THE ED MYLETT SHOW - How To Achieve & Sustain Peak Performance w/ Alan Stein Jr.

Episode Date: June 14, 2022

This week’s guest, ALAN STEIN JR., is all about what it takes to MAX OUT.If you’ve often thought you need more MENTAL TOUGHNESS in your life to give you added discipline, cohesion, and accountability, pay close attention and take a lot of notes.This is the NEXT-LEVEL episode you’ve been waiting for.We’re going to spend an hour talking about what it takes to be more than the best…we’re going to talk about what it takes to be the GREATEST OF ALL TIME, no matter what you do.  There’s a GOAT mentality, and Alan will REVEAL all the things it takes to turn you into a fire-breathing COMPETITIVE WINNER.Alan has been all about PRODUCING RESULTS for two decades now.For more than 15 years, he worked with some of the highest performing basketball players on the planet, including KOBE BRYANT, STEPH CURRY, KEVIN DURANT, and a lot of other household names. He is also one of the world’s foremost authorities on what it takes to improve individual and organizational performance and leadership. He has also authored two highly successful books, RAISE YOUR GAME and his newly released SUSTAIN YOUR GAME.Are you ready for an insider’s take on Kobe’s MASTERY OF THE BASICS? You’re going to be blown away by Alan’s “Kobe at 4 am” story.Do you want to be the ABSOLUTE BEST while still avoiding burnout?Want some world-class advice on how to FOCUS better?Alan will also get into the critical skill of developing PROCESSES AND STANDARDS as a key part of being a high achiever.  He also talks about using STRESS and managing ENERGY to YOUR ADVANTAGE instead of falling into traps in those areas like so many people do.We’re also going to spend time talking about VISUALIZATION, which I practice regularly.  You’ll also get practical advice in the form of THREE STEPS you must take to effect change in your life. Alan is all about how vital the proper MINDSET is in helping you achieve a MAXXED OUT life.  When you can practice several of the things you’ll hear this week, you’ll soon be on your own GOAT journey as well.

This is the end mileage show. Welcome back everybody. I wanted to have Alan on our show for a long time. I was just telling him this off camera. I wanted to have him on because he's got a really unique perspective and an up front view to some of the key performers in the NBA for many, many years. And he's taken the lessons he's learned from these high performers. And he's distilled it down in information that everybody can use as an entrepreneur as a father as a mother as just a human being and

He communicates it in a very unique way. We're gonna go very deep today on performance on Your game his first book I read which is called Razure game the book that's out now is called sustain your game I read, which is called Raise Your Game, the book that's out now is called Sustain Your Game, high performance keys to manage stress, avoid stagnation and beat burnout. I think everybody listening to this needs some help right now in the world with stress stagnation and burnout.

So Alan Stein, welcome to the show, bro. Oh, man, it's so awesome to be here. My pleasure. Finally, man. You know what I want to start out? I want to start out with Kobe Bryant. Yes. So Alan's work with everybody from people like Kobe to Kevin Durant to Steph Curry and many,

many companies and business leaders as well. But do you tell this great story? I think it's around a Nike camp or something like that with Kobe Bryant that just blew my mind and I think just personifies greatness and high standards. So tell us that story. Sure. Well, I mean, it absolutely changed my life. So I had a chance to meet Kobe in 2007. It was the first ever Nike skills academy. And they were building a series of camps around their signature players, who of course at that time, Kobe Bryant was the top of that mountain and flew out to Los Angeles here, La La Land, to work that event. And I had a chance to watch one of his really early morning workouts, which for those, absolutely legendary, and for folks that are familiar, those have a start time of 4 a.m. and, you know, and of course,

the most impressive part of that is you're talking about a guy that had already reached the mountain top, you know, he's already a surefire Hall of Famer, multi-millionaire, 10 times over, NBA champion, MVP, I mean, and he's still up in the off season putting in that type of work. And I remember being as a younger coach, being shocked at the simplicity of what he was doing. I mean, he spent the first 30 minutes without even having a ball in his hands. He was doing basic pivoting drills and footwork drills. And his workout lasted for a couple hours.

And I remember vividly at the end of this workout going up to him and saying, Koby, I don't get it, man, you're the best player in the world. Why are you doing such basic drills? And I'll never forget it. He gave me a really friendly smile and a wink, but he said in a really serious tone, why do you think I'm the best player in the world? Because I never get bored with the basics.

And that changed my life, that changed my perspective. I went into that workout expecting to see some sizzle, some sexiness, some flash, and he just was routinely drilling down on the basic fundamentals. And ever since that day, that has been my core philosophy for performance is never getting bored with the basics and working on mastery of the fundamentals during the unseen hours. Well, I don't really good, bro. We're right there already. We're already into the good stuff. Absolutely. Because I think there's a thing in leadership that's during the unseen hours. And, I don't really good, bro. Like, we're right there already. We're already into the good stuff. So, because I think there's a thing in leadership

that's leadership fatigue. We get tired of saying the same things over and over again, even though we should. I think in business and life, there's just a fatigue of the mundane of doing the things that actually work and we move away from them. And sometimes the greatest people in the world

just don't allow themselves to suffer from the fatigue of the repetition. True. Absolutely. And you hit the nail on the head. That's incredibly insightful. I think we can readily acknowledge that the basics, if you allow them to, can be monotonous, can be mundane, and can get boring unless you have that type of approach to them.

And even if you don't love doing the basics, you need to love what the basics produce for you, which is basically creating that foundation to which the rest of the house is built. And guys like Kobe, they never leave them. And that's the key. And the beautiful part is, it's not saying that you don't also graduate to do more advanced techniques and so forth, it says you never leave the basics. And are they like the building blocks

to allow you to do the great things, right? Like they're the fundamental things, the footwork and basketball. It's the communication of presenting skills and business. It's the vision stretching capacity of a leader. It's the, the generosity and kindness and gentleness that requires from a parent that we have to do over and over again and show that love, right? It's, it's the repetition we get bored of. I don't know who it was at first, maybe it was Tony Robbins,

I'm not sure I say it all the time. I sometimes I think I said it first, I don't know. But the complexity is the enemy of execution that oftentimes we try to complicate things in our life and then we have an inability to execute, true? Absolutely, simple as smooth and then smooth is what gets it done. And yeah, and of course in a game like basketball

for your listeners that follow, it's footwork, it's shooting mechanics, it's how And, uh, yeah. And of course in a game like basketball for your listeners that follow its footwork, its shooting mechanics, it's how well you handle the ball, you know, we all know those are the basics. So the first step for anyone trying to improve performance in any area of their life, first of all is to admit that the basics work. But then second, it's having the humility to acknowledge that doing the basics every day is not easy. But what you have to do is get crystal clear on what are the basic fundamental building blocks

of whatever it is you're trying to improve. If you're trying to improve your marriage, what are the handful of fundamentals that will go into a nurturing relationship? If you're trying to be a more influential and impactful executive, what are the handful of things that you, and you could go down the list, whether you wanna be a musician, an artist, anything in between,

you have to get crystal clear on what those basics are. And then you have to commit towards working towards them relentlessly during the unseen hours to work towards mastery. Unseen hours. That's the other part of the story that fascinated me. So as I understand it, you ask him the day before, can I come watch this workout? And he goes, yeah, four o'clock. And it wasn't four PM.

It was four AM. Yes. But you, I'll let you share this, but you're like, well, I'm going to impress this guy and get there early. So there's a four AM workout, but what happens, tell him what happens when you get there and you get there early? Yeah, and I arrived today early

because I believe making a good first impression and I believe that getting places early is a sign of respect to the person that you're going to meet. And, you know, as a young coach, I'm thinking, what could be better than me leaving my mark and impressing Kobe? So if he thinks he's working out at four, I'm going to be waiting for him at the gym at 3.30 a.m. and he's going to be blown away.

And instead, I arrive at the gym and can see the lights already on. Can hear sneakers squeaking and a ball bouncing from the parking lot. I walk in at 3.30 in the morning. He's going through a warm up. He didn't even count that as part of his workout. So he's doing that at 3.30 before his workout actually started with his trainer at four. And he went on for a couple hours, again,

sticking to the basics and just drilling down. And he's one of those guys that really understands the concept. If you want to perform well in front of millions, then you have to be willing to put in millions of reps when no one else is watching, which is how we define the unseen hours. And that, that actually I stole from my friend, Drew Hanlon, who's an MBA skills coach,

who he's the one that came up with the term unseen hours. And I conveniently borrowed that and I use it everywhere because I really believe that success in anything, even the success of your podcast is predicated on the due diligence and the research that you do on each guest before the mics go hot. Very true. And that's the unseen hours and that's what a lot of people they don't see. That the standard is different, right?

So like this idea that a 4 AM workout, look, let's just be really honest to you and I, you know, the NBA a lot better than I do, but I know professional sports and most dudes are coming home around 4 AM in the NBA oftentimes, right? Not starting, not having to work out at 4 a.m. and then to know that, no, it's not 4 a.m. You're there at 3.30. He had already been warming up for 25 or 30 minutes before. There's just a different standard.

I think with the elite performer, I think a elite mother has just a little bit different standard than an average mother. I think an elite executive, they just set a different culture standards around. That's got to be part of it, right? Absolutely. I don't know if you know the reason that he did the work out at 4 a.m. but it parles perfectly into your new book, you know, just do one more. The reason Kobe does that, he understands that even the most aggressive players in the

NBA, they're going to get in two workouts a day during the off season. First one is usually around nine or 10 a.m. and then they'll take a lunch break and then they'll come back at three or four. So his mindset was if everyone else in the league is going to be doing two workouts a day, I'm going to do three because I'm going to do one more than they're doing. And the only way I can squeeze that in is if I get up and do it at four. So when he's coming home from his first work out, his competition is just waking up to go in for their first workout. So then he's doing his second workout while they're doing their first. And then it's the compounding interest effect of, if I do

this every single day in the off season for not just years, but in his case decades, he said, no one will ever catch me because every time I wake up, I'm going to do one more than you're doing. You'll never catch me. And I think that's part of what gave him that, you know, that mamba mentality. Why did I not interview before I wrote the book? Because that would all be in the book right there. Like 100% verbatim exactly why I wrote the book and what I believe. So this notion of this crate, this, what most people say, well, that's a crazy pace.

And you write in your book about avoiding burnout. So I'm under, I, I, this almost a duality there of, you know, okay, you're going to book about avoiding burnout. So I'm under, this is almost a duality there of, okay, you're gonna do this crazy pace. How does one do those things and then still not friar burnout? What would be a couple of the things that you would say? Burnout is the result of misalignment between the work that you're doing and your core values, your interest, your fascination and the meaning behind your work.

I don't know your daily schedule, but I imagine it's pretty immense. I imagine you work a lot of hours, but the reason you're not approaching burnout is you find meaning and purpose in those hours. You're being of service to millions of people, so that's why you don't experience burnout. If those two things start to splinter, if you were working 60, 70, 80 hours a week for work that you didn't enjoy, work you didn't find fascinating, work you didn't feel was making a contribution to other people's lives, work that you didn't find meaningful, you would write, you'd be on the cusp of burnout. And that's what a lot of people are experiencing. So it's not just

the long hours. It's when long hours are not congruent with what it is that lights you up and fills your bucket. Bro, they're good. Speaking of congruency, just meeting you briefly, mutual friends of ours, I interview authors sometimes and they don't reflect what I see in their book. Or quite frankly, sometimes they don't even really know and understand everything that's in their book.

One of the things about you is that you own this information. Like this is your content, this is your message. You're, it's just reflexive, I'm watching you. It's like, what do you got? Give me the other one. And it's outstanding. And I wonder if that's important to you that you live the things that you're teaching.

Oh, absolutely. I would think as a keynote speaker and an author, I'm holding myself to an even higher standard. I mean, I don't know that anything would make me more sick to my stomach than for someone to see me doing something that is not an alignment with what I preach from stage or what I put in my books. And I don't hold myself to a standard of perfection. I'm fallible. I make mistakes. I have lapses in judgment. But generally speaking, the fact that I'm putting this content out there, I want to hold myself to that. And I'll

also say that the books I write, I write books based on what it is that I'm going through in my life, and I write books that I myself need to read. So it's actually a form of a therapy for me to write something. I've absolutely experienced stress stagnation and burnout in my life several times. So I wanted to get to the root of it, because I figure if it can help me, certainly somebody else out there is going through similar difficulties and challenges. So I want to offer that to them. And the last thing I'll say on that is with any of this stuff, I'm not speaking from a place of mastery. This is all stuff that I am still working on, but the book is what holds me to that standard.

So when I find myself getting momentarily stressed, I actually smile, have a kind and compassionate conversation with myself, and just say, I don't remember, you write about this. You speak about this, now you need to live it. And that tongue in cheek kind of self-compassion actually gets me through those times. Yeah, you talk about being kind of compassionate in the book and we'll touch on that a little bit in a minute.

I loved the book. I read it in a day and a half and I both books by the way. And there's a part of the book that really resonated with me on focus and you kind of break focus down. I'll just let you cover it a little bit. But you talk about focus having really three components. Can we talk about that a little bit to focus element? Absolutely. Well, the most important part about focus and I know, you know, I've listened to every single one of your shows and one of the common themes with most of your

guests is everyone understands the importance of being in the present moment. And understanding that if we're dragging stuff from the past or we're getting anxious about the future, then we're tending to lose focus in the present moment. And that's the first thing that's gonna heighten stress. Of all the different definitions I've heard from stress, the one that resonates most with me is from Eckhart Toley,

modern day philosopher, who basically says, stress is the desire for things to be different than they are in this present moment. So the very first step to lowering stress is mere acceptance, is saying that what's going on around me right now is outside of my control, and I might not like it, and it might not be my preference, but this is what is going on right now. And our stress doesn't come from events and circumstances. Our stress comes from our response or our resistance to those events and circumstances. And when I heard that, it was like a light bulb went off. And I find that incredibly empowering and liberating

because that means we are no longer victims or puppets to the events and circumstances happening in the world. We get to choose our response. It's right, man. And that, to me, that means we always have the keys to the car. Yeah. I often say, agree with you, by the way.

I often say that it's not the events of our life that define it, it's the meaning we attach to the event. And often that meaning comes from the question we ask ourselves about it. What does this mean? So I feel like, you know, take a guy like Kobe or Durant, Steph, you, an executive who's at a platform at a high level and entrepreneur, when there's, you know, in Kobe's case, there's six sections left and Jackson draws up a play that's going to come to Kobe. That event that's about to happen, he attaches a meaning that I have an opportunity to rise. I have an opportunity to win this game where someone else might attach a

meaning to it of, what if I missed the shot, right? It's the meaning we attach to the event. You pointed at me when I said that, so I want to make sure you get a chance to comment on it. Oh, you nailed it perfectly. So much insight right there. It's the difference between being nervous about taking that shot and being excited because it is an opportunity to showcase all of the mornings you were in the gym at 4 a.m. making hundreds of thousands of shots every off season. He revels in those types of moments.

And, you know, I know you've said so many times on your previous episodes that life is happening for you. It's not happening to you. And that's really what this is talking about. It's saying that yeah, things are gonna happen in the world that we don't necessarily like and they're not our preference, but they're not, the universe isn't conspiring against you

or me, that it's no one's trying to put these roadblocks in your way intentionally to slow you down. These things are just happening and how you choose to look at those things ultimately determines your stress level. choose to look at those things ultimately determine your stress level. I want to look at this focused thing again. You said focus is about changing your perspective to the immediate. And then you say you, the here, the now, is that what you mean when you

say presence and can you elaborate on what the how does that apply? How do I apply that in a situation? For sure. You know the the short definition of living in the present moment I've heard from Nick Saban and I've heard from Oprah Winfrey So it has to be true with those two people are saying that has to be true I want to know yeah, and that's basically to be where your feet are Wherever you are in the physical make sure that's where you are in the mental and the emotional and the spiritual as well And that's how I define being present and you know I also want to say that being present

is arguably the biggest challenge I face with myself every single day. It's not easy. It's so easy to get, you know, distracted from the past or anxious about the future. So what I like to say is we need to shrink our window. We need to, like even right now, right now you and I are making eye contact while we're recording this.

And I can see a little bit of a frame in my peripheral. That's all that I can see in my vision right now. I cannot see what's outside of this studio. I can't see what's going on in the rest of LA. I have shrunk my vision to the point where you are my focal point because you, deservedly so, have my full undivided attention right now. And we need to be able to shrink that window in other areas of life. So think about six seconds left in the game, Phil Jackson draws up a play for Kobe Bryant. He needs to shrink that window. The only thing he needs to be worried about is executing that play to the best of his ability in order to score. He can't be worried about what's going on in the stands, what's going on with the opponents, what the referees may do. He can't be worried about what else is happening outside of the the staple center. He has to shrink that window

so that he can have razor sharp focus in that moment. And when we can learn to do that, basically on cue, then we improve our ability to focus and stress decreases accordingly. Bro, brilliant. Brick and brilliant. Thank you. I've had a very busy day today and I was sharing that with you beforehand. And I asked Sarah before you came in, I said, can you give me five minutes? I need to go change my shirt. And everyone, the producers want me to wear a different clothes, but I actually set that up specifically today. I'm gonna change my shirt after this interview

before the next one and the reason is, exactly what you just said. I went in there and said, shrink your focus. I wanted to distill it down, not what I have after this, not what I had before it, not what I have to do tomorrow, not what's going on in the other room over there. Shrink your focus and it allows you to be hyper-present. And also for me, when that happens,

I feel like things slow down rather than speed up. Is there a mechanism in that with high performers where under dress things begin to slow down for them as they shrink their focus? Whereas someone who performs maybe at a not great level things speed up somehow for them. Yeah, and the speed up comes from distractions. It's being worried about everything else that's going on. And that's, you know, in the in the basketball vernacular, my goal when I was working with players was to get them to play present, which is play in the present

moment. And there's there's three components to being in the present. First is just focus on the next play. Don't worry about the play that just happened. First is just focus on the next play. Don't worry about the play that just happened. Ed, you just missed a layup. Don't worry about it next play. Ed, you just turn the ball over. It's okay, next play. Ed, I know the referee missed a call.

It's over next play. See, if you're worried, and you're wasting your emotional currency into the plays that just happened, then you're not able to put them into the current moment, which in basketball, playing at that type of pace means that if you're still pouting and dejected about the turnover, your man probably just scored two points now on the other end.

So you just turned a two point mistake into a four point mistake. We all know we're going to make mistakes, but we cannot be in the business of compounding them. We have to stop them after the first one. The second component is just to focus on what you have control over. Control the controllables, which I believe if you break everything else down is just our own attitude and effort. So just focus on the effort you're giving and the attitude that you're having to everything going on in this case during a basketball game. And then the last part of that is to focus on the process.

Don't worry about the outcomes. Focus on the process. Don't worry about the outcomes focus on the process. If it's the first quarter of the game, you can't be worried whether or not you're going to win or lose the game. All you need to worry about is winning or losing this possession. If we're on offense, can we get the best shot that we, the five of us, are capable of getting the highest percentage shot? Or if we're on defense, can we collectively do everything we can to make you take the lowest percentage shot possible? And of course, the beautiful part is if you do that consistently enough, as legendary coach Bill Walsh said of the 49ers, the scoreboard takes care of itself. And that's ultimately what the process is all about.

You need to be careful you're driving your car right now because your accelerators going down a little bit. You're like an 83 miles an hour check it. I know this because I'm leaning in with you right now and feeling myself like, let's go. Like, or if you're running on the treadmill, you're blowing that thing at level eight right now and you get back down to level six. He's exactly how I feel. I knew we were going to do this today, but like, this is really good. And by the way, I don't want anybody listening to hear basketball. You're saying

basketball, you're thinking life, your job in listening to Alan, he's the best at this when he comes into speak or when you read his book, is the transference of these Metaphors or these strategies from sports into what however it applies for you That's a lesson for everyone listening to any podcast or reading any book It's being able to distill that information as it applies to you in your experience. So one other thing that the athletes I work with struggle with, and I think people do in business, and in life, and in relationships,

is also projecting into the future. And then they have this conversation with themselves about, I'll give you an example, a golfer who's got a putt they should make, three foot putt to win a golf tournament. Where's the nerves come from? I believe oftentimes the nerves come from, believe it or not, this bizarre conversation of projection of of if I miss this putt

What will they say about me if I miss this shot at the end of the game? What will they say about me if my guy hits this shot on me in basketball? What will they say and it's literally Projecting into the future the negative emotions or feelings about what other people will actually say or think About this mistake you may potentially make. And I think this happens on post on social media. I think it happens if I walk across the room and ask this person out for a date,

it's the projection of what they will say or think about you in the midst of an experience that hasn't even happened yet that you're projecting a negative outcome from. That's also true in sports and in life, true, the projected in the future. Absolutely, man, I love where this is going. You're so insightful with that. And also, what they're 100% consumed with is merely the outcome. See, they've left the process. They're just worried about the outcome. Does the ball go in or not go in? Does the ball go in the cup

or not go in the cup? Does she say yes? When I ask her out or does she say no? When we can learn, and this is something that I've worked really hard on in my own life over the last couple years, is learning how to detach from outcomes and just love the process and the work. And where we really have an issue is if outcomes and results actually define ourself worth, then we have a problem. You know, I know you're big on setting goals and we want to set, you know, really big and aggressive goals. I'm a believer that if you set your goals appropriately, maybe you hit them 30, 40, 50% of the time,

you don't hit them every time. If you're hitting your goal every time, then I can make a compelling argument that you've set the bar too low. Well, if your entire identity and self-worth and confidence and self-belief is wrapped up in outcomes and reaching goals and achievement, then that means half the time you feel good about yourself, half the time you feel lousy about yourself. And I don't know about you, but life's too short to feel lousy half of the time.

Bro, I love what you're saying. Number one, I think the real number, if you set real goals is more like 20%, 25% of the time. Number two, if you attach your outcomes, your identity and worth outcomes, you'll be chasing that the rest of your life. And when that outcome or your career or what you do no longer exist with the relationship,

you'll be lost and empty. And this is a very nuanced thing. I want to go there for a minute. Sure. Because you should have goals in your life and outcomes. However, I am the best flow. I'm in the best state when I do detach from outcome. Yes.

And it's a very unique nuance. Because I know what I want to have happen, which is I want to hit this shot or I want to make a million dollars or I want. And it's about having that intention, but then separating from the outcome because if you become so outcome focused, this is a massive stress increase or pressure increase in our lives. And I think most people really struggle with how to navigate it. I don't know that I've been great at being able to explain the

nuance between the two. So I'm going to push you a little further than we've even gone. Please. How would you nuance those two things? What is the difference between? I have a goal, but in the execution process, I detached during that moment so that I'm just focused on the execution of the process. Yeah that what you're saying? Yeah, I've got two. One's a real short analogy and one's another basketball example, good surprise. The first is, if I was tasked with building a brick wall, which I most likely won't be because I'm not very handy.

I'm not very good with building stuff. I'm not very good with tools, but I have confidence that I could build a brick wall. And the reason is, I've trained myself to not worry about the end result, not worry about the wall, and put all of my focus into laying each and every brick with care and precision. If I can take one brick and set it exactly where it needs to go, and then I pick up the next brick and set it exactly where it needs to go, if I do that consistently over time, the wall just takes care of itself. I don't have to be worried about the wall. I have to focus on laying bricks, and that's also what i have control over his laying bricks

now from a basketball analogy uh... had an opportunity to work with queens university is uh... one of the top division to uh... men's basketball programs in the united states and their previous coach barton is a good friend of mine and he is broken it down at queens university that there are four key stats in the game of basketball that heavily impact whether or not they win the game. And the first stat is turnover differential. If we can have more possessions than our opponent,

gives us a better chance to win. Second is offensive rebound differential. If we can rebound our own misses and take more shots than our opponent, gives us a better chance to win. Third is free throws attempted. It's the highest percentage shot per possession. If we can take more of those than our opponent gives us a better chance to win. Third is free throws attempted. It's the highest percentage shot per possession. If we can take more of those than our opponent, better chance to win. And last is three pointers

attempted. The three pointer in the college game is a massive weapon. If we can take more clean looks from three than our opponent, it gives us a better chance to win. When Queen's University comes out on top in those four stats, they win 97% of their games, which means statistically they're almost unbeatable. So my rhetorical question for your millions of listeners is, what do you think coach Lundy and his staff talk about, remind and emphasize before every workout, every practice, every film session and before every game.

It's just those four things. He never talks about winning championships, banners or trophies. Why? If they do those four things, winning championship trophies and banners, take care of themselves. You don't have to focus on them. So it's focusing on the things that we have the control over. And that goes back to again, shrinking that window. And when it be very good. John Woodens probably the winningest coach in all time. He never discussed winning at all.

It was all process. And again, everybody, you got to think about how these things apply to your own life and how you put them into action because this is profound stuff. And I've been doing the show for a long time. You know, the truth that you're spitting here is remarkable to me and the application of it. Here's how people need to apply that. So once again, and I'm so glad that you brought up the point that, well, I may use basketball examples because that's where I've spent most of my life.

Folks need to take these and figure out how they can, you know, apply them to their situation. So step number one is figure out what does winning look like to you or what does success look like to you again This could be in your marriage This could be you know in your business This could be for something you're doing in your community, but figure out what does winning look like now Of course in the game of basketball which Simon Seneca said is a a finite game And I'm a big fan of Simon's work is a finite game We have unanimously around the globe

Agreed that the team with the most points on the scoreboard when the final buzzer goes off is the winner. Life, relationships, business, it's a little more asterisk. It's not as clear how you might define winning in business might be slightly different than maybe one of your friends or colleagues, but that doesn't matter. You just have to get crystal clear on what winning looks like to you. And then you need to figure out what are the measurable building blocks, the bricks, if you will, that will allow me to reach that goal. And then once you have that North Star, take your eyes off of it and just focus on the bricks.

Think about a GPS, which most people need to navigate the world these days. I don't know how I survived without one beforehand. But you need to know two things. You need to know where you are in the moment. Not where you were five minutes ago, five days ago or five two things. You need to know where you are in the moment. Not where you were five minutes ago, five days ago, or five weeks ago.

You need to know where you are right now and you need to have an end address. Where am I going? Those are the only two points you need. And then once you have those two points, you don't need to worry about either one of them. What you need to do now is pay attention to the directions and listen to every turn that you're supposed to make.

And of course, the beauty with this analogy is, if you're like me and kind of directly dysfunctional, you're probably going to take a wrong turn. And then what happens? It rerouts. It just rerouts. So the GPS doesn't get angry at you. It doesn't call you an idiot. It just simply rerouts. And it puts you back on that course. And that's ultimately what all of us should be trying to do is pursue our North Star by focusing on the steps and directions it takes to get there. And when you miss step or you make a wrong turn, don't get upset over it. Just move to the next play and take the next direction to reroute. It's really, really good.

And I think oftentimes people feel lost and that's why this clarity of what success looks like to you or the blueprint that you want is really so important. The other thing that happens is people get tired. I think it's the second chapter of the book. You talk about stress management. You talk about energy management as well. And that's a big thing in our culture today. I think people are tired.

I don't think they manage their energy very well. I watch this, even a basketball analogy. I watch certain teams that, you know, I think, well, they're tired. And I watch friends of mine in business and life. They just seem tired to me. So what is energy management and what are some of mine in business and life. They just seemed tired to me. So what is energy management and what are some of your keys for? Well, we need to make sure we're protecting both time and energy.

And as we know, I know you've said this on many previous shows, you know, obviously time is our most precious resources. Because that is finite. Whenever that's done, that's done. We don't have any more of it. Energy is something though that we can actually replenish. And a lot of that has to do with our routines and our self-care. Are we making the time to fill our own buckets mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually so that we can keep that that battery, that internal

battery of our lives is close to 100% as possible. Most people would freak out if they look down at their iPhone and saw their iPhone had three or four percent juice left in it. They'd immediately start looking for a plug or a mofie or something, but they allow themselves to go down to three or four percent and they don't seem to do anything about it. Then you're just running on fumes. There's no way that you can be your best self or make a maximum contribution to the things that are important to you if you're doing that. Part of it comes down to our discernment of what are we going to invest our time and

energy into? And this goes back to just two simple words, yes and no. What are you saying yes to and what are you saying no to? You know, as a self-diagnosed people pleaser, this was one that was really challenging for me most of my life. Because I love saying yes. It feels good to say yes. I want to help as many people as I can. But I've learned that when I say yes to one thing, I am by default saying no to something else. If I'm going to say yes to investing this hour with you, that means this hour and time cannot be invested anywhere else. Now this happens to be a wonderful investment of my time.

One, I'm very happy to make so much. But we have to be very careful of what we say yes and what we say no to. So we have to have some discernment. And for me, I've learned to be able to say no respectfully with tact and to be polite. If something is not a good fit, and how do we know if it's a good fit,

is it an alignment with the North Star that you're pursuing? If you're asking me to do something that is taking me away from that North Star, then it's most likely not the wisest investment of my time or energy and I'll politely decline. If what you're asking me to do is an alignment, then it's probably a great investment of my time and energy. So being able to step back and use our core values and use that North Star to design our lives and design our schedules and design what we're going to say yes to is incredibly helpful. We can't rely on feelings and emotions.

If you're just saying yes and no to things based on your mood or how you're feeling, there's no consistency in that. What a really good point, because you know what, I have a hard time saying no, and oftentimes it is just based on my energy rather than out of my values,

or does it fit into the vision of what I'm trying to create and what I'm trying to do? And that stays on the word vision. You know what surprises me is how little people talk about visualization and how much of it I do and how much of it happy and successful people, both happy and successful people that I know spend in doing so. And so you talk about it's not a lot, but you talk about in the book, visualization. And I'm wondering any keys you would have for that and also the importance of it because I think most people don't realize you're visualizing all the time. Yeah, it's just what are you visualizing? Yeah, right?

And I think most people are visualizing their fears, their worries, their to-do list The stuff they've got I got to get the kids to soccer. I got to go work out I got whatever it might be But are you taking control of what you're visualizing in your life? Because I think ultimately our minds move towards what it's most familiar with. Absolutely. And so you talk about it in the book, and I don't want to use my version of it, but how do you feel about visualization and anything about it you want to share? One of the words that comes up in a lot of your shows and a lot of your work is intention.

So we have to make sure we're very intentional with what we're visualized. Right. There were a few different research studies, and I referenced them in the book. The one that I liked the most from a visualization standpoint was they took three different groups and they were gonna have them shoot free throws. And these weren't professional players by any means. These were just regular weekend warriors.

And in the three groups, the first group, they got tested on the first day, and then they practiced for 21 consecutive days, and then they took the retest 21 days later. Second group took the test on the first day, did not touch a basketball, but only visualized making free throws for the next 21 days and then took the retest. And then the third group tested on the first day, didn't practice and didn't visualize and then retested on the 21st day.

I think most people would realize the group that didn't practice or visualize, there was no improvement. In fact, they had a slight decline in their ability. But the part that blew my mind was, the group that visualized was only a couple of percentage points less than the group that actually practiced. So by actually sitting with your eyes closed and visualizing, making free throws,

it's almost as good as being able to practice. And that blows my mind. Now, I think we can also agree that the best thing to do is to do both, is to get in repetition, purposeful repetition, as well as visualize. I visualize before every single speaking engagement. Every engagement I do, I always arrive the day before,

and I request to see the room the day before I'm going to speak. I want to get a feel for what it's going to look like. I visualize before I came in here with you today. I watched several of your other guests on YouTube who were in this studio. I knew what this room looked like before I set foot in here, which gave me a certain level of comfort that I wasn't going to walk into anything

that I hadn't prepared myself for. And one of my favorite quotes that I learned from a mentor of mine is make preparation your separation and that I want to be as prepared as possible for everything that I do. And that will also lower stress. Yeah. Ben Newman was telling me this Sabin quote where he says, you know, most teams practice until they get it right.

And he says here at Alabama, we practice until we can't get it wrong. Yes. And it's just a different standard of preparation. And I'm the same way, by the way, I try to do all of those things. And I'll give you an interesting on a visualization. I'll just share with you. It'll take me a minute for the audience. But I got hurt to do all of those things. And I'll give you an interesting, on a visualization, I'll just share with you. It'll take me a minute for the audience,

but I got hurt myself one year at college, and I couldn't play. And we had a team psychologist at the time. He ended up being killed. And I use a lot of his work to this day, he was in a car accident. I use a lot of his work and I get a lot of credit for him

because he was so cutting edge even back in those days. And he said, Ed, here's what we're gonna do. And I hit 215, my freshman year, terrible year. That's terrible. And then I sat out're going to do. And I hit it two, 15 my freshman year. Terrible year. That's terrible. And then I sat out because I was hurt. The next year I hit almost 380. And I wasn't any better of a hitter. What happened was he taught me to visualize

and we'd sit behind the batting cage where the other guys were popping some up, grounding the double plays, missing a few. He said, Ed, you're going to line drive up the middle thousands of times. And he made me focus on my visualization. he goes, Ed, I'd visualize you hitting the line driver, I'm gonna go, I got it and he'd go, okay, really do you?

And he would make me hyper visualize, he'd say, Ed, where's the camera? I go, what do you mean he goes, well, how are you seeing it from what angle? Is the camera in the center field, like on TV over the picture's head shooting in, or is it from the batter's box, your view out? And I go, I don't know.

And he goes, well, then you kind of should know. Yeah. And I go, okay, uh, actually turns out the cameras on me. I'm looking out at the picture. He goes, great, not everybody has it that way. He goes, can you see the release point? Can you see the stitches on the ball? Can you see the rotating? And it got to the point where he go, what is it?

And I say, it's a curve ball. He goes, how do you know I can see the dot on the stitches, right? And then I could see, I got to the point where he'd make me work. I could see the stitches coming in. I could see the ball hit the bat and the stitches re-rotating backwards the other way right back over the guys left shoulder. I just got to share this with you. So I come back.

I'm a 215 hitter. The first day in BP first pitch, though, to me is up and away. And I swad at it and hit a line drive up the middle. Next ball down and away, line drive up the middle. And I think it was 28 straight hits. My teammates are like, what's going on with my let? Line drive up the middle and I think it was 28 straight hits my teammates like what's going on with my let Yeah, line drive up the middle every single time then I popped one up and I hit like 16 more up the middle I had not swung a bat in six months

But the upside to that was I didn't have any negative experiences from actually swinging the bat and the subconscious mind Really doesn't know the difference between what's real and what's imagined? I share this because your work is so good, bro And the people that are listening to this if you would start to visualize and then get better at it refine it See it more clearly can you slow it down? Can you speed it up? Can you add color? Can you add sound and the more you get good at visualizing? You're gonna change your damn life the better you get at this So I just wanted to add second second it, and add to it

that I have a real life experience. And to this day, things like getting to the studio and visualizing it, I do that crazy stuff too because it's not crazy. All right, chapter five. Never heard it said this way. Using stress. So usually people are taught avoid stress, minimize stress,

and you have strategies for that in the book as well. But sometimes you're almost like, hey, dance with it. Use this stress. What does that mean? That goes back to something we said earlier. It's kind of the difference between viewing something that's making you nervous versus viewing something that gets you really, really excited. I mean, I've, I said to you before off hair, I'm a huge fan of your work. You've had a massive impact on my life. I could have been nervous coming in here and to meet you for the first time and sit. But instead, I was excited for this opportunity And those they can have very similar feelings. They can have you can have the butterflies in your stomach

You know, and I don't remember who said that originally But if you ever feel butterflies in your stomach just get them all lined up in the same direction so that they can work We can work for you But we do we need we need to have some stress in our life. If the stress is overwhelming, then you'll be completely debilitated. If I was completely overwhelmed with stress right now, this wouldn't be much of an interview. However, if there was zero stress, I'd probably be bored and there wouldn't be much of an interview. So we want just enough to keep a sharp. It's very similar to fear. Fear in and of itself keeps us safe. We want to have some fear.

If not, we just walk in the middle of traffic or us safe. We want to have some fear. If not, we just walk in the middle of traffic or we just juggle knives or do something foolish. But if we have too much fear, then we become paralyzed and we can't actually do anything. So, yeah, these things help keep us sharp. So we want to have a little bit, be on a little bit of edge for the things that mean the most to us. These are my favorite conversations, so you know they're about performance, they're about winning. You're right down my alley and and I have to tell you I want everybody to go get sustained in your game. The reason I want that

is it's real stuff. It's true. I practice it and I learned things in the book that I didn't practice and And I don't play basketball. And the book's not a basketball book. The book is a life book. The book is a happiness book. It's a blueprint for success book. And then, you know, then there's this thing called change. So everyone's listening,

something you've said already or I've said has applied to someone at some point so far. That's why this is a great interview and is being shared everywhere right now. Then there's people like, yeah, but I gotta get some change. Like I need change and I relate to that. There's been times in my life where I'm like,

I need some change. In fact, there's even things right now in my life. I'm like, this element, I need to get to it and I need to change it. And you have in the book three steps to changing and they're basic. I'll read them to you and then I want you to elaborate on them.

Please. Okay. Awareness, understanding, and reconditioning. What does all that mean? We're never going to improve something we're unaware of and we're never going to improve something we're oblivious to. So the first step is having an awareness and acknowledgement that something actually needs to change.

That whatever I'm doing, I need to make a change to. If you keep doing what you've been doing, you will keep getting what you've been getting. If you don't like what you've been getting, you need to change what you've been doing. That's as simple as it gets. Another one of my favorite quotes, arguably my favorite, is if nothing changes, nothing changes.

So we have to lean into change. And there's two types of change. There's change that's imposed on us. Perfect example would be a two year global pandemic. Right. But then there's change that's initiated. And that's what we're talking about here. We need to be the ones to drive that change.

So first is awareness. What do I need to change? Second is I need to have an understanding of what's at risk if I don't make this change. Leverage. Getting leveraged. Absolutely. And I need to have an understanding. So what am I risking by not changing this behavior? If I continue to do this for the rest of my life, what's at risk?

And many times the answer to that is happiness, fulfillment, maxing out your potential, all those types of things. And then lastly, we just need to be able to re-condition the behavior or the process, the system that will allow that to happen. So we don't want to just go in and start swinging in the dark. We want to actually map out an actual plan of how we can make change. What's reconditioning mean, though?

How do you, so you back up the plan is reconditioning this some form of reinforcement when you do it correctly? How do you condition something in yourself? So let's just use a relationship, for example. You say your relationship is getting a little bit stale with your significant other, and you take a look at, well, here are the things I've been doing, which has led to a stale relationship. So I've conditioned myself to these being my default habits,

you know, whatever they may be. I don't look at my significant other when she's talking to me, I'm staring at my phone. I used to leave her little notes around the house, but I no longer do that. Like I fall into these lesser habits, and that's what's producing a stale relationship. If I want to have a better relationship,

then I need to re-condition my habits. I need to go back to doing the things that I know I need to do to get to that. And I also have a three step formula for how someone can do that. We are absolutely. I got to continue to make the disclaimer that this is incredibly basic,

but none of the stuff you and I have been talking about is easy. Not a single thing we've said is easy to actually do. If it was easy, people wouldn't even need to listen to this because they're already doing it. Yeah, so we know through our own experiences these things are hard. The first thing you need to do is you need to have razor sharp

focus and isolate it down to one behavior that you want to focus on changing. One of the problems many people make is they try to change a bunch of things at once. And as human beings, we're wired to have singular type focus. I don't know if you're familiar with John Barardi. He started precision nutrition, really smart guy in the fitness world. And he did an expansive research study, similar to the one with free throws. But he found that when folks isolated their focus into one behavior to change, they actually successfully changed that behavior 85% of the time. The moment they split it and tried to change two behaviors at the same time, success rate

went down to 40%. And if they tried to chase three behaviors at the same time, it went down to about four or five percent. So I know that a lot of people that listen to your show are high achievers, they're driven, they're impatient, absolutely. And I'm saying it's in your best interest to just focus on one thing that you're going to change. Then the next step is make a commitment to yourself to do that for 66 straight days.

Now I know the research is all over the place on how long it takes to form a habit. You know, it could be anywhere from 21 days to nine months, but I like 66 days because one, it's easy to remember. Two, it's enough of a stretch, but it's also doable. It's a hair over two months. But make a commitment to doing that for 66 straight days. And then the third is, you want to keep the spotlight of accountability on yourself. And you do that by recruiting people that care about you and ask them to hold you accountable. So let's put this into a practical scenario.

You've got someone listening right now that wants to get into a little bit better physical health. They haven't been working out very much. Instead of changing everything, instead of upending their diet, buying a Peloton bike, signing up for a yoga membership, you know, just pick one thing. And let's say they say, I'm gonna go for a walk for 30 minutes every morning. That's it. I'm not changing

anything else in my life. I'm going to walk for 30 minutes. I'm going to then commit to doing that for 66 straight days. I'm old school. I like to print out paper calendars and take a red sharpie and every day you go for that walk, I want you to put a big red X and I want you to go into you got 66 X's in a row. And if you miss a day because you're human, move to the next play. Just start that streak again the next day. And then I want you to reach out to three or four people that you know love you and care about you and want to see you happy and successful. And you tell them, I'm going to go for a walk every day for 30 minutes and I'm asking you, Ed, I want you to check in with me.

I want you to send me a text every day at lunch and ask if I went for a walk. Ask me what I'm asking you, Ed, I want you to check in with me. I want you to send me a text every day at lunch and ask if I went for a walk. Ask me what I'm listening to or ask me what route I took, but I want you to hold me accountable. And if three or four people do that, you know, one of the emotions that really hurts most of us is feeling like we disappoint someone that we care about. And if you can do those things, you pick one thing, you do it for 66 days, and you get people holding you accountable. I'm not a gambler, Ed, but I'll put my money. I'll put all my chips on the middle of the table saying, you do it for 66 days, and you get people holding you accountable. I'm not a gambler ed, but I'll put my money. I'll put all my chips on the middle of the table saying, you will improve that habit.

And then the beautiful thing is, at the end of 66 days, then you just stack another habit on top of that. You do the next one. Yeah, and then you say, okay, if we're sticking with this theme, now for the next 66 days, I'm gonna reduce sugar, or I'm gonna reduce, you know, sweets or soda, whatever it may be. So you don't stop doing the first one.

So now, for the next 66 days, you keep walking for 30 minutes and you're gonna eliminate, say, junk food. And then 66 days later, you add something else. So by the end of the calendar year, you've changed four or five things in your life. You'll be a completely different person at the end of that year.

100%. And the only difference is, instead of deciding to do all five of those things on January 1st, you're going to pick them off one at a time and then they're going to stick. Yeah, because you've increased your execution rate from 80% to down to less than 4%, especially you doing five. You know, I'm watching you. I watch people very closely and every aspect of my life, but it also happens certainly

when I interview them because it's you and I in the room. And I said this earlier, you own your content, it's reflexive. There's not even hesitation when I ask you a question. You own this, you live this stuff. And I like authentic people. I like people who live the things that they teach because I can feel a different energy from them when they teach it.

I can feel how important this stuff is to you. I can feel the validity of what you're talking about. And if you're listening to this everybody, listen to it a couple times. Share it. You got a young athlete, you got a young person in your life, you got an old person in your life who wants to create change. You yourself want to create a change,

you know, start to believe more, have processes that work. This is the show today, this is the one, share it with people. So I get two last things I want to ask you about. Actually, can we do three? I want to try to squeeze three in. It's your world, baby.

Whatever you want. Well, I just, it's so good. I actually don't want it to end. So I'm going to exceed the time I told you that we want to do because I love our conversation. What is different about a Steph Curry or a Kevin Durand or a Kobe Bryant compared to an average NBA player?

And the main reason I ask you this is, they're all skilled. Almost everybody, there's a freak athletically, right? And I know, to me, when I asked those three people, Steph Curry is the greatest shooter in the history of basketball. It's not even disputable anymore. And as a skill set between his ball handling and his shooting ability that is, I've just never seen in my life before.

So he is extraordinary in the history of the game. Kevin Durant, to me, is probably the greatest offensive force that I've ever seen in the game. Luca looks pretty good. You know, Jordan, I mean, that's tough, but I mean, Kevin Durant from an offensive perspective is certainly one of the three or four greatest offensive players that I've ever seen in my life, okay? And then I look at Kobe and there's all these discussions of the goat of all time and I my goat is Michael Jordan and the people who throw LeBron in there and other people.

But for me having watched basketball and not being an expert like you, the second best player I've ever watched play basketball, and everyone's gonna get mad at me, isn't will, isn't cream, isn't magic, isn't LeBron, it's actually Kobe Bryant from me. That's just my personal opinion, and I'm a Celtics fan, so I never wanted to root for Kobe Bryant, right?

But like for me, I just, he's the closest thing to MJ that I've ever seen in my life, and in some ways is more impressive in certain ways for me. What is different with that one millionth of one percent tile compared to really good people in anything do you think what's the separator? I'll give you an example with KD and I'll give you an example with Curry.

KD does a masterful job of blending humility with confidence. You won't find a more confident offensive player. Why is he confident? He's earned the right to be arguably the best score in the game because of the time he's put in during the unseen hours. However, he blends that with humility, which means he is open to feedback and he's open to coaching. He doesn't think that he's reached the ceiling of what he's capable of. So if you have something, a coach or someone or a trainer has something that can actually make him better, he is all ears.

He is open to that. So he's a killer from a confidence standpoint. He believes he's gonna score. He believes he's the best player on the court, but he never lets that override his humility. He stays open to coaching and open to feedback, which is why every step along the way he continues to get better. So blending confidence with humility is one. My favorite people have that nuance, by the way. Absolutely. Absolutely. And curry does not let what happened previously affect what happens presently. I say this in the book and I find this both comical but but an powerful, powerful lesson. If I had a quarter right now and I flipped it and seven times in a row,

it was heads. What's the percentage chance it'll be heads on the eighth? Flip. It should be 50%. Of course it is, yeah, but most people don't think that. Most people think, oh, it's got to be a higher percentage to be tails because he just did it. No, the quarter has no idea. The quarter doesn't know what the first seven flips were.

Every time you flip a coin, it is 50-50. Why do I say that? Because it happens very rarely because he is the greatest shooter of all time. But Stefan Curry, statistically you can look it up, has missed the first seven shots he's taken in a game. What makes him Stefan Curry is he shoots the eighth shot with the confidence as if he had made the previous seven.

I love that. He does not let the previous seven misses. He doesn't bring that baggage with him and affect the current shot. And that is what a life lesson. And that is so hard to do though. I mean, you know, it's easy for you and I to sit here and talk about it is hard because the tendency is the flashback and go, Oh my gosh, I've missed seven in a row. What happens if I miss this? What are people going to think about me? Am I going to let my team down? He wipes all of that clear. Every single shot is its own shot. And it's the difference with when you take a player like Kobe, I would say this all the time to young players I'd work with.

Media ochre players, they go to the gym to take 500 shots a day. OK. Good players go to the gym to make 500 shots a day. There's a difference. We don't need more shot takers. We need shot makers. Great players, elite players like Steph and Curry, they go into the gym to make one shot, 500 separate times. And that nuance difference, this is not verbal semantics. There is a difference between that. Steph's not in the gym

thinking, oh man, I still got 419 shots left to shoot. No, all I care about in the world is this one shot right now. perfect footwork, perfect form, and then he moves to the next shot. And then that's the only one that matters. And that's, that's again, these are lessons that all of us can apply to what we do. What about Kobe? What's separated him? Preparation.

Preparation, I think, I mean, words like relentless, words like obsessed. I mean, he made no bones about the fact that he wanted to be considered the greatest player to ever play the game. And some people are wired that way. I mean, I'll be the first to tell you, I'm not wired that way. I'm not concerned with being the best. I'm concerned with being my best.

And if I'm my best, just let the chips fall where they may. That's that part of self-awareness though. And maybe that's why I hold him in higher regard than a LeBron who's clearly incredible or cream or will, maybe just because I just There's something noble about the just relentless pursuit of the greatness that he had in the work ethic This has been an outstanding Alan outstanding equally for me one of my favorite baseball players as a Red Sox fan As Wade bugs. Oh, yeah, and so Wade was was famous for a lot of things

Which is a great hitter but one of the things he's famous for is due date chicken before every single game. He sure did. He had this routine that he did it before every single game. But you mentioned him under the category of the role of belief. And in my life, I really believe that belief drives almost everything. In my book, I talk about the chapter, my book called The Matrix, which is belief, which you believe most strongly, the world reveals to you. You'll begin to see things and hear things that always existed, but we'll confirm

the beliefs that you have. And so what is the role of belief in being a peak or elite performer? Well, it's irrelevant whether or not chicken is the best thing to eat before you play baseball. He believed that it was and he believed that it contributed to his ability to hit the baseball. So that's all that matters. That's how powerful belief is.

I mean, you could probably interview 10 nutritionists and they would all say that fried chicken is not the best thing to eat before athletic performance, but it doesn't matter because he believed that it was. And he also understood the power of consistency, the power of routine, power of structure, you know, and same thing. I mean, if LeBron was going gonna have a game tonight, three hours before tip-off, he would not be walking around the streets of LA wondering what he was going to eat. This is all premeditated. These are things that these peak performers have honed

through trial and error and have figured out. When I eat this, at this time, I perform it my best. And that routine will change over time. I promise you, LeBron's pre-game routine now is not the same it was when he was a rookie with the Cleveland Cavaliers. It's matured, it's evolved, it's grown, and all of us need to have routines. I have a pre-speaking routine that I follow relentlessly. It's slightly different whether I'm giving an 8am keynote or an 8pm keynote, but I have structure and routine, and that gives me comfort, and then that allows me to go out and perform my best. Yeah, I think a lot of people don't realize that many people drive their

confidence from their routine. It creates a sense of comfort and certainty and having a routine that's familiar to you and great people are typically creatures of habit. Those habits may evolve and change as you've said, but they find their strength and confidence in the habitual nature of the routines they have, setting them up for performance. Today was incredible. Thank you. And speaking of routines, we'll do this routinely. I'm going to have you back on the show.

I want everybody to go get sustained your game. I want them to be able to follow you. Alan, where should they follow you? You can follow me at Alunstein, Jr. on Instagram or any of the major social platforms. You're incredible. This was a tremendous conversation. Was great for me. Fires me up.

I'm a little bit, like, wound up right now. I wish I could shoot hoops. You know, I was a heck of a, I had, I've won a lot of dunk contests and I'll share that with you another time. I'm kidding, I've never been to a contest. I just had such a great time today. It makes me want to be a better everything. So thank you.

Everyone, follow Alan, go get sustained your game. Go buy the power of one more, my great book, and share this episode today. We are the fastest growing show on the planet because you guys are so good to me and to one another by sharing the show and good to the people you care about because you share the show with them on a regular basis. Can I leave one of my other favorite quotes, a candle loses nothing by lighting another candle. So if you liked this episode and you love Ed's show as much as I do,

share it with somebody else. It doesn't take anything away from you. All you're doing is lighting other people's candles, which is what we should all be in the business of doing. So thank you Ed, this was amazing. I could just say that any better myself. All right everybody, God bless you, max out. This is the Edmila Show. you