Episode 303: 50 Lessons of 50 Years - Reflections of a Personal Journey
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This week, on a special edition of the Purple Patch Podcast, Ironman Master Coach Matt Dixon is celebrating his 50th birthday.
To commemorate this significant milestone, Matt reflects on the past 50 years of his life, sharing 50 valuable lessons he learned from his experiences as an athlete, coach, and entrepreneur.
These lessons are not only beneficial for athletes looking to enhance their performance but also for anyone who wants to improve their approach to work and life.
Whether you are a coach, athlete, work leader, or parent, Matt's insights are sure to provide you with valuable perspectives to help you navigate your journey, no matter where you are in life.
Episode Timestamps
00:00 - 03:10 - Welcome and Episode Introduction
03:17 - 05:15 - Matt's News-ings
05:21 - 52:11 - The Meat and Potatoes - Episode 303: 50 Lessons of 50 Years - Reflections of a Personal Journey
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Full Transcript
Matt Dixon 00:00
I'm Matt Dixon and welcome to the Purple Patch podcast. The mission of Purple Patch is to empower and educate every human being to reach their athletic potential. Through the lens of athletic potential, you reach your human potential. The purpose of this podcast is to help time-starved People everywhere integrate sport into life.
Matt Dixon 00:24
This week, I turn 50. Now, I grew up, I was a swimmer, I ended up being a pretty elite swimmer, and I turned into a professional triathlete. But today, I look forward to the second half of my life. What does it look like? Well, I'm still ambitious, I have sporting goals. And my purpose is bigger than this, though. It's deeper, I want the best quality of life for all of the years that I have ahead of me. I want to be able to jump-throw wrestle with Baxter, my now 11-year-old, while he still wants to at least, I want to bound upstairs in my 80s, I want to stay relevant, healthy, vibrant, driven, and I want to improve. And the first action that I do when I turn 50, I'm gonna get specific about my health and performance. I'm going to assess my biometrics via InsideTracker and lean on the expertise and action plan that the team of scientists provides for me so that I can get highly specific on the key aspects that are going to help me on my quest for high-quality living and being the very best version of myself. And the good news is you don't have to wait to turn 50. Or you don't have to look back and remember that time if you're already past that little checkpoint, you can take advantage too. All you need to do is head to insidetracker.com/purple patch and use the code Purple Patch Pro 20, that's Purple Patch Pro two zero, and you get 20% off everything at the store. Yes, indeed, it is the catalyst of high performance and the best quality of life that you can live. Enjoy the show.
Matt Dixon 02:03
And welcome to the Purple Patch podcast as ever, your host, Matt Dixon, and this week, we're going to do something a little different, because it's my birthday this week. Now, my friends will know very well that I don't like to make a big deal of my birthday. But this one is a little bit of a landmark. And so I've been pushed nudged and forced into acknowledging it. And so, therefore, we thought we'd make a fun addition to the show. Thanks so much, Barry for making me do this. If I told you that today, we're going to outline 50 lessons from my years of coaching, would you be able to guess what number of birthdays is for me? Now I'm not a master of the mathematical ladies and gentlemen. But I reckon even I could do this. So hopefully, it's going to be a little fun. But equally, I hope it's helpful. Some one-liners and a few quick thoughts on the key lessons that I've yielded from my years of coaching. It's all in today's show, I hope you enjoy it. But before we get going, we are going to do Matt's News-ings.
Matt Dixon 03:10
Matt's News-ings. So I'm going to keep it pretty brief this week. But let me just tell you, we are now entering March and it is the year of transformation. Purple Patch athletes, we're not just looking for quick fixes, quick gains, or even a single result, we want to develop champions, champions of yourself in your own life, delivering control, delivering empowerment, and of course, ensuring that you get the race results if you are competitive, but not at the expense of other parts of your life. And right now, as I am turning 50 I'm excited because we had some adversity. And I've talked about this in the last couple of weeks, where suddenly we realized that our training platform was going out of business, was no more. But with the help of training peaks and the great team there, we have got to yield and leverage that adversity for something to our athlete’s gains. And that is a completely reimagined program. Now you're going to have more access to myself, the team of Purple Patch coaches on a more robust platform with deeper educational opportunities with the quest of doing something simple, which is to transform you, not just get a great race result, but ensure that you amplify and ignite your best performance in other parts of life. And so why don't you become a part of the Purple Patch training? We are having a lot of fun, and a little like-minded community around the world, but most importantly, we deliver results. And that's the key thing for you. And I'd love you to join the team if you're not already on it. So why don't you reach out to a complimentary consultation info@purplepatchfitness.com, that's info@purplepatchfitness.com. We'll have a quick chat and see which program is best for you. All right team, with that, should we get on with it? Yep, it's my 50th. Goodness me, Barry. Let's do the meat and potatoes.
Matt Dixon 05:21
Yes, the meat and potatoes. I have been pushed into doing this one by Barry. Barry, you are sweating profusely behind the camera there so, are you nervous about me messing this one up? Guys, I'm 50. Goodness me. Do I have an emotional reaction? I always thought I would have an emotional reaction but in all honesty, no, I'm excited. I'm happier than ever. I'm still ambitious, but also a little reflective maybe. It's been a journey. So far, I've learned a lot. I've met some amazing and inspirational people. My heroes, to be honest, are the athletes that I've helped. So many stories of grit, and accomplishment development, and I think that's where I draw my pride and my excitement. So today, I'm going to outline 50 lessons, each of them pretty quick fire, but also loaded with meaning, and I hope that these lessons that you can draw on apply to your sporting journey. But before we hit them, let me give you the runway. Now Barry suggested that I do this, I want to make sure that I don't yarn on for too long. But I want to give you some context of my life in the most quick fashions. Behind these lessons was, of course, the journey that I went through. And so I think we should do that for five minutes. And then we're gonna go right in 1, 2, 3 up to 50. Now I've categorized these to try and give it a little bit of organization and hold it to them. But they should be pretty fun and hopefully meaningful. But first, my favorite subject - me, let's talk about it.
Matt Dixon 06:56
Well, I grew up in a town called South End, which is in Essex England. Now for you Yankee poodles. You might not know where that is. It's a seaside coastal town about 30 miles to the east of London. And if I told you I was from London, it's pretty close to London, it's almost captured in it. But if I said I'm from London, it would be a little bit like me telling you that I was from New York, whereas I was actually from the Jersey Shore. And by the way, distinctly similar stereotypes about the shore and South End, great alignment, including all of the gold chains, the spoilers on your cars, plenty of bleached hair in the women, men in pubs always ready to give it some mate. You want some do ya? I'll see you outside. Yeah, that sort of culture. That's what I grew up in. I was low middle class, my dad was 20 years older than my mum, and he was actually in the Second World War in the RAF. Our life grew up with the impact of his experiences, as well as her growing up in the aftermath of the war in the years following. I'm the youngest of three brothers. In many ways, they sort of raised me, and we are still close, very, very close. Despite living miles apart for years. I haven't lived under the same roof as my brothers since I was 12 years of age. And yet, we still speak every day by WhatsApp on chat and pretty much every week as well. So we still have a great relationship. Growing up, I was a really happy kid I was -- I loved my elementary school, I was athletic, I was really happy. And then at 11 years of age, which is when you go to high school in England and 11 years of age, I went to high school and it was miserable. It was a crusher of confidence. It was an all-boys school, and the tone and the theme were closer to something out of a Harry Potter movie than maybe what you anticipate. And the difference is that we still got hit. They didn't get hit in Harry Potter, but we got hit. And imagine that, corporal punishment, is unbelievable. When I got the cane had to choose, am I going to choose the hand or the butt - you know what, I chose the bottom, knowing it will give the headmaster just that little extra bit of pleasure. My parents got divorced when I was 12. And so from the years of 12 to 16, they were pretty tough for me. As a youth I developed a little bit of a nasty streak, I would say. I regret big parts of my behavior in those years. I was reflecting pretty lost. I still sometimes wish that I could apologize to a few folks that I probably wasn't as nice to as I could have been. I grew up doing lots of different sports, football, cricket riding my bicycle swimming. And as a young kid, I was very good. At the age of 12. I was fourth at the National Championships. And then a 13 I quit swimming. And I didn't swim at all from really about 14 through till 16 years of age. And at 16 I decided to take it back up and it was mostly an act of desperation because I was directionless. I didn't know where to go. And I had two years. At the age of 18, I managed to secure the very last qualification spot for the British Olympic swimming trials. The last guy in, and I thought, I have no aspirations, I'm going to go up to Sheffield, this brand new pool that they just built. And I went up there, and somehow, I swam for my life. And I secured a spot in the final. Now that was seismic for me, and little did I know at the time, it was seismic for writing the chapter of my life in many ways because this one race was the catalyst that enabled me to get recruited and come to the US on a swimming scholarship. If it wasn't for that race, I really wouldn't have had an opportunity to come to the States. Now, when I left in 92 and came to the States on the US on a swimming scholarship, my sole goal in life was 1996, the Olympic Games in Atlanta. I arrived here, I quadrupled my training hours, I ramped up my effort, and I went all in. I got fitter than I'd ever been in my life. And I didn't get any faster. I finaled at the trials again but I never made the team. And so after my swimming career, I took up coaching and I was lucky to coach at one of the best club programs in the whole country. We had a lot of really fast kids, kids that were going on to get scholarships all over the US at Division One swimming. And it was an amazing experience. It offered a host of initial coaching lessons. One of the best coaches that I met was at that swim program, the head coach Ed Bachman, who still has an imprint on my coaching to this day. But I realized that I probably didn't want to just be a swimming coach. Nothing wrong with being a swimming coach but I decided that I wanted to extend out so I went and did my master's degree. And I went to the University of South Carolina, yes, the Gamecocks. I did clinical physiology there. I became an assistant coach for the swim team for two years and learned that big schools and big conferences, the University of South Carolina were in the SEC, doesn't mean the quality of coaching is always going to be big and good. So I saw a whole bunch of athletes there work hard, and not getting any faster. And so while at, USC, I did my first triathlon, it was just as a bet. It was fun. I was completely clueless. I went hard from the start and I ended up coming in fourth, and instantly fell in love with the sport. I learned so much about bike riding when I was in South Carolina, from riding with roadies, as they call them. People who rode rode road bicycles. And it was especially a guy Rob Reed, an amazing guy, fantastic owner of a wonderful coffee shop, but I still think it, is open Immaculate Consumption in Columbia, South Carolina. But he taught me so much about riding my bicycle. Following my master's program, I'd done triathlons, I was an amateur, and done very, very well running, won lots of races, and decided to go home to London. My father was very sick at the time and I went back there for nine months. And I was completely lost. My US adventure was over. I'd been here for nine years, my dad was very sick, and he ended up passing away. And I didn't know what to do next, I got a job as an assistant regional manager at a trendy sort of fitness club. And I just thought I was going into the more corporate side of life, and I didn't know what to...what to do. And so then I decided, I don't think triathlons are over for me. It wasn't that fun riding in the streets of London. So I decided to give it a real crack. And without a visa, I went to the US back again to Los Angeles, because I knew one person there, and I arrived as a tourist. And I decided I've got to go pro. But I didn't have a visa. Well, during my first week in Los Angeles, I went to a local tri-club meeting of the LA tri-club, a large event with 500 people there. I even think it was Dave Scott and Mark Allen, two folks that I became very good friends with in later years. And they were doing a talk, but they had a raffle there. And guess whose name got pulled out of a hat? Mine. Yep, it got pulled out of a hat. And it was for a full performance assessment at a brand new performance center called Phase Four. Following that assessment that I won in the raffle, Well, they became my sponsor and my main support for all of my pro career. It was just complete serendipity. And I met a guy called Chris Wright, who's an immigration lawyer. And he somehow secured a visa for me to stay in the US. Many of the world people in the tri world now will know Chris because he has secured most of the visas for most of the professional triathletes who are born and raised outside of the US over the last 20 years. He is the man and it was Conrad Stoltz who sort of got that going with Chris. He's one of the top immigration lawyers in the whole country and works with a lot of the tech and entertainment people. But now he has his sports industry as well. Anyway, I raced pro, I was committed, I was tough and to be honest, I worked my ass off. I got so fricking fit. And you know what I ended up with? Not wins. I ended up with chronic fatigue because I ignored all of the aspects of performance that would serve the hard work that I did to become more effective. So really, before it even began, three or four years in, my professional career was over. And I decided to start coaching. And I was determined not to allow my coached athletes to make the same mistakes that I did. And so the basic method that I utilized, was to place four key areas of performance on a level playing field. Now you're probably familiar with these as a listener to the show: Endurance training, yes, if you're a triathlete, you got to swim, bike, and run, Strength and conditioning, nutrition, and recovery, and everything that falls under those pillars. These four pillars still make up the core guiding method of the Purple Patch programming today.
Matt Dixon 16:14
I coached for a few years and then started Purple Patch at the end of 2007. By myself, living in a studio apartment, I had no business experience. I questioned myself, because I'd inherited the English mindset. And I felt that not only would I not be able to do it, I didn't even have the right to do it. How can I start a company? I should go and get a real job. That's what all of my English friends would tell me at least. Well, I wouldn't have had the courage if it wasn't simply for my wife, Kelli. See, I had no idea what I was doing. But Kelli said you can do it, work it out. And she drove me. And from that little studio apartment Purple Patch was born. Now starting Purple Patch, I had no idea where to start. I decided to lean into some existing clients that I already had. And when I reflect, I can't believe how lucky I was. I just want to label off my initial advisory group for Little Purple Patch. I had a founder of PayPal, the director of finance at Clif Bar, the head of HR of km V. Moody, a partner of good be Silverstein, one of the most decorated brand and ad agencies in the world, the founder of Trulia, the real estate search engine, that was my advisory group, and guess what, they gave some pretty good advice. I started at the same time to write for many of the triathlon publications and the topic that I always focused on was stress and how it impacted performance in both sports at the pro level and the amateur level and across life, it was my passion. And out of this, I started to suggest, what I labeled, a smarter way to train for endurance sports. And you know what happened? I got pilloried and hammered. My key focus point, beyond the hard work that was required for swim, biking, and running was to prioritize recovery and sleep. I wanted athletes to integrate strength training year-round, not just in the offseason, I wanted every athlete to have the habit of post-workout fueling and heavy diet daily hydration. And when it comes to running, adopt a multi-sport lens for running conditioning. In other words, leveraging other conditions or other disciplines to be ready to run well. Well, I guess the sport wasn't ready at that stage. Because I got hammered for the approach. Think about it. The audacity of saying sleep is a performance enhancer. You need to eat enough calories to support your training and most don't prioritize recovery, strength is a performance enhancer. No, it's not. It's a waste of time I was told. Well over the next 13 years, we had one of the most successful squads of professional triathletes in the history of sport. 450 wins and podiums, multiple world champions at the pro level, multiple world championships at the amateur level, and almost 1500 athletes qualifying for the World Championship. Those are amateurs, of course. And my passion, though, still lay in helping time-starved people of all levels, integrate sport into life. I wanted them to excel in their sporting goals and go beyond even what they could imagine. I was ambitious, and that was my coaching joy. But in parallel, I wanted to ignite and magnify their health and their performance in broader aspects of life. And that is still central to what I love.
Matt Dixon 20:00
In my journey, I got to work with some of the highest-achieving executives and many of the world's largest and most well-known organizations. Kelli and I went on a journey together, we want to develop Purple Patch to reach more people, from me in a little studio to a performance brand. Helping people thrive in life, in the workplace, and of course in sports. And now we have a new emerging business arm, taking elite athletic coaching and applying it in a corporate setting. And so it's really exciting as you find me now at 50 with a renewed passion for the journey. Along the way, I also became a dad navigating the youth sports world, with Baxter loving swimming, flag football, mountain biking, water polo, cross-country skiing, skiing, snowboarding, and more. And here I am at 50 Looking ahead, but throughout my journey, everything that I just outlined, I've learned a lot. And so today, my 50 coaching lessons along that journey, in no particular order, I hope you enjoy.
Matt Dixon 21:06
Alright, let's kick it off, folks, I'm going to categorize them, the first 20 are all under the banner of performance coaching. So here we go, you ready, we're gonna go through 20, then we'll take a quick break. Performance coaching, Number 1 - talent and physical gifts are no predictor of long-term success. Anyone's gifts and talent level become irrelevant without the development of a smart program and recipe and the key traits and mindset that all high performers share. I've witnessed the most talented athletes stumble, before they even really get out of the gates, and the moderately talented go on to become champions at a high level because of what they bring daily. Physical gifts are only the ticket to the dance, doesn't mean you're going to dance with the cutest people. Number one.
Matt Dixon 22:04
Number 2, performance is performance. In any arena across life, there are similar challenges that performers face. And those challenges have similar solutions. If you broaden your perspective, you can achieve anything you put your mind to.
Matt Dixon 22:25
Number 3, even in the most individual of sports, optimal individual results emerge from a team approach. And I say that again. Even if you're in an individual endeavor, your best results come from adopting a team approach, it's always better to go on a journey together in a team environment than on a solo mission.
Matt Dixon 22:51
Number 4, is hard work commitment. It's a prerequisite. But it isn't enough to deliver sustained high performance, you need to find a solution that develops consistency over the long term.
Matt Dixon 23:08
Number 5, there's some good stuff already guys, our only number is only on our fifth one, but there's already some good stuff reflected on it. Number five, in the most complex of challenges, the solutions are typically found in a focus on the fundamentals done well. I want to say that again, in the most complex of challenges, the solutions are typically found with a focus on nailing the basics. Developing a vigorous filter for yourself to prioritize, and focus on the key aspects is going to get you 98% of the way there. That is why at Purple Patch, we always say to nail the basics.
Matt Dixon 23:48
Number 6, is a good one here. It's easy to talk about the importance of recovery, for endurance athletes, for busy working professionals. For parents, it doesn't matter. It's easy, but it's much tougher to fully embrace it. I always used to say to the Purple Patch pros, any dipshit can work hard, it's the champions that dare to recover.
Matt Dixon 24:13
Number 7, lucky sevens. Telling someone what to do, never delivers as positive results as educating and explaining the why of what you want them to do. Results emerge when you take the time as a coach to empower the athlete with the knowledge of the why and you ensure they understand and you get their buy-in.
Matt Dixon 24:36
Number 8. Effective communication is fundamental to coaching success. This doesn't mean message transmission. It ain't radio here. Okay, it's as much if not more about listening and watching than it is about telling someone what to do. Now I'm going to add to this just because you tell someone something, it doesn't mean that they've heard it and absorbed it. Great communication is when you know it has occurred sunk in and is actioned upon.
Matt Dixon 25:11
Number 9, a good one for coaches here, removes the science complex language, it is vastly more effective when coaching to keep it simple. I seldom discuss mitochondria, posterior chain, sagittal planes, and vector forces, no one wants to hear this language, it only confuses people. And they might not tell you they don't understand, but most people don't understand. Keep your language consistent, accessible, and actionable. It's better coaching.
Matt Dixon 25:46
Number 10. As a coach, whether you like it or not, you're a leader, you set the tone, model the behaviors, establish the standards, and quickly learn what is important to you. And you want to establish those as nonnegotiables. And then have the flexibility to let other stuff slide. When people have focus, and clarity on the important behaviors, the stuff that you care about, you're gonna get broader buy-in, it's going to develop the start of your performance culture, whatever is important to you.
Matt Dixon 26:24
Number 11, is pretty simple. Never lie to the athletes and tell the truth, even if it's tough. Now, sometimes, you can hold back the truth. In other words, don't lie. effective teams are built on a bedrock of trust. And trust emerges from consistency and truth.
Matt Dixon 26:47
Number 12. As a coach, reward commitment, hard work, and personal development, not outcomes. If you build your expectations around trying your best individual development and improvement, and then what's going to happen is you're going to automatically reduce ego, tension, increase a sense of belonging and inclusion. And from this, the best outcomes flow.
Matt Dixon 27:16
Number 13. It's hard for athletes in the weeds to retain perspective, this means that you as a coach need to be great at getting out of the weeds, maintaining perspective, and ensuring that you've got long-term thinking and decision-making very simple. But getting out of the weeds, and not being reactive is a core competency of a great coach.
Matt Dixon 27:44
Number 14. Simply put, never stop growing and learning. I still believe that I've got more to learn than I have learned. And as soon as that changes, well, it's going to be time for me to exit the stage right?
Matt Dixon 27:59
Number 15. As the leader and the coach never, ever claim to have all the answers. I don't, you don't, we don't. But do promise to get all the answers. Most of my best coaching experiences have occurred when I've leaned heavily on the wisdom, expertise, and additional services of experts in other fields.
Matt Dixon 28:24
Number 16. We're almost there on the first block of 20. Number 16. Here we go. Folks, don't be a cheerleader as a coach. Athletes hate it. They don't want it. Cheerleaders stand on the sideline and provide blind encouragement. What athletes want is guidance, expertise, accountability, support, wisdom, and the truth, so lean into that. They don't need the rah rah rahs. Positive reinforcement, yes, but not blind cheerleading.
Matt Dixon 28:56
Number 17, evolve or die. There hasn't been a year in my coaching journey that hasn't involved a radical evolution, or a shift in programming perspective or guidance. The specifics all sit on top of a robust and never-changing set of beliefs. And so in other words, for me, that's simple things. Performance is built on a platform of health, recovery, and nutrition is as important as the hard work that you do, long term choices always trump short-term interventions, and other aspects like this, but the specifics of how you get there. It's ever-evolving and learning, evolve or die.
Matt Dixon 29:40
Number 18. There is no single way to make an athlete go faster. Low intensity, big volume. It makes athletes go faster. High intensity, low volume. It makes athletes go faster. The magic, it's not in the individual sessions, it's in the application to the athlete and their situation, their stage of development, and how they respond. And so whenever you hear dogmatic evangelical approaches, that coach is just crushing performance opportunity. There's no black or white, there's no one way or the other. It's about building habits and a SMART program for the athlete, so that they can be consistent, and they can evolve.
Matt Dixon 30:29
Number 19. Coaching is often ahead of the curve of peer-reviewed research. I always love the websites, we are driven by science, and we only coach relative to peer-reviewed, well, you're leaving some stuff on the table there, because I'm driven by science but I also understand that sometimes it takes the science a little time to catch up. So as a coach, don't get shackled into a cage of only applying coaching methods, if it's proven by science. On the flip side, don't apply a method just because that's what others do. Or that's how you trained. Instead, you need to be smart and draw on information. And think, does that make sense? And then you apply that and you keep doing all the research you can, sometimes science will catch up.
Matt Dixon 31:24
Number 20. Here's maybe a controversial one. Most, and it is most, there are some exceptions, but most former elite athletes are not equipped to be great coaches. Legendary athletic accomplishment has little to do with highly effective coaching. It's no offense to the athletes. Some of my good friends are former pro athletes and darn good coaches. But as a trend, just because a coach won a world championship as an athlete doesn't mean they're going to be a great coach. Just saying.
Matt Dixon 31:59
Alrighty, guys, 20 in. We got 30 to go, we've got to get cracking here, don't we? So that was pretty broad. Now let's get a little bit more narrow. We're going to talk about performance habits and methodology. What have I learned here? We're gonna go through a few here. And these are pretty quick. Alrighty? Number one big lesson here or sorry, not number one number 21. Goodness me. Number 21, most athletes across all sports go way too hard in their sessions that are prescribed as easy. Pretty simple one. Most athletes across all sports go way too hard in their easiest sessions.
Matt Dixon 32:36
Number 22. Most athletes across all sports, don't go hard enough. In their tougher training sessions. We should couple those together and shouldn't wait until 21 and 22. They sit together.
Matt Dixon 32:49
Alright, Number 23. Post Workout fueling. It is fundamentally a positive habit for all athletes, protein and carbohydrates. It promotes refueling adaptations of the muscle’s control over future eating choices and stress management. Much of the effective training management begins with this simple habit. Every athlete wants to lock it in post-workout fueling.
Matt Dixon 33:18
Number 24. Proper daily hydration is grossly underrated as a key aspect of training consistency. It also impacts daily energy, hunger management, and a robust immune system. I see too many people walking around like dried sponges, much to their performance peril.
Matt Dixon 33:37
Number 25. Every human does better in life and sports when adopting a year-round consistent resistance and strength training program. This ranges from world-class athletes to AARP anarchists, Peri menopausal females -- if you have a heartbeat, you should embrace strength training. Pretty simple. All right, we're over halfway. Now we're coming home.
Matt Dixon 34:03
26. Too many athletes believe that the only route to performance gains is through fitness development, leading to an unhealthy weighted focus on metrics where their real opportunity is in skill and Terrain Management Development. You get that right, you go faster for your fitness.
Matt Dixon 34:25
Number 27. Strict and rigid training zones are mostly complete bullshit. And they do more to restrict and limit athletes than deliver the supposed specificity that so many claim. Think about that one that's going to be a discussion point, isn't it? strict and rigid training zones are mostly I'll say it again, complete bullshit. Okay.
Matt Dixon 34:53
Number 28. Sleep is the number one performance catalyst that you have in your arsenal. To give consistency and performance gains, you can do everything else right. But if you don't consistently establish good sleep patterns, your performance will suffer. Whether the goal is elite athletics, leadership in the workplace, work performance, parenting, or body composition -- sleep is everything. Ignore it, and your performance ultimately will suffer. Period. Well, feeling pretty dogmatic on that one.
Matt Dixon 35:31
Number 29. Chasing weight loss, or race weight is a sure path to performance catastrophe. It leads to a harmful relationship with food, short-term ineffective habits, massive risk of injury and fatigue, and ultimately performance decline. Instead, build positive habits, a smart long-term set of choices that can help deliver performance, but also distress the body enough that body composition can improve. Oh and by the way, it makes you happier as well. Don't fall for the diets don't chase a number on the scale. And don't think or fall for the trap of lighter is faster, it's riddled with risk.
Matt Dixon 36:18
And number 30. Most endurance athletes don't consume enough calories to support their training load. Pretty simple. It's a nice way to finish it around performance habits. Most endurance athletes don't consume enough calories to support their training load.
Matt Dixon 36:36
And that means that now we've got 20 to go. So now let's get a little bit more narrow. Let's go down in little clusters of five. Let's do a little five little lessons in business. Number 31. Here we go. We just got five around business folks. 31. Building a business is freaking hard, relentless, and all-consuming. It's also the adventure of a lifetime and immensely rewarding.
Matt Dixon 37:05
Number 32. The toughest part part of business success -- teamwork. It's a never-ending journey of development, refinement, and improvement. Building a team is challenging, we've got a great team at Purple Patch, but it takes a lot of investment and hard work to get there.
Matt Dixon 37:25
Number 33. The best piece of coaching advice that I got in the initial years of Purple Patch I want to share here, is don't rely on a single surface, build multiple oil wells of revenue. Pretty good one for you guys who are starting your coaching business. Think about, the oil wells analogy, it's a good thing to keep in your mind.
Matt Dixon 37:45
Number 34. It's great, wonderful, and rewarding to have a passion-based business that helps others. But don't forget, it's a business. So take it seriously. Focus on the quality of the products and the services, and emphasize revenue metrics and targets so that you can have more success and more happy clients. Your business may make people happy and successful in their hobby, but it's not your hobby. It's a business, be professional, take it seriously, and show up and you're going to be leveraged to make a greater impact than you ever imagined.
Matt Dixon 38:30
And number five under the banner of business clarity is critical. It's not always easy, but ensuring your team and employees are clear and understand their role. And your expectations are always better to keep them happy and effective. I've had to evolve dramatically on this and I keep trying to improve to be clear and upfront. The truth is so much better than fuzzy soft support.
Matt Dixon 38:59
Alrighty, coaching tone. This is an important one let's dig into a few key aspects of tone and mindset in coaching. Number 36 guys. Be deadly serious about your craft, but make it fun. No one does better when you extract all of the joy from the hard work. It's fine and appropriate to have high demands and high expectations. But long-term success doesn't emerge from a soulless workload.
Matt Dixon 39:32
37 similar to this in many ways, positive, nearly always trumps negative. Building your language and your feedback around positive reinforcement and support provides hope, excitement, and commitment, shouting causes retreat, and a fear of being wrong. So step into growth.
Matt Dixon 39:55
Number 38 partner in discomfort As a coach, it's my job to put athletes in places of high discomfort. But this is where the growth occurs. And it can only be positive if you are there right with them. I've got to be in their experience, guiding, coaching them, and helping them develop the tools so that they can navigate alone. That's what coaching is.
Matt Dixon 40:25
39 emphasize the process, and the actions that are under my athlete’s control, and also prioritize effort over outcomes. These are the components that any athlete has control and autonomy over. And so that's where as a coach, I need to place my emphasis.
Matt Dixon 40:47
And number 40 in coaching, limit the time that you spend talking about outcomes. Outcomes for me, are pretty irrelevant, we know where we want to go, and we set that target. But I never, ever tell an athlete that they can win a world championship, or they're going to qualify for the Hawaii Ironman or finish a race. Instead, I try and steer my words towards the actions that are necessary to deliver those outcomes. If you focus on personal development, and the things that we can control, the outcomes take care of themselves, almost every time.
Matt Dixon 41:26
Oof, we're almost there, guys 10 to go. Here we go. Let's do the fun one. Transition to kids and youth sports already. Number 41. If you want your kids to be the very best that they can be in any sport, make sure that they do a ton of different sports and activities growing up. Resist, resist, resist the temptation to specialize early. And I get it, it's tough, but guess what, if your kid is somehow super talented, they're going to emerge, they're going to get through if they're able, and so resist the temptation to get super specialized early. No kid, before 14 should be a single sport kid. Even if they want to be as good as they can be in a sport.
Matt Dixon 42:21
Number 42, keep out of the coach's way. As a parent, and now I'm taking my coaching hat off, as a parent our role is to support, love, and keep it fun. The best questions you can ask your kid after a game or a race? Did you have fun? Did you try your best? That's all you need to say. Support them, they'll feel it.
Matt Dixon 42:46
43 parents, it's not your journey. This isn't a second crack at sports. It's your kid’s journey. And so I think as a parent, we should all do everything we can to support them, and expose them to many different experiences and sports, but it is they and only they that will decide if they want to pursue and chase excellence. The truth is you can't coach will, you can't coach commitment, you can teach the values of it. But it's gonna come from the intrinsic side. And as a parent, we don't have control of that. And so set up the experiences and see where the kid runs. That's the best we can do.
Matt Dixon 43:30
44 only 2% of kids are going to go on and play or compete in sports in college. But 100% of the kids will go on to be adults. And so I think we should bear that in mind when we view the role of sport in the broader context of life. And so it's better I think, to just assume, my kid, your kid, our kid, just assume they're not getting a sports scholarship of any sort. If you want to try and limit the financial impact of college, go after the financial aid, those scholarships. There's much more in academic scholarships than there is in sports and it's way more assured. So focus on school. And make sure you realize that the absolute power of sport comes in teamwork, camaraderie, commitment, pursuit of improvement, fun, and joy. That's what you get out of it. And the talented kids will emerge, we can't drive them.
Matt Dixon 44:33
Number 45. This is a fun one. Whatever kid is the standout superstar at 8, 9, 10, or 11 years of age, it's unlikely that that kid will be the superstar in that same sport at 17 to 18 years of age. stand and watch any team of eight to 12-year-olds in any sport and you can almost guarantee that you will not spot the one that makes it and goes on for great sporting success in college and beyond. Let me say that again, stand and watch soccer team, basketball team baseball, it doesn't matter what it is, flag football, Baxter is really into flag football right now. I almost guarantee you, 8 to 12 years of age, that you won't be able to pick out the one that goes on, in some sport, not necessarily that sport, in some sport to make it, whatever making it means. You have that awkward, shy kid on the soccer field. He might be the next superstar rower. And so let's keep our perspective and focus on work ethic commitment, camaraderie, teamwork, respect, sportsmanship, and all of that good stuff, because those are tools that every kid can utilize across life.
Matt Dixon 45:51
And finally, well, let's just finish it up with five more guys. 46. Every person is an athlete. I've seen people from every starting line achieve amazing personal growth.
Matt Dixon 46:05
Number 47. The next big thing is yesterday's big thing. Endurance Sports and every sport goes in circles -- zone two, blood lactate -- I've seen it all before, folks, there's very little, very little of the next great thing. Focus on the fundamentals.
Matt Dixon 46:26
Number 48. The journey of sport can have an outsized impact on anyone's broader life. I can't think of anything else in life that has such a huge positive impact on who people become in broader life than a journey in sport. And so I encourage you to lean in, and take on a challenge something else scary, you won't regret it, because you'll get pride and satisfaction from accomplishment. But also, you'll get benefits well beyond that journey.
Matt Dixon 47:00
Number 49. The journey to performance is not linear. Don't expect perfection. Understand that setbacks, obstacles, and failures, are gonna happen along the way. They are. Don't take it personally. learn, adapt, and keep going. You might not be able to see it. But success is always emerging just over the next crest of the hill. And so focus on the fundamentals, you won't regret it.
Matt Dixon 47:32
And 50, my final one, guys. Don't forget to have fun. We only have one life to live. So make the most of it. And folks, that's it. But me being me. I'm greedy. There is one more. And I think this one is the most important. The other day a good friend said to me, You must be so proud of what you've built at Purple Patch. You've got a super business, a great community, a great catalog of results. And I quickly corrected it. It wasn't me. I could never have done that. Purple Patch emerges from the athletes that make up and do make up the fabric of the journey. All of the results. Purple Patch emerges from the team members who have played parts along the way. The countless advisors volunteers supporters that have steered the journey, the coaches and experts that have helped us and our athletes grow. My friends who offered encouragement and support, my brothers, who not only trained and trained and trained my mind in competitiveness through absolutely relentless punishing failures in the back garden in cricket, and in the living room with the sponge ball football when I was just a little puppy, but also never-ending in their caring and support to give me the courage to even come to the US in the first place, to compete to grow, to start a business and more. And perhaps most importantly, no, not perhaps absolutely most importantly, to Kelli. Because I would never have started Purple Patch if it wasn't for her. I wasn't confident enough. I didn't believe that I had the ability or the right and she pushed me she gave me confidence. And in the journey, Kelli quit her job in tech. And for the last 10 years, we have built Purple Patch together in partnership. We are officially a female-owned business. Kelli owns 51% of Purple Patch. Yeah, I love the camera, but this ain't my journey. I'm just lucky to have worked with really exceptional people who've offered me the opportunity to grow and improve over time. And my job is not done. I'm 50 But I'm hungry.
Matt Dixon 49:54
And so folks, thank you for the birthday wishes and I know so many of you listeners are desperate to send me a big glorious present. Please do so, I love presents. I'm joking. But I do want one thing from each of you, it would make me happy, it would be the best present. And the good news is, it's simple because it's the same for everyone. As I turned 50, if you want to get me a present, it's going to be this -- take on a challenge. take on a challenge. Commit to Purple Patch, its methods, and its habits. We help people. Become a better version of yourself across life. That will be the ultimate gift. See you next week, guys, take care. Thanks for listening.
Matt Dixon 50:40
Guys, thanks so much for joining. Thank you for listening. I hope that you enjoyed the new format. You can never miss an episode by simply subscribing, head to the Purple Patch channel on YouTube, and you will find it there. And you could subscribe, of course, I'd like to ask you, if you will subscribe also share it with your friends. And it's really helpful if you leave a nice positive review in the comments. Now questions that you have, let me know, feel free to add a comment and I will try my best to respond and support you on your performance journey. As we commence this video podcast experience, if you have any feedback at all, as mentioned earlier in the show, we would love your help in helping us to improve. Simply email us at info@purplepatchfitness.com or leave it in the comments of the show on the Purple Patch page and we will get you dialed in. We'd love constructive feedback. We are in a growth mindset as we like to call it. And so feel free to share with your friends. But as I said, Let's build this together. Let's make it something special. It's really fun. We're trying hard to make it a special experience. And we want to welcome you into the Purple Patch community. With that, I hope you have a great week. Stay healthy, have fun, keep smiling, doing whatever you do. Take care.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
athletes, coaching, sport, performance, coach, patch, life, years, journey, purple, number, emerge, team, great, kid, habits, swimming, grew, business, world