Summit of Greatness 2025 Early Bird Now Open! | September 12-13 | Los Angeles, CA
Napoleon Hill once said, “A quitter never wins and a winner never quits,” and Suzy Kassem also said, “Doubt kills more dreams than failure ever will.”
Have you ever doubted yourself at first when very challenging tasks were given to you? Sometimes, it takes other people to see our full potential and give us some tasks we initially think are hard to do. But when we start taking actions one step at a time, we realize that we can do far greater things beyond our imagination.
My guest today is Tim Grover, best known for his training with top NBA legends like Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Charles Barkley, Kobe Bryant, and Dwayne Wade. He also mentored Justin Irvin Upton, a top baseball outfielder in the Major League Baseball (MLB), among thousands of other athletes and business professionals.
In this episode, Tim will talk about the mistake most people make when understanding success, the three greatest lessons Tim learned from Michael Jordan, why we shouldn’t allow other people’s doubt to get in the way of our own success, and so much more! It is such a powerful conversation that I had to split it up into two parts. So make sure to stay tuned to part two coming next. This is the first part. So, let’s get started!
Tim Grover is the CEO and founder of Attack Athletics, Inc, a training center for world-class athletes with a 60,000-square-foot training facility that includes four NBA regulation courts in a 1,000-seat multi-purpose arena in Chicago, Illinois. Tim Grover is also a keynote speaker, consultant, and national bestselling author of the book, Relentless: From Good to Great to Unstoppable. This is a book that shows you how to be relentless and achieve whatever you desire.
As a keynote speaker, Tim Grover has traveled around the world doing various speaking engagements for athletes, business leaders, and elite achievers, teaching mental toughness, result-driven performance, and the basic principles of a relentless drive. He is also a featured columnist of Sports Illustrated and Yahoo Sports and appeared in various media outlets like FoxSports and ESPN.
Tim Grover is a former basketball player of NCAA Division I at the University of Illinois, Chicago, where he earned his Bachelor’s degree in Kinesiology and Master’s degree in Exercise Science. He was inducted in 2010 into the UIC Hall of Fame with the Lifetime Achievement Award. The award was given in recognition of his being one of the top personal trainers in the country with high-value clients like Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan.
When you work with top athletes, you’ll soon learn some lessons from them, even if you are the one providing some guidance. So, I asked Tim Grover for the three greatest takeaways he got from Michael Jordan.
“Three greatest lessons I learned from Michael, I would say [are] competing, accountability, and then winning at all levels.” – Tim Grover
How do you compete with others? What do you do? Oftentimes, we look at someone at the top as a benchmark in our competitiveness. But Michael Jordan has a different approach. — He’s not competing with anyone else but himself.
“From this point, your strategy is to make everyone else get on your level — you’re not going down to theirs. You’re not competing with anyone else ever again! They’re going to have to compete with you. From now on, the end result is all that matters.” – Tim Grover
What matters most is not how you rank in the scoring system but in the end result. While others are so focused on their ranking, Michael has his eyes always on the end result, which is winning. This allowed him to be more competitive in the end.
Some people shy away from the word accountability because it is commonly associated with responsibility, commitment, and ownership of your actions. However, successful people use accountability to gain a competitive edge. It can serve as a motivation to do your best and to be at your highest level of performance because of the commitment factor in accountability.
“My accountability to myself and those individuals has to be at the highest level because they’re doing something … that is so valuable. I have to be at my best.” – Tim Grover
As a part of the Chicago Bulls team, Michael Jordan felt accountable for giving the team the championship it deserved. That’s why he always performed his best with the championship in mind during every game he played. Who are you accountable to?
Some people are successful in their careers, but their personal lives are so out of balance because of poor diets, unhealthy lifestyles, and bad relationships. For Michael Jordan, if you are aiming to win, you have to win at all levels.
“You just don’t win in one arena. You win in your sports. You win in business. You win in your personal life. Other people win because you win. It isn’t just about you. It’s about being able to pull the team and show them what it feels like to win. … When you win, your family wins. When your family wins, you win.” – Tim Grover
Winning should not be all about you. It should be the whole team, the entire company or business, your whole family — everyone involved.
“Every time Michael played … he would say, ‘These individuals are giving me something that is way more valuable than the price of a ticket. They’re giving me their time, which is non-refundable, … whether they’re at the arena, sitting in front of the TV, they’re watching the news, listening to it on the radio back then, whatever it may be.’” – Tim Grover
It’s no wonder Michael Jordan performs at his peak in every game. He’s playing to win at all levels, not just for himself and his team, but also for his fans — the people in the stadium who made an effort to be there and also those who invested in time watching the game from different places across the globe. Because of this mindset, Michael Jordan successfully led the Chicago Bulls to six NBA championships, despite the doubts of many critics. He simply did not allow other people’s doubts to get in the way of his success.
How many times have we stopped pursuing a dream due to fear? Oftentimes, we fear other people’s doubts, allowing them to get in the way of our own success. Tim Grover showed us that fear is normal, and it’s okay to have fear.
“No matter how many times they’ve done things over and over and over again, there’s always been a little bit of fear. … But that fear is what allows them to take the next step. … Instead of fear paralyzing them, it’s their energy. I always say, ‘You can have fear, but you can’t have doubt.’” – Tim Grover
Instead of allowing fear to paralyze us, we can use fear to spark the energy and motivation to take the next step. In fact, fear is a good indication that we are dreaming big.
“When you have that fear, you’ll know that what you’re doing is the right thing because if it’s not fearful enough, your goals are too small. They’re too small.” – Tim Grover
Fear is good, but doubts should have no place in our minds as we pursue our dreams. The moment you start doubting the outcome, you won’t get the results you aim for. So, how do we eliminate doubts?
“Never doubt the outcome. Don’t overthink. A lot of times doubting is overthinking. And … overthinking is creating problems that don’t exist. … People are always thinking about the negative things of something they’ve never even done yet — and that creates more self-doubt.” – Tim Grover
Overthinking — does this sound like you? Sometimes, we think so much that we give enough time for doubts to sink in. But if you act quickly and take the next steps, you will eventually get to your dreams.
“I never doubted myself. I never doubted that I was going to win at something. … Even when everybody told me … ‘This is not going to happen.’ … People have to understand that winning has no loyalty to you.” – Tim Grover
You may not win today, but tomorrow you could be the winner. Think about the championship belt, which is transferred from one champion to another because winning has no loyalty. So, if you win today, don’t lie on winnings but keep working to maintain your status or move up to the next level.
Guys, you will surely love this episode about having the mindset of champions, and I’m sure you will find value from our conversation. Listen to the full episode for more wisdom from Tim Grover and don’t forget to share it with your friends. Follow Tim Grover on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook to get more updates from him, and subscribe to his Youtube channel for access to his videos.
This is the first part of my conversation with Tim, and part two is coming next. So, please join me in Episode 1112 to find out why you need to be selfish to win. We will talk about what happens to us when we acknowledge our self-doubts, the three biggest lessons Tim Grover learned from Kobe Bryant and Dwayne Wade, how to change your life by adopting a winning mindset to yourself, and so much more.
I want to leave you all with this quote from Orrin Woodward who said, “More powerful than the will to win is the courage to begin.”
Big dreams can give us chills. But sometimes, we don’t have the courage to actually just get started with it because we are so afraid of failing. Just do it and take the first step, and everything will start falling into place. But as you chase your dreams, don’t forget to do something great every day.
To Greatness,
Music Credit:
Kaibu by Killercats
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