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What’s in this newsletter?

• 🎉 A small celebration for a big deal.

• 💬 How one conversation changed an athlete's mindset—and results.

• 📈 A powerful framework to evaluate and enhance performance.

• ✅ Why “Establish, Maintain, Maximize” matters in sports and leadership.

A Small Celebration

First, congratulations are in order. A team we are blessed to work closely with has won its conference regular-season championship for the first time in school history. Way to go, MSU Soccer!

A fantastic team with outstanding leaders. They have broken all sorts of program records this year, including an undefeated record at home and a current #1 ranking in the Top Drawer Soccer poll. As they will quickly remind you, this year is just the outcome of small, daily steps in the right direction for years.

They are a living embodiment of a team and program that exhibits much of what we believe at BETTER.

We are proud of them, excited for them, and happy for them.

Now, onto the newsletter.

The Idea: A Framework for Evaluating Performance.

Nearly a month ago, we started a deep dive into maximizing performance. We painted a picture of peak performance with this idea: Commitment vs. Contentment. We think it’s true of every performer, coach, athlete, or leader.

Our intention at the time was to walk you through our work with athletes step-by-step. Then, the topic of burnout changed our plans for our newsletter over the last few weeks.

But we’re back. We will show you every step of the four-part process we use to evaluate our athletes and share how we think about it and why.

The four parts are:

1. Fear

2. Purpose

3. Tilt

4. Confidence

We will walk through each in detail, describing what we do and why we do it.

But first, we wanted to introduce the general framework we use to evaluate performance in the first place.

The language we use is “Establish. Maintain. Maximize.” We’ll talk more about that in a second.

First, a story.

Anecdote - The Struggling Captain

A few weeks ago, I (Seth) was getting on a flight to be with one of the NCAA teams we work with. I was going to do what was my 5th session with this team. They were in-season. My usual work with this team was to meet with the staff for an hour, then meet with the team the next hour, then go to their practice just to observe.

As I was boarding that flight, the Head Coach called me.

They asked, “Hey Seth, would it be okay if you met with one of our players when you get here today?”

Of course, the answer was yes. We work directly with athletes all of the time. But, it was a little unusual that a coach ask this when we’d only ever worked with them in the team context.

So I land and go straight to the Head Coach’s office. A 4-year starter and Senior Captain sat on a couch in their office, shoulders slightly slumped, clearly a bit tense.

The Senior went on to explain that they were in the biggest slump of their career. They had played below their standard for an extended period of about a month, and it was starting to rob them of their joy. They could feel their performance slipping and were worried the snowball would continue.

They were a little desperate. They were a leader. They were supposed to be a source of energy for the team, not a drain.

So, I asked a simple question.

“Well, what does it mean for you to play at your best? And what specifically is happening that leads you to say that you’re in a slump?”

The player shared. The coach was able to chime in as well and communicated beautifully in a supportive manner where the player needed to improve. They were both in complete alignment.

But, as they were sharing, I realized that this was the first time they were having this conversation with each other. Sure, they’d talked about playing poorly, slumps, and used generic language around the player’s performance. But, this was the first time they’d discussed in specific detail what they player wasn’t doing that they needed to and what the player was doing that they needed to stop doing.

What’s funny is that this wasn’t the first, or even tenth time I’ve seen this happen.

To finish the story, we made a plan. Together, the three of us devised a strategy for each competition. We call it an “Inner Game” (we’ll share more about it in a later newsletter). We gave the player three very specific things they had to execute on in each game. At the end of each game, they had to score how well they did those three things on a 1-5 scale.

Two weeks later, they were named their conference’s player of the week.

So, what’s the point of this story?

The point is this: Players (as with coaches) are typically bad at evaluating their performance. Unless you have a framework to know what success looks like and then intentionally reflect on that performance, it’s tough to see how you’re performing.

This has especially stood out in the last few months, as I have worked directly with many golfers, including several PGA Tour golfers.

These golfers (and performers in general) are quite terrible at evaluating their performance! Everyone gets so locked in on the outcome — winning or losing — that they lose sight of whether or not they played well despite the result.

So, before we walk through each part of the four-part process mentioned above, first, we wanted to share the general framework we use to help athletes, coaches, performers, and leaders honestly and objectively evaluate their performance.

We call it Establish. Maintain. Maximize.

1. Establish: Use tools to establish a baseline for your performance

2. Maintain: Identify and Overcome your biggest obstacles to maintain performance

3. Maximize: Establish a process to maximize growth

Putting it All Together:

So, how can we capitalize on these ideas ourselves? How can we build our framework for our performance, whether we are coaches, athletes, athletic directors, or leaders? We like to practice what we preach here at BETTER, so let’s use the framework above.

1. Establish:

   Here is a common tool we use to help athletes, coaches, and teams view their performance objectively.

   

   It’s called Potential v Performance. If ten is the best of all time, what is your potential for this season, this game, this meeting…etc based on your talent and circumstances? Then, where did you perform? Was it one of the worst of your career? Was it in the middle? Put a number on it.

2. Maintain:

   Ask yourself the same questions we asked the player above. If you’re not performing where you want to be, what isn’t happening that needs to happen? Write down your answers in detail. If you are performing well, what is it that you’re doing that leads to that success?

3. Maximize:

   Based on your answers to question 2, create a simple plan that allows you to execute the small things that you need to do. Make a list of task-specific items and items about your attitude and mindset. How do you want to appear to yourself while performing?

Conclusion

Performance isn’t just about results—it’s about understanding, adjusting, and consistently pushing towards your potential. As you work through your journey, use the 'Establish, Maintain, Maximize' approach to clarify your vision, overcome obstacles, and make each step count. Growth starts with a plan; this framework can help you put it into action.

Team Talks

One of the significant topics coaches ask us about is messaging.

Chances are, if we see a Head Coach’s name pop up on our phone, and they’re in-season, they want to share where their team is in their season and ask how to craft a message to maximize performance.

We know you’re tired of scrolling through YouTube, Instagram, and X (Twitter), looking for a motivational video that you hope and pray will resonate with your team.

We were asked so much that we created a more permanent solution.

And that’s Team Talks.

What are Team Talks?

Team Talks are short, 10-minute-or-less videos to use with your team, focused on mindset, leadership, and performance. They’re evidence-based ideas with stories to capture your team’s heart. Each video comes with an exercise to make the lesson stick. They are used by state, conference, and national champions. We have Team Talks on:

• Adversity

• Accountability

• Teamwork

• Discipline

• Mindset

• Elite Performance

There are currently 18 (the length of a typical season). We will build the library over the next few months to have thirty-six.

Team Talks set you up with the right message at the right time for your team.

And for a limited time, we’re offering them a 25% discount. Get Team Talks today.

The Culture Playbook + Cohorts

Coaches have access to a lot of coaching content. What they lack are systems.

The Culture Playbook is 10 leadership ideas with the exercises you need to install the ideas and culture into your program. It’s the exact system we use to help coaches build their programs around mindset, leadership, and performance. We’ve used it at schools like Oklahoma, Mississippi State, and Florida State.

Since the Culture Playbook was released almost a year ago, nearly 1,000 coaches have purchased and are using it for their programs.

You can get it for your program today.

Culture Playbook Cohorts

We are offering Culture Playbook Cohorts if you’re interested in exploring the Culture Playbook on a deeper level.

We’ve had a few dozen commitments over the last week and aren’t starting with very many cohorts, so reserve your spot today!

Monthly Calls + Powerful Content + Practical Application + Community = Accelerate Your Growth

If interested, simply DM Seth or Kevin on Twitter.