Is your athlete piling hard work, more skills, and more athleticism on top of an emotionally disastrous foundation?
Before I go there I need to clear this up...I never wanted to be the "mindset and emotional fitness guy".
I wanted to be the strength and performance coach--> to enhance athletic performance, help athletes build a success mindset, develop habits of hard work and productivity, and reach their full potential.
I wanted to be that guy and I became that guy.
PFP was that place for a while. We blended right in with all the other "gyms" and just like them, we failed to help our athletes where they needed it most. We only helped them in 1 dimension. #MegaFail
I was that guy until I realized that the world's definition for full potential was wildly unhelpful and incomplete.
Accomplishments on top of an immature mindset and emotional foundation were leading to more anxiety, doubt, inconsistent performance, and ultimately burnout.
I watched dozens and dozens of young men and women enhance their athletic performance on top of an emotionally disastrous foundation.
What does a physically fit, emotional disaster look like?
➡️ It is the young man who is can score on the lacrosse field at will but as soon as coach pulls him, he turns into a 6 year old.
➡️ It is the young lady who is lightning ⚡️ fast, but as soon as a girl on her team talks behind her back she internalizes it and anxiety goes through the roof.
➡️ It is the athlete who can hit home runs and make diving catches, but when they strike out they break down.
And it shows up off the field too.
And it's not just the kids, it's me too. It's you.
We don't have the time to go too deep on this but I just want to get the conversation started so that you can start observing this and thinking through this lens.
(And my secret mission is to get you and your athlete engaged in consistent mindset and emotional fitness so that he or she can actually reach full potential.)
"Emotionally disastrous foundation" sounds intense and maybe even offensive, but it's true. True for me and everyone else.
"Once I recognized I had a real problem, I started making changes." We all know this saying.
Where does the immaturity come from?
- Some of it comes from our past experiences and the emotions we experienced during those experience. We then created false neuro-associations to events and experiences, but mainly to the feelings we experienced, which causes us to response and react to them in unreasonable and immature ways.
- Some of it comes from modeling from our parents and what we witnessed repeatedly.
- Some of it comes from the way we responded when we were children, and we just never grew up. I know I personally still act like a child from time to time, like today when I got bent out of shape over the coffee mugs being packed away. #EmotionalFail
One of our biggest focuses is helping students look back quickly so that they can then look forward. To recognize where the disastrous thinking and reacting comes from but then make new decisions moving forward. To coach them up to higher levels.
So, what will you do today to look back, learn, develop a new and improved mindset, and start making new associations and decisions?
Serving you,
Coach Andrew J Simpson
