Who's Awesome?
The daily practice that makes "picking yourself up" actually possible
A few weeks ago, I wrote that 2026 is your year—if you choose it. A lot of you responded to that piece. Some of you said it was exactly what you needed to hear. Others pushed back a little: “That’s great, Josh, but how? How do you actually make yourself believe it when everything around you is saying otherwise?”
Fair question. Let me tell you about something I’ve been doing for over a decade.
A 30-Minute Drive and One Simple Question
When our kids were young, they attended a charter school about 30 minutes from our house. That meant my wife and I were on permanent chauffeur duty. I handled the morning drop-off before heading to the office.
Every single morning, just before the kids hopped out of the car, I asked them one question:
“Who’s awesome?”
And they had to answer. Out loud. About themselves.
At first, they rolled their eyes. They mumbled it. They thought Dad was being weird. But I kept asking. Every single day. Rain or shine. Good days and bad days. Days they aced a test and days they failed one.
“Who’s awesome?”
The kids are older now. They drive themselves places. They head off to work, to college courses, to wherever life takes them. But I still ask. Every time they leave the house.
“Who’s awesome?”
I figured I’ve asked that question well over 5,000 times. Why? Because I figured if they hear themselves say it enough times, maybe they’ll start to believe it as much as I believe it about them.
Where I Got the Idea
I stole this from professional wrestling. Specifically, from The Miz in WWE. “I’m awesome” was his whole thing—his calling card, his catchphrase, the words he built his persona around.
I remember the exact moment it clicked for me. I was watching one of those Scooby-Doo and WWE crossover movies with the kids. The movie opens with The Miz on an early morning jog, and he’s repeating it to himself like a mantra. Over and over. “Who’s awesome. I’m awesome.”
And I thought: that’s brilliant.
Not the arrogance part. The repetition part. The practice of telling yourself something true until you believe it.
The Greatest Athletes in History Did the Same Thing
The Miz isn’t alone. The greatest athletes in history have built their legacies on this exact practice.
Muhammad Ali didn’t become “The Greatest” by accident. He declared it first. “I am the greatest,” he famously said. “I said that even before I knew I was.” In his autobiography, Ali explained his strategy: “It’s the repetition of affirmations that leads to belief. And once that belief becomes a deep conviction, things begin to happen.”
He would tell anyone who would listen—and plenty who wouldn’t—that he was the greatest boxer who ever lived. His opponents heard it. The media heard it. The world heard it. But most importantly, he heard it. Over and over, until there was no room left for doubt.
Kobe Bryant called it the “Mamba Mentality”—the relentless pursuit of being the best version of yourself. But what most people miss is how much of that mentality was about internal negotiation. In an interview, Kobe explained: “It’s how you negotiate with yourself. That’s the biggest thing. The thoughts that happen in your mind when you’re going through a competitive situation... Do you talk yourself out of it? Or does that little voice get the best of you? I think that’s what separates people who do great things from people who don’t.”
Kobe even admitted to having self-doubt. “I have fear of failure,” he said. “I have nights when I show up at the arena and I’m like, ‘My back hurts, my feet hurt, my knees hurt. I don’t have it.’ We all have self-doubt. You don’t deny it, but you also don’t capitulate to it. You embrace it.”
Serena Williams, one of the greatest tennis players of all time, uses phrases like “I am strong” and “I can do this” to maintain her mental edge during matches. Tennis is a lonely sport—just you on one side of the net, your opponent on the other, and the voice inside your head. Serena learned to make sure that voice was on her side.
Aaron Donald, one of 3 players to ever win the NFL Defensive Player of the Year 3 times, is a master of self-talk. This is one of my favorite examples.
I can do this.
Four words. Repeated until they become reality.
The Voice in Your Head Is Trainable
These aren’t just elite athletes being confident. They’re elite athletes who practiced being confident. They built systems for talking to themselves. They understood that the voice in your head isn’t fixed—it’s trainable.
And here’s what connects all of them: none of them waited for someone else to tell them they were great. They told themselves first. Repeatedly. Daily. Until there was no other option but to believe it.
No One's Coming to Give You the Halftime Speech
Bob and I just recorded an episode of The Meta-Cast about what happens when you’re the leader and there’s no one left to pick you up.
We used this image: You’re a head coach. Your team just got destroyed in the first half. Nothing worked. Now you have to walk into that locker room and generate something—energy, hope, a plan. You can’t walk in and say “I got nothing, fellas.”
That’s leadership. And the brutal truth is this: the higher you climb, the fewer people there are whose job it is to lift YOU up. When you’re the one in charge, you look around and there’s no halftime speech coming. No one’s going to pump you up. No one’s going to remind you that you’re capable of figuring this out.
You have to do it yourself.
You can’t just flip a switch and suddenly believe in yourself in the moment you need it most. That’s not how it works. Self-belief isn’t something you summon on demand. It’s something you build through repetition, over time, when the stakes are low—so it’s there when the stakes are high.
Muhammad Ali didn’t wake up one morning and decide to believe he was the greatest. He told himself thousands of times until it became true. Michael Jordan didn’t stumble into confidence during Game 6. He had trained his mind for decades before that moment arrived.
That’s why I ask my kids every day. Not because they need a pep talk before school. Because I want that voice in their head to be so familiar, so automatic, that when life kicks them in the teeth and no one’s around to pick them up, they already know the answer.
Who’s awesome?
Set Your Mindset Before Someone Else Does
I do a version of this for myself too.
Before hard conversations. Before big meetings. Before I sit down to figure out what to do when the pipeline is dry and the deals have gone cold.
I remind myself of what’s true. Out loud, sometimes. In my head, other times. But deliberately. Intentionally. Not waiting for someone else to say it.
Bob shared his version on the podcast. He used to sit in his car for ten minutes every morning before walking into the office. Not scrolling his phone. Not checking email. Just asking himself: What does my team need from me today? How do I need to show up?
Same principle. You decide who you’re going to be before you walk into the room. You don’t leave it to chance. You don’t wait for someone else to set your mindset.
Decisions Fade. Practice Lasts.
In my last article of 2025, I asked you to make a decision: 2026 is your year.
But a decision isn’t enough. Decisions fade. Motivation fades. The moment passes and then you’re back in the grind, and the grind doesn’t care what you decided on January 1st.
What lasts is practice. Daily, boring, repetitive practice. Telling yourself the truth about who you are and what you’re capable of—not once, but over and over, until it stops feeling like a lie and starts feeling like fact.
Ali did it. Kobe did it. Serena did it.
No one’s coming to give you the halftime speech. So you’d better learn to give it to yourself.
Start simple. Start today.
Who’s awesome?
Stay courageous,
Josh Anderson
The Leadership Lighthouse
P.S. Bob and I go deeper on this in the latest Meta-Cast episode. If you’re in a season where you’re having to dig deep and pick yourself up, give it a listen. We’ve been there. We get it.
P.P.S. Do you have a daily practice or mantra that keeps you going? I’d genuinely love to hear it. Hit reply—I read every response.
A powerful reminder that self-belief is built through daily practice and repetition, long before the moments when you need it most
Another precient reminder as I start out the year. I'm so glad I stumbled upon you guys!!