Life Advice from Woj
+ Controlling Your Inner Voice, Stubbornness & Success, Knowledge Acquisition & More
“Work isn't supposed to be easy, it's supposed to be gratifying.” - Ken Segall
Hey Coaches,
Here you go!
✍️ Articles
Woj’s Next Chapter: Why the Preeminent NBA News Breaker Walked Away - I thought the openness and honestly by Woj about his decision to leave ESPN was thought-provoking about what matters in life, especially this paragraph:
Cancer didn’t force him out, Woj insists. But it did bring some clarity. “I didn’t want to spend one more day of my life waiting on someone’s MRI or hitting an agent at 1 a.m. about an ankle sprain,” he says. In May, Woj traveled to Rogers, Ark., for a memorial for Chris Mortensen, the longtime NFL insider who died in March from throat cancer. Mortensen spent more than three decades at ESPN. When Woj arrived in Bristol in 2017, Mortensen was among the first to welcome him. Many ESPNers made the trip to Arkansas. What Woj was struck by was how many did not. “It made me remember that the job isn’t everything,” Woj says. “In the end it’s just going to be your family and close friends. And it’s also, like, nobody gives a s---. Nobody remembers [breaking stories] in the end. It’s just vapor.”
Paul Graham: The Right Kind of Stubborn - Venture capitalist’ Paul Graham wrote about how stubbornness relates to success, handling failure, being willing to change and reach any goal.
Instead of merely resisting change, you're driven toward a goal by energy and resilience, through paths discovered by imagination and optimized by judgement. You'll give way on any point low down in the decision tree, if its expected value drops sufficiently, but energy and resilience keep pushing you toward whatever you chose higher up.
🎙️ Podcasts
In The Arena: Neil Craig - ' Lead, or be led ' - Soccer/football Coach Neil Craig explains why we all have to make a decision to either choose to lead, or allow the challenge of your circumstance to lead you. [8/19/2024 - 91 minutes] Apple | Spotify
Huberman Lab: Dr. Ethan Kross: How to Control Your Inner Voice & Increase Your Resilience - Former Coaching Coaches’ podcast guest Ethan Kross shares research-supported, actionable protocols to help you shift your internal dialogue and accompanying emotional state, fostering greater happiness and resilience. I can rarely make it through a 3 hour episode, but this was great. [11/25/2024 - 189 minutes] Apple | Spotify | YouTube
"Mental time travel is a powerful tool—ask yourself how you’ll feel about this tomorrow, next week, or in ten years. It shrinks the overwhelming feelings of the present."
"We’re much better at giving advice to others than we are at taking that advice ourselves. That’s where distancing tools can help—like using your name to talk yourself through challenges."
"The ability to shift your emotional state is the foundation of resilience. The right tools—mental reframing, distancing, or even physical strategies—can transform how we navigate stress."
"Spending time in nature doesn’t just calm us; it’s cognitively restorative. Gentle stimuli like trees and birdsong give our overworked attention a chance to recover."
"Awe shrinks the self. When you stand before something vast and indescribable, your problems feel smaller, offering a powerful emotional reset."
"We can create emotional oases in our environments. Places or rituals that give us comfort and safety can be intentionally used during distress."
💭 Miscellaneous
Uniting every NFL head coach under one coaching tree (source):
Everyone is biased - whether they think so not:
🤟 Colby’s Favorites
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