Podcasts — Reliable Hacks for Your Training

Each week I consume various content — a collection of newspapers, magazines, and books.

I supplement my reading with podcasts and Sirius radio programs…

There's no set schedule, and I enjoy it all for a few reasons.

• The different material provides cognitive fitness (a Cal Newport term... it's basically strength training for your brain.)
• I discover life hacks and develop creative ideas
• I laugh at a lot

Back in the day, I organized a club where fiends would meet to discuss topics.

I called it Next Chapter Development.

It lasted a couple years, then people lost the excitement and motivation to make it sustainable.

Luckily, this timing coincided with my discovery of podcasts.

I got hooked on the Tim Ferriss Show, and have since listened to every episode.

It provides lots of "personal coaching"... and has helped with my diet and eating habits.

The Terry Crews interview had a huge impact on my life (I listened to it about 4 years ago.)

Terry explained his "intermittent fasting".

I was intrigued and started the next day...

(I've been doing it ever since.)

Recently, Tim interviewed the professional surfer, Kelly Slater.

Slater mentioned the book, “Fit for Life”... he said he’s been following it for over a decade.

I read it.

I implemented some stuff... an example is fruit consumption on an empty stomach.

I like it so far.

. . .

I can't believe that most podcasts are free...  

As a lacrosse coach and trainer, I take material from podcasts and apply them to training.

Here are some examples...

Naval Ravikant was interviewed on the Ferriss show (he’s got some great insights.)   

Naval talked about anxiety and how it generates from fear and is built into the core of the human species.  

Humans are predators… we’ve taken over the world by being the most anxious and dangerous predators on the planet.

People are built to dream up “fear based” scenario planning… most of which never comes true.

Pretty much everyone is anxious all the time... the secret is how you handle it internally.  

Some people are more anxious than others.

Anxiety wastes lots of energy.

But anxiety is also a motivator… it makes you get off your butt.

Naval explained the powers of separating anxiety and motivation.

It’s training yourself to remain calm and clear headed during stressful times.

Playing any sport causes stress.

In a lacrosse game, you have several different inputs… 

• The other team 
• Your coaches
• Your internal dialogue
• Your parents
• Your teammates 

All of those inputs alone can induce stress.

Combined together, there’s the potential for lots of anxiety.

The key is to evaluate it in a calm state of mind.

… then take the necessary actions to improve your play.

It's also important to put yourself in stressful situation a lot.

Remember what Coach Starsia says!

. . .

Naval explained how anxiety is the result of unexamined life.

We spend so much time in relationships, but often neglect our relationship with ourselves.

… and that’s the most important one.

There's a voice inside our heads that never shuts up, and the trick is to find a way to deal with that. 

Proper examination should create positive results.

Once you understand what your mind is saying, then you can apply that to improve at lacrosse.

It will help build mental toughness.

. . .

Here's an example of how I applied Naval's stuff to my life...

I recently had a tennis doubles match.

My partner and I are decent and we played average opponents.  

We lost the first set and didn't play well.  

Our opponents were beatable, but we were playing too timid… making too many errors… losing our focus.

That hurt.

We weren't taking advantage of the opportunity... a common scenario in athletics.

The second set started much better.

We stormed out to a 4-0 lead.

But then resorted back to our first set play.

Started losing our focus… made some errors… didn’t commit to shots.

Our opponents charged back, and we found ourselves in a 6-5 hole.

It was my serve.

I took a couple internal seconds to evaluate the situation.

We already knew that our time limit for the match was ending, and with their game advantage we were gonna lose.

So I examined the situation as Naval talks about...

I saw two options...

Option 1:  Give up and pout about our lost opportunity.

Option 2:  Try to win the game and make is 6-6.

Embrace the grind and build experience.  

Competitive athletes choose Option 2.

It's easy to give up.

We won the game.

Still a bitter loss, but we fought until the end.

So that's enough for now...

Dive into podcasts and let me know it goes...