December 4, 2025 • 15 mins
Today marks a major moment for the Mental Training Plan.
After helping athletes in 90+ schools across 14 states perform at their best, we’re officially expanding into the business world with the launch of MTP Biz — a mental performance division built specifically for high-performing leaders and teams.
In this episode, Ben shares the story behind the decision to move into corporate America, the imposter syndrome that held him back, and the conversations that made it clear:
We don’t have a football brain or a corporate brain. We have a human brain.
And human performance under pressure works the same everywhere.
You’ll hear:
- How burnout, pressure, mergers, and promotions mirror high-stakes sports
- Why tools that increase playoff wins and point differentials also improve corporate KPIs
- What the research shows about performance psychology in Fortune 100 companies
- The simple system we’ll use with businesses (assessment → alignment → training → application → reassessment)
- Why MTP Biz is only for high performers who want an edge
- A preview of next episode with new MTP Biz co-founder & Chief Performance Officer, Matt Hallock
If you're a business leader curious about bringing mental performance training to your organization, this is the place to start.
Next episode: A deep dive with Matt Hallock on what’s really happening inside corporate America and why this training is desperately needed.
As always: Make your plan and put it to work.
Are you an ATHLETE looking to take your training to the next level? Check out our website to learn more about 1-on-1 training opportunities:
mentaltrainingplan.com/athletes
Are you a COACH looking for an affordable year-round mental performance training program? Check out the MTP Academy available through our website:
mentaltrainingplan.com/teams
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker (00:00):
We've got some man, we've got some exciting
announcements over the next fourto five episodes.
Uh so as we as we continue togrow this thing, we continue to
branch out.
We've worked with athletes inover 90 schools across 14
different states.
Um, and we are going to beexpanding not only into the
business world, but also intothe higher education world.
(00:23):
Um, so more info to come withMTP Biz, MTP EDU, MTP Sports.
It's gonna be the sameframework.
Uh we say all the time.
You don't have a footballbrain, a golf brain, or a
corporate brain.
You have a human brain.
And if you want high-levelperformance, whether you're on
(00:45):
the mound or in the middle of amerger or in a boardroom, your
brain's got to show up everytime.
And that's why today we'reannouncing something huge.
Today, we are officiallyannouncing the launch of MTP
Biz, a mental performancedivision built specifically for
(01:05):
high-performing business teams,leaders, and organizations.
I'll be honest, that this hasbeen a long time coming.
For the past three years or so,I've had some people in my ears
saying, hey man, this would bereally good in the corporate
world.
And I hesitated to make thatjump.
(01:26):
I I've never worked incorporate America.
I was a teacher, a coach, aneducator.
I just I didn't feel like Ibelonged in that world.
But here recently, uh thisfall, actually, I was talking
with a friend who works incorporate leadership.
He he had been an individualcontributor for some time.
(01:48):
He's now a partner.
Uh he's now shifting fromactually doing some of the CPA
work to leading a little bitmore of the climate and the
change and leading people, notjust doing the work himself.
And as we were havingconversations about burnout, you
(02:08):
know, talking about how therewas a time for CPAs when tax
season was was pretty tough.
But then, you know, the therest of the year they they got
to rest a little bit, recover alittle bit, catch their breath.
And, you know, what he'sdescribing now with just all the
quarterly planning, all thepressure, all the year-round
(02:29):
stuff, and just the the constantgrind, you know, they're
they're experiencing a littlebit of burnout.
Uh, the you know, conversationsabout pressure, pressure to
perform, KPIs, you know, havingconversations with uh Matt
Halleck, who we're gonna talkwith in the next episode,
actually, about you know, thesethese young college kids who are
(02:52):
graduating, they're headinginto the workforce, and now
they're in these sales roleswhere there's pressure to
perform.
And there's there's some doubtin the back of their mind.
Do I really have what it takes?
Do I really know what the heckI'm doing?
What do I do with thisuncertainty?
Um, you know, companies thatare going through mergers, no,
(03:13):
no different really than uh anew coaching staff.
But that comes with, well,who's gonna be the offensive
coordinator?
Who's gonna be my positioncoach?
Who's gonna be the startingquarterback?
Whose system are we gonna run?
What are these meetings gonnalook like?
What are the expectations?
What's this new climate andthis culture gonna actually look
(03:35):
like?
What's this mean for meindividually?
Um, you know, folks that aredealing with promotions, you
know, position changes wherethey're they're no longer, you
know, what I would say in the inthe sports world, sometimes
that looks like somebody getsinjured.
It's kind of next man up.
Sometimes that looks like, youknow, I've been a coach, or I've
(03:58):
been a player, I'm now movingup to a coach, or I've been a
coach and I'm now moving up to acoordinator, or I've been a
coordinator and I'm now movingup to a head coach.
And with this promotion comes awhole slew of new
responsibilities.
And this this almost doesn'teven seem like the same job
anymore.
Um, you know, the justhigh-stakes presentations, it
(04:24):
hit me.
I say all the time, we don'thave a football brain or a golf
brain or a race car drivingbrain or a horse racing brain.
We just have a human brain.
And the exact same is true inthe corporate world.
We don't have a sales brain ora middle management brain or a
CEO brain.
We just have a human brain.
(04:45):
And once you learn how tocontrol your mind and body in
these high pressure situations,you can use that in any area of
your life.
Just like in militarypsychology, the skills and tools
that they use to perform at ahigh level, at the ultimate high
stakes where your life is onthe line, the lives of people
(05:08):
that you care about is on theline.
Just like that trickle downinto the sports world, sports
psychology naturally transfersinto business performance.
Yes, it's not the same asnecessarily your life is on the
line.
Yes, it's not the same as it'sgame seven of the World Series.
But it's the same wiring, it'sthe same stress response, it's
(05:32):
the same fight for clarity andconfidence and focus and having
energy under pressure and beingable to stay optimistic when
when you experience failure.
No, sales call is not the SuperBowl, but your nervous system
doesn't know that.
And at the end of the day,rejection hurts.
(05:54):
Failure stings and pressureshows up in the body.
And so I know this stuff worksin the sports world.
I can I can show you that whenteams train the mental game
intentionally, I can show youthe difference in playoff wins,
in point differentials, turnovermargins, free throw
(06:16):
percentages, serve percentages,confidence scores, anxiety
levels under pressure.
Like I can show you the datathat says this works.
I can show you the befores andafters, the individuals, the
teams across all sports, acrossall ages, across all competition
(06:37):
levels, and the same tools thatimproved measurable athletic
performance are going to improvemeasurable performance in
business.
It was amazing to me as Istarted diving in and I asked
the question, can we really dothis?
And I looked at the prime fivefirst because it was like I know
(06:59):
that in the athletic world,there has to be confidence, the
ability to focus, physicalcontrol, optimistic perfection,
motivation and mindset.
And I I just I got on Chat GPTand I was like, all right, show
me, help me, help me uncover theresearch, help me find the
(07:21):
articles, help me find the dataand the proof that this actually
is the same, that this actuallyworks.
And they came up with the sameresults.
Research literally shows thatthe same types of things that
help athletes perform at a highlevel also help businesses.
The main difference is thatinstead of the research being
(07:44):
done with professional athletesor Olympic athletes or Division
I college athletes, the researchhas been done in corporate
America, in Fortune 100companies, with Facebook, with
Google.
MTP Biz, this new divisionwe're launching, it's not for
(08:05):
someone who wants to just punchthe clock and coast.
Just like MTP on the athleticside isn't for the athlete who
just wants the jersey.
This is for high performers,people who want to be at their
best when it matters the most.
People who know I could beperforming better, but there's
something in the way.
(08:26):
There's an obstacle I need toovercome.
People who want an edge, that'swho we're gonna be helping.
To build MTP Biz the right way,I also knew that I needed
someone who's lived and breathedcorporate America from the
inside, someone who understandsleadership, talent development,
sales, burnout, high-performingteams, that really the human
(08:51):
side of corporate performance.
And in the in the next episode,you're gonna meet my
co-founder, Matt Halleck, uh,who's gonna be our CPO chief
performance officer.
He was a former athlete.
He spent decades in corporateAmerica in recruitment, sales,
talent management.
(09:12):
He's got deep experience alsoon the coaching side in the
travel softball world.
Uh, now does training withoptics and biomechanics and the
mental side of the game.
Just really has a servant'sheart.
He's a he's a leader and nowthe chief performance officer of
(09:34):
MTP Biz.
Next episode, you're gonna hearfrom Matt directly what he sees
in corporate America, whymental performance training is
the missing piece, and why thissystem translates so powerfully
into business.
So there are probably some ofyou who are thinking, all right,
(09:55):
this sounds interesting.
What's this actually look like?
And to be honest, the the modelis the same.
It doesn't matter if I'mhelping individual athletes, if
I'm helping entire teams, if I'mworking with coaching staffs.
Step one is the assessment.
And we're going to identifystrengths, gaps, stress points,
(10:15):
cultural dynamics.
There's three main areas thatwe want to look at.
One is performance, you know,looking at confidence, focus,
physical control, things likethat.
The second one is what we callconnectors.
That's think like leadership.
Think, am I able to work withmy other teammates?
(10:35):
Am I able to get along?
Are we able to perform at ahigh level?
Not just me perform at a highlevel.
And then the third element isthe environment.
Has there been an environmentcreated where success isn't just
hoped for, but it's been builtin such a way that success is
(10:56):
the expectation.
And so after that assessment,once we have some data and some
hard numbers to go off of, wehave an alignment meeting.
Leadership is going to meetwith MTP representative.
We're going to make sure thatwe're crystal clear on, we're
interpreting the data the sameway.
We've got alignment on theobjectives, the roles, the
(11:18):
priorities, figuring out whatsuccess looks like over the next
12 weeks.
And then we'll have a kickoffworkshop.
Usually the focus cycle,usually how to control your
mind, body, and emotions underpressure.
It's just something that in anhour, we can give 150 people,
(11:41):
350 people, however many peopleare in the room, their own
individualized custom plan to beable to control their mind and
body.
Get them excited about this,help them have that aha moment
where they're like, oh, thisactually works.
Maybe I should uh actually payattention to this.
(12:02):
Then we'll have a 12-weeksprint.
Think micro learning.
It's only 15 minutes a week.
There's going to be trainingvideos, but the the difference
from the difference between usand a lot of other companies out
there, we're not just going tohave you watch the video.
You're going to, yes, watch thevideo, but each person is going
(12:24):
to have their own workbook,come up with their own plan.
And then there's going to bemonthly touch points where in a
small group setting, we can say,so what'd you learn?
What have you tried?
Where are you stuck?
Did it work?
Did it not work?
Why did it not work?
What tools do you need?
What skills do you need?
Do we need to go deeper?
(12:44):
Do we need to go back?
You know, did we did we misssomething?
Did we skip something?
At the end of that 12 weeks, wedo a reassessment.
We're going to measure growth.
We're going to look at, youknow, where we were before,
where we're at now, compare thatto the objectives that we had,
with the goal of saying, okay,well, now that we've added tools
(13:08):
in the toolbox for these areas,you know, where do we go next?
What needs to be addressednext?
How do we equip your people sothey can perform at an even
higher level next?
Along with that guarantee thatif you don't see meaningful
improvement in the areas thatwe've targeted, we're going to
work with you until we do atabsolutely no extra cost.
(13:32):
This isn't a motivational talk.
This isn't a we come in and wegive a speech one time and ever
get everybody excited, and thenwe leave, and you have to figure
out how the heck you'reactually going to implement
this.
No, it's a performance system.
It's individualized training atscale.
It's practical tools that workeverywhere where humans perform
(13:55):
under stress.
It's the same stuff that we usewith football players, golfers,
race car drivers, equestrians,professional singers, the it
doesn't matter what theperformance is.
When your brain and your bodygo into that fight or flight
mode and you're no longer ableto perform at your best, what do
(14:19):
you do to flip that switch inyour amygdala to be able to get
back into performance mode?
So if you're a business leaderwho wants to explore bringing
mental performance training toyour team, reach out.
Be sure you listen to the nextepisode with our new chief
performance officer and mypartner in this new venture,
(14:42):
Matt Halleck.
Again, super excited that uhyou guys chose to listen in.
I know this episode was alittle bit shorter, but really
just wanted to give anintroduction.
Super excited about anotherannouncement that hopefully will
be coming the first of the yearas well.
But as always, until next time,make your plan and put it to
(15:05):
work.
We've got some man, we've got some exciting
announcements over the next fourto five episodes.
Uh so as we as we continue togrow this thing, we continue to
branch out.
We've worked with athletes inover 90 schools across 14
different states.
Um, and we are going to beexpanding not only into the
business world, but also intothe higher education world.
(00:23):
Um, so more info to come withMTP Biz, MTP EDU, MTP Sports.
It's gonna be the sameframework.
Uh we say all the time.
You don't have a footballbrain, a golf brain, or a
corporate brain.
You have a human brain.
And if you want high-levelperformance, whether you're on
(00:45):
the mound or in the middle of amerger or in a boardroom, your
brain's got to show up everytime.
And that's why today we'reannouncing something huge.
Today, we are officiallyannouncing the launch of MTP
Biz, a mental performancedivision built specifically for
(01:05):
high-performing business teams,leaders, and organizations.
I'll be honest, that this hasbeen a long time coming.
For the past three years or so,I've had some people in my ears
saying, hey man, this would bereally good in the corporate
world.
And I hesitated to make thatjump.
(01:26):
I I've never worked incorporate America.
I was a teacher, a coach, aneducator.
I just I didn't feel like Ibelonged in that world.
But here recently, uh thisfall, actually, I was talking
with a friend who works incorporate leadership.
He he had been an individualcontributor for some time.
(01:48):
He's now a partner.
Uh he's now shifting fromactually doing some of the CPA
work to leading a little bitmore of the climate and the
change and leading people, notjust doing the work himself.
And as we were havingconversations about burnout, you
(02:08):
know, talking about how therewas a time for CPAs when tax
season was was pretty tough.
But then, you know, the therest of the year they they got
to rest a little bit, recover alittle bit, catch their breath.
And, you know, what he'sdescribing now with just all the
quarterly planning, all thepressure, all the year-round
(02:29):
stuff, and just the the constantgrind, you know, they're
they're experiencing a littlebit of burnout.
Uh, the you know, conversationsabout pressure, pressure to
perform, KPIs, you know, havingconversations with uh Matt
Halleck, who we're gonna talkwith in the next episode,
actually, about you know, thesethese young college kids who are
(02:52):
graduating, they're headinginto the workforce, and now
they're in these sales roleswhere there's pressure to
perform.
And there's there's some doubtin the back of their mind.
Do I really have what it takes?
Do I really know what the heckI'm doing?
What do I do with thisuncertainty?
Um, you know, companies thatare going through mergers, no,
(03:13):
no different really than uh anew coaching staff.
But that comes with, well,who's gonna be the offensive
coordinator?
Who's gonna be my positioncoach?
Who's gonna be the startingquarterback?
Whose system are we gonna run?
What are these meetings gonnalook like?
What are the expectations?
What's this new climate andthis culture gonna actually look
(03:35):
like?
What's this mean for meindividually?
Um, you know, folks that aredealing with promotions, you
know, position changes wherethey're they're no longer, you
know, what I would say in the inthe sports world, sometimes
that looks like somebody getsinjured.
It's kind of next man up.
Sometimes that looks like, youknow, I've been a coach, or I've
(03:58):
been a player, I'm now movingup to a coach, or I've been a
coach and I'm now moving up to acoordinator, or I've been a
coordinator and I'm now movingup to a head coach.
And with this promotion comes awhole slew of new
responsibilities.
And this this almost doesn'teven seem like the same job
anymore.
Um, you know, the justhigh-stakes presentations, it
(04:24):
hit me.
I say all the time, we don'thave a football brain or a golf
brain or a race car drivingbrain or a horse racing brain.
We just have a human brain.
And the exact same is true inthe corporate world.
We don't have a sales brain ora middle management brain or a
CEO brain.
We just have a human brain.
(04:45):
And once you learn how tocontrol your mind and body in
these high pressure situations,you can use that in any area of
your life.
Just like in militarypsychology, the skills and tools
that they use to perform at ahigh level, at the ultimate high
stakes where your life is onthe line, the lives of people
(05:08):
that you care about is on theline.
Just like that trickle downinto the sports world, sports
psychology naturally transfersinto business performance.
Yes, it's not the same asnecessarily your life is on the
line.
Yes, it's not the same as it'sgame seven of the World Series.
But it's the same wiring, it'sthe same stress response, it's
(05:32):
the same fight for clarity andconfidence and focus and having
energy under pressure and beingable to stay optimistic when
when you experience failure.
No, sales call is not the SuperBowl, but your nervous system
doesn't know that.
And at the end of the day,rejection hurts.
(05:54):
Failure stings and pressureshows up in the body.
And so I know this stuff worksin the sports world.
I can I can show you that whenteams train the mental game
intentionally, I can show youthe difference in playoff wins,
in point differentials, turnovermargins, free throw
(06:16):
percentages, serve percentages,confidence scores, anxiety
levels under pressure.
Like I can show you the datathat says this works.
I can show you the befores andafters, the individuals, the
teams across all sports, acrossall ages, across all competition
(06:37):
levels, and the same tools thatimproved measurable athletic
performance are going to improvemeasurable performance in
business.
It was amazing to me as Istarted diving in and I asked
the question, can we really dothis?
And I looked at the prime fivefirst because it was like I know
(06:59):
that in the athletic world,there has to be confidence, the
ability to focus, physicalcontrol, optimistic perfection,
motivation and mindset.
And I I just I got on Chat GPTand I was like, all right, show
me, help me, help me uncover theresearch, help me find the
(07:21):
articles, help me find the dataand the proof that this actually
is the same, that this actuallyworks.
And they came up with the sameresults.
Research literally shows thatthe same types of things that
help athletes perform at a highlevel also help businesses.
The main difference is thatinstead of the research being
(07:44):
done with professional athletesor Olympic athletes or Division
I college athletes, the researchhas been done in corporate
America, in Fortune 100companies, with Facebook, with
Google.
MTP Biz, this new divisionwe're launching, it's not for
(08:05):
someone who wants to just punchthe clock and coast.
Just like MTP on the athleticside isn't for the athlete who
just wants the jersey.
This is for high performers,people who want to be at their
best when it matters the most.
People who know I could beperforming better, but there's
something in the way.
(08:26):
There's an obstacle I need toovercome.
People who want an edge, that'swho we're gonna be helping.
To build MTP Biz the right way,I also knew that I needed
someone who's lived and breathedcorporate America from the
inside, someone who understandsleadership, talent development,
sales, burnout, high-performingteams, that really the human
(08:51):
side of corporate performance.
And in the in the next episode,you're gonna meet my
co-founder, Matt Halleck, uh,who's gonna be our CPO chief
performance officer.
He was a former athlete.
He spent decades in corporateAmerica in recruitment, sales,
talent management.
(09:12):
He's got deep experience alsoon the coaching side in the
travel softball world.
Uh, now does training withoptics and biomechanics and the
mental side of the game.
Just really has a servant'sheart.
He's a he's a leader and nowthe chief performance officer of
(09:34):
MTP Biz.
Next episode, you're gonna hearfrom Matt directly what he sees
in corporate America, whymental performance training is
the missing piece, and why thissystem translates so powerfully
into business.
So there are probably some ofyou who are thinking, all right,
(09:55):
this sounds interesting.
What's this actually look like?
And to be honest, the the modelis the same.
It doesn't matter if I'mhelping individual athletes, if
I'm helping entire teams, if I'mworking with coaching staffs.
Step one is the assessment.
And we're going to identifystrengths, gaps, stress points,
(10:15):
cultural dynamics.
There's three main areas thatwe want to look at.
One is performance, you know,looking at confidence, focus,
physical control, things likethat.
The second one is what we callconnectors.
That's think like leadership.
Think, am I able to work withmy other teammates?
(10:35):
Am I able to get along?
Are we able to perform at ahigh level?
Not just me perform at a highlevel.
And then the third element isthe environment.
Has there been an environmentcreated where success isn't just
hoped for, but it's been builtin such a way that success is
(10:56):
the expectation.
And so after that assessment,once we have some data and some
hard numbers to go off of, wehave an alignment meeting.
Leadership is going to meetwith MTP representative.
We're going to make sure thatwe're crystal clear on, we're
interpreting the data the sameway.
We've got alignment on theobjectives, the roles, the
(11:18):
priorities, figuring out whatsuccess looks like over the next
12 weeks.
And then we'll have a kickoffworkshop.
Usually the focus cycle,usually how to control your
mind, body, and emotions underpressure.
It's just something that in anhour, we can give 150 people,
(11:41):
350 people, however many peopleare in the room, their own
individualized custom plan to beable to control their mind and
body.
Get them excited about this,help them have that aha moment
where they're like, oh, thisactually works.
Maybe I should uh actually payattention to this.
(12:02):
Then we'll have a 12-weeksprint.
Think micro learning.
It's only 15 minutes a week.
There's going to be trainingvideos, but the the difference
from the difference between usand a lot of other companies out
there, we're not just going tohave you watch the video.
You're going to, yes, watch thevideo, but each person is going
(12:24):
to have their own workbook,come up with their own plan.
And then there's going to bemonthly touch points where in a
small group setting, we can say,so what'd you learn?
What have you tried?
Where are you stuck?
Did it work?
Did it not work?
Why did it not work?
What tools do you need?
What skills do you need?
Do we need to go deeper?
(12:44):
Do we need to go back?
You know, did we did we misssomething?
Did we skip something?
At the end of that 12 weeks, wedo a reassessment.
We're going to measure growth.
We're going to look at, youknow, where we were before,
where we're at now, compare thatto the objectives that we had,
with the goal of saying, okay,well, now that we've added tools
(13:08):
in the toolbox for these areas,you know, where do we go next?
What needs to be addressednext?
How do we equip your people sothey can perform at an even
higher level next?
Along with that guarantee thatif you don't see meaningful
improvement in the areas thatwe've targeted, we're going to
work with you until we do atabsolutely no extra cost.
(13:32):
This isn't a motivational talk.
This isn't a we come in and wegive a speech one time and ever
get everybody excited, and thenwe leave, and you have to figure
out how the heck you'reactually going to implement
this.
No, it's a performance system.
It's individualized training atscale.
It's practical tools that workeverywhere where humans perform
(13:55):
under stress.
It's the same stuff that we usewith football players, golfers,
race car drivers, equestrians,professional singers, the it
doesn't matter what theperformance is.
When your brain and your bodygo into that fight or flight
mode and you're no longer ableto perform at your best, what do
(14:19):
you do to flip that switch inyour amygdala to be able to get
back into performance mode?
So if you're a business leaderwho wants to explore bringing
mental performance training toyour team, reach out.
Be sure you listen to the nextepisode with our new chief
performance officer and mypartner in this new venture,
(14:42):
Matt Halleck.
Again, super excited that uhyou guys chose to listen in.
I know this episode was alittle bit shorter, but really
just wanted to give anintroduction.
Super excited about anotherannouncement that hopefully will
be coming the first of the yearas well.
But as always, until next time,make your plan and put it to
(15:05):
work.
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