The Daily Drive
Aiming to provide perspective not perscription and "Just in Time" learning, not "Just In Case" learning.
These episodes are meant to make you think, make you ask important questions, and continue to mature on the journey that is life!
Episodes
607 episodes
609. Why The Best You Goes Absent in the Clutch
Nolan Ryan called it tunnel vision. Jack Nicklaus putted to a spot just in front of the ball instead of the hole. In this episode, Austin connects the two to the Spurs' collapse from a 29-point lead in the NBA Finals and Jean Van de Velde's final ...
608. How to Work Obsessively and Detach Easily
After closing out the Rockets in Game 6, LeBron James was happy about the extra day off because it meant he could get out and play golf, and plenty of people read that as a lack of focus. Austin argues it is a skill LeBron built over 23 seasons: a...
607. How Kobe Handled Insecurity
Kobe Bryant looked unshakably confident on TV, but he talked openly about insecurity, self-doubt, and nights where his knees and back told him he just didn't have it. Austin uses Dumbo's magic feather to explain how Kobe answered that doubt: the f...
606. An Athlete's Biggest Poison
There is a mental habit that holds back even the most elite athletes: treating being hard on yourself as a badge of honor. Austin looks at what happens when an athlete's whole worth rides on the result of the game, and why LeBron James, who works ...
605. The Secret to a Super Bowl Comeback
Joe Montana's 49ers got the ball on their own 8-yard line, needing 92 yards to win Super Bowl XXIII. In the huddle, Montana noticed his tackle, Harris Barton, shaking with nerves. So he looked up into the stands and asked if that was John Candy ea...
604. The Secret To Moving on From Your Mistakes
Moving on from mistakes takes more than telling yourself to forget them. In episode 604, Austin uses Roger Federer’s perspective on losing points to explore how choosing an attention target can help you return to the next play. He also asks you to...
603. The Secret Poision of Every Athlete's Mind
There's a threat in competition that works like carbon monoxide, invisible, and made worse by both winning and losing. This episode argues we forget the real reason we play: not just to win, but to face a worthy opponent who creates real uncertain...
602. The Mistake Even Elite Hitters Make in Slumps
Fernando Tatis went from struggling to hit a home run in April and May to arguably the best player in baseball from June through now. It looks like a stance change did it, but the real principle is that elite athletes need only a 1% adjustment in ...
600. The Secret Behind the Biggest Play in Super Bowl History
In episode 600, Austin breaks down the mental principle behind one of the most famous plays in NFL history: Eli Manning's escape and throw to David Tyree in Super Bowl XLII. While getting sacked by the undefeated Patriots' pass rush, Manning kept ...
599. The Decision that Costed a HOF Pitcher
Justin Verlander gave up a three-run home run to Nick Castellanos on an 0-1 curveball with two outs, then said after the game that he went away from his instincts: he thought Castellanos wasn't on the fastball and should have gone back to it. The ...
598. The Hidden Secret of the Serial Winner
Malcolm Butler's interception in Super Bowl XLIX is one of the most replayed plays in NFL history, but the part that made it possible happened months earlier. Bill Belichick identified red zone defense as one of the Patriots' biggest weaknesses fo...
597. Why Your Practice Doesn't Translate
Usain Bolt was nervous in the tunnel before his first Olympic final in Beijing in 2008, and a conversation with his coach is what let all of his preparation show up when it counted: the work is already done, so the moment is only execution. Austin...
596. Why You Never Reach Your Goals
Frank Ocean wanted out of Def Jam. He wanted his own music on his own timeline, and he had an album planned, Boys Don't Cry, that as far as I know never got made. What actually changed things was an album called Endless. Its only purpose was to br...
595. How to Repeat Your Best Performance
Johnny Depp played Jack Sparrow so many times that by the later Pirates movies he was imitating a character instead of being him, and people on set noticed. What got him back was not an acting exercise. He spent five hours in a children's hospital...
594. The Mental Mistake That Cost Him a Green Jacket
Rory McIlroy was put in the same situation twice, fourteen years apart: a lead at the Masters with a few holes left. In 2011 something subtle happened on the closing stretch. He started turning his head to see what the golfers around him were doin...
593. PCA's Secret To Success
Pete Crow-Armstrong is on pace for a historic 40-40 season while playing elite defense, and in May he told reporters his play was genuinely laughable. His own diagnosis was that it was never a lack of focus, it was trying too hard to make up for p...
592. How to Follow Up Your Best Performance EVER
Paul Skenes is pitching at an elite level and it isn't good enough. After back-to-back Cy Young caliber seasons, people are asking whether he's falling off. Austin uses that to look at what happens after a peak performance: success builds a house ...
591. Why You Never Repeat Your Best Performances
Lewis Hamilton won seven world titles, then went 56 races without a win, publicly asking whether it was him or the car. When he finally won again, he pointed to something that had nothing to do with racing: disconnecting, and spending time with fa...
590. The Two Biggest Lies Elite Athletes Never Buy
There are two lies athletes buy without realizing it: that nerves mean you are not prepared, and that adversity in competition is a verdict on what you are capable of. Austin breaks down why elite athletes appraise those same feelings and those sa...
589. How Athletes Keep Their Spark
Austin looks at how Jack Johnson divides his creative life into inhale and exhale: the writing and performing is output, and the surfing and family time is what refills the tank that output draws from. He argues athletics works the same way, using...
588. The Secret Gift Athletes Never Receive
Austin names a gift every athlete is given that most never receive: the fact that you are chasing something you will never actually catch. He builds it through video games, where you beat the levels, run out of things to conquer, and put the game ...
587. A Sure Fire Way To Fail Miserably
Austin lays out what he thinks is the universal reason athletes execute poorly, at every level from LeBron to a nine year old: self consciousness, performing while monitoring how it looks to other people. He frames the alternative through the imag...
586. The Trait Serial Champions Share
Austin pulls an excerpt from a Jordan Peterson lecture: once you establish an aim, you lay an interpretive filter over the world that only admits what moves you toward that aim and what would block it, and hides the rest. He argues this is what th...
585. The Secret to Real Mental Prep
Michael Phelps is worth studying because he ran two things at once that most athletes treat as opposites. He used inversion, deliberately thinking through everything that could go wrong and preparing for it, including training with water in his go...
584. How to Never Lose Focus in Competition
Roy Halladay was demoted to the minor leagues and hanging on to his career when he started putting a small piece of black athletic tape under the brim of his hat. After a pitch he did not like, or after a hitter, he would look at the tape, breathe...