Demystifying Mental Toughness

Welcome to episode #212 of Demystifying Mental Toughness!   This is the second part of two specially created episodes over the festive period to show our gratitude to our fantastic guests in 2023.   The episode is hugely insightful where a number of our guests from this year, share many fantastic takeaways. The messages come from different angles where sports psychologists, mental performance coac...

Welcome to episode #211 of Demystifying Mental Toughness.   Today we bring you the 1st of 2 compilation episodes over the festive period.   The key takeaways from this episode come from the worlds of sport, business and healthcare.   Mental health, burnout, injury recovery, managing difficult conversations and motivation were topics that were unpicked.   Enjoy listening to the excellent insights!...

Have you ever thought about whether you breathe properly? Or do you take breathing for granted as something that we as living humans do automatically? Today's podcast episode will be a big help to you should you wish to know more about breathwork, where the founder of Influential Breathwork, Anna Parker-Naples and I discuss how our breathing patterns impact our mind and body.   Performance and men...

Mental toughness development is all about helping people deal with pressure better.   In general, you'll see sports psychology practitioners advocate psychological skills training to create better decision makers in this regards.   Our toolkit includes visualisation, cognitive restructuring, strategic goal setting, relaxation and sports hypnosis.   In today's episode however I introduce a relative...

Today, in the last of this 10-part series for footballer or soccer players, coaches and parents, I talk more about managing expectations, this time when your team is winning comfortably.   Many players are guilty of taking their foot off the pedal, going into protect mode individually and collectively when this happens.   I share why, because your attention is misdirected. Also, highlighted are wa...

In business and sporting organisations conflict is widespread and there is a need for leaders and managers to be able to prevent, manage and master difficult conversations to improve the overall culture.   As a result, people then feel more respected and valued, job satisfaction improves, as well as performance and the mental health of those involved. Today's episode looks to help you in this resp...

In episode 206, I add a further step to what I discussed in the previous episode, 204, when I talked about managing expectations. The situation I consider is big matches when football and soccer players can be guilty of focusing too much on opponents. The key message I look to spread includes how you can set process goals to shift your expectations away from your opponent's actions. To focusing on...

Today's podcast episode looks at how we as Sports Psychologists support injured athletes. My guest, Dr Carl Bescoby, the Injury Psychologist, goes on to share his knowledge in our discussion about the psychological and emotional difficulties that athletes can face, especially in the case of long-term injuries.   Strategies to help athletes during the rehabilitation process, as well as, how they ca...

A phrase you often hear from football managers, coaches and pundits is that football and soccer players "need to manage their expectations." You also hear that playing "expectation free" is a good thing so that you can play your football with freedom. In episode 204, the 8 th of our 10-part series this is the theme that I discuss where I go on to give you some advice on how you can manage your exp...

Episode 203 of The Demystifying Mental Toughness Podcast features Jack Sunderland, a former professional boxer, currently a boxing coach and entrepreneur. Jack goes on to tell me all about the mental and physical challenges that come with the boxing. We also talk about how he helps the local community in West Yorkshire with the social enterprise, The Training Cave, that he founded and runs from a...

In episode 202, the 7 th of our 10-part series I build on the previous episode, and again I look to help the footballer who places too much attention on outcomes and results.   As a result, fear of failure then becomes a big challenge for you to overcome.   One of the answers in my eyes is to shift your focus towards the "key ingredients" that make up your best performances as I go on to share.  ...

Today's episode is a special, landmark episode as we enter the 200's! As a result, I decided to clip out some bite-sized bits from previous episodes featuring 3 leading authorities in the mental toughness domain; Dr John Perry, Professor Peter Clough MBE and Doug Strycharczyk, who go onto share their thoughts about the importance of self-awareness whether you are a mentally tough or mentally sensi...

Today I go on to discuss a very common challenge many football or soccer players find a problem.   It's their focus, specifically when too much attention is placed on outcomes and results.   What then often happens is, football or soccer players then put too much pressure on themselves.   On the pitch, spectators or coaches will then notice a player who doesn't assert him or herself on a game, som...

In today's episode Audrie Woodhouse, who was a fabulous actress and performer and now a successful coach and speaking consultant, shares some great ideas when it comes down to communication skills and public speaking, especially when we consider the key elements of leadership communication.   This episode is also a very helpful episode for those who dread speaking or performing and who let their i...

Some days as a footballer, for a variety of reasons you may feel flat and approach a match out of sync mentally and physically.   So what should you do on these days? In today's episode of Demystifying Mental Toughness the 5th of a 10 part series for football enthusiasts, I share some ideas.   We'll look at how you can rouse yourself, how you can use willpower and your actions and not just rely of...

"It's lonely at the top" - this is a comment many business leaders in organisations admit where trusted relationships, can often prove sparse.   In sport, for coaches and athletes this can also be the case the higher you go up the success ladder.  These statements inform episode #197 where the author of the book Executive Loneliness, and Co-Founder and Managing Director of the Executives' Global N...

Whether you play football at grassroots or in the Champions League one thing is for certain you will be criticised by someone.   It may be a team-mate or coach trying to drive up standards.   Or it may be a friend, a partner or one of the many keyboard warriors out there who offend you. Many factors can influence how you take and then respond to such criticism, as I talk about in today's episode,...

Ideally, we'd be able to recognise the need for toughness when we train and play sport and be able to switch it on and off as we please.   Unfortunately, this isn't the case as Clinical Psychologist and author, Amy Izycky, confirms when she talks about how extreme versions of toughness, mental toughness and resilience can be counter-productive. In today's short BITE-SIZED episode taken from episod...

Footballers - how do you view the coach or manager asking you to play out of position? Negatively as a threat or positively as a challenge?   In today's episode, the 3rd of a 10 part series, I'll be sharing my thoughts on why some footballers gravitate to the negative side and how they can help themselves, their team-mates, coach and club better.  Your perception of your situation is one avenue I...

In today's short bite sized episode, taken from episode #093 of the Demystifying Mental Toughness Podcast, I was joined by prominent Sports Psychologist, Dan Abrahams.   We discussed why athletes can struggle to repeat their training performances in competitive matches and events.   Dan goes on to share his thoughts why this is the case, some tools he uses to help clients and specifically the conc...

It is common for footballers or soccer players to have different values and ideas about the game than their coaches.   On occasions, this can result in relationship challenges, where some players feel like they have been treated unfairly.   On the pitch their application and effort in training and in matches, can slowly dwindle, often without them realising.   Before they know it, they are only gi...

In today's short bite sized episode, I chat with Dr Jim Afremow, the co-author of The Leaders Mind.  Jim shares with you his thoughts about the field of sport psychology to improve your understanding on what we can offer as practitioners.   He also touches on the crossover-between supporting people with performance issues as well as mental health concerns, working with youngsters and the fact ment...

Many footballers are driven to improve. They strive day in, day out, to get better. They sleep, eat and breathe football.  Football is on their brain 24 hours per day. However, noticeably many footballers spend a lot of time thinking about the technical and tactical side of the game.  They'll spend countless hours refining their touch. Improving the passing, shooting or positioning.  The gym might...

Most people at some point experience demotivation, where they lack interest and enthusiasm about something that they have once really enjoyed.   This episode #189 is for you if you have reached that point, or if you are experiencing a loss of form or a performance plateau.  Today, I share an approach which is connected to goal-setting and performance profiling and often yields positive outcomes, w...

In today's bite sized episode, I was joined by the author of the Modern Soccer coach series Gary Curneen, where he opened up on an expensive mistake he made on his coaching journey. He also talks a lot about humility and the importance of integrating the psychological side of the game better.   This episode is for coaches, especially those who are confident in their ability as you'll note when I s...