When you read the title, you may have had a double take, “A mental coach is telling me to accept my negativity? How can that be?” I realize that my statement is counterintuitive but let me show you why accepting your negativity is actually the best thing to do whenever anything unhelpful enters your mind. [...]
In the seventh in my nine-part series exploring obstacles that are blocking your path to your triathlon goals, I showed you how expectations, despite its positive appearance, can actually interfere with your performing your best and achieving your race goals. In this article, I will describe how the obstacles that I’ve just described previously in [...]
In my last Ski Racing post, I introduced you to five attitudes that you need for ski racing success. In this post, I will explore five obstacles that will prevent you from skiing your fastest and achieving your ski racing goals. Mental obstacles refer to any psychological or emotional issue that interferes with your ability [...]
In my work with ski racers, from juniors up to the World Cup, I, of course, introduce them to typical mental training techniques such as goal setting, mental imagery, positive self-talk, and routines. All are invaluable tools to help racers get the most out of their training and ski their fastest on race day. Yet, [...]
Episode #24: 7 Tools for Building Confidence of my Train Your Mind for Athletic Success podcast is the first of two episodes that examines the impact of confidence on sports performance. This episode introduces you to what confidence is in the context of sports, how it affects athletes, why athletes lose confidence, symptoms of low confidence, [...]
In my last post, I introduced you to my Prime Performance System that acts as the foundation for my new 12-week online mental training program which I will begin offering on June 1st. In that post, I described the first of five mental areas—attitudes—that comprise my Prime Performance System and that I believe most impact [...]
What you say to yourself does matter, according to a series of research studies described in a recent article. Not only does self-talk work, but it also helps when you talk to yourself out loud and in the 3rd person (e.g., "Come on, Jim!). I encourage the athletes I work with to use self-talk to build [...]
An interesting article discussing research that demonstrates the benefits of self-talk and the difference between using second person ("You can do it") and first person ("I can do it"). Hint: second person is better.
Confidence is a deep, lasting, and resilient belief in your ability to ride your best and achieve your cycling goals. Confidence keeps you positive, motivated, intense, focused, and emotionally in control when you need it most, whether on a long and grueling climb or when you’re trying to reel in a breakaway with only a [...]
