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The Everyday Millionaire and Mindset Matters Podcast
Mindset Matters - Episode #207 - Barriers to the Podium: The Mental Game Behind Peak Performance
00:34:58
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- [00:00]
A
Foreign. Welcome to this episode of the Everyday Millionaire Mindset Matters podcast where I'm joined by my wife, Olympic mental performance coach Stephanie Hanlon. Francie. In these episodes, Stephanie and I have a conversation about the different aspects of what we refer to as Mindset Matters because we believe that for those who are awake, we are living in and through the most impactful time in history. Your view of the world is the filter for how you will experience the evolution and changing dynamics of it. Our intention is to provide you with ideas, nutritious food for thought, and some tools that you can use to help you in being your greatest self and living your best life. Listen in. Enjoy. Hey there. Welcome to the Everyday Millionaire Mindset Matters. Stephanie.
- [00:56]
B
Hey, hun.
- [00:57]
A
So I was thinking about this particular podcast, the topic we decided we had kind of want to talk about or I wanted to talk about. And then I had a really brilliant idea for a clickbait title because she's leaving me again.
- [01:10]
B
No, not really, but hit me anyway.
- [01:12]
A
I was thinking about and then in that song, leaving me on the midnight train to Georgia, you know, whatever that song is, I think that's what it is. And you are leaving for France. So we do this podcast. We always do it, of course, a few days before it gets released. And you're leaving today, as a matter of fact, later today. And you're heading to France. What are you going to France for?
- [01:35]
B
Well, it was kind of interesting and exciting year. It's an Olympic year and the very first Grand Prix is in France this year it was supposed to be in the US which I wasn't supposed to go to, and now it's in France. And yeah. So last minute trip to the Grand Prix of France. I have five teams competing, so I guess it makes sense to go. But yeah, wasn't really super prepared for it.
- [02:03]
A
So I'm guessing Laurence and Guillaume are skating.
- [02:07]
B
They are, I guess they are. And four other teams from Ice Academy Montreal that I work with and it's their debut. It's exciting. Of course, Guillaume is the. Guillaume Cizeron is the current Olympic gold medalist for France and then five time world champion, five time or six time European champion and his beautiful partner Laurence for Fournier Beaudry is. This is her first year with Guillaume and they have an incredible story and that story is coming out in January or February and Laurence is very accomplished.
- [02:40]
A
As well, by the way. So she, she is.
- [02:42]
B
Well, she's considered the best female ice dancer in the world. He's considered the best male ice dancer in the world and it's so interesting, their story, how it came about and the fact that they're right now that neither of them have nothing to lose. They're on a roll, they're having a great time. We also have, let me just tell you who else I'm just going to name drop. We also have Mary Jad Wario and from Canada and then Diana Davis and Gleb Smolkin from Georgia, Lila and Lewis, Lila Fear Lewis Gibson from Great Britain and Alison Reed and Solius Ambrolipicus from Lithuania. So anyway, I just needed to name drop those people because it's a pretty big deal.
- [03:20]
A
Okay, so we just lost 10 of our 12 listeners. We didn't, we're not, we're not here to talk about skating. Holy cow. Okay. It's just a warm up conversation. I hope we got somebody's attention. Okay, so the point is you're going to France and the question I had for you is that, you know, you've got world, obviously world Olympic class competitors. They're all preparing as they head towards Olympics in February in Italy. The question I have and I'm curious about is how do you prepare your athletes? Or and by the way, I'm going to throw in a little curveball in a minute. But you tell me what is your process for preparing your athletes or how do you get them kind of focused, whatever this, the language is that you use?
- [04:07]
B
Well, my main job is mostly in the performance psychology arena. I'm not a physical trainer, I'm not a skating coach, I'm not a choreographer. We have the best in the world when it comes to training athletes. What my job is, is to help them be fully, mentally and emotionally prepared so that when they step on the ice they are completely present. They have nothing in their way, no incompletions. They can just look to their moment and enjoy it. That's my job. And I have several different things that I do to prepare athletes. But of course, as you know, it's a journey. It's called the Champions journey. It's not just a one off thing. But there is one thing that I do before every competition and it's called going around the circle. And one of the exercises, we go all the way around to seven areas of life, check in and I ask certain questions and there's four of them. Do you want me to hit you now or do you want me to go through one at a time?
- [04:59]
A
No, hit me with all four questions and then we'll unpack them. You can remind me as we keep going.
- [05:04]
B
Okay, so the seven Areas of life, usually it's physical, emotional, spiritual, mental. That's usually what's up for. Or vocational. That's usually what's up. So we stick in that kind of. That realm. And sometimes it's relational, sometimes it's social. But it just matters on the day and on the couple. It's kind of a context. So the four areas that I discussed in one of those seven areas of life, to start, they just pick whichever one they want to talk about. And the first one is, can they identify any incompletions? What's not done right now is, is your phone bill paid? Did you get your meal prep done? Are your skate sharpened? You have your tights, like, just. We start very much on the intellect, intellectual level and see if they can route out any of their incompletions. And it's amazing that they. Oh, shoot, I forgot to get my nails done. Oh, shoot, I forgot. Oh, my skate laces are broken. Like, it's. You think these. They're having these conversations on an ongoing basis with themselves or their partner. But before the competition, there's so many other things going on. So we make it very intentional. The second one is, well, actually just backing up in. When it comes to incompletions. Incompletions are a precursor to procrastination. It means, oh, if I just get this done, then I'll be centered. Oh, if I'll just get this done and then I'll be prepared and I'll be ready to compete. So we try to remove as many incompletions as we can.
- [06:23]
A
Oh, so I just wanna. And I wanna also. I wanna just before you go on, is there's a. There's a conversation that I think that's very kind of skating to focus. But I mean, within. I think this is what people step over is these athletes because they see them performing. And it could be movie act sort who have a limelight of some sort. Behind the scenes of that incompletion is the fact that they got a life. And it could be incompletions just around conversations that they needed to have with their accountant. Conversations they needed to have with their. Their life mate and. Or their, you know, somebody else on their team. You know what I'm saying? It's like there's a whole life around them that isn't sport. It's just living your life. And there could also be incompletions personally. I guess maybe that's how we would contextualize that maybe.
- [07:06]
B
Yeah. This exercise actually came from working with my business clients as well. Because I did notice that we would get into a meeting or a call based on what was going on in their lives. And what would happen was I would get to that, but I've got this, this and this to do or I would get to that, but I have that, that and that is not done. So there was always these things that were in their way. So as I started doing the exercise with the athletes, I realized life is just life. Just because they're world class athletes, it doesn't mean the same rules don't apply. So I started doing this exercise. The second one is because here's the. Oh my God.
- [07:38]
A
There's a. What's that?
- [07:40]
B
We've got four to go through. Why do you keep interrupting?
- [07:42]
A
I know that, but I'm curious. So I know, but I want, you know the other side of it. What are you in a hurry? The point is, is that when we. I got a pack. I want to dig into this a little bit because when we think about incompletions and again around life and business, because you brought where the pressure's on or we have to really step up to perform. Could be an important business meeting, it could be an important staff meeting, it could just, you know, whatever is relevant in terms of maybe you gotta go hit the stage and do a speaking gig. The point is, is that incompletions for any of us when we're going to be putting ourselves into a high performance environment or competitive or something that we need to step up, this is a good exercise for anybody to do.
- [08:27]
B
The second one is dramas and distractions because we're in a performance sport and it's a judge sport, in this case ice dance. What happens is there's always things, there's social media, there's comments that are being made. So I tried to get them to identify what distractions are happening right now in any area of life. Could it be a distraction of having to make a Halloween costume or a drama of somebody was gossiping about them or somebody said something really rude on social media? So all of life is still happening. So if we frame it in the way of A, incompletions moving through and then B, noticing what dramas and distractions might be pulling them out of their center. And honestly some of the ones are quite remarkable when you think about the, the influences that most people are under these days. Is it could anything, you know, from, from the news, it could be that they were sick one day or they, you know, broke a nail or. It doesn't matter. It could be big or small, but what drama and distraction is pulling you out of your center? Number three is your belief systems or your bs. What's your belief system going into this competition? Do you believe that you're only going to be fifth because everybody in front of you is better or they had a higher score at the last competition or somebody showed. Guillaume and Laurence, for example, showed up out of the blue and everybody else thinks they're just going to automatically win. So that belief system isn't true, but it can run them and it can pull them out of the center of really committing to their own training, their own practice, their own belief statements and understanding that that is just a belief. It's a B.S. it means nothing. When you get to the competition, be present what's going on and when you pull your belief systems in around what should be or what I heard or I believe that of this, this is going to happen, it can be a huge barrier to your podium.
- [10:18]
A
Is the belief system that you're talking about in this context, is that different than the limiting beliefs or, or the hidden. I guess if they're hidden beliefs. Are, are you. Do you make your athletes aware of maybe some of the hidden beliefs that they may be operating on top of? Do you go to that kind of. Do you do that kind of work before a competition? Do you remind them of something, you know, like what's thoughts?
- [10:41]
B
Yeah, that's all part of the champion's journey is. And of course, as you know with the mind Shui way is we're talking a lot about belief statements, hidden beliefs, limiting beliefs, those kinds of things. When I first start working with a client, it, it is really important that I figure out or they at least try to express through their language. And I'm pretty good at it. I'm a pretty good investigative reporter when it comes to finding out what is driving people in terms of their limiting beliefs. But just before a competition, I don't go deep. I will pull from that exercise, but I'll make it about this particular competition. So for example, this one has five IAM teams. So the belief system is, well, I know what the hierarchy is and I know I'm going to be third or maybe I'll be fourth or I don't know. I'm certainly not going to win because so they have all these stories that they tell themselves that they can get into and they can lock it in as a belief. And when you do that, of course it really skews your intention and it excuse it can skew your desired outcome. Because honestly, I've seen Things so random at every competition where somebody that was fourth after the short program or the rhythm dance ends up winning because if something happens and. But you just don't know. So I just don't want the athletes to be stuck into a belief statement or a belief system or be letting a limiting or a hidden belief be running them because that again can stop the flow and the energy of what they're creating.
- [12:00]
A
It is so interesting too, and I don't know that it's different, but when you think about limiting beliefs, when you think about what you talked about with dramas and all the. Whatever the previous one was, I don't remember exactly what it was.
- [12:11]
B
Dramas and distraction.
- [12:12]
A
Dramas and distractions. Right. And on top of it, you know, when you just think about the social influencers that they are, I mean, within their sport, they have tens of thousands of people following them and commenting and they're kind of like many elevated athletes or people in general. They're under a bit of a microscope a little. You know, there's always somebody looking for something with them. If they buy into that, that could also take them kind of off the rails as well, I suspect, as I'm guessing, you know, and then. And then within the world of hidden beliefs, because here's where I was going with it. You know, when we talk about skating in this case as a judge sport, do you think it's more, there's more of a mental game in a judge sport than there is, let's say in a measured sport, you know, if you're scoring goals, that one's pretty straight up, like in terms in that regard or, you know, if you're running a race, you're either, you're either win it or you don't. My point is, is one is judged, one is measured. Do you think there's more requirement of a mental state in either of those scenarios? What's your thoughts? I just. Random question. I know, but I just showed up for me, so I thought I'd ask.
- [13:20]
B
No, it's a good, It's a great question. It's no different than is it, is it harder to do a real estate. Close a real estate deal or close a, you know, selling a used car. It all comes down to the human being. And I found we were at the Summer Olympics in Paris this summer and got an opportunity to go watch the track and field. And one of the athletes from France that, that I, we've met, I've met over the years and she's. I think this is their seventh Olympics and she's Amazing athlete. But I watched her go through her process and yes, it's a measured sport. She was throwing the, the, not the discus, the. I think it's a discus, the thing that you push from your shoulder anyway. And I watched her go through shot put. Thank you. Prepare for. And it, it is very similar to what is going on for the athletes even in a judge sport. So I think where I see the similarities is that they're so hard on themselves that it doesn't matter that you know, discus, shot put, pole vault, javelin, sprinting, hockey is not a judge sport. You're measured by your time. For example, or did you get skate faster or in, you know, in speed skating or did you, you know, run faster than the person beside you? It's measurable in a judge sport. You have somebody outside of you like gymnastics or, or diving or synchronized swimming or whatever. But the human factor is the same. And I think one of the gifts that I bring to the athletes and the performers that I work with is to really help them reframe and redefine what that is so that they're really only competing against and for themselves. So what I've done is taken it and kind of neutralized it across the board. Whether you are judged by the goals you score or the goals you let in as a goaltender or how fast you're skating, or whether you did a twizzle to a level 5 or got a whatever exclamation point or whatever. I don't quite understand all the rules and that's on purpose. But ultimately my goal is to make sure that the athletes are coming down and competing against themselves and their best last performance.
- [15:20]
A
Okay, thank you.
- [15:22]
B
Number four, the last one. This is the, this is the fun one. And a lot of them don't like doing this one. It's called worst case, best case. So we, we identify because we're humans, we're going through the worst case scenario in our head anyway, so we might as well get it out. So I get them to either write it down and burn it or rip it up or say it to me. I catch it and I just toss it behind me. But they have to get their worst case connect. Well, what's going to happen if I fall and what's going to happen if I lose? And if I'm last, I'm going to be embarrassed and I'm going to all the things that are worst case scenario. I'm going to forget my skates, I'm going to forget my program, I'm not going to get any sleep so the mind fuck that goes on and the chatter has to be released somewhere and I don't believe in venting and I don't believe in, in dwelling on the negative. I do something with the athletes called clearing. And when you frame it in a clearing that, oh well, what is your worst case scenario? Let's just take a look at it. Let's. What is it? Is it really that scary? And what is the outcome of that? Are you gonna die? Well, probably not. Let's take it all the way there and then I flip it right away and we collapse it to neutral and we do best case scenario. So it's in the fantasy. What do you want it to feel like? What do you think it's going to look like? What would it feel like if you're standing on the top of the podium and you see your flag go up and you hear your national anthem and what's that going to feel like? So we do worst case and best case because then they get to say, oh well, I just need to stay neutral and be in the middle. So those are the four, I call them, the barriers to the podium. The first one of course is incompletions identifying up. Get as much as you can get done. You're not going to finish all your incompletions. That's impossible. But are you okay with what you can leave behind? Because as soon as they get in the Uber or onto the airplane and that airplane door shuts, the airplane is part of their preparation to get to the next competition. So we frame that as okay. Are you resting? Do you have to study for an exam? What's going on in your life? Do you want to do some journaling or you just need to sleep? What is it that the airplane ride is going to be and how is that going to support your competition? And the second one of course is dramas and distractions. You know, and what comes out of dramas and distractions? Sometimes hun, you know this one excuses. So if I can get them to their excuses, it's so fun. They're like, well that's not going to happen because, well, I can't win because, you know, this is only my second year and I'm not that this. And so they have all the excuses in the world that it just cracks me up. And the third one of course is beliefs, hidden beliefs, limiting beliefs, the belief statements, the bs, the stories we tell ourselves about why we can't be the best in the world, why we can't win, why we just can't enjoy ourselves in the Last one, of course, is I call worst case. Best case.
- [17:54]
A
The question I would ask, you know, any listener is, you know, what's your podium? You know, first off, what's your podium? You know, these athletes have a very clear podium, but I want to know, do you break it down? So their biggest podium is Olympics, so they're always working. Well, not always, and not all of them, but these athletes that you're working with are competing, and their. Their big podium is an Olympic medal. They want to at least get to the Olympics. And then many of the more experienced say, no, I, I got a shot. I want to win an Olympic medal. So my question is this. This is a. A Grand Prix event, so this is part of the qualification process. They get points for this, I understand. Is that correct?
- [18:35]
B
And prize money. Yeah, this all works towards the world.
- [18:39]
A
But that aside, my point is, is that are they looking at each one of these as a kind of standalone thing and with kind of, in their mind, the vision of an Olympic podium in the future, and they hold on to that, and this is just working backwards from that outcome. Like, how are you kind of guiding them in that context? Is every competition a standalone thing? We're not even thinking about the Olympics right now. This is just this competition.
- [19:06]
B
Well, it depends on the athlete. Everybody processes differently, and it's up to me to make sure that I can help them step into their highest self. So some of them, absolutely. With some of them, I split this year into three because there was an Olympic qualifying that happened in August, I think, or September, where two or three or four of our teams actually had to go to China to qualify. Their. They've already qualified, but they had to qualify their country to. To earn the spot to compete. It was extremely stressful. So that training. And so they had to get their choreography and all their rep, all their reps and their preparation done way sooner than everybody else. So I call that season one, and then no, season two starts next weekend in France at the Grand Prix. So some of them are going to France, then the next round they're going to China, and then some of them are going to skate Canada and then skate America and then to Japan, and then the final one is in Finland at the end of November. So each one of those, how I frame it, is a standalone. I do have some athletes that want to qualify for what's called the Grand Prix final, which means they have to be top three and. Prof. You know, preferably top two in each of their Grand Prix, and they only get two. So we frame this The Grand Prix season as season two, or for some of them, it's season one. And then we then take their nationals when they qualify for the Olympic Games, as a dress rehearsal for Olympics, worlds, Europeans, or four continents, for example. So I break it down into three. Most people just go, you know, before Christmas and after Christmas or grand preseason, blah, blah, blah, you know, and. But for me, because I know the athletes I work with are so smart and are so aware, but also the arousal level that happens at every competition, and the adrenaline, the cortisol and the crash. Of course, after every high, there's a low, or every low, there's a high. So managing that with a. With a gracious and respectful recovery and reset, we always close each one of those competitions. So working backwards from the Olympic Games, sure. But it's only every four years. So technically, we throw it out there. You know, it's out there, it's going to be there. And some of them are just wanting to go to the Olympics, which is fine. Some of them want to compete at the Olympics, which is fine. And some of them want to win the Olympics. So it's up to me to figure out what the context is that we're working backwards from. And it is like working with. You know, I have, I think, 10 or 12 teams that I'm working with this year, and each one has a different goal. And as long as they can achieve their goals, then I can then help them reassess. At the end of the season, if somebody says, I want to make the final, but they only have one Grand Prix assigned to them, it's not reasonable. So we have to. Also, as much as we shoot for the moon, I always say shoot for perfection, but land on excellence. And let's do that for each and every event.
- [21:48]
A
So there's another aspect of this that I want to kind of fold into this, that maybe people that are listening and why do we bring this topic up? How does it apply to me? We're talking about skaters, but really it applies across the board. And I'll give you an example of that. And you can speak to this as well, Stephanie, is that when you think about these skaters, you know, if you're watching these ice dancers and you're watching them through the routine, you think these are. You generally think this is a married couple. Like, these people are in love. Like, it's so crazy, right? The dynamics of it. Because, you know, not only are they athletes and technical and choreographed, they're actors on the ice, which is incredible. That's just to say that about the sport. My point is, is they're not. These are partners that some of them, you know, met a few years ago and they hang around a lot together. They're not in any way, shape or form romantically involved. As a matter of fact, some of them have significant others outside of the sport. Even. So. My, my. That's a lot like in, in that dynamic of partnership. It's like a business partnership. You know, there's many aspects of it. Yes, they're, you know, think about two business partners. You know, they're not romantically involved. They're, they're. But they're business partners and they have their moments where they're awesome and they think they got the best partner in town and then the next time they're going, that partner's an asshole. Why do I have this partner? Like we go through those normal things, right? And so as we're talking about this, you know, this isn't about skating, but it is about the things thought process of a world and Olympic class athlete and how much it aligns with just people in day to day life. Again, in this whole partnership, it becomes down to communication and disagreements and meeting and expressing expectations and having that level of clarity which plays out in so many different aspects of life. You know, business, sports, couples, you know. Anyways, that's a little bit long, but I wanted to just kind of shine a light on that because it's a big dynamic. That's my thoughts on it. What's yours?
- [23:51]
B
When I'm working with a team that are not a couple off the ice, we have to create a context and we call it the business of. So for example, with Guillaume and Laurence, for example, it's the business of Cizeron and Fournier Beaudry. They have to create a business whereby before Laurence was skating with her husband Nick, and they had a relationship obviously on and off the ice. So we had to create a distinction between what was it okay at home and what was the context of their relationship at home and what is it at the rink and how do you treat each other, how do you communicate and is it the same or is it different? So the business of is really an important question. We brought that. I think we figured that out back in the day when we were both speaking on the rain stage a lot is that many people weren't treating their real estate like a business and looking at their partners, whether it's their wife or their spouse or their business partner. And the same thing happens in sport, especially in ice dance, when you're touching somebody three or four hours a day. And sometimes you don't even like them. You know, you're certainly sometimes not attracted to them. Sometimes they smell bad and sometimes they just look bad and sometimes they piss you off or whatever. But the performance art side of it, that's why it's a sport and an art, and I call it, I coined the term. It's a spark. It's a spark because they have to understand that there's a sport concept and they have to compete and they have to have a high level of skill. But at the same time, the artistry of ice dance is. There's like nothing like it. Not even gymnastics, not pair skating, nothing. You know, the closest thing I think is like synchronized swimming is the closest to it. And ultimately, when you think about how do you create a partnership based on common values when sometimes you don't even like each other? So that's what I do at the beginning, is we set a context. We do a partnership, alignment, agreement. We, we give kind of rules of the game. We understand that you're going to be different. There's going to be things, times when you're not getting along. But ultimately, every single partnership, and because I, I believe that all sport and all life is a team sport, is that partnership comes down to that. It's a conversation. It's not even communication. It's. It's a conversation even if you're not saying anything. There's body language, there's eye contact, there's the, the, the, the physical touch, the emotional connection. So every partnership and every, every couple that I work with, I bring them into what is the conversation you're having each other with Best? Are you taking care of each other?
- [26:17]
A
Cool. Okay. I like that. So now here's a little bit of a curveball for you. And, and I want to know, so you're getting ready to go. How do you prepare?
- [26:29]
B
That's a great question. Well, because this one sort of came out of left field. I was preparing, we were preparing to go to a wedding. One of my closest friends son is getting married. And I had to break it to her that I wasn't going to be there. And it's just breaking my heart because I was. I got my hair done and my nails done, and I bought the dress, got flights in the room and like, wham. This is like right out of the blue. So I had to pivot really quickly. No different than, you know, I've had to pivot differently throughout this last five, 10 years and different experiences and partnership. The biggest thing I can do is I clear a lot. I journal, I meditate every morning and I set powerful intentions. I don't get out of bed if I can't shift my thoughts and I can't shift my energies to how I want my day to feel. And the last thing for me, the last couple of weeks with, with our apartment and with things going on and it's been really difficult, really, really difficult. So it was important that I stayed true to my walking outside, like walk, making sure I take the dogs out once or twice a day. Do I keep myself organized? Absolutely. Do I keep my bags organized? No. You know, that's one thing I haven't done well over the years. But what I do is try to be as consistent. Consistent as I can. And I keep the routine with the athletes the same before every competition. So right now I'm scrambling. I've got four or five calls already planned for this whole next day or two because I have to take care of them the exact same way, which funny enough, takes care of me.
- [27:57]
A
So there's an aspect to it, right? There's a couple aspects. So this is my observation. So you mentally have to prepare. Of course. This is like any business trip, plus a few curveballs. You know, the condo, getting that all straightened out, going, you going to Edmonton, handling family stuff, condo turning that over, then of course home. And you always do a great job of making sure that the dogs and I are looked after in that order, by the way, the dogs and then me.
- [28:29]
B
You don't want to come out and walk and you don't let me twice a day.
- [28:32]
A
I'm very capable of myself. The dogs, not so much. Okay, so that's cool. But what about mentally? So I'm thinking about as we're recording this, we're also preparing to launch our pilot program, our Mind Shui Self Mastery Program. And really doing some really cool prep for that. I'm excited about that. But there's also. I do a whole mental preparation for that as I'm at a future thinking and how I want to deliver and how I want to support the group that's going to be. That is registered. And then of course you and I connecting because you're away prior to. So we got a lot of little moving parts around there. But how do you. Is there a mental aspect of it all that you go through aside from your meditation and just staying grounded? Is there anything else that you might do?
- [29:19]
B
Oh, for me, that's. That's a lot. That's enough. Because of everything that's going on in the world and in life is that you know, I do dial down the social media. I go on a social media fast. If I'm going to be on social media I'm scrolling recipes. You know, I don't put myself in a situation where I'm bringing in a lot of negativity. I, I read, I, I bring, I'm reading a book right now by Neuro knowledge called Outsmarting Reality. Usually I take Power vs Force by David R. Hawkins. So I really get myself grounded and narrow. This might be something that's helpful for people is that when I can take my thoughts and I can focus on almost like putting blinders on a horse is that I get very narrow minded. I get very singular focused as to what it is that I need to do so my dramas and distractions don't show up up. I don't have any incompletions when I get on an airplane. I don't have a bunch of BS belief systems or limiting beliefs that I'm going to bring into the space with the athletes. My stuff is all handled and a lot of that is because of you and, and because of the, some of the friends that I have that I talk to and I make sure that I do my own work. And the worst case, best case scenario work is always is getting to neutral. And if I have to do any mental gymnastics it's am I organized? Do I have everything that I need? I spiritually pack my bag. Everybody laughs at me. But I have this, they call it the magic bag. And every time I'm packing to get ready to go on a trip I take things in and out of my, my purse bag. But when I get to the rink if somebody says hey, do you have any eyelash glue? I go oh, as a matter of fact. And I don't even wear false eyelashes or hey, do you have any need toothpaste or do you have a sewing kit? And I just spiritually connect to what it is that I'm there to do and what my purpose is. And then I tend to have whatever it is that I need in my magic bag. And I'm, I'm kind of known for being that person so preparing myself that way. And again food prep like right now I'm just scrambling making sure that you've got enough food. We've got beef and I've got some pork chops ready for you and I've got, you know, went and got a dozen eggs and make sure that you have all your stuff.
- [31:27]
A
I can afford to push myself away from the Table. No, listen. Okay, got it. So that's really cool, you know, your magic bag and all that. But I had a realization as we were speaking, as you were sharing earlier, and one of the things that, you know, we've heard many times over the years is about, you know, your magic and what do you do and how do you do what you do, and, and, and I, I guess, you know, you have whatever answer you have to that question, but one of the observations that I had that just showed up for me is whatever you do in the mental performance game that you play with your athletes or your business people, all the rest of it. But let's just talk about the athletes right now. There's one advantage that you have over most services, if you actually said this. So they have their technical coaches, they have their choreographers, they have their physiotherapists, their massage therapists. They're nutritionists. Right. They're trainers. But there's one thing that you have over so many outside. I don't want to call them outside services because you're really on the team. But I don't know, the only one that comes to mind is some of them work with psychologists as an example, or even a medical doctor. Right. Like some. You, you know, you got stuff going on, although you don't coach any of those things. You know intimately and very well all of those things because of your many, many years, not only skating yourself, but being in that skating environment, your interest in it. So the one advantage I think that you have as part of your magic, and it just literally occurred to me, is that you're looking and watching the skaters through a filter of knowing. Exactly. From a. Right, from a biomechanical point of view to the judging and edge control and the, you know, the mental, emotional, spiritual kind of aspects of what they exude on the ice, the technical aspects, you know, what a twizzle is. You know, lots of doctors have no.
- [33:28]
B
Idea what we're talking about on the body. Right. Like the forces.
- [33:34]
A
Anyway, I just wanted to put that. I just wanted to say that out loud because it occurred to me, I'm going. Or so often over the years, you get that comment of, you know, what's your magic? And how do you do that? And. But there's a relatedness in what you do that is so unique that you are the only one that does that in this industry in that context. And, I mean, the results are very, very apparent when you look at just how much, you know, how. How many of your. And I mean, I get that you're part of a whole bigger team. So I'm not. But, you know, I'm not surprised. Anyways, so I just wanted to say that a lot. And so thanks for the sharing. Those barriers to the podium and to the four people left listening to this podcast. Take your podium. Thanks, Stephanie. That was fun.
- [34:19]
B
That was really fun. Thanks, son.
- [34:23]
A
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for listening. If you found value in the podcast, please take the time to rate and review and share with others. Share with your friends, as it is my goal to always improve and to provide the highest value for you, the listener. If you have have any comments, suggestions or questions you'd like answered, please email me@ceoaincanada.com that's ceor e I n canada.com I look forward to hearing from you. And until next time, Patrick.
- [34:56]
B
Oh.