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124. Win the Hour: Investing Time for Success
4 Plays5 months ago
In this first episode of the year, we kick off our new format by diving deep into one of the core principles of Especially for Athletes: Win the Hour. Time is one of our most valuable resources, and how we use it can make all the difference in achieving success both on and off the field.
Join us as we explore practical strategies for maximizing your time and focusing on the tasks that matter most. We’ll discuss how to break down your goals into actionable steps, the power of prioritization, and how to stay disciplined in the face of distractions. This episode is packed with actionable tips to help athletes, coaches, and parents start the year strong and stay on track to achieve their goals.
Key Discussion Points:
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Brendan Schooler’s perspective on working in silence and investing time for success.
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The importance of consistency in achieving long-term goals.
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Insights from Nick Saban on the difference between spending and investing time.
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How athletes can invest time wisely to build the habits and skills needed for success.
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Practical advice for staying disciplined and focused when you don’t feel like doing the work.
This episode is all about taking action, investing your time wisely, and staying committed to your goals—because, as Brendan said, your goals don’t care how you feel. They only care about the work you put in.
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Credits:
Hosted by Shad Martin & Dustin Smith
Produced by IMAGINATE STUDIO
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Support the show: https://especiallyforathletes.com/podcast/
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Introduction and 2025 Vision
00:00:01
Speaker
Welcome to the Especially for Athletes podcast, where we explore essential principles that empower athletes to learn life's most valuable lessons through sports.
00:00:17
Speaker
Hey, what's up, Dustin?
00:00:18
Speaker
How are you, man?
00:00:18
Speaker
Hey, Chad.
00:00:19
Speaker
Happy New Year.
00:00:21
Speaker
You too.
00:00:21
Speaker
I'm so excited for our new approach to our podcast this year.
00:00:25
Speaker
We're going to go back to doing a weekly podcast.
00:00:29
Speaker
And each week is going to focus on one of our core principles.
Weekly Focus: 'Win the Hour'
00:00:32
Speaker
And so this week we're doing Win the Hour.
00:00:36
Speaker
And we're going to focus on something that we were taught by Brendan Schooler, doing great in the NFL, killing it in the NFL right now.
00:00:44
Speaker
We were having a conversation with him, and he taught us something in regard to the principle of win the hour that I wanted to listen to together, have our listeners listen to, and then just have a discussion about it real quick.
00:00:58
Speaker
So here's Brandon Schooler.
00:00:59
Speaker
Here's what he said to us.
00:01:00
Speaker
You know, there's people who go out there and will beat their chest and beat on the drums and say, I'm doing this, I'm doing that.
00:01:09
Speaker
You know, it's not those people who typically rise to the top.
00:01:15
Speaker
It's the people who do their work in silence and who do it day in and day out.
00:01:20
Speaker
And they enjoy the grind.
00:01:21
Speaker
They love the process.
00:01:22
Speaker
They love going through the pain, the sweat, the tears, all of that.
00:01:27
Speaker
They love...
00:01:28
Speaker
to compete.
00:01:30
Speaker
And I think having that instilled in me at a young age was just work, just go to work, just go to work, just go to work, no matter what's going on in your life, make that a constant, go to work, go to work every day.
00:01:45
Speaker
You know, there's going to be days you wake up and you don't want to roll out of bed and you want to hit that snooze button and you want to go get that extra hour of sleep, but your goals and aspirations don't care how you feel at the end of the day.
00:02:00
Speaker
Isn't that cool, man?
00:02:01
Speaker
That's great.
00:02:02
Speaker
Yeah.
00:02:03
Speaker
And he's spot on.
00:02:04
Speaker
Yeah, he is.
00:02:05
Speaker
And so we're listening to this podcast.
00:02:07
Speaker
It's airing, you know, first week of the new year.
The Role of Goals and Action
00:02:11
Speaker
And a lot of people have just made some goals.
00:02:13
Speaker
They have these aspirations.
00:02:15
Speaker
2025 is going to be different.
00:02:17
Speaker
I would just be curious in regard to our principle of win the hour, your thoughts on what Brendan taught us there.
00:02:24
Speaker
Well, I think I've heard something similar said before, but the way Brendan explained it and throughout that podcast, if you're looking for a good episode from the Especially for Athletes podcast to listen to, you want to go back in the vault, go listen to the entire interview with Brendan because this is just one of several things that
00:02:46
Speaker
that we discussed and he is a big time football player and all pro safety in the NFL right now having a great season, but you know, your goals don't care.
00:02:56
Speaker
I love that because we all have this time.
00:02:59
Speaker
Usually it's this time in the year, everybody does it new year's resolutions and we set these goals and it's great.
00:03:05
Speaker
It's a great time to reset.
00:03:07
Speaker
And for whatever reason, we,
00:03:09
Speaker
We change the year on the calendar and it just feels like we're starting over.
00:03:13
Speaker
And it's just for whatever reason, easier to set goals.
00:03:17
Speaker
But writing the goal down, putting it on the bathroom mirror, all the things we do to remind ourselves of it.
00:03:24
Speaker
You know, like he said, the goals don't care and nobody really cares.
00:03:29
Speaker
It doesn't matter.
00:03:32
Speaker
What we write down and how badly we want it doesn't matter.
00:03:36
Speaker
What matters is, are we gonna actually go do it?
Investing Time Wisely
00:03:40
Speaker
Nick Saban was, I saw a video of Nick Saban talking not long ago, and he used the example of the two ways that we use time.
00:03:50
Speaker
And he said, we spend time and we invest time.
00:03:54
Speaker
And he went through a couple things on what are you doing?
00:03:57
Speaker
Are you spending or are you investing?
00:03:59
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When you're playing video games, what are you doing?
00:04:02
Speaker
You're investing time or are you spending time?
00:04:05
Speaker
And his point there was obviously you're spending time.
00:04:09
Speaker
When you sleep in past the time you'd set to wake up and you turn that alarm clock to snooze or something, are you investing there or are you spending?
00:04:18
Speaker
And, you know, if we're spending more than we've invested, we're going to run out of time eventually and go broke.
00:04:24
Speaker
And I think that's that's Brendan's point there is that, you know, once you set a goal to be great at anything, well, now you've got to invest.
00:04:32
Speaker
You're investing the things you do or my investing so that when the time counts,
00:04:37
Speaker
I've got enough invested that I can now deposit.
00:04:40
Speaker
And in his case, on the football field, he's invested enough that when it's time to go play football, he's got the money, so to speak.
00:04:48
Speaker
The investment has grown to where he can now go spend it on a Sunday afternoon playing in an NFL football stadium.
00:04:57
Speaker
Where so many of us want it, we like the idea of that.
00:05:01
Speaker
but we'd rather spend time watching TV or spend time sleeping or spend time playing video games, all the things that we as adults do in our world and young athletes do at a different level in their world.
Overcoming Comfort for Greatness
00:05:14
Speaker
And until we break that habit and break that cycle of wanting it really bad, but not actually putting in the work or investing the time necessary, we talk about it all the time, Shad,
00:05:26
Speaker
It's a great measuring stick at the end of every day.
00:05:29
Speaker
Did my habits and actions today match my goals and dreams?
00:05:35
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And it's just a yes, no question.
00:05:37
Speaker
And if you're winning the hour, like we say, trying to go 16 and 0 with those waking hours and 8 and 0 with the sleeping hours, you slept 8.
00:05:46
Speaker
Very easy.
00:05:46
Speaker
Go through the day and how many of those hours did you really win and how many of those hours did you lose?
00:05:52
Speaker
And if it's the truth is, if you're not going undefeated, then you have something to work on the next day.
00:05:58
Speaker
I love what you said there.
00:06:00
Speaker
You know, sometimes we talk to athletes about that.
00:06:02
Speaker
Did you win the hour?
00:06:04
Speaker
And another question we could ask to determine the answer to that question is, did you invest the hour or did you spend the hour?
00:06:12
Speaker
Yeah.
00:06:12
Speaker
Yeah.
00:06:12
Speaker
And I know it's okay to spend some hours having fun and to do those things if you're intentional about it.
00:06:18
Speaker
But I love what he said, too.
00:06:20
Speaker
And I would love your thoughts on this.
00:06:21
Speaker
And I have some thoughts on it, too.
00:06:24
Speaker
It seems that a lot of the great athletes that we've had on our podcast, that we've had side conversations with on golf courses and things like that, they always seem to emphasize that.
00:06:36
Speaker
that really greatness comes to those who do things when they don't feel like doing them.
00:06:43
Speaker
Did you notice how he talked about that?
00:06:46
Speaker
When he's talking about winning the hour, he kind of just dropped that little line there that they don't care how you feel.
Competing Against Inner Challenges
00:06:53
Speaker
And also that you could push snooze for an hour or you could get up and invest an hour toward your goals.
00:07:00
Speaker
Yeah.
00:07:00
Speaker
Yeah.
00:07:01
Speaker
And it just seems that those who become great at things learn to do things when they don't feel like doing them.
00:07:09
Speaker
And I know you've coached a lot.
00:07:11
Speaker
You've done a lot of things.
00:07:12
Speaker
I would just like to know your thoughts on that.
00:07:15
Speaker
If we're going to win the hour, how important is it to do things when we don't feel like doing them?
00:07:21
Speaker
usually the lazy dog inside all of us doesn't want to wake up early and go work out or cold plunge or, you know, go for a run when it's cold outside.
00:07:32
Speaker
Like very few people actually have that dog inside of them that's just...
00:07:37
Speaker
would bark an Adam to go do that every single morning, no matter what, until they've created, they have fed that dog enough that it becomes who they are.
00:07:48
Speaker
It becomes the alpha dog inside of them.
00:07:50
Speaker
And until that's the case, we're constantly fighting that and we'll give into it and we'll say, yeah, I want tomorrow, right?
00:07:58
Speaker
Tomorrow, tomorrow.
00:07:59
Speaker
And to his point that, you know, you cannot survive it becoming great.
00:08:05
Speaker
If you only work out when you're comfortable, if you only do things when you're comfortable, you know, comfortable being comfortable is the worst addiction.
00:08:14
Speaker
When we're addicted to being comfortable,
00:08:17
Speaker
We find excuses to not do things.
00:08:20
Speaker
And then I think what happens later, Chad, is when we don't reach the goal that we wanted, because we really didn't want it, want it.
00:08:30
Speaker
We didn't want it bad enough to get up and go for the run or cold plunge or set my alarm at go to bed early or whatever it was, right?
00:08:39
Speaker
is that we blame other people.
00:08:41
Speaker
I think that that's one of the next, the cycle or the loop there is that our habits don't match our goals.
00:08:48
Speaker
We're not comfortable, so we get into it and we don't go work out.
00:08:51
Speaker
We don't reach the goal that we had set for ourselves.
00:08:54
Speaker
And so the next thing is, well, it can't be me.
00:08:57
Speaker
It's somebody else's fault.
00:08:59
Speaker
And we blame other people or society or whoever it was for why we didn't get it.
00:09:04
Speaker
Instead of looking in the mirror and saying,
00:09:07
Speaker
Did you only work out when you were comfortable?
00:09:09
Speaker
Did you only study when you were comfortable?
00:09:11
Speaker
Did you only do these things when you were comfortable?
00:09:13
Speaker
That's the problem.
00:09:14
Speaker
It's a you thing.
00:09:15
Speaker
You fed the lazy dog so much that the aggressive dog that wanted to be great died inside of you because you didn't feed it.
00:09:25
Speaker
And I think we all fall into that.
00:09:27
Speaker
And that's why this time of the year is a chance to kind of reset and hopefully get the train back on the track.
Maintaining Consistent Effort
00:09:35
Speaker
But yes, we first have to get organized, write the goals down, be very specific, all the stuff that we learn in setting goals.
00:09:42
Speaker
But at the end of that, if we only decide to work on our goals when it's easy and when we're comfortable and when we really want to,
00:09:51
Speaker
We'll go a couple of weeks and it'll be the traditional regular story here of people setting New Year's resolutions that a month or two into it, we're back into the old habit because you have to do it, especially when you don't want to.
00:10:06
Speaker
And that's it.
00:10:07
Speaker
That brings in the competition like this within athletes, even athletes like us, they're old, washed up 50 year olds.
00:10:15
Speaker
We learn to compete.
00:10:18
Speaker
And a lot of times victory comes to those, even in the field of play, like during a game that I'm not quitting, you know, I'm going to keep working.
00:10:27
Speaker
I know we're both tired right now, but I'm not giving into the tiredness.
00:10:31
Speaker
And, and what I sense in these people who have accomplished great things in sports, or we've had some businessmen on and business women on that do the same thing that accomplished great things is they almost compete against that feeling.
00:10:44
Speaker
Like when that,
00:10:45
Speaker
feeling arises in them stay in bed it's almost like that becomes their competitor to say like no shut up you know stop I'm not staying in bed you're not winning today I'm getting out of bed and and I think that we've learned to compete
00:11:01
Speaker
And athletes who are listening to this, you've learned to compete.
00:11:05
Speaker
You know how to do it.
00:11:06
Speaker
We just have to turn that competition sometimes inward to those inner voices, to that dog, as you said, within us that say, no, stay in bed.
00:11:15
Speaker
You need the rest.
00:11:16
Speaker
You know, you're tired or...
00:11:19
Speaker
or whatever it might be, just spend this hour playing video games.
00:11:24
Speaker
You've earned it.
00:11:25
Speaker
You've, you know, give into that and we lose, like we lose our best self, that self that we envisioned when we set our goals, we lose because we aren't competing against those inner voices, those inner temptations that want us to be comfortable and to remain where we are.
00:11:45
Speaker
Yeah.
00:11:46
Speaker
Yeah.
00:11:47
Speaker
But greatness is on the other side of that.
00:11:48
Speaker
Like if we could break through that and not give in, our goals don't care how we feel.
00:11:55
Speaker
So we shouldn't care.
00:11:56
Speaker
Like if we really want something, if we really want it this year,
00:12:01
Speaker
Compete against those things that are going to attempt to give in.
00:12:04
Speaker
And that, like you said, it's going to be that third week of January, right?
00:12:08
Speaker
When it becomes kind of normal, that burst of excitement is gone.
00:12:14
Speaker
That's when consistency is going to matter and when we have to start talking to ourselves and like, nope, I'm not giving in.
00:12:22
Speaker
I'm going to be different.
00:12:24
Speaker
And I just love that he brings that up.
00:12:26
Speaker
Any final thoughts on that?
00:12:28
Speaker
Yeah, I can tell you from a coaching perspective, one of the things that coaches will do, and I remember asking this several times of my coaching staff, and I've done it to myself, is that I try to put myself in the position of the other coach and saying, okay, knowing what I know about my tendencies, my staff's tendencies and my team,
00:12:53
Speaker
What would I do if I were them in this situation?
00:12:56
Speaker
Who would I attack?
00:12:58
Speaker
What part of our game is softer than the other?
00:13:00
Speaker
Right.
00:13:01
Speaker
Where are the holes in our in our army?
00:13:04
Speaker
And we know what they are, just like every general knows which one of the soldiers.
00:13:10
Speaker
Man, I this guy's I don't know that I trust him as much as I do this guy.
00:13:15
Speaker
So.
00:13:17
Speaker
what you do then as a coach is going into the next week, it's, okay, this is a weakness of we're soft here, we're soft here, we're soft here.
00:13:23
Speaker
Or this is a tendency that we have to, we do this a lot in these moments.
00:13:28
Speaker
We need to tighten this up.
00:13:30
Speaker
We need to strengthen this area.
00:13:31
Speaker
And then you try to address those during the week because you know your opponent is watching film on you and probably doing the same thing and writing down where are the holes in the armor?
00:13:41
Speaker
We got to attack there.
00:13:42
Speaker
So I think it'd be smart for us to do the same thing.
00:13:46
Speaker
We know, I think for the most part, or people may be close to us can help us with this if we're humble enough to ask for it, right?
00:13:53
Speaker
I've known you, Shad, for almost 30 years now, right?
00:13:57
Speaker
Over 25 years.
00:13:59
Speaker
And you know me well enough that if I were to say, okay, I'm really serious about this, Shad, you know me.
00:14:05
Speaker
What do you think are the things that I'm going to stumble or trip on?
00:14:09
Speaker
Where am I going to get offline?
00:14:10
Speaker
Here's where I think I'm susceptible to giving in to the lazy dog.
00:14:15
Speaker
What other things are there that you think and I need to be heads up on?
00:14:19
Speaker
Right.
00:14:20
Speaker
And if we if we kind of write those things down, our weaknesses, where it is, we know that.
00:14:25
Speaker
the lazy dog is gonna try to, might win, might get us, might attack that area.
00:14:31
Speaker
If that's sleep, waking up is really hard for some people, or it's going to bed at time is really hard, or drinking enough water, or whatever it is, right, that we give into a video game or TV or whatever, junk food or whatever that thing is.
00:14:47
Speaker
If we know what they are in advance,
Identifying and Overcoming Weakness
00:14:50
Speaker
and we're aware of those weaknesses, maybe that might help us when that starts to creep in, we can say, no, I was ready for you.
00:14:58
Speaker
I knew you were gonna come.
00:15:00
Speaker
You're trying to make your move right now.
00:15:02
Speaker
I'm not gonna let it happen.
00:15:03
Speaker
In fact, I'm gonna show you that I'm done with you.
00:15:07
Speaker
You are no longer part of my life.
00:15:09
Speaker
that I'm going to do the opposite of you.
00:15:11
Speaker
Does that make sense?
00:15:13
Speaker
And until you've sort of spit that part out of who you are as a person, because what happens eventually to these elite level people, not just in sports, in general, is that we, just you and me and people listening to this who have conquered and become good at anything, is that
00:15:33
Speaker
we start eliminating those things with positive habits and positive investment of time and investment of good energy.
00:15:42
Speaker
And that becomes who we are.
00:15:43
Speaker
We become elite.
00:15:45
Speaker
We become great.
00:15:47
Speaker
And you can't do that.
00:15:48
Speaker
I don't think we can fully do that until we recognize what our holes are, what our weaknesses are, what our temptations are, acknowledge those,
00:15:59
Speaker
and say, OK, they are going to try to bite me at some point.
00:16:02
Speaker
I'm going to be ready for them.
00:16:04
Speaker
And when they do, I'm not going to let them win.
00:16:07
Speaker
Right?
00:16:07
Speaker
Be proactive in understanding that, not just reactive for when they show their heads, and then, oh, shoot, nah, let them win.
00:16:15
Speaker
We'll stumble too much if we do that.
00:16:18
Speaker
Yeah.
00:16:19
Speaker
And maybe I'll close.
00:16:21
Speaker
with this thought, James Clear, who wrote Atomic Habits, he talked about the importance of when we're trying to create new habits, like instead of focusing on what we do, focus on who we are.
00:16:33
Speaker
And he said, there's just a ton of research that supports this.
00:16:38
Speaker
For example, to say, no, I am an early riser.
00:16:45
Speaker
That's who I am.
00:16:47
Speaker
I am a healthy eater.
00:16:49
Speaker
I am a hard worker.
00:16:51
Speaker
You know, there's something about that, that you take your yearly goals and you attach to it.
00:16:58
Speaker
It's part of your identity.
00:17:00
Speaker
You know, I am someone who works out.
00:17:05
Speaker
And it's important to make it kind of who we are and to say that to ourselves.
Identity-Based Habit Formation
00:17:12
Speaker
Like, no, I'm an early riser.
00:17:14
Speaker
I'm getting up.
00:17:14
Speaker
I'm not giving into this feeling of wanting to stay in bed right now.
00:17:19
Speaker
And I just think it's really important.
00:17:22
Speaker
I love what Brendan taught us there.
00:17:25
Speaker
It's no surprise that he's killing it right now in the NFL, doing such great things because of the fact that
00:17:33
Speaker
I just love that thought.
00:17:35
Speaker
Your goals don't care how you feel.
00:17:40
Speaker
You can come up with a great excuse to talk to your goals.
00:17:42
Speaker
Like, hey guys, I would love to do that.
00:17:45
Speaker
I would love to lose weight.
00:17:47
Speaker
this year, gosh, our neighbors brought us caramels.
00:17:52
Speaker
I love caramel.
00:17:54
Speaker
Your goals aren't gonna look at you and go, okay, no, okay.
00:17:58
Speaker
I won't allow those calories to have you gain weight because I understand your neighbors brought the, like your goals don't care.
00:18:07
Speaker
Figure out your goals, figure out the process, and then just be consistent.
00:18:12
Speaker
Focus on consistency.
00:18:15
Speaker
Your goals don't care how you feel.
00:18:17
Speaker
Yeah, I love that thought.
00:18:18
Speaker
I thought it would be a great thought to share with people as they try to win the hour this week and this month.
00:18:24
Speaker
Any closing thoughts on this, Dustin?
00:18:25
Speaker
No, I think that's it.
00:18:26
Speaker
It's a good, good first episode.
00:18:29
Speaker
I think you were spot on to make Brendan's comment the focus of today's episode.
00:18:34
Speaker
And hopefully, I mean, even as I'm talking it through with you, I've been thinking of some of the goals I've set.
00:18:40
Speaker
And as we've talked it through, I'm like, yeah, I got to address that differently.
00:18:43
Speaker
I need to approach that more focused.
00:18:46
Speaker
And you're right.
00:18:48
Speaker
There are going to be times I don't want to do it, but my goals aren't going to wait.
00:18:52
Speaker
So all I'm doing is spending time when I gave into the temptation.
00:18:57
Speaker
I'm not investing it.
00:18:59
Speaker
Oh, and I love that thought to close with that thought.
00:19:02
Speaker
Invest time this year.
00:19:03
Speaker
Don't just spend it.
00:19:05
Speaker
Yeah.
00:19:05
Speaker
Thanks, Dustin.
00:19:06
Speaker
And thank you everyone for joining the Especially for Athletes podcast this week.
00:19:11
Speaker
Eyes up, do the work.
00:19:14
Speaker
Thank you for joining the Especially for Athletes podcast.
00:19:17
Speaker
To learn more about Especially for Athletes organization, get a copy of our book, The Sportlight, or to bring our program to your team, school, business, or organization, visit us at especiallyforathletes.org.