Ben Newman’s driving narrative started at age 7, when his mother died.
“I’ve found so much strength in my story and my mom,” he says. “Even though she had this rare muscle disease called amyloidosis, she fought, and she had this amazing journal that became a place where she unleashed her positive mental attitude. She’d write things in her journal such as, ’Beat the statistics,’ ’Beat the odds,’ ’Live with a disease that is chronic and fatal.’”
While his mother needed 24-hour nursing care the last year of her life, she still insisted on coming to the dinner table with an IV stand to ask Newman about his day. Newman watched his mom fight the illness until the day she died, 11 days before his 8th birthday. “I’ve always felt that, at that time, she passed the pen that she was writing with in that journal on to me,” he says.
The “Burn“ is born
As an adult, Newman realized the greatest strength in his life comes from the pain he endured after his mom’s death and the lessons she left him. His story—what Newman calls his “Burn”—is what inspires him to help others find their own as a performance coach, author and motivational speaker. “It’s [about] encouraging people in our work, helping people find that Burn—that passion that will give them the ability to fight through the things that oftentimes hold them back,” he says.
But Newman didn’t start his career as a performance coach. Before he was paid to speak for the first time in 2006 and coach someone professionally in 2008, Newman was a successful financial adviser for 10 years. “When I left [my job in finance], my managing partner tried to induce me with money, and he was basically telling me I was crazy,“ he says. “Like, ‘How could you leave this career?’ But I believe at some point in time, we have to chase what we were destined to do and attack what we were destined to do, not be held back by what’s comfortable.”
How Newman rose to the top
Over the past two decades, Newman has written eight books (The Standard: Winning Every Day at Your Highest Level is his most recent, published in 2023) and hosts a podcast called The Burn Podcast, where he chats with high performers in business and sports. Through the Ben Newman Companies, he and his team of performance coaches have worked with athletes and teams in the NFL, NBA, PGA, MLB and other sports entities.
In addition to teaming up with coaches and players from multiple Super Bowl–winning teams, Newman currently serves as the longtime performance coach for head coach Chris Klieman and the Big 12 Champion Kansas State football team. He was also a performance coach for five years for the University of Alabama’s Crimson Tide football team under former head coach Nick Saban.
He’s also brought his teachings to locker rooms and fields across the country, including those of the Miami Dolphins, Minnesota Vikings, Wake Forest University and several high school teams in his hometown of St. Louis, Missouri.
How the Burn motivates top performers
By empowering clients with “mental toughness” training tools—think: how to identify your Burn, believe in yourself, and learn to overcome adversities and challenges by reframing your perspective—Newman helps them achieve goals and perform at their best using their natural talents and abilities.
“Once you understand your underlying Burn, that fire inside of you, that’s actually what ignites your why and purpose and causes you to show up on the days you don’t feel like it,” Newman says. “So the common denominator I’ve found with Hall of Famers, Super Bowl champions, NCAA champions, some of the top Fortune 100 companies in the world… is leaders and the high performers [who know] what that Burn is.”
The Burn can be anything from a life-changing experience, such as losing a caregiver or becoming a parent, to the desire to prove yourself to a group of naysayers.
In addition to recognizing their Burn, Newman says successful individuals are also incredibly disciplined and willing to commit to good long-term practices. “[They’re] disciplined not to focus on the results,” Newman says, “but disciplined to the habits and the work on a daily basis, knowing that the byproduct of great discipline is winning at high levels.”
Who benefits from the Burn?
While roughly 30% of BNC clients are in the sports world, 70% are corporate professionals at companies and organizations like Microsoft, Wells Fargo Advisors, The Canada Life Assurance Company, Boys & Girls Clubs of America and New York Life. Whether you’re a decorated athlete, financial adviser or working mom, though, anyone who wants to be more successful in their personal or professional lives can benefit from finding their Burn.
“Don’t be held back by what society or adversity or challenge tells us,” Newman says. “You want to write a book? Go write a book. You want to go speak? Go speak. You want to become the vice president of a company or own a company one day? Go do it. Put the action behind it that’s going to cause you to do those things.”
How to build your ”Prizefighter Day”
In Your Mental Toughness Playbook, which has been sold or downloaded more than 1 million times, Newman shares advice that helps you identify and attack the everyday activities that will empower you to meet your goals like a prizefighter.
“Nothing in a ‘Prizefighter Day,’ if built correctly, is based on results. It’s all based on the choices we know we need to make in order to drive success,” Newman says. “And when we’re not feeling successful, it’s typically because we’re choosing to not do the things we know we need to do to be successful…. It’s manageable when we manage it one day at a time.”
To have a Prizefighter Day, one where you feel like your best self, Newman recommends establishing a daily routine that includes the following three actions:
1. Personal activity
Newman’s example: This includes “waking up every morning and getting in your morning workout (because it releases endorphins and builds confidence).”
2. Business or professional activity
Newman’s example: You can “[set] a specific goal for the number of phone calls, follow-ups, reps [or] workouts that you have to make every day, knowing that will further your success, regardless of the results.”
3. Service to others activity
Newman’s example: “This could be lending an ear to a friend, giving compliments to a stranger [or] calling your parents…. What activity can you consistently do in the service of others?”
This article originally appeared in the July/August 2025 issue of SUCCESS® magazine.
Photo by ©Sam Limon
