Winning is cold. It doesn't care how you feel, how much you "deserve" it, or how many hours you stayed late at the gym if those hours weren't actually productive. This is the hard truth behind the phrase it takes what it takes. It’s a philosophy popularized by the late Trevor Moawad, a mental conditioning coach who worked with the likes of Russell Wilson, Nick Saban, and the Georgia Bulldogs. Moawad wasn't interested in the fluffy, "think positive thoughts" brand of sports psychology that dominated the 90s. He knew that telling a quarterback who just threw three interceptions to "just stay positive" was essentially asking them to lie to themselves.
Instead, he preached a concept called neutral thinking.
The Problem With Positive Thinking
We've been lied to about positivity. We're told that if we just believe hard enough, the universe will manifest our goals. But when you’re down by 14 points in the fourth quarter, "positive thinking" often feels like a fragile mask. If you try to force a smile while your performance is crumbling, your brain recognizes the dissonance. It feels fake.
It takes what it takes means acknowledging the reality of the situation without attaching a judgmental "good" or "bad" label to it. If you fail a test, that's a fact. If you miss a game-winning shot, that's a fact. Neutral thinking stripped away the emotional baggage. Moawad often used the analogy of a car's transmission. You can't go from reverse to drive without passing through neutral.
Think about Nick Saban's "Process." At Alabama, the scoreboard was almost irrelevant during the game. The focus was on the specific requirement of the next play. The requirement doesn't change because you're sad or angry. The grass doesn't care about your feelings when you're mowing it; it just requires a sharp blade and a specific path. High performance works the exact same way.
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Success is a Non-Negotiable Contract
Most people treat their goals like a buffet where they can pick and choose which prices they want to pay. They want the fitness but not the 6:00 AM wake-up call. They want the promotion but not the difficult conversations with underperforming staff.
When you look at the career of Russell Wilson—who was arguably Moawad’s most famous client—you see a guy who lived by the mantra that it takes what it takes. After the devastating interception at the goal line in Super Bowl XLIX, Wilson didn't spiral into a "why me" depression, nor did he pretend it didn't hurt. He looked at the data. He looked at the requirements to get back to that stage.
The "it" in the phrase is the goal. The "what it takes" is the objective list of requirements.
- If you want to be a professional coder, it takes X thousands of hours of focused practice.
- If you want to recover from an ACL tear, it takes a specific, often painful, rehab protocol.
- If you want to build a business, it takes a certain amount of capital and a massive amount of risk tolerance.
There is no discount. You can’t negotiate with the result.
Why Your Past is a Liar
Moawad used to say that the past is real, but it isn't predictive. This is where most of us trip up. We think because we failed yesterday, we are "failures." That’s an emotional overlay. Neutrality says: "Yesterday happened. It provides data. It does not dictate what I do at 2:15 PM today."
This is why the it takes what it takes mindset is so effective for people in high-stress jobs, like surgeons or Special Forces operators. If a surgeon makes a mistake, they can’t spend the next twenty minutes lamenting their incompetence. The patient is still on the table. The requirement of the moment is to fix the bleed. The feelings come later. In the moment, you stay neutral.
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The Language of the Elite
What you say matters. Not because of "vibes," but because of how language affects your brain's hardware. Moawad famously cited research suggesting that saying something out loud makes it ten times more likely to happen than just thinking it. If you say "this is going to be a disaster," you are literally programming your nervous system to look for the disaster.
But neutral thinking isn't about saying "this will be great." It’s about saying: "This is the situation. Here is what is required of me."
It sounds boring. It’s not flashy. It doesn't make for a "ra-ra" locker room speech. But it’s the only thing that survives the pressure of real competition. It's about being a "flat-liner" emotionally—not because you don't care, but because you've decided that your behavior is independent of your feelings.
Actionable Steps to Live "It Takes What It Takes"
If you want to actually apply this, you have to stop looking for shortcuts. You have to stop asking for the "secret" and start looking at the bill. Everything has a price tag.
1. Audit your internal and external dialogue.
Listen to yourself. When things go wrong, do you use "always" or "never" statements? "I always screw this up." That’s a lie. It’s also not neutral. Shift to: "I missed the deadline. To hit the next one, I need to start three days earlier." Stick to the facts.
2. Define the "What."
If you have a goal, sit down and write out exactly what it requires. Not what you want it to require, but what it actually takes. If you want to lose 20 pounds, it takes a caloric deficit. It takes resisting the urge to eat when you're bored. It takes consistency over months. If you aren't willing to do those things, you don't actually want the goal; you want the fantasy.
3. Stop "Trying" and Start "Doing."
Yoda was right, honestly. Trying implies that there’s an out—that if your feelings get in the way, it’s okay to stop. Doing is binary. You either did the workout or you didn't. You either made the sales calls or you didn't.
4. Practice Negative Preparation.
Neutral thinking includes "Pre-mortems." Ask yourself: "What is the worst thing that could happen today, and what will my neutral response be?" If the server goes down, I will call the tech lead. I won't scream at the wall. I will call the lead. That's the requirement.
5. Stay in the Now.
The phrase it takes what it takes is ultimately about the present. You can't win a game in the third quarter. You can only win the play you’re in. When you find your mind drifting to the trophy or the potential embarrassment of losing, pull it back to the mechanics. What is the grip on the bat? Where are my feet? What is the first sentence of this email?
Success is a math problem, not a lottery. It’s a series of objective requirements that must be met. You don't have to like the requirements. You just have to do them. Because at the end of the day, the result doesn't care about your opinion. It only cares if the work was done.
Moving Toward Neutrality
Start by identifying one area of your life where you’ve been overly emotional or "hopeful" rather than disciplined. Replace your "I hope this works" with a checklist of what is required to make it work. Eliminate the word "should" from your vocabulary. Things don't "should" be any way; they are the way they are based on the inputs provided.
Focus on your next behavior. Not your next result, and certainly not your next feeling. Just the next thing that needs to be done.