NEWSLETTER & ARTICLES
ARTICLES Archive
There’s something different about playing at home. It feels familiar, welcoming, and less threatening. Back in my competitive running days, whenever I competed at my home track, it was as if I knew every inch of the track surface. Sure,…
Most people have had the experience of losing themselves while listening to a musical album, viewing art, watching an athlete’s peak performance, or hiking in nature. What all these events have in common is that they minimize your ego. Not…
“I can’t function as a human being after a loss. I can’t eat. I can’t shave. I can’t hug my kids.” Urban Meyer said this in 2003 when he was head coach at the University of Utah. For the next…
Conventional wisdom says that positive thinking, enthusiastic mood states, and inspiration are key to a good and productive life. But that’s not entirely true, at least not according to the latest psychological science. A more accurate representation of the relationship…
My plan was simple (or so I thought) and straightforward: come the end of December I would ease back on promoting The Practice of Groundedness and ratchet up on my next book project. As those of you who follow my work…
I remember the comment clearly. I was lying on the ground, drained of all energy, exhausted, unable to get up. My legs were a mixture of on fire and full of lead. I wanted to puke. “Your parents haven’t felt what…
It is the turn of the year and one thing seems certain: the pace of information, stimulation, and distraction is not slowing down. The culture of heroic individualism—an ongoing game of oneupmanship where measurable achievement is the main arbiter of…
As an executive coach, I saw a troubling trend among my clients even before Covid-19: Many were exhausted and on a path to burnout, if they weren’t already there. The chief physician of a large healthcare system came to me…
If you are overwhelmed and exhausted by competing information, claims, purported secrets, and so-called biohacks in health, fitness, and performance, you are not alone. We are tired too. In this post, we are going to go deep on debunking myths,…
Welcome to the annual reading list. If you are familiar with our work, you’ll know that it integrates ideas, research, and practices from diverse domains. (See our latest book for a great example.) People always ask us how we do…
Most of us have what I like to call “Uncle Rico” or “Al Bundy” stories. The person who insists, like those two fictional characters, that if only they hadn’t gotten hurt, or had gotten that first audition, or had someone…
In the modern world, optimization is king. From athletics to the workplace, figuring out how to be more productive and more efficient is the never ending quest of high performers. The natural evolution of this mindset is to see, and…
A common refrain amongst my coaching clients, and most people these days, is finding it challenging to pay deep attention to meaningful activities. Even after addressing low-hanging fruit—for example: eliminating distractions, designing the physical environment, and timing specific tasks—many people…
In 2019, only 35 percent of fourth-graders were proficient, on-level readers. After a year and a half of pandemic altered learning, various reports suggest that kids are months, if not years, behind where they should be. In classrooms across the…
In my junior year of high-school, I applied to the prestigious Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. I didn’t get in. Over the years, I’ve submitted essays and articles to all kinds of publications, from my local newspaper to…
Essential Reading
What is The Growth Equation—and Why You Should Pay Attention.
Redefining Success So It Doesn’t Crush Your Soul.
We've Reached Peak Wellness—Most of it is Nonsense; Here's What Actually Works.
When a Stress Expert Battles Mental Illness.
The Best Routine, According to Science.
Performance, Health, and Well-being are Contagious.
Practicing the Mastery Mindset, a Path to Long-Term Progress.
Consistently Good Enough Beats Occasionally Great.
We Make Fitness Way Too Complex and That is Dumb.
Languishing and the Art of Showing Up.
Quit Being So Hard On Yourself: Self-Compassion and Peak Performance.
The Key to Sticking to An Exercise Program? It’s Supposed to Feel Easy!
How To Build High-Performance Habits.