Demystifying Mental Toughness

Demystifying Mental Toughness is for people who want to reach their goals faster and are curious what high performing athletes and professionals do to fulfil their potential. David Charlton shares insights, strategies and stories from leading athletes, coaches, psychologists and specialists to help you perform to your optimum level on a more consistent basis. If you're a motivated athlete, coach, sports psychologist, mental game coach or executive listen in for proven and practical advice in this podcast. Alessia Bruno is a Clinical and Sports Psychologist, Mental and Performance Trainer specialising in Brainspotting and EMDR. She lectures at National Sport congresses and holds courses accredited by the Ministry of Health. She helps athletes and performing artists to overcome blocks, choking, slumps, yips, trauma and works with expansion to take people and their potential beyond to where it was before the issue. In this fascinating episode Alessia and David talk about what confidence is, what it feels like to be confident and things that impact on an athlete's confidence. We then look at The Yips, Motor Cycle accidents, traumatic events and fear responses in the brain leaving athletes who have experienced these difficulties with an uplifting message of hope. That's right you as an athlete can overcome these challenges with the right support and then take your performances to a new level. Essential Learning Points From This Episode • The performance and personal history of an athlete is important to consider when assessing the confidence level of an athlete. • External factors can affect confidence such as an athlete's upbringing, critical or perfectionist parents, the weather, playing at a certain stadium and much more. • Coaches have a big responsibility when supporting young athletes. The way they deliver suggestions, analysis and criticism can play a large part in an athletes level of confidence. • Internal factors such as an athletes perception of the task, how they go about practice or training, how they assess performances or their perception of their own skills or personality traits can also influence their confidence levels. • If you are going to criticise - criticise constructively the performance or the specific task, never the person. • By focusing on the person when delivering feedback, emotions can take over and children need to know they are OK no matter how they perform. • We learn to be critical from our coaches and parents. • It's very stressful to try to be perfect. Chasing perfection can make people feel anxious. • 32-47% of serious golfers are affected by the yips. • The yips can affect golfers, baseball players, snooker players, musical performers, darts players. • The yips can come in different forms from panic attacks with shortness of breath, muscle spasms. • The more an athlete with the yips tries to control their movements the more rigid and tense they become. • Often the yips or traumatic events can mean professional athletes give up on their dreams and quit the sport but there is hope so it doesn't have to be that way. • An athlete who has experienced trauma can feel helpless where their bodily movements are out of control and get easily overwhelmed, feeling embarrassment and shame. • Fight or flight or freeze responses are very common with the yips. • We store the negative energy and emotions in our brain after we've experienced stressful events. • Brainspotting and EMDR can be used to help athletes feel that the stored memories in their brain belong to the past reducing the emotional connection and freeing them up to play without fear and in the moment. • You can then feel free, you trust your skills and instincts. The bodily sensations that you feel are very different to when you've got the yips. You're not tense, your muscles feel fluid. • You can go beyond the level that you used to perform at when you process the memories and events in the brain. • The process can take weeks or months depending on the complexity of each case. It might be that coaches or parent's communication style, returning to competition too quickly or practice and training in an unhelpful way can cause delays and further challenges. • There are solutions to overcome negative feelings and traumatic events with both mainstream sports psychology tools as well as additional brainspotting and EDMR techniques. • Be compassionate to yourself when you encounter difficult situations.

Demystifying Mental Toughness is for people who want to reach their goals faster and are curious what high performing athletes and professionals do to fulfil their potential. David Charlton shares insights, strategies and stories from leading athletes, coaches, psychologists and specialists to help you perform to your optimum level on a more consistent basis. If you're a motivated athlete, coach, sports psychologist, mental game coach or executive listen in for proven and practical advice in this podcast. Dave Algeo is a speaker, author and male burnout prevention and recovery coach who helps organisations to equip their people with a sustainable success toolkit. He also helps coach men seeking to avoid burnout and achieve breakthroughs in their life and work. Some of Dave's corporate clients have been McDonalds Europe Ltd the Crown Prosecution Service and various NHS Trusts, universities, councils, as well as other corporate clients. His key message is that success can be achieved with well-being. Mental Health is an important topic at present because of the impact COVID-19 has had on people. Is also a theme which is talked about a lot in elite sport, where a large amount of my work is. Yet often people don't see the link between Mental Toughness, Mental Health and High Performance. Therefore, in this episode we discuss this relationship where Dave Algeo then goes on to share why decision makers in organisations should take investing in people's mental health seriously. Essential Learning Points: • Well-being of people is often down the list of priorities in organisations however there is a relationship between success and positive mental health. • Burnout can cost organisations thousands of pounds so from a business case it doesn't make any sense not so invest in the area. • Some organisations still have a tough it out, just get through culture neglecting the human and emotional side. • A starting point for organisations when shifting their culture is to take an interest in what people are saying and how people are feeling. • If people work hard in pressurised environments, they'll likely wear so we all need time to repair. • Giving individuals a sense of autonomy and flexibility on their own working environment is important. • A coaching approach as a manager, taking the time out to understand the human being is vitally important for optimal well-being and performance. • As a manager self-awareness is key, recognising both you and teams habits when under increased pressure. • The Stevenson Farmer Mental Health at Work report highlights the case for investing in people in an organisation where a wisely spent £1 on well-being can end up yielding a return on investment from £1.50 up to £9 with an average of around £4.50. • The result is likely to be a confident and committed workforce, hallmarks of Mental Toughness, with less absence and decreased chances of bullying. • There is a business and a moral case to implement well-being programmes in the workplace. • Managers and leaders can benefit from support and guidance on how to handle difficult situations. • Decision makers should be aware that they will be biased based on their own experiences of mental health so it is important to stop and be objective looking at the evidence supporting well-being programmes. Useful Resources: Emergency Stress CPR: Deal with immediate stress overwhelm and recover your focus and productivity Mastering Negative Stress: Stress CPR

Demystifying Mental Toughness is for people who want to reach their goals faster and are curious what high performing athletes and professionals do to fulfil their potential. David Charlton shares insights, strategies and stories from leading athletes, coaches, psychologists and specialists to help you perform to your optimum level on a more consistent basis. If you're a motivated athlete, coach, sport psychologist, mental game coach or executive listen in for proven and practical advice in this podcast. This is the 10th episode of Demystifying Mental Toughness and I've been blown away by the success of the podcast to date, so I decided to get creative and pull together some pearls of wisdom from each episode so that you can access some top tips quickly. Listening to the ideas, I hope that you find lots of inspiration and motivation to raise your game and become more effective in chasing your goals. In this Episode Doug Strycharczyk initially shares how Mental Toughness is vitally important in the way that we respond mentally to different situations and challenges. Steve Judge talks about his big fight after being told he may never walk again. Peter Ramage shares his challenges when training and playing with top international stars when he was a youngster. Chris Paisley talks about trying to hit perfect shots when he wasn't at his best. David Charlton discusses how some highly motivated, goal orientated people who are low in learning orientation can be slow to question their approach. David Charlton mentions that many people can get comfortable. Toby Flood discusses distancing yourself from the "what if's" and "controlling the uncontrollables". Brendan Pearson shares experiences of lower league professional football. Andy Paisley talks about some of his players experiences of playing golf under extreme pressure. Solutions that are Shared Doug Strycharczyk tells the listeners by adopting a Mentally Tough mindset you've a much greater chance of success. Steve Judge talks you through the power of visualisation and the positive impact it has had when he was competing in triathlon and in his professional speaking career. Peter Ramage shares the importance of asserting yourself and having the courage to have open and honest conversations. Chris Paisley talks about how he gets out of his own way when he's out of form approaching a tournament. David Charlton shares the highly effective Start, Stop and Continue approach to reflecting on your performances. David Charlton talks about the highly motivational process of performance profiling to help you achieve your goals. Toby Flood discusses how he uses visualisation and how the mind can't distinguish between mental imagery and physical practice. Brendan Pearson shares advice to young footballers who get a professional contract. Andy Paisley discusses how your practice should help you feel more confident and resilience, it's not just about your swing.

Demystifying Mental Toughness is for people who want to reach their goals faster and are curious what high performing athletes and professionals do to fulfil their potential. David Charlton shares insights, strategies and stories from leading athletes, coaches, psychologists and specialists to help you perform to your optimum level on a more consistent basis. If you're a motivated athlete, coach, sport psychologist, mental game coach or executive listen in for proven and practical advice in this podcast. Andy Paisley is an accomplished and respected coach at Hexham Golf Club, Northumberland, in the UK. Where he coaches several European tour players including European tour winner Chris Paisley and Ladies European tour winner Kylie Henry. He also coaches several European Challenge Tour, ALPS and Europro players, is the lead coach for the North of England under 18 squad and is the Northumberland men's and boys coach. Additionally he has developed a reputation as a specialist putting coach and works with some of the best putters on the European Tour. In episode 9 of Demystifying Mental Toughness, David and Andy discuss pressure situations on the golf course, effective practice and how to train yourself to deal better when the going gets tough. Motivated amateur and professional golfers will get a great deal from tuning in with some great advice for you to take home to implement. Essential Learning Points From This Episode • Pressure can come from many situations in golf: not being in a good place technically, trying to live up to other people's expectations, money worries as a professional, playing big tournaments. • The best players deal with pressure and stressful situations calmly. • Players who don't deal with pressure well play within themselves and don't swing the club freely. • Training in a way that you drill your process so that you can deal with pressure and go into autopilot on the golf course is helpful. • Every individual is different and should consider what is the best way for them personally to prepare for competitive golf so that they find the right mental and physical state. • Practice should promote confidence and resilience. • Self talk or cue words practiced in training can help you deal with pressure. • Tough times can make you stronger, better players will persevere, learn from those periods and adapt their approach. • Better golfers have the grit and determination to do the boring things with intensity for long periods. • A reactive short term mindset doesn't lead to long term skill acquisition. • Mental Scorecards can be very helpful to aid concentration and focus. • Spending 10 minutes every practice session working on your concentration can benefit you as a golfer. • The art of reflection will help you learn and become a better golfer.

Demystifying Mental Toughness is for people who want to reach their goals faster and are curious what high performing athletes and professionals do to fulfil their potential. David Charlton shares insights, strategies and stories from leading athletes, coaches, psychologists and specialists to help you perform to your optimum level on a more consistent basis. If you're a motivated athlete, coach, sports psychologist, mental game coach or executive listen in for proven and practical advice in this podcast. Brendan Pearson was a talented goalkeeper who progressed through Newcastle United's academy system, signing professional terms. He went on to play for the club's under 23's and had spells on loan where he played for Gateshead F.C. He also spent time between the posts for South Shields and Greenock Morton in Scotland. Sadly, during Brendan's short career he spent a lot of time injured which then meant that he retired at the age of 23 years old. In this episode, David and Brendan discussed the challenges of academy football as a goalkeeper, turning professional, loan moves and some difficulties that you may have to overcome. He also bravely talks about his injury problems and how his sad, early retirement from professional football came about. The episode is full of advice for young players, parents and coaches who invest time with young footballers. Essential Learning Points From This Episode • Why self-belief is important in academy football. • The mindset required to play top teams in youth football such as Ajax, AC Milan, Manchester United, Benfica… • Seeing challenges as an opportunity. • Keeping a balanced perspective towards how you define "pressure." • Nerves are natural when you make your debut, when you play in big stadiums with large crowds as a youngster. • The importance of supporting and praising your team-mates. • Don't let a bad training session before a match knock your confidence. • How to impress new coaches and managers. • The difficulties of adjusting to different playing styles when you're loaned out after experiencing academy football. • Dealing with differences of opinion between you the player and managers. • How to cope after making errors as a goalkeeper. • The way you handle criticism will make or break you as a goalkeeper. • Brendan shares advice for players who suffer long-term injuries.

Demystifying Mental Toughness is for people who want to reach their goals faster and are curious what high performing athletes and professionals do to fulfil their potential. David Charlton shares insights, strategies and stories from leading athletes, coaches, psychologists and specialists to help you perform to your optimum level on a more consistent basis. If you're a motivated athlete, coach, sport psychologist, mental game coach or executive listen in for proven and practical advice in this podcast. Toby Flood has played 60 international rugby union matches for England and currently plays at fly half or inside centre for Newcastle Falcons having previously played for Toulouse and Leicester Tigers. He's a skilful goal kicker, as well as having many other talents as we discuss. Toby and David discuss different important aspects of Mental Toughness including confidence, having belief in your ability and how you go about developing the characteristic so that you trust yourself under pressure. He goes on to share how he prepares for big matches and how that has changed over the years. We also talk how seeing the opportunity in challenging situations is important and a whole lot more... Essential Learning Points From This Episode • A sense of humour and keeping perspective is hugely important to help you stay grounded and present. • Learning to control the controllables is essential for success. • Losing self-belief and self-doubt can make you work hard in the wrong areas. • A systematic approach works well to manage your confidence. • Support from others and talking about your challenges can help compartmentalise your problems and help you keep perspective. • Rising to the challenge with a can do attitude, seeing situations as an opportunity not a threat is important. • Having the right processes in place to manage the pressures of having to win every game when playing for big clubs is helpful and something that you need to learn. • Accepting pre match nerves are part of the game and can prepare you to perform well. • Staying level and present is still a skill he's working on. • Toby talks about how his preparation for games has changed as he's got older and how visualisation is a helpful tool. • He discusses his goal kicking process and offers insights into goal kicking practice.

Demystifying Mental Toughness is for people who want to reach their goals faster and are curious what high performing athletes and professionals do to fulfil their potential. David Charlton shares insights, strategies and stories from leading athletes, coaches, psychologists and specialists to help you perform to your optimum level on a more consistent basis. If you're a motivated athlete, coach, sport psychologist, mental game coach or executive listen in for proven and practical advice in this podcast. In this episode, David talks about some observations that he made from episodes three and four where former Newcastle United defender Peter Ramage and European Tour Golfer Chris Paisley shared fascinating insights and stories, David also goes on to present some solutions to help athletes overcome such challenges. Peter discussed his regrets from his career where he admits that he wasn't honest with himself until he was ending his playing days, whereas Chris talks about perfectionism, and how it has taken him time to accept that he cannot play great golf everyday, and that often that you have to find ways how to play when you aren't at your best. Essential Learning Points From This Episode • Having the courage to question yourself is vital to aid learning. • Support is there to help athletes push on and get another 10%+ from their performances. • It is very easy to get comfortable. • Performance profiling is a very helpful tool for you to look ahead and get down on paper your ambitions, assess where currently are and set small targets to help you succeed. • The process can also be benchmarked too if your profile is looked at on a regular basis. • Performance profiling can be a very motivational process when done well. • Perfection does not exist, your A game doesn't come out very often. • We all have a Z game! • Try the DID, THOUGHT, FELT reflective exercise to aid self-awareness when you are playing at your best and when your B, C or D game comes out. • The DID, THOUGHT, FELT can make a big difference to your decision making and give you an edge to help you improve your performances in practice and in competitive play.

Demystifying Mental Toughness is for people who want to reach their goals faster and are curious what high performing athletes and professionals do to fulfil their potential. David Charlton shares insights, strategies and stories from leading athletes, coaches, psychologists and specialists to help you perform to your optimum level on a more consistent basis. If you're a motivated athlete, coach, sport psychologist, mental game coach or executive listen in for proven and practical advice in this podcast. In this episode, David Charlton reflects on what he learned from episodes one and two where Doug Strycharczyk and Steve Judge shared fascinating insights and stories relating to Mental Toughness. Doug rightly points out that Mental Toughness is complex and that without self-awareness it may be more difficult for you to achieve your goals. While Steve talks about the importance of being honest with yourself if you are going to get the most from your talents. The focus of David's observations are pointed towards some traps that highly committed people can fall into and the impact it can have on themselves and others. Essential Learning Points From This Episode • Highly motivated and committed people don't always get it right. • A great question to ask yourself is "Is my approach helping me achieve my goals?" • Committed athletes, coaches and executives set goals, persevere, are driven but… • If you are low in "learning orientation" you will likely make the same mistakes over and over again. • And you may fail to give yourself time out to reflect on your approach and ask yourself tough questions as Steve Judge did in episode 2 when he overcame his closest Italian rival to win the world championships Para Triathlon for a second time. • Burnout can be your friend where you take on other people's work and fail to prioritise the important things in your life and work. • As a leader a fully committed approach can have disadvantages where you may have a negative impact on the culture of your organisation. • You may not know how to reflect, if that is the case check out the Start, Stop, Continue approach and Gibbs reflective cycle. • Some people can get too transfixed on the word "improvement" and end up focusing too much on their weaknesses.

Demystifying Mental Toughness is for people who want to reach their goals faster and are curious what high performing athletes and professionals do to fulfil their potential. David Charlton shares insights, strategies and stories from leading athletes, coaches, psychologists and specialists to help you perform to your optimum level on a more consistent basis. If you're a motivated athlete, coach, sport psychologist, mental game coach or executive listen in for proven and practical advice in this podcast. Chris Paisley is an professional golfer currently playing on the European Tour. He made his first appearance in 2010 and had a bumpy ride for a few years before regaining his card for the 2015 season and has established self of the tour since. In January 2018, Chris had his first win on the tour, the BMW South African Open and was arguably the best golfer on the planet at that time. Chris and David chat about how to win on the European Tour and challenges that he has faced. Chris goes on to share some great words of advice for young professionals on the Europro, Alps and Challenge Tours on making the transition up to the European Tour. Essential Learning Points From This Episode • How to win on the European Tour. • The importance of understanding "strokes gained" to develop the right skills. • Having a strong mental game and good processes in place. • How a winning mentality when you're out of sorts separates the best players. • Your level of focus on a daily basis will determine whether you're successful or not. • A "one shot at a time mentality" is key to dealing with pressure. • Find ways to access "the zone" and focus on one thing regularly. • How to take your range game on to the course. • Realising that you can't hit perfect shots all of the time. • Developing a B and C game. • Being honest with yourself is massively important. • Realising that everyone faces obstacles and the best players find ways to overcome them.

Peter Ramage is an Assistant Football or Soccer Coach for Phoenix Rising FC in the United Soccer League. He is a former footballer who began his career with Newcastle United as an academy players before moving up to the first team where he played alongside, Alan Shearer, Craig Bellamy and Shay Given between 2004 and 2008. He then moved to Queens Park Rangers ending a 12 year association with Newcastle United. Peter also played for Crystal Palace, Birmingham City, Barnsley Kerala Blasters in the Indian Super League, Coventry City before ending his playing career in the USA with Phoenix Rising FC. In this episode, Peter and David discuss a variety of elements to Mental Toughness with a focus on confidence. His belief in his ability and interpersonal confidence, where he shares stories about standing his ground in some difficult situations. Peter also talks about the importance of having a good support network around you and using it well. Tune in to find out why it's a game changer for yourself as a footballer or athlete who is looking to get the most out of your talent. Essential Learning Points From This Episode • When you're a young player training and playing with star players – asserting yourself to gain their respect. • How to deal with criticism from team-mates, coaches and fans. • Coping with being dropped and pushing yourself when you're a squad player. • Dealing with serious injuries and off the pitch challenges. • How to approach your coach or manager when you're an unhappy player. • The importance of being honest with yourself and taking the time out to reflect on your approach and attitude. • Having the courage to talk about your challenges.