A mental state where your mind is empty of all thoughts, all desires, and all assumptions.

This is a reoccurring question I get asked a lot and have also battled with myself. Let’s break down what anxiety & fear actually is and then we can dive in from there.

How do I become a Major Leaguer? Great question. I’m going to give you the honest straight up answer then lets expand into a little more detail.

Today marks day 14 of my quarantine 2.0 adventure

Launch angle is a big time business and buzz word amongst coaches at the moment in the Baseball world.

It’s not whether you feel like it, or when your body feels good and your swing is working, it’s about showing up when you think you can not possible take one more blow. You’re 0-20 and grasping for air this is the test of a true warrior.

As I lay here in bed the morning after Bondi to Manly 80.7km’s a little nervous to move or get up to assess the damage, my mind is still having a hard time processing you just ran 80.7km’s for 7hrs and 54 minutes straight.

We all want to consistently be the best versions of ourselves. Whether it be at home with our family, in our careers, on the field or simply being the best in everything we do. I like to break this into two areas we all face in our lives that are standing between us and the person we know deep down we can be.

3 days out from the Bondi to Manly 80km run and the first major test in the new arena of endurance running awaits for me.

Recently we’ve all been affected by the world coming to a complete halt. Some of us more than others.

“Hatters gonna hate” - There’s a thing in Australia called tall poppy syndrome. Have you heard of it? It’s a pretty prevalent thing — they even teach it in school. Poppies are tall flowers, but they don’t grow taller than the rest of the flowers, so there’s a mentality in Australia where people are really happy for you to do well; you just can’t do better than everyone else or they will cut you down to size. it’s an Australian analogy given to when someone breaks through and stands above everyone else in the field.

Once we draw that line in the sand or have our back against the wall in which there is no way forward but forward all of a sudden we’re able to tap into what we believe only the special amongst us possess.

Grit is the very thing that keeps us going. It gets you up in the morning and keeps you going all night. It’s the grit to get up that one more time when you feel you’ve taken that last esoteric punch you can possibly take.

This is a subject that’s more evident than ever. Especially with the rise of social media and the completely different world our kids are now being raised in vs what we grew up in and even our parents before us.

I was accustomed to meditation but hadn’t done it in quite some time, maybe 3/4 months as I was running 6/7 days a week which I was using as a type of mindfulness as well as to put myself in that peak state “the zone”. As I sat on my balcony in Dana Point taking in a moment while Chase was asleep I decided to give myself some space with a quick five minute meditation.

I was always a slow starter in the baseball season and could never figure it out. Some would say well it’s because it was cold and not hitter friendly in those early months, others would say you just don’t have your timing or rhythm yet as you haven’t seen enough pitching. All of this I knew was an absolute cop out and excuses.

What is it? Where does it come from?

Orlando Hudson slapped a tag on my right leg as I touched second base. Odog and I played together in Arizona so I knew him well. “I said what was that” He smiled and flipped the ball out of his glove. Umpire yelled “safe”.

Adversity pops up to let us know we’re still alive and keep us in check of how bad we want something. Testing we’re still prepared to do whats’s needed.

Today marks 13 days in quarantine. It’s been such an interesting experience & honestly, I’m glad I’ve been lucky enough to be part of history and see firsthand what complete isolation for two weeks is really like.