This week I have the pleasure of talking to Taylor Staden. Taylor is a mental performance coach helping athletes of all levels develop their mental game and helping them reach the next level.
We start the interview talking simply about the role of a mental performance coach for athletes and who needs them. Right away, something to understand is that no matter who you are, even if you're already feeling like you are on top of your game, a mental performance coach can benefit you.
Why? - You can always be better. Even if you are the best player in your age group, division, city, country..... Better understanding mental performance can quite simply take you to the next level.
Another extremely important point that Taylor brings up is how to develop consistency in your habits. If you know that you have a habit you want to work on to further you in your career, don't try to go from 0-100. Try to start with a little bit more than you're doing right now. If you try to do too much too quickly you are likely to get overwhelmed, burn out, and quit working on these habits.
There are a lot of really good pieces of information in this episode for athletes to help focus on their mental game. However, I think if we can bring it back to anything it is self awareness. Understand who you are as an athlete. Understand where you are strong and where you are weak. Most importantly is to look at yourself OBJECTIVELY. It is easy to be biased towards ourselves and see all our positive attributes. However, truly understanding where you are weak will help you maximize your potential. If you understand your weaknesses you can change them. If you can change them, you will get better!
It is important to think positively, but it is more important to think accurately. Think about the positive, think about the negative. Being self aware and understanding every aspect of the game is how we improve. It is not about being blindly positive, it is about being accurate and focusing on consistent improvement.
Thank YOU for tuning in to another episode of The Elite Development Podcast! Please do me a huge favour and leave a rating / review for the show.
To get in contact with Taylor;
Instagram: @taylorstaden
Also, check out his podcast!
https://open.spotify.com/show/1YDL1faDrxLSKrOBO7fBvz
Check out the full show here;
www.elitedevelopmentpodcast.ca
Check out my website;
E-mail me: kenny@coachdusseault.com
Follow me on social media;
Instagram: @coachdusseault
Twitter: @coachdusseault
Facebook: Coach Dusseault - Strength and Conditioning