How To BREAK THE ADDICTION To Negative Thoughts & Emotions In 31 MINUTES | Trevor Moawad
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In this episode of Impact Theory, host Tom Bilyeu interviews Trevor Moawad, a renowned performance coach and author who challenges the conventional wisdom that positive thinking is the primary driver of success. Drawing on data from researchers at Georgetown and Harvard, including Christine Porath, Moawad reveals that negativity is four to seven times more powerful than positivity in influencing outcomes. Furthermore, verbalizing negative thoughts amplifies their impact tenfold compared to internal thought alone. This concept was tested during his tenure with elite programs like the University of Alabama under Nick Saban, where coaches realized they could not simply tell athletes to "be positive" when facing adversity; instead, they focused on eliminating externalized negativity such as complaining about circumstances or teammates. By stopping players from saying stupid things out loud—such as predicting failure before a game—the teams significantly reduced the probability of those negative events occurring, effectively neutralizing self-sabotage without relying on toxic positivity. The conversation delves into several historical and anecdotal examples illustrating how verbalized negativity can manifest in reality through subconscious programming. Moawad cites Bill Buckner's infamous error during the 1986 World Series, where he had previously stated his nightmare was letting a run score through his legs; by saying it out loud, he planted that specific fear in his subconscious, increasing its likelihood of happening. Similarly, basketball legend Pete Maravich predicted dying at age forty from a heart attack and subsequently died exactly as described. Another harrowing story involves a man who froze to death inside a refrigerated boxcar despite the temperature being only 56 degrees; by repeatedly writing "I'm becoming colder" in his panic, he psychologically convinced himself of an inevitable outcome that physical reality did not support. These cases underscore Moawad's argument that what we say out loud acts as a command to our subconscious mind, making it crucial to control one's language rather than hoping for positive results through mere affirmation. Moawad introduces the concept of "neutral thinking" and behavior modification over emotional regulation alone, arguing that change begins with shifting actions before feelings catch up. He shares an inspiring story about his father hearing a magazine entrepreneur who scored 1480 on the SATs despite failing out of high school; years later, it was revealed he had actually received incorrect scores and only got a 740. The entrepreneur's life changed not because of the test score itself, but because acting like someone with that intelligence—going to class, engaging with teachers, and changing his environment—created new opportunities. This aligns with Moawad's philosophy that behavior dictates success rather than feelings or past failures predicting future outcomes. He emphasizes that athletes achieve greatness by deciding what they are willing not to do: avoiding certain foods, skipping distractions like television during travel, and refusing to engage in negative conversations. These disciplined choices create the necessary conditions for high performance, proving that finite resources require focused commitment rather than an illusion of infinite choice. The discussion also addresses the "illusion of choice," a concept Moawad developed with NBA legend Vince Carter after observing how elite athletes maintain longevity through strict behavioral limits. Carter explained at age 37 that while he could technically slam dunk or eat fast food, doing so would compromise his knees and defense; therefore, to remain in the league, he had to limit those options entirely. Moawad applies this logic to relationships, noting statistics suggesting married couples talk only twenty-seven minutes a week on average—a figure far too low for healthy connection unless individuals intentionally make time through behaviors like turning off TVs during commutes or engaging directly with children. He argues that hope is not passive but an active habit cultivated by believing one can influence their future regardless of past trauma, such as divorce or health crises. Ultimately, Moawad advocates demystifying mental performance for everyone, asserting that success comes from controlling inputs like media consumption and speech while committing to behaviors that align with desired outcomes rather than waiting for motivation or luck.
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If somebody says something out loud,
it's 10 times more [music] powerful than
if they think it.
And then as we started to study the
data, particularly data that was just
[music] reinforced by Christine Porath
from Georgetown and Harvard, that
negativity is a multiple of four to
seven times [music] more powerful than
positivity.
So, think about that. If I say something
out loud, it's 10x. [music] If it's
negative, it's four to seven times more
powerful. Just if you follow the data
and you say stupid out loud,
ultimately you're predicting and
perpetuating exactly what you don't want
to have happen. And who's always in
control of what Tom Bilyeu says?
Hey everybody, welcome to Impact Theory.
Today's guest is a former all-conference
two-sport college athlete who has turned
himself into one of the most
sought-after performance coaches on the
planet. He's worked with 11 number one
draft picks and helped roughly 700
world-class athletes prepare for the NFL
draft. He's worked closely with some of
the most prestigious NCAA football
programs and coaches, including Nick
Saban, one of the most heralded coaches
college football has ever seen. Proving
that his methods work in real life, he's
been part of eight national championship
games and worked with top performers
across virtually every major sport there
is. He's helped train tennis players,
golfers, Major League Baseball players,
NBA players, UFC fighters, US Special
Forces personnel, and even some of the
highest-achieving CEOs in business
today. Sports Illustrated named him the
sports world's best brain trainer, and
he co-starred with future Hall of Fame
quarterback Russell Wilson on ESPN's QB
to QB, as well as appearing in ESPN's
hit show Draft Academy. He's been
featured by countless major media
outlets, including USA Today, NPR,
Sports Illustrated, Fox Sports, and many
others. So, please help me in welcoming
the man the highest performing people
and organizations around the globe bring
in when they need that winning edge, the
CEO of Limitless Minds and the author of
It Takes What It Takes, Trevor Moawad.
[applause]
Trevor, how are Hey, man.
Welcome. Great to be here. Yeah, it's
great to have you. What a privilege.
Anybody that is deep into the world of
the fundamentals of thinking has me at
hello. And I love that that's basically
the thrust of your book is there is a
way to think that will be useful for
you, and there's a way to think that
won't be. Yes. All right. So, now diving
into um there's really two concepts that
I think set you apart. You've got just
how powerful negative thinking is and
some of the stats around that, which are
pretty terrifying, and some of the
stories that you have on that, which are
I think will really shake people out.
Yeah. Um and then, of course, there's
neutral thinking. So, I think that's
sort of uh the next one two that we
should walk through. Yeah. And and and
then, I think probably the third part of
that would be sort of the impact of
behavior, you know, of identifying
behavior. But, what I learned
ultimately, my dad was the president of
the National Association for
Self-Esteem. Most people probably don't
even know there is that. And he was one
of the first authors of Chicken Soup for
the Soul. So, for anybody that's
probably above 35, they would know that.
But, the power of positive thinking
never resonated with me.
And
when I was young, and I was 18 years
old, and I dropped out of college, and I
was diagnosed with an initial diagnosis
of cancer, and it turned out to be
shingles and a number of other things,
I did start to understand quickly that,
while I don't know if positive thinking
works all the time, and that the data is
anecdotal, I do know that negative
thinking does work and it works
negatively.
And one of the things as I would start
at Alabama and I'd start with the
Jacksonville Jaguars and I'd start with
the Miami Dolphins. I started to realize
and even looking back to a young age
that nobody wants to be told to be
positive. The positive thinking is
probably the number one reason this
industry has not grown in my 44 years of
living. Positive thinking in many cases
repulses people. You're telling me to be
positive and I'm going through a
divorce. You're telling me to be
positive and I threw three
interceptions. You're telling me to be
positive and I got to deal with this
president. You're telling me to be
positive and I got this current
situation. You're telling me to be
positive and I got this health
situation. So then what's the
alternative? Well, the alternative has
always been negative.
So when we would get to the University
of Alabama, you have a this finite
window of time. How long could you
influence Um everything comes down to
influence. Would you agree?
Yeah. Whether you're it's your family,
your kids, whatever the circumstances or
the situations. So the NCAA gives you 22
hours to influence your players over a
week.
And so when you look at the human
performance, you look at nutrition, you
look at strength and conditioning, you
look at fatigue signs, you look at all
these different things.
Coach Saban believed that there had to
be some emphasis on psychological
education.
And so how are we going to do that and
how is it going to be efficient? Well,
most people think of sports psychology
as treating somebody who has a problem.
Mhm.
Nick Saban didn't look at it that way.
He looked at how do we make our best
players better?
How do we take great players and make
them greater and then how do we have an
educational platform for all 120
players?
And a college football team is a
business. It's 120 employees and you
lose 35% of the is employees every year
and it's an EBITDA driven business where
when you succeed, you get more
sponsorship and as you get more
sponsorship, you make more money and as
you make more money, the school makes
more money, and everybody benefits. And
it all happens from winning.
But if your best players leave every
year in that 35% and they take their
great behaviors and their great habits
and their great mindset with them, then
you're in trouble. So, you have to
develop programmatics. You have to
develop a system. I mean, you look at
Quest and what you guys did that
ultimately when you were going to sell
it or you're going to evolve, that there
had to be if we're going to create the
ultimate metabolic type of food or we're
going to limit like the recipe has to be
the same so you're not the only one that
can cook it.
So, ultimately psychologically, we had
to come up with a plan for everybody. I
think that learning how to meditate and
regulate your breath is important, but
to me I think that's AP chemistry. And
we need an eighth grade version. Where
we just know, okay, that there's a a a a
a table of elements. And we need the
basics. And And so, that's what we did.
When we started to study, what we
learned was that negative thinking was
the most powerful
element that our players were combating.
That negative thinking was weaponized
weaponizing them against them. So, how's
negativity carried? Well, is it your
internal thoughts? Well, if you're
dealing with trying to change internal
thoughts, then you got to go to
affirmations and you got to go to
imagery, you got to go to visualize it.
Very difficult skills.
Well, we started to look at the
externalization.
Well, if somebody says something out
loud, it's 10 times more powerful than
if they think it.
And then as we started to study the
data, particularly data that was just
reinforced by Christine Porath from
Georgetown and Harvard, that negativity
is a multiple of four to seven [snorts]
times more powerful than positivity.
So, think about that. If I say something
out loud, it's 10x. If it's negative,
it's four to seven times more powerful.
So, when I say negative things out loud,
it's 40 to 70 times more likely that
that will happen or cause a result that
won't be good for me than if I just
didn't say anything.
So, as we were going into our second
year at Alabama and we were going into
our first year at Florida State and we
were ultimately going into our second
year at the University of Georgia, we
made a bet. What if we could just get
our players to not say stupid things out
loud?
What if we could just do that? Not teach
any element of positive thinking, but
eliminate conversations about the heat,
complaining about coaches, complaining
about circumstances, complaining about
situations, verbalizing negativity. But,
we weren't going to lie to them and say,
"Hey, be positive." We just taught them
the data. And then what we did was some
of the things that you you notice in the
book. The stories in and around
negativity are incredible.
Tell us some. Bill Buckner was one that
took my breath away.
So, so Billy Buckner, who just passed
away recently, was an incredible
eight-time Gold Glove, a great baseball
player for the Boston Red Sox.
Well, he made a mistake in sports that
would be one of the biggest sport
bloopers in history. And in 1986, he let
the game-winning run score on a ground
ball through his legs that ultimately
would give the Mets the World Series.
Mhm. Now, I was just watching an ESPN
E:60 Jeremy Schaap story and I saw an
interview that was done in 1990 that
resurfaced in 1995 where Buckner was
interviewed 12 days before the World
Series and he said, "You know, the
dreams are to win,
you know, to win the World Series. And
the nightmare would be for me to let the
game-winning run score on a ground ball
through my legs."
You know, and then ultimately that's
exactly what would happen. Now, by
saying that out loud, what did he do? He
didn't make it happen, but he increased
the probability.
And this is what I want people to
understand. Your internal thoughts are
all over the place. I I want to push on
that. Do you think that he makes it more
likely because it's going to subtly
influence his behavior or because you're
talking to some magical deity that then
says, "Well, you said it and so I'm
going to make it happen." I think that
what he did is a subconscious plant.
By verbalizing it and knowing that it's
10 times more powerful, he's planting it
in his subconscious. He's not He doesn't
want it to happen, but it becomes
something that's ultimately on his mind
and he gave it more power by verbalizing
it. And then wasn't there somebody that
said, "Oh, I I worry that I'm going to
retire and die at 40 of a heart attack"?
Right. So, so Pistol Pete Maravich, a
basketball player. I'll give you two
other examples, but but he was
interviewed at 26 years old and he said,
"You know, I don't want to play 10 years
of pro basketball and die at the age of
40 of a heart attack."
Well, he played 10 years of pro
basketball and in Pasadena, California,
died of a heart attack at 40. There's
another great story that I saw
um from a magazine called Success
Unlimited 1973. A guy is hired to fix a
refrigerated boxcar in back of a train.
He goes into the train. He panics, gets
himself locked inside the boxcar. So,
now he's pounding on the door. There's
nothing to do. He starts to panic and
thinks he's going to freeze to death. He
finds a pen, he starts writing down Tom
what's going through his mind and he
writes down, "I'm becoming colder." As
people, one of the things we do to
ourselves is observe and report. "I'm
not playing well. I'm having a bad day.
We're having a bad quarter. My marriage
isn't going well." We observe and
report. "Still colder now," he writes.
"Nothing to do but wait. Half asleep, I
can hardly write. Finally,"
he says, "these might be my last words."
And I'll show you the article he They
open up the boxcar many hours later and
they find him and he's dead.
But the temperature inside the boxcar
was 56°.
That's so crazy. The freezing apparatus
was broken. There was plenty of air in
the boxcar. There was no physical reason
for his death. The best they could say
is somehow he talked himself into dying
and as you know, the book covers the
psychogenic death in and around the
Korean War.
When the Korean War, 1/3 of all American
POWs died and they said that one of the
things that was done in the POW camps
was the negativity. They manufactured
articles about the United States being
bombed. They withheld all positivity.
They didn't give them any mail. Believe
it or not, there are like
uh regulations for POW camps throughout
the world. And ultimately, they filled
up these healthy American soldiers with
all this doubt. Uh uh
a priest would end up calling it
give-up-itis.
And healthy American soldiers over a
period of days would walk over to a
corner, sit down, and die of broken
hearts.
So, negativity is the most powerful
thing we're combating. Look at our
politics today. A positive message
versus a negative message. It's no no no
chance. Have you ever read Man's Search
for Meaning? I haven't read that. Tell
me about it.
going to love it. So, Man's Search for
Meaning, Victor Frankl's in a
concentration camp. Actually in multiple
If I remember right, he was in five
different concentration camps. Yes. And
ultimately, um he says that he you could
tell within 72 hours when someone was
going to die because they would give up.
Yep. And he said, "Once they gave up,
then it was a 72-hour clock. They no
longer knew why they were fighting and
and they would just die."
Right. And he was like, "But the people
that kept a mental image of what they
were suffering for, like what it was
that we're going to do once they got
out, for their family, for whatever,
he said that they would push through.
And it just I mean, look, there's
obviously a million and one reasons to
die in a concentration camp. But the
fact that even in the concentration
camp, they could go I 72 hours, we can
peg it
Right.
because we've seen that person give up.
Like, that's just crazy to me.
Well, and and and I just think when when
I think about being 7 years old in the
Tacoma Golf and Country Club, and
walking off the golf course, and my dad,
you know, everybody call Mr. Positive
and this and that. But in fairness to my
dad, when he was raised and he was
teaching, the only thing was positive
and negative. So, if you weren't
negative, you had to be positive.
But that just never made sense to me.
And if we could just learn how to not be
negative, how to not externalize
negative, then ultimately that would
help them more than ever trying to be
told to be positive. I love what you
say, "Just shut your mouth."
I thought that was You've said it even
more aggressively than that.
More aggressively. I I I think it's
super powerful. So, what do you
mean by that? Why is that so critical?
Well, if if just if you follow the data
and you say stupid out loud,
ultimately you're predicting and
perpetuating exactly what you don't want
to have happen. And who's always in
control of what Tom Billy you says?
You're always in control of what you
say. People say, "Yeah, but I can't" The
thinking everybody's up in the
thoughts.
I've been with people the night before
Super Bowl, the night before national
championships, eight different times,
where the doubt's there, but we're not
externalizing it. And then I'll have
people say, "Well, what? You want me to
lie?" I'm not telling you to lie.
I'm telling you that if you look at the
information and you say,
"I don't want to be here today. I hate
this job. God damn, they" Or or you look
at Muhammad Sanu, they're down they're
up 28-3 in the Super Bowl playing
against Tom Brady, and he looks at his
friend and says, "Hey, man, they still
got Tom Brady on their side. There is no
lead that's safe."
Well, why are you saying that? You
know, and and you're almost predicting
that that's what's going to happen. Now,
ultimately, not saying stupid things out
loud is you have to create an
alternative.
So, I started thinking about a car.
If a car's going backwards, it can't
automatically go forward.
So, it has to to shift into neutral, and
then it stops. Then at that point, you
can either go forward by changing your
behavior, or you can go backwards by
doing the same stupid you were just
doing. Neutral is truth-based thinking.
What's the truth?
Okay? In 2010, you're running a a a data
loss company, right? You've been doing
it for 8 years. You graduated from USC
film. You're That's not what you want to
do. You're 60 lb overweight. You lose
your weight. You find two buddies, and
you say, "Hey, man, uh we're going to go
into my kitchen. We're going to find a
way to to create a product that's going
to be different than anything anybody
knows." Well, I'm educated in this
because I partnered with Gatorade Sports
Science Institute at IMG, and I you
know, and you created a value
proposition that ultimately, you know,
based upon you didn't let your past
predict your future.
You used your past was real, but I want
to be do something different. This is
This is a business. This is This is a
really interesting part of what you say,
that the past isn't predictive.
Correct. So, talk to me more about that
cuz I would say most people would say
that the past is definitely predictive.
Right, which is great, but they'd be
wrong.
Right? So, they would be wrong, and the
simple fact of the matter is the past is
real.
Okay? So, the only thing that makes it
predictive is if my behavior stays the
same.
So, I'll give you a great story. Um so,
we both grew up in Tacoma,
and there used to be a a thing called
Toastmasters. I don't know if you
remember Toastmasters, but Toastmasters
was a local, regional, and a national
speaking group for anybody that wanted
to get better at speaking.
Well, my dad [clears throat] had gone to
a Toastmasters early on and heard one of
the most successful magazine
entrepreneurs in the world speak. He
comes back and tells me, "I just had a
chance to hear one of the most
successful magazine entrepreneurs in the
world uh speak." And he said, "When are
you taking your SATs?" I'm taking it
next year. He said, "Well, this guy was
failing out of high school. He was
struggling. He was raised by a single
mom in the Midwest, but he promised his
mother he would take a test called the
SAT."
So, he takes the SAT in May of his
junior year, doesn't expect anything,
gets the score back in June. Now, the
SAT, which I don't know how many your
population know, but it's it's a
standardized test with a math part and a
verbal part. Both are scored out of 800
points.
Well, this guy takes it. He's He's
bombing. He's failing out of school. He
doesn't expect anything as he's telling
the story at Toastmasters. Well, he gets
a 1480 out of 1600.
So, he's stunned, right? That would be
for the smart people that listen to your
podcast.
yeah. Right, cognitive dissonance,
right?
a 900 on my SATs just to give people a
frame of
Right, and I got a 10 A 990, excuse me.
And I got a 1010, right? I was just,
hey, four digits, it was a miracle,
right? And and but it's a hard test and
it you you know, it's a variety of
different things. So, he gets the score
and his mother, doing what any mother
would do knowing her kid, says, "Did you
cheat?" Right? She knows her son and he
says, "I swear to God I tried to cheat,
but the way the numbers were in the
scantrons and the bubbles, you couldn't
cheat." So, she says, "You mean to tell
me you really got that score?" He said,
"Yeah, I got the score." So, he's
stunned, Tom. So, as my dad is telling
me this story, I'm like, "Okay." So, he
says, "All right." So, what he decides
is because he realizes he's smart and
he's going into his senior year, he
says, "I'm going to go to class." Now,
he starts to go to class, he doesn't
hang out with who he did when he didn't
go to class.
All right? Teachers see him in class and
they said, "Hey, maybe Franklin Pierce,
maybe we missed the boat on this kid."
So, they start to treat him differently.
Well, as the guy would tell the story,
he graduates, goes to a community
college, goes on to Wichita State, goes
on to the Ivy League and becomes this
massively successful magazine
entrepreneur. So, I said, "Okay. Well,
the guy was always smart, he just needed
a standardized test to unlock it." My
dad said, "No, that's not the story and
this is what I want you to understand."
He said, "12 years after all this guy's
success, he gets a letter in the mail
from Princeton, New Jersey."
Doesn't think anything about it. The
next day his wife says, "You're going to
open it?" He opens it. True story, turns
out the SAT board will periodically
review their test-taking procedures and
the policies. The year he took the test,
he was one of 13 people sent the wrong
SAT score.
His actual score was a 740 out of 1600.
And he said, "People think my whole life
changed when I got the 1480. But what
happened? My whole life changed when I
started acting like a 1480. And what
does a 1480 do? He goes to class."
Well, this is one of the first stories I
would share when I had my opportunity at
Alabama, Florida State, or Georgia. So,
A, your language is powerful, but number
two, your behavior is way ahead of your
success.
And so many people let their feelings
dictate what they do as opposed to throw
your behavior out there. Russell
Wilson's 5'10. He shouldn't be playing
pro football, but he behaves like the
best quarterback in the country and he's
done that since before he was at that
level and then his feelings and emotions
and his skill caught up to that
behavior. I think the lesson my dad was
trying to teach me um ultimately was in
addition to my language, what I do, not
how I feel about my past, is going to
determine who I am in the future. And
that's what I think neutral thinking is
and I think neutral thinking isn't just
thinking, I think it's behavior and I
think it's language. And so, your
behavior is what's going to change you.
But you also have to start by asking
yourself, what do I want and why do I
want it? Why don't I have it?
You know, what am I willing to do to get
it? And I do think in in terms of
listening to to one of your earlier
podcast, I do think there's value in
writing things down.
But in a really simple way.
Um I've learned probably the most things
through the best athletes in the world
and Michael Johnson, who had the gold
shoes.
I'll never forget Drew Brees, we're
we're training for the NFL combine in
2001. There's 18 guys. Michael just
finished winning his fourth gold medal
and he comes in and he's just just a
badass dude.
Fastest man alive at that Fastest man
alive at that point. Um he had just run
uh the 4318.
Um you know, and then when he ran the
19.3, it was uh 26 mph, the fastest the
fastest 50 to 150, he ran 9.1 flat.
So, all these athletes were in awe of
Michael.
[snorts]
And I I think Drew at the time says,
"Hey man, do you set goals?"
He said, "Yeah." He said, "Where do you
learn?" He said, "What do you mean where
do I learn?" He said, "Where do you
learn? Like do you learn in college?" He
said, "I didn't learn in college."
He said, "Did you learn like smart
goals?" Like what the are smart
goals? You know, and smart goals are
specific, measurable, attainable,
realistic, and with the time frame.
Michael said, "When I would go into
Safeway,
I recognize that if I walked into
Safeway and I wrote eight things down, I
would walk into Safeway and I'd walk out
of Safeway in 5 minutes. If I walked
into Safeway and had nothing written
down, I would be in there for 20 minutes
and I'd find myself on aisle eight and
I'd be anxious and I'd be nervous and
I'd be, 'Why am I looking at the Wheat
Thins and the Ho Hos when I know I don't
need any of those things?'" And he said,
"So, because I wrote it down in Safeway
and it worked, I figured why would I be
any different about my athletic career?"
And I think that that's the level that
we need to educate people. I hope it
takes what it takes.
Basically, is an introduction to
self-help. That
when I look at mindfulness being the
brand and and Headspace being a
billion-dollar valuation, and I sit
there and think,
at you know, 44 years old and growing up
in this my whole life, the only time I
can meditate is at the end of church.
It's such a challenging skill. And is it
important? Absolutely, it's important.
Do our affirmations important?
Absolutely, they're important. Are
changing from the inside out important?
Yes, but they're not the starting
points.
Don't say stupid out loud. Be
mindful of what you consume. If I watch
3 minutes of news that increases my
probability by 27%, I'm going to say I
had a shitty day. That's crazy. Right?
When I was going through and you know,
when I was going through uh divorce, had
a lawsuit, had some health challenges,
all these different types of things, if
I'm listening to Jake Owen or Sam Hunt,
I love new country, but new country
makes me just want to go run and jump
off a cliff.
You know, it makes me think I'm never
going to meet another girl ever again in
my life, which I hope is not true.
You know, and and so, what are the
things that are in our control? What we
watch when we get home.
What we listen to when we're in our car.
Who we talk to when we get on our cell
phone, and what we say out loud always
as we speak. And I think that those are
the powerful things, and ultimately our
behavior is what's going to define our
success. Yeah, I love that, man. It
really does all come down to behavior,
and that all of this boils down to what
you do on a day-to-day basis, which
brings me to a concept that you got from
your dad about hope and how powerful
that is.
How can people use hope? Why does it
matter? How does that fit into this
equation?
Yeah, I I I think my dad's belief was
when you become helpless, you become
hopeless.
And when I feel like I can control my
behavior, when I feel like I'm in
control of even if I'm going through
cancer,
even if I'm going through a difficult
challenge, even if I'm going through a
reorgan a business,
you know, if if I still feel like, okay,
this is not optimal, but there's
something I can do, then I'm helpful to
myself. And when I'm helpful, I'm
hopeful.
And when I'm helpless, I'm hopeless. So,
my dad's belief always was to make hope
a habit.
And and that hope is the most powerful
medicine that we all have. And then I
think we have to believe that we can
influence our future.
You know, we've got to believe. I
believe that no matter what I'm facing,
I can influence my future. That just
because my first marriage didn't work,
that doesn't mean my second marriage
won't. But it's incumbent upon me to be
better.
Right? And that's where if I'm spending
time, well, she didn't do this, she
didn't do There's nothing I can do about
that.
Right? But that's true, and that's where
you're talking about, well, the past
feels predictive.
Right? Well, I thought, you know, hey,
what what are you going to do to be
different going forward? But so many
people think the self-help industry is
about things you do.
I think one of the things that makes
athletes so incredible is what they're
willing not to do.
What they're willing not to say.
What they're willing not to eat.
What they're what what they're willing
not to consume. What they're willing not
to watch. That's what makes Think about
it's January 2020, what are five things
you cannot do right now that will
instantly make your life better. Talk to
me about the illusion of choice. Like
that's so powerful.
You know, it was it was really
fascinating. So,
um
I was um you know, obviously I've worked
in the sports world for a long time and
I was my first NBA team was the Memphis
Grizzlies.
And guys love college football and Vince
Carter, uh who's 42 now, same age as Tom
Brady and still playing in the NBA,
plays for Atlanta. Vince was about 37
at the time.
And we had just had three players
arrested at one of the programs I was
headed to in one night. Like we hit our
quota for her like for a night and Vince
and I were talking, he loved college
football and he said said he said how
many of those guys travel and play in
the NBA or in the NFL? And I said
probably seven out of 10 and he said and
isn't it crazy they think they can do
whatever they want and still make it to
that level?
I said, what do you mean? He said He
said, well, I'm 37, I'm still playing in
the NBA, you think I can do whatever I
want? I said, what do you mean? Yeah, I
do think you can. He said, no, my
choices are finite. I said, what do you
mean? Like choice is an illusion? He
said, choice is absolutely an illusion.
There's a set of behaviors that I do
that allow me to play at 37. I can't
slam dunk the ball now. Yes, I can still
slam dunk, but if I slam dunk, it takes
its toll on my knees and I can't get
back and play defense fast enough. So,
when I get down, I lay the ball up more
times than not. I don't eat fast food
after games. I lift weight every day of
games. And I said, so choice is an
illusion. He said, yeah.
And I ended up going at that point, I
was heading over to the University of
Alabama
and we sort of coined the idea of the
illusion of choice. There are no
choices. When you decide when you
decided you wanted to build, you didn't
decide you wanted to build a
billion-dollar empire, but you decided
you wanted to make a different type of
uh nutritional bar, correct? Or did you
start with the bar? Yeah. And so, there
was there was either going to be a way
that you did it, or there was going to
be the way and there was going to be the
way that tasted just like Muscle Milk,
or there was going to be a way that was
going to be different. And you either
did it or you didn't, correct?
Yeah. And you were either going to
commit the time, and I'm just using you
as an example, but if I want to have a
good relationship, I saw a statistic
that said the average married couple
talks 27 minutes a week. I talk to some
of my buddies about that and they're
like, "That much? Where do I find all
the time?" But uh that's obviously not a
good statistic. Well, are you born
with the gift to make time for people?
No, it's a behavior.
So, to me, the illusion of choice is
thinking you can have a good marriage
and talk 27 minutes a week. So, you have
to make time
in order to talk. And maybe you're on
the road, you travel a lot, turning your
TV off when you're on the road, doing
simple better, turning the TV off,
turning the light off, and just engaging
in a conversation. You know, if you're
engaging with your kids, there's a way
to do it and there's a way not to do it.
Thinking you have an infinite amount of
choices
is idiotic. And this generation right
now, Generation Z and Generation Y, both
think they can do whatever the they
want to do.
And and still achieve things.
You can achieve whatever you want to do
in many cases if you're willing to get
behind the behaviors that drive that
success, but it won't be anything.
Pete Carroll for the Seahawks, he'll let
you go to bed at 5:00 in the morning if
you want, as long as you can perform to
uh 9.5 standard when you get there.
Okay? Well, what you're going to figure
out is you can't go to bed at 5:00 in
the morning.
Okay? So, you're going to have to adapt
your behavior to get in alignment with
winning behaviors. So, the illusion of
choice is this fact that there are not
an infinite amount of choices. There may
be options. Yeah, I can get
uh
pasta instead of a cheeseburger.
But even if I want to maintain a diet or
maintain optimal health, then I have to
limit how much calorie intake, uh what
type of foods. When I When I first lost
weight, I I didn't understand that
Gatorade had 800 calories in it. You
know, when you drink those four
Gatorades, even though all you're eating
is Lunchables, you're actually like
driving all these calories, and it's
just am I doing simple better?
And if you want to lose weight, there's
a way to do it.
Yeah, I love that. That's super powerful
that your choices are limited by what
you're trying to achieve.
Right, there's a finite amount.
Yeah, that's really smart. Where can
people connect with you, find out more
about what you're up to, get the book?
Yeah.
So, the book right now is that
thinkbig-gofar.com/book.
But they can get it on Audible, they can
get it on Harper Collins, they can get
it on really any different environment.
Um I've kind of only had Twitter for a
couple years, so I'm just learning how
to do social media. So, um they can
follow @trevormowad, t r e v o r m o a w
a d. I think we've done a nice job. Um
and then uh um in the sports world, I
have the Mowad Group, which kind of
works with athletes, and then Limitless
Minds is our business that works with
corporations and executives. Nice. All
right, what is the impact you want to
have on the world with all these things
that you're doing?
I want to demystify thinking.
I just I want to demystify it. I don't
want people to feel like it's only for
people that are really, really bright. I
want to demystify the idea that that
change is a challenge.
Nice, I like that.
Well, guys, I love that he is taking a
new approach to thinking, whether it's
just understanding the difference
between positive and negative and
understanding that there's something
else in the middle, or all of the
nuanced stuff that he goes into the
book. I think they are incredibly
powerful tactics that you will find
immeasurably useful in your life. Check
out the book, engage with him on social,
it will definitely allow you to get to
that next level. And speaking of next
level, if you haven't already, be sure
to subscribe. And until next time, my
friends, be legendary. Take care.
My man, Trevor. Thank you, dude. That
was wonderful. The greatest fear in
modern times is what other people think.
So, our job
is to love others
and not give a what they think of
us.
Cuz we only get one emotion at a time.
That's how our brain works. One emotion.
So, our job