Bear Insider Ultimate Insider Podcast E92: Mike Pawlawski's Every Day Great

In today's episode, we talk with Cal Hall of Fame QB and color analyst Mike Pawlawski about some of the behind-the-scenes looks at his experiences and motivations that led to Mike’s desire to write his new book, Every Day Great. Buy now on Kindle through Amazon or the book on its release, October 10th.

Jim: So Mike, your book is called Every Day. Great and I can't wait to have it in Cal fans' hands and for me to devour the rest of it myself. But wanted to talk about a little bit of your background as an athlete, and what provided you the motivation for for writing the book. Before we dive into some of the background on your athletic career what your your overall thought process was behind the book, what was it that kind of drove you to put the pen to paper and and share some of the insights you gleaned over your career, over all these years?

Mike: That's a fantastic question. When I was talking to a buddy of mine, I was telling him he saw my some of my Facebook posts about a year ago. He's like, "Man, something's really kind of changed in you. What's going on?" And I said, I kind of figured out that I really love coaching and helping people. I really, really love that. And he goes, "What, do you just figure that out?" He's like, "You were a coach when we were kids. You would help me. You would coach me on stuff. You taught me how to fly fish, helped me with football.  You used to coach when we were young. And so if that's new to you, that's pretty funny." But I have my entire life always enjoyed giving back to people in a way that helps them to be better, emotionally, physically, like helping young athletes become better athletes, helping them develop better mindset traits, helping people to get through problems. Because oftentimes you don't see from the inside how the problem affects you and where you're thinking is wrong. I love helping people get answers to kind of common life problems.

So I thought with my history as an athlete and everything that I've learned from some great coaches along the way, not to mention my experience playing, working, through being the underdog, becoming a Pac-10, Co-Offensive Player of the Year, going on getting cut several times, then going on to win a world championship in the Arena Football League and becoming an all league player. There's things that you do to overcome adversity in your life, and we all face adversity, but my idea was, as a coach, to give that back through stories that people could learn from.

Jim: That makes sense. People are always interested in a deeper dive into some of their favorite Cal athletes over the years, and kind of what makes them tick. And I've had some fun conversations with you on the plane over the years, on the way out to road games and about just to your competitive fire as a kid before you got to Cal. Can you talk a little bit about how you started in athletics and what instilled the passion in you to be a leader out there and to get every ounce out of your body that you could?

Mike: Absolutely and that's one of the main chapters in the book. Early on, you'll find out when I was young, I was actually born with lung disease, and it was later diagnosed - way later - like 1994, that it was cystic fibrosis and I used to have pneumonia every single year as a kid, I would be sick. Oftentimes I would end up in the hospital and on several occasions it was dire. And I talk about in the book, a time when doctors told my mother, if he makes it through the night, he'll probably be okay.

So it was to that point with me breathing as a kid that kind of left me in this position where my parents were trying to figure out how to make me stronger, how to improve the condition because they were doing everything they could do to protect me right. 
They would take me to the hospital and doctors and allergy shots and everything else. But that trip to the hospital, one of the doctors told my parents, "Hey, you might think about putting him in sports to help him strengthen his lungs and they were going to do it anyway. But I was able to get into sports because my parents were there, and so they put me in every single sport from football, baseball, basketball, soccer, track and field, swimming, like anything that they could. I loved most of them at the time. I was decent at most of them, but I excelled at a few. Baseball, I was a very good player in high school, good enough that college scouts and college coaches were talking about potentially giving me joint scholarships or split scholarships, and then in football, obviously I loved football. That was my passion, and I was very good at soccer before I found football. So those three sports were really the ones that I excelled in.

But it was a way for me as a kid to fight for myself right, to fight off that disease, the lung disease, because as a kid, being in the hospital, sitting there in those hospital beds was awful, and so a way to for me to give myself some control there was to work hard, to breathe hard, and to learn how to breathe and and that was a big piece of it, that was that competitive fire that started early and I learned how to push through those things. The story's in chapter two of the book. But it's how the mindset started for me, and how I learned to push through a lot of that stuff. 

Hey, Bears fans, just a quick cut in here. I forgot to mention, if you want to get on the list right now, you can text GREAT to 55444 and I'll give you announcements about the book. There'll be some backside content stuff that'll be coming to you. I'll be sending out emails on mindset and everything else all the time. I'd love to get you on that list, because there'll be ton of stuff going forward as well, but just text GREAT to 55444 and you can get on that list and I will look forward to seeing you there, and I'll make announcements when the book come out. I appreciate your support.

Jim: When did you know you might really have something when you were starting to stand out amongst your peers at a younger age?

Mike: Oh, that's a great question. I don't know that there was a point where I'm like, "Oh, yeah, there's a scholarship (coming). That wasn't even a thought back then, at least not for me. I didn't think about scholarships until I got my first recruiting letter from Washington State. Now I knew as an athlete that I was always a little better than the people around me. In soccer, I was one of the best players on the team. Always. In baseball, I was always one of the best players on the team. But baseball, so you know, segmented into everybody has their position, so you're better by position. And then in football, once I actually started playing, I played for a little bit. I played for one year of Pop Warner. But then I really got into it when I was in high school as a sophomore, and that's when I thought, "Oh, I'm I'm decent at this. I can get better at this." And then finally, I get that recruiting letter going into my senior year from Washington State, like I said. And all of a sudden the recruiting letters started, and that's when I thought, "Oh, well, I could probably go to college on this right?" So then I got several trips offered, and came down to four schools.

Jim: So what brought you to Cal? What was the deciding factor there?

Mike: I loved the fact -and this story is also in the book. There's a bunch of stories, by the way, for all the Cal fans at home, there are a bunch of stories in the book about my time spent at Cal, and lessons I learned at Cal, because the lessons are so important, and our coaching staff was really good, Bruce Snyder, Steve Mariucci, Terry Shea, when I first got there, who was a great quarterback coach for a young quarterback to bring me along. But it was Bruce Snyder coming into our house. Mooch actually was my direct recruiter. He's the guy who showed up at my school. He's the guy who had the first meeting with me and my parents. He's the guy who was who was kind of Johnny on the spot, but then Bruce and Terry and Mooch all came in for the closing meal, and Bruce came into our house, and we all had dinner, because my parents had dinner with the recruiters every time they came in. But we sat down afterwards, we went down to the den of the house, and Bruce looks at my parents and said, "You mind if I put this in?" And he shows us a VHS tape. And my mom's like, "No, go ahead." And he walked over, and he pulls a tape that was in the VHS out, sticks his tape in and figures out a way to make the TV work, which was always a struggle around my house at the time, you know, figuring out how to get the VHS to work with the TV. If anybody else you know lived in that era, they kind of understand what I'm saying, but they got he got it working like that, like no problem, and he hits play, and it's the two point play of a game that our team won against Valencia High School, which was down the road from us. We played them for 20 years and hadn't beaten them, and we scored to get to 7-6 just before the final ticks of the the clock, and they had two studs on defense. One's name was Goulet. I forget the other guy's name, but, but they're both really good football players, and my coach decided to go for two rather than kicking the extra point and just taking the tie.

So we got down there and we ran 35 boot pass, or 34 boot pass, and I got outside and all my receivers were getting mugged, or they were all shut down, or they were all kind of locked down. I was trying to buy time find a guy that was open, and one of these guys who went on to play D1, football kind of grabs me around the waist, and then the other guy starts swinging from my leg, and all of a sudden I see my tight end, Lenny Wagner, who's the head. Coach up at Santa Rosa JC, along with another Cal alum, Dante DePaola, but he sticks his hand up, and I see him, and I throw it as I'm going down, put the ball in his hand, and we win the game. Two point play, he catches it. It's all good. You know, pandemonium ensues, and Bruce stops the tape, and he looks at me, and he goes, "That's the guy we're recruiting. That's the quarterback we want right there." And I was like, "Oh, like, I get it. Like, from right there, I got it. And so I got Bruce, what he was trying to do, and his thought process from the first couple moments that I met him, I understood him.

Super nice guy, but there was an intensity to him that a lot of people didn't see. And actually a lot of my team were a little bit scared of him, which is, I guess good for a head coach, but I was never scared of him because I understood the method of what he was trying to do. But that's how I got to Cal and he's looking for that fire that we were talking about when I talk about writing the book. I learned that as an athlete to compete, and the harder I competed, and the more I beat back the lung disease, the better I got to be as an athlete, the more mental toughness I built. Kind of, going through hard things made me mentally tougher. 

Jim: There was a lot of greatness in all those guys in Snyder and Mooch and Shay. What are some of the standout elements that you were able to pull from those guys and incorporate in your thought process?

Mike: Bruce instilled our senior year - this story, by the way, is also in the books, I'm not gonna go into complete detail. I want somebody to buy the book too, but he instilled a one-at-a-time philosophy with our team, and now they call it being present. You're being present for everything but the way Bruce framed it for us, and the way Bruce taught the team, and the way he made it kind of our motto for the year really focused up a team who was pretty good in 1990 into a team who could perform every play for that play. And it was an exceptional way of teaching. It was an exceptional motto and slogan for that team for that season. And that was one of the huge lessons that I took away from Bruce, was that one-at-a-time mentality, which you take the reps that are yours, you handle your business that's in front of you without worrying about everything else.

Jim: So first things first. Focus on the job at hand, and don't let the other extraneous things interfere with that process.

Mike: Exactly. You focus on your task and let everything else be what it is. You can only control, what you can control,  so in the moment, one at a time is super important. 

Jim: Now, you led the team to the first bowl game and first bowl game win in over a decade in the Copper Bowl and that was really special to Cal fans. But what really took it to a different level was becoming one of the elite teams in the country your senior year in 1991, where you you went 10-2 and just took Clemson to the woodshed when they came in real cocky, thinking they were going to teach these California boys a lesson and and you guys didn't just win. You exerted your dominance over a big, strong, tough, traditional program. Was that one of the most special memories of your time at Cal?

MIke: For sure, it was. Yeah, no doubt about it. And a huge piece of that was that - I don't know if you remember 1990 but Bruce had that team for the UCLA game come walking through the stands, remember that, when we came into the stands and to the field that way, and to me, that was a way of getting the team to think about themselves differently, and he did that. He introduced that one at a time going into our senior year in '91 and he made the team think about themselves differently, different than the way Cal had been in the past, different than teams in the past, different than how we thought of ourselves as athletes in the past, right? 

A lot of us were under-recruited. I just saw Troy Auzenne yesterday and he's a guy who was totally under-recruited, ended up being a college All-American football player and then going on to be runner-up for Rookie of the Year in the NFL. So a lot of guys who ended up at Cal during that era with Bruce and Mooch and Terry and Ollie Wilson and all the defensive staff, were guys who weren't high recruits, so he had to change the mindset on that team so that we thought differently about ourselves. I write all about it in the book, and I talk about that process that he used, and how you can form your own identity, how you can change things for yourself by thinking differently about things, just taking a different perspective. We get locked into a kind of perspective of this is what it is, and I just keep following this track, and this is what happens. But instead, if you think differently, if you get yourself outside of that box, you can really change your stars. And that team did that because of the way the mindset tools that Bruce used to help us do that, not to mention all the other coaches.

Jim: Now, after that tremendous bowl game win and the successful career you had at Cal, you had to make a totally different pivot getting yourself ready for a professional career. And obviously, you're the type of driven guy where it wasn't just about the college game, it was it was about squeezing every bit of out of this career that you could and you got your look at the NFL, and you had a long decade plus successful career in the the Arena League. What knowledge that you had gleaned up to that point helped prepare you and help you excel at the next level?

Mike: So it's, it's pretty funny when you look at the guys who are stars in the NFL, right? You think of these phenomenal players, and they are the NFL best athletes in the world. They're incredible. But then you get a guy like Brock Purdy, or you get a guy like Kurt Warner or these guys who were either undrafted or late draftees, and all of a sudden they get in there, and they start to flourish. And I will tell people, there are a lot more of those guys out there than you think that just don't get their shot. We've I felt like one of those guys coming through Cal that I didn't get my shot, ended up as an eighth round draft pick, which is kind of an afterthought as a quarterback. I think a lot of guys that happens to you, you're not the right height, you don't have the arm strength, maybe not the foot speed, whatever it is that coaches don't think of you as that guy. I had learned from pushing through my childhood illnesses, and from not just that, but being at Cal and watching a program go from we were.

I think Cal was 1-8-1 the year that I got recruited, and then becoming 10-2 my senior year and I saw that if you did the work, if you focused on what you're supposed to focus on, if you had the right mindset, if you use the right tools to help yourself emotionally as much as physically right. Because once you get the right mindset, then you can get the physical stuff right. You will do the work to get the physical stuff right, but emotionally and intellectually, if you did things the right way, then you could change your stars. You could make what you want to happen happen. It doesn't always work out, but pushing through, you're better for the struggle regardless. 

So I went to the NFL. I was cut. It's really funny, I had one of the coaches that I had played for in the NFL. He was on the NFL team the other day. He's like, "Ah, I should have kept you. You'd have been a 12 year NFL guy." So I think there's a ton of those guys out there. But if you stick to what you're doing, if you if you continue the process the right way, if you continue to have the right mindset, and you continue to do the work, eventually you get better, and you improve, and you find the skills you need, and you become a better player, or better at whatever you do. And then when you look back, like, "Oh, that was a lot of work, but there's a process to it," and that's what I write about in the book, about the process, about getting better. 

I think so many people these days are looking for that hack, right? What's this trick, or what's the tactic that I can use? What's this one thing that's going to change everything for me? The shortcuts, and throughout human history, there hasn't been a lot of shortcuts, but we are incredibly adaptive as a species, so if we push our bodies to adapt, it will - I actually introduce it in the book. It's called the high achievers protocol. The way I talk about it so that people can memorize it as a mnemonic but it helps people to understand the process of improvement, understand the process of success.

Jim: So what have you taken from your collegiate and professional career and then infused it into some of your post-athletic endeavors, with your broadcasting and some of the other things that you've been involved in?

Mike: There's a lot, right? Everything we learn, we kind of take into the next steps of our lives, which is the beauty of being adaptive, being adaptable, and the beauty of being a very cognitive animal. One of the huge pieces, which I love, was I was always as a player looking to refine my body, looking to refine my performance. And so I would try different things out, and if they helped, I would do them. If they didn't help, I would stop doing them. So it was this whole trial and error issue of, how do I get better? How do I improve? How do I grow as an athlete, as a person, all these things, so that's one of the things I took with me into everything. 

How can I get better at this? If I take the reps, what kind of reps do I have to take? How do I help myself? How do I improve without being able to take reps? Where can I learn from that. What do I have to think? What's my identity? What does that have to be? So I was always looking to refine, improve, get better and grow. And I think that's the biggest piece for anybody, whether you're six years old, or whether you're 60 years old or 80 years old. As long as you're continuing to look to grow, then the human body will adapt. We have what's called neuroplasticity. Our brains will always adapt. Everything I'm talking about, it's not just this jock, try-harder book. I did a ton of research. There's a ton of science in this book. There's a there's a ton of the new studies that people have been working with, the SMRI studies, that back up what you're saying. And what I did is kind of reverse engineer as a player. I said, "Oh, this is what I did. And then I look at the science, I'm like, "Oh, that's why that worked over here. 

So now I tie that back to what's going on, to what I was thinking as an athlete. And then I applied for how people can use it in their everyday life, but having the experience of doing it and then understanding why that works cognitively, or why that works physiologically, putting that together to help people. I thought it's an insight that people don't get everywhere. A lot of times, you'll get a jock saying, "Yes, you need to do this, and this is why you need to do it. Or you'll get a scientist saying, Well, this study said that X, Y and Z, and we studied these and many people, but I did it first, and then I went back and figured out what process was going on to make that happen. So I think it's unique perspective for people at home.

Jim: So obviously, Cal fans, athletes, former athletes, they're going to get a lot out of this book. What would you say are some of the finer-point elements that just your everyday person can take out of Every Day Great and say, "This makes sense for me. I can apply this in my career. I can apply this in my daily life and get more out of myself?"

Mike: There's a bunch of lessons in the book about about how you set your identity to help you, and how, actually, science has shown us that setting your identity the right way won't necessarily guarantee success, but it will give you a lot better chance at achieving success. So figuring out how to set your identity is a big piece of it, the process for working through difficult times, the process for being resilient, right? Because we all face adversity.

We're all gonna face hard times in our life, and it's gonna happen over and over and over so the ability to be resilient in those times, there's a process for it. I've got the science to back it up. I actually give people, I told you, the high achievers protocol. It is a it is a fully encompassed concept on how the human body adapts, how you improve, how you achieve. But it also gives you a little cheat in the fact that you can use it as a countdown, like when you're feeling hesitant, when you're not you're like, "I don't really want to go. I don't want to make this call." And we all have this moment when we're holding ourselves back. We're like, "Oh, I really don't want to go face this meeting, or I don't want to raise my hand with my idea." This gives you an opportunity to count yourself down so that you can say, "Nope, I'm doing it right now," and to act. And a lot of the time, if we would just act, it would change things for us. And rather than holding ourselves back, rather than staying inside of ourselves, I give you a tool, a process, for helping yourself act when the moment strikes." 

Jim: So you're giving people the confidence to take that knowledge and apply it, knowing that there's background to it. It's not just a hunch I have. If I do it this way, I'm going to get some success. But this is a proven set of hypotheses that I can really apply to my business world and my personal life and my relationships and just take it to a higher level. 

Mike: Yeah, I tell them. I teach you the science behind why it is that we don't do things, why it is that we hold ourselves back, why it is that we kind of won't put ourselves out there, take those chances that we know can win, and why we get so nervous about them, or why, why we freeze, for lack of a better term, when we could act. And then I give you the tools. So once you understand that, once you understand the biology of that, it's a lot easier to understand the tools that you use and to overcome it. So that's the important part for me as an athlete.

You think about it, I literally start the book in the tunnel with my team at in the Arena Bowl. So when we're playing going into our first Arena Bowl Championship, I start the book the very first chapter. You are in the tunnel with me, first word right out of the gate, and you get to feel, literally feel, what it's like to be a player getting ready to go on the biggest stage that you've been on. This is front of millions of people at home on ABC. It's, it's for the championship, for what you've worked for all year long. 
So everything that's going on with the human biological stress response, and everything that's going on inside guys' minds, and what it's like to step through the tunnel, and all those things I start you there, and I explain throughout the course of the book how the human stress response affects you, and how. Your physiology affects what you do and how you can apply that to any position, any job, any time, and how you can handle stress better your life. 

So Urban Meyer and I did a fly fishing retreat together. And by the way, anybody who who is interested in doing something like that next year, just leave me a message down below. And there may be spots, but it's a fantastic fly fishing retreat. He was reading the book on the way home, and he kept texting me. He's like, 'Wow, you brought people into the tunnel. And wow, that grizzly bear story took my breath away." And he just kept texting me, over and over as he's reading the book. So I love storytelling, as you know. You listen to me speak all the time. I love telling stories, and I love telling immersive stories that bring people emotionally to that point with you. So the stories, I did my best to tell these the stories that will emotionally get you where the athletes are and get you to understand the lesson, because the human brain encodes lessons in stories, right? That's how we remember these lessons, is through the stories that we've lived or through the stories that we've seen. So I try to tell great stories and then give you the lessons and the science on the backside to help you understand how to get more from yourself.

Jim: Well, I can't wait for a broader audience to be exposed to your thoughts and your stories, and you know, as well as anybody else, you don't get anywhere staying in your comfort zone, and you're giving some really practical input on exactly how to get out of your comfort zone in a productive way that's going to benefit you big time, because comfort zone gets you comfort and not a lot else, no risk, no gain.

Mike: Yeah, and the comfort zone eventually gets uncomfortable too, right? Because then, then you're thinking, Oh, well, I didn't do the things I should've done. And then you start putting pressure on yourself, and you feel unfulfilled, right? I talk about in the book. How to achieve that ultimate fulfillment. And there's a combination, and there's a there's a mix of how you find that between challenge and connection and then safety, like they're all mixed in, but you have to find that for yourself. But there's tools that you can use and there's a mindset that will get you there.

Jim: And when does your book go into print? Or is it in print already?

Mike: The Kindle version is available right now. Kindle is ready to go, but October 10 is when the book goes to print at Amazon. You can get it on Amazon. When you go into Amazon, type in Every Day Great book, and it will literally take you to the book. And I can put a link down below as soon as it comes up as well. But what I would love is for Cal fans to help me become a best seller, right? All of our Bear Insiders, I would love to be a best selling author, along with everything else that I've done. It would be fantastic. And the way Amazon does it is if people go out and buy an early surge of books right away, then it becomes one of those books they recommend, and once they start recommending it, because the algorithm is telling them this book has a lot of attention, they start pushing it. Once you start pushing it, that's the way you can become a bestseller. The other way is when people are giving reviews. So when the book comes out, if you buy it and just give me a quick, honest review on the book, I would love that, because that will help me kind of climb the charts as a best seller.

Jim: Well, you've got a lot of big fans out there. I know you're gonna see a lot of support and we'd love to see you break through to a broader audience, too, to let people know what makes yout tick, what's made you great and what makes Cal great, too. We all know that's the case, too.

Mike: No doubt about it. Yeah, and it's in the book. I talk about it in the book too, about how great it is at Cal, how great it was to learn at Cal and and all the lessons - not just the lessons but really the people there too, right? My Cal family has been sensational since I left Cal, since I got there, really. But since I left Cal, too, my Cal family has been sensational. So I talk about that, about what how great it is to be part of the University of California.

Jim: That's awesome. Well, it's been great to talk about a little bit something different this week. And we'll be looking forward to your upcoming podcast, breaking down the upcoming big GameDay Miami-Cal game Saturday night, and looking forward to your insights and what we're going to see on the field on Saturday, too. But thanks for taking the time to talk.

Mike: Absolutely brother, I appreciate you coming on. Appreciate you talking about my book like this and Bears fans, I hope you enjoy the book more than anything. I hope you enjoy the book. I think it can make a difference. There's some lessons in there that you guys will love. There's a ton of great stories from behind the scenes that you guys will love as well. So thanks, Jim.

JIm: Awesome, thanks. Well, it's been a great, Ultimate Insider Podcast. Thanks, Mike and thanks to all you Cal fans. We'll be talking to you soon and make those orders as fast as possible.
Mike: Go Bears! Let's do it.

You can hear the audio podcast on Soundcloud, Spotify and Apple Podcasts or on most podcast streaming services. You can also view the podcast on the video above.

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Every Day Great- The Playbook for Winning At Everything is the clearest and most foolproof process for improving your performance, overcoming adversity, and finding fulfillment ever.

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· Regulate Your Stress and Face Your Fear: Take control of your life by mastering stress management techniques and confronting your fears head-on.

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· The High Achiever’s Protocol: Discover mental toughness strategies that top performers use to stay ahead.

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What people are saying about Every Day Great: The Playbook For Winning at Everything: “From the stunning first chapter, Pawlawski’s Every Day Great grabs hold and dares you to let go. It’s a masterful journey through real-life experiences, packed with powerful lessons that anyone can apply to elevate their life. Each story pulses with energy and insight, delivering motivation that sticks long after you’ve turned the last page. This book is a game-changer!"

-Richard A. Formato, Private Investor, CEO and Founder, Klick, and Sales Edge. Member of the Board, Marine Board Foundation

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-Justin Allegri, Veteran college football, basketball, and professional baseball broadcaster. Voice on MLB The Show

"Mike’s Every Day Great mindset coaching is a powerful resource for my high-performing clients. His stories of overcoming adversity resonate deeply—you can feel them in your bones. I can’t wait to get copies of his book for everyone I work with." —Dr. Cio Hernandez, Ph.D., LMFT

“Pawlawski has been a winner in numerous endeavors: on the gridiron, behind the camera, and as an outdoorsman, to name a few. Like most of us, he has overcome challenges to achieve success. Unlike most of us, Mike has found a way to capture lessons from these challenges and deliver them on the page - spoken like a humble friend trying to assist us on our journey - for all to learn from and find inspiration.

I highly recommend Every Day Great: The Playbook for Winning at Everything to anyone who desires improvement in their situation, be it athletically, personally or professionally. After many years in the public arena, Mike remains a champion. Let him into your world and allow Mike to be a champion for you, as well.”

-Thomas Repicci, Sports & Entertainment Executive

“Mike brings the same intensity and focus to Every Day Great that he did on the field. This book is a masterclass in overcoming obstacles and finding success. A master communicator on the air, Mike’s voice resonates throughout these pages, making the lessons feel both personal and universally relevant. His stories are as riveting as they are motivating.”

-Larry Beil, KGO7 Sports Director and Former SportsCenter Anchor

“A must read! Mike Pawlawski is a captivating storyteller with a powerful message. If you want success in any area of your life, this is the book that’s going to get you there.”

-Kris Ashley, author of Change Your Mind To Change Your Reality

“Every Day Great reads like an adventure, blending science, human behavior, and actionable wisdom on living your best life. Mike’s journey, marked by overcoming incredible challenges, is a testament to the human capacity for resilience and growth. This book is a must-read for anyone seeking inspiration to face their own obstacles to unlock how to live a truly extraordinary life.”

– Jessica DeAngelo, Chief Hiking Officer, Hike to Become