Narrator: Imagine it's January 2015, the NFC Championship game. With just over five minutes left, quarterback Russell Wilson has had the worst game of his professional life, throwing four interceptions. His team, the Seattle Seahawks, are down 19-7. The Super Bowl, and their legacy, is slipping away with every tick of the clock. Most players would be crushed by the weight of failure, their minds replaying every mistake. But Wilson wasn't most players. He walked back onto the field, looked at his teammates, and calmly told them they were going to win. He didn't rely on blind optimism or succumb to despair. He simply focused on the next play, and then the next, until he threw a game-winning touchdown in overtime. How can a person erase such catastrophic failure from their mind in the highest-pressure moment imaginable?

The answer lies at the heart of It Takes What It Takes, by elite mental conditioning coach Trevor Moawad. He argues that the key to peak performance isn't positive thinking, which can be delusional, or negative thinking, which is always destructive. Instead, it's a radical, truth-based approach he calls neutral thinking.

Narrator: Moawad posits that the most effective mindset for high-pressure situations is one of neutrality. This isn't about being emotionless; it's about being judgment-free. Neutral thinking separates the past, present, and future into distinct, independent events. What happened on the last play, good or bad, has no bearing on what happens next. This mindset frees a performer from the biases that distort reality, such as dwelling on past mistakes or getting carried away by a string of successes.

The 1970 Apollo 13 mission serves as a life-or-death example. When an oxygen tank exploded, crippling their spacecraft, astronauts Jim Lovell, Jack Swigert, and Fred Haise didn't have time for panic or wishful thinking. They couldn't afford to ask, "How do we feel?" They had to ask, "What do we do?" Mission Control in Houston adopted the same neutral, problem-solving approach. They didn't focus on the astronomical odds against them; they focused on the immediate, solvable problems in front of them—conserving power, scrubbing carbon dioxide, and calculating a new trajectory. By breaking an insurmountable catastrophe into a series of neutral, next-step behaviors, they brought the crew home safely. This is the essence of neutral thinking: focusing on the truth of the situation and executing the required behavior, one step at a time.

Narrator: Many people operate under what Moawad calls "The Illusion of Choice," believing there are countless paths to achieving a goal. He argues this is false. For elite outcomes, the path is narrow and demanding. True success isn't a choice you make once; it's a formula of non-negotiable behaviors you commit to daily. As coach Nick Saban told his Alabama football team, "If you want to be good, you really don’t have a lot of choices, because it takes what it takes."

Moawad illustrates this with the story of NBA veteran Vince Carter. When Moawad worked with the Memphis Grizzlies in 2014, he saw Carter, then in his seventeenth season, meticulously managing his body—stretching, hydrating, and avoiding fried foods. Carter understood that his longevity wasn't a matter of luck or talent alone; it was the direct result of disciplined, daily choices. He didn't have the "choice" to eat poorly or skip recovery if he wanted to continue competing at the highest level. This contrasts sharply with the cautionary tale of JaMarcus Russell, a quarterback with immense natural talent who became one of the biggest busts in NFL history. Russell made choices—missing training camp, showing up overweight—that were incompatible with the formula for professional success. He chose the illusion, and it cost him his career.

Narrator: Moawad argues that the human mind is wired to absorb negativity far more easily than positivity. Because of this, what we say out loud has a profound and often self-fulfilling impact on our performance. He advocates for installing a "verbal governor" to stop negative thoughts from being spoken into existence.

The story of Boston Red Sox first baseman Bill Buckner is a chilling example. In a 1986 interview just before the World Series, he was asked about his dreams and nightmares. He replied, "The nightmares are that you’re gonna let the winning run score on a ground ball through your legs." Nineteen days later, in the bottom of the tenth inning of Game 6, that exact nightmare became a reality, costing the Red Sox the game and, eventually, the series. Moawad suggests this isn't a coincidence; verbalizing the fear gave it power.

This extends to the negativity we consume from external sources. In a personal experiment, Moawad, a man with high adversity tolerance, deliberately exposed himself to hours of negative news and aggressive music each day. Within weeks, he found himself anxious, fearful, and overwhelmed. The lesson was clear: we must curate our environment and go on a "negativity diet," limiting our exposure to toxic influences to protect our mental state.

Narrator: Self-awareness is the foundation of sustained success. Moawad presents a four-stage model of competence, with the ultimate goal being "conscious competence." This is the state where you not only know what to do to be successful, but you understand why it works and can replicate the process deliberately.

He shares the powerful story of NFL running back Fred Taylor. Early in his career, Taylor was an "unconsciously competent" player—naturally gifted but plagued by injuries, earning him the nickname "Fragile Fred." He didn't understand the behaviors required to maintain his body. Working with Moawad, Taylor began a journey toward conscious competence. He started studying players with long careers, like Emmitt Smith, and emulating their behaviors. He arrived at the facility early for treatment, changed his diet, and used ice baths for recovery. He stopped simply being a talented athlete and became a professional who understood the formula for longevity. As Taylor himself said, "Routine looks like commitment. But commitment reinforces the routine." By becoming consciously aware of the behaviors that led to success, he transformed his career, playing for thirteen seasons and shedding the "fragile" label for good.

Narrator: Effective leadership, according to Moawad, is not about having a title or being the loudest person in the room. It's about adaptability, humility, and a relentless focus on process. The most successful leaders are constantly learning and evolving. He points to legendary coach Nick Saban, who, after his defense was dismantled by Ohio State's offense in 2014, invited the opposing offensive coordinator, Tom Herman, to Alabama. Instead of lecturing, Saban spent hours grilling Herman, seeking to understand the "how" and "why" behind his own team's failure. Saban then integrated those concepts into his own system and won another national title the next season.

This is what separates a mere team from a "program." A team's success is often tied to its current talent. A program, however, is built on a collection of repeatable behaviors and a process that transcends any single group of individuals. It has a culture of continuous education and a clear set of choices that guide everyone. This kind of leadership creates sustainable excellence by focusing on building a system, not just winning a game.

Narrator: The single most important takeaway from It Takes What It Takes is that high achievement is not a product of luck, raw talent, or even positive thinking. It is the result of a disciplined, neutral mindset focused relentlessly on executing the necessary behaviors. Success has a recipe, and there are no shortcuts. The core philosophy is captured in the title itself: you must be willing to do what is required, without emotion or judgment, to get the outcome you desire.

This book challenges us to stop asking how we feel about a difficult task and start asking what we need to do. The next time you face a daunting challenge, whether it’s a career setback or a personal goal, try to see it not as a period ending a sentence, but as a comma. Your next action, chosen with neutral clarity, is what will write the rest of the story.