Most people do not need another reminder that discipline matters. They need a way to return to themselves when life, noise, pressure, and old patterns start running the show.

Jeff Jones, Head Football Athletic Performance Coach at the University of Northern Iowa and author of The Intentional Edge: 10 Reps to Mental Toughness, joins L. Michael Burt on The ThriveWell Journey for a conversation about training the mind before pressure arrives.

Jeff does not treat mental toughness like a speech. He treats it like reps: write it down, train the focus, create your own scorecard, and keep doing the drill. Michael and Jeff talk about why people can know better and still not move differently, how phones steal focus, why identity cannot live on a scoreboard, and what happens when public success hides private exhaustion.

Key ideas include mental toughness training, self-talk as a drill, focus in the phone era, identity beyond titlesand outcomes, ownership without shame, and the slow invisible work of rebuilding self-trust

Key ideas:

• Mental toughness is trained through daily reps

• Focus has to be protected before the phone owns it

• Identity needs to be bigger than a role, title, result, or scoreboard

• Self-talk is not just motivation; it is a drill

• Small consistent reps create invisible impact over time

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction to Jeff Jones

04:13 From athletic performance to whole-person coaching

06:26 Why mental toughness has to be trained

07:47 The mindset behind reaching your potential

09:49 How the mind affects physical performance

11:12 Becoming a game-changing coach

12:09 Coaching the scheme, the mind, and the heart

13:50 Why the mind needs reps, not reminders

15:01 Building resilience through identity and values

18:19 Finding who you are beyond external validation

19:58 Mental drills for focus and toughness

21:21 Control the controllables

24:04 What changes when you focus on what you can control

27:22 Human nature, habits, and performance

30:59 Why knowing better does not always change behavior

34:30 Responding to adversity without losing yourself

37:07 Daily focus and small wins

40:31 Internal focus versus external validation

44:18 Identity beyond your profession or title

47:22 Creating your own success scorecard

50:18 Intentional effort and the habits that shape you

52:08 How phone addiction affects focus and performance

54:42 Setting better boundaries with technology

58:50 Patience, repetition, and consistent effort

01:05:29 Do the work and keep showing up

Connect w/ Jeff Jones

Instagram: @coachjeffjones

Book: THE INTENTIONAL EDGE

You Did Not Lose Your Way: https://alignment.lmichaelburt.com/

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