Carpe Diem

Q: How do you see your problems? As threats or challenges. Or gifts? We’ve all heard of the “fight or flight” response. It stems from our caveman ancestors, and as much as we like to think we have evolved, our homo sapien processing hardware is still relatively the same. When we are stressed, our endocrine […]

Consider starting a karate class.  You and all your classmates all start at the same level.  You all have very little if any formal training; you all start as white belts. There is a huge difference in the intensity and focus of those who say ” I’m going to be a black belt”, and those […]

The Stoics tell us we need to be like a fire… not a candle, or even a camp-fire; you need to be a “burn-the-house down forest fire”! That fire can’t be extinguished by blowing it out or raking its coals. In fact, wind, trees, and any obstacle placed in the way of a fire that […]

The first step to developing a championship mindset is training your mind to create more moments of presence; more moments when you’re not lost in thought. If you’re serious about becoming a champion, you must commit to this mindfulness practice.  Journal, meditate, reflect, pray; do whatever works for you!  Some practices are better than others, […]

We increase our odds of success by 42% when we write down our goals. –Marie Forleo citing the scientific research in her new book Everything Is Figureoutable. If our ultimate goal is to live with eudaimonia (being our best self), then it seems to me that we should at least consider journaling on THAT goal […]

“We are what we repeatable do”.  If there is truth to Aerostotle’s wisdom, then it makes sense to do the things that repeatable make us proud. When? Every day. Preferably; early in the morning.  This will allow us to begin building great moments early. Which will most likely turn into great mornings, these great mornings […]

At Utah Lacrosse, we take responsibility for our success.  To give ourselves a chance to show up with the energy we need to achieve our goals, be great teammates,  and simply show up at our best to embody the pillars of Utah Lacrosse (Humility, Honesty, Passion, Gratitude, Trust),  we first must honor our fundamental habits […]

Passion is a Pillar of Utah Lacrosse and a skill that we must practice every day.  You must think of passion not as a word, but as a tangible emotion that you can access at your beck and call. Q: So how do you practice ‘passion’? A: It’s as easy as noticing times when you […]

Gratitude is a pillar of Utah Lacrosse, somethin which we practice daily. In Sam HArris’s “Waking Up App” which I highly recommend purchasing, he writes of the power of Gratitude. And our ability to instantaneously access it to lift our mood.  This is a great tool that allows us to ‘flip the switch’ and become […]

” The best athletes are the best dancers”. This was the life-changing advice I received from legendary lacrosse coach, Richie Moran, at the start of my high school lacrosse career. Now, I’m sure some great lacrosse players have great rhythm on the dance floor, but this wasn’t the lesson that Coach Moran intended to depart.  […]

Do you want to be a great athlete, a great student, and a teammate? If so, training your mind is the most important thing you can do. It’s a far more important activity than lifting weights or practicing your sport-specific skills.   In fact, strengthening your body and training your skills should be correctly viewed as […]

Q: How do you respond to a challenge? With fear or excitement? Your Choice You have a choice! Fear and excitement are the opposite sides of the same coin.  When faced with a challenge, your body will prepare you for the moment.  This is inevitable.  Your palms will sweat, your heart rate will speed up, […]

In the Pillars of Utah Lacrosse, we learn to practice ‘Humility’.  Today I want to talk about humility in the context of “not stressing over things outside of your control”.   Suffering occurs when we resist reality.  Katie Byron, in “Loving What Is”, tells us that there are only three different places in which you can […]

How can you practice gratitude today? It’s one of the Pillars of Utah Lacrosse, and one of the best ways to instantly create more love and connection in your life. “People who are consistently grateful have been found to be relatively happier, more energetic, and more hopeful and to report experiencing more frequent positive emotions. […]

Imagine if you were acting on a show about lacrosse. You are the star. The camera is focusing solely on your mannerisms as you pass, shoot, throw, set picks, etc. It’s isn’t focusing on if the ball goes in the net or if your passes land in your teammate’s stick. How would you prepare for […]

  Q: You have stages you’re already performing on and stages you might like to perform on, and my question is: Would you like to show up there as the heroic version of yourself? -Todd Herman, The Alter Ego Effect In the Alter Ego Effect, Todd Herman describes the science behind the power of “secret […]

Q: Do you embrace the process or do you chase external success? The process. Every coach talks about it, but what does it mean?  In my opinion it means, showing up and working towards a goal with diligence, patience, persistence,and  presence with no thoughts of external success outside of the happiness and well-being you’re rewarded […]

Q: What’s your single word or power pose that takes you into the present moment; to shift from selfishness to selflessness? The word you use to ‘flip the switch’? This is your escape from worry, self-doubt, and all anxiety that contributes to choking under pressure. Sian Beilock, one of the world’s leading researchers studying the […]

Q: Got any Constricting Beliefs? How can you change the words you speak to re-set your limits? The words you speak and the way you walk matters. Ellen Langer, in “Counterclockwise”, demonstrates through her 1979 research experiment where elderly participants in their late seventies were told that all their interactions and conversations would reflect that […]

11/18/19 Q: Have any facts changed recently? Do You Need to Change Your Beliefs? John Maynard Keynes once said, “I change my mind when the facts change”.  The healthiest and wisest among us change their minds when the facts change.  Listening to others and changing your mind when the facts change should be celebrated.  We […]

To find your flow state we need to stretch outside our comfort zone, but not so far that we snap in our ‘panic zone’.  That sweet spot is your flow zone.  Or what Michigan business professor noel Richey calls your “learning zone.   #3-TakeAction #PeakPerformance PN: Talent is Overrated 101: Conquering Fear 101

11/15/2019 Q: Your Choice: Do you listen to your spirits urge to grow, or your animistic urge to exist? #Purpose #Life Force #(B)Responsibility #(A)Know the Game we’re Playing #Flip the Switch Your inner evolution is urging you to grow! Every moment of every day we hear this call.  Some days it’s just a whisper.  Winners […]

Q: Are you Doing Everything Possible to Create Vibrant Health to Serve Others? Happiness is created when we close the gap between who we currently are and the person that we can be.  All anxiety and depression exist in that gap.  The goal is to ‘self-actualize’, to be our best-selves moment-to-moment in service to the […]

Q: Are you Proactively Putting Yourself in a Position to Serve Others? If we want to serve others we need to focus on being useful.  This is what we train for!  When we honor our fundamental habits (eating, moving, sleeping, breathing/focus) and chisel our virtuous foundation (do what we say we are going to do) […]

Q: Why are you reading this article? Do you want to be the best at your sport? Win a championship? Do you want to be a better teammate? Gain more confidence?  Great!  For whatever the reason and whatever you want to achieve, success starts with your mindset.  You need to approach whatever you’re doing with […]

Q: How Can You Move Forward With Hope and Approach Your Challenges a Little More Today? A:  Don’t Avoid Challenges; Approach Them with Hope! (1) Build your Confidence (2) Have a Goal (3) Brainstorm Many Pathways to Achieve your Goal 1. Build Your Confidence: To prosper we need to trust that our future will be […]

Q: How can you use your strength to serve the world today? A: Christopher McDougall in his great book, “Natural Born Heroes” tells us that, heroes care. “That true heroism, as the ancient [greeks] understood it,  isn’t about strength or boldness, or even courage.  It’s about compassion”. When the Greeks created their heroic ideal that […]

Freidrich Nietzsche once observed that “the snake that can’t shed its skin will perish”.  The advice is simple, ‘grow or die’.  We’re constantly are either moving forward into growth or back into safety.  There is no safety in the status quo. Every day, with each micro decision, we need to choose to step outside our […]

Q: Anxious or Depressed? What’s Your Immediate Bridge Back to Enthusiasm? A:  Honor your fundamental habits.  Already Eating, Sleeping, Moving, Breathing/Focusing well? Great– Double-down on these habits!  This needs to be your protocol when you’re feeling your worst (or your best but that is a discussion for another day).  Are you feeling overwhelmed at work […]

Q: How Can You Move Forward With Hope and Approach Your Challenges a Little More Today? A:  Don’t Avoid Challenges; Approach Them with Hope! (1) Build your Confidence (2) Have a Goal (3) Brainstorm Many Pathways to Achieve your Goal To prosper we need to trust that our future will be better than our present.  […]

Q: What do you say to yourself when someone is unkind or annoys you? A: Practice gratitude.  Immediately think of that person’s positive qualities.  Think of when that person has given you support in the past.  Use positive memories to drive out negative ones before they have a chance to build up into a mob […]

Q: What’s Your Mantra When Things Go Wrong? How about When Thing Go Right?! The pillar that I want to discuss today is Gratitude, and how we can apply it to every moment of our life using a ‘Mantra’. A mantra is just a fancy word for a “mind tool”, a simple phrase that you […]

Q: Step in any Concrete Today? How quickly can you fix your mistakes before they harden into habits? A: When you find yourself acting less than desirable, making a mistake, or just finding yourself lost in thought– think, how fast can I flip the switch and turn it around? In this moment of realization,  you […]

This moment is all we will ever have.  We get in trouble when we step outside the present moment and become anxious thinking about the future (often picturing worst-case scenarios that never come to light), or we become depressed thinking about the past,  remisicning about regrets or “better” times that no longer exist. The only […]

View this post on Instagram Q: Want to know how to create a better future and enjoy life right now? A: make this current moment awesome! We’ve all head the saying “carpe diem”, “seize the day”, but in reality all we can ever seize is this current moment. That’s all we ever have is this […]

View this post on Instagram Q: Why to Meditate? How to Meditate? A: Meditation is just a fancy word for cultivating more moments of presence—moment when we are are not lost in thought, thinking about nonsense, or worse, ruminating on the past or anxiously worrying about the future. It’s what we all want, right? More […]

View this post on Instagram Q: Do you set sleep curfews? Sleep is a necessity not a luxury. Getting less than 8 hrs is correlated with cancer, dementia, etc. We are the only species that actively tries to cheat their sleep. Why is this? It starts with making sure that we have a purpose to […]

View this post on Instagram 10/31/19 Q: How do you journal when you don’t have time? I journal to reaffirm my identity, the man I want to be today in the “big 3” areas of my life: energy, work,love. I write it down the same few phrases every single day to cement it into my […]

View this post on Instagram Q: got any irritants in your life? How can you turn them into pearls? An oyster starts to make a pearl when an irritant, usually a piece of sand, gets into its shell. Instead of complaining about the irritant, the oyster begins coating the irritant thousands of times with this […]

View this post on Instagram Q: Will you answer the call to be the Hero of Your Life? Or accept the invitation to sit on the sideline? We always have a choice to: 1) be the hero of our life or 2) sit in the sideline of our life. We will be faced with this […]

View this post on Instagram Q: How Will You Be A Hero Today? What are your strengths? How will you use them to serve the world? We think of heroes as “fighters of bad guys” but the definition of a ‘Hero’ is someone who uses their strengths to serve the world. Therefore, We should all […]

View this post on Instagram Q: how do you approach your health and emotional challenges? We can cure ‘acute’ illnesses like strep throat with a pill. But we can’t cure Cancer or Alzheimer’s with a pill. We can’t cure anxiety or depression or unhappiness with a pill. These are ‘chronic’ illnesses that can only be […]

Rome wasn’t built in a day. In fact, Nothing great was built in a day. It’s natural to want to see overnight results, that’s human nature. However, we need to take pride in showing up every day, laying down a single brick, and improving rep by rep. That’s also why we journal—to show up every […]

Mastery in anything takes years. It’s natural to want to see the results of your hard work instantaneously, but nothing great is never created over night. Success takes consistent, deliberate, passionate effort. It may seem like high achievers strike instant success to the public eye, but the creator knows that it took them thousands of […]

Although we can’t control our feelings, we can control our behaviors. In Constructive Living, David Reynolds tells us that, “Our behavior is controllable in a way that our feelings are not. The more control we develop over our actions, the more chance we have of producing a self we can be proud of”. To build […]

“Difficult and unpleasant as it may be, we often feel the most hostile to those who remind us of aspects of ourselves that we prefer not to see” —Tony Schwartz & James Loehr, The Power of Full Engagement. The next time you are annoyed with someone, ask yourself the simple question, “How am I that?”. […]

Modern medicine focuses on alleviating symptoms of a disease,  rather than treating the root cause of the disease.  We put a band-aid over a wound, take a pill, feel better at the moment, and then continue living our poor habits that caused the illness in the future.  Doctors should get a bit of grace because […]

It’s hard to have a bad day if you have a good morning!  Therefore, if you can win the morning, you can win the day.  And you can win your morning by choosing to practice your micro habits before you react to the chaos of the day.  This is what the most successful among us […]

Creating serotonin, aka the “Love Drug” is what we want to focus on creating every day. It makes us feel warm and happy.  Unlike Dopamine, it’s sister feel-good hormone, serotonin isn’t associated no with a quick hit of happiness, but instead a constant state of well-being.  That’s what we are after, and it’s our natural […]

“Love your fate, accept your fate, endure whatever comes your way”— This is fundamental advice shared by all scholars, sages, and thought leaders across time.  Nobody would give you contrary advice. Eckart Tolle, in “the Power of Now” takes it a step further and encourages us to act as if we scripted our lives.  Now, […]

The Stoics tell us we need to be like a fire… not a candle, or even a camp-fire; you need to be a “burn-the-house down forest fire”! That fire can’t be extinguished by blowing it out or raking its coals. In fact, wind, trees, and any obstacle placed in it’s way just make it stronger. […]

“Any disaster that you can survive is an improvement in your character, your stature, and your life” — Joseph Campbell Campbell was sold on this idea of “loving your fate” after reading Friedrich Nietzche epic novel “Thus Spoke Zarathustra.  Nietsche’s advice was simple, “whatever your fate is, tell yourself ‘This is what I need”. Such […]

“The Demon that you swallow gives you its power, and the greater life’s pain the greater life’s reply – Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth If Joseph Campbell is correct, then we want to constantly wish for challenges and hardship… big challenges.  The kind of challenges that will knock us down and leave us broken […]

Just like brushing our teeth every day, we need to brush our brains. How? We need to prioritize our sleep. Within our Utah Lacrosse family, we harp endlessly on the need to honor our fundamentals (eating, sleeping, moving, and breathing) so we can have the energy we need to go all-in on accomplishing our goals […]

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