The start of a new year often brings a renewed enthusiasm for change, building habits, and improving how we live and lead. Jon Giesbrecht, Director of Mental Performance and Player Development for the Vancouver Bandits in the Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL), offers a powerful reminder about the transformative nature of failure and growth.

"Growth is growth, no matter how small. And expect to fail, because failure is not the end of the story but your pathway to success," Giesbrecht shared recently.

The Daily Coach continued its conversation with Giesbrecht about overcoming setbacks, building lasting habits, leveraging grounding for consistency, and the enduring influence of Kobe Bryant's "Mamba Mentality" on his teachings.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Part 1: Presence Over Pressure: Leading with Confidence in Chaos

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Jon, thank you again for doing this. As we enter the New Year, building and sustaining positive habits often becomes a focus for leaders, athletes and high performers. What’s your approach to starting new habits and guiding others in creating routines that stick?

Start small and keep things simple.  When I was working on Play Free, Free Your Mind, I coined the approach “Mindfulness in Five Minutes or Less.”

That’s where I like to start, especially with athletes and coaches. We focused on quick meditations, visualizations, and affirmations—meeting them where they were. The key was integrating this into their routines without disrupting them. For example, we might do a quick session after strength and conditioning or right before a game—wherever it made sense for their rhythm.

The idea is to create an entry point. Many people suggest meditating for an hour or journaling daily, which can feel overwhelming. But if you can start with just five minutes, you can begin building momentum. It’s a manageable and practical way to develop habits that stick.

Failure is inevitable in leadership, sports, and life. How do you coach others and personally approach turning these moments into opportunities for growth?

Everything that happens in sports, leadership, and life is happening for you—not to you. You are exactly where you need to be right now.

The most successful athletes and leaders I’ve ever coached have this unique ability to both zoom in and zoom out. They know when to obsess over the details and when to step back, reflect, and then refocus.

What may seem like a failure or rejection in the moment is often just redirection. It’s about shifting our attention and perspective. That’s the essence of the practice—the meditation. It teaches us to embrace reflection, redirect our focus, and use those experiences of perceived failure as opportunities for transformational growth.

One of the key tools you’ve been teaching over the years is grounding. Could you break down what that looks like for your athletes and share how it can benefit leaders and high performers in managing energy, focus, and recovery?

Grounding has many different origins—from Eastern philosophy, where mindfulness practices in Hindu and Buddhist traditions emphasize mind-body connection through breathwork and physical postures, to somatic psychology, where grounding helps release stored trauma and create a sense of safety in the present moment. I’ve also studied grounding techniques in military training, where controlled breathing and sensory focus help manage acute stress and maintain clarity under pressure. Here’s how we bring it to life for athletes: When someone first connects with me, I provide structure—clear, practical tools that they can apply with confidence, intention and focus. Grounding is one of the first things we cover.

In our on-court workouts, we teach athletes how to effectively “sub out” of the game and then “sub in,”...When you make mistakes or feel weak, the ego wants you to shrink, disconnect, or isolate. But as a leader and high performer, you have to project steadiness and resilience in these critical moments.

When an athlete is being subbed out of the game, we start by instructing athletes to stand up straight—posture sends signals to your brain about how you’re feeling, regulating mood and managing hormones like cortisol and testosterone.

We then reinforce the importance of strong eye contact with the coach, helping athletes ground themselves in the moment rather than overthinking.

If their coach pulls them aside, we emphasize feeling your feet on the floor, as it sends a signal to your brain that you’re safe and ready to receive instruction. When the coach is communicating intensely, softening through your belly and breathing deeply can release calming chemicals like dopamine and serotonin, bringing your focus back to the here and now.

As athletes run by their teammates, we encourage them to connect with teammates—fist bumps, high fives, and short affirmations like, “Next play,” or “We’ve got this.” This fosters trust and connection. Once at the end of the bench, I have them discharge excess tension–by jumping up and down, shaking out their arms, or swaying side to side. Followed by breathing deeply through the nose and exhaling forcefully, breathe in love for the game, love for yourself, while you let go of fear or frustration, grounding yourself in the moment by reflecting on why you play the game, remembering the younger you that appreciated the simple things. Lastly, before taking a seat, see if you can find the space after your exhale, breathe in, breathe out, and rest in that space before moving on–moving slower than you have been.

Next, we take a seat on the bench. Stomp the feet to reconnect with the ground; sit tall by imagining a string gently pulling your head toward the sky. Uncross your arms and legs, keeping your posture open to the moment. Then, turn your attention to the breath, extending the exhale and softening the belly–noticing your heartbeat slowing and descending. From here, I instruct athletes to use their vision to continue to regulate. I often suggest looking left, right, and making circles with the eyes—this simple practice helps calm a dysregulated nervous system.

Finally, we guide athletes to re-immerse in the game environment using the 5-4-3-2-1 grounding practice: noticing five things you can see, four you can feel, three you can hear, two you can smell, and one you can taste. If focus is still shaky while on the bench, it might be a great time for box breathing—inhaling, holding, exhaling, and holding again in equal counts to settle and balance the sympathetic (fight-or-flight) and parasympathetic (rest-and-digest) systems.

This all sounds long, but with practice, it happens in a matter of moments. And then, when the coach calls you back into the game, it’s time to activate—sprint to the scorers’ table, jump up and down, breathe in powerfully through your nose to breathe out fear through the mouth (1, 2 or 3 times), and settle into normal nasal breathing so you can step in with total awareness and presence.

My challenge to you as a leader is to find moments in your own day to reset and refocus. Whether it’s walking into work, leaving work, or navigating difficult conversations, a structured grounding routine can create freedom in your heart, mind and spirit. Structure and discipline unlocks composure and clarity when it matters most.

Kobe Bryant coined the term “The Mamba Mentality,” defining it as "simply trying to be the best version of yourself. Every day you’re trying to become better." You’ve been deeply inspired by how Kobe approached the game on the court, and the craft and preparation off it. How has Kobe's “Mamba Mentality” influenced your teachings?

Notice Kobe Bryant didn’t say his goal was to prove himself. That’s significant. Most players and leaders train and work out as if they’re chasing their own worthiness, believing that one day, they’ll finally become the player and leader they aspire to be.

But here’s the real question: Can you believe you’re worthy in this very moment, no matter what challenges you face? Can you train knowing you can get better without tying your worth to the outcome? Because hear me out—if you believe you’re unworthy, it doesn’t matter what you do.

Every workout, practice, decision, and game will confirm and reinforce that unworthiness. What set Kobe apart is that 80% of his validation came from within. Sure, he appreciated recognition and love from others, but he didn’t rely on it to keep going.

He didn’t need external approval from people outside his circle. Kobe trained and gave himself the love and acceptance he needed. From that place of self-acceptance, he was able to expand his game, win more championships, and extend his career.

That’s the essence of The Mamba Mentality: self-belief, self-love, and relentless growth to be the best version of yourself.

Q&A Resources

Jon Giesbrecht ―  Journal: Play Free, Free Your Mind | Instagram | X | LinkedIn

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