Achievement Consulting's Podcast Series - Nick Arciniaga: PART 1

In the first of a two-part interview, Achievement Consulting LLC. CEO Chris Covert sat down with Under Armour's Nick Arciniaga to discuss his thoughts on the Olympic's, the current state of American Distance Running, and his journey towards excellence. 

Nick has competed in the last 3 Olympic Trials in the Marathon, finishing in the top-10 on two different occasions. His journey from what he calls an 'average at best' middle-distance runner in college, to one of the elite's of American Marathoning is one that will inspire you and teaches lessons along the way. 

Part 2 of our interview will be on Wednesday. Enjoy Part 1 BY CLICKING HERE

10 Mental Skills for Ultra Marathoners - Part II

In part one of our series on Mental Skills for Ultra Marathoners [to read Part 1 on Mental Skills for Ultra Runners, click HERE], we discussed the importance and gave techniques of how to deal with things that are out of your control. Whether it is the weather, how your body is reacting to stress, etc. Now as we move on to Part II, we would like to examine things that you CAN control. Most of these will take place in your preparation pre-race, but can be implemented in-race.

Before we get into this, one of the most important things to remember as you read is that you can never be too prepared. High achieving athletes are tough not just because of how well they can focus, but how well prepared that they are. The more prepared you are, the less your anxiety will become on race day. So let’s get into the next 5 skills to help build your mental toughness for your next [or first] ultra race.  

Self-Awareness

If you are a frequent reader of Achievement Consulting’s articles [and if you aren’t – then we are glad you are here!], you know that we have written extensively about the importance of self-awareness [to read more about the importance of being self-aware, click HERE]. And this is not the type awareness we spoke of yesterday that involves knowing how you are reacting to an environment both physically and emotionally, however an awareness of who you are and what you stand for.

The reason that this is important is because the more you truly understand who you are, the more you will know whether you should even attempt one of these events or if you have done one before, how hard much more you can challenge yourself than you have in your past competitions. Many people want to do these extra-long events because they are risk-takers and adventure seekers, however they may not have the toughness to survive 8 hours alone in the desert at 100 degrees plus heat. Before you even begin your journey, it’s important that you have an understanding of who you are and what you stand for. If you are clear on these things and honest with yourself, then not only will you know if it is right to take on the challenge in front of you, but during the race, by staying true to those values will make the attempt more rewarding and easier to succeed in.

Goal Setting

If you are going to set goals for your Ultra, there are two rules of thumb that you should be following – set goals that are achievable [which is obvious], and do something that you normally wouldn’t do, which is set a ‘HOW’ for each goal. The goal is important of course, but always remember that a goal is just an outcome. It is an outcome of all the work that you will put in before the race and the execution of your plan during the race.

As far as setting the goal itself, don’t just have all of your goals be time based. One of the purposes of a goal is to create positive feedback and have small victories along the way.  And if you are doing an ultra-marathon, then you are going to need to these small wins as the race goes along to stay motivated. You can have goals based on effort, execution of technique, and so on. Don’t just make your goals about hitting certain times, but give yourself a chance to have other goals along the course and reward yourself for getting to them.

As for the how’s, you need to be as specific as you can when setting these. If one of your goals is to make sure you stay hydrated during the race, then set a ‘how’ for how much you will consume throughout the race. This is just an example, but as I hope you can see, these ‘how’s’ not only will help you achieve your goals, but more importantly will act as accountability systems that you can hold before, during, and after the race.

Positive Self-Talk

Very few people realize where confidence really comes from, which is how you communicate to yourself. Science has shown that positive self-talk and positive body language actually can increase the level of endorphin's and testosterone in someone before and during competition. Especially when you are ultra running, the more positive you communicate with yourself, the better off you are going to be. Nothing positive, in life and in racing, comes from beating yourself up and saying to yourself that you are worthless. If you think back upon times where you did just that, I can guarantee you that those are times that you want to forget. However, when you are telling yourself positive affirmations and standing tall with good posture, even if you are not doing great, just staying positive will be an enormous benefit.

Visualization

If there is anything that can help your pre-race anxiety, it is visualization. Many people use visualization to some extent, however it is those who understand how to implement it during competition who really benefit. Visualize the race playing out many different ways. Visualize running in bad conditions, good conditions, and the emotions reactions that take place during your visualization training. Visualize having an amazing race but also having a race that unexpectedly goes south, and then game plan how you will recover.

Most importantly, by using the positive communication with yourself that we just spoke about as the race goes on, you can use these visualization training's as a reminder that you have already prepared for moments like the one you are in. What did you visualize yourself doing when it started to rain unexpectedly? When you got to the rest station? When you are at mile 30 and feel like you are ready to drop out, how did you visualize yourself getting through it? This is not just psychology mumbo-jumbo, this is a proven strategy that if you implement correctly, will give you a big leg-up come race day.

Organization

Tough runners, and for that matter anyone in any sport or business, are organized. This goes back to what we spoke about earlier on being prepared. Being organized before the race goes off, and in your training in the weeks leading up to the race is critical if you are going to be successful. Being organized is not just saying, ‘ok, in 3 months I’m gonna run a 50-mile race, I should start training.’ Being organized means that once you have your race circled on the calendar, you plan your training out by working backwards from race day and creating a detailed plan, creating test efforts, and setting smaller goals along the way.

As far as race day is concerned, it is not about knowing what you are just going to do in the race, but the week before, making sure that you have all the food, gear, and fluids ready for when you walk out of your house and head to the course. No one ever gets a medal for just being prepared, however people who earn medals are more than likely the most prepared.

We hope that these tips will help you lead to the best race you have ever had, or lead to you making your first ultra something that you are proud of and lead you to do another. Many thanks to Alex McDaniel for all of his help in co-authoring this series. I hope that you will sign up for our newsletters HERE, follow us on Twitter @achieveinsports, and like us on Facebook at Facebook.com/achieveinsports. If you have any questions or have anything else you want us to write about, please email me at chris@achievementllc.com

10 Mental Skills for Ultra Marathon Runners - Part I

***In the first of a two-part series on ultra running, I am excited to be co-authoring this piece with friend and Ultra-Runner, Alex McDaniel. Alex has competed in multiple ultra's, and his experience and insight is extremely valuable for those who are current and first timers at this challenging event.***

For a long time 26.2 was considered the ultimate and final distance challenge a runner could undertake. This is still the viewpoint, but with respect, the "wall" has been crumbling and participation in the 50k and 50 miles distances both on roads and trails has sky rocketed over the past decade. Even 100 mile races have exploded in popularity with the number of organized races in the US going from 20 to 200 over the last 15 years, many so popular that they hold lotteries to gain entry. The cat is out of the bag; going farther isn't impossible, can be an amazing, and often times a more rewarding experience than your normal marathon. The slower pace allows people to be more social and scenic locations make for incredible aesthetic experiences.

In my experience, people are pretty good at training, planning, and encountering their favorite type of challenge. Where people struggle (myself very much included) is when they encounter obstacles and setbacks in situations they did not anticipate or don't prefer – as ultras can provide these in abundance. Beyond physical preparation, success at ultra-marathons is more skill based, more mental challenging, and more execution dependent than shorter distances. 

Potentially more than any other sport, ultra-running presents a continuously changing environment. However, it’s the athlete that learns to become comfortable with being uncomfortable that has a greater chance of being successful than someone who focuses on the things that they cannot control.  

Having said that, Part I of this series will be addressing on how to focus on what you can control. We will address both environmental and physical factors that normally occur during these long bouts of competition. If an athlete can learn to control their controllables, then they will have a great chance to have an even greater run.

Weather

Conditions that would cancel a local 5k road or trail race would never be considered a hindrance to ultra-runners. Oh, it unexpectedly snowed in April? No biggie, run it anyways. Record Heat wave? Bring an extra bottle of water. A week of rain before the race leaves the 50 mile trail a muddy slippery mess? The race is still on.

You often sign up for races months in advance and invest time, money in entry fees, training, and travel. What happens to you, your mindset, and your goals when your usually warm and sunny spring race will start in the rain with the potential for snow and ice at higher elevation? Now it's a different challenge entirely - and it may lead many people to crumble. If you are going to be successful at any type of racing, but especially this one, you need to realize that you cannot control the weather – you can however control the effort. The second you think the weather has affected you, it’s maybe too late to save yourself from a bad experience.

Physical Damage

Things like blisters on your feet in long races can become catastrophic if you don't know how to prevent and treat them. Chaffing in difference sensitive areas can be a mind killer, ‘do I really want to keep going for 4 more hours when my inner thigh and under looks like uncooked hamburger?’ Falling down or, taking a good "digger" and getting "trail rash" is inevitable in trail running. Some people get very shaken and some people find a way recompose themselves and finish, bloody knees and all.

The most important thing to do in these situations to is be aware of how much this really effected your ability to continue on. Awareness, as we will discuss thoroughly in this series, is an invaluable tool to have for ultra-running. This is not just an external awareness of the environment, but an internal knowledge of how you are feeling and if you need to make decisions that affect your physical health. You can’t control whether you get hurt, however you can control your ability to tolerate pain and make the safest decision for yourself moving forward is.

Navigation

With the exception of road and track ultras, following the course can sometimes be a challenge. Trails are often sparsely marked with colorful ribbon. If you're running fast, not paying attention, or hazy from low blood sugar it can be easy to go off course. And how would you respond mentally if you realized you were off course by half a mile or more? You've worked so hard to get this far! Can you accept these setbacks and fix the problem or do you panic and get frustrated?

Again, this all comes down to awareness. Not only is it about being aware visually, but if for some reason you lose focus, and get lost, it’s your ability to re-focus that is critical. Don’t get down on yourself if you get lost, just re-focus, re-gain your awareness and get back after it.

Social Interaction [or lack thereof]

The smaller, longer, and more mountainous a race is, the more likely it is that you will spend long periods running by yourself. Potentially many hours. While the more competitive athletes are used to running alone in the lead, this can be a new and taxing experience for mid-pack runners and people who consider themselves very social. Are you ready to spend time with yourself or does your brain eat itself with negative thoughts and doubt?

Our suggestion here is simple: focus on the process. Don’t worry about the outcome. Thinking of how good the food at the finish line is going to be, or how nice it would be to stop and take a nap does not help you when you are out for hours at a time alone. Focusing on the process of getting up the hill that you are running up, the mechanics of running to the next tree, the technique you need to use to get up the mountain. This will keep you mind busy and your anxiety down.

Nutrition

The longer the race, the more that nutrition matters. The human body has an astounding ability to keep moving forward as long as you keep filling it with liquids and calories. Many people struggle to relentlessly fuel after 5, 10 or 20 hours, it just stops being fun. But without fuel in the car, it won’t go anywhere. Again, you have the ability to control doing the right thing and filling the body up with what it needs, and hurting yourself by doing the opposite.

Again, other than training, the most important thing that you can do to be a great ultra-runner is understand that you need to focus only on what you can control. Whether it is the weather, an injury, or what and if you consume food as the race goes along, the reaction to all of this is up to you. Part II of this series coming tomorrow!

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You Lost the First Game...Now What? 4 Skills on Moving On From Loss 1

We all know that in competition there are winners and losers. If a team wins the first game, there will be much talk about how their victory will lead to many great things to come. And for the losing team, the concerns from coaches, fellow teammates, parents, press, you name it – all start at the end of the first competition.

However, there is never much attention payed to what good teams [for that matter great teams] actually do after a loss to start the season. What do they do to make sure that one loss does not turn into two and two into a season that no one will want to remember?

Well, here are the 4 things that Great teams do after losing the first game of the season:

Stop Feeling Sorry for Yourself – Right Now

The reason I put this first on this list is not just because it is important, but because if you or your team is feeling sorry for themselves – you need to knock it off right now. One of the differences between High and Low Achievers is that after a loss, especially the first one of the season, High Achievers don’t feel bad about themselves, rather they learn about what they did and how to be better the next opportunity they have to compete [Read more about what it takes to be a learner, not a loser HERE]. They understand that the season just started, and that means that there will be other chances.

If you have athletes that come to practice in the next day or so still feeling bad that things didn’t turn out the way that they wanted in competition one, then you need to talk to them ASAP. Negativity will tear a team apart and especially early in the year, it can be infectious. The best thing you can do is teach your team to learn from what just happened. 

Re-examine Your Preparation

In many of my other writings, I have talked extensively about the importance of being prepared. Not just via physical and mental training, but doing the extra things of the field to make the start of the season successful. Where extra hours put in on film analysis? Was there quality communication between the coaches and athletes? Was there a clear understanding of the other competitors and what they may do, along with how to make adjustments?

Remember – it’s the first competition of the season. Anxiety for some was at an all-time high. Because of this, their focus may not have been on the game, but rather on how they were feeling in a particular moment that had nothing to do with the plan that you created. However, the more prepared you and your team are, the less and less these things happens. So in Week 2, although the first game jitters may be gone, the preparation may need to increase.

When Negative Events Started Occurring, Identify the Source – Even If It’s You

If things didn’t go the way that you wanted to this weekend, then there is a point that you can look back on and say, ‘at this point, is where things really started to go downhill.’ It’s important to know that it is not just one thing that make things go south. More than likely, it was a series of events or decisions that took place over a course of time that lead to a bad move made in a cross country race, an interception committed by the quarterback, or a poor pass that lead to a decisive goal in soccer.

So the question that needs to be asked at this point, is when did things actually start to not go right? How early in the competition was it? Was the team communicating correctly right from the start? Where they responsive in your instructions, and if so, where your instructions given effectively? Did you take the game out of perspective and your players or teammates lost sight of the goal right in front of them?

There are times when you – the coach or the athlete are the root of the problem. And with it still being early in the season, now is the perfect time to identify if you are and fix it. If you are not specifically, address what or who is now. The season is not getting any longer.

 Did Your Team Keep Fighting?

There were a lot of teams that got beat pretty bad out there this weekend [52-6 Alabama over USC comes to mind as an example] and with the season it is important to find out from your team if at any point in blowout loss, did your team say, ‘the hell with it.’ In my experience, that statement and the effort that goes with it have the tendency to happen more at the start and end of the year than any other time during the season.An athlete may say, ‘what does it matter? We have a long way to go in the season.’ And when the season is nearing an end, you may hear nearly identical statement, just focused on the season closing.

One of the sayings I tell athletes is that each game is more than a chance to compete, it’s an opportunity to find out something about yourself. And there is no place where you will have a more revealing moment that the first competition. How does your team respond to adversity? How hard to they compete? How well do they listen? How hard to they fight when things get tough?

When blowouts or bad races happen in the first competition of the season, the most important thing to examine is their effort. Skill still matters, execution still matters, however I bet you that if your team is down by 30 with 1 min to go in the game, 5 goals with 5 min to go in the game, or losing by a half mile on the course, will you be disappointed – yes. But you will feel much better if your team continues to compete and put in its best effort, rather than just throw in the towel. If your team is a competitor, great. If it’s not – you need to address it now in an effective and positive manner. Or this season is going to be a long one.

I think that you would love to go into a season with a team that does not feel sorry for itself, is prepared, knows the source of its negativity, and competes on every play. I know that I would. And now that the first game of the season is out of the way, there is no time better than now to analyze and make adjustments.

For more insights into the Mental Game, please sign up for our newsletter HERE. Remember to follow us on Twitter @acheiveinsports, Like us on Facebook.com/achieveinsports, and feel free to email me at any time at chris@achievementllc.com  

4 Skills to Improve a Cross Country Runners Mental Toughness

Across the America today, Cross Country athletes will toe the line and start the season. For those of us who have competed in Cross Country, we all know that no matter how fit you are, no matter how many miles you have put in, without being having the ability to be Mentally Tough [which results in the combination of several factors], the fittest athlete will struggle on race day.

And unfortunately, many coaches and athletes see this ability to focus as something that is in-born, not trained. This train of thought could not be more incorrect. Just like becoming fitter after putting in the miles during the summer, mental toughness and focus can be taught and enhanced as the season goes along. However, growing these skill takes the same amount of dedication as it does to get in physical shape. So let’s talk about not just what it takes to be mentally tough in Cross Country, but how you can grow your teams skills.

It’s Important to Stress that No Race is Bigger Than the Next Race

Especially in the first race of the season, athletes and coaches will invest lots of emotional capital in emphasizing the importance of the first race as one that ‘sets the tone’ for the entire season. In reality, this could not be farther from the truth. Now, does it help if the first meet of the season is a good one, yes. However, in the large scheme of things, does the first meet of the season matter in your quest for a Conference Championship? The answer is no. In fact, no meet is more important that the next.

I say this because if you are focused in on putting in quality efforts and competing at a high level [which we will discuss later], then each meet is a great opportunity to do great things. Each meet is another opportunity to do your best. Obviously, you are going to be excited because of the start of the season, but I have seen too many occasions in which the excitement of the first meet overcomes the athlete and they go out too hard at the start of the race, have nerves that are so out of control that they lose sight of the race itself, and coaches that after not performing up to expectations set in the first meet, think that the season is over. Each meet is important, but if the first meet does not go the way you want – there is no reason to throw in the towel. Just get back to work.

Focus on Effort

After a [hopefully] very productive summer and lots of miles run, you may see some tired legs out there in meet one, even if you gave your team an easier week heading into week one. And this is totally fine. What you should be more focused on is effort and your teams ability to compete. Effort is something that an athlete has complete control over. You can’t control the weather, the course, or the competition. You may be able to effect what the competition does by making moves at certain points along the course, however that is all dictated by the effort your team puts in.

If the result is not what you want, but the effort is there, then it is hard to complain about the result. It is what it is. If you have seven athletes on the line at the start of the season that are focused on putting in the best effort that they possibly give, then when you get to the end of the season when they are rested and sharp, the results will end up being something you and your team will be very happy with.

Run the Race One Section at a Time

Here is what ‘one section at a time’ means: rather than look at the race as one particular distance [i.e. 3 miles, 4 miles, 6k, or 8k] it will be more helpful if when examining the course, to break it up into several sections, rather than focusing on doing well from purely start to finish. This does not mean ‘let’s focus on mile one, then move on to mile two,’ and so on. What it does mean is examining the course closely and break it up into sections such as from one exact point to another. From one tree to another, from one hill to another section. You don’t need to break the course up into 30 different pieces, however, telling an athlete ‘once we get out and settle in, let’s just focus in on getting through this section in good position,’ could be very helpful.

The rationale behind this is simple: having small victories throughout the race will play huge into your athlete’s confidence and keep them focused on the moment at hand. Especially with younger runners that maybe focusing on environmental factors [the course, the weather, etc.], breaking the race into smaller chunks could be a very positive return on investment.

Become Aware

Far too often, when the race is over, you may ask ‘what happened out there’ to one of your athletes and their answer is often, ‘I don’t know.’ This is because they are not aware of what is going on. It is not because they are not paying attention, it is just that they are paying attention to the wrong things. They may be focused on how bad they feel, how hard the course it, or [especially at the start of the season] how hot it is. Like we already spoke about, these are all things that they cannot control. Again, they can control their effort, but in this particular instance, they can control their response to what is happening around them.

Having a heightened awareness is developed by training your athletes to have a calm mind that can be developed in training. Running intervals in training is not just about the quantity of intervals that they put in, or how fast they run them. It is HOW they are running them and if they are responding to your instructions. By emphasizing HOW athletes are running workouts and executing effective strategies, then you are building a team that is not just in shape, but increasing their awareness and their ability to execute race plans during competition.

These are all very simple skills that when taught effectively, can take you team from a good team to a great team. I would take a team that competes hard every time on the course, is aware of what is going on, and runs the race one section at a time, over a talented team any day of the week. Teams that rely on talent to get them through the season may start off well, but they will not be as prepared at the end of the season as your teams will. If you commit to training your mental toughness, you and your team, when they execute, could be one hard team to beat.

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How to be Football Tough - Part II

On Monday, we discussed what it takes for you and your team to be tough in football prior to the first snap [you can read Part I HERE]. It takes preparation, commitment, and communication. But most importantly, it takes smart player to realize that being tough does not just mean being fired up before a game. A tough player is a smart player and coach would rather have a player that is smart that a player whose emotions are out of control.

Having said this, let’s look into what it takes to be tough during a game. Again, this is not about letting your emotions run out of control and dictate how you play, but having an awareness of your environment and doing the technical things right.

Be Aware of the Environment and Your Emotions

When in a big game, lots of players use the environment of the moment to get ‘fired up.’ They hear the roar of the crowd, listen to the National Anthem, and all of the sudden have their emotions take control. And with all of that happening, within the first series they forget their assignment, and end up getting chewed out by their coach. Now, It’s not wrong to get emotional, however losing control of those emotions and having it affect your play could create a massive problem for your and your team. Tough players are one’s who don’t let a moment get the best of their emotions. They may get ‘fired up,’ but they never let it negatively affect their play.

Tackle the Right Way

Anyone can hit, but it takes a tough player to tackle the right way. You don’t need to try to rip the ball from the offensive players hands every time you go for a tackle. Ask yourself this question: will your coach be pleased if you make the tackle when you have the opportunity, or will he be upset because rather than go for the tackle, you go for the rip, missing the tackle completely. My bet is that he will be happy with a good tackle. Remember that tough players do the right things fundamentally. They don’t need to ‘glory play’ each time they get the chance. They do the right things on the field when the opportunity presents itself.

Don’t Try to Be a Hero

Every player dreams of making ‘the big play.’ Hell, you don’t play this game without thinking about it. However, there are those who try to always force the big play, and players who are tough, who make the big play. Players who try to play ‘hero ball’ are those who are constantly making mistakes in big moments. The play becomes all about them getting the glory, rather than do what is right for the sake of the team. Tough players not only want to be successful, they understand that the success of the team is more important than gaining their own personal glory.

Create a Big Target and Catch the Ball the Right Way

Recently, every WR wants to be like Odell Beckham, Jr – making the one handed grab and getting the glory of an athletic play. Well, if that is your intention – stop being so selfish and play football the right way by creating a big target and do whatever you can do catch the ball with both hands, or collecting it with your chest. Maybe one day you will catch the ball like OBJ, however don’t put yourself and your team in a situation that could negatively affect the game by trying to be fancy. Tough players don’t try do make fancy plays, they are always trying to do whatever they can to make the right ones.

Play one Play at a Time

The Patriots could have given up as Marshawn Lynch and the Seahawks marched down the field in the 4th quarter of the 2015 Super Bowl. They could have thrown in the towel and given up – but they didn’t. A player was in the right position at the right time and made the greatest defensive play in Super Bowl history, by intercepting the ball on the 2-yard line – because he was focused on that play, in that moment, not about the fact that the Seahawks had the momentum. If someone makes a good play against you, don’t sulk. Don’t be defeated. Focus on the next play. Focus on making adjustments. If something negative happens again, stay in the moment and try to win the next play. Tough players are resilient. It is never over until the game is officially over.

Make Adjustments

Tough players are not stubborn. If they make a mistake, they are upset, however they understand that it is more important that they make adjustments than being proud, putting the team at risk, and not making any changes during the game. Players who I would not consider tough are those who don’t adjust, don’t admit failure, and do nothing to fix the problems that are taking place. Football is a game of adjustments, not a game of stubbornness. Be tough and when your coach or teammate informs you on how you could be doing better, whether it is in a game or a practice – be tough, adjust, and make yourself better.

Now that you have looked at all of these factors that go into being tough, ask yourself – am I, the athletes I coach, and my staff really tough? Or do you just think you are? Remember that being tough is not about being the most fired up, the most aggressive, or the angriest – it is about being prepared, playing smart, and being a great teammate [whether as a coach to your staff or a player with your peers]. When we began this two-part article, I started with saying that the most talented team does not always win. I am still a strong believer in that. I think that the team that is the toughest will win. And I hope after reading this, you can implement some of this with either yourself and your team.

To sign-up for our weekly newsletter, just CLICK HERE. Remember to follow us on Twitter @achieveinsports, Like us on Facebook at Facebook.com/achieveinsports, and if you are interested in having Achievement Consulting work with your team, or have any questions at all, please email me at Chris@achievementllc.com

Why Ryan Hill has it Right & How To Deal with Disappointment

This past Saturday at the Meeting de Paris IAAF Diamond League Track Meet, American Ryan Hill ran the 3rd Fastest 3,000m time in US History, running 7:30.93. This is not just an outstanding run for Hill, but is even more amazing if you consider it took place after a disappointing 6th in the 5,000m Olympic Trials, an event that he was favored to make the team on. Yesterday, Hill was interviewed by Letsrun.com in an article discussing how has he has been using anger as a way to fuel his training after a season that had not been what he hoped [to read the full article, click HERE].

But his comments and results in Paris made me realize that he has not taught us a lesson in training with anger, but how to deal with and overcome disappointment. Let’s look at how he did it:  

Don’t Let Disappointment Break You – Let it Drive You

Hills comments on how he started to train 'angry in every core session and double' since the Trials, says a lot about how we can learn from disappointment. Many of us will get angry after something devastating, and allow it to move us into a place that is not productive or helpful. Maybe training stops, or if it continues, it doesn’t go the way that it should. But disappointment didn’t break Hill – it is driving him. There is no question that anyone who trains for something every day for four years and doesn’t achieve their goal will be down on themselves for a bit. But getting back to work and getting ready for the next challenge is something that takes toughness and a strong ability to re-focus. Being tough does not just mean to muscle through workouts when you are tired, it means that you are ready to bounce back from adversity, then having the awareness to re-focus on what your real original goals are.

Don’t Lose – Learn

I have written about this a lot in the last few weeks – and specifically have talked about ways to be a learner and not a loser [you can read that article HERE]. As we just spoke about, coming back from disappointment means that you let it drive you to the next challenge. In several ways, it moves you from being a loser to a learner. Learners, when defeated, examine what happened, figure out what they could have done better, and get back to work so they can be better. Losers sulk and pout about how the outcome went, whether it was there fault or not. Learners talk to their support team of coaches and family members [just like Hill did in his conversations with his Coach Jerry Schumacher] and make the best decisions moving forward. Moving on is not just about them, it is about getting feedback from their support networks and making the decision that is best for all parties – whether it is in an individual sport or a team sport.

Remember that Courage inspires Hope

Getting up after you fall is a hard thing to do, and of all people who should understand this - it's Hill. As he trained with anger, he still had hope that the results of his 3k in Paris would end up the way that it would. He could have given up, but sometimes not giving up takes courage. It takes courage to not let your emotions to get a hold of you and still chase your goals. That courage will inspire you to still have the hope that good things are going to happen, just as it did for Hill. Hope only dies if you make the decision to kill it. It is up to you to take charge and have the courage not to dwell on your disappointments, but have the courage to keep on going.

Just as Matthew Centrowitz taught us lessons in Mental Toughness during his Gold Medal run [you can read our blog post about those lessons HERE], Ryan Hill has just taught us how to deal with disappointment. That no matter what happens, whether in sports or in life, you need to let your disappointments drive you, be a learner – not a loser, and remember that when you are courageous, you can still give your dreams hope. Just as Ryan Hills did.  

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What it Really Means to be Football Tough - Part I

With Football Season already kicked-off in High Schools across the country, College Football next week about to get off to its biggest slate of games, and the NFL Season soon to follow, I wanted to address something important: Football is known as a tough-mans game. However, what does it really mean to be tough in America’s most popular game? We will see pictures of players in war paint, hitting their heads on lockers as hard as they can, guys making death-defying catches across the middle, and tackles from lineman that will end careers. But does that make a player tough?

In my opinion, it is not one’s ability to survive the game and make gruesome hits that makes a football player tough, but preparation, awareness, and attention to detail. And when discussing this idea of football toughness, I think that it is important that it is discussed in two separate, but equally important sections: First, how to be tough prior to the game, and Second, how to be tough in game situations.

So to start off, what does it take to be tough before a game even kicks off. Well, as any tough player will tell you, it starts with preparation:

Preparation in the Film Room

Tough players are smart players who are ready for the next opponent. They not only study plays from their upcoming challenger, but they look at what they have done in the past that they need to improve on. When Tom Brady played the last game regular season against the NY Giants, looking to take his team to an undefeated regular season, his coach asked him a week before to start looking at film of the Giants. His answer was that he has already looked at film. From each of their last 15 games. That is being tough. Doing the work outside of the field that gets you ready for the upcoming challenge.

 Don’t Just Know the Plan, Understand It

Lots of players will go into the upcoming week saying that they know the game plan 100%. However, there is a big difference between knowing and understanding. Do you understand what happens when an audible is called? Do you know the assignments of the other guys in your unit so you can make adjustments? What will happen if the plan does not work, do you understand the contingency plan? Again, being prepared as much as possible is a vital key to being tough. No one wants to tell their coach that they did not fully understand their role – tough players understand their job and what it will take to be successful.

Be Inquisitive

No player [at least the last time I checked] ever got kicked off a team because they asked how to do things right. If they are not clear about something, they ask a teammate. If something is still unclear, then they ask their coach. And they keep asking until they get the answer that makes them feel confident in the decisions that they will eventually make during the game. They may also ask their teammates if they understand what to do in certain situations to make sure everyone is on the same page. Tough players ask tough questions of themselves and those around them. It’s much better to ask than to be unprepared.

Get on the Same Page with Other Members of Your Staff

One of the worst things that a football team can do is have not have everyone on the field be on the same page. Coaches will have meeting after meeting to make sure that this is not a problem, however we often see a lack of communication before and during the game [especially with QBs and WRs] that may lead to balls being dropped and routes being ran wrong, all because members of the staff were not on the same page. My message here is to players more than coaches: in the week leading up to the game, talk to each other. Have separate meetings in the dorm, in the film room, go over plays after practice. No stone is left upturned. A team is tougher when they understand each other’s role and what they are supposed to do throughout the game.

Don’t Just Get Aggressive, Get Smart

No one ever got a championship ring because they hit their head as hard as they could on a locker before a game. No one ever gets mentioned as a great player if they are aggressive, but not effective. Big time players make big time plays, but big time players also play smart. They are where they need to be when it’s time to make a play. They see holes in the defensive line that others don’t. They are able to take that aggression and turn it into smart play. So don’t just get ‘fired up,’ get ready to play smart.

Later in the week, we will discuss the second section of what it takes to be tough in football, by focusing on game situations. If you are going to take away anything from this first section, it should be that tough players don’t go out and just ‘get it done.’ They are the most prepared, the best communicating, and intelligent people on the field. Without all the work that is done before the first snap of the game, there is no way that they, or anyone around them should legitimately consider themselves tough.

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3 Reasons Why How You Are Doing Something Is More Important Than What You Are Doing

About a year ago, a friend of mine, who is an up-and-coming High School Basketball Coach in the Northeast, had the opportunity to visit a UCONN Women’s Basketball practice. After watching for nearly two hours, he got to sit and talk with their Head Coach, Geno Auriemma. For those of you who have been hiding under a rock and don’t know who Geno is, he has been the Head Coach of not just 11 NCAA Championship Teams at UCONN, but has now coached USA Women’s Basketball team to two straight Olympic Gold medals [a streak that extended the USA Women’s Basketball Teams to six straight Olympic wins]. When my friend had the opportunity to ask Geno what it is that they do that separates the UCONN Women from everyone other team, he could not have given a better answer:

‘We don’t do anything different than anyone else does in the country. Anyone who comes and see’s our workouts knows that. The difference is not in what we do; it’s how we do it. We go 100% all the time. And that is the level of effort that we expect from everyone. It doesn’t matter to me what you did in High School. If the effort is not 100% all the time, then this is probably not the place for you.’

After that meeting, ‘It’s not what we do, it’s how we do it’ became the theme for my friend’s team. Before that meeting, the were 0-3; they then went on to only lose 4 more games that year, having one of the most successful seasons in the school’s history.

This is why ‘how you do it’ is important:

Talent Matters, But Not as Much as Effort

In the words of another great coach, Pat Summit, ‘the one thing that a person can control is their effort.’ It’s hard to think of a better sentence that can best define how important it is that a coach and athlete focus on their effort, rather than rely on their talent. Effort has everything to do with how you do something, rather than what you are doing. You can have a team with talented players in every position, however a team that is talented will lose to a team that has less talent but puts in a better effort, nearly every time. This is because a team that has less talent understands that in order to be successful, they must execute their plays, their practices, and their film sessions, better than the teams that are more talented, because their effort is the only way that they can have success against teams with more talent.

And this does not mean that one has to be out-of-control, burning themselves out and potentially risking injury to defeat teams more talented. An important thing to note about effort in relation to ‘how you do it,’ is that effort needs to be intense, but controlled. When you instruct athletes to do something ‘with 100% effort’ or ‘all out,’ they may have the tendency to become try ‘too hard’ and tighten-up, focus so much on the intensity of the moment that the technique goes south, and lose awareness of their emotions and actions at any given moment. It needs to be communicated clearly with all involved what the goals and outcome are of the drill itself, but more so, what are you as a coach specifically looking for in their effort and execution that will make this drill better than if they just ‘went through the motions.’ Remember that ‘going through the motions’ does not win championships, it’s how you do them that matters.

It Creates Another Accountability System for Your Team

Great coaches establish strong accountability systems for their assistants, their athletes, and themselves. These systems are can be based on the gathering of raw data [shots missed, field goals made, total strikeouts, etc.] or by the visual, in person examination of the effectiveness of someone’s effort and execution of their work. In other words, you and I both know that there are some things that you cannot see in raw data. You cannot measure how good the technique of someone’s shooting execution is, someone’s hours spent in the batting cages after practice is over, or how hard someone tries in their sprints at the end of practice.

However, when you are examining how you do things rather than what you do, you then create a new way for your athletes and coaches to be measured. And these measurable elements are much more important than any other raw data that you are going to look at. Because if your team is performing well, but doing all the important things wrong, it’s only a matter of time before their bad habits catch up with them.  

 It Makes an Athlete Compete Against Themselves

One of the skills not taught enough by coaches in every sport is that the most important person to compete against is not your opponent during a game, or your teammates during practice – it is yourself. If you yourself are first, focused on achieving the goal that is right in front of you, and second, putting in your best effort in that moment, then the person who will be pushing you the most to be your best is not your teammates or opponents, but yourself. It is in this moment, where you are not focusing on what you do [when is competing against someone else], but how you do it [by asking yourself to play at the maximum of your ability].

It’s important to remember that when coaching a team or training yourself, that there is not a magical workout or play that will take your team to the next level. What is important however, is the quality of your work, and asking yourself and people you are working with to be focused and put in the best effort possible, then you will have a great opportunity to beat against any team that you compete against, no matter how talented they may be.

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5 Ways a Routine Can Work for You and Not Against You

Currently there is a big emphasis in athletics that in order to be successful, athletes need some type of routine in order to maximize their performance. In Track & Field, it’s about doing something right before the gun goes off that helps you relax, in hitting a quality routine usually involves some type of motion made before stepping in the batter’s box while in baseball or softball, and in golf, there are a dozen different ways you see players visualize, breath, then go into their stroke.

My personal belief is that the way routines are currently taught, although helpful, does not consistently provide the opportunity for an athlete to be aware of their emotions in the moment, help create confidence, and remind athletes of what they need to do before the performance itself. Rather than be committed to a routine that is focused around the end result, one should have a system in place that makes not only puts them in the ideal mental and physical space to perform at their maximum, but also allows them to make corrections, and build confidence.

Here are Five Steps to an effective routine:

A Good Routine Improves Awareness

We have spoken at length over the last few weeks about the importance of having competing with a heightened level of self-awareness. This not only means being aware of how you feel physically, buy being aware of your emotions, along with the environment that you competing in. An effective routine is one that first examines your emotions and actions to ‘check’ if you are focusing on the right things. Many a time, athletes get into a rhythm of focusing on the physical movement of the routine more than focusing on what the routine is meant to do – heighten your awareness and confidence before you go into your motion.

A suggestion for implementation would be that the before you start anything, give yourself and emotional and physical ‘check.’ How are you reacting to this moment? Is the silence of the course, the noise of the crowd, or the pressure of the moment itself effecting you in a way that is making you tense or to relaxed? Think of this like a STOP sign. Before you go on to the next part of your drive, look both ways and make sure everything is good to go. Then, you can focus on your breathing.

A Good Routine Helps You Re-Focus

One’s ability to focus is really based on their ability to re-focus. Baseball and Softball are great examples of this. In these sports, if you fail 70% of the time, you will have a very successful career. It may be the only sports in the world in which failing at this high a rate is considered a positive attribute. And due to this high failure rate, the ability to re-focus is key. And that it why it needs to play a vital role in your routine.

In any good routine, especially one that is used after streaks of failure, your ability to focus on the task right in front of you, rather than feel sorry for yourself about past results, could be the difference between success and failure. Having the ability to re-focus in essence means that what happened in the past happened in the past, and the only thing that matters is the event that you are involved with. And this is why it is even more important to have an awareness of your emotions like we just spoke about. Someone who is aware of his or her emotions will be know if they are sulking in their failures from past experiences, or ready to focus on the task at hand. This skill is a one that if utilized correctly, can be invaluable to an athlete, especially one that is making a jump to the next level.  

A Good Routine Utilizes Breathing Effectively

Much has been written about the importance of breathing in a routine, and how it is vital to helping your body and mind to relax. However, there are two parts of a routine that one should be focusing on: First, once you have made yourself aware of how you are reacting physically to the moment, you should examine if there are any parts of tension in your body. Are your shoulders tight? Do you feel an overall sense of anxiety? If this is true, then while you are going through your breathing routine, you should turn your focus on these particular areas and utilize your breathing to help these areas become more relaxed. Second, your breathing should not be short or forceful., but rather involve the following steps: 

1)  Your inhalation should be through your nose, which will automatically allow your nervous system to slow your heart rate down. This will help you focus and reduce your anxiety significantly. 

2)      As you breathe through your nose, you should be filling your stomach with air, allowing your diaphragm to expand and in turn, increasing the amount that your rib cage opens, hence allowing more air into your lungs

3)      Your exhalation should be through your mouth in a steady rhythm. You should never force air out with a heavy ‘push.’ The exhalation should be controlled and steady, allowing your body to relax

After this section of the routine, you should be ready to move into the next step, which is created to increase your confidence using visualization and positive s

A Good Routine Uses Visualization

There is nothing wrong with visualizing a perfect swing, stroke, or start. In fact, it plays a very important role in boosting confidence and acting as a reminder for what you need to do to have a quality performance. Creating a mental image in your head of a great swing or a great start allows you to focus on the moment, reminds you of the mechanics that you will need to have in your performance, and will boost your confidence by reminding you that you have done this motion hundreds, if not thousands of times in training. This image can run through your head while you are doing your deep breath, or as you are using positive self-talk, which is the next step in creating a good routine.

A Good Routine uses Positive Self-Talk to Increase Your Confidence

Once you have put your body and mind in a more aware and relaxed state, you can then start to build your confidence. Which is much simpler than people realize – because it just involves talking to yourself. The best person to boost your confidence is not your coach or your teammates, it is you, by communicating with yourself in a positive and effective way. This could be using by using ‘lots of yes’ in the batter’s box, to letting yourself ‘you got this’ as you walk up to the tee. This again, is very simple, but the importance of this could not be more helpful.

Again, I want to emphasize that having a routine is very important to every sport. However, unless you are aware of your emotions and actions, can re-focus, breathe effectively, visualize your performance, and communicate with confidence, then what you do in your routine makes no difference in your performance. Doing this with a purpose will not only help improve your game in that particular moment, but have a domino effect that will give your overall performance and confidence the added boost that it needs to get to the next level.

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3 Reasons Carmelo Anthony is Not a Leader

The best player at the Olympic Games for Team USA Men’s Basketball was Carmelo Anthony. He led the team in scoring, played defense [yes, Carmelo Anthony played defense], and acted as the leader to a group of players, many of whom were experiencing not just their first trip to the Olympics, but a team that did not include arguably the best two players in the world, in Lebron James & Steph Curry. In that tournament, Carmelo Anthony was the best player amount the best National Teams in the world.

Much has been written about how well Anthony played for Team USA, and it has all led to the same question: will he be the same player for the Knicks this season than he was for Team USA this summer?

The answer is No.

There are three reasons for my answer, and none of them have to do with Anthony’s skills as a basketball player, more so about the ability to control his effort.

Reason 1 – Anthony’s effort is average to poor when playing on the Knicks, as he plays down to the level of his teammates. When playing for Team USA, we saw a high-level skill set from Anthony that lead to many commentators asking ‘where has this Carmelo been?’ Well, I’ll tell you where he has been – he has been on the committed to mediocrity, poorly coached, and unenthusiastic New York Knicks. The Anthony that plays for the New York Knicks is surrounded by players with lesser skills, even if they put in the maximum of their effort. And Anthony knows this. He also knew the level of player that was going to be on Team USA, hence his increase in effort. This is the complete opposite of what leaders do. Leaders make the people around them better, especially if they are players with lesser skill sets than you. Obviously he plays hard around players that have equal or better skill sets, just like he did over the last two weeks with USA, but this Knick team, although improved by Derick Rose [who can’t stay healthy] and Joakim Noah [who is can’t stay healthy, either], does not have nearly the talent to push Anthony to be the player he really is – at least over an entire 82 game season. And rather than led by example with his effort, he allows his talent to do the work. If you are going to lead, having talent act as your guide, especially in the long run, is just not good enough.

Reason 2 – Anthony does not want to lead anyone that he considers a lesser player than him. Leaders not only want to be around people who have skill sets around them to help complete their team, but they want those around them who may not be as skilled in order to motivate them to their best performances. A leader knows that the best and most rewarding path to success is when something is achieved together, not just as an individual. And they are willing to make sacrifices personally and professionally in order to make sure that the team achieves their goals. Anthony does not possess any of these qualities. Leading does not mean ‘watch what I can do, and follow my lead.’ What it actually takes is the ability to communicate effectively, be an example of courage for through your own effort, and motivate through your daily examples. When Anthony is surrounded by better players, he has no problem acting in a leadership capacity, as it seems that he wants to make it clear that at his age, his skills have not diminished. But when you put him on a team of players that his, for the most part, a team of less talented players than he, he does not communicate, he plays selfishly, and as we have said already, allows his skills to be the example setter. If Anthony were on a better team, we would not be having this conversation, but he is on the Knicks. And having said that, with the Knicks roster being what it is, you will not see Anthony be the leader he could or was in Rio.

Reason 3 – Anthony plays harder with the competition is not as good as him. Much of what has been written about in this article is centered around the fact that Carmelo Anthony is not a leader because he makes the conscious decision not to put in a quality effort 100% of the time. Our last example of this is no different. Playing against teams in the Olympics Games that where not at the level of talent or skill that he possesses [especially in the opening rounds], Anthony played exceptional. As the rounds moved on [especially in the Semi & Final Round Games], he performance was not nearly as good, with his points and rebounds per game reducing significantly. This is not atypical for Anthony when the competition gets tough while playing in the NBA. Anthony’s numbers against teams that are below the Knicks and teams under .500 is much better than teams that are not. And it is because he refuses to lead and put in a quality effort. But leadership is not about showing everyone how good you are against players that are on two-weeks contracts. It’s about trying to beat the best players in the league over 82 games, and his lack of competitive spirit will not allow him to be successful against better teams.

I hope, for the sake of the fans of the Knicks, that Carmelo can become the player that he is when he decides to put in the effort worthy of not only himself, but his teammates and coaches. If he can do so, he will be able to re-write the last portion of a career that has been, at times, both amazing and disappointing. All he needs to do is make the decision to lead by example with his effort. That, when combined with his skills, could be a problem for the rest of the NBA.

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4 Ways to Survive a Campaign

Half of my professional life has been spent working on campaigns. From small ones [like a City Water Commissioner Race] to BIG ones [like a Presidential], anyone who knows one or is an organizer know how hard that job really is. It’s incredibly hard. You have to deal with volunteers that are flakey, goals that are ridiculously demanding, and hours that are normal person would never work – ever. You eat pizza and other garbage every night, drink more coffee in 6 months that some people drink in 10 years, sleep about 3-4 hours a night, and treat your body like dirt.

I have seen [and if you are an organizer, or have worked around other organizers you have also] very smart, very hard working people, have full-on nervous breakdowns in offices. Having a full on cry-fest under the pressure and stress of trying to elect the person that you are working for and stand up for what they believe in is a regular occurrence. If you survive [and I mean that quite literally, as each year we hear stories of organizers dropping down dead from stress], you leave with an enormous increase in skills, relationships that will last the rest of your life, and wondering how in the hell you made it all the way through without quitting, having a meltdown, or dying.

But, there are ways to survive this madness. Here are 4 techniques that you can use to survive a campaign. They involve self-awareness, self-discipline, and being a little selfish now and then. I would ask that you not read this as a way to waste 7 minutes, but make an attempt after reading to attempt to implement these in your day. Your boss, your volunteers, you candidate, and most importantly yourself, will be better off in the long run.  

Focus on one thing at a time

When I work with teams, one of the things that I stress is to ‘play one pitch/set/shift/or step at a time.’ This skill is not just important for athletics, but for surviving a campaign. Let’s discuss why this is important:  First, worrying about the outcome of the race will do nothing but stress you out. You are not in control of that – you can effect it, but you can’t control it. What you are in control of is the task right in front of you. Whether it is working with a volunteer, posting something on Facebook, or doing a large training, you are in control of that moment. So you should be putting all of your effort to what is right there, rather than something that will take place several days, weeks, or months ahead. The outcome is a result of your work. This is something that you need to realize if you are going to survive.

Second, multitasking does nothing but lessen the quality of your work. You can’t set up a training, make calls, and answer emails at the same time. And if you can, the quality of that work will be poor – and that’s unacceptable. Why not do something well and correct the first time, instead of opening up the door for mistakes? That sounds better to me. Again, focus on what you have to accomplish right now, rather than 20 things that you need to get done.

And third, when you do several things at a time and something really important comes up that you have to drop everything for – in what order are you going to go back to your work? What is the highest priority? When you are doing 10 things at a time, they think everything is equally important. You and I both know that this is not true. Begin your day by not only setting priorities, but continue to do so as the day goes along. This way, you can be more productive and work one project at a time with all of your effort focused on what is ahead of you.

Breathe

Let’s have a quick physiology session, shall we? When you don’t breathe effectively, there is not enough oxygen going through your body to make it work well. Sure, since you are functioning, you are still doing your work, but does taking short, panic-like breaths help you get through the day? Hell no. In fact, your body has to work much harder when you breathe ineffectively than when you breathe properly. Your heart rate increases, your body temperature rises, and you burn through the calories from that awful pizza you just ate much faster. And by the end of the day, you are DONE. So, how do you breathe correctly?

It’s not just about breathing slower and deeper, but when you breathe in through your nose, your nervous system is actually triggered at that point to slow your heart rate down. When you breathe in through your nose and fill up your stomach with air using your diaphragm, it expands your lungs and allows more air to get it. And breathing out through your mouth acts as a natural relaxer. It allows your body to sink into your chair, relaxing your muscles. So, breath slow and deep in through your nose, filling your stomach, and out slowly, pushing all the air out of your body to help you relax. Just try it for a few minutes and a know you will feel better. It will feel awkward at first, but after a few minutes you will feel more focused and refreshed. If professional athletes do it, why can’t you?

Don’t quit, have GRIT

I am not trying to be cute here or impress you with my rhyming ability. We all at one point or another, want to quit our campaigns. It’s a hard job. It’s an exhausting job. But, those who show perseverance due to the passion they have for their work [which is the definition of GRIT], will not only be better organizers, but will find their work more rewarding. Building a Culture of Grit is something that I try to do with the Athletic Teams and Organizations that I have worked with in the past. A person can be trained to be gritty. But in order to do so, they first need to learn to have perspective. Perspective that this goal is going to be hard and getting to the goal is going to take time – you will not win the race tomorrow if Election Day is 3 weeks from now, but if you focus and do your job the right way NOW by focusing on the process [training at your best, knocking at your best, recruiting at your best], then you will have a good chance of reaching it. Good Regional, Deputy, and Statewide Field Directors can train this in their Field Organizers, but it is something that needs to be trained each day, by reemphasizing the importance of the race you are in, and reminding organizers that campaigns are marathons, not sprints.

And as far passion goes, well, that is different for everyone. Your passion could be for voting rights, fighting for the good of the environment, helping to create justice reform, whatever. But it is UNDERSTANDING that this is your passion, and KNOWING is why you are doing this incredibly hard job in the first place that is makes a huge difference. If each day, after little sleep, you go into your office thinking ‘here we go again. More volunteers, more drama, more nonsense,’ then you will be an ineffective organizer. But if you have a passion that drives you, that is effecting you to make change, then heading into the office becomes ‘I know this is hard, but who cares. We need justice reform in this country. Nothing is going to stop me from getting people to the polls because of that,’ then you will start to fight with more conviction, perseverance, and show more Grit. 

BE SELFISH: Take 15 min twice day and get away from your phone & computer

If you are organizing, you are either on your phone or computer at least 90% of your day. You are crunching numbers in VAN, scheduling volunteer shifts, or digitally organizing you team. By the time you get to the end of the day, which usually lasts around 15-18 hours, your eyes are tired, your ear hurts from being on the phone and you are ready to just ‘get the day over with.’ Well, knock it off, and do something to help yourself.

Although you are putting all of your time and effort into the campaign, you still need time for yourself. This does not mean taking a smoke break, driving to get taco bell, or looking at your fantasy football team. This means taking 15 min, twice a day, and getting away from everything campaign related. A total of 30 min to yourself each day is not going to cost you an election – I promise you, it won’t. However, you can lose an election if you don’t take a break now and then because you are so fried you can’t think. This is time where you can take a walk around the block, go to your car and take a nap [with the air conditioner on of course], or just sit outside and breathe. I guarantee you that you that the world will not end if you don’t answer an email the second it hits your inbox, or miss a call. In fact, you will be in a better place from when you left your office 15 minutes beforehand.

I hope that you will take all of these suggestions and implement them with yourself and with your teams. Remember that you were hired to do a hard job, but most importantly, to do it well. The more you can focus on doing your job the best you can by taking a deep breath, focusing on the task right in front of you, and understanding the entire picture – then it will be the most rewarding experience of your life.

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