Here is a written overview of the talk I delivered to the University of Kansas’s football program: You are elite football players. You have an elite coaching staff. You have access to elite resources. You play for an elite university. That’s an important distinction: you don’t play AT Kansas, you play FOR Kansas. So I have the humility to know that what I’m about to share with you… you’ve most likely heard before. But I’ll tell you the same thing I tell my 3 teenage children, that I have told every elite athlete I worked with, and I tell the man in the mirror every day: Repetition is not punishment If I say something today that you’ve heard before it’s because it’s true, it’s important, it’s valuable, and it works. Plus, as they say, ‘a man never walks through the same river twice.’ That’s because the river is always different (and the man is always different). I’m hoping I say something today in a different enough way that it lands differently for you… and the lightbulb goes off. So I appreciate you locking in and listening with your eyes. I know you hear with your ears, but you listen with your eyes. BEHAVE LIKE A CHAMPION NOW Before you can become a champion you must behave like one and hold yourself to a championship standard (on and off the field). You must live to this standard every day. Not when you feel like it. Not when you want to. Not when it’s convenient. You must do it every single day. Consistency is a controllable superpower. Excellence is not a switch to turn on and off. Excellence is a standard. When excellence is your standard - your code - then you have a very solid foundation. Then you can shift your focus to three key pillars of winning: Discipline Process Progress Define discipline Building a brick wall analogy Make daily, systematic, incremental improvement Have short term urgency with long term patience. Before you can win, you must know (and eliminate) what loses. Here’s what loses in the micro: penalties, turnovers, dropped passes, missed tackles, missed blocks, and missed field goals. Here’s what loses in the macro: selfishness, entitlement, complacency, arrogance, lack of effort, poor execution, lack of trust, lack of leadership, lack of role fulfillment, being soft/silent/stupid. Winning is result of consistently doing the opposite to all of that!! Here are other behaviors that lead to winning: Be a great teammate (the teammate you want to player with): trust, respect, elevate, challenge, lead, support, and communicate with your teammates. Huge difference between waiting and preparing (make your preparation your separation). Finish everything: finish reps, finish plays, finish workouts, finish practices, and finish games. You won’t be defined by how you start, you’ll be defined by how you finish. Daily Checklist for Winners: Were you on time/early? Give your best effort? Have a great attitude? Were you a great teammate? Were you coachable? Did I get better? Did I make us better? MAKE PLAYS WHEN IT MATTERS MOST To make plays when it matters the most, you have to condition yourself to consistently make plays when it matters the least. To make plays when everyone is watching, you have to condition yourself to consistently make plays when no one is watching. You know you can compete. Now you have to prove you can win. Football is a game of inches and milliseconds. It’s converting a third down. A solid tackle. A perfect block. A key play in the fourth quarter when everybody in the stadium knows the game is on the line. Great teams play their best when their best is required. That requires enormous attention to detail. THE 4TH QUARTER DOESN’T CREATE YOU The 4th quarter reveals your habits. It reveals your discipline. It reveals your confidence. It reveals your communication. It reveals your toughness. It reveals your ability to execute. So if you want to close out games strong, you don’t start working on that in the fourth quarter. You start today. How well do you practice when you’re tired? How hard do you finish a rep in the weight room or a play on the practice field? How quickly do you move to the Next Play after a mistake? How well do you communicate when you’re exhausted? Do you execute the details in every area of your life every single day? Under pressure, you will not magically rise to some level you’ve never demonstrated before. You will fall to the level of your training and to the level of your habits. CONFIDENCE IS EARNED Confidence isn’t something your coaches can give you. They can encourage you. They can believe in you. But your confidence - individually and collectively has to be earned. Confidence comes from preparation. It comes from keeping promises to yourself. It comes from doing difficult things repeatedly. It comes from the little voice in your head. It comes from knowing: “We’ve been here before.” You want confidence in the fourth quarter? Earn it during the week. Stack evidence. Every rep done correctly is evidence. Every workout finished is evidence. Every film session where you were present is evidence. Every time you choose discipline over comfort is evidence. FIND YOUR EDGE You’re going to be underdogs this season. Good. Let people underestimate you. You don’t control preseason predictions. You don’t control social media. You don’t control what anybody outside this building thinks about you. So stop giving those things energy and attention. Put your energy into your edge. What is your edge? It’s what you control. It’s preparation. It’s conditioning. It’s toughness. It’s physicality. It’s mindset. It’s habits. It’s attitude. It’s consistency. ADVERSITY IS COMING I can make you one guarantee about this season. Something is going to go wrong. You're going to get a bad call. Somebody is going to miss an assignment. You're going to turn the ball over. Somebody is going to get hurt. You’ll give up a big play. Acknowledging this isn’t negativity. It’s football. The question isn't whether adversity comes. The question is who you become, and how you respond, when it does. You don’t control what happens. But you do control what you do next. Your response to adversity is more important than the adversity itself. Start practicing that now. Bad rep? Next play. Coach gets on you? Next play. Teammate screws up? Pick him up. Next play. Tired? Next play. Because eventually, “next play” will be the play that saves your season. WHO WILL LEAD YOU? And I’m not asking who the captains are. I’m not asking who the seniors are. I’m not asking who gets interviewed after the game. Who will lead this team when leadership is actually required? A player led team will always outperform a coach led team when it matters most. And every person in this room can lead. The question is whether you will. You will be underdogs this year. Let them doubt you. Use it at fuel. Believe in yourselves. Get it done.