Khatuna has been an Olympian since ’92 and has competed in the Olympic games ever since then so she is the embodiment of a true Olympian. Growing up in Georgia (the country) and training under the Soviet regime you could say her training was quite different from the training that most youth receive nowadays. This enormous dedication from an early age is one of the distinguishing factors in Kathuna’s story as an athlete. Besides unconventional training she also competed in her first Olympics while pregnant and through the years has returned to the Olympic games with new sets of challenges. If there is anyone who has seen it all and been through it all in the world of archery, it’s Khatuna.

During our conversation we discuss what the training experience for her was early on and how it affected the mental side of being an athlete. Next up we talked about focus in archery, the importance of it and what happens when the mind jumps into the process. Khatuna also shares her step-by-step method that she follows on every shot. Another part of our conversation we discuss the hardships she has been through and how she dealt with all types of stress in her career. Lastly, we discussed the influence of culture (or lack thereof) when it comes to the Olympics and Kathuna shares an interesting insight on what she thinks is a key difference between the U.S.A. and South Korea. As always I hope you enjoy this episode and take away something you can apply in your life. 

0:30       Introduction

3:14       Khatuna's First Experience With Archery

4:51       Early Emphasis on Physical Technique

5:40       How Dedication Played a Role

6:43       The Difference Between US and Soviet Training

8:41       Focus - The Importance & Unconventional Training

15:00    Khatuna's Thoughts on Aiming 

17:49    Physical Tension vs. Mental Relaxation

21:41    Divine Intervention?

25:00    Grit - Dealing With Adversity: Olympics, Pregnancy & Politics

28:27    Influence of Stress & Teamwork

32:00    Coping - Support From Your Environment

33:25    How The Archery Focus Bubble Held Up

35:42    Khatuna's Olympic Track Record

37:55    Goal Setting in Archery Competition

41:45    Khatuna's Long Term View

45:02    Mental Growth Over The Years

47:33    Current Mental Challenges for Khatuna

49:07    The 10 Steps of Khatuna Lorig's Archery

52:16    A Cultural Perspective on Mindset & Training

55:37    Why You Should Get Into Archery

58:41    Khatuna's Favorite Mental Practice

59:37    Practice Required

1:01:27 Khatuna's Focus Bubble 

Silke is a professional parkour athlete and has made her mark in the free run and parkour world by becoming one of the top performing females in the industry. From Red Bull’s – Art of Motion to appearances in shows like Ultimate Beastmaster and commercials, Silke already got it under her belt. As much as she is now able to make runs with confidence and enjoy the aspects of competition this wasn’t always the case for her. Starting out in gymnastics at a young age she did not like the pressures that can come with competing. Eventually she had a difficult conversation with her dad which sent her on a journey to eventually find parkour.

This episode discusses the difficulties that Silke experienced in gymnastics and that would later show up in her career as a parkour athlete but also how she overcame them. We got a short discussion of ways to increase your self-efficacy or confidence as an athlete. Silke also shares her thoughts and experiences in overcoming fear and her process to break jumps, progress in training and how to set up a training/practice environment that will help you get the most out of yourself. As always I hope you enjoy this episode and take away something you can apply in your life.

0:30 Introduction

2:32 A Crucial Conversation - Quiting Gymnastics

4:41 The Key to Getting Your Point Across

5:54 How Silke Got Introduced To Parkour

10:22 Social Comparison & How To Enjoy Competition

14:25 Overcoming Fear - Breaking Jumps

17:14 Learning How To Fall

19:02 The Process to Landing A Cart Wheel to A Full Twist

22:26 Helpful and Unhelpful Training Habits

25:38 Self Efficacy Theory - Beliefs About Competence

28:30 Silke's Experiences with Building Confidence  

32:18 A Bonus Tip From Silke

33:08 The Difficulty of Breaking Out of An Emotional State

34:47 The Benefits of Training in a Team - Ashigaru

36:10 The Lack of Female Athletes in Parkour

37:13 Silke's Thoughts on Why There Are Less Women in Parkour

38:16 Is Parkour or Sports Intimidating?

39:07 Setting The Bar To Entry

41:25 Our Tendency to Think About Negative Outcomes

42:34 How Silke Landed A Trick She Was Scared Of

44:47 How To Recover From A Near Accident  

47:00 Intuition and Trusting In Your Body

47:43 The Optimal Setting Skill Vs. Challenge

48:30 How Media Performances Impact Silke

50:54 The Illusion of Perfect Performances

53:48 Silke's Favorite Performance

56:58 Incorporating Education In Sport Sciences

59:26 Silke's Favorite Mental Tool

1:03:12 The Impact of Letting Go of Expectations

1:06:29 Silke's Closing Message

1:07:21 Where to Find Silke

Before going to college on both an academic and athletic scholarship Joshua Rhodes had somewhat of an unconventional upbringing. His father was getting into the MLB but decided to drop out to support him and his mother. When he finally moved in with his dad at 14 his life became heavily routine-based. This lifestyle has stuck with him to this day into the business world and his podcast on wealth education Rhodes To Wealth.

In this episode we really dive into family affairs, social influence and other factors that influence you as a college athlete. Along with discussing some of these stressful situations we also have a look at all the different resources available to you and how to find the people who can support you on your mission. We ended the episode in a Q&A-type section specifically what makes a routine good or bad? And what are some important factors of Flow or “Getting Into The Zone”. And as always, I hope you enjoy the show!

0:30 Introduction

3:44 The Sacrifice Josh's Father Made

7:23 Dealing With Strict Routines as a Teenager

10:39 Choice of Career Path or Lack Thereof

13:17 Family Sport vs. Personal Choice

14:18 What Joshua Taps Into When Going on a Grind

15:22 The West Point Appeal

16:37 Providing Support For His Step-Mother

20:16 On "Borrowing" Strength From Others

22:56 Moving Beyond Mental Toughness & David Goggins

23:44 Pushing Limits - Spa Day Edition

24:30 Awareness - The Big Unknown

27:03 A Note of Caution on Pushing Your Limits

29:21 Possible Downsides of Extreme Achievement

31:17 Joshua On Making The Big Decision

33:34 Dealing With The Pressures of The College Environment

35:51 Inventory of Your Mental Toolbox & Being Honest

37:31 Resources Available As A College Student

39:56 Finding People & Resources To Support Your Journey

42:02 My Story With The Kinesiology Department

43:39 The Q&A - Are Routines Good or Bad? - Joshua's Experience

47:11 Baumeister - Theory of Willpower

48:58 The Key To A Healthy Mind - Adaptability

51:29 Testing & Improving Your Mental Flexibility

53:27 Joshua's Routine - Deconstructive Habits

55:26 Throwing Up - The Functional Part

57:16 Better Ways of Dealing With Stress - Progressive Relaxation

59:06 Mental Tool - Progressive Relaxation Breakdown

1:01:56 Q&A - Flow & (Not) Getting In The Zone

1:06:00 2 Factor Quadrant of Flow by Csikszentmihalyi

1:07:21 Internal Environment - Reinforcing Cycles

1:08:49 Directing Your Focus

1:11:32 Chocking Under Pressure - How (Not) To Get In Flow

1:13:21 Joshua's Favorite Mental Practices

1:15:37 Where To Find Joshua

Rick is a real veteran of Golf with literally decades of experience and his coaching has helped junior, collegiate, and professional golfers get to new levels in their game. One of the people he has helped in their journey of improvement is Collin Morikawa, with three PGA Tour wins – including the major 2020 PGA Championship.

In this episode we started off by discussing the integration of challenging yourself (growth mindset) while still playing to your strengths. This all in the context of development in the context of long-term perspective, starting as a junior all the way to the PGA like Morikawa. You can also expect some key practices that you can implement straight away on the green. Especially relating to the topic of responsibility and control. We finish up a short tease of how to integrate technology into your training and Rick’s personal practices. As always I hope you enjoy this episode.

0:29 Introduction

3:21 The Paradox of Growth Mindset & Playing to Your Strengths

6:06 A Growth Mindset on Negative Emotions

7:32 How to Combine Creativity & Growth Mindset in Training

10:41 Development as Player Youth to Pro

13:02 Setting Expectations of Development

13:50 Differences in Physical Progression

15:26 How Are You Talking To Yourself?

18:07 Flipping Anxiety To A Strength

20:22 Coachability - Improve Your Ability to Grow

23:46 The Locus of Control - Dealing With Variability & Control

26:08 The Purpose of A Routine

28:07 Where to Take Responsibility And Where Not

31:23 Practicing with Mental Pressure

32:08 Key Tools to Take to The Green

38:12 How You Define & Relate to Pressure

41:00 The Benefits of Pressure

43:28 Flow State - Pressure and Relaxation

44:17 Coping With Anxiety & Pressure - Relaxation Exercises

48:20 Self-Talk & Cognitive Strategies

51:26 The Ability To Control Flow - Baseline & Triggers

54:08 Why Are We Playing to Begin With?

57:04 Incorporating Technology Into Your Training

1:00:11 EEG - Working With Brain Wave Activity

1:02:18 Crutch Vs. Integration

1:03:34 Rick's Favorite Mental Skill

1:05:42 Rick's Activity for Mental Recharge

1:07:40 Final Thoughts from Rick On COVID

1:09:24 Where To Connect With Rick

The World Championship Fencing in Men’s Épée was a truly spectacular bout where within the last minute Gergely Siklósi made an incredible comeback from a 3-score deficit. If you want to see a high-pressure situation, this is it. Besides discussing the final of the World Championship, Gergely shared his thoughts on his mental development and the key components which eventually made him victorious. This again is one of the longer episodes but truly worth the listen, we discussed the influence of personality in sport, how to make the most of feedback, mentorship, flow and Gergely shares his mental process after a loss. As always enjoy and let us know what you think of the episode!

0:30 Introduction

2:47 Start of Conversation

3:28 Gergely on Weapon Choice in Fencing

6:40 Overview of Different Weapons & Influence on Play

8:18 The Influence of Weapon Choice on Your Development

10:26 What Came First - Nature Vs. Nurture?

11:36 How Epee Influenced Gergely Growing Up

15:36 Development of Confidence as a Young Player

17:47 Development of Personal Style

18:48 Influence of Nationality

20:34 Gergely's Approach to Personal Style

23:14 Setting Traps for the Opponent

25:32 Being in the Moment & Flow  

28:31 Flow & Process Orientation

29:40 Gergely's Thoughts Development & Flow

31:18 Quality of Attention - Deliberate Practice

34:00 Gergely's Mental Relaxation Practice

35:35 How to Deal with a Loss

40:21 Benefits of Guided Meditations & Body Scans

41:38 Balancing Mental Practice & Technical Practice

41:55 Asking for & Processing Feedback

45:15 Being Okay With Making Mistakes

49:05 On Growth, Struggle and Pay-Off

49:54 Short Term Pain of Looking at Mistakes, Ego and Growth

51:32 Ego or Confidence?

54:33 A More Broad Approach to Growth

55:14 Lonely vs. Aloneness

57:33 The (in)Effectiveness of Social Comparison

58:42 Intermission - Extra Thoughts on Aloneness & Social Comparison

1:01:11 The Power of Acceptance

1:03:26 Gergely on the Importance of Mentors

1:06:24 Finding Opportunities to Improve In Spite of Disadvantages

1:11:53 World Championship - Home Crowd Advantage

1:13:31 Breakdown of The Championship Bout

1:17:16 The Last Crucial Minute

1:20:25 Consequences of COVID

1:25:01 Gergely's Experience of Getting COVID

1:31:29 Gergely's Favorite Mental Skill

Traveling the world and working as a creative sounds like a dream come true for many. However, this only came to be after Annette went through a tough time where she struggled with depression and anxiety. After realizing that they needed to make a drastic change, Daniel & Annette decided to pay off all their debts and travel the world. In our conversation we discussed how they went on to tackle a $25K+ debt and start living their dreams. With all the good also comes bad and we discuss how to give struggle and hardship a place in your life. Another large part of this episode covers the strength and success in their relationship, the work it requires and the risks that you need to take to have a strong connection. You will find practical steps and advice on how to give purpose and direction to whatever it is you want to achieve in life. As always enjoy and let us know what you think of the episode!

0:30       Introduction

2:20       Conversation Start

2:51       Annette's Motivation Behind The Decision

8:07       The Time Frame to the Decision

10:00    Goal-Setting From A Home to A Backpack

18:19    Short Term & Long Term Balance

18:31    SMART, Process, Outcome & Performance Goals

19:27    The Importance of Why You Set A Goal

20:28    The Role of Positive Psychology

21:03    Quality of Life - Perspective from Lows to Highs

23:47    Power of Prioritization

24:41    Daniel's Shift in Quality of Life

25:53    Coping With Struggle - Spiritualizing Passion

27:22    Creativity & Purpose - Finding Out Who You Are

29:29    Why Changes Won't Really Change You - The Hedonic Treadmill 

30:17    How Daniel Got to His Self-Reflection

31:38    Asking Yourself Important Questions

34:08    Combining The Good & The Bad

35:57    Working As A Team - The Work of Teamwork

39:44    Commitments To Your Partner(s)

43:21    Foundations of Strong Relations

43:35    The Risk of Vulnerability

44:15    Examples of Risking to be Vulnerable

46:00    Annette's Experience of Sexual Abuse

48:32    Physical vs. Emotional Intimacy

49:28    Annette's Thoughts on Risk

50:25    Clichés = Truth

51:02    Daniel's Favorite Mental Practice - Exercise Routine

54:46    The Importance of Fun & Exercise

55:33    Annette's Mental Practices

57:00    Making Your Goals Physical

58:12    Final Messages From Daniel & Annette

58:40    Where to Connect With Chase For Adventure

Jeffrey Juurlink is currently playing in the GFL and was part of the 2019 NFL Combine Europe for his position as a defensive back. Being raised in Holland, where (American) Football is not part of the major sports this is an unusual achievement. We discuss the mental aspects of his career so far and his first seasons in the German Football League. After talking shortly about his motivation, we got into visualization, focus (meditation & mindfulness) and what role it has played for him in practice and games. The second half we get into his experience in the GFL, Music, Team Dynamcis which got him into the NFL Combine Europe. At the end of the episode we also discussed how he applies his mental discipline to his work as a music producer. This episode has a lot to offer if you want to take your game to the next level like Jeffrey did. Enjoy!

https://www.instagram.com/holyducktape/

0:30       Introduction

2:04       Conversation Start

2:17       How Jeffrey Got Into Football

3:38       The Motivation To Take It to the Next Level

5:35       Development of Intrisic Motivation - The Joy of Growth & Learning

5:50       Influence of Environment - Dutch National Team to the GFL

10:03    Visualization & Film in Football

12:07    Visualization & Imagery as a Mental Tool

13:41    The PETTLEP Model - A Model For Visualization

16:20    Jeffrey's Experience with Visualization & PETTLEP

20:11    Grit & Mental Toughness - Getting to the Next Level

22:32    Developing Your Mental Toughness

22:55    Inspiration: Brian Dawkins - Weapon X

25:47    Keeping Your Mental Focus - Mindfulness & Meditation

26:47    Mindfulness - Formal & Informal Practice

28:06    Focusing on Improvement - Visualization & Feedback

29:29    Focal Point of Meditation - Awareness

30:17    Group Cohesion & Dynamics in the GFL

32:46    Working Through Losing Streaks with the Team

35:31    Player Within The Team - Transistion Losing to Winning

36:41    The Power of Music - Emotion Regulation

39:20    No Music to Pre-Game Blasting

41:30    The NFL Combine Experience

42:06    Receiving the Call & Pre-Combine

44:20    D-Day - Testing, Drills & Physical

46:35    Reflecting on the Experience

48:21    Confidence - The Importance of Practice & Preparation

50:11    Is Sport Psychology the Secret to High Performance?

51:41    Not Either/Or - Developing Body AND Mind 

53:33    Transfering Mental Skill From Field to Studio

55:35    Jeffrey's Go-To Mental Skill - Routine & Rituals

57:57    Transfering Success From One Area to Another

58:51    Where to Find Jeffrey

Ayrton Seri aka SeriBeats is a music producer and through his YouTube channel he also shares his knowledge and production process. The start of our conversation we discussed his approach to learning and tips that can help you grow such as the power of active listening. Later on we talked about inspiration, different aspects of creativity and how to apply those concepts in your own production. Finally, we finish the episode by discussing authenticity and different definitions of success and how to approach your own success.

0:30       Introduction

2:30       Conversation Start

3:27       Practice & Starting Out as A Music Producer

4:47       Ayrton's Process of Learning

6:07       Making a Case for Practicality

8:25       Asking Question & The Internet

9:34       Variability of Practice

10:32    Variability of Practice in Music

11:00    Switching Up Your Process

12:22    Create a Beat in 10 Minutes

14:08    Creativity & Staying Creative

14:20    Moving on After "Failure"

16:25    Structured vs. Unstructured Creativity

17:03    Sources of Inspiration

18:23    Boredom as Inspiration

20:02    Different Types of Writers Block

22:25    What Kills Creativity

24:35    The Effect of Analysis on Creativity

25:07    Approach to Making Music & Tutorials

27:09    The (im)Possibility of Training Mental Skills

27:43    Flow & Meditation

29:24    Non-Judgement - A Recurring Theme of Meditation

30:45    Remaking Beats vs. Developing Your Own Style

33:32    The Value of Active Listening

34:19    Tips for Active Listening

35:49    Ayrton's Perspective on Success

38:41    The Trap of External Validation

39:34    Authenticity is Contagious

40:39    The Power of Self-Validation

42:20    Cultivating Your Sound vs. Following Trends

44:56    Process vs. Outcome in Music

47:13    The Practical Side of Success

48:00    Success - Unsatisfying Satisfaction

48:39    The Importance of Your Environment

50:52    Collaborating with other Musicians

52:41    The Power of Real-Life Connection

54:53    Talent is Available In Your City

58:35    Word of Mouth and Personal Recommendation

59:51    What is More Valuable? Likes vs. Responses

1:01:40 Ayrton's Go-To Mental Skill & Training

1:04:00 Closing Advice on Mental Improvement

1:06:13 Where to Find SeriBeats

1:07:02 What to Expect from SeriBeats in the Future