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April 14, 2025 14 mins

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What truly separates champions from contenders? What powers you forward when motivation fades, when you're exhausted, and when unexpected setbacks threaten to derail everything you've worked for?

Coach Mikki takes us deep into the critical importance of mindset, not as a fleeting motivational boost, but as the fundamental foundation for sustained success in sports and life. Drawing from personal experience and powerful NFL comeback stories like the Patriots' historic 25-point Super Bowl deficit recovery and Peyton Manning's return from career-threatening neck surgeries,  Coach Mikki breaks down how elite performers transform devastating setbacks into remarkable comebacks.

This raw, passionate conversation explores why a three-star athlete with a five-star mindset will consistently outperform naturally gifted competitors who rely solely on talent. You'll discover practical strategies for training your mindset like you train your body with visualization techniques used by championship teams, methods to silence self-doubt, and ways to maintain peak performance under crushing pressure.

The most powerful takeaway? Your ability to speak to yourself rather than merely listening to your internal doubts may be your greatest competitive advantage. As Coach Mikki emphasizes, "Motivation gets you started, but mindset gets you to the end zone." Whether facing professional challenges, personal setbacks, or the equivalent of a crucial fourth-and-one play in your own life, this episode equips you with the mental tools to not just participate, but dominate.

Ready to transform your approach to obstacles? Listen now, and discover how to build the unshakable mindset that performs best when conditions are at their worst. Your next comeback starts here.

Start Strong - Finish Strong! - Let's Go! 
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4th and 1 Mindset with Coach Mikki 

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Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Okay, bring it in.
Bring it in, listen up, listenup, everybody, take a knee,
listen up.
Hey, I'm Coach Mickey andyou're here on 4thin1 Mindset,
and today we're not going totalk about just X's and O's.
We're going to talk about theone thing that separates the
champions from the contenders,that one weapon that's not going
to show up on a stat sheet,that one thing that is going to

(00:20):
help you win in every singlething that you do within your
life, the thing that's going tofuel you when things are rough,
when the odds are stackedagainst you, and every time you
want to make a comeback from asetback.
This one thing is what's goingto drive you to success, and
that's mindset.
I cannot tell you how importantmindset is.

(00:42):
I've seen it work in so manydifferent ways, in so many
different elements, and one ofthe things I want to talk about
today is how important mindsetis, based on the situation that
you're going through Now.
Mindset isn't about positivethinking.
It's not just repeatingaffirmations and hoping that

(01:02):
life's going to get easier.
It's not going to be that onetime you hear a motivational
speech and you're like I gotthis and I'm good.
Mindset is about being able todo the things, when all those
things aren't working, when youdon't have a good day, when
you're tired, where your effortlevel seems like it's sinking,

(01:26):
where you're under a lot ofpressure, where it feels like
the motivation is fading, andthen you experience a setback
that you didn't expect.
Mindset is what's going to bethe foundation of all of this
success.
Now, I've learned thispersonally myself and I've also
taught this on the field, andthe things I wanted to share
with you are the tools that I'velearned this personally myself
and I've also taught this on thefield, and the things I wanted

(01:46):
to share with you are the toolsthat I've used to help me get
through a lot of those momentsin my life, not only for me, but
I've also shared this with myguys on the field.
Because if you have the abilityto deal with a setback and
change your mindset to be acomeback, and everything that
you do is going to be a bonus,it's going to be a plus, it's

(02:10):
going to be a win.
But learning how to do thatsometimes is not the easiest
task, is it?
And we know that?
Because a lot of times, havingthe right mindset conflicts with
what's going on emotionally,and that's why it's so important
that you have the awareness tobe able to realize what's going
on and what's happening, to beable to change and focus and

(02:32):
bring your mindset to the placeit needs to be so you can take
it to the next level.
So the first thing I want totalk about is setbacks.
We all deal with setbacks.
I've dealt with setbacks.
And if you're a coach or ifyou're a player, I know you all
have had setbacks.
We all deal with setbacks.
I've dealt with setbacks.
And if you're a coach or ifyou're a player, I know you all
have had setbacks, because Ican't I guarantee you have not
had continual wins where you'venever lost a game.

(02:53):
And there's been times we'vehad setbacks, whether it's in
our relationships, whether it'sin our business, whether it's on
the field, and it can bedevastating it really can, but
what you do with it is the mostimportant thing.
You know some of the mostamazing setbacks that I can
think of, looking at it from anNFL standard, and it always

(03:17):
amazes me when I see thesethings happen.
Now I'm going to use the NFLbecause you guys know I'm a
football coach and I'm sure youhave your own stories, whether
it be in the NBA, whether it betennis, regardless of what it is
.
I mean, you know somebody whohad this incredible comeback on,
maybe boxing.
That was just so unexpected.
But what is the commondenominator here for people that

(03:39):
do have these comebacks?
It's mindset.
I mean, think about thePatriots, that Super Bowl game.
It was 28 to 3.
I mean, it was ridiculous.
It was a 25 unanswered pointcomeback, you know, with forced
overtime, and it was one of themost greatest comebacks in Super
Bowl history.

(03:59):
And that mindset is, eventhough the scoreboard looked
hopeless and nobody believed it,their execution rewrote that
story.
And then we've had other times.
Let's say, you've suffered fromsomething physical.
Well, peyton Manning came backfrom neck surgeries.
The doctors told him he maynever throw again.

(04:21):
He had four neck surgeries andhe lost his arm strength and he
was even released.
But he had a comeback.
I mean, he had a major comebackand he broke records with
enthusiasm and drive and gut andgrit.
And his mindset was you know,take your body back, take.

(04:43):
You know, do what you can.
If your mind's still in thegame, you can find a new peak.
Now, does that happen foreverybody?
No, but whatever you'restruggling with and whatever
you're doing, you can make it,so you can actually have a
comeback that's going to bebetter than what everybody
thought, and only you can dothat.
A comeback that's going to bebetter than what everybody
thought, and only you can dothat.
And I have seen things happenI've seen it over the years,

(05:05):
I've seen it personally wherethings have been told and said
that couldn't happen and someonehas put their mindset into it
so strongly to prove them wrongthat they were able to pull out
something that seemed impossible.
Setbacks are never an easything, they're just not.
It's one of those times where Ithink we feel defeated.

(05:27):
We feel like we can't get backup from what's happening.
It's constantly beingside-swiped and blitzed by a
linebacker and constantlyhitting the ground.
The the difference is is you'vegot to pick yourself up that
mindset of I'm not going to letthis keep me down.
I'm not going to allow this totake away what I want.

(05:48):
I'm not going to let whatever'shappening to me be the end-all
and the final whistle of what'shappening in my life.
The final whistle of what'shappening in my life.
And that leads me into yourlevel of effort, coming back

(06:09):
from different things that havehappened in your life.
It's going to take effort, andI know there's going to be times
where you feel overwhelmed oryou feel like giving up.
And let me tell you this it'snot talent that's going to push
you through, it's going to beyour mental toughness.
You know, one more rep, onemore play, one more chance, one
more time of trying it again byhaving things not work, gives

(06:32):
you the fuel and the knowledgeto know what you need to do
differently.
So having the mindset of takingthese things that are happening
and rearranging them into apoint where it's going to help
you in a most beneficial way isone of the most powerful things
you can do.
And let me tell you somethingI've seen this many, many times
on the field and even in life,where you can have a five-star

(06:56):
athlete, but they have atwo-star mindset.
They think, just because theymade it, just because of where
they are, they don't have tokeep doing anything else.
They think they can just skateon by and everything is going to
be great.
And that's not the way it works.
You have to have a mindset toknow that there's somebody else
out there that's constantlygoing to be driving for what you

(07:17):
have.
And again, we're alwayscompeting with ourselves.
But if you know for a fact thatyou need to do more than just
good enough, then you have gotto set that standard for
yourself.
Because I'll tell you whatyou're going to get beat every
time by a three-star athlete ifthey've got a five-star mindset
and fire in every single timethat they step out on that field

(07:40):
.
Right, and then what do we have?
We have pressure.
We always have the pressure ofthings happening.
Are we going to go for it?
Are we going to take that risk?
Are we going to be stepping outon that fourth and one, on the
time that we need to make thebiggest difference and knowing
that the odds are stackedagainst us?
And sometimes having pressureforces us to make decisions that

(08:02):
we normally wouldn't make if wecould stop and think about it.
But what can I tell you aboutthat?
Just prepare, prepare for it.
You know we don't step out onthe field to play a championship
game unless we prepare,especially knowing we're going
after somebody who's got to thesame place.
We are doing the exact samething.
Somebody is going to come outon top, and what is it?

(08:25):
It could be maybe they'vepracticed harder, maybe they run
their plays better, maybethey've got better coaching, but
none of that is going to win.
When you take a group of peopleand individuals that have got
the mindset that they're goingto win no matter what and that's
the same thing for you wheneverything is stacked against
you and things are happening.

(08:45):
So what if you're making abusiness that everybody else has
done?
Do it better, do it different,do things that no one else
thought you could do.
What if it's something whereyou're trying to do something
for yourself?
Set your mind to what you wantand go for it and don't allow
anything else to barrel throughand take that away from you.

(09:06):
Mindset is something that youhave to carry with you when the
motivation fades.
Motivation is going to get youstarted, but your mindset is
what's going to get you to theend zone.
It's what's going to get you toyour Super Bowl.
A lot of times we get thisrah-rah and we have all these
people saying, yeah, you've gotthis and you sound good and

(09:27):
you're ready to hit the groundrunning.
But when all that's gone andyou have the worst day of your
life and everything's going tocrap and everything's falling
apart, that's when you have todig down the deepest to get your
own motivation.
You have to be able to say I'vegot this, regardless of what's
happening, what's happening withwith around me, with people

(09:51):
that are doing stuff.
You have got to be your owninspiration and surround
yourself with people that willinspire you.
I mean, a lot of times like,just like a team, we have a
camaraderie, we have to lifteach other up, and, but there is
going to be moments whereyou're going to have a
camaraderie, we have to lifteach other up, but there is
going to be moments where you'regoing to have to lift yourself
up.
So I'm going to wrap this upwith this.

(10:13):
So how do you train your mindset?
It's just like lifting weights.
It's just like being prepared.
It's like doing anything else.
Stay consistent, keep showingup on the hard days.
Talk to yourself.
Don't listen to yourself, andwhat I mean by that is so many
times we have this little voicein our head that just keeps
eating at us and telling youcan't do this, you can't, this

(10:35):
isn't right, this isn't going tohappen.
Stop, just stop.
Talk to yourself and realizeyou've got this.
Can't you think you can dosomething?
Don't let fear be your loudestvoice.
Be what you understand andbelieve in yourself, be louder
than that and visualize thewinning.
We always rehearse things aregoing to go and too many times

(10:56):
we always worry about thingsthat may never happen.
Why not rehearse something thatmay be really good?
Rehearse the win.
A lot of times out on the fieldwith my guys if it's too hot,
because sometimes it gets reallyhot out here in Southern
California and we can't practiceout in the field because the
temperatures rise almost 10 to20 degrees hotter when you're
out on AstroTurf, especiallywhen you're dealing days that

(11:18):
are in the 120s.
But it doesn't stop us frompracticing, because what I do,
my guys, I do mental practice.
We go over everything mentallyand sometimes I think that's a
lot stronger than we actually goout and physically do it.
Why is that?
Because in our mental practiceyou never miss a pass.
You never miss a route.

(11:39):
Nothing ever goes bad, becauseyou're not going to visualize
yourself losing.
I mean, you're not going tovisualize yourself doing
something bad.
You're going to visualize whatis going to be great, what is
going to be strong, what isgoing to be the most important
thing that you can do that canmake you successful.
And, like I said before,surround yourself with people

(12:00):
who can hold you accountable andlift you up and hype you up and
be there for you, and if youdon't have someone, then write
things down for yourself.
I cannot tell you how manypost-it notes I have got around
my laptop, because sometimes Ineed that.
I can't call my friends everyfive minutes, but I have to
remind myself, and one of myfavorites that I have is success

(12:22):
Failure to failure withoutlosing your enthusiasm and that
is a favorites that I have issuccess failure to failure
without losing your enthusiasm,and that is a very powerful one
for me.
Another one that I have on herethat I have is I always find a
way to succeed.
You know, keep dominating andhaving fun and feed your mind,
just like you feed your body.
If you want a strong, healthybody, then you have to feed your

(12:44):
mind with strong, healthythings.
Read, listen, learn.
These are things that are goingto make you into somebody
extraordinary, and you guys havegot this.
I know you do.
It's one of those things whereyou're going to be able to
create and do things that younever, ever thought that you

(13:06):
could do, and it's going tosurprise you and you're going to
look back on yourself andyou're going to go.
This is pretty awesome.
I was able to accomplishsomething that no one else
thought I could do, includingmyself.
So go out there, train it,protect it, build it, because
this is the game of your life.
It's not going to wait.

(13:27):
You were built for fourth inone moments and you've got this
Be your own coach.
Go out there and go for it.
Bring it in Okay, bring it in.
Listen up, bring it in.
Bring it in.
Start strong and finish strongand dominate everything in
between.
I'm Coach Mickey, let's go.
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