The Way of the Champion: How to Win Each Day | Sport Psychologist, Dr. Jerry Lynch

Jerry Lynch (0:00)

You don't go to win a championship, you got to be a champion first. Becoming the best version of oneself, we have to focus on what can we shed to get down to the real stuff. I mean, to become a master is not possible, but you can be a master every day.

Michael Gervais (0:21)

Okay, welcome back, or welcome to the Finding Mastery podcast. I am your host, Dr. Michael Gervais, by trade and training, a high-performance psychologist. What does it mean to be an exceptional athlete? What does it take to be a champion? Yes, of course, winning is part of the ecosystem here. Winning a game, winning a season. But the real goal, the real goal is to fundamentally commit to be your very best, to be the best you can be.

Sounds cheesy in one way, but it is so powerful when you really metabolize the power of that approach. And one of the ways that we become our very best is, of course, through practice.

Okay, there's so much more than just those ideas, but our guest on the podcast today has a really thoughtful and compelling approach. Dr. Jerry Lynch is an incredible author.

He's a guide. He's a teacher, and he's grounded in sports psychology.

He's mentored in basketball, lacrosse, soccer, tennis, golf, you name it. He's the author of 17 books. Yes, 17 I love his writing. I love his approach. It's so good. He's got a favorite book of mine that I just want to highly recommend to you. It's one of the books that I give to parents and athletes alike, more than just about any other book that I give to them. It's called The Way of the Champion.

He's big on practice too now, and that's really what that book is about. Daily spiritual and emotional training to support an athlete, a person, a team to be exceptional, courage, resilience, integrity, and selflessness, the building of those things, the stuff of real champions. So with that, let's dive right into this enlightening conversation with Dr. Jerry Lynch.

Jerry, it is about time that we make this happen. I am so stoked to have you here. Let me just first start off. How are you?

Jerry Lynch (2:20)

Well, you know, I feel the same way. I mean, to say I'm grateful for being here with you and to be able to make this difference in the world, would be a massive understatement for me, for sure.

Michael Gervais (2:33)

Oh, awesome. All right.

Jerry Lynch (2:35)

Can I jump in for a second? I know this is going to throw you off a little bit.

Michael Gervais (2:40)

Sure.

Jerry Lynch (2:41)

You know, usually, I mean, you've been on my podcast, and usually as a host, you're really doing a lot of research on the guests that's coming in, because you want to sound like you know what you're talking about, right? But what I also notice is that the guests that come on, they don't do any research about the person who's the host.

And so what I found out is that if I do some more research, you've been on my podcast, I've watched 50 or 60 of your podcasts.

If I just knew Michael better, I think we'd have a better conversation. You know what I'm saying? So what I did was my wife and I, Jan and I last night for an hour and 23 minutes, we watched the Valentine's Day wonderful gift that you and your wife, Lisa gave to us. So I watched that unbelievable. I really felt I got to know you a lot better. I mean, I've watched many of you see your podcast for sure. Let me say this. I'll say two things. Number one, if anyone out there who is listening wants to understand and learn how to be in a relationship and all that it takes, by God, you've got to listen to that session. There's no doubt in my mind. You guys penetrated a profound session that just went beyond my greatest expectation. But the other thing too is both of you, what I discovered was really emblematic of everything that I'm trying to create in a culture of athletics in terms of relationships. And that's important. It's all about relationships, as you know. And both of you were what I call the acronym, but actually it's a Jack-o-Nem, a Jerry acronym, right?

The acronym is GIVE. Both of you, tremendously, unbelievably authentic and genuine.

The I is very inspiring to watch the both of you navigate your marriage and what was entailed with that. And the V, of course, is vulnerability.

Leadership without vulnerability is non-existent, right? Marriages, relationships without vulnerability is non-existent. And of course, the E is very empowering. So I was really, I got to say, Mike, I loved what I saw and felt. And it helps me to be here with you in a very closer way. So how about let's get into roll?