Peak Performer

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Welcome to episode 15 of Peak Performer. Today, we're exploring the mental skills that elite performers use to excel in their fields, whether it is business, education, sport, the workplace or elsewhere. The skills we’ll discuss in this episode can be developed and refined by consistent practice, like any other skill. These mental skills can help to regulate our psychological and emotional state, prepare us for big events, and help us cope effectively with the unforeseen.

At Peak Performer Podcast, I bring you the latest research and practical advice on performance psychology, mindset, and motivation. Our goal is to provide you with the tools and techniques that top performers use to stay at the top of their game. Each episode is packed with expert interviews, scientific insights, and actionable tips to help you unlock your full potential.

> Read this in-depth article for more on psychological skills

Episode Content

Introduction to Psychological Skills Training

Psychological Skills Training (PST) is a systematic practice of mental skills aimed at enhancing performance and increasing enjoyment across various domains, from sports to business. This training involves techniques for self-regulation, mental preparation, and recovery, making it essential for high-level achievement.

1. Cognitive Restructuring

Cognitive restructuring involves changing negative thought patterns into positive ones. It's about reframing experiences to manage stress and improve performance. By altering our automatic responses, we can cultivate a more constructive mindset.

How to Apply It:

* Accept that things will not always go according to plan

* Replace self-defeating thoughts with positive affirmations.

* Practice reframing negative experiences in a supportive environment.

2. Self-Regulation

Self-regulation is the ability to control one's emotional and physiological responses to stressful conditions. This skill is crucial for maintaining optimal arousal levels and managing anxiety during high-pressure situations.

How to Apply It:

* Partner with someone who will hold you accountable.

* Maintain a balanced diet and take short breaks to manage stress.

* Practice deep breathing exercises.

* Meditate daily for 15 mins.

3. Mental Rehearsal

Mental rehearsal involves imagining and feeling a performance scenario in advance to prepare mentally, emotionally, and physiologically. This practice engages the same neural pathways as actual performance, helping to build confidence and reduce anxiety.

How to Apply It:

* Visualise your routine in detail, focusing on the process rather than the outcome.

* See, hear, smell, taste, and feel as you would in that actual situation.

* Use mental rehearsal as part of your daily preparation routine.

4. Self-Talk

Self-talk refers to the internal dialogue we have with ourselves. Positive self-talk can enhance performance by reinforcing confidence and focus. Negative self-talk can have a detrimental impact on performance.

How to Apply It:

* Be mindful of your internal dialogue and replace negative thoughts with encouraging ones.

* Use short, positive cues during practice and performance to boost morale.

* When things don’t work out, speak to yourself as you would a friend.

5. Goal Setting

Effective goal setting guides actions and maintains motivation. Rather than rigidly pursuing specific outcomes, focus on process-oriented goals that enhance daily performance.

How to Apply It:

* Establish your values - know what you stand for. This is your anchor in the world.

* Set SMART, values-based, and process-focused goals.

* Stay present and concentrate on improving 1% each day rather than fixating on long-term outcomes.

Conclusion

Psychological skills are vital for achieving peak performance in any field. By incorporating cognitive restructuring, self-regulation, mental rehearsal, self-talk, and goal setting into your routine, you can enhance your resilience, focus, and overall performance. Remember, the journey to excellence is continuous, and these skills will help you navigate the ups and downs along the way.

Thank you for tuning in to this episode of Peak Performer Podcast. Be sure to subscribe and stay connected for more insights and strategies to help you reach your peak. Until next time, keep pushing your limits and striving for greatness!

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Welcome to this week’s edition of the podcast. If you like what I’m doing here, share this episode with a friend, post a comment. Many thanks for your support!

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is one of the most popular personality tests in the world. Developed by Katharine Cook Briggs and her daughter Isabel Briggs Myers and based upon Carl Jung's work, it categorises individuals into 16 distinct types based on four dichotomies: Introversion vs Extraversion, Sensing vs Intuition, Thinking vs Feeling, and Judging vs Perceiving. Despite its widespread use in a variety of settings and its apparent utility (Pittenger, 1993)1, from corporate team-building to personal self-discovery, the MBTI has faced significant criticism from the scientific community.

Although influential, Jung's work is mainly considered speculative (Mayer, 2005)2 and not subjected to rigorous scientific testing. His typology was derived from clinical observations rather than systematic research, making it a weak foundation for a personality assessment tool. In contrast, modern personality psychology relies on empirical studies to validate theoretical constructs and measurement instruments.

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I am a registered test user with the British Psychological Society. I provide tests and test administration in workplace settings in areas such as leadership, personality, motivation, ability, intelligence and others. Find out more about assessments and how they can help you in your career and business.

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Unlock the secrets of personality in this webinar recording, "Understanding Personality." Dive into the science and psychology behind what makes us who we are. Whether you're in leadership looking to enhance team performance, a manager aiming to improve people skills, a parent looking to understand your children, or you're simply curious about the intricacies of human behaviour, this webinar is for you.

Join me for this enlightening session that explores some of the core theories of personality, covering over 150 years of research and practice. You'll gain valuable tools to understand yourself and others better, paving the way for more effective communication and stronger relationships in both work and personal life.

This webinar is suitable for people seeking to get better results in their life and work. Stop acting on impulse and being a slave to automatic responses. Understand why you think and act the way you do. Learn to understand personality and let yourself and others off the hook. Your life will be better for it.

Peak Performer is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

The webinar "Understanding Personality" delves into the intricate and multifaceted study of what defines us as individuals. It explores various theories and perspectives developed over more than a century of dedicated research, shedding light on the complex interplay of traits, behaviours, motivations, and emotions that shape our identities.

Peak Performer is a reader-supported publication. Sign up here to get new articles, episodes and other content to your inbox. For one-to-one coaching, go here. To hire me for talks and workshops, get in touch here or post a comment on any article.

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Peak Performer is a reader-supported publication. Sign up here to get new articles, episodes and other content to your inbox. For one-to-one coaching, go here. To hire me for talks and workshops, get in touch here or post a comment on any article.

Welcome to Peak Performer. I'm Larry Maguire, a work and organisational psychologist. Some people refer to my field as industrial-organisational psychology or occupational psychology. My primary interest lies in understanding the behaviour and performance of individuals in the workplace. This broad field encompasses various topics, including leadership, motivation, well-being, and the mental skills required to perform optimally at work.

One of my core philosophies is that meaningful work, which holds personal significance and purpose, naturally benefits others and leads to personal fulfilment. This approach aligns with intrinsic motivation theories, where the primary drive comes from within, rather than external rewards like profit. When we engage in work that matters to us, it often resonates with others, eventually leading to financial sustainability, though this is not the primary goal.

In my professional practice, I operate on three main fronts. First, I work as a private practice psychologist, assisting individuals in addressing challenges related to their work, career, and personal lives. It's essential to recognise that work and personal life are intertwined; issues in one area inevitably affect the other. This overlap has become even more pronounced with the rise of remote work, blurring the lines between home and office.

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In this podcast episode, I'm reading Chapter 3 of Stewart Cotterill's The Psychology of Performance and discussing the difference between self-confidence and self-efficacy. Throughout this reading, I interrupt the narrative to offer my input, clarity on certain aspects, and tips and advice on building up your sense of efficacy.

Cotterill defines confidence as a belief in one's abilities to achieve specific outcomes. This belief is crucial as it impacts several psychological processes essential for high performance, such as motivation, effort, and persistence (Bandura, 1997). The chapter differentiates between self-confidence and self-efficacy. Self-confidence is a broader belief in one's general capabilities, while self-efficacy is more specific, relating to the belief in one's ability to succeed in particular tasks (Bandura, 1986).

Sources of Confidence

Cotterill identifies several key sources of confidence, drawing on extensive psychological research:

Past Performance Accomplishments: Success in previous tasks enhances self-efficacy by reinforcing the belief in one’s ability to achieve similar outcomes in the future (Feltz, 2007). This is the most influential source of self-efficacy because it provides direct evidence of one’s capability.

Vicarious Experiences: Observing others, especially those perceived as similar to oneself, successfully performing tasks can boost an individual's confidence. This process, known as modelling, is powerful because it provides a comparative benchmark and inspires belief in one's own abilities (Schunk, 1987).

Verbal Persuasion: Encouragement and positive feedback from coaches, peers, and mentors can enhance an individual's belief in their capabilities. This source of confidence is effective because it can help individuals overcome self-doubt and focus on their strengths (Bandura, 1997).

Physiological and Emotional States: Positive physical states, such as feeling energetic and healthy, and positive emotional states, such as feeling calm and focused, can enhance self-confidence. Conversely, negative states can undermine confidence (Cotterill, 2018).

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It has been difficult to keep two podcasts on the go and do either of them well, so The Mental Game is to be subsumed by The Sunday Letters Podcast. I find that I'm talking about the same material in each case, making it difficult to decide where an episode belonged. I'm thin on time too, and if I want to be effective, then I must let one podcast take my full attention.

If you've been a listener to The Mental Game, you will essentially get the same content on The Sunday Letters Podcast. I'll be talking about all things work, but more specifically, commanding your own work. If there is a core message in the material I write and record, it is the importance of finding meaningful and fulfilling work and being brave enough to step into it.

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Recent Episodes

You'll find essays on the following topics;

The Future of Work

An examination of how daily work has changed and continues to change due to global social, political, technological and economic shifts. How will AI impact jobs of the future, and what will humans do every day when robots are doing the work? I'll look at the benefits and the pitfalls.

Unworking

Unworking is a redefining of daily work. These essays will critique how we work today, how we have worked, and how we may use the psychology of creativity, behaviour and performance to take command of our daily work.

Society & Culture

From time to time, I may be inspired to pen an essay in this category that takes a broader look at how we live and work. I'll look at aspects of the self, both individually and collectively.

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In this week's episode of The Mental Game, I'm talking with Rob O'Donohue from Gartner Consulting on how to create positive workplace culture for small organisations. You'll learn in this episode that even if you are a solo business owner, you can begin to create the right workplace culture for the future. The seeds planted now while you build your business will be vital for positive workplace culture and growth later.

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Why do airline manufacturers hide potentially catastrophic faults from their customers? Why does big tech use behavioural psychology to take advantage of young developing brains? And why do car makers hide vehicle emission data from the public? At the core of these breeches, is unethical decision-making by business leaders with concern for profit at all costs. Unethical Leadership results from a skewed sense of priority, a heightened sense of self-importance, and

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Self-determination is an important concept when considering the human motivation to work and perform. Self-determination theory (SDT)1 explains human motivation, and according to Edward Deci, it is “the energy for action. It gets us up in the morning and moves us through the day”. Motivation allows us to make personal choices based on survival, integration, and work with others and allows us to feel we have control over the direction of our lives.

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Over lockdown, I had been considering formats for some new content on work. Settling on an audio series, the loose plan was to meet up with people from diverse backgrounds and record our conversations around the question; How do you feel about daily work?

So as restrictions eased last month, I nabbed Dr Jonathan Murphy, a former psychology lecturer of mine and now senior executive of learning and development at Enterprise Ireland for a chat. Cumiskey's Pub, Dublin 7 was the venue and over several hours we discussed topics such as social media and free speech, Chomsky on academic freedom, the meaning and purpose of work, and in this short clip, the benefits of a psychology degree to all areas of life and work. (No pints - unfortunately!)

The following 4-minute clip is an intro to the longer publication of our conversation due out in September as part of the series on Work. I'll be asking supermarket workers, barristers, dentists, unemployed people, nurses, and a variety of other professions, how they feel about daily work. Subscribe to Human Performance to receive these personal and sometimes moving conversations.

Guest Profile

Dr Jonathan Murphy

Dr Jonathan Murphy is a learning & development specialist with Enterprise Ireland. A former lecturer and researcher, he currently works with senior business leaders and c-suite teams to enhance their non-cognitive skills and strategic leadership capabilities. His background is in the cognitive neuroscience of learning & memory, decision-making, human performance, and entrepreneurship and innovation.

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Transcript

Larry (00:00):When you were a kid, what was the goal? What did you want to be?

Jon (00:08):I can't honestly remember when I was, like under 10 or 12. I think as a teenager, I dabbled with the idea of being a musician and did the whole thing as a teenager, played in the band and I actually went to college to study that. I studied music and media management at college, and I loved the first year of doing that. And then in second year, I realised as with most things in life that it's going to be who you know in the industry and not what you know. And I think one of the things that I'd tell this advice to anyone coming out of college or anyone in a job that they're not happy with, you know, it's; try and build your network, try and like the importance of human relationships actually getting in and sitting down in front of somebody and building a relationship that way is really, really important. Um, the importance of saying yes to opportunities.

So oftentimes we're really busy. We tend to limit what we do. We limit ourselves to stuff that we're comfortable with. I think, one of the things we introduced for final year students was the employability and action module, was going out and doing volunteer work. Now I'm in two minds on volunteer work because I think there are exploited practices that go on there massively in psychology. Huge, right. I wrote an article in the Irish Psychologist in 2017 or 18, that was around the health of academic psychology. And it was [advocating for] making a better future for psychology graduates, and also showing them opportunities outside of academia and outside of the usual stuff. So I can remember, you would have been told in first-year and maybe throughout the degree,