"Be open to being coached. It’s the only way that you’re going to get to your full potential.”

Most people know they should embrace challenges, but they don't know how to actually start seeking discomfort intentionally. The difference between knowing you should do hard things and actually doing them comes down to one shift: making discomfort a daily practice, not just something that happens to you. Here's what that looks like in practice, and why the people who seek it daily always outperform those who avoid it...

Ask yourself and those around you:

You can't live a life of comfort and expect to be great.

"The goal isn't to fix the athlete – it's to help them see clearly."

Most coaches hear the concerns and complaints and immediately jump to solutions: "Just relax," "Stay confident," "Don't think about it." But here's what decades of cognitive behavioral therapy has taught us: people can't change what they can't see clearly.

The breakthrough isn't giving athletes more coping strategies – it's helping them build accurate self-awareness about what's actually happening in their minds. Instead of diagnosing your athletes, ask three simple questions that help them diagnose themselves:

When people answer these themselves, something powerful happens. They start to look at their perspective in a different way.

Suddenly, it's not overwhelming – it's manageable.

This is pure CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) in action: helping people see their thoughts and emotions accurately so they can respond more effectively...

👉 Inside Premium this week, I break down the complete framework for how to integrate this in with your teams and children – including the exact follow-up questions that build lasting self-awareness and the specific techniques that help athletes develop their own solutions instead of depending on you to fix them. → Upgrade today

This is emotional intelligence and servant leadership in action. Jackson understood that great leadership isn't about commanding from above – it's about serving your team while empowering them to reach their potential.

Emotional intelligence shows up in all three principles: knowing yourself (self-awareness), reading your team and environment (social awareness), and adapting your approach accordingly. Research consistently shows EI is the #1 predictor of leadership success because it demonstrates two critical things: you genuinely care about people (which builds trust and loyalty), and you can adapt to different people and situations (which makes you effective in any environment).

Jackson's 11 championships weren't accidents. They were the result of a leader who understood that the best way to control outcomes is to let go of control and trust the process.

For coaches and leaders:

For athletes and performers:

All of these posts and more are in the Coaching Vault. Sign up today!

What I am reading and listening to:

📚 Book: Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don't by Simon Sinek

🎥 Video: The three secrets of resilient people | Lucy Hone | TEDxChristchurch

🎧Podcast: The Truth About 10X Goals | Dr. Benjamin Hardy - Scaling.com Founder

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