The Coaching Lab: Health, Wellness & Performance (Brad Cooper, PhD)

Brad Stulberg: The Way of Excellence

Jan 29, 2026

Brad Stulberg, bestselling author and performance coach focused on sustainable excellence, offers a fresh take on mastery and meaning. He explores how excellence is a practiced process, the feel-based path from novice to unconscious competence, balancing obsession with engagement, protecting relationships while pursuing greatness, and habits like digital sabbaths that preserve focus and joy.

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ANECDOTE

Zen Book Sparked His Excellence Philosophy

Brad Stulberg credits Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance with shaping his philosophy of quality and excellence.
He describes quality as the dissolving boundary between actor and act when deep focus and care unite them.

INSIGHT

Two Cultural Forces That Distort Excellence

Pseudo-excellence and nihilistic resignation both crowd out genuine excellence in modern culture.
Genuine excellence is heartfelt, value-driven, and distinct from hustle-culture hacks or passive disengagement.

INSIGHT

Excellence Is A Feeling More Than A Formula

Excellence is primarily an affective state you sense rather than deduce intellectually.
Top performers report feeling alive, electric, and fused with their craft when they're at their best.

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In a world of constant noise, endless distraction, and performative busyness, what does it mean to pursue true excellence? Not hustle-for-hustle’s-sake kind—but the kind rooted in values, meaning, and sustainable high performance. Today’s guest is one of the clearest voices on that question: Brad Stulberg—bestselling author, performance coach, and researcher on sustainable excellence. Brad is a rare returning guest to The Coaching Lab for good reason. His work regularly appears in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and The Atlantic, and he serves on faculty at the University of Michigan. His new book, The Way of Excellence, reframes excellence not as a finish line—but as a process of mastery, meaning, and becoming. Drawing on modern science, timeless philosophy, and real-world stories of elite performers, Brad shows us how to integrate mastery and mattering—so we can perform at our best without burning out or losing what truly matters. In this conversation, we explore:

· Why excellence is not about outcomes—but about process

· How to build real confidence through consistency

· The difference between “pseudo-excellence” and the real thing

· How focus, discipline, and values alignment create sustained performance

· And how to pursue greatness without sacrificing well-being, relationships, or meaning

Whether you’re an athlete, coach, leader, entrepreneur, or simply someone who wants to live with greater intention, this episode delivers a clear, grounded roadmap for what it really means to be at your best—day after day.

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