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Episode 133: 100% Mettle: Coach Matt Thomann’s 9 Core Topics for Positive Toughness
In Episode 133 of The Mental Mettle Podcast, Coach Matt Thomann breaks down his framework for **100% Mettle**—the ability to recognize your strengths and limitations in adversity while embracing the repetition of positive actions that demonstrate real growth and change.Every coaching session Coach Thomann delivers centers on this idea. Growth doesn’t happen in a vacuum; it requires adversity. Recognizing both your strengths and your limitations in the face of that adversity is crucial for seeing where you are and where you want to go. But recognition is only the start—it takes consistent repetition to make lasting change. With individuals, teams, staffs, and groups of all kinds, Coach Thomann uses 9 core topics to help people forge a positive version of toughness—100% Mettle:1. **Focus on Controllables** Rooted in Bandura’s self-efficacy: belief → motivation → success → happiness. Learn to separate what you can control from what you can’t and build your mindset around what’s truly in your hands. (See Ep. 63)2. **Values / Shared Values** Going beyond “family, faith, and friends” to include values like work ethic, fairness, responsibility, security, and independence. Clarify your personal values and create shared values for your team. (See Ep. 46, Huey Built – Prairie Central)3. **Voice (Self-Talk)** Your inner voice can be a precursor to anxiety and depression. Learn why negative self-talk isn’t “normal,” how 3rd-person self-talk helps, and how to turn your inner Saboteur from a Hater into a Wingman. (See Ep. 64)4. **Confidence** Building evidence-based confidence instead of fake hype—having “enough” proof to trust yourself in big moments. (See Ep. 28 with Hallie Mitchell)5. **Mind–Body Connection** Understanding fight-or-flight, long-term stress, and telomere shortening, plus how to activate the parasympathetic system and vagus nerve to handle pressure better. (See Ep. 37 with Megan Gilmore, Ep. 65)6. **Growth Mindset** Based on Carol Dweck’s work—how you approach challenges, effort, criticism, and comparison, and how to shift from a fixed to a growth mindset. (See Ep. 69)7. **Perspective** Using creativity, metaphors, objects, and images to see yourself and your situation differently—because new perspectives lead to new actions.8. **Conflict Resolution / Team Toxins** Drawing from John Gottman’s research and the “Four Horsemen” (criticism, defensiveness, stonewalling, contempt) to identify and clean up the patterns that quietly damage teams. (See Ep. 27)9. **Gratitude** Using Seligman’s research to build positivity, fight anxiety and depression, and deepen grit through giving, receiving, and practicing gratitude—for others and for yourself. (See Ep. 76, Ep. 85 – Monthly Challenge)In this episode, learn how these 9 topics fit together to build 100% Mettle—a durable, positive form of toughness you can apply in your life, work, and teams.Subscribe to The Mental Mettle Podcast and start forging your 100% Mettle today.Subscribe for more episodes and insights from top coaches and leaders!For more information about Mental Mettle CoachingContact: [email protected] a free coaching session with Coach ThomannOrder The Mental Mettle Podcast GearThe Mental Mettle Podcast | Official Gear | BonfireMental Mettle Links
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Ep. 132: The Power of Hope with Derek Gordon
Derek Gordon is a Ministry Coordinator at a men’s homeless shelter in Peoria, and he understands the power of hope. In this episode of the Mental Mettle Podcast, Derek sits down with Coach Matt Thomann to discuss how his own mistakes—and his work at the shelter—have shaped his belief that hope is both necessary and, fortunately, an innate ability for moving forward.If you would like to learn more or donate to the shelter, reach them atPathway Ministries: From Poverty to Progress through Jesus - Pathway MinistriesSubscribe for more episodes and insights from top coaches and leaders!For more information about Mental Mettle CoachingContact: [email protected] a free coaching session with Coach ThomannOrder The Mental Mettle Podcast GearThe Mental Mettle Podcast | Official Gear | BonfireMental Mettle Links
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Ep 131: Way of the Warrior: Leadership Coaching with SGT. Brett Miller
Coach Matt Thomann hosts The Mental Mettle Podcast with guest Brett Miller—Air National Guard Sergeant, Caterpillar auditor, youth coach, and founder of Way of the Warrior Leadership Academy. Brett takes us inside his Captain’s Class program, where athletes learn to lead themselves first, build real confidence through self-trust, and develop team cultures that outlast wins and losses.We dig into how Brett’s military, corporate, and coaching worlds cross-pollinate; why modeling behavior matters more than talking about it; and how structured challenge plus safe spaces help athletes grow on and off the field. Brett also shares the “Yes, and” mindset that helped his nonprofit pivot through setbacks.What you’ll learn:Lead yourself first: the 10 controllables that require zero talentCulture beats tactics: trust and accountability multiply performanceConfidence that sticks: anchor it to effort, preparation, and self-trustModeling over messaging: coaches’ behavior becomes team culturePurposeful adversity: why athletes should seek harder environmentsCaptain’s Class playbook: 3 nightly evolutions that build presence, mindset, and team skillsCreating safe spaces: improv, teach-backs, and group dialogue to spark growthSupporting injured athletes: identity, isolation, and peer-powered solutionsNonprofit realities: imposter moments, pivots, and “Yes, and” resiliencySubscribe for more episodes and insights from top coaches and leaders!For more information about Mental Mettle CoachingContact: [email protected] a free coaching session with Coach ThomannOrder The Mental Mettle Podcast GearThe Mental Mettle Podcast | Official Gear | BonfireMental Mettle Links
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Episode 130: Happy Thanks "taking"
If someone hands you a wrapped gift, you take it, open it, smile, and say thank you. But when someone gives you the gift of gratitude—a compliment—do you do the same? Or do you deflect it with “It was nothing” or “I just got lucky”? When we don’t accept thanks, we rob the giver of the good feelings that come from expressing it.In this Mental Mettle episode, Coach Thomann flips “Thanksgiving” into “Thanks Taking.” Practicing gratitude with others is great—and we should do it—but we also need to accept it, and recognize the good it does in us.What you’ll learn:How to take compliments without deflecting, and why it strengthens relationshipsHow to give yourself thanks so your brain learns what to repeatHow expressing gratitude to others also boosts your own mood and resilienceSubscribe for more episodes and insights from top coaches and leaders!For more information about Mental Mettle CoachingContact: [email protected] a free coaching session with Coach ThomannOrder The Mental Mettle Podcast GearThe Mental Mettle Podcast | Official Gear | BonfireMental Mettle Links
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Episode 129: A Coach Looks at 50
Coach Thomann turns 50 this week, so on this week's episode he drops some knowledge about things he's learned from being a father, a husband, a teacher, a believer, and a coach. Tune in to hear him talk about positivity, confidence, aggressive patience, living your 100, and forging your mettle!Subscribe for more episodes and insights from top coaches and leaders!For more information about Mental Mettle CoachingContact: [email protected] a free coaching session with Coach ThomannOrder The Mental Mettle Podcast GearThe Mental Mettle Podcast | Official Gear | BonfireMental Mettle Links
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