In this short motivational talk, the speaker introduces a "when, not if" mindset, urging listeners to mentally rehearse how they would respond to inevitable challenges rather than hoping they never occur. He explains that life inevitably brings adversity—whether in athletics, work, relationships, or everyday mishaps like a car breaking down—and that pre‑planning responses equips us to act purposefully and stay productive when those moments arise. The speaker cites Michael Phelps' visualization practice of mentally running both a perfect race and a race filled with problems, illustrating how mental rehearsal prepares athletes for any outcome. He extends this technique to other domains, encouraging listeners to consider specific scenarios (e.g., a boss’s criticism, a relationship strain) and decide in advance the attitudes and actions they will take. The talk also includes a brief personal note about feeling the effects of a recent second vaccine shot, framing it as a minor speed bump. The overall message is a call to adopt proactive mental preparation so that when challenges occur, we have already done the work, enabling us to respond with purpose and resilience.
Chapters
Good morning, everyone. Here is your moment of yes for Friday, April 30th. It is April 30th. Can you believe it? We are so close to it's gonna be May. There you go. We're almost there. Yeah. I mean, we go from it's gonna be May to May the 4th be with you to Cinco de Mayo. Oh, May. May I get excited? Yes. Yes, I may. Hey, so here we go. A little bit later today. I apologize for that. I got my second vaccine shot yesterday and felt great yesterday, but a little out of it last night and a little out of it this morning, but feeling a ton better now and dealing with that little speed bump. But your moment of yes for today is when, not if. When— and yet we've all heard of if, When thinking, right? If this happens, or if-then thinking. If I do this, then I will do this. But I like to think of it as when-if thinking. And so whether you're an athlete or whether you're planning a trip or whether you're looking at your finances, your job, it's easy to want to ignore negative things happening. But the reality is, is that there's a good chance that struggle and adversity is going to happen. And the more we can actually think through how we would respond to adverse situations, then we've already done the work when those situations happen. Not if, but when. And I don't mean every horrible thing that you think about is going to happen, but we know that life is about challenges and how we respond to them. So when this happens, here's how we respond. If I'm driving to work and my car breaks down, Here is how I would respond. Now, I don't know about you, but I've probably had a car break down, you know, over a dozen times in my life. So if I were to drive through life going, I hope it never happens, I hope it never happens, obviously I don't want it to happen. But really, when it happens, how are we going to respond? And Michael Phelps, there's a great video of how he would train mentally, and he would visualize the perfect race in his mind. And then he would visualize a race where everything goes wrong. And he would visual— and each of them, he would visualize them as separate races. What happens if my goggles get filled up with water? What happens if my swimsuit comes off, right? How would I respond? And he thinks his way through his response and how he would problem solve. And so he says, so when I'm swimming the actual race, whichever version shows up, I've already swum that race. So if I— if the perfect race shows up, I've swam that race. If I run into a challenge, I have Also thought through how I'm going to respond to that situation. So when, not if. When, not if. And so for athletes, we do that. What happens when we get scored on? What happens when there's a bad call? What happens when there's a lucky bounce? Well, we can do the same thing, right? What happens when I'm in a funk? What happens when my boss, right, says this? What happens when my relationship is struggling? When, when, when, when, when, how will I respond? So we're preparing ourselves for our actions and our behaviors, right? What actions and what behaviors will I take to still be my purposeful, productive self? And that's what it's all about. We want to think about what our purpose is, our best version of ourself, and think about, this is how I want to respond in this situation. And if it happens, when it happens, or some variation of it, we've already done the work. So as you roll into this weekend, when something unfortunate or difficult or a challenge happens, think through your mindset, your behavior, your attitude, your actions of how you are going to respond. That's your moment of yes for today, everyone. Have an awesome weekend.
