How to Strive - with Nick Adkins – Details, episodes & analysis

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In this powerful episode of How to Strive, Nick is joined by the inspiring and humble Jamie Carr, who shares the mindset, strategies, and deep resilience it took to complete two of the world's toughest physical challenges: running the Marathon des Sables across the Sahara and rowing the Atlantic solo and unsupported for 3,000 miles.

Together, they explore:

• How Jamie applied process goals and created personal rules to stay focused during extreme adversity.
• Jamies longer term reflective process. 
• The mental toughness and adaptability required to coach professionally in England while chasing ambitious physical goals.
• Why resilience isn’t just about pushing through, but about managing yourself, your mindset, and your mission.
• How important humour and camaraderie is during tough times. 
• Practical takeaways you can use to build your own strategies for life’s toughest moments.

If you’ve ever wondered what it takes to endure the unimaginable and how to build that strength into your daily life this is the episode for you.

🌊🏃‍♂️🔥 Listen now and get inspired to create your own rules, face your challenges, and keep striving forward.

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In this episode, Nick dives into the Euro 2024 Technical Report, unpacking key insights and trends that are shaping the modern game. From goal-scoring to chance creation, pressing strategies, and low block structures, Nick breaks down what the data reveals and more importantly, how it influences his own coaching and development approach.

Topics include:

• Goals: Types, timing, and trends
• Chance creation and final third entries
• Transition moments and counter strategies
• Set play effectiveness
• High pressing vs. compact low blocks
• Modern build-up patterns

Whether you’re a coach, player, or curious fan, this episode offers practical interpretations to help you strive forward with clarity and intent in your football journey.

Tune in and get the edge from Europe's top tournament!

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In this episode of How to Strive, we sit down with Jason Lee — Olympic hockey player, elite coach, who continues helping people strive across sport and business. Jason brings a wealth of experience and insight into what drives high performance and personal development.

We dive deep into the foundations of resilience, the power of a growth mindset, and the subtle but impactful role of language in shaping behaviour and outcomes. Jason also shares his thoughts on emotional intelligence, self-awareness, and the consistent trends he observes in successful individuals, from athletes to executives.

Whether you're pushing your limits on the field, in the office, or in your personal life, this episode is packed with lessons to help you strive for better with purpose and clarity.

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In this episode of How to Strive, Nick is joined by Professor Mark Williams — a world-leading expert in skill acquisition and performance science. With decades of research behind him, Mark unpacks the key elements that make up an optimal learning environment and how these shape long-term learning and success  

We explore practical strategies for acquiring skills, building resilience, and understanding the psychological and environmental factors that separate the good from the great. Mark reveals the science behind how the best truly become the best.

If you're curious about the mechanics of mastery and want to learn how to unlock more of your potential, this episode offers a deep, research-driven perspective.

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Episode Summary:
In this episode of the How to Strive podcast, we explore the power of journaling as a tool for continuous improvement. Striving isn’t about perfection—it’s about making small, consistent changes that lead to long-term growth. These journal prompts are designed to help you reflect, take actionable steps, and enhance your mindset, productivity, and well-being. Whether you journal daily or are just starting, these prompts will guide you toward meaningful self-improvement. Grab your journal and get ready to strive.

How to Use These Prompts:
Be intentional with your journaling. Pause the episode as needed, take time to reflect, or write down prompts to answer later. The key is to take small, actionable steps—because progress, not perfection, is what truly drives growth.

Remember, the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Keep striving, keep improving, and embrace the process of continuous growth!

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Episode Description:
In today’s episode of How to Strive, we are joined by Philip O'Callaghan, a dedicated teacher, tennis coach, and passionate advocate for skill acquisition. Philip shares his approach to teaching and coaching, with a strong focus on the principles of skill acquisition and how they’ve shaped his coaching style over time.

Through this conversation, Philip offers insight into how he fosters an environment where students actively problem-solve and how he adapts the learning environment, constraints, or skill challenges to meet the needs of his athletes. Whether you're a coach, teacher, or student, Philip’s strategies provide valuable takeaways for creating meaningful and effective learning experiences.

Additionally, Philip discusses the resources he creates for other coaches and educators, including his Substack newsletter and X (formerly Twitter) account, where he shares helpful tips, strategies, and thought-provoking content on coaching and skill acquisition.

Key Topics Discussed:

Philip’s Coaching Journey – The path that led him to adopt his current approach to coaching and teaching.

Principles of Skill Acquisition – How skill acquisition plays a central role in Philip’s teaching and coaching style.

Creating a Learning Environment – The importance of designing environments where students can actively problem-solve and engage with the material.

The Role of Constraints – How changing constraints (environment, skill, or task) can either challenge or support students’ learning.

Adapting to Contexts – How Philip adapts his coaching methods based on different contexts and skill levels.

Follow Philip O'Callaghan:

X (Twitter): @Mr_Tennis_Coach – Follow for coaching insights, skill acquisition tips, and strategies for teachers and coaches.

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Start Striving at

www.strive25.co.uk/

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In todays episode Nick shares an insight into the differences between a fixed and growth mindset. how you can build awareness of which mindset you have in certain situations along with how to be in a more desirable mindset when needed. Mindset being a reference to the impactful work of Carol Dweck. 

He also explores briefly the work of the late Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi who was a Hungarian-American psychologist, recognised as developing the concept of Flow. He was also the author of the book Flow. 

The two questions from this episode 

What does your ideal environment include for you to achieve your flow state? 

Who is the best at growth mindset? What do they say? How do they behave? What do they do? 

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In todays episode we are exploring the basic levels of sleep. 

The aim of todays episode is to help you understand what contributes to a great night sleeps and offers you some ways to improve your sleep by tweaking your environment and your warm up to sleep performance. 

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Dr Sean Cumming 

Senior Lecture at Bath University sport and exercise science

Working with a number of sports, NGB’s including the Premier League, The FA, LTA and Premier League Academies. 

Over 100 peer reviewed manuscripts and book chapters.

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