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excellence, actually

Steve Magness, Brad Stulberg, & Clay Skipper

"excellence, actually" is a podcast from The Growth Equation, hosted by Steve Magness, Brad Stulberg, and Clay Skipper. Drawing on their years of working and corresponding with Olympians, coaches, executives, world-class physicians, and other elite-level achievers in their coaching practice and professional careers, they give you the mental and physical tools, practices, habits, and frameworks used by the best in the world in the pursuit of excellence. Each episode will give you concrete ideas and tips to use in your life immediately to help you become more meaningfully engaged in the pursuits that support your goals and your values. This is not the performative nonsense that is peddled online by grifters and influencers, but the evidence-based systems that work for the best in the world. This is excellence, actually. (This podcast used to appear under the name FAREWELL.)

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Yesterday · 26 min
Bend, Don't Break: How to Stay Patient Through Setbacks
If this past weekend's NYC Marathon taught us anything, it's that success often requires patience and flexibility. Jess McClain spent years away from running before taking second place (and during the race she barely held on, only to finish with a breathtaking final surge). Andreas Almgren missed years of running with stress fractures, and then won in his marathon debut, closing with a 4:30 mile. Whether it's in running or in life, most of what we want won't come right away, despite all the stories about overnight success. So today Steve and Clay explore the tools that can help you hold on through the hard miles, on and off the course. - Subscribe to The Growth Equation newsletter - Join The Growth Equation Academy - If you are enjoying "excellence, actually," do us a huge favor: text your favorite episode to three people so they can enjoy it, too. Thanks! iTunes and Apple Podcasts Spotify Android PocketCasts See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Yesterday · 26 min
Bend, Don't Break: How to Stay Patient Through Setbacks
If this past weekend's NYC Marathon taught us anything, it's that success often requires patience and flexibility. Jess McClain spent years away from running before taking second place (and during the race she barely held on, only to finish with a breathtaking final surge). Andreas Almgren missed years of running with stress fractures, and then won in his marathon debut, closing with a 4:30 mile. Whether it's in running or in life, most of what we want won't come right away, despite all the stories about overnight success. So today Steve and Clay explore the tools that can help you hold on through the hard miles, on and off the course. - Subscribe to The Growth Equation newsletter - Join The Growth Equation Academy - If you are enjoying "excellence, actually," do us a huge favor: text your favorite episode to three people so they can enjoy it, too. Thanks! iTunes and Apple Podcasts Spotify Android PocketCasts See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
October 29 · 33 min
How to Care Deeply and Compete Fearlessly
How do you want something very badly and still hold the result loosely? Detaching from the outcome is one of the most important skills in performance. It's also one of the hardest. On today's show, we talk about how to detach before, during, and after a high-stakes performance, discuss why it's better to think of detachment as a slider, not a switch, teach you how to match self-talk styles to the appropriate contexts, explain how to know when to trust the process and when to change it, and try to find the ideal performance sweet spot (90% Zen master, 10% Dog?). - Get a free LMNT drink mix pack with any purchase: drinkLMNT.com/Clay - Donate at farmkind.giving/excellence and your monthly donation will get a 50% boost to help factory farmed animals - Subscribe to The Growth Equation newsletter - Join The Growth Equation Academy - If you are enjoying "excellence, actually," do us a huge favor: text your favorite episode to three people so they can enjoy it, too. Thanks! iTunes and Apple Podcasts Spotify Android PocketCasts See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
October 22 · 27 min
Is This The Most Underrated Skill in Elite Performance?
One of the hardest and most important questions to answer if you want to do anything at a high level: Do I need to fix this feeling, or can I forget this feeling and perform anyway? For too long as a society, we pushed the "grind it out" mentality, which led to chronic burnout and exhaustion. Now we take feelings more seriously, but have maybe gone too far, increasing fragility and decreasing our collective ability to handle challenge. Today we talk about how to treat your difficult feelings, emotions, and thoughts as messengers, not dictators, and learn what they're saying so you can respond most wisely. - Get a free LMNT drink mix pack with any purchase: drinkLMNT.com/Clay - Donate at farmkind.giving/excellence and your monthly donation will get a 50% boost to help factory farmed animals - Subscribe to The Growth Equation newsletter - Join The Growth Equation Academy - If you are enjoying "excellence, actually," do us a huge favor: text your favorite episode to three people so they can enjoy it, too. Thanks! iTunes and Apple Podcasts Spotify Android PocketCasts See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
October 15 · 30 min
Recovery 101: Listener Questions on Rest, Aging, and Turning Off
We've always been big on recovery. (After all, it is one half of the growth equation: stress + REST = growth.) But knowing how to recover, both physically and mentally, is a skill — and one that needs to be refined as we age and as our world becomes increasingly stimulating. So today we are answering four questions from dear listeners (you!) about how to handle physical changes, cognitive overload, and the sheer velocity of modern life. Plus: some emergency recovery tips for when you're going through a really tough stretch. - Get a free LMNT drink mix pack with any purchase: drinkLMNT.com/Clay - Donate at farmkind.giving/excellence and your monthly donation will get a 50% boost to help factory farmed animals - Subscribe to The Growth Equation newsletter - Join The Growth Equation Academy - If you are enjoying "excellence, actually," do us a huge favor: text your favorite episode to three people so they can enjoy it, too. Thanks! iTunes and Apple Podcasts Spotify Android PocketCasts See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
October 8 · 34 min
A.I., Craft, and the Future of Human Excellence
How we should (and should not) use artificial intelligence is a topic we have been frequently and furiously discussing in our group chat. (You too?) These days, it's impossible to avoid its presence in our lives. Nor would we want to! A.I. brings plenty of advantages. But, as always, a tool is only good if you know how to use it — and what trade-offs you're making when you do. On today's episode, we talk about the technology's benefits and its costs, with a particular eye to how it will affect craft, performance, and the future of excellence. So if you're struggling to figure out how exactly to incorporate it into your life — we are too! — this episode is for you. - Get a free LMNT drink mix pack with any purchase: drinkLMNT.com/Clay - Donate at farmkind.giving/excellence and your monthly donation will get a 50% boost to help factory farmed animals - Subscribe to The Growth Equation newsletter - Join The Growth Equation Academy - If you are enjoying "excellence, actually," do us a huge favor: text your favorite episode to three people so they can enjoy it, too. Thanks! iTunes and Apple Podcasts Spotify Android PocketCasts See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
October 1 · 22 min
How to Have More Agency
"You can just do things" — but should you? The word "agency" has exploded in recent months, but what does it actually mean to be a high-agency person, and when does agency cross the line into recklessness? Today, we're tracing the concept from Aristotle to Nietzsche to Silicon Valley, exploring why agency is core to our humanity in an age of increasing automation. We unpack the tension between people who overthink and never act versus those who act without thinking, share stories of taking big swings (including 25 book rejections), and offer practical tools for building agency as a muscle — whether you need to take more action or learn to pause and reflect before just doing things. - Get a free LMNT drink mix pack with any purchase: drinkLMNT.com/Clay - Donate at farmkind.giving/excellence and your monthly donation will get a 50% boost to help factory farmed animals - Subscribe to The Growth Equation newsletter - Join The Growth Equation Academy - If you are enjoying "excellence, actually," do us a huge favor: text your favorite episode to three people so they can enjoy it, too. Thanks! iTunes and Apple Podcasts Spotify Android PocketCasts See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
September 24 · 28 min
How to Tame Your Demons: Healthy Passion vs. Obsessive Drive
Today, we're fielding a listener question that every high performer eventually faces: where's the line between passion and obsession? The thing that makes you great can also be the thing that destroys you, and making sure that it doesn't is no simple matter. We'll talk about the research on dopamine, temperament, and addiction and chart the path from healthy drive to destructive spiral — useful for any athlete, entrepreneur, or high achiever trying to tame their demons. - Get a free LMNT drink mix pack with any purchase: drinkLMNT.com/Clay - Donate at farmkind.giving/excellence and your monthly donation will get a 50% boost to help factory farmed animals - Subscribe to The Growth Equation newsletter - Join The Growth Equation Academy - If you are enjoying "excellence, actually," do us a huge favor: text your favorite episode to three people so they can enjoy it, too. Thanks! iTunes and Apple Podcasts Spotify Android PocketCasts See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
September 17 · 33 min
Consistency Over Intensity: How to Show Up Again and Again (and Again)
Consistency is one of the fundamental skills of any discipline. But what does it actually look like in practice? Today, we're answering five of the most common questions we get about the challenges of trying to be consistent in everyday life. You'll get a breakdown of how to stack good days both in the short- and long-term (and understand why those require different approaches), Steve's "build vs. maintain" framework, Brad's Sock'em Boppers analogy for beating internal resistance, ways to determine when consistency is actually holding you back, how to know when to take a zero, and learnings from Stephen King and Roger Bannister. - Get a free LMNT drink mix pack with any purchase: drinkLMNT.com/Clay - Donate at farmkind.giving/excellence and your monthly donation will get a 50% boost to help factory farmed animals - Subscribe to The Growth Equation newsletter - Join The Growth Equation Academy - If you are enjoying "excellence, actually," do us a huge favor: text your favorite episode to three people so they can enjoy it, too. Thanks! iTunes and Apple Podcasts Spotify Android PocketCasts See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
September 10 · 33 min
Handling Change: "Find the Smallest Dose that Keeps You Sane"
Change happens — sometimes when we expect, often when we don't. So how do we hold onto what matters amidst big shifts (injury, a lay off, moving cities, changing schedules)? That's what we're tackling today. We'll walk you through the process of (to use Steve's words) "finding the smallest dose that keeps you sane," knowing the important difference between adopting a "having" and a "being" mindset, and understanding when to stop fighting change and let it change you. Plus: one all-time story about an injured Steve getting rescued from the ocean by a lifeguard while doing water aerobics in jeans that will almost certainly leave you changed. - Get a free LMNT drink mix pack with any purchase: drinkLMNT.com/Clay - Subscribe to The Growth Equation newsletter - Join The Growth Equation Academy - If you are enjoying "excellence, actually," do us a huge favor: text your favorite episode to three people so they can enjoy it, too. Thanks! iTunes and Apple Podcasts Spotify Android PocketCasts See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
September 3 · 43 min
How to Survive Youth Sports Without Ruining Your Kid
Youth sports are simultaneously a disaster and more important than ever. They remain one of the best places for kids to develop and, as we always say, do real things in the real world with real people. But they're also being hijacked by profit-driven leagues that exploit parental fears that their kid is getting left behind. We're exploring this conundrum today, unpacking how youth sports came to be a reportedly $40 billion (!) dollar industry, debunking the myth of the 10-year-old scholarship prospect, explaining what really matters (hint: it's not the 10-U championship), how to keep things fun in an age of hyper-competition and comparison, and how to think through these trade-offs for your own family. - Get a free LMNT drink mix pack with any purchase: drinkLMNT.com/Clay - Subscribe to The Growth Equation newsletter - Join The Growth Equation Academy - If you are enjoying "excellence, actually," do us a huge favor: text your favorite episode to three people so they can enjoy it, too. Thanks! iTunes and Apple Podcasts Spotify Android PocketCasts See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
August 27 · 39 min
The Sports Psychologist Who Taught MJ and Kobe How to "Manage the Moment" (Rerun)
(This week, we are revisiting a conversation from last year that Brad and Clay had with George Mumford. It's one of our most popular episodes and one we personally have come back to many times — so we believe you'll enjoy it, even on a second listen!) Before the 1993-1994 NBA season, coach Phil Jackson wanted to get his Chicago Bulls some help. They'd won the championship the previous year, but right before the season, Michael Jordan made a surprise retirement announcement. So Jackson called George Mumford—a meditation practitioner who was then teaching mindfulness in hospitals, clinics, and prisons—hoping he might be able to use the same techniques to help the Bulls deal with the stress of success and MJ's departure. Mumford would go on to work with Jackson through six NBA titles: the Bulls in '96, '97, and '98—after MJ returned—and the Lakers in '00, '01, and '02. He has since gone on to a long and successful career as a sports psychologist and performance consultant, teaching people how to stay mentally fit and resilient even amidst difficulty and uncertainty. We often discuss the importance of cultivating the ability to respond rather than react—and George Mumford has made a living out of teaching that skill to some of the world's best performers, including Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan. Today, he discusses how to make yourself "flow ready," silence your "negative committee," use his 4 A's framework to deal with difficulty or pain, and manage the moment. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
August 20 · 33 min
Peptides 101: Evaluating Hype, Risk, and Reward
Peptides! They're everywhere in the health and performance world (and, increasingly, outside of it, too). So... what is a peptide? Are they safe? Should you be taking them? We're going to get into all of that today, breaking down what the science says (and doesn't say) about the efficacy and safety of peptides, go over a "three-legged-stool" framework that will help you evaluate novel supplements or treatments in the increasingly wild world of wellness, and give you a better understanding of how to think through the trade-offs involved in incorporating new tools into your own health and performance routine. - Get a free LMNT drink mix pack with any purchase: drinkLMNT.com/Clay - Get free shipping and 365-day returns when you shop at quince.com/excellence - Subscribe to The Growth Equation newsletter - Join The Growth Equation Academy - If you are enjoying "excellence, actually," do us a huge favor: text your favorite episode to three people so they can enjoy it, too. Thanks! iTunes and Apple Podcasts Spotify Android PocketCasts See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
August 13 · 34 min
How to Not Turn Into a Robot
This week, we're reacting to an article about the rise of souped-up A.I. baby monitors, and a video from popular podcast host Chris Williamson responding to the anti-optimization movement. Both hint at something nefarious happening in the health and wellness industry—and, as always, we're hoping to inject a bit of sanity and wisdom. We talk about weighing the costs and the benefits of tracking everything (including your baby), why following the example set by elite performers can sometimes backfire, how athletes use (and, more importantly, don't use) data, and what we lose when we outsource our intuition to devices. "Aw, It's Baby's First A.I. Surveillance System:" https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/02/business/smart-baby-monitors-nanit-owlet.html "My Reaction to the Anti-Optimization Trend:" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pi2WGB1Zdws - Get a free LMNT drink mix pack with any purchase: drinkLMNT.com/Clay - Get free shipping and 365-day returns when you shop at quince.com/excellence - Subscribe to The Growth Equation newsletter - Join The Growth Equation Academy - If you are enjoying "excellence, actually," do us a huge favor: text your favorite episode to three people so they can enjoy it, too. Thanks! iTunes and Apple Podcasts Spotify Android PocketCasts See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
August 6 · 41 min
How to Reset Your Focus
Why is it so hard to focus these days—and what can we do about it? On today's episode, we talk about the science behind our collapsing focus and fractured attention. (If you're feeling frazzled, foggy, or unable to concentrate, you're not alone—so are we!) Then we get into the practical ways you can begin to build both back. We talk about the four key pillars of focus (and how to train them), what the "baseline aerobic capacity" for your brain should be, and offer a scuba diving metaphor that just might change how you think about pushing through the discomfort that sustained attention requires. - Get a free LMNT drink mix pack with any purchase: drinkLMNT.com/Clay - Get free shipping and 365-day returns when you shop at quince.com/excellence - Subscribe to The Growth Equation newsletter - Join The Growth Equation Academy - If you are enjoying "excellence, actually," do us a huge favor: text your favorite episode to three people so they can enjoy it, too. Thanks! iTunes and Apple Podcasts Spotify Android PocketCasts See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
July 30 · 45 min
The Ten Commandments of Coaching
Coaching is one of the most meaningful and valuable jobs out there. Which is why it's all the more important that it's done the right way. Today, Steve and Brad—who have more than 30 years of sports and performance coaching experience between them—share their ten commandments for transformative coaching (you won't be surprised to hear it overlaps with great teaching, parenting, and leading, too). Whether you're leading individual athletes, teams, or just coaching yourself, this is one you don't want to miss. - Get a free LMNT drink mix pack with any purchase: drinkLMNT.com/Clay - Subscribe to The Growth Equation newsletter - Join The Growth Equation Academy - If you are enjoying "excellence, actually," do us a huge favor: text your favorite episode to three people so they can enjoy it, too. Thanks! iTunes and Apple Podcasts Spotify Android PocketCasts See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
July 23 · 41 min
World Cup & Mile World Record: Consistency, Joy, and Calling Your Shot
Brad and Steve are solo for a throwback episode. First, they discuss Josh Kerr's mile world record: Kerr called his shot four months ago, named the time, named the meet, and then went and did it, fueled entirely, he says, by consistency and stacking days. Then: the World Cup. Brad and Steve dig into the moments that stuck: Haaland's cowboy boots and Katz's Deli pastrami as a lesson in competitive joy; Cape Verde's 40-year-old bus-driver-turned-goalkeeper as a lesson in belief; England's collapse as a lesson in what happens when you stop playing your game and start playing prevent. And a bigger question underneath all of it: why is a country of 330 million people still getting outplayed in soccer by nations the size of Buncombe County, North Carolina? There was a lot to learn from this last month of elite sports. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
July 16 · 38 min
Don't Get Rid of Anxiety. Use It.
It's natural to want to get rid of anxiety. It's uncomfortable, we worry that it holds us back from being our best, and we believe that those who perform at the highest levels have figured out a way to beat it. The bad news is that we can't just rid ourselves of anxiety. It's part of the human condition. The good news is that, despite the common misconception, elite performers experience anxiety all the time—they've just learned how to manage and even channel it in skillful and adaptive ways. So today's episode is all about providing you ways to accept anxiety (which, ironically, helps mitigate it, since resisting anxiety only makes it worse) and giving you the tools to make it work for you rather than against you. - Get a free LMNT drink mix pack with any purchase: drinkLMNT.com/Clay - Subscribe to The Growth Equation newsletter - Join The Growth Equation Academy - If you are enjoying "excellence, actually," do us a huge favor: text your favorite episode to three people so they can enjoy it, too. Thanks! iTunes and Apple Podcasts Spotify Android PocketCasts See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
July 9 · 46 min
How to Endure, According to a 4-Time Tour de France Cyclist
What is it like to race 21 days across France wearing little more than underwear, going over 50 miles an hour, burning 8,000 calories a day, in the shadow of the ever-present threat of a violent peloton crash? Brent Bookwalter did it four times, including the 2011 race that Cadel Evans won — one of the great team performances in the sport's history. He did it clean, in arguably the dirtiest era cycling has ever seen. Now retired after a 16-year career and working as a commentator and a mental performance coach, he joins us for a conversation that moves from the fascinating details of being a pro cyclist — the salaries, the eating, the four-hour hurt box, the 30ish hours on the bike a week— to the deeper questions of why anyone does it at all. He talks about overcoming a fractured tibia in the beginning of his career, the mental skills that got him through — breaking a 200-kilometer stage down to one kilometer at a time — and how he's navigating the hardest transition of his life — from an existence where every minute was optimized and accounted for, to figuring out who he is without the bike. One of the more honest conversations we've had about what excellence actually costs, and what it gives back. - Get a free LMNT drink mix pack with any purchase: drinkLMNT.com/Clay - Subscribe to The Growth Equation newsletter - Join The Growth Equation Academy - If you are enjoying "excellence, actually," do us a huge favor: text your favorite episode to three people so they can enjoy it, too. Thanks! iTunes and Apple Podcasts Spotify Android PocketCasts See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
July 2 · 43 min
You Can't Have It All: A Guide to Making Sacrifices
We've been sold a lie: that with the right systems, mindset, and tools, you can have it all — great career, present parent, devoted partner, thriving social life, passionate hobbyist. You can't. But that's not a bad thing! It's the sacrifices that give meaning to our lives. So today, we're exploring how to make hard choices with clarity and honesty. We discuss why we don't even like the word "sacrifice" to begin with, why your values are shaped more by your ecosystem than by you, how to figure out what you actually want (as opposed to what you've been told to want), two simple frameworks for navigating career and life trade-offs, what to do when two things you love are competing for the same time and energy, and why regret might not be such a bad thing after all. - Get a free LMNT drink mix pack with any purchase: drinkLMNT.com/Clay - Subscribe to The Growth Equation newsletter - Join The Growth Equation Academy - If you are enjoying "excellence, actually," do us a huge favor: text your favorite episode to three people so they can enjoy it, too. Thanks! iTunes and Apple Podcasts Spotify Android PocketCasts See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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