Steve Magness (@stevemagness)

The longer I work with performers, the more convinced I am of this: The best performances come from joy, curiosity, exploring potential, and taking on a challenge. When you remove the clutter of fear, you unlock what’s underneath. That’s where the good stuff lives....

How we frame competition sets the math. We can prime a lens that says: rise to the occasion, take calculated risks, execute the next step. Or we can prime one that says: protect what you have, watch for threats, find the exits. But the lens we choose changes the entire equation of performance....

We’ve turned childhood into a resume. Leagues at age six, private lessons at seven, travel teams by eight. Some kids thrive for a bit, but many lose the thread that made them fall in love in the first place. Play becomes performance; curiosity becomes compliance. If we want durable athletes and ...

One of the best things that can happen to you as an athlete, a performer, or a professional? You crush it on a day when you feel like crap. It's what I lived for as a coach. And often resulted in breakthroughs after. Why? It breaks one of the most damaging myths in performance: I need to feel gre...

We love to say athletes are driven by one of two things: Love winning. Or hate losing. Kobe Bryant saw it differently. “I’m neither. I play to figure things out.”...

The paradox of winning: The more you obsess over it, the more likely you are to play not to lose. That’s why some of the greatest coaches in history—Nick Saban, John Wooden, Tom Tellez, Bill Walsh—have all told their athletes the same thing: Stop focusing on winning. Here’s why that counterintuit...

Most people think better self-talk means telling yourself “I’ve got this” on repeat. It’s not that simple. Your inner dialogue is messy, a mix of competing voices, motives, and modules all vying for control. Some push you forward. Others hold you back. If you want better self-talk, you need to u...

The most fascinating thing I’ve learned in 2 years of parenting? Toddlers weigh the cost of effort. They don’t randomly try or give up. They observe. Evaluate. Persist...when it seems worth it. And we play a huge role in whether they try or throw in the towel. Here’s what parenting, science, an...

Your brain doesn’t care about greatness. It cares about survival. So when things get hard, it starts running the calculus: “Is this worth it?” “What’s the risk?” And if you came in expecting easy, even small discomforts feel catastrophic. The problem isn’t the discomfort, it’s the mismatch betwee...