A New Way for Athletes, Coaches, and Parents to Approach Sports & Life
The CEP Mindset Podcast
As part of a high-performing team you want to collaborate, support each other, and be a team player… but in the same breath, you also want to hit your numbers, earn your bonus, and chase down your next promotion. You try to be ‘positive’ but the projects, responsibilities, and requests keep piling up. And you try to be a team player but the gnawing feeling of your personal goals, results, and targets weigh on your shoulders. The default approach is to set goals, create priorities lists, and do your best to finesse your way through the company hierarchy. Unfortunately, this can foster a...
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2 Approaches to Sport and Life
The CEP Mindset Podcast
What if worry, frustration, or feeling down are not the problem? Instead, they are symptoms based on your approach to sport and even life. In our society, the way we talk about emotions is backward. We label ourselves and others as anxious, sad, or frustrated. That is not who we are—it is what we are feeling, and the distinction matters. When you identify with an emotion, you've got a self-perpetuating problem. More importantly, it's not true. Emotions are a feedback tool, specifically about your approach to sport and life. If this resonates with you check out my breakdown of the 2...
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The 3 Phases to Transform Your Mindset
The CEP Mindset Podcast
Do you feel stuck in your own head, or is your mindset holding you back? It's normal and okay to get stuck. We can't avoid challenges, pressures, and distractions in sports or life. But we can learn how to use these events as growing opportunities. Specifically, this post will show you the 3 phases to transform your mindset. I've been using this concept with many of my one-on-one clients because of the simplicity, clarity, and power it gives them. The 3 Phases First - in phase one, things are great. Then, phase two - things get tough. Adversity, pressure, and expectations...
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Winning vs Enjoyment - What Matters More?
The CEP Mindset Podcast
Winning versus enjoyment: what matters more? The tension between the two is one that many high performers struggle with. I got this question recently, and the person said, “it's not just about winning - but it's ultimately all about winning.” This conundrum can create a lot of inner conflict without the mental model to resolve it. You can be left oscillating between an unhealthy win-at-all-costs mentality that leaves you frustrated and consumed with the results. Or on the other end, you lose the competitive fire needed to perform at your best. I share the mental models to resolve this...
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Stop Obsessing Over Results
The CEP Mindset Podcast
For most athletes, traditional goal setting is holding them back. Yes you read that right. Goal setting itself is not the problem. The problem is being obsessed with results. You can want and care about results, but the best athletes in the world are more obsessed with the process than results. This can be easier said than done. I learned how big of a problem this is first hand. As a junior hockey player, I obsessed about points and my spot in the lineup. The more I obsessed about results, the harder it was to achieve my goals. It was infuriating to want something so bad and work so...
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Transform Your Mental Game With an Alter Ego
The CEP Mindset Podcast
If you want a sure fire way to quickly transform your mental game - you need to develop a personalized Alter Ego. This strategy is not about putting fixed labels on who you are as a person. Rather it is about creating a narrative about how you want to show up on the field of play. The Power of Simplicity and Creativity Credit to my coach and mentor Todd Herman for writing the book: and helping bring more simplicity and creativity to the mental game. Unfortunately most sport psychology strategies are: Dry Boring Overcomplicated As an athlete you don’t want to be out on...
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Developing a ‘Me vs Me’ Mentality - Featuring Professional Soccer Player Noah Cavanaugh
The CEP Mindset Podcast
Noah Cavanaugh is a professional soccer player from Seattle, WA, who currently plays for Flower City Union in New York. Over the past year, he's worked with Dr. Cassidy Preston to help give him a mental edge on and off the pitch as he continues to push up the ranks of pro soccer in the US. In this interview Noah discusses how he has personalized his mental game to work for him. He touches on the challenges he has had to overcome as a professional soccer player - some of the key takeaways include: The reciprocal nature of focusing on the process and staying centered Developing a 'me vs me'...
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Block Out the Noise With Your Reset Routine
The CEP Mindset Podcast
The ability to block out the ‘noise’ is key to having a clear mind and playing free. But this is easier said than done - many athletes have trouble blocking out the ‘noise’ and end up: Overthinking Doubting their abilities Worrying about things out of their control When you lack alignment within your thoughts, feelings, and actions, you end up losing the ability to play in the flow state. The best strategy to clear and block out the noise is a Reset Routine. The magic is not in the routine itself, but in what the routine represents. Here are the ABC’s to creating an effective...
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How to Play With Confidence
The CEP Mindset Podcast
Confidence is arguably the most important ingredient in succeeding as an athlete, but athletes often struggle to find and keep this elusive trait. The problem lies in that they have a skewed understanding of what confidence actually is and where it comes from. Here are the 4 main reasons why athletes struggle with self-confidence: Yo-Yo Confidence: Tying their self-image to external results or praise Imposter Syndrome: Believing they are not worthy and/or don’t belong Victim Mentality: Blaming others and not taking responsibility Negativity Bias: Constantly beating...
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A New Way for Athletes to Mentally Prepare
The CEP Mindset Podcast
The outline of my first book is complete - check out the caption below to see the outline! I’ve gained some great insights while starting the writing process - you can find those in the summary below. The working title is - Play with Confidence: A New Way for Athletes to Mentally Prepare The purpose of the book is to challenge the status quo on mental preparation and question the ‘accepted’ ways of thinking about confidence. It will debunk the fluffy clichés, cookie-cutter strategies, and ‘old-school’ beliefs entrenched in the sport culture. If you dare to be different and embrace...
info_outlinePerformance anxiety is one the leading reasons athletes struggle to consistently perform at their capabilities.
Learning how to channel your nerves is key to performing at your best when it matters most. Unfortunately most athletes focus on the threats of high-pressure situations.
Pressure can Provoke a State of Fear
As a result the pressure provokes a fear state that leaves the athlete tense, overthinking, and underperforming. Here are 3 other common reasons athletes don’t perform under pressure:
Zoomed In on the Context
Overly focused on the context and making the results seem more important than they are is a sure fire way to feel the burden of the results weigh heavily on your mind.
Survive Over Thrive
Are you focused on not screwing up or are you focused on going out there and having an impact? This is the difference between a fear mindset vs attack mindset.
Need To, Have To, Should Mindset
Creating an unhealthy relationship with your desired results often leads to a decrease in performance. The sport culture perpetuates this language with coaches often saying “this is a must win game” but this narrative often provokes the fear state.
The good news is you can overcome these limiting mindsets by following the 3 steps below - as a result you will be able to perform at your best when it matters most.
Step 1: Plan to Cope
Coping planning is essential to stress management for all areas of life. And it works particularly well for handling high pressure situations. In short - Planning to Cope is simply what it means. You are planning for how you will respond (cope) when a stressor (pressure) is presented. It is like studying for a test - it works way better when you study before the test - not trying to figure it out in the thick of it.
Step 2: Mental Rehearsal
Most athletes think imagery and mental preparation is only for focusing on what you want to do and being positive. But one of the best benefits of imagery is to mentally rehearse how you plan to cope with stressors.
By mentally rehearsing how you are going to respond to a pressure situation makes you way more likely to respond that way.
So not only do you want to study and clarify how you want to respond then you want to hammer that into your brain.
Repetition is the mother of learning!
Step 3: Measure Your Progress
By getting steps 1 and 2 down pat you are well on your way to start performing at your best when it matters most. This step helps lock it in and ensure you really hone your ability to perform under pressure. Here is example of what this looks like:
1. Identify What to Measure: E.g., I want to zoom out, feel relaxed, ready and excited before performances.
2. Track Your Progress: Reflect on that number after each game and see it go up!
3. Adjust & Learn: When the number dips or when it stops rising, reflect on what is holding you back and refer back to Step 1 - find which coping planning strategy will help the most. This also could be a key time to getting a mental performance coach to be a third party and help you improve faster and more effectively.
I hope you found this helpful. Let us know if you have any questions. If you know anyone that could benefit from this podcast - please share it with them.