Andrew DuBos Beyer

Don't forget to listen to this week's episode of The Sport Psych Show with J.P. Nerbun - a leading expert on culture transformation and the author of four books on leadership. We discuss his latest book “The Culture Captain" Take a listen here buff.ly/wR4nUlB

Put mindset first… Put mindset first when facilitating a meeting Put mindset first when playing a round of golf Put mindset first in a conversation with your boss Put mindset first at parents evening Put mindset first at a work get-together Attention - a high attention Intensity - an optimal engagement Intent - positive, proactive, and purposeful actions Put mindset first during an argument Put mindset first when engaged in an uncomfortable conversation with a colleague Put mindset first in a game of tennis Put mindset first when confronting your child Put mindset first when driving Attention - a high attention Intensity - an optimal engagement Intent - positive, proactive, and purposeful actions It’s always the same. No matter the context, attention, intensity, intent should be put first…for high performance…and for best possible outcomes… Put mindset first! 𝐌𝐲 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤, 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐞𝐭𝐞, 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐮𝐭 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐬𝐞𝐭 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐲…𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐇𝐢𝐠𝐡 𝐀𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐎𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐥 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐲, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐇𝐢𝐠𝐡 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭. 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐞𝐭𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐛𝐞 𝐩𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐫𝐬…

The legendary basketball coach John Calipari wants players to build bulletproof confidence… Confidence that not only survives first contact with an opponent, a confidence that never wavers, never falters, never drops. Now, far be it from me to disagree with a coaching legend, I’d like to add a bit of nuance here. I’m less inclined to think that sport requires bulletproof confidence…for me, it’s that players need to retain a sense of high intent (approach behaviour) irrespective of the experiences of confidence they have. I’ll explain further… Confidence is (for me) a subjective experience that arises as a result of a combination of thoughts, emotions, and feelings. It’s difficult to put one’s finger on it, and many sport psychologists suggest that it doesn’t actually exist (at least in a tangible form). Let’s now disseminate between internal experiences (thoughts, emotions, and feelings) and external actions (behaviour). An ambitious competitor should look to build the ability to execute actions with a high intent irrespective of the thoughts, emotions, and feelings they experience. Even if they are low in a subjective feeling of confidence, they should look to still execute actions with approach behaviour. No hesitation No inhibition No rigidity …just a high intent. Towards. Asserting themselves on their competitive environment…even if everything inside of them wants them to back-off. Even if everything inside of them is anxious and fearful. None of this is to suggest that players shouldn’t look to do the things that build their own brand of confidence. I would urge them to do both - build confidence AND build the skill of executing with high intent without confidence. Now that truly is a robust approach to competitiveness…

Mike Krzyzewski… “We’re all blessed equally with the ability to have a great attitude…” I understand. I get it. Why wouldn’t one of the most successful College coaches preach such a lens of human functioning. “Attitude is on you…only on you!” But let’s spin this a little… “Attitude is on you and we’re gonna make sure we create the best possible environment to help you show the kind of attitude that helps you flourish. And we’re not gonna stop there. We’re gonna introduce you to skills that help you engage with as close to an optimal attitude as possible, irrespective of the thoughts, emotions, and feelings you’re experiencing at any given time…” Not quite as succinct, granted. Not quite as authoritative, definitely. But less one-sided. More of an all-in feel. You see, as someone who works in high performance environments across a number of domains I certainly believe in responsibility and accountability. And all too often I’ve seen players in high performance sport fail to meet their responsibilities and fail to hold themselves to an appropriate level of accountability. But… But… Attitude is quite complex. It’s not just ‘attitude’. Attitude is subject to many strong intrapersonal factors that can often overwhelm. It’s also influenced by many socio-cultural challenges…most of which are out of people’s control. I’d respectfully suggest that most people, most players, requires environmental support and mental skills in order to display their best possible attitude day-to-day. I’d respectfully suggest that in high performance environments, attitude management should never be down to the individual. Now, this isn’t an unpleasant dig at the brilliant Coach Krzyzewski. I understand his heuristic here. I understand the game he’s playing. But he knows better than me that he and his coaches cannot absolve themselves from responsibility for player attitude. Attitude management is part of the challenge of being a coach. And it can be darn well exasperating. But it is what it is… Quite simply, coaching is about coaching attitude as much as it is teaching technique and tactics. Quite simply, coaching is hard because you coach people…and when it comes to people, you always have to manage attitude…