In this motivational address delivered on the morning of March 30th in Costa Rica, the speaker greets the team ahead of Match Day 14 of World Cup qualifying. He describes the early‑morning bird chorus, his own lingering food‑poisoning and a back strain, and notes that over 30 staff members and players have been affected by injuries, COVID‑19 and food‑related illness during the trip. Drawing on Steven Pressfield’s The War of Art, he explains that the resistance we encounter is an internal ego‑driven force that masquerades as external obstacles. He urges the group to recognize resistance, respond with a “yes‑and” attitude, and keep moving forward, emphasizing trust, perseverance, and a positive mindset. The talk concludes with a rallying call to “kick ass” on the field that evening (around 11 p.m. ET) and to celebrate overcoming resistance together.
Chapters
Good morning, everyone. Here is your moment of yes for Wednesday, March 30th, down here in Costa Rica. The last 2 mornings we've been awoken by the birds talking and chirping quite loudly around 5:00, 5:30 in the morning. Parrots or macaws, I believe. Beautiful but loud. But here we are, last day here. Match day 14 tonight, the last game of World Cup qualifying. We should be in, but we've got work to do, and so that's the approach that we're taking to, to the match tonight. And I am still dealing a little bit with the food poisoning. I injured, strained my back at the beginning of the trip, and so I've just been thinking sort of of this This last window, this last journey, and thinking of Steven Pressfield, who wrote The War of Art. If you haven't read The War of Art, read it today. It's a really, really quick, short read, super powerful. It's all about really how each of us are ultimately trying to, to live our purpose, whatever that purpose may be. But once you decide to sort of live your purpose or go for something or try to do the right thing or to try to be better, you're going to be faced with resistance, right? Resistance is the word that he uses. And resistance, even though it feels external, it's always internal. It's just our internal ego, if you will, that is afraid of change. It's afraid of uncertainty. It's afraid of failing because that's what the ego needs to protect. And so it creates these external forces that almost kind of try to stop us from moving forward. And when I think about just this group, this group, this team, the resistance that we have faced as far as injuries, COVID, and then on this trip, you know, food poisoning, I think we're probably close to Up or over 30 staff members and players impacted by this, and a lot of us continue to be impacted by it. Me sort of kind of injuring my back and just noticing it, just noticing and not being intimidated by it. I think that's the thing, that when resistance rears its ugly head, it sometimes will be like, oh, okay, I knew it. I knew I wasn't supposed to do this, or I knew I wasn't supposed to try this, or whatever. You return back to your mindset before you decided that you're going to go for it. So, for me, as I've noticed all this external resistance, knowing that it's internally projected and just going, okay, of course it's going to show up. It's more about how do we respond when it does show up? Do we continue to forge on? Do we continue to trust? Do we continue to just deal with it, right? To find a way to yes and, yes and, yes and. So that's what I'm doing today. I'm yes anding all the resistance, whatever may show up, and hopefully celebrating on the field tonight around 11:00 PM Eastern time. So that's your moment of yes for today, everybody. Let's make sure we kick ass with our own resistance as well. Have an awesome day.
