'Hard Now Equals Easy Later'

Scoring didn’t appeal to him.

As a young boy playing soccer, rugby and cricket in South Africa, Allistair McCaw was more fascinated by leaders — particularly why some captains could more effectively engage their teammates than others.

“How was I going to become a good captain for my team?” he said. “That was my goal.”

Little did McCaw know the seeds were being planted for a career exploring team dynamics, motivation and mental performance.  

McCaw has now penned seven books and has consulted with coaches, athletes and executives in more than 50 countries.

The Daily Coach spoke to him recently about his hallmarks of success, breaking free from mediocrity, and his three keys to a productive day.

This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.

Allistair, thanks for doing this. Tell us a little about your childhood and some key lessons from it.  

I was born in Northern Ireland. We moved to South Africa when I was 6. I was brought up in a family of four boys. There was always a lot of sports in the home. We had a really good childhood. We had classes until 1 p.m. and then sports until 6 p.m. I was always fascinated at a very young age by why some teachers and coaches were more successful than others.

I was very independent. My parents worked full days and could never watch my practices or games. I think that gave me a lot of accountability and ownership early on. 

We couldn’t afford (private) coaching, so I’d sit by the tennis court watching coaches work with players. I’d eavesdrop and would walk away and work on the things I heard the coach telling the player. Obviously, they could have a completely different game, but what did I know at that age? I became a thief of stealing coaches’ information.

Did writing always appeal to you and when do you feel you became good at it?

In school, I was that kid who dreaded to be asked to stand up and read a book. I failed English. I was kicked out of class my senior year. I was terrible at writing and spelling, as late as 17 or 18 years old. There was no way I thought in my wildest dreams I’d be speaking or writing.

I got over the hurdle of worrying what people would think… You look at Taylor Swift. She said she wasn’t a natural. She had to work on things three, four or five-times more than than the person next to her. But if you stick to something and are willing to fail, you’ll eventually succeed.

I don’t know if I’m good at it. The jury’s still out. But I enjoy the process of it and love getting my thoughts out. If it helps one person, that’s my purpose being fulfilled. If it helps many more, that’s awesome.

Can you get into your three hallmarks of success?

To be at the top of your sport, you need three things. The first is a hunger to succeed. You cannot reach your potential or become great at anything if you don’t have a hunger — because motivation eventually wears off. What’s left?

The second is high self-discipline. If you can’t discipline yourself, you can’t sustain the journey.

The third is pressure. It’s the ability to have the mindset that you’ll handle adversity, failure, challenges, obstacles, because those things are going to come along the way.

That third component is particularly interesting. What do you think is the key to performing at your best when the stakes are highest?

I always say it’s not how good you are on your good days — it’s “How good are you on your bad days?” This is what makes the Roger Federers, Rory McIlroys, Michael Phelps’. There’s no chance they always felt great stepping up, but the champions step up to another level when it’s a crucial time. They come up big because they’re not afraid to risk it. They’re not afraid to fail, and that’s the reason why they succeed.

I remember a conversation I had with Coach K at Duke one afternoon in his office. I asked him, “Coach, what’s the key to sustained success, not just in coaching but generally?” He said, “The ability to adapt to a situation quickly.”

If you’re able to adapt to the moment — your thinking, your strategy, your system — you will be a success.

Can you get into the three daily wins you think we need?

The first is a mindset win. What are you doing each day to improve yourself from a mindset point of view? That could be anything from reading, listening to a podcast, subscribing to a newsletter.

The second is movement. If you don’t like the gym, that’s fine. If you don’t like running, that’s fine, but you need something where you move your body and get in a better mood. It could be as simple as going for a 10-minute walk.

The third is mindfulness. That can come in a variety of ways, yoga, meditation. For me, it’s actually a nap. It’s doing something that puts your mind at ease. We’re inundated with information, the phone, emails, all these things. Each day, I give myself 20 minutes to lie down. I don’t necessarily sleep, but no phone or noises. It was a game-changer in how I felt.

You have some interesting thoughts on being average. What are some steps you believe we can take to avoid mediocrity?

If I’m speaking at an event, one of the first questions I ask is, “Who wants to be successful?” All the hands typically go up. My second question is, “How do you define success?” It’s important to first define what excellence or success looks like so you have an idea.

I believe a lot of people go through life without having goals for themselves on a daily basis. What does it look like to win the day for you? Is it getting up early, having a good breakfast, leaving the house on time, being prepared for meetings? I believe average is just going through your day without giving those things any consideration. I’m not here to judge anybody on how they want to live their life, but I believe we all have unique abilities, and we all can impact others. You don’t need to be famous or rich to make an impact. You just have to put in a little bit of effort.

So, what is excellence? Excellence is having a plan to your day. It’s being diligent in your routines, habits, mindsets and standards. And they’re achievable. That’s not for anyone special.

You have another belief that goes against the grain a bit. “When you’re tough on yourself, life becomes easier for you.” Can you elaborate on that?

I’ve burned out multiple times. When you’re pushing to be the best you can be and are pushing toward excellence, you are sometimes going to be on a fine line. In my 20s and 30s, I pushed really hard. Later on, I realized you can’t be at your best if you’re not resting enough and re-charging.

But I like to believe hard now equals easy later. You’ve got to put in the work and be disciplined. Like Jocko Willink says, “Discipline equals freedom.” I believe that. I really put in a lot of hard work over the years to give myself the lifestyle I have now. I was tough on myself, highly disciplined to achieve so that I could give myself a life later where I could choose my day, who I spend it with, to be my own boss.

But it took a lot of hard work, being tough on myself, disciplining myself to get there. In your 20s and 30s when you have more energy, you do have to push a bit harder.

Q&A Resources

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