Hey Drew,
It’s me from today writing to you in 2019.
You had yourself pretty messed up for a while from that junior hockey gig. You know that team you’re coaching now? Get ready for more things you already aren’t handling well.
The good news though, we bounce back and we learned some lessons, you could have used them during your first gig. But as they say, better late than never pal.
My book recommendations are few and far between today because most people that recommended us books when we were coaching, wasted our time with mainstream garbage.
Russ has a book out called, IT’S ALL IN YOUR HEAD.
Read it.
“Trust the what, fuck the when. The ‘come-up’ was way longer than I thought it was gonna be.”
In an interview, Russ was asked why he kept going despite nothing happening for so long…
If you haven’t read my first piece on Russ, here is some context on what I mean…
Russ put out 11 albums during his ‘come-up’ phase. The period where artists scratch and claw to get people to listen to their music so they can gain traction.
Nobody gave a fuck.
Then he switched his approach and started putting out a new song every week for 3 years when those 11 albums flopped.
Still, nothing really happened to him.
Then one day, after producing a huge body of work over a decade of time, he “made it”. Another 10-year “overnight success”.
Why did he keep going?
His words, “Because I knew my shit was ill.”
If you can’t follow that lingo, he knew he had a gift to give the world. He knew he was good, time just hadn’t caught up yet.
It was written.
He knew in 2011, he would one day meet his idol, Dr. Dre:
The tweets were put into the universe in 2011. On June 27th, 2023, he met with Dre…
It was written.
The Words I Needed to Hear
“Time is an obstacle we put in our own way. It is going to happen. You can’t put a deadline on success.”
In my first junior hockey job, I had conviction, I had a feeling I might be good at this whole coaching thing, and then I let poor results deter me and then eventually ruin me…
I quit on the ‘what’ because the ‘when’ didn’t come within 2 years.
I was too attached to the ‘when’ and when that happens… Watch out…
“When you’re too attached to the ‘when’, you’ll be fighting the natural flow of the universe.”
My conviction evaporated. My life deteriorated.
I was broke and broken.
3 years and the new Drew that arose from the ashes of that failure has a different outlook on life.
You allowed that Russ quote to reprogram your mindset.
You heard it said 12 different ways in the last 3 years but never in a better way than Russ said it yesterday.
Trust the ‘what’
Fuck the ‘when’.
If you know your sauce is good and you want something…
Your time is coming…
“You must detach from the when.”
It is written.
Trust the ‘what’, fuck the ‘when’ and never forget the ‘why’.
Remember this:
“Fuck the points. Play for the love of the game. The game is your passion. Your passion is what connects you to the highest version of yourself. Points are just the signifiers. They don’t sustain you. If you play for points, you will quit. The game is what keeps you going. You play it simply for the sake of playing because, without it, you’re simply not living.”
This resonated for sure. I felt this as a new wrestling coach. I put a timeline on what "success" looks like and it caused me to project a lot of these insecurities onto my athletes, inhibiting my ability to be present and coach with passion and joy. Also awesome how you tied it to the creative process of being an artists! Much love and respect.