Win More, Live Better
Win More, Live Better is a podcast for sport coaches and high-performing leaders who care deeply about results, but refuse to compromise their well-being, joy, or relationships in the process.
This show explores what it really means to win more and live better on your terms. Through stories, conversations, and practical frameworks, each episode helps you sharpen your leadership, strengthen your inner game, and build systems that support sustainable performance for you and those you lead.
Hosted by Zach Brandon, a nationally recognized performance and leadership advisor who partners with elite sport coaches, executives, and high performers to help them thrive using practical tools, systems, and mindset frameworks.
Episodes
200 episodes
After the Whistle: Failure Recovery
In pursuit of mastery, good luck not experiencing failure along the way. This episode is a reminder that losing and failure will be inevitable in sport (and in life), but how you recover and bounce-back from it is a trainable skill. As an exten...
•
Episode 200
•
10:25
Karch Kiraly | Head Coach, USA Men's Volleyball National Team | "Pressure is a privilege."
Today we're joined by the Team USA Men's Volleyball Head Coach, Karch Kiraly. Karch is one of the most accomplished figures in the history of volleyball and one of the few individuals to reach the pinnacle of the sport as both a player and a co...
•
Episode 199
•
1:00:13
Premium Ad Space: What Your Mind, the Super Bowl, and Focus Have In Common
Every year during the Super Bowl, companies spend millions of dollars for just 30 seconds of attention. This episode uses Super Bowl ads as a metaphor to explore why focus is one of your most valuable assets and how easily it gets spent without...
•
Episode 198
•
5:58
Moylan's Arrow: How Leaders Remove Friction and Design Better Environments
Moylan’s Arrow explores how one small design decision removed friction for millions of people and what it can teach us as coaches and leaders about environment design. Drawing inspiration from the real life story of Jim Moylan, this ep...
•
Episode 197
•
7:20
The Domino Effect: Why Leverage Beats Force
Achieving goals don’t always require massive effort, but they do require leverage. In this episode, we explore The Domino Effect and why extraordinary results rarely come from doing everything or trying harder. Borrowing from phys...
•
Episode 196
•
6:57
After the Whistle: Transition Routines
This is the latest segment of "After the Whistle," a short reflection series that follows guest conversations on Win More, Live Better. Drawing from my recent interview with Mitch Canham, this episode expl...
•
Episode 195
•
7:59
Mitch Canham | Head Baseball Coach, Oregon State University | “Coaching is an art. Every coach paints it differently.”
Today I’m joined by Mitch Canham, the head baseball coach at Oregon State University. Mitch’s story and career has come full circle as he once helped build Oregon State’s championship standard as a player and now carries the program forward as ...
•
Episode 194
•
1:07:23
Up and To the Right Fallacy: Managing Doubt When Progress Isn't Obvious
Growth rarely follows a linear path and trajectory. This episode examines what I call the Up and To the Right Fallacy and how performers (and leaders) will sometimes mistake nonlinear growth as an indication of inadequacy. It's a remin...
•
Episode 193
•
7:45
What Happens When You Leave the Room: Performative Culture vs Real Culture in Leadership
One of the hardest leadership questions to answer is this: What happens when I leave the room? This episode explores why compliance in a leader’s presence doesn’t always translate to commitment in their absence. Through stories an...
•
Episode 192
•
10:57
Audit Your Promises: How Leaders Build Trust by Following Through
How often do you make promises you don’t fully intend to keep? In this episode, Zach examines how leaders unintentionally erode trust through unmet commitments and why auditing your promises is a key practice to ensure you're not losing and sab...
•
Episode 191
•
7:40
After the Whistle: Playing Offense as a Coach
After the Whistle is a short reflection episode following each guest interview, where Zach pulls out a standout moment from the conversation and offers additional perspective on how to apply the insight to your own coaching, leadership...
•
Episode 190
•
14:04
Jack Mullaney | Head Coach, HOKA NAZ Elite | “You were hired for your mind, your heart, your passion, your energy.”
Our first guest interview of 2026 is Jack Mullaney. Jack is the head coach of HOKA NAZ Elite, one of the premier professional distance running teams in the world, based in Flagstaff, Arizona. His coaching journey began in sport administration, ...
•
Episode 189
•
1:23:16
How Perception Impacts Performance Under Pressure
Why do some athletes excel in pressure moments and others tighten up, even when the task is exactly the same? In this episode, Zach explores a lesson drawn from elite-level soccer and the psychology of penalty kicks. It offers a reminder that o...
•
Episode 188
•
8:00
You Can't Read the Label From Inside the Jar: How Leaders Regain Perspective Under Pressure
Perspective is one of the easiest things to lose in high-pressure environments. In this episode, we explore the idea that “You can’t read the label from inside the jar" and why even the best coaches need support outside the pressure cooke...
•
Episode 187
•
9:57
Why Experience Isn’t Enough: Horizontal vs. Vertical Development for Coaches
Why do so many coaches and professionals plateau even as their years of experience continue to grow? Research across professions shows that experience alone does not guarantee continued improvement. Drawing on evidence-informed leadership resea...
•
Episode 186
•
7:43
A System for Becoming a Better Coach ("From the Other Side of the Mic" Series)
This is the fourth and final (for now) installment of “From the Other Side of the Mic” series where I’m cross-sharing conversations from the guest seat before the new Win More, Live Better guest interviews begin in 2026. First new guest intervi...
•
Episode 185
•
1:11:52
The House You're Building: How Daily Efforts Shape Our Performances and Our Lives
Today's message is highlighted by a powerful parable that highlights why every rep builds something and why effort is never neutral. This episode focuses on how careers are shaped in ordinary moments, how regret often comes from withheld commit...
•
Episode 184
•
7:01
Why Coaches Need Truth-Tellers: The Cost of Echo Chambers in Leadership
Most leaders say they want honesty, but many are not always as deliberate as they need to be in surrounding themselves with truth-tellers. In this episode, we'll discuss the book, Team of Rivals, which discusses why and how Abraham Lincoln buil...
•
Episode 183
•
6:14
The Story You'll Tell in 2027: How to Use Long-Term Vision to Endure Short-Term Struggle
What if the problem with most New Year’s goals and resolutions isn’t effort, but the order we approach change? In this episode, we explore why starting with your desired future ending gives meaning to the struggle you encounter in the present. ...
•
Episode 182
•
8:01
From the Other Side of the Mic: A Conversation on Coaching, Leadership, and the Inner Game
This episode is the third installment of the From the Other Side of the Mic series, where I cross-share conversations from podcasts I’ve had the opportunity to be a guest on.In this episode, I’m featured on The Well...
•
Episode 181
•
56:12
National Quitters Day: Why Most Goals Unravel and Why Quitting is (Sometimes) Helpful
Today is National Quitters Day, which is the point in the year when most New Year’s goals and resolutions begin to fall apart. In this episode, we explore why New Year’s resolutions often unravel, why and how to shift your focus from outcomes t...
•
Episode 180
•
8:42
Excellence is Protected by Attrition
Most people don’t fall short of excellence because they lack ability, but rather because the work becomes mundane, repetitive, and unrewarding long before the payoff ever arrives. In this episode, we unpack how excellence functions like a filte...
•
Episode 179
•
8:03
Managing Drift in High Performance: Why Great Coaches Function Like Rumble Strips
Drift is inevitable in the pursuit of any meaningful goal. Our focus will inevitably fade as initial enthusiasm wears off. Our standards will soften as we start cutting corners or making small compromises along the way. And most of the time, th...
•
Episode 178
•
8:16
From the Other Side of the Mic: 3 MLB Perspectives on High-Performance Environments
This is the second episode of the From the Other Side of the Mic series where I'm cross-sharing a conversation from a different podcast I've been on. Today's episode is a recording of a discussion I was part of for the Coach Your Brains Out pod...
•
Episode 177
•
1:04:13
Same Event, Different Story: How Interpretations Affect Performers and Leaders
Two teachers witnessed the same moment with the same child and told two completely different stories. In this episode, we explore how the event didn’t change, but the interpretation did. For athletes, our explanations play a significant role in...
•
Episode 176
•
7:16