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Mick
I know what you do now, but let's go back to early diamond. Like star athlete.
Diamond Hall
I was 14 years old, was a football player up until this point. My mission and my vision was to get to the NFL so I could take care of my family.
Mick
Everything that you had built yourself to be and every goal and vision that you had for the first 14 years could no longer happen. What was your because that moment?
Diamond Hall
In that moment, the because was my family. It was my mom, it was my little brother. It was, how do I become the best version of myself over these next few years?
Mick
Diamond, what's two tips you'd give to that high school junior or senior that's going to the next level again, whether it's athletically or in life?
Diamond Hall
The number one thing would be to treat every single day. This is what I call the one day contract mentality. The second tip is be as coachable as you possibly can be. If there's one thing I've learned through working with some of the best athletes in the world, some of the best coaches in the world, some of the best executives in the world, they are always, always, always seeking to learn. They're curious to get better, they're seeking feedback. The best of the best want to be coached.
Mickey
Welcome to Mick Unplugged where we ignite potential and fuel purpose. Get ready for raw insights, bold moves and game changing conversations. Buckle up, here's Mickey.
Mick
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another exciting episode of Mick Unplugged. And today you need to get ready for a powerhouse who's making waves not only on the field, but in the hearts of fans and athletes alike. He's fierce, he's a visionary, he's resilient and he's pushing boundaries when it comes to professional baseball. And more importantly, the mindset that you need to make changes every day. Please join me in welcoming the dynamic, the amazing, the man that's about to tell you some crazy cool stories, my man, Mr. Diamond Hall. Diamond, how you doing today, brother?
Diamond Hall
Man, Doing fantastic, Mick. Appreciate you having me on.
Mick
I appreciate you being here, man. Like, diamond, you know I've been a huge fan of yours. Got to recently like know your story. There's so much information about you out there and then just following your content, man, like so many places I want to go. But I think we should let the audience know today. Today is like the intro of diamond hall, but we're going to set up a very special exclusive private episode with diamond where we're going to sit down for hour and a half, two hours and let him do those crazy, cool things that he does around mindset and power Diamond. How you feel about that?
Diamond Hall
I think that's a fantastic idea. And if you're watching right now, there should be some excitement bubbling up and boiling up inside of you.
Mick
Absolutely. So let's talk about it, man. Like, I know what you do now, but let's go back to early diamond, like star athlete, Right. The guy that was on the COVID of all these magazines and newspapers and in the media. High school phenom.
Diamond Hall
Yeah.
Mick
And then something happened and all of a sudden you had to change. So let's talk to people about that, that don't know that story or those stories.
Diamond Hall
Yeah. So I guess the place to start is to your point. I was 14 years old, was a football player up until this point. My mission and my vision was to get to the NFL so I could take care of my family. And I remember it like it was yesterday. We were playing. We were playing McNick. They had green jerseys, white, white letters. And I lined up as a slot receiver. So, lined up as a slot, and I was running the streak. And so my quarterback, he pulled back and he throws it to our tight end who ran a slant. And so I look back, I see our tight end catch the ball. And then he gets hit super hard.
Mick
Boom.
Diamond Hall
Fumbles. And so for me, I'm running full speed towards the. Towards the football. And I dive head first, like, feet extended above the ground, arms out, extended. And I remember seeing as I was. As I was diving for the football, I remember seeing another guy on the other team, he was diving for the football as well, a little bit smaller than me. Sized him up, like, you know, when you hit the matrix button, everything goes in slow motion. I sized him up. I was like, okay, I'm definitely going to get this. And I remember hearing a loud crack. And I was used to getting hit hard, was used to hitting other people hard. And everything blacked out. And I remember staring out the sky. And all of a sudden my teammates come into my field of vision and you hear the crowd go, ooh. And my teammates come over and they're looking down at me. I'll never forget this moment when one of my best teammates, one of my best friends at the time, Ryan Bayer, he. He's looking down at me and he's like, diamond, get up. Diamond, get up. And I can see my field of vision shaking. So I knew he was like. He had his hands on me and he was shaking me. And I remember in that moment thinking to myself, like, oh, my God, Like I'm paralyzed. And I think I was the first one, I think it was the first one to notice. And I remember looking back over Ryan and saying, ryan, I can't get up, I can't move. And then he like takes this step back and I see like his eyes start to tear up and I can see the emotion, like boiling inside of him, like, oh, my goodness, this is my best friend. He's like, he can't move. And I know we were thinking this at the same time, like, this is the stuff you see on tv. This is the stuff that you see in people's careers. And now in my brain, I'm thinking to myself, look, I'm going to be staring at the ceiling for the rest of my life. Somebody's going to have to feed me through a tube. And I'm 14 years old, having to come to peace with this all at one time, right? And I remember the ambulance came and got me, put me on the stretcher, took me to the hospital. And when we were in the ambulance truck, you know, my mom was in the, she was in there with me. And I remember looking over at her and telling her everything was going to be okay. And at this moment, I knew everything was not going to be okay. But I still said it, it still came out, just to give her some form of comfort in that moment. And she starts pouring down crying because in her mind she knew everything wasn't going to be okay. I knew everything wasn't going to be okay. So we get to the hospital and 24 to 48 hours later, something amazing happens. I ended up getting my feeling back and my fingers, then my arms, then my upper body, then my feet, then my legs. And I remember the doctors coming in and saying, like, this is a miracle, like diamond, like you're not supposed, like that was supposed to be it, right? You have something called congenital stenosis. We did all the scans, we ran all the numbers. You have something called congenital stenosis. And I'm like, in my mind, like, what's congenital stenosis? What is that? And so he explains it to us quickly. He says, you've got, everybody has a little bit of fluid around their spine that keeps them safe from being paralyzed when they have head on collisions. Everybody's got a certain amount. He said, the amount that you have around your spine is abnormally much less than the average person, which is why this happened, which is why you went head on with this guy. And you're temporarily paralyzed from a neck down. And I was like, okay, perfect, I'm Good. I've got my feeling back. Listen, when can I get back on the field? And I remember the doctor taking, like this big, deep breath. He looks down like this, looks over at us. And you could tell he's, like, mustering up the courage to tell me something.
Mick
Yeah.
Diamond Hall
And my mom was like, oh, my goodness. And so he looks over at me and he goes, diamond, I got good news and I got bad news for you. I said, well, Doc, start. Let's start with the good news. What's the good news? He said, the good news is you're moving, you're walking. Your hands work, your feet work. Everything from your neck down works. It wasn't supposed to be this way. It was supposed to be the opposite. He said, the bad news is that based on you having congenital stenosis and the danger that it would put you in if we let you back on the field, he said, I can't clear to play this game anymore. And for me, I'll never forget those words. I remember in that moment, I got lightheaded. I had to sit down, and I was thinking to myself, what in the world am I going to do now?
Mick
Yeah.
Diamond Hall
Like, I'm supposed to be the one to provide for my family. I'm supposed to be the one to get to the NFL. I'm supposed to be the one to make all of this money so our family can be great and life can be awesome. What am I going to do now? I've put all of my time, all of my effort, all of my energy into this game. Nothing else, just this game. I get there early before everybody else. I stay later than everybody else. I put in more effort. I study. I study film more than anybody else. Like that game that. Doc, that game that I just had, like, we had Ohio State there, there was Cincinnati there, Alabama. Like, this is like, I was born to do this. This is who I am. I am a football player. And so I remember over the next few months, it was one of the wildest months I've ever had in my life because I was. What I was doing was. I was having, like. My identity was gone.
Mick
Yeah.
Diamond Hall
When you asked me who was diamond hall at that time, when I'm 14, being one of the best running backs in the country, I'm gonna tell you, I'm a football player. I'm a running back.
Mick
I'm a stud, Right? Yeah.
Diamond Hall
That's what. That's what's coming out of my mouth at the time. Did I know what it meant to. Did I know what it meant to tie those Things to my identity, had no idea they. And so what I was going through was I was. My identity was gone, so I had to develop a new identity. And I remember coming across a leadership coach at the time and he reached out to me and he was like, diamond, I want to work with you. I know who you are, but I think I've got some things that can help you through this timeframe and weaponize you for the things that you're about to have to endure and for the potential that you have and who you can become. Was open to it, one of the best leadership coaches in the world. And he walked me through this exercise and I'll never forget this framework that he shared with me that I now share with all the athletes that I work with. He was like, the reason why this is so tough for you, it's not because of the time, it's not because of the effort, it's not because of all of the energy that you put into this game. What it is that you're going through and that it's so tough for you to get through, it's your identity. You believe you are a football player and that's not true. He said, I want to share with you a framework, a three step framework that I share with all of my highest performing athletes around the world that allow them to be the 1% of the 1%. He said, there's three identities that you have to adopt from this day forward. Only if you're willing to though. He said, number one, you have to be willing to look yourself in the mirror and say, I am a lifelong learner. I am a go grower. Yeah, okay, I already do that. I got it. He said, number two, you have to be willing to look at yourself in the mirror and say, I am a lifelong achiever. I am a go getter. I said, I can do that, I've done that. But you're saying, I gotta adopt this to my identity, to who I am. He's like, yes. He was like, this third thing is the thing that people typically miss. And some people throughout the course of their life, they never adopt this into who they are. And I leaned in and he goes, I am a go giver. I am a lifelong contributor, meaning you are. Everything that you do comes from a foundation of service, servant, leadership, contribution, adding value, giving. He said, if you can adopt these three identities, you will be perfectly fine for the rest of your life. No matter what life throws at you, no matter what you do, no matter what, you want to be the best in the world. At. And he was like, are you committed to adopting these three identities? And in that moment, I felt like I was becoming somebody totally new. I said, absolutely. And so what I didn't realize at the time is that something that I realize now and something that I know now that research tells us is that our behavior does not drive our performances, our identity does. That's right. And so with those three identities that I adopted, totally changed my world forever. And so if you're listening to this right now, I want to ask you a question. I want to ask you. Who are you? When somebody says, who are you? What do you say? For me, I don't say I'm a mental performance coach for the Baltimore Orioles. I don't say I'm a speaker. I don't say I'm an author. I don't say any of those things. I say I'm a giver, I'm a learner, and I'm an achiever. That's it. Nothing more, nothing less. But it wasn't until I asked myself, it wasn't until I was posed these questions. And for you, if you're listening right now, it's not until you ask yourself and you get a sheet of paper, you get a sheet of paper, a notebook, and you write down the question at the top, who am I? And you get in bullet point format and you actually list off what comes to mind for you. Then you'll be able to see where you stand and what things you need to adjust in order to become the best version of yourself. Because I'll share this with you. One of the things that most people don't know is that the version that you're currently experiencing right now is not the best version of you. In fact, there is a version of you that exists right now that is 100 times better in the version of you that you're currently experiencing. The question that you have to ask yourself is, what are you willing to do? Who are you willing to become?
Mick
To get there. Right?
Diamond Hall
To get there, to unlock that version of yourself. And so that's my long winded way of sharing with you how I got here. I appreciate you asking me that question.
Mick
No, wholeheartedly, man. And there's a lot that I want to unpack and unplug there. And one, just appreciating the soul that you are, more importantly. Right. Like, that's what I love about diamond hall is just the soul. And those three components of who you are is really who you are. And you know, a lot of times, and I want to take what you said a little bit further. A lot of times people will go through some type of exercise like that and it stays on paper, right? And they're like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, this is who I am. But then they don't exude any of the qualities that they actually put on paper because either one, they don't believe it, two, they don't know how to actually put action behind the things that they did. Or three, and this is what I think a lot happens that changes daily. Like whoever they're trying to please or whatever entity they're trying to please that day, that week, that month, they try to chameleon what they think people want them to be or how they should be seen. And that's why I appreciate Diamond Hall. Diamond hall is diamond hall every day. And you said something that I want a lot of people that are watching or listening to pick up on. You've got to work at it every day. Like you've got to be a constant learner. You've got to be constantly evolving because who you are today, to Diamond's point, is not who you're going to be or should be tomorrow or next month or whatever. And so, Diamond, I want to go ask you to go deeper on something because you know, obviously you follow make unplugged and we talk about your because that thing that's deeper than your why. And to me, everything that you put on there, what you're asking people is what's your because? Right? Like what's your because? So I'd love to ask diamond, like 14 year old diamond, after the incident and everything that you had built yourself to be in every goal and vision that you had for the first 14 years could no longer happen. What was your because that moment?
Diamond Hall
In that moment, the because was, was my family. It was my mom, it was my little brother. It was how do I become the best version of myself over these next few years to the point where it will impact them in a positive way? And then I thought a little bit further. How do I become this next best version of myself so that it impacts my children in a positive way and their children's children and their children's children. And this, this developed over a course of time, but it, but now my because has grown into developing generational wealth. When I say wealth, most people are going to hear. The problem is most people are going to hear just finances, right? That is so far from what this actually is. It's a piece of it, but it's just a piece. The other piece of creating generational wealth. Other pieces of creating generational wealth are generational wealth and riches and resour. Most importantly, generational wealth enriches relationships in your habits, in your body, in your career. The things that you do daily that make who you are. So for me then, that was my because and now my because. My why is to continue to become and continue to hunt down the next best version of myself so that when this is all said and done, I've got a legacy that I can leave behind for generations to come.
Mick
Yeah. Yeah, I love that, brother, totally love that. So let's talk about, you know, obviously football was no longer an option, but my man diamond didn't stop there though, right? So you couldn't do football anymore. The competitive spirit that you have, that, that thirst of being the best of the best, the elite of the elite, you turned that into something else. So what did you do next?
Diamond Hall
Next I, you know, I put football aside. I was like, okay, I'm going to all in with basketball. So a year later, very similar situation happened with basketball. Dove head first for, for, for the basketball and then went head on with somebody temporarily paralyzed. Knew what was going on this time around. Doctors didn't clear me to play anymore. Same story. And then I came across the game of baseball. And baseball is a much, it's a, it's such a, it's such a different game. It's, it's, it's much more of a, of a mental game than any other sport than I've ever come across. And you know, when I started, when I started playing baseball, I was, I was one of the, one of the best athletes, was one of the strongest, one of the fastest, et cetera, et cetera. But the skill acquisition piece, the skill piece was the hardest. And you know the adversity that you face in the game of baseball. Like when you, when you have an at bat and you strike out your first at bat, you've got to wait 40 minutes until your next at bat. So you have to be able to have a conversation with you and yourself and you've got to be able to win those conversations between you and yourself before that next at bat comes up. So one of my, one of my good friends, Ryan Barnett, it's a different Ryan, he, after a practice, he was like, man, diamond, I know you're playing catch up. I know you're one of the hardest workers out here. You're one of the best athletes out here. If you study this book, if you study this from COVID to cover, it's going to change the game. For you. And I look down and it's a book called Heads up baseball by Dr. Ken Rivizza and Tom Hansen. And what it was was a book on mental skills, the skills of the mind, specifically for the game of baseball. And so I started studying this book and this is when the bookshelf started to grow. And then I came across, I think it was like two days later, came across John Maxwell's 360 degree leader. So this was like for me, the birth of professional, personal and self improvement. I've got a leadership book in one hand and then I've got a mental skills book, a mental performance book in the other hand. I've got leadership and I've got mindset. And so after I read these two books, like I became obsessed with learning specifically in these two areas. Like I would buy books that, you know, that you, that people get in their, in their PhD programs. Like I would look it up on Amazon, It'd be like 300 bucks. And I would get this big thick book and I would go through it and I would highlight stuff, I would write stuff on the side and then I would figure out, how can I put this into practice in my game tomorrow? And so over the next four years, studied the mental side of the game, studied the leadership piece. And I remember we had a tournament, we had a baseball tournament at Western Kentucky. And this is when I first came across Jeff Mercer, who's now the head coach of Indiana. And during the time I was still reading the Heads Up Baseball book and he saw me reading the Heads Up Baseball book, putting the things into practice and we, we connected. We, we crossed paths. At the time he was a scout for the, for the Hilltoppers and so ended up not, ended up not going, going to Western Kentucky, ended up going to. I got a scholarship to a junior college in Illinois, Robinson, Illinois, Lincoln Trail Community College, two year college. The goal was to. I'm going to dominate these two years and I'm going to get drafted my second year, my sophomore year. And while I was there, I came across an incredible coach, Kevin Bowers. I remember jumping in his office. We were having a good conversation one day and then he pulls a book from his bookshelf. He says, diamond, like this is, this is yours. Read this. And I look down and it's the, it's the Mental Game of Baseball by Harvey Dorfman. And it's this thick book, talks about all of the specific mental skills that exist. And it's much thicker than, than Heads Up Baseball. Still just as good, but it talks about all the mental skills that you, you need to study in the game of baseball that separate the best of the best. Because some people say, you know, the game is 90 mental, 10% physical. The numbers are, the numbers are interesting there. But so read this book. And it ended up helping my game get to the next level and ended up getting a scholarship from there to Grambling State University, a Division 1 down south in Louisiana, where I came across another amazing coach, James Cooper, who's now a manager within the, within the Yankees organization. And he gave me, he gave me two books. He gave me Relentless by Tim Grover. This is Kobe Bryant's former, former trainer, Michael Jordan's former trainer. And he broke, he broke the mindset pieces down in such a great way. I read the book and I was like, this dude is right. He wrote this book about me. I got to reach out. I got to, I got to talk to him on the phone. Yeah. And so I reached out like 10 times, no response. The 11th time I reach out and he responds, he said, yeah, I got some time to jump on the phone with you. So connected with him, picked his brain, taking notes the whole time and learned so much. And then the second book that he gave me was Body Mind Mastery by Dan Millman. This is now Dan Millman was a guy that Phil Jackson used to bring in with the Chicago Bulls. And you hear people talk about Phil Jackson being the Zen master and you know, you hear Michael Jordan talking about being composed under pressure. All of these, all of these things. When you take that relentless mentality and then you combine it with this poise under pressure and this calmness and this ability to allow the moment to be the moment. Then you get the Michael Jordans, the Kobe Bryant's, and it's no coincidence that they became who they were when they came across Phil Jackson. So studied the mess out of that. And once my career was coming to an end, reconnected with Jeff Mercer, who was at Western Kentucky. Now he was the head coach. Now he was the head coach at Wright State University. And he was like, diamond, look, let's do something that's never been done before. I was like, I'm intrigued, I'm listening. And he was like, I want to bring you on staff as the first full time mental skills coordinator in college baseball. First time in history. This is going to be done. So you're going to be leading the charge. And I know you're only 23, but I believe you are the best fit for this. I believe you're the best fit for this role. And I was like, okay, first things first. Can we do a roster rundown? Can you run me through the roster that we have the guys who we have what they need to work on so I can customize the process. Super big on hyper individualization. He said yes. He's like, but before we do that, I want you to build the system. And this is what totally changed my career. He said, I want you to build our mental skills and leadership system on the foundation and reverse engineer from three things. He said, the first thing is championships. We want to win championships here, period. Number two, we want you to develop our guys development into the most mentally tough group in all of college baseball. Look, we're a mid major. We don't have the same resources that LSU has, that Cal has, that some of these SEC schools have. This is going to be a game changer for us. And he said, number three, we want our guys to get drafted. And so those three things were the fundamental things that I reverse engineered our system off of. And if I wouldn't have come across Mercer, my brain would not have worked that way. And um, so I was there for two years, then stepped off staff and I was like, I gotta share this stuff with the world. And stepped off staff, created an online business and created a book, created an online course, was traveling the world, was making a ton of money. But then I was like, man, there's something, there's just something missing here that I had at Wright State that I don't have right now. I don't know what it is. So I searched for two to three weeks and what I figured out was that I have a deep innate desire and need to be in person, in the trenches with whoever I'm working with so that I can see them develop and so I can coach them up in the moment so that they can become the best versions of self of themselves in front of my eyes. And I have. I can mold them. I can, you know, and that was something that I was not getting when I was doing everything virtual. So once I figured that out, I was like, okay, I've gotta, I've got to fill that need because that's something that allows me to fulfill my purpose. So stepped on staff at ing as a leadership coach. Was there for three years, built a really great relationship with Dave Surgeon, who at the time was our national baseball head coach. And before that he was with the, he was with the Pirates. I mean, I mean, very. Runs a tight ship. Runs a tight ship and very strategic. You talk about chess. He was one of the Best in the world at problem solving and making moves like 12 moves ahead. And I learned so much from coaching, from working under him. And he had a very similar philosophy that, that Mercer had. He was like, look, I want you to build a system based on us being able to reverse engineer from winning a national championship. Like, that's the national championship and development. We are here to develop these guys and to win championships. So I reverse engineered our system based on those two things. And you know, the first year we had so many top prospects. We had such some of the best prospects in the country. And we did. We ended up losing two games. And so to give you context at img, we don't get to play in like, we didn't get to play, play in like the state championships, et cetera, et cetera. We had to win out, we had to go 250 in order to be considered for a national championship. So we lost two games in that first year and we didn't get, we didn't get the national championship. And I remember texting, I remember texting turds back and forth after that year was over. And we've got our, we've got, we've got the screenshots, we've got the thread of talking about like, next year at this time we will be national champions. And I told him, I was honest with him. I'm going to do everything in my power to, to optimize what we have, to optimize our systems so that we can, so we can pull this off. And he was like, I believe in you, D, et cetera, et cetera. Know you're going to do everything that you can. And a year later, we pulled it off, won a national championship. And on paper, we weren't. On paper, we didn't have the best prospects, the best prospects in the country, but what we did have was we had elite teamwork. Everybody was on the same page. We dominated every single day and treated every single day like it was a championship day. Every single rep mattered. Every single thing that we did, it played a role in us reverse engineering from winning the national championship. One of the things that Turge used to say was, it's going to take all of, all of us to make this thing become a reality. And so we got everybody on board and we ended up pulling it off. And I was so grateful that year to be able to be able to work under Tersch, to be able to learn from Tersch, to be able to work with that staff, to be able to work with that group, because so many great Things came from it. So many relationships were built, so many connections were made that wouldn't have been made otherwise if I wasn't. If I didn't have that opportunity to do so. So, and so a year goes by and I get a call from the Orioles and get a call from the Orioles saying, hey, we've been following you these past, you know, these past few years since you were at Wright State, and we want to. You've got a blank canvas coming in when it comes to this. When it comes to this role, we believe you're the best person for the job. And, you know, thought on it, went through the interview process, ended up getting the green light, and here we are, just finished up the first year.
Mick
Amazing. That's really good stuff, man. I want to highlight something that you said. Treat every day like it's a championship day, right? And so for a lot of the leaders, the entrepreneurs out there, you got to treat every day like it's winning time, right? And a lot of folks, I know you're not playing sports, right, but you are a leader, right? There are people that depend on you, there are people that rally behind you and with you, and you gotta treat every moment in your business like it's winning time, like it's championship day. And I love the fact that you said that. And so, you know, before we end here, Diamond, I have a specific group of people that I know follow and listen and watch the show. And they are parents that have kids that are in sports, right? Like high school sports. And whether they're going to the next level, from a collegiate or athletic standpoint, they're always going to go to the next level in life.
Diamond Hall
Yep.
Mick
Right. And so I would love for you to give a couple of tips to that high school junior or senior right now on why mindset is important, why winning time is important. And specifically, I'm talking to two people. I'm talking to Gianni Paradiso, that's my young gun right there. And Corey Moss, I'm talking to you, too. You're going to hear from the expert right now, Diamond. What's two, two tips you'd give to that high school junior or senior that's going to the next level again, whether it's athletically or in life.
Diamond Hall
The number one thing would be to treat every single day as though you were on a one day contract. This is what I call the one day contract mentality. This is something that when you engage in this and you commit to this every single day, there is a. You have the guaranteed success probabilities that go through the roof. Because while your teammates, while the people around you are taking every other day off and you're looking at every single day as though you were on a one day contract, your performance, the way you go about your work, your coachability, your openness to listening and to putting into practice the feedback that you do get from your teammates, from your coaches, your work ethic, your standards, your values, they will shoot through the roof. And so every day the contract starts over. It's not a 10 day contract, it's not a, it's not a one year contract. If you treat every single day like you are being heavily evaluated by wherever you want to get to, whether it's, whether, whether we got professional scouts, whether we got college scouts, the specific colleges, the specific organizations that you want to be a part of, I want you to imagine in your mind that they are there with a video camera watching everything that you do. What would your behavior look like? How would you treat your teammates? How would your leadership look when your teammate is down at the end of the dugout or whatever sport you play, when your teammate is over there on the bench and he's down and you've got a video camera on you and then the video camera is panning back over to your teammate, back over to you, what will you do in that moment? Will you go over and will you sit next to him? Will you put your arm around him? Will you give him some words of encouragement like that's, that's how I want you to engage in the one day contract mentality? And that's not just applicable for, for these two who we're talking to right now, for the, for the athletes who we're talking to right? That's, that's applicable for every leader across every industry, every performer across every industry. Have you treated every single day like today was the last day on your contract and you're being heavily evaluated, you're being videoed, you've got a mic, you've got a lavalier microphone right here, they can hear everything you say, they can see everything that you're doing on your computer, they can see everything that you're doing on your phone. They see exactly how you're using, using your time. In fact, at the end of the day you're going to get a timesheet of every single thing and every single thing that you did, every single behavior that you engaged in throughout the course of the day with the timestamp right next to it. What would that day look like? The one day contract mentality. You put this into practice for 365 days straight and then you've got people next to you who don't even know this mentality exists. Let me tell you, after that 365 days, you will be light years. It'll send you through a time warp. You will be light years ahead of your competition. Your competition is going to be taking like four weeks off. They're going to be taking three days, a week off. They might take a full month off. I'm taking this month off. I'm not going to. Well, you're operating on this one day contract mentality. It will totally separate you and put you inside of the 1% of the 1% of your peers love it.
Mick
What's the second tip you give them? So we got the one day contract mentality. What's tip number two?
Diamond Hall
The second tip is be as coachable as you possibly can be. If there's one thing I've learned through, through working with some of the best athletes in the world, the top 1% of the top 1%, having conversations with some of the best coaches, some of the best coaches in the world, some of the best executives in the world, they are always, always, always seeking to learn. They're curious to get better. They're seeking feedback. The best of them. Turge. Dave Turgeon always used to say this, and I'll never forget it. He said, the best of the best want to be coached. Michael Jordan wanted to be coached every day. LeBron James wants to be coach every day. Tom Brady wanted to be coached every day. In fact, there's a video of him sitting in. I just watched there. I just watched the Netflix Netflix roast. It was hilarious. But there was a video I remember seeing on, on Instagram of him being in Belichick's office and then going over the strategies for the upcoming Sunday. Just those two. And this was at the prime of his career. You get some people who get to the prime of their careers and they're focusing on a totally different set of behaviors, totally different set of things that don't include them sitting in their head coach's office mapping out the strategies for the upcoming Sunday. Steph Curry wants to be coached. Bill Belichick has a coach. Bill Belichick has mentors. Phil Jackson had mentors. Like the best of the best have coaches. The best of the best want to be coached. The best of the best are coachable.
Mick
Love it.
Diamond Hall
Be coachable.
Mick
Love it. Amazing tips from Diamond. Which is why when we started this episode, we talked about having a special one. And that special one is going to be diamond hall giving all of us a masterclass. A masterclass on mindset, a masterclass on leadership, but most importantly, a masterclass on being the best version of yourself every day. And so a couple of weeks from now, you're going to get that 90 to 2 hour masterclass, 90 minute, 2 hour masterclass of nothing but diamond hall giving away tips that he normally charges thousands of dollars for. But because he loves Mick Unplugged and the MC Unplugged audience, we're doing this for you. Ladies and gentlemen, it has been my distinct honor and pleasure to have my friend, my Buddy, my coach, Mr. Diamond Hall. Diamond, I appreciate you sir.
Diamond Hall
Mick, appreciate you having me on.
Mick
Love it. So really quick, where can people find and follow you before we get to this masterclass in a couple of weeks?
Diamond Hall
Yeah, so just got the Instagram back, was hacked for 2 years. Was at 30k 2 years ago and I got hacked like that. Learned so many things for being off of off of social media, but grateful to be back and see some of the faces and build some of the relationships that I've built. So every platform is Diamond Hall D I a feel free to reach out. Most importantly, if you have any questions, feel free to shoot me a DM and ask questions. Always open to, always open to responding and giving you everything that I have.
Mick
Love it. Diamond again, appreciate you brother and for all the viewers and listeners, remember your because is your superpower. Go unleash it.
Mickey
Thank you for tuning in to make Unplugged. Keep pushing your limits, embracing your purpose and chasing greatness. Until next time, stay unstoppable.
Podcast Information:
In this compelling episode of "Mick Unplugged," host Mick Hunt engages in an inspiring conversation with Diamyn Hall, a resilient athlete who transformed his life from facing paralysis to becoming a leader in mental performance coaching. This episode delves deep into Diamyn's journey, exploring themes of identity, leadership, mindset, and overcoming adversity.
Diamyn Hall begins by recounting his early passion for football. At 14 years old, he was a dedicated football player with aspirations of reaching the NFL to support his family.
[00:05] Diamyn Hall: "My mission and my vision was to get to the NFL so I could take care of my family."
His commitment to the sport was unwavering, with rigorous training and a clear focus on his goal of becoming a professional athlete.
Everything changed during a football game when Diamyn experienced a severe accident that left him temporarily paralyzed.
[03:05] Diamyn Hall: "I was diving head first... and everything blacked out. I remember staring out the sky... my field of vision shaking."
In this critical moment, Diamyn faced the grim possibility of lifelong paralysis. The initial diagnosis revealed congenital stenosis, a condition that minimized the protective fluid around his spine, leading to his severe injury.
[07:18] Diamyn Hall: "The bad news is that based on you having congenital stenosis and the danger that it would put you in if we let you back on the field, I can't clear you to play this game anymore."
At 14, football was more than a sport for Diamyn; it was his identity. The sudden inability to play forced him to confront a profound identity crisis.
[09:04] Diamyn Hall: "When I'm 14, being one of the best running backs in the country, I'm gonna tell you, I'm a football player. I'm a running back."
Struggling with this loss, Diamyn sought guidance from a leadership coach who introduced him to a transformative three-step framework:
[12:30] Diamyn Hall: "If you can adopt these three identities, you will be perfectly fine for the rest of your life."
This framework shifted Diamyn’s focus from what he couldn’t do to who he could become, laying the foundation for his future successes.
Post-injury, Diamyn redirected his competitive spirit towards basketball and later baseball, each time facing similar challenges. His dedication to improving his mental game led him to pivotal books and mentors:
[16:00] Diamyn Hall: "This is when I became obsessed with learning specifically in these two areas. Leadership and mindset."
His relentless pursuit of knowledge and application of mental skills transformed his approach to sports and leadership, eventually earning him roles in coaching and mental performance coordination.
Diamyn's foray into baseball introduced him to the mental aspects of sports. Understanding that baseball is "much more of a mental game," he immersed himself in studying mental performance.
[17:09] Diamyn Hall: "One of the things that most people don't know is that the version that you're currently experiencing right now is not the best version of you."
His proactive approach led to significant opportunities, including a pivotal role as a mental skills coordinator at Wright State University. Under the mentorship of Coach Jeff Mercer, Diamyn developed systems focused on championships, mental toughness, and player development.
[24:00] Diamyn Hall: "We reverse engineered our system off of three things: championships, mental toughness, and getting our guys drafted."
Diamyn continued to build on his expertise, later joining IMG as a leadership coach. Here, he implemented advanced mental and leadership systems, contributing to the team's national championship win.
[27:25] Diamyn Hall: "We ended up pulling it off, winning a national championship."
His success at IMG led to a role with the Baltimore Orioles as their first full-time mental skills coordinator, where he continues to apply his principles to enhance team performance.
Throughout the episode, Diamyn shares valuable tips applicable not only to athletes but to leaders and professionals across all fields:
One Day Contract Mentality:
Be as Coachable as Possible:
[31:57] Mick Hunt: "Treat every day like it's a championship day."
These principles underscore the importance of mindset, discipline, and continuous improvement in achieving success.
As the episode concludes, Mick Hunt announces an exclusive upcoming masterclass with Diamyn Hall, offering listeners a deeper dive into mindset, leadership, and personal development strategies. Diamyn encourages listeners to engage with him on social media and seize the opportunity to unlock their own potential.
[35:00] Mick Hunt: "Remember your because is your superpower. Go unleash it."
Diamyn Hall:
Mick Hunt:
Stay connected with Diamyn Hall for more insights and updates:
This episode of "Mick Unplugged" serves as a powerful reminder of the resilience of the human spirit and the transformative power of mindset and leadership. Diamyn Hall's journey from paralysis to purpose offers invaluable lessons for anyone striving to overcome challenges and achieve their fullest potential.