Why don't you want to mess up? What is so bad about making mistakes? Why do you work so hard for a perfect performance?

"I don't want to feel embarrassed!"

Embarrassment DOES feel pretty terrible. But what if we weren't afraid of it? What if we didn't let that hold us back?

What if feeling embarrassed was actually a signal that you were doing something great? That you were actually in the arena making things happen? What if you could make peace with it and even decide that you didn't have to feel it if you didn't want to?

Find out more by listening to this episode and getting the upper hand on feeling embarrassed!

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Listen in on the 4 questions you might ask yourself before a comp, and what went down for me at the Volunteer State Dance Challenge 2024.

Our brain offers up a lot of nonsense. Negative self-talk can be a common experience in the human condition. But it can also undermine our confidence. Listen in for an easy strategy to overcome the negative thinking and get back on track!

I forgot to mention that much of this content was based on concepts from the book The Confident Mind by Dr. Nate Zinsser

Book a Dance Strategy Call ⁠HERE for more help

Join my free Facebook group, Joyful Ballroom HERE for more great ballroom content.

If you have ever been in the middle of a dance performance and suddenly felt your mind go blank, you might know the feeling of utter panic. You might feel lost, confused...horrified. And here you are in the moment and need to do something about it but your brain can't connect two neurons for some reason. You might find your way or finish the round clumsily and get past it.

But then you might proceed to beat yourself up and worry that something is horribly wrong with your memory, and everyone hates you and maybe you don't belong. Well, that escalated quickly. Brains do that.

Maybe we don't need to go digging for the reason or give it any more attention than necessary. Let's just call it...a glitch. We can't explain it. There's no real reason for it other than your brain is under some pressure and brains do weird things when they are under pressure sometimes.

Everyone gets glitches and the best thing to do is what my Mac Guy did when my computer got corrupted. Wipe the slate clean and move on as soon as p0ssible so you can give yourself fully to the next moment. Find out more in this episode!

Book a Dance Strategy Call ⁠HERE for more help⁠

There is a secret ingredient, that if you add to your dancing, will uplevel it in ways you never imagined. Plus, it's just more fun that way.

That ingredient is PLAY. In this episode, share with you the 4 main reasons dancers say they want mental strength coaching and how I think play is an underutilized tool.

Taking cues from the book, Play, How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul, but Stuart Brown, MD, we share how play can enhance those 4 areas, plus as a bonus, share his 8 play personalities. Maybe you think you just aren't a playful person or that play means we aren't working hard enough. Well I'd like to change your mind about that. Listen in!

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Books referenced in the podcast:

Play, How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul, but Stuart Brown, MD

If you have ever wanted to better yourself or do anything worthwhile, chances are you have felt that unseen force that seems to immediately get in your way. It's almost like no matter what it is, you have to earn it by getting past the guard.

Author Steven Pressfield terms this Resistance. In this episode I cherry-pick some of the concepts from a couple of his books to share in this Life Skills episode.

We describe Resistance, identify some of it's disguises or forms, why it's a good sign if you are experiencing it and then what to do to help overcome it.  Enjoy!

Book a Dance Strategy Call ⁠HERE⁠

Books referenced in the podcast:

The War of Art and Put Your Ass Where Your Heart Wants to Be, both by Steven Pressfield⁠

One of the most common things dancers complain about is being stuck in their head. They know they do this, and perhaps even their teacher tells them they need to get out of their head, but they don't seem to know how.

As I have thought about this something came to mind that I think will help with this overthinking problem. I wonder if we haven't quite figured out that a training mindset and a performance mindset are two different things. This becomes evident when we realize our overthinking in performances might be because we are just escalating our training mindset and taking it into a performance space rather that having a different mindset all together.

In this episode, we explore the differences and then give you direction on how to cultivate your performance mindset.

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Pick up The Inner Game of Tennis book HERE

What if you have prepared, practiced and feel ready, but then your performance goes poorly and you are beset with setbacks and errors? What can we do with that to help us remain confident in what we are capable of? Thank you to Nate Zinsser, the author of The Confident Mind for these three strategies to lock down setbacks and move forward constructively.

1. Make it temporary

2. Make it limited

3. Make it non-representative of yourself

I explain each of these in this episode. Be sure to listen immediately!

To get personalized help, book a ⁠⁠⁠free ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Dance Strategy Call⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. 

These calls will not be free for much longer!! Get it while you can!

You should go buy The Confident Mind by Nate Zinsser. It will reveal all my secrets but I don't mind because I know it will help you so much!!

You've done it. You've gotten yourself here. You are ready. This is my pep talk for you on the big day. It's gameday and it's time to shine. You can do this and I'm so proud of you!

To get personalized help, book a ⁠⁠⁠free ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Dance Strategy Call⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

For more free mindset help, join my Facebook group, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Joyful Ballroom⁠⁠

"I don't want to disappoint my teacher."

"When this is all done, I don't want to feel disappointed."

Disappointment. So many of my clients put themselves through a lot of stress and anxiety in preparation for events, showcases, medal exams and competitions. When we dig a little deeper to see why we are so stressed, many of them end up saying something to the effect of, "I just don't want to disappoint ______." It's usually their teacher, but it also includes themselves.

Disappointment must be pretty bad for us to create all this negative energy in preparation for it. But is it?

In this episode we speak to two key points when it comes to disappointment. One is that we can't create disappointment in other people. And the second is how we need to make peace with people feeling negative emotion and that nothing has gone wrong if they do.

Listen in to see what I mean.

To get personalized help, book a ⁠⁠⁠free ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Dance Strategy Call⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

For more free mindset help, join my Facebook group, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Joyful Ballroom⁠⁠