Burn Your Goals, with Joshua Medcalf – Episode 85 of The Action Catalyst Podcast

Joshua Medcalf, founder of Train 2 Be Clutch and author of Burn Your Goals and An Impractical Guide to Becoming a Transformational Leader, shares a powerful perspective on heart-first leadership, mental toughness, and personal growth. Medcalf challenges traditional goal-setting philosophies, arguing that long-term success comes from focusing on daily commitments, controllable actions, and character development rather than chasing outcomes. Through lessons on transformational leadership, the bamboo tree principle of patience and persistence, and the importance of putting people before performance, he explains how leaders can build meaningful relationships, develop resilience, and create lasting impact. The conversation also explores purpose, faith, gratitude, and the mindset required to achieve sustainable success.

About Joshua:

Joshua Medcalf is an American author, speaker, and performance coach who is the founder and president of Train to be CLUTCH, a leadership and mental-training consultancy. A former college soccer player at Vanderbilt University and Duke University, he works with athletes, teams, and organizations on mental toughness and leadership. Medcalf is the author of books including Chop Wood Carry Water, Pound the Stone, and Burn Your Goals, and serves as Director of Mental Training for the UCLA women’s basketball program.

Learn more at T2BC.com.

The Action Catalyst is presented by the Southwestern Family of Companies. With each episode, the podcast features some of the nation’s top thought leaders and experts, sharing meaningful tips and advice. Learn more at TheActionCatalyst.com, subscribe below or wherever you listen to podcasts, and be sure to leave a rating and review!

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(Transcribed using A.I. / May include errors):

Host
Joshua Medcalf is a man who believes in a heart-first leadership approach. He speaks around the country to organizations on life skills and mental training. Speaks at lots of different colleges as well. He’s the founder of a company called Train 2 be Clutch, and he’s the author of “Burn Your Goals” and “An Impractical Guide to Becoming a Transformational Leader”. So, Joshua, thanks for being here. What does it mean to have heart-first leadership exactly?

Joshua Medcalf
Well, to us, it’s really about putting people’s heart first. You know, C.S. Lewis has a really interesting quote where he’s showing when we put first things first, second things aren’t depressed. They actually increase, and so you know we really we really want people to focus on their deathbed. Like sounds really morbid, but looking at it from that perspective and going, okay, on my on my deathbed, what’s really going to matter? And if that’s really what matters there, then that’s what I need to focus on today. And typically, when you ask people, you know, what do you want to be remembered for? And you know, I lost my little brother whenever I was nine years old. I lost my dad whenever I was 21. And so I had this really interesting framework that I saw the world through. And it was like, I don’t want to end up on my deathbed and you know be really successful from a monetary perspective or some type of a result or championship perspective, but but I really going to look back and go, man, I I really messed up a lot of the most important relationships in my life, and and I really used people to get results, and so I was really transactional with people instead of being a transformational leader. So for us, that that really starts with putting people’s hearts first, above and beyond performance. And what we found over and over again is that when we will actually put people’s hearts first, and that has nothing to do with being soft and easy on them. We believe that we we believe in raising the standard for people, but we believe in doing it with love and respect, and really putting them first. And when we do that, what we found is that, like CS said, that those first things will increase, but also the the second things will increase as well. But then when we try and put the second things first, like you know money and the the results and you know power and status, fame, all those things, it ends up messing everything up.

Host
So the title of your first book was called “Burn Your Goals”, and of course, you know that’s kind of like that’d be the opposite of you usually hear have goals, write your goals down. You got to have goals. People with goals make more money. So what’s that all about? Can you talk talk through that a little bit?

Joshua Medcalf
Yeah, I mean, I finally got really frustrated because people were were coming to us with these with these big huge goals, and you know more and more people were telling them you need to set bigger goals. And really, all that we found is that it, you know, it’s like a wish list. And you know, most of us have have outgrown Santa Claus and realized Santa Claus isn’t real. And and that’s how we look at most goals. Like what we found is we want people to focus on their commitments, you know, what are you committed to doing with your 86,400 seconds every single day to close the gap between who you are and who you want to become, between where you are and where you want to be? Like that’s what we’re really interested in. We’re really interested in focusing on things that we have 100% control over, because in life there’s so few things that we actually have control over. So, what if we just focused all of our attention there? And so, we actually say that we should be focused on something we call true mental toughness. And the way we define true mental toughness is having a great attitude, giving your very, very best, treating people really, really well, and having unconditional gratitude regardless of your circumstances, and we believe that if we focus on that, and that’s something that is a ridiculously high standard. I mean, John Wooden, more special championship, the Netherlands, widely regarded as one of the greatest leaders of all time. He said, “I’ve yet to meet somebody. Tell me or describe for me what you can do that’s better than your best. If we’ll focus on those things that are controllable. What we believe that we can do is we can take back the transformational power of business, the transformational power of sport, the transformational power of whatever context we find ourselves in. Because everybody wants people in their life that embody the characteristics of true mental toughness. Everybody wants to be married to somebody who has a great attitude, regardless of how things are going in their life. Everybody wants to work for somebody that has, you know, that treats people really, really well, regardless of how things are going. So it’s it’s give your very, very best, treat people really, really well, have unconditional gratitude, have a great attitude, regardless of your circumstances. And if we do that, then we, then no matter. I mean. The worst situation you can that you can think of, and all of a sudden it actually becomes an incredible opportunity to develop more true mental toughness. Which then, if we start to develop that and focus on that, then we’re going to attract the people in our life that have those characteristics as well. So all of a sudden, there’s no such thing as oh this is the worst thing that could happen. No, like this is an incredible opportunity to develop more true mental toughness. I mean, there was a time I was getting on a plane. I was you know had the Southwest A2 card and somehow I got ended up at the wrong gate and I’m working and you know trying to you know be productive and and all of a sudden I hear them calling my name over the intercom, saying that you know if I don’t get to the gate immediately, the plane’s going to take off. But you know, I got on that plane and I and I just you know for the first time I was like, you know what? What an incredible opportunity to practice what I preach and to focus on true mental toughness. And this is going to make me better. I’m going to develop more of this stuff. It’s important to me. Like I want true mental toughness in my life. It’s not somebody else saying, “Oh, this is the goal.” Like, it no, this is what’s controllable. This is what’s going to help me develop into the the leader, the friend, the the mentor, the you know future husband, the future dad that I want to be in my life. And so, what an incredible opportunity!

Host
So then, what about it makes this impractical, and and why do you consider that like a positive thing?

Joshua Medcalf
Yeah. Once again, you know, I was having a conversation with somebody who, you know, in a leadership role, and and all of a sudden, you know, we’ve been talking, we’ve been playing golf for a few hours, and and it got to a point. He’s like, yeah, that’s what I want. I I want that. I want the really practical stuff. And I got so frustrated because I was like, it’s not practical. Like if you’re 150 pounds overweight, there’s no practical solution for getting fit. It’s not going to happen. If you get fit, then you can maintain that level of fitness without as much work, but to get fit to lose 150 pounds, like it’s going to take a ton of intentional effort. It’s going to take. There’s not going to be any quick fix. There’s no cool strategy or gimmick. It’s going to take so much effort to get you, you want to go and to become who you want to become, and so that’s we found is like this is it’s it’s hard, and we’re not going to basically lie to people anymore and be like, oh, if you just do this one little thing, then you know everything’s going to be great. No, like that might that might impact results for a moment, but like if if we really want to be a transformational leader, if we want to be common transformational leader, it’s dirty hard work. I mean, Ben Hogan, one of the greatest golfers of all time, a guy who got hit by a bus, told by doctors he would never walk again, who then goes on to to win a major after being hit by a bus. He said, greatness isn’t sexy. It’s dirty hard work. I said everyone thinks greatness is sexy. It’s not. It’s dirty hard work, and and that’s what we found is that when you when you really look into people who are the best in the world at their craft, they have they’ve spent that time over and over and over again in the gym, you know, beating on the craft. You know, same thing with who was it? The the famous painter Michelangelo. So you know, if you if you knew what went into my mastery, you wouldn’t think it was so wonderful that that you just see that consistently over and over again. And and Kobe Bryant’s documentary on HBO, The Muse. He said, you know, if I would have known all the sacrifice, the heartache, and and everything that it was going to take in my career to get to this point, whenever I was 12 or 13 years old, I don’t think I would have done it.

Host
So, in this vein, in one of your speeches, you shared a story. So, the lesson is about the bamboo tree, and can you kind of walk us through that, Joshua, about the principle or the lesson from the bamboo tree?

Joshua Medcalf
Yeah, no, definitely. So what ends up happening with us a lot of times, and this is again going back to the you know this isn’t sexy and it being impractical. You know, we’ll get people who come to us, you know, after three months or six months, and they’re like, you know, I’m just so frustrated. I’m, you know, I’m doing everything you’ve asked. You know, I’ve burned my goals. I’m focusing on the process, putting people’s hearts first. I’m I’m reading a ton. I’m I’m doing all these things you know that you’ve asked me to do. I’m changing what I watch, what I listen to, you know, what I read, who I surround myself with, and and I’m still not seeing the fruit in my life. I’m not seeing all the result that I want to see, and that’s when I tell them the story of bamboo, and you know when when you when you plant bamboo in the ground and and you you water it and you you give it everything that it needs and you keep watering it and you know six months goes by and you absolutely no growth you see nothing above the surface and then you know you just keep watering it and keep watering it and keep watering it and keep taking care of it a year goes by you can’t see anything. Two years goes by, you can’t see anything. Three years goes by, can’t see anything. Four years goes by, you see nothing happening above the surface, and then, but what you can’t see happening beneath the surface is this incredibly dense root system is is being built out, and that foundation is being developed, and and it’s not until five years after watering that bamboo faithfully does it spout up and grow the 90 feet tall in six weeks. So that’s what’s taking place. But if if we don’t if we don’t build that foundation, if we’re not constantly, you know, watering it and and focusing on those things that are inside of our control and making sure the things that we’re fueling our heart with, you know, what we read, what we watch, what we listen to, who we surround ourselves with, how we talk to ourselves, what we visualize, you know, if we’re not so intentional about those things, then we’re not building the foundation and the roots and the necessary to sustain that growth that’s coming, and the growth will come. That’s why everybody says, “Oh, you know, like, oh, he’s just a you know an overnight success”. And it’s like, no. When when you look behind the scenes, you see all the work that’s been taking place. But the thing that scares me is that so many times, and this is again, if you just focus on results. What I believe can happen is people focus on, oh yeah, well I made the money, I did all these things. But if you haven’t built the foundation necessary to sustain that success, then eventually you’re going to crumble, even when you experience that success, because you haven’t built the root system and the foundation necessary to sustain it.

Host
Joshua, I got one other little question here for you, and I never heard this said, and it’s it’s not necessarily directly related to business, but you said something that religion, something about religion and the difference between religious and Jesus, and it just say the line again, and then kind of unpack it.

Joshua Medcalf
Yeah, it’s that religion equals do. Jesus equals done. And that’s what that’s what I don’t think a lot of people understand. I don’t think a lot of people understand how how much God loves us unconditionally, extravagantly, relentlessly when we could do nothing for Him, and and continuing after you know like there’s nothing we can’t do for him, like all it all. It’s about is trusting Jesus’ finished work, and for us, that’s the foundation of everything. You know, in places where we’re not allowed to to talk about religion openly, I still tell people, I’m like, your value comes from who you are, not from what you do. And the only way that that can be true is if if God unconditionally loves you and created you, and that He He just loves you because He loves you because He loves you, and there’s nothing that you can ever do to make Him love you more. There’s nothing you can ever do to make Him love you less. All it’s about is trusting Jesus’ finished work on the cross, and you know His resurrection, and He’s already done it. So now it’s about trusting our life to Him, and for us, that’s what frees us up to be able to focus on controllables. Because I have nothing left to prove. All I’m out doing is I’m just trying to be faithful with you know what I’ve been given and the the impact that I’m allowed to have on the world, and that I get to have on the world and impact people’s lives and let them know that God loves them, and that they’re they’re incredible, that they’re unique, and they have their own, you know, special ways of seeing the world and doing things. And encourage them to just be really faithful with what they’ve been given. But at the end of the day, that that I can’t earn my salvation, and that’s what a lot of religion is about is it’s about earning your salvation. Like the the super cool thing and the reason why you know something like 19,000 people a day give their like Jesus is because they actually realize I can’t do this on my own, and He already did it. And so religion equals do, Jesus equals done.

Host
So let me challenge you on on on something like if Jesus equals done and that is our salvation, He loves us because we’re His. Then what’s the point of working hard? Like why why should you live right? Why should you continue? Like why even bother with having a good attitude and controlling the controllables and still doing the work. Like if it’s already done, what’s the point?

Joshua Medcalf
Work has gotten a really bad reputation, but that work actually is a form of of of worship, and that it’s it it’s working from a very different place. It’s not working for something. It’s working from this place, and so it’s working from this place of knowing that of who you are and whose you are, and and how loved you really are. So basically, you’re just freed up, and you have this this huge weight lifted off your shoulders. Because I think the way that most people walk around the world is like they believe that the this huge cosmic. Entity that created the world is perpetually pissed at them. I mean, if you believe that the the the cosmic creator of the universe is perpetually pissed at you, nobody’s going to do their best work. Nobody’s going to reach their fullest potential under under those circumstances. Everybody has a deep yearning and desire for unconditional love, and it’s it’s love that that that changes us. It’s not rules and regulation. Rules and regulation is have never brought out the the best in people. I mean, I I’m all for creating and enforcing healthy boundaries with love and respect, and that there have to be a choice. But at the end of the day, like love is what makes people change, and love is what transforms people. It’s not rules, and so to me, I think that the reason why I’m able to love to wake up in the morning and love to impact people’s lives and love to get to do what I do is because there’s somebody that loves me unconditionally first, and the more that I’ve grasped that concept, the more that it’s it’s made me want to change. It’s made me want to impact the world and and treat people the way that the Jesus treated people. And and again, for me, that it goes back to you know the whole goal thing is really challenging for me personally from a biblical perspective because I can’t really find goals in the Bible. I think that you know it’s about loving people, it’s about accepting God’s love, and then being able to pour that out and and doing our best and being really faithful. But that most of the time, goals are nothing but selfish ambition. They don’t typically look like looking more like Jesus, and so that was the only real goal in the Bible was sanctification, which is becoming more like Jesus.

Host
Well, that’s a big, powerful concept. That is awesome. Well, Joshua Medcalf, thanks for what you’re doing, Joshua.

Joshua Medcalf
Thank you so much.