<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" version="2.0" xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/"><channel><title><![CDATA[Taylor Burns]]></title><description><![CDATA[CSCS, Owner & Founder of Absolute Human Performance]]></description><link>https://taylorburns.ca/</link><image><url>https://taylorburns.ca/favicon.png</url><title>Taylor Burns</title><link>https://taylorburns.ca/</link></image><generator>Ghost 5.65</generator><lastBuildDate>Wed, 08 Apr 2026 20:11:55 GMT</lastBuildDate><atom:link href="https://taylorburns.ca/blog/rss/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"/><ttl>60</ttl><item><title><![CDATA[Thursday Three]]></title><description><![CDATA[<p>Happy Thursday!</p><p>Here are three quotes that have particularly resonated with me lately.</p><p><em>&quot;The cause of most stress can be summed up by the word <strong>attachment</strong>. Freedom from stress does not necessarily involve giving up anything, but rather being able to let go of anything, when necessary, and know</em></p>]]></description><link>https://taylorburns.ca/blog/thursday-three-7/</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69ce99176a4276f89823019c</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Taylor Burns]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Thu, 02 Apr 2026 16:34:48 GMT</pubDate><media:content url="https://taylorburns.ca/content/images/2026/04/Michelangelo.webp" medium="image"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<img src="https://taylorburns.ca/content/images/2026/04/Michelangelo.webp" alt="Thursday Three"><p>Happy Thursday!</p><p>Here are three quotes that have particularly resonated with me lately.</p><p><em>&quot;The cause of most stress can be summed up by the word <strong>attachment</strong>. Freedom from stress does not necessarily involve giving up anything, but rather being able to let go of anything, when necessary, and know that you will still be alright. It comes from being more independent - <strong>not necessarily more solitary</strong>, but more reliant on your own inner resources for stability.&quot; - Timothey Galley (The Inner Game of Tennis)</em></p><p><em>&quot;If people knew how hard I worked to get my mastery, it wouldn&apos;t seem so wonderful at all.&quot; - Michelangelo</em></p><p><em>&quot;Endure, o heart. At other times you have endured worse.&quot; </em>- Homer (Odyssey)</p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Stuff to Check Out: Ernie Clement's Player's Tribune Piece]]></title><description><![CDATA[<p><em>I&#x2019;ll never forget my mom&#x2019;s response. She was like, &#x201C;Ernie&#x2026;. let&#x2019;s be honest. You could be done playing baseball tomorrow. I mean, I hope not. It could happen, though, right?? So why not enjoy it??? Like, why spend this time being stressed?</em></p>]]></description><link>https://taylorburns.ca/blog/stuff-to-check-out-ernie-clements-players-tribune-piece/</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69cbf4186a4276f89822ffdf</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Taylor Burns]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 31 Mar 2026 16:27:30 GMT</pubDate><media:content url="https://taylorburns.ca/content/images/2026/03/6969052a24e6d.image.jpg" medium="image"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<img src="https://taylorburns.ca/content/images/2026/03/6969052a24e6d.image.jpg" alt="Stuff to Check Out: Ernie Clement&apos;s Player&apos;s Tribune Piece"><p><em>I&#x2019;ll never forget my mom&#x2019;s response. She was like, &#x201C;Ernie&#x2026;. let&#x2019;s be honest. You could be done playing baseball tomorrow. I mean, I hope not. It could happen, though, right?? So why not enjoy it??? Like, why spend this time being stressed? Spend it having fun.&#x201D;</em></p><p>Hi Everyone,</p><p>Happy Tuesday!</p><p>The Blue Jays World Series game 7 loss hit me especially hard. And that&apos;s saying something, because as a lifelong Oilers fan, I had endured back to back game 7 losses in Stanley Cup finals.</p><p>The Blue Jays loss was worse. Why? My favourite team just happened to play the game of baseball how I love it being played: hard and fast - and with respect to the game in every facet. Let&apos;s put it this way, I would have been all in on that bandwagon last October whatever jersey that team was wearing because of how they played.</p><p>In a lot of ways, Ernie Clement embodied the team&apos;s identity: valuing the importance of putting the ball in play with two strikes, playing high-level defense, running the bases hard and right, and putting the team first.</p><p>I was really moved by his Player&apos;s Tribune article, and wanted to pass it along. There&apos;s a lof of wisdom and insight any athlete can gain from it.</p><figure class="kg-card kg-bookmark-card"><a class="kg-bookmark-container" href="https://www.theplayerstribune.com/ernie-clement-toronto-blue-jays-mlb-baseball?ref=taylorburns.ca"><div class="kg-bookmark-content"><div class="kg-bookmark-title">Dear Jays Fans | By Ernie Clement</div><div class="kg-bookmark-description">Baseball is my favorite thing in the world, man. And I&#x2019;m so honored I get to play it with the Jays and in Toronto.</div><div class="kg-bookmark-metadata"><img class="kg-bookmark-icon" src="https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_fill,w_1440,ar_1:1,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/frontier/favicons/tpt-favicon.png" alt="Stuff to Check Out: Ernie Clement&apos;s Player&apos;s Tribune Piece"><span class="kg-bookmark-author">The Players&apos; Tribune</span><span class="kg-bookmark-publisher">Ernie Clement</span></div></div><div class="kg-bookmark-thumbnail"><img src="https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,w_1917,h_1078,x_0,y_0/c_fill,w_1440,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/shape/cover/sport/Ernie-Clement_TITLE-TW-91782a3f33d395692cfaae5b199dc986.jpg" alt="Stuff to Check Out: Ernie Clement&apos;s Player&apos;s Tribune Piece"></div></a></figure>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Be Here Now - Right Here, Right Now!]]></title><description><![CDATA[<p><em>&quot;What better place than here? What better time now than now? All hell, can&apos;t stop us now!&quot; - Rage Against the Machine </em></p><p>In the 1999 movie, <em>For Love of the Game</em>, Kevin Costner plays an aging, once superstar pitcher for the Detroit Tigers. It is the</p>]]></description><link>https://taylorburns.ca/blog/be-here-now-right-here/</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69c9900f6a4276f89822fe6f</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Taylor Burns]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Sun, 29 Mar 2026 20:55:54 GMT</pubDate><media:content url="https://taylorburns.ca/content/images/2026/03/MV5BMjAxMTUwODc4M15BMl5BanBnXkFtZTYwOTM5NTg2._V1_-1.jpg" medium="image"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<img src="https://taylorburns.ca/content/images/2026/03/MV5BMjAxMTUwODc4M15BMl5BanBnXkFtZTYwOTM5NTg2._V1_-1.jpg" alt="Be Here Now - Right Here, Right Now!"><p><em>&quot;What better place than here? What better time now than now? All hell, can&apos;t stop us now!&quot; - Rage Against the Machine </em></p><p>In the 1999 movie, <em>For Love of the Game</em>, Kevin Costner plays an aging, once superstar pitcher for the Detroit Tigers. It is the end of a long, lousy season, and he&#x2019;s pitching one last game - on the road in Yankee stadium.</p><p>There&#x2019;s an awesome scene when he takes the mound to start the game. The crowd is loud and full of jeers and personal insults being hurled his way. He looks around for a while, sort of chuckles, and remarks to himself, &#x201C;I can always tell when I&#x2019;m in New York.&#x201D;</p><p>Then, he utters the words, <em>&#x201C;Clear the mechanism&#x201D;</em>. The crowd goes silent. Everything goes blurry except home plate.</p><p>A little cheesy? Maybe. But it illustrates an ability the best athletes all possess. <strong>They are superior at blocking out all outside noise, (and inside noise too, for that matter) to heighten their focus and concentration to execute in the present moment.</strong></p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://taylorburns.ca/content/images/2026/03/MV5BMjAxMTUwODc4M15BMl5BanBnXkFtZTYwOTM5NTg2._V1_.jpg" class="kg-image" alt="Be Here Now - Right Here, Right Now!" loading="lazy" width="475" height="799"></figure><p>The first main objective of the mental game is to play the game with supreme confidence and belief in ourselves and our abilities.</p><p>The second primary goal then, is to play the game fully present: this shot; this pitch; this shift; this play.</p><p>Lao Tzu, the father of Taoism, stated, &#x201C;If you are depressed you are living in the past, if you are anxious you are living in the future. If you are at peace your living in the present.&#x201D;</p><p>We want to play the game calm and in control. This is only possible when we are fully present &#x2013; not thinking about past mistakes, or getting ahead of ourselves.</p><p>Renowned, mental skills coach, Brian Cain, talks about &#x2018;the next 200 feet.&#x2019; When driving, our headlights show about 200 feet ahead. It&#x2019;s a powerful metaphor to only focus on what is directly in front of us.</p><p>In-game it&#x2019;s simply: this pitch, this shot, this shift, this play. Happy Sunday!!</p><figure class="kg-card kg-embed-card"><iframe width="200" height="113" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/V8x-o1V1OYI?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen title="Clear the mechanism"></iframe></figure>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Lesson's From Ray Dalio's Principles Pt. 2: The Designer & The Worker]]></title><description><![CDATA[<p><em><strong>&quot;It&apos;s up to you to connect what you want with what you need to do to get it and then find the courage to carry it through.&quot;</strong></em></p><p>Ray Dalio advises to: <em>&#x201C;Think of yourself as a machine operating within a machine and know that you</em></p>]]></description><link>https://taylorburns.ca/blog/lessons-from-ray-dalios-principles-pt-2/</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69a8f1666a4276f89822fd39</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Taylor Burns]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Thu, 05 Mar 2026 03:14:41 GMT</pubDate><media:content url="https://taylorburns.ca/content/images/2026/03/download.png" medium="image"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<img src="https://taylorburns.ca/content/images/2026/03/download.png" alt="Lesson&apos;s From Ray Dalio&apos;s Principles Pt. 2: The Designer &amp; The Worker"><p><em><strong>&quot;It&apos;s up to you to connect what you want with what you need to do to get it and then find the courage to carry it through.&quot;</strong></em></p><p>Ray Dalio advises to: <em>&#x201C;Think of yourself as a machine operating within a machine and know that you have the ability to alter your machines to produce better outcomes.&quot;</em></p><p>You need to be BOTH the designer and the worker of your machine. </p><p>Most people get stuck just being the worker. It&apos;s much more important to be a good designer/manager than worker. To be successful, the designer needs to be completely objective about what the worker you is actually like. Don&apos;t put him in jobs he shouldn&apos;t be in.</p><p>Additionally, the worker doesn&apos;t get a say. The manager decides what the worker needs to do, and the worker needs to go to work - regardless of mood. This is how you can choose the path of discipline: to sacrifice what you may <em>want </em>in the moment (often moments of weakness) <strong>for what you really want in the long-term.</strong></p><p>Dalio states, <em><strong>&quot;Most people don&apos;t spend enough time as the designer, and as a result, they operate emotionally and in the moment. Consequently, their lives are a series of undirected emotional experiences, going from one thing to the next.&quot;</strong></em></p><p><em>&quot;By deeply contemplating higher aims, we energize ourselves to pursue them!&quot;</em></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[3 Lessons from Ray Dalio's Book: Principles (Part 1)]]></title><description><![CDATA[<p>Ray Dalio is a hedgefund billionaire. His book, Principles, has been a tremendous resource as a business owner that I continue to review consistently. I&apos;m grateful I found it right around the time I opened my gym back in 2017 because it truly helped me in a significant</p>]]></description><link>https://taylorburns.ca/blog/lessons-from-ray-dalios-principles/</link><guid isPermaLink="false">698c99b96a4276f89822fb73</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Taylor Burns]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 23 Feb 2026 03:29:23 GMT</pubDate><media:content url="https://taylorburns.ca/content/images/2026/02/download.jpg" medium="image"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<img src="https://taylorburns.ca/content/images/2026/02/download.jpg" alt="3 Lessons from Ray Dalio&apos;s Book: Principles (Part 1)"><p>Ray Dalio is a hedgefund billionaire. His book, Principles, has been a tremendous resource as a business owner that I continue to review consistently. I&apos;m grateful I found it right around the time I opened my gym back in 2017 because it truly helped me in a significant way. In this post, I&apos;d like to share two of the biggest lessons I have gleaned from it.</p><ol><li><strong>Dreams + Reality + Determination = A Successful Life</strong></li></ol><p>You must strive to be a hyperrealist. Most people fight seeing what&apos;s true when it&apos;s not what they want it to be.</p><p>&lt;----------------------------------------------------------------------&#x2014;&gt;</p><p>Savour Life &#xA0; &#xA0; &#xA0; &#xA0; &#xA0; &#xA0; &#xA0; &#xA0; &#xA0; &#xA0; &#xA0; &#xA0; &#xA0; &#xA0; &#xA0; &#xA0; &#xA0; &#xA0; &#xA0; &#xA0; &#xA0; &#xA0; &#xA0; &#xA0; &#xA0; &#xA0; &#xA0; &#xA0; &#xA0; &#xA0; &#xA0; &#xA0; &#xA0; &#xA0; &#xA0; Make An Impact</p><p>Most people think you have to choose one or the other, but you can have both, and they&apos;re actually mutually reinforcing!</p><p><strong><em>&quot;Life is not about plodding along at some kind of mediocre standard, it is about working like hell to achieve a standard that is extraordinarily high, and then getting the satisfaction that comes with that kind of super achievement.&quot;</em></strong></p><p><em>&quot;Love and work are the cornerstone of our humanities.&quot; - Freud</em></p><p></p><p><strong>2. Pain + Reflection = Progress</strong></p><p><em>&quot;If you can develop a reflexive reaction to psychic pain that causes you to reflect rather than avoid it, it will lead to your rapid learning/evolving.&quot;</em></p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://taylorburns.ca/content/images/2026/02/download-1.jpg" class="kg-image" alt="3 Lessons from Ray Dalio&apos;s Book: Principles (Part 1)" loading="lazy" width="300" height="168"></figure><p>Would you rather have the opportunity to choose healthy and painful truth, or unhealthy but comfortable delusion?</p><p>Go to the pain, rather than avoid it. It&#x2019;s a fundamental law of nature that in order to gain strength one has to push one&#x2019;s limits, which is painful.</p><p>If you&#x2019;re not failing, you&#x2019;re not pushing your limits, and if you&#x2019;re not pushing your limits, you&#x2019;re not maximizing your potential.</p><p><strong>Embrace tough love!!</strong></p><ul><li>If you can be open w/ your weaknesses it will make you freer and help you deal w/them better</li><li>Bringing them to the surface will help you break your bad habits and develop good ones</li></ul><p>The quality of your life will depend on the choices you make at those painful moments.</p><p></p><p>I hope you found this helpful, happy Sunday!</p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Beyond Mountains There Are Mountains]]></title><description><![CDATA[<p>There are many lies we tell ourselves - and worse, believe. </p><p>Lately, I&apos;ve been having a hard time remembering that happiness and fulfillment can only happen in the present. This notion that &apos;once I get through this obstacle (whatever it may be)&apos;, or &apos;once I</p>]]></description><link>https://taylorburns.ca/blog/beyond-mountains-there-are-mountains/</link><guid isPermaLink="false">698233966a4276f89822f9bf</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Taylor Burns]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Sat, 07 Feb 2026 21:51:13 GMT</pubDate><media:content url="https://taylorburns.ca/content/images/2026/02/Screenshot-2026-02-07-at-2.13.41-PM.png" medium="image"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<img src="https://taylorburns.ca/content/images/2026/02/Screenshot-2026-02-07-at-2.13.41-PM.png" alt="Beyond Mountains There Are Mountains"><p>There are many lies we tell ourselves - and worse, believe. </p><p>Lately, I&apos;ve been having a hard time remembering that happiness and fulfillment can only happen in the present. This notion that &apos;once I get through this obstacle (whatever it may be)&apos;, or &apos;once I achieve this&apos;, <em>then</em> I will be content and satisfied. The reality is, you will never be <em>there.</em></p><p>If you&apos;ve ever had the great fortune of achieving a long sought after goal, a true pinnacle that you wished for and worked for with every fibre of your being, you can probably relate to one of life&apos;s sad realities: success, no matter how grand is not everlasting - in fact, it&apos;s incredibly fleeting.</p><p><strong>However, this needn&apos;t be sad at all! </strong>The key is understanding happiness and fulfillment lie not in attainment - but in the striving and struggling of a worthwhile goal and purpose! </p><p>Vince Lombardi did have it correct, so long as we remain present along the path, and understand that our achievement won&apos;t act as an immortal shield to future hardship and despair. </p><p>This way, when the inevitable feeling of <em>&quot;Okay, what next?&quot;</em> hits you after you accomplishment, won&apos;t bring along with it melancholy. On the contrary, it will bring excitement at the prospect of finding joy in the next bouts of adversity and conquest.</p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card kg-card-hascaption"><img src="https://taylorburns.ca/content/images/2026/02/Vince-Lombardi-Dallas-Cowboys-Green-Bay-Packers-January-1-1967.webp" class="kg-image" alt="Beyond Mountains There Are Mountains" loading="lazy" width="1600" height="1169" srcset="https://taylorburns.ca/content/images/size/w600/2026/02/Vince-Lombardi-Dallas-Cowboys-Green-Bay-Packers-January-1-1967.webp 600w, https://taylorburns.ca/content/images/size/w1000/2026/02/Vince-Lombardi-Dallas-Cowboys-Green-Bay-Packers-January-1-1967.webp 1000w, https://taylorburns.ca/content/images/2026/02/Vince-Lombardi-Dallas-Cowboys-Green-Bay-Packers-January-1-1967.webp 1600w" sizes="(min-width: 720px) 720px"><figcaption><em>&quot;I firmly believe that any man&apos;s finest hour, the greatest fulfillment of all he holds dear, is that moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle - victorious.&quot; - Vince Lombardi</em></figcaption></figure><p>Recently, I read Brad Stulberg&apos;s book: The Way of Excellence, and he hit the nail on the head: <em>&quot;There is no greater trap than thinking the accomplishment of some goal will change your inner life. What will change your inner life is the person who you become in the process of going for it.&quot; </em></p><p></p><p>Of course, perhaps no one put it better than Tolkien:</p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card kg-card-hascaption"><img src="https://taylorburns.ca/content/images/2026/02/frodo-gandalf-moria-fellowship-of-the-ring.webp" class="kg-image" alt="Beyond Mountains There Are Mountains" loading="lazy" width="1920" height="1280" srcset="https://taylorburns.ca/content/images/size/w600/2026/02/frodo-gandalf-moria-fellowship-of-the-ring.webp 600w, https://taylorburns.ca/content/images/size/w1000/2026/02/frodo-gandalf-moria-fellowship-of-the-ring.webp 1000w, https://taylorburns.ca/content/images/size/w1600/2026/02/frodo-gandalf-moria-fellowship-of-the-ring.webp 1600w, https://taylorburns.ca/content/images/2026/02/frodo-gandalf-moria-fellowship-of-the-ring.webp 1920w" sizes="(min-width: 720px) 720px"><figcaption><em>&quot;If we fall, we fail. If we succeed, we face the next task.&quot; - Gandalf (Tolkien, The Two Towers)</em></figcaption></figure><p><strong><em>&quot;Beyond mountains, there are mountains&quot;, </em></strong>is an old Haitain proverb that has helped me often over the years, and one I&apos;m trying to lean on more lately in order to do a better job of being present. If you struggle with this at times, I hope it helps you as well.</p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[To Be The Penguin, Or To Not Be The Penguin?]]></title><description><![CDATA[<p><em>&quot;It&apos;s not always easy to follow the subtle, energetic information the universe broadcasts, especially when your friends, family, and coworkers, or those with a business interest in your creativity are offering seemingly rational advice that challenges your intuitive knowing.</em></p><p><em>To the best of my ability, I&apos;</em></p>]]></description><link>https://taylorburns.ca/blog/to-be-the-penguin-or-to-not-be-the-penguin/</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69753aa06a4276f89822f7c2</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Taylor Burns]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Sat, 24 Jan 2026 21:50:30 GMT</pubDate><media:content url="https://taylorburns.ca/content/images/2026/01/Screenshot-2026-01-23-at-2.34.42-PM.png" medium="image"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<img src="https://taylorburns.ca/content/images/2026/01/Screenshot-2026-01-23-at-2.34.42-PM.png" alt="To Be The Penguin, Or To Not Be The Penguin?"><p><em>&quot;It&apos;s not always easy to follow the subtle, energetic information the universe broadcasts, especially when your friends, family, and coworkers, or those with a business interest in your creativity are offering seemingly rational advice that challenges your intuitive knowing.</em></p><p><em>To the best of my ability, I&apos;ve followed my intuition to make career turns and been recommended against doing so every time.</em></p><p><em>It helps to realize that it&apos;s better to follow the universe, than those around you.</em></p><p><em><strong>The path is not for everyone. </strong></em></p><p><em>Adversity is part of the process.&quot;</em></p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://taylorburns.ca/content/images/2026/01/Screenshot-2026-01-24-at-2.26.36-PM.png" class="kg-image" alt="To Be The Penguin, Or To Not Be The Penguin?" loading="lazy" width="660" height="720" srcset="https://taylorburns.ca/content/images/size/w600/2026/01/Screenshot-2026-01-24-at-2.26.36-PM.png 600w, https://taylorburns.ca/content/images/2026/01/Screenshot-2026-01-24-at-2.26.36-PM.png 660w"></figure><p>If you&apos;re on Twitter, you&apos;ve probably seen this penguin a lot. I have some thoughts.</p><p>Is this penguin an admirable example to follow? Should we go off the beaten track, and follow the road less traveled by more often in Robert Frost&apos;s famous yellow wood?</p><p>Or did the penguin take him too literally? Is he marching to a painfully lonely end? Or perhaps he is trailblazing a path others will end up following and benefitting from?</p><p>Nietszche famously stated, <em>&quot;I know of no better life purpose than to perish attempting the great and impossible.&quot; &#xA0;</em></p><p>While I do love this quote, I think legendary Rick Rubin said something (the italicized quote at the start of this post) that, at least for me, is even more resounding and applicable - a perfect metaphor for this penguin&apos;s decision to go off on his own.</p><p>If you haven&apos;t, you can watch the original video below, for some context.</p><!--kg-card-begin: html--><blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/reel/DQTli0ACSq-/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14" style=" background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:540px; min-width:326px; padding:0; width:99.375%; 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<script async src="//www.instagram.com/embed.js"></script><!--kg-card-end: html-->]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Confidence: The Goal of the Mental Game]]></title><description><![CDATA[<p></p><p><em>&#x201C;Courage is not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who feels afraid, but he who conquers that fear.&#x201D; &#x2013; Nelson Mandela</em></p><p>If you&apos;re an athlete and you&apos;re reading this, we&#x2019;re going to perform</p>]]></description><link>https://taylorburns.ca/blog/untitled-3/</link><guid isPermaLink="false">695483d8289cbb080b445556</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Taylor Burns]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 31 Dec 2025 02:49:38 GMT</pubDate><media:content url="https://taylorburns.ca/content/images/2025/12/jordan_michael_cavaliers.jpg" medium="image"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<img src="https://taylorburns.ca/content/images/2025/12/jordan_michael_cavaliers.jpg" alt="Confidence: The Goal of the Mental Game"><p></p><p><em>&#x201C;Courage is not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who feels afraid, but he who conquers that fear.&#x201D; &#x2013; Nelson Mandela</em></p><p>If you&apos;re an athlete and you&apos;re reading this, we&#x2019;re going to perform a little exercise here. I want you to think of your <strong>best three performances this season (or last).</strong> How did you feel? What was the little voice inside your head saying? I want you to spend a few minutes reliving those experiences and moments.</p><p>Now, and I hate to do this to you, I want you to think of <strong>your three worst performances</strong>. How did that feel? What was the little voice inside your head saying? Spend a little time back in those moments.</p><p>When you compare your best performances to your worst, I&#x2019;m willing to bet the greatest variable that changed (drastically) was <strong><em>confidence</em></strong>.</p><p>Playing the game confidently: with full force of being, trust in yourself, and complete and total belief in your ability to execute is the primary goal of the mental game.</p><p>Now, everyone and their dog knows they need to have confidence, but how can we be more confident? How can we have it more consistently? Perhaps most importantly, when we lose it, how can we regain it? <strong>How can we build a more resilient belief in ourselves?</strong></p><p>First off, and this is very important: <strong>we must normalize fear of failure</strong>. Everyone, yes everyone, is afraid to fail - even the best of the best. They deal with self-doubt, indecision, and entire periods of time where they lack confidence. (Find even one of the greatest athletes of all time who didn&apos;t encounter a slump or two).</p><p>Understanding this is crucial. Fear of failure is not something to overcome once and for all. No. It&apos;s a completely normal aspect of being a living, breathing human being. Your fear of failing is always going to be there. The sooner you acknowledge this reality, the sooner you can begin to develop effective strategies to attack your fears head on.</p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card kg-card-hascaption"><img src="https://taylorburns.ca/content/images/2025/12/download-2.jpg" class="kg-image" alt="Confidence: The Goal of the Mental Game" loading="lazy" width="201" height="251"><figcaption><em>&quot;Courage is being scared to death, and</em> <em>saddling up anyway.&quot; - John Wayne</em></figcaption></figure><p>It&apos;s up to you to turn that nervous pre-game energy into positive effect once the competition begins. You can either let those pre-game butterflies get the best of you - playing timid, tentative, and afraid to fail. Or, you can convert them into excitement and use that energy to propel you to perform at your best, with conviction and trust.</p><p>Pressure, after all, is a privilege! Any time you&apos;re feeling pressure, remember you&apos;ve earned that feeling. You&apos;ve put in a lot of work to get to this moment. It can be really helpful to remind yourself of where you started. Chances are the daunting pressure of an upcoming competition is something you once dreamt of having the opportunity of facing.</p><p><strong>Confidence comes from two places: 1) preparation 2) past success</strong></p><p>Reggie Jackson, the New York Yankees, and Oakland Athletics Hall of Fame outfielder who was nicknamed Mr. October, was quoted as stating, <em>&#x201C;Leave nothing undone. No detail is too small.&#x201D;</em> </p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card kg-card-hascaption"><img src="https://taylorburns.ca/content/images/2025/12/download-1-1.jpg" class="kg-image" alt="Confidence: The Goal of the Mental Game" loading="lazy" width="275" height="183"><figcaption>You don&apos;t earn the moniker, &apos;Mr October&apos;, without being an extremely clutch performer. In game 6 of the 1977 World Series, Reggie Jackson, saw just three pitches. He hit three home runs to clinch the championship for the Yankees.&#xA0;</figcaption></figure><p>Confidence is essentially just trust. When game time comes, you know in your heart of heart&#x2019;s if you&#x2019;re ready. </p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card kg-width-wide kg-card-hascaption"><img src="https://taylorburns.ca/content/images/2025/12/images.webp" class="kg-image" alt="Confidence: The Goal of the Mental Game" loading="lazy" width="500" height="480"><figcaption>As Ben Franklin famously quipped, <em>&quot;Fail to prepare, prepare to fail.&quot;</em></figcaption></figure><p>Past success is the second pillar of confidence. Remember, if you&#x2019;ve done it before, chances are you can summon the skill and mental strength to do it again! The best athletes utilize visualization and imagery as a key component of their preparation. Put yourself back in your own personal highlight reels in order to feel those positive experiences and outcomes!</p><p>In the movie <em>Bull Durham,</em> the veteran minor league catcher Crash Davis imparts one last piece of advice to Nuke before he leaves to the major leagues. He tells him, <em>&#x201C;You be cocky and arrogant even when you&#x2019;re getting beat. That&#x2019;s the secret.&#x201D;</em></p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://taylorburns.ca/content/images/2025/12/download-3.jpg" class="kg-image" alt="Confidence: The Goal of the Mental Game" loading="lazy" width="266" height="190"></figure><p>This, of course, is a lot easier said than done. If you lack confidence, or tend to lose it at the first sign of trouble, the answer is always going to be in the work. Work harder and smarter to build trust in yourself to execute when it matters most. </p><p>Practice like you&apos;ve never won in order to compete like you&apos;ve never lost.</p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Thursday Three]]></title><description><![CDATA[<p>I hope you&apos;re having a great week, and if you live here in Edmonton, you&apos;re staying warm! Here are three quotes that have particularly resonated with me lately.</p><p><em>&quot;Lots of people want to be the noun without doing the verb. They want the job title</em></p>]]></description><link>https://taylorburns.ca/blog/thursday-three-6/</link><guid isPermaLink="false">693afce8289cbb080b4453b7</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Taylor Burns]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Thu, 11 Dec 2025 17:23:16 GMT</pubDate><media:content url="https://taylorburns.ca/content/images/2025/12/download.jpg" medium="image"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<img src="https://taylorburns.ca/content/images/2025/12/download.jpg" alt="Thursday Three"><p>I hope you&apos;re having a great week, and if you live here in Edmonton, you&apos;re staying warm! Here are three quotes that have particularly resonated with me lately.</p><p><em>&quot;Lots of people want to be the noun without doing the verb. They want the job title without the work. Let go of the thing you&apos;re trying to be (the noun), and focus on the actual work you need to be doing (the verb). Doing the verb will take you someplace further and far more interesting.&quot; - Austin Kleon</em></p><p><em>&quot;For myself, I find I become less cynical rather than more, remembering my own sins and follies, and realize that men&apos;s hearts are not often as bad as their acts, and very seldom as bad as their words.&quot; - Tolkien</em></p><p><em>&quot;You must forget your limits. You must forget your doubts, your pain, your past.&quot; - Phil Knight (Nike Founder)</em></p><p>Happy Thursday!</p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Tie A Knot At the End of Your Rope]]></title><description><![CDATA[<p>I got asked the other day, &quot;how did you keep going?&quot;. I wasn&apos;t really sure how to answer. </p><p>I won&apos;t pretend to have an answer. I will, however, share something that works for me.</p><p>There have been plenty of times when I&apos;ve</p>]]></description><link>https://taylorburns.ca/blog/the-art-of/</link><guid isPermaLink="false">691bdb07289cbb080b4452c0</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Taylor Burns]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 18 Nov 2025 02:46:56 GMT</pubDate><media:content url="https://taylorburns.ca/content/images/2025/11/images.webp" medium="image"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<img src="https://taylorburns.ca/content/images/2025/11/images.webp" alt="Tie A Knot At the End of Your Rope"><p>I got asked the other day, &quot;how did you keep going?&quot;. I wasn&apos;t really sure how to answer. </p><p>I won&apos;t pretend to have an answer. I will, however, share something that works for me.</p><p>There have been plenty of times when I&apos;ve felt like Sisyphus. Why am I doing this? What&apos;s the point? Am I just endlessly pushing this boulder up the mountain?</p><p>In these times I&apos;ve actually leaned on recalling how fleeting and short-lived the pinnacle of success has ended up being.</p><p>This isn&apos;t cynical. It&apos;s just reality. The joy of winning and achievement doesn&apos;t last forever.</p><p>So we must find joy in today. In the struggle.</p><p>When I think even of the deepest valleys and darkest times of my life, I now smile. I feel oddly nostalgic about those periods of time. In retrospect, there was beauty in the struggle.</p><p>Keep pushing the boulder. Even if it seems pointless, it&apos;s not. You&apos;re developing skills and resilience you&apos;ll be able to lean on and be proud of later.</p><p>As Sir Winston Churchill said, <em>&quot;When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on.&quot;</em></p><p></p><p></p><p></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[8 Reflections After 8 Years of Gym Ownership]]></title><description><![CDATA[<p>Yesterday, it hit me that it was eight years ago that I opened AHP. I&apos;m a very reflective person by nature, so it was strange that it snuck up on me. </p><p>In the beginning, AHP was simply a 500 square foot weight room inside of a batting cage</p>]]></description><link>https://taylorburns.ca/blog/8-reflections-after-8-years-of-gym-ownership/</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6907bec9289cbb080b444f17</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Taylor Burns]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Sun, 02 Nov 2025 23:27:00 GMT</pubDate><media:content url="https://taylorburns.ca/content/images/2025/11/Screenshot-2025-11-02-at-4.04.25-PM.png" medium="image"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<img src="https://taylorburns.ca/content/images/2025/11/Screenshot-2025-11-02-at-4.04.25-PM.png" alt="8 Reflections After 8 Years of Gym Ownership"><p>Yesterday, it hit me that it was eight years ago that I opened AHP. I&apos;m a very reflective person by nature, so it was strange that it snuck up on me. </p><p>In the beginning, AHP was simply a 500 square foot weight room inside of a batting cage facility. I had no other staff. I remember being overwhelmed with having to figure out how to incorporate the company, how to invoice customers, and even how to set my prices.</p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card kg-card-hascaption"><img src="https://taylorburns.ca/content/images/2025/11/Screenshot-2025-11-02-at-4.11.52-PM.png" class="kg-image" alt="8 Reflections After 8 Years of Gym Ownership" loading="lazy" width="1378" height="1312" srcset="https://taylorburns.ca/content/images/size/w600/2025/11/Screenshot-2025-11-02-at-4.11.52-PM.png 600w, https://taylorburns.ca/content/images/size/w1000/2025/11/Screenshot-2025-11-02-at-4.11.52-PM.png 1000w, https://taylorburns.ca/content/images/2025/11/Screenshot-2025-11-02-at-4.11.52-PM.png 1378w" sizes="(min-width: 720px) 720px"><figcaption>Early days when Ethan was one of those four athletes...</figcaption></figure><p>I started with only four athletes and two teams. It was a daunting task to make sure I generated the $2,500 monthly rent I owed. I always made it. But just barely. I wasn&apos;t paying myself yet. I also had a TON of debt and the CRA was breathing down my neck for unpaid taxes. </p><p>(In defense of myself, my financial situation was due to a year earlier deciding to move to Missouri and go back to play my senior year of college baseball and finish my degree). That&apos;s a story for a different time, though.</p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card kg-card-hascaption"><img src="https://taylorburns.ca/content/images/2025/11/Screenshot-2025-11-02-at-4.17.44-PM.png" class="kg-image" alt="8 Reflections After 8 Years of Gym Ownership" loading="lazy" width="1424" height="1412" srcset="https://taylorburns.ca/content/images/size/w600/2025/11/Screenshot-2025-11-02-at-4.17.44-PM.png 600w, https://taylorburns.ca/content/images/size/w1000/2025/11/Screenshot-2025-11-02-at-4.17.44-PM.png 1000w, https://taylorburns.ca/content/images/2025/11/Screenshot-2025-11-02-at-4.17.44-PM.png 1424w" sizes="(min-width: 720px) 720px"><figcaption>Most of all, thank God we&apos;re all Mules.</figcaption></figure><p>When my rebooted baseball career ended (in truly heartbreaking, kind of soul-shattering fashion, but I digress), I had 25 hours on my long drive back north to ponder my next steps.</p><p>I recall just having this feeling that maybe a baseball career was never in fact my fate. Perhaps, my true calling was to impact the next generation: to simply be who I needed when I as younger. </p><p>So with a ton of debt hanging over my head, and no real clue what I was doing, I decided to start a business - with the goal of mentorship and being more than just a gym as my guiding light.</p><p>Now, here I sit, eight years later. AHP is a 17,000 square foot facility with nearly a dozen staff. We have nearly two hundred athletes. I get to train professionals; young kids falling in love with their sport and training; and everyone in between.</p><p>I get to go to work every day with two of my best friends, and I think (I hope) have built a fun work culture for my staff. I think (I hope) AHP is a special place to a lot of people. </p><p>It&apos;s a true privilege to have the opportunity to continue to impact young people.</p><p>So, after a far too-long winded intro, here are my eight reflections after eight years of business ownership.</p><p></p><ol><li><strong>It&apos;s on you. No one is coming to save you.</strong></li></ol><p>This might sound negative, but to me there&apos;s a power in this understanding. It doesn&apos;t mean no one cares about you - it just means no one is going to care as much as you do. </p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://taylorburns.ca/content/images/2025/11/EYaz1d5XYAAsmsS.jpg" class="kg-image" alt="8 Reflections After 8 Years of Gym Ownership" loading="lazy" width="1186" height="874" srcset="https://taylorburns.ca/content/images/size/w600/2025/11/EYaz1d5XYAAsmsS.jpg 600w, https://taylorburns.ca/content/images/size/w1000/2025/11/EYaz1d5XYAAsmsS.jpg 1000w, https://taylorburns.ca/content/images/2025/11/EYaz1d5XYAAsmsS.jpg 1186w" sizes="(min-width: 720px) 720px"></figure><p>You must develop a core belief within you that you have the ability to solve problems and overcome obstacles as they inevitably appear. If you wait for the &quot;perfect time&quot; to take a leap you&apos;ll be waiting forever.</p><p>I&apos;ve definitely taken on WAY more risk (and personal debt) than I would ever recommend anyone doing in order to start, and then on two separate occasions grow the business.</p><p>I remember telling a couple of my close friends three years ago that I knew I was insane for expanding the gym by nearly six times the size (and monthly rent). I just knew it would take a subsequently insane amount of resolve and work to make it successful.</p><p></p><p><strong>2. Get the right people on the bus!</strong></p><p>This has been the key for AHP&apos;s growth. I have hired the right people, tried my best to mentor and guide them and put them in the right spots on the bus. </p><p>People are not your most important asset. The <em>right</em> people are!</p><p><strong>3. &quot;You can only take with you that which you have given away.&quot;</strong></p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://taylorburns.ca/content/images/2025/11/vnyhrmfuer421.webp" class="kg-image" alt="8 Reflections After 8 Years of Gym Ownership" loading="lazy" width="320" height="238"></figure><p><em>Give more. Give what you didn&apos;t get. Love more.</em></p><p>I have tried my best to live by these words, and will continue to. As a coach, I&apos;m a servant leader. As a boss, I am as well.</p><p><strong>4. Adapt or Die!</strong></p><p><em>&quot;Life is growth. Business is growth. You grow or you die.&quot; - Phil Knight</em></p><p>You must maintain your growth mindset; forever learning; forever challenging your own biases and way of doing things; &#xA0;and striving to seek improvement in all areas.</p><p>Recently, I&apos;ve hired a coach and it&apos;s been extremely helpful so far.</p><p>Courses, seminars, books, podcasts, etc. all are readily available for you. Seek education and create your own curriculum. Prioritize it in order to separate yourself.</p><p><strong>5. Have a Big Focal</strong></p><p>With my athletes I talk about establishing a &apos;big focal point&apos; that you can look at in-game when you need it. The big focal point needs to both: remind you why you play, and remind you of all the work you&apos;ve put in to get to where you are today.</p><p>In my pocket at all times I have my goal sheet folded up, but I can pull it out and see the phrase, <em>&quot;Scrooge was better than his word.&quot;</em> It&apos;s my focal point to act and live in a way that&apos;s consistent with how I want to.</p><figure class="kg-card kg-embed-card"><iframe width="200" height="150" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/R4MV4RLgFvE?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen title="Christmas Carol Finale"></iframe></figure><p><strong>6. When you feel lost, behind, and overwhelmed, get up at 4 am.</strong></p><p>I do this often. Sometimes there isn&apos;t enough time in the day/week. When my to do list continues to grow instead of shrink I simply buy myself more time in the day by getting up this early. I&apos;ve grown to love it.</p><p><strong>7. Lift hard. Train hard.</strong></p><p><em>&quot;Stay in top physical shape - physical stamina is the root of mental toughness.&quot; - Major Dick Winters</em></p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card kg-card-hascaption"><img src="https://taylorburns.ca/content/images/2025/11/download.jpg" class="kg-image" alt="8 Reflections After 8 Years of Gym Ownership" loading="lazy" width="163" height="309"><figcaption><em>Major Richard Winters</em></figcaption></figure><p>When I am dialled in with my training, I find it bleeds into every other area of my life. I&apos;m a better coach. I study more. I am in a better mood and more energized. Do hard things!</p><p></p><p><strong>8. &quot;Work without joy is drudgery. Drudgery does not produce champions, nor does it produce great organizations.&quot; - John Wooden</strong></p><p>It was Freud who is quoted as saying, <em>&quot;In retrospect, the times of struggle will strike you as the most beautiful.&quot; </em></p><p>Fall in love with the work. Be where your feet are. Some of my favourite memories were the early days of trying to build up the business. </p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://taylorburns.ca/content/images/2025/11/Screenshot-2025-11-02-at-4.03.13-PM.png" class="kg-image" alt="8 Reflections After 8 Years of Gym Ownership" loading="lazy" width="1236" height="1422" srcset="https://taylorburns.ca/content/images/size/w600/2025/11/Screenshot-2025-11-02-at-4.03.13-PM.png 600w, https://taylorburns.ca/content/images/size/w1000/2025/11/Screenshot-2025-11-02-at-4.03.13-PM.png 1000w, https://taylorburns.ca/content/images/2025/11/Screenshot-2025-11-02-at-4.03.13-PM.png 1236w" sizes="(min-width: 720px) 720px"></figure><p></p><p>Thanks for reading, and Happy Sunday!</p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[The Vision Answers Why]]></title><description><![CDATA[<p><em>&#x201C;He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.&#x201D;</em> <em>&#x2013; Friedrich Nietzsche</em></p><p>Arnold Schwarzenegger had a dream; then a goal; and finally - a fully believed in <em><strong>vision</strong></em> of himself standing on the stage one day, winning Mr. Olympia &#x2013; a title given to the</p>]]></description><link>https://taylorburns.ca/blog/the-vision-answers-why/</link><guid isPermaLink="false">68e59046289cbb080b444e11</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Taylor Burns]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 07 Oct 2025 22:19:14 GMT</pubDate><media:content url="https://taylorburns.ca/content/images/2025/10/download-1.jpg" medium="image"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<img src="https://taylorburns.ca/content/images/2025/10/download-1.jpg" alt="The Vision Answers Why"><p><em>&#x201C;He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.&#x201D;</em> <em>&#x2013; Friedrich Nietzsche</em></p><p>Arnold Schwarzenegger had a dream; then a goal; and finally - a fully believed in <em><strong>vision</strong></em> of himself standing on the stage one day, winning Mr. Olympia &#x2013; a title given to the world&#x2019;s greatest professional bodybuilder annually.</p><p>Growing up in Austria, bodybuilding wasn&#x2019;t popular but that didn&#x2019;t stop Arnold. He began lifting weights at the age of fifteen and won his first Mr. Universe title just five years later, at 20 &#x2013; the first of six consecutive victories, and seven in total.</p><p>Arnold believed in creating a vision of the future &#x2013; painting a vivid picture of what he wanted to achieve, in order to answer the question of <em>why</em>? Why was he pushing his body to the limits? Why was he going to suffer the pain of extremely disciplined dieting? To fulfill his vision!</p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://taylorburns.ca/content/images/2025/10/download.jpg" class="kg-image" alt="The Vision Answers Why" loading="lazy" width="204" height="247"></figure><p>He explained his process simply. At the end of his workout, why would he do 200 extra sit ups? He reframed it in a positive, and inspiring way. &#x201C;These 200 sit ups will help me become Mr. Olympia.&#x201D;</p><p>Athletes of any sport can learn a lot from Arnold&#x2019;s mindset (and certainly not just athletes, as well!). You have to live your life backwards. Who do you want to become? What do you want to achieve? What do you want your life to look like?</p><p>Have the courage to dream big! Set audacious, lofty goals. It&#x2019;s vital to create a vision that&#x2019;s truly going to inspire you. Why? Motivation is fleeting. </p><p>You need a vision that will get you out of bed in the morning when you don&#x2019;t feel like it. You need a vision that will reign you in when you feel like taking shortcuts. You need a vision that will keep you on the path of discipline.</p><p>It&#x2019;s very easy to work hard and do all the things you know you&#x2019;re supposed to be doing when the stars are aligned, and you&#x2019;re motivated and feeling good. However, life isn&#x2019;t always easy. It can, and will be unpredictable, harsh, and at times unrelenting and merciless.</p><p><strong>You must strive to build a work ethic and a resilience within yourself where your daily habits and actions are not dictated by your mood.</strong> They&#x2019;re not dictated by external circumstances. You&#x2019;re able to stay on the hard path, the path that&#x2019;s far less trodden &#x2013; because you&#x2019;ve identified what it is you truly want.</p><p>As a result, you don&#x2019;t have a choice in terms of how hard you&#x2019;re going to work today because you&#x2019;ve connected the dots between what you do right now, today (and even more importantly how you do it) and your vision of the future.</p><p>Ken Ravizza, a world-renowned sports psychologist stated:</p><p>TODAY + TODAY + &#x2026; + TODAY = YOUR CAREER</p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://taylorburns.ca/content/images/2025/10/download-2.jpg" class="kg-image" alt="The Vision Answers Why" loading="lazy" width="188" height="268"></figure><p>Driven athletes are driven by their why; their mission; and not how they feel in a particular moment. This vision of your future self can be your guiding light, your North Star &#x2013; and it alone dictates your choices and habits on a daily basis.</p><p>Want to achieve what only 0.0000000001 % of the population does? Work harder than 99.999999999%. </p><p>Do it today.</p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Guest Blog Post From Connor Burns: Advice to My 18 Year Old Self]]></title><description><![CDATA[<p>Happy Long Weekend! Today, I have a guest blog post for you - from my younger brother, Connor. </p><p>He pens a letter to his eighteen year old self, right before he was about to start his college baseball career. Enjoy!</p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card kg-card-hascaption"><img src="https://taylorburns.ca/content/images/2025/08/Screen-Shot-2025-08-04-at-1.56.55-PM.png" class="kg-image" alt loading="lazy" width="642" height="619" srcset="https://taylorburns.ca/content/images/size/w600/2025/08/Screen-Shot-2025-08-04-at-1.56.55-PM.png 600w, https://taylorburns.ca/content/images/2025/08/Screen-Shot-2025-08-04-at-1.56.55-PM.png 642w"><figcaption>In Atlanta, GA, in 2015 the last game I coached</figcaption></figure>]]></description><link>https://taylorburns.ca/blog/guest-blog-post-advice-to-my-18-year-old-self/</link><guid isPermaLink="false">68910db5289cbb080b444b3c</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Taylor Burns]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 04 Aug 2025 20:01:13 GMT</pubDate><media:content url="https://taylorburns.ca/content/images/2025/08/Screen-Shot-2025-08-04-at-2.00.48-PM.png" medium="image"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<img src="https://taylorburns.ca/content/images/2025/08/Screen-Shot-2025-08-04-at-2.00.48-PM.png" alt="Guest Blog Post From Connor Burns: Advice to My 18 Year Old Self"><p>Happy Long Weekend! Today, I have a guest blog post for you - from my younger brother, Connor. </p><p>He pens a letter to his eighteen year old self, right before he was about to start his college baseball career. Enjoy!</p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card kg-card-hascaption"><img src="https://taylorburns.ca/content/images/2025/08/Screen-Shot-2025-08-04-at-1.56.55-PM.png" class="kg-image" alt="Guest Blog Post From Connor Burns: Advice to My 18 Year Old Self" loading="lazy" width="642" height="619" srcset="https://taylorburns.ca/content/images/size/w600/2025/08/Screen-Shot-2025-08-04-at-1.56.55-PM.png 600w, https://taylorburns.ca/content/images/2025/08/Screen-Shot-2025-08-04-at-1.56.55-PM.png 642w"><figcaption>In Atlanta, GA, in 2015 the last game I coached my brother. He&apos;d go on to have a phenomenal collegiate career at Garden City CC and then Emporia State University. He is now the Co-Head Coach of our High School Baseball Academy.</figcaption></figure><p><em>This month marks 10 years since my first year of college. It seems insane that it has been that long. My older brother, Taylor, did always tell me that my college career would go by fast, and it did, but these last 6 years have transpired even more quickly</em></p><p><em>I thought I would write a letter to my younger self, fresh off a gap year with the old Prospects Academy and summer season with the Edmonton Prospects. </em></p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card kg-card-hascaption"><img src="https://taylorburns.ca/content/images/2025/08/Screen-Shot-2025-08-04-at-1.51.22-PM.png" class="kg-image" alt="Guest Blog Post From Connor Burns: Advice to My 18 Year Old Self" loading="lazy" width="652" height="630" srcset="https://taylorburns.ca/content/images/size/w600/2025/08/Screen-Shot-2025-08-04-at-1.51.22-PM.png 600w, https://taylorburns.ca/content/images/2025/08/Screen-Shot-2025-08-04-at-1.51.22-PM.png 652w"><figcaption>Pitching for the Edmonton Prospects in the summer of 2015</figcaption></figure><p><em>Dear Connor,</em></p><p><em>You&apos;re about to start your college baseball journey. People always say these will be the best four years of your life&#x2014;it sounds clich&#xE9;, but they&#x2019;re not wrong. These years will challenge you in ways you can&apos;t yet imagine, but they will also shape you in ways you&#x2019;ll never forget.</em></p><p><em>Right now, you think you&apos;re ready. The truth is, you&apos;re not.</em></p><p><em>You&apos;re about to meet the toughest coach you&apos;ll ever have. He&#x2019;s going to demand more from you than you thought possible&#x2014;accountability, discipline, mental toughness. At times, he&apos;ll push you to your breaking point. He&#x2019;ll get under your skin. <strong>But one day, you&#x2019;ll look back and realize how much you owe him&#x2014;not for making things easy, but for making you better.</strong></em></p><p><em>Day one will hit you hard. Your roommate will get kicked off the team ten minutes into the first practice. That moment? That&#x2019;s when it sinks in. You&#x2019;re not in high school anymore. This is real.</em></p><p><em>You&#x2019;re going to run more in the next month than you ever have in your life. You&apos;ll feel isolated, physically worn down, and mentally exhausted. Practices will fill you with anxiety. Your body will ache. The 5:30 a.m. Tuesdays on the football field, the brutal lifts, the non-stop expectations&#x2014;it&#x2019;ll feel like hell. <strong>But it will also build something unshakable.</strong></em></p><p><em>You&#x2019;ll get through it. And you&#x2019;ll be better for it.</em></p><p><em>The bond you form with your teammates will be worth every rep, every sprint, every early morning. And when spring finally comes, those next three and a half months will be some of the best of your life.</em></p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card kg-card-hascaption"><img src="https://taylorburns.ca/content/images/2025/08/Screen-Shot-2025-08-04-at-1.53.54-PM.png" class="kg-image" alt="Guest Blog Post From Connor Burns: Advice to My 18 Year Old Self" loading="lazy" width="679" height="394" srcset="https://taylorburns.ca/content/images/size/w600/2025/08/Screen-Shot-2025-08-04-at-1.53.54-PM.png 600w, https://taylorburns.ca/content/images/2025/08/Screen-Shot-2025-08-04-at-1.53.54-PM.png 679w"><figcaption>bUsters for life</figcaption></figure><p><em>So embrace every moment&#x2014;even the ones that suck. Because sitting here now, ten years later, I&#x2019;d go back and do it all over again. And I wouldn&#x2019;t change a damn thing.</em></p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://taylorburns.ca/content/images/2025/08/Screen-Shot-2025-08-04-at-1.55.43-PM.png" class="kg-image" alt="Guest Blog Post From Connor Burns: Advice to My 18 Year Old Self" loading="lazy" width="483" height="457"></figure>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Advice For Young Coaches]]></title><description><![CDATA[<ol><li><strong>Be where your feet are. Overdeliver for your current athletes.</strong></li></ol><p>Most coaches want to work with pro athletes. However, why would they want to work with you?</p><p>You have to put in the time, develop the expertise, and earn that right. It starts with treating all your clients as though</p>]]></description><link>https://taylorburns.ca/blog/advice-for-young-coaches/</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6873c602289cbb080b444879</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Taylor Burns]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Sun, 13 Jul 2025 15:59:38 GMT</pubDate><media:content url="https://taylorburns.ca/content/images/2025/07/Screen-Shot-2025-07-13-at-9.46.24-AM-2.png" medium="image"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<ol><li><strong>Be where your feet are. Overdeliver for your current athletes.</strong></li></ol><img src="https://taylorburns.ca/content/images/2025/07/Screen-Shot-2025-07-13-at-9.46.24-AM-2.png" alt="Advice For Young Coaches"><p>Most coaches want to work with pro athletes. However, why would they want to work with you?</p><p>You have to put in the time, develop the expertise, and earn that right. It starts with treating all your clients as though their development is the most important thing to you, right now. </p><p>Want to be a great coach? What would a great coach do? Coach that way <em>today.</em></p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card kg-card-hascaption"><img src="https://taylorburns.ca/content/images/2025/07/Screen-Shot-2025-07-13-at-9.46.24-AM.png" class="kg-image" alt="Advice For Young Coaches" loading="lazy" width="672" height="527" srcset="https://taylorburns.ca/content/images/size/w600/2025/07/Screen-Shot-2025-07-13-at-9.46.24-AM.png 600w, https://taylorburns.ca/content/images/2025/07/Screen-Shot-2025-07-13-at-9.46.24-AM.png 672w"><figcaption><em>#AHPFamily</em></figcaption></figure><p><strong>2. Prioritize developing a broad skillset.</strong></p><p>This week I&apos;ve been lucky enough to:</p><ul><li><em>Oversee our High School Baseball Academy win a 32 team tournament down in the USA</em></li></ul><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://taylorburns.ca/content/images/2025/07/Screen-Shot-2025-07-13-at-10.01.01-AM.png" class="kg-image" alt="Advice For Young Coaches" loading="lazy" width="675" height="450" srcset="https://taylorburns.ca/content/images/size/w600/2025/07/Screen-Shot-2025-07-13-at-10.01.01-AM.png 600w, https://taylorburns.ca/content/images/2025/07/Screen-Shot-2025-07-13-at-10.01.01-AM.png 675w"></figure><ul><li><em>Chat with an MLB pitcher about his delivery/mindset in-game</em></li><li><em>Perform two business coaching consults with a gym owner down in Kansas City</em></li><li><em>Train the U21 female Canadian champion downhill skier</em></li></ul><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://taylorburns.ca/content/images/2025/07/Screen-Shot-2025-07-13-at-10.01.57-AM.png" class="kg-image" alt="Advice For Young Coaches" loading="lazy" width="493" height="325"></figure><ul><li><em>Work hands on with both our college baseball hitting group in the cage and our college pitchers on the mound</em></li><li><em>Run two mental game coaching sessions with our athletes</em></li><li><em>Watch our AHP hockey on-ice sessions thrive with a handful of potential NHL draft picks</em></li><li><em>Train a former UFC fighter who is a multi-world champion in masters jiu-jitsu</em></li><li><em>Train dozens and dozens of athletes ranging from 12 years old to professionals in a wide variety of sports and disciplines</em></li></ul><p>I&apos;m not saying all of this to boast, although if I&apos;m being honest, once in a while I do step back and think, &apos;this is pretty damn cool. How did I get so lucky?&apos;.</p><p>The answer to that question was <strong>focusing on developing many different skills when I started out. </strong></p><p>I coached baseball. I ran a baseball academy when I was 22, which ultimately prepared me for business ownership later. It forced me to learn how to sell, how to be professional (meeting with the high school to negotiate using their gym, finding host families, booking travel, developing and sticking to a budget, etc.)., and perhaps most importantly, I got a crash course on how to lead and be a mentor.</p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card kg-card-hascaption"><img src="https://taylorburns.ca/content/images/2025/07/Screen-Shot-2025-07-13-at-9.43.53-AM.png" class="kg-image" alt="Advice For Young Coaches" loading="lazy" width="669" height="659" srcset="https://taylorburns.ca/content/images/size/w600/2025/07/Screen-Shot-2025-07-13-at-9.43.53-AM.png 600w, https://taylorburns.ca/content/images/2025/07/Screen-Shot-2025-07-13-at-9.43.53-AM.png 669w"><figcaption><em>&quot;I wish there was a way to know you were in the good old days before you left them.&quot; - Andy (The Office)</em></figcaption></figure><p>I endeavoured to write all of my players individual training programs which forced me to spend hours studying and developing to become a good strength and conditioning coach. </p><p>Not only did my program writing develop quickly, I had to learn on the fly how to coach ten different athletes executing ten different programs, all at the same time. That skill has served me quite well in order to execute the model we today utilize at AHP, which I believe is different than most gyms.</p><p>Additionally, I started a blog right around then too and published A LOT. Even though almost no one read it, I just kept on writing. I go back and read some of those now, and I definitely cringe a little, however, it built my skills as a writer. (I hope anyway - maybe in twelve years I&apos;ll read this and cringe too...)</p><p><strong><em>Don&apos;t pigeon hole yourself too early! Become a great generalist before becoming a specialist.</em></strong></p><!--kg-card-begin: html--><blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/reel/DMByXVuSxgn/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14" style=" background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:540px; min-width:326px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);"><div style="padding:16px;"> <a href="https://www.instagram.com/reel/DMByXVuSxgn/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" style=" background:#FFFFFF; line-height:0; padding:0 0; text-align:center; text-decoration:none; width:100%;" target="_blank"> <div style=" display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div> <div style="display: flex; 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<script async src="//www.instagram.com/embed.js"></script><!--kg-card-end: html--><p></p><p><strong>3. Once you&apos;ve become a great generalist, you can focus on leveraging your strengths and put your efforts into becoming exceptional in an area or two (while still improving other areas).</strong></p><p>This principle is the same one that I apply to my advanced athletes: <em>make their strengths stronger, and nudge their weaknesses. </em>However, you must have some serious strengths first in order to leverage them!</p><p></p><p><strong>4. Say yes to everything. Write programs for free. Go early to practice. Stay late after practice.</strong></p><p>This is similar to the first piece of advice in this post. I wrote training programs for family members; worked extra with our pitchers and hitters for countless hours; did free baseball lessons; you name it. My mentality was simple: I wanted to serve and give back, but I wanted to develop the skills necessary in order to charge for them.</p><p>Most importantly in my development (as a strength and conditioning coach at least), I worked for three years in my early to mid 20s running the high school fitness centre while coaching our baseball academy. </p><p>I wrote a ton of <em>free programs</em> for high school athletes, as well as staff members. This gave me career capital for training clients outside of the baseball realm, something that would come in handy a little later.</p><p><strong>You need to develop the skills necessary to be prepared to actually capitalize and excel at opportunities that will present themselves down the road. </strong></p><p><strong>5. Create your own educational curriculum!</strong></p><p><em>&quot;Success seems largely to be a matter of hanging on when all others have let go.&quot;</em></p><p>So much of the coaching profession parallels the path to achievement in athletics. The only difference is you&apos;re not limited by your physical abilities.</p><p>Can you outlast the competition? <strong><em>Do the things others won&apos;t do in order to earn opportunities others won&apos;t get.</em></strong></p><p>Play the long game. Studying for a couple hours a week isn&apos;t that difficult, but few do it, and thirteen years later I can tell you that it has made all the difference in the world.</p><p><strong>6. Create systems to stay motivated. Define your why!</strong></p><p>Motivation is like fire. Sometimes you pop out of the tent and the fire&apos;s blazing! Those days are easy. </p><p>Other days, it poured rain over night and there&apos;s barely an ember emanating any heat whatsoever. It&apos;s your job to get the fire roaring on a daily basis.</p><p>For me, there&apos;s two big strategies I use: one positive and one negative:</p><p>A) Be who I needed when I was younger. It&apos;s truly a privilege to get to do what I do and try to make a difference in somebody&apos;s life. </p><p>B) When that doesn&apos;t work, think about the naysayers. That gets the fire going pretty easily. Anger can be a valuable tool, when channeled properly.</p><p>Coaching has, and continues to be the greatest blessing for me. I can&apos;t imagine doing anything else. If you LOVE it, I hope these tenets of advice can allow you to forge a career in this industry. It can be so incredibly rewarding. </p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card kg-card-hascaption"><img src="https://taylorburns.ca/content/images/2025/07/Screen-Shot-2025-07-13-at-9.40.50-AM.png" class="kg-image" alt="Advice For Young Coaches" loading="lazy" width="536" height="626"><figcaption>Besides getting to coach, I get to go to &quot;work&quot; every day with two of my best friends. Pretty sweet gig!</figcaption></figure>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[The Burns Perspective Podcast #4: College Recruiting Process 101 For Canadian Baseball Players]]></title><description><![CDATA[<p>Happy Friday! </p><p>I&apos;m excited to release the latest episode of my podcast. Although it&apos;s specifically geared towards baseball players, I think the principles I discuss hold true to all other sports and high school athletes looking to move on to the next level.</p><figure class="kg-card kg-embed-card"><iframe src="https://anchor.fm/the-burns-perspective/embed/episodes/The-Burns-Perspective-Ep04-College-Recruiting-Process-101-for-Canadian-Baseball-Players-e33hvaq" height="102px" width="400px" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe></figure><figure class="kg-card kg-embed-card"><iframe width="200" height="113" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Zl_r6akgf3c?start=9&amp;feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen title="The Burns Perspective (Ep04) College Recruiting Process 101 for Canadian Baseball Players"></iframe></figure>]]></description><link>https://taylorburns.ca/blog/the-burns-perspective-2/</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6839c93c289cbb080b4446ec</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Taylor Burns]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Fri, 30 May 2025 15:09:55 GMT</pubDate><media:content url="https://taylorburns.ca/content/images/2025/05/0.jpg" medium="image"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<img src="https://taylorburns.ca/content/images/2025/05/0.jpg" alt="The Burns Perspective Podcast #4: College Recruiting Process 101 For Canadian Baseball Players"><p>Happy Friday! </p><p>I&apos;m excited to release the latest episode of my podcast. Although it&apos;s specifically geared towards baseball players, I think the principles I discuss hold true to all other sports and high school athletes looking to move on to the next level.</p><figure class="kg-card kg-embed-card"><iframe src="https://anchor.fm/the-burns-perspective/embed/episodes/The-Burns-Perspective-Ep04-College-Recruiting-Process-101-for-Canadian-Baseball-Players-e33hvaq" height="102px" width="400px" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe></figure><figure class="kg-card kg-embed-card"><iframe width="200" height="113" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Zl_r6akgf3c?start=9&amp;feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen title="The Burns Perspective (Ep04) College Recruiting Process 101 for Canadian Baseball Players"></iframe></figure>]]></content:encoded></item></channel></rss>