You're tired and feel off.

The antidote is rest and recover, right?

Not always.

Is it fatigue? Or flatness?

Knowing the difference is the difference between staying stuck and breaking through.

One needs rest. The other needs stimulation.

Let’s break it down. When things feel off, our instinct is to rest.

We assume more recovery is always better.

But sometimes, more rest backfires.

It leaves you sluggish, foggy, and even more disconnected.

In these moments, it’s crucial to understand what kind of “off” you’re dealing with.

Not all recovery needs are the same.

Everything you need to know about navigating anxiety, discomfort, and performing under pressure…

You learned as a toddler.

When stress hijacks our brain, our prefrontal cortex shuts down. We lose access to higher-order thinking.

We have toddler brain.

And hidden in our earliest years are clues for how to bring it back online. When we’re under high stress, the relationship between our amygdala and prefrontal cortex shifts.

The amygdala gets louder, sounding the alarm. The PFC (executive function) gets quieter.

This isn't weakness. It’s protection.

But what works when a bear is chasing us doesn’t work when we’re about to give a big talk or run a race.

Ever get caught in a spiral of “what ifs”?

You’re not alone.

Overthinking happens when our brain tries to protect us, from failure, from pain, from the unknown.

But left unchecked, it holds us back.

Here’s how to break the cycle. When we’re stressed, uncertain, or in pain, the brain’s #1 goal is to reduce threat.

So it does what it’s designed to do: simulate possibilities.

“Should I back off?” “What if I fail?” “Why did I think I could do this?”

It’s like a protective inner narrator trying to exit the discomfort.

It’s not weakness. It’s wiring.

You've probably seen headlines: High-Intensity Training is superior to easy aerobic running.

But dig deeper and you'll notice a pattern: most of these studies are short: just 4 to 8 weeks.

A recent review tells a fuller story.

In the early weeks, HIT and Sprint Interval Training outperform easy endurance training (ET).

But over the long haul… the story changes Easy aerobic work catches up...and then surpasses.

This isn’t anti-high intensity. You need it! You need every training intensity.

It’s about understanding timelines. Physiological adaptations don’t all happen at the same rate.

HIT gives you a quick jolt. It's the icing on the cake.

But endurance training lays the foundation for long-term progress. The gains come slower, but they go deeper.

We’re told to “just be yourself.”

But no one tells us who that actually is.

So we adopt labels, join tribes, and start performing.

Modern life sells identity as certainty.

But the people who thrive are the ones who leave room to evolve.

When we grip our identity too tightly, we stop growing. Why do people rage about politics, diets, or how you train?

Because it’s not just disagreement. It’s identity threat.
Challenge their idea, and it feels like you’re challenging them.

That’s why a conversation about carbs turns into a war.

We don’t debate ideas. We defend identities.

There’s a paradox at the heart of elite performance:
The harder you try, the worse you often perform.

Not because effort is bad, but because effort becomes tightness.

Tension. Force. Over-control.

The more we grip, the more we constrict our ability to perform.

Real mastery? It’s giving full effort without the strain. Watch a world-class sprinter like Usain Bolt.

Nearly 1,000 pounds of force into the ground each stride.

But look at his face: cheeks bouncing, shoulders loose.

He’s relaxed. Calm. Not forcing, flowing.

Because in sprinting, tightness kills speed.

The same applies to life.

The happiest, most fulfilled people aren’t thinking about how to be happy or fulfilled.

They’re absorbed in something bigger than themselves.

A craft. A cause. A community.

Paradoxically, the less time you spend on “you,”
The better your life tends to be. Self-focus can be a trap.

Studies show excessive self-focus correlates with depression, anxiety, and decreased well-being.

The more we ruminate, judge, compare, and plan, the worse we feel.

And ironically, the more we try to “fix” ourselves, the more stuck we become.

The way out is connection...to something outside the self.

The Florida Panthers won their 2nd Stanley Cup in a row.

They showed us the real path to greatness, not the social media version. They:

✅ Prioritize character
✅ Honor every role, seen or unseen
✅ Be present
✅ Emphasize Fun
✅ Value People Not Just Players

Culture creates the conditions for excellence: The Panthers start by scouting for character as much as skill.

Competitive? Absolutely. But also humble enough to buy into a collective system.

Then they back it up.

Coach Paul Maurice even runs an annual "culture survey" to make sure they are on track.

Every fitness person online is screaming...

One camp shouts: Zone 2.
The other: Go hard or go home. HIIT!

But if you look at what the best in the world actually do?
It’s simpler. More thoughtful. Less dogmatic. More varied

A new study surveyed elite endurance coaches and the patterns were striking. Let’s break it down. These coaches work with world-class performers in cross-country skiing, rowing, running, and triathlon.

Their athletes win Olympic medals and set world records.

And yet, they’re not chasing hacks or trendy protocols.
Across sports, the approach was consistent:

- High volume
- Mostly low intensity
- 2-3 key hard days a week
- Periodized with purpose
- Adjusted to the individual
- Balance stress and recovery

The secret to greatness?

It’s not a routine. Not hacks. Not motivation.

It’s the willingness to keep showing up long after the novelty wears off.

To stay in the game when no one’s watching.

To work for years for a payoff that might never come. In the book Once a Runner, the phrase “The Trial of Miles, the Miles of Trials” captures the essence.

It’s not one epic workout or breakthrough race.

It’s thousands of miles, often in dreary silence.
It's living like a clock. Where the weeks and months of work blend together.

Champions are built in the space where no one is watching.

Everyone wants to “grind.”

But even the best athletes in the world have an offseason.

Why? Because pushing non-stop leads to burnout, not brilliance.

Peak performance requires rhythm.

Stress. Recover. Adapt.

Recovery isn't optional. It's essential. We call this periodization: structured cycles of stress and recovery.

You can’t be “on” all the time.

Try to push through nonstop and you don’t build toughness—you build burnout.

The best athletes don’t just train hard.

They recover hard, too.

In 1990, only 27% of Americans said they had 3 or fewer close friends.

By 2021, that number was 49%.

Mark Zuckerberg’s solution? AI chatbots to keep us company.

We don’t need more fake connection.

We need to do more real things in the real world with real people. From 2003 to 2020, time spent with friends dropped by 66% for young people.

We went from 150 minutes a day to just 40.

That’s not just a stat.

It’s a seismic shift in how we relate to each other.

And it’s reshaping our mental health, identity, and sense of belonging.

If you treat every uncomfortable thought or feeling like a threat...

Your brain gets the message: “This is dangerous. Avoid at all costs.”

We reinforce the idea that discomfort is a threat.

And over time, the signal gets louder, not quieter. This is the paradox of avoidance.

The more we push away discomfort, the more power it gains.

It’s like a muscle we keep feeding...

Until even a flicker of doubt or fear feels unbearable.

What we resist, persists. What we fear, grows.

Most of us have a dysfunctional relationship with social media.

We log on to “check one thing”—and emerge 40 minutes later feeling scattered, behind, and strangely hollow.

But what if the issue isn’t just time spent online…

It’s how we use that time.

Here’s a framework to help you use social media instead of it using you: We use social media for 3 things:
👉 Consuming
👉 Producing
👉 Connecting

Each mode requires its own strategy.

And if we blur the lines, we end up tired, addicted, and misaligned with what actually matters.

When life feels unstable, your brain reaches for anything to make it feel safe again.

We become more desperate for control.

That’s when leaders micromanage.
Athletes spiral.
And regular people cling to conspiracy just to feel safe.

Here’s what the research really says about how to lead through chaos: When uncertainty spikes, we see the shift.

The relaxed boss becomes a micromanager.

The athlete in a slump adds 10 new superstitions.

The average person clings to conspiracy just to make sense of something.

Uncertainty = anxiety. And our brain will do anything to escape it.

Ever wanted to quit mid-race, step in a hole, or walk off stage before a talk?

The pull to quit is not weakness.

It’s your brain trying to close the loop on uncertainty.

Here’s why understanding that can change how you handle pressure: Stress isn’t just about what we feel—it’s about what we don’t know.

Walking to get groceries in your neighborhood = low stress.

Walking through an unfamiliar city at night? Higher stress.

Same task, different uncertainty.

The greater the unknown, the louder the mental noise.

Here are 7 of my favorite workouts for speed and endurance development.

No BS. No magic.

But 7 workouts that I've used in coaching people to get better, from novices to some of the world's best. 1. Split Threshold

Pick the total time you want to spend at just below lactate threshold. Say, 25 minutes.

Then start running at that effort. Once you feel like you're getting close to going over the edge, stop and rest for 60-90sec. Then start again.

Repeat until you get the total time spent at LT. Sometimes, it's 15/10, other times 7/5/4/4/3/2.

Why: It's a less stressful way to get in high end aerobic work, that teaches you how to listen to your body.

A shift has happened in how we respond to failure in school.

It used to be: “How can I help my child learn and grow from this?”

Now it’s too often: “Why did the teacher give them that grade? How do we fix it?”

We’ve gone from focusing on growth to protecting egos.

And our kids are suffering for it. This isn’t about blaming parents—it’s about recognizing a cultural drift.

We’ve replaced resilience with reputation management.

Instead of teaching kids how to face hard feedback, we rush to smooth it over.

But growth doesn't happen when we protect our kids from discomfort.

It happens when we walk with them through it.

94% of people experience unwanted, intrusive thoughts, according to research.

Violent, weird, shameful, or irrational impulses that just appear—often uninvited.

The problem isn’t the thoughts.

It’s that we believe they mean something about who we are.

But here’s the truth: You are not your thoughts. We tend to identify with our thoughts:
“I had a bad thought, therefore I must be a bad person.”

But this is a misunderstanding of how the mind works.

Thoughts are not commands, not truths, and not identities—they’re passing electrical signals in the brain.

You are not your thoughts. You are the awareness behind them.

Our brains are fried.

You try to read a book—can’t focus.
Sit with loved ones—your mind drifts to work or notifications.
Feel a buzz in your pocket—but there’s no notification.

We’re not just distracted. We’re digitally disoriented.

Here’s what’s going on—and how to push back There’s even a name for it: Digital Dementia.

It describes the forgetfulness, lack of focus, and chronic mental fatigue caused by tech overuse.

We’re living in partial attention—task-switching constantly, never going deep.

Our phones aren’t just distracting us. They’re rewiring how we think, feel, and engage.

40% of two-year-olds now have their own tablet.

That’s a problem.

Just ask elementary school teachers. Behavior issues are through the roof. And devices are a major reason.

Why?

We’re training kids to soothe via devices.

We are detraining their ability to cope and handle their inner world. It's what research says:

A 2024 study found that the more time a 3.5 year old spent on a device… the more expressions of anger they had at 4.5.

A 2022 study found frequent use of devices to soothe 3-5 year olds was associated with emotional dysregulation

A 2020 study found that kids using tablets experienced more tantrums when transitioning to a new activity than kids reading books.