0:20

Welcome to the Game Inside the

0:22

Games presented by Microsoft Co-Pilot. I

0:24

am sport and performance psychologist Dr.

0:26

Michael Dravet. And I'm Brandon Marshall,

0:29

13-year NFL veteran and we're breaking

0:31

down the psychology of the pivotal

0:33

moments in the Super Bowl that

0:35

can make or break a Super

0:38

Bowl dream. In the two weeks

0:40

between the championship game and the

0:42

Super Bowl, teams have what seems

0:44

like a rare gift in football.

0:46

Extra time to recover, to reset,

0:49

to prepare. But instead of a

0:51

break, oftentimes the opposite takes over.

0:53

The Super Bowl becomes everything. There

0:56

is so much noise. The analysis,

0:58

the expectations, both physically and mentally,

1:00

it is flat out on. The

1:03

game is everywhere. In every conversation,

1:05

every news segment, every commercial. There's

1:08

doubters, there's cynics, there are supporters,

1:10

and the players, they've got to

1:12

create this bubble to manage it

1:15

well. And for those who are

1:17

unskilled with the mental part of

1:19

the game, the moments meant for

1:22

rest and recovery can be a

1:24

breeding ground for anxiety. And here's

1:26

the thing. Stress isn't just a

1:28

performance issue, it's a mental health

1:30

issue. If you already deal with

1:32

anxiety, depression, or pressure triggered struggles,

1:35

the Super Bowl magnifies everything. Today,

1:37

we're breaking down what happens when

1:39

there's no all switch for two

1:41

weeks. Why some players thrive in

1:43

the pressure and why some... get

1:45

crushed by it. Okay Brandon give

1:48

us give us a play when

1:50

your number was called so you're

1:52

in the huddle you know that

1:54

this is the balls coming to

1:56

you and walk us through what

1:59

that's like when in two ways.

2:01

when you're on your game, when

2:03

you know when you're running out,

2:05

you know, to get lined up,

2:08

it's like, all right, here we

2:10

go. And give us the take

2:12

on when you're like, oh man,

2:14

I'm not quite feeling right right

2:17

now. Like, walk us through that

2:19

experience. Well, first, it's before the

2:21

moment, right? It's the situation. In

2:23

football, the wins and losses really

2:26

are, you know, created in situational

2:28

football, right? 2010 is my contract

2:30

year, it's important information. You know,

2:32

there's a lot on the line

2:35

for me personally, so there's a

2:37

lot of pressure there. We're talking

2:39

about, you know, my entire life,

2:42

right, waiting for this moment, working

2:44

for this moment of creating generational

2:46

wealth from my family and being

2:49

always okay. Because as a football

2:51

player, you're one injury away from

2:53

the game being taken away from

2:56

you. So it's contract year. 2010,

2:58

playing for the Denver Broncos, the

3:01

Dallas Cowboys are in Denver.

3:03

Josh McDaniel's first year as

3:05

the head coach. We start

3:07

off six and no. This

3:09

is a defining moment for

3:11

a team. Dallas Cowboys are

3:13

here. We're in the fourth

3:15

quarter, situational football. Okay? Two-minute

3:17

offense. It was my time

3:19

to actually sit because Coach

3:21

McDaniels incorporated something that was

3:23

really challenging for me as

3:25

a starter as one of

3:28

the best wide receivers in

3:30

the game. His first year in Denver,

3:32

he said, you know what, we're going

3:34

to rotate our wide receivers. This is

3:36

unheard of. Yeah. International Football League. No,

3:38

Brandon Marshall should start, right? You want

3:40

to go to your guy. You want

3:42

to go to your guy? Yeah. And

3:44

so I ran to the sideline. I

3:46

said, Coach. He said, don't worry about

3:48

it, Brandon, it doesn't matter, we're actually

3:51

going three wires. I said, okay, no

3:53

problem. So I say that because the

3:55

moment, it wasn't about the moment in

3:57

that time, it was about the situation.

3:59

And I'm like coach I need to

4:01

be in this situation to create the

4:03

moment and what ended up happening was

4:05

the Dallas Cowboys at the time played

4:07

man the man. And so I ran

4:09

there and I said, coach, okay, I'm

4:11

in. Now we need to play, we

4:13

need to call hitch. If we call

4:15

hitch, this is a route, it's a

4:17

five-year route where I turn around. If

4:19

he's off, then we'll just have a

4:21

five-year completion and I can make a

4:23

move and maybe make something happen. But

4:25

if he presses me, I convert that

4:27

hitch, it turns into a go, potentially

4:29

a touchdown. He calls to play, he listens

4:31

to me. Well, first he makes sure as

4:34

I'm in the game, then he calls to

4:36

play, he listens to me. Wait, hold on,

4:38

you're directing this whole thing. I was asking

4:40

about your mindset, and you're kind of sitting

4:42

above the whole thing, right? The situational awareness,

4:44

and you're like really hyper aware, contextually of

4:47

everything that's going on, right? So you're kind

4:49

of pulling the pieces together, like, look, coach.

4:51

I know what we've agreed on, but now's

4:53

a moment. And he's like, don't worry about

4:55

it, we got you, you're good. That's right.

4:57

And now you're also designing the play. 100%

5:00

because now you're talking about the moment

5:02

and the reason why this is important

5:04

because I believe there's some players especially

5:07

being out in a Super Bowl where

5:09

you know ball. And there's this collaboration

5:11

between player and coach. And so for

5:14

me, I understand the scheme of this

5:16

defense and I understand my skill

5:18

set, my teammate skill set. And

5:20

so yes, I wanted this particular play

5:22

because I felt like I had a

5:25

great opportunity to beat this guy. He

5:27

listened to me. He called the play.

5:29

It was one of my most

5:31

magical moments in ball over the

5:34

13 years I played. They end

5:36

up playing press. Terrence Newman. I

5:38

converted it. I caught the ball,

5:40

cut back, scored a touchdown, we

5:42

won the game and after that

5:45

what happened was I no longer

5:47

rotated. You see in the game

5:49

at the two minute mark? No.

5:51

Moving forward, I no longer rotate

5:53

it. Remember he was in his

5:55

process of rotating all receivers and

5:58

so I had to manage. that

6:00

mentally, right? The mind games that

6:02

teams may play. And so after

6:04

that play, I ran to the

6:06

sidelines, say, coach, I'm not rotating

6:09

anymore. Right. And then I went

6:11

on to have one of my

6:13

best years. I signed the biggest

6:15

contract at the wide receiver position

6:17

in the history of the NFL.

6:19

After that play did so much

6:22

for me. Wow. Oh my God.

6:24

So when bring us into like

6:26

now the intimacy where it's just

6:28

you. and you're looking against your

6:30

defense, the defense, and it's just

6:32

you and your own self. What

6:34

are you saying to yourself? What

6:37

is that like in that moment?

6:39

Are you in like a staggered

6:41

stance? Like what does your lineup

6:43

look like on that unique play?

6:45

So in that particular play? Yeah.

6:47

So I actually was split out

6:49

to the right, left foot up,

6:51

and what I'm paying attention to

6:53

in those moments is it's actually

6:56

not really what's happening there. You

6:58

know, I'm just validating the work

7:00

in the film that I watch

7:02

going in. Are you saying that

7:04

to yourself? Like you put in

7:07

the work, let's go? No. No.

7:09

It's all about process now. It's

7:11

now. All right, 70% of the

7:13

time in this moment, two minute

7:15

drill. Game is on the line.

7:18

They play one press. He now

7:20

plays inside a little bit or

7:22

head up. And so now this

7:24

move that I said I wanted

7:27

to run against this. Yep. Look

7:29

in this moment. He's showing it.

7:31

Is it good to go? Yeah. Well,

7:33

it's good to go. Right? Because I've

7:35

already prepared for this moment. So now

7:38

I'm just validating what I already watched

7:40

on film and the week of work

7:42

Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. So, you know, we

7:44

got out there. I saw great, good

7:47

to go. And I went to my

7:49

move. You also, I've seen you. over

7:51

the years and up close and personal,

7:53

like you'll take a breath, like you'll

7:56

do something to kind of center yourself

7:58

in. Can you walk through? what you're

8:00

doing there is a way to adjust

8:02

to all the noise, all the intensity,

8:05

all of the analysis that you naturally

8:07

are gifted at doing? Yes. What do

8:09

you do to settle into your process?

8:11

Once you've read the cues, you got

8:14

the keys, and then you're like, okay,

8:16

balls coming to me, I'm good. Like,

8:18

how do you get to that place?

8:20

Yeah, we have to understand, right? Like,

8:23

sport is a microcosm of the world,

8:25

society. you know in these high pressure

8:27

situations we can learn a lot from

8:30

athletes right the Tom Brady's of the

8:32

world the Russell Wilson's of the world

8:34

the Pete Carroll's of the world like

8:36

how do you manage stress how do

8:38

you manage and cope with these high

8:40

pressure situations when you win or lose

8:42

can you bring yourself back there on

8:44

the baseline so in this particular moment

8:46

I didn't have the skills and tools

8:48

yet to self-regulate right right so there

8:50

was some challenge that was at the

8:52

start of this thing for me about

8:54

performance and going from you know, mental

8:56

health, which may be impairment to now

8:58

tapping into performance. So that was your

9:00

big struggle at that point? That was

9:02

a big challenge for me at that

9:05

time, right? Because it wasn't until the

9:07

following year where I actually went to

9:09

McLean Hospital and I spent three months

9:12

in an outpatient program. I was diagnosed

9:14

with borderline personality sort of, which was

9:16

beautiful about that. It showed me my

9:18

purpose, right? So one, I thought... I

9:21

was born to play football. When I

9:23

was on the campus of McLean Hospital,

9:25

I was diagnosed with borderline personality sort

9:27

of, but I was also in mentalization

9:30

therapy. I was in self-assessment therapy.

9:32

I was in dialectable therapy. I

9:34

did one-on-one with the great Dr.

9:37

Gunderson. I did a clinical evaluation,

9:39

neurological evaluation. So that journey started

9:41

there from impairment, but then it

9:44

led me to performance. So 2010,

9:46

it was. Just football player the

9:49

year after that 2011 when I

9:51

was at McLean after that I

9:53

wouldn't his journey of performance So

9:56

what I grew to was Almost

9:58

like resetting after every single play

10:00

so I can stay in the moment,

10:03

right? Because before I was just trying

10:05

to manage my emotions and the stress

10:07

of playing the game. So hold on,

10:10

hold on, hold on. Because for folks

10:12

that don't understand borderline personality, they won't

10:14

understand what you and I are talking

10:17

about in this, the intensity of emotional

10:19

dysregulation up and down. The best way

10:21

to describe borderline personality disorder is this

10:24

way. Well, one, it presents itself in

10:26

over 260 different different ways. in

10:28

people. So what it looks like

10:30

in me is different than what it

10:32

looks like in Ricky Williams. That's right.

10:35

Or even... you know at home mom

10:37

or weekend warrior at home dead

10:39

and so the best way to

10:41

describe it is an emotional disorder can

10:43

you self-regulate do you have the skills

10:46

naturally to bring yourself back down to

10:48

baseline to cope and and deal

10:50

with the stressors the regular stressors

10:52

of life that we all deal with

10:54

it was it may be normal for

10:57

you but for me I had

10:59

to take dialect or behavior therapy

11:01

to pick up these schools and go

11:03

through radical acceptance I had to take

11:05

mentalization therapy because someone on dealing with

11:08

borderline and not having that under

11:10

control, they may think in black

11:12

and white. Well, no, you can. You

11:14

gotta, sometimes you gotta be in a

11:16

gray, you gotta be able to navigate

11:19

the gray. Well, I know he

11:21

said that, but that can mean

11:23

10 different things. Yeah, that's right. Right?

11:25

And so for you, this is the

11:27

most exciting part of knowing you

11:29

and having a friendship with you

11:31

is that you have, if you can

11:34

do it. So many of us also

11:36

can. You give great hope to being

11:38

able to work within your emotional

11:40

self to be able to regulate.

11:42

Because is it fair to say somebody

11:45

has ADD or ADHD? for them in

11:47

some cases it's much harder to focus.

11:49

That's 100% right? And then is

11:51

it also fair to say for

11:53

somebody who has an emotional dysregulation challenge

11:56

that it would be harder for you

11:58

to regulate your emotions and to kind

12:00

of settle into this moment with

12:03

a equanimity with a poise? 100%

12:05

yeah and so you're a great teacher

12:07

for this now so okay. The beautiful

12:09

thing about this, right, and I'll

12:11

answer your question, I'll get to

12:13

that. The beautiful thing about this is,

12:16

you know, what I discovered was, this

12:18

is good for everybody, like dialectical behavior

12:20

therapy. Yeah. We're talking about entrepreneurs,

12:22

CEOs. the stress of being a

12:24

mother, the stress of being a father,

12:27

the stress of just what happens every

12:29

single day in relationships, having the skills

12:31

and tools to be able to

12:33

self-regulate. Now we're talking about performance.

12:35

I want the most out of my

12:38

mind. I want the most out of

12:40

my body, right? So you have

12:42

to put in the work. And

12:44

that's what I discovered there. And so

12:46

if you're someone out there and you

12:49

want to just be better, you want

12:51

to unlock your full potential, you

12:53

know, sports psychology, you know, listening

12:55

to podcasts like this will actually help

12:57

you so for me being on that

13:00

campus it took me on this journey

13:02

and that led to performance right

13:04

I use higher performance higher performance

13:06

that's all it's about right like you

13:08

know my diagnosis doesn't make me it

13:11

doesn't it doesn't define me I'm not

13:13

my diagnosis right it's actually it

13:15

was a huge blessing for me

13:17

because it got to a place where

13:19

now in those moments in games I

13:22

start reset it It wasn't about

13:24

the moment. It wasn't about the

13:26

situation. It was about the process. I

13:28

now understand how to keep myself right

13:30

here in peak shape, peak performance. Because

13:33

you're committing to the process. Oh,

13:35

wait, hold on. I want to

13:37

go back to what you just said.

13:39

Because you've done a deep self-discovery work.

13:41

Here you go. Okay. If every viewer

13:44

could just take that. from you

13:46

right now which is like whoa

13:48

he did the deep internal work to

13:50

know himself and then he found a

13:52

process to just stay in the

13:54

pocket where you feel like you're

13:56

at your best because here's the thing

13:59

we're all dealing with something for me

14:01

all dealing with yeah we're all going

14:03

through there's something just an American

14:06

I know this podcast will reach

14:08

people globally, but we're just talking about

14:10

America right now. There's, give or take

14:12

a few million, there's 320 million Americans

14:15

and over 100 million deal with

14:17

something, have a diagnosis. So that

14:19

means that for everyone that's living with

14:21

something, we touch five to six people.

14:23

So it really touches everybody. Right?

14:25

So this is something that we

14:27

all can learn from. And it's, if

14:30

you know yourself, you know what you

14:32

deal with, whether it's. borderline personality disorder

14:34

anxiety depression now you can self-regulate

14:36

now you put in the right

14:38

things it's like working out it's fitness

14:41

right I call it mental fitness as

14:43

an athlete I know that in March

14:45

February March and April I'm probably

14:47

going to be around 11 12

14:49

maybe even 13% because I'm not training

14:52

the way I usually train in season

14:54

or right before the season. So I'm

14:56

not in peak performance, but I

14:58

know how to get in peak

15:00

performance. I know come the end of

15:03

March, I need to start working out

15:05

four times a week. I know

15:07

I need to do upper body.

15:09

I know I need to do upper

15:11

body. I know I need to do

15:14

cardio. I know I need to do

15:16

cardio. I know I need to

15:18

do agility. I have certain things

15:20

in process and master that for your

15:22

mind. Right, so for me I had

15:25

to go to McLean Hospital, but then

15:27

after that, what I said is

15:29

end season. I'll talk to a

15:31

mental health clinician once a week, my

15:33

therapist, once a week, out of season,

15:36

it's... bi-weekly because I'm not in

15:38

a high-stress situation. I'm also meditating.

15:40

I'm also doing yoga. I'm also continuing

15:42

to work out, which is what I

15:44

do now. I'm retired. I don't have

15:47

to work out. But do you

15:49

understand what happens sort of mind

15:51

in the brain when you do work

15:53

out? So yes, you have to master

15:55

that process. But now getting to that

15:58

moment or, you know, moments and

16:00

situations, what happens is I stick

16:02

to the process. Every single play, I

16:04

took a deep breath. I squeezed my

16:07

hands. I'm here, I'm here, I feel

16:09

it, I'm present, right? And that

16:11

breath just said it. The crowd,

16:13

I didn't hear the crowd anymore. I

16:15

wasn't thinking about the play, I wasn't

16:18

thinking about my alignment, I'm just

16:20

here, go make the play. Would

16:22

that be the last finishing touch that

16:24

self-talk which is like go make a

16:26

play? So it's just fully settle in

16:29

as musicians musicians call it being

16:31

in the pocket so it's that

16:33

settling in and I think it because

16:35

you know why? Because what we're talking

16:37

about is How do you make the

16:40

play or not? Some people make

16:42

the play and some people don't

16:44

make the play. The reason why we

16:46

don't make the play because we're in

16:48

our mind. That's right. And for

16:50

me, I got to a place

16:52

where when I took that deep breath,

16:55

yes, it was the last thing, but

16:57

it got to a place where I

16:59

wasn't self- talking. It was just

17:01

part of my process where I

17:03

took that deep breath and all it

17:06

was about now was the play. It

17:08

wasn't about the play. And so with

17:10

all of the noise around the

17:12

Super Bowl, with all the noise

17:14

that people are dealing with in their

17:17

lives, the Super Bowl is this great

17:19

emblem for managing distractions and managing

17:21

emotions. Like, it's a great emblem

17:23

for it. How would you want the

17:25

viewer listener to understand how to deal

17:28

with the distractions and the noises around

17:30

so that they can be a

17:32

little bit closer to their very

17:34

best? Playing 13 years in

17:36

the National Football League and being around

17:39

some amazing leaders, men like yourself, men

17:41

and women like yourself. Thank you. Coach

17:43

Pete Carroll, who I think is a

17:45

dynamic, one of the best leaders in

17:48

the world, not just sports, but in

17:50

business. What a high compliment. Because you've

17:52

been coached by some really good coaches.

17:55

You know, I was fortunate to work

17:57

with them for nine seasons. For you

17:59

to say that that's a really high

18:02

compliment. He's dynamic. He is dynamic. You

18:04

know this even like And during that

18:06

time There wasn't too many hit coaches

18:09

bringing in guys like you. I know

18:11

I'm thinking about the innovation and how

18:13

forward thinking he was ahead of it

18:15

But without and when you came in

18:18

the building. I don't know if you

18:20

I don't really remember the exact moment,

18:22

but I was like. Oh. Yeah. We're

18:25

getting a real one. That's right. Yeah.

18:27

Yeah. So 13 years in the national

18:29

football league, which you realize it's about

18:32

the process. It's about the consistency in

18:34

the process. It's about the fundamentals. Failure

18:36

and success distractions are all the same.

18:39

Approaching the same. So failure or success

18:41

are all distractions. The noise, distraction. Good

18:43

or bad? It's all the distractions. Stick

18:45

to your process. distractions to the process.

18:48

So what you're talking about, what you

18:50

just asked me was, you know, we're

18:52

out here at the Super Bowl, overcoming

18:55

the distractions, all of these things. It's

18:57

process. Are you going to do the

18:59

same thing this week that you did

19:02

week one, week two, week three that

19:04

got you here? Now obviously there's, as

19:06

a player, they're asking to do different

19:09

things, right? You got to flying on

19:11

Sunday a week before, you do this

19:13

press companies, but are you going to

19:15

stay the same throughout the same throughout

19:18

that. Are you still going to wake

19:20

up at the same time? Are you

19:22

going to eat the same thing, right,

19:25

that you usually eat? Are you going

19:27

to still do your yoga? Think the

19:29

same way, because the way that we

19:32

organize our thoughts, if they get, if

19:34

our thought patterns are over-index by the

19:36

world around us, we're just getting whipped

19:39

around. But if our thoughts and thoughts

19:41

patterns can stay consistent, this is part

19:43

of the thinking process, so that I

19:45

know how to speak to myself to

19:48

be my very best in any moment.

19:50

The environment can be whatever it needs

19:52

to be, whatever it is or she

19:55

is, I am just now... it's tuning

19:57

in even deeper because it's like I

19:59

have something to bounce off of like

20:02

right let me take my breath and

20:04

those are just the skills right like

20:06

when you really understand the fundamentals that

20:09

I was just talking about is like

20:11

your breath you know mindfulness your self-talk

20:13

your mind those talk all of those

20:15

things but if you want to take

20:18

it to another level and you want

20:20

to get to that elite level right

20:22

now you start to create to create

20:25

that lifestyle that routine and that's outside

20:27

of your mind right it's like what

20:29

time am I waking up how many

20:32

hours of sleep am I getting when

20:34

am I putting in my body because

20:36

all of that matters yeah right so

20:39

the environment you can't control like especially

20:41

if you're you know if you're an

20:43

athlete or if you work in corporate

20:45

America and you have to travel it's

20:48

like well how do I do this

20:50

how do I travel on track there's

20:52

still things that you can put in

20:55

place to keep the thing the thing

20:57

right like Elon Manning was masterful at

20:59

this he would say oh I gotta

21:02

I can't I gotta stay in I

21:04

gotta stay in routine meaning that when

21:06

I travel to when we travel to

21:09

Detroit and everybody's going out to E

21:11

and they want to hang out with

21:13

family he said no no we got

21:15

a game to where I hang out

21:18

with family he said no no we

21:20

got a game to where I got

21:22

a game to where I got a

21:25

routine when he traveled when he was

21:27

home and we was in East Rutherford

21:29

in Jersey yeah right but when he

21:32

traveled he had a You can predict

21:34

some things, then it's easier on your

21:36

mind. So like a morning routine or

21:39

an end of the day routine or

21:41

a pre-meating routine or I have a

21:43

routine before I go into my home,

21:46

my sanctuary. So I'm out in the

21:48

world doing my thing. I need to

21:50

know that I'm going to be the

21:52

greatest parent, the greatest partner when I

21:55

walk into my sanctuary. So I've got

21:57

a little routine I do there. And

21:59

then I just want to add, no

22:02

one showed me how to do that.

22:04

Like you got to make it up.

22:06

yourself in some respects because you care

22:09

about something. when you care about something

22:11

you'll do whatever it takes to be

22:13

your very best. 100%. And then the

22:16

last part on the routine is sometimes

22:18

you gotta break the routine. Sometimes like

22:20

the routine doesn't can't be rigid. That's

22:22

right. Can't be rigid. So we do

22:25

need to be flexible with our with

22:27

our routines. So last question here. All

22:29

right now it's time for the confidence

22:32

playbook. A special segment presented by MacWellin.

22:34

where we explore the critical role of

22:36

confidence in high consequence environments. Talk to

22:39

us about confidence. How do you think

22:41

about confidence? How do you generate confidence?

22:43

Yeah. What are some of the ways

22:46

that you do that for yourself? 2012,

22:48

I was traded from the Miami Dolphins

22:50

to the Chicago Bears and I played

22:52

with Hall of Famers. At the time

22:55

they weren't Hall of Famers. Great, great

22:57

players. Briana neuralaker. Yeah, right. Devin Hester

22:59

Julius Peppers and Just for the record.

23:02

I've never seen anyone move like Devin

23:04

Hester like he is remarkable We got

23:06

that he was at the Seahawks for

23:09

a little bit and it like him

23:11

and Percy Harvin I know these are

23:13

two of your peers. Oh my god

23:16

different now. I'm glad that you I

23:18

just mentioned I'm glad that you mentioned

23:20

him which one Percy or Devin Devin

23:22

Devin Devin. Yeah Devin Hester, as great

23:25

as he is and was, taught me

23:27

about confidence. This is Devin Hester. We

23:29

knew during that time this may have

23:32

been years eight for him. He was

23:34

a Hall of Famer, best in history.

23:36

And one day, I get on a

23:39

bus, we're going to a game, and

23:41

he's sitting there watching his high school

23:43

film. because he was in a rut,

23:46

he hasn't scored a return touchdown in

23:48

like a year, whatever it was. And

23:50

so I saw Devin Hester fighting for

23:52

his confidence. That was the first time

23:55

I realized that, oh, it's a process.

23:57

It's a thing that you have to

23:59

continue, continually invest in. So when you

24:02

ask me that question about confidence, the

24:04

first thing that comes in mind, because

24:06

I didn't experience that in my career

24:09

up into that moment, right, where I

24:11

had to really fight for my confidence.

24:13

But after that I did, even when

24:16

we were in Seattle, that's, that was

24:18

a process for me. But confidence, if

24:20

you don't have confidence, if you don't

24:22

have confidence, What I say in sport

24:25

when I'm talking to athletes, or I'm

24:27

like, if you lose your confidence, you

24:29

die. You die. Confidence is everything. It

24:32

is the cornerstone. Confidence is everything. Yeah,

24:34

I know. And it's a skill. This

24:36

is not magical. I didn't know that.

24:39

Where are you early in my career?

24:41

Well, you were learning from Devon. Right?

24:43

But let's go back to Devon for

24:46

a minute because here's some of the

24:48

calculus of confidence. Okay, so it's based

24:50

on what you say to yourself. But

24:52

there's some math that's taking place. And

24:55

it's happening all the time. Confidence is

24:57

specifically to the environment. So it's not

24:59

this thing that you always walk around.

25:02

There's this math that's taking place. And

25:04

the math is, you're assessing the external

25:06

conditions. And then you're quickly mapping that

25:09

up against your internal skills. Wow. So

25:11

if you're very clear that you're a

25:13

learner, you're a good, you adapt really

25:16

well, you've got great hands, whatever it

25:18

might be. Those are the types of.

25:20

statements and math that allows you to

25:22

go into other environments and kind of

25:25

open up the aperture to get loose.

25:27

But if you're constantly like, man, that

25:29

looks too, man, I don't know. And

25:32

the math is not right, then we

25:34

tighten up and we don't feel great.

25:36

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25:52

hearing you speak like that, it reminds

25:55

me of like my experience outside of

25:57

high performance culture and being in the

25:59

world. Most people don't know their gifts.

26:02

I know. They don't sit down and

26:04

define. Back to self-discovery. Back to you

26:06

knowing you. There you go. That's right.

26:09

There you go. And I think that's

26:11

important for people like the self-discovery work.

26:13

It's a process and a lot of

26:16

times it's not easy. It's actually hard,

26:18

but it's really rewarding. If you look

26:20

yourself in the mirror and say, and

26:22

for the first time, sometimes you're like,

26:25

oh, I'm not this, but you're this,

26:27

right? Sometimes you have to give up

26:29

some of those beliefs, that belief system

26:32

that you built up for years. The

26:34

lies that you may have told yourself.

26:36

You know, I was telling myself for

26:39

a long time, I'm 6, 4, 2,

26:41

65, I run a 4, 3. And

26:43

then, like, I'm handsome like you, but

26:46

it just all fell apart one day

26:48

when I looked in the real mirror.

26:50

It's like, damn, I'm not very fast.

26:52

I don't have Brandon Marshall's body. Yeah,

26:55

I bet. So. But then you turn

26:57

yourself into one of the greatest teachers

26:59

in mind. Thank you. In the world.

27:02

Well, see, but you had to realize

27:04

that. Right, I'm not going to the

27:06

inner fail. But you know, I can

27:09

still go to the inner fail. That's

27:11

right. There's lots of ways there. That's

27:13

the beautiful thing about that, right? I

27:16

know we're joking about that, but think

27:18

about it. You know, you just like,

27:20

that's not my thing. But there's like,

27:22

that's not my thing. We just fight

27:25

it and we chase it for a

27:27

long time. Right at the top you

27:29

said something really powerful is that once

27:32

I went and did a deep dive

27:34

of self-discovery then I knew my purpose.

27:36

So your purpose was before was to

27:39

be a great ball player. Yep. And

27:41

that's probably never going to be big

27:43

enough. It's too much about the me

27:46

and not about the we. It's just

27:48

too small. And I say that with

27:50

all humility and respect. Yeah. Okay. So

27:52

can you articulate what your... what it

27:55

feels like your purpose is. Oh, I

27:57

know my purpose. My purpose is to

27:59

help bridge the gap in the mental

28:02

health community. And now it's mental fitness,

28:04

right? Like I just love this performance

28:06

culture that is, you know, growing every

28:09

single day. Like people now, it was

28:11

past mental health. Like, you know, there's

28:13

a world there, like, when we first

28:16

started in 2010, you know, I used

28:18

to go out there and I say,

28:20

hey, where we're at today is where

28:22

the cancer community was. 20, 30 years

28:25

ago and it's going to take all

28:27

this work for us to get here

28:29

and now boom pandemic hit and now

28:32

it's the that's right it's the biggest

28:34

conversation we are aware so we're here

28:36

now and there's a lot of people

28:39

leaning into mental health but there's this

28:41

big community that saying no I just

28:43

want to be a better father want

28:46

to be a better mother want to

28:48

be a better CEO I want to

28:50

be a better this I want to

28:52

be a better that and that's performance

28:55

yeah right so I'm excited about that

28:57

and so I say that because that's

28:59

my purpose is to help bridge the

29:02

gap in the mental health community. So

29:04

there's still work to do some awareness

29:06

that need to be raised. There's resources

29:09

that need to be raised. It costs

29:11

me 30 something thousand dollars a month

29:13

to get the help I need it.

29:16

But I was blessed to have an

29:18

NFL contract. Not everybody is privileged to

29:20

have that type of resources, right? Insurance

29:22

doesn't cover certain things. So there's still

29:25

work to do there, but then on

29:27

the performance side, that's what I'm. athletes

29:29

in a world that come in and

29:32

train out our facility and also men

29:34

and women in the fit-gen population and

29:36

it's an opportunity for me to share

29:39

you know some of the stuff that

29:41

I learned from you oh thank right

29:43

yeah yeah yeah we have those there

29:46

and it's like no 80% of life

29:48

80% of sport is mental. And so

29:50

we need to be able to have

29:53

those conversations develop with that. So that's

29:55

my purpose in life. And that's another

29:57

conversation as well when we think about

29:59

wellness and we think about healthiness. You

30:02

know, if you don't know. your purpose

30:04

if you don't know your purpose or

30:06

you're not on that that journey of

30:09

trying to discover that because it is

30:11

a journey I don't know how fulfilling

30:13

life is right and it was for

30:16

me it was like 28 is when

30:18

I realized that right and I feel

30:20

like around your late 20s to your

30:23

mid 30s is when you're like figuring

30:25

that out right that's and there's some

30:27

people that are fortunate enough to know

30:29

that early on when you study the

30:32

greats like the ones that changed history.

30:34

One commonality amongst all of them is

30:36

that they knew their purpose. Yes. And

30:39

they lined up their thoughts, their words

30:41

and their actions in every environment towards

30:43

that purpose. And that's not available for

30:46

just them. That's available for all of

30:48

us. That's right. And so thank you

30:50

for reminding us of self-discovery, of being

30:53

or getting closer to knowing purpose, the

30:55

importance of regulation. down regulation in particular

30:57

breathing and self-talk yes and then committing

30:59

to the process to put you into

31:02

the place where you can be your

31:04

very best on a more consistent that's

31:06

right and people always ask me about

31:09

like so what's it going to take

31:11

for us to be better psychologically and

31:13

emotionally and I say we need more

31:16

cool kids and I think of you

31:18

we need more cool kids that have

31:20

done it there they understand it and

31:23

they create air cover for the rest

31:25

of us to say, well, if it's

31:27

good enough for Brandon, it should be

31:29

good enough for all of us. And

31:32

so, Brandon, thank you. This is exactly

31:34

the conversation I love having with you,

31:36

and I'm stoked that we get to

31:39

do it here at Super Bowl Roll.

31:41

And so, thank you so much. Yeah,

31:43

I appreciate you. Thank you. Yeah. All

31:46

right, now it's time for our AI

31:48

insights brought to you by Microsoft Co

31:50

Pilot. Over the last nine years, we've

31:53

recorded over 550 finding mastery episodes. And

31:55

thanks to our new co-pilot agent, we

31:57

can now quickly and easily search all

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of that back catalog content for key

32:02

insights. It's incredible. Check this out. Copilot.

32:04

Go through the finding mastery transcripts and

32:06

find five quotes of how high performers

32:09

talk to themselves in challenging moments. Sure

32:11

thing, Mike. Here are five quotes from

32:13

elite athletes, business leaders, and other high

32:16

performers in the finding mastery transcripts. All

32:18

right, this is what it came up

32:20

with. This moment is all that matters.

32:23

Focus on what I can control. I

32:25

am built for this moment. This is

32:27

an opportunity. not a threat. One play

32:29

at a time. I love that we

32:32

can quickly search and get all of

32:34

these kind of in one little snip

32:36

here. And the one that sticks out

32:39

for me, this moment is all that

32:41

matters. It is so profound in so

32:43

many ways that this is the moment

32:46

to be able to really understand and

32:48

get to the deeper nature of whatever

32:50

it is that you're doing. That insight

32:53

is really profound. I'll say it again.

32:55

I love that we can scan for

32:57

these. I hope that some of these

32:59

might make life just a little bit

33:02

easier for you. And we're doing it,

33:04

obviously, in help of all of the

33:06

transcripts and all of the conversations we've

33:09

had in Finding Mastery and Microsoft Co-Pilot.

33:11

So this is really inspiring. I love

33:13

it. And thanks for tuning in. Hit

33:16

the subscribe button. And seriously, it helps

33:18

us way more than you think. And

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while you're at it, tell your friends.

33:23

Because let's be real.