Killin’ it to chillin’ it…

Elite athletes, coaches, individual performers, warriors, business owners, CEO’s, and senior executives must all learn how to mange their human stress response. You too, friend. You too.

You see, we are a highly anxious Nation and world, aren’t we? I mean come on man, how many times do I have to hear phrases like, “I don’t know how to deal with all this shit coming at me, I’m feeling really overwhelmed when you look at me like that, I’m not sure I can take any more pressure, I’m working on detaching and caring less about x,y,z, Nobody around here is like me or gets me, I’m so alone in this big system, school, company. Or, one I’m hearing a lot recently, I can’t seem to shut my kill mode down. I can’t sleep, can’t unwind, can’t take it anymore, I just want to be normal.” Every day I hear phrases like this coming from the mouths of the elite athletes, coaches, business owners, and other high performers. We do not work with broken, mediocre, individual, teams, and leaders. We work with the best. In fact, at BTL, we work with healthy, growing individuals, teams, and leaders. What the hell is going on, you ask? You may not want to hear the rest of this rant. Feel free to disconnect now before it’s too late and you find this rant serving as just another trigger for fight or flight.

We are not mentally tough. We are getting softer, even the best among us. Life is difficult, said M.Scott Peck. Life is suffering, said Buddha. The impediment to action advances action, said Marcus Aurelius. And recently, David Goggins pronounced a very popular phrase – Can’t hurt me. We seem to be embracing the “can’t,” but not the rest.

The BTL recipe is to build a strong core and couple it with a strong mind.

One of the first elements we’re going to teach you if you’re a client of ours, is how to be who you are wherever you are (strong core) and learn how to flip the switch on your central nervous system. You see, friend, we all have two modes governing us. The parasympathetic nervous system is chill mode. You want to live most of life here. Your body and mind are restoring, resting, and operating at low rpm, so to speak. Good. You also have the sympathetic nervous system. This is kill mode, you know fight or flight. When you go to work, practice, or wherever it is that you’re paid to perform, you want to be able to kill it, don’t you? You want to be your best version of you, right? Well, friends, to be at your best, you must learn how to flip the switch to killin it. You must learn how to manage your human stress response. You will not give your most compelling presentation if you’re in chill mode when your client expects your most persuasive argument. Good luck winning your match when your competition is killin’ it and laughing inside at you trying to “detach from the outcome.” I could go on and on and on. I’ll stop.

Manage your stress response. Start by figuring out your pre-performance routine to flip the freaking switch, my friend. I do it by reminding myself, as I drive to practice in my beautiful car, that I’m grateful to do the work I’m about to do. I tell myself to not hold back. I’m paid to facilitate practice that makes people better, I remind myself. I have to be on, prepared, and passionate. Check. I then remind myself of my purpose (it’s the opening page of our website for a reason) and my bolted on principles – Model the way, Embrace pain and suffering, embody truth in Love. Check. Lastly, I mentally rehearse the opening plan for practice and finish with my favorite prayer – God, help me. Check. I’m ready to go. I’m planning on killin’ it. Good.

When the day’s last practice is in the books, my post performance routine kicks into gear. Spiritual music or silence are my systems signal to begin to flip the switch to chillin it (I will do this in between practices too, I toggle a lot on purpose). As I pull into my garage, I’m chill. I walk into my home and remind myself of another principle – Be with. Technology is off. My bride is my focus. My brain chemicals are starting to behave. The end of my day is a couple Magnesium pills (further clears out the fight chemicals) and 7-8 drops of CBD oil. Chillin it. Good.

Your job, if your aim is to be elite, is to mange your human stress response. Your best version is found when you control your stress response and do not become the plaything of circumstance and other people (thank you Viktor Frankl). My pre performance and post performance routines come directly from my strong core. My core informs my mind, almost without my thinking. The more you integrate, friend, the less energy you consume toggling back and forth. Someday, it may even appear effortless. It is not. Do the work. Mange your stress response. Be the man/woman and become more huMan too. Strong core. Hard mind. Do not mix these two. Be your best at killin it and chillin it. Do you see how this thought ties into my latest mantra of “Live hard. Love harder?” God, help me manage whatever stressors lie ahead. God, help me. Good.

Live hard. Love harder (Thanks, Teeks)…