217 How A Marginal Gains Approach Can Help You Perform Better #BITESIZE
Release Date: 02/02/2024
238 Are You Really Committed To Your Craft? #BITESIZE
Demystifying Mental Toughness
Penny Mallory was the first woman to drive in the world rally championships. On her way to do so she showed immense commitment to her craft and made lots of sacrifices in pursuit of success. In this bite-sized episode she goes on to share her secrets and the mentality that took her to the top of her sport. Enjoy tuning in! Key Takeaways: Ambition requires personal sacrifices. Taking risks are necessary to achieve your dreams. There is often a price to pay for committing yourself to your craft. If you set aside 10 minutes each day to work on a particular area in 5 years you...
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237 How To Distance Yourself From Your Thoughts #BITESIZE
Demystifying Mental Toughness
Do you ever believe you are your thoughts? Do you often take your thoughts way too seriously? If so you’ll enjoy today's podcast episode as my guest, Keagen Hadley author of Torn: Overcoming the Psychological Challenges Post-ACL Injury talks about using Acceptance Commitment Therapy (ACT) as a potentially helpful solution. Specifically we discuss cognitive defusion as a way to help you create distance from your thoughts. Key Learning Points: Cognitive Fusion is concerned with the mess our thoughts in relation to our identity can have where our thoughts can often dominate our...
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236 How To Use ACT and Mindfulness When You’ve Got Lots Of Time To Think #BITESIZE
Demystifying Mental Toughness
In different sports such as golf and cricket, athletes can be placed in situations where they have a lot of thinking time. Too much thinking time for some! Due to their high level of motivation, focus of attention, fatigue, emotions and many other factors this thinking time can create havoc in their minds. As a result, indecision, fear and self-doubt can take over. In today’s episode, Dr James Hegarty, co-author of the book ACT in Sport: Mindfulness, Acceptance and Commitment shares some ideas on how athletes can help themselves so that they don’t view this thinking time as a...
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235 How To Use ACT To Improve Your Coaching In Sport #BITESIZE
Demystifying Mental Toughness
Many athletes, golfers or people in everyday life take their thoughts too seriously. They then get caught up overthinking and it causes havoc with their decision making. In golfing terms, paralysis by analysis can take over, when the pressure is on and the result is often poor shots and missed putts. And lots of frustration! In this episode, Trevor Jones a PGA Professional Golf Coach and Mental Performance Coach and I chat about this topic where he shares as a coach how he uses Acceptance Commitment Therapy or Training (ACT) to help golfers and other athletes deal with...
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234 How To Combat Overthinking In Sport #BITESIZE
Demystifying Mental Toughness
How often in sport do you see an athlete make the wrong decision under pressure? Often I’d say! Even at the highest level in elite professional sport. Indecision, overthinking, paralysis by analysis, having too much time to think of the consequences, a lack of trust in skills or fear are often the reasons for poor decision making. In this short bite-sized episode, Paul Phillips an author and culture developer and I discuss overthinking in sport where we share some helpful tips so that you can deal better with pressure in the moment. Key Learning Points: Helping athletes...
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233 How To Help A Young Footballer Overcome Fear
Demystifying Mental Toughness
In the last of this 3 part series created for parents of young adults and kids who play football or soccer I discuss how fear can wreck a youngsters fun and enjoyment on the pitch. Common responses to fear before matches include performance anxiety, physical sickness, feigning injury and refusing to play. It’s a hugely difficult challenge to navigate as a parent therefore I share a tool connected with mindfulness which can help ease the young footballer’s anxieties. Connect with David Charlton , , and Relevant Resources To Help Parents
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232 How To Remain Composed As a Goalkeeper Under Pressure #BITESIZE
Demystifying Mental Toughness
What is the most mentally challenging position on the football or soccer pitch? Many people would argue it’s the goalkeeper. Common psychological challenges goalkeepers face include; coping with mistakes and bouncing back strongly, dealing with tough and physical opponents, playing the ball out from the back with their feet in uncomfortable situations, communicating effectively with team-mates, selection issues and dealing with time on the bench. Today, Andy Elleray, an author and goalkeeping coach, who has worked for clubs such as Chelsea and Bristol Rovers tells me about mental...
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231 The Relationship Between Self Esteem, Fun and Football Performance
Demystifying Mental Toughness
In the second of 3 episodes created for parents of young people who play football I carry on the conversation about enjoyment on the football pitch. Where on this occasion I introduce the relationship between enjoyment in football, the impact of playing poorly, performance levels and self-esteem. I go on to discuss what self esteem is, what you could expect from someone with high self-esteem and factors that can contribute to low self-esteem. In addition, I touch on life control and “having a can-do attitude”, a measure of mental toughness that is connected with...
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230 How To Help Perfectionists Recapture The Fun Part Of Their Sport #BITESIZE
Demystifying Mental Toughness
Today, with my colleague Dr Alessia Bruno we discuss the downsides to perfectionism and how many athletes can get obsessed by their sports, training harder and harder, pushing themselves to the limit. The result can then be burnout, playing in fear or a lack of enjoyment. Enjoy tuning in! Key Learning Points Sport can be seen as a job by perfectionist athletes. When searching to get better, the perfectionist can lose the ability to perform with freedom and trust. Physically the perfectionist athlete can become tense and rigid losing control of their fine motor skills, rhythm and...
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229 How To Help a Kid Who Isn’t Enjoying Their Football
Demystifying Mental Toughness
This is the first of 3 episodes created for parents of kids who play football with their enjoyment and the possibility of quitting playing football the topic I discuss today. When thoughts of quitting are considered, it can be very challenging for some parents to navigate as they try to decide the best route to take despite different pressures associated with the decision. Therefore, I share some resources that you can use to better understand why you want your kid to play football and also why they want to play football too. Using the resources can be a helpful way of...
info_outlineMarginal gains is an approach that was created by Dave Brailsford with British Cycling which led to many years of success. It’s an holistic approach where you can reflect on your habits and behaviours, looking for small 1% improvements to ensure you give yourself a better chance of success.
In this short episode double Olympian and now, a motivational speaker and executive coach Chris Cook tells me about his experience of implementing a marginal gains approach. The emotion associated with such innovation and the results too.
Key Learning Points:
- How can I swim 2 lengths of the pool faster was a question Chris often asked himself with the help of a Sports Psychologist.
- It helped him simplify his approach and question why he did what he did on a daily basis.
- Being triggered by something often is caused by some sort of inner conflict. Seek to explore it.
Connect with Chris Cook
Connect with David Charlton
Join David @ The Sports Psychology Hub
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To Listen to Relevant Episodes to Improve Your Rest and Recovery
Ep110: Dan Steele - How to Increase Mental Fortitude: Secrets from an Olympian
Ep140: Chris Cook – How to Improve Your Mental Strength: Secrets from an Olympian
Ep213: Sandro Forte - How To Set Yourself Up For Success In 2024?
Ep214: Ellen McDermott - How To Create Helpful Eating Habits To Benefit Your Sport Performance
Other helpful resources to help you learn how to perform better
Handout: Marginal Gains Refining Your Approach
Blog: Do You Really Want to Succeed
Blog: 12 Reasons Why You Won’t Achieve Your Potential