How Champions Think: Coach Nick Saban and the Process Thinking Mental Model
How Nick Saban uses the mental model of process thinking — aka “The Process” — to inspire greatness and build a dynasty
If you’re a sports fan, you know the name Nick Saban. Head Coach of the Alabama Crimson Tide football team. More than 250 wins. Seven national titles.
If you’re from anywhere but Alabama, you probably hate him. But, even if you don’t want to admit it, you do respect him.
How can you not? Since 2003, his teams have won almost 40% of all college football titles! There are few people in the world — in any field — performing so consistently at the highest levels of competition.
So, to what does Coach Saban owe his unrivaled success?
His coaching philosophy centers on a mental model called “process thinking” — or as he calls it: “The Process.” Inspired by the field of behavioral psychology, process thinking is a framework that emphasizes preparation over the prize. According to this model, when each step of a process is executed with diligence and precision, the desired outcome becomes all but inevitable. Fun fact: Saban is so closely associated with process thinking that the first paragraph of its Wikipedia page credits him for bringing it to the mainstream.
What is a mental model?
Mental models are frameworks we use to examine problems, make decisions, and understand the world. As Farnam Street’s Shane Parrish explains:
“Not only do they shape what we think and how we understand, but they shape the connections and opportunities that we see. Mental models are how we simplify complexity, why we consider some things more relevant than others, and how we reason.”
Mental models help us unspool the universe’s infinite tangle of information into more manageable threads, allowing us to tackle challenging problems with greater clarity, rigor, and purpose.
Think of your mind like a toolbox. Mental models are your tools. The more tools you have, the easier it is to build solutions for filtering, synthesizing, and processing the enormous amount of data your brain receives every day.
The birth of “The Process”
One of Nick Saban’s first head coaching jobs was at Michigan State University, where he befriended an eccentric psychiatry professor named Dr. Lionel Rosen.
As Saban prepared his underdog team for a long-shot away game against the powerhouse Ohio State Buckeyes, he turned to Dr. Rosen for advice on improving the hangdog mindset of his unconfident players.
Rosen not only changed their minds, he changed the very way they saw the game of football…and life.
Realizing the average football play lasts only seven seconds, Rosen asked the team to think differently: Concentrate not on winning the game itself but on winning just those seven seconds. Ignore the scoreboard. The game clock. The opposing sideline. Seven seconds are all that matter. If the Spartans could outplay the Buckeyes for seven seconds more times than not, the unlikely victory would be in their grasp.
Once game day finally arrived, things started badly for Saban’s team. Down by 15 with 10 minutes left in the third quarter, he reminded his Spartans to trust “The Process.” And they did. As then quarterback Bill Burke remembers, despite the deficit, it felt like “we had an infinite amount of time to come back.” Undeterred by their circumstances — and with total faith in “The Process” — Burke and his team clawed their way back into the game, ultimately winning in dramatic fashion.
On that day, “The Process” was born.
In Saban’s own words:
“There’s probably one really memorable game that changed the whole dynamics of the psychological approach we use to motivate teams, and it happened when we played at Ohio State in 1998. They had been number one all the way through, and we were 4-5 and not a very good team. We decided to use the approach that we are not going to focus on the outcome. We were just going to focus on the process of what it took to play the best football you could play — which was to focus on that particular play as if it had a history and life of its own.”
How to use process thinking in your life
Think about that last line:
“Focus on that particular play as if it had a history and life of its own.”
Isn’t it powerful? Of course, “plays” aren’t confined to the gridiron. They’re metaphors for all of life’s contests. While Saban and Rosen’s unconventional philosophy spread through the world of sport, it also found its way into the lives of everyday people.
Ryan Holiday explores process thinking in his book The Obstacle Is The Way (which, by no coincidence, can be found in locker rooms the world over — from high school gyms to billion-dollar stadiums):
“Whether it’s pursuing the pinnacle of success in your field or simply surviving some awful or trying ordeal, the same approach works. Don’t think about the end — think about surviving. Making it from meal to meal. Break to break. Checkpoint to checkpoint. Paycheck to paycheck. One day at a time. When you really get it right, even the hardest things become manageable. Because the process is relaxing. Under its influence, we needn’t panic. Even mammoth tasks become just a series of component parts.”
Facing challenges. Striving toward lofty goals. These are daunting endeavors for the best of us. The magnitude of the effort can be so overwhelming that we might throw in the towel before ever getting started.
But by breaking that effort down into only the parts that we can control now, it suddenly becomes less intimidating. Therein lies the fundamental value of the process thinking mental model.
Let go of the past and its failures and successes. Resist the impulse to imagine the uncontrollable future.
Focus only on the approachable now that lies before you. Acknowledge its value. Find comfort in the predictability and repeatability of each step. Execute each one with discipline and precision until now becomes then — and carry yourself one measure closer to your ultimate prize.
WIN: “What’s important now?”
Coach Saban uses an acronym to emphasize the importance of the now. WIN: “What’s important now?” That double entendre is no accident. Saban has redefined the very notion of victory to emphasize not a future outcome but this moment and this moment alone.
Remember this mnemonic to ground yourself in the present, find value in where and when you are, and insulate yourself from unproductive worry about an abstract and ungovernable tomorrow.
When you pour attention into this way of thinking — when you trust “The Process” — you’ll discover greater satisfaction in life’s small moments and better understand them in the context of your more extraordinary journey.
Process thinking has no end
Inside the process thinking model, there are no milestones. The end of one journey is merely the first step on the next. Just as it gives no permission to dwell on past failures, it also prohibits the luxury of resting comfortably on past successes.
As former Saban assistant Lane Kiffin said:
“You win the trophy, you hold it up, you take a picture, you hand it back, and you go try to win the next one.”
“The Process” continues…
🔑 Key takeaways
- Avoid becoming distracted by past or future events. Only the present moment is within your control.
- Execute even the most minor tasks with discipline, precision, and integrity. The level of challenge or skill of your opponent should have no bearing on your effort or commitment.
- Find comfort and motivation in the repeatability of each step of the journey.
- Don’t allow your momentum to be interrupted by perceived “achievements.” There are no milestones.
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