High Performance Mindset | Learn from World-Class Leaders, Consultants, Athletes & Coaches about Mindset - 579: Flip the Field with Greg Coleman, Former NFL Punter, Speaker and Author

Episode Date: November 17, 2023

Greg Coleman is an inspirational speaker, gifted storyteller and former NFL punter, teaching leaders and business owners how to Flip the Field, get a Leg Up on Life, and Shift the Atmosphere in their companies and organizations using proven principles.  Some of his most notable distinctions are of being the first African American punter in the NFL and his induction into the 2021 class of the Black College Football Hall of Fame.  For 21 years, he served as the Sideline Analyst for the Minnesota Vikings Radio Network. He recently retired at the end of the 2021 NFL season. He recently published his first book, PUNT – Flip the Field and Get a Leg Up On Life. Greg is from Jacksonville, Florida, attended Raines HS and is a graduate of Florida A&M University.    In this podcast, Greg and Cindra talk: What it means to “Flip the Field” The difference between the most successful athletes and coaches How we can “PUNT on Purpose”  The mental tools he used to thrive for 12 years in the NFL   HIGH PERFORMANCE MINDSET SHOWNOTES FOR THIS EPISODE: www.cindrakamphoff.com/579 FOLLOW CINDRA ON INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/cindrakamphoff/ FOLLOW CINDRA ON TWITTER: https://twitter.com/mentally_strong TO LEARN MORE ABOUT GREG COLEMAN: https://gregcoleman8.com 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  

Welcome to episode 579. This is your host, Dr. Sindra Kampoff, and thank you so much for joining me here today on the High Performance Mindset. I'm grateful that you are here. Today's episode, I interview Greg Coleman. Greg is an inspirational speaker, a storyteller, and a former NFL punter, where he teaches leaders and business owners how to flip the field, get a leg up on life, and shift the atmosphere in their companies and organizations. Some of Greg's most notable distinctions are being the first African-American punter in the NFL and his induction into the 2021 class of the Black College Football Hall of Fame. For 21 years, he served as the sideline analyst for the Minnesota Vikings radio network. I've heard him so many times on this radio network.

And he recently retired at the end of the 2021 NFL season. He recently published his first book, Punt, Flip the Field and Get the Leg Up on Life. And in this episode, Greg and I talk about what it means to flip the field, how we can punt on purpose and the acronym of punt, and the mental tools he used to thrive for 12 years in the NFL. If you'd like to see the full show notes and description of this podcast, you can head over to cindracampoff.com slash 579. Now, without further ado, let's go ahead and bring on Greg Coleman. Welcome to the High Performance Mindset Podcast. Thank you so much for joining me, Greg. I'm so excited to be here today to talk to you about your new book, Punt, Flip the Field.

How are you doing this morning? I know you just had a big book signing a few days ago, so thanks so much for joining us. It's great to be here, Cendra. It's been, well, I guess the last couple of weeks, it's been crazy. Just got back from Africa last Saturday. We did the book release on Monday. I was inducted into the state of Florida Sports Hall of Fame on Wednesday, flew to Minneapolis for alumni weekend, spent some time with family, the kids and grandkids, the book signing at the Vikings Museum on Saturday, and we beat the Saints on Sunday. So life is good right now. Life is good. Well, congratulations on your new release of your book. I talked to you several

months ago, and it was really exciting to see that it actually came out. And it's an incredible book. I'm really excited to talk to you about today. Maybe just first start us off and tell us a little bit about what you're passionate about and what you're doing right now. Well, first of all, passionate about life. I stepped away from the Vikings broadcast a couple of years ago, stepped away from corporate America with Harris Corporation a couple of years ago just to pursue some of the things and dreams that we wanted to do. There's a great journey behind us. And we talked about it, prayed about it, and made a decision to step away from all of those with a great body of work behind us. But we wanted to focus and concentrate on the things that we wanted to do. And that was family.

That was doing some other projects and finishing the book. I've always had a passion for writing, always had a passion for people. And when I went back and looked at some of the legal pads from 1976 and 1977, with some of the dreams and aspirations and some of the stories and some of the people who influenced me, I said, okay, you got no excuse now. So let's get it done. We made a decision this spring because we always had a lot of the content, got a coach and start piecing it together. And here we are, months and months later with a project that we hope that will

continue to encourage people because as a professional speaker, that's what I do. I teach and help individuals and corporations to shift the atmosphere. I've been in meeting rooms, board rooms, locker rooms, prayer rooms. So I understand the dynamics of those areas. And so we decided to put it on paper to help someone along the way in their journey, overcoming the obstacles of life, because we all have. And I'm a creature for encouragement. Yeah, I love it. Well, and you've had such an opportunity to not only as an athlete, and by the way, the last stat I heard was that the average NFL player stays in the league for 2.3 years. So you like tripled that, you know, so I think about all the

years that you were in the NFL and then, you know, the players and the athletes and the coaches that you've observed, what have you seen them do in terms of what are their mindset characteristics that really separate the best from the rest? Maybe those that don't stay in the league for a really long time. Well, I think it's habits, rituals, and the little things called perfection. People say practice makes perfect. No, I think perfect practice makes permanent because you can practice all day long, but if you're practicing the wrong thing, and I'll use golf as an example with me. Golf was a game that I swore that I would never play. But as I matured and found out, I'm not going to say relaxing because it's not a relaxing sport.

It's a driving sport because you're trying to say relaxing because it's not a relaxing sport. It's a driving sport because you're trying to beat perfection, trying to perfect that golf swing. And I picked up some golf clubs without getting the proper instructions. So I picked up a lot of bad habits. And I remember going to a coach and he said, you know, Coleman, you think you're pretty good. And I said, well, I know I'm good. I'm a professional athlete. What are you talking about? And he said, you know, uh, Coleman, you think you're pretty good. And I said, well, I know I'm good. I'm a professional athlete. What are you talking about? And he said, well, be back tomorrow.

And I'm going to show you a couple of things. And he bought a camera and he set it up and, uh, we took some swings and looked and oh my God, how wretched of a golf swing that I had. And he said, that that's, that's not the biggest problem. He said, the biggest problem, if you're willing to unlearn the things that you have been practicing. And I said, practice, man, we got to practice. And for those of us who are long in the tooth, remember Allen Iverson, the NBA basketball player, man, talking about practice, man, you want me to practice? I'm all pro, but I got to practice? Yes, you do. And I think it's

those little things that separates the average player from the Hall of Famers and the pro bowlers and those who go on to have long careers. Because I do believe that it's a fine line, a very fine line. And Bud would always tell, I'm talking about Bud Grant. He would always say, Greg, we can get anybody to come out and play football, to put on a purple jersey, to put on a helmet with the horns on them. But if you're not able to win, then changes are made. And that's true in sports. It's true in life. It's true in any profession. Absolutely. So perfection and really being able to do the small things well and the fine line between, I see that in professional sport, fine line between those who, you know, sometimes it's just a point or a play that can really impact the whole outcome of the game.

No doubt about it. Yeah, absolutely. And I know you mentioned how Bud Grant gave you the opportunity or you wrote about this in your book, that he was the one that gave you the opportunity to play for the Vikings. Tell us about what you've seen the best of the coaches do as you've been able to witness really incredible coaches over your many years of broadcasting and the playing in the NFL I think coaches the great coaches have the ability to

number one communicate uh also the that little thing that separates the great coaches from those who are fly by night the ability to relate with their players, find out what makes that player tick because you've had players who can get traded from team to team to team. But once he lands with the right coach, whether it's a Bud Grant, a Bill Belichick or Tom Landry or Mike Tomlin or Tony Dungy, they have the ability to find out what makes that player tick, what makes him perform at his highest level. And then he focuses on that.

And as a result, if a coach can get the best of a player that's been marginalized, that has had some trials early in his life, and has been able to relate with him on those areas of early life before he got to that organization, man, he can get the best out of them. And the great coaches have that uncanny ability to say, okay, I'm going to treat everybody the same. No, that's a misnomer. You've got to know your players. And I think Bud was one of the best at it. He knew the guys that he could push in practice day after day after day. And then he knew the guys that, hey, I'm going to give you a day off. Refresh your legs, refresh your mind. And those are the players that produced on Sunday,

because you can leave the game on the field, on the practice field during the course of the week and have nothing left on Sunday. He was a master at that. That's wonderful. Thanks for the specific example and just like what you've observed in him and obviously a Hall of Fame coach. So I'm not surprised that you'd say that. I love your pregame preach. And I think about all my friends and what they would say is there, is there, wow, I got to interview you today and they'd be like,

I mean, I love his pregame preaches. Can you give us a sample? You're killing me. You're killing me because the, the pregame preach, if, if I can give you a Genesis on how that started and I'll see if I can find

one somewhere. Okay. That sounds great. We were, we were on the road. Um, and I was happy to be speaking at chapel that particular night, Paul Allen stuck his head in the door, uh, for a few moments and observe some things. Fast forward to the game the next day, because that segment of the pregame preach was called Coleman's keys to the game. And he says, we're going down to the field for

Greg Coleman and the keys to the game. He said, no, you know what? Wait a minute. I saw him preach last night at chapel at a fellowship and we're going down for the pregame preach. And that's how it started. That was awesome. It was organic. It really was. And it was an opportunity of stepping out in faith to tie faith, my faith, football and the fans. So what I would do would I would take a message from either that chapel the night before or whatever the Lord has laid on my heart for that morning. Case in point, you know, Minnesota Vikings, we're playing the New York Giants, the former Super Bowl champions. Man, we got a big mountain to climb. But you know, if you have the faith, the size of a mustard seed, baby, you can climb that mountain. You can move that mountain. Or if it's the Detroit Lions, you know, like David was in the Lions den, all David

had was a rock and a rag, and he took down the giant Goliath. And that's what the Minnesota Vikings are going to have to do it today. Purple Nation, can I get a witness from the congregation? I love it. Hey, you brought it. Nice work. Only you. Thank you. I appreciate that. I appreciate that. Well, and if people aren't Minnesota Vikings fans, you did this right before kickoff on the radio. And so everyone would tune in because it's incredible. And it was even longer. I dwarfed, I mean, it just emerged as this movement because of the notes that I would get from people. That 30 to 45 seconds did more for me than I did sitting up in service this morning. You tapped into my spirit because I was about to do something stupid, but I love football so much. And then that faith piece on top of that really kind of

it shook me up to bring me back to reality. So over the years, it has, let's put it this way. The next book will be the pregame preach, a weekly ritual, devotional to support people of faith and those not of faith, because there are going to be an incredible book. I can't wait to read it. So let's shift to talk a little bit about punt flip the field and tell us why you decided to write that and exactly what flip flip flip the field actually means. Well, that was my position. That was my responsibility as a punter. I can remember going back to my high school days and I was a defensive end. I was a captain, but I was not very big. All I wanted to do was sack the quarterbacks. But on the running plays, I was not very good, not very big. And we were practicing one day, and my coach got upset with me.

He said, get out of my drill. You're not doing it correctly. Coleman, get that bag of balls and go up and see if you can flip the field. And it was that moment that I realized probably was not going to grow any taller, get any bigger to play defense in college. So I took that bag of balls and went up on the field grudgingly. And I started to punt. I was also a place kicker. So it was me by myself, all by my lonesome. And I figured out you do have something special. God did give you a gift. And if you could punt and flip the field, which is your responsibility, you get your team out of trouble if we're backed up.

You put the opponents in harm's way. You put them inside of a position where they are limited offensively. Then you've helped your team all the way around. You got your team out of trouble on offense and you put you put the opposing team in trouble. That was an advantage for our defense. So flipping the field was the mantra of every punter. But then I stopped and I thought, I said, well, you can't flip the field until you punt. So then I put punt in front of the flip the field because you got to punt first. But the first thing about punting, you got to stretch. You got to stretch your body. You got to stretch your imagination. You got to stretch your mind, number one, to see what you want to do. Do you have the ability to do that?

So those acronyms punt came synonymous with the title of the book, P meaning push through obstacles. Because in life, all of us are going to have those obstacles, whether you're an athlete, a student, a business professional, or even a housewife, a stay-at-home mom. Then you, you got to understand your strengths because God gave all of us an ability and a talent and a gift that he didn't give anybody else. You got to find out what those were, what those abilities were. And you got to navigate through the stuff, the stuff of life, because everybody's going to have it. And T, once you do that, then you take calculated risks because life is not going to move forward, move past that point of fear, unless you take some calculated risks. So there lies the title

of punt, flip the field. And I do believe that if you practice those habits and rituals, you then can get a leg up on life. I love it. So punt stands for P, push through obstacles. You understand your strengths and navigate your choices and take calculated risks. How do you, how have you used this? I think about just the transition you had to make to broadcasting from an athlete to corporate. And, and now as you're transitioning out of broadcasting to a speaker, tell us a bit about how you've used these, this acronym PUNT to be able to navigate through difficulties in your own life. Well, number one, I think it starts here in the mind. Having the ability to push through the misnomers of athletes, not having the ability to shift all they know is sports, how to play.

No, I had to fight that perception, you know, which is another P. I can remember when I made the decision that I wanted to move into broadcasting. My friend James Brown of CBS Sports was here in Minneapolis during the final four. And I saw him before the game, before a tournament. I said, JB, I'm thinking about doing some broadcasting. Now that I'm done, I'm looking to push a little bit in that direction. He said, Greg, I've got two areas of advice. He said, master the King's English and master the King James. And that's a version of the Bible. And James has been a good friend, a mentor, someone that I've looked up to in the field of broadcasting because there were very, very few African-Americans in those seats of broadcasting.

So having to push through all of those things with the late Ray Irv Cross, who was a mentor for all of football players going into sports. So following down that path, I worked, I even went to Brown Institute doing some off seasons, even as a player learning the ins and outs that even did some work, volunteer work with Mark Rosen over at WCCO during the off season. So trying to, because Kendra, he was the thing. I didn't make it my first year after I got drafted. I was actually cut and I had to get a job,

but because of my education that I got down at Florida A&M, and that's another whole story. I was able to see football for what it was. It's not a career. It was a kickstart of life. And if you took advantage of it, you could put yourself and your family in a better position once your playing career was over, because I don't know anybody who has played football for life. It is a, it's a young person's game. And if you manage some certain things well, you know, in the end, when those playing days are over, you can take advantage

of the relationships that you made early on, and hopefully you've taken care of your money. All of these things going through my mind, but I started training. Again, overcoming some of those obstacles. One of the biggest ones that I had to overcome was I came into broadcasting at the time where the industry was changing from typewriters to computers and then cutting your own video and all of those things. So it was a little difficult because I did not take typing in high school or college. So, you know, finger fighting the keys, trying to write your own stories and all of those things. So that's just one example of how I had to push through and overcome some of those obstacles when you talk about broadcasting. Making sure that I had the ability to tell stories, you know, stats and all of those things. People can read in all of those things. People can read in all of those things. I was more interested in the human element of the area of broadcasting.

So I would do some stories, the human interest stories. What are players doing during the off seasons? What are their families like? What have been their struggles? What side of the track did they come from? To help create the narrative about that particular story, about that particular player. So I have personally used

punt in almost every aspect of my life. Well, I appreciate you sharing that because I think maybe people might just hear your background and say, well, it's been easy for you. And I appreciate that you've described a little bit about what you've overcome. Football is a kickstart at life. I think that's an incredible quote that I wish that even players in professional sport would remember as they're in it, right? Or even as young players, sometimes I think about my youngest son, man, he'd love to play in the NFL. He loves football, you know, but even using that motto is like, it's a kickstart at life. It shows you and teaches you a lot of really important things that are going to allow you to be successful later.

It really does. And I'll even go back even further at that. I'll give you one quick example, and I'll try and be quick with this, talking about overcoming obstacles. My Pee Wee football team, the Astro Bees, we were city champs. And every city champ in the city would play in the Gator Bowl. That's where the Jacksonville Jaguars play right now. And we go up. We've got our equipment and all of those things. And the coach comes back. He says, guys, he said, we can go take a picture,

but we're not going to be able to play. You've got to understand the time and the climate of the country. This was mid to early, late 60s, early. Yeah, late 60s. And coach comes back and says, guys, we're not going to be able to play because the opposing team coaches, they don't want to play a bunch of N words. So 13 and 14 year olds having to deal with the stench of racism and bias. We took that picture and I have it today in every one of us. There was not a smile on our face. We were not happy,

but we were not defined by what others tried to label us. And off that same little league football team, there were five people who put on NFL uniforms, just that one Little League football team. The first African-American punter in Greg Coleman, the first and second African-American quarterbacks in the SEC at University of Florida. Talking about Don Gaffney and Terry LeCount. Terry LeCount was my peewee teammate in Jacksonville.

We were high school teammates in Jacksonville. And eventually, we were NFL teammates here for the Minnesota Vikings. So don't tell me what a mindset can't do, because we were determined that we would not be defined by what side of the track that we came from or how people viewed us because of the color of our skin. So you talk about pushing through that group of men, 17 of us went on to college. There was two doctors in that group, a couple of attorneys. And as I said, five guys that put on an NFL uniform for one little Pop Warner team that has

the wherewithal, had the encouragement of coaches and parents and community to overcome the stench of racism back in the late 60s down in Jacksonville. That's incredible to think that so many people came from that and so much success came from that Pee Wee team. What do you think the difference was between how you responded to that racism and what really allowed you all to be successful there? We were very aware of racism. We would play some of the other kids outside of the organized sport. So us as kids got along. It was the adults that always had the problem. And there again is where we knew that we had the ability to compete. We just could not deal with the warped mindsets of some adults who chose to carry the baggage, the laws of first truth that they were dealing with. But we chose our coaches, our mentors, that community, as I mentioned before,

that saying about it takes a village to raise. Man, we had some incredible villages back in the day. Absolutely. Greg, we did a study last year where we interviewed professional athletes about how they developed their grit. And almost all of them said that they had overcome a significant adversity in their life. And that's what allowed them to become a professional athlete. So, for example, they said like their parents divorce or seizing ending injury or their own cancer.

And it just makes me think about how, you know, this was really difficult for you as you were growing up, but it was like how you responded to that. And when I, when I think of really successful athletes that I work with in the NFL, the ones that really stay the longest period of time, when, when, for example, someone is, writes about them in the newspaper, you know, they, they end up staying versus the ones that kind of in their own mind say, well, yeah, you're probably right. They get cut pretty quickly or that's the end of their season. You know, that, that season is, do you see any of this? And what's your response to just some of my observations? I think you're spot on.

The mere fact, after I was drafted, when I go to camp, because I was a hurdler, had fairly decent speed. So when we go, we start to work out and everybody says, oh, you know why I'm a receiver? You're a defensive back. So, no, I'm a punter and a place kicker. They laugh. Man, ain't no brothers kicking in in the national football league ain't no brothers punting in the national

football league and I said that's not my problem because I had a coach at Florida A&M his name is Pop Kittles and we were at practice a few times and I'm just bombing them 50 60 70 yards down the middle and Pop stops me he says baby why are you kicking it right to him? I said, well, Pop, that's where he's standing. He said, well, baby, why don't you make him work for his supper? Make him work for his work. He said, kick it to the right and kick it to the left and make him run for it. He said, and I guarantee if you do it on a consistent basis,

they'll find a place for you at the next level. And I looked, Pop Kittle was in the eye and I was stupid enough to believe it. So that was my forte. I took that. I took that and fueled a fire and kicked it to the right, kicked it to the left. And when Howard Cosell from Monday Night Football, when I got my shot, he said, there's Greg Coleman, the young lad out of Florida A&M University, kicking it to the Coleman's corner. Ha ha, there you go. So a lot of times you have to ignore the noise. Yeah.

And I did ignore it so many times because again, people talk about a pioneer and breaking barriers. As the first African-American punter, So many times, because again, people talk about a pioneer and breaking barriers. The first African-American punter. I didn't start out to be the first African-American punter. I started out to be a punter who happens to be African-American. And through that, encouraging other young specialists, hey, if it happened to Greg Coleman, it could happen to me. So now here I am.

Some would say a Hall of Fame punter going into the Black College Football Hall of Fame a couple of years ago in my high school Hall of Fame, my college Hall of Fame, and now the state of Florida Hall of Fame. Well, there's only one left. Yeah. Yeah, there's only one left. Well, I appreciate that. Hi, this is Cyndra Kampoff, and thanks for listening to the High Performance Mindset. Did you know that the ideas we share in the show are things we actually specialize in implementing? If you want to become mentally stronger, lead your team more effectively, and get to your goals quicker, visit freementalbreakthroughcall.com to sign up for your free

mental breakthrough call with one of our certified coaches. Again, that's freementalbreakthroughcall.com to sign up for your free call. Talk to you soon. You know, for those people who are listening, what I heard you say was that coach gave you feedback and you really took it to heart. you used it to fuel you. And then, right, Monday Night Football, the way that you're described is the way that the coach gave you that feedback. So you just use that to fuel you and get better and better and better. Without question, because whether it's in sports, business, whatever you choose to do, whatever your lot in life, sometimes you're going to have to

have those trusted advisors, those trusted coaches, those trusted mentors and friends to give you some honest assessment. And case in point, if you say that you're a chef, and man, every dish you bring out of the kitchen, man, you're missing something. That doesn't necessarily mean you take off your chef's apron and throw the baby out with the bathwater. That means you go back into the kitchen and you try some different ingredients, some different spices, some different recipes here and there. And then you start tasting and chefs will always taste what they, before they serve. And sometimes that happens in life. You know, you're going to go, you're going to have to go back and try some different spices,

some different recipes. That doesn't mean that, you know, that's the end of all things, but here's, here's the other piece to that. You have to be realistic enough to know that if you keep burning eggs every morning, chefs, that profession may not be in your future. So again, I believe in taking some of those risks that we talked about, but also being a realist about your talents and your abilities. Yeah, absolutely. There was a part in your book that I really appreciate and resonated with me about self-worth, because I think that's really important to really being able to see your true self and understand your strengths. And I'm curious, Greg, when you wrote about that, why do you think knowing your worth and how do you grow your worth, particularly when you're trying new things, maybe you're in transition?

That's a great word. That's a great word, transition. I do believe that when the disappointments of life will slap you in the face and And there's a realization that comes once you take that self-assessment. First thing you have to do is make a decision to change. Once you make that decision, then you have to chart a course. Do something different that you hadn't done before. Then once you chart that course, you may need to change your crew because everybody who's been on your ship before, they're fat and sassy and happy. And hey, whichever way we're going, it doesn't matter if you've been going in the wrong direction for so many years. But once you make a decision to change courses, everybody's not going to want to go in the same direction that you will. So you're going to have to kick some of your boys to the curb. That doesn't mean that you don't love them. That means that they're just not going to be

a part of the crew going on this particular part of the journey of life. So then, you know, then and only then that you can maneuver, because it takes a long time to turn a big ship, especially that's been going in the wrong direction for a number of years. You put energy in it, you put resources in it. But once you make that decision to change, it's gonna take some time and you're gonna have to have the patience of Job.

You're gonna have to have that resilient mindset to know that it may not happen tomorrow, but we're still turning in the right direction. So having the wherewithal in knowing what your strengths are, your self-worth, even sometimes you're going to have to go it along. You may have to kick the whole crew to the curb, but you keep paddling the boat, keep turning the ship until you get downwind and downstream. So all of that energy that you use turning the ship, going into the face of the wind, the teeth of the swale, now you finally turn and going in the right direction.

Yeah, I appreciate that. I think about this quote by Jim Rohn. He was an incredible writer in personal development. And he said, you're the average of the five people you spend time with. And I think about as you're growing your own worth and your self-worth, and then you're making a transition surrounding people that, you know, around you that are going to support you and maybe are helpful in that new transition. Well, it's chapters of life. And I'll say this about that particular area where Jim was talking about, relationships are like milk, like milk cartons. Every carton of milk has an exploration date on it. You have the choice to continue to keep that carton of milk. You can drink it. It'll make you sick or it could kill you. And I look at relationships the same way. They all have an exploration date. Once that relationship has run its course, you can try and force those to stay

relevant. They can become toxic. They can make you sick or they can kill you. So I look at those. You got to have the wherewithal to know when that season is over with that particular relationship. That doesn't necessarily mean that you kick it all the way to the curb. Some relationships are dormant and they come full circle many, many years later. But at this particular time, those people, as I mentioned, on the crew that's on my ship, I'm going to have to change crews. And because everybody is not willing to go where you want to go. And that's okay. It's okay to shift. You have to shift your mindset. And sometimes you have to physically shift your surroundings. Yeah, absolutely. I really appreciate you saying that and hopefully as you as people are listening

they're thinking about maybe relationships that in their life that have expired um greg one of the other things i appreciated towards the end of your book you're talking about different mental tools that you used uh while you were performing and while you were punting and you you described a visualization and meditation were just a few mental tools that you mentioned in the book. So tell us how you use these for those people who are listening, who are athletes or, you know, could use these other tools, visualization and meditation in their own life. I used those two tools throughout my entire career,

especially the night before a game. I would visualize going through the entire game where I was going to punt the ball to the right, to the left. I knew who my return guys were. I knew if we were playing indoors at an indoor stadium, or if we were playing outdoors, I knew the weather forecast. I knew which way the wind was going. So I would play the game in my mind. And if I didn't, if I didn't like the way a particular punt went, I would replay it until that way? No, but I had a plan because if you're not able to adjust, adapt, and accept another game plan during the course, then you have a rigid mindset, but you've got to be flexible enough because things happen during the course of the game. And you can

find out that the most successful coaches and the most successful teams are the ones that have the ability to make the adjustments on the fly. And as a punter, yeah, I'm thinking the wind is going to go right to left. So I know I'm going to be kicking, you know, I'm not going to be kicking into the teeth of the wind, but you get out and then the wind starts to swirl. So you have to make adjustments on the fly. Hey coach, I think, you know, the wind is going this way. I want to kick this one to the right because, okay, that's what you need to do. So you communicate those things, but it's all about the adjustments that you have to make. And then it was the visualization. And then the meditation, it was paramount that you do it in small chunks because during the course of the game, I was a passionate player.

I was into the game. I was enjoying the game. I was enjoying my opponents, the surroundings, and all of those things. But on third down, I had to re-lock in. I had to refocus. And I had to reshift my thinking. Because now it was time for me to do what I'm supposed to do. It was time for me to flip the field for my team. Because my teammates, depending on me, to do what I'm supposed to do.

I'm depending on the guys to move the ball down the field, defense to stop. But when it was my turn to execute my craft, then I wanted to be one of those guys that my teammates could depend on. And the ultimate reward for that, we didn't have Cs on our chests as captains, you know, that guys has, you know, on their jerseys. But when you're selected to go out on that toss at midfield party to the game, because you wanted leaders on that football team, then it makes it all worthwhile. And that taught me many, many years ago, that leadership is not defined by position. You can lead from the back of the room.

You can lead from being the low man on the totem pole. You can lead from wherever you are because there are quote unquote titles and positions. Sometimes I do question the leadership, maybe because you talk the loudest or maybe because you are at a certain position, but leadership is never defined by position. Thank you. I really appreciate you sharing just the details on how you use visualization. And I hope that people who are listening can think about the ways that they could use that in their own lives. And also appreciate the messages about leadership and what that means to you. So Greg,

tell us a bit about where we can get your book, Punt Flip the Field, and where we can follow you just to learn more about your speaking and what you're doing right now. Well, you can go to my website, gregcoleman8.com. The book is on Amazon. Leave me a message on the website. We will certainly circle back with you. I love sharing my message. I love inspiring people because, again, inspiration and motivation, opportunity and preparation equals success. So I do believe that we all can be success in whatever genre of life that it takes us. I love it. Thank you so much, Craig. And I'm going to do my best to summarize some of the things we talked about today. Your PUNT acronym, Push Through Obstacles, Understand Your Strengths, Navigate Choices, and Take Calculated Risks. So good. I appreciate at the beginning when you were talking about what the best of the best do, and you said really they practice makes permanent. And so they're

really great at just the details and perfection is key. You also shared with us how football is just a kickstart at life. I thought that was really helpful and important for people to just to hear. And then at the end, you were talking about the power of visualization, ignoring the noise when you do get tough feedback. What final advice would you have for people who are listening, who are working to be their best and be a high performer in their own life,

whatever that might be? I'll use myself as an example. Some people think that punting the ball is an act of surrender. In essence, it is a strategic move. One of the most strategic moves in all of sports. So many things can happen on fourth down. You know, you can get a great punt, goes out of bounds at the two yard line. You could run a fake punt like I did several times. Your team could block a punt, punt return. So before you think about getting up and going to the fridge and getting another beverage,

you may want to wait and see what happens on fourth down. Because again, it's one of them, because what you do, you're not giving up. You're strategically putting your team in a position to succeed. Sometimes we have to take a step back in life and assess the situation. And punting gives coaches and teams an opportunity to do that. Because nine times out of 10, there was a situation on Sunday where a punter got a great punt down. He flipped the field, limiting that offense of the New Orleans Saints. Defense came up with a big play. We came back, great field position. So bam, again,

punters are the most strategic people on the field. I don't care what you say about quarterbacks, receivers, and DBs and all of that. Hey man, it all starts with the specials. You can't live with us and you can't live without us. So whatever that segment of life, whatever your specialty might be, just own it. Know that and be the best at it. I love it. Thank you, Greg. Thank you so much for joining us on the High Performance Mindset Podcast today. It's been my pleasure. Always great connecting with you. So thank you so much. Way to go for finishing another episode of the High Performance Mindset. I'm giving you a virtual fist pump. Holy cow, did that go by way too fast for anyone else? If you want more, remember to subscribe and you can head over to Dr. Sindra for show notes and to join my exclusive community for

high performers where you get access to videos about mindset each week. So again, you can head over to Dr. Sindhra. That's D-R-C-I-N-D-R-A.com. See you next week.