My recent post quoting mental training coach Colleen Hacker inspired me to watch a handful of YouTube videos featuring Dr. Hacker (professor of kinesiology Pacific Lutheran University). I found her words inspiring and useful not only for those who train for a sport...
For top athletes, mental skills training is essential to dealing with the pressure of competition. Can the strategies Olympians use improve performance in any field? An August article in the New York Times features a handful of top “psychological consultants” who...
I’ve written previously about developing “mental armor” to handle the pressures and demands of life and work. The subject came up once again when I saw a Twitter post featuring Gordon Parker, AO (Officer of the Order in Australia), a prominent psychiatrist, who...
In July of last year, an essay in the New Yorker proposed that crises can be a catalyst for positive change. As the U.S. suffers a fourth wave of COVID-19, is optimism still warranted? I am hopeful that we can count on human resilience in the face of adversity and...
Over the past year, elite athletes have brought unprecedented focus to the psychological challenges of performing at the highest level. Unsettled by pressure to win the Gold, Simone Biles pulled out of gymnastics events at this summer’s Olympic Games. Earlier,...
At the Summer Olympics in Athens, twenty-one-year-old Oscar Figueroa placed 5th in the men’s weightlifting competition and came to Beijing in 2008 hoping to better his performance. Unfortunately, due to a cervical disc injury, he failed to make a lift in the snatch...
