Dr. Kenney’s Friday 5 Spot
On Fridays, I like to share experiences from my week—both with patients and in my personal life—that have left a meaningful impact. My hope is that these reflections offer you something of value, a bit of insight or encouragement that resonates with your own journey and inspires you in some way.
A great reminder. A few weeks ago, I came across a breathing technique called the “physiological sigh.” It consists of a double inhale followed by a long, extended exhale. The purpose is to help the body more efficiently regulate carbon dioxide levels, which can quickly reduce stress and promote a sense of calm. After experimenting with it myself, I was surprised by how effective it was, particularly during busy days when I had a lot on my mind. It reminded me that sometimes the simplest tools can have a surprisingly powerful impact on how we think, feel, and perform.
That experience reinforced my belief that we should all be building an arsenal for dealing with life’s challenges. Interestingly, most of the tools in that arsenal likely won’t be dramatic. Instead, they’ll be small habits, techniques, routines, and perspectives that help us stay calm, focused, and resilient when difficulties arise. The good news is that we don’t have to develop all of them at once. Like this breathing technique, we simply find something that works and continue to use it. Then, over time, we add another useful tool and then another. Those small improvements compound, and before long, we’ve built a stronger mindset and a more capable version of ourselves. This is crucial because the stronger we are mentally and physically the better prepared we are to handle whatever life sends our way.
Something I believe. Recently, an opposing coach asked me how I get my defensive players to be so disciplined. He mentioned that most of the plays that work successfully against other teams seem to go nowhere against us. I appreciated the compliment, but my answer was actually quite simple. First, I make sure every player understands how their position fits into the overall scheme and why their role matters. Then, I narrow their focus to just a few key responsibilities on each play. Finally, I make a point to recognize and encourage them when they execute those fundamentals well while helping them improve when they don’t. Over time, this creates confident players who understand their purpose and can perform without becoming overwhelmed.
The more I thought about it, the more I realized this is how I approach most things in life. When we face a large goal, challenge, or responsibility, it’s easy to become intimidated by the big picture. The solution is often to step back, understand the objective, and then break it into smaller, manageable tasks. When we consistently focus on doing the basics well, progress tends to follow. Success in business, parenting, fitness, relationships, and countless other areas rarely comes from doing something extraordinary once. More often, it comes from understanding your role, mastering the fundamentals, and showing up each day with the discipline and desire to execute them.
An analogy I like. “Never throw the first punch!” As someone who has been involved in and witnessed countless physical altercations in my lifetime, I hate hearing this. Obviously, being an aggressor and bullying someone is never appropriate. However, waiting until you’ve been attacked to protect yourself is foolish. Life is not a movie; you could be killed or badly hurt by allowing someone to accost you before you feel justified in responding. That is why I’ve always taught my children that if they are seriously threatened, they should react first, quickly, and decisively. This advice can help protect you physically, but it can also be applied even more purposefully to daily life.
You don’t have to wait until you’ve gained 60 pounds, watched a relationship deteriorate, or been shown the door at a job you hate before you act. In other words, things don’t have to become terrible before you try to improve them. Most of us are smart enough to understand when things are heading in a good direction and when they’re not. When we sense things creeping toward negative outcomes, the best plan is to take the time and initiative to address them. As with physical altercations, it is often more advantageous to react before you’ve suffered significant damage rather than after.
Something I love. I really enjoy reading biographies and listening to long-form interviews with successful people of all kinds. Their fame itself doesn’t interest me nearly as much as the path they traveled to get where they are. What I find most valuable are the struggles, setbacks, failures, and obstacles they encountered along the way. I want to know what they were thinking when things weren’t going well, what choices they made when they wanted to quit, and how they managed to keep moving forward. Those lessons are universally applicable because every one of us will eventually face challenges that test our resolve. Understanding that successful people have endured many of the same doubts, fears, and hardships we experience can make our own difficulties seem less intimidating.
We live in a world that constantly showcases highlights and outcomes while hiding the process. We see thriving businesses but not the sleepless nights, financial stress, and uncertainty that built them. We see impressive physical transformations and athletic accomplishments but rarely witness the countless hours of discipline, sacrifice, and consistency required to achieve them. That is why stories of perseverance are so powerful. They remind us that success is rarely the result of luck or perfect circumstances. Most often, it comes from ordinary people making the extraordinary decision to keep going when things get hard. Whenever I hear stories like these, I am reminded that the path forward usually requires staying humble, continuing to work hard, and refusing to quit.
Some quotes I Love.
“I’m a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it.” – Thomas Jefferson
“It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation.” – Herman Melville