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00:00:15:01 - 00:00:43:23
Unknown
Hello and welcome to the Assessment Alchemist podcast, where we transform the daunting world of assessments into a journey of empowerment and achievement for educators and students alike. I'm Tina Wiles, your guide in this quest to conquer test anxiety and unlock the secrets of effective test preparation. Today we are going to dive into a topic to discover how we can turn educational challenges into opportunities for growth and success.
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Unknown
Welcome to the assessment Alchemist, and I am so happy to have Kevin Guzzo. He is a mental performance coach from Brian Kane. Peak performance to talk about and I've talked about it before, but the Mental Performance Mastery program and how essential mental performance is not only to, assessments and how we perform on assessments, but at their life skills.
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Unknown
So thank you for joining us. Good morning Tina. Pleasure to be here. Looking forward to this opportunity. And so how did you get into the mental performance aspect? If you could fill us in a little bit about your background? Sure. So I've been in public education for 31 years as a teacher and coach for nine years, and I'm currently in my 22nd year as an athletic director.
00:01:41:22 - 00:02:06:22
Unknown
About ten years ago, I was thinking about what we missed and, helping our student athletes reach their full potential. So we were doing a great job with the physical part, with the weight training, etc. I felt like we were missing, a certain component to help them, perform their best when it mattered most. So in 2016, I went to a conference in downtown Chicago with Brian Kane.
00:02:06:24 - 00:02:32:03
Unknown
Completely changed how I looked at things both personally and professionally. Started drinking the mental performance Kool-Aid that Brian was presenting. Changed my life for sure for the better, but came back fired up to help my coaches help our student athletes. Really dive into the mental game. So we were fortunate Brian was able to come to our campus for a couple of summers in a row to work with first, just our coaches and our athletes, and then all of our administrators.
00:02:32:03 - 00:02:57:17
Unknown
Our teachers changed our culture now. And Brian, for ten years now, a great guy. He's been a mentor of mine. Got certified through his mental performance certification program, have become one of his mental performance coaches. So I just I can see, the benefit that it does for both students, athletes and everyday people. Right. We should be working on becoming the best versions of ourselves and implementing some of these basic strategies to help us.
00:02:57:20 - 00:03:36:25
Unknown
I've seen the progress people I work with have made. Yeah, absolutely. And what I love about so happy. So I only found Brian Kane earlier this year. But the, the aspect of, and I've found it's so easy that my students just kind of grab on to these easy to implement things to help improve, their, their attitude towards how they're approaching stuff and that what you, what you see as well, because you said you haven't used it with the student athletes but also the teachers and like the whole school culture.
00:03:36:28 - 00:03:55:24
Unknown
Yeah. What what we say here is, you know, in order to be the best for your students, student athletes, you got to be the best for yourself first. It's hard to lead others unless you lead yourself first. So one of our common themes, and a message that I've given to school districts that I've worked with, is you have to be selfish to be selfless.
00:03:55:27 - 00:04:16:24
Unknown
Like, take care of yourself first so that you can help others. I and education, we're servant leaders. That's what we do. We serve others, right? That's why we went into this profession to help people achieve their goals. But for if our gas tank is empty because we're not taking care of ourself first, it's really hard to serve others at the capacity that we want.
00:04:16:27 - 00:04:33:09
Unknown
So what we do through mental performance is make sure that we're taking care of ourself first, through daily habits, through daily routines, through ways of getting a little bit better every day, so that when we're in front of students in a classroom or in front of athletes on the athletic field, you know, we have the energy we need.
00:04:33:09 - 00:04:58:18
Unknown
We have the focus we need. We have, the attitude we need so that we can really help those that we're working with. Absolutely. You know, I know from personal experience that you cannot perform at all when your own tank is empty. That's that's for sure. Right. And that's what happens I we we work, we work, we work and we're constantly worrying about taking care of others.
00:04:58:18 - 00:05:17:13
Unknown
And then by the end of the week, we're exhausted or we get burnt out, and we don't have enough left to give, so we just have to make ourselves a priority, keep working on the best version of ourselves so we can be the best for others. So how do we do that? Like. Right. Like what? So I know you talk about 1% better every day, right?
00:05:17:13 - 00:05:36:02
Unknown
That, a book that Brian has and that you've really, like, embodied. So, so what advice would you have for someone that is at the point where, like, I don't have anything left in my tank, so how do I get to the point where I do have stuff on my tank to be able to give to others again?
00:05:36:04 - 00:05:58:02
Unknown
Sure. I think it's all about a couple things. Never want us to start. That stopped most people. So we got to find ways to start my little physics lesson here. An object at rest stays at rest, and objects in motion stays in motion. So we get to start, right? They always say the the heaviest weight and, training facility is the handle to the door that enters you in because we just don't get in there.
00:05:58:02 - 00:06:19:29
Unknown
So all we got to do is start the process. And then we like to say, you got to do a little a lot rather than a lot, a little. It's overwhelming to think, oh gosh, you're saying all these great things and I have to change all this stuff, but I just don't have time. Well, by focusing on doing a little, a lot, not a lot of little, what we're trying to do is invest in ourselves for just a little bit part of every single day.
00:06:19:29 - 00:06:42:05
Unknown
And when you do that consistent with discipline over time, the compound effect works magic, and over time you get a lot better. So the aggregate of marginal gains. So this idea of 1% better, Brian wrote this book called 1% better. My claim to fame is, I told Brian that it's a great concept in the clouds, but in the dirt, nobody really knows what it means being a farmer.
00:06:42:05 - 00:07:05:00
Unknown
Master, 1% of your data, there's 1000 fork. There's 1440 minutes in a day. 1% of that is 14 minutes, 24 seconds. So when we talk about 1% better, let's give people a specific measurement. If I want to get better and fill in the blank, let's invest in ourselves for 14 minutes, 24 seconds every day. Now it doesn't seem so overwhelming.
00:07:05:02 - 00:07:19:19
Unknown
Everybody has 14 minutes, 24 seconds now, some people who might be listening saying, I don't, I'm too busy. That seems like a lot. My rebuttal to that would be, are you living out of preference or principle?
00:07:19:21 - 00:07:43:10
Unknown
No. Absolutely right. Like we have we I always say we have time for what we want to do. Yes. Great point. Yeah, yeah. So if and if you're at the point where you're like, I don't feel like, like filling myself, like you said, like the hardest weight is just to start. And when you put it down to 14 minutes and 24 seconds, that sounds like nothing.
00:07:43:10 - 00:08:04:07
Unknown
Like, without a doubt, we waste that time. Oh, sure. At least 14 minutes a day. Right? Think about, you know, scrolling social media, watching Netflix, kids playing Xbox, being on TikTok. Everybody has 14, 24. We just have to have the discipline to invest in ourselves for that. 1424 so you create some area in your life, we'll call it the 1% intention.
00:08:04:09 - 00:08:21:19
Unknown
Maybe it's exercise, maybe it's reading, maybe it's yoga, maybe it's meditation, maybe it's scripture reading. It doesn't matter. One area where you want to seek improvement and try to invest in yourself for 14 minutes, 24 seconds. And what we found is if I do something for 1424 today, I'm probably not going to be any better than I was yesterday.
00:08:21:19 - 00:08:49:15
Unknown
But if I do 1424 today and 1424 tomorrow and 1420 for the next day, that's an exponential growth function. And over time I'm exponential again. Yeah. We're speaking math. Yep. Yes, yes. But it is very applicable. Yeah. You know, so that that's the goal is to get people to buy into the process not the outcome, the process of if I invest in myself or just even 1% of my day, but I can do it over a long period of time.
00:08:49:15 - 00:09:11:03
Unknown
You will definitely see the benefits and the rewards. You just have to be able to stick to that process. So we live in a society that everybody wants instant gratification, instant fix. Well, rarely does that happen, and most people aren't patient enough to see the process through. But if we're patient enough and have the discipline enough over time, that 1% just keeps compounding.
00:09:11:06 - 00:09:32:02
Unknown
James clear in his book Atomic Habits. Great book if you've never read it, but great graphic 1% better over the course of a year. Now we're really going to talk some math. 1.01 ratio 365th power is about 38 to 30. It's 37.78. So it's about 38 times better at the end of a year. If you're just invested in yourself for 1% every single day.
00:09:32:02 - 00:09:57:21
Unknown
I mean, that's crazy good, but we just gotta make that leap of faith to to do the 1424 on a daily basis. Yeah. And I've read Atomic Habits. I love the book as well, and obviously a math person. So I understand how the exponential growth functions work. But I had never like you changing it from like 1% of a day to 1424 is a huge difference.
00:09:57:23 - 00:10:18:21
Unknown
Yeah, especially in coaching. What I find is coaches are always saying just get 1% better, 1% better, and it sounds really good. But if you ask an athlete, what does that really mean? They have no idea. Well, I worked harder today, which isn't fair, which is good, but we want to be able to measure that somehow. Yeah. And just by saying yes, I invested in 14, 25.
00:10:18:21 - 00:10:45:05
Unknown
If more work, if I'm working with a basketball player, can you do ballhandling skills for 14 minutes, 24 seconds every day? If I'm working with a math student, can you do extra math equations for 1424 every day? Of course you can, right? And when you do that, over time you'll see a really drastic improvement. I love that, and you've shared a couple like, examples of how you would use it, with students or teachers.
00:10:45:05 - 00:11:12:12
Unknown
Do you have an example where you've seen the 1% better philosophy actually help someone's performance, whether in school or work, or are their lives? Yeah. So in my district every November, I have a little fun and, I do the no days off, 1% better challenge. And I invite every single employee within my school district, and I just basically say, who wants to get better with me in November?
00:11:12:14 - 00:11:34:12
Unknown
Create a Google doc, put everybody's name, put their 1% attention, and then give everybody editing rights because, you know, let's hold each other accountable and, you know, seeing other people check off the daily the work. That's yeah, kind of peer pressure in its simplest form. Nobody's calling each other out, but you're seeing other people get better. So you don't want to be like, oh yeah, that's the idea of this Google doc.
00:11:34:12 - 00:11:52:17
Unknown
But no doubt about it, when people come to me at the end of November and say, I just, I just ran every day for 14, 24 and November or I just read or I'm more intentional with my family so they feel really good about themselves, and all they did was measured it in some way. Right. Measurement equals motivation.
00:11:52:19 - 00:12:16:09
Unknown
So we have to have some type of measurement to see the progress we're making. So a simple spreadsheet that shows yes. 1424 today, 1424 tomorrow, 1424 the next day. That gives momentum, makes people feel good, maybe a little dopamine release. Like, look at what I'm doing here. After 30 days. It's almost a transformation. That's amazing. And you're getting to that habit level as well, right?
00:12:16:09 - 00:12:43:09
Unknown
I think, you know, depending on who you read. But yes, 21 to 28 days to form a habit I typically see. So if you make it that far, you've just create a new habit in your life typically for them. Exactly. That just jump starts, you know, some some type of transformation in a in one's personal life. Yeah. And then that that was then you take, you could take that 14 minutes and use it for something else the following month after you've already created the habit for the first one.
00:12:43:09 - 00:13:02:14
Unknown
Right. And that's how. Yeah. Even greater exponential growth. Right? Right. I always say like, if you want to be crazy, go for 2% of your day, you know, 20 minutes and 48 seconds, which is still not a lot. It's a lot. But, you know, start small, right? We never want to overwhelm people. Start small, start with the 1% and go from there.
00:13:02:16 - 00:13:32:16
Unknown
That's awesome. So I like I, like I said at the the top of this for the podcast, but also I've shared on other episodes, like I am obsessed with mental performance mastery and the, the tools and how easy they are to implement, and to watch, what are some of your favorite, npm tools that you think help with this idea of steady incremental improvement?
00:13:32:18 - 00:13:50:17
Unknown
Yeah. So there's an app that we recommend called Habit Share to free app. You create your own account and basically it's a glorified success checklist. So in the app Habit Share you go in and create habits that you want. I want to do on a daily basis to to help you become the person you're striving to become.
00:13:50:19 - 00:14:13:07
Unknown
And then it's a simply green red market green if you do it right, if you don't. So it's a way to check in every day with the person you're working on becoming. The beautiful thing about habit share. Different than some other apps I've used, as you can share it with people. So if I'm working with a team, for instance, we will always do a team session on habit Share.
00:14:13:09 - 00:14:34:20
Unknown
So every create an account. Let's all come up with at least five habits that we can collectively agree upon to push this team in a better direction. So it might be making your bed, fist pumping, your teammates, you know, getting enough sleep, etc. you share, then your habit share amongst your fellow team members. The cool thing is, and every time.
00:14:34:20 - 00:14:54:25
Unknown
So if you and I became accountability partners on this app, you would see my habits. I'd see your habits every time you log in and Mark green. I get a notification on my phone. Now I'm probably against notifications because I think it's distractions. Oh yeah, if you're looking at my phone, it's constant notifications from habit Share because I share this with anybody and everybody.
00:14:54:28 - 00:15:15:07
Unknown
Selfishly, it makes me better because if I'm going to share my habits with people, I darn well better do them. Otherwise I'm I'm fake. And number two, it's my way to see if people are doing what we said we were going to do. So the accountability with this app is huge. You get self accountability because you're checking in on a daily basis and those that you're working with are in your network.
00:15:15:07 - 00:15:38:09
Unknown
You can hold them accountable as well. I love it, and I will link the, in the podcast notes for the show. I'll put in the link to the habit. Check that great. Yeah. Great. So that. Yeah. So hopefully ever I will be downloading it. Perfect. Hit me up. I'll share my, I'll share my email so we can become accountability partners.
00:15:38:12 - 00:16:12:14
Unknown
Oh, awesome. Awesome. So and I know personally this happens for me. So I know it happens for others. So what happens when like how can we reset when we miss a day or fall off track. Right. Like because and I mean obviously like the habit share you have like the accountability of trying to get back on there. But like if once you have like the momentum going and then like you miss a day or two or you get sick or whatever, how, how can you, how can you get back going again?
00:16:12:16 - 00:16:30:03
Unknown
Yeah, that's a great question. One of my rules is never missed twice rule. Life is going to happen and you're going to miss out. I mean I miss unfortunately I probably miss too much. But my goal is to never miss two days in a row because, you know, have missed work in both directions. If I miss two days, it's easier to miss three days.
00:16:30:03 - 00:16:44:29
Unknown
For once I miss three days. It's like, what's the purpose? I'll take the week. Yeah. So, yeah, I always say, if I miss one day, that's fine. That's called life. I just don't want to miss two days. And there are there situations where I miss more than one day, obviously. But I try to always look on a daily basis this hour.
00:16:44:29 - 00:17:00:07
Unknown
And if I miss this, I got to get back on it tomorrow because we just don't want to go down that spiral. Love. If I've missed a couple, it becomes easier to miss the next one, the next one. So and then having that accountability partner, you can send a message to the app. So I'm looking at yours say oh my gosh she's red for four days in this habit.
00:17:00:12 - 00:17:28:25
Unknown
Hey Tina. Everything okay? That's me checking in. And just that little message alone. I've had students at my school that I share, my habits with, you know, message me. And. Hey, Mr.. Guys, I see you haven't done your cardio in three days. Are you okay? I mean, that's the best motivation I can receive because somebody is calling me out, and I said, okay, you know, again, that's why I share, I shared, I hate to say this selfishly, because I know people are going to be looking at mine, at least I hope.
00:17:28:25 - 00:17:48:17
Unknown
And more importantly, if I'm sharing my habits with people I want to, I want to be the example. I want to be the role model. Yeah. And then also goes ahead with the it's because we want to do that. So they stay with it too, right. Like it's that us giving again right. Right. Yeah. That's that's a great point.
00:17:48:17 - 00:18:12:16
Unknown
You know like yeah we're really taking care of ourselves. But it's also a giving to hopefully motivate people to do what they should be doing. Yeah. Yeah. And like you said like it's hard to say you can't send something to somebody saying like, hey, are you okay if you haven't been checking in to write like, yeah, yeah, that'd be a bad example, very bad example.
00:18:12:16 - 00:18:34:21
Unknown
And we know for sure that those kids will call us out on it. Yes. Yeah. And that's what you want, right? Yeah. A team wants accountability. A team wants, a certain level of holding people accountable to the standards they've set. So do you have, like a favorite daily routine or some kind of ritual that helps you with staying consistent?
00:18:34:24 - 00:18:52:15
Unknown
Yeah. You know, I, I'm a big believer in what I call bookending my day Am routine and PM routine. You know, we get the most time to ourselves when we first wake up. And typically when we get ready for bed, everything in between people are demanding our attention and there's distractions. So I'm really good at my Am routine.
00:18:52:15 - 00:19:11:11
Unknown
My PM routine probably needs some work, but I try to be very intentional with my time in the morning. So I wake up before my family wakes up and try and do some, you know, some physical exercise, try and do some educational thing, which is, you know, listen to Brian Kids Mental Performance Daily podcast, read one of his books called The Daily Dominator, which is just a story a day.
00:19:11:17 - 00:19:32:11
Unknown
Read The Daily Stoic. I love studying stoicism, you know, just finding time for myself. Do a little journaling before because once, once I grab my phone, once I look on my computer, once I come to work, chances are I'm not going to take care of myself anymore. So just being very intentional with some time in the morning to take care of myself first and then the evening, just having a little time to reflect and refocus.
00:19:32:11 - 00:19:48:13
Unknown
So before I go to bed, just having some time to myself to think, all right, you know, maybe it's a little better how I run well today. What do I need to do better? How am I going to do it? Maybe it's just a long time solitude, you know, just trying to get a neutral event. So, like I said, I'm not very good at my routine.
00:19:48:13 - 00:20:07:22
Unknown
I feel like I'm always scrambling, but my my routine is pretty solid because I try and do the same thing every morning about the same time, just to set myself up for a good day. No. That's amazing. And it sounds, if people need like, more some guidance on that. The Miracle Morning series. Well, that sounds great. That's what you do.
00:20:07:23 - 00:20:27:15
Unknown
Yeah, yeah, I really that's yeah, that's a phenomenal book. And they have them for all different like actual like careers and stuff to help make it even more personalized. But, yeah, doing those savers every morning can make a big difference. Right? Right. And like. Right. Yeah. Start your day off. Start your day off with some alone time.
00:20:27:15 - 00:20:46:27
Unknown
Start your day off in an energy cycle. Start your day off with a win. You can't win the day unless you win your morning. So you know just doing some little things in the morning to give yourself that momentum for the rest of the day. That's fantastic. Was there anything specific that you wanted to make sure that you shared with people about?
00:20:47:02 - 00:21:07:21
Unknown
Well, I think I think like anything else, and we all want to be the best that we can be, and that's not going to happen by accident. It only happens with intention. So if you're if you're looking to make improvements in your personal life or in your job, your profession or whatever it is, you really just have to look in the mirror.
00:21:07:24 - 00:21:30:15
Unknown
That's what it comes down to. And, you know, I like to say this whatever, whatever results you're currently getting in your life are in perfect alignment with your daily habits and routines. If you want better results, then you probably got to look at your daily habits and routines. You know, most people have goals for themselves, and if you know, if you're not achieving them, you can either change your goal or change your process.
00:21:30:15 - 00:22:08:13
Unknown
Well, most people don't want to change their goal, so you just have to look at your process and not make huge changes. That's what this is not all about. It's about making those small changes that over time you'll see significant improvements. Yes. And like, what you said was like absolute perfection in my mind, right? Because when we are, like, falling short of what we're trying to achieve, the hardest thing to do is to look at ourselves and be like, okay, so what about what I'm doing isn't getting me to where I want to be?
00:22:08:15 - 00:22:29:27
Unknown
But also, how do you follow that up with but it's the 1%, right? It's that 1424 and that is what makes the difference versus like, oh my God, I'm not doing what I need to, and I'm going to change everything in my life right now. And then people just get overwhelmed and typically give up because of that overwhelmed feeling or get burnt out.
00:22:30:00 - 00:22:50:24
Unknown
Just small little incremental changes over a long period of time is the difference. Yeah. Oh my gosh. This was this was gold I love it. It's it's fun to talk about very passionate about the topic and helping people just go kind of from where they are to where they want to be. And you don't need some magic potion for it.
00:22:50:24 - 00:23:09:05
Unknown
You just need to find some daily discipline in your life. Yes. So if you had, if you wanted our listeners to remember one thing from today's conversation about being 1% better every day, what would it be?
00:23:09:07 - 00:23:28:01
Unknown
Yeah, maybe we'll go to the Eat the Frog concept. Oh, right. Another good book. Yeah. Now, like a book. I figure you've read that one. I think you and I connect very well here. Yeah. You know, as your day goes on, more and more stuff gets thrown your way. So if you want to take care of yourself, create a morning routine.
00:23:28:03 - 00:23:51:19
Unknown
Do that 1424 every single morning. And that's like eating the frog, right? I'll do this later. I'll procrastinate. Chances are you won't get to it. So start your day off with a win by investing in yourself for 14 minutes, 24 seconds, and then let the magic happen I love it! Oh Kevin, I am so grateful that you took time to, to go through this with with us.
00:23:51:21 - 00:24:13:18
Unknown
And I'm so excited to implement a lot of this stuff in my own life now. Yeah, I'm I'm I'm one of the people that does try to go to that. Oh, I'm not going to do 1%. I'm going to do like 99%. And then then see what happens. Right. Doesn't doesn't stack. Right. Well, thank you, Tina, for having me on.
00:24:13:20 - 00:24:22:23
Unknown
Truly a pleasure. And, and I love talking to you. I can see we have a lot of similarities, similar backgrounds. So it's been it's been a great conversation.
