Steve is one of the UK’s leading figures in sport and one of the world’s leading performance scientists.

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Description from the podcast:

In this episode I talk to Dr Andrea Furst, performance psychologist at Mental Notes. Andrea has had a highly successful career supporting some of the highest performing teams to the highest performances. She has worked in Australia, where she originates from, Singapore and now based in the UK. She has supported the Australian kayak team, Singapore sailing, GB Hockey and is widely sought after in professional sports and supporting business leaders. Andrea brings a really grounded, pragmatic approach to her practice. She is thoughtful and intuitive, but shrewd and no nonsense. In this conversation we discuss some of the emotions and challenges everyday people and athletes will be experiencing during this lockdown period, what methods and ways of thinking can help people cope and thrive. What I really enjoyed about this conversation was not only hearing about the mental models and ideas that help people cope with change, but I was compelled by her approach of putting the human needs first on the path toward self-discovery. So let’s jump straight into the conversation.

The post Supporting Champions Podcast: Andrea Furst on Change and Uncertainty appeared first on Mental Notes.

I was drawn to the book as a resource for people I work with and yet so many of the pages resonated with me personally. I spend my days helping people discover what works for them; it’s only fitting that given I am also a human being trying to be better that the ‘shrink’ shares a little of what works for her.

Let’s first take a look at the origin of the word ‘therapy’. Mid 19th century: from modern Latin therapia, from Greek therapeia ‘healing’, from therapeuein ‘minister to, treat medically’.

In the 21^st century, I think the word ‘therapy’ could be interchanged with terms and phrases like ‘giving back to yourself’, ‘self-care’, ‘psychological recovery’, ‘disengaging’, ‘headspace’, or ‘time for you’.

Whatever the century, finding things that work for you to maintain optimal mental health is part of the game we’re in as psychologists.

I first started as a psychologist in private practice working within sports medicine clinics. People, mostly those who were business advisors, suggested I change my title to mental skills coach or mental skills trainer or performance coach or simply coach. This was because working with a psychologist was not appealing. Dan Carter, one of legends of New Zealand’s All Blacks said as much:

“When I started my career, if you said you were going to see a psychologist, everyone would ask if you were all right. Now they say that if you don’t.”

I have, and those that have been part of Mental Notes and the entire industry for the last 15-20 years, know it’s been a slog but one that’s worthwhile as we are now seeing and hearing that mental health matters for performance on and off the field of play. We don’t just want mental performance or mental health we want both.

People also wanted me to focus on ‘peak performance’ not issues or ‘problems’ like depression or anxiety, but that’s not human – elite athletes experience both – as they are human.

It pleases me no end to take part in mental health workshops in an elite sporting environment – everyone has their ups and downs and if we can get a better understanding of what contributes to individual optimal mental health we’ll all be in a stronger position to live life fully.

Here’s what the World Health Organisation (WHO) has to say about strengthening our response to mental health:

Mental health is an integral and essential component of health. The WHO constitution states: “Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” An important implication of this definition is that mental health is more than just the absence of mental disorders or disabilities.

Mental health is a state of well-being in which an individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and is able to make a contribution to his or her community.

Mental health is fundamental to our collective and individual ability as humans to think, emote, interact with each other, earn a living and enjoy life. On this basis, the promotion, protection and restoration of mental health can be regarded as a vital concern of individuals, communities and societies throughout the world.

The second paragraph of above is the particularly relevant. We are in a much better place, not just to excite and inspire future generations, but to experience life and all it has to offer.

Whilst this article started as a book review it headed more towards a self-reflection piece. Yes, my role is to teach strategies to people however I also enjoy trying strategies myself. And so after a few pages of Running is my therapy I concluded that I not only run as it’s one of the only physically active things I can do consistently while I travel for work (with some level of consistency). It is also my therapy. Exercise is definitely a factor in my mental health.

I joke that long runs are the time when I go through what I want to say, what I should say and then conclude with what I will say. It’s also my time to be creative, to escape, to free associate and to problem solve. It really is my time to give back to myself via keeping fit, providing some thinking time, and focusing on me vs me (i.e., how I improve myself).

There are so many benefits of running. The most obvious is improvements in cardiovascular fitness, but it is well documented that it’s helpful for some people’s mental health. Increasingly, I find myself encouraging elite athletes to find time in their weeks for cardiovascular activities for their mind (as long as the Strength & Conditioning Coach agrees with the load).

There is enough evidence to demonstrate that exercise is integral to mental health. If running is your thing great. If not, find other physical activities that force you to move. Not just for your body’s benefit, but your mind’s health too.

In aiming to ‘make psychology matter’ I recommend the book as a resource as well as highlight the fact that even those who are helping others need to look after their mental health.

Enough said, I’m off for a run…

Andrea Furst PhD | Sport & Exercise Psychologist CPsychol HCPC Registered
Get in contact with Andrea – andrea@mentalnotespsych.com.  Andrea is based in London and provides both face-to-face and virtual sport psychology services to athletes worldwide.

The post Running Is My Therapy appeared first on Mental Notes.

Our brains are clever and complex but incredibly lazy and like to create patterns of thoughts and behaviour that become like programmed reactions to increase efficiency. One of the principles of programmed patterns of thought is that you find what you look for. If you are used to finding errors in your game, you will always find something wrong, even if you hit the most beautiful shot, and consequently can develop a bias to make sure that information holds more weight than any other information. While it is helpful to understand what needs improvement and to be able to analyse your mistakes, a more balanced approach will lead to better results.

Here’s how to develop a great mindset.

What is it in your golf game that you do well? Can you read the green well, do you have a beautiful swing, is your ball striking great or is it your putting, chipping or long game what you do well? These do not have to be chosen in comparison to others but rather are they a strength compared to the rest of your game. It can be useful to incorporate a positive about your shot as part of your post-shot routine.

Recognise great shots and savour them.  Aim for a perfect shot not a perfect round. Adam Scott once said, “You can hit a perfect shot. And that’s the one that brings you back every time. You know, even if it’s just one shot in a round. You’ve had a horrible day playing and on the 17^th you hit that perfect 6 iron and that’s the one that you’ll remember and that’s the one you’ve got to appreciate. You have to…Perfect shots are certainly more satisfying than they were in the past. They were almost expected (in the past). But you (learn) a bit more perspective about what perfect is.” In this quote, Scott redefines the search for perfection as the search for the perfect shot instead of the perfect round. Aiming for a perfect round creates an expectation that anything less than perfection is a failure, leading to fear of failure and setting yourself up to fail. If you think you should be perfect, you increase the pressure on yourself, increasing tension and the likelihood of mishitting the ball. “Should” is another word to get rid of. It can do a lot of damage by reinforcing unrealistic expectations.

Recognising what makes you great, adding positive feedback (after EVERY shot!)  and looking for perfect shots instead of the perfect round are important steps on the pathway to greatness. The goal is not to forget about what you need to improve but to multiply the information you receive and build on what you do well as well as fixing what you are not doing well.

NB This article featured in Ladies GOLF Magazine Summer/Autumn Issue 22

The post The Path to Greatness appeared first on Mental Notes.

Researchers describe mental toughness as “having the natural or developed psychological edge that enables you to, generally, cope better than your opponents with the many demands that sport places on a performer and, specifically, be more consistent and better than your opponents in remaining determined, focused, confident, and in control under pressure” (Jones, Hanton, & Connaughton, 2002). Mentally tough jockeys believe in themselves, are resilient in the face of whatever is thrown at them, remain focused under intense pressure and are able to push themselves further than they thought possible in order to achieve the result they want. Just like physical skills, mental toughness is best developed in challenging environments that stretch capabilities to develop skill, coping, and toughness.

Mental toughness is connected to physical toughness and assists with the discipline needed to train, complete trackwork and make weight. Mentally tough jockeys must maintain a present moment and process focus in a sport where they are continually reminded of the importance of winning. Right before the barriers open, jockeys need to have a simple and clear focus, staying in the moment, not thinking about the winning post before they hit the first turn and limiting the noise in their minds. Too much information  or thinking about the result before the end of the race can lead to second-guessing, hesitation, missed opportunities or dangerous mistakes.

The mental demands of horse racing extend outside of the track. Athletes are people too and as such, jockeys need to make sure they are developing themselves off the track as well as on it by investing time in relationships, hobbies and other career opportunities. Having things outside of riding reduces the chance of burnout and increases freshness and focus when they are on the track.

There are many ingredients that make up a successful jockey mindset and mental toughness is key. Horse racing is one of the most mentally demanding sports in existence and therefore something special is required to pull off incredible feats like a Melbourne Cup win. The secret to success is to train your brain as well as your body!

NB This article featured in Ladies in RACING Summer 2015/2016 Issue

The post A Jockey’s Mindset appeared first on Mental Notes.

Inside Out is one of the movies I sat through whilst eating meals on trays.  It’s an animation by Pixar and Walt Disney Pictures that explores human emotions.  It follows five emotions (and characters) – Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear, and Disgust – of Riley, an 11 year old girl experiencing stress when her parents decide to move their family to another city.

My primary aim here is to applaud Inside Out and highlight that experiencing a range of emotional experiences is good for us.

Positivity is not always appropriate let alone useful.  Similarly, emotions labelled as ‘negative’ can be very helpful.  Access to a range of emotions is a valuable skill, both for ourselves and the way we interact with others.

Coincidently, this article – Inspiration overload on social media prompts rise of ‘demotivational’ movement – was published the same week that I watched Inside Out.  It made me reflect on how too much positivity can have an unproductive impact on performance in all of life’s performance domains.  Whilst I am an absolute advocate for positive psychology and spent a good part of seven years researching its application in elite sport, I can’t help but think Stark’s article has similar (less subtle) messaging to Inside Out.

Riley’s emotional intelligence developed from Joy and Sadness, with the help of Anger, Fear, and Disgust.

Understanding why you feel the way you do and doing something with that information is much more ‘life changing’ than forcing yourself and everyone around you to always feel positive.

How do you feel about this?

Andrea Furst PhD | Sport & Exercise Psychologist CPsychol HCPC Registered
Get in contact with Andrea – andrea@mentalnotesconsulting.com.  Andrea is based in London and provides both face-to-face and virtual sport psychology services to athletes worldwide.

The post Emotions Are Good for Us! appeared first on Mental Notes.

As a result, something special is needed. Players need a mindset that can withstand the pressure and can manage the uniqueness of the grand final lead-up and atmosphere without getting carried away or overawed by the enormity of the occasion. A ‘big moment’ mindset is not exclusive to grand finals as it’s also required in high pressure, high stakes situations such as tournaments, qualifying rounds, big presentations and Olympic or Paralympic Games.

Here are the key attributes of a ‘big moment’ mindset:

Emotional control. No matter what is happening or how they are feeling, big moment performers are able to keep their mind and body relaxed under pressure during preparation and the performance. Staying calm helps them to engage the rational and logical part of the brain instead of letting the stress-response take over, which can lead to poor decision-making or choking.

Keep it simple. There are often a lot of external distractions prior to ‘big moment’ events, making it easy to feel overwhelmed. The performers who are most successful in these situations limit their focus to 2 or 3 simple processes to implement instead of overthinking the situation and trying to do everything at once. Their mental preparation for a big moment is consistent with their usual preparation and they keep their focus on the present and play moment by moment without getting too far ahead of themselves.

Good decision-making. Staying calm under pressure and reducing mental noise by keeping things simple help to make this attribute possible. Good decision-making includes choosing to move on after mistakes and sticking to the game plan.

Do what works. Big moment performers remember what makes them great and what strengths have led to this big moment opportunity. They keep doing what works for them and playing their game, instead of completely changing their plan for the big moment or trying to be like other performers. Sometimes the game plan doesn’t work so they have to adapt.

Trust. Big moment performers trust themselves, their coach, their teammates, and their ability to do what works for them under pressure. They also trust their ability to bounce back from mistakes so don’t panic when things go wrong.

Let us know your review of the players’ big moment performance once the final whistle is blown!

The post The ‘Big Moment’ Mindset appeared first on Mental Notes.

Our Approach

• We emphasise treating the whole person with pain rather than the pain itself.
• We teach psychological skills and coping strategies to help individuals become healthy, optimistic, and resilient people.
• We are committed to being a leading provider of performance psychology services in all life areas as we believe training your brain is as valuable as training your body.

Our Goals

• To enhance health-related quality of life.
• To reduce dependency on potentially addictive pain medication.

What We Do + How We Do It

• Challenge unhelpful beliefs and habits
  Many individuals suffering chronic pain develop unhelpful beliefs about themselves and their condition, consequently building psychological roadblocks around their daily activities.  We are experts in guiding behaviour change that hinges on the development of productive, optimistic thinking.

• Maximise strengths and restore self-confidence
  Our specialty lies in identifying and maximising individuals’ strengths towards achieving their goals.  We take time to profile an individual’s unique strengths and unrealised strengths that can be concealed by a chronic pain disorder and build action plans that utilise these qualities.

• Guide healing visualisation and mindfulness practice
  The mind plays a crucial role in our ability to manage our physiological state in stressful conditions.  Self-regulatory therapy involving visualisation techniques and mindfulness practice for pain management is an essential component of our interventions with chronic pain.

• Set goals in collaboration with physiotherapists
  We understand the importance of working closely with physiotherapists to build an effective holistic intervention for chronic pain cases.  Regular communication and setting goals together that help the patient achieve step-by-step progress physically, emotionally, and behaviourally is an integral part of our practice.

Book an appointment with our Australian-based sport and exercise psychologists at Queensland Sports Medicine Centreto learn more about how we can help with chronic pain.

The post A Future Without Chronic Pain appeared first on Mental Notes.

This is one of my favourite questions to ask athletes and teams because it directs their focus.  It shifts their focus from fixating on a problem to creating a solution, leading to reduced negativity and increased confidence.

The Negativity Trap
Often the first response I get when I ask this question is discomfort and awkwardness.  Few are willing to identify their strengths, with some watering down the question to what makes them “okay”.

As humans, we have a negative bias to help us to identify danger, which means that we pay attention to negative information so that we can adjust our response to protect us from new threats.

This response is really helpful if we have a problem to fix, but it means that we can often miss positive and meaningful data.  A lot of athletes can give me a detailed description of what went wrong during a poor performance but cannot give details of a positive performance.  It takes practice to train your brain to recognise what makes your great.

Focus on the Target
In target sports such as archery and golf, you need to have a narrow target to reduce your margin of error.  As soon as you start focusing on where you don’t want to aim, your mind becomes distracted and you are more likely to miss your target.  Your body follows your mind, therefore if you focus on the area away from the target, that’s where your ball or arrow will go.

In the same way, the best way to overcome weaknesses is to maximise your strengths and maximise your focus on what you do well and what you are going to do, rather than what you’re not going to continue doing.  In other words, allow yourself to focus on what you do well and continue to refine, rather than continuing to find fault with yourself.

What Makes You Great?
So, what makes you great at what you do?

Make a list, write it down and set goals to continue building on your strengths.

When you find yourself in pressure situations remind yourself of what makes you great and go back to those goals and actions.

Being aware of what makes you great does not deny your weaknesses but gives you a more balanced focus.  Enjoy being great and celebrating who you are!

The post What Makes You Great? appeared first on Mental Notes.

The development of leadership skills is one area that is often neglected until crisis is reached.  Everyone has the opportunity to be a leader, in sport, at work, at home, in their field of business…

The key to intentionally being a successful leader is self-awareness, recognising your preferred style and being able to adapt to changing environments and situations.

Daniel Goleman describes six types of leadership styles that are often seen in sport and business contexts.

The coercive style demands immediate obedience and comes naturally to those who are driven to achieve, take initiative and have self-control. This style is best used in crisis situations because it instils confidence and can shock people into action.  However, it inspires a passive response from followers and may lessen their motivation.

The authoritative style is characterised by a clear vision that comes from the leader who then inspires his or her followers to catch the vision and come along on the journey to fulfilling the vision.  Leaders strong in this style tend to be self-confident and good at communicating empathy.  It is best used in cases where clear direction is needed, for example, with inexperienced followers, however, more experienced people may feel restricted under this leadership style.

The affiliative leadership style puts people first and leaders strong in this style value relationships, empathy and clear communication.  This style can be used to bring teams together, particularly after a period of conflict, however, it tends to focus on strengths and ignore weaknesses and poor behaviour, leading to possible anarchy.

The democratic style encourages collaboration between all members of the team and increases motivation as all have a chance to buy into the group’s ideas.  The weakness of this style is that it lacks firm leadership and may be ineffective if there is a lack of expertise in the group.  Leaders who are driven to achieve and like to work hard and fast tend to use a pacesetting style and can get fast results from their team.  However, their leadership style may be resented as they have a tendency to take over and micromanage their teams.

Finally, the coaching style focuses on developing the team’s skills for the future, and is the natural tendency of leaders who value developing others, empathy and are self-aware.  This style is effective in supporting long-term development but is not effective when team members are resistant to change.

If all six styles have strengths and weaknesses, which style is best?  The answer may surprise you.  In the short-term, all styles are effective.  Long-term, the pace-setting and coercive styles produce negative outcomes, whilst the others produce positive outcomes.  While no one style is correct, self-awareness and self-development is key.  Effective leaders learn how to use different styles in different situations based on what is needed from their team, not what comes naturally.  The wider the variety of styles a leader is able to utilise, the more able he or she is to motivate those they work with and alongside.

The final skill good leaders need to be effective, both on and off the sporting field, is effective recovery.  When athletes do strength training to get bigger and stronger, their training causes small tears in their muscles.  During recovery after training, the body works hard to repair these tears, causing creation of new muscle fibres to compensate for the damage.  Therefore, most growth happens during the recovery phase.  Similarly, recovery is necessary for effective personal growth and development.  Recovery involves taking time off to get away from the office or work environment and switching off work-related thoughts (and switching off all devices!) and doing something enjoyable such as exercise, socialising or a hobby, to give your brain something different to think about.

Be intentional, be aware, be successful!

Book an appointment to build your leadership skills at Queensland Sports Medicine Centre or Allsports Physiotherapy & Sports Medicine.

The post Leading from the Front: Leadership tips from the sporting field appeared first on Mental Notes.

Then you add pressure to the mix and even the best struggle, either with overthinking (e.g., usually too many technical thoughts or focusing on the outcome potentially leading to the ‘yips’) or suffering from a ‘mind blank’ or panic, leading to a rushed shot.  In 2012 Adam Scott infamously made several poor decisions on the last four holes of the British Open, blowing a four shot lead and shooting four straight bogeys, ultimately costing him the championship.

The antidote to substandard decision making is to be intentional with your decisions and to follow a specific process each shot.  One of the shortcomings of being human is that we have a limited attention capacity, so it’s important to be strategic and selective with your attention, going from a broad (i.e., focusing on multiple cues or clues that provide valuable data for shot choice) to narrow focus (i.e., focusing on the decision made & chosen target).  The first step is to gather information, going through a mental checklist that remains consistent for each shot, considering what information is needed (e.g., distance, lie, obstacles, conditions, etc), and what the information is telling you.  The next step is to weigh up your options and see which is most likely to take you towards your goals.  If there is no clear way forward, choose the shot option and specific target that you are most comfortable with and play the percentage game, taking calculated risks.

Once you have made a decision, you need to commit to it.  Indecision kills!  While this statement may be overly dramatic for the golf course, it has merit and relevance for golfers who suffer from indecisiveness.  If a golfer starts to doubt his or her shot or target selection whilst standing over the ball, commitment is compromised, often leading to a mistimed swing and a compromised target.  This is where the principle of selective attention applies and narrow focus is required.  I like to think of selective attention as ‘going into a bubble’ where focus is on the shot and the target and no other thoughts or distractions can enter the bubble.  An important part of this phase is preparing for the shot both physically and mentally by completing the pre-shot routine, an important part of any golfer’s repertoire.

The final phase is execution and requires 100% commitment and confidence from the time over the ball to the time the ball lands.  If any of the previous phases creep into the execution phase, indecision and overthinking takes over, leading to poor shots.  To maximise the benefit of each shot, a performance review phase of the decision reviewing what went well, what could have been better, and how it can be better in the future is also important, focusing on judging the process not the outcome.

Decision-making is a great part of the game of golf if you keep it simple: gather info, commit, execute!  We have a superb tool to remind you of this 3-step routine – our Golf Bag Tag acts as a visual cue on your golf bag.  We all need reminding every now and then!

Book an appointment to train your brain at Queensland Sports Medicine Centre or Allsports Physiotherapy & Sports Medicine.

The post Create Certainty Through Committed Decisions on the Golf Course appeared first on Mental Notes.