Alive Time vs. Dead Time
Transition presents opportunity, the best take advantage of it.
There’s a difference between reacting to adversity and responding to it.
When people react, they sit around. They feel sorry for themselves. They replay what went wrong. They beat themselves up. And in the process, they make things worse.
When people respond—the strong ones, the self-aware ones—they dig in. They go to work. They take ownership. They look at the situation for what it is and ask a better question:
How do I use this?
That’s where growth begins.
Ryan Holiday talks about a simple idea:
There is dead time and there is alive time.
Dead time is when you let time pass.
Alive time is when you use time to grow.
When Malcolm Little entered prison, he had every reason to shut down. He could have blamed the world. He could have wasted the time.
But he didn’t.
He went to work.
He read. He studied. He educated himself. He rebuilt himself.
In 1946 he walked into prison as Malcolm Little and in 1950 he walked out as Malcolm X. He had invested the time in transforming himself and he was on a mission!
That wasn’t time served.
That was alive time.
Think about a soldier preparing for deployment.
He doesn’t wait until the mission starts to get ready.
He checks his gear. Every detail. Everything in working order.
He sharpens his training. Studies. Prepares for what he might face.
And before he leaves, he spends time with the people who matter most—family, friends, his inner circle—because he knows what’s ahead.
He gets everything in order before stepping into the next phase.
That’s intentional.
Transitions happen.
In life. In sport. In business.
Jobs change. Roles shift. Doors close.
And in those moments, people reveal who they are.
Some waste the time.
Others use it.
I recall a phone conversation with Tony Dungy in 2020.
He said something that stuck with me:
If Tampa Bay didn’t happen, I may not have won a Super Bowl in Indianapolis.
In 2002 Coach Dungy was let go in Tampa Bay after 6 seasons.
He didn’t waste that experience.
He learned. He grew. He adjusted.
So when the next opportunity came, he was better. In 2007 Coach Dungy won a Super Bowl with the Colts.
This past year, there was a change at Central Michigan.
Joel Welsh had been there for years as Director of Football Performance. The situation changed. That’s part of the profession.
Joel is as good as it gets. He’s family. We worked together for five years at Iowa.
But what stood out wasn’t the change.
It was his response.
He went to work.
He expanded his impact across the athletic department. Took what they were doing in football and applied it across all sports. Dug deeper into organization, nutrition, recovery, analytics, and mental health.
He made a decision—when the next door opened, he was going to be the best version of himself.
Then he took it further.
He got in his car and went on the road.
Michigan State, Saginaw Valley State, Detroit Lions, Cincinnati. Kentucky. Tennessee. and Alabama.
He studied. He listened. He learned from people doing it at a high level.
At the same time, he coached his kids. Spent time with his family. Took care of what mattered most.
He understood something:
This wasn’t a setback.
This was alive time.
So when Pat Fitzgerald brought him to Michigan State, it wasn’t the same Joel walking in the door.
It was a better one.
Michigan State is lucky to have him!
I recently caught an interview with Sean McDermott.
One of the most respected coaches in the NFL.
He’s in a transition year right now.
And he’s making it count.
He relocated his family to Carolina. He’s on a daily schedule—training in the morning, then eight hours in the office. Studying. Researching. Digging into areas that will make him better.
He’s talking to people across industries. Learning. Staying open.
He mentioned conversations with Dan Gable.
He’s not stuck. He’s expanding.
He’s curious. He’s intentional.
He’s using the time.
That’s what the best do.
When things don’t go their way—when situations change, often outside their control—they don’t sit around.
They don’t waste it.
They respond.
They reflect.
They ask:
Where can I improve?
What can I learn?
What will make me better for the next opportunity?
Then they go to work.
Because eventually, the next door opens.
And when it does, you don’t want to hope you’re ready.
You want to know.
You want to step through confident—prepared, sharpened, different than you were before.
Don’t waste the transition.
Don’t let it become dead time.
Use it.
Attack it.
Grow through it.
Make it alive time.