Nick Sanders 0:00
Hi guys, today I am with Amanda Johansen. She is a mental toughness coach with headstrong consulting. And today we're going to talk about the mental side of performance. Life, how we can maybe utilize some of their services and things that we can do to just be more productive what we do. And I've always said, if I didn't get into physical therapy, sports psychology is something that just fascinating to me. So we're gonna chat a little bit. So, Amanda, thanks for joining me.
Amanda Johanson 0:32
I am happy to be here. I love getting to learn a little bit and share some knowledge and especially with people who are interested in something similar than I am.
Nick Sanders 0:44
Yeah. So could you just give us a brief introduction? Your background is quite fascinating with gymnastics and some of the other things. How did you get into sports psychology and, and what is it that you do?
Unknown Speaker 0:58
So I was a gymnast growing up my whole life, I grew up in Park City, Utah, and instead of skiing competitively, like most of my friends did, because I was literally five minutes away from three different ski resorts. For some reason, I got drawn to gymnastics, and I ended up driving an hour to practice every day and got really, really into that I fell in love with the sport. And I ended up on a full ride scholarship to the University of Denver. And I went out there, I had have four really awesome, successful years. And I loved the sport of gymnastics in college that kind of revamped my love for it. Although once I graduated, I was very much done. And I kind of saw a lot of sort of dark sides of the sport. And I saw a lot of people struggle to get out of the sport, kind of transition into normal life, per se. And then I was in that weird phase where I didn't know what I wanted to do really, with my life. So then I went back to Park City. And instead of kind of doing the transition myself, I just continued doing sports. So then I got into aerial ski jumping, and I competed at a World Cup level for about two years. And all up I competed for maybe three and a half years, trying to make the US Ski Team and then ended up breaking my elbow and seeing some pretty gnarly injuries. And I was an older athlete, kinda, I was maybe 2324 at that point and kind of decided that my time in elite sport was maybe done. And while I was doing aerials, I was coaching gymnastics kind of on the side to help pay for it, which I told myself, I would never do, I said, I'm never gonna coach gymnastics. And then there I was coaching gymnastics. And then I got a really incredible opportunity to go to New Zealand and coach kind of their development team in Christchurch, which is on the South Island. And I was only supposed to be there for four months. And then I found myself there for seven years. So I was really lucky, kind of Right Place Right Time. And I got to coach girls going to World Cups, World Championships, Commonwealth Games. And I was really fortunate to coach one of the most incredible athletes I've ever seen in her last year and a half kind of journey up to the Rio Olympics. So that was pretty incredible. And I loved it. But what I was sort of realizing was that I could give or take the sport, really. And my favorite part of coaching was the mental side, which is kind of funny, because a lot of coaches actually hate that part, especially in sports with high risk because it comes with mental blocks and fears. And especially with teenagers, if they're afraid that usually comes with a little bit of attitude kind of thing. And I loved it. That's what I genuinely loved about it. And so I realized after a kind of not so great situation. workwise I had a little bit of strife and wasn't treated super well.
Unknown Speaker 4:43
Which actually in hindsight was a really good thing for me because it got me out of coaching and that's what took me back to do sports psychology and get into the psychology field. So I went back and did my Master's at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand, in Applied Psychology, and then, not so long ago, well, I started working with athletes in New Zealand and teams and New Zealand who's just not too long ago, maybe a year and a half ago, introduced a really awesome kind of new way of doing sports with which they call balances better. So kind of encouraging young athletes to do more than one sport and serve sport specify kind of encouraging them to have a balanced life, which is so crazy that that's such a like, big new thing. It should have been a thing forever. But so I worked with a couple gymnastics gyms working on that balances better approach. And then I came back to the USA in June, to be with my family who I hadn't seen for years because of the pandemic. And I found Nicole detling, headstrong, and I just kind of emailed her and said, Hey, this is what I like to do, I'd love to see kind of what you have. And we we both kind of chatted quite a bit that it was pretty cosmic timing and Right Place Right Time again, and I now and doing my most favorite job ever. And I just feel so incredibly lucky that I get to do what I'm super passionate about every single day. So that's kind of what's brought me to this point here.
Nick Sanders 6:46
That's a big circle. I was worried. Before we started this, I asked if you're from New Zealand, because I can hear it a little bit. Like
Unknown Speaker 6:55
I've been told that quite a bit. And I've been in the states now for almost a year and it's still there. So I think when I go back this time, it'll really set in.
Nick Sanders 7:08
Yeah, yeah, we were lucky enough. My wife and I went for our honeymoon. We did 14 days or something in Australia, and then nine in New Zealand.
Unknown Speaker 7:18
Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. It is such a stunning country. It really is like anywhere you go is beautiful.
Nick Sanders 7:25
Yeah, yeah, we yeah, we I mean, we were on our honeymoon. So we had no stress, no things but amazing place. Yeah, man, at some point need to make time to get back there. Because it was
Unknown Speaker 7:36
right, you'll have to come back. Yeah. It's interesting
Nick Sanders 7:39
to me, from the mental side that that's of interest to you with gymnastics. I've not done gymnastics. But you watch, you know, at the Olympic level, you figure they've done those routines 1000s of times. Yep. But how do you get your mind right to do it? Perfect once in that setting that pressure that I mean, it just super fascinating to me.
Unknown Speaker 8:04
Yeah, that is really kind of the ideal for everyone. That's sort of the ultimate goal for every athlete, I truly believe is to kind of be able to turn things on in the right moment. And that's where it is entirely mental. Because at that point, especially at like an Olympic level or a professional level, you really have done everything physically that you can do up to that point where you wouldn't be at that level. And so at that point, when you're performing, it really is about turning on your mental game. And I am 1,000,000% sure that if you had two athletes that were identical physically, in their kind of talent or capabilities, or whatever you want to call it, that the athlete who is on their mental game more that day will be the one who was really, yeah,
Nick Sanders 9:08
I would I would venture to say you can take somebody that's less athletic. But if their mental game on point, big they probably be more successful in their career.
Unknown Speaker 9:19
Yes, yes. And that's one of the biggest things is that. I know we've all kind of heard it, but hard work. And the space that you're in is always a winning point over talent. Talent really doesn't do much for anyone in any realm. Not in athletics, not in business. It really is about how much you're willing to put into that energy wise mentally wise, physically wise.
Nick Sanders 9:56
So what what is kind of the overview of headstrong consultant like, what is the company? What do you guys do? Kind of day to day?
Unknown Speaker 10:08
So headstrong is a really, really awesome company. And I know I'm a little bit biased because I've worked for them, but truly is the best. So, um, the gold settling actually started headstrong, about 20 years ago, I believe. And what it is, is there's six of us who are consultants, or coaches, mental coaches. And the aim of what we do is to increase people's performance. And although the vast majority of our clients tend to be athletes from anything from a teeny little hockey player who's eight up to Olympic champions, and professional athletes, and everything in between, from a crazy amount of sport sports that people wouldn't even imagine. The goal is to improve those people's confidence. But like I said, it's not just athletes, we also have business people, we have performing artists, we have coaches, we have parents, basically, anybody who feels like they want to increase their level of performance, their level of confidence, their level of commitment, and motivation, any thing that goes along with that mental toughness realm, resiliency, that's kind of a big one in our field right now. That's what we kind of deal with. And the beauty is, is that when you really think about it, pretty much everybody is performing at something in their daily lives, right? Whether you're performing at work, or whether you're a parent, I have a 17 month old, so I haven't been a parent for a really long time. But I do know that that is that is a performance too. There's a lot of stuff that comes with it and kind of it really tests your confidence sometimes in your abilities. And so anything that you do that you could kind of call performance, which really we could probably argue is anything. That's the people we work with. So really anyone and it is just building that mental toughness.
Nick Sanders 12:23
Congratulations on the baby. Thank you. Game Changer. We have two little ones at home, two and a half year old and six months, something like that. So
Unknown Speaker 12:33
Oh, wow. How is it? Is it hard with two?
Nick Sanders 12:36
It's different.
It's just, you know, you're sure it's 17 months, like things are kind of starting to settle into a routine, right? Like it's, you're out of that wild phase. And then you just reintroduce it.
Unknown Speaker 12:58
Start again. Yeah.
Nick Sanders 13:00
Yeah. So, but it's great. We're super lucky. Yeah. Awesome. So you're taking the baby to New Zealand?
Unknown Speaker 13:09
Yes, yes, I actually, I flew with him by myself, from New Zealand to the states in June of last year. So it was kind of mid pandemic, I hadn't been out of New Zealand. And that was kind of it was a little bit intimidating. Because New Zealand at that point had not really we really hadn't had COVID at all. And our lockdown was only five weeks. And that point, our lives were totally normal. And so it was kind of scary flying to the states where things were a little bit more aggressive and a little crazy. And it was just me and my son and as a 12 hour flight and then a one hour flight. But it was it was actually pretty easy. It wasn't he's a great, he's a sweet little dude. And so he made it pretty easy for me. And my best friend actually met me in LA and then flew me back to Utah. And that was really special. So yeah, it was pretty cool.
Nick Sanders 14:08
Yeah, we'll see. We'll see how he does on this trip will be a little older. Yeah.
Unknown Speaker 14:12
This one will be a little bit different. He's moving around. He's walking but yeah, we we recently flew back to from Hawaii with him in January. And he was sweet. So we're hoping we'll be sweet again, but you never know.
Nick Sanders 14:29
Yeah. You we're worried about like taking our kids on like a four hour car ride so
Unknown Speaker 14:39
we just did that one too. But you also have to So yeah, double the fun. Babies.
Nick Sanders 14:45
So what's weird to me is now the baby seems so simple. Right? Like, oh, this baby is the easiest thing on the planet. It's the it's the two and a half year old that's hard. Where you know first time around the baby is like this big You know, life changing thing. Now you're like, Oh, the baby's no problem.
Unknown Speaker 15:05
Yeah, you have to deal with the ones that can talk and move and escape and climb.
Nick Sanders 15:12
Yeah. It's weird how it all shifts in your head mentally? Or maybe you just forget about. I don't know what's interesting, though. Both I think both. Yeah, it's like, yeah, this this one's simple. So. But yeah, I've been telling people all time, I don't know how people get past two. Like, I don't know how you end up? I don't I don't. The idea of being out number two seems
Unknown Speaker 15:37
very right. That's what I think I'm like to is good. You have good odds there. And then, then you're really then it's like herding cats. At some point. I think those parents that have more than two children are superheroes or they have, maybe they have more arms. I don't know what's going on there. But
Nick Sanders 15:55
yeah, I've apologized and complimented more people since having children like, how did you pull me to perspective? Perspective anyway? So you know, I, I've done high school sports and that kind of stuff, still kind of dabble in different things. And then the business side, there's, there's obviously a mental side to that. But I've never as much as I'm interested in sports Psych. And I've done some homework, I've never like, worked with somebody. What would you say would like encourage somebody to reach out and work with somebody? Why? Why would somebody want to do that?
Unknown Speaker 16:32
I think the best reason why you should want to reach out. And I, again, I know I'm biased. But I truly believe that everybody should do some kind of I don't know if I want to call it therapy, but therapy, whether that be some counseling, or actual therapy, or sports Psych Services, or mental performance coaching. Because what it does is, the real basics of it, when you strip everything away is it's training your mind. And that's something that I think a lot of us don't actually realize about psychology or those kinds of services is that we spend a lot of our days training our bodies, especially if you're an athlete of any kind, that doesn't mean you have to be some Olympic champion. It could be you know, you're on your like, friends dodgeball team or something, whatever it may be, if you're an athlete, you spend a lot of time training your body, a lot like ours, right? There are most gymnasts are out there training 28 hours a week. And that's a lot on your body. And what happens is, a lot of us don't actively train our minds. And that could be in your job, too, right? You are, in any kind of career, you are probably being pulled a lot of different ways. There's a lot of stress involved, there's a lot of pressure involved. And we're really seeing a crazy time where work life balance has become a very difficult thing to do. Because now we have email on our phones, and we have texts and calls and it's become increasingly difficult to leave work, and leave work, if you know what I mean, right? Like not pull it with us, especially with the pandemic, like that's one of the most incredible things that we got out of it was this remote work. But it's also a little bit of a double ended sword, where also, I mean, I know I do it, I am doing my work. And then all of a sudden, I'm checking my phone for my emails, and then dadada and you end up doing a lot more work than maybe you would have done even just going into the office. So I think it's a real balance. And that is a lot of what we do, too, is working with people and how to balance their lives and how to stay resilient and how to kind of minimize stress in our lives. Because that is something else that has increased dramatically over time in general, but again, with a pandemic, kind of in a lot of the unemployment rates and stress with jobs and being sick and having to take time off work and all the good stuff that's kind of come with us in the last few years, has just increased stress so much that actually recently I saw a figure that 90% of general practice doctor's visits have something to do with stress, which is terrifying. It makes sense but it's terrifying because what they've found is actually A stress over time, right? So little kind of increments of stress they day by day really elevates your cortisol. And what that does significant, elevated levels of cortisol has been linked to pretty much every horrific disease out there, cancer, obesity, diabetes, coronary diseases. And so really, what we're doing is we're killing ourselves a stress. And, again, a lot of what I do is training people and helping people to become more resilient. And a lot of that is through gratitude, through mindfulness. And that, in turn, tends to eliminate or minimize stress significantly. So it really is just making your life better. That's pretty much it.
Nick Sanders 21:00
Yeah, I get that. You know, we're in the in the physical therapy world. Like, that's what we do day to day. But a lot of what we do is deal with psychological problems. Because to your point, when cortisol is up, inflammation goes up, and you can't, your immune system is not functioning, and you can't get into that rest, parasympathetic rest mode, and the body doesn't feel like it's supposed to, right. So it turns into pains, you know, guarding intention and tone and all those postural things that come with kind of being in flight mode. So that's, that's my interest in Psych. And I think our challenge has been I don't know that we have a great whether it's an understanding or being able to refer to the right people. I don't know if our client, I think we, our clients have struggled with the psychology side of getting out of that stress state. Yes. I don't know if that's just general education like, or the world we're in, or that we don't have the professionals to handle it. That's, that's been a challenge for us, as a clinic is helping those people that are just in that constant fight or flight mode.
Unknown Speaker 22:11
Yes, yes. And I think it's probably a combo of all those things. I think, historically, people have only gone to a psychologist or a counselor or mental performance coach, whatever it may be, when they feel like they have a problem, right. And there's still a little bit of that stigma, I believe, with getting help no matter what that means, which is such a bummer, because I truly believe that we could all benefit from some kind of psychological services at any point. I know that when I transitioned out of coaching, and I had a really toxic work environment at that point, I went to a counselor who, which is a funny story, because I initially thought, maybe he'll be able to come into my workplace and he'll do a mediation and he's going to save the day. And we're all going to be happy and love each other. And after I went to him, he kind of said, How about you? How about instead, you come to see me and we can kind of sort out you? And I was like yeah, okay, that sounds great. And luckily, I grew up, my dad was a counselor growing up. So I was very open always to those kinds of services. And I knew how beneficial they were. And I idolized my dad growing up. So I was like, great, this is awesome. And he truly helped to change my world. He helped me understand what I loved about coaching, which was really, I loved helping people. And it's crazy that I didn't have that sorted by myself before, especially with my dad and wanting to be in my dad's footsteps. I know I had had random times in my life during my undergrad and after thinking, Oh, sports psychology, I think I should do that. But I never had, I don't know if it was the guts or the just that drive to say, Okay, I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna go back to school. And he really helped guide me along that path of figuring out what I wanted to do and how I was actually going to do it. And at that point, I had been out of university for seven years so it was also really intimidating for me to go back and be kind of an adult student but he really helped me see that and sound like an ad for like, go to counseling. It truly was the best thing for me and he's really I'm really close to him. Now. He came to my baby shower, he's the greatest and I have had a lot of friends actually reach out and say, you know, hey, I I don't know what I want to do with my life for So I'm struggling with this or that and they've gone to see people and it's really awesome. But services don't have to be like that either. Like, you don't have to have some big problem. You don't have to have a mental block, you don't have to be hating your job to go get some mental performance or mental toughness coaching, right? It's, it doesn't have to be about that you can just go get these services to better yourself, really. But also, I do think there's a shortage probably internationally. And lack of funding with the whole mental services, mental performance services, I think it's just, there's high demand, and there's not a whole lot of it. I mean, there, there's a lot, but it could always be better.
Nick Sanders 25:52
Yeah. I think the other thing I struggle with in whether it's making referral or like, there's so many things I could improve from a mental toughness standpoint, or psychology psychology standpoint, how do you pick a person? Or how do you decide? Like, somebody asked me go see a physical therapist, there's a million differences, right? There's nuances of big scale of do they work in a rehab center or an outpatient center, but then even within like the sub specialties, like what we do is very different than what you're going to get at another place. How does somebody go about looking for somebody to help them with what they need? Like? What are things people should look for?
Unknown Speaker 26:31
That's an awesome question. And that's actually really important in our field, what there is pretty similar, a lot of differences. So if you are going to see a psychiatrist, a psychiatrist is somebody more that deals with very, very clinical, very, very intense, psychiatry, like psychiatric issues. So that can be things from schizophrenia to bipolar, that is a lot more medical those those people have been in medical school, that is a it's a different realm, really. Then you kind of get down to a psychologist, and then even that is pretty vast. So we have a clinical psychologist, we have child and development psychologists, we have sports psychologists, we have industrial organizational psychologists, there's a whole kind of slew of sports psychologist or psychologist in general, sport psychology is an is a really interesting one that kind of is a sector of that. And sports psychology is interesting, because they are people that deal more with the clinical side in sports. So that could be clinical anxiety, clinical depression, eating disorders, kind of mood disorders, any of that kind of stuff, just in a sports context, if that's makes sense. That's what I would suggest if people are looking for if athletes were looking for somebody to talk to if they had one of those actual clinical issues, to go to a sports psychologist specifically or a clinical psychologist, and then you kind of get into RL, which is more of the performance based side. So we actually don't deal with strict clinical mental disorders. That's when if we would suspect that maybe somebody was dealing with more than just competitive anxiety, or more than feeling really down after a really bad game or bad competition, that perhaps we would refer them to a mental clinician instead of more of the performance side, if that makes sense.
Nick Sanders 29:07
So I think I'm falling. So like from if somebody has like a day to day anxiety, or like some type of actual depressive, more of a consistent, that's not necessarily your game, but you would want to send them to somebody that does that specifically.
Unknown Speaker 29:23
Yes. And that doesn't mean that we don't have overlap. I have quite a bit of overlap those things. They're not. They're separate, but they're not like Worlds Apart. Right. So I have some clients that may struggle with general anxiety or general depression, but they also so they deal with that they go to a clinician to kind of balance out their medication or deal with that from a mental health side. And then they come to us for services to kind of increase their performance and there's Bored. And we often work kind of side by side. Interesting. Yeah. So it's both sides of the coin. So kind of making sure that we're helping the whole person.
Nick Sanders 30:13
You kind of have your little team.
Unknown Speaker 30:15
Yeah. Yeah, totally.
Nick Sanders 30:18
So how about I've worked from like the business side, or from the work performance side, you know, like, I just looked at myself, and like, there's little mundane tasks that you put off, and, you know, you shouldn't just dumb things. You didn't do your billing this week, or you didn't do your documentation, or you, you know, like, simple tasks that you know, you should be doing, and it's really starting to affect, you know, the productivity. And I'm sure everybody's got their examples of that. I have to imagine that some kind of weird mental thing.
Unknown Speaker 30:55
Yes, procrastination is a is a thing, right. And it's something that a lot of us deal with in our personal lives or job lives or sporting lives quite a bit. And those are the most important thing, I think, with an issue kind of like that is to kind of figure out why that's happening. Right? Are you putting things off? Because you don't want to do them? Or are you putting things off? Because you have something else better to do? Or are you kind of veering around things, because you're worried about, if you fail at it, that's a really big one that happens a lot in pretty much every field, right is that fear of failure, or fear of making mistakes or fear of letting people down, I hear that with almost every client I have, whether that is a business person, or a ballerina, or a professional rock climber there. I hear that all the time. And I think often that fear of making mistakes, and that sort of perfectionist that will eats at us quite a bit, makes us worried to do things. Sometimes we're worried to take the next step, or we're worried to do that thing or two. So we tend to push things off or avoid things that we're not particularly looking forward to or that we're a little bit nervous about doing for some reason.
Nick Sanders 32:38
Yeah, I think I heard it. I don't know where I saw this. But something about like we were afraid to fail at something. So we'll actually self sabotage it so that we have an excuse of why it didn't work. And you just kind of like never give yourself a chance to hit it,
Unknown Speaker 32:53
right? Yes, yes. And I see that I honestly, I see that all the time. And it's crazy. It's crazy, because it's it's really backwards thinking is that if we're afraid to make a mistake, you think that we would want to go 100% to kind of make it less likely that we would make some kind of drastic mistake. But instead we do the opposite. humans tend to do the opposite. We tend to hold back when we're afraid instead of pushing forward. And that is one of the biggest things that I talk to people about. Absolutely.
Nick Sanders 33:34
So then, not that we need specific things, but like, what would it look like? Like so if you're working with somebody is like, Hey, we're just going to have a conversation? Are there things like drills or things that you practice? Like? How do people work on those skills? Like what are some of the strategies that just general ideas of strategies that people use?
Unknown Speaker 33:57
So our services are really, really, really specific to the individual. So I have kind of a whole slew of exercises for confidence exercises for kind of mental toughness for resiliency, ways to get over your fear of failure or mistakes or working on your motivation, kind of, I mean, we could go on for days. But I kind of always have a lesson plan, per se when I meet with someone, but it's totally dependent on that person and how they're feeling that day. So I what we do, actually, so our first session we use as a meet and greet, and that gives us a chance and it's free because that's the most important part actually is getting a working connection with the person making sure that we both feel like oh yeah, this is a good fit. And then it gives me a chance to understand what that person is going through, or where they're trying to go. And I often ask them, what are some of their strengths? What are some of their weaknesses? What do they want to work towards? And then I kind of go away and figure out a bit of a plan. And I always have kind of an idea of where I want to go with them. Like, if I could tell, okay, confidence is something that I really want to focus on with this person, then I kind of go back and I get a plan for what kind of sessions I can do for confidence and what kind of kind of outside things I can get them to work on. So one of the biggest things that I do with confidence that my favorite one actually is I have people go through their five best performances of their life. And that is kind of to get those happy hormones flowing oxytocin, dopamine, making them feel good in the moment. And then the next session, I'll do their five worst. And usually, when I tell people that they get really lazy, like, oh, well, why don't we want to talk through that. And most humans, right, when we, when something happens to us, that is unfavorable, or we have a performance that was so bad, we don't, we like to ignore it, or we like to, you know, kind of push it away and not look at it and not think about it. But the most important thing, and I know people tell people this all the time, but we learn the most about ourselves as human beings from our mistakes and from our failures. And so that particular session that I do with pretty much every client, is to get them to look at their failures in their mistakes in a different light, in a more growth, light, with a growth mindset, instead of saying, you know, yeah, I had this horrible performance, and I thought about quitting that job, I thought about being that sport, and it was so horrific, we actually go through it, dissect it, relive it, and then learn how that experience made them better as a human being now. And that's something that I do with, like, more specific to confidence, but it also double helps with that fear of failure. And it kind of gets people past that, oh, okay, actually making mistakes, failing at things is actually not a bad thing. It can be a really, really good thing. And I read an incredible article once about how there was, I can't even remember his name was so bad, but a big sports psych or sports psychologist, regular psychologists that worked with kind of people at the top of their perspective, kind of things. So it was a Olympic athletes, CEOs, Green Berets, kind of top people in their respective fields. And what he said was that, through all of his clients that he had had, he had realized that most people's greatest successes had come off their biggest failures. And so I think it's really important to talk through people's bad sides or bad situations or things that hadn't worked well for them, and let them relive it to kind of build for their future. So that that is kind of a specific example. But it's one of the best things that I do with clients.
Nick Sanders 38:58
Yeah, super interesting. That the Yeah, the learn from the failure kind of mentality, but then next level. Yeah, totally. Totally. Yeah, that's interesting. We've been, that's always been something of interest to me, like, you know, you hear people say all the time, like, learn from your mistakes, and this and that. And then what does that what does that even mean? But I don't know the other thing that from a psychology standpoint, more of a sports side, some buddies of mine and I are getting back into archery, like shooting bows and stuff. Yes. And it's super interesting, this idea of target panic. And, like, you see a target and you shoot, and you're like, why can't I friggin control this mental aspect? Like it's so stupid, but it's like it's the most night and day mind trick I've ever seen in my life. Because it's so simple, you know how to do it. But when your mind is not right or you're angry Dude, like you're having something going on that day, like it is. So obviously, it's like, Alright, so the sports site, whether you're talking like, you know, for me, it's just fun, and I still can't do it. Right. So I can only imagine how people pull stuff off at Big levels.
Unknown Speaker 40:17
Yes, I actually worked with quite a few archers. And yeah, and it's really archery is one of those that it is so mental, right, you're not running around, there is obviously a very physical aspect to it, it takes a lot of strength, but it is so mental. And that target panic is a huge, huge part of it. And learning how to kind of, I think the biggest thing is, it's a lot of a perspective shift. So kind of getting people instead of, and what we do, right, and every kind of aspect is, we tend to put pressure on ourselves, because we care about things, if you didn't care about what you did, there would be no pressure, right? So when I go bowling, because I know I'm not a bowler, I'm not very good at it. And I really don't care how I do it. I don't I just I just kind of bowl and if I miss Oh, whatever. But if somebody was to say, Amanda, like, I'm gonna challenge you to a handstand contest, or something, then I get really competitive. And I expect myself to win, because that's something that I care about. That's something that I know I have on me. And that's what I often try to get clients to kind of let go of, is that I have to do this, I have to be the best. I have to have all these crazy goals and have to accomplish them like this. And it's more of a perspective shift, right? Like, a lot of life is just shifting your perspective, shifting your mindset, and looking at it in a different way. And often, one of the best things that I do with clients is getting them to do whatever their thing is for fun. actively going into a performance setting or a competition setting, and just enjoying their sport or their business or their parenting or whatever it is for fun, like an appreciating it for what it is. And that minimizes pressure and stress more than almost any.
Nick Sanders 42:37
Yeah, yeah, it's funny we do, you know, we do therapy, physical therapy stuff. And we just did an event last weekend, actually, where we just set up a booth. And we're just kind of doing fun stuff, right? Throwing some cups on people doing some massage gun things. But like, to your point, pretty low pressure, right? People are coming up, they just want to feel good. Kind of fun, right? You just you're just doing your thing, you know?
Unknown Speaker 43:00
Yep, you would do it, right, you're just out there, you just come. Right. And that's probably honestly, that's probably a lot more fun than a day where you know, you're packed with appointments. And, you know, there maybe it's like a really important person comes in or something and you get that moment of, whew, man, I have to do I have to do my job, right. And I have to do this all in this special way. And I think a big shift is actually shifting your words from have to to get to in and that does huge things for your mental state.
Nick Sanders 43:44
So like, the more we talk, the more you realize like alright, so I have these examples of things where I noticed that but everybody, right? We all have these examples. Totally. When you look at fitness, there's like a lot of general fitness education, right? Like, you kind of get it in school, you have gym class. There's a lot of resources of like the basics. I feel like that doesn't exist when it comes to mental toughness and making like some of the strategies that you're discussing. Does it happen in education? Is it generally available to the public?
Unknown Speaker 44:20
Honestly, no. And I, I would agree that I think that's one of the biggest problems is we even in the sports realm, so when I kind of went through my kind of coaching courses all the way up to fit which is like the highest level of gymnastics coaching, there really wasn't anything about the mental side. We we did a lot of biomechanics and anatomy and all these crazy things that I mean it's good to have, I'm sure but really, there is a whole lack of resources and availability for exactly that just some mental toughness skills? Or how can I increase my performance? Right? You can you can find it, but you have to do a little bit of searching. And you have to find somebody that knows what they're talking about, too. It's a lot, obviously a lot better. But it would be really awesome. If that was taught more in a middle school setting, or a high school setting or a college setting with just like, a regular class, like mental health or like mental toughness, something it would be awesome to have that incorporated into schools, I think it would help people along their journey in life in general.
Nick Sanders 45:43
Yeah, it'd be interesting to see if that's, like, you know, what, the number you used earlier, but I mean, I just see it kind of like the percentage of my clients that have some type of anxiety, depression, clinical level stuff. Yep. And then multiply that by a million for just like the day to day stuff we've been talking about. And Vishnu, like, why isn't it part of just right?
Unknown Speaker 46:07
I know I think about that all the time. What I am happy about is I know that in some schools, I know in New Zealand, they do it quite a bit. They are being taught mindfulness more at a very young age in classes in school. And I really appreciate that. Because I think with today's world, and with our phones, like basically attached to our hips, we have lost a lot of our capability to sit with ourselves, and sit with our thoughts. And we just don't do it anymore. Right. So if you get an elevator, yeah, if you get in an elevator, a place where there's a little could be uncomfortable, we just get on our phones, we just don't deal with it. And so now, when we have situations where we're uncomfortable, or we're out of our comfort zone, or we're being pushed, you know, in a healthy way, but we just can't handle it, we don't know how to be uncomfortable, or how to just sit with our emotions or feelings or, or selves in general anymore. And so mindfulness is so powerful. And I'm glad that they're teaching it in schools. And I do a lot of that with my clients too. And we actually have a coach who's like, mindfulness master, or pretty much, and that's what she does a lot of her training primarily on. And I just think it's so powerful for everyone.
Nick Sanders 47:36
I've only been loosely introduced to it. I don't think it was the best of presentations, I was kind of turned off by it. Honestly, I was like I've since done some, because in the end even in like the back pain world it it has a place in pain reduction and stuff for chronic pain problems. So I mean, there's obviously something to it, it's something how would this probably unfair? How would you summarize mindfulness in like, short,
Unknown Speaker 48:07
I would call it awareness without judgment. And the power of mindfulness is, again, it's just a little shift in your mind, and it actually does create new neural pathways. But the real kind of overarching power is that it gives you the ability to kind of emotionally regulate, and to just sit with yourself. And I think that's something we all kind of need to work on now is, especially with today's world, everybody's opinions are so strong, and we're just so fueled all the time. And especially with the internet, right, you can just like see everybody thinking about everything, and you know what's going on in the whole world all the time. And so being able to kind of take in information, just kind of sit with it, allowing yourself to just like, stay home, kind of acknowledge things going on around you or acknowledge the thing you didn't like about something or whatever the situation is, and then being able to just kind of move past it. That's the beauty of it.
Nick Sanders 49:21
That's interesting. Something that definitely I need to explore more. I like the idea of what you said something about like being okay being uncomfortable type of like, like that mindset, like it's okay to be a little uncomfortable once in a while. Yeah. But yeah, I don't even remember what the last discussion I had. It was like I was at a seminar. And it was too just too out there for me like it was. I couldn't even see the real life application of the discussion on mindfulness. But yeah, sounds to me,
Unknown Speaker 49:57
that can happen and I think a lot of People get really kind of caught up that, oh, I'm going to have to sit cross legged, you know, outside for three hours to be able to, you know, get this special place. It's so false, like mindfulness can just be kind of sitting like, you can wake up in the morning and sit in your bed for 10 seconds, do a few deep breaths and just kind of be aware of how you're feeling. That totally counts totally counts. And it doesn't, it doesn't have to be some crazy, dramatic, big thing. And a lot of like, my trainings are just kind of just check in with yourself, see how you're feeling and just being aware of how you're doing. And if you are uncomfortable, just allowing that to just be there. And that's thing is that actually, being uncomfortable is probably, again, just like failure, one of the best ways to grow when you're uncomfortable, you tend to find a way through it, right? And so I often tell my clients, like, get comfortable being uncomfortable, because that's just sort of part of life.
Nick Sanders 51:10
Yeah. There was a distributor with Ido portal, somebody, Israel. He's like this movement, he does kappa Werra saw this be like, flipping on his head and doing backflips and one arm handstand. I mean, just physically, just the most impressive human. Anyway, he's got this movement culture thing. And I recently saw an interview with him where he said, Now the hardest thing he does is try to lay in a bed and stare at the ceiling for 30 minutes. Yeah, do nothing for 30 minutes. Right?
Unknown Speaker 51:40
It's, it's it's so hard. And you And seriously, I know, I just said it. But like, because we have our phones all the time. And I I am just as addicted as an ex person. I'm not saying I'm like enlightened in any way. But you know, when you go into a doctor's office, or a place where people are sad, I can't even remember the last time I've gone in there. And like even to people are just kind of sitting there being we just don't be just anymore, ever. Yeah. It actually is right. It's so hard. And so even just doing it for one minute a day. super powerful.
Nick Sanders 52:27
I can be the new tick tock challenge. Yeah. Don't do anything.
Unknown Speaker 52:33
Everybody does sit for five minutes. Without your phone. It could be like a behind the scenes. Tick tock challenge people.
Nick Sanders 52:47
That's really cool. All right. Well, I want to be respectful of your time. I like to finish each podcast with something actionable, like what is something that you wish people would do? And then I'll go ahead.
Unknown Speaker 53:02
I think I have an idea, but you can finish finish. Oh,
Nick Sanders 53:05
no, go go go. Okay, I,
Unknown Speaker 53:07
I think that I know this. I want it to not sound like cliche. But pointing I'm gonna say pointing out positives in your day is honestly one of the best things that we can all do. I think we tend to gravitate towards negative things easier as human beings in general, that's just something we do, right we've, we've been conditioned to kind of wait things out that are unfavorable. But focusing on finding three things about your day that you enjoyed at the end is honestly one of the most powerful things we can all do. And I think it makes you feel better about your day, even if you've had like the worst possible day. If you can actively think through your day, okay, well, what three things actually did I enjoy? And it could be super basic, like, you know, I ate cheese at lunch, and that made me feel happy. Like, right? Do it acknowledge it? If we could all do that I guarantee this world would be such a happier place like guarantee I can promise that
Nick Sanders 54:20
that's an agent Yeah. My mind goes so many different places, but the cultural stuff you know, growing up we were very religious and I hate going down the religious path but you think of like nightly prayer Yep. And you're almost reminds me a mindfulness right of sit down you're gonna say thank you for a few things. You're going to talk about kind of some goals you're going to and then you hear this in my other interest recently has been fasting. Almost all religious culture is fast at some point. Yes, yeah. Right to pick your religion. They all have a fasting piece. So it's like all these things that are these new wave Mindfulness is this new wave thing. Yes, you look at all these different cultures that really practiced it daily.
Unknown Speaker 55:07
Yes, yes. And they all kind of interconnect in some way, right? It's all, I think people really gravitate to being able to be appreciative being able to be more positive in some way. And all humans want it in some way, whether that's through a religious kind of path or through a, you know, kind of just sit around the table and chat with your parents kind of path or whether that's a more kind of spiritual path, whatever it may be. It's that attention to yourself, and intention to your thoughts that I totally I totally agree. I think all humans have some finger in the hole in some way. And it's just kind of allowing that to be more of a norm. No, everybody just just think of three things that you liked. And actually, my mom used to say, I love this used to say, find the art in things and I've loved it, like find something that you find appealing or beautiful or artistic or like, even like, oh, this bedspread is really nice, and it's pretty. Just pointing out positives is really, really powerful. Oh, man, I'm gonna quickly touch on this. It taps into this phenomenon called the Baader Meinhof phenomenon, which is basically attention to something makes you see it more. So let's say you've decided you want to drive a Tesla, you're like, you know, maybe I like Tesla's and then all of a sudden, you're driving on the highway, and every other car to you is a Tesla you're like, and then you start thinking, has there always been this many Tesla's? Or is this, like, how come now all of a sudden, I've seen 10. Tesla's today. And it's because it's a psychological phenomenon. It's because when we are attentive to something, when we have been made aware of something, we are more likely to see it. Because our brain is constantly trying to make connections. And so if you bring your awareness of you know, three things every night or something every night that you appreciated about your day, and you do that a couple times, your mind will start actively finding those things throughout your day. It is crazy. It's an actual thing. And so that is just a simple way to kind of capitalize on that psychological phenomenon.
Nick Sanders 57:40
Little mental mind tricks positive.
Unknown Speaker 57:42
Yeah, totally, totally. All our stuff
Nick Sanders 57:45
and tricks, too. But yeah, so I definitely, I definitely need to implement that we need to put that into practice. And then last thing that I always like to ask, within your field, what do you think are things that are going to be most interesting to you next year? Or even five years down the road? Like, where are things going? Where do you, you know, where's the future of your practice?
Unknown Speaker 58:09
Um, I honestly think it's just going to become a more common place for athletes. I think, historically, sports psychology and mental performance has kind of been something that we saved for the big dogs out there. It was for Olympic Olympians. And it was for college athletes. I didn't get any kind of sports like services until I was in college athletics, D one college athletics. And I think now with things like headstrong, and businesses kind of opening up and being remote as well, it really is going to open the door for athletes and people of all kinds of realms. And I think it's just going, I'm just excited to see how more people start going to these services to just better themselves and to just see if we can just kind of improve as a species around our own mental well being.
Nick Sanders 59:10
Yeah, that's awesome. Yeah, I think you are seeing again, maybe it is that I'm just looking for it a little bit, the right thing more. And Facebook, Facebook sets you up for it, because they know they know what you're looking for. But you're seeing more remote, different mental toughness, mental coaching, mental psychology, things that are a little more commonplace. So yes, I hope that that's the case. I also hope that just kind of like the two things I hate about, like, I wish I would have known more about the school is financial health, like how money works. Why didn't we learn anything about that in school? And then mental mental things like this should have been the strategies. Why aren't they common practice, right. Like, I know I should. I know I should get 30 minutes of cardio per day. Why don't I know what I should do for my Mental Health. Why isn't that a national recommendation type of a thing?
Unknown Speaker 1:00:04
Yes, I couldn't agree more, I think I think our a lot of our education system might have to grow with us. I think, you know, sitting down and just doing timetables, and blah, blah, blah, may not be the way of our future, we might have a bit more of a dare I say holistic, more like well be knowledge growing up as well. And doing exactly that, like incorporating Hey, how are you going to be a healthy human being in general? And hopefully, that's what we'll see a little bit more in the future.
Nick Sanders 1:00:45
All right, Amanda, thank you so much. I know you're moving and doing all kinds of crazy stuff. Appreciate you carving out some time in new mom, all the things. So cool. Where can people learn more about you? In kind of what you do,
Unknown Speaker 1:00:59
so people can please check out headstrong team on Tik Tok on Instagram on Twitter. And then headstrong consulting on Facebook. And our website is www dot headstrong consulting.com. And through that you can book us for anything we do like resiliency training with federal agents, we do all sorts of crazy stuff. And so no matter who you are as a human being, we could probably help you out in some way.
Nick Sanders 1:01:38
That's awesome. Yeah, I was on your website. lot of cool stuff on there. Yeah, very cool. Thanks so much
Unknown Speaker 1:01:43
for having me. It was so cool to chat with you.
Nick Sanders 1:01:47
I agree. Thank you so much. So welcome. See ya. So yeah, thanks for watching and supporting the channel. We hope you enjoyed this week's episode. Let us know in the comments below what you liked what you disliked. What you'd like to hear more of and any questions we can help answer. We appreciate your support and we look forward to seeing you on the next one.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
