"I used to work at a sports agency." For years I led with that line — not because I wanted the old job back, but because being a freelance consultant didn't feel like enough to earn the room. This episode is about rented worth: the identity you borrow to cover a present-tense scoreboard that feels too small to justify you, and why the approval you buy that way was never yours to keep.

Next Steps to Continue Competing:

1. 📈 Make Your Next Event Impactful Beyond Just One Day: Learn how I can help your leaders & organization compete every day ⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠.

2. 👉 Let's connect on ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠ or ⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠.

3.👕 Save 15% off motivating apparel with code: PODCAST ⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠.

NFL Chaplain and author Kent Chevalier shares his inspiring journey from Pittsburgh pastor to NFL Steelers chaplain, highlighting leadership, faith, and overcoming fear. Discover how his experiences and the 'Do It Afraid' framework can empower you to take bold steps in your life.

Connect with Kent & grab 'Do It Afraid':

• Grab Kent's book, Do It Afraid, here
• Visit Kent's website to learn about his programs
• Follow Kent on Instagram

Next Steps to Continue Competing:

1. 📈 Make Your Next Event Impactful Beyond Just One Day: Learn how I can help your leaders & organization compete every day ⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠.

2. 👉 Let's connect on ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠ or ⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠.

3.👕 Save 15% off motivating apparel with code: PODCAST ⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠.

4. 📩 Get 1:1 Coaching with Jake. ⁠Apply here⁠.

Why does your best year get followed by your hardest? Why do Rookie of the Year winners almost always have worse second seasons? Jake Thompson breaks down the sophomore slump — the pattern that wrecks more careers than any market shift — and the regression-to-mean math that makes it almost inevitable. Three moves to keep your win from becoming your ceiling.

Next Steps to Continue Competing:

1. 📈 Make Your Next Event Impactful Beyond Just One Day: Learn how I can help your leaders & organization compete every day ⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠.

2. 👉 Let's connect on ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠ or ⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠.

3.👕 Save 15% off motivating apparel with code: PODCAST ⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠.

Scottie Scheffler credits a turning point in his career to the final round of the 2020 Masters, when he was paired with Tiger Woods — both far out of contention — and watched Woods bring full intensity to a round neither of them could win.

In this solo episode of the Compete Every Day podcast, Jake Thompson unpacks the story from PGA Tour mental performance coach Julie Elion's book Mastering Your Mental Game and connects it to the meetings, workouts, and competitions where you quietly decide to stop trying. You'll learn why real competitors give their best on the shots that don't count, and how that single habit compounds into the success you're actually chasing.

Next Steps to Continue Competing:

1. 📈 Make Your Next Event Impactful Beyond Just One Day: Learn how I can help your leaders & organization compete every day ⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠.

2. 👉 Let's connect on ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠ or ⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠.

3.👕 Save 15% off motivating apparel with code: PODCAST ⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠.

You've tried Monday. Then Asana. Then ClickUp. Then Notion. You spent a Saturday building the perfect Trello board and quit using it by Thursday. You're still behind. In this episode, Jake exposes productivity porn — the trap of optimizing how you work as a substitute for doing the work — drawing on Oliver Burkeman's "efficiency trap" from Four Thousand Weeks and Anders Ericsson's research on what actually builds expertise (it isn't another app migration). Plus: the one rep that closes the gap faster than any platform you'll switch to next.

Next Steps to Continue Competing:

1. 📈 Make Your Next Event Impactful Beyond Just One Day: Learn how I can help your leaders & organization compete every day ⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠.

2. 👉 Let's connect on ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠ or ⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠.

3.👕 Save 15% off motivating apparel with code: PODCAST ⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠.

Your inbox is running the same psychological exploit as a slot machine — and you're the one pulling the lever. In this episode, Jake unpacks how this 'productive' task is actually doing the opposite. If you've ever finished an 11-hour workday exhausted with nothing to show for it, this is the Busy Drift conversation you need.

Next Steps to Continue Competing:

1. 📈 Make Your Next Event Impactful Beyond Just One Day: Learn how I can help your leaders & organization compete every day ⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠.

2. 👉 Let's connect on ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠ or ⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠.

3.👕 Save 15% off motivating apparel with code: PODCAST ⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠.

4. 📩 Get 1:1 Coaching with Jake. ⁠Apply here⁠.

This weekend, I climbed 29,029 vertical feet — the height of Everest — at Snowbasin, one of the hardest courses that 29029 runs. Thirteen trips up the mountain, on a knee that wasn't supposed to be ready. Going in, I didn't think I'd finish.

This episode is the whole thing, start to finish: the voice that wanted me to quit, the two words I used to shut it down, why we drift backward the moment we can see the finish line, and why the finish was never the thing that changed me.

Next Steps to Continue Competing:

1. 📈 Make Your Next Event Impactful Beyond Just One Day: Learn how I can help your leaders & organization compete every day ⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠.

2. 👉 Let's connect on ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠ or ⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠.

3.👕 Save 15% off motivating apparel with code: PODCAST ⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠.

You just closed a great month — until you opened LinkedIn. Six minutes later, the good morning was gone. In this episode, Jake breaks down the science behind why scrolling LinkedIn (and any social platform) measurably wrecks your performance. You'll learn why you're comparing your behind-the-scenes to everyone else's highlight reel, how comparison drift quietly flips your scoreboard, and the one question to ask before you scroll tomorrow morning.

Next Steps to Continue Competing:

1. 📈 Make Your Next Event Impactful Beyond Just One Day: Learn how I can help your leaders & organization compete every day ⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠.

2. 👉 Let's connect on ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠ or ⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠.

3.👕 Save 15% off motivating apparel with code: PODCAST ⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠.

4. 📩 Get 1:1 Coaching with Jake. ⁠Apply here⁠.

Why do some people bounce back from failure faster than others? In this episode, Jake explores the mindset shift that separates high performers from everyone else: treating your career like a science experiment instead of a final exam.

Drawing on insights from Jerry Seinfeld's approach to comedy and Sara Blakely's door-to-door sales beginnings, Jake breaks down how to separate your identity from your output — a critical skill for sales professionals, leaders, and entrepreneurs navigating uncertainty. Plus: the difference between "I didn't work" and "that didn't work," and why that one-word shift changes everything.

Next Steps to Continue Competing:

1. 📈 Make Your Next Event Impactful Beyond Just One Day: Learn how I can help your leaders & organization compete every day ⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠.

2. 👉 Let's connect on ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠ or ⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠.

3.👕 Save 15% off motivating apparel with code: PODCAST ⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠.

4. 📩 Get 1:1 Coaching with Jake. ⁠Apply here⁠.

Leadership coach and author Tyler Dickerhoof returns to unpack the empathy spectrum — why the leaders who armor up and the leaders who overshare are both getting vulnerability wrong, and what authentic connection actually looks like at work.

Drawing on his new book The Things We Hide (with a forward by John Maxwell), Tyler explains why vulnerability that deepens connection is a strength, why "woe is me" vulnerability erodes it, and how the things leaders hide quietly control every relationship they have.

Jake and Tyler also dig into why vague praise destroys trust, the "incubator vs. incinerator" choice every manager faces, and how to invite a guarded teammate toward openness without handing them a self-help book. A direct, honest conversation for any leader who's been told to "stay professional" and lost connection in the process.

Mentioned in the episode:

• Order Tyler's book
• Visit Tyler's website

Next Steps to Continue Competing:

1. 📈 Make Your Next Event Impactful Beyond Just One Day: Learn how I can help your leaders & organization compete every day ⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠.

2. 👉 Let's connect on ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠ or ⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠.

3.👕 Save 15% off motivating apparel with code: PODCAST ⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠.

4. 📩 Get 1:1 Coaching with Jake. ⁠Apply here⁠.