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The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish

#183 Paul Assaiante: Face Your Fear

The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish

Farnam Street

Business, Investing, Entrepreneurship

4.72.9K Ratings

🗓️ 12 December 2023

⏱️ 74 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

When Paul Assaiante announced his retirement from coaching the men’s squash team at Trinity College in Connecticut earlier this year, it marked the end to the most successful run for any coach in the history of college athletics. During his tenure, Assaiante guided Trinity to 17 national titles, including 13 consecutive championships and 252 wins in a row from 1999 to 2011.
On this episode of The Knowledge Project, Assaiante calls on his 30 years of coaching to discuss the lessons he learned during his career, including how to conquer fear and anxiety, why safety is actually found when facing adversity, the importance of practice, and what’s keeping you from reaching your goals.

Assaiante is also the author of the 2012 book, Run to the Roar: Coaching to Overcome Fear.

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Transcript

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0:00.0

When players come into my office and they do all the time with thorny issues or whatever they're wrestling with,

0:07.6

I always ask the same rhetorical question, which is, what's the worst that can happen? Once you address the concept

0:16.5

of what's the worst that can happen, it's not that bad. Is this really going to be a life altering experience?

0:24.8

And if it is, how do I come to grips with that?

0:27.0

And if it's not, then why am I making it a bigger deal

0:30.3

than it actually is. Welcome to the Knowledge Project a podcast about mastering the best of what other people have

0:51.7

already figured out so you can apply their

0:53.8

insights to your life. I'm your host Shane Parish. If you're listening to this

0:59.3

you're missing out, if you'd like access to the podcast before public release special episodes that don't appear anywhere else

1:05.7

hand-edited transcripts or you just want to support the show you love you can join at

1:10.8

FS.

1:11.8

Dot blog slash membership check out the show notes for a link.

1:16.2

My guest today is none other than the winningest coach in college sports history, Paul Asante. Paul is the men's

1:25.0

men's squash and tennis coach at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut.

1:27.0

From 1998 to 2012, Trinity went undefeated, winning 252 consecutive matches, including 13 national championships.

1:39.5

The longest winning streak in college sports history. I wanted to talk to coach because not only

1:45.5

of his record but his unique approach to unleashing our potential. He helps his

1:51.2

athletes conquer their fears, their anxieties, and their worst nightmares.

1:56.0

There are things that hold us back in all of us in moments of tension and crisis when the lion roars,

2:01.0

and you just want to run away, or you're tempted to stand there like a deer in the headlights

2:06.8

Paul advocates that safety counterintuitively is actually found in running towards the roar.

2:14.0

While most coaches and managers ask people what their goals are,

...

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