Tom Rowland | Control Your Tongue: Why Your Words Determine Success | Tom Rowland Podcast Ep. 526

Tom Rowland, host of the Tom Rowland Podcast, professional fishing guide, and endurance athlete who has completed GoRuck Selection and SEALFIT Kokoro, delivers a powerful Physical Friday message about the transformative power of controlling your words. In this solo episode, Tom reveals why your tongue is your rudder and how the words you choose to speak aloud can determine success or failure in extreme physical challenges, fishing tournaments, and everyday life. He shares specific words he's eliminated from his vocabulary, explains the critical difference between having negative thoughts and actually speaking them, and demonstrates how athletes like Muhammad Ali and Conor McGregor have shaped their destinies through intentional language. This is part two of a six-part series exploring how thoughts become words, words become actions, and actions ultimately determine your destiny.

Why Your Tongue Is Your Rudder

Tom opens this Physical Friday episode with a quote from former Navy SEAL Chad Wright that sets the foundation for everything that follows. Wright appeared on Lewis Howes' podcast and shared profound insights about the power of spoken words. The concept is simple but revolutionary: your tongue steers your life 98% of the time. Tom then layers in wisdom from Zig Ziglar and Pierre DuPlece to build a compelling case for why the words you choose to speak aloud have exponentially more power than the thoughts that merely pass through your mind. He explains the critical distinction between having a negative thought during a difficult workout and actually giving voice to that thought. The difference between those two actions can determine whether you finish or quit. The full explanation of how words become more powerful than thoughts starts at 2:19.

The Six-Part Series Framework

This is the second episode in a six-part Physical Friday series, and Tom reveals the framework that connects all six episodes. He shares a powerful progression that many people have seen as a meme or quote, but few truly understand: your thoughts become your words, your words become your actions, your actions become your habits, your habits become your character, and your character determines your destiny. Of these six elements, Tom argues that words may be the single most important because unlike thoughts, which you cannot fully control, you have complete control over what comes out of your mouth. He explains why this particular link in the chain is so crucial and how it bridges the gap between the uncontrollable and the intentional. Tom breaks down the complete six-part framework at 4:09.

The Words Tom Has Eliminated From His Vocabulary

Tom gets specific about the words he's worked to eliminate over years of self-development. He starts with "can't," explaining how his kids probably heard him talk about this word more than they ever wanted to while growing up. But there's a powerful reason: as soon as you say you can't do something, it shuts off all possibility that you could do it. Then he moves through "hate," describing it as a strong, ugly, serious word that he's replaced with gentler alternatives like "it's not my favorite." He tackles "never" and "always," explaining how these absolutes close off possibilities for better ways of doing things and set you up for hypocrisy. "Impossible" gets special attention, with Tom sharing a game his mother used to play with him as a kid that proved nothing is truly impossible. And "fail" rounds out the list, with Tom invoking Conor McGregor's philosophy. The complete list of forbidden words and Tom's personal stories about each one starts at 8:05.

How Athletes Use Words to Shape Their Destiny

Muhammad Ali and Conor McGregor serve as Tom's case studies for athletes who understood this principle at the highest level. Tom explains how Ali would say out loud that he was going to be the champion and the greatest of all time, speaking those words into existence before they became reality. Conor McGregor gets even more attention, with Tom describing how McGregor believes in this principle wholeheartedly and has shaped his entire UFC career through intentional language. Tom references McGregor's famous philosophy about failure and reveals how this mindset applies not just to fighting but to extreme endurance events, difficult workouts, and even winning fishing tournaments. The connection between speaking your goals and achieving them becomes undeniable through these examples. Tom's breakdown of how Ali and McGregor used words to create their destinies starts at 7:06.

Final Thoughts from Tom

This Physical Friday hits different because it's something I've lived through in the most extreme circumstances. When you're deep into hour 30 of GoRuck Selection or fighting through Kokoro, your thoughts go to dark places. That's normal. That's human. But I've watched people speak those dark thoughts aloud and quit within minutes. I've also kept my mouth shut, battled those thoughts internally, and finished.

The power of words isn't some abstract concept—it's tactical, it's practical, and it works in fishing tournaments just as much as it works in endurance events. When you eliminate words like can't, impossible, and fail from your vocabulary, you're not just playing word games. You're literally keeping possibilities open that would otherwise close. You're allowing creative solutions to emerge. You're staying in the fight.

This is part two of a six-part series, and if you're serious about improving your performance in anything—fishing, fitness, business, life—this whole series is worth your time. None of this is original to me. It all comes from books we've read in the book club, from people like Chad Wright and Zig Ziglar and Pierre DuPlece, and from my own experiences testing these principles under extreme pressure. Listen to the whole thing. The details matter.