Philly McMahon is a poster boy for positive thinking and affirmative choices.
The 29-year-old Dublin defender grew up in the tough end of Ballymun and his life could easily have taken a different direction.
He has often talked about his brother John, who died in 2012 following a long battle with drug addiction.
Plenty of kids he knows went the same way, but McMahon has four All-Ireland medals, back-to-back All Stars, two businesses and nine employees in his gym and healthy food provider. Life is good at the moment.
McMahon says he doesn’t use a sports psychologist, but reads a lot of books on the subject and tries to turn any negative in his life into a positive.
"It’s not psychology, it’s more structure; structure around your thoughts and around your lifestyle."
"So every time you feel a bit negative you've got this little thing called white space that changes your mindset," he explained, as he gets ready to face Tyrone in Sunday’s All-Ireland Senior Football Championship semi-final at Croke Park.
"It's that little voice in your head that says, 'Jesus you feel crap this morning, stay in bed, the weather is crap'
"We have developed it since we were kids. Things like not going to school on a Monday; you do that and you’ll hate going to work on a Monday. Being able to shift that sub-conscious part is what my biggest challenge has been over the last 18 months.
"I would use a thing called power of choice, that every time you have something negative, a negative thought that you are self-assessing yourself, self-aware that you can actually shift that to a positive.
"The way I see it is that out of every negative thing is an opportunity. I've dealt with it all my life with my brother's situation or people developing a stigma about Ballymun. These are little opportunities that pop up.
"I read a lot of books. It’s stuff that I’m probably doing a lot with my gym members and things I’m doing with other drug addicts and stuff like that. It’s not psychology, it’s more structure; structure around your thoughts and around your lifestyle. That’s what I looked at."
In so many ways this attitude has paid off for McMahon.
He struggled to get into Dublin panels for a long time and drifted towards mixed martial arts, something he still practices in the off-season to keep himself both fit and fresh.
He decided to stick with the football though and it paid off to a degree as he won the first and second of his four All-Ireland medals, in 2011 under Pat Gilroy and in ’13 under current boss Jim Gavin.
In ’15 and ’16 he was part of the Dubs full-back line as they lifted Sam Magire and he’s now known as one of the best defenders in the game.
Being a positive person, he’s confident that he’s only hitting his peak now.
"The last two years were really good years for me," he said. "Although a lot of people think it is a long year, it’s actually quite short. It’s six games and you win an All-Ireland. So it’s quite short when you look at it that way.
"I’ve only really started playing the last two years. I’m hoping this is my third year, playing decent football and enjoying it."
So what changed to turn him from a substitute into an automatic starter?
"You’re probably only going to touch the ball between 17 and 20 times a game, if you’re in the game a good bit, in my position," he said.
"So technically, you have to look at what you’re doing on the ball but also what you’re doing off the ball. Technically, it could be the way you’re man marking. I don’t think much has changed for me in terms of that.
"Tactics; I’ve become more aware of that, being more adaptable to our opponents’ tactics. That certainly has happened since 2014."
He’s certainly going to have to be tactically aware against Tyrone on Sunday as he continues his search for a fifth All-Ireland medal.
