The Secrets to Winning with Dr. Bhrett McCabe

Can you look back at 2020 and figure out what you can do better? Yes, but I want you to go about it with a different mindset than you ever have before. Don't blow up what you've done in the past; just choose to look at it differently. I don't care how hard it's been or how much this past year sucked, you can always make the next choice better. It's not about your ego. It's not about your belief sets. It's about you facing the challenge and building from that. Stop asking for credit. Stop looking for support. Stop asking for people to believe in you and start meeting the moments. Your success in 2021 is up to you. Why don't you take full responsibility, and see if it changes the game? I bet it will.

I am fortunate that, in my job, I get to interact and consult with many high-level coaches and players. I get a behind-the-scenes look at how championship teams are assembled, developed, and enhanced by their respective coaching staffs. Whether at the collegiate or professional level, great coaches share a common set of characteristics that make them successful and allow their players to achieve greatness. This week's guest on The Secrets to Winning is Jake Kelfer. In his time in the basketball world, Jake has dealt with players and coaches at the highest level. In this conversation, we dove into the characteristics that make a great coach - getting buy-in from players, communicating at a high level, developing talent, promoting mentorship, and so much more.

If you are a golf coach, then pay attention to the brilliant expertise of my man Todd Anderson. I have known Todd for a long time and have the privilege of working alongside Todd as a part of Billy Horschel's team. Todd has an unbelievable ability to understand the mentality of every player he coaches. He knows that everyone has a different personality and mental makeup and knows that there is not a one-size-fits-all approach.

This week's episode is unique and one in which I wanted to get out of my comfort zone a little bit. Our guest is Dr. Elizabeth Loftus, a world-renowned expert in memory and how memories can shape and shift our experiences. When we look back at our memories and past experiences, whether positive or negative, we see how those experiences can be shaped to create a better story in our life and how they define and shift how we think about the future. For instance, if we did wasn't very good or we weren't very effective at accomplishing a certain task, the natural inclination would be to bring that negativity to a new challenge. Then, it got me thinking, "If a coach or leader is working with a player or team member, do the things we say in the moment create a better snapshot of memory for that particular person moving forward? If the next time that person is faced with a challenge, will he/she approach it with more confidence based on the previous interaction they had with us?" This is a fascinating conversation I had with Dr. Loftus about why our memory isn't what we thought it was. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

For this week's episode, I want to take a step back as we enter the week of Thanksgiving here in the United States to have a little perspective on everything in the year 2020. I don't think many of us could look at 2020 and think it has gone according to anyone's plan or that it was easy. I want to encourage each of you to have some graciousness and gratitude, even if it is in the smallest factors that you're still here. During this holiday season, make sure you take some time for yourself as we all have been through a lot. The stress has been high. The burden has been enormous, and the pains have been real. Please, take some time for you.

We know this world is challenging us, and I know that there are people suffering from what they feel and what they're thinking. They're just hoping that a brighter day will come. Truth be told, that's in every facet of life, right? That's in sports, business, you name it. Today's guest is someone who seeks to change the way you approach how you think and is an absolute pioneer in our field. He is Steven Hayes, a clinical psychologist that has authored 44 books and almost 600 scientific articles. But what he is most known for, and why he has made such a significant impact on my life and work, is the concept he developed called Acceptance and Commitment Therapy or ACT. Dr. Hayes' Ted talks have been viewed over 600,000 times, and he's ranked as one of the most cited psychologists in the world. But. his impact is so much more than that. He is someone who's going to push against the standard to find a better way to do things. Not a more complicated way but a more efficient and more helpful way. His concept of ACT - being aware and accepting of what's going on in our lives and still finding a way through the stress, anxiety, fear, and doubts - has influenced so much of my work and made a huge impact on me.

For this episode of The Secrets to Winning, I sat down with a good friend and 2020 PGA Teacher & Coach of the Year Mark Blackburn to talk about how coaches can manage personalities and egos with different players. Many times, the best coaches aren't the ones who are the most knowledgeable from an Xs and Os or technical standpoint. The coaches who get the best results are the ones who are emotionally intelligent and flexible and understand the true nature of each player. That allows for trust to be built and a greater relationship with the player.

There's a lot of clutter and junk in this world. There's a lot of noise. For my best performers, one of the biggest issues I hear them talk about is "What is the most important thing for me to do to be successful?" It is to put the blinders on and get to work. Every day, we get caught up in the world around us, and we start buying into what the external world is telling us. You're looking for proof and evidence of why you are falling behind. See, that's the trap that the mind gets into when it latches into what somebody else is doing. It's winning. It's telling you that you are not prepared for the challenge in front of you. So, you romanticize and see the drama going on around you. I want to give you three ways that I have found to be effective in getting the highest performers to quiet the noise and clutter going on around them.

This was a webinar I did during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, but the content is still applicable today, especially in the sports world. We are seeing games being postponed, some teams choosing not to play, no fans in the stands - it's just really weird and something we have really never experienced before. Unfortunately, it is also bringing some collegiate athletic departments to cut sports, cut or furlough staff positions, and/or cancel entire seasons. It sucks; there is no doubt about that. What I want to do with this episode is to reiterate some tools and strategies you can utilize to overcome the low motivation and high anxiety you may be feeling as a result of this pandemic. Many people have asked me, "Doc, what can I do during this time to lower fear and anxiety and stay motivated?" To borrow the phrase from my good friend Dr. Kevin Chapman, you can F.I.G.H.T. How to F.I.G.H.T. Low Motivation and High Anxiety: - F - Focus on what you can control - I - Interpret your negative thoughts - G - Grab some mental flexibility - H - Healthy behaviors need to be established - T - Teach someone

What does it take to get to the top of your field? It's a question I get asked a lot and one that every athlete or competitive person wants to know the answer to. That's why I was fascinated to have this week's guest on the podcast. In his book Trust the Grind: How World-Class Athletes Got To The Top, Jeremy Bhandari interviewed 16 of the top athletes in their field to reveal how these men and women reached the heights of their profession so that you can too. If you are like me, you are always studying the best in their field to see how particular individuals achieved their level of success but also how they maintained it over a long period of time. In this episode, you are sure to learn from Jeremy's interviews with these world-class athletes the secrets behind success, and what it takes to remain on top. We talk about the value that comes with becoming disciplined, staying driven, setting goals, identifying your "why", staying active and eating right, making sacrifices, obsessing over your passion, and more. Rather than harping on the remarkable accolades and astonishing statistics, this story is formulated to teach individuals what it takes to be great in any desired field. It includes interviews with the following athletes: