In a Nutshell: There are three things that you can train: your body, your craft, and your mind. Of those three, we need to make more of an effort to train our minds to perform at an optimal level, regardless of what life throws at us.

Guest: Michael Gervais, a high performance psychologist who works with world record holders, Olympians, internationally acclaimed artists and musicians, MVPs from every major sport, and Fortune 100 CEOs.

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My Key Takeaways:

  1. The psychology of high-performance starts with becoming aware of your inner experience. One of the best tools to increase our awareness is mindfulness. Mindfulness has two core tenets, awareness and wisdom.
  2. Optimism is at the center of mental toughness. Elite performers believe the future is going to work out. And that’s why they’re chipping in so much trust and so much risk to be vulnerable enough to try when millions are watching, when contracts are on the line, when mistakes will get you booted quickly. They are able to be vulnerable in those moments to let it unfold and to trust their abilities, to adjust to the unpredictable unfolding, the unknown.
  3. It’s not all about “winning” and “losing.” Learning to appreciate the journey can help you push past fear, trust yourself, and achieve more than you might have thought possible.

Also Learn:

  1. How working to achieve higher mental functions can help you experience life more fully and understand yourself better.
  2. What Michael has learned about top performance from his Compete to Create business partner, Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll.
  3. Why developing a personal philosophy is an important exercise to revisit throughout your life.

Complementary Episode: Dr. Barbara Meyer is a professor and director of the Laboratory for Sports Psychology and Performance Excellence at the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee. We talked about how to prepare mentally for a peak performance in any profession. Listen/read here.

Resources Featured In This Episode

Values Clarification Toolkit Click here to download this FREE tool and start living your values.