How to Have a Shooter's Mentality as an Athlete
The CEP Mindset Podcast
In this episode of The CEP Mindset Show, Cassidy, Nick, and Adam break down why so many athletes misinterpret what it means to be selfish. The episode covers why athletes in slumps need permission to be selfish, the difference between true selflessness and fear, and why every athlete needs a shooter's mentality.
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The Pre-Game Mistakes Every Athlete Makes
The CEP Mindset Podcast
In this episode of The CEP Mindset Show, Cassidy, Nick, and Adam share where athletes go wrong in their pre-game routine - and it's not because you're not doing enough. The episode covers the difference between superstitions and routines, why forcing positivity before a game is one of the most common mental mistakes athletes make, the fan mentality versus the player mentality, and why the perfect routine is actually an imperfect one.
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Hard Work Is Just The Entry Fee
The CEP Mindset Podcast
In this episode of The CEP Mindset Show, Nick and Adam cover why hard work is just the entry cost at the elite level, the five anchors every athlete needs to develop, and what hard work looks like as you rise the ranks might. Nick shares a story about an athlete heading into his third NHL dev camp who only got on the ice four times in two weeks — and why that was exactly right. When you get to a certain level, everybody's working hard. Everybody's in the gym and putting in the reps. Hard work stops being the thing that separates you and starts being the thing that just keeps you in the room....
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Accepting Range of Results, Cognitive Diffusion, & The Unconscious Mind
The CEP Mindset Podcast
In this episode of The CEP Mindset Show, Cassidy, Nick, and Adam break down how an athlete can tap into their unconscious mind. The episode covers Nick's broken triangle framework, the difference between standards and expectations, and why Rod Brind'Amour disconnecting himself from his own team's win is the perfect example of autonomy-supportive leadership.
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Change is Chaos, Taking Your Shell Off, & Off-Season Phases
The CEP Mindset Podcast
In this episode of The CEP Mindset Show, Cassidy, Nick, and Adam share what it actually takes to grow and why the most uncomfortable moments of an athlete's career are often the most important ones. The episode covers the lobster analogy and what it really means to shed your shell, the difference between being forced to grow and being stuck, why change is chaos before it's progress, and how themes are more powerful than goals when it comes to off-season focus.
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Playing With a Chip on Your Shoulder, Pseudo Ceilings, & Raising Your Standard
The CEP Mindset Podcast
In this episode of The CEP Mindset Show, Cassidy, Nick, and Adam break down two of the most misunderstood concepts in sport - the chip on your shoulder and discipline vs motivation. The episode covers why external motivation isn't always the enemy athletes make it out to be, and how there's a difference between principle and supportive motivation. They also chat about what selective disobedience actually means and why doing your best means something completely different when nobody's watching.
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Athlete Stress, Peaking Early, & The Unconscious Chase
The CEP Mindset Podcast
In this episode of The CEP Mindset Show, Cassidy, Nick, and Adam share why eliminating stress shouldn't be the goal for athletes - and why trying to get rid of stress too quickly leads to burn out. The episode covers the difference between distress and eustress, why the better you get the more challenging the journey becomes, and what it actually means to build versus chase when everything's on the line. Nick previews his upcoming book Now or Never and shares why the athletes who wait until the end of the runway to start their mindset work are already behind.
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Playing on the Edge, Staying Grounded, & Four-Part Growth Framework
The CEP Mindset Podcast
In this episode of The CEP Mindset Show, Cassidy, Nick, and Adam highlight the difference between taking responsibility and taking the blame. Confusing the two is one of the most common mental mistakes an athlete makes. They also cover the fault vs. responsibility framework, why the better you get the more other people are at fault, and how confidence fits into the three-four mindset. They also dive deep into why the nicest athletes are the easiest to beat - and what it actually means to play on the edge.
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The Childlike Athlete, Unstructured Play, & Creating Your Environment
The CEP Mindset Podcast
In this episode of The CEP Mindset Show, Cassidy, Nick, and Adam get honest about one of the most overlooked topics in sport - what the love of the game actually means. They break down why it's so hard to define and what happens when it starts to fade. The episode covers the three psychological needs every athlete has to have met to truly love what they do. They cover why unstructured play is disappearing and what it's costing young athletes. Plus - how to build the love of the game into your mental performance tools.
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Perfect Mindset Trap, Fear of Losing Success, & Authoring Your Story
The CEP Mindset Podcast
In this episode of The CEP Mindset Show, Cassidy, Nick, and Adam dive into the Survive Land vs. Thrive Land framework, why fear of losing success hits different than fear of failure, the river you have to cross to get to the next level, and why tending to your lead is more important than protecting it. They also cover why striving for the perfect mindset is actually a trap — and the legendary sports psych who hung up on his All-Star pitcher to prove it.
info_outlineWinning 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 age-old conundrum in this recent vid. I’ll briefly walk you through three concepts below (make sure to watch the video for more details and diagrams):
1) Internal Experience vs External Results
Comparing enjoyment versus winning is comparing an internal experience (e.g., enjoyment) versus the external result (e.g., winning, stats, etc.). They are not dependent on each other; the goal is to have both. They are very different, and we want to treat them differently.
This is why that question of enjoyment versus winning can inherently just be misleading. Nonetheless, the goal is to help you process and decide your priorities.
2) Intrinsic vs Extrinsic Motivation
The mistake athletes and high performers make as they climb the ranks is to confuse their external goals and results for why they play. You can have intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, but the best athletes in the world stay connected to their intrinsic drivers.
3) Choose Your Priority
You have to choose what your priority is. What is the number one thing?
Most people make the mistake of prioritizing their achievements (e.g., what I want to have, what I want to achieve, the results of the winning) and only focus on who they will be in the experience (e.g., play with confidence) to get those results. The paradox is this makes their mindset worse and less likely to achieve the results.
But when you flip the priorities, when you focus first on who you want to be, how you want to show up - aka Mindset First — that’s when you get clarity, that's when the actions flow and the results, well, they're not guaranteed, but the probability is now going to go up.
And the best part is you're more likely to enjoy the whole experience and the journey.
Who Do You Choose To Be?
There's an important point to clarify here. When you focus on who you're being (your mindset) and the enjoyment in that, you're not sacrificing competitive fire or killer instinct.
You're often heightening it because you intentionally choose to be in attack mode. By playing with more patience and aggressiveness, you will have more poise
The Big Trap
Most people will focus on their mindset because that will lead to better results.
But this is the big trap - you are prioritizing the results again.
Instead, I want you to prioritize the process for the sake of itself. This is where enjoyment comes from because enjoyment is not just dependent on results.
It is about who you are, the process, the game itself, and the experience. That is what evokes enjoyment.
This is a lot easier said than done. The results are everywhere - stats, social media, standings, cultural norms. People are talking and obsessing about results.
But when you can prioritize the process over the results - that's what I call the realm of the super-elite.
Make sure to watch the full video for more details and diagrams.
Please share this with anyone you think would be interested.