Latest / The Standard / From Big Ten Champion to Mental Strength Coach — Pushing Through Psychological Resistance | Ep. 51 Joel Honigford

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From Big Ten Champion to Mental Strength Coach — Pushing Through Psychological Resistance | Ep. 51 Joel Honigford · The Standard

• 0:02
  SPEAKER_02: Julio.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_02: Good morning, teen, and welcome to the Standard Podcast, where we raise the bar, rebuild the culture, and call out the lies or misconceptions that nobody else will.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_02: This isn't motivation, this is a movement.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_02: I'm Thomas Rowe, joined by my co-host Aaron Charles, and today we're sitting down with Joel Conningford, a mental strength and conditioning coach who pushes teams and individuals through the psychological resistance that keeps them holding back, keeps them holding back.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_02: Joel's credentials speak for themselves.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_02: He played at the University of Michigan, Go Blue, where he was a big time Big Ten champion, two-time Big Ten champion before signing with the Arizona Cardinals of the NFL.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_02: Where it what makes Joel's story powerful is he's yeah he has translated his experience at the highest level of competition into a coaching approach focused on mindset and leadership.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_02: As a mental strength and conditioning coach, Joel helps individuals and teams build structure and raise the standard.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_02: His approach isn't about motivation that fades when things get tough.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_02: It's about developing the mental frameworks, but psychological tools and psychological tools that allow people to push through resistance and perform when everything else falls by the wayside.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_02: Joel understands what it takes to compete at the highest levels because he's lived it.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_02: From Big Ten champion to professional football player, he's experienced the pressure, the setbacks, and the mental demands that separate good from great.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_02: Now he's dedicated to helping others develop the same mental strength and allow that has allowed him to succeed.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_02: We're diving into the truth behind what it really takes to build identity, discipline, and legacy in sports and in life.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_02: Let's get into it.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_02: Joel, thanks so much for joining us.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_02: We really appreciate it.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_02: We're super excited about this.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, thank you so much for having me.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: We uh definitely have raising the standard in common.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: So this is a good fit.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_02: Well, that's exactly gonna be my first question for you.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_02: But before we get into the nuts and bolts, I gotta pull back the curtain.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_02: We don't need to get political.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_02: You know, Michigan football has been under fire right now with current events.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_02: And do you think Kyle Whittingham is gonna be a good fit and he's gonna help turn that program around?
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I do.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: Based on everything that I've heard inside of the program, I actually run a podcast related to the program.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: So I get to get the inside a little bit.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: And what I've heard is that he has kind of re-established the standard on the team.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: So there is a way of process in which those guys are operating, which had not been there probably the previous two years.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, I was with Harbaugh, and I I can say that it was absolutely there at that point in time.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: But I think that kind of fell apart when he left.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: But I think he's gonna be a great coach.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: He has definitely re-established that fact.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: They're not trying to be friends first, they're trying to be coaches first and and raise the standard for the Michigan football team.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_02: I love it.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_02: That's perfect.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_02: And it's a perfect segue into our first question for you.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_02: Let's get into this setting the standard.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_02: Let's let's start with your mental strength and conditioning.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_02: It pushes teens and individuals to psychological resistance and keeps what keeps them from holding back, holding them back.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_02: What does raising the standard mean to you and the mental performance work you're doing?
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think there is a certain level of discipline and attention to detail that people are often missing.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: And as a coach, I get to provide the accountability to get them to that point.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: Because I remember when I was in high school, I thought I understood what it meant to be organized and disciplined and work hard.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: And then I go to college and it's a completely different ball game, right?
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: Just a matter of perspective.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: And to be able to give people that perspective, because I have it now, I understand it, but to provide people with that understanding that, hey, listen, there's more to this than what you have because there's a mental block that people have that they think, hey, this is kind of just the way that I am, this is the way life goes for me.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: Well, it actually doesn't have to be like that.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: Things don't have to stay that way.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_00: And we can develop, you know, your brain and reshape it because that's what neuroscience says, to help you understand how to navigate life at a higher level and understand that listen, just because setbacks happen doesn't mean they have to define us.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_02: No doubt.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_02: That's perfect insight for the next question about what do you think is the biggest lie?
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_02: You feel the culture of the sports industry, whether that's the NCAA or NFL, has sold athletes about mental strength, mindset, and what it really takes to perform when everything else is on the line.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I think in really any area of life, perfection is kind of what society pushes.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_00: You see all these people on social media and all the famous athletes, and you think, oh, well, they've just done it right the whole time.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: Like they've just been really good at what they do.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: And that is absolutely not true.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, take it from me.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: I wasn't this Hall of Fame NFL player.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: I spent a year and a half bouncing around from teams, but I failed a lot.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't start at Michigan until my fourth year.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: So it is a process of failure and learning.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: The issue is people think they have to be perfect.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: So now they get discouraged when they fail.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: And discouragement is the biggest cancer to your success because it is absolutely not true.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: So you have to develop the understanding that, hey, listen, I don't have to be perfect.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: I just got to learn whenever I do mess up.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: You're gonna mess up.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: Everybody does.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: We're all humans.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: It's a matter of adapting after you understand, hey, this is what didn't work and this is what I need to do moving forward, and then executing on that.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_02: Yep, no doubt.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_02: You know, there's a great book by John Maxwell that like was an aha moment for me.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know if you read it.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_02: It's called You Win Some, You Learn Some, right?
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_02: Because there's no real losses.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, you're gonna fail, you're gonna trip.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_02: And I think a lot of people try to shy away from that.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_02: But that's where most of the growth takes place is when you're when you're, you know, when you fall, when you trip and fall.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_02: You were a two-time Big Ten champion at Michigan and signed with the Arizona Cardinals.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_02: How did your experience at that level, that high level of competition, shape your understanding of psychological resistance and mental strength?
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: Well, it's different between the NFL and college.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: College is a lot more physically taxing.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: Now you have the initial mental taxing of you're getting pushed way harder than you've ever been pushed before.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: That is not super hard to overcome because you're just gonna do it anyway.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: At least most of the people are gonna do it anyway, and then you learn, okay, this is hard work.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_00: This is, I know how you know what to expect moving forward.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: But then when you get to the NFL, it's completely different because every single day you're in the facility is a day that you get to be there and it's not guaranteed.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: And so the GM's walking around the facility, and you know, hey, that's the guy that if he just doesn't approve of me anymore, like he's just gonna send me home.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: And to get to a place mentally where I did not let that become a factor of my performance, I wasn't thinking about, hey, if I don't perform well, I'm gonna get cut.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: I will I had to get out of that cycle because it was no use for me.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_00: Like I'm never gonna benefit from thinking like that.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: Now, maybe some people think, oh, you know, that's the pressure I need to perform well.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_00: But for me personally, I didn't need that.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_00: I just need to go be me and play the game that got me to that point and understand, hey, I got to this point for a reason.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not here by mistake, I just need to execute.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_00: And so when you get in those situations of high-level competition, uh, whatever playing field you're in, your mind starts to go places.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_00: It's gonna want to take you down a road that you don't want to be on.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: It's gonna tell you things that aren't true, and you might start to believe it.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_00: You might give in to those thoughts.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: Like, imposter syndrome is a huge thing.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_00: It was a huge thing for me when I got to the NFL.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: Like I just said, at some point in time, like I didn't think that I belonged there.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I'm walking in the facility with Kyler Murray and James Conner and Cole McCoy sits across me from lunch the first day.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, man, I don't know about this.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I really shouldn't be here.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_00: But that's not the truth.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_00: I got there for a reason.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: And a lot of people face imposter syndrome, except especially when we get promoted within our company or we step into this new environment that we've wanted for so long, and now we have it, and then we think, oh, wait, I'm actually not supposed to be here.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_00: That's not true.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: You're there for a reason.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_00: When you give into those thoughts and ideas that, hey, I'm not supposed to be here, I'm not worthy of experiencing the success that other people have before me.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_00: You know, me as an undrafted free agent, like obviously I'm not a first-round draft pick, but there's been plenty of successful undrafted free agents.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_00: I wouldn't be the first one if it happened.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_00: So to repeat those thoughts in my mind that, hey, I can be successful, I am supposed to be here, was also one of the bigger, you know, mindset shifts that I was able to make to not let any sort of adversity or or negative thinking define my actions going forward.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_00: No doubt.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_02: I'm so glad that you got into the imposter syndrome because that's something I don't think just athletes battle with.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, they that's they battle with that level.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_02: You know, case important, Aaron and I were working with a high school all-American that decided not to go to college to play baseball.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_02: He went into double A, triple A.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_02: He didn't last long down there because he was so good and he got called up right away.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_02: And he literally looked at us and he goes, I I I don't know if I belong here.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_02: And we're like, dude, this is what you've worked for.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_02: And even at the highest level, you're gonna you're gonna experience it.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, one of the my favorite stories is Baker Mayfield.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_02: You know, he walked on to Texas Tech, then he walked on to Oklahoma and he won the Heisman, and now he's in the uh NFL.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, it's just one of the hardest positions.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm glad you got into imposter syndrome.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_02: I think we'll probably get into it a little bit more.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_02: Right now, I'm gonna turn it over to Aaron for segment two, which is identity and legacy.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_02: Aaron, take it away.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_01: Joel, welcome.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_01: What I would love to for you to share with our audience beyond everything that Thomas has shared with getting to the Cardinals, being a two-time Big Ten champion.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_01: Who is Joel beyond all the all the accolades that we've shared to this point?
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, first and foremost, without a doubt, nobody can take this away from me.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_00: I am a follower and a son of God.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_00: That nobody can ever take that away from me.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_00: That is my identity, without a doubt.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: There's not anything else in this world that that can't be taken away from me.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_00: Like everything else can be taken away from me at some point in time.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_00: I could I could not be a coach anymore.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_00: I could not be a brother, I could not be a son at some point in time, but but regardless, I will always be a son of God, and I know that for a fact.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_01: I love that.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_01: What a profound and simple answer.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_01: I love it.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_01: It's like that's who I am.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_01: I think we need a lot more of that in the world for people to just claim that and own that.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_01: So you you've translated your experience at the highest level into helping individuals and teams build structure and raise the standard.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_01: What does legacy beyond your own athletic achievements mean to you?
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_01: Or how do you help people build that legacy?
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think legacy is a word that has probably been received differently in society because people think it's about the money you make, about the trophies you win, all the accolades, everything.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_00: Well, at some point in time, that's all gonna get forgotten.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_00: That's just the way that it is.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_00: The money's gonna run out at some point in time.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_00: It's no longer gonna be the money that was, you know, passed down.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_00: But legacy is what you leave in the people that you're able to connect with.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_00: The people that you relate relate with, what are you able to provide them in just a relationship sense?
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_00: And so for people to understand that, this is huge in leadership because people think, well, if they can just get their team to perform better and make more money and become more efficient, that okay, that's the legacy.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_00: Well, no, the the legacy comes from the person that you were to them and what you left in those people because that's what's going to be remembered.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_00: At some point in time, your trophies are no longer going to be remembered.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_00: People remember you as the person that you are and were, not as what you won.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_00: So it's important to be able to make that shift to to understand, and this comes with the identity portion as well.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_00: People get so wrapped up in their achievements and what they do that it becomes who they are.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_00: I think a perfect example of this is Rory McElroy.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_00: He's just coming off of a second master's win, and he he went on a podcast two years ago talking about how the biggest change in his game was to be able to remove his identity from his scorecard because that's not where his legacy lied, it was not in his scorecard.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_00: Like people are gonna remember Rory McElroy for the person that he was.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_00: It is the truth, whether you believe it or not, that's just how it goes.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_00: So to help people understand that is what legacy is all about.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_01: That's huge, and I love that.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_01: And it's a it's funny to see your example of Rory McElroy, just how that frees people, I think, to perform better because the outcome isn't a reflection to your point of that identity.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that's that's a big shift that if we all made, we probably all contribute or perform better in whatever role that we're filling at the moment.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_01: And so you you uh approach and focus on mindset and leadership and pushing people through psychological resistance.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_01: What separates individuals and teams who consistently perform at high levels from those that get stuck when things get difficult?
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_00: Resilience.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_00: It's easy.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_00: Resilience is a very simple idea that's very hard to execute.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_00: And it is something that you can learn.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_00: It's not just something like you're not just built as a resilient person.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, sure.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_00: Some people have it naturally a little bit easier than others, but it's an actionable skill that you can execute.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_00: And it's very simple.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_00: Resilience is made up of two parts you grieve the pain, the discomfort, the sense of loss that you experience because you hit a moment of adversity and it's painful because there's a gap between your expectation and the reality.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_00: You have to grieve that pain, no matter how big or how small it is.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_00: When I got cut from the cardinals, I had to grieve it.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_00: I had to grieve that pain.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_00: And maybe that seems silly to some people because when they think of grief, they think of death, but ultimately we lost something that was meaningful to us and that we expected a different outcome.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_00: And we didn't get that.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_00: So you have to be able to grieve that pain.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_00: And the second part is your response.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_00: You you have to decide, hey, what is the most ideal solution as a result of what has happened?
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_00: And how do I get there?
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_00: What is my first step?
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_00: You take the first step, okay, what's my next step?
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_00: And you just keep executing that.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_00: And the key to resilience is persistence because listen, the bad luck truck doesn't stop delivering packages of adversity, like it doesn't adhere to our delivery windows.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_00: And to understand that, listen, like life isn't fair, things happen, and and I'm going to be faced with challenges.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_00: I got to a point in my career where I was about to start as an offensive lineman.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_00: And then we have a guy go down with COVID and he pulls me and another guy down so that all three of the guys in the in the competition to start are now in in quarantine.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_00: I can't practice anymore.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_00: I come out of quarantine, I'm on the bench again for the third time.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_00: And if I give into that moment, which I kind of wanted to, but I ultimately decide I'm like, nah, you know, I can't do that.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm given a new opportunity.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_00: So resilience is so important because everybody faces adversity.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_00: Everybody, it doesn't matter who you are, it doesn't matter how big or how small it is.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_00: You have to grieve that pain, and then you have to choose what your response is going to be, and you have to stay persistent.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_01: I love that.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_01: Great answer.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that you hit on something really important there.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I think sometimes people just run across the top of like when adversity hits.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I don't want to spend time in this.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_01: And so let me just move on.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_01: And it then it's like it's gonna keep wearing its ugly head until you decide you want to look at it and really take the lesson.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_01: So I love that advice.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_00: Well, and that's another thing is adversity.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_00: Everybody talks about adversity, everybody talks about facing adversity, like you hear in sports all the time like we're gonna hit some adversity.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_00: It's like, okay, great, like I understand that, but like, what am I supposed to do when it happens?
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_00: And that all falls in your preparation and understanding, first of all, who you are and what you know.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_00: If you're prepared, then you're gonna be able to handle it.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_00: You know what you want to do when you throw an interception in the red zone.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, well, we got to stop them on defense.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, I need a second to grieve that that really sucked, that hurts.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_00: I'm embarrassed.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, all right.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_00: What do I need to do next to move forward?
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's it's very simple, but nobody talks about that.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_00: Everybody just says that you're gonna hit it.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, great.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_00: Well, what am I gonna do when it happens?
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's so that's such great insight because it's like you're so right.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_01: Everybody talks about it, but to your point, if you're trained to handle it, then you're gonna be able to respond in the moment when it actually comes, right?
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_01: Versus like, oh yeah, we hit some adversity.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_01: Well, yeah, and this is how we move through it.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_01: So I love that.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_01: So, what's one truth you wish every athlete, leader, or high performer understood about mental strength and pushing through resistance?
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_00: One truth I would say is important.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if it's the truth, but the reality is is you have to have somebody hold you accountable.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_00: Like you have to.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_00: That's why I do what I do now.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_00: I hold people accountable.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_00: Because if you are planning to go through this alone, you have an idea, you you want to be come out mentally stronger on the other side, but you're gonna do it by yourself, it's not gonna work.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_00: I can almost promise you that.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_00: You have to have somebody that's gonna take you along that journey and hold you accountable.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_00: Because let me tell you this humans can justify anything.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_00: Like if if you want to stop a workout, you can find a way to stop a workout to skip a rep.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_00: It's not that hard.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_00: Like, we're really good at justifying anything.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_00: But when you bring somebody else into the equation and say, hey, listen, I need you to hold me accountable to this.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_00: I know there's gonna be time I'm probably gonna get mad at you.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_00: If you, you know, I want to cut reps.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_00: If I cut reps and you call me out for cutting reps, I want you to, I want you to do that.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm probably gonna get mad at you, but that that's what I want.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_00: And that's how we shift mentally, is when people start to hold us accountable, and then we understand and we develop a subconscious understanding that, hey, listen, like this is the way that it has to be, because everybody likes the idea of increasing their mental toughness and increasing their leadership skills, but they don't want to do the work to get there.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_00: Like it's hard, it's not easy work.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_00: So you have to bring somebody along with you.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_00: Life is not meant to be solo game, like it's a team game, and we're surrounded with people that love us and care for us and want to see us succeed.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_00: You have to find those people and you have to leverage them.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_01: God, sound advice.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_01: Listen, listen to this guy.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_01: It just I couldn't have said any of that better.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_01: So thank you, Joel.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, Thomas, I'm gonna kick it back over to you.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_02: Awesome.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_02: Joel, we're gonna get into the if you knew then what you know now, kind of the advice across all stages.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_02: If you could sit down with yourself as a young athlete coming out of high school before you understood the mental side of performance, or maybe you did know it in high school, what would you tell that version of Joel about psychological resistance and mental strength?
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, the biggest P I ever learned was from Captain Tom Chaby.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_00: He's a former Navy SEAL captain.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_00: He came in to coach us, a leadership coach and a mindset coach at Michigan.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_00: And he told me about the neutral mindset.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, before I thought, hey, you know, positive mindset all the time.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_00: You you just got to think positively about everything.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_00: Well, that's not necessarily the case.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_00: A neutral mindset is different.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_00: When we have a positive mindset all the time, usually when we hit adversity, it it throws a huge wrench at us, and and then we dive down and we hit this roller coaster of emotions of up and down and up and down, and we're trying to be positive all the time.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_00: When you have a neutral mindset, you understand that there is a process to life, to whatever path that you're on right now, and there's gonna be ups and there's gonna be downs.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_00: I remember him telling me because coaching really affected me initially.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_00: Like whenever I would get yelled at, it really affected me.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_00: And he told me, he said, Hey, listen, you know, part of the neutral mindset is if Coach Harbaugh tells you you did something really well, you know, don't buy into it and get super hyped up.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_00: And in the same sense, when he yells at you for not doing something right, don't buy into it and get all beat down.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_00: And it's a matter of just evening out your emotions because when we experience any form of of negative change, let's say, or or positive change, our emotions want us to react in a certain way.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_00: Now, usually your reactions are quick trigger, quick trigger responses that are not calculated at all.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_00: But when we have a neutral mindset, we can process, you know, what's kind of going on, understand, okay, he you know, he did like that, I'll I'll replicate that.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_00: But you're not to this point where you you think you can't do anything wrong, and then you do something wrong, and all of a sudden you're like, wait, what the heck is the problem?
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_00: So to stay in This neutral mindset of understanding that I can't get too high, can't get too low, because at some point in time it's going to change.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_00: And the roller coaster of emotions is absolutely exhausting.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_00: And the neutral mindset mitigates that.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_02: No doubt.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_02: You know, one of the things that Aaron and I have, like a term that we've coined, is we obviously our name is Blueprint to Bluechip, right?
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_02: We know that there's blue chip athletes that are going to go to Notre Dame's or Michigan.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_02: Then you have your what we call fringe athletes that have the mental, but they don't have the physical, or they have the physical and not the mental.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_02: And then we know that there's the worker bees.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_02: These are the ones that are never going to put on a helmet after high school or dribble a ball.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_02: And that's cool too.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_02: But our biggest concern, our biggest gap for Aaron and I, and I want you to shed some light on this, is what about current athletes who have the physical talent but struggle with the mental side of pressure, or they have the mental but not the physical.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_02: What do they need to understand about building mental strength and focus?
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, life is a process.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_00: You're going to go through your ups and downs.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_00: And when you don't have the mental side of things, it's a little bit more challenging because when you don't have the mental, sometimes you don't think that you can change mentally.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_00: You think that you aren't just the way that you are.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_00: You don't want to adapt to some sort of a standard that's being set.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_00: But if I could encourage you at all, listening today, that it is a process.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_00: And so as you go through life, you're going to have different experiences that are going to help further develop you as a person.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_00: You can choose to refute those and fight them as much as you want.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_00: Like ultimately, what your coach says goes, whether you like it or not.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_00: That doesn't mean he's right, but you're going to learn hey, this is how I kind of process change.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_00: This is how I process adversity.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_00: So you have to have an open mind.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_00: Like it's not going to go the way that you want 100%.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_00: Like there's going to be challenges that you're going to face along the way.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_00: So you need to understand, you need to be a sponge for knowledge where you're just soaking everything up.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_00: I see a lot of guys, when I was in Michigan, a lot of guys would come in and they would just want to talk all the time.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_00: They thought they knew it all.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_00: They were a big time recruit.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_00: They're going to Michigan, they're the man.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_00: Well, you know what?
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_00: When you get there, there's guys who've been there a lot longer than you and understand the game and understand the mental side of the game a lot more than you.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_00: So if you think that you're going to come in and tell them, hey, I already know what to do, don't worry about it.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_00: I know my technique, it's not going to work.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_00: To be honest with you, majority of those guys end up leaving the team because they just don't fit.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_00: So you need to have an open mind and you need to be a sponge for knowledge, whether that's football-related knowledge or mindset or leadership-related knowledge, it doesn't matter.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_00: You need to be a sponge.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_00: Nobody knows everything.
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_00: Literally, nobody knows everything.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_00: So don't think that you do all of a sudden.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_00: And then in terms of not being physically developed yet, like I was I was recruited to Michigan as a developer, a guy that they were like, Oh, yeah, we'll we'll put you know 50 pounds on him, we'll get him to 310, and and then he'll be good.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_00: And I knew that's what I was going in as, and I wasn't worried about it.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_00: There, like you're gonna be able to physically develop.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_00: Don't get discouraged that you're not there yet.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_00: I'll my first day of fall camp, I go up against Maurice Hurst, who played in the NFL.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, he was most recently with the Browns last year, and we did a goal-line live drill.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_00: Now I was unbelievably terrified, but he put me on my back, he like he just did.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_00: And if I would just chalk it up at that point, man, I'm never gonna develop.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's not how it works.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_00: Like we have systems in place to develop you.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_00: It took me four years to get up to 300 pounds.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_00: Like everybody's process is different.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_00: And luckily enough, when I got to 300 pounds, that's when I got told I was gonna be a tight end.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_00: So uh yeah, I had lose.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_00: But there, you just have to not give in to the challenges that you're going to face.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_00: Because, like I said, they're gonna be there, they're gonna show up, you're gonna have times where you're tested on on your journey.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_00: You have to be willing to roll with the punches, I guess.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it just happens that way, like it works that way for everybody.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_00: Some people face bigger challenges.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_00: Like a guy in my class came in and started right away.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_00: I knew I wasn't him.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not gonna compare myself to him.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_00: I know I'm not Caesar Ruiz, like that's not who I am.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_00: I have my own journey.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_00: So just trust that you are exactly where you're supposed to be, and then allow the process to kind of unfold because for me, it took four years before I saw the field, and then I experienced enough success in the matter of two years to sign an NFL contract.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_00: So it's not impossible.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_00: Like, take it for me.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_00: So, yeah.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_00: That's awesome.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, you got to trust the process.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_02: I think that right now the big misconception is social media, right?
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_02: And you have to understand delayed gratification.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_02: And when you look at social media, you just see everything, you know, is instantaneous.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_02: And I think people also have to remember like Michigan football is one of the top five, arguably, in the nation.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, I'm sure, Joel, you were getting recruited by other schools.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_02: You probably could have gone to a smaller school and played right away, right?
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, if that's what you wanted.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_02: But I mean, it says a lot about your character and your competitive nature to go to Michigan to go deal with that type of pressure.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_02: And I mean, pros and cons, because that's a great program.
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_02: That's gonna either it's gonna build you or it's gonna grind you out.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_02: There really, really is no half pregnancy there.
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_02: So what about for someone who's just starting out to or starting to understand their own psychological resistance?
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_02: What's the first step in building the mental framework that allows you to push through things when things get difficult?
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you have to set an upfront contract with yourself because a lot of times people perform really well when there's a specific deadline or there's a a tangible, you know, requirement for something.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_00: And when we're navigating the area of mental performance, there's a lot of leeway there.
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_00: Like you can just let yourself give in to adversity or temptation.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_00: You have to set an upfront contract, which means you decide that, hey, this is the way that things are now, and I know that as a matter of fact.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_00: And the best way to do it is to tell somebody.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_00: This is where the accountability comes into play.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_00: Like, if you're serious about increasing your mental toughness, like, first of all, you should know that it's going to be a tough process.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_00: Like, it's not easy for anybody to develop your mental toughness.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_00: It's a lot of uncomfortability, but you have to bring somebody else into the equation.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_00: You have to tell them that upfront contract of what it is that you want to further develop.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_00: I remember I told my high school coach, I think I was a sophomore, I said, Hey, listen, I want to go to a division one school and you need to do whatever it is to get me to that point.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_00: And he knew that there was going to be times where I really didn't like him because he was pushing me past that point.
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_00: And then at some point in time, I was like, No, this is too far.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_00: That's not right.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_00: But it wasn't.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_00: It wasn't.
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_00: He knew more than me.
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_00: And when you bring somebody else into that equation and you generate your upfront contract, hey, listen, this is what I want, and I want it by this date.
• 29:25
  SPEAKER_00: I want you to do to do it by this date.
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_00: Then you can bring somebody else.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_00: They provide that accountability, they can push you farther than you can push yourself.
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_00: That's why we have personal trainers for fitness, because they push us harder than we can push ourselves.
• 29:39
  SPEAKER_00: You need to have the same thing for your mental side of the game.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_02: No question.
• 29:43
  SPEAKER_02: I think that's so important that uh like we try to remind all of our athletes, as well as our parents and coaches, that you need a mentor, period.
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_02: Not just the accountability side, but you I mean, why would you want to reinvent the wheel, right?
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, by going to Michigan and I'm learning from these coaches, these aren't guys that just came up, you know, two years removed from high school and decided to throw their name in a hat.
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_02: They've seen some of the best and they've coached some of the best.
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_02: On that one, we're gonna turn it over to segment four back to Aaron, which is the rapid fire round.
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_02: Aaron, take it away.
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 30:17
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm gonna start a sentence and you're just gonna finish it for me, okay, Joe?
• 30:21
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, discipline equals.
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_00: Consistency.
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_01: Oh gosh, I forgot the next word.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_01: Leadership equals.
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_00: Influence?
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_01: Faith equals identity.
• 30:38
  SPEAKER_01: Legacy equals.
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_00: People.
• 30:41
  SPEAKER_01: What's one thing you would never compromise on?
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_00: Ooh.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_00: One thing I would never compromise on.
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_00: I mean my morals and my values, obviously.
• 30:53
  SPEAKER_00: Like I have a certain way of of living life, and I'm not willing to go below the standard in that sense.
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_00: I guess lying.
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_00: Lying is probably the one thing I would never do.
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's probably the biggest form of cancer for anybody.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_00: Nobody likes a liar.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_00: And I would I would never lie to protect myself or or someone else in that sense.
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_01: I love that.
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_01: And what is one message?
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_01: If you put it on a billboard for athletes about mental strength, what would it be?
• 31:27
  SPEAKER_00: You have to get comfortable being uncomfortable.
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_00: It's a cliche, but things are cliche because they are true.
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_00: That's why people use them because they're true.
• 31:39
  SPEAKER_01: Amen to that one.
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_01: I love that.
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, Thomas, back to you.
• 31:44
  unknown: Awesome.
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_02: Awesome.
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_02: Joel, we'll get into a closing segment here.
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_02: And what I'd like to do is I'd like to push this over to our guests.
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_02: And before we wrap up, this is kind of an open forum for you.
• 31:55
  SPEAKER_02: Is there something we didn't touch on today that you feel athletes, leaders, or high performers need to hear about mental strength and psychological resistance?
• 32:05
  SPEAKER_00: I would say as you go through the process of life, whether that's athletics or your career, you're going to be confronted probably with some poor leaders, some people who don't understand how to be influential in their leadership.
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_00: And you might think that you just want to give up and that, you know what, this isn't for me.
• 32:24
  SPEAKER_00: But sometimes those people mold you more than the people who are really good leaders.
• 32:31
  SPEAKER_00: And the reason I say that is because I had that experience at a point in time where I had a leader who was really, really poor.
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, I can't do this anymore.
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_00: I can't handle this.
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_00: And sure, there's a period of time where like you can't buy into that anymore.
• 32:48
  SPEAKER_00: But understanding what not to do was so beneficial for me.
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_00: Understanding how I didn't want to treat people was super beneficial for me because I was on the other side of that.
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_00: I understood, hey, this is exactly how not to lead somebody towards a common goal.
• 33:06
  SPEAKER_00: And my brother went through the same thing.
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_00: He played college basketball.
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_00: And so there's gonna be those people in your life that are gonna provide a lot of resistance to you and they're gonna make you want to quit.
• 33:19
  SPEAKER_00: I would encourage you to stick through the process because especially in in the world of sport and even in the businesses that really understand leadership, those people don't last.
• 33:33
  SPEAKER_00: They're not gonna stay there.
• 33:34
  SPEAKER_00: And if they do stay there, then the culture of the whole organization is off.
• 33:39
  SPEAKER_00: And that's a completely different topic.
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_00: But you got to stick through those processes because it's gonna happen.
• 33:46
  SPEAKER_00: And just because it happens doesn't mean that you need to quit.
• 33:49
  SPEAKER_00: You have a wonderful opportunity to learn from that person of exactly how you don't want to be.
• 33:56
  SPEAKER_00: No doubt.
• 33:57
  SPEAKER_02: You went from rapid fire, now you're in the hot seat.
• 34:00
  SPEAKER_02: This is my favorite favorite segment.
• 34:02
  SPEAKER_02: Art imitating life.
• 34:04
  SPEAKER_02: What are the top three sports movies of all time, according to Joel?
• 34:08
  SPEAKER_00: Oh man, top three sports movies.
• 34:11
  SPEAKER_00: Is cat is Castaway a sports movie?
• 34:14
  SPEAKER_00: Sure, it is now.
• 34:15
  SPEAKER_00: I would say holy smokes.
• 34:18
  SPEAKER_00: Hoosiers, good movie.
• 34:22
  SPEAKER_00: Invincible is a pretty good movie.
• 34:24
  SPEAKER_00: Mark Wahlberg.
• 34:26
  SPEAKER_00: Badass.
• 34:27
  SPEAKER_00: And Rudy's such a classic.
• 34:30
  SPEAKER_00: Like Rudy is such a good movie.
• 34:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um I would say probably those three.
• 34:35
  SPEAKER_00: That's a hard question to answer.
• 34:36
  SPEAKER_00: There's so many sports movies.
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, people probably want me to say Remember the Titans.
• 34:40
  SPEAKER_02: It's a good movie, but yeah, yeah, that one always pops up.
• 34:43
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, it it, you know, and I'd love to ask this question because we've had guys on here that have played Major League Baseball and all they've picked were golf movies or something.
• 34:51
  SPEAKER_02: So it's always nice to get a little insight on athletes on, you know, what makes them tick.
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_02: You know, for me, yeah, I it's a miracle.
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_02: I I've never played hockey in my life, but I just love the the concept of the team.
• 35:02
  SPEAKER_02: And if we were to play the Russians 10 times, we'd lose nine about coming together as a team, et cetera.
• 35:07
  SPEAKER_02: Number two is Rocky, the original one.
• 35:09
  SPEAKER_02: That was, I mean, that was just badass.
• 35:11
  SPEAKER_02: Number three is Hoosiers, and everything else to me is an honorable mention because there's so you're right, there's so many great ones.
• 35:17
  SPEAKER_02: So, Joel, where can people connect with you and learn more about mental strength and conditioning, your conditioning approach?
• 35:23
  SPEAKER_02: Whether that's a website or your email or your social media, let people know where they can get a hold of you.
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you can go to my website, it's huntingfordps.com.
• 35:33
  SPEAKER_00: Just my last name, ps.com.
• 35:36
  SPEAKER_00: Or you can go to my social media.
• 35:37
  SPEAKER_00: My Instagram is Joel underscore honeyford59.
• 35:41
  SPEAKER_00: I'm on LinkedIn, Joel Huntingford.
• 35:43
  SPEAKER_00: I'm on Facebook, Joel Huntingford.
• 35:45
  SPEAKER_00: I post on all three of those platforms constantly, just sharing different insight and different strategies for you to implement.
• 35:53
  SPEAKER_00: So come over and follow and reach out to me and you know, say you come from the podcast and we'll connect.
• 35:59
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, I'd love to talk with you.
• 36:01
  SPEAKER_00: Awesome.
• 36:01
  SPEAKER_02: Joel, before we close out, tell us your one or two idiosyncrasies of being an athlete, whether it was in the locker room, you had to have your certain shirt or you had to put on your right sock first.
• 36:11
  SPEAKER_02: Was there anything that Joel did that was a little quirky?
• 36:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, uh, well, you know, this might be a little gross, but when I first started during COVID, the nerves would get to me a lot.
• 36:27
  SPEAKER_00: And so I would throw up before the game, before every game.
• 36:29
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not recommending this.
• 36:32
  SPEAKER_00: But my second year of starting in 2021, the nerves weren't to the extent of I needed to throw up.
• 36:39
  SPEAKER_00: But at this point in time, it had become habit.
• 36:42
  SPEAKER_00: Like it was just like when I would come off the field from warmups, I just like felt like I needed to throw up.
• 36:47
  SPEAKER_00: Not because I was too nervous, but I was like, I gotta do this.
• 36:51
  SPEAKER_00: So for my last three years at Michigan, me and another tight end, Luke Scoonamaker, would throw up before every single game.
• 37:00
  SPEAKER_00: And it wasn't because of nerves, it was just like it was just habitual.
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 37:05
  SPEAKER_00: I don't recommend that.
• 37:06
  SPEAKER_00: When I when I got to the Cardinals, I was talking to one of my buddies at Michigan, and uh before one of the preseason games, I was like, dude, I think I might throw up.
• 37:13
  SPEAKER_00: He goes, dude, you gotta leave that behind.
• 37:15
  SPEAKER_00: You gotta, you gotta grow up.
• 37:16
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, Yeah, you're right, you're right.
• 37:19
  SPEAKER_02: I love it.
• 37:20
  SPEAKER_02: Because Aaron, you she does a lot of consulting and she throws up before she gives presentations, right?
• 37:25
  SPEAKER_02: Aaron, right there in the conference room.
• 37:27
  SPEAKER_02: I'm kidding.
• 37:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, oh god.
• 37:31
  SPEAKER_02: Hey uh, Joel, thank you for showing us what it means to push through psychological resistance and build mental strength.
• 37:37
  SPEAKER_02: Team, if this conversation hit you, we need two things from you.
• 37:41
  SPEAKER_02: One, share this episode with someone who needs to hear it, an athlete struggling with mental performance, a team trying to raise their standard, or a leader working to build structure that develops mental strength.
• 37:52
  SPEAKER_02: And number two, connect with Joel.
• 37:54
  SPEAKER_02: He left his handles for you, so we're gonna drop it down in the notes, and you can always reach out to him.
• 37:59
  SPEAKER_02: And if you're ready to push through psychological resistance, that's what for what's holding you back to build mental framework and consistent high performance.
• 38:08
  SPEAKER_02: Joel's approach is exactly what you need.
• 38:10
  SPEAKER_02: And if you're an athlete parent or coach ready to raise the standard, check Aaron and I out at blueprintbluechip.com.
• 38:17
  SPEAKER_02: We help athletes build identity, discipline, and legacy that goes well beyond the game.
• 38:23
  SPEAKER_02: Team, this is a standard podcast.
• 38:25
  SPEAKER_02: And if this movement, this movement only grows when we raise the standard together.
• 38:30
  SPEAKER_02: Talent fades, but truth endures.
• 38:32
  SPEAKER_02: Let's raise the bar, rebuild the culture, and become the standard.
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_02: Joel, Aaron, thank you so much for joining us.
• 38:38
  SPEAKER_02: Team, we'll see you next time.
• 38:40
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you.