Paul Rabil knows what it takes to reach the top in both sports and business. In this episode, he teaches us the mindsets to succeed, where confidence comes from, and even tells us about the time Bill Belichick recruited him to play in the NFL.
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Paul Rabil played 14 years as a professional lacrosse player in the United States and in 2019 co-founded the Premier Lacrosse League, where he played for the final three seasons of his career before retiring in 2021. A champion at every level, he won two World Lacrosse Championship gold medals and was a 10-time All-Star in Major League Lacrosse, where he also won two league titles.
Here are a few highlights from the conversation:
It’s a dangerous path because to have that endless competitive streak, you’ve got to have a fire in your belly morning, noon, and night. And that’s hard to reconcile with because most of the time in sport, most of the time in life, you fail.
What I’ve learned in business and in life is you’ve got to be a competitive compromiser. And that requires kindness, empathy, ingenuity but the same level of aggressive, competitive spirit.
You can have the greatest product in the world, agnostic of industry, if no one sees it, it doesn’t matter.
It’s being present and completing the task at hand to the best of your ability. And so whether that was every day against the wall shooting on net, I would have this approach that I wouldn’t stop until I felt I got as close to perfect as possible.
I think every athlete will tell you it’s easier said than done, but it is the key to success and consistency over time, is your ability to have resilience in a game.
It’s a frequency of moments of happiness, a frequency of moments of feeling balance and secure, and frequency meaning that there are a lot of moments where there isn’t, but if you can get more than half, then that’s a good place to be.
