Why Failure Does Not Exist

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You know, Kobe Bryant used to say that failure does not exist. What is failure? I don't believe in failure. And the reason why Kobe Bryant used to say that he does not believe in failure is because he would share with us, if God blessed his soul, he were still with us today, that the reason why he believes failure does not exist is failure only exists if you bring a result that you don't enjoy, you don't like a loss if you bring it with you. Failure only exists if you bring it with you. So imagine, maybe last week didn't go the way that you wanted it to go. It only matters if you have decided to bring it into Monday and not do what you know you need to do on Monday. What if you don't get the results or the process doesn't go the way that you intended it to today? It only becomes a failure if you bring the shortcomings of today into tomorrow. So what Kobe Bryant firmly believed and taught us through his example is to leave the failures, the negativity, the results that you don't want behind you. That is a choice. And a powerful mindset is one that, regardless of the outcome, you stay neutral, winning or losing, and you attack that very next day with the opportunity that you have. You know, it is an absolute blessing to have the opportunity to work with so many of you, whether it be through coach to coaches, whether it be through Uncommon Live, whether it be through our standard elite mastermind. And some of you, maybe we need to work with each other more. And maybe after today's story, which really speaks to the power of that quote from Kobe Bryant, you may decide that it's now time for us to lean in more. You know, it's been an incredible blessing for almost 20 years to have the opportunity to work with some of the highest

Leaving Yesterday Behind On Purpose

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performers in the world of sports and business. Many of you who are with us this morning. And one of the things I love about our work and how hard our team works is that for those 20 years, we've remained relevant in a lot of the winning that you see on TV all the time. I've had the blessing to work with one of the former Michigan State Spartans that I work with, who just won his first Super Bowl with the Eagles, and many of the players from Alabama: Devontae Smith, Landon Dickerson, Byron Young, Jalen Hurts, as well as Coach Panunzio. Here's what I want you to think about when it comes to this game and another championship. And keep in mind, you didn't see me at the Super Bowl, you didn't see me on the sidelines. Yes, I was with the Eagles, Team Hotel. I was there for the disappointment of losing to the Chiefs. And I was there to see and to witness what many of you saw as a picture, but I had the opportunity to see it live. Many of you, and they referenced it after the game. Many of the broadcasters asked Jalen Hurts, Jalen, tell us about losing to the Chiefs. Tell us about the other colored confetti, the Kansas City Chile confetti coming down on you, and that now iconic picture of you standing in silence and watching

Jalen Hurts Turns Loss Into Fuel

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the Chiefs celebration. Jalen Hurts allowed that to become his fuel. Just like I watched fuel of Jalen Hurts in the weight room at Alabama seven years ago when he faced challenge and adversity, and I watched him rise up as a leader. You can read that story in The Standard. If you have not read that story about Jalen Hurts, I write about Jalen in The Standard. Pick up a copy of The Standard. You'll be blown away by the story and the leadership of Jalen. And I told people, regardless of the fears, doubts, uncertainties this kid faces, he's a champion and one day he would win a Super Bowl. Yes, he did. We talk about that in The Standard. But this picture illustrates everything I've known about Jalen for the last seven years. I watched, I was at the game, I was with the team. I watched Jalen stand there in silence and take it all in. And I knew that would become his fuel. Fuel to one day with his teammates go become a Super Bowl champion. If you have not seen that picture, you can head over to our Instagram page and you'll see this iconic picture of Jalen in the Chiefs confetti. Jalen had the opportunity to stand under that green and white confetti with his teammates and to hoist the Lombardi Trophy. Keep in mind Jalen Hurts is a player that they said would never be a quarterback in the NFL. No matter the winning that he did at Alabama, the championships at Alabama, the times that he got replaced by Tua, he was always told being a quarterback just wouldn't be for him. I watched Jalen own the opportunity to become a great quarterback, going to training in California every single summer to work on his skills. I remember when he embraced the opportunity to become a better passer with Steve Sarkeesian at Alabama before he transferred to Oklahoma. And then learning from the coaching staff at Oklahoma to be a great quarterback, to then get drafted as a quarterback. But you can either define yourself by what people say about you, or you can define yourself by what you believe. I would encourage you to define yourself by what you believe. Jalen Hurts is a story of resilience. Jalen Hurts is a story of passion. Jalen Hurts is a story of belief. Jalen Hurts is a story of the standard. And your story is a story of the standard too. It's just your version. Maybe the greatest chapters of your story lie ahead. I actually believe that for all of us because we're never finished. Maybe the failure you experienced last week or last year, you've been bringing it with you. And if Kobe could say it to you, stop living to your failures and live to your beliefs and the resilience and the process and the standard that Kobe exemplified, Jalen Hurts exemplified, and that will make you your best. And you don't have to do this alone. Stop choosing to do it by yourself. Jalen Hurts needs teammates and coaches and people in his corner to help him elevate. Kobe Bryant needed the same thing. Why should it be any different for you? So I encourage you, if you have been holding on too tightly to your failures, let it go. Allow today to be day one of your new mindset where you, like Jalen and Kobe, exemplify resilience for the little eyes and the people who admire and look up and watch you. Believe more, attack the process more, and be an example of the standard because your greatest chapters lie ahead of you. Don't allow failure to hold you back. Lean in and take a look at the example of what Jalen Hurts just did. Did he allow failure to hold him back? No, he allowed failure when you look at that iconic picture to fuel him to let go of the failure and to lean into the opportunity to find out how great he could be as an individual and as part of now a Super Bowl championship team. One of the things I found in having the opportunity to do this work for almost 20 years is far too many individuals bring into Monday the feelings of last week or last month, or they're still carrying the emotion, the feelings of last year. Far too many people are so concerned about what they believe is going to happen on Wednesday or Thursday or Friday that it prohibits them from doing the things that are necessary from a discipline standpoint to attack on Monday. So I've got a very simple messages for message for you. You've heard it hundreds of times from me, but packaged a little bit different. On this Monday, do what you said you were gonna do today. If you promised yourself last night when you went to bed, I am going to eat healthy

Define Yourself By What You Believe

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today, please eat healthy today. If you committed to yourself, I'm gonna dominate my workout on this Monday to set the tone for the great consistent workouts I'm gonna have this week, then dominate that workout today. If you told yourself that you were gonna come into the office with energy and passion and fire and conviction and do the little things that others are unwilling to do, please, for you, show up and do those things today. If you've noticed that maybe you're not as present and focused as you want to be with your loved ones at the end of the day, lock in and focused for you and be with your loved ones today. If you haven't followed through with the acts of service, giving more of yourself in a world that needs more people to love on people, go spread some love today. What am I talking about? A prize fighter day. Everything comes down to your prize fighter day and your willingness to accept where you are and to put that mirror of accountability right in front of your face. Here's the reality. We live in a world where everybody tells you how great they want to be. But when we have a conversation with your action, we find out how bad you really want it. Take a look back on the action that you've taken up until this point in the year. Is that story that you're reading in alignment with what you said you were going to do? Have you made the necessary investments in yourself with time and energy and financial resources that you said you were going to make? Or have you been hesitating? Have you been holding back? Have you been making excuses? Have you not been as consistent? You know, things in life take sacrifice. The great things that you want take sacrifice in your time, often investing in yourself with dollars and having faith that the things that you invest in will work, not necessarily today, but knowing that what you do today is going to manufacture what you say you want in the future. And if you are unwilling to invest in yourself, then who would ever trust you to invest in you? Those are tough, real words to hear. If you don't invest in yourself, then how is it that anybody would invest in you? I went to Jaina

Do Not Chase Growth Alone

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Haywood's amazing event. Dr. Jaina Haywood is a dear friend. Our daughters play basketball together. She's a doctor and administrator at the school systems here in St. Louis. She's incredible. She was part of Coach to Coach's, our second coach to coaches class. And would you believe that she's already become an author? I attended her second live event since she graduated Coach to Coaches. And I don't share that with you to say you need to become part of Coach to Coaches. If you want to, absolutely, but I share that with you to say she has invested in herself. And I sat in a sold-out room at Del Mar Divine in St. Louis. They only had a hundred tickets. It was a small, intimate setting, and a hundred people were there. Because she made the choice to invest in herself. People are investing in her and they are growing. That, my friends, is impact. And so if you're making excuses and not investing in you, people are not going to invest in you. That's the way that it works. So stop your excuses, stop your self-talk, stop your procrastination. And I'm not just talking about money, it's an investment of your time. And you're working out, you're eating healthy, your service to others, and you're doing the things you said you're going to do in your work every day. One prize fighter day at a time. You know, the prize fighter day is knocking on the door of darn near being 20 years old. And the principles of the prize fighter day remain the same. Why? Because doing what you say you're going to do with tremendous discipline, my definition of tremendous discipline, every damn day is what's going to cause you to win. And you may not feel that win today, but what you do today will create massive wins in your future. So all I want you to do is keep investing in you with your time, your resources,

Win Monday With A Prize Fighter Day

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and your belief. One day at a time. Let our team know what more we can do. And don't worry about yesterday. Don't worry about last Friday. Don't worry about tomorrow or this Friday. Just go be the very best version of you today. And always remember, to me, winning, it's not revenue, it's not championship rings, it's not trophies. It's your ability to look yourself in the mirror one day at a time and say, today I've given it my very best. If you have the ability to do that one day at a time, nobody can ever take that away from you, and you can never take that away from yourself. But it's you being able to do that with extreme authenticity, vulnerability, and honesty to yourself that you are investing in you, in how you work, how you show up, and how you believe one day at a time. You know, a lot of people forget, because they see so much of my work in sports, that 70% of the work that our team does is still in the corporate space and with entrepreneurs and with other speakers and coaches and people behind the scenes. And in all of the work that we do in a group setting with leaders or ongoing work with organizations, we always, when we have monthly check-ins with those individuals, which is always part of our work, to maintain discipline, accountability, and targeted long-term growth, continual long-term growth. There's always two questions that I ask of these leaders and groups to take ownership and evaluate how they've been showing up. So I want to share those with you today. With our uncommon live members, there have been different periods of time, including the current 30-day period of time that we are in, where we are consistently challenging everybody to lock in on the full 30, meaning for 30 straight days, do what you say you're going to do with no excuses. That can be hard, that can be difficult, that can take shifts in environment, shifts in mindset, silencing of self-talk, silencing of excuses. One of the main ways that we lock in with individuals to drive that self-accountability, putting that mirror of accountability right in front of your face on a daily basis is these two questions that we often ask, as I mentioned, in a corporate setting when we're doing leadership and ongoing training. I always ask these two questions. What are the habits and disciplines that are working best for you right now? So imagine at the end of 30 days you evaluate how have I been showing up? The equivalent of an athlete who plays in a game and then breaks down their game film to figure out what are the areas that I need to improve and what are the things I'm doing well that I want to keep doing, right? Breaking down the game film. This is your way to break down the game film. Now I'm teaching this to you in terms of 30 days, but then I'm gonna challenge you on something that you will probably expect to hear from me.

Invest In Yourself To Create Impact

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So every 30 days, I'll ask these leaders, I'll ask these individuals, what are the habits and disciplines that are working best? And what we want to do is target or isolate the disciplines and behaviors that are working best so that we can continue to do those things to build momentum in the areas that are working best for you. So what's logical? Identify something that's working, it's creating momentum, an increase in the pipeline, an increase in sales, an increase in revenue, an increase in impact. We want to continue with those behaviors. The second question that I always ask is what's your biggest area of opportunity over the last 30 days? Think about that. Constant evaluation if you're doing something that is causing you to fall behind, to lose momentum, to feel content. We need to stop doing that. Acknowledge that behavior, put that mirror of accountability in front of your face and stop doing the things that hold you back or keep you from gaining momentum. Once again, fairly logical, but sometimes we don't slow down to do it. So I always ask organizations, teams, individuals to do this every 30 days. Here's the challenge I have for you. What if you did this every day? What if every day you decided to do this? And one of the ways that you can actually do this is by going through your burn journal and prize fighter day tracker. Now you can see this thing for me is a game changer, filling it in every single day, locking in, and it actually takes you through the process of these questions. It's a constant evaluation every day. These are like 20 bucks on Amazon. Some of you have ebook versions of these. These are $20 on Amazon. This is a game changer. Every day I'm evaluating how I

Two Daily Questions For Accountability

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show up. If you want it bad enough, we can't just wait for 30 days. We got to lock in every day. So imagine asking yourself those two questions, whether you whether you go and grab one of those burn trackers or not, it just helps to have that environment to write it down to put pen to paper for accountability. But you could do this in a blank journal. Question is, are you willing to ask yourself those questions every day? What happens then? If you want to elevate yourself, drive more accountability, ask yourself these two questions and watch how it ignites you. Not just on a Monday, but every day. We were built and meant to win this one day. Let's go do it.