you can't fool you podcast

Why do talented young athletes struggle with performance anxiety, fear of failure, and confidence during games? How can sports psychology and mental skills training help athletes perform better under pressure?

In this episode of the You Can't Fool You Podcast, Rockne O'Leary sits down with Lauren Rhul to discuss sports psychology for young athletes, mental toughness, perfectionism, negative self-talk, and the psychological challenges of competitive sports.

From youth sports to high school, college, and elite athletics, they explore how athletes can develop confidence, recover from mistakes, manage game-day anxiety, and build the mental skills needed for long-term success.

They also discuss what parents and coaches can do to support young athletes without adding unnecessary pressure.

What You'll Learn in This Episode
1. Sports Psychology vs. Performance Psychology
What is sports psychology, and how does it help athletes? Lauren explains how mental performance skills apply to sports, school, careers, relationships, and everyday life.

2. Why Athletes Struggle With Game-Day Anxiety
Why can an athlete perform confidently in practice but freeze during competition? We discuss performance anxiety, fear of judgment, pressure to win, and the emotional challenges athletes face when results become tied to their self-worth.

3. Perfectionism vs. High Standards in Sports
Having high standards can help athletes improve, but expecting perfection can create fear of mistakes, frustration, and burnout. We explore how athletes can pursue excellence while accepting that failure is part of development.

4. How Parents and Coaches Influence Athlete Confidence
The way parents and coaches praise athletes can influence how they evaluate their performance. We discuss the importance of recognizing effort, consistency, teamwork, and progress rather than focusing only on wins, goals, or statistics.

5. Mental Toughness, Burnout, and Recovery
Does pushing harder always make you a better athlete? We discuss the pressure to constantly train, why athletes sometimes feel guilty about resting, and how to balance competitive ambition with physical and mental recovery.

6. Mental Training Techniques for Young Athletes
Lauren shares practical sports psychology tools that athletes can practice to improve their mental performance, including:
- Recognizing and managing negative self-talk
- Using reset words after mistakes
- Building self-awareness before competition
- Refocusing on what's important now
- Managing comparisons with other athletes
- Practicing emotional regulation and visualization

7. How to Build Confidence After a Bad Game
One poor performance doesn't define an athlete's season or career. We discuss how to evaluate performance realistically, learn from mistakes, and develop the consistency required for long-term athletic development.

8. Why Mental Skills Matter Beyond Sports
The ability to handle pressure, regulate emotions, recover from setbacks, and make decisions under stress can benefit athletes long after their playing careers end.

Who Should Watch?
This episode is for youth athletes, high school and college athletes, parents of competitive athletes, youth sports coaches, strength and conditioning coaches, and anyone interested in sports psychology, mental performance training, and athlete development.

Join the Conversation
What's the biggest mental challenge young athletes face today: fear of failure, performance anxiety, perfectionism, or pressure from expectations?

Share your thoughts in the comments.

Subscribe to the You Can't Fool You Podcast for conversations about athletic performance, strength and conditioning, mental toughness, personal development, and becoming the best version of yourself.

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Follow Dr. Lauren Ruhl 
https://www.instagram.com/lruhl_sportpsych/
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBwr6lVwI-eY&si=Ya-Kdb-irIEXIid_
www.greenepsych.com

#youcantfoolyou #SportsPsychology #YouthAthletes #MentalPerformance #AthleteMindset #StrengthAndConditioningCoach

Why do mentally tough athletes still struggle with anxiety, self-doubt, performance pressure, and emotional challenges?

Athletes are taught to push through pain, stay disciplined, and perform under pressure. But what happens when that same mentality starts affecting their mental health?

In this episode of the You Can't Fool You Podcast, I sit down with Dr. Rachel Daltry, a psychologist who works with college athletes at West Chester University, to discuss the psychological challenges of being an athlete, the connection between mental toughness and anxiety, and why mental health deserves the same attention as physical training.

We talk about sports psychology, athlete mental health, performance anxiety, sports injuries, athlete identity, burnout, depression, and the pressure to succeed in competitive sports. Rachel shares what she's learned from working with athletes at different levels, including the emotional challenges that often go unnoticed by coaches, teammates, and parents.

We also discuss practical mental health strategies athletes can use to manage anxiety, recover from setbacks, build self-awareness, and recognize when they need additional support.
Whether you're a high school athlete, college athlete, coach, or parent, this conversation will give you a better understanding of what athletes experience mentally and emotionally.

Why Do Mentally Tough Athletes Experience Anxiety?
Mental toughness is often associated with pushing harder, ignoring discomfort, and refusing to quit.
But athletes can be disciplined, confident, and physically strong while still experiencing anxiety, fear, uncertainty, and emotional distress.

Rachel and I discuss why the traditional definition of mental toughness can create problems for athletes who feel they must always be strong.

We explore how to recognize when pushing yourself is helping your development and when taking a step back may be the better decision.

The Psychological Impact of Sports Injuries
One of the biggest challenges athletes face is dealing with injuries.
When you're injured, you're missing practices, games, and opportunities to compete. You may also feel disconnected from your teammates and uncertain about your future in sports.

I share my experience of missing much of a college football season because of a foot injury, while Rachel discusses the emotional challenges athletes experience during injury rehabilitation.

We cover:
☑️How sports injuries affect an athlete's mental health and confidence.
☑️Why injured athletes can feel isolated from their teams.
☑️The fear and uncertainty surrounding returning to sports after an injury.
☑️How athletes can manage the psychological challenges of injury recovery.
☑️Why support from coaches, teammates, and family matters.


Athlete Identity: Who Are You Without Your Sport?
For many athletes, sports become a major part of their identity.
Their daily routines, friendships, confidence, and sense of achievement are often connected to how well they perform.

But what happens when an injury, reduced playing time, or the end of an athletic career takes that away?

We discuss athlete identity and mental health, including why young athletes need opportunities to develop confidence and a sense of self beyond their sport.

Mental Toughness vs. Mental Health: When Should Athletes Stop Pushing?
There's a fine line between developing mental toughness and pushing yourself beyond what is healthy. Athletes are often praised for playing through pain, training when they're exhausted, and never taking a break.

Rachel challenges that mentality and explains why understanding your limits is an important part of athletic development. We discuss how coaches can recognize when an athlete needs encouragement, recovery, or professional support. We also talk about the importance of building relationships with athletes so coaches understand the person they're working with.

Understanding Anxiety and Depression in Athletes

What does anxiety actually feel like? How is it different from an anxiety disorder? And how can athletes recognize when their mental health needs more attention?

Rachel explains common psychological and physical symptoms of anxiety and depression, including racing thoughts, muscle tension, excessive worry, low energy, and changes in sleep or appetite.
We also discuss why experiencing anxiety doesn't automatically mean an athlete has a mental health disorder.

Understanding the difference can help athletes respond to everyday emotional challenges while recognizing when professional treatment may be necessary.

How to Manage Anxiety as an Athlete
One of the most valuable parts of our conversation is learning how to work with anxiety rather than constantly fighting against it. I share my personal experience with journaling and how consistently writing down my thoughts has helped me understand myself and make better decisions.

Rachel explains several anxiety management techniques for athletes, including:
-Journaling to organize thoughts and emotions.
-Breathing exercises for physical symptoms of anxiety.
-Mindfulness and meditation to develop present-moment awareness.
-Progressive muscle relaxation.
-Self-compassion during difficult experiences.
-Talking with a qualified mental health professional when additional support is needed.

These strategies can help athletes build the mental skills needed to handle pressure, uncertainty, and difficult situations both in sports and everyday life.

Youth Sports Pressure, Burnout, and the Fear of Falling Behind
High school and college athletes face growing expectations around playing time, scholarships, recruitment, and athletic performance. We discuss how competitive youth sports, travel teams, and college recruiting can contribute to anxiety and burnout.

Rachel also explains why enjoying your sport matters and how excessive pressure can affect an athlete's motivation and mental well-being. For coaches and parents, this raises an important question: Are we helping young athletes develop, or are we adding pressure that makes it harder for them to enjoy competing?

What Coaches and Parents Should Know About Athlete Mental Health
Every athlete responds differently to challenges. Some athletes need encouragement to push themselves. Others already place enormous pressure on themselves and may need help recognizing when to recover.

Rachel and I discuss why good coaching requires trust, communication, and understanding the individual athlete. We also explore how parents, coaches, and teammates can support athletes through injuries, performance anxiety, emotional challenges, and setbacks.
Developing a strong athlete means paying attention to the person behind the performance.

You Don't Have to Handle Everything Alone
One of Rachel's biggest messages to athletes is that you don't have to figure everything out on your own. You can be committed to your sport, work hard, and develop mental toughness while still asking for help when you need it.

Support from teammates, coaches, family, friends, and mental health professionals can make a difference in how athletes navigate difficult experiences.

Train the athlete. Build the person.
If you're an athlete, coach, or parent, I'd love to hear your perspective.
Do you think athletes are taught enough about mental health and managing performance pressure? Let me know in the comments.

Subscribe to the You Can't Fool You Podcast for conversations about sports psychology, mental toughness, strength and conditioning, youth athlete development, personal growth, and becoming a stronger person on and off the field.

Rachael Daltry:

[email protected]

http://drracheldaltry.com/

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How should you build a strength and conditioning program for high school athletes when you may have 30 minutes, 30 athletes, different strength levels, limited equipment, and a different training environment from one team to the next?

You still have to make the session count.

In this episode of the You Can't Fool You Podcast, I break down the simple training approach I use with high school athletes, and why effective youth strength training starts with getting the basics right.

As the Strength and Conditioning Coordinator at Garnet Valley, I work with athletes across different sports, backgrounds, and experience levels. With our new weight room finally open, I wanted to walk through how I think about programming when a team steps into the gym.

What Determines a High School Strength Program?

Before I choose a single exercise, I want to know three things: How many athletes am I training? What space and equipment do I have? How much time do I have with them?

Training 8 basketball players is different from training 30+ cross-country athletes. Equipment access changes what you can do. 30 minutes instead of 60 means every exercise has to earn its place.

The goal isn't fitting in as many exercises as possible — it's choosing what gives athletes the greatest return on the time you have. That's where good S&C starts.

How I Structure a 30-Minute Workout

Using our girls basketball program as an example: with 30 minutes, the session has to move. We start with pogo variations, A-skips, and running drills, progressing into jumping and explosive work. From there, primary strength exercises — a squat paired with a pulling movement one day, a trap bar deadlift with a half-kneeling overhead press another. We finish with split squat holds, push-ups, side lunges, or farmer's carries.

There's a structure behind those choices. The exercises need to serve the athlete and the purpose of the session.

Build a Balanced Program, Not a Random Workout

With athletes twice a week, I want sessions covering the major qualities and movement patterns they need: explosive work (sprints, jumps, throws), upper-body pushing and pulling, hip- and knee-dominant lower-body work, bilateral and unilateral movement. Strength, speed, power, movement quality — developed without overcomplicating things.

The individual exercises can change. The principles don't. That's the distinction that matters when coaching teams — enough structure to know where you're going, enough flexibility to adjust to what's in front of you.

Keep Youth Strength Training Simple

The biggest mistake we make with high school athletes is assuming complicated means effective. Most have a low training age — they may have lifted before, followed a few workouts online — but haven't trained consistently enough to need advanced programming.

That's an opportunity. Build the base first. Teach them to squat, push, pull, hinge, choose an appropriate weight, and move well before progressively challenging themselves. Simple doesn't mean easy — it means putting attention where it matters.

How Hard Should They Train?

I introduce athletes to RPE and reps in reserve. If we're doing 8 reps, I might have an athlete choose a weight they could do for 9-10, stopping at 8 — teaching them to understand effort instead of blindly picking a weight. I don't just want athletes following instructions in front of me. I want them learning how to train.

Different Athletes Need Different Coaching

A football or lacrosse team usually has more weight-room experience than a cross-country team. That changes how complex I'm willing to make a session. With our cross-country team, we kept session one simple — squats, push-ups, split squat holds — but still used it to teach technique and what productive training should feel like. Training age, sport, and athlete all shape the program.

The Real Goal

My goal walking into a room of high school athletes is to educate them enough that they could eventually train with confidence on their own. At the end of a session: did you learn something today? If you walked into a gym alone, would you know what to do? If that starts becoming yes, that's a win. We're not just getting athletes through today's workout — we're building knowledge they keep using after they leave.

A Good Program Is More Than a List of Exercises

A program succeeds not because it has the perfect exercise list, but because it's a sequence of decisions — each one with a reason behind it. You have to be willing to adjust as athletes, equipment, space, and time change. Good coaching means understanding the principles well enough to adapt without losing the purpose of the session.

Build the base. Teach the athlete. Train with purpose.

If you're looking for a coach to run your team's S&C, or want to exchange ideas on programming and athlete development — reach out. I'm always open to the conversation.

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The Truth About NIL Money & Why College Athletes Are Going Broke | Dr. Cal Quigley
College athletes are making real money through NIL deals, but getting paid and knowing how to manage that money are two completely different things.
Some student-athletes are earning hundreds of thousands, even millions, through their name, image, and likeness (NIL) while they’re still learning how to budget, invest, save, and make financial decisions.
So what happens to all that NIL money?
In this episode of the You Can’t Fool You Podcast, I sit down with Dr. Cal Quigley, professor at TCU, investment strategist, entrepreneur, former Air Force service member, and mentor to college athletes. We talk about NIL money, college athletes getting paid, financial literacy, investing, the transfer portal, gambling, generational wealth, identity, and life after sports.

How NIL Is Changing College Sports
NIL has changed what it means to be a college athlete.
College football and basketball players can make significant money before ever becoming professional athletes, while athletes in other college sports are finding smaller NIL opportunities of their own.
We talk about how NIL deals work, why athletes are moving through the transfer portal, and how money is changing some of the decisions college athletes make about where they play and how long they stay in school.
There are more financial opportunities for college athletes than there used to be.
That also means there are more decisions to get right.

Why Financial Literacy Matters for College Athletes
Giving a 19 or 20-year-old a large NIL check doesn’t automatically teach them what to do with it.
Cal works directly with student-athletes and their families on financial literacy, budgeting, investing, building portfolios, and creating generational wealth.
One of his biggest lessons is to start investing early.
It doesn’t have to be complicated. Build the habit, understand where your money is going, and learn how your money works instead of handing every financial decision to somebody else.

The Financial Mistakes Athletes Make
We also talk about the habits that can make NIL money disappear.
Gambling is one of them.
Cal shares his own experience with gambling and why he talks openly about it with athletes. We also discuss spending, lack of financial education, and what can happen when athletes make significant money without having the right people or financial habits around them.
Your NIL opportunity may only last a few years.
What you do with the money can last much longer.

NIL Money, the Transfer Portal and Life After College Sports
The college football transfer portal and NIL have given athletes more freedom to pursue playing opportunities and better financial opportunities.
But eventually college sports end.
I know what it’s like to attach a lot of your identity to being a football player. When football ended for me, I had to figure out who I was without the game.
Cal experienced a similar identity transition after leaving the military.
Whether you make $500 from NIL or millions of dollars, there will eventually be a life beyond your sport.

Invest in Yourself While You Have the Opportunity
Cal gives three lessons he wishes more young athletes would understand earlier: start investing, think about what you can build with your money, and invest in yourself physically and mentally.
NIL can give college athletes a financial head start that previous generations never had.
But the check is only the opportunity.
You still have to decide what you’re going to do with it.

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We spend a lot of time talking about mental health, mindset, confidence, stress, anxiety, pressure, and performance, but I think there’s another part of the conversation we need to have: Are we actually developing the skills to handle these challenges when they show up?
In this episode of You Can’t Fool You, I talk about becoming the best version of yourself through self-awareness, personal values, journaling, better self-talk, positive role models, and learning how to take control of your response when life gets difficult.

Mental Fitness Is Something You Can Train
Athletes spend years practicing how to shoot, throw, run, lift, and perform under pressure, but we also need tools for dealing with failure, expectations, fear, stress, comparison, and the moments when we don’t feel like we’re enough.
Those skills can be practiced too.
Instead of allowing every difficult moment to become part of your identity, you can learn from it, work on your response, and use it as another opportunity to grow.

Know Your Values
Your values become your compass when life gets hard because they help guide your decisions, behavior, and the way you want to show up.
In this episode, I walk you through a simple exercise for identifying your own values by looking at moments when you know you could have handled something differently and asking:
How would the best version of me have responded?
The gap between what you did and what you know you could have done differently may tell you something important about the values you want to live by.

Choose Better Role Models
The people you watch and spend time around can influence the person you become.
Famous athletes and successful people can give you qualities to admire, but I also believe you need role models you can actually observe in everyday life: coaches, teachers, parents, mentors, and even peers who demonstrate qualities you want to develop in yourself.
Don’t just ask who you admire. Ask what you admire about them.

Use Journaling to Understand Your Mind
Journaling and self-education have been two of the biggest needle movers in my own personal development.
Writing gives you an opportunity to slow down, examine your thoughts, question the stories you’re telling yourself, and become more aware of how you respond to what happens around you.
If you’ve never journaled before, start with five or ten minutes and write whatever is going through your head without editing it.
There’s only one rule I believe matters:
What you write has to be true.
You can’t fool you.

Becoming the Best Version of Yourself Never Ends
Personal growth isn’t something you complete.
You practice these skills the same way you practice a sport, and over time you become better at understanding yourself, managing your response, keeping your values in front of you, and building a relationship with yourself that you can trust.
The goal is not one good day. The goal is who you become.

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Rockne O’Leary talks with divorce mediator Joe Dillon, founder of Equitable Mediation Services, about a seven step negotiation framework designed to help people handle hard conversations more effectively. They break down how the Power Up Method applies not just to marriage, but to friendships, coworkers, family members, and boss conversations too.

Joe explains why so many arguments keep looping because the real issue never gets addressed, and he shares practical ways to move conversations toward resolution instead of escalation.

Key topics:

In this episode, Joe Dillon explains the Power Up Method, his seven step negotiation framework for relationships and conflict resolution.
He shares why many arguments come from an “I’ve decided” mindset, where one person assumes a decision was mutual when it really wasn’t.
The episode explores the most common conflict buckets in divorce and relationships: kids, spending styles, family decisions, jobs, and career choices.

Joe introduces detached engagement, a technique for staying mentally outside the conflict so you can ask better questions and keep your emotions in check.

He explains why “what” and “how” questions work better than “why” questions, which often put people on the defensive.
The conversation covers deep thinkers, verbal processors, and the “deer in headlights” shutdown response, and how each affects communication.

Joe outlines red flags in negotiation, including narcissism, ego, taking without giving, and bad faith bargaining.

He contrasts those with green flags like collaborative language, mutual problem solving, and a willingness to exchange value fairly.
Joe argues that the most important step is preparing the connection so the other person is actually available and receptive.
He shares a real example of using the framework at home to negotiate a $3,300 home gym purchase with his wife.

Key framework:
Prepare the connection
Outline your request
Weigh their perspective
Express your why
Reward with value
Use patience
Proceed accordingly

Sponsor:
The Vertigo Centre:
www.thevertigocentre.com

ROCKNE:
rockoleary.com
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Joe Dillion:
IG: @thejoedillon
https://thejoedillon.com/

Rockne O'Leary breaks down his first month as strength and conditioning coordinator at Garnet Valley and explains why he spent so much time meeting with coaches before running sessions. The episode is really about building a schoolwide training culture, not just getting athletes into a weight room.He also lays out his philosophy for in-season training, athlete education, and why consistency, basics, and buy-in matter more than fancy programming.

Key topics

• In this episode, Rockne O'Leary explains what a strength and conditioning coordinator actually does at Garnet Valley: coordinating schedules, supporting coaches, overseeing the new weight room field house, and running sessions when needed.
• He shares why he made it a priority to speak with nearly every coach before stepping in with athletes, because the goal is to support existing systems rather than replace them.
• He argues that many public high schools lack a true strength and conditioning structure, which often leaves training inconsistent or overly dependent on whatever individual coaches remember from their own playing days.
• He makes the case for in-season training, saying athletes should stay in the gym during the season, not just in the offseason, to maintain strength, speed, and availability.
• He explains the idea of residual training effects, noting that qualities like max speed and max strength need to be refreshed regularly to stay relevant through a long season.
• He describes the gap he saw at Garnet Valley as not disorganization, but a lack of one cohesive system that funnels all teams toward the same standard of training.
• He emphasizes education as the foundation of the program - teaching athletes and coaches why they train, not just what to do.
• He stresses basics first: build the base, respect athletes' low training age, and focus on strength and movement quality before adding more specialized work.
• He says the hardest part of the job is making sure no athlete falls through the cracks when he cannot be hands-on every day, and he believes culture is the answer.
• He outlines his three culture pillars for the weight room: show up with a great attitude, do the best you can, and have fun.
• He shares that the program is using Team Builder so athletes can see programs online, track weights, and keep attendance visible for coaches and accountability.
• He describes how coach buy-in came from making the process simple, reducing stress for coaches, and giving them one less system to manage.
• He points to positive early examples, including the girls basketball team and volleyball team, where athletes responded well to the culture and educational approach.
• He closes by saying the same philosophy he is building at Garnet Valley is the same one he uses with private athletes: coach, educate, and develop, not just count reps.

Quotes:

"The framework is really education."

"The hardest part in the shop is how do you make sure that no kid falls through the cracks."

"Show up with a great attitude, do the best you can, and have fun."

Rockne O'Leary:

rockoleary.com

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Chris Roberts and Rockne O'Leary talk about how fluency in math, music, and software all start with mastering the basics, then building patience, intuition, and abstract thinking on top of that. They also dig into how AI can be a powerful tool for learning and productivity, but only if students first develop the ability to think for themselves. Chris shares why he believes pencil and paper still matter in the early development years, how screens and constant stimulation can weaken attention and delayed gratification, and why his mission is to make math fluency fun, accessible, and free for students and teachers.

Key topics

• Chris Roberts explains the common thread across music education, math education, and software development: fluency in a language, whether musical, mathematical, or technical.
• He argues that mastering the basics first is not a shortcut, but the foundation for intuition, confidence, and higher-level thinking.
• Chris describes his framework for performance preparation from How to Make First Chair, including patience, overlearning, and a three-month runway for auditions or performances.
• The conversation compares math fluency to football practice, where repetitive drills build automaticity before players can execute in real game conditions.
• Chris says AI should be used as a tool, not a crutch, and warns that students need strong fundamentals to judge, guide, and correct what AI produces.
• Rockne shares how AI helps him read difficult texts and understand them more deeply, which leads into a discussion of responsible use versus dependency.
• Chris says early education should still emphasize pencil and paper, handwriting, and books, especially through about fourth or fifth grade, before too much screen-based learning takes over.
• They discuss how constant screen stimulation, social media, and short-form content can reduce patience, attention span, and the ability to sit still and think.
• Chris describes classroom changes he observed, including Chromebook distractions, students bypassing restrictions, and the challenge of reaching both multilingual students and remedial learners.
• He explains his mission to improve multiplication fluency through fun, browser-based tools, including a daily puzzle and a multiplication bee style challenge.

Key frameworks:

• Fluency first, abstraction second
• Master the basics before expecting intuition
• Use AI as a tool, not a crutch
• Delayed gratification builds better thinkers
• Fun and repetition can coexist in serious learning

Notable quotes:

• "There is no shortcut. You have to learn and be patient and let yourself learn this over time."
• "To get to that higher level abstract thinking, this other stuff has to be automatic."
• "The more kids that are fluent in math, they're gonna be better thinkers and be able to handle AI instead of be controlled by it."

Action items

• Practice math fluency daily, even in short sessions.
• Keep pencil and paper in the learning process as long as possible in early grades.
• Use AI to explain, check, or extend understanding, not to replace thinking.
• Create more opportunities for delayed gratification through books, puzzles, games, and hands-on work.
• Make learning fun enough that students want to return to it consistently.

The Vertigo Centre:

www.thevertigocentre.com

Rockne O'Leary:

www.rockoleary.com

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Chris Roberts: 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/clr550/

https://whattimeswhat.com/

https://classicmathgames.com/

https://howtomakefirstchair.com/

This episode is a solo reflection on a simple but overlooked principle: getting the job, relationship, house, or opportunity is not the finish line. Rockne O’Leary argues that the benefits only show up when you fully commit, then keep showing up after the excitement fades.He connects the idea to his own life updates, including his wife Jess’s pregnancy, selling his house, a new strength and conditioning role at Garnet Valley, and the changing rhythm of his men’s group. From there, he breaks down how commitment, preparation, and self-trust work in relationships, money, career, coaching, and personal growth.

Key topics

• The hardest part is often not getting the thing, but handling what comes after
• Being chosen feels good, but it is only the start, not the finish line
• Full commitment means no plan B, no exit plan, and no one foot out the door
• Relationships require vulnerability before intimacy or real partnership can exist
• Money works the same way as compound interest - the benefit comes from not touching it
• Career and business upside gets diluted when you keep other options warm
• Half-committing to coaching or training usually leads to half the results
• Holding his house for years showed the payoff of consistent maintenance and patience
• The culture of goals and hustle often ignores the day after the win
• Self-trust is built through evidence, not just mindset, and that evidence comes from follow-through

The Vertigo Centre: 

www.thevertigocentre.com

Momentous: 

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Contact:

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email: [email protected]

In this episode of You Can’t Fool You, Rockne O’Leary sits down with Emily Roper to explore how early physical development, pregnancy, birth, and parenting shape a child’s emotional, neurological, and social development. Emily explains how her work as a neurodevelopmental delay therapist and midwife’s assistant overlaps, and why supporting moms during pregnancy and postpartum can have lifelong effects on children.

What You’ll Learn:

• Why early physical development has a major impact on brain function later in life
• How pregnancy, birth, and postpartum experiences can influence a baby’s stress response and development
• The difference between normal anxiety and more clinically significant patterns
• Why attachment in the first months of life matters so much
• How dads can support moms and strengthen family relationships after birth
• What toddlers are really doing when they test limits, melt down, or ignore directions
• Why rough-and-tumble play is important for kids’ development

Key Topics Covered:

Emily’s Path Into Development WorkEmily shares how she “fell into” this field after seeing major changes in her cousin through early development therapy, then experiencing her own anxiety and trichotillomania improvement through the same approach.The Body-Mind ConnectionA big part of Emily’s work focuses on the body’s early reflexes, stress responses, and how those patterns can influence emotional regulation and anxiety later in life.Pregnancy Shapes Baby’s BaselineEmily explains how a baby learns from the mother’s environment in pregnancy — including stress, nutrition, and physical activity — and how that can influence the baby’s nervous system after birth.Recovery After BirthShe breaks down the importance of rest, nutrition, sleep, and realistic expectations in postpartum recovery, emphasizing that healing is deeply individual and often takes much longer than people expect.Attachment and the First Six MonthsEmily discusses secure attachment, why it matters for lifelong mental health, and how responsive caregiving helps babies learn that the world is safe and people are reliable.Parenting ToddlersThe conversation closes with practical parenting insights: how to set limits, mirror emotions, avoid taking behavior personally, and guide children toward regulation without shaming their feelings.

Notable Takeaways:

• Babies and toddlers need both boundaries and emotional attunement.
• Behavior is not the same as emotion; all emotions are valid, but not all behaviors are.
• Physical play, movement, and appropriate risk-taking are essential for healthy development.
• A strong support system during pregnancy and postpartum can strengthen the entire family.

Guest Info

Emily Roper
Podcast: The Early Roots Podcast
Website: www.earlyrootstherapy.com/meet-emily

Sponsor:

This episode is sponsored by The Vertigo Center — helping you find balance when the world won’t stop spinning.
Visit: www.thevertigocentre.com

Rockne O'Leary:

www.rockoleary.com

10% off Momentous – Code RockneO'Leary

If you enjoyed this episode

If this conversation helped you understand child development, parenting, or postpartum recovery in a new way, share it with a parent, parent-to-be, or anyone supporting young families.