Racquet Fuel

What does it take to lead 22 clubs, manage 250 pros, and grow the game of tennis across the country?

In this episode, hosts Kim Bastable and Simon Gale sit down with Mike Woody, Vice President and National Director of Tennis at Genesis Health Clubs, to dive into his remarkable leadership journey. From his early days as a tennis instructor to becoming a key industry leader, Mike shares powerful lessons on growth, relationships, and navigating challenges in the racquet sports world.

By the end of this episode you'll know:

✅ How Mike transitioned from aspiring nurse to a lifelong career in tennis 
✅ The biggest leadership lesson he learned (from a mistake that cost him $20K!)
✅ How he scaled from managing one club to overseeing 22 clubs & 250 pros
✅ The importance of building relationships in leadership and career growth
✅ Why focusing on the right priorities (instead of busy work) is crucial for success
✅ How to continuously evolve and invest in personal development

Whether you’re a coach, club manager, or looking to grow in the sports industry, this episode is packed with game-changing leadership insights you won’t want to miss!

Recommended Leadership Books:
  • Discover Your Strengths by Marcus Buckingham
  • The 12 Week Year by Brian Moran
  • 10X Rule by Grant Cardone
Looking to become a more confident, competent, and clear business leader with a lifelong career in the racquet sports industry? Become a Certified Director of Racquet Sports. Visit our website to learn more!

What is Racquet Fuel?

Racquet Fuel provides insights into the best practices and innovations of racquets industry business leaders.

Co-hosts Kim Bastable, Director of Professional Tennis Management at the University of Florida, and Simon Gale, Senior Director Racquet Sports Development at the USTA National Campus, help racquets leaders in your ability to grow the game and to improve the experiences you offer to both your staff and players by talking to industry leaders, including USTA executives, authors and innovators. If you are on a career path in racquet sports or already a racquets business leader and you want to stay up to date on ideas and innovations in racquets industry business and leadership, this podcast is for you.

Presented by the Athlete+ Podcast Network at the University of Florida Institute for Coaching Excellence.

Episode Narration:

Welcome

Episode Narration:

to Racquet Fuel, where we launch into great conversations and share powerful tools to help you become a stronger Racquet's leader. Your hosts are Kim Bastable, a former all American tennis player and now the director of professional rackets management at the University of Florida, and Simon Gale, the USDA senior director of Racquet Sports Development. Today on Racquet Fuel, we get leadership tips from a guy who manages more than 20 clubs at once. Here's Kim and Simon.

Kim Bastable:

Welcome to Racquet Fuel. We are excited, Simon and I, to be hosting today with Mike Woody. Mike is a incredible leader in our industry. He's currently vice president, national director of tennis for Genesis Health Clubs, but his career was going strong long before he even took that position, which I find very interesting. He's been, at Genesis since 2015, and he had twenty years in Midland, Michigan before that.

Kim Bastable:

Genesis has 70 gyms, and 23 of those, I believe, have tennis. Those programs are located anywhere from New Jersey to Colorado to Florida. So it's a a vast array of different types, I'm sure, of sizes of clubs and challenges and geographics. And so that's why we brought Mike on. Simon, I'm sure you're excited for this conversation.

Simon Gale:

Look, Mike's someone I've known a a long time now and and I'm thrilled to have him on because early in my career, and I've said this with a few people that we've interviewed, early in my career, Mike was someone I sought out to understand leadership and was always kind of envious of his days at Midland and trying to understand sort of numbers he produced and so on and proud to say he's a friend of mine and colleague now and enjoy my time with Mike always. So I think this will be entertaining for for people listening.

Kim Bastable:

Welcome, Mike. We are super excited to have you here.

Mike Woody:

Ready to launch this. Let's go.

Kim Bastable:

All right. Well, tell us about your Midland days. I think that's where it all starts. The evolution of how you got to leadership in Midland and and I find a little bit fascinating the idea that you studied pre nursing at Western Michigan University. So give us your backstory.

Mike Woody:

I'll give you just a quick I mean, played played college tennis and of course, tennis like a lot of people did during the summers. And when I got graduated out of Western, I decided I wanna go to nursing school and fund my school. I decided I was gonna be full time tennis professional. Okay? But I didn't know what I didn't know and that theme will come up quite a bit.

Mike Woody:

I didn't know that you can make a career in our industry. And so I started and I just I got involved in the USPTA and then PTR, got involved with USTA and started to educate myself on our industry. And I was a year and a half. It was a three year nursing program. And I and I it was like part time program because I'd already gone to college and got my degree that I need to get the nursing piece.

Mike Woody:

So anyway, a year and a half into the nursing program, I found out I can make a living doing this tennis thing and I got recruited to the other side of the state in Grand Rapids, Michigan. And that was really where I cut my teeth and found out that I can make a living doing this. And then I was there for five years, and a guy named Glenn William headhunted me for Midland. And in my Midland stint, I came in as a director of instruction, and things change quick. And that's the thing that I think if I themed up one of the key attributes, it's flexibility, and I'm gonna say being ready for anything.

Mike Woody:

And so leadership changed, and I wasn't ready. I wasn't ready to become the director there at Midland. So I had to wait about five years and the person who was there decided to move on and I just studied like heck. I I made sure I was I started to know the things that I didn't know and then I I got the leadership position in Midland. My my real fast track there in Midland is 16 indoor courts, 16 outdoor courts, tennis mecca, call it the Disneyland of tennis in in Midland, Michigan.

Mike Woody:

There's a five zero one c three. It was a nonprofit. Here's what I didn't know was that they say the USTA says that you should have one indoor court per 10,000 people. One indoor court per 10,000 people population. Well, Midland is a town of 40,000.

Mike Woody:

Okay? So really by right, we should have only had four indoor courts. I had 16. And so that's kinda where I'm gonna say I unknowingly went at this thing and said, okay. How do I get more people playing?

Mike Woody:

How do I get, more court utilization? So I I became very community connected, involved in rotary, involved in chamber of the commerce, PTOs, and got really embedded into the community. And that's that's where I think I really got my start is to bring the sport of tennis to the community, was kinda mister tennis. And then in 2009, we went after the USGA ran for the first time the best tennis town in The United States, and we won the contest. So we won it out of, I think it was 60 other cities that went after it.

Mike Woody:

Midland, Michigan became the first best tennis town, and I was there for twenty three years. And it was a great career. Ran a women's pro circuit event. Had, I think, at at our heyday, probably about sixteen, fourteen full time professionals, and we were growing tennis. And so in fact, Simon, USDA would call me up and and say what a great job I was doing.

Mike Woody:

I didn't know what what that really meant because I just knew the world I was in was Midland, and they had the context of, the whole United States and where things were happening and they kept giving us accolades and saying what a great job. I was just doing what I thought I was supposed to do, just get more people on the courts and grow.

Simon Gale:

I talk about that often too, Mike. It's funny you say that because I think early on in in my career in The States, all I knew was the four walls I walked I worked in and I just did what I thought was right for the facility I was managing and then as you say, somebody says, well, your numbers or this are excellent and you're probably eligible for an award like manager of the year or facility of the year or program or whatever it is. And suddenly, you step outside your business, you realize that, hey, you know what? We we've actually done some pretty cool things here and this has been an an achievement and a feather in your cap. So a, congratulations from Midland, but what I want to know is how early in your evolution as a leader did you have this passion or feel like, hey, this leadership side versus coaching side of the business is something I'm maybe good at and you're too humble to say I was good at it.

Simon Gale:

You'll say you're still working at it. But I was good at it or I had a real passion or it was the the direction I wanted to go.

Mike Woody:

So this is a question I've I've pondered often and here's how I I I think. Well, actually, I know I got my confidence in leadership. First of all, I got involved in USTA in committees and and, you know, workshops and things like that. One of the things I found earlier on is if there was a group of eight to 10 people at the table and somebody would say, we gotta pick a leader out of the group, I seem to be the guy that people would pick. Okay?

Mike Woody:

So that's one of the first indications I thought, well, people see something in me maybe that I I'm just being me, but they kind of recognize me as a leader. So I think that was just one initial thing. But I think the other was I always had this entrepreneurial piece to me that felt like I was I could I could be whatever I wanted to be. I could beat whatever the challenges were. I remember one time I it was snowing, which is doing it right now in Kansas City, and I shoveled snow around my whole block because I just wanted to see if I could do it.

Mike Woody:

So I shoveled everybody's walkway, and it took me a couple hours. And I and I remember this, and I was like I remember looking down the each side of the block and I go, oh my gosh, I did it. So I think all my life I've always tried to beat something or grow it or make it better. And so I I did that in college with some park and rec programs. And then what I found in this industry, which was exciting to me, is I I never was excited about building a champion, like having a somebody play at the US Open.

Mike Woody:

What I was more excited about was seeing lots of people on the courts playing tennis. And so I think that's where I got that. And and I think the other side of the leadership remember the first time somebody gave me a microphone for our USTA pro circuit, and I go, holy crud. I've gotta speak in front of all these people. And I got the mic and I just did what I did and and it was like, that's kind of what a leader is.

Mike Woody:

You got to create the energy and the environment in the room.

Simon Gale:

And now we can't get the mic out of your hand, can we?

Mike Woody:

Yeah. Now it's Nice.

Simon Gale:

To pick up on that a little bit, you talked about challenges and taking on challenges and not being afraid of it. Let's just go back to Midland before we move on to Genesis. What were one of the biggest challenges you had when you took on that job in Midland and how did you go about say tackling it or or taking care of that challenge?

Mike Woody:

I think one is learning one of the one of the challenges was it was a five zero one c three so I I learned right away. Well, I took I went to the school of hard knocks because I had nine bosses. So there was a board of nine people, and so I had to report to them. And I blew it the very first board meeting because I was typical board thing. They they still had to discuss me and whether I was gonna be the director and all this stuff.

Mike Woody:

Well, as I was getting ready to go into the board meeting, they didn't let me in. I was mad. And so I decided I was gonna write a long letter to everybody. And at two in the morning, I sent this letter to every one of the board members. It was the worst time to hit that return key or the enter key because it it set me on the wrong foot right from the start.

Mike Woody:

So they gave me a chance to be the tennis director. I need to prove it, but I was being a bull in a China shop. So it and it cost me. I would say it cost me $20,000, that mistake, because they weren't gonna advance me in my in my position or pay until I really showed that I had what it took. And so the naysayers at the very beginning became the naysayers at the end.

Mike Woody:

And during that time, I I just I learned a lot. I mean, I I made a a brilliant mistake that I think helped the rest of my career. And that is I've learned to be much more political. I don't have to always be right. I can lose a lot of battles.

Mike Woody:

The key is win the war. And so, you know, that's so I think those were the struggles and the and the challenges. So I made a bunch, and it it it humbled me. And and I also became more reliant on more experts. I always asked a lot of questions, but I had a lot of when I was in Midland, I had a a guy who was actually, I had three seniors who were retired who I would spend time, whether it was coffee or breakfast, or I took them to the US Open.

Mike Woody:

One gentleman's name is Bob. He was a Harvard grad student, but he was retired and he was a CFO at Dow Corning. Well, he helped me with finances, how to budget, how to how to create dashboards and scorecards. And then I had a marketing guru. He was his name was John, and and John helped me marketing.

Mike Woody:

And he even shared with me how to be Mike Woody brand. And I kinda thought that was a little egotistical, but I once I understood what he was talking about, so just being my own personal brand. So I always went after wisdom, I think, after I made that good crucial mistake.

Kim Bastable:

That's a great story. That could be worth the price of our Racquet Fuel, our free Racquet Fuel podcast right now. No. That's that's that's what that's what we need is good wisdom like that. So then we need to understand a little bit after you kind of sounds like you saved yourself and did very well in Midland and won the award and lots of great accolades there.

Kim Bastable:

And we've had other people on this podcast already. You talk about that Midland tournament and what a wonderful tournament that was. But what what was the Genesis role? How did it come? How did you decide to make the move?

Kim Bastable:

Tell us that evolution.

Mike Woody:

Yeah. So I was I was 51 and I was headhunted by, actually, all of us know Doug Cash. Doug had called me and said, hey. You ought to check out this Genesis thing. Just I wasn't interviewing.

Mike Woody:

I wasn't looking. And I said, sure. I'll check it out. And in fact, I had just started dating my wife that week. I told her, I said, yeah, I'm gonna check this place out.

Mike Woody:

You know, it's I'm I'm gonna just see what the what it's all about. And and I went in it. I wasn't sure that's what I wanted to do because it was very sales driven and and little different culture than Midland. But I started to think about, okay. I was a big fish in a small pond.

Mike Woody:

How could I take this is gonna be a bigger pond, Genesis. And and Rodney Stevens' owner, he, you know, he shared his vision and and what the opportunity was. So he said, right now, we have six clubs. That seemed pretty overwhelming, you know, at first. And he said, we're gonna we're gonna build more.

Mike Woody:

We're gonna make more. We're gonna buy more. And, you know, today, we're at 22. So I took a leap of faith and I said in my career and I said, you know what? I have a chance to really push myself and be the best version of myself.

Mike Woody:

Midland was great, of course. And but I was also at a a a point where I was pretty comfortable. You know, I'd I'd done a lot of things and and again, I wanted to take that next dive and, you know, it's it's been everything I figured it would be. It would be challenging. It would press me.

Mike Woody:

It would force me to be a a different version and a better version of myself and and be a lot more strategic because I knew the size and the grasp of the job. So long story short, ten years later, you know, we're I made a really good decision and it's been fun. I've I'm working with 250 pros on 250 courts and we're growing and we're not gonna stop. And of course now we're adding pickleball to the mix so my backpack kinda gets bigger and I just have to I'm sure we'll talk about that on how do you manage that backpack.

Simon Gale:

Well, you talked about one of the differences between Midland and and Genesis was that it felt like it was a bit more of a sales approach and you just said you went from six to 22 clubs. So how did the role start out and how has it evolved as you've grown to 22 clubs? Is it a completely different role? How how has that evolved for you from a leadership point of view and and what you do day to day?

Mike Woody:

I think initially I I mean, I knew coming in that I couldn't be on the court as much that I was in Midland, but I also knew that I can impact more through programming, training the pros, putting more programs together, more events. But I think when I what what evolved was what I was really good at was, I'm gonna call it grassroots tennis, new players, new initiatives, new things. So now I got at first, I had six blank screens really to build off of. And so, you know, the canvas was, you know, they're good clubs, but they really weren't, I would say, really built with the kind of programmings I believe that they needed. So it was fun to take each one of those six and start adding things and and and also building a team.

Mike Woody:

So I think what initially happened when I thought it was really all sales, it really I mean, Rodney and I worked together and and I told him what I was really good at and what I believe he needed for his company and it it worked great. And that's, I mean, it's been a great trusting relationship because he lets me do what I'm really good at. He doesn't hold me back so I can build tennis and make things fun and exciting.

Simon Gale:

So one of the things I pick up on on both jobs it's interesting too because you're waiting for some answer about, well, did this or it was this really scientific approach or I did this to the business, but I'm picking up on the importance of relationships. You talk about Midland and how you started with the board, with your Racquet relationship, with that wonderful letter you sent. And then you must have worked that relationship to come out the other end. Your relationship with six now 22 clubs and all those relationships you developed. And then you just talked about your owner and having a relationship that's strong enough where you feel comfortable saying, here's what I'm good at and he's smart enough to empower you to be successful.

Simon Gale:

That's a theme I'm picking up on but I also, it makes me ask the question, how do you invest in yourself? So you've obviously grown a lot over these two big jobs. Do you invest in yourself? Do you have a coach or a mentor or how do you invest in yourself so that you're continually getting better because I sense you're the type of guy who's always looking for growth.

Mike Woody:

Well, I think you hold great company. I mean, I've spent quite a bit of time with both of you on side notes talking about, dreaming about, exploring and taking challenges and talking business. So I think for me, it's well, I continue to speak at conferences so that sharpens me. I continue when I go to conferences. I'm listening to the best of the best.

Mike Woody:

I read a lot of leadership and business books because it's and and it fills my mind. Now because I go to 22 different facilities, I'm in the car quite a bit. I call it my windshield time. So I do a lot of Audible books, do a lot of podcast type radio deals to fill my brain, but I try to fill it with good stuff. I don't listen to music most of the time.

Mike Woody:

I'm listening to some business audible book or I'm reading it or I've got a book summary. I think my my nature is to continually seek information and and ask a lot of questions. And Doug Cash is is my mentor and he's he's somebody I spend a lot of time with. So he's been a a great resource. What I like about him is he never tells me what I wanna hear.

Mike Woody:

He tells me what I need to hear. And and so that's always been good. So at the age of 60, 61, I feel like every year I'm just another, you know, I'm Mike Woody version 61. I wanna be, you know, version 74 because it's just that's that's what drives me is learning and doing something a little bit better.

Kim Bastable:

That's awesome and a great inspiration. I think we all have great respect for Doug and all that he provides and you're smart to listen to him and and learn from him continually. So if you look back at yourself when you were, you know, maybe at that pre nursing school when you're on the side, the summer job, and, you know, you think that you're not even gonna do this forever. It's just gonna pay some bills. Is there something that you you think, you know, I've really come a long way.

Kim Bastable:

I've really learned something that I, you know, I wish I had known then what I know now that maybe there's that tip that you could provide one of our young listeners?

Mike Woody:

Yeah. I think one is you have to know who your key stakeholders are. And one of those gentlemen in my Midland days said this. He goes, who who are your key stakeholders? And I sat to him, and I'm I'm a say I'm thirty, thirty two, and I go, that's easy.

Mike Woody:

I go, it's our members. He goes, you will lose your job faster than you've ever lost your job. You are gonna be a failure. And I was like, gee whiz. That's not very good lunch.

Mike Woody:

And and he he shared to me why. He said, because in your job, if whoever you report to is your number one stakeholder and that's why you blew it on your letter, Woody, because you sent a letter out. Those are your key stakeholders. All nine of those people, they're your bosses. And if if you're supporting them and you're giving them what they need, they're gonna make your life a lot easier.

Mike Woody:

And so I think we and and there'll always be customers that won't be happy. There will always be some of those. But the key is your owner, your board, you've gotta figure out that if if you say you don't like your owner, you say you don't like your board, you're in trouble. You're gonna be done. You gotta love your board.

Mike Woody:

You gotta love your your owners because they're the ones that are gonna they're gonna be there through the the tough times, the the celebration times. And when they're happy, that's your your job's so much better. That's probably the the biggest one for me, I think, is is key for a young person is the easiest piece is the customers. The easiest piece is working with your tennis players on the corporate. You gotta keep your and remember who writes your check and who provides you this opportunity.

Kim Bastable:

It's great. That's good advice. So can you explain a little bit about how you manage? I realize that most of our listeners will not have 22 clubs to manage in various different cities, but I'm just curious. What's your day to day like?

Kim Bastable:

What's do you get your group to you know, everybody together virtually? I run a virtual program so I can relate to this virtual thing. Sure. What's the challenge and how do you, you know, affect all these clubs?

Mike Woody:

So we do two major summits in person, two day events with our tennis directors. We do weekly tennis director meetings. So every Friday, we do a one hour. It's educational. It's interactive, and we'll do some breakout groups through Zoom.

Mike Woody:

Because I'm in the car and a lot of windshield time, I'm doing a lot of one on one calls. Okay? I do visits. I think sometimes, you know, I believe in the in purse in person visits. I think those are good.

Mike Woody:

But I also think just constant communication. Each tennis director sends me a weekly report what they're doing, what's going on. So I've learned to be very bulleted and I also in order to manage, I think, this many people, this many clubs, I try to focus on the main things. Okay? You guys remember the whack a mole game?

Mike Woody:

Right? The the thing where the moles come up. Right? And you can look really busy just beating that those whack a moles, but you might not be getting and and you're really working hard at it. But the real key is is to hit the right one.

Mike Woody:

And so for me, that's been my secret sauce is I make sure I don't finish the day chasing whack a moles that I'm hitting the main thing. So whatever, you know, hiring. Hiring's probably the biggest thing I I spend the most time on. So I make sure that I handle all the people that have applied for jobs or I'm sending out updates on on job postings and things like that. That's probably that is my number one thing along with of course taking care of my team.

Mike Woody:

But that's key is making sure we have more just have to have more pros.

Simon Gale:

So Mike, another operations type question, how do you as a company manage performance reviews or annual evaluations? How often are you doing those and kind of what's your format or procedure for developing your people through performance reviews?

Mike Woody:

So we do not have, I don't do formalized, you know the ones I've done, I think I did around twenty, twenty five years of formal job reviews before Midland. I'll be honest, I'm not sure how successful they were as somebody who received them or even somebody who gave them. So what I've evolved to, right, is a procedural thing you had to do it. What I found now is just constant communication and making sure I have objective goals that can be measured so that, you know, if I got to evaluate somebody on their punctuality at work, I think we're all in trouble. What what I think at the end of the day for me is, are they in the right spot?

Mike Woody:

Are they engaged? Are they successful? You know, the worst thing is to try if somebody isn't successful, we have to figure out real I have to figure out really quick how how can I help that person and get them back on the right track? And and sometimes it's just personal stuff and sometimes it's they they're in over their head. So for me, it's been constant feedback and letting people know where they're at.

Mike Woody:

So if somebody's off track, I tell them. And I I rather tell them than for them to be surprised. Nobody I don't like surprises, and I don't like to surprise anybody. So to wait till, you know, twelve months later. So we have a philosophy that we have a twelve week year.

Mike Woody:

Okay? So instead of having a twelve month year, it's a twelve week year. You can look at it quarterly. Right? If you look at the year and do it in twelve weeks, it gives you a lot more opportunity to accomplish more if you divide it up that way because most people set their goals and their objectives in a twelve month time and they only work on them the last three months.

Mike Woody:

So if you do it in a twelve week, and I do that for myself, a twelve week year, you accomplish a lot more. That's why I've got another forty years in the business because I'm 61, right? And I I think I got another ten in me and and so, you know, I divide those up, it's forty years. Doesn't that sound fun?

Simon Gale:

I like that. It's kind of like dog years, isn't it? Good for you. It sounds a bit it's definitely more personalized and much more about development than having this performance review that's very structured and a template that everybody just has to go through as a formality.

Mike Woody:

Yeah. One to five, you know, exceeds, meets, doesn't. You know, I just I just think it's a lot of paper and it's it's it doesn't at the end of the day, we I think staff and our team, our teammates just wanna be communicated to and and and and be acknowledged and recognized. You know, sometimes I do a lot of cheerleading with my team, celebrate what they're really doing well and then I do coaching.

Simon Gale:

So again, the the question that I think Kim and I would love to have answered is with 22 facilities and I think you said two fifty staff or pros, you are could easily work from sun up to sundown seven days a week, three sixty five. What is the work life balance for mister Woody look like?

Mike Woody:

Oh, I knew you're gonna ask me that. I think I think work life balance, it's right. It's it's the ability to you you gotta accomplish what you're set out to do, you know, so or or what the goals are and what the objectives are. So for me, the how I get how I get those things accomplished so that I do have time. Hey.

Mike Woody:

I like to play golf. I'm not playing as much tennis. I like to work out. I like to travel. I like to go places.

Mike Woody:

So I I try to stay really focused on what what my what my most important job is. So I know in the morning is when I'm really that's my best time. So sometimes I'll get up at four and five, and it isn't a a drudgery. It's just because I'm good in the morning. So I can and I can get really focused for three hours or four hours, and I can knock out a lot of things.

Mike Woody:

Use a lot of tools that are available to us. Everything from, you know, a lot of the apps and things like that, whether it's, you know, if I've got an idea in my head, I might use chat g d GTP to throw out some more ideas. The other is I don't try to recreate the wheel. I try to, you know, I try to take the best of the best when I see things, and then I just, you know, maybe modify it a little bit, but I don't try to get too crazy on I try to take out the the time wasters. So for me, it's when when we say quality of life and the work life balance, I think it's just called management.

Mike Woody:

It's just managing them both. And so in fact, I think probably the the least effective I am sometimes is when I'm, you know, if I take a really long I've taken some seven or ten day vacations. I'm probably least effective because I just get lazy and I get done with those. I go, I almost need a vacation from the vacation because I'm like, you know, I'm lethargic. So I I get a lot of energy from from my work and the like you said, the the relationships and the interactions.

Kim Bastable:

Yeah. No. That's that's good advice. I think we all are a little bit type a. Anybody of us that have played high level tennis pretty much is a driven performer and took a lot of practice to get where we were.

Kim Bastable:

So it becomes that way in our work life. So I'm just curious. We're about to wrap this up, but you mentioned that you're a big reader. So could you provide a couple of your favorite titles for you've given so many other good topics and and and touch points for the listener, but this is on the spot. Like, what's a couple of good titles of leadership books or books that you find have found helpful?

Mike Woody:

My the first one, I believe, if you're I'm gonna say a newer leader or a newer professional or somebody new in the industry would be Discover Your Strengths. And it's by Marcus Buckingham. It's a great book because that that helped me a lot, especially in the world of evaluations because they would always say, Mike, this is what you're not doing. But there was something inherently I was doing well, and it's my strengths. And so I think that book's a great book on finding what are your strengths and really leveraging those.

Mike Woody:

Recently, I just mentioned that twelve week year. That's a great book. It's a quick easy read, but it's it's it just made a lot of sense to me, especially what I'm doing right now. And then the one that I'm probably most dialed in right now is called 10 x. It's by Grant Cardone and he's a sales guy, but but it's it talks about goals.

Mike Woody:

And, you know, you shoot shoot for the moon and if you're a little bit less, it's still great. Most people shoot way too low and so they they they beat their goal, but they didn't really beat what they could potentially do. So we call it it's it's 10 x ing. 10 x ing sometimes your energy, 10 x ing your focus, 10 x ing your goals, and so you can accomplish a lot by reaching further than what you thought you could do.

Kim Bastable:

Excellent. Great list. I love it. You were on put on the spot, but not at all. You came through with shining colors.

Kim Bastable:

Great great titles.

Mike Woody:

Always ready. Gotta be ready.

Kim Bastable:

Always ready, that woody guy. Well, we appreciate your time. Excellent, suggestions for the listeners. You got a great thing going. We respect you a lot.

Kim Bastable:

So thanks, Mike. Thank you for having me.

Simon Gale:

Cheers, mate. Appreciate it.

Episode Narration:

That's all for today, but we're not out of fuel. You can find more information and resources in our show notes and by visiting racquetfuelpodcast.com. If you liked what you just heard, please subscribe, and also leave a review, which helps other people join the mission to become stronger Racquet's leaders.

Conclusion:

This podcast is a production of Athlete Plus, the people, stories, and science behind elite athletes and teams. Athlete Plus is the official podcast network of the Institute for Coaching Excellence, a research, education, and outreach center in the College of Health and Human Performance at the University of Florida. The Institute for Coaching Excellence offers various online certificate programs and degrees in partnership with the Department of Sport Management. Learn more today at coaching.hhp.ufl.edu.