The Turtle and the Beast — Know When to Push and When to Be Patient.

The Beast represents the extraordinary ambition, energy and intensity I have often brought to my sporting career and personal ambitions. That determination helped me accomplish meaningful things, and it helped me through some of my most difficult rebuilding periods. The Beast is not bad.

However, repeated injuries and difficult experiences forced me to confront the limits of relying on greater intensity as my main response to every problem.

My father became the inspiration for the Turtle. His style can be methodical, patient and measured. In my coaching conversations I described how trying to force a major change could make him withdraw further — like pushing a heavy steel door, or a turtle retreating into its shell. More force was not always more effective. Sometimes progress requires a slower and more patient approach.