The 'Stepping-Up' Fallacy, Why Champions Are Broken, How To Improve Your Luck & Other Anomalies On Running & Excellence With Alex Ostberg

May 31, 2023

Alex Ostberg, an eight-time NCAA All-American and a scholar in human biology and psychology, dives deep into the philosophical aspects of success. He challenges the notion of the 'stepping-up' fallacy, revealing how athletes often falter under championship pressure. The conversation explores redefining success by focusing on avoiding failures, the significance of luck in growth, and the need for balance in the pursuit of excellence. With humor and insight, Alex emphasizes the courage to rest and reflects on how true mastery involves self-awareness and resilience.

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Intro

00:00 • 3min

Navigating Modern Dependence and Athletic Achievements

03:10 • 2min

The Cost of Excellence: Balancing Ambition and Life

04:43 • 29min

Redefining Success: The Power of Avoidance

33:28 • 7min

Embracing Luck and Growth

40:22 • 8min

The Stepping Up Fallacy in Championship Performance

48:10 • 3min

The Courage to Rest: Reevaluating Grit and Goal Setting

51:01 • 2min

Pursuing Excellence: The Path of Resilience and Confidence

53:22 • 13min

Today's conversation will challenge you. It will stretch you to think on deep topics that ultimately impact the quality and impact of your pursuit within sport and life. While it may be deeper and more philosophical than most of my podcasts, you'll walk away from this conversation thinking about how you view success specifically as it pertains to running completely different.

My close friend and mentor Alex Ostberg is always full of deep insights that contain invaluable wisdom. So it's always a treat whenever I can convince him to come on the podcast.

For those unfamiliar with Alex, he is an eight-time NCAA All-American. He competed at Stanford University for four years before transferring to the University of North Carolina to get his master's degree. Alex holds PRs of 3:58 in the Mile, 7:49 in the 3k, 13:18 in the 5k, and 28:49 in the 10k. He also has a Bachelor's Degree in human biology, a minor in psychology, and a master's in public health.

Alex is an incredibly perspicacious and ebullient speaker who has a wealth of knowledge, experience, and depth. In this conversation, Alex shares his wisdom on why most champions are broken, how to improve your luck, the "stepping-up" fallacy, why "How you do one thing is how you do everything" is a myth, how success is largely the failures you avoid, and much more. I always walk away from my conversations with Alex enlightened and a better version of myself. I'm so confident you'll say the same after listening.

You can listen wherever you find your podcasts by searching, "The Running Effect Podcast." If you enjoy the podcast, please consider following us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and giving us a five-star review! I would also appreciate it if you share it with your friend who you think will benefit from it.

The podcast graphic was done by the talented: Xavier Gallo.

S H O W N O T E S

-GET YOUR SAMPLE PACK OF 2Before: 2before.com

-My Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/therunningeffect/?hl=en⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

-Alex's Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/aostberg97/?hl=en