The Leader's Film Room
Learn actionable steps you can take every week to get 1% better and gain a competitive edge in your career as an impactful leader.
The $50,000 Mistake That Almost Killed My Business
COMPETE EVERY DAY BECAUSE EVERY DAY COUNTS. It was 2013, and I was staring at a bank account that didn't add up. Bills were due. Products needed to be ordered. And the checking account was almost empty. How the heck did I get here? Two years earlier, I'd launched Compete Every Day with big dreams and bigger ambitions. I wanted to build a brand that inspired people to be their best selves. But somewhere along the way, I started playing the wrong game. Instead of focusing on sustainable growth,...
"Never Quit After a Bad Day" - The Advice That Changed Everything
EVERY DAY COUNTS. Compete to win yours. I wanted to quit baseball when I was ten years old. Not just quit — I wanted OUT. I hated standing in the batter's box. I'd have traded every practice and game for video games or riding four-wheelers in a heartbeat. The problem wasn't that I wanted to quit baseball. The problem was when I decided this. The new season had barely started. New glove. New team. Didn't matter — I wanted gone. Fortunately (though I sure didn't think so then), my dad had other...
The Invisible Game You're Losing Daily
EVERY DAY COUNTS Compete to win yours. Ever wonder why you're working relentlessly but still falling behind? Here's the brutal truth: You might be playing the wrong game entirely. A decade ago, I was training with a friend at the gym—a former NFL defensive lineman preparing for the CrossFit Games. This guy was a beast - strong, athletic, and fiercely competitive. He needed training partners to push him, so our coach set up a workout for us. What my friend didn't know? I was doing 5-10 fewer...
Why Practicing Feels Productive—But Isn’t Always
BE AN IMPACTFUL LEADER Hey Reader, Let’s get real: You don’t get better by practicing. You get better by performing. I learned that the hard way—with golf. Back in high school, I played casually with my dad and friends. Then college hit, and I walked away from it. Years passed. But during the pandemic, I had the honor of running my Focus of a Champion workshop for FootJoy/Titleist Golf’s entire sales team. Eight sessions later, I was fired up—and honestly, a little embarrassed I wasn’t even...
TFM 📽: How to Improve Team Accountability
BE AN IMPACTFUL LEADER It's a heckuva lot easier to skate by without accountability. I've absolutely struggled writing my next book. I have a great idea in my head of what I want to create, but when it's time to actually write? I hit a wall. I feel an incredible amount of friction when it comes to the doing. I imagine it's something most of us deal with at one point or another - we know what we want to do but translating from our head to doing it with our hands is where we get stuck. After a...
📽: The Truth About Success: You’re Often Not Aiming High Enough
BE AN IMPACTFUL LEADER If your goals don’t make you a little nervous, they’re not big enough. We grow by pushing limits, not by playing it safe. Yet too many people set goals they’re sure they can reach—because deep down, they’re afraid of failing. One thing my high school coaches did every year to make us better? They stacked our non-conference schedule with tough opponents. We played 3-5 games outside of our conference, and at least 2/3 or 4/5 were against powerhouse teams. Some games we...
TFM 📽: 5 Leadership Myths Holding You Back 😳
BE AN IMPACTFUL LEADER Hey Reader, Before I dive into today's email, here's a quick video of encouragement for you this morning. Keep showing up to make an impact. Leadership Isn’t What Most Of Us Thought... Here's the Truth Stepping into leadership for the first time feels like a significant win—until reality hits. Many new leaders fall into the same traps, believing myths that set them up for struggle instead of success. We step into our new role with the expectations of how "things are...
TFM 📽: Winners Study the Competition
BE AN IMPACTFUL LEADER The Film Room We miss many opportunities to improve when we are too focused on our envy and not the opportunity. For example, I recently heard a story shared by a former Chick-fil-A executive. He was talking about how he and others would spend time every month to go into Chick-fil-a locations and spend a day - either as a 'secret shopper' or as a fly on the wall. That's not very surprising - but what he said next was. He went on to share that McDonald's would not only...
TFM 📽: The Art of a Turnaround (after Failure)
BE AN IMPACTFUL LEADER There's one subtle difference between leaders who can persevere in the face of failure without losing confidence - and those who can't. The Film Room Football is like life in that both can come down to inches. One inch here, and the Tennessee Titans will win Super Bowl XXXIV. One inch there and the Byung-Hyun Kim isn't cursed in Arizona baseball circles. Life is the same way. As Annie Duke discusses in her book Thinking in Bets, some of our best decisions - the right...
TFM 📽: Leading When You "Uh-Oh"
BE AN IMPACTFUL LEADER Quick thought: Until they see you do it, they won't. The Film Room We've all seen blown calls at a sports game. Some of us - I'm looking at you Saints fans from the playoffs or Steelers/Lions coin flip - have seen egregious calls that cost games (or in the Saints' case, a shot at the Super Bowl). Typically, it's chalked up to "human error," and the ref never has to apologize. Everyone in the stadium knows its a mistake. Replay shows a mistake. But I don't know if I've...
Learn actionable steps you can take every week to get 1% better and gain a competitive edge in your career as an impactful leader.