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8.20 Shane Parrish: Outcomes Over Ego

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“I don’t care who gets the credit. I care about creating the best possible work.” - Shane Parrish Would you rather be right or get it right? Have you ever known you were wrong, but your ego prevented you from admitting it? When I was an assistant college basketball coach, my success was tied to the 18-year-olds I helped evaluate, recruit, sign, and develop. If I was the guy who signed and developed an All-American, it could help me move into a bigger and better opportunity, so we would fight to sign our kid. The challenge was there were a limited number of scholarships you can offer, so if you miss on a kid, you are stuck with that bad decision for an entire year. This forces you to put outcomes over ego, because the last thing you want is to have a bad year because you signed a kid who wasn’t good enough and stuck with him just so you could be right. Author Shane Parrish says we can make better decisions that lead to more success when we put outcomes over egos. He said, “One big mist...
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8.17 Kristi Yamaguchi: Goals and Dreams

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"Every day, someone realizes a dream. I believe dreams help light our darkness and give us the push we need to move across the rink of life." - Kristi Yamaguchi Hope is the expectation that something good is going to happen to you and through you. When you have hope, you can have optimism, motivation, and inspiration no matter what is going on around you. When you don’t, it’s hard to find that same spark. Kristi Yamaguchi was an Olympic figure skater who had to overcome many challenges, including being born with a clubfoot, on her way to becoming a gold medalist. In her book, Always Dream, Kristi wrote, "Every day, someone realizes a dream. I believe dreams help light our darkness and give us the push we need to move across the rink of life." If your dreams, goals, and aspirations are big enough, they can guide through any challenge. For Yamaguchi, a dream isn't just a distant hope; it's a powerful source of motivation that can help you overcome obstacles. S...
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8.16 Janet Evans: Getting Started

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"When I started swimming again two years ago, it felt like I was starting from scratch. My mindset was that every time I swam, it was going to get easier—and it did. When you're working toward a fitness goal, you just need to start. It's not going to be pretty; your body is going to scream at you, but each time you'll get better." - Janet Evans How hard is it for you to get back in shape or come back from a break? Janet Evans is a former American competitive swimmer and one of the most decorated distance swimmers in history. She won four Olympic gold medals and one silver across the 1988, 1992, and 1996 Games, specializing in the 400m, 800m, and 1500m freestyle. She is remembered for her grit, consistency, and determination—qualities that made her a role model for athletes worldwide. Evans retired after the 1996 Olympics, and tried to make a comeback for the 2012 Olympics, but didn’t make it. While preparing for her comeback, Evans said, "When I started swimm...
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8.15 Landon Donovan: Keep the Passion Alive

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“That's a part that's always a challenge for athletes: trying to keep the passion alive while knowing it's still your job.” - Landon Donovan How do you keep your love and passion for something while sacrificing and working as hard as it takes to be great at it? Success requires a lot. It requires a lot of time, energy, and effort. It requires so much, that the task of becoming great can steal the love and joy you have for it. Think about it. You usually start doing something because you enjoy it. Then you want to do it more because you start to really like it. Then, you get good at it, and want to go from good to great. But that transition is when it stops being fun for a lot of people and becomes a job. Landon Donovan has scored as many goals as any man who has played soccer for our US Men’s National team. He once said, “That's a part that's always a challenge for athletes: trying to keep the passion alive while knowing it's still your job.” How do you keep the...
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8.14 Sky Brown: Dream Big

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“I like the feeling of doing something you worked hard for and that you were really scared to do… I tell myself I got it. I picture landing the trick in my head. When you land a trick that you're really scared of, you feel like you can do anything.” - Sky Brown Have you ever heard, “If your goals don’t scare you, they aren’t big enough”? A powerful goal should make you feel a little fearful and comfortable. It signals a gap between who you are and who you want to become. But you have to have the courage to do what it takes to close the gap. Sky Brown is a British-Japanese professional skateboarder, surfer, and two-time Olympic bronze medalist who became the youngest ever Olympic medalist for Team GB, inspiring people worldwide with her fearless style, resilience, and “be brave, be strong, have fun” mantra. She once said, “I like the feeling of doing something you worked hard for and that you were really scared to do… I tell myself I got it. I picture landing the trick in my head. W...
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8.13 Elena Della Donne

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“You have to have faith in yourself, even when nobody else does.” - Elena Delle Donne How do you have belief and faith in yourself when no one else does? If you want to be great at anything, you have to believe in yourself because self-belief is the foundation of high achievement — before anyone else can believe in you, you have to trust your own ability, vision, and potential. Elena Delle Donne was one of the most dominant female basketball players of all time. She once said, "You have to have faith in yourself, even when nobody else does.” Faith is confidence or trust in something. When you have it, you’re willing to work harder and longer, you are more likely to keep going when setbacks happen because you believe they are temporary in your ability to overcome them, and you inspire others to believe in you too. When you don’t have it, you’re more likely to hesitate or quit when challenges come, you might hold back from taking risks or pushing yourself to your limits, and the dou...
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8.12 Jerry West: Show Up

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"You can't get much done in life if you only work on the days when you feel good." - Jerry West How do you show up and put in the work on the days you don’t feel like it? You want to know what I think is the hardest part about being great? You don’t always feel like being great. How often do you not feel like doing the things you know you need to, the way or the speed that you know you need to? The best of the best show up and do their job every day, no matter what and no matter how they feel. Jerry West was one of the best basketball players of all time. In fact, he is called “The Logo” because the NBA logo was created in his image. He once said, “You can't get much done in life if you only work on the days when you feel good.” This quote is a reminder that real progress—whether in sports, work, or personal growth—comes not from bursts of inspiration, but from showing up even when it’s hard or you don’t feel like it. There are countless days when my motivation is low...
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