My name is Caden Thompson I am the host of The Crunch Time Performance Show. This show will dive into mental performance strategies that I have learned throughout my career and use with athletes to develop their mental skills.
Ep 11 Where Your Attention Goes, Your Energy Flows | A Candid Reflection with Caden Thompson
In this episode of The Crunch Time Performance Show, Caden shares a candid reflection on a simple but powerful truth: where your attention goes, your energy flows.
After a week filled with preparing for a work opportunity, time with friends, and moments of both excitement and anxiety, Caden unpacks how attention shapes not only performance, but emotion, creativity, and identity. He explores how the direction of our focus determines our energy and experiences.
In athletics and life, if your attention is constantly judging your performance, your energy becomes judgmental. You slip into “self 1” — the analytical, critical voice that tightens you up and limits your creativity. But when you shift into a state of consciousness without thought — fully present and immersed in the task — you access flow, freedom, and creativity.
This episode challenges listeners to examine what they are consuming, what they are feeding their minds, and whether their attention is being invested in creation or drained by comparison and overanalysis. Your attention is currency. Where you spend it determines the quality of your energy, your work, and your life.
A reflective conversation on focus, performance, awareness, and reclaiming control over your internal state.
10 Feb 2026
Ep 10 The Bamboo Tree | Trusting Your Work with Jonas Salk
In this episode of The Crunch Time Performance Show, Caden is joined by University of Portland baseball player Jonas Salk for a powerful conversation about patience, faith, and long-term growth. Having played together since they were 13, Caden and Jonas reflect on Jonas’s journey from high school recruit to a preseason All-WCC selection and senior leader for the Portland Pilots.
Using the growth of the bamboo tree as a metaphor, the episode explores how progress in athletics and life is rarely linear. Jonas shares his recruitment journey, the years of unseen work that laid the foundation for his development, and how his growth as a player often appeared sudden to the outside world despite being years in the making.
Jonas discusses using the success and attention of other players as fuel, objectively evaluating his own game, and committing to the daily work required to improve even when results weren’t immediate. The conversation also highlights the role of faith in his development — submitting to uncertainty while remaining proactive and disciplined in his pursuit of growth.
This episode is a reminder that breakthroughs are built quietly, consistency compounds over time, and trust in the process is often what separates those who persist from those who quit too early.
5 Feb 2026
Ep 9 Who Are You When You Can’t Play | Overcoming Injury with Austin Turkington
In this episode of The Crunch Time Performance Show, Caden is joined by UC Berkeley pitcher Austin Turkington for an honest conversation about the mental and emotional challenges of injury. Caden opens the episode by sharing his own injury history, including multiple surgeries throughout his playing career, to provide context for the discussion and highlight the shared experience many athletes face when the game is taken away from them.
Austin, a senior pitcher at UC Berkeley and former Friday night starter, shares what he’s currently going through as he navigates another injury after already enduring Tommy John surgery earlier in his career. Together, they explore how injuries challenge an athlete’s identity, force discomfort, and create opportunities for growth beyond the field.
The conversation dives into the importance of having a strong support system, and leaning on competition as a driving force during rehab. Austin reflects on what he’s gained from injury, how it’s shaped him as both an athlete and a person, and offers advice to anyone currently facing the mental grind of recovery.
This episode is for any athlete dealing with injury, adversity, or uncertainty — and serves as a reminder that setbacks don’t define you, but how you respond to them does.
3 Feb 2026
Ep 8 Happiness is Fleeting | Gratitude in Micro Moments
In this episode Caden explores the idea of happiness and why it can feel so fleeting. Drawing on insights from James Clear, Caden discusses how happiness is often tied to the absence of desire, and how new desires continually emerge as we move through life. He breaks down how it’s possible to hold ambitions and goals while still practicing gratitude in the present moment, and why gratitude is one of the most reliable ways to experience happiness in the short term. This episode emphasizes the power of recognizing the small things we often take for granted, finding joy in everyday moments, and using practices like gratitude journaling to build greater awareness and contentment. A reflective conversation on happiness, perspective, and learning how to enjoy where you are while still striving for more.
29 Jan 2026
Ep 7 Professional Baseball, 14:24, and the Benefit of Emotional Control
In this episode Caden sits down with professional baseball player Caden Wooster, a Santa Clara University alum and current member of the New York Mets organization. As Wooster prepares for his first professional spring training, the two discuss the emotional transition from college baseball to the professional level and what it takes to stay grounded in a new, high-pressure environment. The conversation explores how elite athletes develop awareness of their emotions, use them intentionally rather than suppressing them, and master the mundane daily process that ultimately drives performance. Wooster also shares insights on mental performance skills that have carried over into pro ball, lessons learned from being around other professionals, and the power of the 14:24 rule—using just 1% of your day to consistently improve at something that matters. This episode offers a practical look into the mindset, discipline, and process required to compete at the next level.
26 Jan 2026
Ep 6 Overcoming A Bad Game | "Shower Well"
In this episode Caden talks about the emotional side of having a bad game and how athletes can learn to move forward without carrying that weight into the rest of their lives. Drawing from personal experience, Caden reflects on the feeling of preparing fully, showing up with intent, and still having things go wrong. He introduces the idea of “showering well” — a simple but powerful practice taught by a teammate — as a way to process emotions, release frustration, and create a clean separation between life on the field and life off it. This episode is a reminder that feeling emotions after a game is normal, but learning when and where to let them live is a crucial mental skill for long-term performance, healthy relationships, and perspective.
22 Jan 2026
Ep 5 Why Adversity is an Advantage and The Lessons Learned From Failure
In this episode Caden welcomes the first-ever guest on The Crunch Time Performance Show, Santa Clara University baseball player Tate Medicoff. The conversation dives deep into handling adversity, including navigating preseason setbacks like illness, staying committed to routines, and maintaining confidence when momentum feels disrupted. Tate also opens up about how being diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at age nine shaped his mindset, work ethic, and perspective, and why an attitude of gratitude has become a cornerstone of his mental performance. This episode is a powerful discussion on resilience, process, and why nothing good comes easy.
20 Jan 2026
Ep 4 Never Slump Again
In this episode Caden breaks down how athletes can get out of a slump by redefining what a slump actually is. He explains why judging performance purely on results is misleading—especially in a game like baseball—and why the best players evaluate themselves based on the execution of their process, not outcomes they can’t control. Caden walks through a simple, practical framework for creating a “slump-proof” process, including the exact criteria he used to grade his own at-bats: mental clarity, pitch selection, and timing. This episode is a reminder that slumps aren’t failures—they’re signals to refine your process, recommit to your standards, and stay present in each opportunity.
12 Jan 2026
Ep 3 Claiming a New Identity and Driving New Behaviors
In this episode Caden breaks down the three stages of behavior change from Atomic Habits and explains how real change starts with identity, not motivation. He walks through a simple three-step reflection process designed to help you create habits that actually stick: identifying what matters most to you, defining the identity you want to become around those priorities, and aligning your daily habits and behaviors with that identity. This episode is a practical guide for anyone looking to build lasting discipline, clarity, and momentum through intentional habit design.
8 Jan 2026
Ep 2 Gratitude and a Childlike Sense of Freedom
Join Caden as he engages in solo dialogue referencing the work of other creators in the space and curates an enriching story of reflection and gratitude. In this episode you will gain a better sense of your own intentions and challenge the way you currently go about your life. Caden will explain his experience with a new actualization from listening to a SIPDrake Podcast.
4 Jan 2026
Ep 1 Overcoming Self Doubt
Episode 1 of the show is a quick discussion about athletes facing self doubt. In this episode, I discuss the widespread impact of self doubt among athletics, what it is, and strategies to overcome self doubt, self sabotage, and performance anxiety.
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