The Characteristics of Greatness: Insights from a Legendary Coach

Do you have a dream that gets you out of bed every morning and motivates you to be your best? If not, why do you show up every day? And what does it take to cultivate the mindset of a champion who realizes their biggest dreams?

As a law firm owner, it's easy to get caught up in the day-to-day grind and lose sight of the bigger vision that drives you. If you currently feel disconnected from your purpose, or have an inner knowing that you need to recalibrate your path to success, you’re in luck because in this episode, Melissa shares the key takeaways from an inspiring talk by Bob Bowman, the longtime coach of Michael Phelps, on the characteristics of champions.

Tune in to learn how to think and act like a champion. Melissa gives you an overview of the six characteristics of champions and how these principles can be applied to you as a law firm owner. You’ll also learn why having a compelling dream is critical, how to create a plan to achieve it, and the importance of focusing on the process over outcomes.

‍If you’re a law firm owner, Mastery Group is the way for you to work with Melissa. This program consists of quarterly strategic planning facilitated with guidance and community every step of the way. Enrollment opens August 7th, 2024, so click here to join the waitlist right now to grab one of the limited spots!

If you’re wondering if Velocity Work is the right fit for you and want to chat with Melissa, text CONSULT to 201-534-8753.

What You’ll Discover:

• Why having a dream that deeply resonates with you is the most important characteristic of a champion.

• The 3 main principles Velocity Work is founded on.

• How to set long-term, short-term, and immediate goals that align with your vision of success.

• The critical importance of having a clear plan and honoring it daily, even when obstacles arise.

• Why focusing on and finding joy in the process is more important than fixating on outcomes.

• How to mentally, physically, and emotionally rehearse success on a daily basis.

• The role of discipline and consistency in achieving spectacular results.

• How to embrace challenges as opportunities to learn, grow, and get better.

Featured on the Show:

• Create space, mindset, and concrete plans for growth. Start here: Velocity Work Monday Map.
• Join Mastery Group's waitlist.
• Schedule a consult call with us here.
• Bob Bowman: The Characteristics of Champions
• Break Point - Netflix series

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Leave me a review in Apple Podcasts or anywhere else you listen!

I’m Melissa Shanahan, and this is The Law Firm Owner Podcast Episode #270.

Welcome to The Law Firm Owner Podcast, powered by Velocity Work, for owners who want to grow a firm that gives them the life they want. Get crystal clear on where you're going, take planning seriously, and honor your plan like a pro. This is the work that creates Velocity.

Hey, everyone. Welcome to this week's episode. I am so glad you're here. I am going to dig into something today that a member, a syndicate member recommended, and I just loved it.

I've watched it numerous times now. I have studied it, and I'm going to share the main takeaways with you here on this podcast. What was shared was a video that was made by a talk that Bob Bowman gave. Bob Bowman is a men's swimming coach. Right now, he's the head coach at the University of Texas, but he is most famous for being Michael Phelps coach, longtime coach.

And now Léon Marchand, who has done so well in the Olympics. He is his coach now also. This talk was quite a few years ago, was called the “Characteristics of Champions.” And as I watched this the first time, I was glued to what he was saying.

I believe what he is saying with every cell of my being. And he presents what I consider to be truths. He presents them in a very clear way in this talk. It is right in line with the kinds of things we talk about here on this podcast. But I certainly will not pretend that I do it better than him.

I think the way that he frames a lot of the things that he shares is very helpful, very useful, coming from lots of knowledge and a background of working with Olympic athletes. And the reason I love this so much is because, like I said before, these to me are truths.

And it is not just applicable to athletes. It is not just applicable to champions that get medals around their necks. It is applicable to anyone who wants anything, anyone who's striving for something, anyone who has a dream, anyone who wants to have a dream, anyone who wants to see some modicum of success for themselves. They have something that they can take away for themselves from this talk and from these principles.

I will link this talk in the show notes. But I should make it very clear, if what I present to you today does not interest you, if you're skeptical or have cynicism around some of the things that I'm going to say today and share today, you most certainly should not work with Velocity Work.

Because this is centered around what we believe. I have said it here before on the podcast, you will hear things that I'm going to share today that he has shared in his words, that some of the things are the same principles that I have shared in this podcast.

But I think he did a really good job of boiling it down in a talk that someone could listen to and say, “Yeah, I'm inspired by that. That sounds like something I want for myself. I want a version of that for myself. I believe these things to be true.”

If that is you, when you hear what I'm going to share today, we are probably a great fit for you as a law firm owner. If what I say today does not resonate, we are not a good fit. I can tell you right off the bat, you don't even need to have a consult with me to figure it out.

I'm telling you, if anything from this is a turnoff to you, or spins up some skepticism or cynicism, you should look elsewhere for guidance, coaching, etc. Okay, so I'm going to dig into it.

He first lists six different characteristics of champions, and so I'm going to go through those first. And then he has some other things to share that sort of stack on top of those.

The first characteristic of a champion, according to him, is that they have a clear plan for success and for achieving their goals. It's probably not too surprising that that's one of the characteristics, and we'll get a bit more into that later.

The second characteristic, they welcome challenges as a means to learn and to grow. Now, the challenges for a business owner look different than for an athlete, but it's still a challenge and it's embraced because that is how you get better. That is how you evolve as an owner. That is how you become the kind of owner that can handle certain levels of success. This is all the same thing as with an athlete. It's the same principle.

The third characteristic that he says, champions produce normal and predictable performances in abnormal and unpredictable environments. And basically, when you think about this from a business perspective, this is being able to keep your head down and get the job done. To stick with the system. To stick with the process to create the outcome, no matter what's flying around you.

No matter what noise is firing off, you don't lift your head, you don't look around, you don't get distracted. You keep your head down and you focus on creating the result that you set out to create.

The fourth characteristic, they rehearse success on a daily basis, mentally, physically and emotionally. Now, if you have been around us at all sort of internally inside of Velocity Work, or certainly on this podcast, I've mentioned it. We talk a lot about reminders and how important reminders are.

And this stacks on other ways that we help people set themselves up to rehearse success on a daily basis through the actions that you are going to take and through honoring your plan, etc. But reminders are a big part of this. This is the mental and emotional piece of it, is being able to tell yourself what you need to tell yourself, remind yourself what you need to remind yourself, and keep top of mind so that you stay on track.

That is something we talk a lot about with members and with clients. And I would say 75% of people, maybe, take that seriously, and the other 25% do not. And it shows when people don't do that work. It shows they rehearse success on a daily basis, mentally, physically and emotionally.

The fifth characteristic he listed; champions value the process of success more than any particular outcome. They value the process of success more than any particular outcome. Now, here's why this is so important within business. If you only place value on the outcome, on the goal that you have set for yourself, then you miss the opportunity to become the kind of owner that can actually have and sustain the having of the goal.

So, if you are shooting for a million dollars in your firm, let's say that's a goal. People set revenue goals all the time, and that's a good thing. People need to set revenue goals, this is a business. So, you have a revenue goal, but you only place value there. And so, you kind of scratch and claw your way to it, instead of focusing on the process.

It doesn't mean you enjoy every moment of the process. Like some people say, “You have to enjoy the journey.” Well, sometimes, sometimes no, it's not all enjoyable, right? But what is enjoyable is that you know you're setting yourself up to win at a specific outcome, but you are placing all your value on the process.

You are placing the significance of the actions that you take, and the way that you think, and the way that you act, you are placing value there, day to day. Because by doing that, you give yourself the best shot to create the outcome you want to create.

He mentioned a Nick Saban quote, where Nick Saban says, ‘Don't look at the scoreboard, play the next play.’ And so, he riffs on that a bit. He talks about how you worry about the first turn for swimmers, you don't worry about the scoreboard. You focus on what is in front of you, what needs to be done well, how are you going to execute well with what's in front of you. You don't worry about the scoreboard.

And scoreboards are important, that's the point of the game, right? But focusing and placing value on the process is the key.

Okay, the sixth and final characteristic of a champion he gives at the top of his talk, and in his opinion, this is the most important one. And I think I agree. We're going to talk more about this in just a moment. Champions have a dream and a passion for pursuing that vision of success that they have, that allows them to overcome obstacles and carries them through to spectacular outcomes.

They have a dream and they hang on to the dream. And he said some things about the dream, because it probably doesn't surprise anyone that it’s in here in this list of characteristics of champion. But there were a few things he had to say about a dream that I haven't heard put that way before.

I think it could be helpful for those of you who feel like ‘I don't know what my dream is. I'm the owner of a firm. I want to be successful. I don't want to be working like a dog till I'm retired. I want some space. I want to enjoy this business that I have.’ But what's the dream, right?

Well, he says that, yes, the dream is critical, because that is where it all starts. Which, by the way, we talk about knowing what you're aiming for and working backwards from that, really what you're aiming for. Because we can set goals all day long, the numbers all day long, but is it aligning with what you really want to see happen? With something that that hits you in the heart?

Not just a number, numbers are important and I focus heavily on those, but not for the sake of hitting a number. It has to be lined up with what is most interesting, and what is the biggest driver for the owner I'm working with. So, the dream is critical. That is where it starts.

But he says, and I think this is a very good way to put it, the dream is not something incredibly specific. It's something that hits you in your chest, it hits you in the gut, it gets you out of bed in the morning. He talks about how, with swimmers, no one's going to get out of bed in the morning every day, repeatedly, on cold mornings to just hit a specific split. That's not going to motivate them over the long haul.

And I don't remember what the numbers were, maybe it isn't just a specific split. Anyway, just for this measurement every day, they're not going to get out of bed; when it's really hard to get out of bed to be able to hit this measurement. But he said, but they may get out of bed to be the most decorated Olympic athlete ever. That's a dream.

So, when you think about this from a business perspective, and from an ownership perspective of your firm, you might not get out of bed. You're not going to get out of bed to produce a certain amount of money that day, produce a certain amount of value out into the world so you get a certain amount of money in for the day. That is not going to keep you getting out of bed and motivated to do the right things and to focus like a pro focuses.

But what could keep you locked in is something that's much more meaningful to you. It could get you out of bed every day, day after day, and motivated to show up in the ways that you need to show up, focus on the things you need to focus on, and be disciplined in the ways that you need to be disciplined, is a vision that you have for having a law firm that has such a great and solid reputation.

You have freedom and flexibility as the owner of the firm, and everything is running really well. Your stress is not as high. The grinding-ness isn't there. That vision is something that could get you out of bed.

There's a lot to line up to create that for yourself. If you have kids, maybe the vision, the dream that you have, is to be able to pay for their college outright. I had a client once… I think about her dream all the time. Her dream, which was deep and meaningful to her, was to take her entire extended family on a cruise. And there was like a specific cruise she wanted to do. That was the dream.

Now, you bet your bottom dollar, she's got to line a lot of things up to make that possible. But to her, that's her motivation. That's her “why” for getting up every day and doing the right things, and putting one foot in front of the other, and lining herself up with that the ability to do that to take her family on a trip.

So, to some people that doesn't sound appealing at all. But that's the thing about a dream, it's yours and it's meaningful. It's deeply meaningful. It is your compelling reason to get up and keep moving, and keep making headway and keep doing the right things, and keep implementing the next system that's going to give you leverage, and keep improving your systems over time, and keep your team accountable, keep yourself accountable, practice discipline. All that, this kind of activity.

And this is not about perfection, it's about progress. It's about staying the course. It's about preventing yourself from drifting off track and then coming back to it later. And then you drift off track again, and then you come back to it later.

We act like that happens to us. If we're really honest with ourselves, we allow that to happen. And this what he is talking about. And this is why, of course, he's saying this is the most important element. I agree, it’s to have a dream. It’s to have something that drives you in this way.

It's like, if you are attached to something that is that meaningful to you, one of the beautiful things about that is that when you start to veer, you bring yourself right back. Especially when you give yourself the right tools, the right coaching, the right guidance, the right community, and really set yourself up for success. You get back on track so much more quickly.

Then, if you don't have a dream, and you don't keep that dream top of mind, you don't keep it in focus. You don't give yourself the support mechanisms that are going to make sure that you are streamlining as much as possible your path to your dream. Then, of course, it's going to be so much harder to realize your dreams.

Not to mention, when you have a dream like that and you do keep it top of mind, and you do support yourself, you increase the likelihood of you achieving that result for yourself. And the other side of that, and what this really rolls into nicely, is that you take full ownership of creating that dream. You're willing to do what it takes.

Okay, okay, back to some of the things he said. The other thing that just hit me, struck me when he said it, once the dream is in place, it establishes the forest and then we start looking for the trees. And that lets you know where you're going, what direction you're headed as you navigate through the forest. But the dream establishes the forest.

And I don't know why that visual really stuck with me. I haven't ever viewed it that way. It does a lot of good for me to think about it that way. I'm hoping that sharing here with you all, it can help solidify for you the importance of having a dream that you're working for, and then you can start looking for the trees.

There are times where people set milestones and set goals that they're not adding up to anything. There's something over here they're shooting for, and then they switch and they shoot for something over here instead. They're not anchored to a dream. They don't have a forest that they're navigating. They are all over the place.

Okay, he talks also about once the dream is established, understanding that it's going to evolve. Because you're going to realize your dreams; you'll set a dream and it's not big enough anymore. You've accomplished it. And you're not even going to try to have another dream, there's going to be another one that is born. And so, acknowledging that and being okay with that. Evolution is important.

He talks about how Michael Phelps’ first dream that he shared, with Bob Bowman, was he wanted to swim in the Olympics. He was 12. Other kids were talking about it and he's like, “I want to do that.” Okay, that's the dream. We're going to make that dream happen. And then he achieves that.

And then his next dream was that he wanted to change the sport of swimming. He gives a bunch of examples on how Michael Phelps has done that. And then there's another dream. And so, he talks about the evolution of the dream. And with that final dream that he talked about, if you watch this video, you can see it.

He talks about what was going to have to happen in order for that dream to be fulfilled. They were going to have to throw them into the media. They were going to have to really put them out there in ways that they hadn't put them out there before. But with that comes pressure. Because if you do that, then when you don't perform as well as what you wanted to, it's not so fun. So, if we're really going to go for this, there's risk involved, and talking through the risk and the pressure that comes with that.

I've heard someone once say, that I totally agree with, that pressure like that, when you're really going for something and you feel pressure, the pressure is a privilege. I got that from Bob Bowman and what he was talking about with Michael Phelps.

Okay, so then he pivots a bit and he says, “Okay, the dream is all well and good. But you got to have a plan.” And he says, “That's where I come in.” I identify with this so much within the work that we do. My job is to facilitate the identification of the dream, if needed. Some people already have it before they come to see us.

But I'm not about to help someone just hit a number for the sake of hitting a number. At some point, you have to be working for something much deeper than that, and that's my job. Now, once we have that, it's time to get to work on a plan. My whole business was set up on strategic planning. And we're more comprehensive now than just strategic planning. But that's still, and always will be, at the crux of Velocity Work.

We are centered around strategic planning. And basically, that is just planning for a greater outcome that you'd like to see. It's planning to align yourself with your next dream.

Actually, I should make sure that it's very clear here. The reason we're centered around strategic planning is, because of what I have seen over years and years and years of doing this work, is that it comes down to three things.

You have to know what you're aiming for. You have to have a strong plan to get there. And you have to honor your plan. Period. That is the crux of our company. That is why I set this company up.

And so, you can see why this talk really excites me. Because I am listening to a world class coach, someone who has worked with the best of the best and knows what it takes to be able to achieve massive, seemingly impossible dreams, basically give a summary on the principles that my company was founded on.

He says, once they have the dream goal, the dream, they work backwards to where they are right now. And then, once the goals are in place, as they worked backwards, they have a plan that takes them down a road. And so, he says, “We have long-term goals, we have short-term goals,” and they have what they call “immediate goals”.

But here's one of the most interesting pieces of that section of the talk. Long-term goals for them are 8-10 years. Short-term goals are closer in, like a year, maybe two years. That's where most people that I work with inside of Mastery Group… They don't have long term goals. They can't see that far out yet.

So, I work with them to set as far out as they can see. And sometimes that's one year, sometimes it's two, sometimes it's five. But I work with them to think as far out as they can. My job is to get them there. And by getting there, they create some confidence. And they start to see, and validate the effort that they're putting in, it’s working, it's stacking, it's getting into where they want to be.

But the most interesting part of this section of the talk was listening to him talk about the immediate goals. And for us inside of Velocity Work, those are your quarterly Rocks. Now, for those of you who aren't sure, or need a refresher on the difference between a goal and a Rock, we have short-term goals that we're shooting for.

I do have people set longer term goals as well, but we work backwards to get what's more in front of us. So, the next year, and within the next year, we work backwards to figure out, ‘okay, this quarter, what do we need to do the effort? The effort that we have to put forth in order to make sure that we are on track for our yearly goals, for the short-term goals?’

And once you're on track for the short-term goals, it means you're on track for the long-term goals. This is how we stack it. But the immediate goals that he's talking about, to us, those are the Rocks. Those are the key quarterly efforts. Those are the key projects or initiatives that will be accomplished or done so that you're on track for the short-term goals.

And that, in the way he described it, is the immediate goals. This is where the rubber meets the road. That is a perfect way to say it. If we don't have quarterly Rocks, what are we doing? If we don't have clarity about the very few things that we are going to commit to getting done, the effort that we're going to put forth, then what are we doing?

Are we just going to keep wishing for the numbers and try a little of this and try a little of that? Absolutely not. We're going to get focused, and we're going to show up in the ways that we need to show up so that we get ourselves on track for the numbers that we want to see, that line up with the dream that we have.

So, the immediate goals for us, that's the quarterly Rocks. That is where the rubber meets the road. If those don't happen, you can kiss it all goodbye. The effort has to be there. You have to get it done. This is where the discipline comes in, by the way; doing the things that you say you're going to do. Getting the projects done. Delegating the way you need to delegate. Taking the risks that need to be taken in order for the growth to happen and for the freedom and flexibility to be able to be there.

You have the bandwidth to do the right things in your firm. All of that, that's the effort. That's the stuff that we have to focus on. And so, that's where there's accountability inside of Velocity Work. It's not about hitting your numbers; the accountability is on what you say you're going to do.

At this point in the talk, he says we know how this is true. We can do all the research… you know what needs to be done. So, he gives an example of someone who is trying to become healthier. You know what you need to do. You know how you need to eat. You can do a little bit of research, you can know all the things, and you can have the perfect plan, but what do you do when the cookie is in your hand?

Do you put it in your mouth or do you set it down on the counter? Do you honor your plan or do you not? This is where the rubber meets the road. I've been really into tennis lately. And that's mostly because I watched the Netflix documentary series called Break Point. It's so good.

It follows around some tennis pros, and you really get to understand their life and the pressure that they're under and the dedication that they have. I really enjoy that docuseries. Well, there's a story about Novak Djokovic, which if you know anything about tennis, he's one of the greatest and has been for a long time.

I actually just went to look this up so I can read you the quote. This is the quote from Djokovic. He's talking about discipline,

“How much discipline? In January 2012, I beat Nadal in the finals of the Australian Open. The match lasted five hours and fifty-three minutes—the longest match in Australian Open history, and the longest Grand Slam singles final in the Open Era. Many commentators have called that match the single greatest tennis match of all time. After I won, I sat in the locker room in Melbourne. I wanted one thing: to taste chocolate. I hadn’t tasted it since the summer of 2010. Miljan brought me a candy bar.” That is his coach. “I broke off one square—one tiny square—and popped it into my mouth, let it melt on my tongue. That was all I would allow myself. That is what it has taken to get to number one.”

Again, this dream that's driving them to hold discipline… And there are so many people out there who will say, “Well, that's not me. I'm not trying to win the Australian Open. I am not trying to be the best on the planet.” But you do have a dream. And if you do have a dream, and you keep that top of mind, you stay connected to your dream.

What is that? Can you find that? Can you begin the work digging that up or finding the nearest dream? You probably have a bigger dream inside. And maybe there's part of you that is scared to claim that, but you do have something that can get you… it gets at your chest, at your heart. And when you actually are attached to that, this discipline takes care of itself.

You may not be perfect, right? You may not be Djokovic, but you will be a different version of yourself. You will show up and become the kind of person who cannot just get a result but can sustainably have a result.

And that's kind of what he's talking about ‘when the cookie’s in your hand,’ do you put it in your mouth or do you set it on the counter? It's meaningful to think about. If you have a dream, you can do that. And once you have the plan, then your job is to honor that plan. You know what keeps you going with honoring your plan? Your connection to the dream. This is all very tied together.

He also says, and this is where he starts talking about how you choose the efforts you're going to focus on, the goal setting process that we've just gone through this entire podcast, it allows you to choose from the menu of things that you're going to work on. Champions have things to work on. They all have things they need to work on.

Business owners and entrepreneurs, no matter what level they are, they all have things they need to work on; their next level, their refinement, their optimization. In some cases, their overhauls.

So, when we're working with owners, and thinking through their firms and their immediate goals, their quarterly Rocks, and what they're going to choose to focus on, I've never once had someone say… Once we get to that point where we decide what the immediate goals need to be, what the quarterly Rocks need to be... I've never had someone say, “Man, I don't know. I don't know what to focus on this quarter.”

It's always obvious. It's always right there in front of you. It's sometimes something to do with tech, something new with tech needs to be implemented, or trained or optimized. Sometimes it's a system or a process that needs to be created. Sometimes it's onboarding for new hires. Sometimes it's a better recruiting process.

It's always very clear, every single time I'm working with someone, it's always clear where they need to strengthen things, where they need to optimize things. And sometimes where they need to overhaul things. The decisions they need to make, it's right there in front of them.

I've never had someone… When I used to do this work early on, at the consulting firm, early on, I would be nervous at first; going into clients, if I didn't know the client, I'm flying in, I'm going to facilitate their day, and I'm going to fly out. I've read all their history. I know what I'm walking into. But sometimes there's just still nerves. And it's like, “Man, these guys seem amazing. They seem so on it.”

I was afraid, deep down, that we were going to get to the place where it's time for them to decide what they're going to be accountable for and they're going to say, “I think we're good.” That literally never happens. I've had clients that are so tight and so dialed, and yet they always know where they need to focus. They always know.

So, when you are choosing… He calls it “the menu” of things that you could work on, that needs work, you get to choose what are you going to focus on in order to give yourself the greatest leverage and the greatest sustainable success.

You have to ask yourself, if you feel like you're in a kind of a rut where you're thinking, “I don't know, I think we're pretty good.” is your dream big enough? Are we ever really done? Again, this is more about placing value on the process, not on the outcome that you're trying to create.

And so, maybe if you don't have anything that appears, “Oh, I could optimize that, this is an idea I have over here. Maybe we could morph this role into this, because maybe it would optimize the client's experience.” If you don't have ideas, if you don't see opportunity, what are you doing?

I highly encourage any of you who don't see opportunity in their business, you need to dream bigger. Actually, it's not about dreaming bigger. It's about dreaming deeper. There needs to be deeper meaning behind why you show up every day to do these things.

Also, if you've achieved everything you want to achieve and you really don't have anything more, you just want to hold what you've created, listen, I can get behind that. That will change over some period of time, because we are human. That will change. I don't know when for you, but it will five years, 10 years, one year, I don't know.

But even if you want to hold the results you've held, do you think that it doesn't take any work to hold the results you've gotten? It does. There's training that needs to be done. There's a deepening of understanding for the people that work for you. There are improvements and tweaks to processes and systems.

One of the greatest, saddest lessons I've witnessed is a client who got complacent and kind of had this attitude like, “We're good. Look what we're doing. We're doing fine. I don't know, do we really need to grow more? I think we're good.” And so, the only thing that was focused on was marketing efforts. That's it. They didn't want to focus on anything else.

And this is where the relationship started to maybe need to come to an end with us, and with them, because that is not going to provide a result that you will be pleased with at some point in the, probably, not so distant future. I refused to sit and watch this slow burn happen. So, this is where we started to think, “Okay, it's been a good run.”

I can't instill a desire inside of someone. I can facilitate it. And if it's not coming, it's not coming. We had a good run, right? I mean, think about that. Actually, I didn't until just now. But think about that for a minute.

If a coach is working with an athlete, and the athlete just doesn't have a dream that they are trying to achieve, why would they continue working together? It's the same. I think, for the record, business coaches and consultants in companies out there, they hang on to people for way too long because the people will just keep paying them.

There's almost like a security in paying someone to be your coach. But you're kind of not really feeling the dream so much anymore. You're not even sure what dream you're working on. You've made really good headway with this company or this person, but you're not feeling it. Then why would you work with someone?

No one can do that for you. If you're not feeling a dream or something that is motivating you in to stay the course, a vision that's pulling you, that your coach reminds you of and works with you on, if that's not there, no one can plant that there. No one wins in that business relationship. No one wins.

I'm just saying this because I think many people think they should continue to work with a coach because they need the coach to light a fire under their ass. That's just not how this works. The fire needs to be within you, and the coach can stoke those flames, lighting a fire underneath you so that you get your booty in gear.

That's not how you should think about the coaching relationship. You should think about the coaching relationship to help you articulate what it is that you do care about, that you do want to pull you forward, and then use the coach and the community and support and all the things as a tool to help you stay the course with your dream.

He also talks about how he thinks of himself as the GPS inside of the car that the athlete is driving. I thought about this for a little bit. I talk about the GPS, and if you can plug in the destination, it's going to pull you back on path if you get off course. We talk about this some. But I thought it was interesting that he thinks of himself as the GPS.

So, anytime the plans get off the tracks, which they're going to do, that's inevitable, at points along the way that will happen. And so, when that does happen, he thinks of himself as pulling the person back on track. Recalibrating them so that they're back on track for their dream.

The most important point, in this part of his talk, is the idea and the awareness that your plans are going to come off the tracks. There are going to be those moments. And that is why you really have to be committed to the dream at a level that will allow you to reroute and overcome obstacles, use them as learning experiences, and to get better and to get stronger.

And all of that is true in business as well. At the very end, he is talking about, “When I work with an athlete,” he says, “I can't know of anything more valuable than to have a clear picture of where they want to go, set up the plan for how they want to get there. And then on a daily basis, come in and rehearse that success. That is what makes a champion.” And that's how he ended it.

I cannot agree more. Again, I said it earlier, I think the reason I really love this talk so much is because, number one, it's pretty awesome to listen to a great… To listen to someone who has been through a lot, and has seen outcomes that were once just a dream, and a dream that was in many people's eyes too big, unattainable. So, listening to someone like that is pretty great.

Also, everything he talked about in his talk is such a beautiful summary of everything I believe, and the reasons that the foundations on which this company Velocity Work is based on. I believe in working with law firm owners in the ways that he believes in working with his athletes. And no matter how Velocity Work has changed over time, or will change over time, and will evolve and will grow as a company, that will never change.

We are centered around knowing what you're aiming for, around having a strong plan to get there, and about honoring your plan. That will never change.

All right, everybody, I hope you have a wonderful week. I'll see you here next Tuesday.

Hey, you may not know this, but there's a free guide for a process I teach called Monday Map/Friday Wrap. If you go to VelocityWork.com, it's all yours. It's about how to plan your time and honor your plans. So, that week over week, more work that moves the needle is getting done in less time. Go to VelocityWork.com to get your free copy.

Thank you for listening to The Law Firm Owner Podcast. If you're ready to get clearer on your vision, data, and mindset, then head over to VelocityWork.com where you can plug in to Quarterly Strategic Planning, with accountability and coaching in between. This is the work that creates Velocity.