You Charged Your Phone. Did You Charge Yourself?

You Charged Your Phone Last Night. Did You Charge Yourself?

Christopher Smith asks a room full of high school athletes whether they're getting eight to ten hours of sleep. Then he asks a second question: did you put your phone on the charger last night?

"Yes, coach."

Then he says it:

"So you care more about your phone health than you do your health. Does that make logical sense?"

His next line, word for word: "Then the whole room get quiet."

Christopher was a high school strength and conditioning coach in Indianapolis when we recorded. Before that he played college football at St. Francis, where he won two national titles, after starting out on defense and moving to fullback because the team needed him there. His coaching has one rule of thumb, and it makes everything easy to remember:

"Everything that I teach the kids are in five steps. I think five steps are a sweet spot."

Here are three sets of five. Every one of them works at the kitchen table as well as in the weight room.

The five A's

I asked Christopher how he gets a room of teenagers to leave the place better than they found it. He answered with a question: "When your kids are in school, what grades you want them to receive?"

Then he laid out the five A's his athletes earn a point for, every day:

1. Attendance. You have to be there. "Late, forgotten, on time is late. Early is on time."

2. Attire. T-shirt, shorts, tennis shoes. Everybody in uniform, everybody on one page.

3. Attitude. Positive thoughts, positive action. A growth mindset, not a fixed one.

4. Attention to detail. Plates turned the right way, dumbbells lined up, bands back on their racks, bars put away.

5. Accountability. "Every set and rep is done with intent and purpose."

Miss one and you don't get the point, and the athlete always knows exactly why. Long sleeve instead of a t-shirt? There's your point. Coach had to tell you to give everything you had? There's your point. "You get your five, we roll."

Parents, this one translates straight home. Five boxes, checked every day, with no arguing about what counts. The athlete who earns five on a Tuesday in October is building the one who earns it in a playoff game.

Five things elite athletes do in their head

This is the list Christopher walks his athletes through. Each time he names one, they raise their hand if they already do it.

1. They learn from failure. "They don't see it as a loss, they see it as a lesson."

2. They embrace challenges. "They choose hard."

3. Their effort is always 100%. "You don't have to coach elite person on how to give them everything they have."

4. They embrace feedback. How many young athletes are too cool to ask a question? His answer to that: "Ain't good to have ego if you're not growing."

5. They learn from others, from their mistakes and from their successes.

If your athlete didn't raise their hand on all five, that's not a verdict. It's the list for this season.

Five things elite athletes do with their body

Then the physical side, the five he asks about:

1. Sleep. "Are you getting eight to 10 hours?" This is where the phone charger comes in.

2. Track your intensity. "Did I give everything I had today? Did I leave a couple reps in the tank?"

3. Visualize. "They see it before it happens."

4. Systemize recovery. Mobility work, heat, the sauna. Recovery on a schedule, not when you remember.

5. Reset every day. Meditation, prayer, a nap. Something that brings the athlete back to zero.

And then the most useful sentence in the whole conversation for a parent who's tired of arguing: "Try them out. If it works, continue to keep doing it. If it don't work, don't do it."

He isn't asking for perfection. He's asking them to run the experiment.

I added one reset I use myself on tape: box breathing. "Inhale for four, hold for four, exhale for four, and hold for four." One or two rounds before a heavy lift or a hard conversation. It costs thirty seconds.

They have to see you do it

Christopher told me he coaches differently than he was coached, because he didn't always see his own coaches living what they taught. So he trains where his athletes can see him. In his words, they watch and think: "this man is teaching, but he's also practicing what he's teaching."

Parents, this is the uncomfortable one. If you want your athlete in bed by ten and off the phone, they're watching what you do at ten. If you want them to eat breakfast, they're watching whether you do. You don't have to be an athlete to model the five A's. You do have to show up early.

Influence becomes character

Christopher's whole approach comes back to a chain he teaches every athlete:

"Whatever is influencing you creates your thinking."

Then: "Your thoughts become actions. Your actions lead to habits, right? And then your habits is your character."

So the first question isn't about sets and reps. It's the one he asks out loud: "So you gotta ask, what is influencing me?" Who are they around? What are they watching? What's on the phone they charged last night?

Christopher's own anchor is his faith. His father is a pastor, and he'll tell you he doesn't believe in fear. "I believe fear is false evidence appearing real." You don't have to share his faith to take the structure: decide in advance what you're going to lean on when it gets hard, so you're not deciding in the moment.

Now what?

His motto is PVO, positive vibes only, and he defines it as an equation: "Positive thoughts plus positive action equals positive results."

Three questions to answer at home this week:

1. Did your athlete earn all five A's yesterday? Which one did they miss?

2. How many hours did they sleep last night, and where was the phone?

3. What is influencing them right now, and is it building the character they want?

If you want to know where your athlete actually stands, start by measuring it. Thefree Athlete Builder Assessmentscores all six blocks — Mindset, Knowledge, Teammates, Training, Nutrition, Recovery — in 8–12 minutes, and points to the one to work on first. It's free for families.

All 100s, no 50s or 20s.

Win the Day. Stay Relentless.

— Jim Beebe

Watch the full conversation with Christopher Smith — Episode 133: https://youtu.be/gZMxdgzM514