Athletic Fortitude Show
Athletes all over the world endure countless mental physical and psychological adversities over the course of their careers. We are here to bring you the solutions to those adversities with some of the top professional athletes, coaches, and sport and performance psychologists around the world!
Athletic Fortitude Show
Q&A Episode: From Anxiety to Confidence: What Every Athlete Should Know
Mental resilience begins with understanding that your sport is what you do, not who you are—a fundamental truth that becomes crucial during career transitions and setbacks.
• Building identity starts with core values and characteristics that form the foundation of your personal "house"
• Effective mental training requires creating simulated pressure scenarios in everyday practice
• Comprehensive preparation across all domains is the first step to mental resilience
• Reframe stress as a performance enhancer rather than a threat to maximize capabilities
• Separate your identity from outcomes to compete freely without fear
• The biggest misconception in sports is equating physical punishment with mental toughness
• Become an effective storyteller to frame setbacks as chapters rather than defining moments
• Focus on periodization rather than balance—be fully present in whatever you're doing
• For youth athletes, emphasize competing hard and having fun rather than outcomes
• Hunting for gratitude aligns your mind with improvements and opportunities
Five stars only, baby. Download the podcast, subscribe to our YouTube channel, and check us out at athleticfortitude.com for some exciting surprises coming soon.
Welcome back to the show everybody. On today's episode it is just me again. However, I will be doing a Q&A from all my guests. Thank you for submitting some fantastic questions. This is an awesome opportunity for me to engage with my audience and answer some of the personal questions that you guys have for me directly and then based off of some of the lessons from my guests me directly and then based off of some of the lessons from my guests. So we're going to get into it. And I think the first question is going to resonate deeply with me, for everybody who listens to the episode is going to understand why.
Speaker 1:How can athletes rebuild their identity after retirement or career ending, injuries? And this is a multiple layered process. And anytime you hear the cliche what you do is not who you are, the sport you play, it's just what you do, it's not who you are. We have to accept that as a fundamental truth and belief, because it's true, what you do is not who you are, and so you have to repeatedly frame that in your own life and tell yourself that. Recognize it Now, how you can get yourself to believe it truthfully and fully absorbed, that it is just something you do. It's not who you are, whether it's retirement or career-ending that forces your sport to end, or maybe it's just you've played out your skill capacity and your career ends. So it's a layered process and we look at it.
Speaker 1:First you have to determine really who you want to be, and there's a reflection process and analysis process in order for you to even determine. Well, what type of person do I want to be? And I think the easiest way to get started is if you look at the most important people in your life how have they impacted you and what stands out about them that makes them so unique and special to you? And so when you can identify some of those values and characteristic traits, then you can start identifying oh well, maybe I want to be this type of person, right, I want to be someone who's really kind and empathetic, or I want to be someone who's really resilient and tenacious. Whatever it is. You can identify those values and characteristics and then you can start to put a game plan together.
Speaker 1:Okay, well, how do I become someone who's kind and empathetic? And then you define it for yourself Well, what is a kind and empathetic person? So I define it. Once I define it, it becomes easier to live out those actions. And so once I begin to live out those actions, then I can hold myself accountable, reflect on it and be like I am this type of person, and so the way it evolves is I look at it from a house right, a house perspective that is, laying the foundation, the most important parts of your home, the foundation.
Speaker 1:And so if I'm building those values and characteristics of the core part of my identity, once I am someone who's kind and empathetic, I can start expanding my identity into other things. You know, for me I'm a father, you know I'm a brother, I'm a son, I'm an uncle, I'm all these different things, and these begin to fill out the different rooms in my home. Right, I am an entrepreneur, I am whatever you name it. I'm all these different things that build up my house. So that way, if I do fail in one endeavor, sure that room may burn and crash down, but it's not the entire house. So when I was an athlete, I view that at the time as my entire house, and so when my career ended, it's not the entire house. So when I was an athlete, I view that at the time as my entire house, and so when my career ended, it felt like my entire house burned down and I had to start from zero. Now, the way I look at it is me being an athlete, or, at the time, if I looked at it from this frame, if I was an athlete, that's just one room, an entire home that comprises my identity. And so when that room burns on, yes, it still sucks, it still hurts and you're always going to care deeply if you're a competitive athlete, but I only have to rebuild that room. So, instead of starting from zero, I might be starting at nine to get to 10, or I might be starting at eight to get to 10, whatever it is. That's how you build the home. You start at the foundation, then you start building the other rooms of things that make up who you are. Some of your hobbies are going to be part of your identity. If you're someone who just loves to compete, if you're a competitive person, that's going to be part of your identity and it's just doing that self-reflection analysis to understand who I want to be. What are those values and characteristics? How do I define those, how do I live those out? And then how do I take full awareness or become fully aware of the different components in my life.
Speaker 1:Two, what daily habits do elite athletes use to maintain mental resilience during high pressure seasons? This is a fantastic question, because you can't become excellent in high pressure situations by just saying I'm going to be great at it. It takes daily practice, it takes consistency. One thing I would say I would say two great daily habits is one you need to start creating pressure every single day. And so if you're a basketball player, when you're doing your daily practice, your daily shots, your daily routines, start implementing end of game scenarios. Hey, I have three seconds left on the clock, I got to get a shot up. Or hey, I'm on defense. Now, if you work out with someone I'm assuming most basketball players do I'm no longer a hooper and play defense too in high pressure situations and start to create some in simulating these things day to day. It'll never be the same as the actual end game, but you can at least become comfortable in that setting with adding pressure.
Speaker 1:Whatever you know varying levels of pressure related to your sport or profession. Create pressure day to day when there's no real pressure in a practice scenario. You want to be able to create and simulate that pressure in a practice scenario you want to be able to create and simulate that. And I think the obvious one to build resilience during high pressure seasons is preparation. So, when we're looking at, whatever the scenario is, whether it's a public speaking engagement, whether it's a football game, a baseball game, basketball game, golf tournament, whatever it is you have to be prepared.
Speaker 1:So when we're talking about daily habits, what are your habits like in training? What are your habits like in mental training? What are your habits in diet, nutrition, what are your habits in how you communicate with yourself? What are your habits with your relationships and all these things snowball. And so if I have really good daily habits and I'm particularly focusing on, hey, training, right, if I'm really immobile, am I doing daily things to increase my flexibility? Am I doing daily habits again, creating that pressure day to day? Am I doing absolutely everything I can to follow a strict diet and nutrition? Am I going to sleep at the same time every day and waking up at the same time every morning? And when we can create these consistencies in the daily things that we do and always, you know, I advise working with trainers in different areas so that we can get the holistic compilation of everything needed to have or to build mental resilience. That's how we're going to be able to perform in high pressure seasons right, when we're doing everything checking the box right.
Speaker 1:If you're a sport that involves film watching, how much time are you spending watching film? How much time are you spending in the training room focusing on recovery? Again, the sleep thing. Maybe the most underrated thing, which should be the most obvious and low-hanging fruit, is sleep consistency Same time going to bed every night, same time waking up, getting at least eight hours. There's so many different things and it can feel overwhelming, but when you just piece them side by side, it becomes much more attainable and much easier to get into a flow and rhythm. So it's not that there's necessarily one daily habit, it's just making sure we're checking the boxes in each domain in relation to our sport, to make sure that we're taking care of everything necessary from that preparation standpoint that's going to allow us to be resilient.
Speaker 1:I love this next one how do you balance caring enough to perform without slipping into overthinking or anxiety? And this is, you know, there's a few million dollar questions in here, but this is where we're trying to thread the needle right, where I care, I'm relentless, right. I want to win. I live to win. However, we don't want it to become the outcome, to be part of our identity, so we want to be able to avoid slipping into overthinking and anxiety.
Speaker 1:Part of this answer is we have to accept that there is going to be stress. That comes in these situations. You cannot avoid stress. However, we have to view stress as an enhancer. We have to believe because it's true that when we get that stress and we start feeling I always call it the heat rushing to your face when you're in these moments is that is your body telling you you're about to go into a level of competition of something you really care about, and so you get that enhanced adrenaline, you get that enhanced focus, you get those increased your abilities right. It's a performance boost.
Speaker 1:And so when we can reframe and have that mindset, when we get because we're inevitably we are going to get those feelings and emotions that rush from our belly to our mind and we have to reframe and put those into hey, this is enhancing my capabilities, this is going to make me better, this is giving me the adrenaline I need to perform at a higher, more optimal level. And so that's the first piece. But it can become destructive. When we put our identity into the outcome, when we define our self-worth by how we perform, our body is going to go into threat detection mode, and so what we want to do is we want to view our performances as something that we care deeply about but is not a direct reflection of who we are. And so when we do that, we can go into competition or conquer mode instead of threat detection mode, because if I think something comprises my entire identity, anything that threatens that identity is going to force me to protect, and so I'm not going to be able to compete freely, I'm not going to be able to go out there. My mind's going to be telling me get the heck out of here instead of get the heck in there. And so a lot of that goes to step one.
Speaker 1:To be honest, focusing on your identity and engineering your identity is not just for post-athletics, it's for while you're competing too, because then I can like this question says care enough to perform right and put all my time and energy into my sport or my endeavor and focus on executing at a high level and again that relentless effort. But then I can let go of the outcome, I can let it be what it is. I can study that, see what I can take from it and apply it to the next time, because whether you win or lose, you still have to wake up the next day and prepare for the next event. So when we can put our time and energy into the things that we can control, into the things that we can influence, let go of outcomes it's not a reflection of you Then we're able to more effectively care enough to perform and not slip into overthinking or anxiety. And the more that you do it, the better you'll get at it and the less you'll feel anxiety and the more that you'll be able to adopt and absorb that stress as an enhancer mindset, and the more that you'll be able to adopt and absorb that stress as an enhancer mindset.
Speaker 1:What's the most counterintuitive strategy for managing performance anxiety shared by your guests? I would say the number one thing goes back to what I talked about. Number two is the preparation, and so performance anxiety comes from a couple of different things. I'd say 95% of the time it's from lack of preparation, particularly the higher level you get. You cannot fake it at that level. You cannot just say, oh, I'm the best in the world without having best in the world habits. And so preparation is going to solve 95% of this, and so I have this confidence three-tiered system. I call it doing the work, reflecting on the work and verbalizing the work.
Speaker 1:And so, number one, most important, you have to be prepared. You have to be relentless in your preparation and all those daily habits I spoke about just a few minutes ago. If you can check all the boxes and you can look yourself in the mirror and be like, hey, I studied. If you're a football player, I studied whatever. Seven hours of film extra this week beyond what was required. I spent time in the trainer's room, I did extra workouts, I did extra recovery, my sleep was on par, I nailed my diet, I was locked in and focused and present all throughout practice.
Speaker 1:Then, when you get to game time, you're going to be feeling pretty good. You're going to know exactly what your opponent's doing, you're going to know exactly what your rules and responsibility are and you're going to be able to go out and you're going to be able to compete, and that performance anxiety is going to dissipate. Now, for some of us, even doing all the right things, we still feel that anxiety. So my three-tier system again, I did all the work. Now step two is I'm going to reflect on the work and I'm going to go through and I'm going to write down, or I'm going to look in the mirror and I'm going to talk to myself and I'm going to recognize okay, I did do all of this, I am prepared, I did absolutely everything I possibly could. So now, when I know I go out there, I don't have to think I can compete. And so that's step two just reflecting, hey, document and write down and recognize how many hours and how many extra sets or whatever it is that you did. And so then third, but you can't, again, can't get to three without doing one and two, can't get to two without doing number one. Number one is most important. Then we hit two reflecting. And then three is verbalizing.
Speaker 1:I think everybody has seen the famous Aaron Donald clip if you're a football fan of him in the Super Bowl repeatedly, and they had him on a mic saying I'm the best in the world. You're ready for this, you're prepared for this, this is your moment. Paraphrasing here, I don't know if those were the exact quotes, but that's step three being able to verbalize it because you've done all the work, you've reflected on the work. Well, now you can verbalize it and remind yourself and talk to yourself so that when that voice creeps in your mind of doubt, instead of listening to that voice of doubt, you can talk back to it because you've earned the right to. You've earned the right to say hey, I did all this, I am prepared, I am the best in the world, because I've proven it over and over again. And so you've earned the right to speak those words. And so when you can speak to yourself, then you can reduce some of that performance anxiety.
Speaker 1:And again, I can't stress enough that, no matter who you are, no matter what pressure scenario you're in, you're still going to get that feeling, those butterflies, that heat rushing to your face the times when it feels like you can't control your voice. And so we have to be able to reframe. We have to be able to reframe that all those butterflies, all those feelings are serving a purpose and they're giving us enhanced capabilities and they're giving us the necessary adrenaline that we normally don't have. It's our body signaling to us we're about to go into a state of competition and we need the extra adrenaline to perform at the level capable Number five. And this was a tough one and you know it's how can coaches create environments where athletes feel safe? Discussing mental health struggles, and this really comes down.
Speaker 1:And another question later on will be asked, similar to this how do we avoid being soft, being able to speak out and it's a tricky one, and if we're coaches, we have to provide one. We have to make sure we have the right resources in place. We have to make sure that we have people who are capable of speaking with athletes on the mindset side, the mental side, and if you're a coach, you have to show your human side. You can't just be coach mode all the time. You have to be able to create a space where your athletes know that you're human, they know that you care about them beyond their sport. And when we can do that and show genuine interest in the person, genuine interest in their interest in hobbies and family situation, is going to create a level of comfortability with the athlete, going to create a level of comfortability with the athlete.
Speaker 1:And it doesn't hurt, as a coach, to say you guys have to be able to communicate with me or someone on the staff or someone if you're going through something, because everybody's fighting a battle that nobody can see, and it's important to have the ability to have those conversations. And then, when we can create that environment based off the question here, where people feel comfortable to be able to share hey, this is what I'm going through, this is what I'm dealing with Then we can work on the game plan to attack and address those things. To quote unquote build that resilience required to overcome things. But we can't get to the solutions without creating the environment to be able to speak on certain things, and so we have to, as coaches and leaders or people in leadership positions, be able to have those difficult conversations, be able to call the moments out and make athletes and, by addressing it, saying, hey, we can talk about these things, whether it's with me, whether it's with an assistant coach, whether it's with the, whether it's with an assistant coach, whether it's with the training staff, whomever and everybody has to be on board when we talk about these things that, hey, we can have these difficult conversations, no matter how uncomfortable it gets. Ooh, I love this one.
Speaker 1:What is the biggest misconception about toughness in sports? That needs to be corrected? I can't tell you enough how silly I think it is that we equate physical toughness to mental toughness that we just want to run people into the ground in terms of conditioning, or we just want to lift to failure every day, or we want to do these certain things that are physical, that we automatically assume are going to create a mentally resilient athlete. And I think a lot of times, particularly the younger the athlete is, you're just making them hate the sport. Or, by doing some of these physical punishment things, you are creating an environment where doing extra work is a punishment. If you're an athlete, extra work should be rewarding. So if a football player messes up and they have to do up-downs, that's the dumbest thing in the world, because up-downs aren't making anybody better, and I hate that.
Speaker 1:We use physical punishment to create mental resilience or to fix mental mistakes. It just doesn't work that way, and so when I see videos of people doing just the most obscure nonsense that has nothing to do with getting better at your sport and doesn't build mental them, your body will quit before your mind does I just I don't get that and I get that we want to come from like Navy SEAL training, and it's a totally different element when we're talking about Navy SEAL training versus training to be an athlete. And yes, a hundred percent. I acknowledge that doing some type of physical challenges are going to create some form of resilience. Yes, of course it does, but not to the point where doing these again, these just nonsense training elements that are supposed to be like, oh yeah, this is going to make you tough, like no, it's not. That did not make anyone feel more comfortable catching a pass in the fourth quarter. That did not make anyone more comfortable taking a shot in the fourth quarter with the game on the line. That did not help anyone in the ninth inning, execute a slider on a 3-2 pitch. Those things have nothing to do with sports performance. Like sure, maybe if I get tired I'll push a little harder, but that's not all.
Speaker 1:Mental resilience is Mental. Resilience is a lot of these earlier questions being able to perform in a high pressure scenario and me doing bear crawls with someone on my back is not going to help me do it. And so if we want to get better at performing in high pressure scenarios, we have to simulate that and we have to create that in our practice, not doing these stupid conditioning in weightlifting things. I can't tell you how just mind numbing that is, and I think people who listen to my show know I don't really talk about my opinions too too much on the show, but that's one of them. It blows my mind. I can't understand that we as a society think that that builds mental toughness in terms of, hey, I'm able to handle adversity, I'm able to handle resilience, I'm able to handle failure, I'm able to perform under pressure. No, no, that stuff does not work. If you want to perform under pressure, create pressure scenarios in practice.
Speaker 1:If you want to create a mentally strong athlete, work on developing the mental skills and the reframing techniques and the storytelling techniques that are going to enable an athlete to put everything into their favor and channel their behaviors to align with where they want to go. Those things do not help influence behaviors. Sorry, there's my rant. Ooh, tough one. How can athletes set boundaries with social media to protect their mental health? Actually, no, this isn't a tough one. I think we have to get really good at curating our feed to be things that are aligned with what we want.
Speaker 1:If I want to become a mental resilient athlete, I have to align my or curate my Twitter feed or Instagram feed or TikTok feed to be people speaking on the topics, to be a list of sports, psychologists, former athletes, motivational speakers you name it. Those are the people that should be showing up on my feed. Also, set time limits on your phone. You can set limits on your phones onto how much time you can spend on social media. Another thing that helps set dedicated time each day where you can spend time on social media. Set a timer, go do it. That way you don't get into doom scrolling and you can be more intentional about the things that you're looking at. And, lastly, be intentional about the things that you're looking at. Don't just open up your phone and scroll aimlessly. Open up your phone with the intention of what I want to use social media for.
Speaker 1:Hey, I want to research a certain topic or trending topic that's going on that is impacting my life. Or hey, I need to pick myself up. I'm going to review some motivational speaking. I'm going to view some other things that align with that. Or hey, I want to look at some new techniques for my position, my sport, my drill, whatever, I'm going to look at that. Or hey, I'm really interested in diet and nutrition. What are the latest research topics on diet and nutrition? That's going on in discussions? So that's how you can create that environment. What I wouldn't do is look at all the sports talk shows or look at all the things that are being said about you.
Speaker 1:If you're in a position of prominence, or if you're a young athlete doing this, stop getting caught in the opinion race, because having extra opinions on things that you probably don't really know enough about is just going to make it harder for you to perform, because if you are always having an opinion on someone else, subconsciously you're going to know that people are going to have negative opinions about you and it subconsciously you're going to know that people are going to have negative opinions about you and it subconsciously will affect your performance. So don't get into the opinion race. It's not going to serve you as an athlete. All right. How do we reframe self-doubt into competitive fuel? Frame self-doubt into competitive fuel, and so it goes a lot with some of the other topics that we've already discussed.
Speaker 1:So self-doubt everybody's going to have a form of self-doubt, but at the end of the day, self-doubt is not going to dictate whether or not an outcome is going to change. So an outcome is going to happen regardless. So every time you doubt yourself, it's just wasted time, because either you're going to succeed or fail. There's only two outcomes succeed and fail. So self-doubt is wasted energy because, regardless of whether you're doubting yourself or not, you still have to play. There's still going to be an outcome to be had, and so a lot of that self-doubt comes from the lack of preparation. So if we are having doubt, maybe it's a signal that we need to be a little bit more intentional in our training and a little bit more focused when we train. So that's the first thing. View that as a signal. And then, once you get that signal of like, hey, maybe I didn't train enough, well, then you reflect and you're like, oh well, actually I did train enough. Then it should dissipate some of that self-doubt. So use it as a signal more as believing into it, and then recognize every moment I spend in self-doubt is wasted energy, when I could be putting my time, energy and focus into what could go right. And so when you get really good at reframing and repurposing those emotions, you can become more and more competitive because you get that taste of success.
Speaker 1:What role does spirituality and faith play in high pressure comebacks? This is different for everybody. Everybody has a different component of faith. For me it's massive. My element of faith allows me to separate my identity from just about anything I do, knowing that my faith and identity is in being a Catholic, in living that lifestyle and understanding that that is fundamentally who I am, by living it out every day. And so when you create that lifestyle, it becomes much easier in pressure scenarios into comebacks, right scenarios, into comebacks, right, knowing that, hey, even if I fail, it's not a representation of who I am. Guys, I can't say that enough. And so you create your own identity, you engineer your own identity.
Speaker 1:If you're not faithful, if you are faithful, that's going to play a massive role in your identity. And knowing that God loves you, for you, and he created you and he loves every part of your being. Obviously we have roles to play to avoid sin and that's our agency. We have the ability to control that. And so for me and, I would assume, most people who have a high level of faith it is going to remove a lot of that clouded I call it clouded anxiety, that voice in your head that's obstructing your ability to think clearly. And so when you have that deep level of faith, that is going to remove a lot of that anxiety because you're able to think more clearly, you're able to put things into perspective and you're able to really just go out and compete out of love and just pure desire at that point.
Speaker 1:Out of love and just pure desire at that point, how can athletes effectively communicate their needs and boundaries to coaches or trainers without being perceived as soft? So very similar to a question just a bit ago, I think. Athletes, when we take this ownership right. So this is more from the athlete's perspective than from the coach's perspective, like the last question, from the athlete's perspective than from the coach's perspective. Like the last question Athletes, we have to get really comfortable at having difficult conversations.
Speaker 1:You give power to the conversations that you're not having, and so, whether it's playing time right or whether it's a communication process between you and a coach, you don't like how a coach communicates to you. You have to be willing to go out on that ledge and have that conversation and be like hey, I understand what you're saying, but how you're saying it doesn't sit right with me, and then you can at least have an open dialogue with a coach about hey, this is what I'm hearing, or this is what it feels like. I'm not necessarily getting your message correctly, it feels like it's a personal attack and you're not trying to coach my abilities. And if that coach is mature enough, they'll be able to take a step back and be like that's not what I meant to do. This is what I meant to do and this is how I thought this would help. And then you can create that open source dialogue about the miscommunications and the missteps.
Speaker 1:I've certainly had my number of altercations with coaches in a healthy manner, nothing over the edge, but it opens a line of communication. Hey, you don't speak to me that way. I don't care who you are. I'm not letting someone speak to me that way. I've said those exact words to a coach. They apologize and we were really good after right, it happens, but you have to be willing to communicate and you have to be willing to maybe take some fallout from that too and recognize hey, maybe this plays and maybe this coach isn't for me and maybe I need to reevaluate some things. That happens at every level youth, high school, college, professional but you need to be able to have those conversations and once you learn to have tough conversations, you're able to have more difficult conversations without it weighing on your mind. So take the step, organize your thoughts, go to your coaches and be willing to have those tough conversations. Don't be worried about the label of soft. If you're engineering your identity to not be a soft person, then anytime that someone calls you something that's against your identity, you're okay with it because you know fundamentally you've built the person that you want to be. You're okay with it because you know, fundamentally you've built the person that you want to be and so build the person you want to be and then be willing to have those conversations. And once you start having those conversations, you'll become a more effective communicator and you'll be able to have more and solve those. You'll be able to solve those easier.
Speaker 1:What's the most impactful piece of advice you've received from a guest? And I'm gonna be honest, it is storytelling. You know, I think all of this is. The best performers and the most resilient people in the world are incredibly effective at storytelling the ability to take an event that happens in their life and frame it to how it's working for their benefit and how it's just a part of their story or part of a chapter or a chapter in their life. And so as we go through things the losses, the failures, the successes, the victories our story is still being told. And so those are just point in time events in our lives. They are not the entirety of our lives. And so when we're going through a stage of challenge, right being able to frame that as to, hey, this is serving me for when this happens, or this is why this happened, I got injured. Now I have the ability to build and test my own resilience, and then I'm going to use this to fuel me forward. And then when forward comes and we're in the future and we can reflect back, then we're going to say this is exactly why this happened to me and this is the purpose that it's serving today. And so things just happen, events are. They're not good or bad, they just are and then we assign the meaning. And so I've talked about this a lot and it stands to this day.
Speaker 1:The most impactful thing I've learned since I started this podcast is we have to get really good at reframing, re-storytelling. When we can do those things, it events into perspective, both good and bad, and we're able to use that energy to come and perform the next day and train the next day and live those things over and over again. And that's the. The power of storytelling is it gives you the ability to live in the present. It gives you the ability to have meaning every day, and it makes your days more enjoyable because you're constantly writing and authoring the story that you want to live.
Speaker 1:What strategies do athletes use to maintain a healthy work-life balance when their sport demands intense focus and time commitment? I'm not a big believer in balance. I don't think that you can be successful in anything and have balance. I am a fan of periodization, and so, when we look at what does that mean? So periodization means there's going to be time periods where I'm fully locked in on the things that I'm doing, whether I'm an entrepreneur, whether I'm a businessman or whether I'm an athlete, and so I have to accept that other points in my life aren't going to get the same time and energy. I'm not going to be the best friend in the world during those time periods. I'm not going to be the best spouse during those time periods right, I'm not going to be the best son or whatever, but during this time period, I'm going to be fully locked in. I'm going to be fully present in what I'm doing, and so the way you can periodize day to day as well is, if you are someone who has a family and you're married, right, or whatever the scenario, and you can't just neglect those things as well.
Speaker 1:But say we get eight hours of sleep. We have 16 hours a day. Say maybe what, I don't know, we'll make up a scenario 13 of those hours are dedicated to you and your profession or you and your sport. Those other three hours maybe you need to be the best husband that you can and not be on your phone. Maybe you need to be the best father that you can and not be on your phone. Maybe you need to be the best father that you can and not be distracted thinking about your sport or your job or your speech the next day, and that when we're doing things, we're fully present in what we're supposed to be doing, so that way we're not fully neglecting the other things in our life. Yes, we're putting more time and energy into other things that we deem most important during that time period, during that season, and then, when we do have the moments to be present in other areas of our life, we are fully present. In those moments we're dedicating time and energy necessary to be good at those things or adequate. So that's the tough thing. I don't believe in balance, I believe in periodization, I believe being fully present in whatever you're doing in that moment. If we can avoid distractions, if we can be intentional and focused in the task at hand, in the task in front of us, then we can get really good at being good in those areas and celebrating them and enjoying them All right.
Speaker 1:A nice little youth athlete question here how can parents support young athletes without contributing to burnout? I had a nice little youth athlete question here how can parents support young athletes without contributing to burnout? And again threading the needle here, because when we're a young kid, we often don't understand the work ethic necessary and required to be elite. I do think some people are just born with this innate drive and desire to be the best that they can. Now, that being said, not everything has to feel like a job, particularly when you're a kid. When you first pick up a ball and you're good at it, you just love it because you're good at it.
Speaker 1:And so if I'm a parent which I am with my young kids, my entire philosophy is work hard, have fun, listen to your coach and be respectful. Be respectful, listen to your coach, go together. But I always will say to my four-year-old daughter anytime she's about to go to soccer, gymnastics, whatever. Hey, have a lot of fun and compete really hard. And so if we can get really good at making those two things, the emphasis, don't worry about the outcomes. Yes, outcomes do matter. We're using them as a measuring stick, but keep the emphasis competing hard and having fun. If we can compete hard and we can have fun, then as we get older and more mature, then we can really emphasize some of the other things that go along with this. But make it fun, make training fun, make diet and nutrition fun, make sleeping fun. The more that we can make things enjoyable, the more we can get our kids I don't like saying addicted but or obsessed, but it holds true we can get people addicted to the healthy habits that come along with competition in life the more we can make those things enjoyable and fun and not feel like a burden even though sometimes it is a burden. Again, that's a maturity conversation as they get older. But the more we can make extra work fun, the more we can make giving up the bad habits fun, the more likely our kids are to do those things out of joy rather than feeling like they have to so fun, have fun, compete hard, have fun, compete hard. Those are the two things. And reframing hey, when something gets hard, that's when it should be the most fun. Right, not an exact science going to be challenging, but that is my take and that's what I'm doing with my own kids.
Speaker 1:What is the most underrated skill for transitioning from amateur to professional sports? And I would say a lot of it. You know, people talk about the confidence aspect. I talk about the humility aspect. In understanding this is going to be challenging, I am taking a step up. That doesn't mean I'm not capable. It just means that there's going to be a learning curve. And so, while I have the confidence to succeed, I also have the humility to understand that I'm going to have to really button down and I'm going to have to work at a level that I didn't know possible before. And so each level, you can't do the same things you've done and expect to get to where you want to go. So each level you step to, you have to increase your capabilities, you have to increase your work ethic, you have to increase your attention to detail your focus, and so when you're going from an amateur to a pro, or you're going from high school to college or whatever the scenario. Each level that you step up, you can't just automatically think it's going to be easy. You can't automatically think you're going to be the best there when you show up. You have to have the confidence that you're going to get to where you want to go. But it's going to be challenging, it's going to be difficult. Have the humility to understand there's going to be things that you need to work on and that that never ends, and so when you can have that humility, you can then create confidence through action and attention to detail.
Speaker 1:Lastly, what role does gratitude play in maintaining a positive mindset during setbacks or injuries? I think living in gratitude is incredibly important. Clint Hurdle, a guest on my show, always talks about hunting the good, and so when we get really good at focusing on the good things in our life and I'm not a big positive, negative person, but when I can focus on the things that I'm really grateful for in my life and actually spend time daily verbalizing it, writing it down whatever works best for you, your general mood is going to elevate. So your base level of happiness and fulfillment is going to be higher the more time you spend in gratitude and then you're going to have more time and energy, when your mood is higher, to be able to do the necessary steps to overcome injury. And so when we're talking about gratitude and what it does for your base level, it's going to align you with the good things in life.
Speaker 1:And so, to paint an example, if I'm spending time in gratitude and being grateful for certain things, everything that I'm calling to my attention so, for example, if I'm like man, I'm just grateful I can walk today when I couldn't yesterday. Or hey, I'm grateful that my pain level is just a little bit lower today than it was yesterday. If it's an injury. Or, hey, I'm just grateful I was able to wake up and spend time with my kids this morning your mind will then immediately direct to everything in line with those things in your goals and objectives. So if I'm recovering from an injury, if it's an ACL injury, and I'm focusing on all the daily improvements, my mind is going to be attracted and fully focused on the things that led to those improvements. And so when I'm creating that awareness and that tunnel vision around the things, aligned with the gratitude that I have for a little bit of improvement each day, my mind is immediately going to attach and latch on to the things that created those. And so another frame if I'm just focusing on how grateful I am for my family, it's going to directly bring me in line with opportunities to get me closer with my family, and I'm going to immediately look at opportunities to be present with my kids. And it's not necessarily just about being a positive poly, it's about looking for the good and hunting the good things, because then my mind is immediately just going to hunt and find the good things in the arena that I'm dedicating it towards. And so that's the trick I don't like saying trick, but that is the gratitude benefit is it brings me, it increases my base of the mood, but it gets me in line with everything that I want to be and everything that I want to achieve. And so when I can focus on the good things aligned with those things, my mind is just going to attach to those, and so that's all I mean.
Speaker 1:There were some other ones on here Not going to have the time to to get to them, um, but these were fantastic questions, um. Can't thank my guests enough for submitting these. I really enjoy it. It's an awesome opportunity for me to get to answer some of the curiosities that you have on a deeper level, because I know what it's like to listen to a podcast and be like ah, I want to ask that question a little bit deeper, understand that point a little bit deeper. So, thank you all. Thank you for tuning in. Tune in next week. Five stars only. Download the podcast. Subscribe to our YouTube channel. Check us out at athleticfortitudecom. We have some surprises coming up here in the near future. Again, five stars only, baby. Thank you guys.