You help somebody, you help yourself.

Brian Sullivan is a former Division 1 basketball player at Davidson College where he is second-place on several of the schools three-point records behind Steph Curry, the greatest shooter of all-time.

Brian played professionally overseas and then served as Director of Student Athlete Development at Davidson for three years, working with his college coach, the legendary Bob McKillop.

Brian is now a graduate student at the University of Denver, earning his Master’s in Psychology with a focus on sport and performance psychology. He has a great Substack, 3 Points, where he shares what he is learning about peak performance.

In this conversation Brian and I talk:

-What conditions need to be in place to perform at your best?

-Tools to center attention.

-Judson Brewer’s mental push-up

-“Don’t think a thought for as long as you can… After seven seconds everyone’s hand was up.”

-The great athlete myth.

-“Can you be aware of what you are thinking?”

-The role of emotion in performance.

-Coach Bob McKillop and his “McKillopisms.”

-The continuing impact of coaches.

-Life is about relationships.

-“Every year Coach McKillop will go to four or five weddings.”

-A model for flow state.

This episode is a companion piece to my four part mini-series on positive coaching.

And I explore many of these topics in greater detail in my book Zen and the Art of Coaching Basketball.

Podcast Links: Apple/Spotify

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit benbo.substack.com