Athlete CEO

Our daily life can often look like trying to drink from the firehose with billions of pieces of information available at our fingertips, notifications from multiple devices, and the ability to join millions of conversations around the world via social media. 

We live in a world that rewards speed – how quick we think, react, and position ourselves, but thinking about more things – trying to speed up – can often lead instead to slowing down

Despite today’s reality seeming like a dream just 20-30 years ago, we can often find ourselves bogged down by this information, and there’s a reason for that: Hick’s Law.

This concept solidifies the idea of “analysis paralysis” and is the focus of today’s conversation between Erik and Josiah. They define Hick’s Law, how it impacts your performance, and what you can do to counteract it.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:

• (1:09) What is Hick’s Law and why does it matter for performance?
• (4:03) “You don’t go to Target to buy something; you go to Target so they can tell you what to buy.” Josiah Igono
• (4:56) Why you can’t go through the mental checklist of your biomechanics when you need to perform in the moment as an athlete.
• (5:49) Implicit vs Explicit Memory
• (7:42) What is your priority?
• (8:48) Eugene Fama’s 3 factors that the highest outperforming companies share

When people hear the term “positive psychology” it can often bring to mind the idea of “always staying positive” or trying to force yourself to never feel anger or pain, but Smaranda Lawrie says that’s B.S.

Smaranda has a PhD in psychology and brain science from UCSB, is the founder of UCSB’s Resilience Summit, currently is an assistant professor at Providence College, and is a key researcher on positive psychology.

As a child, Smaranda’s family were political refugees from Romania who – in fleeing the country – ended up in Hungary hiding in apartments and even an underground tunnel to a refugee camp in Austria. She shares some of the hardships she experienced as a kid, how she learned resilience to get through them, and how research shows the importance of building resilience through parenting.

In this episode, Brandon and Erik talk with Smaranda about positive psychology actually is, leading research on how practicing it can improve your performance and overall outlook on life, what’s in the toolkit of positive psychology, and how to practice it with your kids.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS

• (2:15) How Smaranda’s experiences as a Romanian immigrant taught her resilience and influenced her decision to research positive psychology
• (4:15) I think sometimes people think that it’s all about happiness and having this Pollyanna smile on your face all the time. And it’s really not.” -Smaranda Lawrie
• (6:03) Positive psychology isn’t about ignoring pain and anger
• (7:49) Who is positive psychology for?
• (10:00) Smaranda’s experiences as a wife of a professional football player
• (15:29) How to parent through times of uncertainty and change
• (18:47) “We've become, in the past couple of decades, just increasingly more protective of our children. I know it's very well intentioned, but on one hand, we're telling them that they can do anything in the world and that they're their own person and they can reach for the stars and whatever. On the other hand, we're handholding them along the way.” – Smaranda Lawrie
• (23:39) How to use the tools and skillsets of positive psychology in parenting to help teach kids to regulate emotions and decisions
• (27:51) The simple gratitude exercise everyone from 2-year-olds to Fortune 500 CEOs should practice
• (31:02) How does identity fit into the conversation?
• (34:40) Why don’t we spend more time thinking about our values?
• (37:21) The importance of relationships
• (38:58) The PERMA theory
• (44:02) What advice do you have for parents with older kids – is it “too late”?
• (52:09) The research on aging well

We believe the best investment you can make is in yourself - your human capital. 

Our guest, Fabrice Gautier, has created outsized returns for some of the world’s best athletes like Rudy Gobert, Giancarlo Stanton, Kevin Love, Carmelo Anthony, Tony Parker, and more, and he has served as the French National Basketball team’s osteopath since 2009.

Described by Kevin Love as “the swiss army knife when it comes to optimizing your health and performance,” Fabrice is a licensed physical therapist and osteopath who has been particularly noteworthy for his approach of viewing an injury not just as an injury, but looking at the comprehensive solution to resolve the root issue causing that injury, which requires assessing the full person – body, mind, soul. Ultimately, the goal is to address the problem, not the consequence.

Fabrice joins Erik and Brandon and covers a range of helpful topics from his experience discussing everything from how he’s seen some of the best athletes build out the teams that surround them, to finding the root of chronic injuries, and why he thinks a strength and conditioning coach and a chef are the two most important people to have on your team.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS

• (1:47) Seeing the person; not a patient
• (6:07) The European vs American approaches to physical therapy
• (10:11) When should someone show up in Fabrice’s office?
• (14:28) How should an athlete handle building out the team that surrounds them?
• (20:29) The importance of having a plan
• (23:24) How should a new athlete just starting out approach building a core team that can help keep him or her healthy throughout their career?
• (28:54) The importance of investing in yourself
• (30:49) Why you need a chef – and maybe even a masseuse
• (33:31) Is lifestyle assessment becoming more normal in the performance space?
• (39:20) At the end of the day, it takes hard work
• (42:35) Learning from other sports