A few weeks in to college football and coaches and fans are all looking for answers and giving sound bites. Is it possible to develop that top .001% personality or are you born with it? In this episode we talk about elephants, rhinos and lions.

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Ryan: Welcome to shift happens athlete mindset hacks where we talk everything mindset development, taking lessons from the college and pro athletes, coaches and teams. We get to work alongside. I'm Ryan Schachner. This is Cheney Robinson. And we're in the heart now or that the early beginnings of football season and we've seen teams that were supposed to win, lose and, and were supposed to lose, win. And now we get the sound bites and the comments and we get the glimpse inside what the next week is going to look like for some of these players, whether it's good or whether it's bad. And there was a comment in a post game interview that a coach made about, and this was a loot. The coach had lost, his team had lost and we the team. His comment was the team needs to develop the killer instinct. This is a bit, you know, a big program, lots of success, recent national championship, and say that, that word killer instinct, it just brought me back to, you know, those three types of people that we talk about. And the reality is he may not have anybody on his team that is capable or has that killer instinct.

Cheney: Well, and that's, that's where you got to know your team. Right. And be able to identify who you've got. Again, we talk about Jordan quite a bit. The jackson talks about the former head coach, a coach led team. That's a good team. A player led teams can be a great team. And I think that's where, you know, these players need to step up and be able to, but you got to identify or be able to understand and have the self awareness of, okay, is, am I the one? Do I need to step up and be that, that motivator, that encourager that has that killer instinct and bring the other guys along with me.

Ryan: We talk about the effective athlete, the executor and the enforcer. If we relate those to animals, I think elephant, rhino and lion. And so I think about that effective athlete, that elephant that you're going to give them that script and the job, hey, you need to do this. And if somebody comes in and gets in your space, yeah, you're going to charge them a little bit, but you're mainly, you're going to be there and you're going to fit the role that we need. Right. And you're good with that. And that's a lot. That's the bulk of people in the world are that effective person. Right. That elephant. And you get the executor right where it's the rhino. Wherever I, hey, I need you to charge that way and, you know, if you need to use that horn to get somebody out of the way, then you're going to do that and they'll do it. They'll get that person out of the way and. And they'll be good. Right. They'll. They have exceeded what is an effective, you know, individual. They have, you know, executed on that task at a high level. They've cleared the. Cleared a path. Great. Right.

Cheney: Yeah.

Ryan: Smaller segment now. Now, the very, very smallest is that enforcer. And I think lion, because a lion chases prey in two ways. It either goes head on once it has the animal, you know, animals cornered and it goes head on. The jackals and the hyenas and all that can circle a lion and mess with them. He tolerates it up until he doesn't, and then the switch flips and it's over for those. Right. He could be outnumbered. It doesn't matter. The lion stalks his prey. You don't even know that the lion is watching you, following you, plotting his strategy until it's too.

Cheney: Right.

Ryan: And so overdose until it's over. Right. And then it's too late. You don't have a really small segment of the population, and, you know, we see these buddies that are, you know, we're friends with everybody on the team, and, you know, that can't be. You've got to. If you're looking for that person, it's an extremely rare person. And this coach may not have that individual on the team. And, you know, I laughed because we had that comment coming out of the, you know, the previous week, but then we also had a comment, and you're going to hear a lot of this because I'm a Tennessee guy. But you had the quarterback, the new quarterback from Tennessee, I think, mature beyond his years. First, you know, I guess first regular season game he started in the bowl game last year, did really well. And, you know, they crushed their team. They were physically, you know, Tennessee was well, well beyond Tennessee Chattanooga's capability. Right. But his comment was, what do you, you know, take the cut. The question was, what do you take away from this victory? And, you know, it was a, you know, lesser, um, quality team and blah, blah, blah. And his comment was, the lesson I take away is, is that we did the right thing by keeping our foot on their throats, not letting them get back in the game, seeing opportunity to take that kill shot and taking it and not letting up after that. And that's that mindset that those elite players at every level have that develop that killer instinct. And the coach, you know, I hope he finds someone because it may not be the, the best physically the fastest or the strongest, you know, player. I mean, with a roster of, you know, 150 people inside that, you know, there's bound to be somebody. Yeah. That has that, and it's that individual that maybe needs to get playing time because they're gonna lay out and throw that extra block. They're going to, you know, they're going to physically put their body on the line to get the team that isn't like that person. Motivated to keep pushing, keep performing, not mail it in, pack it in, think that the game is won before the clock gets to zero.

Cheney: Now, and you've hit, you've hit on a bunch there. As you were talking about the elephant and the rhino and the lion, I was thinking about University of Georgia years ago, ran the power high offense, right? Had a guyenne, Herschel Walker board number 34. That's why I wore 34. But you've got your, your offensive line as your elephants, right? Yeah. I don't want to know. I don't want to see, I don't want to hear about you guys, because if I do, then that means you're not, you're not making your blocks. Do you do your job right? You're the role players. And nothing against offensive linemen, but, I mean, you play in a position it's been, you're down and dirty, right? And I, you're not going to get the glory. And you know that going in, you've already, you've already in that, that mindset of, hey, I'm here to do a job and I'm going to do it. And then I think about the fullback being that rhino of, hey, I'm, I'm a heat seeking missile and I'm bleeding. I'm leading the block as Herschel's taking the ball around the end. I'm getting out in front of him and I'm clearing a path, right? I'm using the horn to whoever gets in the path. I'm clearing them out, I'm getting them out of the way. And then it's. Then Herschel's, he's. He's, he's going. No, he's, he's, he's, he's stalking the prey of. Do I need to run them over or can I run by him? What I need to do? How do, how do I get to the end zone? Right? So that was what I was envisioning as you were talking about that, putting that in a sports perspective. And, you know, a lot of not much of the power eye anymore in football at all. But I think it speaks a lot to the athletes that we're talking about not having the killer instinct. And you talked about it doesn't necessarily need to be a vocal, loud, outspoken leader. It can be that athlete who shows up first, who shows up early, stays late, who gets the extra rep in, in the weight room. That kind of thing, you know, is willing to go that extra mile, as you said, get that pick up, that second block, whatever it is, and it's leading by example. And that that's, I think, who we're wanting to have the killer instinct and be the role model. Right. Because a lot of times, the vocal leader may just be vocal because. And again, you push back. The vocal leader may be the vocal leader because there's some insecurities and they're trying to keep themselves motivated by being vocal. Right.

Ryan: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that, that could be. And, you know, that's a great visual, you know, thinking, Herschel. I mean, man, what a player. But the lion could be that offensive line.

Cheney: Yeah, true.

Ryan: You know, it's that person with that, that switch that says, no, not today. You're. I am going to dominate you until zeros are on this clock. And so it's not necessarily a position thing. It's a. It's a mindset characteristic and, you know, a mindset thing that that is developed. And it's, you know, a lot of times it's the actions. I mean, you think back at, at plays where maybe it was a late hit that got the team, you know, reengaged and, you know, those sorts of actions that getting that second block or, you know, the running back or receiver catching the ball, taking a shot, spin move, and, you know, three or four extra yards as two or three more guys come and hit them, it's that, you know, I could be stopped here. Right. The effective guy is going to take the shot. He's going to go down. The executor is going to take the shot, attempt the spin move, maybe get a yard, and the enforcer is going to take the shot, make the spin move, and he's going to get five or six more yards.

Cheney: Yeah, we're following.

Ryan: Right. You stop this guy, it's going to take your whole team to stop this guy. And that's what this coach is looking for. And, and I think you. I. It's a great thing. I think the championship, the very elite teams have that. It could show up physically. It could show up vocally. Sometimes they are that same person. Right. But like you said, a lot of times, that vocal leader is maybe somebody that's could be insecure and is just, you know, being loud and, you know, overcompensating for something else. It could be that athlete that's more mature, that is trying to keep everyone's perspective and focus. But sometimes it. You need that edge, right? You need that player with that edge to get in there. And it could be the, you know, one of the least talented guys on the team. But the overall impact, even though they could be a weakness on the field, that overall impact of having that player there and what that. That killer instinct does to the rest of the team could warrant them playing more, getting more snaps, getting more reps, getting more at bats, uh, getting more minutes. And so, you know, that's the. I hope this coach finds it because it's going to be. He has it. He has it. And it's going to be a really long, frustrating season if they can't identify somebody that that has that. But it. It has to be one of the teammates, you know, effective executor, enforcer, elephant, rhino, lion. The Lions are rare, but the impact can be felt, and that's really how champions are made. So thanks for joining us on shift happens. Until next time.