In partnership with
Welcome to The Growth Compass!
🚩Reminder: We have given all subscribers access to our FREE Growth Compass Library (updated) that you can access HERE.
We’ve also made new updates to the Coaching Vault to make it even better before the price triples!
Here’s where we are headed today:
Quote on the process and outcome ⚡
Billy Donovan on the 92% rule and other mental fitness principles 🥇
Favorite posts I found this week 🏆
Free mental fitness links 👇
Trust the Process
One Habit You’ll Keep
By this time of the year, most New Year goals are already slipping. That’s why the habits that last are the simple ones.
AG1 Next Gen is a clinically studied daily health drink that supports gut health, helps fill common nutrient gaps, and supports steady energy.
With just one scoop mixed into cold water, AG1 replaces a multivitamin, probiotics, and more, making it one of the easiest upgrades you can make this year.
Start your mornings with AG1 and get 3 FREE AG1 Travel Packs, 3 FREE AGZ Travel Packs, and FREE Vitamin D3+K2 in your Welcome Kit with your first subscription.
3 Things: Billy Donovan and the 92% Rule, Leadership, and Why You Need to Focus More on Bookends
1. MENTAL FITNESS: Billy Donovan and the 92% Rule
Billy Donovan had his managers run an experiment at Florida.
He asked them to track how long each player actually held the ball during games. Then he asked one of his starters to guess how many minutes he had the ball in his hands out of 30 minutes played.
The player guessed 15 minutes.
The real number? Less than 3 minutes.
A backcourt player spends 92% of their minutes without the ball. A frontcourt player? 95%.
Yet most players obsess over the 5-8% when they're holding the ball and scoring. Donovan put it bluntly: "It's amazing to me how many players focus on points, points, points. That's what goes on ESPN. That's what gets the highlights. That's what people want to talk about."
Points are a lagging indicator - winning habits are the leading indicator.
Screening. Running the floor. Diving for loose balls. Rebounding. Taking charges. Talking on defense. The best players impact winning when nobody's watching them - during the 92% when the ball isn't in their hands.
This applies far beyond basketball. In any job, the "highlights" are a tiny fraction of your time. What are you doing with the other 92%?
This week's questions: Are you contributing when no one's tracking it? Or are you waiting for your moment to shine?
2. TEAMS: Great Leaders Don’t Have All the Answers
There's a myth that great leaders have everything figured out - they don't.
What they do have is authenticity, consistency, and curiosity.
Authenticity - They lead as themselves, not a copy of someone else. Simon Sinek said it well: "Authenticity is more than speaking. Authenticity is also about doing. Every decision we make says something about who we are."
Consistency - They show up the same way every day, regardless of results. Not just on the good days. Not just when things are working. Every day.
Curiosity - They stay hungry to learn, grow, and improve. They know leadership isn't about having all the answers - it's about being willing to find them.
The leaders who pretend to have all the answers eventually get exposed. The leaders who stay real, stay reliable, and stay curious are the ones who adapt, evolve, and earn trust over time.
Which of these three do you need to strengthen?
3. WHAT I’M CHEWING ON: How strong are your bookends?
I've been thinking about beginnings and endings.
The beginning of the day. The end of the day.
The beginning of practice. The end of practice.
The first five minutes of a meeting. The last five minutes.
Here's what I keep coming back to: people remember very little from the middle of an experience. But they remember how it started and how it ended.
This isn't just intuition - it's science. Nobel Prize-winning psychologist Daniel Kahneman called it the "Peak-End Rule." His research showed that people judge experiences based on the most intense moment and how it ends - not the average or total duration.
In one study, patients who had a medical procedure with a less painful ending rated the entire experience more favorably - and were more likely to come back for follow-up appointments. The ending changed everything.
Think about what this means for coaches. For leaders. For parents.
How you open practice sets the tone. How you close it determines what they carry with them. The same is true for meetings, conversations, and even your morning routine.
Most people put all their energy into the middle - the content, the drills, the agenda. But the bookends are what stick.
This week's questions: How intentional are you about your beginnings and endings? What would change if you treated those five minutes like they mattered most - because they do?
Free Mental Fitness Links 👇
For coaches and leaders:
For athletes and performers:
All of these posts and more are in the Coaching Vault.
That's a wrap for today. If you want to spread the joy, make sure to refer the newsletter to someone you think would benefit!
What I am reading and listening to:
What'd you think of today's edition?
Want More?
🔖We’ve added more to our FREE resources online here and growing content library here!
🔖Interesting in advertising? Fill out this survey and we’ll get back to you soon!