excellence, actually

• Q+A: On Bad Habits, Post-Race Fitness, and “Boring” Work

  As a thanks you to you on Thanksgiving week, we're answering a handful of listener questions.1. How can I navigate periods of intense work where my life is out of balance without developing bad habits?2. If I truly internalize that achievement won’t make me happy, won’t I lose my drive?3. How can I manage the tedium of doing a job that’s meaningful but involves a lot of boring day-to-day work?4. How can I distinguish between normal training fatigue and chronic exhaustion from overtraining?5. After a race/performance, I often come back too quickly without being fully recovered, or wait too long and lose fitness. How should I think about timing my return to training? Thanks to everybody who has sent along a question — and thanks for being a part of the The Growth Equation and excellence, actually community. If you'd like us to answer something that has been on your mind, email [email protected] or call our voicemail at 646-893-9503.Click here for an AI-generated, unedited transcriptClick to pre-order Brad's new book, "The Way of Excellence," which Steve Kerr, nine-time NBA Champion, is calling "an absolutely beautiful book"Subscribe to The Growth Equation newsletterJoin The Growth Equation Academy If you are enjoying "excellence, actually," do us a huge favor: text your favorite episode to three people so they can enjoy it, too. Thanks!iTunes and Apple PodcastsSpotifyAndroidPocketCastsYouTube Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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• The Mental Fitness Playbook: Resilience, Regulation, and Flexibility

  Elite performers know: mental fitness needs the same intentional training as physical fitness. In this episode, we break down mental fitness into three trainable components: resilience (your mental strength), emotional regulation (your psychological endurance), and psychological flexibility (your mental mobility). Drawing from meditation research, disaster psychology, and ultra-running wisdom, we explore what often gets confused for mental toughness (toxic positivity or stoic repression) and discuss what it actually takes to respond skillfully to life's inevitable storms. Learn practical tools for processing difficulty, the critical role of community in resilience, and why your values become the roadmap when emotions narrow your world.Click here for an AI-generated, unedited transcriptIf you have a question for us, send an email to [email protected] or call our voicemail at ‪(646) 893-9503‬.Click to pre-order Brad's new book, "The Way of Excellence," which Steve Kerr, nine-time NBA Champion, is calling "an absolutely beautiful book"Subscribe to The Growth Equation newsletterIf you are enjoying "excellence, actually," do us a huge favor: text your favorite episode to three people so they can enjoy it, too. Thanks!iTunes and Apple PodcastsSpotifyAndroidPocketCastsYouTube Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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• Doing it All: The CEO Who Ran a 2:29 Marathon (with Nick Thompson)

  How does someone become CEO of The Atlantic, run a 2:29 marathon at age 44, write books, make music, and still be present for their family? For the answer, we turned to Nick Thompson, who, conveniently (and impressively), does all of those things. On today's episode, we use the release of Nick's new book, The Running Ground, to discuss his systematic approach to productivity and running, including how he organizes his day for maximum impact, why he has "non-goals", the best lessons running and writing have taught him, and how he pushes past limits, in running and in work—including the revelation that helped him break through a decade-long performance plateau after cancer.Click here for an AI-generated, unedited transcriptIf you have a question for us, send an email to [email protected] or call our voicemail at ‪(646) 893-9503‬.Click to pre-order Brad's new book, "The Way of Excellence," which Steve Kerr, nine-time NBA Champion, is calling "an absolutely beautiful book"Subscribe to The Growth Equation newsletterIf you are enjoying "excellence, actually," do us a huge favor: text your favorite episode to three people so they can enjoy it, too. Thanks!iTunes and Apple PodcastsSpotifyAndroidPocketCastsYouTube Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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• The Optimization Trap — and How to Escape It

  This week, we use the L.A. Dodgers' Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s gutsy back-to-back World Series appearances in Game 6 and 7 to discuss what we’re calling the optimization (or protocol) trap. This is when you become so tethered to a specific routine or “optimal zone” of performance that you become fragile. You trade self-efficacy for hyper-control or neuroticism. There are plenty of times when you have to perform and you’re not at your best, or the external conditions aren’t ideal. Being able to send it anyway—much like Yamamoto did in Game 7—is the sign of a truly elite performer. So today’s episode is all about training and building anti-fragility. We discuss how to differentiate between wisdom and fear when you hear the voice telling you to pull back; how to use “safe-to-fail” experiments to train self-efficacy; how to distinguish between faith-based confidence and delusion; and how to build routines that are flexible rather than rigid.Click here for an AI-generated, unedited transcriptIf you have a question for us, send an email to [email protected] or call our voicemail at ‪(646) 893-9503‬.Click to pre-order Brad's new book, "The Way of Excellence," which Steve Kerr, nine-time NBA Champion, is calling "an absolutely beautiful book"Subscribe to The Growth Equation newsletterIf you are enjoying "excellence, actually," do us a huge favor: text your favorite episode to three people so they can enjoy it, too. Thanks!iTunes and Apple PodcastsSpotifyAndroidPocketCastsYouTube Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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• The Marathon Mindset: How to Endure, Actually

  In anticipation of the New York City Marathon this weekend, we (well, okay, mostly Steve) discuss the ins and outs of how to have your best race, building you a complete toolkit to help you get through 26.2 miles. BUT! It’s not just for runners. As the legendary marathoner Eliud Kipchoge once said, “Marathon is life, and life is marathon.” So we're explaining how each of the tools you can use for the marathon—and the lessons we’ve learned from running them—apply to life. This is about expectations, handling nerves, goal-setting, doing hard things when they get hard, working through difficulty, managing disappointment, learning how to surrender, letting go and much, much more—in running and in life. Click here for an AI-generated, unedited transcriptIf you have a question for us, send an email to [email protected] or call our voicemail at ‪(646) 893-9503‬.Click to pre-order Brad's new book, "The Way of Excellence," which Steve Kerr, nine-time NBA Champion, is calling "an absolutely beautiful book"Subscribe to The Growth Equation newsletterIf you are enjoying "excellence, actually," do us a huge favor: text your favorite episode to three people so they can enjoy it, too. Thanks!iTunes and Apple PodcastsSpotifyAndroidPocketCastsYouTube Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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