Podcast appearances and mentions of ken ravizza

Send a textPressure finds you in baseball—the question is whether your mind helps or hijacks the moment. We pulled back the curtain on the inner voice that shows up with two outs and the game on the line, and shared a simple system to turn stinking thinking into calm, repeatable execution. Drawing on lessons from Ken Ravizza, Patrick Cohn, and the performance habits of pros, we translate sports psychology into crisp tools players can use today.We start with the two voices every athlete hears: the fear voice that says don't and the focused voice that says do. From there, we show how language drives pictures and pictures drive movement, why the brain doesn't process negatives well, and how specific, instructional cues like see it deep or soft hands free your body to do what training built. You'll learn how positive self-talk reduces anxiety and improves performance, and why chasing perfection in a sport of failure only feeds panic.Then we get practical. We map out between-pitch reset routines—breath, focal point, cue word—that keep attention anchored to this pitch instead of the last miss or the next worry. We cover simple swaps that matter under lights: don't chase becomes wait for your pitch; don't make an error becomes secure the catch. We tie mindset to leadership, showing how your body language sets the tone for the dugout and how neutral thinking stops negative spirals before they snowball.If you coach or play high school, travel, or college baseball, this is a blueprint for mental toughness you can practice like mechanics. Try one cue in your next practice, build a reset you trust, and watch pressure turn into clarity. If this helped, subscribe, leave a quick review, and share it with a teammate who needs a steady voice in big moments.Support the show Follow: Twitter | Instagram @Athlete1Podcast Website - https://www.athlete1.net Sponsor: The Netting Professionals https://www.nettingpros.com

In this episode of What Are You Made Of, Mike "C-Roc" sits down with Dr. Patrick Cohn, founder of Peak Performance Sports and a leading expert in sports psychology. With a Master's degree from California State University, Fullerton under Dr. Ken Ravizza and a Ph.D. from the University of Virginia with Dr. Bob Rotella, Patrick has spent decades mentoring athletes, day traders, and entrepreneurs to reach peak mental performance.Patrick opens up about his personal journey as a survivor of melanoma and lung cancer, sharing how facing life-threatening adversity shaped his perspective and approach to mental performance. He dives deep into the mindset of elite athletes, discussing the importance of focusing on process over outcome, managing identity beyond performance, and thriving through slumps both on the field and in business.From lessons in resilience and goal-setting to the nuances of entrepreneurship and performance coaching, Patrick shares actionable strategies for anyone looking to excel under pressure while staying grounded in their true identity. This episode is a masterclass in mental toughness, perspective, and the art of being “made of” more than just results.Website-https://www.peaksports.com/ Social Media Links/Handles-https://www.instagram.com/sportspsychcoach/https://www.tiktok.com/@peakperformancesports

Most parents and coaches mean well. But could our constant tips, sideline shouts, and postgame breakdowns actually be draining our kids' confidence instead of building it? In this powerful episode of the Swing Smarter Hitting Training Podcast, I dig into the hidden ways we create pressure for young hitters—and what to do differently so they thrive. Here's what you'll learn in this episode: The unseen pressure problem: Why “helpful” coaching often backfires and silently taxes confidence. The 70% dropout crisis: Why so many kids leave sports by 13 and how to keep your athlete's love for the game alive. Real-world examples: From players who freeze at the plate to families who transformed game-day stress into confidence. Psychology that works: Insights from experts like Dr. Bhrett McCabe, Carol Dweck, and Ken Ravizza on building resilient athletes. Simple fixes you can use now: The one-word car ride that replaces postgame lectures. How to praise process over outcomes. Metrics that matter more than batting average: Quality Contact %, Pitch Selection, and Competitive At-Bats. This episode is packed with actionable strategies that help parents and coaches shift from control to support—so hitters walk to the plate with calm focus, compete with confidence, and keep loving the game. If you're ready to protect your athlete's confidence and help them grow into not just better hitters, but stronger competitors, this one's for you.

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/

Thank you Dr Ken Ravizza for teaches us the analogy of recognizing your signal lights as a way to maintain our emotional control. Green = Dialed in Yellow = Distracted Red = Defeated

Get ready to discover how you go from college walk-on to World Series Champion. In this episode, I sit down with my longtime friend and former client, Kurt Suzuki. He shares what it takes to compete at the highest level, the critical role of mental preparation, and why short-term goals are important for long-term success. Plus, he shares the best life-changing advice he received from legendary sports psychologist Ken Ravizza to stand out and compete as an elite player.   HIGHLIGHTS 00:00 Meet Kurt Suzuki, College World Series and MLB World Series Champion. 05:00 How do players overcome the challenges of growing up with limited exposure to scouts? 09:15 When did you realize you could compete at the highest level?  14:00 The risks of today's travel ball culture and why polished players are becoming rare. 19:00 How to stand out and catch the attention of scouts. 22:30 Lessons from legendary sports psychologist Ken Ravizza.  26:00 Ways to overcome injury fears and confidence. 31:00 BTS stories from the 2004 College World Series Championship run.   RESOURCES + LINKS Learn more at aligndsports.com Book a 1:1 Consultation HERE   FOLLOW Matt Hannaford: @mfhannaford Kurt Suzuki: @kurt_suzuki_pono_baseball

Listen to Brian Cain teach us the lesson he learned from Dr Ken Ravizza about the importance of focusing on staying present and playing the game one play at a time.

Send us a Text Message.Step up to the plate with "The Intangibles of Catching with Dustin Garneau" on the BackPick Podcast! In this episode, host Brett Thomas dives deep into the heart of baseball with former big leaguer and current Colorado Rockies catching and game planning coordinator, Dustin Garneau. From his Southern California roots to his College World Series triumphs at Cal State Fullerton, and his seven-year MLB career, Dustin shares insider stories and expert catching techniques.Discover how mastering the one-knee-down stance can transform the way you play and why mental fortitude is crucial behind the plate. Dustin breaks down the evolution of catching techniques, emphasizing the importance of moving the baseball, building a strong rapport with pitchers, and the art of game planning. With anecdotes about legendary coaches like George Horton and valuable lessons from sports psychology pioneer Ken Ravizza, this episode is packed with insights that will elevate your understanding of the game.Whether you're a seasoned player or a young enthusiast, this episode offers invaluable tips on becoming a better catcher and appreciating the soul of baseball. Don't miss out on this engaging, insightful conversation that blends professional wisdom with personal experiences.Hit that subscribe button for more in-depth baseball content and join our community on social media for exclusive updates and merchandise. Let's step up our game together!#CatcherGamePlanning #CatchingAcademy #DustinGarneauInterview #CatchingMechanics #CatchersRoleCHAPTERS:00:00 - Intro00:48 - College Baseball Insights05:44 - Finding Your Role in the Team11:59 - Understanding the Game Mechanics14:44 - Effective Pitch Calling17:35 - Catcher-Pitcher Relationship Dynamics21:00 - Mental Approach Under Pressure23:40 - Ken Ravizza's Impact on You27:50 - Moving the Baseball Techniques31:40 - Creating a Clean Throwing Path35:25 - Building Throwing Leverage35:55 - Transitioning to One-Knee Down Stance41:25 - Martín Maldonado's Skills45:10 - Importance of Accurate Throwing48:00 - Kickstand vs. Traditional Stance50:55 - Optimal Catching Stances53:20 - Best Places to Eat for Athletes54:57 - Final Thoughts57:08 - Outro

Episode 104: John Mayer from CYBO on Serving ABC, Ideas for dealing with a frustrated player, and Mayer's top coaching resources right now Don't forget to get 20% of almost anything when you use code: "VOLLEYPOD" on the The Art of Coaching Volleyball website Skill: Serving ABC Scenario: Ideas for when a player is frustrated Resources: Perception Action Podcast https://perceptionaction.com/ Where Should We Begin? Podcast https://www.estherperel.com/podcast While We Were Young Book https://www.amazon.com/When-Were-Young-Richard-Roper/dp/0525539913 Heads Up Baseball by Dr. Ken Ravizza and Dr. Tom Hanson https://headsupbaseball2.com/ The Inner Knight by Billy Allen https://billyketchallen.com/2022/03/02/the-inner-knight/

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 

Matt volunteers as a chaplain and peer support for police agencies in Los Angeles. He also is a volunteer for nonprofits that support police officers in crisis, as well as those that are injured and disabled. Matt believes all first responders can have careers that provide deeper meaning and add richness to their spiritual lives if approached in the right manner. Matt is a medically retired police officer that worked patrol, Peer Support, SWAT, and as a full-time police academy instructor. Matt was the Wellness Coordinator for his agency integrating sports nutrition, strength, and conditioning, stress management, combatives-and-scenario training regarding officers as tactical athletes. He also was concurrently a collegiate strength coach at Yale and Georgetown Universities while a full-time police officer. Later he was a strength coach and mental skills trainer for NFL combine athletes. At Yale, he volunteered for Athletes in Action and at Georgetown, he created an ecumenical ministry Hoyas for Christ. Matt also has been a volunteer with Hockey Ministries International summer camps. Matt played linebacker and was a competitive powerlifter for the Air Force Academy and Colgate University. He has an MS in Forensic Science under Dr. Henry Lee, an MS in Sport Psychology under Dr. Ken Ravizza, a MA in Pastoral Theology with a concentration in Spiritual Direction from Loyola Marymount University, and an additional spiritual direction certificate from Stillpoint. Matt focused his studies and additional immersion experiences in the contemplative traditions as well as masculine spirituality and psychology. Matt's niche is spending time in the trenches with first responders and veterans establishing trust and rapport. He does weekly ride alongs and station visits, observes and participates in any training that he is invited to, and goes shooting with veterans transitioning out of the military. His approach is not the traditional reacting to crisis or responding to requests, rather he pro-activity spends time with those he cares about while they are on the job. Matt's priority is encouraging better overall wellness, life balance, mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual self-care BEFORE officers or firefighters experience a breakdown or a crisis. However, Matt is also well versed in response to critical incidents as well as spending time with first responders at treatment facilities for PTSD and substance abuse issues. His ministry vision post covid lockdown is to continue to spend time in the trenches with officers, provide confidential peer support and spiritual direction, and facilitate a contemplative prayer group with “way of council” sharing for first responders and veterans in Los Angeles. Matt also plans to offer free wellness events integrating various aspects of fitness and martial arts, mindfulness and yoga, small group sharing, and fellowship with ribeyes on the grill. In a variety of ways, he hopes to provide platforms where first responders learn to use their unique career experiences as a spiritual path, rather than it leading to breakdown which unfortunately happens too often in these professions. National Suicide Prevention Hotline 988 thewashdownpodcast@gmail.com #NeverAloneAlwaysForward

Matt volunteers as a chaplain and peer support for police agencies in Los Angeles. He also is a volunteer for nonprofits that support police officers in crisis, as well as those that are injured and disabled. Matt believes all first responders can have careers that provide deeper meaning and add richness to their spiritual lives if approached in the right manner. Matt is a medically retired police officer that worked patrol, Peer Support, SWAT, and as a full-time police academy instructor. Matt was the Wellness Coordinator for his agency integrating sports nutrition, strength, and conditioning, stress management, combatives-and-scenario training regarding officers as tactical athletes. He also was concurrently a collegiate strength coach at Yale and Georgetown Universities while a full-time police officer. Later he was a strength coach and mental skills trainer for NFL combine athletes. At Yale, he volunteered for Athletes in Action and at Georgetown, he created an ecumenical ministry Hoyas for Christ. Matt also has been a volunteer with Hockey Ministries International summer camps. Matt played linebacker and was a competitive powerlifter for the Air Force Academy and Colgate University. He has an MS in Forensic Science under Dr. Henry Lee, an MS in Sport Psychology under Dr. Ken Ravizza, a MA in Pastoral Theology with a concentration in Spiritual Direction from Loyola Marymount University, and an additional spiritual direction certificate from Stillpoint. Matt focused his studies and additional immersion experiences in the contemplative traditions as well as masculine spirituality and psychology. Matt's niche is spending time in the trenches with first responders and veterans establishing trust and rapport. He does weekly ride alongs and station visits, observes and participates in any training that he is invited to, and goes shooting with veterans transitioning out of the military. His approach is not the traditional reacting to crisis or responding to requests, rather he pro-activity spends time with those he cares about while they are on the job. Matt's priority is encouraging better overall wellness, life balance, mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual self-care BEFORE officers or firefighters experience a breakdown or a crisis. However, Matt is also well versed in response to critical incidents as well as spending time with first responders at treatment facilities for PTSD and substance abuse issues. His ministry vision post covid lockdown is to continue to spend time in the trenches with officers, provide confidential peer support and spiritual direction, and facilitate a contemplative prayer group with “way of council” sharing for first responders and veterans in Los Angeles. Matt also plans to offer free wellness events integrating various aspects of fitness and martial arts, mindfulness and yoga, small group sharing, and fellowship with ribeyes on the grill. In a variety of ways, he hopes to provide platforms where first responders learn to use their unique career experiences as a spiritual path, rather than it leading to breakdown which unfortunately happens too often in these professions. National Suicide Prevention Hotline 988 thewashdownpodcast@gmail.com #NeverAloneAlwaysForward

1:30 - How Hugh manages to maintain a healthy lifestyle despite all the craziness that comes with being a coach.3:12 - Does Hugh allow himself to set aside free time for things like watching a TV Show.6:11 - Explaining the idea of being a woman and a warrior that Hugh emphasized to his players and in his book.9:36 - What is coopetition, and how does Hugh incorporate it into practices? 11:47 - How does Hugh create a team mentality rather than one focused on individual results?15:27 - Differences between outcome goals, task goals, and daily goals.19:48 - Fostering a mentality where once practice starts, athletes switch into a different mode where they are focused and attentive.22:24 - Explaining the nuances of role clarity and communication with athletes.24:56 - The biggest influences Ken Ravizza has had on Hugh as well as his team.Coach Your Brains Out: The Art and Science of Coaching VolleyballThe Inner Knight: Train and Compete Like a ChampionBecome a Patron to support the show.

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

The humanistic approach in psychology, which emphasizes genuine connection, the personal worth of the individual, and truly understanding one another on a human level, is the perspective put into practice by Dr. Douglas Chadwick, the Director of Mental Skills Development for the Colorado Rockies. Dr. Cory Shaffer and Chadwick talk about this approach, Chadwick's unique pathway into performance pyschology after serving in the U.S. Army for 20 years, and the positive influence of Chadwick's mentor and sport spychology legend, Ken Ravizza.

With over 30 years of coaching experience, Sean Waxman is one of the most highly regarded weightlifting coaches around. Since opening Waxman's Gym in 2010, Sean has developed two World Championship team members, a Pan Am Championship silver medalist, three national champions, six national medalists, more than two dozen national-level weightlifters, and he has coached top CrossFit Regionals and Games athletes. When not developing competitive weightlifters and CrossFit athletes, Sean works with athletes of all skill levels from a wide range of sports to help them develop strength and power. Sean also has a great passion for helping other coaches learn to teach/coach weightlifting. His training methodologies and ability to make complex movement skills seem simple make him one of the most sought after coaches and lecturers in the country. In this episode, Sean shares: · What sports psychologist Ken Ravizza showed him about how to handle mistakes · Why establishing a daily habit of success sets you up to perform like a champion · Which self-talk techniques his friend Dr. Michael Gervais shared with him · How learning at the feet of legendary coach Bob Takano taught him the art of the coaching craft · Why looking at life with a childlike mind creates a lifelong love of learning · What real toughness means in the gym and in life Learn more about Sean at https://waxmansgym.com and follow him on Instagram.

No Thole today, but really interesting talk with Ricky about the mental side of baseball. Lots of credit to the late Ken Ravizza who help many players with the psychological aspect of the game. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode Brian shares a key lesson he learned from Dr. Ken Ravizza about giving 100% of what you got to the moment. Brian Cain, MPM, the World's leader in Mental Performance Coaching brings you practical tips, techniques, stories, strategies, meditations and motivations every day that you can use to close the gap from where you are to where you want to be with The Mental Performance Daily Podcast.   Be sure to subscribe wherever you are listening to this podcast, leave us a review and engage with Brian on social media @BrianCainPeak  Be sure to join Brian's email list at BrianCain.com/join so that you can stay updated and in the know when it comes to Brian and the forefront of mental performance training. If you are a coach looking to master mental performance coaching, the missing link in your clients and athletes performance, join Brian's MPM Coaches Insiders List and receive his best strategies for coaching mental performance and save $200 off his MPM Certification Course when it opens this fall. If you are an athlete, join my FREE 3 Day Mini Course on Mental Performance at BrianCain.com/free-athletes-course If you are a golfer or golf coach join Brian's FREE Golf Masterclass at BrianCain.com/golf If you are a baseball player or coach join Brian's FREE Baseball Masterclass at BrianCain.com/baseball

Dr Ken Ravizza teaches us: A habit is: Something To Go To When You Need Something To Go To

Last year’s virtual convention forced us to postpone the Hall of Fame banquet. In order to celebrate the 2021 class we did a series of podcasts with the inductees. We are using Christmas break here to reissue last year’s episodes to once again celebrate the 2021 class. We are so excited for the Chicago convention and to be able to honor the 2021 and 2022 classes at the Hall of Fame banquet on Friday January 7th. We can’t thank all of you enough for your continued trust and support. I hope you all enjoy listening to these legends of the game. Our next guest on the ABCA Podcast is Don Sneddon. This is the fourth installment of our ABCA Hall of Fame Podcasts. Coach Sneddon is a 2021 Hall of Fame inductee. Coach Sneddon played for Wally Kincaid, Dave Snow and Augie Garrido. Coach Sneddon spent 32 years as the Head Coach at Santa Ana College. He is the all time winningest Coach in California Community College History with 1072 Victories. He was the first coach to 900 and then 1000 wins. He also has experience on the pro side coaching with the Colorado Rockies. He also has experience coaching in the Cape Cod League. Coach Sneddon was an assistant for Jerry Weinstein with the Wareham Gateman in 2016 and 2017. He was the Gateman’s manager in 2018 leading them to the Cape League Championship. Coach Sneddon is a 42 year continuous ABCA member and is a 2015 California Community College Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame Inductee. Get ready to learn. Coach Sneddon is one of the best Educators we have in the game. He was one of the first coaches to work with Ken Ravizza. He taught the entire time he was coaching at Santa Ana and we dive into how he blended the classroom and the baseball field. We get right into how he used breathing techniques to help future firefighters and policeman. The ABCA Podcast is presented by Netting Pros. Netting Professionals are improving programs one facility at a time, specializing in the design, fabrication and installation of custom netting for backstops, batting cages, dugouts, bp screens and ball carts. They also design and install digital graphic wall padding windscreen, turf, turf protectors, dugout benches, dugout cubbies and more.

In this episode of Mental Performance Daily, Brian revisits one of the top 10 lessons he learned from his mentor Dr. Ken Ravizza about how to catch the attention of your team or audience with this one game changing strategy around building focus. Brian Cain, MPM, the World's leader in Mental Performance Coaching brings you practical tips, techniques, stories, strategies, meditations and motivations every day that you can use to close the gap from where you are to where you want to be with The Mental Performance Daily Podcast.   Mental Performance Daily with Brian Cain is brought to you by Soul CBD. Go to mysoulcbd.com/cain15 for 15% off your order. That's  mysoulcbd.com/cain15 for 15% off. Be sure to subscribe wherever you are listening to this podcast, leave us a review and engage with Brian on social media @BrianCainPeak  Be sure to join Brian's email list at BrianCain.com/join so that you can stay updated and in the know when it comes to Brian and the forefront of mental performance training. If you are a coach looking to master mental performance coaching, the missing link in your clients and athletes performance, join Brian's MPM Coaches Insiders List and receive his best strategies for coaching mental performance and save $200 off his MPM Certification Course when it opens this fall. If you are an athlete, join my FREE 3 Day Mini Course on Mental Performance at BrianCain.com/free-athletes-course If you are a golfer or golf coach join Brian's FREE Golf Masterclass at BrianCain.com/golf If you are a baseball player or coach join Brian's FREE Baseball Masterclass at BrianCain.com/baseball

In this episode of Mental Performance Daily, Brian revisits one of the top 10 lessons he learned from his mentor Dr. Ken Ravizza about how the competition begins before it begins and how you must learn to prepare to prepare and that separation is in preparation. Here is a link to the KR70 tribute article Brian mentions in the podcast. Brian Cain, MPM, the World's leader in Mental Performance Coaching brings you practical tips, techniques, stories, strategies, meditations and motivations every day that you can use to close the gap from where you are to where you want to be with The Mental Performance Daily Podcast.    Mental Performance Daily with Brian Cain is brought to you by Soul CBD. Go to mysoulcbd.com/cain15 for 15% off your order. That's  mysoulcbd.com/cain15 for 15% off. Be sure to subscribe wherever you are listening to this podcast, leave us a review and engage with Brian on social media @BrianCainPeak  Be sure to join Brian's email list at BrianCain.com/join so that you can stay updated and in the know when it comes to Brian and the forefront of mental performance training. If you are a coach looking to master mental performance coaching, the missing link in your clients and athletes performance, join Brian's MPM Coaches Insiders List and receive his best strategies for coaching mental performance and save $200 off his MPM Certification Course when it opens this November.

In this episode of Mental Performance Daily, Brian revisits one of the top 10 lessons he learned from his mentor Dr. Ken Ravizza which builds off of what we have been learning recently about not needing to feel good to play good but choosing to be an elite competitor who can get it done regardless of how they feel. Brian Cain, MPM, the World's leader in Mental Performance Coaching brings you practical tips, techniques, stories, strategies, meditations and motivations every day that you can use to close the gap from where you are to where you want to be with The Mental Performance Daily Podcast.   Mental Performance Daily with Brian Cain is brought to you by Soul CBD. Go to mysoulcbd.com/cain15 for 15% off your order. That's  mysoulcbd.com/cain15 for 15% off. Be sure to subscribe wherever you are listening to this podcast, leave us a review and engage with Brian on social media @BrianCainPeak  Be sure to join Brian's email list at BrianCain.com/join so that you can stay updated and in the know when it comes to Brian and the forefront of mental performance training. If you are a coach looking to master mental performance coaching, the missing link in your clients and athletes performance, join Brian's MPM Coaches Insiders List and receive his best strategies for coaching mental performance and save $200 off his MPM Certification Course when it opens this fall. If you are an athlete, join my FREE 3 Day Mini Course on Mental Performance at BrianCain.com/free-athletes-course If you are a golfer or golf coach join Brian's FREE Golf Masterclass at BrianCain.com/golf If you are a baseball player or coach join Brian's FREE Baseball Masterclass at BrianCain.com/baseball

In this episode of Mental Performance Daily, Brian revisits one of the top 10 lessons he learned from his mentor Dr. Ken Ravizza about being present, not perfect and not being so bad that you have to have your A game to win, but choosing to be confident enough to know that you can win with your B, C, D game because you will fight, claw, dig and compete in the present. Brian Cain, MPM, the World's leader in Mental Performance Coaching brings you practical tips, techniques, stories, strategies, meditations and motivations every day that you can use to close the gap from where you are to where you want to be with The Mental Performance Daily Podcast.   Mental Performance Daily with Brian Cain is brought to you by Soul CBD. Go to mysoulcbd.com/cain15 for 15% off your order. That's  mysoulcbd.com/cain15 for 15% off. Be sure to subscribe wherever you are listening to this podcast, leave us a review and engage with Brian on social media @BrianCainPeak  Be sure to join Brian's email list at BrianCain.com/join so that you can stay updated and in the know when it comes to Brian and the forefront of mental performance training. If you are a coach looking to master mental performance coaching, the missing link in your clients and athletes performance, join Brian's MPM Coaches Insiders List and receive his best strategies for coaching mental performance and save $200 off his MPM Certification Course when it opens this fall. If you are an athlete, join my FREE 3 Day Mini Course on Mental Performance at BrianCain.com/free-athletes-course If you are a golfer or golf coach join Brian's FREE Golf Masterclass at BrianCain.com/golf If you are a baseball player or coach join Brian's FREE Baseball Masterclass at BrianCain.com/baseball

In this episode of Mental Performance Daily, Brian revisits one of the top 10 lessons he learned from his mentor Dr. Ken Ravizza about the importance of having a good bad day and making your bad days just a little less bad and getting it done when you don't feel your best. Brian Cain, MPM, the World's leader in Mental Performance Coaching brings you practical tips, techniques, stories, strategies, meditations and motivations every day that you can use to close the gap from where you are to where you want to be with The Mental Performance Daily Podcast.   Mental Performance Daily with Brian Cain is brought to you by Soul CBD. Go to mysoulcbd.com/cain15 for 15% off your order. That's  mysoulcbd.com/cain15 for 15% off. Be sure to subscribe wherever you are listening to this podcast, leave us a review and engage with Brian on social media @BrianCainPeak  Be sure to join Brian's email list at BrianCain.com/join so that you can stay updated and in the know when it comes to Brian and the forefront of mental performance training. If you are a coach looking to master mental performance coaching, the missing link in your clients and athletes performance, join Brian's MPM Coaches Insiders List and receive his best strategies for coaching mental performance and save $200 off his MPM Certification Course when it opens this fall. If you are an athlete, join my FREE 3 Day Mini Course on Mental Performance at BrianCain.com/free-athletes-course If you are a golfer or golf coach join Brian's FREE Golf Masterclass at BrianCain.com/golf If you are a baseball player or coach join Brian's FREE Baseball Masterclass at BrianCain.com/baseball

In this episode of Mental Performance Daily, Brian revisits one of the top 10 lessons he learned from his mentor Dr. Ken Ravizza about giving 100% of what you've got to win the next pitch.  Brian Cain, MPM, the World's leader in Mental Performance Coaching brings you practical tips, techniques, stories, strategies, meditations and motivations every day that you can use to close the gap from where you are to where you want to be with The Mental Performance Daily Podcast.   Mental Performance Daily with Brian Cain is brought to you by Soul CBD. Go to mysoulcbd.com/cain15 for 15% off your order. That's  mysoulcbd.com/cain15 for 15% off. Be sure to subscribe wherever you are listening to this podcast, leave us a review and engage with Brian on social media @BrianCainPeak  Be sure to join Brian's email list at BrianCain.com/join so that you can stay updated and in the know when it comes to Brian and the forefront of mental performance training. If you are a coach looking to master mental performance coaching, the missing link in your clients and athletes performance, join Brian's MPM Coaches Insiders List and receive his best strategies for coaching mental performance and save $200 off his MPM Certification Course when it opens this fall. If you are an athlete, join my FREE 3 Day Mini Course on Mental Performance at BrianCain.com/free-athletes-course If you are a golfer or golf coach join Brian's FREE Golf Masterclass at BrianCain.com/golf If you are a baseball player or coach join Brian's FREE Baseball Masterclass at BrianCain.com/baseball

In this episode of Mental Performance Daily, Brian revisits one of his favorite memories from his mentor Dr. Ken Ravizza about meeting Ken for the first time and how a rotten avocado and turkey sandwich changed the course of Brian's life forever. Brian Cain, MPM, the World's leader in Mental Performance Coaching brings you practical tips, techniques, stories, strategies, meditations and motivations every day that you can use to close the gap from where you are to where you want to be with The Mental Performance Daily Podcast.   Mental Performance Daily with Brian Cain is brought to you by Soul CBD. Go to mysoulcbd.com/cain15 for 15% off your order. That's  mysoulcbd.com/cain15 for 15% off. Be sure to subscribe wherever you are listening to this podcast, leave us a review and engage with Brian on social media @BrianCainPeak  Be sure to join Brian's email list at BrianCain.com/join so that you can stay updated and in the know when it comes to Brian and the forefront of mental performance training. If you are a coach looking to master mental performance coaching, the missing link in your clients and athletes performance, join Brian's MPM Coaches Insiders List and receive his best strategies for coaching mental performance and save $200 off his MPM Certification Course when it opens this fall. If you are an athlete, join my FREE 3 Day Mini Course on Mental Performance at BrianCain.com/free-athletes-course If you are a golfer or golf coach join Brian's FREE Golf Masterclass at BrianCain.com/golf If you are a baseball player or coach join Brian's FREE Baseball Masterclass at BrianCain.com/baseball

In this episode of Mental Performance Daily, Brian revisits one of the top 10 lessons he learned from his mentor Dr. Ken Ravizza about locking into the present and knowing that the time is now and the place is here. Brian Cain, MPM, the World's leader in Mental Performance Coaching brings you practical tips, techniques, stories, strategies, meditations and motivations every day that you can use to close the gap from where you are to where you want to be with The Mental Performance Daily Podcast.   Mental Performance Daily with Brian Cain is brought to you by Soul CBD. Go to mysoulcbd.com/cain15 for 15% off your order. That's  mysoulcbd.com/cain15 for 15% off. Be sure to subscribe wherever you are listening to this podcast, leave us a review and engage with Brian on social media @BrianCainPeak  Be sure to join Brian's email list at BrianCain.com/join so that you can stay updated and in the know when it comes to Brian and the forefront of mental performance training. If you are a coach looking to master mental performance coaching, the missing link in your clients and athletes performance, join Brian's MPM Coaches Insiders List and receive his best strategies for coaching mental performance and save $200 off his MPM Certification Course when it opens this fall. If you are an athlete, join my FREE 3 Day Mini Course on Mental Performance at BrianCain.com/free-athletes-course If you are a golfer or golf coach join Brian's FREE Golf Masterclass at BrianCain.com/golf If you are a baseball player or coach join Brian's FREE Baseball Masterclass at BrianCain.com/baseball

In this episode of Mental Performance Daily, Brian revisits one of the top 10 lessons he learned from his mentor Dr. Ken Ravizza about the importance of being present and being where you need to be when you need to be there. Brian Cain, MPM, the World's leader in Mental Performance Coaching brings you practical tips, techniques, stories, strategies, meditations and motivations every day that you can use to close the gap from where you are to where you want to be with The Mental Performance Daily Podcast.   Mental Performance Daily with Brian Cain is brought to you by Soul CBD. Go to mysoulcbd.com/cain15 for 15% off your order. That's  mysoulcbd.com/cain15 for 15% off. Be sure to subscribe wherever you are listening to this podcast, leave us a review and engage with Brian on social media @BrianCainPeak  Be sure to join Brian's email list at BrianCain.com/join so that you can stay updated and in the know when it comes to Brian and the forefront of mental performance training. If you are a coach looking to master mental performance coaching, the missing link in your clients and athletes performance, join Brian's MPM Coaches Insiders List and receive his best strategies for coaching mental performance and save $200 off his MPM Certification Course when it opens this fall. If you are an athlete, join my FREE 3 Day Mini Course on Mental Performance at BrianCain.com/free-athletes-course If you are a golfer or golf coach join Brian's FREE Golf Masterclass at BrianCain.com/golf If you are a baseball player or coach join Brian's FREE Baseball Masterclass at BrianCain.com/baseball

In this episode of Mental Performance Daily, Brian revisits one of the top 10 lessons he learned from his mentor Dr. Ken Ravizza about being in the present moment and being where your feet are. Brian Cain, MPM, the World's leader in Mental Performance Coaching brings you practical tips, techniques, stories, strategies, meditations and motivations every day that you can use to close the gap from where you are to where you want to be with The Mental Performance Daily Podcast.   Mental Performance Daily with Brian Cain is brought to you by Soul CBD. Go to mysoulcbd.com/cain15 for 15% off your order. That's  mysoulcbd.com/cain15 for 15% off. Be sure to subscribe wherever you are listening to this podcast, leave us a review and engage with Brian on social media @BrianCainPeak  Be sure to join Brian's email list at BrianCain.com/join so that you can stay updated and in the know when it comes to Brian and the forefront of mental performance training. If you are a coach looking to master mental performance coaching, the missing link in your clients and athletes performance, join Brian's MPM Coaches Insiders List and receive his best strategies for coaching mental performance and save $200 off his MPM Certification Course when it opens this fall. If you are an athlete, join my FREE 3 Day Mini Course on Mental Performance at BrianCain.com/free-athletes-course If you are a golfer or golf coach join Brian's FREE Golf Masterclass at BrianCain.com/golf If you are a baseball player or coach join Brian's FREE Baseball Masterclass at BrianCain.com/baseball

In this episode of Mental Performance Daily, Brian revisits one of the top 10 lessons he learned from his mentor Dr. Ken Ravizza about the importanc of breathin'. Brian Cain, MPM, the World's leader in Mental Performance Coaching brings you practical tips, techniques, stories, strategies, meditations and motivations every day that you can use to close the gap from where you are to where you want to be with The Mental Performance Daily Podcast.   Mental Performance Daily with Brian Cain is brought to you by Soul CBD. Go to mysoulcbd.com/cain15 for 15% off your order. That's  mysoulcbd.com/cain15 for 15% off. Be sure to subscribe wherever you are listening to this podcast, leave us a review and engage with Brian on social media @BrianCainPeak  Be sure to join Brian's email list at BrianCain.com/join so that you can stay updated and in the know when it comes to Brian and the forefront of mental performance training. If you are a coach looking to master mental performance coaching, the missing link in your clients and athletes performance, join Brian's MPM Coaches Insiders List and receive his best strategies for coaching mental performance and save $200 off his MPM Certification Course when it opens this fall. If you are an athlete, join my FREE 3 Day Mini Course on Mental Performance at BrianCain.com/free-athletes-course If you are a golfer or golf coach join Brian's FREE Golf Masterclass at BrianCain.com/golf If you are a baseball player or coach join Brian's FREE Baseball Masterclass at BrianCain.com/baseball

Welcome to Season 10, Episode 41, of the ParentingAces Podcast, a proud member of the Tennis Channel Podcast Network. In this week's episode, we'll be revisiting the Apeak App for training mental skills in tennis players. To watch/listen to our previous podcast with Apeak founder Brian Park, click here. I highly encourage you to watch the video version of this week's episode so you can see Apeak in action: parentingaces.com. Apeak uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) to help tennis players train the mental side of the game. Now partnering with noted performance psychologist, Dr. Jim Loehr, the app offers even more personally-tailored content and trainings. After playing ITF juniors, futures, and college tennis, Brian Park began his master's program in Sports Psychology at California State University, Fullerton. He was fortunate enough to have Dr. Ken Ravizza, one of the most well-known sports psychologists, as a member of his graduate committee. While getting his master's degree, Brian was also coaching full-time. Coaching was a great way for him to implement the mental skills he was learning at school. He knew how critical mental skills were to the success of competitive players. Then in 2018, while doing mental training consulting with a challenging student, Brian decided to try a new approach that focused on allowing players to repeat proper ways of thinking and reflect on their performance. The results were eye opening, and it was at that moment that he knew he had found the solution he was looking for. The Apeak System was born. As mentioned in the podcast, the new and improved Apeak is available October 12 and they are offering a 20% discount to the ParentingAces Community. Simply click here to receive the discount. For more information on Apeak, please visit their website here. You can reach Brian via email at brian@apeak.com. As always, a big thank you to Morgan Stone, aka STØNE, for our intro and outro music this season. You can find more of his music at SoundCloud.com/stonemuzic. If you're interested in House Music, please be sure to check out his social media channels on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. If you're so inclined, please share this – and all our episodes! – with your tennis community. You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes or via your favorite podcast app. If you haven't already, be sure to become a Member of ParentingAces by clicking here. And check out our logo'd merch in our online shop (Premium Members received FREE SHIPPING every day!). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 28 of The Mental Game features 9th year professional baseball outfielder Brennan Metzger. Now in his debut season with the Chicago Dogs, Metzger was a San Francisco Giants draft choice in 2012. In 2013, Metzger, who suffers from Crohn's disease, was hospitalized for over a month, undergoing a major surgery that removed his large intestine. He also entered into four emergency surgeries that gravely threatened his life. At age 23, Metzger nearly died in the hospital. He lost 80 pounds. Metzger maintains that, while his body was rendered non-functional, his reliance on staying mentally attuned through focus, staying present and positive saved him. He still carries those skills with him today as he continues his pro baseball career. On the podcast, Metzger delves into: How he nearly lost his life at age 23 What inspired him to mentally refocus and engineer his recovery How he transfers those skills to the baseball diamond What he learned through working with Dr. Ken Ravizza, considered one of the pioneers of sports psychology Enjoy and remember to be kind to yourself. The Mental Game podcast is produced by Sam Brief and music is courtesy of David Brief and Channel J. You can subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, TuneIn and Stitcher. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/sam-brief/support

Zach Brandon is the mental skills coordinator for the Arizona Diamondbacks, where he helps baseball's best players reach their maximum potential. Zach's approach to developing a strong mind, body and spirit is as applicable to life as it is on the diamond. Prior to his current role in professional baseball, Zach served as a Mental Conditioning Coach at the IMG Academy where he worked with athletes and coaches in baseball, basketball, tennis, and track & field.  He was a college baseball player and received his Bachelor's degree in Psychology from Linfield College and holds a Master's degree in Kinesiology and Applied Sport Psychology from Cal State Fullerton where he studied under the guidance of Dr. Ken Ravizza. In this podcast, Zach discusses How to direct your attention when it matters on the right thing at the right time Why positive and negative thinking can both help performance The importance of a holistic approach to developing mind, body and spirit Perspective and the importance of of developing it vs. being defined by it Why it's better to have the right question than have the right answer And much more... You can engage with Zach on Twitter @MVP_Mindset and with Brian Cain on twitter and instagram @BrianCainePeak Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Elliot Glynn is in his second season with the Fordham University baseball coaching staff as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator. Elliot joined Fordham's baseball program after five seasons as an assistant coach at the University of Hartford, where he assisted with recruiting, oversaw Hartford's pitching staff, and helped the Hawks break a handful of records during his time with the team. Prior to Hartford, Glynn was an assistant coach at Siena College.Glynn played collegiately at the University of Connecticut, where he was a two-time captain for the Huskies. In 2011, he helped lead the squad to the NCAA Super Regionals and, one year prior to that, he helped the Huskies to a school-record 48 wins. He is still among the Huskies' leaders in all-time innings pitched, games started, wins, and strikeouts. Elliot spent two seasons in the Milwaukee Brewers farm system and played one year professionally in Germany before entering the coaching profession.In this episode, Elliot discusses how he chose UConn despite being a Southern California native. Elliot also discusses the attributes he looks for in prospective recruits as Fordham's recruiting coordinator. Finally, Elliot and I also dive into the mental game of baseball and how Major League Baseball sport psychology pioneer Ken Ravizza has influenced his time in baseball.Listeners will hear first-hand from a former college and professional baseball player and current assistant coach regarding the challenges associated with transitioning up the ladder to higher levels of baseball from high school to the professional game.

Dr. Doug Chadwick is a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point where he was a standout football player on Army's nationally ranked team. He is currently the Director of Mental Skills Development for the Colorado Rockies.  After graduating from West Point, Doug studied economics at the University of Oklahoma and kinesiology and applied sport psychology at Cal State Fullerton under the tutelage of Dr. Ken Ravizza. He then went on to receive his Ph.D. from The University of Georgia. In this podcast we talk about How you can be in one of three places at any given time, but only one helps your performance The important of the intentional breath and intentional conscious thought How counting your breaths can be a mental performance weapon in combat and on the baseball field The importance of connecting what we do in the classroom to competition His 3 step after action review and the importance of accurate self-reflection And much more… Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today we sit down with Arizona Diamondbacks Mental Skills Coordinator, Zach Brandon. Zach won a baseball National Championship at Linfield College, received his master’s degree in Sports Psychology at Cal Fullerton under the legend Dr. Ken Ravizza, and honed his craft at IMG Academy before coming to Arizona. We talked about how to mesh your mind, body, and spirit to optimize your best.

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

In this episode of the Tennis IQ Podcast, Josh and Brian share their favorite books related to sport/performance psychology and tennis. With the holidays right around the corner, this is a great chance to look into getting these books for someone close to you or for yourself. These books vary greatly in terms of topic, perspective, and age, but all share valuable insights for athletes, coaches, and fans of tennis. Feel free to reach out via email at tennisiqpodcast@gmail.com with any books that you feel that we should add to our lists! Josh's Top 5 Books: Winning Ugly by Brad Gilbert The Inner Game of Tennis by W. Timothy Gallwey Heads-Up Baseball by Ken Ravizza and Tom Hanson Life As Sport by Jonathan Fader The New Toughness Training for Sports by James Loehr Brian's Top 5 Books: In Pursuit of Excellence by Terry Orlick The Only Way to Win by James Loehr Atomic Habits by James Clear The Obstacle is the Way by Ryan Holiday Tennis: Winning the Mental Match by Allen Fox Bonus book for coaches: Coaching Athletes to Be Their Best: Motivational Interviewing in Sports by Stephen Rollnick, Jonathan Fader, Jeff Breckon, and Theresa B. Moyers. A list of good sport and positive psychology books: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/86517.Best_Positive_And_Sports_Psychology_Books To learn more about Josh and Brian's backgrounds and sport psychology businesses, go to TiebreakerPsych.com and PerformanceXtra.com. If you have feedback about the show or questions on the mental game in tennis, email us at TennisIQPodcast@gmail.com or use the hashtag #tennisIQ on Twitter. Don't forget to subscribe on YouTube or your podcast platform of choice (Spotify, Apple, Google, etc.) to stay up to date on future episodes!

Matt volunteers as a chaplain and peer support for police agencies in Los Angeles. Matt believes all first responders can have careers that provide deeper meaning and add richness to their spiritual lives if approached in the right manner.⁣⁣Matt is a medically retired police officer that worked patrol, Peer Support, SWAT, and as a full-time police academy instructor. Matt was the Wellness Coordinator for his agency integrating sports nutrition, strength and conditioning, stress management, combatives-and-scenario training regarding officers as tactical athletes. He also was concurrently a collegiate strength coach at Yale and Georgetown Universities while a full-time police officer. Later he was a strength coach and mental skills trainer for NFL combine athletes.⁣⁣Matt played linebacker and was a competitive powerlifter for the Air Force Academy and Colgate University. He has an MS in Forensic Science under Dr. Henry Lee, an MS in Sport Psychology under Dr. Ken Ravizza, a MA in Pastoral Theology with a concentration in Spiritual Direction from Loyola Marymount University, and an additional spiritual direction certificate from Stillpoint. Matt focused his studies and additional immersion experiences in the contemplative traditions as well as masculine spirituality and psychology.⁣⁣Find me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/booksbehindthebadge/Find Matt on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thinbluelinespirituality/Intro Music: ForensicFind Forensic on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/deputy_hookem/

Our next guest in our ABCA Podcast Hall of Fame Series is Don Sneddon, the all-time winningest coach in California Community College history with 1072 victories. Sneddon played for Wally Kincaid, Dave Snow and Augie Garrido and spent 32 years as head coach at Santa Ana College. He also has coaching experience on the pro side with the Colorado Rockies and in the Cape Cod Baseball League. He was an assistant for Jerry Weinstein with the Wareham Gateman in 2016 and 2017 before moving up to manager in 2018 and leading them to the Cape League title. Sneddon is a 42-year continuous ABCA member and is a 2015 California Community College Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame Inductee. Sneddon was one of the first coaches to work with Ken Ravizza and was a teacher the entire time he was coaching at Santa Ana. We dive into how he blended the classroom and the baseball field and how he used breathing techniques to help future firefighters and police officers.

Our next guest in our ABCA Podcast Hall of Fame Series is Don Sneddon, the all-time winningest coach in California Community College history with 1072 victories. Sneddon played for Wally Kincaid, Dave Snow and Augie Garrido and spent 32 years as head coach at Santa Ana College. He also has coaching experience on the pro side with the Colorado Rockies and in the Cape Cod Baseball League. He was an assistant for Jerry Weinstein with the Wareham Gateman in 2016 and 2017 before moving up to manager in 2018 and leading them to the Cape League title. Sneddon is a 42-year continuous ABCA member and is a 2015 California Community College Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame Inductee. Sneddon was one of the first coaches to work with Ken Ravizza and was a teacher the entire time he was coaching at Santa Ana. We dive into how he blended the classroom and the baseball field and how he used breathing techniques to help future firefighters and police officers.

Our next guest in our ABCA Podcast Hall of Fame Series is Don Sneddon, the all-time winningest coach in California Community College history with 1072 victories. Sneddon played for Wally Kincaid, Dave Snow and Augie Garrido and spent 32 years as head coach at Santa Ana College. He also has coaching experience on the pro side with the Colorado Rockies and in the Cape Cod Baseball League. He was an assistant for Jerry Weinstein with the Wareham Gateman in 2016 and 2017 before moving up to manager in 2018 and leading them to the Cape League title. Sneddon is a 42-year continuous ABCA member and is a 2015 California Community College Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame Inductee. Sneddon was one of the first coaches to work with Ken Ravizza and was a teacher the entire time he was coaching at Santa Ana. We dive into how he blended the classroom and the baseball field and how he used breathing techniques to help future firefighters and police officers.

BioCurrent Head Coach at Eastern Mennonite University to become the 11th HC in the programs 52 yearsAfter graduating from EMU in 2014 he came on the Royals staff to become the first full time assistant coach.Serves the Fellowship of Christian athletesA leader among the faculty and staff at EMU that aligns to their Christian values. Show NotesFall has more focus on development and built individual development plan due to given more days with the teamAssistant coach has title of director of player developmentBaseline testing - on base u (mobility), blast, hitting/pitching rapsodoComparison to the team to develop a plan3 things to accomplish in practice: compete, mindful, and fun!You are the bowling ball, we are the guide rails!Be your best coach!!Getting strength coach certification to help tailor strength programsAccess google drive for ind development plans (IDP)Freshman/soph (younger guy) teams development mode in the spring, starters will focus on more approachChanged the focus of practice from time, to feel and environment!Fast paced practice, music, and shortened time of team practiceAll teaching is done before we get on the fieldGuided meditation has been a big success, and is built into practiceUse a guided meditation app, players can pick the GM of the dayHeads Up baseball by Ken Ravizza!!!I didn’t get physically better, but my mind got sharper!The breath is the biggest skill that most guys coming into college baseball need!!What does your routine look like?What is your release to get your back into green light mode? Script out the routine, and you don’t get to practice until it is written out****3 Pillars; Compete for championships, Graduating, and Giving back to the communityWhat is the process, everyday discipline to get to that point??If the actions are not aligned with the processes/behaviors we need to switch it upGet guys to buy into that everyday process (how we take care of our guys)Week 1 goal and habit assessment Goals - what do you want to achieveHabits - what does your day look likeThe best players for EMU have been people who are about giving back to the community.adam.posey@emu.edu@adamposey

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

In this episode, I speak with a veteran in the field of sport psychology, Jim Skelton. Jim has spent over 20 years being a consultant, and is a direct student of the powerful Ken Ravizza. I brought him on to speak on his experience over the years. Please Enjoy!

Mario Soto is a Sport Psychology Consultant (https://mariosoto.com) with an extensive background in performance sports, as well as, being a professional working actor for ten years earning his union status in all three guilds (SAG, AEA, and AFTRA). He holds a master’s degree in Sport & Performance Psychology Consulting from California State University Fullerton under the tutelage of the some of the most well-respected Sport Psychology consultants in the world – Dr. Ken Ravizza, Dr. Traci Statler, Dr. Andrea Becker, and Dr. Len Wiersma.“Anyone can benefit from getting out of their own way. We’re just a bit overwhelmed by life’s distractions, the misperceptions of pressure and sometimes the inability of letting go of our past mistakes. It’s my hope to provide people with the tools and confidence to believe in themselves, create realistic expectations, and develop the discipline to stay on their journey towards excellence.” – Coach MarioMario Soto has worked with a multitude of teams, athletes, coaches, and artists at the amateur, Olympic and professional levels assisting them in dealing with stage fright, stress reduction, self-doubt and low esteem, improving performance routines, goal setting, mental toughness, focus, imagery and visualization, motivation, confidence, dealing with pressure, over/under arousal, team dynamics, cohesion and helping foster culture change.He has lectured and consulted around the country on topics like •Being a great sports parent, •How to coach and relate to today’s athlete, and •Turning yourself into an elite performer”Enjoy the podcast and continue to develop your Pro Mindset!

Former Cub and now mental skills coach for the Cubs, John Baker joins the podcast with David Kaplan and Gordon Wittenmyer to discuss the mental aspect the players are going through in the return to play plan. They dive into keeping players focused, how the lessons of Cubs psychologist, the late Ken Ravizza still impacts the Cubs, and how the Cubs are operating under the new guidelines. (2:23) - Biggest mental challenges Cubs players are dealing with(10:55) - Ken Ravizza's lessons still impact the Cubs(19:46) - Getting Cubs players to be in the moment when playing (25:00) - Kaplan and Baker exchange tattoo stories(30:30) - Not having fans around has been tough

Show dedicated to my friend Ken Ravizza the God Father of mental training and Brian Cain's mentor. Cutting Edge Strategies to Help You Achieve The Elite Mindset, Culture and Consistency Required to Succeed at The Highest Levels of Competition The World's Leading Authority on Mental Performance. Brian is a #1 International best-selling author and one... The post Brain Cain Master the Mental Coaching Game and Win. CREATOR OF THE MPM COACHING CERTIFICATION COURSE appeared first on Baseball Outside The Box.

Energy, Passion and Knowledge are three words that come to mind when describing this episode's guest. Demetre has spent his entire life learning the art of baseball. They say baseball is a mental game. Demetre was fortunate enough to spend time with The Godfather of Sports Psychology, Ken Ravizza. We take deep dive in to their relationship and the impact Ken had on Demetre. On a lighter note, you don't want to miss Demetre's mound visit stories.

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 […]

In this episode I chat with one of the leading mental performance coaches in the entire world, Brian Cain. Sought after for his electric and high energy personality, Cainer’s resume helping athlete’s achieve some of the biggest accolades and championships in sport goes on and on. We talk about the most elite athletes he's worked with, and the challenges they needed to overcome. The 10 pillars of mental performance mastery, how to deliberately train your focus, and how to practice being in the moment. Developing purpose, a mission, and utilizing the power of time to reach your long term goals. Check out the full show notes here: https://goaliehacks.com/ghp-009-dialing-it-in-w-brian-cainSupport the show (https://www.patreon.com/goaliehacks)

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

Inside this episode, we connect with a pair of brothers that both have found their calling in coaching as we chat with Pete Savage, head coach at Reno HS in Nevada and John Savage, head coach at UCLA - what a special treat this one was! Combined on the call is well over 2,000 wins, a few state championships and a national championship plus more perspective than you might be ready for. For the baseball lovers out there, imagine a thanksgiving dinner with these two guys holding court and that’s what we went for with both Pete and John opening up on their childhood experiences growing up playing sports, we go into lifelong learning, mental notes from the late Ken Ravizza plus working at keeping balance at home with our families!

Today, we have a VERY special guest…Tyler Rahmatulla, Stephanie’s son and Kayla’s brother!Tyler is a husband, father of 3 boys (and another one on the way), and former professional baseball player. He played all through his childhood in to his adult years – from Mater Dei High School, UCLA and ultimately playing for the St. Louis Cardinals’ minor league teams. In this episode, he talks with us about the life of a collegiate and professional athlete and how it demands a mental toughness in order to be successful. Throughout Tyler’s baseball career he worked with some incredibly wise mentors, coaches and fellow athletes. Along the way he learned lessons of “mental toughness” that he put to use on the field and continues to implement in his daily life today.Among those mentors was Ken Ravizza, a sport psychologist, who played a major role in changing Tyler’s mental game for the better. He consulted with countless athletes and helped them reach peak performance - all starting with their mind. “Destructive little voices in your head are often fueled by destructive emotions. Try to turn off your emotions and think logically”- Ken RavizzaSome topics we cover:Confidence vs conceitPreparation / planningControl the controllablesBeing PresentTyler also hosts a podcast: The Brushback Baseball PodcastIt covers all things baseball, baseball, and more baseball. Tyler and co-host David Klein (avid Dodgers fan, stat memorizer, and semi-pro baseball historian) are at opposite ends of the baseball spectrum but use this dialog to share each unique perspective. They aim to share weekly discussions of MLB news, life/mindset of a ballplayer, the business side of baseball and interviews with players, coaches, and everybody in between.You can find them on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, & Instagram.Tyler's InstgramAnd because we can... A proud mom and little sister moment: Check out Tyler's home run mentioned in the episode here & here. xo Stephanie & Kayla

Do you somehow get turned off during matches? 

Ken Ravizza 70 https://bit.ly/3aywrPg    Judge Article https://es.pn/341vFaM    GSP  https://bit.ly/2UvZld1      

Have you ever stayed at the shore 

Episode 13: We had the pleasure of talking with John Savage, Head Baseball Coach at UCLA. Coach Savage gives some great insight into recruiting and follows up with some things his pitchers work on throughout the fall. We also get his thoughts on a potential Pac12 Tournament and the NCAA D1 Council ruling to not have a paid 3rd assistant coach and its impact on college programs. Coach Savage shares with us his relationship with the late Dr. Ken Ravizza and the role he played and continues to play in UCLA baseball. We would like to thank Coach Savage for taking the time to sit with us. Hope you enjoy the show!

“The only thing a player can control is her own game; so concern about what the competition may or may not be doing is a useless distraction.” – Ken Ravizza   The Mental Clutch – https://thementalclutch.org/ Flow – https://positivepsychologyprogram.com/mihaly-csikszentmihalyi-father-of-flow/

Joining us today is the elite mindset coach Brian Cain!  Brian has coached multiple Cy Young Award winners, UFC champions, has consulted for top teams in the NFL, NHL, MLB and more.  Our chat with Brian dives deep on the mindset of performance where Brian has 10 Pillars that he feels are the necessary building blocks to overcoming adversity, achieving peak performance, and relentlessly pursuing your goals. Time Stamps The importance of relating to your clients and have an idea of what is going on ‘upstairs'. How the mind has to precede the body. [4:26] Steps to teach the average athlete to accomplish their dreams: The 10 skill sets that make up an ‘unbreakable' mind. [11:12] #1 – Create an ‘Elite' mindset. [14:30] #2 – Motivation and commitment. [20:16] #3 – Focus and awareness. [22:16] #4 – Self-control and discipline: Let your plan drive the bus. [30:28] #5 – Process over outcome. [35:04] #6 – Meditation and mental imagery: How separation is in preparation. [36:58] #7 – Build a routine and create habits of excellence. [51:57] #8 – Time management and organization: His 168 plan. [57:23] #9 – Leadership: Ability to build trust and get results. [1:00:57] #10 – Culture: The M.V.P. process. [1:03:04] What are his daily affirmations? [1:05:30] How you are always on and off the path. [1:06:45] What are his favorite books on this topic? [1:09:35] The Mental Performance Mastery (MPM) Certification. [1:12:14] His ‘six economies'. [1:16:06] Featured Guest Brian Cain (@briancainpeak) • Instagram Website YouTube Related Links/Products Mentioned Mindset: The New Psychology of Success - Book by Carol Dweck Amy Cuddy: Your body language may shape who you are | TED Talk Presence: Bringing Your Boldest Self to Your Biggest Challenges – Book Amy Cuddy Concentration Grids For Mental Performance Heads-Up Baseball: Playing the Game One Pitch at a Time - Book by Ken Ravizza and Tom Hanson Man's Search for Meaning - Book by Viktor Frankl Inspiring: Change the World by Making Your Bed - by Admiral William McRaven The Daily Stoic : 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living - Book by Ryan Holiday The Compound Effect - Book by Darren Hardy Life Is Yours to Win: Lessons Forged from the Purpose, Passion, and Magic of Baseball - Book by Augie Garrido The Way of the Fight – Book by Georges St-Pierre Legacy - Book by JAMES. KERR Power sleep : The Revolutionary Program That Prepares Your Mind for Peak Performance - Book by James B Maas People Mentioned Amy Cuddy (@amyjccuddy) · Twitter Tom Newman - Yale Robert Gilbert (@SuccessHotline) | Twitter Georges St-Pierre (@georgesstpierre) • Instagram Ryan Holiday (@ryanholiday) • Instagram

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 Reed Peters, the head baseball coach at San Joaquin Delta College in Stockton, California. During the course of this discussion, Reed Peters puts a strong emphasis on the importance of ‘the mental game’ of baseball. Coach Peters equips listeners with an overview of his practice drills, why focusing on the players makes you a better coach, and how to prevent past success from making your team lazy.   Show Notes: Guest: Reed Peters, Head Baseball Coach at San Joaquin Delta College They discuss David Smith, a former player of Reed Peter’s was also a former coach of host Jonathan Gelnar Coach Peters won National Coach of the Year for the Pacific Division and the 2018 California State Championship His team went from having a chip on their shoulder from losing the previous year to becoming champions Players are trained in all facets of baseball so no one player is burdened with carrying the team Teams will be bring their best game against you when you are coming off of success while entering a new season It isn’t just about champions, it’s about reaching toward the next level of your career California teams are limited to 12 hour practice weeks so Wednesday is the team’s recovery day off Training days include academic study halls, mental baseball class, conditioning, throwing program, defense training, hitting, and the weight room. Saturday is for playing other teams to see how they compare The competitive culture is instilled by making players compete for their playing time Calvin Riley, a very competitive player, was shot and killed and is used as a reminder for players to stay focused After college, Reed played major league baseball with the Angles and the Giants Coach and author Ken Ravizza inspired Reed on improving the mental game of baseball The spring practice plan is less intense and includes, conditioning, throwing, hard dirt skill training, offense, defense, swing drills, and competitive games Coach Peters would rather see a ‘live arm’ so they don’t use pitching machines on the field Your career as a coach is as good as that of your players’ Lead with your heart and your God-given gifts--not with punishment Competitive point games keep the players interested and excited The biggest reward is to stay in contact with players and hear that you have been a positive influence on them 3 Key Points:     Coach Peters’ team was: 1st in runs,hits, and on-base percentage, 2nd in doubles and stolen bases, 3rd in home runs, and had an overall .315 batting average.  Every year the players have to invent their own mission statement to have something to hold each other accountable to.   Realizing his success is based on his players’ success and having positive relationships with them made Reed Peters a better coach. Tweetable Quotes: “I think we ended up having, I think, nine guys move on to Division 1 schools.” - Reed Peters (1:13) “Whatever our opponent gives us, we have to be able to take advantage of.” - Reed Peters (3:32) “Our philosophy is ‘pass the baton.’ No guy has to carry the team.” - Reed Peters (3:58) “Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.” - Reed Peters (4:43) “We make no promises to anybody. All we are going to promise to them is that they are going to have to compete, and fight for a job and fight for their playing time.” - Reed Peters (9:03) “I think what we do more than anybody else is really focus on the mental game.” - Reed Peters (12:46)   Resources Mentioned: Ahead of the Curve Podcast @AOTC_podcast Delta College Email: rpeters@deltacollege.edu Book: “Lead...for God’s Sake” by Todd Gongwer    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

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

Jen Schumacher, M.S., CMPC, is a Performance Psychology Instructor at the Center for Enhanced Performance at the United States Military Academy. She works with cadets and teams on the psychological aspects of elite performance. Jen works with cadets on the mental aspects of the Survival Swimming course, incorporating virtual reality training alongside workshops. Jen operates a private consulting practice, providing individual training for elite and club athletes, marathon swimmers, and executives. She also runs mental skills seminars and team building retreats for athletic and corporate groups. In addition to performance psychology, Jen’s other passion is marathon swimming. She has completed two Catalina Channel crossings, the 28-mile length of the LA Bay, the Manhattan Island Marathon Swim, the Strait of Gibraltar, Lake Tahoe, and several Catalina Channel relays. Jen credits much of her athletic success to her experiences working with and learning about the mental aspects of performance. Jen earned her Master's Degree in Sport Psychology at California State University, Fullerton, studying under Dr. Ken Ravizza, and is a Certified Mental Performance Consultant through the Association of Applied Sport Psychology. She is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in Health and Human Performance at Concordia University of Chicago. In this interview, Jen and Cindra talk about: How she became grateful while swimming with a shark How she uses Ravizza’s “3 Rs” in marathon swimming The difference between offensive and defensive self-talk The 4Ps of self-talk How to address your fear with “fear statements” You can find a full description of the Podcast at cindrakamphoff.com/jen

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

Subscribe on iTunes    Subscribe on Stitcher   Subscribe on Google Play   Quotes It pays to be a winner. And it pays to be a loser too, just not the kind of payment you want. Competing does not just mean competing against another person, its also competing against yourself to get better. You may be having a bad day but Ken (Ravizza) used to say all the time to “Give me 100% of your 50% today.” Thats competing. You’re making the choice to compete even though you don't feel great, The power of choice is always there. The great ones make the right choices. We believe that failure is an opportunity to learn. If something is hard that means only a few people are doing it. Lets just say the kids today are different, well what if they are? Its our job as coaches to adapt and coach them.   Resources Heads up baseball Legacy Daniel Coyle- talent code and culture code Contact rjc40@psu.edu @16RobCooper   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

While I didn’t know Ken Ravizza like others did, I still feel the sting of this loss. I read about him in my textbooks while I was in school in the field, I heard about him from my peers, and when I finally met him in January of 2017, he was everything that all my peers had told me he was. He was kind, he was funny, he was authentic, he was intelligent, and he was a delight to be around.

Matthew Nein, Head Sports Performance Coach for Salisbury University, talks to the NSCA Head Strength and Conditioning Coach, Scott Caulfield, about receiving the NSCA Collegiate Strength Coach of the Year award, personal and program values, and mental toughness. As the Coordinator of Sports Performance at Salisbury University, Matthew Nein, CSCS, RSCC*D, oversees the training programs of 21 varsity teams, three graduate assistants, and an intern and volunteer staff of about 15. During his tenure, Nein has had the opportunity to work with 12 National Championship teams, eight individual National Championship athletes, and over 300 All-Americans. He has been certified as a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist® (CSCS®) by the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) since 2004 and recently garnered the distinction of a Registered Strength and Conditioning Coach® with Distinction (RSCC*D). He also serves on the NSCA Advisory Board for the State of Delaware. While not training athletes, he manages all indoor recreational facilities and serves as an Adjunct Instructor in the Applied Health Physiology Department at Salisbury University. Prior to coming to Salisbury University, Nein spent one season as a strength coach in the Minor League Baseball system of the Toronto Blue Jays organization. He received his Master’s degree in Applied Health Physiology from Salisbury University in 2004 and Bachelor’s degree in Physical Education from Towson University in 2002. Find Matt on Twitter: @CoachNein | Find Scott on Twitter: @scottcaulfieldShow Notes “When I began my career fourteen – fifteen years ago, you know it was one about inspiring and impacting people… I don’t think this was ever a goal necessarily but to just go out and… impact as many people as I could.” 1:32“That was the very first thing after finding out, was reaching back in to all my former staff members, you know, and really reaching out to them and saying thank you for all the work they did.” 2:53“We’re going to hire people that want to challenge me as well, as a coach, and we want to create that environment and that scenario so that they feel comfortable to be able to challenge and question and really dive in—and I think that makes all of us better as people.” 3:25“I have a big philosophy that the better your staff, the better training your athletes are going to get, and it just becomes this cyclical concept that we bring in better staff, we get better training, our athletes are going to further grow and develop.” 5:45“My budget is zero, I don’t have one, there’s no line item anything, which makes it challenging but—so you’ve got to figure it out and got to be creative in what you do.” 9:22“When someone says no, you come back and okay, what do I need to rework and figure out to go right back at it again.” 9:38“For me, passion’s probably the biggest thing.” 10:10“[Interns] starting as a freshman as a sophomore, we’ve got two and a half, potentially three years of work that we can really see them grow and become something in the field.” 10:38“I have personal values, and then we have our program values and I think my personal values are something I need to live by every day and really it’s that impact, influence, and inspire.” 17:56“Do you set your alarm in the morning and if you do, do you hit snooze and, if you do, are you willing to attack the day then at that point or are you saying ‘hey it’s okay I’m just going to go back to sleep and delay being successful and great today.’” 18:31“We have attitude, enthusiasm, energy, and effort as our four program values.” 19:29“Quote… that Brett Ledbetter had in his book [What Drives Winning] [talks about how] it’s not what you teach, it’s what you emphasize.” 20:19“Mental toughness is one of the things that is highly talked about, but not really well understood.” 22:25“Dr. McGuire, Dr. Pat Ivey, Dr. Amber Lattner—I think her name now is Selking—so she also has the Championship Mindset Podcast, which is great… Brian Kang does a fantastic job. They’ve got a couple others: Ken Ravizza works in the baseball setting a lot, but he’s been in other settings as well. To me, that’s that core group that does an absolute fantastic job [regarding mental toughness].” 26:47“US Lacrosse has been fantastic, I mean they’re really open to it and it’s great for us, great for them, great for the NSCA.” 36:45“We want to help people grow—that’s what it’s all about, you know, and if we want to do that, we’ve got to connect to people.” 37:35“If you can’t find something that’ll help you grow as a professional, you’re not really looking very hard at that point.” 41:34“There’s always something to gain and something to grow from no matter what presentation you sit in.” 41:40

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.  

Subscribe on iTunes    Subscribe on Stitcher   Subscribe on Google Play   Quotes Our approach to teaching a new skill is education, application and support. We start with why its important, then we apply it to practice and then from there we figure out what works and what doesn’t for each kid. We say the breath is the MVP of the mental game. We spend a lot of time on teaching it. a concept that Ken Ravizza and Tom Hansen discuss. Learn it Do it Own it We invest a lot of time learning it, but can we actually practice the skills? We need to create a practice environment that does that. Theres a difference between a jungle tiger and a zoo tiger. Whats the life of a zoo tiger like? Spoon-fed, easy and comfortable. What’s life like in the jungle? Its stressful and your survival is on the line. Now lets compare it to baseball, which one is practice and which one is the game? We need to be able to create more jungle tigers and put our players in stressful situations. There’s a lot of time to think in baseball. Your mind can be your best friend of your work enemy. It can be a weapon or a weakness.  In order to get behavior change, we have to get repetition and progression of skills. If I’m a coach and I do session in the classroom once a week, thats better than nothing. In that setting we expect the players to transfer those skills over to the field. If we only do those sessions in the classroom, we’re going to be setup for disappointment.  Resources Heads up baseball Harvey Dorfman Ken Ravizza Ben Ehrlich Taylor Stutzman 1% Better Podcast ABCA Calls from the clubhouse   Contact @MVP_Mindset Zachary.Brandon@img.com 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  

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.

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 [...]

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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.

“Goal setting is critical in performance but the key is what are you focused on TODAY to get better? The time is now the place is here.” Ken Ravizza In this episode, Cindra shares 4 take-aways she got from interviewing Ken Ravizza. Summary: High performers constantly work on themselves. They are in constant evolution. They focus less on how they feel. They enjoy the people that they are around and learn to love where there feet are. Affirmation this Week: “Today, I will enjoy where I’m at, learn where I’m at, and really immerse myself where I am at.”  

Dr. Ken Ravizza was a professor for over 40 years at Cal State Fullerton and has become a legend in professional baseball where he helps teams and athletes master the mental game. He has worked in professional baseball for over 25 years, and has worked closely with Joe Madden, the manager of the Chicago Cubs. Over the years he has worked with Madden at the Angels, Dodgers, Rays, and now at the Cubs. He has been involved in over eight Olympic Games where he has helped athletes master the mental game. You can find a full transcript of Ken's interview and the show notes at cindrakamphoff.com/ken/.  

**Listen in as Positive Coaching Alliance goes 1-on-1 in interviews with top pro and college players, coaches, executives and other major sports figures who provide tips, tools, information and inspiration for youth and high school sports coaches, parents and student-athletes.** This 1-on-1 interview features Ken Ravizza ([@RavizzaQuotes](https://twitter.com/RavizzaQuotes)) PCA National Advisory Board Member and one of the leading peak performance consultants in the world, working most recently with the Chicago Cubs. He has worked with some of the best athletes and coaches in the world, and he helped develop the concept of a Triple-Impact Competitor®. Positive Coaching Alliance utilizes this model in its workshops to teach athletes to contribute positively on three levels: Personal Mastery, Leadership, and Honoring the Game. Jim Thompson ([@JimThompson18](https://twitter.com/JimThompson18)), PCA Founder, talks to Ravizza about what's changed in sports over the last 20 years, how to keep fun in sports, and how process matters more than outcome, and how athletes can focus on one thing at a time. Ravizza also acknowledges that athletes will have bad days, and discusses how athletes can be their best even on those bad days. Other highlights of the podcast include: - How peak performance is not just about you, but how you can make your teammates better (being a team player is a learned mental skill). - How parents can acknowledge and understand that it takes courage for their athletes to perform. - How athletes don't think about mechanics in the heat of competition. Like what you hear? To subscribe to our podcast in iTunes, [click here](https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/pca-development-zone/id952838976?mt=2)

Brian takes you back to an interview with his mentor, Dr. Ken Ravizza on the importance of the mental game.   You will learn: Ken's answer to the question, "why is the mental game so important?" An important question to ask your players to understand their mental state How to maintain to confidence when you aren't seeing results The importance of teaching the WHY Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Unpacking the "Mental Game" for coaches can be a tall task so we called in one of the best – the creator of Peak Performance, Brian Cain. Cain details his career in mental training and conditioning, from his early years with the Cal State Fullerton teams and Ken Ravizza to now training some of the high-profile college and high school teams around the country. In this episode, Cain offers our listeners coaching cues and systems to arm their players with to help tackle adversity and failure. Cain also details the successful habits and mindsets of the very best coaches in our game in how they work to become more consistent and effective in the mental game training for their players and programs.

Unpacking the "Mental Game" for coaches can be a tall task so we called in one of the best – the creator of Peak Performance, Brian Cain. Cain details his career in mental training and conditioning, from his early years with the Cal State Fullerton teams and Ken Ravizza to now training some of the high-profile college and high school teams around the country. In this episode, Cain offers our listeners coaching cues and systems to arm their players with to help tackle adversity and failure. Cain also details the successful habits and mindsets of the very best coaches in our game in how they work to become more consistent and effective in the mental game training for their players and programs.

Unpacking the "Mental Game" for coaches can be a tall task so we called in one of the best – the creator of Peak Performance, Brian Cain. Cain details his career in mental training and conditioning, from his early years with the Cal State Fullerton teams and Ken Ravizza to now training some of the high-profile college and high school teams around the country. In this episode, Cain offers our listeners coaching cues and systems to arm their players with to help tackle adversity and failure. Cain also details the successful habits and mindsets of the very best coaches in our game in how they work to become more consistent and effective in the mental game training for their players and programs.

In this episode, Brian flips the script as he features the episode of the Rutten & Ranallo Podcast he was a guest on.  Brian shares great stories about his life growing up and the moment that changed Georges St. Pierre's life. Follow Brian on Twitter @BrianCainPeak Follow Rutten & Ranallo on Twitter @Rutten_Ranallo Subscribe to Brian's Monday Message here You will learn about... Brian's background growing up and what he planned to do with his life before becoming a Peak Performance Coach How Georges St. Pierre overcame the worst thing that ever happened to him while working with Brian The Big ABC's and how they lead to him finishing an IronMan The 2 Tips that any person can do to maximize each day   PODCAST TRANSCRIPTION Cain: He gets done about five minutes later and I hand him the brick. I go “Georges I want you to hold this brick out in front of you for like five seconds, can you do that?” He's like “right here in front of this restaurant in front of all these people you want me to hold the brick?” I said “yeah hold it five seconds.” So he holds it up. I go “put your arm down, now hold it up for like 50 seconds.” He holds it up no problem. I go “how about five minutes?” He goes “I could do that but I don't want to hold that up here I'm embarrassed.” I said “well how about you hold that thing for five weeks, what do you think would happen?” He goes “shit that's impossible.” I go “Georges that's exactly what you're doing, Matt Serra beat you five weeks ago and you've been carrying this mental brick ever since. You can't see it but you can feel it and it's wearing you down.” Rutten: The person we have as our guest today is a guy who was a standout pitcher at the University of Vermont where he earned a Bachelor's Degree in Physical Education and Exercise Science that later earned a Masters in Applied Sports Psychology and Kinesiology from California State Fullerton. He is a motivation speaker, a brain repairman or Mental Coach as you guys all call it (I just came up with a funnier name), he is a bestselling author whose specialization is working with different athletes from around the world and in any sport. Yes, even in Mixed Martial Arts. He works with our beloved Georges St. Pierre and he's just an all around good guy who likes to help people overcome their problems. Boys and girls here we are, Brian Cain. Brian I know I probably didn't mention many more thing you have achieve and do like your Iron Man but welcome to the show my friend. How are things over there in Richmond, Vermont if I'm not mistaken? Cain: Well you are mistaken my friend. I'm actually in Southlake, Texas. I moved out of Vermont when I got tired of the cold. I moved down here to Southlake which is about 15 minutes from the Dallas-Fort Worth airport so that I could travel to the left and right coasts of this great country and be able to get around and spread the message of Peak Performance and help athletes and people to achieve their best. A little bit hard getting out of the great state of Vermont - I miss that place - but as they say if you want to win you've got to focus on what is important now which is being where my feet are here in Southlake, Texas, ready to Dominate the Day and fire it up the B on this podcast with you my friend. Rutten: Boom. I love it. That's the same thing with the weather, for me it was. I am from Holland and of course business opportunities, that is why I moved here - California. You can't beat the weather. That's the one thing here. Cain: I actually had a stint in Holland. I coached there for eight weeks in a place called Appledorn. Are you familiar with that? Rutten: Absolutely not. Cain: It's about an hour outside of Amsterdam which I'm sure you're familiar with. Rutten: Oh you mean Holland? Oh I thought Apple -  yeah Appledorn of course I know. In Holland. I thought you meant California. But how did you like Holland? Cain: One of the greatest places on planet Earth. I absolutely loved it. The people were fantastic, the food was off the charts, and man I can't wait to go back. It was unbelievable. Rutten: Nice. Alright. Listen let's start at the beginning. I always want to know what kind of person you were when you were 12 years old in high school. did you want to be a fireman? Police officer? Astronaut? What were you like as a kid? Cain: Well those are two different questions. As a kid I was kind of a shithead. I wasn't actually the most honest kid, I wasn't the greatest kid. I got by probably athletically on talent. But what did I want to do? I wanted to be a Major League Baseball player. I think here in the States everybody who grows up whether their sport is football, basketball, or baseball, and now even in MMA that is what they want to do. They want to be a professional athlete. So growing up all my eggs were in that basket of being a baseball player. I got a scholarship (as you mentioned earlier) to go the University of Vermont. I actually got my number retired there recently, Bas, but only got my number retired because they cut the freaking program. There is no more baseball at the university. So me and all my teammates got our numbers retired. The best part about going to Vermont was experiencing the worst thing that happened to me and to my life at that point. My junior year I had a shoulder surgery. As a pitcher that basically means your career is over. At that time I read the writing on the wall, you're not going to play pro sports, and I had to take that motivation and drive that I had for baseball and put it into something else. Luckily for me I've had tremendous mentors along the way from my high school football coach to my academic advisor, Declan Connolly, one of the top exercise physiologists in the world at the University of Vermont. He said “Brian I know you've got to put that somewhere, how about sports psychology, it's something that you're into.” So that put me on a path out to Cal State Fullerton where I studied under a guy by the name of Ken Ravizza and Ken Ravizza was a professor at Fullerton and he's actually right now in the dugout with the Chicago Cubs  working with that team. I got to be a grad assistant baseball coach at Cal State Fullerton. In that year of 2002-2003, that two year period, I learned the system and the process that I teach now in the mental game whether it's with (as you mentioned earlier) GSP or with top college football programs or other sports to help people to play their best when it means the most and live in that present moment. So that was kind of my path. I never wanted to get into sports psychology. I wanted to be a baseball player and then a baseball coach. But when I got into it what I realized was what really to me going wasn't necessarily teaching somebody how to throw a curveball or hit the ball the other way but how to be more consistent and how to handle adversity and how to have more confidence and have better routines so that when they step on the mound or they step in the cage all that training that they go through really comes to fruition and they get to go out there and perform at their best. Rutten: So it was something that you thought maybe if you look back on it did you think “hey that could have helped me personally as well when I was pitching?” Cain: Oh there is no question. It's that age old question - and I'd like to ask you this at some point - what do you know now you wish you knew then? I go around - and the majority of the teams I work with are college baseball teams. It's just the way it worked. I like working with everybody. My passion is helping people not necessarily baseball players in specific but that just happens to be where my target market is right now. That and probably MMA. With those baseball players I always say man if I could go back and speak to the 18, 17, 22 year old Brian Cain I would say control what you can control, let go of the things that you can't, and don't count the days make the days count. Focus on what you need to do today because today + today + today = your career. Rutten: That's a big thing with you. You truly want to live in the now. That's the real power. I hear it from so many different people. They all say you have to live right now in the moment. Like you said to 200 yards. Every time you just add 200 yards. Baby steps. Cain: It's like if you're driving down the road and you're leaving Los Angeles in complete dark tonight at midnight and you're driving to Dallas, Texas, and all of a sudden BAM all the lights go out in the country you can still drive to Dallas in the complete darkness because your headlights let you see the next 200 feet. And if you just focus on the next 200 feet eventually you'll get to where you want to guy. I'll use GSP. He's been vocal and talked about this. When he beat Matt Hughes to win the UFC title he lost his focus a little bit and then went out and lost to Matt Serra in his next fight. What we learned is that the best fighter never wins. It's the guy who fights the best. That separation is in preparation. If you ask Georges he will tell you that the best thing that ever happened to him in his career was getting knocked out by Matt Serra in the first round at UFC 67 because what that did is that put him on a path to become a master of preparation. That's where (I think) champions are made. It's what Muhammad Ali said “there are a lot of hours and a lot of training that goes in to allow me to dance under those lights when everyone sees.” Rutten: Yeah. Speaking of GSP when did you meet him? Were you already interested in Mixed Martial Arts? Was it a sport that you liked or did he come to you? He contacted you? You contacted him? You saw maybe something about him? Cain: Well it's funny. I go all the way back to the first UFCs when Royce Gracie was tapping people out with his gi and there was no gloves and all that. I was probably 10-12 years old. We were at my buddy's house and there were like 10 of us packed into the basement and he's got the cable converter, the black box, that allows you to get pay-per-view channels for free because none of us could afford it in a small town. We're watching the UFC and we're like “who is this guy.” At a young age I was like wow that is awesome. As I got into high school and college I lost track a little bit of the UFC and what was going on. Then what really turned me back on to UFC was I was an athletic director and one of our high school football coaches came in and said “dude you've got to see this, did you see this fight between Matt Hughes and Frank Trigg II?” UFC 52 (I think it was) where he gets the knee in the groin and comes back and Hughes wins the fight. I watched that and said “man that can be so useful to so many teams because of the response to adversity.” We use an acronym that I'm sure you'll love, Bas. It's E + R (which stands for event plus response) = outcome. When I met Georges was fast-forward probably eight years later after seeing that fight for the first time between Hughes and Trigg. I'm teaching a sports psychology class at the University of Vermont. I showed that video. We were talking about response to adversity and one of the ladies in the class goes “I'm a strength coach and I train a UFC fighter.” I'm like we're in Vermont, you're lying, there are no UFC fighters in Vermont. It's too small of a state. She goes “this guy Tom Murphy, he was an All-American wrestler in college and he is on the Ultimate Fighter 2 reality show.” So Tom Murphy and I end up connecting. Tom was a Masters in Psychology and very educated and very driven. Burlington, Vermont is only an hour and a half south of Montreal. So I started working with Tom. Right at about that time I got connected somehow (I think through MySpace) with David “The Crow” Loiseau. I started going to Montreal with Tom to watch him train. I hooked up with Loiseau and he came back after he lost to Rich Franklin and then Mike Swick and he came back and won a fight outside of the UFC after that so we had some good chemistry going. Right about then is when Georges lost to Matt Serra. I remember we were going up there to go to breakfast and Tom and Loiseau have been saying “man you've got to get with Georges” even before he lost. We went up there to breakfast one day and sat down and I was asking Georges amongst thousands of people coming to get his autograph, always trying to eat his eggs, and we were talking about his loss to Matt Serra. I'm like “hey man how has that affected you since, is that all you've been thinking about or are you over it, what's going on.” He's like “man it's the worst thing that ever happened to me for my career I can't believe that I let this guy who won a reality fight, won a reality TV show, get in the octagon with me, I let down all my fans, I can't wait to get back there and kick his ass,” all this stuff. Rutten: Great impression by the way. Cain: Thank you. As he's saying all this stuff I took out a black brick. I had taken a brick that you see in a house, painted it black, and I'm writing down on it with a silver Sharpie all the stuff that he is saying. He gets done about five minutes later and I hand him the brick. I go “Georges I want you to hold this brick out in front of you for like five seconds, can you do that?” He's like “right here in front of this restaurant in front of all these people you want me to hold the brick?” I said “yeah hold it five seconds.” So he holds it up. I go “put your arm down, now hold it up for like 50 seconds.” He holds it up no problem. I go “how about five minutes?” He goes “I could do that but I don't want to hold that up here I'm embarrassed.” I said “well how about you hold that thing for five weeks, what do you think would happen?” He goes “shit that's impossible.” I go “Georges that's exactly what you're doing, Matt Serra beat you five weeks ago and you've been carrying this mental brick ever since. You can't see it but you can feel it and it's wearing you down.” What you have to do is you have to go from being frustrated to being fascinated. You have to make this not the worst thing to ever happen to you but the best thing that ever happened to you and you have to do that by being like a scientist who is on an airplane. When the airplane crashes they go looking for what? They go looking for the black box to find out why the plane crashed. As we sat there 90 minutes, two hours later, we're still talking about why he lost that fight. It went all the way back through some of the things that he has never talked about, just a lot of the things like preparation and focus and some of the things that he had done in other fights. But his goal was to win a World Championship and he did. And he forgot to reset the bar. That day he said “my goal is not to be a UFC Champion but to be the greatest Mixed Martial Arts fighter of all time. Then moving forward from there he just went on a tear and was dominating. The thing that was awesome about Georges was he was such a great student. He surrounded himself with the right people and he was never defending a title. He was always going to win a title. Everybody talks about Georges being mentally weak - his opponents say that. I can tell you what, that is the furthest thing from the truth. That guy is a learner, that guy is committed to excellence, he is probably the most committed human being and athlete I have ever been around. As you know he is just one of the most genuine and polite/nice guys you'll ever meet in your life. Rutten: He started being way more calculated after the Matt Serra fight. That is why a lot of people complained. They say “yeah but he doesn't stop people anymore before he did that.” I say listen he fights the best guys on the planet. You're seeing it the wrong way. Once you fight the top guys on the planet all the time, yeah, you try to knock people out. There is a lot of room for mistakes in Mixed Martial Arts. Any little thing can happen. Since there are so many different techniques in all areas one little mistake is all it takes. But his focus is insane. What I like about him also is that he's like Oscar de la Hoya. He would come and every fight he has something new that he worked on. With the Koscheck fight I always said he does what he normally does, but then he has a few techniques that he uses like spinning back into the body. He established a jab which just beat the crap out of him with that jab in that fight and he never did that before. After that you will see it back here and there but then there are 2-3 other things that he worked on. Every time he is evolving. That is the great thing about Georges. Cain: No question. Constantly evolving and surrounding himself with the greatest. Everybody asks me, I get that question all the time. “Hey you worked with St. Pierre, what does he do?” Whether it's MMA fighters going “what does he do that I need to be doing” or athletes in every sport wants to know what Georges done because he's one of the greatest of all time in any sport. The thing I say to them is it's like when he would go to boxing he'd do it with Olympic boxers in Montreal or he'd go out to LA and work with Freddie Roach (he is one of the greatest). He would train with Olympic wrestlers. He would train with Olympic judokai. He'd go train with Olympic gymnasts. He'd run with Olympic sprinters. Everywhere he went he was on the short end of the stick. He was always on the learning end. We talk about in life there are winners and learners. A lot of guys' egos are too big to be able to put them in an environment because they don't want to lose. He would go in there and he would learn, he would learn, he would learn. When he got in the MMA world and put it all together he became unstoppable. Rutten: That is what I really enjoy about him. I used to do the same and put myself in the worst position in the ground fighting. That was it with me. I was lying on my back, I let anybody take a position over me, whatever they wanted, then I was going to go for a submission because that is where you have to work on it. Exactly like you said. People like to do what they are comfortable with to do, what their first choice is. That's why I don't like it when you see strikers going great at Mixed Martial Arts knocking people out but once they go to the ground they lose by submission. I go dude you can't see a pattern here? You can't say “okay let's work on the ground game?” Strike and you're going to win already. Let's work on the ground game. Let's become Mixed Martial Arts (because Mixed Martial Arts, that's what they call it). Is there a difference? That brick thing, that would catch my attention right away. If you would talk to me like that you would go like “oh okay yeah I know that's 100% right” but then Georges also has a completely different mindset than others. So every person you have to treat different I assume right? It has to be. Cain: Yeah. There are some certain principles that apply to any sport and any athletes such as stay in the present moment, control what you can control, think about confidence as a choice and confidence as something that you do with your body language focus and self talk instead of something that you feel or something that you get. The majority of fighters that I've worked with - and I've had a privileged to be with six guys that have won the UFC Gold - to see them all in the locker room before a fight they all handle it differently. They'll all have a little bit of nervous energy, they'll all have a little bit of self doubt, but what they've learned is that they have to fake it until they find it. What you have to do to be successful in my opinion (and I can only speak from my experience) in this field of Peak Performance and sports psychology is you have to invest time with the athletes, step into their world, and get to know who they are. That was the beauty about working with Georges is I would buzz up to Montreal on a weekend and I would stay in his house and I would watch him train. I'd be with him in the presence of him for like 10 hours and I might not even talk to him once. I'm just watching and seeing how he interacts with people and listening to how he does interviews and trying to kind of gauge where his mindset is at. Then we'd go grab some sushi or something and I would unload on him and be like “hey man here is what I am hearing you say, is that where your focus really is at or what is going on?” He was so much of a learner and so much of a student. You have to work with an individual. You're not working with a damn textbook. I think that is what people who spend all their time in academia who then come in and try to work in Peak Performance or sports psychology with athletes, they come in and they're trying to do a diagnosis and trying to use some freaking protocol or a textbook instead of getting to know the person and helping the person close the gap from where they are to where they want to be. Rutten: Is there also a pattern that comes back in any profession? Even public speaking. Are the things that you do with Georges (for instance, because we all know Georges here at Mixed Martial Arts) that you use the same techniques on a guy who is afraid of public speaking and he has to overcome that? Cain: For sure. Some of which would be mental imagery. I believe everything happens twice. People call it mental imagery or visualization or mental rehearsal but essentially what it is is it's in your mind playing a highlight video of you going out and performing the way you want to perform because everything happens twice - first in your mind then in reality. Neurons that wire together or neurons that fire together that we use when we're doing mental imagery are going to wire together so that when you walk out there you're like “I've been here before.” The other thing we do is we practice body language. I've got a split screen video I wish I could show you of Georges walking to the cage against Matt Serra. That's UFC 67. Maybe it was 69. I don't remember which one it was when he lost to Serra. Then at 74 when he fought Koscheck the first time. You see a remarkable difference in body language. His head is down. He's looking side to side in the first one. In the second one you see him just kind of laser focused on the octagon. Here is one of the coolest things that we did that morning. I'd like to know if you ever did this, Bas. As a UFC fighter - I equate it to baseball players. Imagine going through spring training eight weeks for one at-bat. That is what MMA is. You go through an entire spring training of eight week training camp for one fight. If you don't practice walking to the octagon and you go down there and try to do it the first time - remind me to tell you a story about Brandon Thatch and his UFC debut - you're going to shit your pants when you walk down there. So many guys walk into the cage and the music is blaring and their lights are flashing and the crowd is there and the camera is in your face and if you've never done that or practiced that it can be overwhelming. Then you go in there and all of a sudden you're fighting not to lose instead of just going out there and letting it rip and fighting to win. What we did at UFC 74 that morning was like 10:00 in the morning we go down to the locker room and take Georges through a quick little mental imagery and visualize yourself having the fight tonight then we practiced walking to the cage. He put his headphones in and listened to his walk out song and he would go down to the cage, get up in the cage, and simulate if he was going to circle left or circle right. We'd basically do everything up until the stare down. Then when Herb Dean or whoever would say “let's get it on” then at that point just instinct and training takes over. But you can lose the fight before that. You can't win it before that but you can definitely lose it before that. So I think that role play and mental imagery and what I would call “mental rehearsal” in the walk through, it's like a pitcher throwing a bullpen with no ball, a UFC fighter walking to the cage is huge in terms of building their confidence and giving them a routine of something to go to that when they go to do it they've done it before. Rutten: Exactly. I'm a firm believer in that as well. Body language is everything. I say to help the women on the street “walk powerful” not scared/looking around because if there is a bad guy he is going to know if he sees the body language speaking, okay, it's going to be a fight, they're going to go to the next victim who is weaker so to say. Cain: Totally. I mean I have worked with a candidate (woman) in the Miss America pageant and it's the same thing. When you walk out there you've got to walk out there and own that stage and you've got to have that edge even though you're nervous. You're like the duck whose feet underneath the water are going 100 miles an hour but up above you are calm, cool, and collected. Fake it till you find it. Rutten: Also a thing is that I call it a poker face in my classes. If I start flinching then you're telling your brain there is something wrong. Not that there is something wrong but your brain identifies it with something is wrong. If you don't walk strong you're kind of telling your brain already “hey you're not strong.” If you just project and get stronger, first of all it's great for intimidation, but also for yourself because now you've trained your own brain that you're the man. That's how you have to walk around. You're going to have to go to that fight. I always tell people when they say to me “oh if you were to fight this 300 pound guy who knows this and this” I say “I'll win.” They go “why would you say that?” “Every fight I should say that.” If I go to a fight and there is a little percent of a chance that I think I might lose this fight that's going to haunt me. I'm going to get in trouble. That little voice, that 1%, is going to start talking to me. You want to be 100% committed and knowing that you're going to win. You start there with that with body language. Cain: No doubt. I talked about confidence is state, so is depression. I'll talk about confidence as a state of doing BFS - body language, focus, and self talk. How do we train body language? You practice walking big. How do we train focus? I give every athlete signs to put up around their house. Just pieces of paper in the bathroom, on their driver's steering wheel, and their bedroom, and when they see it they have to tell themselves that. Something like “act differently than how you feel” or “confidence is a choice” or “trust your training,” these different little triggers and mindsets I want them to have that direct the focus. The other thing I would do a lot, Bas (and Rich Franklin used to use this a lot when he was fighting), was I would take like a - if he says “hey I'm going to do 20 minutes of roadwork four days a week where I'm just going to go out and run” I would make a 20 minute audio over music that he likes with positive suggestions of things that I wanted him to be reminded of. Things like when you're carrying yourself always walk with big body language (like we're talking about). Or know that confidence is a choice. Or know that your focus determines your future so focus on what you want versus what you want to avoid and on the things that you can control. So it was all those little things. Then there would be a lot of technical MMA things that he would tell me that I would say as well over that besides just the mental game stuff. It was kind of like that constant repetition that he would hear when he was running. Georges would listen to it when he was driving or flying all over the country training in New York or Albuquerque or Montreal wherever it was. That is kind of that consistent training of the self talk but also the focus. Rutten: And you talked about Rich Franklin and you had six more fighters you said. All these fighters do you train - because this is a question I always get crazy from. With me everything is calmness. Calmness is the key to success is tell everybody. If you had for instance one of those six guys (and we don't need to know names because some of them of course want to stay incognito so to say) is there a way for these guys if they need to really get angry for a fight that you keep that or able to able to flip that and let them see that once they're calm and relaxed it's way more effective and they become way more effective? Cain: Yeah I would agree with the statement that the more calm and relaxed you are - I say the more in control you are. In control is closer probably to the common relaxed than it is to the fired up and jacked up ready to go fucking murder somebody. That is what drunk fans think that you need to get into that type of state to compete. When you talk to Dan Severn and Dan would talk about how he would be asleep in the locker room or Couture in a similar type of state where it would be really chill and relaxed and visualize - and those are some of the best. So one of the things that I've done is in interviews with some of those guys the UFC champions and top ranked fighters like yourself - which is awesome that I hear you say this, you're a former UFC Champion yourself - is to then take that and go share what you're saying with some of the young fighters and go “look man success leaves clues, look at what the best guys have done.” Every guy is not that way. There are some others guys that want to fight more out of hatred. But sometimes that's hard to get into. Sometimes you can't get yourself there. My statement to them always, Bas, is you've got to be in control of yourself before you can control your performance and you're going out there and your toughest opponent is yourself. Your goal is go out, fight your fight, perform at your best whether you're fighting your number one enemy or you're fighting a guy who is in a black ninja spirit suit and you can't tell who it is. You're out there fighting your fight and let everything else take care of itself. Strip away the emotion because emotion hurts you more than it helps you in a fight. Rutten: 100% I love it. I need to know before I forget this question. The first guy you treated ever, once you did this as a job, was it sports? Was he a lawyer? What kind of person was that? I just want to know that. Cain: I would call it coaching more than - I would never refer to it as “treating.” I call it coaching. You've got a strength coach, you've got a striking coach, you've got a strength and conditioning coach, you've got a Muay Thai coach, well who is your mental coach? As you know (as Georges would say) training for a fight is 90% physical 10% mental. Once the plane lands in Vegas it becomes 90% mental 10% physical. Who is helping you with that mental side of the game? The first guy I worked with. Let me think about that. It's been so long, since like 2003. I would say I think it was the UC Irvine baseball team maybe back in like 2004 and their head coach Dave Serrano. They went to the College World Series in 2007. He is now out at the University of Tennessee. The first guy in MMA was David Loiseau I believe. Rutten: Okay. Yeah David is a great guy. Cain: Phenomenal. Rutten: And you're an author as well. I go on your website. How many books did you do? Like 14-15? And really well books. You're roofing all the top charts. Cain: Yeah I lost count I think around 33. I think we're somewhere between 36 and 40. It's funny because I always wanted to write a book. When my mother passed away on August 2, 2010 I said “man I kind of let mom down, she didn't get a chance to read my first book.” I remember I got the phone call at 4:00 AM. She had passed away. I couldn't go back to sleep obviously so I rolled out, I took out my laptop, and I wrote the dedication to her. Then I got a phone call two days later. You talk about a sense of urgency. I got a phone call two days later from the National Softball Coaches Convention and they said “hey Brian would you be our keynote speaker” and I said “I'd love to is there any chance we could do a book signing after.” They go “oh we didn't know you had a book.” I go “I will by then.” So I gave myself two months to write the book, one month to get it printed. Had the book there, sold it, it became a number one bestseller. It's called Toilets, Bricks, Fish Hooks and Pride: The Peak Performance Toolbox Exposed. I'll give you a dollar if you can spit that one back. Rutten: Wow. Cain: It's like anything else. It's like once you write the first one it becomes addicting and you just keep going because people give you great feedback. You have a positive impact on the lives of others and that has always been my mission is to educate, empower, and energize others to a lifestyle of excellence and fulfillment. Books are a way to do that. Podcasts are a way to do that. I'm just trying to execute my mission today so thanks for giving me the opportunity. Rutten: Yeah. I do exactly the same thing. For me it stems from my asthma disease and just going to the restroom that would be a nightmare for me but now also. And I do baby steps. Now I have programs. I say I'm going to be kicking a head one and a half minutes with 30 seconds break. There is no way I can do this right now. But I start with baby steps. I start one minute, one minute rest. One minute, one minute rest. I do this for 15 runs (so half an hour) then I go to one minute and five seconds and I take a 55 second break. Slowly but surely I go to that one minute. Now I told myself I'm going to do it and I said I'll give it three months. Once you do that - what you said, you commit yourself. You say “you know what I want to do a book signing.” They go “do you have a book?” “No I don't.” But at that time you'll have it because now you've committed to it. I think that is a really important habit to have as any person, any profession for that matter. Cain: No question. I like to try and share as many nuggets with your listeners as I can. One of them is called the Big ABCs. The Big ABCs are act big, breathe big, and commit big. Act big - we've talked a lot about body language here already. Breathe big - when you bring oxygen into your system it helps you to slow down and get back in control. Commit big - set big goals. That's why I signed up to do the Iron Man, Bas. Six or seven weeks ago I didn't own a bike, I didn't know how to swim, I had to get a swimming lesson, I had to go buy a bike. Rutten: So when did you start the swimming? Cain: I started swimming August 1st which is when I had my first lesson in swimming. I wasn't getting drowned. I would get in the pool but I wouldn't go anywhere. I couldn't breathe with my head in the water. I just was kind of there. Then I got a coach. There are so many lessons I've learned through this Iron Man training one of which is surround yourself with the right people and get a coach. What does every MMA fighter have? A coach. What does every Olympic athlete that was in Rio have? A coach. So I went and got a swimming coach, I went and got a bike coach (it happens to be the same guy), then I got a nutrition coach. It's the best thing I think I've done for myself in a long time. I'm in the best shape of my life. The more energy I get. I worked out for six hours today already. It was a 90 minute swim, 3 hour bike, and then a 90 minute run, so that, and then when we get done tonight I've got to go get another 90 minute swim in because I missed it yesterday. It's a lot. It's been a lot. My wife has been phenomenal in terms of support. She gets it. She was a hockey player. But it's setting a big goal that scares the hell out of you and going to get it. Rutten: It's crazy. Three months. That's pretty much three months you gave yourself to swim well and swim for 90 minutes. That's kind of insane if you really think about it. Cain: And bike for 112 miles which is the biggest challenge. Rutten: Oh just 112? Cain: And go run a marathon which I have done marathons before so it's - but to put them all together in a row is going to be a fun challenge so I'm looking forward to it. Rutten: Okay. So now you're talking about that and physical activity yourself as well. Food - this is also not only important for the body but very important for the brain. Of course we hear about sardines, berries, walnuts, all these things are really good for the mental health, is that something you focus on with the fighters or with any athlete for that matter? Cain: Most of the fighters I've worked with have whether they're working with Dolce or working with someone in the field of nutrition, so when they are I don't like to cross pollinate. I let them do their job and I try to do mine. When I'm working with a fighter who maybe is a guy who is just kind of getting going and doesn't have access to a nutritionalist I'll work with them on a program. Often these guys have come from wrestling so they know their bodies really well and weight management and all that. But the thing that I lean on is macro nutrition. I was 240 pounds five years ago with a 44 inch freaking waist and a slob. Someone said to me “Brian if you want to be a Peak Performance coach you've got to live it, leaders are not fat.” I said “fuck that's straight on man, you've got it.” So I started getting it going again. I started working out again. I started eating right. I was single. My meal was a large pizza and a six pack of beer. So I turned that around. Right now I'm getting 225 grams of protein, 180 grams of carbs, and 48 grams of fat, then on top of that I'll fuel myself with a little bit of food based on each hour. I'm trying to get into a fat cutting program and trying to get down to 180. I was 183.5 this morning so it's working. The article I go by (if people want to find it) is if they Google “to build a beast” by Jordan Feigenbaum. It gives a chart in there where they can calculate their macro nutrition. All macro nutrition is is understanding your fat, carb, and protein. Anything more than that and it's going to become too difficult. I basically make myself a menu. I eat the same thing every day at the same time. I eliminate the guesswork and I save time, I save money from doing it that way, and I feel fantastic. Rutten: Thinking about your own training there is this method that you use adding the word “yet” to it. I cannot be a champion yet. I cannot throw a 90 mile per hour fastball yet. Did you say to yourself I cannot swim 90 minutes yet? Did you use those kinds of tricks on your own brain as well? Cain: I don't call it “tricks” I call it “conditioning.” It's like anything else. You don't rise to the occasion you sink to your levels of training and habits. Habitually I have intentionally trained myself to when adversity happens think that it's good, that adversity is to my advantage, to when I can't do something to say “yet” because anything is possible it just hasn't happened yet. I think that is the mentality to have. But that mentality needs to be trained. It's like anything else. It's not tricks. I know you introduced me - Rutten: It's like tricking the brain. It's what I do myself all the time. Cain: It's conditioning and it's in a game with yourself. You introduced me as a motivational speaker which kind of drives me nuts because it's not - I don't think motivational speaking works. I think what it is is it's conditioning. There is a three step process to maximum growth and here is how the three step process would go for people who want to make a change in their life. Number one is have a total immersion learning experience. Go to a seminar. Go to a training camp. Find a coach. After the total immersion learning experience - we've all been to these seminars. You run seminars. I run seminars. People come and then a year later we get with them like “what are you doing?” “Well I kind of fell off.” Well the reason why they fall off is they don't do step number two which is spaced repetition. You have to do a little a lot. They go to a seminar then they have to do a little a lot whether it's read a chapter a week, whether it's watch my Monday Message video that they can sign up and enjoy and get the same Monday Message video that I send to Georges St. Pierre, the same Monday Message video that goes to all the athletes I work with at www.BrianCain.com/Monday. Or listen to a podcast once a week. That is spaced repetition. Then they've got to have an accountability partner and a plan to continue to grow. They can't just get the learning experience. They need to have the spaced repetition after and the plan to grow. Rutten: Wow. It's like almost what Bruce Lee said, “I'm not afraid of the guy who knows 1000 kicks I'm afraid of the guy who knows one kick but practices it 1000 times.” Cain: Amen. Rutten: You just said it but what would be one thing that you say okay this is for any person? Would that be living in the moment? Would that be the best thing that any person can do? Cain: I would say it would be two things. It would be control what you can control - let go of the things you can't control, focus on what you can. The second one would be exactly what you said. I would word it as don't count the days, make the days count. It's amazing what you can get done in one day when you have a focus. It's amazing what you can get done in one day when you map out every minute of your day from the time you wake up until you go to bed. I call it your 168 hour a week plan. There are 168 hours in a week. Show me when you're going to wake up, when you're going to go to bed every day, and what you're going to do in between and you're going to have a hell of a week. A hell of a week leads to a hell of a month which leads to a hell of a year which leads to a hell of a career. Rutten: Nice. And the speaking of hell and you said week, I just want to say - because that 200 yard line thing from you is going to come back. I joined the Special Forces, the Navy SEALS, all these guys, and I asked them about the Hell Week. I said “what goes on in your mind, do you just decide to make it to the next day?” He said “no it's the next meal.” You just focus on the next meal. You say “before this next meal is going to come I'm not going to quit.” So they're using it everywhere. Cain: I spent a lot of time researching in the Special Forces and the SEALS and you're absolutely right. They just say the next evolution. What am I trying to do right now? I'm trying to run up this sand hill. What am I trying to do right now? I'm trying to run down this sand hill. I'm not thinking about the whole mountain of get through Hell Week and I'm not thinking about winning a UFC world title. That's exactly what happened to Georges when he lost to Serra. He was like “man I can't wait to get back and win my title.” I go “Georges your next fight is not a title fight, you're not going to win the title in your next fight so focusing on the title right now is only hurting you.” Rutten: Nice. I love it. Don't look past the fight that you have coming up. That's what I say. Actually I hear Georges St. Pierre saying it as well in interviews. They say “oh if you win this you are going to be set up for a title” and the first thing he says is “no we're focusing on this fight right now.” I'm pretty sure he said it because he's working with you. Brian, I enjoyed it very much my friend. We've got to call it quits. We cannot go too long on this one. We would love to have you back. I would love to have you back one time with Renallo even here because he is the master at digging into the mind and asking questions. Plus you would be very interested to dig in is crazy mind because he is something. I already told you in an email. Cain: I might be afraid of what I find but I would be fired up to do that. Rutten: Everybody, I see it every week. It's a very scary thing. Cain: That's awesome. Rutten: Alright my friend. Thank you so much. Very informative. I hope a lot of fighters are going to listen to this because it's all in the mind. I'm telling you, everybody. People say oh it's 50% physical 50% mental. I say it's all 100% in the mind. In order to make the decision to go to your gym that already happens in your mind. To get out of bed happens in the mind. It's all the mind because that controls the body. I hope you say the same. Cain: No question. I say mind control leads to body control leads to skill control. If you want to execute inside of the octagon with your skills you've got to take care of your body but in order to take care of your body you've first got to get your mind in the right place. If anyone is looking to help get their mind right send them over to www.BrianCain.com and have them join other great MMA fighters and the world champions with the Monday Message that they can join right there. They can contact me through the website. I have a lot of respect for Mixed Martial Artists. I think what they do is for me the most pure sport that there is. I love working with MMA fighters of all levels because it's such an amazing sport that I've never had a chance to do and I'm not sure I could do. But I love working with those guys because of the effort that it takes and the life lessons that are there and what they can get out of that. It's awesome. Rutten: People at home should really check out everything you do. I was going over the videos and I actually gave that video to my daughter - the 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 breathing technique. I said “this is going to help you a lot” because she is one of those people who shoots right away into a wrong decision. I said “just calm down and listen to this” and she said “wow that sounds really good.” And that was just one video and there is a lot of them out there. Cain: What sport does she play? Rutten: None. She doesn't do any sports. Right now they started softball actually with a bunch of friends. They are doing it among two teams but they are all friends doing it so not under a guide or a coach. Cain: Fantastic. Well I'll drop something in the mail for you also so you can get a little bit more of the mental game. I think you'll like it. Rutten: I would love that. Thank you so much my friend.

In Episode 9 of Season 1, Dr. Amber reviews Building Block 8 of  her "Building Your Mental Performance Foundation" program, Routines. Mike Lee, professional light-heavy weight boxer (19-0), joins Amber to share how the mental game drives his success in the ring and in life.   Mindset Note: HOW YOU DO ANYTHING IS HOW YOU DO EVERYTHING. ROUTINES ARE BUILT DURING PREPARATION.   Championship Mindset Training: Build routines for Pre-Performance, During Performance, and Post-Performance.   Please get on iTunes to rate us and write a review for us! We are excited to complimentarily share this content with our audience, and your rates and reviews will enable us to continue sharing quality content. Also, please share the podcast on Facebook, Twitter, and any other social media that you use.   Referenced Links: The Selking Performance Group (SPG) Website: Selking Performance Group Follow SPG on Twitter: @DrSelking   Video on Evan Longoria & Dr. Ken Ravizza on Routines & Performance Video on the New Zealand All Blacks Pre-Game Haka    Follow Mike Lee on Twitter: @MikeLeeBoxing Follow Mike Lee on Instagram: @OfficialMikeLee Check out Mike's Website here:  www.mikeleeboxing.com    Referenced Material: Paper on the "Mundanity of Excellence"  

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.

**Listen in as Positive Coaching Alliance goes 1-on-1 in interviews with top pro and college players, coaches, executives and other major sports figures who provide tips, tools, information and inspiration for youth and high school sports coaches, parents and student-athletes.** This 1-on-1 interview features Ken Ravizza, PCA National Advisory Board Member and one of the leading peak performance consultants in the world. Ravizza is the leading authority on stress-management skills and coping strategies, as well as mental-skills training for peak performance. He has worked with some of the best athletes and coaches in the world, and he helped develop the concept of a Triple-Impact Competitor®. Positive Coaching Alliance utilizes this model in its workshops to teach athletes to contribute positively on three levels: Personal Mastery, Leadership, and Honoring the Game. Jim Thompson ([@JimThompson18](https://twitter.com/JimThompson18)), PCA Founder, talks to Ravizza about real world examples of how athletes "get in the zone" as well as how they deal with adversity while competing. Performing in sport entails a certain level of emotional risk for young people, and he shares strategies for coping with the nerves and feelings, good and bad, associated with competition. Here's where you'll find Ravizza talking about featured topics: - **Mistakes**- 11:20 Like what you hear? To subscribe to our podcast in iTunes, [click here](https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/pca-development-zone/id952838976?mt=2)