Taylor Pak

It’s More Than Just a Game

How do you let go of something that’s defined your existence for the past 17 years?

You struggle to move on, but you get through it.

The gap between the end of an athletic career and the start of a professional career is a tough…

Life After the Game

Mark Coogan was himself a college athlete for the University of Maryland track team. He went on to become Dartmouth’s track and field coach and consequently, he’s been able to see the transformation and growth of athletes firsthand.
 
 I asked what type of wisdom he imparts to the incoming…

If You’re Not First, You’re Last

Business developer and author Emanuel Carpenter says that “competition in sales is not only good and healthy. It’s essential. If we’re not competing internally with our fellow salespeople, we’re competing against another company’s sales team. Competition is inevitable…

Athlete Efficiency

Instead of trying to manage five things at once, athletes focus on what’s in front of them at that very moment. Allowing events and reminders of things you need to do into your head causes you to lose focus, and when you lose focus you don’t produce the desired results, either in the classroom…

Mono-tasking

The ability to be 100% focused on what you’re doing at all times is a big task, especially when there are a thousand things to do on any given day. As I’ve reflected on my time as a student-athlete, I’ve realized that what makes me and my fellow athletes so efficient and able to produce results is that…

“Again?! I have to do this again?”

“Following your surgery, you’ll have a two-to-three-month intensive rehabilitation and recovery period. Then you’ll be cleared to play.”

While the doctor had told me I’d have a rehab period, the only thing I heard was, “You’ll be back playing…

Grit

I’ve been mentally preparing myself for this run before I even got out of bed. I’m dressed and ready-to-go. I am nervous. You know, the kind of knees weak, arms are heavy nervous that Eminem raps about in “Lose Yourself.”

Talking It Out

College athletes have already had to deal with their harshest and most blunt critics: their coaches. Through meetings, videos (which highlight failures in unblinking ways that the memory typically edits out), and critiques on the fields, athletes receive more criticism than they would, perhaps, like…

Working Together, For Each Other

When it comes to leadership in the corporate world, leaders who are overly harsh, critical, or inflexible can cause extreme levels of stress, lost productivity, and disengagement in their employees. In his book Coaching Consultant & Director of Athlete Assessments, author…