There are 5 common myths about mental performance training that we need to debunk before we start, because if you can’t trust in the truths, you won’t have any confidence in the strategies! 

Myth #1: We are born with set abilities, talents, and smarts, and that’s how we’ll always be (called a ‘fixed’ mindset). 

FALSE! Research in the field of psychology has proven, beyond a doubt, that our mind ‘muscles’ are flexible and moldable. They can be trained, just like the other muscles in our body. We can change how we think and act no matter our age, no matter our upbringing, no matter our circumstances.  And since our thoughts create our feelings, we can even change those. We can absolutely learn and master new physical and mental skills if we just put in the work. This is called a ‘Growth’ mindset. You are not limited!  

Myth #2: Only struggling performers need mental coaching. 

FALSE!  While the mental performance techniques I’m sharing can certainly help an athlete who is struggling with confidence, getting over mistakes, dealing with pressure or anxiety, the truth is that most of the greatest athletes in the world rely on mental performance training to keep them at the top of their game. 

Here are just a few… Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal, Michael Jordan, Tom Brady, Derek Jeter, Tiger Woods, Lane Johnson, Serena Williams, Josh Jung.

Athletes today are turning to mental performance coaches to train their brains for optimal performance. It is very rare these days to find an Olympian or a professional athletic team without a mental performance coach on staff. 

My mission is to teach the techniques the greats are using to regular folk like us. I mean, who does not want to learn from and emulate the top players in their sport?  

Myth #3: You either win or you lose 

FALSE! The correct statement is that you either win or you LEARN. Michael Jordan has famously said ‘I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over again in my life…. that is why I SUCCEED.’ He succeeded because he learned from each of those so-called ‘failures’ and became even stronger. 

So, you may have to change how you think about a loss or mistake.  Obviously,as a competitor, so you’re never going to like it when you make a poor shot/play/run, etc.., but instead of getting into an emotional tizzy, you’ll learn to put on your thinking cap, investigate it, figure out what you can do better next time and then leave it in the past (and yes, there are specific strategies to help you do this).   The truth is, you learn very little from winning, but you can learn SO much from your mistakes.  

Myth #4 Confidence is a feeling 

FALSE!  Confidence is not a FEELING, but rather a way to ACT.  What does that mean?  It means that even professional athletes at the top of their game have days when they don’t feel as confident, but they’ve learned to take confident action regardless.  It doesn’t matter how many wins you’ve racked up or how well your last practice went, we are human, so our feeling of confidence is going to vary from one day to another.  Mental performance training will teach you how to make your thoughts purposeful (and thoughts create feelings), use strategies like big body language, self-talk, routines and visualization so that you can ACT your way into confidence.

MYTH #5:  It’s a quick fix 

I hate to break it to you, but yes, this one is also FALSE.  Like acquiring any new skill, mental performance training takes time and repetition.  That’s not to say that you won’t feel some benefit from a particular strategy soon after implementing it, but you need to understand that it is not an overnight fix.  Plan on investing at least 90 days to start seeing consistent results.  Some skills take more time to acquire than others, so if you come in with low self-image, negative self-talk, limited self-awareness, or a poor belief system, plan for some extra time to retrain those ingrained patterns.  But trust that if you put in 1% every single day, the effects will compound over time, and you will see results.