Sobriety, Discipline & Mental Toughness: The Mindset Behind High Performance | Connor Treacy

In this episode of Hoops and Headspace, Jada Rich sits down with Connor Treacy to break down the real mindset behind high performance in sports, business, and life.

This conversation dives deep into mental resilience, sobriety, discipline, and leadership—and how these principles shape long-term success both on and off the court.

Connor shares his journey through athletics and entertainment, explaining how removing distractions, building consistency, and staying grounded under pressure can unlock your full potential.

Whether you're an athlete, coach, or someone focused on personal growth, this episode delivers real insight on what it takes to stay disciplined and perform at a high level.

#MentalToughness #AthleteMindset #SportsPsychology #SobrietyJourney #Discipline #Leadership #PersonalGrowth #Consistency #HoopsAndHeadspace #MindsetMatters #HighPerformance #SelfImprovement

🎯 WHAT YOU’LL LEARN

•  How sobriety improves focus, discipline, and performance 
•  Why separating identity from performance is critical 
•  The truth about mental toughness and consistency 
•  Leadership through humility and leading by example 
•  How sports build routines that translate into life and business 
•  Why consistency beats talent over time 

🧠 KEY TAKEAWAYS

•  Mental resilience is built through daily discipline 
•  Sobriety can sharpen focus and accelerate growth 
•  Success comes from consistency, not short bursts of effort 
•  Leadership starts with accountability and humility 
•  Your identity should be bigger than your performance 

⏱️ CHAPTERS

00:00 Introduction
 01:14 Separating Performance & Identity
 03:08 Impact of Sobriety
 06:21 Sports & Performance Under Pressure
 09:42 Discipline & Routine
 12:37 Leadership & Humility
 16:23 Resilience Through Setbacks
 17:50 Life After Sports
 22:56 Achievements & Future

🎧 LISTEN / WATCH MORE

https://linktr.ee/hoopsandheadspacepodcast

📲 FOLLOW CONNOR TREACY

Instagram / TikTok / YouTube / X: @theconnortreacy

Transcript

0:00

Before we get into today's episode, we got something big we're gonna share with y'all. We are hosting, as far as I know, the first Mississippi Black Creators Podcast Summit. And it's gonna be on July 18th in Oxford, Mississippi. We're gonna bring everybody together. want all the podcast, all the content creators, and the entrepreneurs from across the state to pull up on us and enjoy a good time. Good time. Good time. And if you've been wanting to grow your platform, learn how to monetize, and just connect with other creators in real life, this is for you. Now, official tickets will go on sale May 1st for everybody. That's general admission and regular VIP tickets. Alright, so don't miss your chance to be a part of this amazing event. Now, let's get to this episode of Hoops and Headspace. Welcome to Hoops and Headspace, the podcast where mental health and sports intersect. I'm your host, Jada Rich. We do have a guest with us today. We have Connor Treacy and we're gonna give him the opportunity from the jump to talk his talk and let y'all know who he is, where he's from, and all that good stuff. Let's go. Thank you so much for having me. Definitely. I'm excited for this. And I like your neon lights in the background. Thank you. Let's go. Um, and so what we're talk about today, as far as your episode, we're gonna talk about mental resilience, identity, leadership, and your journey through sobriety, athletics, and stuff like that. Yeah. So the first thing I want to start with is congratulations. Thank How long have you been sober? Um, I feel like around like 14 years. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. It was, it was 14 years in January. So probably now like 14 years and three months or something like that, two or three months. So as far as your journey, how has that shaped your mindset as far as discipline, uh, routine, accountability, things like that? Yeah. Um, I mean, I guess like uh at a super high level, I don't have any more of those moments in the morning where I wake up and I'm like, my God, I can't believe I didn't do that. You know what mean? can't believe I did that. so, ah you know, cause that could be bad in itself if like, you know, me being in the entertainment world, if I was, you know, wasted at a entertainment event or something and then. I acted crazy in front of like a CEO or someone and then the next day I'm like, my God, what I do. So I think, know, at a high level, I think it just uh eliminates me making like big mistakes like that and it allows me to be more consistent over time, you know? Yeah. And just to expand on that a little bit, I know as a fan of entertainers, on the other end, you mentioned CEOs, but as a consumer, that can cause problems too, right? yeah, yeah, no, it's, yeah, like when I owned uh the club off Sunset that I was doing, yeah, like it, I couldn't even imagine, like if I was like drunk or something like that, um you know, while like working, and then I'm trying to deal with like clients getting in, or if there is like a huge celebrity or artists that, is trying to get in through the back or this or that and I'm not able to like fully step up to the plate. You know, all of a sudden, like that person has like a bad idea in their head of you and in the future, they'll just reach out to someone else, you know, so um especially like in that world, you need to be on point. You gotta be gotta be on your P's and Q's. you know. And you know, they not recently found out what that meaning like what the meaning of that was. Like the literal meaning of the bing on your Ps and Qs? No, no. What is it actually? I just like it. feel like it has a meaning to it. So what they say is a lot of people, since they look kind of alike when they're writing or used to write or whatever, if you don't pay attention, you might get it wrong. So they say you pay more attention to your Ps and Qs. I recently just found that out. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, that's good. Yeah. Yeah, that makes sense. Okay. think it's a little useless. Useless perfect. Learn something new every day. Let's go. But you talk about separating performance and identity. Can you unpack what that means and why it's important for your growth? Yeah, I think like, you know, for me, like, I think just the fact that I've been sober. like I've been sober since I was 19. So uh I've basically been, I've been sober like my whole career. And so I think that like, when you're just present all the time, and you have to like look at everything through a sober lens, like, I always am just like very aware of kind of like where I'm at in life and like my career and like, what I need to do to like keep expanding it because I feel like you know, maybe if you're like checked out or things are blurry or you're kind of just, you know, partying more than you should. You're maybe like less focused on the future or trying to like, you know, just build or expand upon like what you're doing. And so I feel like that's kind of, I don't know, maybe even like my secret sauce in a sense. Like I don't, maybe that's kind of like why more things have worked out for me than not or something. So that's kind of been my take on it at least, you know? And so as far as like your village, like, you know, the people you work with, your family, collaborators, stuff like that. How has this sobriety changed your relationship with them? Well, yeah, now I'm definitely probably looked at as more of the like reliable one in the family or this or that, not really the crazy one. yeah, I think like. I think it changes the perception a lot. think, by the way, I'm not really the type of person that tries to preach to everyone. I'm sure there's some people, there's probably a lot of people that can just drink normally or have a good time here and there. That just wasn't me. I think when you're doing that, then people are, at least for me, less. they weren't taking me seriously, you know, and so now I don't, you know, I mean, like people in my family, they've only kind of known me as this version now, right? So I'm probably like reliable. You can probably call me and ask for help for anything. Like if you have a flat tire on the side of the road and you me to come help you, I could, you know what mean? At any time of the day or hour. Yeah. I've never really like checked out. So I think that's probably been one of the biggest changes, I guess, in the shift of perception. Okay. So let's go back for a second. You said you've been sober since you were 19, right? Yeah. So how long were you not sober? Yeah, I started drinking in high school. So I kind of fell into it. I always was like a, obviously I was in high school and then also I, you know. was a competitive tennis player. was for more for me, more or less, it was more like, OK, like this weekend, I don't have a tournament like I can drink or you know what I mean? And so but I feel like towards the end of high school, I just kind of like realized I didn't really like the way it made me feel. And I didn't like. don't know, just it kind of throws you off a little bit, you know, and then I kind of just stopped and then my like life just changed very fast, like a lot of the events I was doing. started to like get really popular and I was making a lot of connections and I kind of just was like, hey, like, you know, maybe, maybe like I should just stay like this because maybe if I start drinking again, then I'll lose my edge or something. So that was kind of it wasn't like something I planned. I just kind of like fell into it and then ah just kept it going because I just feel like my life just was improving. You know, so I was like, don't don't break it. ah Don't fix it if isn't broken, right? There it is. I almost messed that one up. Now you get it. Yeah, yeah. And so then another question for the athletes. How did you drinking at the time of being a competitive tennis player affect you athletically? You know, I think like it. It took a little bit of the competitive it. I think what it mainly did was it made it made me not feel like consistent where I didn't feel as dialed in. And then you get this feeling of like, you know, if you're like up late drinking or at a party or this or that, You don't have as much maybe of like a competitive thing really like I need to win this. You're like, like, you know, maybe I'll just like play okay, but I don't necessarily, it's not life or death if I win or, you know what I mean? And so now, especially with what I'm doing, I feel like I'm pretty competitive with it and I'm dialed in and it's like, this is like what I'm doing and like, it needs to get done. It's, you know what I mean? So that's like for me, like what it changed about me, you know? Definitely. And as far as your athletic background in tennis and judo. Yeah, judo. Yeah, yeah, we can't forget that. Yeah. Let's go. It's talking how to perform under pressure. What lessons from that still guide you today? yeah, I think like, you know, I've been I've been in competitive sports basically since I was like four years old. And, you know, I was I was doing the judo till I was about 10. And I got pretty high up in that I, I was I won the national championships when I was like 10 for the whatever the USJF whatever thing and then I like have photos and stuff with like Rhonda Rousey, like I trained at the same dojo and stuff. So I was like pretty tapped in, in that world. She's like a big uh UFC person. But uh... Yeah, basically I feel like that with the tennis, it's kind of just like you're used to being kind of in a competitive environment, like week after week. And tennis is similar to judo. Judo, you're straight up fighting people, right? So it's one on one. It's very like in your face. And so I ultimately quit because I didn't I didn't I wanted to just like watch Pokemon or like do normal things on the weekend. I didn't. But, you know, I didn't really have a choice. I kind of. started doing tennis right after that. But I think it teaches you, uh you know, that life is competitive and, know, you're going to have to like always kind of compete. then to like when you are used to competing like that all the time, you don't even think about it as much. You know, I always felt like I played I played better in tournaments like when I was just playing a lot of tournaments, because then I wasn't like overthinking. I was like, whatever, I was doing this last week, you know, versus like If you take like three months off and then it's your first tournament back and you're like, this feels awkward. Or you know what I mean? So, um, just it's kind of better to just be in the flow of it than to stop momentum. Right. And I'll hear a lot of times we like to talk about how the things you learn in sports transition into your life after. So as far as sports teaching you routine and discipline, how has it helped? You translate good habits as far as a professional in the music and entrepreneurship. Yeah, I think like, um, especially judo was like so long ago for me, but tennis, um, you know, with tennis, like I have a very specific strategy typically with how I play. Like I play like a very consistent type game. I go for my shots. I don't try to like over hit or hit too hard. And I play more of like a long game with it and I feel like having that strategy with like work is my same as well. Like I don't necessarily try to like hit home runs every day. I just try to like be very consistent. We're like, okay, like if I do this every day and this and this, then I know that every six months or a year I'll get like another hit. And like, that's kind of more the mentality that I try to have is um being more like consistent and not like being able to like last longer maybe than everyone else. Yeah. Yeah. And then mentally, how do you stay grounded now in those high state moments as far as music and entrepreneurship? It's not that easy. I'll tell you that. uh I think it's easier now because I'm older and I've I've seen the highs and lows from it a lot. So I know that there'll be some years that I'm hotter than others or this or that and but I know now like over time there's always another like thing that comes along my way typically because you know I work the same amount every day and I don't really change my routine and I'm doing this and that and putting myself in position so Yeah, I guess like dealing with the mental part of that it's it's it's somewhat manageable now because I've seen uh that but in the beginning it's really hard, right? Like it's it's so many times where you do one thing and it totally works and then the next thing totally fails and then you're like, am I done or you know, so uh I guess my advice is just uh you just got to really love what you do and you got to you just have to stick through it and honestly, the The harder things actually made me better now at what I am. And I've gone through so many of those lows that now I feel more hardened where I'm used to it. I'm like, okay, you know? So I think it's good. Yeah. uh Quick pause right quick. We got something else we got to tell y'all about man. So, we just kicked off our Hoops and Headspace Academy pilot. All right? Yeah. And that pilot group is focused entirely on the mental side of basketball. It's a virtual training where we focus on confidence, handling pressure, and staying sharp on and off that court mentally, man. That's what we doing on there. And you can join from anywhere because it's... There you go. And it's just for players. Yeah. Oh, it's online. Look, he old. Online. Yeah. Anyway. And it's just for those players who really want to level up that mindset and their game. Now, that pilot group is full. But, the full academy will officially begin this summer. So stay tuned for that info and those reviews from that pilot group so you can be ready to join that summer group. Alright, now we done talking. Gonna let y'all get back to the episode. you think, man? See y'all in minute. When it comes to you work with music, hospitality, civic leadership and things like that, how do you define leadership? I guess I don't even necessarily like look at myself as a leader or I don't necessarily try to lead. just try to do the best I can like with the position that I'm in and try to like make everyone around me and what I'm doing win, you know? So I don't, I don't try to like. act like I'm the type of person where I'm on top of everyone else telling them what to do. Like I'm usually, feel like the type of person that's like right there playing with everyone and trying to like get the job done with everyone as a team, you know? So I would say like my idea of leadership is I try to like lead by showing that like I'm out here working with everyone. I'm in the field too. Yeah, yeah, I'm in the field too, you know? So that's kind of how I try to operate. Yeah, most definitely. I like that. I think that's the best answer a leader can give leading by example. Definitely. What common principles do you apply across these different industries? Like which ones can you take across with you? Yeah. um Because you do a lot. Yeah, yeah, yeah. think the principles to have is you need to be like, uh not have an ego. Because a few reasons. One, mean, it's probably just not good to have a big ego. But I think, you you're gonna have hits and you're gonna have losses and then also like you have no idea who you're talking to they could end up becoming like a superstar in two years and if you're rude to them while you're up then you know what saying so I always try to be super cool with everyone talk to everyone the same um and hope that sometimes like if I'm up and I'm helping people and if they're up like two years from now like maybe there's an opportunity that they bring to me or something. So that's kind of how I feel like I've been able to stay consistently like in the mix, like in different industries and stuff like that over the years is by kind of just keeping it cool um and trying to trying to lower as much ego as I can, you know? Yeah. And with the answer you transition, we're good. How do you balance creativity and like the freedom of it? But at the same time, have executive discipline. Yeah, so I, I basically right now am finishing my MBA at USC. I finished in like two months. And so I feel like um the MBA was good for me because I had originally dropped out of school um earlier in my 20s when the events started to really take off. And I feel like what I say about the NBA is like, kind of takes the Peter Pan out of you. Like, I feel like before, I would always just like, do things and I'd be like, like, this has worked before this has worked, like, I just believe in myself. Whereas now, I'm a lot more like calculated where I'm like, okay, like, if I do this, like, what's the ROI on it? Like, even if this fails, like, I'll still get this or this, you know I mean? So it's I don't take as like big of swings now. I try to shoot more for like second or third base shots rather than complete home runs, you know? Yeah. So I think that's like the way that I kind of balance the creativity and the executive side of it now. For sure. And then do you feel like you had some things that were setbacks personally or professionally throughout your journey and what did they teach you about, bro? Yeah, COVID was a big one actually. had, I would say that 2019 was like probably like up to that point, like my biggest year where like I was like working at all the biggest clubs. I was an employee at Universal Music Group. I had an artist that was just starting to like make some pretty big moves. And then I basically decided to leave the label because I wanted to start my own management company. And um right when I left, like three months after that COVID hit and then like the clubs closed, I didn't have my music job. Like everything was done. And I basically like, I didn't have like nothing like in a, in a literal sense, but I just feel like all the things I had going on were just done all of a sudden. And then maybe like a year and a half after COVID hit is when I opened the club off sunset. And so. Back to my point before where I feel like I've been through these highs and lows and it's made me hardened. I know now I can go through losing it all and bouncing back. Just because sometimes it's low and sometimes it's high doesn't mean it's going to be either forever. The club ended up being a huge hit. The first year it made a bunch of money. a lot of like huge like celebrities went there. We did a bunch of big events and I basically had it for about three years. And so and it ended up being the biggest hit that I probably had up to that date. You know what I mean? And so it just goes to show like you can kind of be down on your luck or have nothing really going on and you can always bounce back. You know, so it was. Thank God that happened, by the way. Thank God. I needed that one. We needed that. As far as post-career, a lot of athletes struggle with that. If you can give some advice as far as post-career for athletes, what would you give them? As far as navigating identity and transitioning? Yeah. Because we always discuss, you got to have a plan B. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, and it was hard, by the way, actually. I had played sports like my whole life. So I kind of was doing it since I was four. And then I think I originally dropped out when I was like 21 or 22. And then I was playing on the tennis team during that time. So then when I left school, I stopped playing tennis and I didn't work out for a couple of years, kinda. Yeah, I think like you lose a little bit of your identity, but you also lose the structure from it, you know, because I was so used to waking up at a certain time and like early in the morning to work out and then I have to go to school and then have to like work out afterwards. And then after that, I was doing my like work stuff and doing events. And so all of a sudden, you know, I kind of just fully immersed into the entertainment stuff where I was out every day. networking, going to all the events, this and that, but I kind of just felt like I was like losing myself a little bit, you know, where I each day like kind of was blending together and this and that. And so I went I went back actually now to having a routine again, where I like work out every morning and kind of got things back dialed in. So I feel like you can. You can, the structure you get from being like a student athlete or anything in that world, like you can still implement that into your work life and use it actually to like help you structure everything on a day to day, you know, cause that's how I feel like I'm more in control of everything. doesn't feel like it's getting out of control, you know? Yes, most definitely. What do you believe athletes leaders and high performers misunderstand about resilience? Um, I think the only thing like, like back to the point I was talking about before, like, um, about how, how my style of play is with tennis and stuff like that. Um, and I guess like how I am with work too is like, I think that I always like when I was younger, for example, like when I was playing tennis in high school, I'd always like, I would like watch this guy like Andy Roddick. He was like a huge tennis player at the time. And he always, you know, he would do these crazy serves where he'd serve like 140 miles an hour. And so then I would try to like implement that by like, just when I would play, like hit the hardest serve I could or this or that. And then afterwards, like, When I was in the entertainment world doing stuff in the beginning, I would always try to like, be like, OK, like I'm going to do this and it's going to be the biggest or whatever. Right now, I kind of the way I play tennis and the way that I work is I try to be more like Djokovic, where I just lasted longer than all the other players in tennis. And I just play more of like strategy and percentages and and and outlasting everyone and be more consistent. And maybe I don't hit the hardest or. Maybe I don't hit the most winners or this or that, but structurally, like the way I have things set up with percentages and consistency is I feel like I know over time, the style that I have will win most of the time. know, unless someone is just on a crazy run and they just blow me off the court or they keep making crazy wins in the business world, then sure, maybe they'll pass me. But structurally, the way I have it set up is I know that me personally, I'll win over time. Like it's not, you get what I'm saying? Yeah, most definitely. That's different. Yeah. And then if a listener is currently facing a hard moment or they're questioning their past, what would you tell them about staying consistent through the adversity? I mean, that the adversity kind of like makes you who you are. Right. So I even like had moments before where I made like a dramatic Facebook post where I was like, I'm done. I'm quitting guys like this is it or like I've I've gone through all that. went through COVID where the whole entertainment business got shut down and I kind of was like questioning like, what was I going to do next or this or that? And all that stuff, like honestly makes you more of a beast. Like if you're able to go through it and, and level up from it, cause you gotta remember too, like if you're going through that stuff, then your competition is too, right? So if you're able to make it through that and level up, That's usually sometimes when you separate yourself from everyone else that you're competing with, you know? Most definitely, Yeah. You have gained some isms today, Yeah. And then what we do at the end, so in the beginning we have a talk your talk. It's where you know, you introduce yourself. Hey, I'm Connor. Nice to meet you guys. The second talk your talk, this is where you give yourself flowers. This is where you really talk your talk. You tell folks what you have done and what you have accomplished, what you're doing now, what you plan to do. Everything that you want the folks to know about Connor right here. This is your moment to talk your talk, man. So let the folks know. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I, I don't like talking my talk that much because I, it's more, it's, it's more just like, um, I, I always just feel like there's like people that are like bigger than me or like more important. um I'll do one real quick. Let's do that. show you. I'll show you an image real quick. So we're in my studio right now. Check this out. We got a platinum record right here with Dua Lipa. How's that? Yeah, we got that. So there's a little something for everyone. But I'm humble, promise you. Yeah, most definitely. Yeah. There we go. But you know something, I'm gonna tell you right now. In comparison to the feeling of that talk, your talk right there, the silence in that talk, your talk right there was so loud just through the image, man, most definitely. Let's go. Yeah. But man, I appreciate you coming on. Yeah. I think your story is amazing and it's very inspiring. And I think the biggest plus that I take from it Is it the age of 19? You had the mental resilience to do something a lot of people still haven't done as far as finding that sobriety. No, I appreciate it. Yeah, man. I'm blessed. I'm like really happy and thankful that I ended up doing that when I did. For sure. Man, we definitely appreciate you. And while you're talking about building friendships, You know, you locked in with the fam, you and the Houston Hand Space fam now. We don't have this too much that we can offer you, but whatever we got, man, is yours. Yeah. Appreciate it. Yeah, man. Most definitely. But this is Houston Hand Space, the podcast where mental health and sports intersect. I'm your host, Jada Rich, and we're out of here. Hold on, leave yet. Don't leave yet. Don't leave yet. Stay right there. Before we roll the credits. Look, a couple things before we go. Alright? First, don't forget the Mississippi Black Creators Podcast Summit is going to be July the 18th and it's in... Yup, bam! And it's in Oxford, Mississippi. And it's your chance. Yeah, Oxford. I suppose. And then the second thing we got for y'all For players who want to take their game to the next level our Hoops and Headspace Academy is focused on the mental side of basketball and it focuses on confidence handling pressure and staying sharp on the court is Virtual and their full Academy is gonna open this summer. So be looking out for that information Those reviews and stuff from the pilot group so you can get ready to be in that summer group. So now we thank you for tuning in we're gonna see y'all at that summit and we also gonna see y'all in that Academy. You know what I'm So We're holla child you feel me hold up the episode. Let's go. Hahaha!