Neutral Thinking: What Trevor Moawad and the Serenity Prayer Taught Me About Pressure

Strikeout. Bad pass. Missed free throw.

Every young athlete knows the moment right after. The head drops. The mind starts racing. Here we go again.

That moment is where neutral thinking does its work. And I learned that long before I ever heard the name Trevor Moawad.

Moawad was the mental conditioning coach behind quarterback Russell Wilson during his years with the Seattle Seahawks. He passed away in September 2021 after a two-year battle with cancer. He was 48. I never met him, but we were roughly the same age, and we shared the same belief about how athletes perform their best: you accept what is, and then you take the next step.

Here’s what neutral thinking is, why the Serenity Prayer taught it to me first, and what it can look like for your young athlete on game day.

Who Was Trevor Moawad?

Moawad spent his career teaching athletes how to think under pressure. He worked with the football programs at Alabama, Florida State and Georgia, and he was named Sports Illustrated’s “Sports World’s Best Brain Trainer” in 2017.

He’s best known for his work with Wilson. After Seattle lost Super Bowl XLIX, Moawad stayed with Wilson for about a month to help him move past the loss. The two later founded a company together, Limitless Minds, and Wilson wrote the foreword to Moawad’s 2020 book, It Takes What It Takes: How to Think Neutrally and Gain Control of Your Life, co-written with Andy Staples.

You can read more about his life and work in NBC Sports’ tribute and On3’s coverage of his passing.

What Is Neutral Thinking?

Neutral thinking is a way of responding to events without labeling them good or bad. A strikeout is a strikeout. A loss is a loss. It just is.

That’s not the same as positive thinking. Positive thinking asks an athlete to believe things will go well. This approach asks them to see the situation clearly, accept it, and choose the next behavior.

Moawad liked to say the past “isn’t predictive.” Last week’s bad game doesn’t decide this week’s game. Last at-bat doesn’t decide this one.

The central idea is acceptance. And for young athletes, acceptance is what keeps them in the present moment instead of stuck in judgment of the past or worry about the future. Those two distractions do more damage to performance than any opponent.

How the Serenity Prayer Taught Me Neutral Thinking

When I started my sport psychology training in 2017, I didn’t know who Trevor Moawad was. But I was drawn right away to mindful awareness, and to the idea that staying present and accepting what is creates the conditions for an athlete’s best performance.

So why did that click so fast for me?

Because I’d already been practicing it for years. I just called it something else.

I’m a recovering compulsive gambler. In recovery, I leaned on the Serenity Prayer:

God, grant me the serenity

To accept the things I cannot change

Courage to change the things I can

And wisdom to know the difference.

Reading and studying that prayer was the first time I truly understood something that sounds simple: there are some things I control and some things I don’t.

I control my attitude and my effort. I control how I engage with my thoughts, even though I can’t stop thoughts from showing up. I can’t change other people. I can’t change the weather, my boss, or the government.

The Line Between What You Control and What You Don’t

Once I know what I can and can’t change, I get to make a choice. Do I have the courage to face a hard situation and put in the effort toward the outcome I want?

That’s the wisdom part of the prayer. And it’s the same line of neutrality Moawad taught: can I clearly see the difference between what I control in this moment and what I don’t?

I don’t bring up the Serenity Prayer with my clients. But it sits under everything I do as a mental performance coach. I help young athletes build the awareness to put their energy and attention on the things they can control, so they can perform their best.

Neutral Thinking for Young Athletes on Game Day

Here’s what it can look like between the lines, and right after.

One. After a mistake

The mistake already happened. A neutral response doesn’t pretend it was fine, and it doesn’t turn it into a catastrophe. It names what happened (“I swung at a high fastball”) and moves to the next behavior (“Get my eyes down in the zone”). What’s Important Now? The next pitch.

Two. Before a big showcase

Tournaments. Showcases. Recruiting worries. Young athletes walk in thinking about who’s watching and what it all means. That’s the future, and they can’t control it. A neutral mindset brings them back to what they can control today: their warm-up, their effort, their focus on one rep at a time. That’s how they stop playing to avoid failure and start pursuing success on purpose.

Three. On the car ride home

This one is for parents. When we label the game (“That was terrible” or “You were amazing”), our athletes carry that label into the next one. Try describing instead of judging. “What did you notice out there?” keeps the conversation neutral and gives your athlete room to think, not just react. (And yes, I’ve gotten the car ride wrong too.)

Neutral Thinking Off the Field

I try to practice this in my own life. I’ve been through plenty that could have been labeled “negative”: a divorce, major surgeries, leaving a well-paying job to go back to school.

In each case, I had a choice. I chose to treat those moments as opportunities instead of roadblocks.

That’s the point I want young athletes to understand. You’re human. You’re not going to be perfect. Staying neutral isn’t about feeling great all the time. It’s about seeing clearly, so you can respond rather than react.

If you want to hear more conversations like this, check out my podcast or join my newsletter.

Thank You, Trevor Moawad

Rest in peace, Trevor. Thank you for sharing your teachings with the world and for bringing recognition to this field. I’m proud to share the same philosophy and the same mission.

Frequently Asked Questions About Neutral Thinking

What is neutral thinking in sports?

It’s a mental skill that helps athletes respond to events without labeling them good or bad. Instead of dwelling on a mistake or hyping themselves up with forced positivity, they accept what happened and focus on the next behavior they can control.

Who created neutral thinking?

Mental conditioning coach Trevor Moawad popularized neutral thinking through his work with Russell Wilson and college football programs like Alabama, Florida State and Georgia, and in his 2020 book It Takes What It Takes.

Is neutral thinking the same as positive thinking?

No. Positive thinking asks you to expect a good outcome. Neutral thinking asks you to see the situation as it is, without the emotional label, and choose your next action. Many athletes find it easier to believe and more useful under pressure.

How is the Serenity Prayer connected to neutral thinking?

The Serenity Prayer asks for acceptance of what you can’t change, courage to change what you can, and wisdom to tell the difference. That’s the same line Moawad drew: focus your energy on what you control and let go of what you don’t.

How can parents help their athlete practice neutral thinking?

Model it. After games, describe what happened instead of judging it, ask what your athlete noticed, and keep the focus on effort and attitude, which they control, rather than results, which they don’t.

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Michael Huber, MA, CMPC® holds a master’s degree in sport psychology. He helps young athletes ages 14 to 22 be themselves when everyone is watching, including learning how to navigate overthinking under pressure. Learn more about Michael