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PODCAST

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

education self-improvement

All Episodes

00:34:11

A.I., Craft, and the Future of Human Excellence

excellence, actually ·

2026/10/08

How we should (and how we 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

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00:22:14

How to Have More Agency

excellence, actually ·

2026/10/01

"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

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00:28:23

How to Tame Your Demons: Healthy Passion vs....

excellence, actually ·

2026/09/24

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

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00:33:10

Consistency Over Intensity: How to Show Up Again and...

excellence, actually ·

2026/09/17

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

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00:33:46

Handling Change: "Find the Smallest Dose that Keeps...

excellence, actually ·

2026/09/10

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

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00:43:40

How to Survive Youth Sports Without Ruining Your Kid

excellence, actually ·

2026/09/03

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

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00:39:08

The Sports Psychologist Who Taught MJ and Kobe How to...

excellence, actually ·

2026/08/27

(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

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00:33:43

Peptides 101: Evaluating Hype, Risk, and Reward

excellence, actually ·

2026/08/20

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

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00:34:08

How to Not Turn Into a Robot

excellence, actually ·

2026/08/13

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,

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00:41:50

How to Reset Your Focus

excellence, actually ·

2026/08/06

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

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00:45:44

The Ten Commandments of Coaching

excellence, actually ·

2026/07/30

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

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00:41:04

World Cup & Mile World Record: Consistency, Joy, and...

excellence, actually ·

2026/07/23

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

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00:38:16

Don't Get Rid of Anxiety. Use It.

excellence, actually ·

2026/07/16

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

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00:46:05

How to Endure, According to a 4-Time Tour de France...

excellence, actually ·

2026/07/09

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

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00:43:23

You Can't Have It All: A Guide to Making Sacrifices

excellence, actually ·

2026/07/02

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

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00:39:26

Six Books That Changed How We Think About Performance

excellence, actually ·

2026/06/25

Brad and Clay Skipper first became friends over books — specifically, a DM about Brad's bookshelf. Today, they return to that origin with a show-and-tell on six books that have genuinely changed how they think about performance: a poet-philosopher on the tension between work, self, and relationships; a Buddhist nun on learning to stop fighting the inevitable; a tennis coach who figured out the mind-body problem 50 years ahead of everyone else; the psychologist who named flow; a philosopher who quit

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00:36:50

How to Come Back, from the Greatest Playoff Run in...

excellence, actually ·

2026/06/18

Last Saturday night, the New York Knicks won the NBA Championship. It was an improbable, remarkable run, one of the best in NBA history. After going down 2-1 in the first round, they won 15 of their next 16 games, beating the Spurs 4 to 1 to win the title. Their point differential over that stretch was 283, the biggest in the history of the league. Most incredibly, the Knicks trailed all five games in the NBA finals by double digits. They lost the first five quarters by a total of 57 points. They

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00:43:47

Longevity, Actually (with Brian Koppelman)

excellence, actually ·

2026/06/11

Brian Koppelman has been writing great films and shows for 30 years — Rounders, Ocean's Thirteen, and Billions, to name a few. Now 60, he's working with as much energy as ever. He'll be back in the role of "Computer" on the hit show The Bear when it returns later this month, and he's three years into a powerlifting journey he began at 57 after almost fainting on a tennis court. When we think about the type of longevity worth aspiring to, we think of Brian Koppelman. Today, he talks about how his

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00:41:42

Lessons on Excellence: Caring, Doing the Work, and...

excellence, actually ·

2026/06/04

Today, we discuss three moments from the past week that highlight a few of the key habits of truly excellent performers: what Victor Wenbanyama teaches us about caring deeply and being yourself; how the failed Enhanced Games highlights the importance of showing up to put in the work; and why a three-glasses-of-wine hangover proves being antifragile trumps optimization.- Get a free LMNT drink mix pack with any purchase: drinkLMNT.com/Clay - To learn more about Jim Ryun's running camps, visit

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00:56:03

Dream Big, Start Small: Lessons from World Record...

excellence, actually ·

2026/05/28

Jim Ryun couldn't make his junior high basketball team, track team, or even his church baseball team. Two years later, he was the first high schooler to run a sub-four-minute mile. He'd go on to run a world record mile in 3:51, and compete in three Olympics. Now 79, he shares with us some of the best stories and wisdom: the time he ran a workout of four sets of 10x400 (doesn't recommend it), how he trained his mental discipline, how he handled the spotlight and media criticism, the best lessons he

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