The power of the spoken word
Speaking a healthy mindset into existence
👋Hello friends - I've got four things to share with you this week.
The latest episode of the Intentional Wisdom podcast
A few thoughts on the power of the spoken word
One more update on Charlie
The best content I've consumed over the last two weeks
Let’s do it!
Ep.11 - Teddy Mitrosilis - The Leadership Mindset
Teddy Mitrosilis is an impressive guy. He played D1 baseball at the University of North Carolina. He helped grow a start-up from 15 to 150 people. He's trained with Navy SEALS. And today he coaches executives and organizations on leadership principles and how to cultivate a winning mindset.
But like all of us, Teddy has struggled at times. In this conversation, Teddy and I talk about some of those struggles—including the long road of adversity he faced on the baseball diamond.
We also go deep on the mindset tactics and frameworks Teddy has learned from the Navy SEALS - and how those of us not going through "hell week" can apply them to our own lives. There's a ton of practical wisdom in this episode. I'm grateful for Teddy for joining me. If you get a chance to listen, let me know what you think.
Did I mention I’m on YouTube?
By the way… if you like watching podcasts instead of listening to them, check out my newly launched YouTube channel where you’ll find full video episodes of Intentional Wisdom.
The power of the spoken word
One of the topics that Teddy and I spoke about was the concept of being deliberate with our words. This is another principle Teddy learned from his time training with Navy SEALs. As you'd imagine, the SEALs (and really any military in high-stakes situations) need to choose their words very carefully. To overly generalize, they tend to speak less, but when they do speak, their words are direct and meaningful.
As Teddy describes in the example below, there is real physical power in the words that we speak. In fact, he's found additional energy during endurance races simply by physically saying things like "I never get tired" even when he's 25 miles into a race and the very epitome of exhausted.
I'm an advocate of the idea that our actions can control our thoughts - rather than it always being the other way around.
For example, if you're in a bad mood, which do you think is likely to be more effective to get you out of it:
Thinking your way out of it
Acting your way out if it
I'd propose the latter. For me, that "acting" often takes the form of exercise. If I'm cranky or groggy or just in a crappy mood, 30 minutes of intense exercise almost always ends up with me swimming in dopamine and a much-improved mood on the other side. So my actions, in that case, determined my thoughts.
The same goes for words. It's not just a one-way path where the way we are feeling always controls the words that come out of our mouths. It works the other way, too. What we say can actually control how we feel.
One of my favorite examples is reframing "I have to" to "I get to."
I have to go to work. --> I get to go to work.
I have to coach practice. --> I get to coach practice.
I have to wash dishes. --> I get to wash the dishes.
Okay that last one is a bit of stretch, but hey, you're alive. And it's only for a brief shimmering moment. Really anything you do is something you "get" to do.
These little reframes are gold when it comes to cultivating a healthy mindset. As Teddy described it, they are often the difference between good and great, and between great and elite, in athletics but also in business, in relationships and anywhere else where we are trying to perform our best.
So be mindful of what comes out of your mouth. It’s probably more powerful than you think.
If you’d like to check out more video clips from my conversation with Teddy, I included several in this Twitter thread.
One more update on Charlie
Appreciate you all following along with the journey my son has been on since getting diagnosed with epilepsy last month. Below are the last two updates if you missed them.
Update 1
Update 2
I’ll keep this brief. Charlie is doing great. He’s had no seizures in several weeks and has more or less been living a normal life. We are super-grateful and crossing our fingers that the medication will help keep him in the clear going forward.
Finally, he and I took an amazing trip to Boston this past week. Special thanks to the friends and family who made this possible. We were able to see a game at Fenway (from the Monster seats) and even tour the locker room and dugout. Charlie didn’t get to do sleep-away camp but as a kid who is CRAZY about the Red Sox, this was about as good as it gets. We are thankful!
Content diet
How Foods and Nutrients Control Our Moods (Huberman Lab) - You already know I’m a huge fan of Andrew Huberman’s and if you saw my podcast queue you’d see that it is absolutely full of Huberman Lab episodes. This one was a great spin through the impact that foods have on our moods. Super interesting content here on everything from the gut-brain connection to foods that can help anxiety and depression. I think what Andrew Huberman is doing with this podcast is a huge public service. I’d encourage you to go check out his full library of episodes and I’m certain you’ll find one (or many!) that will help you with your own health in some way, shape or form.
Steve Magness: Do Hard Things - The Science of Resilience (The Rich Roll Podcast)
Really enjoyed Rich’s conversation with Steve Magness, a former standout runner who ended up being a whistleblower in a famous Nike/Oregon track & field scandal. Steve has done some incredible (and science-backed) work on what it really takes to achieve difficult things in life and he and Rich dive into all of the above.
A Twitter thread from Teddy on the mindset of Navy SEALS. It appears that 17-thousand other people liked this one, too! Go follow @TMitrosilis if you aren’t already!
That’s it for this week. Appreciate you reading.
See you in two weeks.
Greg