The Legal Athlete Optimal Performance Model

My friends, I want to help you lead healthier, more purposeful, and joyful careers. And I want to help you absolutely crush your execution with peak performance under pressure.

How do you achieve this kind of performance excellence consistently over time? That's where The Legal Athlete Optimal Performance Model comes in, and I want to share it with you.

First, like many innovations, this model builds on the work of others, and I need to give credit. I've combined my experience as a combat athlete, law firm and in-house lawyer, and business executive with psychological, sports, and performance science models, especially Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and Jim Loehr & Tony Schwartz’s High-Performance pyramids. I urge you to read Loehr & Schwartz’s 2001 article, "The Making of a Corporate Athlete" in Harvard Business Review for a deeper discussion of their high performance model and success with world-class athletes and executives.

Now, let's break down The Legal Athlete Optimal Performance Model. The foundation is your commitment to Discipline and creating the high-performance Habits needed at every level of this pyramid to excel and recover after intense work to avoid lawyer burnout (much more to come in later posts on the essential role that rest and recovery plays in this model).

At the base of the pyramid is Physical Capacity: building strength and endurance. Many performance models focus on the brain, but without physical energy and wellness, you won’t perform at your best and risk burnout.

Next is Emotional Capacity: Loehr and Schwartz termed this the "internal climate" that fosters calm, optimism, and engagement. Building habits that promote inner well-being is essential for meeting high-stakes challenges with enthusiasm, like the most successful pro athletes do.

Then, there’s Mental Capacity: focusing on cognitive fitness to help you engage your skills efficiently when needed. Techniques like strategic thinking, time management, and professional skills are crucial here. My old-school boxing coach always said winners aren’t always the ones with the best game plan—they're the fighters able to make the smartest adjustments in the heat of battle.

At the top is Spiritual Capacity. Loehr and Schwartz describe this as the energy created when you align your work with your deepest values and purpose. Like Maslow’s model, Purpose sits at the pinnacle of the pyramid.

Overarching everything is Growth Mindset. This is not about toxic positivity or ignoring that stress and the risk of loss can motivate high-performers. Instead, it’s believing you can grow through effort, learning, and persistence. A growth mindset helps you face challenges as opportunities and continue improving over time, even after setbacks. For this model to work, you'll need to be willing to fail, learn, and try again as you work toward sustained high-performance under pressure.

I'll be posting more on each aspect going forward, so keep following along! I hope this overview of the model is something you can start using today to increase health and joy in your careers and lives. Green Light, friends!