm wrong. Because if nothing else, even if I am right, and you know, I'm here because I'm getting paid to talk to you guys and work with you guys, because I'm probably right, but I'm not right for you. I'm right for the overall game. I'm probably right in this situation, but there's 12 kids, four coaches, and you guys are trying to do something special. Have you even defined that special? Is that a reality that you can even do? And if so, how are you gonna do it? Because you're not as talented as the other teams. How are you gonna beat those talented teams? So you have to, like you said, self-actualize and understand who you are individually and as a team, and then ask those questions. And then if you get really good at it, you're asking your teammates. And then if you are really confident, you start asking your coaches. Because the biggest thing I see with loss of identity and loss of maybe where you're trying to go is you allow someone to pin something on you that doesn't exist. And you never ask, well, let me ask you this, because they have a hitting coach or they have a psychologist that's telling them one thing, but they don't even know why they're doing it. It just worked. So that becomes part of what? Their identity. Where, in my opinion, sometimes you got to go all the way down to big daddy style, put on the shades, and you're invisible, right? Nobody can see you. Your identity changed because you need the ability to adapt. I mean, the fact that you talked about wearables, my wife wears an aura ring. And sometimes she's very analytical, she's one of the smartest people I know, but she's also very creative. And I tell her all the time start having an understanding on those really bad nights' sleep, what you're capable of, and watch your morale go through the roof. And I've done that to the detriment of myself, and I'm not recommending that by any stretch, Colin, but like I think you learn a lot more by being vulnerable in situations that the world's saying, oh, you can't do that on four hours of sleep. Well, why not? Why, why, why can't, why can't I? Like, I don't need to recover. I need to do this today because if you had to, and this is where I'm gonna round this out, is like why why you can't put limitation on anybody is because like you can only do that to yourself. But most people nowadays, and especially in the sports industry, they chase this optimal thing. Whether it's an optimal swing, an optimal 40 time, an optimal night's sleep. It's like, how often, honest to God, you're a parent, how often do you get an optimal night of sleep? How often do you drink a gallon of water in a day? And like it makes you feel, you know, great because you balance the diet and did everything else. Like, here's the reality like people get sick. You know, things happen in life, and when those happen and you're chasing optimal, chasing a perfect routine, unless you have all the money in the world, it's gonna be impossible because everybody, even Tom Brady, even LeBron, to get to that stage, they had to learn how to be unoptimal and perform. And you have to play tricks in your mind to be able to do that. And that's the problem I have with a lot of what's going on in the psychology realm, is because you want people to come to psychology and not need you. Right? They shouldn't need you, need you. It should be a tune-up. Like, hey, here's where I'm at. And because there's always something coming next, right? And I don't think athletes in general understand, yeah, you're good right now, dude. Congratulations, you made 400 G's this year. You're a college freshman. Are you playing? Did you pick the right school? Did we talk about that a year before? Yes, we did. Now you want to transfer again, and you have nothing on that resume now. So now you're not gonna get the cheese. Yeah, you'll get the scholarship, but you want to go, you want to go lateral. Okay, cool, go lateral. That kid that got 300 Gs is playing in it. Yep, yep. It's like, dude, just take the ego off the side and just where are we at? And if you take a step back, I think that's when you really understand where you're at. And then the identity piece comes because that question is always there. Hey, why why'd we do this today, coach? I didn't I didn't feel good, blah, blah. And then he explains to you, like, oh, okay, do you see that in me? Is that is that the type of player you think I am? Right? Everybody has a reality. It's one of my favorite things to say, we have a perception of that reality as human beings. Um, I'm watching it go on right now with McCutcheon. It's it it it sucks because like you don't know. Nobody knows unless you talk to them what's the real story. And we need to step back and understand that because I this is the last thing, I'm on a tangent, but like I think the false identity comes from us creating so often an identity for others that we want them to have instead of just meeting where they're at. Like a great example the other day on Twitter, somebody called me out about Christian athletes, about Jack Swinski. They're soft and it should be a complete axe when it comes to you know, if you're gonna go after someone, don't go after a Christian. I was like, why are you putting a bunch of people in one box? That's a term, bruh. Like he's a person. And he used his religious background, and I was like, that's a religious institution. He's a person. What are we talking about? I don't care if he worships birds. How can he play baseball? Right? But like it's his experience that he's putting on somebody because he's a Christian, say he's soft, he's not gonna be a good competitor because he believes in faith and hope. Well, I've never met anybody that really believes in faith and hope that I don't want to be around. I'm just like, what are we talking about? And that's that's what happens because it's it's his past, it's his trauma. He grew up in the church, and that's his problem, but don't don't project it on somebody. And that's what we do as a society with social media and everything else. We project identities on people, but then also we accept those, right? And that becomes our jersey. So we wear it around like, oh, this is what I am. It's not true. You define that.

When Metrics Create Anxiety

SPEAKER_01

The accepting the labels is a really important part of identity. Dr. Julie Gurner, she's one of my favorite people in the high performance space. I've had her on the podcast a couple of times. She wrote a wonderful newsletter this week about how she knows immediately when she's working with a high-level CEO how they're made out to be by how they accept labels onto themselves. And like she used it.

SPEAKER_00

Explain a little bit more. I love that.

SPEAKER_01

Explain a little more. She used an easy example of like when you talk to someone who's attempting to quit smoking, if they lead off by saying, I'm going to try, but you know I'm a smoker, you know immediately they're never quitting. Until they get rid of that label of I'm a smoker, whether that's been thrown upon them or they've accepted it themselves.

SPEAKER_00

You have to accept it, yeah.

SPEAKER_01

You have to get rid of that label. And the only way you can get past being a smoker or the type of CEO or the type of athlete you want to be is get rid of those preconceived labels that hold you back. I'm injury prone. Right? If you're an athlete that's experienced injuries, you should never accept that label, even when it gets thrown at you. Or I'm a poor performer in the clutch, or I'm not clutch. Get rid of those labels. And that's not to say you can't talk in like, you know, negativity, but there's a there's a stark difference between saying I'm not clutch and I've had moments where I haven't come through in the clutch. Yeah. Because you can correct there's been moments where I haven't come through, because that's every athlete and every person ever. But to say I'm not clutch is a label that is definitively not true or not beneficial to overcoming that. There was also something you said that I think is really, really, really important is how much conviction you can build in yourself by being able to perform on your worst day, your worst day of sleep, your worst diet, your worst rest, and to be able to come out and perform at a high level.

SPEAKER_00

Because if I Before you go, yeah, I want I want you to keep going on this and and think about it in the context of what you just said about I'm not good in the clutch, right? How many times in in your career as a football player or baseball or anything else did you have that clutch moment? I mean, really think about it. It's not gonna be many.

SPEAKER_01

No, it it's few. Now heights. Now, you know, go on your train of thought.

Coaching For Self-Realization

SPEAKER_00

Going back to that is we don't put ourselves in situations off the field and practice in in different ways to even understand what that means not to be clutch because we're defining clutch in the biggest moments where a clutch moment happens in the first inning. So you change your entire like perception of what it actually is, it changes actually things immediately, but the power of your of your word is real, and I'll get in that in a minute. But like I want you to think about that with the idea of like kind of going after the hard. And and it's something that I'm so passionate about right now, and it's why I'm I'm really trying to figure out ways to pour this and instill this to this NIL um collective generation because everything is peaches and cream. But as soon as it's not, it's fire, it's expired milk, and you're you're like, I'm hungry. What do you mean you're hungry? Like you have everything you could possibly need. And they're like, I'm hungry to play. It's like, yeah, that's the part you mop you miss, bro. Like that's that's it. Like, what's the plan? Because you have to look three, four years ahead now, because if you don't, you're in trouble because it'll flip on a dime. So we have a world like social media and everything else that doesn't want to look at that. They want to look at the numbers on their aura or their whoop or you know, how do I look? Is my bat speed good today? Is X velocity good today? Everything has to be optimal. And I'm like, no, like I want to be 80, 80, 90% every day. Because that predictability is gonna win. It makes me a better husband, it's gonna make me a better person at work and an analyst, it's gonna make me a better coach. At the worst day, this is what you're getting. I got a great floor. We don't talk about that. So that's I want to open it up like that because in your space right now, it's tough. It's tough because we're always trying to get them to slow the heart rate down. Like, no, what does it feel like? Feel that heart rate, bro. How does that feel? How are you going to handle it? Like, I want you to get where it feels like it's gonna beat out of your chest, and then I want you to try to hit. Because if you don't do it here, you're gonna say, Oh, I didn't get it done. Well, I can't imagine why. It's the first time you did it. And then next time you do it, it's gonna be three weeks from now, and it's all gonna rush back in your head. Because you didn't face it, right? So I wanted to, that's a really big passion point for me right now.

SPEAKER_01

So I I posted something like this today, actually, about the the conditional athlete who this society I don't like generalizing, but for the most part, no, but it's how about this? Instead of generalizing, it I have to think a lot of athletes and a lot of parents and a lot of organizations are trying or have created conditional athletes that can only operate under perfect conditions.

SPEAKER_00

And like, why wouldn't they say that's where that's where like that's how they're getting picked.

SPEAKER_01

Yes, that's exactly right. And or it's organizations' fault too, because it's you know, I'm I'm not super astute to baseball rankings other than perfect game. So I'm gonna pick on perfect game. Sorry, perfect game, but how they measure all the the bat speed, the velocity, like whatever it is, right? I don't know that we now will put guys in cages, we'll put them on the field, and we won't put them in chaotic conditions, we'll put them in perfect smooth conditions and say, how hard can you hit it off of a T and then dictate them as the next best thing for baseball. And the problem is, like you just said, now I'm not arguing against wanting to slow your heart rate down, but sometimes you simply can't. And you need to learn how to operate in that space and use a lever of focus when your heart rate is high. Because there will be times where you don't feel good that you can still execute at a really high level. 1000%. And you listen to Mookie Betts talk about that in the World Series. Heart rate was flying, was nervous, everything that you would imagine, didn't know if he was going to execute, but at the end of the day, he focused on his actions in those moments. It didn't matter what his heart rate was doing. It didn't matter, you know, the fear, uncertainty, or doubt that was in his mind. What mattered was his actions and what he could tangibly control in the skill set he's built over a long period of time under stressful conditions. And we can't eliminate that from the athlete experience because I've said this before and I'll say it again. The only thing that you can bet on in athletics is imperfection. You're never gonna have perfect conditions. Truth. There was uh another piece that I wanted to touch on that's escaping me.

Diagnosis Culture And Chasing Easy Fixes

SPEAKER_00

But go go go back to Mookie. He didn't have the best year last year. But like if you listen to all these interviews, he was kind of the guy behind the scenes that was speaking like affirmations into teammates, and he's the guy struggling. And I personally believe I I'd love to ask him if I get a chance, I will. I think that was an outlet for him. Like he was dealing with his own like insecurities because he Changes position, you know, he's a gold glover, platinum glover outright. He moves to short. Now he's in the gold glove talk at shortstop. And what he did there was just absolutely phenomenal. It's gonna hurt your back because you're playing a more premier position. But like he didn't look at it like that because he's chasing greatness. But he put all that aside, offense is down, he goes through this horrific, horrific stomach issue during spring, loses all this weight, didn't make an excuse. He's being a great teammate because you got to put that energy somewhere. And because of that, I believe Rojas hit a homer because Mookie's telling him, hey, we're gonna need you. We're gonna need you. And then what happens? Rojas' wife's like, hey, Poppy, I had a dream. You're gonna hit a home run. And when your wife believes in you, it changes everything.

unknown

Right?

SPEAKER_00

I knew I was gonna make the big leagues when I married my wife because she was like, we're in this, we're going, this is what we're doing. Tyler Matzik, when he got over the yips, his wife said, Hey, buck up, call the people you need to call, and let's get this right. Get back to the big leagues. And that belief was like. And I think the power of that, them putting their energy is probably my wife being frustrated at me because I was so hard on myself. It's Tyler's wife being hard on him. And it's the same thing. Rojas hasn't done anything extravagant, even gotten a chance to really play defense in the World Series, but he knew he was gonna matter. And that's the big thing, man. Like, you gotta find a way, whether it's going good, bad, ugly, to look at it and say, what can I do to get this energy out so it doesn't consume me? But if you never put yourself there, or you're never never willing to, you're never gonna know what to do, and then it's gonna fall apart and you're gonna hate the game when the game did nothing to you. Right? And I've seen that so much over the last couple of years, especially with colleges. They're basing, just like I said about religion, they're basing all their college experience off of one coach.

SPEAKER_01

You know, you brought me back to the point that I wanted to make specifically about the. I meant to do that.

SPEAKER_00

You're welcome.

SPEAKER_01

I was I was talking to an NFL guy today, and you know, so I'm big on connecting dots between different domains of life. So behavior like that.

SPEAKER_00

I appreciate that about you, bro. I really do. I've got a bro system right now. I have been talking to those kids way too much.

SPEAKER_01

The what does behavioral economics are one of the million things that behavioral economics teaches us about human behavior, right? Is we have a natural tendency to consistently move the goalpost to consistently want more. So a couple different things I'm gonna do.

SPEAKER_00

Why do you think that is? Like, because I I feel like some, yes and no. I feel like our generation, I mean, you're a little bit younger than me, but I'd say Pittsburgh age, you're you're you're in your 40s because you guys are just old school. But like I feel like that's changed because I think kids see the goalpost, they kick it through and they don't move. And they're kind of happy about it until they're like, oh no, who moved the goalpost? That's what I'm seeing in baseball a lot. It's like they don't realize that there's 50 stakes, right? They don't realize there's a world that's playing ball.

Performing When Life Isn’t Optimal

SPEAKER_01

So I'll say this about like moving goalposts. It's one, it's not inherently bad. Yeah, I think moving goalposts gets a bad rap for the nature of what it's become because they don't have the secondary piece, which is what I call having enough. And you can simultaneously hold both and continue, you understand the game you're playing in. When you're an elite athlete, at first you're thinking, I just want to make the roster. Once you make the roster, you're like, I want to be a rotational player. Once you're a rotational player, you want to be a regular. Once you're a regular, you want to be an all-star. Keep going down the ladder. And that's okay. That's inherently good. You're progressing, you're pushing yourself. Going back to identity, your identity needs to not be wrapped in the outcome of that. But having enough, right, and understanding what does that mean. And you look at behavioral economics, you look at some of the greatest investors in the history of the world that wiped themselves out because they took on too much risk. They took on existential risk that wiped them off the face of the earth, put them in jail, put them broke, ended in suicide because they had hundreds of millions of dollars, but weren't a billionaire. And they, instead of taking smaller risks that keep them in the game, allow to compound and grow over time, they took a massive leap. They did things illegally because they were trying to compete with the person next door instead of trying to push through their own lens, and it wipes them out. It's the same thing in athletics. You look at these colours.

SPEAKER_00

So they wrap their identity in and more. It's keeping up with the Joneses, is like the They're wrapping their identity in what they're gaining from it.

SPEAKER_01

Yes.

SPEAKER_00

Right in a material, in a material way, right? Straight away. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

And so it's this until you go to sports, and I was talking with the C NFL athlete to bring it back home. It's like, okay, what are the types of risks that we could take that still keep us in the game and allow our actions to keep compounding? Because that is where you get the long-term wins. That's where you last 10 years in the NFL, 15 years. Don't be the guy or girl that chases paycheck to paycheck. Because if that is your sole focus, making a ton of money up front, and I'm not even necessarily saying it's a bad thing, but you have to understand if you go to a system that doesn't fit you, you go to a coaching staff that doesn't mesh with you, you can immediately create a perception of you that labels you as a problem in a locker room, that labels you as someone who can't play. And all of a sudden, you may got, like you used numbers earlier, you may have gotten$400,000 up front. Sweet, that's awesome. But guess what? That 4K wiped you out from hundreds of million dollars in the future because you went to, you took on a risk that was capable of wiping you out instead of taking other factors into priority: playing time, scheme, coaches, support systems, and you prevented yourself from compounding over time.

Labels That Limit Athletes

SPEAKER_00

I love where you're going with this. So I'm gonna I'm gonna bring up something that I was mentoring a guy about. He said he was all in. I said, You're not all in. And he goes, No, I'm all in. I'm like, okay. Ask him a couple questions. And he realized as I was asking him that he's not all in. I said, My you never asked me what I would define as all in. And me being all in, I would be living paycheck to paycheck. I would have a double mortgage on my house. And it's like, you have to define that all in. And when you said 10 to 15 years in the league, I don't think athletes look at what's the two to three year plan. Because let's be honest, that should be the goal. Because most people in NFL, I mean, NBA is a little bit different, but NFL and baseball, if you get three years, you are in an elite company. If you get to five, six, you're in the one percent of the one percent. And it's like, let's let's process this because where is the win? Like you said, do you fit this system? If you don't, but they're gonna give you a job, how can you make yourself more valuable? Right? If if you if you're a center and you can, you know, snap too, you better snap every day, right? If you can throw a football, you better be the four-string quarterback. They need to know that you can do anything that they need to keep you around, and then you'll learn. You'll learn where you do fit, they will see value, and maybe just maybe that one person gets a job somewhere that loved you. And now you're in. And that's the problem I see constantly is like you're at where you're at. There's nothing you can do about it, but what you're gonna do about it. And something that I did the other day with with with someone I love to death, I gave him advice. I said, What is what is the trends of the coaches? And he's like, What do you mean? I was like, Well, it's all upperclassmen playing. Everybody that came in that transferred is going to play. It happened last year. There's a lot of returners, like they have no value in playing you, especially if they're winning. If they start losing, you have to be ready because you have you have these gifts that aren't there on the field. And then also, are you doing anything to help yourself? And he was like, What do you mean? I was like, Well, explain your day. And then I found out he's going off-site to work out extra. I was like, no, stay in the weight room. You be the last guy to leave. Make it uncomfortable that they see you constantly. When you want to hit, you feel like you are a better option to have your batting gloves on and helmet on next to the coach. Be everywhere that they could never imagine you were everywhere. And they'll see you and you'll be the first guy that goes in. It's like pat your glove. And when he asks you if you can play a position, you say, Yep, that's my best position, coach, no matter what you ask. And I had one kid do that and he played in right field. And he never played right field because that was his best position. And it's like you saying that gives them confidence to say, well, he said it was his best position. And it's kind of a laugh, but I don't think we look at it as athletes and say, okay, like for me, I was deemed a backup. No matter what I was going to do, I was deemed a backup because I got traded to Boston and then became the third string catcher. So I have Salty and I have Veritec. I'm not going anywhere, right? Unless one of them gets hurt. And I didn't have the understanding that that was a lesson for me to learn that, like, don't allow that to make me what they believe to be is a backup because I can be more than that. I just have to have that opportunity. But I didn't understand how to create that opportunity. So I started taking grab balls, and I'm stressed out of my mind, but I'm also wearing myself thin. Then I get traded to the Pirates and I start like 50 out of 55 games, and then Domit comes back and I sit on the bench. And I lost my mojo. I'm like, what did I do wrong? We're in first place. And it's like, but I didn't ask. I didn't make it a priority because of my personality to just sit back, like, well, don't ask the coaches, overcoachable. It's like, no, like, go ask. Like, why not? What, what, what harm it is it? You're showing that you care. And I think that's the big issue when when you think about what you actually want to do. If you're talking to an NFL guy, like, hey, dude, do you just want to get into camp? That's that's probably not gonna work out well, right? Do you want to start? Okay, what is the path there? If you want to start once, you're Rudy. Congratulations. Like, you have to get further. And I and I used this call on the other day when I spoke to a group of coaches. I said, the only regret I have in my career is that I didn't define the hall of fame I wanted to be in. And I didn't define when I was gonna catch my my uh perfect game. I didn't define all the things at the highest level. I didn't say I want to be a major league baseball hall of famer because I am a Hall of Famer. I did catch a perfect game. I did win championships, but I didn't win a World Series. I didn't catch a no-hitter in the big leagues, and I'm not gonna be a Hall of Famer unless I go coach for a gazillion years. But everything I put out in the ether with my voice, I affirmed to this world that I'm gonna do it and I put my aim on it. I just wasn't specific enough. So, like when you're talking about these guys, yeah, it sounds great to play 10 years. A lot of people just don't want to. Like Cutch right now, he's going on year 18 and he's waiting for a call to go play. And I'm telling you right now, a guy's gonna go off because he wants to play. He's hungry. And if you have that, you got to get it out of you. But at the same time, you also also have to identify why are you gonna keep playing? If you hate it, you better find a reason. And some people hang their hat that they want to grab that championship. They they they know if they leave it, it's not good for their family, right? But they can't even really self-actualized actualize that or even have that understanding because they won't even look at it. And that's why we have such a mental health crisis when guys come out of the game or girls come out of the game. Because they've lost everything they've put them, their identity into, but everybody around them is the craziest part for me. Because when they need you, you are that identity. When they don't, you're not. So for me, I say all the time a lot of times my parents don't even realize like I'm not the guy, I'm not him anymore. I don't wear a jersey. Like even when I coach, I don't wear, I don't wear a jersey. I don't even want a number. I want to wear a pullover because I don't deserve to wear the number anymore. Tell me That's my belief.

SPEAKER_01

Why don't you deserve to wear a number anymore?

SPEAKER_00

Why does a coach need a number?

SPEAKER_01

I don't know, but why don't why why don't they?

SPEAKER_00

Because I want to be different. I want to be in a in a in a point of like leadership, kind of like the quarterback, safety, safety shirt on. Just it's just my thought. I'm not gonna say it. Like when coaches keep numbers and they'll give them to players, I think it's the dumbest thing ever. It's like, who are you? Right? You you had your time, you've been in the dirt, you're not in the dirt anymore, you're in the dugout. Like you're you're not on the field, you're on the sidelines. Because I think that's an identity problem and an ego issue where if you're a great leader, you serve. If that kid needs 12 and you are obsessed with 12, is it more important for him or is it more important for you? If it's more important for you, you're not gonna win.

SPEAKER_01

Where did the manager wearing a number originate? Like, what is it where managers are used to be player coaches? Okay.

SPEAKER_00

So, like, you know, early like yeah, early 1900s, I'm sure you could look back into football that one of the older players probably coached and played.

Redefining Clutch And Practicing Pressure

SPEAKER_01

Now, is that like a like uh I'm gonna use the word tribal here? Is that like a cultural tribal thing of baseball where managers actually like wearing numbers? Yeah, but like like I always thought that was unique. Well, that's what I said. Like, I I wasn't like critiquing you, it was more just like how why did you feel the way that you felt? I always thought it was a little unique that managers wore jerseys and uniforms, uh, particularly obviously coming from like, you know, I played football, baseball, basketball in high school, and basketball, football where it's completely different than the rest of the team, but baseball, for whatever reason, they wear the uniform. Always thought that was a little unique. Yeah. And it's actually the only sport now that I think about it.

SPEAKER_00

And that's why maybe my gen, like I'm thinking about it from I love basketball, I love football, and I and I look at that and I'm like, why do we have to do that? Like, I'm I'm cool with wearing the the pants and everything else, but like, why can't I wear a BP top?

unknown

Right?

SPEAKER_00

And I I think that distinguishes that, hey, I'm not, I'm not in your all sacred space. I'm a part of it, but I'm not in your sacred space because once again, that, and this is really kind of deep when you think about it, but like when you have when you're 22, 23 years old and you have a 50-year-old man that's been in the game for a very long time in the same exact uniform to you, and he says something to you, it's different because it's all it that that separation's not there, right? Because you can run into him and think it's a player, but it's not a player, it's a coach. And I I just think it's really important. It's not that big of a deal. There's rules that have come and go in baseball that you know, during the anthem, these guys have to wear, you can't wear hoodies that got rid of that. It's really just them trying to be maybe in line in unison, but I think it goes back to like remembering where you are and who you are right now, if that makes sense. Like I say the same thing to front office. I'm like, you need to put on a pair of shorts and a hoodie and get down here and put on a glove because you're wrapping your entire life around these numbers and controlling these guys' lives, which you're not down on the field. So make that make sense. So if you want respect, and vice versa, I need to put on my khaki pants and walk upstairs and sit down and be like, hey, what are you guys doing? And I think that's the problem. I think there's a lot of ego and and and we get stuck in who we are, but also we don't separate well to where you can walk in, you know, because if I walk into any analytical department, you'll see this. What's the guy with the beard doing? Is that a homeless man? Why is he in here? He's got a hoodie on his head backwards, right? It's like, no, I'm just here to learn.

SPEAKER_01

You said something about defining what your hall of fame is and what your ultimate like north stars are.

SPEAKER_00

Have you ever heard the janitor theory?

SPEAKER_01

No.

SPEAKER_00

Don't don't knock a janitor if that's the greatest success of his life because he has the best life in the world. Because you have to decide like we we said that to somebody, me and my wife said that to somebody years ago. I said, Define your all-star. And they're like, What? I'm like, like, define the all-star. Like maybe being an all-star because a lot of it is a little bit of luck, right place, right time, big market. And it's like, at the end of the day, like maybe the all-star is you have the ability to take a giant trip during the all-star break because you're playing so well and you feel convicted that you'll be fine. And the guy just looked at us like, I never thought about that. I'm like, yeah, like you compete against giant markets, man. Like the chances of you getting in, you've got to put up crazy numbers and then you have to do a marketing campaign. They're not gonna do it. Are you gonna do it? Like, no. Like, so define the all-star.

SPEAKER_01

What are your what are your success metrics now? Like, how do you measure success in your own life now, now that is done?

Goalposts, Enough, And Compounding Careers

SPEAKER_00

So I have a hard time because I get driven off of helping others a little too much. So that's something I've been really working through in the sense of like, okay, where is the impact I can make and have something to quantify with? Because I'm in TV. So like I have no batting average, I have no slugging percentage. We were the regional network of the year last year. We're probably gonna do it again with Nesson. We beat all the numbers, but like I don't see that until it's all over. It doesn't make me make more money. Like, there's no benefit of performance. So it's like I have to find my own things. And for me, I'm very bad. If I can't commit, I don't want to do it. As you know, like I'll I'll say I really want to do this, but I just can't figure out how. So I've been trying to find that balance. So it's like, how can I impact the most amount of kids, but then focus on you know, 10 to 13 to where they can do the same thing in whatever version they want to do. So like I I'm a believer, I'm I suck at it, but like Jesus had 13 disciples. I feel like you're supposed to walk with people in life, you're supposed to help people see their potential and see what they're capable of, um, even when they don't want to look at it and and create something that's that's everlasting. Because me watching guys thrive in business that I mentored 10, 15 years ago, and then them text me after the something cool happens has been the coolest moments you can imagine, Colin. Like I had someone recently they got inducted into a high school hall of fame. I had nothing to do with this kid in high school, and he just thanked me out of the blue. I'm like, that was cool. Yeah. Like for no reason or anything else. And it's like, I mean, that's what I'm chasing. And it's like, I'm not ever gonna ask that. Like being able to help McCutcheon right now work out and brand himself to change a narrative, that's rewarding to me because like I don't need anything from him. But when he says, love you and thank you and gives me a hug, it's like that's brotherhood. And I think it's just understanding like what's the worldly thing that we need to chase? How do we pay the bills? Because what I want is a family. So my knack is to feed that want into working with kids, into chasing more because I feel like I'm not doing enough to have that. So it's like, okay, how do I have that? What's God asking me to do that is maybe holding me back? Because I can't say it's your fault, God, because it's my I need to own it, right? It's not the devil, it's my it's what do I need to do? Because if I do it any other way, I'm a big believer, like you're just throwing blame somewhere else instead of facing something you can't. So for me, it's like, I need to take aim at certain things and finish. So right now it's getting a degree. I'm gonna start an online uh coaching platform to give kids and parents and these poor, poor young folks that are getting bamboozled by advisors and NIL a chance to learn about finances and branding and all this stuff because it's a need. I'm gonna make it really, really inexpensive and make myself really expensive because there's only one of me, but like give them the resource if they need it to try to fight back at something I think is very corrupt, very wrong. And I would have been right in the middle of it if I was in college. Because I was at a mid-major and I was an all-American, I would have been pulling and I would have not known what to do. And that's tough for me. You know, wanting to be a dad and seeing many, many hundreds of kids over the last three or four years that I've just had contact with, not have a job, lose a scholarship, have to change schools. I'm like, bro, don't change schools. Like the coach won't let me play. And like, that's the only place that has his major in the like vicinity of the region. It's like you have that much ego, coach, that this kid wants to be this is the only place he wants to be, that you can't just say, Will you stay for free? When that kid would have said yeah, so you have to tell him to go in and talk to him. And that's what it is, Colin. Like being friends with you, like seeing you flourish has been really cool. Knowing that at some point me and you will do something together because you're one of the good ones. But watching you flourish, you know, helping you find Lee and and and think about your branding, and and that's for me, I don't know necessarily how to monetize that all the time, but man, talk about. That oxygen when you feel like you can't breathe, it's coming more and more. And that's the coolest part. That's when I know it it's close, but at the same time, it's like, oh, I know what gets me up in the morning. Like you at 345, I'm starting to really understand that again. And for years I didn't. Right? Because we find ways to get through our day. We get find ways to get things done, maybe that's important, but maybe not as important to us, and nobody knows the difference. And I was getting away with that way too much. So it's like, all right, how do I change these standards? I'm like, who am I hanging out with? Okay. If I do this, it's gonna force me to do this. So it's really going back to short plans, short wins, and taking aim at that big thing that maybe I don't know, but I I see that light and I know what type of person I have to be to do it.

Fit Over Paychecks In NIL And Pros

SPEAKER_01

You talk about it does. You talk about having a family, and it's it's a really important reminder that sometimes a lot of the things that we pray for will become the things that we complain about. And you think about all the people that have families that take it for granted that will complain about them. And I I'm I've fallen to this category too. There's times you know, I'll complain about my kids not listening or misbehaving. Okay. It's human, it's human nature, and it's human. It's just important to have that reminder that I have everything in my life that I once prayed for. And again, going back to moving goalposts, but understanding that the five-year-ago version of me would be so proud of the things we've built. And if the five-year version, the previous if five years ago version of you is not proud of who you are today, then you better make sure that in five years, current version of you is proud. And when you have those reframes and the ability to zoom out when necessary, and I talk about my wife with this when we're talking about the different stresses of life. And I zoomed out, I was like, okay, let's take a deep breath. This is a real life conversation my wife and I had over the millions of things that we stress about as you know, young married couple with three kids. I was like, if you talk to me and you when we were 18 years old, a couple years into our relationship, 10 years later, if you would have said we would own a home, say the price of our home, but it's a nice home.

SPEAKER_00

It doesn't matter. You own a home.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. Three kids, all of like while making, again, a lot of money. We have cars in our name. We have a beautiful dog. Like, we live in a really good neighborhood. We're two or five miles from our families. Like, would anyone in their right mind look at us and say we should be complaining?

SPEAKER_00

Yes. Yes. There's somebody out there.

SPEAKER_01

It, but it's, you know, and that's not to say we're actually shouldn't desire more or look to be better or improve ourselves, but to be able to have that lens of gratitude to what we have built together. And again, drawing dynamics, it's the same thing in sport. You know, I talked to a lot of the the guys training right now to get into the NFL. Say that same thing. I'm like, guys, four years ago, you prayed for this moment, and now you guys don't even want to go hard in the weight room. You don't want to go hard on the field. So everything that you've prayed for is for this opportunity. And in eight weeks, some of you, it's over. So you're telling me for eight minimum, eight weeks, you can't be fully intent. You can't sacrifice smoking weed and drinking for eight weeks. Like you can't go hard in the way room. You can't hit every rep for eight weeks to tell in as you go going back to the all-in, defining what all in is.

SPEAKER_00

Not until they have to.

SPEAKER_01

And it's, you know, there's this lack of awareness. And I've been really working, really, really working with the athletes I work with, the coaches I work with on developing awareness with athletes. It's one of the hardest challenges. Now there's tactics that you can use, but it's very hard to get people to realize because they can't connect the dots that, hey, if I'm a fringe guy and I fail a drug test, my career is essentially over.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

And you're not a first-round pick. You're not an MVP that fails a drug test. You're a guy who's doing anything to get a foot in the door. So you better be doing everything right. You better make doing everything right a function of who you are. Because if it's not, and you're not willing to cut out certain things of your life, you're not willing to cut out negative people out of your life, then when you reflect back in 20 years, you're going to say, damn, I left a lot on the table because I wasn't mature enough to do or aware enough to do X, Y, or Z.

SPEAKER_00

And I think I think the people part is the big one. But I think there's also a balance because if you say you have to do everything right and they become somebody that they're not, and they lose maybe that naive dude that thinks he can do anything.

SPEAKER_01

There's a trade-off.

Creating Value And Earning Opportunity

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, there's a trade-off. So there's there's there's an understanding. I think that goes back to one the goalpost, right? Where are you kicking from? And let's let's let's let's reflect on that. And that that's great. Where are we gonna kick from?

SPEAKER_01

I don't think you have to lose the I can do anything version. I'll say, but the I can do anything version isn't the best version of you, from my perspective.

SPEAKER_00

I agree. I'm saying you have to so like say it's an obstacle course, right? You play football, what do you guys do? You watch film, you have meetings, here's the schemes up to be ready for, blah, blah, blah. Lots of film and meetings. But okay. How often do we do that with our career?

SPEAKER_01

Not often.

SPEAKER_00

Right? So it's like, all right, if you're going into this, like, how often do guys go into the draft, you're working with these guys now, and I remember asking these questions, like, who do you hope you get drafted by? And they'll pick the teams. It's like, okay, why'd you pick that team? Do you fit? And they're just like most people don't know. Yeah, and it's like, okay, how do they usually play their first rounders? And it's like, huh? Right? Would it be better if you went in the second round of this team? Probably. Right? But they'll spend all their time and energy chasing something that mom wants, dad wants, the world sees for them, or what looks cool. And it's like, but hold on, like, where do you fit? Because that could be the if you want that type of career, maybe that's the place you go. You may be on special teams, but it gives you a year to understand the system. You know, but here you are speaking in meetings that oh, I want to start my fresh year, blah, blah, blah. Instead of be like, no, no, no, no. I I I want to play, I want to learn the system, I want to be the best player possible. Because like you think about all the dudes that especially at the quarterback position, how many dudes set out a year or two, you know, and and then all of a sudden they're they're really special. It's because like it's overwhelming, right? As soon as you show up and in Pro Bowl, you have 8,000 coaches, you have 8,000 different things, you have these meetings that we even had Spanish class. And it's like, what is happening? Like, I just want to play baseball, right? And it's it's like, how do I balance that? How do I find you know, grace in that? How do I not make that beat me down or bob me down? You know, what's important to me? I don't need to learn Spanish, but I can find a way to speak to these guys just as well in my own fun way. But it's like that's not really like work through until you're in it. So that's why you're seeing a baseball real quick, while you're seeing the holidays and seeing Bijgio's son make it, while you're seeing Clemens' son make it, while you're seeing Bouchette's son make it, you're seeing Legacies, Jack Wilson's good friend, his son make it, because they're prepared for all the things that most kids don't know about.

Ego, Roles, And Symbols In Teams

SPEAKER_01

There's this uniqueness of being an athlete where there's a number of different factors in play and to put organization to the chaos. You a beneficial practice is to create scorecards and systems that you can rely on in scale. And so some are quantitative, some are qualitative. But if you can approach and come into each day with some type of system or process that you can analyze post-reflection, so whether that's was I aggressive today, how aggressive am I a plate approach? Was I? How disciplined was I? Was I out there swinging at bad pitches or was I hunting my pitch? Was I a hunter? Not a survivor, was I a hunter? Then there's the quantitative, where it's like, okay, if we want to go from a football lens, did I hit 30 reps in the weight room table, whatever it is, did I run my 50 sprints or whatever it is? And if you can go in and you can create these processes, systems, reflection processes, then when it comes down to identifying was today a win or not, was I the best version of myself? Was I who I said I wanted to be? You can definitively answer those yes or no. And then you can look at your relationship with certain values and characteristics that you want to embody on a continuum. How resilient was I today? How resilient have I been in the last week, month? Well, let's reflect. Let's go look. How many deposits did I make into the type of person I wanted to be? And then when you get into certain situations, like we talked about earlier, you get into a pressure situation, you have all this evidence that you are exactly who you say you are. You have all this evidence that you can achieve whatever it is that you're looking to achieve in that moment. Now, the sad reality that we all must face, and again, going back to another conversation with an NFL guy I had today, you can do everything right and still fail. You can do everything right and never get a chance. And it has to be bigger than just the outcome. And that's why I say qualitative. You can at least sleep peacefully at night knowing that you have put all your actions, behaviors, and thoughts into engineering the type of person that you want to be. And that may not have gotten you the outcome that you wanted, but it's gonna continue to be fruitful in other outcomes in your life that you never knew possible.

SPEAKER_00

Completely agree. And well, back up just just a second. I think if you get to that point that you were just talking about, it's it's time to to look at it and reflect, right? What could I have done more? Because if you're saying there's not something, there always is. And then I think what you're saying, I think we have split the two up when it comes to all right, I did my 30 reps here. I I think in team sports, you have to understand the individual side of all that and then also the team side of all that. What is the team required me to do? And I need to go above and beyond that. And then I need to look at it as like what do I individually need to do? So that has reps in practice. For example, I'm a big believer in if I'm if I'm coaching a team, I want my guys to coach third base and first base to understand it. I want them to see it from that lens. I want them to scout and write the lineup out that they believe deserves. And then they understand, oh, this is hard.

SPEAKER_01

Yep.

SPEAKER_00

This this is different to make this decision just assuming because he's the best player, he's really playing bad. Do I move him in the lineup? Do I do this? Like, hey, would you run right here? Why? It's so good. And it's like you're putting them in the position one that they're literally seeing it from a different lens. So now they start asking questions, but now you're putting their energy where, especially in in baseball, and this happens in football too. Like, if I'm a defensive player in football, like if I'm a corner, how often do I run as a wide receiver?

unknown

Right?

SPEAKER_00

So I can see it from his lens. What what is what am I seeing? Because that's what they're seeing every single day, trying to beat you. And I don't think we do that enough.

Defining Your Own Hall Of Fame

SPEAKER_01

I want to highlight that point real quick. Sorry. You know what I mean? Really, you are hitting on a lot of points. The two big ones. When you have to put yourself in a coach's role or a different role, it takes you out of your own lens. It takes you out of the own ego and forces you to see something from a different perspective. Additionally, I really like how you bring up the receiver DB comparison because when I work with defensive backs on like physical attributes, not just identity, I always will use receiver points to help coach playing defensive back better. Because when I made the transition to receiver when I was trying to make my comeback, and then I ended up going back to defensive back again, it made me a better defensive back. The break patterns, how you see how they're breaking, how you see how they manipulate spacing. And I will use those coaching points that helped me get in and out of breaks at receiver to then coach defensive backs and then watch them become better defensive backs. There's so, and again, creating different parallels, there's so much value to be had in having conversations with players too. It's like, okay, again, you have to be able to have a player's trust. And that's that's a big thing to draw, but to be able to have those tough conversations where you can review something and be like, if you were a coach, would you play you right now? If you were a coach, how would you handle this situation? If you removed yourself from this scenario and you were talking to another person who acted in this behavior lens, this performance lens, how would you handle it? And to create again that self-realization, now I go back to that trust. You have to have a relationship that can, you know, to to quote, I forget who said it, to bear the weight of truth. Now, if I don't have that relationship, it will not land the same way as if I do have that trust and I do have that care between another teammate, a person I'm coaching, whatever it may be. And it's just there's so many different layers and factors at play in elite level sports that your average person or a fan or people even in the circle of athletes don't understand because they're not in the arena. They don't understand the different concepts that are at play and how many things are pulling at guys and girls. And it's the one space, one of the few spaces in the world where your entire life just has a flashlight, a microphone right in front of you all the time, and you're constantly being pulled, you're constantly being required to do the right thing, say the right things. And you have people around them who have no idea how to help them navigate this space. And it's why I've gained a great deal of empathy for athletes too, and why I'm not overly critical. Now, being criticized is part of the game is how you get better. But because I understand how many different layers go into this and how to help athletes become unbelievably narrowly focused on who they are, actions, behaviors that align with what they want and not necessarily specific outcomes. I don't really tell athletes too often like what they should care about and whatnot, but I will always steer them away from I want to be a Super Bowl champion. Well, okay, well, let's be worthy of being a Super Bowl champion.

SPEAKER_00

You know, I want to what is what define, define what that is. Right. Because if you're gonna be that, you better be it tomorrow.

SPEAKER_01

And so like that's where like the there's just so many different things at play. And you know, it's sometimes these guys deserve a little grace. Sometimes they need a kick in the butt, sure. But we all have a starting line. People need need some grace.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, 100%. I got two things. I will we're probably running a little short on time.

SPEAKER_01

One, when I say I don't know if I'm gonna be able to hit my 4 a.m. wake up tomorrow.

SPEAKER_00

Uh, it'll be worth it. Um, I I lost the one train of thought, so I'll go back to the other one. So I do something, I think you'll like this. I do this with all my guys now. Um, probably about 14, 15. I feel like puberty is about when they when they can understand this and actually do it. I say find someone that you look up to in the game.

SPEAKER_01

Yep.

SPEAKER_00

I don't care who it is, it could be anybody. I want a position player if you're a position player, and I want to I want a hitter um if you're a pitcher. Same thing. And then I'm like, okay, now let's rewind. Whoever they pick, it's usually somebody that doesn't necessarily have the same attributes as them, they're not the same type of mover as them, they're not the same size as them. Even the physical like presence is usually way off. So then I'm like, okay, now let's pick somebody that you can actually see yourself being when it comes, they're pretty much the same size and they play the same position, and they have the same their right-handed thrower. You want a right-handed thrower. So then they'll do that, and I'm like, okay, now pick three more, but choose one element of their game. So now they have four people, one that they're like, that's the dream, that's the Superman. And then they have somebody that, like, okay, this guy really moves like me. He's a stiff mover, he has a short trunk and stockier, whatever. And then these guys, I love the way they swing, same size, but they're different type of movers. I'm like, just watch. And then start asking questions. And the coolest moment this summer is it happened extremely fast. I'm talking to a kid and I'm like, who's your favorite player? He said, Pete Gro Armstrong. I was like, Holy crap, if I had to do somebody to pick for you, center fielder, left-handed, really good hands, really good mover, great pick. I said, Did you just see a swing adjustment? And he was like, What? I was like, All right, tomorrow I will send you the video, but you got to tell me the swing adjustment. He's like, All right, so he wrote this whole thing and watched all these interviews, and I sent him the breakdown I did the day before, and he went ballistic because it was what he needed to do, but the conviction because his favorite player that was his favorite, that the same size and everything, literally just did what he needed to do. And it was like, so he got affirmed in every way possible. So he drove home two hours, hit with his dad, told him about it, and came back and then had a great summer, just made an ESPN catch on Sports Center the other day. It's like it's like I did nothing but throw information and make him think because I've learned over time I could tell him, I could show him, I could break it down way too far. Or I could say, what's the fastest way for this kid to grab a hold of this because he doesn't have time. And that's the big thing. You don't have enough time in any game anymore. And I think so often we think there's time. So yeah, you you you do the things you shouldn't do because you're like, oh, I have tomorrow.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

Service, Mentorship, And Impact

SPEAKER_00

Where you know, I was catching a bullpen and I was literally stretching my hamstring and my meniscus just said, no, I'm done. The worst changed my last six, yeah, like that that changes my entire life and my wife's life for a good month and a half. And that happened like that. And I think we just forget about that. So it's like, how can I compete now and and and have an understanding to move forward to keep growing? Because if you're not doing that, you will hit that complacency that you were talking about. It's like, hey, remember four years ago when you were doing this? The the better question for me is like, what's gonna make you do that? Where is the hunger? Like, what's the next thing you are trying to grab? Because you asked me, and it's like it's it's that aim you have to have because you can get complacent. And the world wants you to.

SPEAKER_01

I appreciate you, brother. Where where can people reach out to you for it? How can they get a hold of you if they reach out?

SPEAKER_00

At the Fort McHenry, it's the easiest way to do it. Yeah. No, no, I uh just keep doing keep doing what you're doing. And I'm going into coaching, so that's a I I I think it's a space that you know we're called to do in a sense of like how can we impact people that come after us, you know, especially in the sports realm. It does a lot for us, it made us a lot of who we are, and I think sometimes we forget how important that is, and I think it's a big part of what I've lost when you go back to like the aim because you have a goal post there.

SPEAKER_01

Always. Always. I appreciate you, brother. Excited to excited to rap again. Listeners, thank you for tuning in. Tune in next week. Check us out, athleticfortitude.com. New, we have an elite performers playbook coming out soon. Tune in next week. It'll be dropping next week. It'll be available on all socials, on my website, everywhere. Getting a leap performers playbook. I'll have more coming on that soon. But thank you guys. Five stars only. Appreciate your fork.