It Takes What It Takes

“The best day of your life is the one on which you decide your life is your own. No apologies or excuses. No one to lean on, rely on, or blame. The gift is yours—it is an amazing journey—and you alone

What has happened. What is happening. What will happen.

This is what we know. The human mind absorbs negativity seven times more easily than it absorbs positivity. We also know that language is the most powerful carrier of negativity. Thinking about my struggles is nowhere near as powerful as verbalizing them. When it comes out of my mouth, it affects me tenfold. If it’s negative it may be seven times m

His confidence, however, would be built on his physical preparation. That would be driven by commitment, strategy,

It’s what you do, not how you feel, that gets things done. We can do our way into feeling the way we need to. It’s hard to feel our way into achieving a damn thing. We all want things, and there’s value to that; want is a precursor to motivation. But want is an idea. Commitment is execution.

Russell doesn’t speak in “ifs” when it comes to his performance. He speaks in “I’s.” “I do this” versus “If I do this.” Why? He knows the impact of his own language on him and on others. “If” implies a choice. He knows there are no choices for leaders in the biggest moments. “If” gives your brain an out. “I” makes a commitment.

It takes a plan to achieve anything of value. When you plan, you identify an end goal and then chart out neutral behaviors that can help you reach that goal. That may sound overly simplistic, but a lot of people say “I want to do this” without thinking about the behaviors and benchmarks required to reach that goal. Choosing not to plan is actually

we are “defined in the present.” This is the idea behind the “one play at a time” cliché, which became a cliché because taking things one play at a time has proven to be an effective course of action. It’s anchored in the concept that each moment has a history and life of its own.

“Of all the things you teach, Trev, nothing hit me between the eyes like the illusion of choice,” MGM Studios COO Chris Brearton told me. “It so clearly is true, and yet we all compete against our own choices every day.”