This is one of the most important lessons I have learned over the years.

Simple but to the point.

The biggest obstacle you will ever face as a high-achiever...

YOURSELF

The more and more I am around the world of high performance, the clearer I am able to see what really matters most...

This thought was confirmed recently when I was having a conversation with a great coach who mid conversation said to me: "Max, I have been doing this for a long time and I am starting to realize that the physical, technical and tactical side of the game is only about 5%, the rest is all mental."

Numbers and percentages aside, what I took from that is they were beginning to realize what I have been seeing for a long time, and what James Kerr said in his book Legacy...

In any game played with the body, it is the mind that counts. 

There are lots of very wonderfully talented and gifted people in the world. What is it that separates the ones who use their talents and gifts versus the ones who don't? Their mindset...

It's like owning a Ferrari but not knowing how to drive it properly. I have a friend who recently bought a brand new Corvette and then was invited to...

I love to travel, and I recently had the pleasure of getting to go on an unforgettable trip to Costa Rica. It was an amazing experience in many ways. One because of getting to spend it with some of the most important people in my life. But also because I got to experience first-hand why Costa Rica is considered one of the happiest places in the world. This is what I want to share with you today...

Costa Rica has held its place at the top of many poles as one of the happiest places in the world. According to bestselling author Dan Buettner, in his book Blue Zone Happiness, Costa Rica is one of only fives places in the world which is considered a "Blue Zone". A Blue zone is a place where people are healthier, happier and live longer! After getting to spend a week in this place I came away feeling I found the secret as to why this is, and it can be summed up in two words: PURA VIDA!

In its simplest translation PURA VIDA means "Pure Life". People will use PURA VIDA to say hello, goodbye,...

I love to travel, and I recently had the pleasure of getting to go on an unforgettable trip to Costa Rica. It was an amazing experience in many ways. One because of getting to spend it with some of the most important people in my life. But also because I got to experience first-hand why Costa Rica is considered one of the happiest places in the world. This is what I want to share with you today...

Costa Rica has held its place at the top of many poles as one of the happiest places in the world. According to bestselling author Dan Buettner, in his book Blue Zone Happiness, Costa Rica is one of only fives places in the world which is considered a "Blue Zone". A Blue zone is a place where people are healthier, happier and live longer! After getting to spend a week in this place I came away feeling I found the secret as to why this is, and it can be summed up in two words: PURA VIDA!

In its simplest translation PURA VIDA means "Pure Life". People will use PURA VIDA to say hello, goodbye,...

I have heard this statement so many times: "I will believe it when I see it"

Now my intent here is not to criticize anyone who has ever said this before (I know I have said it as well), but rather to better understand what it means, and what it does for our mindset when we say it. 

You see, when we use the phrase "I will believe it when I see it", what we in essence are doing is convincing our minds that the only way we can truly believe the things that we want to have happen in our life, is for something in our external world to validate its truth. In other words, the only way for what you want to happen is to "see it", and if you don't "see it" then you won't "believe it". The problem with that is when we rely on our external world we are dependent upon things outside of our control. 

This has the power to create a negative mindset because when we don't see the things we want manifest into our lives quick enough, we have a habit of saying "I told you so..." to prove that we wer...

Have you ever jumped out of a plane before? I have and it was one of the scariest but most exhilarating experiences I have ever had. But that is not why I am writing this to you!

Whenever you jump out of an airplane you need a parachute, and a parachute only works when it is open. Obvious I know, but true. What is not as obvious is how the same principle works for our mindset. 

Just as a parachute only works when it is open, our minds work best when it is open as well. Open-mindedness is an amazing quality to have because it opens us up to the possibility that life possesses. When we live with a closed mindset, we are closing doors to opportunities before they have opened. Opportunities that could change the course of our life forever...

A movie that relates to the idea of an open v closed mindset is "Yes Man". The main character, Carl Allen is a bank loan officer stuck in a rut with a negative outlook on life. After attending a motivational event (that he did not want to attend)...

On April 23rd 1910, Theodore Roosevelt gave a speech at the Sorbonne in Paris titled the Citizenship of the Republic. In that speech there was one memorable passage that has continued to be a source of inspiration and has stood the test of time for more than 100 years...we refer to it now as "The Man in the Arena":

The Man in the Arena

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so ...

Hi there,

One of the biggest keys to being GREAT is not what most people would think...

The key to being GREAT is being GRATEFUL!

The reason is this, when you are GRATEFUL fear disappears and opportunities appear.

We live so much of our lives in fear and scarcity, especially in the world of high performance. I know because I have done it. We are conditioned as high performers to come from a place of scarcity and always be competing against something - opponents, other people, our teammates, ourselves, etc. We fear there isn't enough to go around (enough success, enough starting spots, enough wins, enough validation, enough love, the list goes on).

However, when we get beyond the fear and scarcity, we can choose to look at our environment in a different way. We can start to see it not just as a place to go and get something, but a place we can go full of opportunities to give something. This is the paradox of success...

"You can have everything in life you want, if you will just h...

I recently shared a Max Moment about The Most Dangerous Word in Our Language. So what I thought I would do today is juxtapose that with one of The Most Powerful Words in Our Language...

Before I do let me give you a little context. As a coach to high performers, I am constantly searching for ways to help the people I work with look at their situation in a different way and through a different lens. Because what got you to where you are today might be the very thing holding you back from where you want to go. This often takes a different level of thinking.

With that said I was recently having a conversation with a very successful leader who was sharing some of the problems they were facing in their world at the moment. To challenge them I asked a question that would require a different level of thinking. The answer they gave is for me one of The Most Powerful Words in Our Language...

After I asked the question, their response was simply this "Hmmm"...and after a long pause foll...