Geno Smith | Seattle Seahawks Quarterback on the Power of Self-Belief

think a true competitor is never satisfied no matter what he does because to me it's about the next mountain you climb right you you get to the top of the mountain and you don't get to stay there right you got to come down and then you got to go climb another one if you want to get that feeling again so for me it's like continuing to find new mountains to climb okay welcome back or welcome to the Finding Mastery podcast I'm your host Dr. Michael Jervé by trade and training a high-performance psychologist and I am thrilled to welcome Geno Smith to the podcast for this week's conversation I know this man personally from my nine seasons with the Seattle Seahawks and let me tell you he is special as many of you know Geno is the starting quarterback for the Seahawks his NFL journey it's unlike anyone else that I know Geno experienced a notable career resurgence that earned him 2022's comeback player of the year which in all practicality should have been renamed comeback player of the decade that's how special this is so after spending ten seasons in the league enduring frustrations and adversities that come with injury and several trades and the threat of becoming a lifetime backup quarterback Geno stepped in as the starting quarterback for the Seahawks last season and put forth a stellar performance that surprised many it didn't surprise me it didn't surprise the head coach coach Carroll or anyone that knows him he logged his first winning record a playoff birth led the league in completion percentage and was selected to the pro bowl for the very first time I mean I'm on the whole thing it feels magical it's just it's it's awesome Geno's career journey is marked by the kind of patience and resilience we can all marvel at but it's his mindset the one that helped him navigate moments where many counted him out the one that was able to help him navigate the hard times that's the part that's truly remarkable Geno recognized that his tough times could be seen as somebody else's dream come true he never lost that perspective his humility coupled with confidence and a steadfast desire to keep learning he is the epitome of a learner through all of his challenges are what makes Geno success story one that we can all learn from it's an honor to know Geno and he brought it for this conversation there's so many gems there's so much golden here he talks about imagery and leadership and self-talk and competitive mindset and the process of self-discovery and so much more I want to encourage you as you're listening to be able to take notes to really think about how you can practice his best practices in your own life so with that let's jump right into this week's conversation with the Seattle Seahawks QB1 Geno Smith Geno it's so good to connect again and I mean it's about time that we had you on the pod I've been watching what you've doing over the last couple years and you know it was it was a real joy work with you while I was at the Seahawks and what I was thinking yeah and what I was thinking is that maybe we just talk about this one kind of indelible memory that I have about your experience is if I can bring you back to it is like what you were doing on the sidelines during games and so do you can you bring people into like what that was like for you yeah so obviously the time we spent together we got to you know you're on the sideline and unfortunately so is I and you know I just remember you know really just wanting to be engaged into the game and I would you know go through the process of calling the play in the huddle you know obviously not to the guys but if there's someone around I would call the play mentally go through the process of you know what would I be thinking as I break the huddle you know who's the mic protections you know certain check you know check points that we make as quarterbacks as we as we leave the huddle and then obviously reading the defense right that was a way to you know still a rep to get a mental rep although I wasn't able to be out there physically I was still able to get a mental rep and then you change things for me you know I remember you told me he's like you know you see it you know you're thinking it but can you feel it do you feel yourself making the throw do you feel yourself in the game in the action and that's when I kind of you know it really kind of hit home and I was like okay well yeah I need to kind of feel that you know I need to you know feel what that's like and you know think about what would it be like to actually make those throws or to make that read in real time and I think that just became my overall process that was about my second year here in Seattle and that just became my process you know in order for me to get better I was going to have to find another way outside of being on the field and so that was a way for me to do it when I think I'm so glad you went there because that's what I was thinking like for me this was what you just described it was innovative it was real it was authentic it was born out of your deep hunger to get better and there's a million emotions you could go through on the sidelines and you probably did all of them we'll talk about those but most of the cases disengagement or frustration or self-doubt you know like you start losing that touch that competitor that is so true to you for sure and so many people that want to be their very best and you're like no I'm not doing that and that but that extra little thing that each rep and I remember like like when we're kind of getting going on your little system that we're talking about and then you started really calling the play like calling the play like you're right in the hotel I was like oh he's so in it yeah like those you did you call it stealing a rep yeah it was a way to I guess you could say steal a rep you know obviously when you play in the game you know experience is the best professor so when you play in the game and gain that experience I mean this it's you're learning from it whether you like it or not you have to and it's harder it's much harder to do from the sideline but it's still you know it can be done and so for me I had to truly kind of psych myself out kind of trick my mind and say you know what this is gonna help me get better not knowing if it would or it wouldn't but truly saying well this is something I need to do to get better and it allowed me to stay engaged it allowed me to be a better teammate to Russell better backup for Russell I was able to I was even telling you on the sideline where the ball should go based on the coverage and um I think that helped speed up my process mentally you know it helped me have a faster process in games because I was able to see it from a different vantage point and um you know also be able to feel it you know feel what it was like you know the ceiling as you you know it used to be so electric I mean it still is so electric and it's just you know the atmosphere right in the feeling of being in the stadium and in the moment is something that you know you taught me you know it's how do you um take advantage of the moment but you gotta feel the moment and so it started with just practice in that and then it became what it eventually is now that the feeling piece is kind of the difference between let's call it a novice um somebody who's novice in mental imagery and I think we should teach a little bit here just for folks that don't really even practice mental imagery or don't know how to practice it in their own life but the difference between novice and expert is getting the emotional kind of kinesthetic feeling part of it so when you close your eyes and you were doing it with your eyes open which is exponentially harder but for most people like when they close their eyes and they see themselves it's like playing the most amazing movie and you're the star in it yeah it's exactly how you want to be in the future right yes and you were doing it with your eyes open while the play was unfolding how did you get that good at it that you could do it eyes open and you could still conjure up that feeling of what it's like to make the play or to be in the pocket when you were on the sidelines how did you do that yeah I think it was a you know kind of a step-by-step process where at the beginning uh it seems a little you know kind of dumb it's like why am I doing this you know um is this working am I really in the moment but um it becomes a thing and if you're disciplined enough to continue to do it over time where you'll start to feel where where where it happens and you're like okay I can feel myself in the game I can see myself doing this um your gain confidence you know your gain confidence in yourself and how and truly believe that you know once this opportunity comes I practice this you know kick or swing or throw a million times already I've seen myself do it a million times in my mind I felt myself do it I felt um you know the energy or whatever it takes to to get to that point and so now it just becomes a train habit and so it really comes down to habits and you know it like anything you got to you know get better with time but um as you started off man you you never know what it's gonna feel like what it's gonna look like um it's a lot different than anything we've ever been taught you know as humans and so uh it takes a little bit of an imagination it takes a lot of an imagination and uh it's very important to uh to use that and so for me it was just practicing over time and getting better uh with each and every route okay quick pause here to share some of the sponsors of this conversation finding masteries brought to you by levels one of the most significant predictors of your lifespan how long you live and health span the quality of those years is your metabolic health up until recently however metabolic health has been hard to consistently measure and that's where levels has been a game changer for me levels helps you see how the food you eat affects your health by giving you real time feedback on your nutrition using a continuous glucose monitor the scientists call them CGMs monitoring your glucose levels is essential for a number of health implications not just diabetes but Alzheimer's and heart disease stroke and more it also affects your day-to-day energy levels ability to control weight overall vitality and even sexual function when I started as a levels member I thought I understood my metabolic health pretty well turns out like most people I was surprised to learn how some foods were affecting me for example at this particular healthy salad that I love to put together it actually created a spike in my glucose levels which is not what you want for lifespan and health span it wasn't until I added avocado and pumpkin seeds of all things that I was able to control those spikes and right now because you're listening to the finding mastery podcast levels is giving you a special offer on their annual membership punch over to levels dot link slash finding mastery that's levels dot link slash finding mastery to unlock this special offer today finding mastery is brought to by jive right now many of us are focused on improving our health and wellness and when it comes to technologies they can help you do that jive is one of my favorites that's because they are leading the way on improving one of the most foundational aspects to our overall health ourselves so how do they do it jive utilizes red and near infrared light to stimulate the mitochondria in your cells to help you produce more core energy which in return boosts performance and recovery there are scores of clinically proven benefits from red light therapy such as improving skin and faster muscle recovery reduce pain and inflammation and hand sleep and more I use jive nearly every day it's about 10 minutes of my time it's really relaxing and I also at the same time I'm using it I stack meditation so I'm doing some breathing work or some meditation at the same time that I'm supporting my mitochondria in cell production so if this sounds good to you I want to encourage you to go check out jive today and while you're there jive is offering all of our listeners an exclusive discount on their first order so just go to jive.com slash finding mastery and use the code finding mastery at checkout so how do you spell it j-o-o-v-v.com slash finding mastery jive.com slash finding mastery and there are some exclusions that do apply let's jump right back into the conversation there's like three ways I want to maybe explore and choose your own adventure you'll you'll pick one of them and uh or knowing you you might pick a fourth which is so cool is that there's um you talk about confidence and so if I bridge the gap here when you use your imagination and you could see and feel how you wanted to see and feel or what you imagine it would be like to be on the field that you said it helped with confidence so how do you describe confidence because what I want to maybe extract here is like for all the folks that are listening that are like man I people like j-o are just born confident they're born leaders they are they are just they just have it and you and I both know that that's like it's not the case you got to earn it so I'm wondering if you want to go that path or if you want to go into like um the day that you got the nod that you're up like what that like that transitional moment was well thank you you know for me I would say it started with confidence so before we could even get to that point to get the nod um our truly had to have the confidence in myself that I could do it you know that I could be the starting quarterback that I had been my entire life you know um I think when you talk about where the confidence comes from it truly comes from excelling at football and and in life just my entire life um I've always been great at football I've always done great things on the field um you know obviously there'll be setbacks right there'll be things that obstacles that'll be in your way there'll be things out of your control that will kind of make you doubt yourself right and say well is this for me is this my moment but it truly comes down to believing in you know who you are knowing who you are I know I'm a great quarterback I've done this over and over and over and over and although I've been on the sideline for the past four years five years it's still inside of me you know those traits that I have uh the hard work that I possess the you know the work I think that I possess and all those things that you know what what helps someone be great are still inside of me and so I've I had to bring those things back to the surface I had to trust in my work ethic and truly outworked people um that gives you confidence right knowing that you're prepared uh that gives you the most confidence right knowing that I know no matter what happens I'm prepared for this good or bad um no matter the result right because we're always thinking about the process over the result but no matter the result if I stick to this process I should be you know I should be fine because I truly have confidence in myself as well as in the process of you know everything that I'm doing to to get to that point gold I mean flat gold you know and so when I hear you say that I want to just like I want to scream to the mountaintops that you're you are teaching right now masterclass on how this works which is you've got to put in the work and what that does it's it's like it gives you more immediate available information that you are capable yeah but then you also need to talk to yourself and so that's got to be you got to bring that stuff up right to the surface one way is work ethic yeah put yourself in difficult hard situations and then backing yourself with how you speak to yourself yes yes about it and that's a big point too like you said with how we speak to ourselves because um you know in the in the world of today where there's social media and there's all these outside things outside noise that we'd like to say right block out the noise where there's a ton of noise um how do you listen to your own voice right when when there's so many other voices trying to drown that out whether that's good or bad you know whether that's good or bad you know what you need to be successful you already know what you need to do the steps you need to take to get to that point but there can be people out there shooting your dreams down like no you you know what that's probably too hard for you or you know what you might need to pick another lane that's not for you but deep down in your heart you know this is what I want this is where I need to be um this is these are the things that I need to do to get to that point and so you really got to you know trusting your own intuition you know that gut feeling really trusting in your gut knowing that that's your compass that's our guiding light in this life you know your gut is your compass and trusting in yourself and believing in yourself above all else that's really what it is and I love that you're nodding to the alone work like there's so much noise and so many directions that the world wants people like you to go people like all of us to kind of fall in line in certain ways and you've got to do that alone work that nobody can do for you to say no this is who I am this is what I'm capable of this is where I want to go and you said earlier like knowing who you are are you able to put that in to like are you able to boil that down into something that's quite simple or does it still feel like you're getting your arms around it I think as humans man we're ever evolving so you know who you are can change over time we could constantly change and change is great you know it's inevitable so you're always trying to figure out who you are and it takes a lot of self-reflection it takes a lot of honesty really have to be honest with yourself I'm a big person on habits how many how many good habits do I have versus how many bad habits do I have and you know I think if you got a bunch of bad habits typically you're going to be in a bad spot you know it's just what it is but if you practice a bunch of good habits then good things will happen and if you think positive right everyone's like well think positive well as you know that's it's easier said than done and think positive I think it's a daily walk you know I think it's a daily walk I think you have to truly tell yourself that no matter what happens man like one thing I did was all the negatives I embraced them and I say you know what these these obstacles they're like you know weight on a weight weight bar you know and if I continue to live I continue to live I'll get stronger and stronger until this weight is like a feather and it's not as heavy as it used to be you know and the more that you continue to go through things and go through obstacles the stronger you become the more prepared you are for the next obstacle because there's going to be a next one right but how do you speak to yourself in that moment I think you know if I think about a game right if I throw an interception I've usually been my best after a negative play because of how I've evolved into who I am today because of the self-talk that I have in the belief I have in myself or something bad happened well man something's great is about to happen right behind it because I usually don't make too many mistakes oh my god yes yes so that that discipline that you're talking about of self-talk obviously obviously it's like the water that the Seattle Seahawks swim in you know and then if we drill down which is like how do you practice your self-talk is it is it structured or is it more like a heightened awareness throughout the day and you're just making a thousand little micro choices or do you something in a structured way how do you practice being great with the way you speak to yourself yeah I think it's the micro choices I truly do I think how you do anything you know it's how you do everything and so the from the minute I wake up in the morning I'm thinking about excellence man like how can I be great in brushing my teeth how can I take a great shower how can I eat a great breakfast today yeah I want to drink a great coffee right before my meetings you know the mentality that you wake up with truly guide you when I go to the meetings you know how can I be great a great teammate a great listener a great note taker just the small things right how can I gain something from the information that I've been learning for 10 years now how do I get get something new out of this right I've been doing this thing for a while but there's still something I can learn I'm not a finished product always having that mindset I'm not a finished product it comes down to being humble right being humble knowing that there's a lot of work to be done no matter what what I've accomplished in my life there's still a lot of work to be done and I still got to you know go after this thing and the matter is if I've never done anything you know it's it's truly about the self-talking the self-walk you know obviously you go to the practice field you want to be great on the practice field you want to play great on Sundays well you better study right you better eat right you better sleep right you know it takes all those things and it's not just one thing that makes someone great I think it's a collection of everything and it starts with the person's mentality you know I'm swelling do you know like I want to give you a hug you know just say thank you for like if you're not doing anything special like you're doing you and that alone is what makes it really special you know I just I don't know if you know how much people I think need to hear this right now and so what you're I'm listening to you and I'm like okay he's put in his work he knows the the levers that he's working meaning okay self-talk patience getting after it teammate recovery optimism like you're you're really clear with the levers that you're using from a psychological framework and you've got this great framing which is like I'm a work in progress and I'm humble about it like I'm trying to get better I'm trying to help other people get better and I want to take you into maybe like a dark day because it almost sounds too good to be true right and you know there was days when let's just paint the picture you were touted as one of the the best coming out of high school you were touted as one of the best coming out of college and you had a starting job in the NFL and how long did that last about two years my first two years and then there was an injury and then you you kind of got put on the bench and that was how long were you a backup I would say for eight years they wrote you off right in your in your famous words you know and I love that you said and I ain't right back bells like I love that fucking power that you have there so take take us into like some of the darker moments the harder moments like I don't know what comes to mind I don't want to plan a seat but like you wake up in the morning you're like fuck yeah I think the hardest part for me like you said of you know I had been a starting quarterback from freshman in high school and then from a freshman in college and then from a you know rookie in NFL so there's about about 15 years of just non-stop seasons of football football football and I had excelled throughout that whole time and obviously I knew walking into the NFL there would be a bit of a difference but I hadn't known how big of a difference it would be and so when things didn't go my way when I got unlucky right I felt like man like everything that could have possibly happened wrong happened wrong after at the worst possible time you know if why didn't it happen when I was in high school why didn't happen in college you know when I get to the professional big leagues now it's like oh man you know my professional career isn't where it should be and that was the hardest part for me because I'm such a perfectionist I want to do well I work extremely hard you know I have this mindset about myself that I want to do everything right and for a while for about eight years the only thing I could do was go to work go work out go to practice there was no game day for me and that's the rewarding all this you know for a lot of athletes is you know you do all this stuff throughout the summer you know you train your body you train in the weight room with your team in the spring you go out there in the practice field and then you get to go have fun with your guys on Sunday and the hardest thing for any backup not just myself you know I see it in a lot of guys on our team you know when they don't get the dress for the games and it's like man you can tell they want to be out there how much they want to help the team and you know how how we all have visions for ourselves we want to be you know and in the limelight you know we all do everyone wants to feel loved and you know feel like you're a part of something and it's just hard to feel a part of it when you don't get to actually go out there and play and stuff and so my darkest days and I said this like you know for me like my hardest days is a dream come true to someone else because a lot of guys would have paid you know would kill to be a backup quarterback in the NFL and make this money for eight years and playing the NFL for 10 years and get all these you know good things that come with it but that was never my vision I had you know I had a bigger vision for myself and I just felt like I was falling short of my ultimate goal which is to be a very successful NFL quarterback before you know I can't play the game anymore and so you know for me that was a hard part going to the games not playing but how I you know develop the toughness to suck it up was to become a better teammate right less of me more about others and so I stop thinking about myself and like what I could do and oh man I could help the team this way and on the field well I can still help the team just from a different vantage point and so that's where you see I was just engaged with the guys on the sideline I almost took the approach of man I'm a coach now like I'm one of the coaches on game day and if there's someone who needs something whether it's water you need a towel you need some information about the defense you know Russell you know what what what defenses they call them third down you know emotionally like how's Russ feeling right you know how's Philip feeling do I need to pick him up do I need to you know tell him something to encourage him and so I just became less about me and I made it more about others and and it may be even more humble you know I thought I was humble at first now I truly am void of ego I could care less about a lot of things that I once cared about and so it just it took a transformation but it was hard to do that you know the darkest days was you know one of my buddies ended up getting shot and lost his career you know he's a guy played high school in college with him standing Bailey and then in that same year I got injured lost you know lost my starting job and so it just felt like everything was going negative and it wasn't until I truly embrace the negative the suck right like you got to embrace the suck I mean it's gonna happen but I told someone I was like whatever um it's happening in my life it's it's made and designed for me I'm built for it and I won't be able to get past this until I embrace it and I love it right I flipped it on his head okay this is negative I'm a backup I should have never been a backup in my opinion but guess what I'm not gonna let that um deter me from my ultimate goal and so I just stay focused and I just kept working I'm gonna pause the conversation here for just a few minutes to talk about our sponsors finding masteries brought to you by indeed indeed is the hiring platform where you can attract interview and hire all in one place instead of spending hours on multiple job sites searching for the right candidates indeed can help you find top talent faster with their powerful hiring tools one of the tools that I think indeed is that a really nice job with is called instant match feature so what this feature does is basically indeed is doing the hard work for you as soon as you sponsor a job post you'll get a short list of qualified candidates whose resumes on indeed match your job description and then you can invite them to apply right away indeed knows that if you're growing your business you got to make every dollar count and that's why with indeed you only pay for quality applications that match your must have job requirements start hiring now with a seventy five dollar sponsored job credit to upgrade your job post at indeed.com slash finding mastery offer good for a limited time claim your seventy five dollar credit now at indeed.com slash finding mastery again that's indeed.com slash finding mastery and support the show by saying you heard about it on this podcast terms and conditions apply need to hire you need indeed. Finding mastery is brought to you by AG one if you've been listening to the podcast here for a while you know how much I love AG one with a science informed blend of vitamins probiotics and whole food source nutrients AG one is the ultimate daily foundational nutrition supplement that supports whole body health. I initially gave AG one a try because one I believe in what they're doing and quite simply I want to be great with my nutrition nine years later it's still something I take every day over the last decade the AG one team has improved their formula 52 times each time incorporating the latest scientific research and higher quality ingredients about it for me I like to take it first thing in the morning on an empty stomach I just mix it with about eight ounces of water and it takes great but you can also mix it into your morning smoothie or shake whatever you're doing there. The goal for me is to find the right blend between energy today and extending the quality of my health over increased years and AG one has been a big part of that equation for me so if you're looking for a simpler effective investment in your health give AG one a try and at the same time you're going to get five free travel packs and a free one year supply of vitamin D with your first purchase just punch over to drink AG one dot com slash finding mastery that's drink AG one dot com slash finding mastery I hope you'll check it out and with that let's jump right back into our conversation I watched it day in and day out that you couldn't do your thing on the field on game day but you are flat out still a leader you as you just described leaned into that role and like I think that this is hard to figure out is that nobody gave you the title of leadership right but you took it and you embraced it and I want to make sure I hear this correctly is that there was a pivot where you said I'm not going to lead I'm not I'm no longer leading on the field but I'm a leader of humans and the way that I'm going to lead is by pouring into them in whatever way that I can and I'm I believe that I'm a starting quarterback and I'm not I'm not making it about me you need a tell I got you you need this I got you and I would watch you it you know like you would you would run out and support Russ and that's the person you want his job you want his job right but not the cost of his health or him doing bad like no man I've got such respect for you because yeah I think it's a very difficult thing to do for somebody who doesn't have like the quote unquote leadership job whatever that means it's not but you you created it you created a leadership experience for yourself can you unpack some of that for us yeah I think it um for me you know when you talk think about leadership um like you said it's not it's not just you know a position or title uh it's who you are uh it's what you do and leadership to me starts with integrity it starts with yourself right like the the type of character you have when no one's watching right what do you do when no one's watching um do you change you know when when people are watching or when no one's watching you know for me I keep things the same no matter what um I pick up you know I'll be walking down the street if I see trash on the ground I'll pick it up you know if I'm in the locker room and there's something out of place I put it back in place and it has nothing to do with who's watching anything it's just the way that I am you know I I want to be neat and nice and I want things to be done in a certain way and so I want to do everything that way and I don't want to just you know there's no on and off switch with leadership you can't be that way you know you either are you aren't and for me I've always been a leader you know as as the oldest child in my family and so I've had that role by default and I've grown to embrace that and so I've always felt like I had to set the example for people but the example starts with yourself right you you set the example for yourself before you can police anyone else and so if I'm if I'm having high integrity if I'm doing things the right way in my life then I feel good about leading other people but if I can't lead myself then how can I lead someone else ah you know like this is what modern leadership is this is what is called for in all worlds you know whatever world that somebody's in whether it's business or at home or in service or in sport like you're describing what I'm considering to be modern leadership and so I know it feels natural for you and it's like maybe not that big a deal but um it's so awesome to hear you kind of walk the walk and talk the talk and um it's awesome so you double click though yeah for sure let me double click do you do you see like as an operating philosophy do you see that there are big moments or is every moment have equal value and your job is to capture this moment and this moment again well you know that that's twofold I think um in hindsight you know there are big and small moments I mean you really look at it but I think in in in terms of the individual if you look at them all the same every single opportunity is the same whether I was a backup or a starter I practice the same way I went to the weight room at six a.m. I wanted to be the first there I wanted to get my workout out of the way before anybody got the word I did that for years no one knew I didn't say I've never said a word about it I you know I don't do it for anyone else you know but though that was me capturing the little moments right when I was going to the meeting room in the way I took notes right that was the caption of the little moments um you know the way I interacted with my teammates and coaches right those are the little moments and then the big moment is you know I wrote you know they wrote me off but I didn't write back you know you know getting to say that after a game that you know you played well and well it started with everything I had done up to that point you know and that's what gave me the confidence in that moment to say what I said because I knew what I was going to do throughout the course of the season because I knew the work that I was going to the consistent work that I was going to put in every single day to make sure that I was in the right mindset physically I was in the right um state and then you know confidence wise I knew that I had done everything that I could do to be prepared for this week and I don't think anyone else has worked as hard as I worked this week in fact I know no one else did and so that's why I need to go out here and ball out and play great because I put the work in I know I'm ready and you know this is just another way for me to capture a moment this is just another moment for me in the step-to-step process that I take do you I love us do you think I'll tell you my bias and then maybe you can respond to it um either way of course is that I think that we don't rise to the occasion but we fall to our level of training how do you think about that do you rise to occasions or do you fall to the level of your your consistent training yeah I think it comes down to your consistent training um the occasion will be the occasion no matter what whether you're ready or not for that occasion depends on you you know it depends on the work that you've put in uh it depends on your training like you said I like my training is super hard I like to work out twice as hard as I think the game will be because once I get to the game I know that it'll never be as hard as the stuff that I did in training you know they'll never it'll never be that hard and so it gives me um a lot of confidence when I'm out there on the field knowing that I can make any throw from any platform um and any in any moment because I practice this like I said in the hardest of conditions um when I've been tired you know and and ways that unimaginable I get myself super tired and I go throw right and it's like you'll probably never be that tired in the game but because I've made it that hard I've improved that much you know because if it ever got to that point I know I know that I can get through that so let's talk earlier you you said this you said I used to be a perfectionist and then I hear you right now talking about high standards and pushing right to the edge of your envelope so are can you unpack the difference between being a perfectionist and the use to is interesting for me um and the difference between that and the incredibly high standard that you have yeah I think being perfection is impossible no one's perfect um every single person that's walked this earth has made a mistake and we'll continue to make mistakes but if you um you know like you said like I said it starts with the standard if you hold yourself to a high standard a standard of perfection usually you'll fall you know somewhere around there and if you continue to push that envelope on on a daily basis um the sky truly truly is the limit you have no ceiling you know you can continue to get better even at 32 years old even at 33 years old I'm still getting better and every year I've gotten better at at football because I've taken that approach and I've had that mentality in that mindset until now you know obviously I'm you know receiving accolades and things like that but I'm already way better than I was last season you know and it's because of the mindset and the approach that I took into the offseason uh with my training with my diet with my sleep and and everything else in between and it just becomes uh another learn habit right you just fall into this you know think of where it's every day I'm just continuing to push myself and and and figure out how bet how much how great I can be on that day and then I move on because you know being perfect although I say I want to be perfect I it's not going to happen you know I've I had one perfect game in the NFL but I can't say that but other than that yeah it's really not it's really not going to happen but I do shoot for that I want to throw every single pass I throw should be a completion in my mind you know or you know touchdown you know and if something that was happens then a happens but um for me I just try to you know aim for the aim for the you know moon or whether they say shoot for the stars aim for the moon and I just do that and uh you know see where I see where I fall so how do how what do you do when you do make a mistake like what is the mechanics of that moment and I'll give you maybe two ways to bounce off of it one is a mistake in practice and I don't think I don't think many people appreciate the standard of excellence at the Seattle sea hawks um practice like right practice is everything practice is what makes you which carols done a phenomenal job of creating one high energy and like it it feels game like as best as we possibly can so so a mistake in in practice and then a mistake let's create a scenario down by four 40 seconds to go balls on your let's say the 50 yard line um you've just completed two nice tugs or passes and um you take a shot and maybe it's not even the play that that came in from the headset and you've got Tyler kind of on an out route and you like the matchup and you go against the grain of what the coaches wanted you to do because you're feeling something back to your intuition and a you and Tyler makes that that little eye contact that you guys have and sure enough he breaks four and he's got you know two steps on his guy and you put it three inches out of Tyler's reach which is hard to do for Tyler but yeah just oh just make it a little less dramatic maybe a foot over his reach yeah and and like bang it ball drops um so can you can you walk through like how do you let's start with that one how do you do with that quote unquote mistake yeah I think um you talk about practice in the game so yeah so for me it was gay let's oh sorry real quick let's say that when let's start with the game day with the game yeah let's go to practice yeah yeah so um obviously um you got to learn from it right I mean there's uh you know you look at the mistakes that you make right and you you have to analyze those I think it's a it's a part of reflection you analyze what happened whether it's my footwork wasn't right whether it was my follow through um maybe um you know the trajectory of the past you know if it you know went too far too short so there's things that I can look at and correct that's what film is for you know to say you do that no what do you do in the moment crowd is like now booing that you took that shot I mean so so yeah so that's a good one so for me um it starts in practice I you know I truly have a and I've been practicing this now where after every single play I literally reset right it's a brand new play it's a brand new opportunity uh nothing that happened before has anything to do with what's happening now um you know you they talk about having a short memory well you have to kind of force yourself to have that because it's easy to think about the mistakes right it's easy to dwell on the past or the the mistakes that you made but the truth is is that that can only be to your detriment it's not going to help you you know it's not going to help you and so I I truly practice even now in OTAs um even you know if I'm calling plays and just at home you know uh with my girl I practice resetting and starting over and clearing the mechanism right clear the mind think about only what I have to do this play and nothing else right and then go out there and execute and whether it's good or bad you got to move on to the next one and you got to keep moving on to the next one until there's no more you know and and that's truly my my process you know it you make it sound so simple because you practice it and but what you just described is a practice of detraining anxiety detraining self-criticalness detraining self-doubt right and an upward training being present yeah and so like it sounds so simple but there's so much power in what you're describing right now yes and so now let's kind of take it to a moment where coach carol text you yeah and he says we're going to need you big time yeah and little cryptic maybe maybe not on you know how coaches but like yeah um some people would take that and be like right let's go some people might take that and go what does it mean what does that mean what what's going on what what am I supposed to do what am I supposed to do with that some people might go uh oh okay oh man I've been backing up for a minute now like is this my oh man so walk walk me into that moment when you get that little that little buzz you look at your phone and coach says we need your big time yeah it's funny because I was uh I'm literally sitting on the couch I was around a couple of my boys and I had my son uh you know we're just playing around like watching TV and uh it's like uh you know guessing it's like six o'clock on the west coast because he had texted me like nine I was in Florida so he texted me about nine and uh you know like he said it was like you know we're gonna need you big time and um in that moment I kind of already knew what that meant you know it was a little cryptic but he had never texted me in that manner right and it's like well why would he send me this now at this time but um to be honest it's everything that I was looking for you know I had I had actually maybe a few days before um posted I was in the weight room and I posted something on my Instagram it was like man I'm gonna take somebody's job you know I don't know whose jobs getting took but I'm going to take someone's job and and that's truly how I felt about myself at the time I just knew I was ready I truly knew I was ready to lead I was ready to play physically I've been preparing and mentally I've been preparing and so you know when coach gave me sent me that text and ultimately gave me the opportunity and a competition and my mind the competition was already over and um you know I hadn't I hadn't met Drew yet um never never knew what he was capable of he's a really good quarterback and uh he's gonna have his moment and uh he's gonna be ready but you know I just knew it was my time at that time and um you know although you know I I knew that I you know was gonna get the job I knew I had to work for it and I had to go out and earn it um I didn't want anyone to give it to me uh I didn't want coach to give it to me I wanted to go earn it with my play with my consistency and my leadership and that's really what it came down to um I was I was excited super excited because it was something like I said I was praying for and um feeling happening I kind of felt it was coming at some point uh and it just happened to be here which was a was such a great thing and now one final word from our sponsors finding masters brought to you by aquatru we all know how important hydration is to performance and recovery and well-being but it's not just about how much you drink the quality of your water plays a big role and if you're like me and you don't fully trust tap water and I think for good reason research by the environmental working group has shown that three out of four homes in the U.S. have harmful contaminants in tap water that's why I'm really excited to introduce aquatru their purifiers use a four-stage reverse osmosis purification process and their countertop purifiers remove 15 times more contaminants than ordinary picture filters it's incredible I can literally taste the difference in my water plus the filters are affordable and long lasting just one set of filters from their classic purifier makes the equivalent of 4,500 bottles of water that adds up to less than three cents per bottle it feels great to know that all at once I'm saving money getting the highest quality water for the finding mastery team and helping make a positive impact on the environment by eliminating single-use plastics all the way around aquatru comes with a 30-day money back guarantee and it even makes a great gift and right now because you're a finding mastery listener you receive 20% off any aquatru purifier so just go to aquatru.com you spell it a-q-u-a-t-r-u.com and enter the code finding mastery at checkout again that's aquatru.com enter the finding mastery code at checkout to receive 20% off any purifier that you buy there and with that let's jump right back into this conversation you know what I wish that people could know from you is the way you hold eye contact and so you're on the field and like practice and you're in it like you're I want to hear how you describe that your ideal competitive mindset but I can see it I think and you know how to get to that place which by the way is special and but then you're able you don't switch on and off but you're able to have like you've got dimension and you can you've got contour to you that you can have a conversation on the sidelines and and then even like not bringing this totally up in the right way but or like up meaning am I my heart but the way that you hold eye contact with people with myself included is felt and so can you talk about the way that you see people the way that you like do you know what I'm talking about right now like the way that you and I would speak yeah yeah I think it's just normal for you yeah normal for you and all okay I mean I was raised like that to always you know to look everyone and I to always hold your head up that's a big part of my confidence right it's my upbringing it's you know my my parents and my grandparents have always taught me to you know keep my chest held high keep my head held high good and bad times because it's a true test of your character and so I always you know think about those things but when I'm engaging with people you know I'm all there you know and I want them to know that you know I want them to feel you know feel that I'm there with them that I'm listening you know if someone needs me I'm engaged you know I don't want I don't ever want people to think that I'm out of it or you know not paying attention I think that's a form of disrespect and so you know I just want to make you know allow people to know especially in a in a place of leadership I mean you step into a huddle right how do you look the guys in the eyes and you're down seven on a game winning drives and let them know we're going to score you know we're going to get this thing we're going to win the game well it takes that you know they can tell when they look in your eye if you're confident and not and you know usually people can tell and you know the body language is you know the first form of language so you know people know you know people know and so for me my body language has always got to exude exude confidence in the way that I talk the way that I walk the way that I look at people when the way they look at me is it is very important so what I hear you saying right now is that you are practicing being connected you are practicing being awake and alive and present and like it's not something you do just on the pillow meditating I don't know if you are meditating but it this is a 24 by seven or 16 hour day practice yes that sound right to you okay yes and then I don't get judgmental and critical from you let's go back to the eye contact when we're talking like I don't I don't know you to be judgmental critical I don't know you to be like harsh and so I'm imagining that you don't speak to yourself that way either do you no I'm not a I'm not a negative self talk person I've never been that the most I'll say to myself is come on baby you got you know you got this or you know I'm on baby it's it's it baby let's go you know it's it's always something positive I'm always upbeat you know I'm never like I don't ever want to be the you know the guy that drains the energy from the room you know I want to bring energy to the room and and in a place like this where it's full of energy I mean it's just energy bouncing off each other all day how do you balance that with being tough because you are flat out tough like how do you balance that positivity with that toughness yeah I think it uh you know you have to work on it you know you got to work on it because you can you know too much of anything is not it's not good for you so too much toughness or too much of the positivity you know it's it is a balance it's a natural balance and you want to be authentic that's the main thing you want to be true to yourself true to your own feelings you know whatever that is but also understanding and knowing that if I do get angry I don't need to get overcome with anger or um you know if I am upbeat or excited well you got to stay even kill you don't want to be too excited to where you know get outside of yourself and so I always thinking about just remaining um you know in this in this same mindset and just being a person who is the same guy all the time I think people really respect that and I want to continue to do that so good you know so good like I'm so stoked for you what's a favorite moment from last season um man so many um I would say one of my favorite moments from last season is you know you think about what we did down the stretch um to get into the playoffs you know I think we recognize the moment right I think we as a team really you know took a hold of the moment we had to win a couple games and really win a couple in a row and there were tough games man you know we played the jets who were playing for the playoffs we played the Rams who always a tough opponent division opponent and we had to win those games and and to see our team come together I think that was a moment for us where we really banded together as a team you know and and really uh started to see what we could become um started to see you know if we play for one another if we believe in one another who cares about what the media says who cares about you know what they think about us you know starting to back up quarterback or having a rookie left tackle rookie right tackle rookie running back rookie cornerbacks right we got the oldest coach in the league you know all the reasons why we shouldn't have been good and we embrace that and we and we we turned it upside down but we weren't finished right we wanted to get into the playoffs and obviously have ourselves a shot at Super Bowl and we felt short of that but I just think that down that stretch we became the team that will be going into the future because we had to band together there was something to play for and we went out and we got you know partially got it done um but we also weren't satisfied with just you know going to the playoffs and and obviously being out in the first round and so you can see where guys are just like excited going to the offseason and and now we're just you know hitting on you know starting to hit on on all cylinders and we just got to keep working I can hear coach Carol right now like you know I could just hear him taking on the narrative of what everyone's saying and making it real in the room to give everybody a chance to deal with the reality you know but also creating like an us versus them type of thing you know like they wrote Gino off they wrote all of us off they think I've lost my mind that you know they and they're just pointing at all the rookies and just saying the narrative and then for everyone to kind of have these moments which is like yeah but that's not right you know and he comes back around when he does it it's so good when he doesn't he comes back around and goes they don't know they don't know what's happening inside these walls did and was it did that happen as well yes yes and and you know coach Carol is is amazing with that man and and the realness of him is what makes him who he is right like he's not having he's not shining away from it nor will he allow us to shy away from it you know he wants us to look those obstacles right in the face you know with the smile and you know when you have a guy like that leading you you know that confidence just you know bleeds down to everyone else and you can see where you know we got his back he got our back and we're just band it together in that way I can't wait to see what you do this year but before we go like two two quick hits one is what is your ideal competitive mindset like how do you describe the bullseye that you're looking for in practice and obviously game day my ideal mindset for for practicing game day is is you know perfection when it comes to execution perfection in my footwork perfection in my delivery my reads perfection in my body language the way that I enter into the stadium the way that I enter into the huddle when I wake up that morning what I eat for breakfast I take that on a day-to-day basis to be honest with you and I truly challenged myself what's the day better than yesterday was was this game better than the last game I could have had a perfect game 23 or 24 and threw a bunch of touchdowns and I'm saying well that's one incompletion so I need to get that completion for the next one you know and so always challenging and pushing myself right I think a true competitor is never satisfied no matter what he does because to me it's about the next mountain you climb right you you get to the top of the mountain and you don't get to stay there right you got to come down and then you got to go climb another one if you want to get that feeling again so for me it's like continuing to find new mountains to climb I see that in you I see that in you and I see that you don't at the same time let the mistakes run you and you don't let your emotions take over when you start to get some evidence that it's not going the way that you planned it so and there's also this like there's an acceptance like your philosophy is feels really grounded you know it feels very clear and so I can't wait to see what you do in the next chapters of your life here and how you're leading people to be there very best at the same time like there's so much to learn from you and I'm stoked I got to spend the time I did with you and I want to leave us with a moment I don't even know if you remember this but pre-game you and I would toss like you'd be on the 40 yard line and I'm trying to catch your flippin rockets I mean you got as everyone says your cannon is real and there was I do you remember this there was North Carolina and it was cold and it might have been green Bay I can't remember was I was coming out of the tunnel and you're throwing long balls at this point and and we made eye contact and you kind of like brought your arm back like you're going to throw up my way and I put my hands up and I was like oh shit I got nylon gloves on yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah you had the snow you had the the warmers on yeah you know I was funny because earlier that what was it we were in Atlanta right we're in Atlanta we were doing the long toss and so you were challenging me like all right to try it over here you're like all right try it over there so like we're just having fun and then we you know that became our thing so that was that was that was funny though because I was I was about to rip one to you you had those freaking snow snow snow hands on your hand no you did you did my hands are above my on my forehead and as the balls come and like oh shit I got the slippery gloves basically and I'm and and like all I remember is like boom and it just kind of skimmed over the top of my head like cut my mohawk down and then one of the A.T.'s comes by and goes Jesus Jervet that's gonna have to take your gospel but maybe it would have fixed your nose oh man come on now I'm happy that didn't happen man come on now yeah yeah so all right you know like I'm loving what you're doing like I know you have love for Seattle and you know maybe just a little note to the 12s what do you think yeah man I think for the 12s man I can't wait to see you guys man I can't wait to see you guys you know in lumen field you know we're gonna have a really really good team and you guys are a huge part of it so you know be loud as ever bring that juice bring that energy and we'll do the same but people haven't had the chance to go feel the 12s and just for clarity the 12s means it's the fans it's the 12th player on the field there's only 11 players on the field in football but the 12s as they're affectionately known in Seattle are like on fire and it is one of the if not the most electric places that I felt energy from a crowd and so you got special times ahead of you I know you're capturing the moments yes sir and you know how do you answer this last question it all comes down to hmm what does it all come down to it all comes down to your mentality that's what it comes down to all right geno smith legend you've always been one I'm stoked to know you I'm stoked that you're leading people in the way that you are and um appreciate you man appreciate you today I will do this again sometime let's do it absolutely yes sir all right thank you so much for diving into another episode of finding mastery with us our team loves creating this podcast and sharing these conversations with you we really appreciate you being part of this community and if you're enjoying the show the easiest no cost way to support is to hit the subscribe or follow button wherever you're listening also if you haven't already please consider dropping us a review on apple or Spotify we are incredibly grateful for the support and feedback if you're looking for even more insights we have a newsletter we send out every Wednesday punch over to finding mastery.com slash newsletter to sign up the show wouldn't be possible without our sponsors and we take our recommendations seriously and the team is very thoughtful about making sure we love and endorse every product you hear on the show if you want to check out any of our sponsor offers you heard about in this episode you can find those deals at finding mastery.com slash sponsors and remember no one does it alone the door here at finding mastery is always open to those looking to explore the edges and the reaches of their potential so that they can help others do the same so join our community share your favorite episode with a friend and let us know how we can continue to show up for you lastly as a quick reminder information in this podcast and from any material on the finding mastery website and social channels is for information purposes only if you're looking for meaningful support which we all need one of the best things you can do is to talk to a licensed professional so seek assistance from your healthcare providers again a sincere thank you for listening until next episode be well think well and keep exploring