WEBVTT - The Coach in Your Head 0:00:15.276 --> 0:00:23.596 Pushkin. Let's play a game. Line up Americans in a row, 0:00:23.876 --> 0:00:26.516 all of them by how likely they are to start 0:00:26.516 --> 0:00:29.436 a revolution. At the front of the line, you might 0:00:29.476 --> 0:00:34.076 put let's say, a student activist, or an energetic member 0:00:34.116 --> 0:00:37.756 of some aggrieved interest group, or some evil genius with 0:00:37.836 --> 0:00:40.836 a knack for computer programming. At the back of the line, 0:00:40.836 --> 0:00:45.236 you'd put who who among us is least likely to 0:00:45.276 --> 0:00:47.516 go to the trouble of trying to change the world. 0:00:48.076 --> 0:00:50.676 I don't know a lot of us are complacent, but 0:00:50.876 --> 0:00:52.836 somewhere near the end of the line, I think we 0:00:52.876 --> 0:00:56.236 can all agree we'd find the golf and tennis coaches 0:00:56.556 --> 0:01:01.036 of America's country clubs. When I hired on to be 0:01:01.156 --> 0:01:08.396 a tennis pro as a middle class country club in Seaside, California. 0:01:08.676 --> 0:01:11.516 Tim Galway is the name of the board tennis pro 0:01:11.716 --> 0:01:14.956 in this story. He's in his eighties now, but was 0:01:14.996 --> 0:01:19.516 in his thirties when the story begins. It was four 0:01:19.556 --> 0:01:23.516 o'clock in the afternoon. I've been teaching all day, not coaching, 0:01:24.236 --> 0:01:29.476 and it keeps a little boring telling people where the 0:01:29.596 --> 0:01:32.996 weight on their foot should be and where they should 0:01:33.076 --> 0:01:36.916 hit the ball on the racket on the afternoon In question. 0:01:37.076 --> 0:01:39.836 Tim was teaching a guy with a slice backhand who 0:01:39.876 --> 0:01:42.676 wanted to learn how to hit topspin. The guy was 0:01:42.716 --> 0:01:47.156 taking his racket back too high. Ordinarily, Tim Galway would 0:01:47.156 --> 0:01:49.676 just have told the man, hey, don't take the racket 0:01:49.716 --> 0:01:52.396 back too high, but he lost interest in the sound 0:01:52.396 --> 0:01:55.396 of his own voice and pretty much everything else, so 0:01:55.436 --> 0:01:58.716 he just kept quietly tossing balls at the guy's backhand. 0:02:00.996 --> 0:02:05.716 Three or four minutes a strange thing had he was 0:02:05.796 --> 0:02:11.556 hitting topspin back end and said nothing. But then I 0:02:11.596 --> 0:02:17.996 said something in my head, you lazy bum, you missed 0:02:18.036 --> 0:02:23.556 your chance. If you had only taught him before, then 0:02:23.636 --> 0:02:27.876 you would have gotten the credit for his toss spin 0:02:27.996 --> 0:02:32.876 back in. I said, wow, And this was maybe the 0:02:33.396 --> 0:02:38.556 key point. I'm more interested in teaching than I am 0:02:38.636 --> 0:02:43.076 in this student learning. That was the moment that Tim 0:02:43.116 --> 0:02:48.356 Galway had an idea, because I just said, Okay, I'm 0:02:48.396 --> 0:02:51.636 going to see how much improvement I can see in 0:02:51.716 --> 0:02:57.476 front of me with how little teaching for reversing your 0:02:57.596 --> 0:03:00.756 usual approach. How little can you tell them rather than 0:03:00.756 --> 0:03:04.836 how much can you tell them exactly? So you have 0:03:05.076 --> 0:03:08.756 this inside about yourself and your teaching methods, and you 0:03:08.836 --> 0:03:11.156 just you're gonna do it a different way. You're going 0:03:11.236 --> 0:03:14.756 to see how littlely you can say. How long do 0:03:14.836 --> 0:03:17.596 you do that before you start to think I'm onto 0:03:17.596 --> 0:03:22.516 something my next lesson. His next lesson is with a 0:03:22.556 --> 0:03:25.636 complete beginner. She doesn't even know how to hold a 0:03:25.676 --> 0:03:29.796 tennis racket. Goalie thinks maybe he shouldn't try out this 0:03:29.836 --> 0:03:35.076 new idea coaching by not saying anything. Then he thinks, nah, 0:03:35.276 --> 0:03:38.236 screw it, let's try this again. How can I start 0:03:38.236 --> 0:03:42.516 a beginner without telling the fundamentals? And so I said, 0:03:42.956 --> 0:03:45.876 I'll just drop a few and hit them so they'll 0:03:45.876 --> 0:03:50.276 see me. They'll see me. I did that five or 0:03:50.316 --> 0:03:54.356 six times, and she said, I noticed the first thing 0:03:54.476 --> 0:03:59.836 you did was turned your right foot sideways. He said, yeah, yeah, 0:03:59.836 --> 0:04:04.636 I don't worry about and just take these balls and 0:04:04.596 --> 0:04:08.196 the do it. No, I did say shut your eyes 0:04:08.756 --> 0:04:12.716 and see yourself hitting the ball. I didn't say like 0:04:12.916 --> 0:04:19.196 I did. And this is the absolute She hit like this. This, 0:04:20.036 --> 0:04:22.876 I mean everything I would have told. She didn't know 0:04:22.956 --> 0:04:26.796 any different. Her foot didn't move. So the one thing 0:04:26.836 --> 0:04:30.556 she consciously thought about, she didn't do exactly everything that 0:04:30.596 --> 0:04:34.236 she was just kind of unconscious. She did said, oh 0:04:34.356 --> 0:04:37.676 my god, not the one when did she do everything 0:04:38.236 --> 0:04:45.596 without instruction, but she didn't do the one thing she 0:04:45.796 --> 0:04:53.516 decided herself she should do. In the history of coaching, 0:04:53.596 --> 0:04:57.036 this is a revolutionary moment. Who put chocolate in my 0:04:57.076 --> 0:05:01.796 peanut butter moment. Galli discovers that performance is all about focus. 0:05:02.596 --> 0:05:05.636 Focus on the wrong thing, and you'll do the wrong thing. 0:05:06.596 --> 0:05:16.396 What shocks me what was to see Tennes's improving without 0:05:16.556 --> 0:05:21.316 the student trying to improve. All I would do is 0:05:21.436 --> 0:05:28.676 ask them awareness questions or give them awareness instruction. Awareness 0:05:28.676 --> 0:05:32.436 instructions meaning saying stuff that caused them to focus on 0:05:32.476 --> 0:05:35.036 what was useful, like where the ball was when it 0:05:35.116 --> 0:05:39.276 hit the racket. People love Galway's weird tennis lessons. He 0:05:39.356 --> 0:05:42.996 offered no criticism, no praise, hardly any talk at all, 0:05:43.756 --> 0:05:45.956 just to nudge here and there, to silence the voices 0:05:45.996 --> 0:05:49.756 inside their heads, the voices that caused them to tense up. 0:05:50.956 --> 0:05:53.396 One day, one of the country club students blurted out, 0:05:53.796 --> 0:05:58.916 you should write a book. Kim Galway had zero literary ambition, 0:05:59.556 --> 0:06:03.316 but he did it. He wrote a book about how 0:06:03.316 --> 0:06:07.396 to coach tennis. His text was one part Eastern mysticism 0:06:07.476 --> 0:06:09.916 and one part practical advice on how to crush your 0:06:09.916 --> 0:06:13.636 opponent on a tennis court. He thought about calling it 0:06:13.836 --> 0:06:18.196 Yoga tennis. He wound up calling it The Inner Game 0:06:18.236 --> 0:06:22.876 of Tennis. In the fall of nineteen seventy four, right 0:06:22.876 --> 0:06:26.316 before his book came out, Galway asked his publisher how 0:06:26.316 --> 0:06:31.116 many copies they hope to sell. Twenty thousand, they said two. 0:06:31.196 --> 0:06:35.916 Three quarters later, I had got my third royalty statement 0:06:35.956 --> 0:06:39.516 and I had gone from forty thousand to eighty thousand 0:06:39.596 --> 0:06:44.076 to hundred thousand. And I went back to Random House 0:06:44.076 --> 0:06:46.556 and I said, how come it was so wrong in 0:06:46.676 --> 0:06:50.876 your estimates? And he said, well, we thought it was 0:06:50.916 --> 0:06:53.956 a tennis book. The Inner Game of Tennis is not 0:06:54.196 --> 0:06:57.756 a tennis book. It's something else, which is why it's 0:06:57.756 --> 0:07:01.396 now sold something like two million copies. And Galway is 0:07:01.516 --> 0:07:04.996 inundated with requests from people who want his help, because 0:07:05.076 --> 0:07:08.116 inner voices torture all of us, not just country club 0:07:08.116 --> 0:07:12.676 tennis players. I get asked to give a lecture about 0:07:12.716 --> 0:07:18.156 the Inner Game to the Houston Philharmonic. I played no 0:07:18.676 --> 0:07:25.316 classical instruments. At the end, they applaud politely, except for 0:07:25.356 --> 0:07:28.236 the conductor who comes up and says, I'm not going 0:07:28.316 --> 0:07:31.796 to believe this till I see it. And next thing 0:07:31.836 --> 0:07:36.076 he says is who's going to volunteer for some coaching 0:07:36.516 --> 0:07:41.156 from tim as Faye would have it. One tuba player 0:07:41.236 --> 0:07:45.876 volunteered alone. Galway did the same thing with the tuba 0:07:45.916 --> 0:07:49.196 player that he did on the tennis court. Sir, what 0:07:49.316 --> 0:07:54.356 do you find most difficult in performing at your level 0:07:54.756 --> 0:07:59.476 with the tuba? That's the one question that doesn't ruffle 0:08:00.036 --> 0:08:04.356 the ego. You just say what's the hardest thing? Now, 0:08:04.396 --> 0:08:09.676 things are, but what's the most difficult thing your level? 0:08:10.396 --> 0:08:16.316 And so he says articulation in the upper range. Never 0:08:16.356 --> 0:08:20.556 heard the phrase. And I say it was so hard 0:08:20.596 --> 0:08:26.276 about that? Galway has not the first clue about playing 0:08:26.276 --> 0:08:29.236 a brass instrument. He doesn't even know the words you 0:08:29.356 --> 0:08:33.956 need to talk touba. It's all he can do to listen. Well, 0:08:33.996 --> 0:08:42.636 you go, and uh it sounded good to me. I said, 0:08:44.196 --> 0:08:50.076 so how is that in terms of clean articulation? He says, uh, 0:08:50.756 --> 0:08:54.396 not so good. He said, so there was it was 0:08:54.476 --> 0:09:00.836 dirty to some extent. How did you know, as mass Well, 0:09:00.876 --> 0:09:04.196 I can't hear it because Bella the tube is too far, 0:09:04.956 --> 0:09:09.476 but I can feel it in my tongue. My tongue 0:09:09.556 --> 0:09:15.556 gets dry and it's towards feeling thick. Galway tells the 0:09:15.556 --> 0:09:18.436 tuba player to stop trying to hear his own sounds 0:09:18.916 --> 0:09:22.196 and to focus on his tongue. So I said, don't 0:09:22.236 --> 0:09:25.876 try to keep it change. Just notice the changes and moisture. 0:09:26.596 --> 0:09:37.956 It's only a few measures. Sounds about the same to me. 0:09:45.956 --> 0:09:49.716 The whole orchestra gets up on their feet and gives 0:09:49.756 --> 0:09:53.036 us standing ovation, and you can tell the different. So 0:10:01.276 --> 0:10:05.436 I said, oh my god, this is easy. I know 0:10:05.716 --> 0:10:09.636 nothing about tubeas nothing about classical music. I don't know. 0:10:10.836 --> 0:10:16.196 And I got everything from him as I needed, and 0:10:17.276 --> 0:10:24.796 it seemed like magic. Because now this is new. The 0:10:24.876 --> 0:10:27.356 coach doesn't need to know the first thing about what's 0:10:27.356 --> 0:10:30.636 being coached. All the coach needs is a gift for 0:10:30.716 --> 0:10:34.836 playing around with people's minds. Two things follow from this. 0:10:36.316 --> 0:10:41.836 Anyone can coach anything, and anyone doing anything now needs 0:10:41.876 --> 0:10:49.356 a coach. I'm Michael Lewis, and this is Against the Rules, 0:10:50.676 --> 0:10:54.956 a show about various authority figures in American life. This 0:10:54.996 --> 0:10:58.356 season is about the rise of coaches, and this episode 0:10:58.636 --> 0:11:08.876 is about the inner game. The first big leap that 0:11:09.316 --> 0:11:13.116 game coaching makes is into the business world. Tim Galway 0:11:13.196 --> 0:11:17.676 starts getting requests from corporations to help them figure out 0:11:17.876 --> 0:11:21.316 how to coach their executives. In the early eighties, the 0:11:21.396 --> 0:11:24.836 Bell telephone monopoly was being broken up. The new head 0:11:24.836 --> 0:11:27.476 of AT and T Corners Galway on a tennis court. 0:11:27.836 --> 0:11:30.156 He says, the people of AT and T now need 0:11:30.196 --> 0:11:33.036 to learn how to compete. Just a few years earlier, 0:11:33.396 --> 0:11:36.436 Galway had been nothing more than the local club tennis pro. 0:11:37.396 --> 0:11:40.076 Now the head of one of the world's largest corporations 0:11:40.556 --> 0:11:42.876 is inviting him to try to fix one of the 0:11:42.876 --> 0:11:48.556 world's largest corporate cultures. He started out just saying everything 0:11:50.236 --> 0:11:56.076 to change. So at the end of the two minutes, 0:11:57.636 --> 0:12:01.316 summarize in everything from the top level to the bottom 0:12:01.396 --> 0:12:07.156 level to change. He said, So, Tim, what's the problem? 0:12:07.356 --> 0:12:13.036 Galway told him, point plank you the problems you your 0:12:13.076 --> 0:12:17.396 whole bossing people around management style. A monopoly could get 0:12:17.396 --> 0:12:20.116 away with being autocratic, but now that AT and T 0:12:20.276 --> 0:12:22.876 had to compete in the marketplace, well, everyone needed to 0:12:22.916 --> 0:12:25.156 stop listening to the boss's voice in their heads. The 0:12:25.276 --> 0:12:29.556 leader is the interference. Tiffany Gaskell is director of coaching 0:12:29.556 --> 0:12:32.996 and leadership at a British company called Performance Consultants International. 0:12:33.396 --> 0:12:36.236 Tim Gaway helped to create the company thirty five years ago, 0:12:36.556 --> 0:12:39.596 after all these corporations started asking him for advice. When 0:12:39.596 --> 0:12:42.556 you're on the tennis court, you're in your head. That 0:12:42.796 --> 0:12:45.556 voice is the one that's saying, oh, no, you're not 0:12:45.556 --> 0:12:49.836 good enough to do this. In organizations, because the leader 0:12:50.196 --> 0:12:52.676 is the one that knows the way, then the other 0:12:52.676 --> 0:12:57.796 people don't know the way. Performance consultants is still at 0:12:57.836 --> 0:13:01.236 the center of coaching the executive mind, but the inner 0:13:01.276 --> 0:13:05.076 game has become an industry. Gaskell guesses there are roughly 0:13:05.116 --> 0:13:08.996 a quarter million of these coaches worldwide, helping business people 0:13:09.236 --> 0:13:11.516 deal with the voices in their heads that make them 0:13:11.516 --> 0:13:15.556 worse at their jobs. I was working with the managing 0:13:15.596 --> 0:13:20.716 director of a waste company, waste management company, and every 0:13:20.836 --> 0:13:24.876 month they were missing their recycling targets, and so we 0:13:24.916 --> 0:13:28.996 sat down and he said, okay, so what's going on here? 0:13:28.996 --> 0:13:34.716 We're missing our recycling targets. And he explored his own 0:13:34.836 --> 0:13:38.196 beliefs around recycling and realized that he just didn't believe 0:13:38.196 --> 0:13:41.476 in it because he said, you know, we're just sending 0:13:41.516 --> 0:13:44.236 it on a boat to China. It's not really solving 0:13:44.236 --> 0:13:47.516 the problem. Here. We have a common source of interference, 0:13:47.996 --> 0:13:49.756 not really wanting to do the thing you were meant 0:13:49.756 --> 0:13:52.796 to be doing because you don't believe in it. The 0:13:52.876 --> 0:13:57.076 performance coach helped the waste management boss created a recycling 0:13:57.116 --> 0:14:00.676 program that he could be proud of, and from then 0:14:00.756 --> 0:14:05.556 on they hit their recycling targets. That's interesting. I mean 0:14:05.596 --> 0:14:07.516 one response to this would be just to quit the 0:14:07.516 --> 0:14:12.236 waste management business. But he didn't do that. He found 0:14:12.276 --> 0:14:15.316 a better way to recycle. Yeah, and finding a better 0:14:15.316 --> 0:14:19.316 way to recycle eliminated this interference he had that he 0:14:19.316 --> 0:14:22.756 hadn't fully acknowledged that the whole thing was pointless. Yes, exactly. 0:14:23.236 --> 0:14:26.276 So It's like, as we become aware of stuff, then 0:14:26.356 --> 0:14:30.556 we can we have a choice and responsibility to do 0:14:30.636 --> 0:14:35.316 something about it or not about now. I can hear 0:14:35.396 --> 0:14:39.316 Bobby Knight throwing a chair across the room. I mean, 0:14:39.956 --> 0:14:43.116 what is this bullshit? It all started on some country 0:14:43.116 --> 0:14:46.636 club tennis court. And these mind coaches or performance coaches, 0:14:46.676 --> 0:14:48.516 or wherever you want to call them, they've only got 0:14:48.556 --> 0:14:50.996 a few simple ideas that they repeat over and over. 0:14:52.116 --> 0:14:55.316 The voice inside your head needs to be managed. Screw that. 0:14:55.476 --> 0:14:58.916 I don't have time for headcases. Criticism and praise are 0:14:58.956 --> 0:15:02.516 equally counterproductive, as they both amplify the inner critic. Suck 0:15:02.556 --> 0:15:06.436 it up, you whimp. Focus your attention on things you 0:15:06.436 --> 0:15:09.636 can control rather than the things you cannot. Work your 0:15:09.676 --> 0:15:15.116 ass off, and you'll control everything. On the other hand, 0:15:15.796 --> 0:15:18.676 Bobby Knight might be shocked by who's finding this stuff useful? 0:15:27.276 --> 0:15:30.636 Before the Break, I talked about how coaches are now 0:15:30.676 --> 0:15:34.156 being brought in to help people who've never had coaches before. 0:15:34.596 --> 0:15:37.076 We are what we repeatedly do excellence that has done 0:15:37.116 --> 0:15:39.916 an act, but a habit. So we don't rise to 0:15:39.956 --> 0:15:43.036 the occasion. We sing to our training. Right. You gotta 0:15:43.036 --> 0:15:47.036 put together effective routines to operate well under pressure. There's 0:15:47.076 --> 0:15:52.556 a mental game of firefighting huge. That's Jason Bresler, former 0:15:52.596 --> 0:15:55.956 baseball player at the US Naval Academy, lieutenant in the 0:15:55.996 --> 0:15:59.356 Marine Corps. Fought in the Battle of Fallujah, fought other 0:15:59.356 --> 0:16:02.876 battles in Afghanistan. In between battles, he joined the New 0:16:02.956 --> 0:16:06.196 York City Fire Department, where he now fights fires, among 0:16:06.236 --> 0:16:10.476 other things. To challenge that our generation has is one 0:16:10.596 --> 0:16:12.716 is the complexity of these events that we go to. 0:16:13.196 --> 0:16:15.796 They're just ever increasing into complexity because there's the active 0:16:15.796 --> 0:16:20.676 shooter threat, there's terrorism, there's transportation accidents, there's biological exposure. 0:16:20.676 --> 0:16:22.676 All these like, it's we do far more than just 0:16:22.716 --> 0:16:26.436 go to fires. No, two emergencies are the same, but 0:16:26.516 --> 0:16:29.996 they all have one thing in common, an inner game. 0:16:31.516 --> 0:16:35.156 All right, more stressful at time? Hopefully what do we 0:16:35.236 --> 0:16:40.676 think stressful? Why? By my heart rate was elevated, I 0:16:40.796 --> 0:16:44.836 was I esk guys like, do you ever have a 0:16:44.876 --> 0:16:48.796 negative conversation with your with yourself? You know, like in 0:16:48.796 --> 0:16:51.036 a moment where you're just like, don't suck, right, or 0:16:51.236 --> 0:16:53.556 now you make a mistake and you're like, I freaking suck. 0:16:54.196 --> 0:16:57.996 And universally, every single guy, particularly the most experienced guys 0:16:58.036 --> 0:16:59.956 that have been to so many fires, and they say 0:17:00.036 --> 0:17:03.036 yeah all the time. Jason fights fires himself, but he 0:17:03.076 --> 0:17:06.116 also helps to run the training programs for firefighters, and 0:17:06.196 --> 0:17:09.596 he noticed that firefighters didn't usually dwell on their inner states. 0:17:10.076 --> 0:17:13.636 They fought fires, and they didn't talk about the conversations 0:17:13.676 --> 0:17:15.676 they had with themselves when they did it. And at 0:17:15.716 --> 0:17:18.396 first they looked at me like I was kind of crazy, right, 0:17:18.436 --> 0:17:21.036 I'd say, well, hold on a second, hold on a second, 0:17:21.676 --> 0:17:24.436 do you recognize that conversation isn't at least bit helpful? 0:17:25.676 --> 0:17:27.956 And everyone would say yeah, I'm like, well, is it 0:17:27.996 --> 0:17:30.516 easy to change that conversation? And they're like hell No. 0:17:31.156 --> 0:17:33.236 All of them were game to be coached about a 0:17:33.276 --> 0:17:36.716 thing they hadn't ever really put into words. So Jason 0:17:36.756 --> 0:17:39.516 brought in a twenty nine year old mind coach named 0:17:39.556 --> 0:17:42.716 Ben Oliva. One of the things we're trying to do 0:17:42.876 --> 0:17:47.476 here is speed up the path to being an expert. 0:17:47.996 --> 0:17:50.636 So this coach wears jeans and a hoodie with a 0:17:50.756 --> 0:17:55.116 kangaroo pouch. He'd never fought a fire. He'd never been 0:17:55.156 --> 0:17:57.836 in a fire. He might have started a fire to 0:17:57.996 --> 0:18:02.316 roast marshmallows or something. He knows fires the way Tim 0:18:02.316 --> 0:18:05.476 Galway knew tubas. But he's talking to a group of 0:18:05.476 --> 0:18:07.756 firefighters who seemed to believe he could make them better 0:18:07.796 --> 0:18:10.836 at their jobs. I think is the difference between routines 0:18:10.916 --> 0:18:17.356 and superstitions. Okay, so I'm going to suggest that there 0:18:17.476 --> 0:18:25.076 is a difference. Ben has a laptop and a power point. 0:18:25.956 --> 0:18:30.196 The firefighters sit in a semicircle around him. Firefighters always 0:18:30.196 --> 0:18:32.756 seem like they're waiting for something to happen. Okay, So 0:18:32.876 --> 0:18:35.756 if you're you're a superstition. If you don't do it, 0:18:35.836 --> 0:18:37.956 you can't perform well. Yea like a lapse of your 0:18:38.036 --> 0:18:40.436 routine is going to throw you off right, kind of 0:18:40.436 --> 0:18:43.036 like they're tied together. What if this happens, some this 0:18:43.076 --> 0:18:45.516 won't happen. You're pointing to an important point here, which 0:18:45.556 --> 0:18:49.236 is that superstitions often give us the impression that we 0:18:49.396 --> 0:18:52.956 cannot be successful if we don't do them, whereas routines 0:18:53.196 --> 0:18:58.876 are more flexible. Ben studied astrophysics and psychology at Williams College, 0:18:58.876 --> 0:19:01.796 where he also played baseball and football. That Williams, he 0:19:01.876 --> 0:19:04.116 noticed that some of his teammates were just way better 0:19:04.116 --> 0:19:07.236 in practice than they were in games. Why was that 0:19:08.116 --> 0:19:11.356 he left Williams and got a masters in sports psychology. 0:19:11.956 --> 0:19:14.476 Now he coaches the minds of players for the Boston 0:19:14.556 --> 0:19:17.676 Red Sox and the New York Giants. Also a bunch 0:19:17.676 --> 0:19:20.796 of lawyers and doctors and some actors and singers you've 0:19:20.796 --> 0:19:24.356 heard of. Bene Leavitt does the same work with firefighters 0:19:24.396 --> 0:19:27.196 that he does with everyone else, starting with trying to 0:19:27.196 --> 0:19:31.436 eliminate interference distractors. One are the things that pop in 0:19:31.516 --> 0:19:33.556 your head. They end up posing on that you don't 0:19:33.596 --> 0:19:37.116 have full control. Decisions that a fire that already have 0:19:37.236 --> 0:19:42.676 been made in executy, past decisions, other people's readiness, other 0:19:42.716 --> 0:19:47.716 people's readiness. Okay, so like other people's performance. Yeah yeah, 0:19:47.756 --> 0:19:51.756 other people time of year. So external factors in the environment, 0:19:52.756 --> 0:19:57.196 whether excellently. That throws so many apps up. Oh it's gold. 0:19:57.196 --> 0:20:05.676 I can't play well. One of the guys had girls. 0:20:05.716 --> 0:20:09.636 That one gets me a lot. There's one, a really 0:20:09.676 --> 0:20:11.156 big one that I'd like to point out that we 0:20:11.196 --> 0:20:16.476 haven't hit yet. Past mistakes, past mistakes. I can sort 0:20:16.476 --> 0:20:19.676 of understand baseball players getting hung up that way, they're 0:20:19.716 --> 0:20:23.356 all head cases. But firefighters tactical technique. He's not going 0:20:23.356 --> 0:20:26.276 to make us a better firefighter. Jason Bressler Again, he 0:20:26.316 --> 0:20:28.636 says he can see the effect mind coaching has on 0:20:28.676 --> 0:20:30.876 the way that fires get fought. In the course of 0:20:30.956 --> 0:20:34.916 adopting these techniques and applying them, we're likely to become 0:20:34.916 --> 0:20:37.476 a better version of ourself, which then inevitably is going 0:20:37.516 --> 0:20:39.556 to make us a better firefighter. Who doesn't want to 0:20:39.556 --> 0:20:44.116 accomplish that. Plus, it's like you're nobody unless you have 0:20:44.116 --> 0:20:45.876 a mine coach. That's gonna be part of this, right, 0:20:45.956 --> 0:20:47.676 I mean, if everyone else has a mind coach and 0:20:47.716 --> 0:20:55.836 you don't, how can you compete? How do I compete? Hey, 0:20:55.876 --> 0:21:00.876 Michael hold up? Just need to adjust your mic rolling 0:21:00.916 --> 0:21:04.796 in Berkeley. So I've just made you performance coach against 0:21:04.836 --> 0:21:08.116 the rules. You are our podcast performance coach, and I 0:21:08.196 --> 0:21:11.196 bring you in for the first conversation and you come 0:21:11.276 --> 0:21:14.956 sit in our studio. What are the things you ask 0:21:15.076 --> 0:21:21.556 me to try to figure out? Try to diagnose? And Okay, so, um, 0:21:21.556 --> 0:21:26.916 should we should we do this? Should we do? Like? Um, yes, 0:21:27.036 --> 0:21:31.596 let's do this. Tiffany Gaskell of Performance Consultants International. I 0:21:31.716 --> 0:21:34.516 just finished interviewing her and was about to let her go. 0:21:35.556 --> 0:21:37.596 But you can't talk to one of these mine coaches 0:21:37.596 --> 0:21:40.636 for long before you start thinking about new uses to 0:21:40.716 --> 0:21:44.036 which they might be put. Yeah, because none of the 0:21:44.036 --> 0:21:46.596 people who've worked on the podcast have improved in any way. 0:21:47.036 --> 0:21:49.156 So they're just trapped in their own little worlds. And 0:21:49.196 --> 0:21:50.836 I just think, I think what I think of them, 0:21:50.996 --> 0:21:54.396 and but nobody's made any progress at all. So it 0:21:54.396 --> 0:21:56.996 would be nice if we could go somewhere I don't 0:21:56.996 --> 0:22:01.996 know where, so help us. So I'm just putting my 0:22:02.076 --> 0:22:05.756 hand on my head because um, there was um. So 0:22:06.076 --> 0:22:09.316 they come from, right, That's the first thing that's really port. 0:22:09.556 --> 0:22:13.996 The first thing is that it is not a remedial thing. 0:22:14.276 --> 0:22:20.396 So Michael Um, in terms of me coaching you, then 0:22:20.836 --> 0:22:23.636 it's like I'm going on a journey with you and 0:22:23.716 --> 0:22:26.916 walk walking down a path. So what I would ask 0:22:27.196 --> 0:22:31.716 is that essentially we work on you, not all the 0:22:31.716 --> 0:22:35.596 people around you. See what I mean? All right? The leaders, 0:22:35.596 --> 0:22:40.556 the interference I almost forgot. Okay, so let's start this. So, Michael, 0:22:41.556 --> 0:22:44.796 if you had something you wanted to be coached on, 0:22:44.836 --> 0:22:48.516 what would that be? You mean, how would I like 0:22:48.596 --> 0:22:51.996 to improve? Is that the question? Um? Yes, that's a 0:22:52.036 --> 0:22:58.436 good one. Here's here's one. It's it's not huge, but 0:22:58.476 --> 0:23:02.916 it's noticeable. I don't like the way I am can 0:23:02.956 --> 0:23:07.076 be distracted by small irritations. A microcosm of this is 0:23:07.116 --> 0:23:12.676 just driving. My ideal state as a driver is detached 0:23:12.956 --> 0:23:16.836 amusement at the poor habits of other drivers. I have 0:23:16.916 --> 0:23:21.476 trouble staying in that ideal state and not not descending 0:23:21.556 --> 0:23:26.476 into bitterness and fury on the road. So that's just 0:23:26.516 --> 0:23:29.756 an example. But I assume if I'm that way in 0:23:29.796 --> 0:23:32.956 the car, I'm that way with other things, and I 0:23:32.956 --> 0:23:36.676 don't see any benefit to the bitterness and anger I 0:23:36.716 --> 0:23:40.356 feel towards others when they are inept. Okay, that's a 0:23:40.396 --> 0:23:43.396 great thing for us to work on. Okay, you're ready 0:23:43.436 --> 0:23:50.276 to go. Yes, So um, Let's imagine that you are 0:23:50.316 --> 0:23:54.396 sitting in the car. We're doing your dream scenario. Now, Okay, 0:23:55.036 --> 0:23:59.636 I've got my eyes closed, great, me too. You're sitting 0:23:59.676 --> 0:24:05.676 in the car and everything is just as you'd love 0:24:05.716 --> 0:24:08.676 it to be. Tell me about what that feels like. 0:24:10.876 --> 0:24:13.876 It feels like being in a sensory deprivation chamber where 0:24:13.876 --> 0:24:16.156 I'm alone with my thoughts and the car is almost 0:24:16.196 --> 0:24:23.716 just driving itself. So you are enjoying being with yourself, 0:24:24.396 --> 0:24:29.356 moving along, getting to where you're going to m And 0:24:31.716 --> 0:24:34.716 in terms of like our goal for the end of this, 0:24:35.076 --> 0:24:38.876 let's say that something happens outside of your little bubble. 0:24:40.196 --> 0:24:43.116 How is it you stay in your bubble? How would 0:24:43.116 --> 0:24:44.756 I stay in my bubble if I was trying to 0:24:44.756 --> 0:24:47.076 stay in my bubble? Well, if I'm in a good 0:24:47.116 --> 0:24:53.236 state of mind, I laugh. I see someone run a 0:24:53.276 --> 0:24:58.836 four way stop, or someone tailgating me, or an ancient 0:24:58.836 --> 0:25:02.356 person going three miles an hour, and I think different 0:25:02.356 --> 0:25:07.596 strokes for different folks. Isn't it got detachment? The detachment? 0:25:07.876 --> 0:25:12.396 You're detached. I'm detached, That's the way I Otherwise I 0:25:12.396 --> 0:25:15.756 start to get upset. And when you get upset, what's 0:25:15.876 --> 0:25:22.556 there instead m a desire to reek reek vengeance and 0:25:23.036 --> 0:25:26.956 a kind of fury that is just inexplicable given what's happened. Okay, 0:25:27.116 --> 0:25:29.756 I desire to let them know just how awful they 0:25:29.796 --> 0:25:32.916 are as human beings. Okay, so we got judgment right there. 0:25:32.996 --> 0:25:36.916 Right there, you go a lot of judgment. Okay, So 0:25:37.076 --> 0:25:42.196 there's the detached happy place. There's the judgment hell place. 0:25:42.836 --> 0:25:47.196 Is that right? Yeah? True? Okay, yea. So um, let's 0:25:47.236 --> 0:25:52.916 just get back into your detached happy place. I mean, 0:25:52.956 --> 0:25:56.996 I'm there. Great. Just tell me about this bubble. What's 0:25:57.036 --> 0:25:59.236 going on inside the bubble? Yeah? What's the bubble? Like 0:25:59.956 --> 0:26:04.956 the bubbles playful? You could also be seriously playful in 0:26:04.996 --> 0:26:10.516 the bubble. I'm thinking about uh famla, or I'm thinking about, 0:26:10.796 --> 0:26:14.836 more commonly, something i'm working on, like this long scene 0:26:14.836 --> 0:26:17.476 in the middle of this episode. I could be thinking 0:26:17.556 --> 0:26:20.436 about whether to let this tape just play or insert 0:26:20.516 --> 0:26:23.836 some narration to break it up. But I'm not because 0:26:23.836 --> 0:26:27.436 of the noise in my head. Okay. So have you 0:26:27.516 --> 0:26:32.916 got your feet on the ground toes? Yes? Great, So 0:26:33.196 --> 0:26:35.516 just putting your feet on the ground, do you feel 0:26:35.516 --> 0:26:40.356 that connection with the ground and staying in the bubble 0:26:41.716 --> 0:26:47.756 and just really feeling this positivity and the bubble around you. 0:26:48.036 --> 0:26:52.996 What color is a bubble? Blue? Light blue, kind of 0:26:53.036 --> 0:26:57.636 a sky blue, and so you've got that all around you. 0:26:58.716 --> 0:27:02.716 It could be pink too. What's the feeling in this bubble? 0:27:05.356 --> 0:27:11.916 It's warm and cozy. Great, no negativity? Yeah, no negativity. 0:27:11.956 --> 0:27:15.396 And on a scale of one to ten, how strong 0:27:15.436 --> 0:27:19.716 are you feeling this right now at this very moment, yes, 0:27:20.876 --> 0:27:23.316 call it an eight. So what we want to do 0:27:23.396 --> 0:27:28.756 now is find a point on your body which you 0:27:28.796 --> 0:27:30.956 can associate this feeling with. So you've got your feet 0:27:30.956 --> 0:27:36.076 flat on the ground and you can feel this is 0:27:36.116 --> 0:27:40.276 resonating around you, isn't it the bubble? Mhmm? Sometimes blue, 0:27:40.316 --> 0:27:43.956 sometimes pink, but yes, it's resonating. And so where's the 0:27:43.996 --> 0:27:46.596 place on your body that you can, like, for example, 0:27:46.636 --> 0:27:50.196 your chest, to access this feeling. If you keep mentioning 0:27:50.276 --> 0:27:51.796 my chest, it's hard for me to think of anything 0:27:51.836 --> 0:27:56.076 but my sorry about I'm feeling. Yes, I feel like 0:27:56.076 --> 0:27:58.156 I am being led to my chest where it might 0:27:58.196 --> 0:27:59.996 be who knows where it might be, my tip of 0:28:00.036 --> 0:28:03.956 my nose or my little toe could be anywhere for it. Um, 0:28:04.076 --> 0:28:09.236