Let's Go Mental!

This episode is for athletes and parents who want to better understand pressure, fear, confidence, and how mindset is built every single day through language.

We explore why words are never neutral — and how language shapes emotions, identity, and performance, especially in youth sports.

🎧 You’ll learn:

• Why the brain doesn’t just hear words — it responds to them
• The 3 things your brain does instantly when it hears language
• Why fear shows up so strongly before games and performances
• How repeated words become mental patterns
• The difference between saying “I am” vs “I feel”

How changing one word can change energy, focus, and readiness

🧠 Key Concepts We Explore:

1) Fear vs Challenge:

The same situation can trigger completely different reactions depending on the word used:

Fear prepares the body for defense

Challenge or excitement prepares the body for engagement and energy

2) Identity Language (“I am”) vs Experience Language (“I feel / I act”)

When we say “I am anxious” or “I am bad under pressure,” the brain treats it as identity.

When we say “I feel stress right now,” the brain hears something temporary — and temporary creates possibility for change.

Language creates the emotional environment in which athletes perform.

Just like updating your phone, changing your words helps update your mental software — from an old version to a new one that supports confidence, trust, and growth.

🎯 This Week’s Challenge:

The next time you feel pressure — before a game, a test, or a difficult moment:

Notice the first word you use to describe how you feel: change it intentionally, observe how your body and energy respond.

See you in the next episode

Contact: [email protected]

IG

Community

LinkedIn

🎧 The One Word That Guides Your Season

A Mental Reset for Athletes and Parents.

What if this season didn’t need more goals…more resolutions…or more pressure?

What if it only needed 'direction'?

In this episode I invite athletes and parents to pause, reflect, and simplify. Instead of chasing motivation or adding more to your plate, you’ll explore the power of choosing one intentional word: a word that becomes your compass when emotions run high, routines get busy, and pressure takes over.

Whether you’re a youth athlete navigating competition, confidence, and setbacks, or a parent trying to support without controlling, this episode offers a simple but powerful mental performance tool to guide your decisions, reactions, and growth throughout the season.

In this episode, we explore:

• Why motivation fades, and why direction lasts.
• The difference between setting goals and choosing an identity
• How one word can anchor athletes during tough games, bench time, and pressure
• How parents can use one word to respond instead of react
• Why mental training should be part of daily life — not just game day
• How to choose your word with intention and clarity
• Practical ways to make your word visible and actionable

This episode is for you if:

• You’re tired of starting every season with big intentions that fade
• You want mental clarity without adding more pressure
• You’re an athlete who wants to perform with confidence and presence
• You’re a parent who wants to support your child with purpose, not emotion

Before the season starts, give it a title. Choose your word.

And when you do — share it.

📩 Send me a message, a DM, or a photo of where you placed your word.

I’ll walk with you, support you, and help you stay connected to it — one intentional choice at a time.

✨ **My word for this season is: ________**

Contact me: [email protected]

Instagram

Nas.io

LinkedIn

🎧 Shownotes

Behind every athlete, there’s a story no one sees — the thoughts, the doubts, the pressure.

In this episode, we explore why mental training is essential for young athletes, and how parents and coaches can help build confidence, focus, and resilience — both in sport and in life.

👉 The goal isn’t to “fix” anything, but to train what’s invisible — emotions, awareness, and the ability to reset and bounce back.

Because everything is trainable: the body, the mind, and the mindset.

🎯 In this episode:

• Why the mind is the machine that makes everything possible

• The taboos and misconceptions still tied to the word “mental”

• The key mental skills every athlete can train: confidence, focus, motivation, emotional control, leadership, and more

• How to make mental performance a natural part of everyday life

💬 Training your mind is a choice, not an obligation. But it’s the choice that changes everything.

📩 Email me at [email protected] or follow me on Instagram

🎙 Let’s Go Mental — where everything is trainable.

🎧 Shownotes – Episodio 36

Il perché dell’importanza dell’allenamento mentale per i giovani atleti

Dietro ogni atleta c’è una storia che nessuno vede: i pensieri, i dubbi, la pressione.

In questo episodio scopriamo perché l’allenamento mentale è fondamentale per i giovani atleti, e come genitori e allenatori possono aiutare a costruire fiducia, concentrazione e resilienza — dentro e fuori dal campo.

👉 L’obiettivo non è “aggiustare” qualcosa, ma allenare ciò che non si vede: le emozioni, la consapevolezza, la capacità di reagire e ripartire.

Perché tutto è allenabile — il corpo, la mente e la mentalità.

🎯 In questo episodio parliamo di:

• perché la mente è la macchina che rende tutto possibile,

• i tabù e i pregiudizi che ancora circondano la parola “mentale”,

• le abilità mentali che ogni atleta può allenare (fiducia, motivazione, concentrazione, gestione dello stress, resilienza, leadership),

• come l’allenamento mentale diventa uno stile di vita.

💬 Allenare la mente è una scelta, non un obbligo. Ma è la scelta che cambia tutto.

📩 Scrivimi a [email protected] o seguimi su Instagram @letsgomentalpodcast

🎙 Let’s Go Mental — il podcast dove tutto è allenabile.

You’re ready. Dressed, playlist on point, shoes tied…

and yet — you’re still sitting there.

We’ve all been there — that invisible space between ready and go. That’s procrastination.

It’s not laziness — it’s the moment your brain fights the start.

In this episode, Barbara Cortella, Family and Mental Performance Coach, breaks down what procrastination really is — and how to train that moment before action. You’ll discover the Anti-Procrastination System that helps athletes move from overthinking to doing, one small step at a time.

You’ll Learn 🧠

• Why procrastination is an emotion problem, not a time problem

• How to deconstruct any big task so it feels doable

• The secret behind Mel Robbins’ 5-Second Rule

• How to build accountability and momentum daily

• Why starting before you feel ready is a mental superpower

Key Moments 🎙

• 00:00 — The warm-up freeze: why starting is the hardest part

• 03:00 — What procrastination really hides

• 06:00 — The Anti-Procrastination System: Awareness • Deconstruct • Plan • Action

• 08:30 — The 5-Second Rule for everyday courage

• 09:30 — Challenge of the week: start before you feel ready

Weekly Challenge ⚡️

1. Pick one thing you’ve been avoiding.
2. Break it down into 3 micro steps.
3. Count down 5-4-3-2-1- and start!

Contact me if you want to know more [email protected]

Instagram

My Community

How many tabs do you have open in your mind right now?

Between school, sport, friends, messages, and social media — your brain is constantly switching. In this episode, Barbara Cortella breaks down what it really means to become indistractable — to train your focus like a skill, to recognize when you’re escaping through distraction, and to build traction toward your goals instead.

You’ll Learn 🧠

• Why the opposite of distraction isn’t focus — it’s traction

• How distraction turns into a habit (and how to reverse it)

• The link between distraction, avoidance, and procrastination

• Why FOMO disconnects you from yourself

• How to use “Plan – Protect – Practice” to train your focus

Key Moments 🎙

• 00:00 – The “Open Tabs” story: your mind as your browser

• 02:20 – Traction vs Distraction → pulling toward your goals

• 04:00 – How distraction becomes automatic

• 06:30 – Awareness + simple focus habits that actually work

• 08:30 – The 3-step system: Plan • Protect • Practice

Tools + Challenges ⚙️

• 📋 Distraction Audit: identify your top 3 distractions

• ⏱ Create one Focus Zone a day (start with 10 minutes)

• 📲 Use “Do Not Disturb” or Study Mode while you work

Contact me: [email protected]

Instagram

My Community

How do you fit school, sport, friends, family, sleep, and everything else into your day without going crazy? In this episode, Barbara introduces the Big Rocks system — a simple but powerful way to set priorities and protect your time.

You’ll learn how to:

• Shift your mindset: time isn’t a clock, it’s a choice.

• Choose your priorities so you don’t drown in distractions.

• Protect your time with tools like Pomodoro and Timeboxing.

• Find your MIT (Most Important Task).

• Build a weekly system that frees energy, reduces guilt, and gives you more control.

This episode is for athletes — but also for parents and anyone who wants to stop feeling “busy all the time” without moving forward.

Key Takeaways

• Big Rocks first. Put your non-negotiables (school, sport, sleep, eating) in place before everything else.

• Not everything is important. If everything is important, nothing is important.

• Time is a choice. Protect it with focus blocks and boundaries.

• System > chaos. When you create structure, you gain more freedom.

This Week’s Challenge

1. Do the Big Rock Exercise → list your rocks, pebbles, and sand.

2. Pick your daily MIT (Most Important Task): one school, one sport, one life.

3. Protect it with a time-box.

4. Share this system with your parents — plan your week together and see how priorities align.

Contact me: [email protected]

Instagram

Be part of my Community

Time is the one thing every single person on the planet gets the same amount of: 24 hours, 86,400 seconds. The difference between being successful or staying average is not how much time you have, but how you use it.

In this episode, Barbara breaks down why time is your most valuable asset as a young athlete. With a powerful story about the “Bank of Time,” she shows you how to see time differently, why awareness is your scoreboard, and introduces the Time Personality Quiz to help you understand where your time is really going.

🎧 What You’ll Learn in This Episode

• Why time is the ultimate equalizer (and your edge as an athlete).

• How perception tricks you into wasting hours without noticing.

• The 4 Time Personalities and how to find yours.

• Why mastering your time means mastering your freedom, energy, and progress.

📝 Tools & Resources

• Contact me: [email protected]

• Join the Let’s Go Mental community for support and tools.

In this episode of Let’s Go Mental, Barbara closes the 3-part mini-series on setting and achieving the right goals. After starting with self-assessment (Episode 28) and intentional goal-setting (Episode 29), this final piece is all about execution and consistency.

Let's introduce the Daily Success Checklist—a simple, powerful system to help athletes execute!

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

• Why execution is the fun part of your system, and how planning reduces stress and future anxiety.

• The mindset that makes execution possible: control what you can control, let go of what you can’t.

• How to build your own Daily Success Checklist: start with 3 actions (physical, mental, lifestyle), write them down, and check them off daily.

• The importance of a weekly review & redirect to adjust and keep moving forward.

• How small daily wins add up to big season goals.

Challenge of the Week

👉 Create your Personal 3 actions Daily Success Checklist.

Resources & Links

• 🎧 Catch up on Episode 28 - New Season: your opportunity to decide who you want to be.
• 🎧 Catch up on Episode 29: Your Intentional Goal for the new season.
• 📝 New season - Assessment
• Contact me: [email protected]

✨ Let’s Go Mental is the podcast where mental training becomes a lifestyle—so athletes can consistently progress and perform with confidence in sports and in life.

New season, new goals… but are you setting the right ones? In this episode, we’ll uncover how to shift from chasing outcomes to building process goals that actually help you grow. 

In this episode, we move to Step 2 of the Goal Builder System: setting your goals for this season. Not long-term dreams, not outcome trophies, but process goals—the daily actions that you can control and that actually lead to growth, performance, and eventually results.

You’ll learn:

• Why outcome goals (winning, more play time, medals) are not enough.

• The difference between outcome goals and performance goals.

• How to turn your challenges, guiding words, and Start/Stop/Continue into specific, inspiring goals.

• A step-by-step process to set 3 goals for this season that keep you motivated and intentional.

Because when you align your challenges, your words, and your actions—you’re not just preparing for a season. You’re building a system that you can use in sport, school, and life.

🎙 Telescope Goals

🔗 Download your free self-assessment Step 1

📧 Contact me: [email protected]

📲 LinkedIn 

📲Instagram

Step 2 Worksheet

Next episode: Step 3—Implementation: turning goals into actions and planning!

#LetsGoMental #ProcessOverOutcome #GoalSetting #YouthAthletes