Podcasts about heads up baseball

Key Topics & Estimated Timestamps:(0:00) Introduction by Mike Huber(2:10) Diamyn's life-changing football injury at 14 and early adversity(9:20) Transitioning from football to basketball to baseball—and adapting mentally(16:40) Discovery of mental performance tools: Heads-Up Baseball and John Maxwell's leadership lessons(22:10) The role of mental toughness in elite sports performance(26:00) Building systems for mental skills and leadership development at the college level(30:30) "Relax to Get Results" – Key principle in mental skills training(37:20) How to dominate the time between pitches in baseball(42:00) Shohei Ohtani's goal-setting sheet: Preparation secrets of the elite(47:30) Preparation and reflection: The habits that differentiate Hall of Famers(52:00) Visualization and why it's a superpower for athletes (Mookie Betts' example)(59:00) Convincing young athletes to invest in mental training(1:03:40) Motivation: Internal vs. external drive at high school, college, and pro levels(1:09:00) The importance of creating challenging and supportive environments(1:14:00) Role acceptance, trust, and communication in team culture(1:21:00) The importance of player-coach communication and meeting athletes where they are(1:28:00) Self-coaching: Why mastering your inner voice is critical to success(1:34:00) Awareness, reflection loops, and continuous self-improvement(1:39:00) Closing thoughts: Watering your own "grass" and building the habits of championsResources Mentioned:Heads-Up Baseball by Ken Ravizza and Tom Hanson360 Degree Leader by John MaxwellRelentless by Tim GroverBody Mind Mastery by Dan MillmanFive Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick LencioniShohei Ohtani's Goal Setting SheetCalm App (LeBron James)Connect with Diamyn Hall:Follow on Instagram @diamynhallhttps://www.instagram.com/diamynhall/Connect with Michael Huber:Subscribe to The Freshman Foundation Newsletter: michaelvhuber.com/newsletterFollow on Instagram @michaelvhuber.https://www.instagram.com/michaelvhuber/

In this episode of The Present, Lisa explores the concept of non-striving—the practice of embracing the present moment as it is, rather than constantly wishing for something different. It's about finding balance: working toward change without getting stuck in frustration over what hasn't yet shifted. Lisa is joined by Dr. Tom Hanson, a renowned sports and high-performance psychologist and author. Dr. Hanson has served as the Director of Performance Enhancement for the New York Yankees and has worked with teams like the Texas Rangers, Los Angeles Angels, and Minnesota Twins. Today, he helps individuals and teams across all sports achieve their peak potential. Dr. Hanson is the author of Play Big, Heads Up Baseball 2.0, and Who Will Do What by When? Learn more about Dr. Hanson at www.drtomhanson.com.

On this Episode In this episode you'll hear a conversation with sports psychologist, Dr. Tom Hanson. While Tom has worked with some of the biggest names in professional baseball, he is also a prolific author, coach, and sought after speaker in the corporate world. Today, we'll explore what it takes to be a top performer in any field of endeavor. We'll discuss mental toughness, performance inhibitors and so much more. This is a great episode for anyone who wants to elevate their performance. What You'll Learn What is “commitment management” and how can we benefit from it? How do we leverage the “double-header of life” concept? What we can learn from the best hitters in baseball history What does it mean to “play big” in life? How can we improve our mental mechanics? What is the “tapping method” and how does it work?  About my Guest Dr. Tom Hanson frees athletes and coaches, executives and work teams to consistently perform at or near their best.  His Performance Freedom and Confidence and Consistency coaching programs in both sport and business train people to “Excel, Enjoy, and Evolve.” Formerly the Director of Performance Enhancement for the New York Yankees, Dr. Hanson also consulted with the Texas Rangers, Los Angeles Angels, and Minnesota Twins organizations.  He helps individuals and teams in all sports and regularly coaches in major university athletic programs such as Harvard University Baseball and Florida State Softball.  His business client list ranges from giants like Microsoft, Verizon and Pepperidge Farm to small businesses like Public Trust Advisors and insurance adjusters Johns Eastern. He co-authored both Heads-Up Baseball: Playing the Game One Pitch at a Time and Heads-Up Baseball 2.0: 5 Skills for Competing One Pitch at a Time with Dr. Ken Ravizza.  The books have combined to sell over 200,000 copies, been adopted by many major college and professional teams, used as a college textbook, and been called “the bible for developing mental toughness,” by Collegiate Baseball. Dr. Hanson also wrote the award-winning PLAY BIG: Mental Toughness Skills that Take Baseball Players to the Next Level, and the best-selling business fable, Who Will Do What by When? -- How to Improve Performance, Accountability and Trust with Integrity, which has sold over 30,000 copies to individuals and organizations, including the United States Government. Dr. Hanson graduated from Luther College (IA) in 1985, earned his Master's degree at the University of Illinois (Champaign), and his Ph.D. specializing in sport psychology from the University of Virginia (1991).  He served as UVA's hitting coach for three seasons, and his dissertation research, The Mental Aspects of Hitting, featured interviews with Hank Aaron, Stan Musial, Carl Yastrzemski, Tony Oliva, and Rod Carew.  He has made a career of studying greatness and creating technologies that liberate performers from the fears and doubts that too often rob them of the joy and satisfaction they seek, and is a leader in overcoming the “yips” in baseball, golf, tennis and other activities.   Links for This Episode:   Social Links http://drtomhanson.com/  http://www.headsupperformance.com/   http://playbigbaseball.com/  HeadsUpBaseball2.com http://yipsbegone.com/    Email:  DrTomHanson@gmail.com  Phone (1) 813-453-3467   Connect with Dr. Mike:  Website: https://www.drmikepatterson.com Book: https://www.missionfirstpeoplealwaysbook.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drmichaellpatterson Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therealdrmikepatterson/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/drmikepatterson Buy The Book!: Mission First People Always Episode Minute By Minute: 00:00 Introduction to Dr. Tom Hanson 02:21 Tom's Work with Elite Athletes and its Relevance 03:21 Challenges in Modern Management and Solutions 08:22 The Importance of Commitment in Leadership 10:24 The Power of Simplicity in Leadership 14:40 The Double Header of Life: Balancing Results and Experience 17:00 The Competitive Executive Coaching Program 22:42 The Power of Perception: Crafting Your Lens 24:02 Learning from Legends: Insights from Pete Rose 27:33 Tapping into Calm: An Introduction to the Tapping Technique 36:37 Playing Big and with Ease: Applying Sports Psychology to Management 41:19 Starting the Day Right: The Importance of a Morning Routine 43:27 Closing Thoughts: The Path to Greatness  

Dr. Tom Hanson frees athletes and coaches, executives and work teams to consistently perform at or near their best. Formerly the Director of Performance Enhancement for the New York Yankees, Dr. Hanson also consulted with the Texas Rangers, Los Angeles Angels, and Minnesota Twins organizations. His business client list ranges from giants like Microsoft, Verizon and Pepperidge Farm to small businesses like Public Trust Advisors and insurance adjusters Johns Eastern. He co-authored both Heads-Up Baseball: Playing the Game One Pitch at a Time and Heads-Up Baseball 2.0: 5 Skills for Competing One Pitch at a Time with Dr. Ken Ravizza. The books have combined to sell over 200,000 copies, been adopted by many major college and professional teams, used as a college textbook, and been called “the bible for developing mental toughness,” by Collegiate Baseball. Dr. Hanson also wrote the award-winning PLAY BIG: Mental Toughness Skills that Take Baseball Players to the Next Level, and the best-selling business fable, Who Will Do What by When? -- How to Improve Performance, Accountability and Trust with Integrity. Dr. Hanson graduated with his Ph.D. specializing in sport psychology from the University of Virginia. In this episode, Dr. Tom and Cindra talk about: Confidence as Easy as ABC How to Play Big in 5 Simple Steps How Tapping helps overcome mental roadblocks HIGH PERFORMANCE MINDSET SHOWNOTES FOR THIS EPISODE: www.cindrakamphoff.com/559  FOLLOW CINDRA ON INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/cindrakamphoff/ TO FIND MORE INFORMATION ABOUT Dr. Tom: Heads-Up Performance FOLLOW CINDRA ON TWITTER: https://twitter.com/mentally_strong  Love the show? Rate and review the show for Cindra to mention you on the next episode: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/high-performance-mindset-learn-from-world-class-leaders/id1034819901 

Our goal every year with the January episodes has been to shine a light on the foundations of optimal living. Hopefully, these episodes give you some tips you can implement with yourself personally or with your team. Next up on the ABCA podcast is Major League Mindset’s, Brandon Guyer. Guyer was drafted and signed by the Chicago Cubs coming out of the University of Virginia in 2010. Guyer made his major league debut in 2011 with the Tampa Bay Rays. Guyer retired from baseball July 20’. Because peak performance helped Guyer so much as a player, getting into the profession was always in the back of his mind. Guyer had the opportunity to play for Joe Maddon and work with Ken Ravizza with the Tampa Bay Rays. Guyer lso sights Heads Up Baseball as helping him in high school. In this episode we cover peak performance, mental health and fail forward moments. This episode is sponsored by our friends at Rapsodo. The industry leader in baseball player development technology, has a special offer on their HITTING & PITCHING 2.0 units. Go to Rapsodo.com/rapsodo-savings and get up to a $1,000 off! Trusted by the best in baseball, Rapsodo is used by all 30 MLB teams, 100% of D1 Champions since 2010, and 100% of the Top 100 Prospects in this year’s MLB draft. Scott Brown, Vanderbilt’s pitching coach and associate head coach has this to say about Rapsodo, “everyone involved in teaching pitchers this day and age could benefit from owning Rapsodo and using it for immediate feedback to educate

On this mental minute, I touch on the subject of having an anchor in your routine. That s the one thing you go back to "clear the slate" after a poor pitch. swing or play. Give this a listen to help give you some ideas on how to stay IN THE ZONE! Additional Notes: This idea was originally introduced to me by Heads Up Baseball and Heads Up Baseball 2.0 by Ken Revizza and Dr. Tom HansonA great example of this from a player is in a video with Evan Longoria (https://youtu.be/eCH4zelZFNk)Got another mental topic you want me to touch on? Email in at inthezonepodcast123@gmail.com

**You can support the podcast using the link below. Your support is much appreciated, as this is EPISODE #116 of commercial free baseball coaching content, tips, strategies, etc. (NOTE: The audio quality cleans up nicely at the 4-minute mark.) --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/8020baseball/support

With a resume including Full-time Performance Enhancement director for the New York Yankees, Performance Enhancement Consultant for the Texas Rangers - Performance Enhancement for the Anaheim Angels & Minnesota Twins. We couldn't be talking with a better guy to help us with the mental game than the co-author of Heads-Up Baseball and Who Will Do What By When, the founder of the Play Big Academy Dr. Tom Hanson. Dr. Tom has been coaching everyone from little leaguers to world champions since 1983 . Co-Author of Heads-Up Baseball: Playing the Game One Pitch at a Time. He holds a Ph.D. in sport psychology from the University of Virginia-- M.S. in sport psychology from the University of Illinois --

Demetre Kokoris is currently a MiLB pitching coach in the Blue Jays Organization. He got his Bachelor of Science degree from the Univ. of South Carolina and his MBA from Cal St. Fullerton. At Cal State Fullerton, he was fortunate to be mentored by Dr Ken Ravizza, the Godfather of the mental game and author of Heads Up Baseball. He's coached with NCAA Div. 1 skipper George Horton (Cal St. Fullerton/Oregon) and UCSB coach Andrew Checketts when Checketts was the pitching coach at Oregon. Demetre Kokoris has been the Pitching Coach and Recruiting Coordinator at Chemeketa Community College in Salem, Oregon. He was the Head Coach of the Central Oregon Bucks of the West Coast Summer Collegiate League from 2011-2012. He served as a student-manager for Gamecock Baseball, reaching a Regional in 2005 & Super Regional in 2006. Demetre and Sammy discuss: Demetre's unconventional path as a Pitching Coach and his time with Dr Ken Ravizza What advice would you give to athlete's looking to get noticed and thrive in today's environment What are his 3 favorites and how he uses them to improve pitchers How the Covid situation made him a better coach What he would say to a high school pitcher when he visits the mound How he works with pitchers to determine their pitch selection The best piece of advice Dr Ravizza gave him You can follow Demetre on Twitter. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/playballkid/message

At the very beginning of COVID-19, tons of athletes expressed to me that they were worried about the unknowns of the pandemic and were lacking motivation to keep chugging towards their goals….so here was my solution. I came up with 10 ways athletes can “work from home” and enhance their physical AND mental games inside of quarantine...and this week’s podcast is that VERY list! Even though the circumstances may not be in your favor, there's ALWAYS a way you can develop your game without even going to practice or playing! $7 Goal-Smasher Course - https://ashley-burkhardt-training.mykajabi.com/2-week-course-opt-in Find Hitting Drills and Motivation on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQQEV5CsE0jKP7PZn7Pr_uw?view_as=subscriber “Mind Gym” by Gary Mack- https://www.amazon.com/Mind-Gym-Athletes-Guide-Excellence/dp/0071395970 “Training Camp” by Jon Gordon - https://www.amazon.com/Training-Camp-What-Better-Everyone/dp/0470462086 “Heads Up Baseball” by Ken Ravizza and Tom Hanson - https://www.amazon.com/Heads-Up-Baseball-Playing-Game-Pitch/dp/1570280215 “The Energy Bus” by Jon Gordon- https://www.amazon.com/Energy-Bus-Rules-Fuel-Positive/dp/0470100281/ref=sr_1_2?crid=1LMSPGA70NU7K&dchild=1&keywords=the+energy+bus&qid=1598282303&s=books&sprefix=the+energy+%2Cstripbooks%2C196&sr=1-2 “Who Moved my Cheese” by Spencer Johnson M.D. - https://www.amazon.com/Moved-Cheese-Spencer-Johnson-M-D/dp/0743582853 Become a Member of #SMASHTRIBE- http://www.ashleybtraining.com/becomeamember.html View “10 Ways You Can Work From Home” on YouTube - https://youtu.be/wpsWG-NnGI8ABT Community Facebook Page - https://www.facebook.com/groups/SMASHTRIBE

What we go over: Best Mental Approach for Hitters in Coming Back from COVID Layoff? Do you find Young Hitters Nowadays are Visualization Challenged because of Mobile Devices? What do you feel is the most Underutilized Mental Skill, Approach, or Practice? How to use the Breath to Lower Game Anxiety How Building Routines can help Hitters ‘Clean the Slate' Anything new that you're Working on Right Now? Where can we find more about you? Click short link for transcribed interview in pdf format: https://gohpl.com/3etSad5

Ep. # 010: Dr. Tom Hanson- Sports Psychologist/ Founder of the "Play Big Academy" / Author of "Play Big" / Co-Author "Heads Up Baseball / Executive CoachJoin Evan and Dr. Tom Hanson as they discuss some of the key concepts in “Heads Up Baseball 2.0” co-authored with Dr. Ken Ravizza.  Dr. Hanson shares insight into his personal baseball journey, what he's learned from interviewing some of the “Greats” like Hank Aaron and Pete Rose and his experience working with professional athletes.  The skills and tools Dr. Hanson teach truly prepare a baseball player to be their very best in baseball and in life.  What You'll Learn:02:29   How Dr. Tom Hanson got started in Sports Psychology05:48   When he began working with MLB Teams10:15   Being your own real life “MLB The Show” character15:23   Players he had the most fun training19:40   Uncovering what made Derek Jeter good under pressure23:40   How players can use an internal “Green, Yellow, Red Light System” as a guide26:01   Using “Breath” to slow the game down31:25   Being self aware; Know yourself35:51   Explaining the RAMP-C Process in “Heads Up Baseball 2.0”41:31   What it means to “Know It, Do It, Own It”45:16   Advice to Parents: Strategies for “debriefing” with your ball player after a game52:33   Power of Visualization55:41   How being a Heads Up Baseball Player also makes you a better TeammateThank you for being here with us!  Evan and the Born To Baseball Team are looking forward to celebrating your success and sharing this journey together.  If you enjoyed this episode please consider leaving a rating or review on Apple or wherever you're listening here. This will help other ball players find the Born To Baseball Podcast and give us more chances to shout out our listeners!  Now, let's play ball!Read show notes here.Show Links:Dr. Hanson Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/headsupbaseball/Twitter: @HeadsUpBasebal2  @DrTomHansonDr. Hanson Websites/ Programs: https://playbigbaseball.com/https://headsupbaseball2.com/https://www.drtomhanson.com/COMPETE! Training ProgramBorn To Baseball Links:Born To Baseball Website BTB Travel Team & Training TrackerInstagram: @borntobaseball Facebook Twitter: @bornto_baseballBorn To Baseball App (BETA Test) on AppleBorn To Baseball App (BETA Test) on Google Play

Ep. # 010: Dr. Tom Hanson- Sports Psychologist/ Founder of the “Play Big Academy” / Author of “Play Big” / Co-Author “Heads Up Baseball / Executive Coach Join Evan and Dr. Tom Hanson as they discuss some of the key concepts in “Heads Up Baseball 2.0” co-authored with Dr. Ken Ravizza.  Dr. Hanson shares insight […]

here are some time-stamps to help you navigate the interview: About 2:30 minute mark, Dr. Hanson talks about his experience coaching baseball at UVA and D3 Skidmore College. It's a challenge to find someone who has a PhD in psychology and experience coaching the game at the college level. About 4:30 minute mark, I talk about how I stumbled upon the first version of Heads-Up Baseball, and how the information helped me cut through the white noise at a time when I felt overwhelmed with hitting mechanics, reading every book I could get my hands on. About 6:00 minute mark, what were the top two or three things you and Dr. Ken Ravizza changed in the 2.0 version of Heads-Up Baseball? One was this idea of changing "Trust" to "Compete". The purpose of a routine is to compete. Give 100% of what you have right now to the next pitch. Problem right now is players are coming to college with a "showcase" mentality. The importance of hitters being patient AND being aggressive. Thoughts on including quotes and anecdotes from fresh coach and player faces in the book. About 11:30 minute mark, if you could direct coaches to two concepts in the book, what would they be and why? I liked the "Heads Up Practice" Chapter, but Dr. Hanson suggested "Chapter 2: The 3 Levels of Learning to Compete", Know it, Do it, Own it. He also recommends reading Mike Scioscia's Introduction of the book. The Goldilocks Golden Rule, what's right for the hitter right now (or today - know yourself). About 18:00 minute mark, Dr. Hanson talks about the importance of having a model to explain the questions that come in about the mental game. He goes into the RAMP-C model: Responsibility - the ability to respond, choose what you focus on, great question to ask: "How did you choose to respond?" Awareness - being conscious of and how you typically respond under pressure or when you're hitting well, extrovert/introvert, how are you feeling right now. Dealing with "yellow" or "red" lights. Mission - what would you like to have happen, purpose or swing intention. Preparation - what can I do to get myself to feel a "green" light, training in the off-season, what am I going to prepare for the next pitch or season. Compete (changed from "Trust") - give 100% of what you have right now to get to win the next pitch. Nobody on the Cubs felt like they had a "green" light for Game 7 of the World Series when they win it. Control, Plan, Trust changed to Control, Commit, Compete About 30-minute mark, what have you found most valuable utilizing information in this book with your own kids while navigating the craziness of travel baseball, son C.J. is 14yo and daughter Angelina is 11yo. First edition of Heads Up Baseball was before kids, now 20-year reflection period to version 2.0. Before 13/14yo Dr. Hanson wanted to create an environment of fun for his son. Helping kid fall in love with sport. Not constantly picking the kid apart. It's all about Relationship building. No matter the message, if the relationship isn't there, then the message doesn't have its optimal effect. Joe Maddon talked about building relationships as his priority in first 3 weeks of Spring Training with Cubs that first year, was building relationships with players. About 39:00 minute mark, can you be a coach that can stretch out of being the best at conceptualizing and doing, and get more into understanding relationship. Knowing your players, where they are in life, and how to relate is huge with players. Unfortunately, the phone recording app I was using cut off another 20 minutes of the interview. Here are some nuggets that were inconveniently left out: How to change an athlete that has an emotional "red" or "yellow" light from his book Play Big: Mental Toughness Secrets That Take Baseball Players to the Next Level. Using the ABC model: Act Big, Breath deep, and Compete. Dr. Hanson shared a conversation he had with Reggie Jackson, where he asked Reggie if he was confident all the time. Reggie responded with, "Heck no!" Reggie said he faked it a lot of the time. Act Big. Dr. Hanson shared a conversation between Mike Trout and Dr. Ken Ravizza. Mike Trout likes to finish his exhale before getting in the box. If he gets in the box without doing that, he steps out and finishes it. That's Breathing deep. Mike Trout also said he likes to stride slow to the plate in order to slow down the moment. We also talked about where you can find Dr. Hanson online and the socials: HeadsUpPerformance.com - his coaching and consulting company. HeadsUpBaseball2.com - Heads-Up Baseball 2.0 book website where you can sign up for a paid subscription which includes the book, monthly training with Ken and Tom, LIVE Q&A video broadcasts, exclusive interviews with top players and coaches, interact with community of like-minded coaches, and more. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tom.hanson.100 Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrTomHanson YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/DrTomHanson

This episode is brought to you by baseballcloud and OnBaseU. iTunes  Stitcher   Google Play   Spotify Summary: In this episode of Ahead of the Curve, I welcome Deskaheh Bomberry, a highly experienced pitching coach and recruiting coordinator at Sacramento City College. Our discussion delves into how Deskaheh first became involved in not just baseball as a player, but also his conversion into coaching and the initial moves that brought him to Sacramento City College. Deskaheh provides ample advice for preparing players for strength and mental game training. Show Notes: Guest: Deskaheh Bomberry, Pitching Coach/Recruiting Coordinator at Sacramento City College Deskaheh Bomberry received the ABCA award for assistant coaching He was the first JC coach from the Pacific region Deskaheh’s Path to coaching First he thought he would want to be a high school wrestling coach After senior year, he switched from wrestling to baseball He went to Cosumnes River College for two years and connected with Coach Rod Bilby He started out as an empire and transitioned into a pitching coach Coach Rod Bilby was his mentor and they are still friends Sonoma State University for three years Rob Cooper, head coach at Penn State, referred him for a coaching job with Eastern Kentucky University with Coach Ward He came back to Sacramento and worked at Sacramento City College for the last 21 years Sacramento City College has had a tremendous amount of big league players and coaches Typical preparation for Coach Bomberry 1st week: throw 250 feet, 2nd week: 275 feet, 3rd week: 300 feet Meetings and administrations to set high standards and expectations Strength and condition for physical therapy, Bomberry gets spreadsheet of results Throwing program training: Players fill out questionnaire about their strengths Third week is scrimmaging He customizes training for players’ needs Assessment of strike percentage, swing and miss percentage should be measured How Coach Bomberry teaches Our goal is to play one pitch at a time Weekly mental game meetings with focus on weekly topic Mental game is about thinking about your thoughts, where you mind goes in certain situations Most of practice show replicate a real game environment How to make practice feel more game-like Keep track of flat ground work with a competition element Rewarding players when they perform well Give the catcher the script that the pitcher is using Add PFP to a bullpen Typical practice plan Pitcher practice plan starts with dynamic warm up wrist-weight exercises   Weighted balls Throwing program (untimed, unscripted) Flat ground work (20-30 minutes) Traditional PFP and pick off work Breathing and routines Structuring a new player’s training Recovering protocol Throwing practice by day two Give player objectives that they can plan around Send to work with trainer Players have goals, coaches are the guardrails during that journey Why Deskaheh has become serious about pitch development and movement-based training “20 Minutes of Hell” is a favorite drill for flat ground work Favorite coaching book: “Heads-Up Baseball” by Ken Ravizza and Tom Hanson Podcasts he recommends: “Ahead of the Curve,” “ABCA,” “Drive Line,” “Finding Mastery” Authors he recommends: Simon Sinek, Ryan Holiday, John C. Maxwell, John Gordon Coaching is not about the coach, it’s about the players 3 Key Points: Player development requires individualization. Real information, not opinion, is needed to assess players. Core elements of the mental game: breathing, routines, and body language.   Tweetable Quotes: “A lot of the banged up shoulders and that kind of stuff happens early in the fall.” - Deskaheh Bomberry (19:15) “As long as I can remember, going back to the 80s and 90s, Sac City has always had a pretty high priority on player development.” - Deskaheh Bomberry (20:16) “Whatever each guy needs, try to maximize the time you spend on those things.” - Deskaheh Bomberry (22:27) “If you invest all your time in addressing a weakness, the strengths will disappear.” - Deskaheh Bomberry (22:37) “When we are recruiting guys, the number one thing we try to address is strength.” - Deskaheh Bomberry (25:36) “If they don’t do it in practice, you can’t expect it to show up in a game.” - Deskaheh Bomberry (35:15) Resources Mentioned: Ahead of the Curve Podcast @AOTC_podcast Deskaheh Bomberry - Sacramento City College Twitter: @Bomber07 Email: bomberd@scc.losrios.edu Book - “Heads-Up Baseball: Playing the Game One Pitch at a Time” Book - “Legacy” Book - “The Talent Code” Book - “The Culture Code” Twitter feeds Deskaheh Bomberry recommends: @EricCressey  @DrivelineBB  @LantzWheeler  @setprosports  @108_Performance Website and Social Media sites for the show  www.aotcpodcast.com Twitter @aotc_podcast Facebook Ahead of the Curve Coaches Facebook group Instagram aotc_podcast

Chicago Cubs Mental Skills Coordinator, Darnell McDonald, is a yoga and mindfulness coach to the major league baseball team. Darnell is a former MLB player for the Minnesota Twins, Cincinnati Reds, Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, and the Chicago Cubs. His motto is: "The sky is not the limit; the mind is." April 20, 2010 Darnell became the ninth player to hit a home run for the Red Sox in his first at bat. In the same game, he became the first ever member of the Red Sox to collect a game-ending RBI in his debut with the club. He announced his retirement from the Cub's organization on April 6, 2014, to spend time with his family, including his four children. Since retirement, McDonald has become a cornerstone of mental health, and development amongst the Chicago Cubs' roster, promoting his positive energy, and an optimistic lifestyle with his phrase "in Blue, Out Red." In 2017, McDonald completed his 200-hour yoga certification to unify his theories of mind, body, and soul. In 2017, McDonald was presented with a 2016 World Series Championship Ring due to his contributions to the direct success of the team on the field.    Listen as we talk about:    The importance of dealing with failure Why letting go is the secret to healing The impact of his mentor Ken Ravizza who recently died  What he would tell his younger self Why his transitions between the major and minor leagues helped him to find his purpose The importance of having a growth mindset The impact his mom's passing had on his purpose Why great things happen when you serve Why you're able to relate with others through authenticity wen you do things for more than just yourself His belief that you lift yourself by lifting others Why yoga is where he steps into failure Anecdotes from his highs and lows playing in Yankee Stadium and Fenway Park to slumps to the minors How his young children lead him in yoga and meditation How to meditate - common misconceptions The importance of training yourself to finish Why running towards discomfort is where you build the mental skills Why the story of a plant salesman at a farmer's market should inspire you to do what you love His aspirations for svadhyaya around the world  His final 6 minute guided meditation (In blue, out red unique approach)   Resources Mentioned:    Heads Up Baseball (2.0 and 2.5) - Ken Ravizza Mindset - Carol Dweck Man's Search for Meaning - Victor Frankl Never Die Easy - Walter Payton Wisdom of Sundays - Oprah Winfrey His Website : svadhyayasport.com    Sign up or hear more about our Path to Purpose course here   Join our purpose seeking podcast community at...   Facebook   Instagram   YouTube Channel   Facebook Group - Purpose Seekers     Sign up for the Tri-Weekly Newsletter by emailing: peopleofpurposepodcast@gmail.com   Help More Find Their Purpose by Donating to the Podcast

In celebrating the life and work of Ken Ravizza, one of the most renowned mental performance coaches in sports. I am joined by 12 professionals and friends in a four part series, where they share intimate stories and reflections about this incredible man's work, passion, and energy. Ken, was one of the pioneers that not only pushed sport psychology to the forefront, but had a major hand integrating mental skills training into Major League Baseball. Even though, Ken had touched thousands of students, athletes, coaches, and organizations in a such a positive way, these 12 interviews will signify Ken's imprint on all that work with him and who study his work. His voice, his lessons, and his sayings will never be forgotten. Guests in order: Part 1 1.) Josh Lifrak, Chicago Cubs, Mental Performance Director 2.) Sue Enquist, former UCLA Head Softball Coach 3.) Bob Tewksbury, former MLB player and the San Francisco Giant's Mental Performance Coach Part 2 4.) Justin Su'a, Boston Red Sox and Cleveland Browns Mental Performance Coach 5.) Charlie Maher, Cleveland Indians Mental Performance Coach 6.) Graham Betchart, NBA Mental Skills Trainer Part 3 7.) Dr. Tom Hanson, Co-Author of Heads-Up Baseball and Heads-Up Baseball 2.0 8.) John Savage, UCLA Head Baseball Coach 9.) Dr. Alison Pope-Rhodius, Chair of the Sport Psychology Department at JFK University Part 4 10.) Dr. Patrick Cohn, Sports Psychologist 11.) John Baker, former MLB player and Chicago Cubs Mental Performance Coach 12.) Brian Cain, Peak Performance Coach Additional tribute by Brian Cain: https://briancain.com/blog/remembering-ken-ravizza.html

In celebrating the life and work of Ken Ravizza, one of the most renowned mental performance coaches in sports. I am joined by 12 professionals and friends in a four part series, where they share intimate stories and reflections about this incredible man's work, passion, and energy. Ken, was one of the pioneers that not only pushed sport psychology to the forefront, but had a major hand integrating mental skills training into Major League Baseball. Even though, Ken had touched thousands of students, athletes, coaches, and organizations in a such a positive way, these 12 interviews will signify Ken's imprint on all that work with him and who study his work. His voice, his lessons, and his sayings will never be forgotten. Guests in order: Part 1 1.) Josh Lifrak, Chicago Cubs, Mental Performance Director 2.) Sue Enquist, former UCLA Head Softball Coach 3.) Bob Tewksbury, former MLB player and the San Francisco Giant's Mental Performance Coach Part 2 4.) Justin Su'a, Boston Red Sox and Cleveland Browns Mental Performance Coach 5.) Charlie Maher, Cleveland Indians Mental Performance Coach 6.) Graham Betchart, NBA Mental Skills Trainer Part 3 7.) Dr. Tom Hanson, Co-Author of Heads-Up Baseball and Heads-Up Baseball 2.0 8.) John Savage, UCLA Head Baseball Coach 9.) Dr. Alison Pope-Rhodius, Chair of the Sport Psychology Department at JFK University Part 4 10.) Dr. Patrick Cohn, Sports Psychologist 11.) John Baker, former MLB player and Chicago Cubs Mental Performance Coach 12.) Brian Cain, Peak Performance Coach Additional tribute by Brian Cain: https://briancain.com/blog/remembering-ken-ravizza.html

In celebrating the life and work of Ken Ravizza, one of the most renowned mental performance coaches in sports. I am joined by 12 professionals and friends in a four part series, where they share intimate stories and reflections about this incredible man's work, passion, and energy. Ken, was one of the pioneers that not only pushed sport psychology to the forefront, but had a major hand integrating mental skills training into Major League Baseball. Even though, Ken had touched thousands of students, athletes, coaches, and organizations in a such a positive way, these 12 interviews will signify Ken's imprint on all that work with him and who study his work. His voice, his lessons, and his sayings will never be forgotten. Guests in order: Part 1 1.) Josh Lifrak, Chicago Cubs, Mental Performance Director 2.) Sue Enquist, former UCLA Head Softball Coach 3.) Bob Tewksbury, former MLB player and the San Francisco Giant's Mental Performance Coach Part 2 4.) Justin Su'a, Boston Red Sox and Cleveland Browns Mental Performance Coach 5.) Charlie Maher, Cleveland Indians Mental Performance Coach 6.) Graham Betchart, NBA Mental Skills Trainer Part 3 7.) Dr. Tom Hanson, Co-Author of Heads-Up Baseball and Heads-Up Baseball 2.0 8.) John Savage, UCLA Head Baseball Coach 9.) Dr. Alison Pope-Rhodius, Chair of the Sport Psychology Department at JFK University Part 4 10.) Dr. Patrick Cohn, Sports Psychologist 11.) John Baker, former MLB player and Chicago Cubs Mental Performance Coach 12.) Brian Cain, Peak Performance Coach Additional tribute by Brian Cain: https://briancain.com/blog/remembering-ken-ravizza.html

In celebrating the life and work of Ken Ravizza, one of the most renowned mental performance coaches in sports. I am joined by 12 professionals and friends in a four part series, where they share intimate stories and reflections about this incredible man's work, passion, and energy. Ken, was one of the pioneers that not only pushed sport psychology to the forefront, but had a major hand integrating mental skills training into Major League Baseball. Even though, Ken had touched thousands of students, athletes, coaches, and organizations in a such a positive way, these 12 interviews will signify Ken's imprint on all that work with him and who study his work. His voice, his lessons, and his sayings will never be forgotten. Guests in order: Part 1 1.) Josh Lifrak, Chicago Cubs, Mental Performance Director 2.) Sue Enquist, former UCLA Head Softball Coach 3.) Bob Tewksbury, former MLB player and the San Francisco Giant's Mental Performance Coach Part 2 4.) Justin Su'a, Boston Red Sox and Cleveland Browns Mental Performance Coach 5.) Charlie Maher, Cleveland Indians Mental Performance Coach 6.) Graham Betchart, NBA Mental Skills Trainer Part 3 7.) Dr. Tom Hanson, Co-Author of Heads-Up Baseball and Heads-Up Baseball 2.0 8.) John Savage, UCLA Head Baseball Coach 9.) Dr. Alison Pope-Rhodius, Chair of the Sport Psychology Department at JFK University Part 4 10.) Dr. Patrick Cohn, Sports Psychologist 11.) John Baker, former MLB player and Chicago Cubs Mental Performance Coach 12.) Brian Cain, Peak Performance Coach Additional tribute by Brian Cain: https://briancain.com/blog/remembering-ken-ravizza.html

Dr. Tom Hanson has delivered his expertise to overcome and conquer fear with some of the greatest athletes and organizations of all time. He's currently the CEO of Heads Up Performance with his wife Birgit Hanson. In their cornerstone approach, they explain, "We co-create a strategic leadership solution blending paradigm-shifting and skill-building workshops, coaching conversations to apply new skills to specific management and sales challenges, team meeting facilitation to reinforce the new way of operating, and senior executive strategic coaching to resolve higher level business issues." His performance coaching career in the MLB started in 1999 when he worked with the Texas Rangers until the year 2000.  In 2001 he was hired to work full time for the New York Yankees as the Performance Enhancement Director. While working with the Yankees he worked around some of the greatest baseball players of all time. Including Roger Clemens, Derek Jeter, and Mariano Rivera. His Performance Enhancement services in Major League Baseball also include the Anaheim Angels and the Minnesota Twins. In addition to his impressive resume, Dr. Hanson authored the book "Play Big, Mental Toughness Secrets That Take Baseball Players To The Next Level." He also co-authored the book "Heads-Up Baseball: Playing the Game One Pitch at a Time" which has been quoted by many MLB players including Aaron Judge for the New York Yankees who said he's read the book "again and again."  Dr. Hanson co-authored the sequel with another leading sports psychologist Ken Ravizza titled "Heads Up Baseball 2.0" Judge also added this sequel to his library according to his interview with ESPN. Dr. Hanson was an integral part of my collegiate baseball career. In 2011 I was overcome with a confusing and mentally tortuous performance ailment called the "YIPS." One week I was pitching at The University of Mississippi in front of a few thousand people and then shortly after I couldn't throw the ball 30ft to my throwing partner. Throwing a baseball was something I had done thousands of times since I could remember. It's what allowed me to earn a scholarship to play division 1 baseball. Throwing a baseball introduced me to the closest friends in my life. Then one day throwing a ball was my nightmare. Luckily, a light was shined on this embarrassing nightmare, and his name was Dr. Tom Hanson. Oddly enough I was relieved to hear that I wasn't the first to get this confusing thing called the YIPS. I was relieved to know it had a name. It's something about putting a label on to something. It helps us accept or understand whatever is inflicting us. After a "getting to know each other" conversation Dr. Hanson explained that he was going to use a technique called "tapping." The action of literally tapping on very specific parts of the body while breathing and using mental imagery. Within 5-6 weeks I was able to conquer fear and get back to throwing a baseball without ever really understanding how or why this tapping technique worked. My science background was fascinated, but my athletic background didn't care. It worked. I will be forever grateful that Dr. Hanson gave me back the sport of baseball that introduced me to the most important people in my life, and that has made me who I am today. Show highlights - Discussion of the his "tapping" technique to overcome YIPS and possibly many more extreme anxiety issues afflicting an individual. - Cutting through the negative first in order to replace with the positive. - His experience working with Derek Jeter. - What is the YIPS? - My personal experience working with Dr. Tom Hanson in college.   This episode is brought to you by StrikeForce Energy. An energy drink packet that goes with water or your favorite beverage. This was designed by Navy SEALs for their brothers on the battlefield so do we really need to say anything more? Go buy some. Put in the code “WARRIOR” and save 20% on your order. Warrior Mindset Podcast is also brought to you by Trutankless. Trutankless is a water heater for the modern world. Your 55-gallon tank water heater is old technology. It’s time to get an update. This will save you ~25% on your water bill. I have one in my house, and we have saved around 35% on our total water bill. No kidding. This unit sits on the wall, and you can control the temperature and many other things from an app on your phone. Click on the hyperlink and get yourself a FREE quote.  

Naturally, confidence is a key component of a player's mental game. But can we really impact confidence? Dr. Tom Hanson, co-author of "Heads Up Baseball 2.0", discusses this and provides some amazing tips to help our kids' confidence. This is Part 2 of a two-part interview. Plus Justin Stone of EliteBaseball.TV answers the Question Of The Week about how to kindle (or re-kindle) passion for the game among youth players. Please let us (and others) know how you feel about the show by giving us an honest review & rating on iTunes!

We talk quite a bit about the mental game here on Youth Baseball Edge. But is it a separate area of focus from the physical? Dr. Tom Hanson, co-author of "Heads Up Baseball 2.0", discusses this and provides some practical tips to help our kids up their mental game. This is Part 1 of a two-part interview. Plus Justin Stone of EliteBaseball.TV answers the Question Of The Week about how to handle kids who miss practice when you're teaching a progression. Please let us (and others) know how you feel about the show by giving us an honest review & rating on iTunes!

Dr. Tom Hanson is the other half of the terrific author tandem that penned the iconic Heads Up Baseball just about 25 years ago. Now they’re at it again with they’re updated offering, Heads Up [...]

Dr. Ken Ravizza is back! In his second interview on the podcast, Ken talks about his new book and coaching program, Heads Up Baseball 2. Ken has spent over 40 years as a sport psychology educator, and over 20 years working in Major League Baseball, including most recently with the Chicago Cubs. In this interview, we talk about: Why today we need to be taught how to compete What he means by "working the mental game" His RAMP-C Concept from the book As a parent, what to do on the car ride home How Heads Up Baseball is not just for sport, but for life Joe Madden’s Respect 90 concept Find Ken on Twitter @KenRavizza1 and Cindra @Mentally_Strong. To get a copy of Ken's new book or join his coaching program, visit: HeadsUpBaseball2.com.

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Dr. Ken Ravizza is nearly synonymous with the mental game in baseball. A professor at Cal State Fullerton for over 30 years, he worked with some of the biggest names in the game, from Augie [...]

We are connecting with one of the true legends inside our game and also one of our most popular ABCA Convention speakers throughout the years: mental game pioneer Dr. Ken Ravizza of Heads-Up Baseball. Ravizza, who will be speaking at the 2017 ABCA Convention in Indianapolis, joins our podcast to discuss his reflections from well over 30+ years in baseball. Ravizza discusses where we stand today in our mental game training, with tremendous takeaways including his analogy of a chicken sandwich and truly appreciating 'the fifteen seconds between pitches'. Ravizza also calls for a return back to simply 'competing' on the field and moving away from feeling 'good' to play, plus we dive into the locker room and his work with championship college and MLB teams and players, hearing how the very best combat their fears on the field and between their ears.

We are connecting with one of the true legends inside our game and also one of our most popular ABCA Convention speakers throughout the years: mental game pioneer Dr. Ken Ravizza of Heads-Up Baseball. Ravizza, who will be speaking at the 2017 ABCA Convention in Indianapolis, joins our podcast to discuss his reflections from well over 30+ years in baseball. Ravizza discusses where we stand today in our mental game training, with tremendous takeaways including his analogy of a chicken sandwich and truly appreciating 'the fifteen seconds between pitches'. Ravizza also calls for a return back to simply 'competing' on the field and moving away from feeling 'good' to play, plus we dive into the locker room and his work with championship college and MLB teams and players, hearing how the very best combat their fears on the field and between their ears.

We are connecting with one of the true legends inside our game and also one of our most popular ABCA Convention speakers throughout the years: mental game pioneer Dr. Ken Ravizza of Heads-Up Baseball. Ravizza, who will be speaking at the 2017 ABCA Convention in Indianapolis, joins our podcast to discuss his reflections from well over 30+ years in baseball. Ravizza discusses where we stand today in our mental game training, with tremendous takeaways including his analogy of a chicken sandwich and truly appreciating 'the fifteen seconds between pitches'. Ravizza also calls for a return back to simply 'competing' on the field and moving away from feeling 'good' to play, plus we dive into the locker room and his work with championship college and MLB teams and players, hearing how the very best combat their fears on the field and between their ears.

In this episode, Brian speaks with one of the leading professionals in all of peak performance and sport psychology as well as #1 Best-Selling Author, Dr. Chris Friesen. He is the author of The High Achievement Handbook Series and gives you great insight into the mind and how to control it. Follow Dr. Friesen on Twitter @FriesenPerform Check out his website FriesenPerformance.com You will learn about... Dr. Friesen's unique, guided, brain training and meditation technique Dr. Friesen's advanced knowledge on sports psychology and how to maximize your mental potential "The Funeral Exercise" to help you establish core values The incredible story of boxer Danny Williams overcoming a dislocated shoulder mid-fight Dr. Friesen even explains why having some self-doubt is actually a good thing   PODCAST TRANSCRIPTION Friesen: Most of us mere mortals like you and I and most people would say “look at this pain, how am I going to win a boxing match with one arm?” It's impossible. It's basically impossible. And he just kept pushing forward and pushing forward. Like I said in the book Stallone couldn't have written a better ending. Danny Williams basically wins. Cain: Hey this is Brian Cain with the Peak Performance Podcast. Today our guest is one of the leading professionals in all of Peak Performance and sports psychology and he is a number one bestselling author. Dr. Chris Friesen is a licensed psychologist in Ontario, Canada, practicing in the areas of clinical psychology, clinical neuropsychology, forensic correctional psychology, and high achievement sports psychology and performance psychology. Dr. Friesen has training and experience that crosses a broad spectrum of psychological difficulties including working with individuals who have anxiety or performance anxiety, depression, personality disorders, brain injuries often occurring from sports concussion, to severe traumatic brain injuries happening in military or in combat scenarios, and those involved with the criminal justice system - offenders of all types. Primarily though Dr. Friesen and the reason why I'm so intrigued and honored to have him as a guest on the show this week is that he focuses on helping athletes and other individuals who are performing at the highest levels continuously improve and achieve and smash their goals. As we said earlier he is the number one bestselling author of The High Achievement Handbook series and in this podcast we're going to focus on book one of the series. It's called ACHIEVE: Find Out Who You Are, What You Really Want, And How To Make It Happen. Dr. Chris Friesen, thanks for being on the Peak Performance Podcast. Friesen: Brian thanks for having me. I'm super pumped to be here. Cain: Your background I think is tremendous in that is has a lot of the hardcore psychological science but you also have the application and are doing it in the real world. I think often what you find is you get people who are doing it that are unlicensed and don't have a background in training or they have all the clinical background and psychological training but they just can't seem to make the human connection with the high achiever because they haven't been as I would refer to you as is a “blue collar psychologist.” You mentioned that term earlier when we were off the air and I thought that was fantastic. Could you talk a little bit about kind of your unique background and experience both from the training and the academic side but then also with how you go about applying it and what the - sometimes I think there is that gap between the science and the application. Could you talk a little bit about your experience in both and kind of closing that gap? Friesen: Definitely. Like you said I'm a licensed psychologist with various areas of expertise. I've always been really fascinated by high achievement and success since I was a teenager and I played hockey as a goalie actually. I went into my training and psychology in Canada. In the clinical psychology graduate programs there is no specific sports psychology training so all that training was sort of done after the fact. One of the issues I've always had was there is some really amazing research coming out from cognitive neuroscience, sports psychology, just general personality psychology, that often doesn't get percolated down to the everyday person or even high achieving athletes or other high achievers. I've always been the type of guy that applies all the stuff I learned to myself. I'm a big self experimenter. I can tell you lots of things. I've tried various supplements. I've tried various meditation techniques. Almost everything I talk about - like in the book for example - I've done it on myself and I've used it with athletes and other high achievers. So I really felt that one of the things I noticed with a lot of self help books is either they are written by academics, PhD like myself (although I am not a researcher per se anymore), and it's full of studies with very little application or like you said it's written by someone like a Peak Performance sort of self help book with someone who has zero experience or credentials in that area. So I realized that maybe this is useful to a lot of people so I really wrote the book in a way that is ultra user friendly. It takes sort of complicated scientific ideas or research findings and puts them into very easy to learn and apply strategies. So that is sort of where I see myself is the type of psychologist that really tries to bring this information to people to help them really achieve the goals that are really important to them. Cain: I love how you mentioned taking everything you had used with an athlete or with someone who you're working with and doing it on yourself - something that I also try. Any technique or any strategy that I'm going to share with the team or with an athlete why wouldn't I use that myself if it's something that I think is going to help them to achieve at a higher level? So I really think that that is a lot of the missing link. It's like going to a fat doctor or to a poor financial planner. It just often doesn't add up. You've got to be doing that stuff yourself. You sound kind of like Tim Ferriss, the author of The 4-Hour Workweek and The 4-Hour Body who is kind of that human science experiment. One of the things that you mentioned that I want to kind of dovetail off into was meditation techniques. It's something that I talk often with athletes about and I think that athletes and coaches have the stigma that you have to shave your head, put on an orange robe, burn some incense, cross your legs, and hike to the top of the Himalayas if you're going to do meditation. What is your experience with mediation and what is the best practice that you've found? Friesen: That is a great question. The way I describe meditation is it's just a form of brain training. Especially with my neuroscience and neuropsychology background I often try and use connect the two. I look at the research in those areas. So for example the way I describe it to people - and this is how I describe it to myself when I use it on myself, this is the strategy I use. For example what you're doing is you're brain training. You're training the ability to stay focused. You're training your brain's ability to not get caught up or hooked by negative thoughts. The way I say it is there's three reps, basically you sit down and you focus on your breathing. You don't control your breathing. The first step is just to focus on your breathing. The next rep is basically to be aware of or notice when your mind is no longer focused on your breathing which is inevitable. It happens to everyone. The goal is not to have a perfectly Zen mind where your thoughts never stray. It's basically never going to happen. It's an impossible goal. The idea is you notice when your thoughts wander away from your breathing. Acknowledge what your thoughts are doing. So you say for example “I'm having the thought that this is boring” or “I'm having the feeling of anxiety because I have to go buy milk” or something like that and you basically describe what's happening, what your mind is doing. What that does is it trains you to defuse or not get hooked by your thoughts. We are not our thoughts - especially our negative thoughts. We want to be able to pick and choose which thoughts we allow to take hold of us. So you basically acknowledge what is going on because if you don't acknowledge it, if you just try to squash it, research shows - and I tie this back to obsessive compulsive order and PTSD or post traumatic stress disorder. One of the hallmarks of those disorders is you have thoughts or flashbacks that are very disturbing that you don't want to have and the natural reaction is to squash those thoughts or pretend you're not having them and do everything in your power to avoid having them. But the problem is we know the way the brain works. As soon as you try to squash a thought it continually comes back. It will continually pop back into your mind. So you want to acknowledge it, allow the thoughts to be there, then the next rep is to turn your attention back to your breathing. Basically it is hardcore brain training. It is not a relaxation technique. I tell people relaxation may be a side effect but that's not the point. We're training our brains to be able to basically increase our ability to stay focused and also to not get hooked by negative thoughts. It does a whole bunch of other things, it improves executive functioning and that kind of things, but that's really the way I describe it to people. It's again not relaxation, it's not religious, it's basically a form of brain training that takes zero dollars and zero equipment. So that is my take on it. Cain: Would it be possible time wise for you to take us through a very short version of mediation so that our listeners would know exactly “hey this is an example of a meditation that I learned from Dr. Chris Friesen that I want to share with my team.” Maybe like a 2-3 minute exercise they might be able to take and use? Friesen: Yeah I can sort of give you a quick walk through. Cain: Perfect. Friesen: You want me to do it right now? Cain: That would be fantastic. If anyone is listening to this podcast while they are driving skip this section or pull yourself over so that you make sure you're doing it safely. Friesen: The way I do it is I'm actually usually generally against using any tapes for mediation because it's like a cheat in a way. It's helping you focus. The idea is when you are basically in a quiet environment - just imagine when you lie down and go to sleep and you're not tired and you realize how much your mind is racing and thinking of random thoughts. That's actually where you want to be. You don't want to fall asleep so you don't want to lie down. You don't want a tape telling you to do something, but of course the first time to learn the strategy you do, or you want to hear me talking now. So what you do is you sit down. You don't slouch back, you don't slouch forward. You sit in an erect position not so much that it's painful but enough that it's not going to make you fall asleep. Remember this is not a relaxation exercise - it's a brain training exercise. The first thing you do now is you basically focus your attention on your breathing. Notice for example how the air is a bit cooler when it goes in through your nose and warmer when it comes out. You're not controlling your breathing, you are simply focusing on your breathing. Inevitably your mind is going to wander. You're going to have a thought about something. You're going to judge yourself. You're going to think of something in the future. You may worry about something. Even if you have a positive thought, in this exercise you want to what we call “diffuse” from those thoughts. What that really means is notice when your thoughts have wandered and describe what is happening. Say “I'm having the thought that X or Y” or “having the feeling that X or Y.” That is going to put some space between you and your thoughts and you want to train this because you do not want to be your thoughts, especially your negative thoughts. So once your thoughts wander describe what is happening really briefly. Allow them to be there. Don't get upset. Having thoughts is what your brain does. It's programmed to generate thoughts when there is nothing going on. You're going to notice them, acknowledge them, and very gently return your attention back to your breathing. You're just going to do this again and again. You're not going to go very long before your thoughts wander and that is actually good. The trick is to notice when your thoughts wander, acknowledge them, and return your attention back. That is all you're trying to do. That is the only goal. A lot of people come to me and say “look it was so bad, the meditation, my thoughts we all over the place.” I say “listen that's actually good.” It's like working out with a weight pack. The more your thoughts are wandering the better. You're getting a better brain workout. That is basically it in a nutshell. It's really a series of steps and just knowing what you're doing. You may feel relaxed at the end. You may not. That's not the goal. There are a lot of other ways you could relax. Take a hot bath. This is not training to relax. The side effect though from this type of training is that you are going to be more relaxed generally. Not because of a physiological response or training but because you're no longer getting hooked by negative thoughts or feelings and you're basically able to stay focused in the present moment which is the key to the zone when it comes to playing sports (for example). So this is the other thing I tell everyone. By doing this you are training your ability to stay in the present moment which is where you want to be to perform at your peak. When you are in the present moment that is when you are in the zone and it's going to make it more likely you're going to get in the zone and you can control now whether you go into the zone better than you did before. Cain: That is one of the most simple and clear definitions I think I've ever heard someone say about meditation is that step one is you're focusing on your breathing - in through your nose, out through your nose. Step two, acknowledge when your mind drifts to anything other than your breath. Step three, bring it back to your breathing. It's not a relaxation exercise. I've never heard it said this way. It's not a relaxation exercise, it's an exercise in developing a present moment focus and the result of that will be a feeling of relaxation which is much more close to that flow state or to the zone where you're in the present moment and you're where your feet are and that is when you perform your best. That was fantastic. Chris, if we can jump into your book here. One of the things with your subtitle is it says Find Out Who You Are, What You Really Want, And How To Make It Happen. Let's get right into it. What are some strategies that you use? I love how you talk about strategy because I think you often get two types of people who come from two types of the spectrum in the world of Peak Performance. You get those who talk about principle and just concept like “be positive,” well no shit. Okay well how do you do that? Focus on what you can control. No shit. The sun rises. Great. Well how do I actually get back to that when the bullets start flying? I think it's important that people know themselves but I love that you're going to share with us some strategies that people can use about how to better get to know themselves. What are some of the ways that - if you would, first, why is it important that people know themselves? Secondly, how is it that people listening to this podcast can better get to know themselves? What is something they can go and do? Friesen: Great question. Throughout my career I've seen a lot of people who have gone very far - including in athletics and just in their lives. Basically barking up the wrong tree is maybe not the right word but you're basically focusing on the wrong things for them. This often leads to a lot of psychological problems - some subtle, some clinical level, a lot of anxiety, depression, and dissatisfaction in today's society. I think a lot of the over-prescription of antidepressants is partially due to the fact that people are not living a life congruent with who they are and what is really important to them. What I mean by that is at the most basic level we all differ on five general personality dimensions. I call them “the basic personality tendencies.” This has been replicated in scientific research across it's probably been 70 years now. It hasn't really percolated well into the general public's awareness. I can go over them but they're basically five global dimensions. We all differ. It's our personality so we all differ on these. They are partially genetic, about 50%. So 50% percent is due to genes. We have twin studies where twins have been separated at birth and reared in different countries and different parts of countries and that sort of thing and this is how we figured these stats out. The other half of our personality is determined by our experiences, particularly experiences earlier on in life. I don't mean in the first two years of life I mean in the first 20 years of life because our brains are much more malleable - something called neuroplasticity is big - and our brains are still forming and molding. When we get older it's much more difficult to change that. So long story short the first dimension, I call it in my book “the susceptibility to negative emotions and stress.” It's simply like it sounds. Basically some of us are very easily stressed, easily get nervous, they have a lot of pessimistic thoughts. Some of us are more in the middle, and some of us are more the opposite where we don't experience a lot of stress. This is very important to know about yourself because especially the people trying to achieve big goals if you're average to high on this (in other words you do experience a lot of negative mentions and thoughts) you are at risk for failure unless you train yourself and do a number of strategies to make sure you can keep that in check. Also all these things are strengths as well. People who are artists, people who are high performers, sports as well, are often high on this but they capitalize on this. I'm sure you've talked a lot about this. One simple example is reinterpreting your physiological response to let's say right before a big event like anxiety as “I'm pumped, I'm amped, I'm ready, let's rock” as opposed to “oh shit I'm scared, my legs are feeling wobbly, this means I'm going to totally choke.” So that is just a quick example. The next one is extroversion versus introversion. We all know about that. People who are extroverted obviously like to be around people. This has more to do though with our brain's ability to handle external stimulation. Extroverts - a very simplified way of looking at this (and there are some EEG studies that confirm this) is basically their brains are revving a little bit too low so they need to get a lot of external stimulation whether it's social, whether it's being in a high paced, fast and exciting environment, to feel normal. Versus people who are introverted their brains are kind of revving too fast and too much external stimulation puts them into overload and they start to feel overwhelmed and they can burn out easily. This is extremely important in terms of knowing what you can handle in your sports career or in your career in general. You have to match your job to your personality or you have to work around it. Another one is called agreeableness. This is really our attitudes towards others. People who are really agreeable tend to be really honest, straightforward, very trusting, not very interpersonally competitive. People who are low on this (what we call slightly disagreeable) they're more skeptical, they're less open with others, they are more interpersonally competitive. It's extremely important to know this about yourself. The fourth one is openness to experience. This is big when you're working with athletes to know where they stand on this. People who are really open to experiences are just open to different ways of looking at things. They're interested in and open to people from different cultures, different values, different ideas. People who are low on this are obviously the opposite. They're really closed to those things. If you're working with someone who - let's say you Brian. You're working with someone who is an athlete and you have a new technique (let's say it's a new meditation technique) and the person is really closed to the experience you probably want to emphasize it being more as a traditional thing - they've been using this for years and years and all the big guys are using this. Whereas someone who is really open to experiences will be open to trying almost anything (they'll use magnets) because they're so open to different things and that sort of thing. That is really important to know. The last one, literature calls it “conscientiousness,” I call it “motivation and self control” because I think that describes it better. It's exactly how it sounds. People who are high on this are highly motivated, highly organized, highly achievement oriented. People who are low on this are the opposite. People who are high on this have a gigantic advantage when it comes to success. People who are low have a big disadvantage in multiple areas of life (and research supports this) whether it's income, whether it's health outcomes, whatever it may be. So long story short the very first step in knowing yourself is knowing your core basic personality. These have neurological correlates in our brains so these are very difficult to change. For the most part people need to accept their personality and work with what they've got. Of course next we need to know what is important to us. I call it “knowing your values.” Living a life incongruent with your values and also your personality is a recipe for disaster. You need to know what is really important to you. In the book I go through different exercises to help you really get in touch with your values because like I said you have to live a life congruent with your values, with what is important to you, or you're going to be basically constantly going against your own grain. Knowing your strengths, knowing your interests, knowing your passions is extremely important. Only if you get all this information then can you really figure out what your mission - I say “missions” because I don't think everyone has one single mission but you have multiple purposes or missions in life and only by knowing yourself really well can you get to know that part. In the last two sections of the book is really about now you're ready to set goals. It's all these earlier steps to know yourself before you should be really setting goals. Most people and a lot of books go right into goal setting but without the ground work - because what will happen is you may be focusing on goals for years (for example) that aren't really right for you. That is a huge mistake. Cain: That is fantastic in terms of talking about knowing your basic personality tendencies, knowing your core values, knowing your strengths, and then kind of getting clear on your why. Let's talk about that concept of identifying your values. For the person that is listening to this - which I believe most of our listeners are going to be listening to this as they're driving in their car - is there a way that you can ask them the certain couple questions or an exercise that they can do to kind of come up with what their core values are or is it ultimately just them kind of sitting down? I think often people think that they need to go get away from life for three weeks and climb a mountain, go to a lakeside retreat, and all of a sudden what their core values are and their mission in life is going to hit them. Whereas I'm much more of the school of thought in like you decide on what your core values are, you decide on what your mission is. Or your missions. I love the way you said that is that people have more than one mission in life. I think that's genius. You decide on what they [your core values] are and then kind of evolve over time. What is your take on how you go about creating a set of core values and identifying with what your mission is? Friesen: That is great. One of the differences between personality and values is that personality you don't choose your personality but you choose your values. Often we're not even aware of where our values came from. What I usually do (one of the best exercises is really existential) is do what I call a “funeral exercise.” I didn't invent this. The one I put in the book is more specific to what I think are the best strategies within that exercise. It's simply this: you imagine your funeral. You imagine (for example) it's five years from today (or whatever time frame you really want) and you imagine your funeral and you imagine the different people that are really important to you in your life getting up there and talking about you. You want to think of what you want them to say about you, not necessarily what you think they would say about you. Hopefully that makes sense. Ideally what would you like people to say about you? Would they say “this guy was a total jerk he was just focused on himself,” that kind of thing? No. You're going to have thoughts of “this guy really went out of his way to help people and his family was super important, he was also about excellence, he was always trying to be as best as he could be so he could help others be their best.” You want to think ideally what do you want people to say about you. Of course when you do this you want to start the exercise really using all your sense for imagery to imagine yourself being at the funeral, looking at the people, looking at the people crying. It can be an emotional situation. You want to really put yourself in that position in your mind. You want to really pretend it's happening. You should write this out or at least say it out loud or say it in your head. What do you want an important coach or an important teammate or your wife or your children, what do you want them to say about you? What do you want them to say? That will tell you what your values are. Are they going to say “this guy worked so hard he got sick, he spent so much time at the office, he didn't give a shit about the family.” Is that what you want people to think? Is that what you really want? You'll get in touch with what is really important to you. Also there is another exercise to where in the book it's simply a list of values. Readers can download that as well. It just goes through a bunch of values and you basically read through them and you kind of rank order the top 5-10 that are really important to you. You've got to make sure that - and this is the biggest key to success in my opinion. The most successful people don't may their day-to-day minute-to-minute decisions about what to do with their time or what to buy, who to spend time with, they don't make it based on their immediate moods, their urges, their energy levels, that sort of thing. They make these decisions based on their values and what is really important to them. If you just take one thing away from this podcast it's that you want to make your day-to-day decisions based on what is important to you. A simple example is personally I wake up at 6:00 AM to get up and workout before my four year old is up. When that alarm goes off my immediate moods, energy levels, and everything is telling me “press snooze and just sleep in” but my values - one of my values is to be really healthy and also to have longevity. I want to be there when my daughter gets married. I want to be there when she has kids. And being healthy makes me feel good. It builds my self efficacy, my self esteem, it maintains it. So regardless of how I feel I make the decision based on my values and my bigger goals, not based on how I feel in the moment. That is just a quick example. Cain: I love that exercise. I remember that is one of the first things when I went to graduate school at Cal State Fullerton Dr. Ken Ravizza had us do. It comes right out of his book Heads-Up Baseball where he talks about imagine you're in a banquet, you're retiring from your career as a coach, what do you want all the people who are at that banquet to say about you. That kind of helps to formulate your vision statement or your core values in terms of who you are. One of the things that you said that I love is that the most successful people don't make minute-to-minute decisions based on moods. They make them based on their values. I know you're a big MMA fan (as am I). One of my friends, Vitor Belfort, who is a former UFC World Champion says that the difference between a man and a boy is that a man lives a life based off of principle and a boy lives a life based off of preference. I thought that was very similar to what you are saying. Friesen: Yes. Cain: The person who makes minute-to-minute decisions based off of preference, of what feels good in the moment, “what do I want right now,” instead of the person who makes the principle based decision that says “okay what do I do right now that aligns with my values and the best vision of who I want to be?” I think that's what makes a champion and that's what makes a man. I love how you said that. Friesen: Yes. He said it very eloquently. That is exactly right. This is what champions know. This is what successful people [know]. It doesn't mean how much money you make. People who are living the right life for them, they're satisfied with their life, this is what they know. Also this is another things that comes up (especially in today's day and age) is that people think that they want to take the easy route. They want to be happy all the time because media feeds this idea that ideally you're going through life always being happy and doing everything that is pleasurable. The reality is anything that is important or anything that's big, any goals, it's going to take pain. I think it's the Buddha or the Dalai Lama that said this: “there is a difference between pain and suffering, pain is inevitable.” We go through pain. When you're trying to do things that are important you're going to feel pain but whether you suffer really depends on whether you're going through pain to achieve something that is really important to you and that is part of your mission, part of your values, or whether you're going against that. To achieve anything big there is a lot of pain. Speaking of UFC, you see these training videos and it's not like they're just sitting around getting massages and drinking beers. You see these guys sweating their butts off going through ten times more intense training than they actually go through in the octagon. They go through hell on earth. They fight like 20 fresh guys in a row as opposed to one guy for 15-25 minutes. It's because you've got to go through this pain and you're not going to be a champion unless you go through this pain and you accept the pain and you say “look this pain is actually good because it's bringing me closer to something that is really important to me, it's part of my values, it's part of my goal.” It's no longer really suffering. It is painful but it's not suffering. I think that's huge. Cain: Let's talk about riding the pain train for a minute here. One of your first stories in chapter one about taking stock of who you are you shared a story I had never heard before about Britain's Danny Williams, one of their boxers of all time. As I read that story - I mean I've underlined it. I've shared that story multiple times since reading that. I thought it was one of the best stories I have ever come across. Could you talk a little bit about that story of Danny Williams and the toughness that he had to have with that but understanding how the pain is inevitable and if he was going after what he really wanted he would be able to deal with the suffering. Friesen: That's right. Danny Williams is an amazing story. He was boxing a guy named Mark Potter. Mark Potter is actually in MMA now I believe and he is a monster. So Danny Williams is in a boxing match with Mark Potter and Danny Williams' arm (I believe it's his right shoulder) basically pops out of the socket. It gets dislocated. Essentially everyone watching (the announcers, everyone) is saying “this is over, why isn't the ref stopping the fight, this is ridiculous.” It keeps popping in and out. But Danny Williams basically had an overarching goal. Most of us mere mortals like you and I and most people would say “look at this pain, how am I going to win a boxing match with one arm?” It's impossible. It's basically impossible. A lot of times when you're drilling you don't really feel the pain but of course between rounds - and it wasn't just like a two minute thing. It was going on for a long time within the match. This guy obviously had pain and he just kept pushing forward and kept pushing forward. Like I said in the book Stallone couldn't have written a better ending. Danny Williams basically wins. He ends up knocking Mark Potter down repeatedly just because he wouldn't give up. Even Mark Potter is punching his shoulder - listeners, you've got to YouTube this. It's real. You can watch it. It's totally real. It's about heart. It's about knowing what is important. They say “is Danny Williams crazy, who would do this?” He is not crazy. He is a guy who had an overarching mission, a purpose, a goal, and he had certain values and he was going to push through no matter what. In the circumstance it paid off. It's really inspiring. You see guys like that and you're thinking “I want to give up because of X Y or Z” and look at this guy. He was boxing at the top level and his arm was out of the socket (his shoulder came out of the socket) and he still won. It's unreal. Cain: I've used that story multiple times with college football teams already this season just talking about that it's not what you're going through it's what you're going to. You're going to quit if what you're going to isn't big enough for you to withstand anything that you're going to have to go through to get there. I think that video of Danny Williams - you see it where Potter is just attacking. He's not even trying to hit him in the head he's just attacking his right shoulder. Eventually in the last round it looks like something right out of Rocky. The guy can barely move his arm and he ends up knocking out this guy who had been wearing him out for the entire fight. It was unbelievable watching that video. I had no idea that that story even existed. I remembered him beating Mike Tyson at one point in his career but never knew about that fight with Potter that I think is probably one of the most impressive things I've ever seen when it comes down to just toughness and sheer will and not being somebody who is going to quit. I was doing my homework earlier on the treadmill this morning on a boat somewhere out here in the middle of the Caribbean listening to one of your podcasts. You talked about something that I hear a lot of people in the field of sports psychology or Peak Performance or positive psychology or whatever the hell you want to call it. They will say that “you've got to have great belief before you go into a competition.” In your podcast (the episode I listened to earlier) you talked about how that is not necessarily true. I've worked with a lot of high level MMA fighters - Georges St. Pierre from Canada - and one of the things that GSP used to say a lot about was that he didn't even really talk about belief. For him it was about preparation and when he stepped into the octagon it was 50/50. There was one guy and him and one was going to win and one was going to lose and if he had done what he needed to do to prepare then he should be able to go out there and execute and win the fight. But we never even really talked about confidence or belief. It was about how are you going to act and how are you going to handle the adversity that is going to come your way. Never before the fight do you believe because frankly I'm not sure that really even matters. What is your take on all that, coach? Friesen: That is a great point. A lot of athletes come to me and say “look I see this athlete or this person, they don't look like they're nervous, it looks like they have unwavering belief in themselves, I want to be like that.” They say “I want no anxiety, I want pure confidence.” I say “first of all that is impossible.” That is basically impossible because our human brains are wired to feel anxious and to not feel confident all the time and that is a good thing. I say “listen think of it this way, imagine you had unlimited confidence. The Olympic Games are coming up and it's four months out and you're convinced you're the absolute best and you're going to basically slaughter the competition.” I worked with one of the wrestlers so let's say it's wrestling. “What do you think that is going to do for your training? Do you think you're going to get up at 6:00 AM or 5:00 AM and push yourself that extra mile or do you think you're going to kind of take it back a notch because you've already got this?” Obviously we know the answer. The answer is if you're overly confident you are likely going to under-prepare. That is just the preparation. What happens when you actually get to the competition and you're convinced that you're the best and you're going to destroy this person? What is going to happen? Your arousal level may actually come down too low because we know the Yerkes-Dodson Law where you have to have a moderate level of arousal, activation, or anxiety to perform at your best. It can't be too high, it can't be too low. So if you go into a competition convinced that you're just going to basically walk over this person, you're going to kick ass, you're going to probably get your ass kicked because you are underestimating your opponent because your opponent is coming in there to basically (let's say it's MMA or wrestling) destroy you. You need to have that self doubt because it's going to prevent you from making mistakes. Of course you can't go the opposite where you're all self doubt, you don't think you can do it, “I don't deserve to be there.” Those are pretty normal thoughts. We have them all the time. But you don't want them to be dominating. You want what I call a realistic but slightly positive mindset. Realistic in a sense that “I can beat this guy.” It's positive in a sense that you think you can beat them if you do the right things, “if I maintain my game plan.” Like GSP is saying “if I focus on what I can control” - which is when he goes for a takedown this is what I'm going to do and as soon as I see an opening I'm going to take him down etc. - really focused on the present moment and focusing on what he has to do as opposed to trying to focus on “I'm just going to shit kick and walk through these people.” You need self doubt. You need anxiety. Thinking that these are bad is the problem, not the anxiety and the self doubt. You need them to improve. You need them to not underestimate your opponents. This is big. This is big. It's uncomfortable but again remember like I said to achieve anything big you've got to feel discomfort. You've got to feel discomfort in training. You've got to feel discomfort when you're going to go to the Olympics. It's totally normal to feel anxious. It's totally normal to have thoughts that “maybe I don't deserve to be here” but when you do that meditation that we talked about earlier you are training your brain to be able to diffuse or not get hooked by negative thoughts. You say “hey there goes my brain, it does what it does, it's telling me that I don't deserve to be here.” So let's motivate. I'm going to use that to motivate myself to “I'm going to watch a bit more tape of this next opponent” or “I'm going to train a bit harder” or I'm going to whatever. That's my take on it. Cain: I thought that was awesome. Very well said. Georges used to talk about it being a humble confidence. It's the humility knowing that every day when the alarm goes off (like you say) at 5:00 in the morning that someone is coming to take what is mine and someone is coming to rip my head off, but it's the confidence that when you walk and you step inside of the cage it's the confidence knowing there is nothing else I could have done to prepare and I am ready to compete at a high level. Not “I'm ready to go in there and destroy this guy” because he would never say that. It's always “I'm ready to go in there and compete at a high level and do what I've done in training and I believe what I've done in training has prepared me for victory.” Friesen: Yes. You see guys like - this comes up a lot with the Yerkes-Dodson Law. Diego Sanchez, you see him getting pumped up before the fight. I think he is saying “yes” or something like that. He's got this scowl on his face. It kind of depends on where you fall in that first personality dimension of negative emotions. GSP - I don't know GSP but he could be a bit on the higher side and he knows that about himself (I would assume) and so he knows what he needs to do to keep that in check. But there are other people that are really low on the negative emotions. They don't really get nervous in these big competitions. They get very little anxiety. But we know with the Yerkes-Dodson Law you need a moderate level of anxiety. Someone like Diego Sanchez may need to get slapped in the face a few times right before he goes into the octagon to get himself - hopefully Diego is not listening to this but I feel like with Diego what is happening is that he's so pumped, he is so pumping himself up that is activation or anxiety level or arousal level is going too high and you see it the first round usually he looks like he is very stiff. He looks very stiff because as you now when you're overly activated your muscles contract and when your muscles contract you can't move fluidly. You become stiff. Joe Rogan talks about that all the time, “this guy looks like it's his first UFC fight, I can see he's got a lot of nerves, he seems very stiff, his muscles are stiff.” It kind of depends where you land or at least how you react under big stressful situations. It could be that you need a coach to basically start screaming in your face because your arousal level is so low. But that is actually pretty rare. I think most of the time it's the opposite. You don't need a coach screaming in your face especially if your arousal is already high because then you are going to go over the edge and you're going to be even more nervous. Your activation will be too high. It's knowing that sweet spot and knowing what to do. I see this a lot with high levels like the Olympic coaches and things like that. They treat all the athletes the same sometimes and they'll start screaming and trying to get them pumped up. If the person is already anxious you're actually doing them a disservice. They are going to underperform now. They need to be calmed down. But there may be some athletes you work with who are basically not activated enough and they need that slap in the face. They need that screaming in the face to get themselves to the moderate level of arousal/activation/anxiety to perform at their peak. Cain: I think that is really what the fundamental purpose of a routine is too is the athlete comes back to - so in your first part we talked about knowing yourself and having a routine to help you get into that performance state of I don't need to be dialed up, I don't need to be calmed down because my routine gets me right where I need to be and I have the awareness and I have the strategy that if I need to pick myself up I might do some tuck-jumps or some more of like breath like I would do if I was getting ready to rip a power clean or slap myself around a little bit or even go to the mirror and talk to myself in a certain way to get me a little bit more dialed in or I used the right music where if I need to calm myself down I might slide more into a meditation technique. I think it all comes down to the athlete being able to recognize where they're at and then have the right strategy to either dial themselves up or dial themselves down to be in that optimal performance state. Is that accurate? Friesen: That is exactly accurate. That is totally it. We're all a little bit different. We all have brains and the same lobes in our brains but our personalities are different. Obviously our physiques are different. We have differences. Knowing this about yourself is the key to success in athletics and in life in general. Cain: Love that. In the end of your book you talk about the story of Viktor Frankl which I think is maybe the story that can summarize what really mental toughness is. It's the inability to give away that response to no matter what comes your way. Would you talk a little bit about Viktor Frankl and that story that is in the back of your book that I think is so powerful. Friesen: So Viktor Frankl is a neurologist and psychiatrist by trade. He is passed away now. He was an older individual. His story is unbelievable. He is Jewish and was living in I believe Germany or Austria (I forget) when the Nazis took power. He is actually a big - well a lot of his work is - he is a big fan of existential psychotherapy. His is called “logotherapy” which means “meaning therapy” which is very similar to what I am talking about is knowing your why. That is really important. So he basically had to make a choice. He had an option to leave Austria or Germany to go to (I believe) England to flee the Nazis because he started to see what was happening with people that were Jewish, people who had disabilities, and people who had various illnesses, that they were obviously exterminating these people. He basically decided - I'm sure emotionally he was scared and he wanted to leave but he wanted to live a principled life and he wanted his life to have some meaning so he actually stayed. Of course he went to the concentration camps. He did a number of things before he left. Because he was working as a physician he falsified some documents (I believe) to allow certain individuals to basically skip the gas chambers who were disabled (for example, I believe). So he had risked his life for this. Of course he goes to the concentration camps. I forget the exact number. I know his wife was killed in the concentration camps. Pretty much his whole family were gassed and killed. He noticed when he was in the concentration camps that people who were there who had an overall “why” to live or to survive tended to do better despite being in the same circumstances of being starving, having various disease, and basically your life being in danger. He had experiments done to him that were just disgusting. One of his books is called Man's Search For Meaning. It describes some of this. It's not an easy read in this sense. It's an emotional read. But it's an important read. So long story short he really found that he discovered that people who had this meaning or reason to go through the suffering tended to survive. That seemed to predict survival better than other variables. So when he got out obviously he wanted to see his family and things like that. Of course they had died and that put him through obviously depression when he first got out. But his mission and goal was to write about this and write about the importance of having meaning, having a purpose, having a “why” in terms of living a good life and living a life worth living. So he wrote a number of books and became very famous. I'm not saying it as elegantly as I wrote it in the book but he is very inspirational. He is a very inspirational person. He really helped us to see the importance of knowing your “why.” Again just reading the story it helps put things into perspective. We think we have problems, just think about what this guy went through and how he turned out and how he still - I'm sure he felt pain throughout his life from the memories of what happened to is family but he pushed forward and had a bigger mission to complete. His work has been applied. He has done a lot of work (he did a lot of work) with people who were suicidal. People who want to kill themselves. Basically people who end up killing themselves often do not have a purpose, do not have a mission, life seems meaningless, and it's those - if you can help them develop a sense of meaning, a sense of purpose, this usually will reverse any tendencies to want to kill yourself. He is a really important person in the history of Peak Performance (I believe) and just life in general. Cain: Hands down one of my favorite books of all time, Man's Search For Meaning, and it was one of the first books that Dr. Ken Ravizza had us read in our grad program at Cal State Fullerton. If you ever get a chance - I don't know if you've been down to Washington DC and gone to the Holocaust Museum but t go through that and having read Man's Search For Meaning it is an emotional experience when you go through there just to see the hell on earth that those people went through. And the fact that he was able to go then write about that and kind of share his story that is impacting so many people in such a positive way goes to show that even out of the deepest and darkest most hellacious times in the history of man there is still some good that comes out of that even with his book and the power of choosing your response in every situation. It's amazing what that whole experience was. Unbelievable. Friesen: Yes. Cain: Chris, talking about you said identifying your mission statement. We now Frankl had a mission and Danny Williams had a mission. I'd like to know what is your mission? As someone who is leading the field of performance psychology and has the clinical background and the academic background and is now getting after it with the in the trenches, the blue collar psychologist (I love that term), what is your reason why or what is your mission? Friesen: Missions I think take development. I've always been trying to figure out my mission. I do know my mission now but my mission really is I really want to help as many people as I can. I really want to - like we said earlier I want to be able to first of all because of my background read the research and really figure out what here is useful for people to use to basically live a better life, to perform at their peak in sports - and whether they're entrepreneurs or executives because I work with a lot of those individuals as well - and really take that research and apply it to myself to make sure I can buy into it. I can read research but until I try things myself - I have to experience it to really buy into it. Just really translate that to help other people. I really think that people are living below their potential. I knew it sounds almost cliché but we are. I'm a perfect example. When I was a teenager when I was in school I was probably one of the bottom 1%-2% of the students in terms of my academic performance. I was more interested in sports of course, that was part of the issue. My self esteem or my self efficacy or my belief in my academic abilities was really low. It's kind of a running joke within my family that I went so far, I got my PhD and I did all these things. I worked for the highest graduating average, how I turned that around and how it seems almost impossible. Even sometimes I think of it myself I'm like “that does seem impossible” when I look back. I remember what I thought about my capabilities academically but it was only until I really figured out what was important to me. I thought I really love the idea - I love human psychology. I love the idea of you can take information from people who do research or who are wiser than me and that can better my life. I did that. Actually when I was 15 or 16 I read Tony Robbins' Awaken The Giant Within and Unlimited Power and also The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey. That was the biggest eye opener for me. I' was using that and I read some autobiographies and that really changed things around for me. I discovered a reason. I didn't realize it. I just thought it was stupid. The reality is I now had a reason to do well in school - because I wanted to learn this stuff. It's so fascinating. Anyone who is willing to listen or is willing to accept my help that is just the best thing ever for me and I can give that to people. I've sort of learned that about myself and that is my mission is really to translate really useful information about Peak Performance, about high achievement, and just about how to live a happy life and really give it to people in any way I can. That is where the motivation came from to write this book and this series of books is because I can only affect so many people one-on-one or in small groups. I really feel like I want to get this information out to the masses. Cain: Well you're doing it my friend. I hope that this podcast is able to expose you more to the people that have been following us here. For the people that are listening to this please go get more of Dr. Chris Friesen at www.FriesenPerformance.com and on Twitter at @FriesenPerform. Chris, is there any way that our listeners can connect with you via maybe an email? Do you have maybe a newsletter on your website or something where they can hear from you on a consistent basis? What you're putting out is not only very applicable it's also all backed with hardcore science and to find that combination my friend is very rare and very valuable so thank you for making time for our listeners on the Peak Performance Podcast. Friesen: Thank you. Thanks for having me. On www.FriesenPerformance.com there is a sign up newsletter. Every couple of weeks I'll send articles that I've written. I've written a couple for success magazine, www.Success.com. I've been interviewed for a couple of things like the Washington Post, Exercise In Personality, that kind of thing, and the various podcasts I've been on and some of the blogs I've written. What I do is every couple of weeks I send an email that basically talks about - one of them is about this exact thing (confidence) that we talked about today. One of the www.Success.com articles is about how to write your personal missions statement. So that is the best way is to get on that mailing list and you'll get access. You also get news in terms of when the second book - it's not completed yet, the second book in The High Achievement Handbook - when that is going to come out and that sort of thing. So definitely sign up for the newsletter. You can follow me on Twitter and Facebook for example but that I mostly repost what I think are really interesting articles about Peak Performance and neuroscience (that kind of thing) but to really get the more personal stuff, the stuff that I'm talking about, is really my newsletter that you get on my website. That is the best way. Cain: And to pick up a copy of book one in The High Achievement Handbook series, ACHIEVE: Find Out Who You Are, What You Really Want, How To Make It Happen, is the best place for them to go to Amazon and search your name or go to your website? Friesen: You can go either place. It's all sold through Amazon so on Amazon there is the paperback, there is the Kindle version, and I relatively recently got the Audible version. I have a really good narrator named Chris A. Bell. I had about 70 people apply to be the narrator (to audition for it) and it was a really cool process. I love Chris A. Bell's voice and style. You can listen to a quick clip. So it's in every format now. You can get it on iTunes as well of course and www.Audible.com of course and Amazon. On my website I have links to those as well. So that is the place. Just search “achieve” and “Friesen” and it should be the first one that pops up on Amazon. Cain: Awesome. Chris, thanks for making the time to sit down and join us on the Peak Performance Podcast. One of my favorite episodes that we've done. It was truly an honor to have you and I can't wait for book two to come out. Hopefully we can get a copy and go through and get another episode. Friesen: Definitely. I really appreciate you having me on the show. You have an awesome show and like I was saying earlier you are definitely kicking a lot of ass. I'm proud of you man. This is awesome. You are doing an excellent job. You are really making a difference. Keep it up.

Brian talks with former Major League Baseball player and Peak Performer Eric Byrnes, the day before they both compete in IronMan Arizona. Byrnes recently came out with a Documentary on his journey from a Major League field, to 8 IronMan competitions as well as The Western States 100. Watch Eric's Diamond To The Rough Documentary Follow Byrnes on Twitter @byrnes22 Follow Byrnes on Instagram ebyrnes22   You will learn about... What drove Byrne's to professional baseball and a career in sports broadcasting Byrnes' unique path to professional baseball Byrnes' thoughts on the Mental Game and exactly what it means to him The similarities of playing in a Major League Baseball game and competing in an IronMan Byrnes' thoughts on success and what it is to him   PODCAST TRANSCRIPTION Byrnes: It's not about the reward. The reward is a process. Once you understand that the reward, the money, the belt buckles, the metals, everything comes easier. Cain: Welcome to another edition of the Brian Cain Peak Performance Podcast. Today our guest, Eric Byrnes, was one of the most electrifying players of his time in Major League Baseball. His all out all the time approach made him a fan favorite and a player whose hustle, drive, effort, and energy was emulated by high school and college players and programs all over the country. A 2013 inductee to the UCLA Hall of Fame, Byrnes always brings the juice. [Bring the juice!] Cain: Whether it's playing in the outfield for the Diamondbacks, A's, Orioles, Rockies, or Mariners, working as an analyst for Major League Baseball Network, or in his endurance race career having completed eight Iron Man triathlons - it will be his ninth in two days from now - and the Western States 100 Mile Mountain Race. Be on the lookout for a documentary about his journey into the world of extreme races called From the Diamond to the Rough which follows him through the Western States 100. You can learn more about Eric at www.Byrnes22.com and on Twitter at @Byrnes22. Please welcome to the Peak Performance Podcast Eric Byrnes. Eric, thanks for joining us man. Byrnes: I need some more Brian Cain in my life. Can I get that intro every morning when I wake up out of bed and just get ready to charge? Cain: We'll create that as an alarm that you can play. Right now mine pops up and says “where is the beef jerky” as a tribute to Jocko Willard. But we can get that to pop up and play for you. Eric, if you would, give us kind of your journey from St. Francis High School in northern California to where you are today now. Byrnes: Well it's pretty simple. Basically I grew up in Portola Valley which is a small town in northern California which is I'd say probably more known for a lot of the pioneers of the silicon valley either grew up there or at least settled there in the Portola Valley Woodside area. So baseball or even sports in general wasn't very popular. But I had this dream and vision of (when I was a kid) doing two things. One of them was playing professional sports and the other one was talking about professional sports. I used to sit around with my buddies and we would just debate whatever - football, baseball, basketball, tennis, this and that, whatever it was we were so passionate about it and we just let it eat. We fed off of sports talk radio. That was something to us. KNBR 680, the sports leader, was it for us. To make a long story longer here I ended up going to St. Francis which was kind of a leap of faith for me because kids from my area there weren't a lot that went to St. Francis which was  known back then as the premier sports school really in the Bay Area. They had De La Salle across the bay. You had Serra which was where Barry Bonds went, Jim Fregosi, Lynn Swann, Tom Brady. And then Bellarmine was also a good one. But St. Francis arguably was the best of the best when it kind of came to all around sports. So I ended up going there and playing football my freshman year. At the time - think about this, you're a freshman in high school. I don't even think I had gone through puberty yet. I'm just trying to kind of make my way. I'm in a school with I think there was one other kid from my grade school that went there. All these other guys played Pop Warner, they were all friends and whatnot. It was really kind of a lonely place and I was just kind of trying to find my way. Athletically I have never seen anything like it in my life. Everybody were good athletes. So after football season it was time to make a decision whether or not I was going to play basketball. I realized that if I have any chance of being good here for the first time in my life I'm like I need to focus, narrow my focus a little bit. The decision I made (because basketball ran well into baseball season) was hey look I'm not going to play hoops - which my claim to fame (and still is today) probably my greatest athletic feat was scoring 56 points in an eighth grade basketball game. Not kidding you. I worked with Tom Tolbert at KNBR 680 who played in the NBA for like 7-8 years. I always would give Tolbert crap because he had never scored 56 in a game. But anyway I ended up going. I went to the tryouts. Think about this. I told this story at St. Francis the other night when I went back and showed the documentary Diamond to the Rough. There were 50 kids - 50 - going out for a baseball team for 15 spots. Think about that. Cain: This is a freshman. Byrnes: This is high school freshman baseball. There are 50 kids. You know what our tryouts were? Play catch for five minutes. When you get them playing catch we're going to take half of you and we're going to put you in the outfield. You are going to catch I think it was maybe 1-2 fly balls, then we are going to put you in the infield, maybe it was 4-5 grounders, and that was it. Backed up with a pitching machine that was spitting balls out in every which direction and you get five swings. Then after that it was like okay. I went in the outfield. I think I clanked one of the balls I was supposed to catch. I go in the infield, beat at a ball or two. I was just so nervous. Then I get to take a couple swings off the pitching machine, foul a c couple off, swing and miss, pop a ball up, pop another one up. “Alright Eric thanks for coming to and we'll see you, the results will be posted tomorrow in the gym.” So I went to the gym the next day and I just knew I didn't make it. There is no way. How could I have possibly made the team? I told my mom. I said “look I'm almost positive that I'm going to get cut from this team, I can't take this, I want to go to Woodside High School, I'm transferring.” It was just too much for me. It was too overwhelming. The competition was too good and the opportunity was too scarce. A lot of life is having opportunity and if you don't have the opportunity to prove yourself … So I went through the next day and posted on the outside gym wall was all the names of the guys that made it. So I'm looking kind of huddled around. I'm looking from a distance. It's like “Ryan, Brendan, Bryan, Matt,” all the way down to the bottom. Fifteen names. “Chris” was the last name. No “Eric.” I said “it's cool, I prepared myself for this, I'm going to Woodside High School no problem.” But guess what? I'm going to look at every one of these 15 guys and I'm going to mark them and I'm going to go out and prove that there is not one of these guys that was a better baseball player than I am. I went back to look at the names, scan the names, make sure exactly who the guys were. I get to the last name and it was “Chris Byrnes.” B-y-r-n-e-s. I'm like “Chris Byrnes? No way there is another Byrnes here, this doesn't make any sense.” Did he screw up the first name? Did he screw up the last name? What is going on? So I went sprinting after the freshman baseball coach as he was walking away and I'm like “Coach Ferrera, Coach Ferrera!” He turns around and goes “what can I do for you, Chris?” I go “nothing I'll see you at practice.” That was it. That was all I needed to know. I went from thinking I was getting cut from the freshman baseball team and having to transfer schools to obviously making the team. Cain: 0:08:01 felt standard. Byrnes: And my career kind of took off from there. Cain: Wow. How about that. So you go from making it as Chris Byrnes and seeing the freshman team then you end up getting drafted out of high school - so you obviously had a good career at St. Francis - and then made the decision to not sign pro with the L.A. Dodgers but go on to UCLA. A lot of players that are listening to this or parents or coaches that are listening to this there is always that debate of if you're a high school kid do you sign and go and start your pro baseball career and get those extra three years of minor league baseball under your belt or do you go to college? Depending on who you talk to you are going to get a different answer - sometimes it's a dollar figure amount, other times it's a life experience amount, an education reason. Why did you choose to go to UCLA instead of signing pro baseball straight out of St. Francis High School? Byrnes: I think it's pretty simple. First of all for people listening to this - and I imagine that a lot of the people that are actually listening are young guys that are trying to find a way. I can't tell you how important the mental side of baseball is and what that did for me. I just think that my parents instilled in me at a very young age what the most important thing in the world was family first and then education. I knew I had a dream of wanting to play professional sports but I also knew that there was going to be a time and place for it. My belief in myself and my confidence in myself - this was sort of where the mental game kind of really comes in is that you've got to be willing to walk. You've got to have this ultimate belief in yourself that this is not going to be - when I was a 38th round draft pick out of high school, a 38th round draft pick? I should have been a first round draft pick. Then I got drafted again in the fourth round by the Houston Astros after my junior year where a lot of people would sign. I met with the scouting director of the Houston Astros at the time and he had come back to Cape Cod to watch me play for a week. After the week he was like “hey Eric I'd like to take you to breakfast” and we're trying to negotiate a contract. The average of the round back then was like $150,000. So they had made an original offer of $90,000 which is nowhere even near the average of the round. Their excuse was that they had given too much of the money to Lance Berkman who they had drafted in the first round. Great choice and great guy to give a lot of money to, right? But apparently it affected their second, third, and fourth round draft picks. Ironically none of us ended up signing. Here was my thing. It wasn't about the money. I knew that $90,000 - and then you pay taxes on a bonus which is like $45,000. Even if it was $150,000 and you told me I'm going to walk away with $75,000 I'll go blow $75,000 in a weekend. That wasn't going to change my life. I understood that. I knew that. What I wanted was an organization that believed in me, that said “hey Eric look we're going to give you every opportunity to succeed.” That is what I needed. Sure enough I went to breakfast and it was the scouting director and one other guy. They sat there and they said “hey here is the deal, we gave all our money to Berkman, we've been watching you play for a week now, we think you're a circus act in the outfield, you pull the baseball way too much, you can't hit the ball the other way, you're fast but you run funny and really awkward, so here is our $90,000 offer take it or leave it at this point but it goes off the table tomorrow.” I'm like wow. Cain: That is what they said? Byrnes: I said “so hold on let me get this straight, you guys are telling me that you are going to basically offer me way less than the average of the round and then on top of that--” I said “hold on guys this isn't about the money so what do you want me to do?” I said “you want me to sign with an organization that already doesn't believe in me for the minimal value of the round and I'm going to start with my back against the wall knowing your guys' feelings about my game.” Where in the manual of being a scouting director when you're trying to sign a player does it say “let's go ridicule him and demean him and then monetarily show him we don't have any support for him either” and think that that person would sign? “You guys can go fuck yourself.” I got up and walked out. That was it. That was the last time I ever spoke to the Houston Astros. Cain: So you go back to UCLA for your senior year and then go on and get drafted and make your way up to the big leagues. Talk a little bit about that mental game or that belief that you had in yourself. Let me slow down here I'm all jacked up. What is the mental game to you, Eric? What is the mental game of baseball? Byrnes: Confidence. Belief in yourself. It kind of goes back to the story that I just told. I don't respond the way I did without the confidence and without the belief in myself. Even going back to my freshman year I don't go back freshman year of high school and having that “I'll walk, I'll transfer schools, I need an opportunity, I need to play, I am going to be a professional baseball player.” I didn't tell a lot of people. I told my mom. That was it. I kept it really low. I wasn't parading around with a megaphone to all my friends. But when I was 13 years old my dad used to throw me in batting practice all the time. He knew nothing about baseball. Absolutely zero. He was a fourth degree black belt in kenpo karate. He'd take me out and we'd go to the town center of Portola Valley and just throw BP days and days and days. Just all day. Eventually when I was 13 I was like there is only so much BP he can throw me. My parents are like “hey we got you a” - they thought they were all clever but they were like “we got you a birthday present, his name is Mike.” I'm like “what do you mean his name is Mike?” “We got you a new friend for your birthday, Mike.” I'm like “what?” Iron Mike. Cain: Oh yeah. Byrnes: So down below where we lived, our house the way it was situated was kind of up on a hill, and then down below in part of the property you couldn't really see was a batting cage with an Iron Mike machine. When I was 13 years old I cranked that thing up to 90 miles per hour, throwing as fast as it could throw. At first I had a tough time - foul balls off, foul balls off, foul balls off - and eventually *poof* I was ranking it, right? Bam, bam, bam, bam, bam! Well guess what? When I got to face - I was a sophomore in high school. I had just got called up to varsity. I didn't start with varsity when I was a sophomore. I got called up to varsity to face Dan Serafini. Dan Serafini was a first round pick out of Serra. He threw 92 miles per hour from the left side. A nasty little sink. There were 50 scouts in the stands, maybe more. I went there to face him. Everyone else 0:15:53 sample for right? Cain: Yeah. Byrnes: And I'm like no problem *whap whap whap* three bullets off of Dan Serafini. Barely anyone else was touching him. It's repetition. It is a skill that was developed through hard work. Even during football season - I played football through high school but even during football season before school in the morning I'd still bang 50 balls before I went to school. I got home at night, the sun is going down, dark, whatever, I'd put on a few lights we'd put up in the cage, boom, just 50 more. Didn't overdo it. I just loved to hit. Well guess what? Guess what that created? Confidence. So when I got there against Dan Serafini as a sophomore in high school still not sure if I - I'm barely going through puberty at this point and I'm hitting bullets off of 92 mile per hour fastballs when no one else is touching him. Now you've got 50 scouts in the stands going “huh who is this kid?” I think people need to remember when it comes to the mental game confidence is created and developed through work. It's like a test. Imagine studying for a test - and you know those tests. I went into several where I wasn't prepared for the test and what sort of confidence did I have going into that test? So long as I did my work and I studied for that test and I was ready for that test I was confident. My mental game was exactly where it needed to be. It's the same thing with the process of going up and playing in the big leagues. People go “are you nervous?” Yeah of course you are going to be nervous. This is natural nerves. But guess what? Were you scared? Not one bit. I prepared myself for that day. I prepared myself. Cain: So you've got eight Iron Mans. You're doing your ninth here in two days. What is the prep? Is it the same thing with going in and doing an endurance race whether it's the 100 mile race or an Iron Man where you've done the preparation, you've done the training with run, bike, swim? Is it the same thing with the preparation in terms of you having done the work to go prepare for an Iron Man triathlon? Byrnes: Exact same thing. It's not any different. There is no natural transition from playing professional baseball to going into the endurance world. Physically there is very little translation between the two. But psychologically very similar because it's all about doing the work and doing the work that gives you confidence to go out there and have your best race on that given day. That's it. It's as simple as that. That is what drives me I think in the training. Part of it is that fear of knowing that that test is there. That test is coming up. It's what eventually got me going in school is I knew that in order to go to college I was going to have to do the work to do well on my test to get me into a good school and it all kind of became part of the plan. Ironically as I got older I became a much better student than I ever was at a younger age. Cain: Talk about being a student for a second. One of the things you mentioned earlier off the air was how there was a time in your life where you just kind of were devouring books and you had a group of guys where you would go through Heads-Up Baseball and then talk about that. Talk a little bit about the importance of leaders being readers and for the people that are following this what are some of the best books that you like to read. Byrnes: Wow. Yeah. One of the first books I really dove into and read probably 50 times over through the course of my entire baseball career was The Mental Game of Baseball by Karl Kuehl and Harvey Dorfman. Karl ended up being a mentor of mine when I played with the Oakland A's and then even after. He was with the Indians at the time and I was with the Arizona Diamondbacks but we would have a weekly call that we had scheduled. We would schedule it at different times on different weeks but man it was so incredibly beneficial having that somebody there to sort of balance some ideas. It's funny because sometimes when I was rolling we wouldn't even talk about baseball. I sort of let him dictate the conversations. But ironically I had - well I wouldn't say ironically. There was no coincidence that I had my two greatest years in the big leagues when I was checking in with Karl on a weekly basis. Unfortunately at the end of 2008 I think was when he got sick and he ended up passing away. It hit hard and it hit fast and I still miss him dearly to this day but the lessons that he taught me in my life and my career are just invaluable. The other one was Heads-Up Baseball by Ken Ravizza is another one that I dove into with Scott Seal - a buddy of mine. We were roommates at UCLA and then he ended up transferring to Fullerton and he played there. We got into pro ball at the same time. During the offseason we just trained together, lived together. We'd go through books specific to baseball. We would read the hitting books be it Charlie Lau's book or Ted Williams' book. It was funny because the one thing I think that I always did a good job at was digesting the language that spoke to me because not everything is going to speak to you so you have to be able to throw out a lot of what you hear in this game but digest the key things. So since then as far as books I don't know where to start. But one of the latest ones that I would recommend everybody read - and you'll have to read it multiple times. The great thing about books now too - because of all the training that I do I go just about all audiobooks. But Ralph Waldo Emerson's essay Self Reliance is something that I could dig into every single day. The overall message of making decisions on your own and not necessarily conforming to the societal norms - it's also not saying be an anarchist but it's an incredible message. So much to take in. I think the parallels - and it was written however long ago but these parallels are incredible and it's amazing how relevant it still is. The Scholar was the latest one that I read of his. I can't get enough of Emerson. It's amazing to me how relevant Emerson and his writings still are to this day. Cain: I just started reading a book about stoicism and it goes back to Marcus Aurelius and Epictetus and these guys who were writing back in Ancient Greece. The book is called The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday. It's awesome. It's a one page a day read. Very short. Talking about stoic we think of stoic as somebody who is not emotional, somebody who is just kind of there. Their idea of stoicism is somebody who is so in control of themselves that they never let their emotions get the best of them, that they have the self control, that they quickly identify what they can control, what they can't control, and they only focus their time and energy and attention on things they can control - which is a lot of what I have learned through Heads-Up Baseball and Ravizza but I didn't realize it goes all the way back to the freaking Greeks. It's written in a language that you can tell it's ancient times but Ryan Holiday does a great job of translating that to making sense for what you're doing today. It's pretty cool. Byrnes: I'll check it out. Cain: Ryan Holiday. It's The Daily Stoic. Other pieces of the mental game. You talked about the confidence that comes from preparation. What about routines? What are some of the routines that you had to help you go one pitch at a time, Eric? Byrnes: I was very routine oriented. Before preparing for a game I had my whole routine of stretching that I would do. We're talking (let's say) 35 minutes before the game where it was the stretching to the sprints to jumping over the laundry basket in the club house. I did not go outside to sprint I think hardly ever in my big league career because what happened is as you start playing and you're seeing all your peers there it's what you see today - which is I don't know if it's BS or not. It depends what side of the fence you're on when it comes to fraternization but you see a bunch of guys playing grab ass out in the outfield. Well look I was there to play baseball and prepare myself for a game. I don't need to catch up with this guy and see how the family is doing and everything else. And the guy on the other team. I wasn't interested in that. So I felt like that was always a distraction to me so I would actually do my sprints underneath, in the tunnel, in the batting cage so long as it was available. I would jump over laundry baskets too and I had a whole routine of doing that. Then I would hit off the tee and it would just be five balls the other way, pull five balls, finish with five balls up the middle. And then I'd throw too so I'd just grab some balls in the cage and I'd throw 10-15 balls whenever I felt like. Then I'd make sure I'd finish about five minutes before the game so I still had that *breath* alright physically I know I'm ready. Mentally let's get here and let's do it. Cain: Awesome. Mental imagery. Anything you used at all in terms of visualizing yourself playing well? Maybe it was something you'd do at night before you'd go to bed or during the day when you're at the stadium kind of visualizing yourself taking at bats off the guy who is going to be pitching you that day? Byrnes: All the time. Every single day. That was another part of my routine that I would do. I would do it after the tee work. I would mentally have a vision of that pitcher that we were going to face that day and I would start with fastball. I'd go fast ball away ball, fast ball away strike, boom. So I'd imagine fastball away, just taking it. Nice soft hit ball. Fastball away strike. Bam. Shooting it the other way. Fastball middle, down or up, we're at ball. Okay fast ball right there. Boom. I'd just imagine low line drives. Fast ball in ball, fast ball in. Boom. Drop the hit. Homer. Same thing. Curve ball down on a wide ball, curve ball outside corner, boom, base hit right field. Curveball middle down in the dirt. Good take. Next one. Curve ball middle. Boom. Base hit out the middle. Curve ball inside. Take it. Curve ball inside. Homer. Same thing with the change up. I would do that every single day. It started - here is another book I would recommend. I'm trying to think. It was I want to say The Mental Game of Tennis but that's not right. Cain: The Inner Game of Tennis. Byrnes: Inner Game of Tennis. The Inner Game of Tennis is one of the first mental books I read. When I was a kid I was a big time tennis player. You want to talk about you think baseball players have - like that tennis game especially at a young age and you're on that island by yourself, that's heavy. So through The Inner Game of Tennis I learned the points of the visualizations. So I would play the match the night before. I would go sit in this chair in our living room. My mom would always help me with it. She was like “okay just go ahead and visualize your match.” Well I was playing against these ridiculously good tennis players. There were like - geez - Michael Jessup, Cory Guy, Misha Palecek, Ryan Walters. All four of these dudes went on. Palecek, Walters, and Jessup were like 1, 2, 3 at Stanford. Cory Guy was the number one player at Santa Barbara. All of them went on to play professional tennis in some capacity. These are a lot of the guys that - I was competing against these dudes. Cain: Yeah. Byrnes: It was just super heavy and we did a lot traveling or whatever but that is where I learned the mental side. Then I slowly transitioned that. I'm like “okay if I can envision playing these matches why can't I envision what the game is going to look like tomorrow in baseball, what my at bats are going to look like?” So I started doing that. I truly believe that is where my baseball career really took off in a sense is when I was about 12 in All Stars and going through that mental imagery of doing it. Again when you stand at the box - what did I say? What is the mental game? That game is confidence and belief. But what gives you confidence and belief is that fact that you have done the work. Well guess what? When I got in the box I had already been there. I had already done it. I'm comfortable. I had seen it. Cain: Did you do the same thing when you were getting ready to run an Iron Man? Do you see yourself crossing the finish line already and all that? I know that you have already done eight but when you go back to doing your first one was it the same process seeing yourself crossing the finish line and all that? Byrnes: I did it yesterday sitting in the float tank. A float tank is this tank filled with whatever. Now I like putting myself in positions - when I can find that quiet time I went through the whole race, went through the beginning, what is it going to be like jumping in. I don't care how many you do. The best never stop preparing. It's not like - if I didn't have a little anxiousness and a little fear - that is normal. You want that. That is why I do these. If I lose that it's not going to have the same luster. Am I more comfortable because I have eight under my belt? Of course I am. Of course I am. But I also still know that in order to get my best result I need to go out there and run through this. What is it going to be like? There is going to be a lot of contact in the swim. Imagine and visualize and even feel for every stroke I'm going to come down and I might get hit. Or what is happening when the guy is grabbing on my legs behind me? Am I going to kick him off or am I going to relax? I went through it. Then getting on the bike and visualizing the transition. What exactly do I need when I get out of the water? When I actually get out of the water I am going to unzip the top of my wetsuit. I am going to take my watch off. I like to keep it clean. If you pull everything over the watch and the thing is stopping and everything - boom, watch off, wetsuit top off, but I'm going to keep everything on waist down. They have wetsuit strippers there that actually will take the whole thing off but I want to keep mine on because I‘m going to have some little booties. I'm going to get a good run to grab my transition bag, get in the transition where I'll have my helmet, short little socks and my bike shoes ready to go. But guess what? I'll have a towel laid out too. I'll have a towel in there so I can take the booties off without getting grass all over my feet so when I put on my socks there is not going to be grass sitting there for the next nine hours or whatever it's going to be. All of that is prepared for. All of that is thought of. The bike computer is going to be on the bike. There is just so much. The nutrition, making sure the nutrition in the bottles are lined up. You need to be very meticulous about that. Then I visualize the bike. Ideally in the first loop of the bike that we have tomorrow I want to control my effort. I've had a tendency to go out guns blazing and then progressively each lap get slower. It usually happens anyway but I'm going to try to ride as consistently as possible through the entire 112 miles which then I believe will allow me to have my best run and ideally my best run I've ever had in an Iron Man. So it should be fun. Cain: Yeah. Sounds like you're - and I haven't viewed your documentary From the Diamond to the Rough which is unbelievable and anybody listening to this has got to check that out. From the Diamond to the Rough. If you'd let them know where they can get that that would be great. In that you talked a lot about the joy is in the process. What does that mean? Byrnes: So the reward. We like the reward don't we? The reward is one of the reasons why we do what we do in any industry. It's your payday. It's making your money. In the endurance world it's a medal at the end of an Iron Man. It's a belt buckle at the end of the Western States 100 Mile Endurance Run. That is the reward. For my kids they love it. It's the trophy. They're out there and they're playing. It's a trophy. So when we're kids I don't think - we know the reward is there and we think we're chasing the reward. When you're in baseball and you're playing baseball and you think you're chasing the money and everything and then I got to endurance sports and it was like I thought I was chasing the medal and the fact that I could say “oh I've done eight Iron Mans” and everything else. I think it really hit me when I did the Western States 100 that it's not about the reward. The reward is the process. I think that once you understand that the reward, the money, the belt buckles, the medals, everything comes easier. But that is simply a result of you fully embracing the process. So going forward here, man, I just did an article yesterday. I talked to Susan Slusser from the San Francisco Chronicle. They're going to do a big story about Diamond to the Rough and it's interesting because when I was explaining that to her - and every time I explain it as I explained it to you today it rings so true yet I think sometimes through the course of your life you don't get it and you don't understand it. But guess what? It hasn't changed. It hasn't changed since you were nine years old and you're running around a little league field or you're running around a soccer field or anything else. We thought we were chasing the trophy but we weren't chasing the trophy. The absolute reason why we do it is because of the exhilarating emotional feelings that we get from being out there, being out on the racecourse, being out on the baseball field. That is what life is about. That is living. That's it. Cain: When you cross the finish line of those Iron Mans or of the Western States 100 you carry a jersey of a former Arizona State football player, Pat Tillman. Could you talk a little bit about your relationship with Pat and then why you carry that jersey, why that is so important to you? Byrnes: Well Pat played for - he went to Leland High School in San Jose at the same time I went to St. Francis. We would watch him (I'm not kidding you) and we would just gawk. From his junior year. Junior year, senior year. It was just like is this guy for real? He was an undersized dude that just - I mean he was blowing dudes up on defense/ He was given the football and was just running around guys, he was running over guys. It was like how often is it that you get a group of high school kids in this totally uncomfortable state in your life, all this testosterone and macho bravado and everything else, where you could get a group of high school kids that were playing on the best high school football team in the area. We'd look at a guy on this other team and go “that dude is the baddest dude I have ever seen.” He had blond locks flowing out of his helmet. So basically what happened is I think the first time we met was we saw him at a Leland/St. Francis volleyball game. A buddy of ours - we were scared to go up to him. We were like “dude that's Tillman over there, that's Tillman over there.” So a buddy of ours by the name of Zach Wahls was like “I've got to go, I've got to do it” and he went up, walked across the gym, he was like “hey Pat I'm Zach Wahls I go to St. Francis, football player, I just wanted to meet you and say how much we respect you” and this and that. That was pretty cool to see because just like 4-5 years later Zach Wahls was the sixth round draft pick of the Arizona Cardinals after going to Dartmouth and playing for four years and Pat Tillman was the seventh round draft pick of the Arizona Cardinals after going to ASU and playing for four years. Then they roomed together with the Cardinals here. Cain: How about that. Byrnes: In 1998 when I first signed with the A's and I'd come and like - man I'd do anything to hang with the - I'm low level minor leagues. I'm the bottom barrel structurally and I'm hanging around some NFLers with Pat and Zach. My time actually getting to know Pat was very limited. I spent very little time with him hanging out with him. The times that I did you could tell there was something just special about him. Then he ended up obviously after 9/11 deciding to walk from football and join the Army Rangers. From there I wanted to do the same thing. I was just like everybody else that was emotionally moved by the 9/11 terrorist attacks. We wanted to fight. Pat did an interview. He was like “what have I done, my great grandfather fought in World War I, my grandfather fought in World War II, my dad fought in Vietnam,” he was just going through it. He was like “what the hell have I done.” [Tillman: My great grandfather was at Pearl Harbor and a lot of my family has given up - has gone to fight in wars, and I really haven't done a damn thing as far as laying myself on the line like that and so I have a great deal of respect for those that have and what the flag stands for.] Byrnes: You could tell. This was the day after 9/11 when he did this interview. I had the same feeling. I always had these visions. Mike Seal who happens to be in the condo right now staying with me, him and I have always talked about being Navy SEALS. That was always our fascination. But guess what? Here I was after 9/11 just busting into the big leagues. Was I willing to give it all up to go to Afghanistan and fight for our country? I wasn't. I didn't have the balls to do it. You know what? Pat did. It's a shame of how it ended because it didn't have to. The whole thing with the friendly fire and the cover up and everything else was disgusting but in no way does it diminish the sacrifice that he was willing to make for the sake of your ass and mine. A couple years ago - a couple years, 10 years ago now in 2006 when I was with the Diamondbacks I got a call from Richard Tillman, Pat's youngest brother, and he knew I had always talked well about Pat, pumped Pat up, and he knew how close Zach and I were and he invited me out to the statue unveiling out at the new stadium in Glendale. There was a group of only about 50 family members and friends for the statue unveiling and I was fortunate enough to be there and watch it and really got close with the family - Marie his widow, Kevin his brother who he went to Afghanistan with who also was an Army Ranger, Richard, and a couple of his best friends, this guy Ben Hill and Dallas Carwood who were running the foundation at the time. I basically at that point knew that I was all in with doing whatever I could do to make sure that the next generation of kids knew exactly who Pat Tillman was and the sacrifice that he made. It's not to diminish sacrifices of other people and other 18 year old kids that are signing up around the country to go serve our country but there is something to say when you don't have to go and you're at the height of your NFL career and you have a multimillion dollar offer on the table and you walk. That was something special and I just want to continue to celebrate that and celebrate the foundation which has gone on to do some really good things with education and providing scholarships for military members and their families and basically grooming these people to be game changers in society - which is exactly what Pat was. Cain: That's awesome. I had the privilege to run the Pat Tillman race one time at Arizona State. For people that are listening to this it's a short 5k race but there are probably 25,000-30,000 people that show up a Arizona State Sun Devils Stadium for that race they do every year. If you're looking for something to get you going and something to remind you that we live in the greatest country in the world show up for that race. It's unbelievable. Walk it or do it but it's something that you've got to do. If you're listening to this podcast go online right now and Google “Pat Tillman Race Arizona State University,” find out when it is, and go smash it. Go do it because you are going to get a lot out of that experience and that opportunity. Eric, last question for you here. I really appreciate your time today. It's been fantastic. One of the most fun podcasts we have ever done. 40 years old, eight Iron Mans in, Major League Baseball career, been an analyst, you've got a book that you've written that is going to be coming out that I can't wait to read - it's going to be off the charts. You've got a documentary. You're married. You've got children. How do you define success for you right now? In baseball it's easy. It's a statistical thing. Everybody can determine if you have success based off of numbers. How do you define success in your life right now? Byrnes: A successful person - and I feel like I'm having success. I'd say I'm winning (I'm not sure that that's the right word) when I'm able to embrace the moment. We don't live in the moment today. It's very difficult sometimes and we're so consumed with social media and we want everything quick and we want everything fast and it's the Millennial generation. And I get it. I live this fast paced life. I have a lot of things going on. But you mentioned I have three kids. I have a 5, 6, and 7 year old. I'm married. I do everything I can to be a good father, good husband. And then I have a job that is 3,000 miles away. So I live in California at Half Moon Bay about 20 miles south of San Francisco but I have a place in New York City and MLB networks is in Secaucus, New Jersey right across the river about 15 minutes away. My life is constantly in flux. We have a place in Tahoe as well. We're about to go up too after this and spend just about all the winter there. You mentioned the documentary. That has been a lot and dealing with that and going through the editing process and everything else. Not to mention the training that goes into the Iron Man races and the 100 mile run. What I've learned through all of it is that you can only be in one place at one time. So if we are sitting here and doing the podcast I need to be here. I can't worry about these 15 other things going on. I've noticed that I have the most success in my life when I am able to bring it to the now and I think that is what matters is to embrace the moment. It's as simple as that. As simple as that. Cain: Awesome. Eric Byrnes, you are off the podcast hot seat my friend. Fantastic. Again you can get more Eric Byrnes at www.Byrnes22.com and on Twitter at @Byrnes22. Eric, thank you for your time. You were off the charts. Thank you. Byrnes: Thanks dude. One last thing for the film. The documentary. Cain: Yes. Byrnes: This is not a monetary play for me. I'm not doing this to make money off this thing. There is a special message in there that is very family oriented. One of the things that Susan Slusser when she was doing the article yesterday she was like “I just was amazed by the doc, I just figured it was going to be this athlete vanity piece and it's anything but that.” If there is one thing that I would recommend to people it's go to www.Vimeo.com/OnDemand/DiamondToTheRough. Watch this documentary. I think it hits so many different people on so many different levels that the only thing I care about on this is I want eyeballs to see it. Again this is not a monetary play thing. This isn't an ego thing or anything else. There is a message within that documentary I think that will resonate with a lot of people and it could help change somebody's life. Cain: What is the message, Eric, that you want people to get from the documentary? Byrnes: It's about the process. It's not about the reward. It's about embracing everything that is important in your life that helps you enjoy that process. It's about family. It's about giving your kids every opportunity to succeed. It's about setting an example for your children and influencing them and not force-feeding them anything but allowing them to make their own decisions. But guess what? You have a 100% responsibility to set that example for them, lead them to the right direction, and let them find their own path. One of the main ones is you'll always need to have an idea of what is next and find what is next and find your happiness, find your zone, find something that is going to motivate you each and every single day. I think really the last one is do something physical that will help. When you get out and do something physical - it doesn't have to be a 100 mile run. Not even close. I don't care if it's walking around the block twice. Get outside. Clear your mind. Clear your head. As a kid that grew up with severe ADHD I can tell you even now with all the information that is coming - I've got a buddy of mine that scans brain tissue. He could show me a brain of an ADD kid without exercise indoors and it looks like a tiny little penny. Imagine 20 minutes of moderate exercise after being outside that ADD kid's brain is lit up like a freaking giant pancake. We're not any different. Some people are more extreme. Maybe people with ADD are more extreme in what that can do for you. This is something that - the idea and thoughts that people are cancelling PE is disgusting to me. The lack of physical activity amongst our youth is disturbing. But again the overall message is enjoy the process and embrace the moment. Cain: I thought it was awesome that you're - the career transition piece too. Byrnes: It's big. Cain: As a pro athlete it's all of a sudden you're - the quote the guy says in there which I think is beautiful, he says “you're a dragon slayer and now there are no dragons to go slay.” Whether you are an athlete, whether you are a - if you are in the military - 0:52:08 did the same thing that when his Navy SEAL days came to a close that there were some dark times. He had to find out what is next - like the shirt that you are wearing in the documentary. For him it was taking a dry erase marker and writing down his goals on his bathroom mirror so he could see them. He said that is kind of what got him going away was seeing something, having a vision, having a tangible past and I'm going to go and attack. Whether it's preparing for a game, preparing for a seminar, preparing to go to combat, or preparing to wake up and make your kids breakfast what is your task for the day that you're going to sign your name with excellence on and go out there and keep moving forward? Having worked in athletics there are a lot of guys that when that career ends there are some dark times because everything you've always done - hitting a ball, running, diving, making a catch - that doesn't necessarily translate to what you're going to do now for the rest of your life to be successful. However who you became and who you needed to become to be successful as an athlete, that same process, that same mindset, that same drive, that same attention to detail will help you if you take that with you into what you do. Byrnes: Right. Cain: So it's trying to figure out how do you help guys to channel that. Byrnes: That's awesome dude. Thanks Brian. Cain: Awesome Eric. I appreciate you. Byrnes: That was outstanding. Thanks again.