Yes, yes, yes, you have won. You are a winner. You did it. You made it to Wednesday. It's with it all Wednesday. And you're listening to The Sweet Spot. Dear beautiful souls, I'm Dr. Derek Sweet. I'm your host of The Sweet Spot. As you know, I'm a board certified psychiatrist. I treat and work with all kinds of high-performance situations. And more than that, I am your fellow traveler here on this journey we call life. You and I have been traveling this journey together, and we've been talking with each other, vibing with each other, going back and forth as we make sense of it all. Here we are. It's Wednesday, hump day. But not just hump day, win it all Wednesday here on the Sweet Spot. And we've been in a wonderful series, an amazing series. It's called Built for This. Indeed, you were built for this. Winners see it before they touch it. That's what I'm calling this particular Win It All Wednesday, the winners. They see it before they can touch it. So let's connect the dots from the last couple of days. On Monday, make it uh Makey Moves Monday, we reframed stress, right? We said that stress is not a warning sign, it's a signal. It's nothing to get terrified about, it's a signal. And on Tuesday, Take Action Tuesday, we talked about movement. How thought, faith, and intention only come alive when you act. Remember that whole thing we talked about? The ship in the harbor is safe, but that's not what the ship is built for. It's gotta sail eventually. Remember that one? Yeah. So today it's about winning. After all, today's Win It All Wednesday. It's about winning. It's not this um, but it's not the scoreboard kind of winning I'm talking about today. I'm talking about the internal kind of winning that you can do when your moment gets to be too much, when the moment feels too heavy. Are you in a moment today where you feel like it might be a little much or there's a lot on your plate, it's a bit heavy? Well, this is where you show that you're a winner. Because what actually separates winners from everyone else isn't talent, it's not confidence, it's what their brain does under pressure. Pressure is where separation happens in sports, and I work in sports. Pressure is where separation happens in high performance on the stage. I work with some wonderful performing artists, and literally the best performing artists are able to handle the pressure on the stage. Everyone can perform when things are calm, everyone can think clearly when the stakes are low. But winners, winners are built for moments where the stress shows up and the moment is demanding more, and the moment is big. When the pressure rises, most brains go into protection mode. That's natural, that's human, that's what we do. The brain is there to protect us, it's a survivor. We're built to survive. Remember, this series is built for this, and the brain ain't doing nothing wrong. The amygdala, the part of the brain that is responsible for threat detection, it fires very quickly when it detects stress or anxiety because it's doing its job. And we give the amygdala a lot of attention because it's such a sort of like a threat detector, and we always associate it with fear and anxiety and stress as if that's something bad. It's not bad. The amygdala is a good guy or good gal, okay? The the amygdala it has a job in the brain, it keeps us alive, it kept our ancestors alive. Tigers and lions and bears and all kinds of things that were out there. Listen, this amygdala kept us moving, kept us safe. Its job is simple. Keep you safe. But when it senses that stakes are high in situations where it's not high, it can go offline, it can get too crazy, it can narrow your focus when you don't need to narrow your focus, it can speed things up when things don't need to be sped up, it can prepare you for action when there's no action to be prepared, you're just anxious. So that narrowing that made sense for our ancestors thousands of years ago when they were facing a tiger or a lion or something that was going, a predator was coming for them, and they had to focus and narrow their focus and they had to speed up and they had to have their heart rate going and they needed to fight or to run. That made sense back then. But you know what has happened over time in modern life? That prehistoric or that historical threat thing can still work because we end up being pressured because we're late for work, there's a lot of traffic. There are no lions, tigers, and bears like in the traditional sense, but there are pressures that can still trigger our amygdala to do the thing of tunneling our vision, making our thinking rigid, getting us to overreact and have missed up, um, missing out on other things because we're so focused on threat and survival when we're not really in that situation, we're just reacting that way. Does that make sense? Yeah, and it's not weakness when you we we have these reactions, that's just our biology doing its default job. So if you're anxious, you're a little bit stressed out, you're getting a little tight, don't blame yourself, don't judge yourself. You'll just know that you've got good biology and it's really it needs to be managed. And this is what makes winners different. They don't eliminate the stress response, they just learn how to work inside of it better. Specifically, what they do is they keep the brain's CEO. And by now, those of you who listen to me, you already know where I'm coming from. The prefrontal cortex, the brain's CEO, the part of the brain responsible for judgment, responsible for decision making, responsible for analysis and perspective uh giving. That's the part of the brain that becomes engaged when adrenaline rises and things happen, and the prefrontal cortex can sometimes go offline and give the amygdala, the threat detector, all the stage. Because you want to survive, and the decision in your brain is who's gonna run the show? The amygdala, run and fight, or the prefrontal cortex. Let's take a step back, let's analyze, let's try to figure this out. Champions and winners rehearse how they speak to the PFC, the prefrontal cortex, before the moment arrives. Yes, that's what champions do. They rehearse how they're gonna talk to themselves before the moment arrives. They don't wait for chaos and hope that they're gonna think clearly. They don't wait for the stress, for things to go wrong, and then try to figure it out. They anticipate, they prepare, they have phrases, they have cues, they have reminders already stacked and ready for an emergency, crisis, uh, things going left or things going south. They are ready. They have a simple language that they tell their brain. It could be something as simple as stay here, it could be something as simple as I've got this. It could be something like you've seen this before. Not on my watch, not today. Whatever their phrase is, do the right thing, do the next thing. Believe me, they got a phrase. And that phrase, when the amygdala is trying to take over, when they say these things, they're speaking to the prefrontal cortex, they're keeping the PFC online so that you don't lose your power to analyze, evaluate, make good decisions when the pressurizes because your PFC is still there. Does that make sense? I hope so, beloved. I hope it does. Because you and I can do the same exact things that uh Kobe and Michael and all of these big time uh uh um athletes do in the in the in the tense and stressful moments. You know, Alan Houston, another player that I really admire, great shooter, right? This guy, Alan Houston, you he played with the Knicks, great dude. So Alan once told someone this, and I was I overheard it. He said, the best don't assume things are gonna go perfect, they assume that something will go wrong, and instead of panicking, they plan for it. And then he said a line that stuck with me. He said, they prepare for chaos. They prepare for the chaos, and that stuck with me because that's what winners do, they prepare for the chaos, they're ready for the chaos. So when it's getting chaotic and everybody is spazzing, they're not. They decide ahead of time how they're gonna respond, what they will focus on, and how they will speak to themselves when the pressure hits. And you see this in top law enforcement officers, they don't have to react uh impulsively, they know what to do under pressure. You can always tell a junior one or an inexperienced one from a real one. Same with a football player or a basketball player, a hockey player, same with a soccer player. The best are prepared for the chaos, and they have something they say to themselves when the pressure hits. And that preparation is what keeps their prefrontal cortex online, and this is why winners often describe the big moments as feeling slow to them. Time doesn't actually slow down, it's that their brain is staying integrated instead of fragmenting in the final few seconds. Yeah, so under the pressure, they have this a way of adjusting to it or of handling it. They know what to do because they prepare for it. The question I have for you is do you do the same thing? That's a question we should ask ourselves. Have we prepared for if things go wrong or if things don't go our way? Or what will we do if this doesn't happen for us or if something goes south? Like, that's the thing I want to get across today about winning all Wednesday. To win, sometimes you can't only visualize about winning the race, you have to visualize what if I fall down? What if I get a bad call? What if this doesn't happen? What am I gonna do? Because when and if it happens, you don't want to be caught off guard, and that's how people lose. Because the real winners, they're ready, they're focused, they're analyzing it. They already know, man, and I want to be on that side of the fence, don't you? You know, Billie Jean King said it best, another champion, right? She said, like, pressure is a privilege, and champions adjust. Pressure is a privilege because it only shows up when something matters, when responsibility is real, when the moment carries weight. That's where the pressure shows up. Yeah. And if you feel anxious or nervous or whatever, it doesn't mean that you're failing. It me and and so many athletes and performers and and and and business folks are like nervous when they feel that. You should feel that. It's pressure, and that's just a signal. It means that you're in the arena, it means that now you have the privilege to adjust and show what you can do, and champions adjust because pressure alone doesn't win anything. Adjustment is the skill you've got to adjust. Adjustment means you stay oriented when the stress tries to rush you. It means using your energy without letting it hijack your thinking. You should be saying to yourself, hey, I got all this adrenaline in me. Oh, I'm gonna be even stronger right now. I'm gonna be even faster. I'm gonna think even more clearly. You're not panicking, you're adjusting to what's going on. Your eye is focused on what's happening. It means that you're present, you're not tightening up, you're present, you're aware that even if the adrenaline is flowing in you, even if you feel sweaty, even if your knees are shaking, that this is just adrenaline and fuel and you can use it. And that you're going to be focused on the win, whatever a win means for you. And sometimes the winning means self-control. I'm controlling myself in this moment. I'm not gonna just be reacting. And the ancient wisdom, you know, we're all about the science, the soul, and the success here, right? Success and science and soul have to be a part of what we do. We've gotta always put it together. And the ancient wisdom does not fail us. Did you know the ancient wisdom they actually talk about winning? And it's crazy. There's a line that says, Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may win. Whoa! That's pretty clear. That line isn't about beating others, it's about how you run. So run that you may win. Run with intention, run with focus, run with awareness. Don't be scattered, don't be panicked, don't just be reactive. Yeah, you can see the best of the best, right? You see this wiring and everything, and if you look around, even in the most universal human experiences, you can see it. Think about a mom or a dad whose child might be in danger. You think they're gonna be scattered? They're gonna be focused. They're gonna know exactly what they have to do and they're gonna do it, they're gonna protect that child. When a child is threatened, that parent does not freeze. Their awareness actually sharpens, their vision widens, their decisions become fast but clear. And that's not learned in the moment. That's just the nervous system doing exactly what it was built to do. That's the name of our series. Built for this. You and I are built for this. We have that embedded in us. We've been told lots of things, maybe you've been fed a bunch of lies, but you have the circuitry to win the moment. One of my favorite songs is Eye of the Tiger. If I was allowed to play it, I would let I would have that music come up right now. We'd be hearing Eye of the Tiger, and there's a line in that song I want you to focus on. Play it later. It's the it's the eye of the tiger, it's the thrill of the fight. Deep. The eye of the tiger in the thrill of the fight. Think of that. A tiger. The eye of the tiger isn't about aggression, it's about alertness, it's about present. Think of those tiger's eyes, the calm intensity. You know you got a problem for tigers looking at you. And if you notice, these tigers, have you ever seen a panicked tiger? Rarely. Okay. No, the tiger does not panic, it sees clearly and it responds. Yeah, it's not a personality thing with them, it's a training thing. You know, you can see this everywhere. These tigers, oh my goodness, they're everywhere. And you and I have the eye of the tiger when we access it. An athlete, if you're an athlete, look, you an athlete learns to see the play instead of the crowd because their brains have been practicing to stay open under stress. The good ones, anyway. Maybe you're a business leader. A business leader can they learn to see the the decision instead of the noise because experience has taught them not to collapse under pressure. They have the eye of a tiger. Performing artists have eye of the tiger's uh energy too. They stay present on stage with an eye of the tiger level kind of energy because rehearsal has trained that nervous system to function without adrenaline. Hey, one time I had to go up on stage and just receive an award or something, and I could not believe the lights in my eyes and couldn't even see the crowd, and I was like clearly disoriented. I had never rehearsed to go on stage, so I didn't have an eye. Dr. Sweet didn't have no tiger's eyes. Dr. Sweet was just trying to figure it out. That looked like a deer in the headlights. That's a whole different story. Anyway, I digress. The eye of the tiger gives a police officer who is trained the judgment to stay online and to make excellent decisions under immense pressure. The best that I know and the best that I've seen are like this. You're a student, you're on you're about to take a big exam. You're focused, you keep your eye at the tiger level energy in front of you. This is what winners are built on. That's why winners are built, they're not born. The brain doesn't learn calm by avoiding pressure, it learns calm inside the pressure. Does that make sense? Yeah. Yeah, built for this is at a neurological level. It's in your brain, it's what you think, it's how you speak to yourself, it's what you say, it's how about keeping your PFC online, not letting your amygdala run the show. That's what it is. Oh my goodness, here on With It All Wednesday. So when the pressure hits you, my friend, when the pressure hits you, you take one slow breath in through your nose, you let the exhale be longer than the inhale, you reset your nervous system, and you uh you deliberately widen your awareness, you deliberately access the eye of your tiger, and then you do this exercise. You need three things you can see, name them right now. Two things that you can hear, one thing you can control right now, you're in tiger mode, you're in present mode, you are now present when you can name three things in the room, when you can hear two things in the room, and you can think about the thing that you're gonna control right now, you are as present as it gets. Remember, in another series, we talked about being right here, right now. If you're facing a tiger and it's looking at you, trust me, it's not thinking about yesterday, it's not thinking about tomorrow either. You know what it's thinking about? You right here, right now. You want to you are that level of focus and control, my friends. Okay? That makes sense? Yeah, just doing this exercise, three things you can see, two things you can hear, and one thing you can control right now, that simple act tells your brain, I'm safe enough to stay open right now. It pulls you out of this tunnel vision thing and this narrowed focus thing back into making choices. And I'll leave you with this. If you've ever stayed steady when someone else panicked, you've been the eye of the tiger. If you've ever protected someone you love, you've been the eye of the tiger. If you've ever risen when it mattered, you've been the eye of the tiger. If you've done these things, none of it was luck. That was preparation, practice, and self-talk doing its job quickly in your brain. You don't need to become someone else to do this. You already have it built in. That's this whole series. You were built for this, you were fearfully and wonderfully made for this. Yes, you don't need to be somebody else. And in fact, we did a whole series, a whole week on you don't have to be somebody new. Go look for that one. You love it. You you need to just trust what you already have been building, trust your history, trust the times that you've overcome. Remember your Wins and you will be just fine. Beautiful souls, thank you so much for listening to me on this Win It All Wednesday. I hope you enjoyed this time that we spare we spent together, and I trust that you will uh subscribe if you haven't already because it's free, and that if you know somebody who could use a win today, send this over to them. Stay amazing, stay extraordinary. You're built for this. It's Win It All Wednesday. Science soul success.