excellence, actually

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 undiagnosed ADHD and curiosity shaped his successful career, tells the story of discovering Tracy Chapman while still a college student, and discusses making it through the painful writer's block that almost kept him from writing Rounders. Plus: what Michael Jordan can (and can't) teach us about greatness, separating success from external validation, and staying creative — and excellent — for a lifetime.
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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.
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- To learn more about Jim Ryun's running camps, visit ryunrunning.com
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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 took from legendary coach Bob Timmons, why everyone needs "balcony people," and what he learned from being unfairly disqualified from the 1972 Olympics. It's a masterclass in excellence—actually.
- Get a free LMNT drink mix pack with any purchase: drinkLMNT.com/Clay
- To learn more about Jim Ryun's running camps, visit ryunrunning.com
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- 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!
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We've all got those days: you can't seem to get started, your motivation is low, or something comes up and throws you off track. It happens to all of us! It only becomes a problem when a bad start to the day becomes a bad day, and then a bad couple of days, and then a bad week, and then a bad month... on and on. High-performers who have sustained success over many years are elite at getting something out of days when they're not at their best. Today is all about building your capacity to do the same. Because if you can squeeze a small win out of a day that might otherwise be a zero, those little victories add up into something big over time.
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- Click here for an AI-generated transcript (please excuse errors in grammar or spelling)
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We're all going to experience pain in some form or another. Unfortunately, our long accepted model for what pain is — and how to treat it — has been wrong. Today, we're breaking down the biopsychosocial model of pain, which presented a recent change in how researchers, doctors, psychologists, and performers think about why we feel what we feel. We discuss an important distinction between hurt and harm from pain psychologist Rachel Zoffness, discuss why two people with identical injuries can have very different experiences of pain, present a taxonomy of three different types of discomfort, and give you a practical toolkit for dealing with your own pain (including a balloon metaphor that might change how you think about recovery).
Get a free LMNT drink mix pack with any purchase: drinkLMNT.com/Clay
Click here for an AI-generated transcript (please excuse errors in grammar or spelling)
- Subscribe to The Growth Equation newsletter
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- 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!
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See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.