Today I have on the show Laura Rushworth.

I really enjoyed recording this episode as it was a departure from the norm for me and I was a keen and eager student listening to what Laura had to say and the amazing work she is doing in the field of selective mutism in young people. An anxiety disorder I only became familiar with very recently but felt as a coach and an influencers of young people, this was an important conversation to have. Our hope by recording this episode was to bring to light this anxiety disorder to a sporting audience both for parents and coaches and where to find help and support on the matter. 

Laura has worked for Confident Children since 2019 as a Selective Mutism Practitioner, providing support for children with SM in schools and online. Laura previously worked in a primary school as a Specialist Speech, Language and Communication Practitioner. It was during her eight years in this role that she discovered her passion for helping children overcome their anxieties around talking. Laura is also mum to two girls. 

In the show we talk about the physical debilitating factors around selective mutism, what it is, what it isn’t, and the misconceptions. As mentioned, Confident Children is the company Laura works for and we discuss the amazing work and the positive influence they are having on young peoples lives on a daily basis. How selective mutism presents itself and why. The fight, flight, freeze response. How certain character traits such as perfectionism, fear of mistakes, fear of judgment and being highly sensitive can all lend themselves to this anxiety disorder. Laura gives some great tips and tools to use right away as a parent or coach to help with this anxiety disorder. 

This episode only scratches the surface and is not intended to be the antidote and for those who have been effected or know of anyone that may be showing signs of this anxiety disorder please do reach out and contact Confident Children on www.confidentchildren.co.uk. Please also forward this podcast episode and share it far and wide as it would be great to get this message out more to the masses and raise the awareness.

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Whenever you're ready to enhance your mental training and optimise your life with SportMind, here's how you can achieve it:

https://linktr.ee/sportmind

Also download the SportMind App FREE on Apple or Android to get access to hundreds of lessons on how to train the mind for living your best life.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today I have on the show bright shining star Anne Parmenter. 

We had such a wide ranging, deep, funny, and inspiring conversation today and I certainly came away with my energy cup brimming full. She was just a delight and had so many cool things to talk about it felt like we could have had a 5-parter. Her knowledge, humbleness, energy, interests, passions, and genuine authenticity come across beautifully on the show. 

You can see why she has been the success she has been, and not just based on her wins and losses, but how she inspires people and finds the value and importance in life and relationships. 

Anne is a highly respected and experienced field hockey coach who has been leading the Trinity College Bantams in Hartford, Connecticut, for numerous years. With a strong commitment to her athletes' development both on and off the field, Anne has become an influential figure in the field hockey community. Under her guidance, the Trinity College field hockey team has achieved significant milestones, consistently ranking among the top teams in their conference. Her dedication to the sport and her players has led to numerous wins and high levels of team performance. Throughout her tenure at Trinity College, Parmenter has led the Bantams to multiple conference championships, earning several NCAA tournament appearances.

It is evident that Anne’s impact on the field hockey program at Trinity College has been profound. Her leadership and passion for the sport have left a lasting mark on the countless student-athletes she has mentored, helping them grow both as players and as individuals. 

In addition to her coaching responsibilities, Anne has taken on various roles at Trinity College, contributing to the overall development and enrichment of the institution. As a strong advocate for her players, she works tirelessly to ensure they receive the support and opportunities they need to excel both athletically and academically. Her lasting influence and achievements have established her as a respected and accomplished figure in the world of collegiate sports and in March 2023 she hung up her whistle. 

On the show today we talked about her journey from youth athlete, to field hockey player, to legendary coach at Trinity College, where, as mentioned, she has only recently just retired from. From the word go you understand that coaching was in her DNA and was her destiny. She followed her passion and followed her dream. We talk a lot about coaching philosophies, what it takes to get the best out of athletes and her tips and advice for creating a strong team culture. She shares stories about the deep relationships she has formed over the years and how when it all gets stripped away, this is the most valuable thing in life. 

She is a great outdoors person and we end the show with an incredible story from her about her climbs on Mount Everest. How her first climb was fraught with danger and peril and the despair of what happened. On her second climb she was able to summit and she takes us through all the detail of this and the profound moments she came face to face with death. A harrowing and captivating listen and I am sure you will be blown away as I was when I was listening to her. 

So on that note, I am excited for you to hear this conversation with myself and Anne Parmenter.

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Whenever you're ready to enhance your mental training and optimise your life with SportMind, here's how you can achieve it:

https://linktr.ee/sportmind

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today on the show, I have the pleasure of welcoming Graham Keen, who will be sharing his expertise on the mind and how to optimize performance, especially under pressure. Graham offers valuable insights on how to cultivate the right mindset and emphasizes the importance of self-talk and mental conditioning in his work. His tips are truly remarkable and offer a fresh perspective on how to achieve peak performance.

Graham is a business psychologist, former CFO, and corporate finance advisor. He has been giving advice to more than 200 companies for more than 20 years on how to make lasting positive change. He now works with entrepreneurs and complex international organizations to deliver enlightened cultures and financial growth. In the past, he has worked with giant brands such as Barclays Bank, Disney, BMW, Sony, and IBM, to name but a few. Graham is also an author, and I am delving into his insightful book called Positive Leaders, Positive Change. It's well worth a read, and it gives plenty of practical tips and tools on how to train and optimize the mind.

Graham cut his teeth in sport psychology, where he honed his skills and expertise working with golf players, including multiple Ryder Cup teams and the top individual players in the game.

Graham has such a positive energy about him that you can see why he has been so successful in what he does and teaches. I came away full of energy and raring to go!

On the show today, we talk about how he was a vanguard of the Martin Selligman school of positive psychology. This means he was one of the first 1000 psychologists globally to get training and begin using Martin’s groundbreaking methods. We discuss this along with what positive psychology is and why it can often be misconstrued in modern psychology. 

We talk a lot about the topic of resilience: what it is, how it forms, and how to maintain it under pressure. Linked closely to this, we talk about confidence, a lack of it, and some useful tools to use in order to grow it. Graham is big into visualization, so we of course hit it off a lot on this topic and spoke about different methods we both use. I certainly learned a lot myself. 

We close the episode by talking about the key behaviors and habits of high performers and what separates them from the rest. He also, with my probing, reflects on his strengths and what has allowed him to make such a positive impact on all those he coaches. 

To find out more about Graham, please visit his website, which is www.positiveprofitabilitycompany.co.uk, or search for him on LinkedIn. 

I trust you’ll get the same amount of positive energy I did from this conversation, so please sit back and enjoy my conversation with Graham Keen. 

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Whenever you're ready to enhance your mental training and optimize your life, here's how you can achieve it:

https://linktr.ee/sportmind

Also, download the FREE SportMind App on Apple or Android to get access to hundreds of lessons on how to train the mind for living your best life. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Well, folks, let me tell you about my recent 5-day silent meditation retreat - it was a wild ride! I had heard so much about the transformative power of silent retreats and decided to give it a go. I was feeling a bit apprehensive about the whole thing, but I figured, what the heck, might as well give it a try.

As soon as I arrived, I knew I was in for a challenge. The retreat was located in a remote area, and I had to trek through the wilderness to get there. Well, in my car at least! The smallest of country lanes, surrounded by farms and wilderness. It was bliss!

The retreat started with a series of instructions on how to meditate and the power of silence, and I found myself struggling to keep my mind from wandering. It was tough, folks, really tough. On average, 7-hours per day of meditation. But, slowly and surely, I started to get the hang of it. I began to feel more at peace, and I even found myself looking forward to my meditation sessions.

The days were long and filled with guided and non-guided meditation, but there were also long periods of silence where we could reflect on our experiences. These moments were especially powerful for me, as I realised just how much my mind had been running on autopilot. I had been so busy with the day-to-day hustle and bustle that I had forgotten to take a step back and really think about what was important to me.

As the days went on, I began to feel more and more connected to myself and the world around me. The silence had allowed me to tune out the noise and really listen to my inner voice. I realised that I had been neglecting my own needs and desires, and that I needed to make some changes in my life.

On the last day of the retreat, we were allowed to break the silence and share our experiences with one another. I was amazed at how much we had all grown and transformed in just five short days. We had all faced our fears and challenges head-on, and come out stronger on the other side.

In conclusion, folks, this silent meditation retreat was a truly life-changing experience for me. It taught me the power of stillness and reflection, and showed me that sometimes, we need to disconnect from the noise to truly connect with ourselves. I highly recommend giving meditation a try - who knows, it might just change your life too!

I have already blocked off my calendar for roughly the same time next year and plan on doing this annually (if not more) as it was so powerful and mind-opening.

Please do share and pass this on to anyone who may want to hear about the reflections of a 5-day silent meditation retreat. 

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Whenever you're ready to enhance your mental training and optimise your life, here's how you can achieve it:

https://linktr.ee/sportmind

Also download the SportMind App FREE on Apple or Android to get access to hundreds of lessons on how to train the mind for living your best life. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today on the show, I have Brian Germain, and boy, did we go down some really deep and interesting rabbit holes. I hope you are ready for some insights into some awesome areas of the mind, and I learned a huge amount in this conversation.

So where to begin with Brian and his CV? Let’s just say he’s lived a very full and thorough life. He is a world-renowned skydiver, but he is also much more than this. He is an author, inventor, and keynote speaker.

Brian made his first skydive in 1986 at the age of eighteen and today is known to absolutely everybody in the skydiving community around the planet; he was the inventor of the Airlock and Jedei parachute-canopy technologies. Today, with over 14,000 jumps and 25 years of instructional experience, Brian travels the world teaching basic, advanced, and instructor-level canopy courses, providing life coaching, keynote speaking, and workshops for corporate and organizational events. He has authored numerous critically acclaimed books, designs parachutes, and is a featured instructor and keynote speaker at Adventure Wisdom LLC.

Today we talk a lot about fear and the tools to try and face it head-on. In his line of work, the emotion of fear is at the forefront of what he does, so there is no one better placed to talk about it than Brian. 

As always, we explore tools to help rationalize the fear and help overcome it. How to look fear right in the eye and get to the root of the problem Asking the question, "Why are you doing this?" or "Why are you putting yourself through this pain?" is a way to interrogate what fear brings. We also touch on subjects such as mindfulness, meditation, visualization, breathing, reflecting, reframing, building confidence, and perfectionism, to name but a few. 

If you would like to hear and see more from Brian, then please check him out on LinkedIn or visit his website, www.adventurewisdom.com.

So on that note, please buckle in and enjoy my inspiring and fun conversation with Brain Germain.

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Whenever you're ready to enhance your mental training and optimize your life, here's how you can achieve it:

https://linktr.ee/sportmind

Also, download the FREE SportMind App on Apple or Android to get access to hundreds of lessons on how to train the mind for living your best life. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today I have on the show a world-class mountain runner, Zak Hanna.

Zak is based in Ireland but competes all over the world. We recorded this episode while he was in his hotel room in Seville about to compete in a flat half-marathon to get in his speed training in order to compete better in the mountains. 

We explore the origins of Zak’s mountain running and how he came to it later on in his life but has since never looked back and is excelling in his chosen field. 

He came in fifth at the recent World Championships in Thailand, competing over an 8.5-kilometer course with an ascent of over 1,000 meters. Quite incredible and a brutally tough sport.

As always, we delve into the intricacies of the mind and uncover what makes Zak one of the most mentally resilient athletes out there. His mental strength isn't just limited to his chosen sport but is also evident in his daily and weekly routines, where he displays remarkable discipline and commitment by consistently putting in the hard work regardless of external factors like weather or personal feelings.

We look at how the concept of acceptance allows you to be in the moment and execute when the stakes are high. We look at motivation and where it comes from, and Zak gives some great tips for this tool of the mind. We also talk about accessing a flow state and what his version of this looks like. 

He shares some great stories and brings to life what it feels like to be an elite-level mountain runner and how grateful he is for what he does. He gets a lot of joy and appreciation for the scenery that comes with what he does, and being grateful for this helps keep the motivation high. He also shares a very interesting story about nerves and anxiety, what happened to him before one race, and how he overcame it with the support network around him. Some fascinating stuff!

Please do sit back and enjoy Zak opening up about his tools for the mind in his chosen sport but also for all areas of life in general.

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Whenever you're ready to enhance your mental training and optimize your life, here's how you can achieve it:

https://linktr.ee/sportmind

Also, download the FREE SportMind App on Apple or Android to get access to hundreds of lessons on how to train the mind for living your best life. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Success Toolkit - Overall Summary

In the final episode of The Success Toolkit, Jesse and Bart take a high level overview of all the 8 themes that were covered over the last few weeks. They dissect each theme and give the main tools for people to take away and use right away. The idea behind this final episode is for people to get a feel and a sense of the nature of what was recorded and to then go and dive into an individual theme that may be of interest.

If those listening would like to know more about certain topics that have not been covered, then please do reach out to us. If the demand is high enough, then special episodes will be recorded and added to the Success Toolkit. 

Please do email [email protected]

And finally, please do share The Success Toolkit far and wide and to anyone who you feel may benefit from the lessons discussed in it.

As always we aim to provide a practical and hands on toolkit to help anyone who wants to understand how to improve their overall life.  

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www.SportMind.io

www.SquashMind.co.uk

www.championsfactory.net

[email protected] 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Success Toolkit - Lesson 8: Mental Health

In Episode 8 of The Success Toolkit, Jesse and Bart tackle the topic of mental health. This is a large and complex topic and the aim of this episode is to distill the main areas of mental health into an accessible episode. On the show the conversations revolve around how we all have am ugly side and we should be ok exposing it. How and what true and deep happiness is. How the achievement of external rewards is fleeting at best. And how to help with anyone suffering with depression. 

As always we aim to provide a practical and hands on toolkit to help anyone who wants to understand how to improve their overall mental health for a strong and flexible mind. 

Bart and Jesse are not trained specialists when it comes to the complex issues of deep rooted mental health concerns and we advise listeners to seek professional help in addition to what is discussed in this episode. 

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www.SportMind.io

www.SquashMind.co.uk

www.championsfactory.net

[email protected] 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Success Toolkit - Lesson 7: Dealing With Injuries

In Episode 7 of The Success Toolkit, Jesse and Bart tackle the topic of injuries and how to mentally cope better and healthier with this negative aspect on any athletes journey. On the show the discussions revolve around how seeing injuries as an opportunity to reflect with oneself and with the team around them. How to work on areas of mental fitness when the body will not allow athletes to train. How to make the use of the situation outside of the athletes chosen sport and to mentally refresh yourself in the process without having feelings of guilt.

As always we aim to provide a practical and hands on toolkit to help anyone who wants to understand the concept of dealing with injuries and how to mentally cope with them better. 

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www.SportMind.io

www.SquashMind.co.uk

www.championsfactory.net

[email protected] 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Success Toolkit - Lesson 6: Visualisation

In Episode 6 of The Success Toolkit, Jesse and Bart tackle the topic of visualisation and how this is part of the success toolkit. On the show the discussions revolve around that the brain cannot tell the difference between the event and the visualisation of that event, how the law of attrition works and doesn’t work, and how listeners could look to incorporate visualisation into their lives on a regular basis.

As always we aim to provide a practical and hands on toolkit to help anyone who wants to understand the concept of visualisation and how to apply it to their situation. 

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www.SportMind.io

www.SquashMind.co.uk

www.championsfactory.net

[email protected] 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.