00:00:00
[Music]
00:00:14
so if I ask you to think about a
00:00:16
successful athlete or performer who or
00:00:19
what comes to mind a Hall of Fame
00:00:22
athlete perhaps a champion a business
00:00:25
mogul or an award-winning teacher it's
00:00:28
easy to think of success and imagine
00:00:31
lifting a trophy getting a medal around
00:00:34
your neck getting a plaque on the wall
00:00:36
We're actually wired to think that way
00:00:38
because those things are exciting
00:00:41
They're flashy and they often make the
00:00:43
headlines As a society this is often the
00:00:46
perspective that we use We think of a
00:00:49
performance like an Olympic final a job
00:00:52
interview a business proposal as just
00:00:55
that a performance An opportunity to do
00:00:59
something great to achieve peak
00:01:02
performance to hit the shot you're
00:01:04
supposed to be able to hit to run the
00:01:06
race at the speed you're supposed to be
00:01:07
able to reach But what if I told you
00:01:10
that those big moments are actually due
00:01:14
to small seemingly insignificant factors
00:01:17
not the flashy that we automatically
00:01:19
think about What if I told you that
00:01:21
those are the true key pieces to
00:01:24
success because the truth is if you talk
00:01:27
to any elite level performer whether
00:01:29
it's an athlete or a non-athlete they'll
00:01:32
probably tell you that any big
00:01:33
performance is nothing more than an
00:01:35
event made up of hundreds thousands of
00:01:39
tiny little pieces meticulously placed
00:01:41
together to create something bold and
00:01:44
beautiful It's that it's the end result
00:01:46
of everything that's come before it the
00:01:48
good the bad and everything in between
00:01:52
So that's what we're here to do today
00:01:54
We're we're here to talk a little bit
00:01:55
about success how we define it and
00:01:59
possibly even challenge that traditional
00:02:01
view of what it is Because before we can
00:02:04
help performers achieve peak performance
00:02:06
and succeed it's important for us to
00:02:09
help them define what success means to
00:02:11
them I have the pleasure of working as a
00:02:14
performance psychology specialist My job
00:02:17
focuses on helping elite performers
00:02:19
athletes and non-athletes achieve peak
00:02:22
performance by helping them um harness
00:02:26
those that mental acuity surgeons
00:02:29
athletes musicians corporate leaders and
00:02:33
even performance artists So if I were to
00:02:38
ask everyone in the room here to think
00:02:39
about a moment or think about an event
00:02:41
that you commonly participate in Now
00:02:44
this could obviously be a sport but it
00:02:46
could also be parenting teaching giving
00:02:50
a recorded lecture on a well-known
00:02:52
platform to potentially thousands of
00:02:54
people And think about that event and
00:02:56
consider what does success mean for you
00:02:59
because when we talk about helping those
00:03:03
performers we sometimes help them build
00:03:06
mental skills and that a lot goes into
00:03:09
that That is a very big spectrum a wide
00:03:12
spectrum But in addition to those things
00:03:14
we can also help people unearth and
00:03:17
overcome various mental blocks So to you
00:03:21
think about what su success means in the
00:03:23
uh activities that you normally engage
00:03:25
in And so the teacher in me is really
00:03:28
trying to resist the urge to ask all of
00:03:30
you to share your ideas to see if we can
00:03:32
come up with some form of cohesive
00:03:34
definition of what it means to be
00:03:35
successful And so time permitting we
00:03:38
would obviously do that But I suspect if
00:03:40
we were to do this we would probably
00:03:42
have some similarities amongst our
00:03:44
responses with maybe some subtle
00:03:46
differences Chances are if we opened it
00:03:49
up to the group we would find that most
00:03:51
of us would define success as winning
00:03:55
right outcomes We call these outcomes
00:03:58
And I recognize that not everybody in
00:04:00
the room is an elite level athlete
00:04:02
That's fine because if we think about
00:04:04
performance as a more all-inclusive
00:04:06
concept it starts to make a little bit
00:04:08
more sense Humans whatever context that
00:04:12
they're in perform right we give
00:04:15
lectures We take exams We interview for
00:04:17
jobs We audition for roles We network We
00:04:20
compete for clients in business We
00:04:22
perform So in the context of outcomes
00:04:26
what this means is landing that job
00:04:29
getting cast in the play finishing at
00:04:31
the top of your class in that exam Now
00:04:35
obviously this is important but in my
00:04:38
opinion it's
00:04:39
incomplete It's narrow right
00:04:43
because overall all this does is it
00:04:47
illustrates when you are performing
00:04:50
better than a competitor So not a true
00:04:53
measure of your ability at all Just how
00:04:56
you did in that moment compared to that
00:04:59
person this one time And so this matters
00:05:03
obviously in society and in sport We all
00:05:06
want those trophies We all desire to
00:05:09
finish first because it's meaningful And
00:05:12
there's nothing wrong with that Never in
00:05:13
my career have I ever encouraged
00:05:15
somebody to stop wanting or trying to
00:05:17
win But I have cautioned them about
00:05:21
overemphasizing this idea of success
00:05:25
because when we overemphasize that we
00:05:27
can get into some slippery trouble And
00:05:30
we're going to talk about some of those
00:05:31
things
00:05:32
The truth of the matter is is that some
00:05:34
of the earliest research in social
00:05:36
psychology was actually interested in
00:05:38
finding out what happens when we behave
00:05:41
or in other words perform with other
00:05:44
people They coined terms like social
00:05:47
facilitation and social inhibition Does
00:05:50
the presence of others actually lift us
00:05:52
up and make us perform better or does it
00:05:55
help us recoil a little bit and perform
00:05:57
more poorly and so what this left us
00:06:01
with is this idea of maybe this is
00:06:04
incomplete Should we expand this
00:06:07
framework and I'm by no means the first
00:06:09
person to ever do this By the way some
00:06:11
of the great leaders and thinkers of
00:06:13
generations before me have challenged
00:06:15
this traditional view of success and
00:06:17
saying that it's not just winning It's
00:06:20
not just finishing at the top of the
00:06:22
podium Should it involve something a
00:06:24
little bit more personal should it
00:06:26
involve something that has to do with
00:06:28
our skill set and our abilities as
00:06:30
opposed to constantly looking across the
00:06:33
aisle and figuring out am I
00:06:35
outperforming another person so this
00:06:38
leads us to this second kind of layer
00:06:40
that we have which is
00:06:42
performance And so performance
00:06:44
illustrates how an individual is doing
00:06:46
based on their skill set based on their
00:06:48
growth based on their development based
00:06:51
on their resources It allows them to
00:06:53
look inside as opposed to over there So
00:06:58
it's saying did you perform well not did
00:07:01
you perform better then and it looks at
00:07:04
over time are you better today than you
00:07:06
were yesterday So some common examples
00:07:09
that we might think about in society
00:07:11
right did a person getting a grade back
00:07:14
on an exam for example and feeling
00:07:16
really happy with their performance even
00:07:18
though they didn't finish at the top of
00:07:19
their class in fact even if they
00:07:22
finished last or walking out of an
00:07:24
audition feeling very proud of the of
00:07:27
the performance that you gave despite
00:07:29
the fact that you didn't get cast in
00:07:31
that role So it's okay to have pride in
00:07:36
those moments despite the fact that you
00:07:37
didn't outperform another person And in
00:07:40
fact it can be a pretty um lonely and
00:07:43
maybe an uphill battle It's almost like
00:07:45
swimming upstream to be purely
00:07:48
performanceoriented Why because there
00:07:50
are very few trophies given for the
00:07:52
hardest worker for the one who tried
00:07:55
their best And so we want the flashy
00:07:58
things but we also want that
00:08:00
self-satisfaction So it's a constant
00:08:02
battle back and forth And also outcomes
00:08:05
are really hard to come by They're never
00:08:08
guaranteed Sometimes the other team or
00:08:11
the other athlete is just better And
00:08:14
that sucks but that doesn't take away
00:08:16
from what you gave
00:08:18
The final layer the third and final
00:08:20
layer that we want to talk about here
00:08:21
today is the process The process
00:08:24
represents the tiny little boxes that
00:08:26
you need to check along the way in order
00:08:28
to achieve the performance From an
00:08:31
athlete perspective this is their
00:08:33
strength and conditioning their sleep
00:08:35
their nutrition their coachability the
00:08:37
communication that they have with their
00:08:39
uh with their coach their leadership
00:08:41
skills the the way they take care of
00:08:44
their body their tactical and technical
00:08:46
skills Essentially what we're talking
00:08:47
about here is the fundamentals right
00:08:51
when I started graduate school my cohort
00:08:54
and I during our third year were told
00:08:56
that we were going to go and sit for our
00:08:58
comprehensive exams And so anybody here
00:09:00
listening or watching with a PhD
00:09:02
probably had a visceral reaction to that
00:09:04
term So essentially we were tested on
00:09:07
everything we had learned up until that
00:09:09
point in our third year And I remember
00:09:12
sitting down with my mentors when I
00:09:14
first stepped on campus about a week in
00:09:16
and they told me that studying begins on
00:09:18
day one And they didn't mean go home
00:09:22
crack open the books and start
00:09:23
memorizing stuff What they were trying
00:09:25
to illustrate to me and trying to share
00:09:27
with me is that the students who
00:09:30
performed best on this exam were the
00:09:33
ones that valued every discussion every
00:09:36
class every reading every meeting and
00:09:39
every piece of research that they
00:09:42
read I was a competitive athlete my
00:09:44
entire life I enter non-competitive
00:09:47
situations wanting to do better than
00:09:49
other people It was just part of who I
00:09:51
was And so it was in that moment that I
00:09:55
really noticed a shift A shift from
00:09:58
wanting to outperform my peers even if
00:10:02
it was not a competitive setting to all
00:10:04
of a sudden wanting to do well on this
00:10:06
exam because it meant that I understood
00:10:09
the material By understanding the
00:10:12
material I would be performing better on
00:10:14
this exam And by performing better on
00:10:16
this exam it means that I was better
00:10:18
prepared to be a qualified professional
00:10:20
and contributor in our field So what
00:10:24
this did is it emphasized effort focus
00:10:27
and consistent execution over time And
00:10:31
what ended up happening is what we see
00:10:33
in sport The more we are focusing on the
00:10:36
process the more the performances
00:10:38
occur The higher level of our
00:10:40
performance the increased likelihood
00:10:42
that the outcome happens And so even
00:10:45
though we all want that shiny object at
00:10:47
the end what we really need to do is
00:10:49
think back down to to figure out what
00:10:51
are the elements the small little
00:10:53
intangible things that we need to do to
00:10:55
eventually get there Now another
00:10:57
demonstration of this is the story of
00:10:59
the three little pigs We're all familiar
00:11:01
with this so I'm not going to spend time
00:11:02
talking about it But if we think about
00:11:04
that story and consider if success was
00:11:07
defined based on which pig finished
00:11:10
their house first the first pig is the
00:11:13
obvious winner
00:11:14
Right for kids this is all about not
00:11:16
cutting corners and doing things the
00:11:18
right way But in the context of
00:11:20
performance and success that we're
00:11:21
talking about right now we can think
00:11:23
about this as the value of every brick
00:11:26
the third pig laid to build a foundation
00:11:29
that would stand the test of
00:11:32
time So when we think about success as
00:11:36
an all-encompassing concept okay I tend
00:11:39
to view this as a circle our mindset how
00:11:42
we define success is a circle And given
00:11:45
that we talked about three different
00:11:46
concepts it makes sense for us to think
00:11:48
oh they're evenly divided amongst them
00:11:51
But I think this is the problem that a
00:11:52
lot of people get into is when presented
00:11:54
with this idea they often assume okay I
00:11:56
need to be completely processoriented I
00:11:58
need to let go of the outcome not worry
00:12:00
about winning or losing and just focus
00:12:02
on doing the little things That's not
00:12:05
how it works Because the truth is it's
00:12:07
not a good better or best Even though
00:12:11
one leads to the other it doesn't mean
00:12:12
that one is more important than the
00:12:14
other because we need all three And so
00:12:17
what we have eventually is let's
00:12:19
consider this athlete who's going up
00:12:21
let's say an Olympic final or a final
00:12:23
four game Their mindset may look a
00:12:26
little bit like this They want to win so
00:12:29
badly and their view of whether or not
00:12:31
they succeeded is going to be dictated
00:12:33
based on that outcome That's okay right
00:12:37
that same athlete a couple weeks prior
00:12:40
may look like this because they're in
00:12:42
practice They're having individual
00:12:44
training They're working with their
00:12:45
colleagues or their teammates and
00:12:47
coaches and things like that For this
00:12:49
athlete it's important for them to
00:12:51
identify what the balance looks like
00:12:55
Now finally we once we understand this
00:12:58
this structure once I present this idea
00:13:01
to to
00:13:03
athletes we eventually get into this
00:13:05
conversation of like okay I understand
00:13:08
what that means but now what so the
00:13:11
first question I encourage athletes to
00:13:13
ask themselves is is what I'm doing is
00:13:15
my current framework working for me in
00:13:18
terms of re helping me reach my
00:13:20
potential on a more consistent basis
00:13:22
whatever that is whatever context that
00:13:24
I'm in and whether it is or isn't The
00:13:28
second question is usually what is my
00:13:30
ideal formula What does my circle need
00:13:32
to look like am I a more orange versus
00:13:34
blue versus green what structure do I
00:13:37
need in various
00:13:38
circumstances and then finally and this
00:13:41
is where individuals like myself come in
00:13:43
is helping them get there So what does
00:13:46
it look like it need to look like and
00:13:50
how do I eventually get there
00:13:52
now important in this discussion is also
00:13:54
the the idea of why why is this so and
00:13:58
again we're not saying I'm not standing
00:14:00
here preaching a processoriented mindset
00:14:03
What I'm talking about here is
00:14:05
acknowledging the value of balance
00:14:08
finding balance within yourself given
00:14:10
the circumstances and context that
00:14:12
you're in And so one of the things that
00:14:14
we find when we have a balanced approach
00:14:18
is that we develop more resilient
00:14:20
athletes more resilient performers in
00:14:23
sport and in life Setbacks are going to
00:14:26
happen People are going to get injured
00:14:28
Coaches are going to get fired People
00:14:31
are going to get traded The environment
00:14:32
is going to change altering your
00:14:35
approach to it Now the individuals that
00:14:38
have a more balanced approach are the
00:14:40
ones that are able to look at those
00:14:42
setbacks and really consider them more
00:14:44
as stepping stones as opposed to
00:14:46
roadblocks It allows them to think past
00:14:49
that and consider the lesson that
00:14:51
they're learning by going through this
00:14:53
process The second thing it fosters is
00:14:56
mental well-being Individuals with a
00:14:59
more balanced mindset what we find is
00:15:00
that they have decreased anxiety
00:15:02
decreased stress level decreased
00:15:04
frustration They're less likely to burn
00:15:06
out They're less likely to or they're
00:15:09
more likely to to remain motivated
00:15:11
through an
00:15:14
event And finally we've talked a lot
00:15:17
about the the performance the individual
00:15:20
but what about the team what about the
00:15:22
coaches the leaders the teachers the
00:15:23
parents the ones that cultivate the
00:15:25
environment the ones that create the
00:15:27
culture we tend to find that coaches and
00:15:30
leaders who create a culture that foster
00:15:33
balance by infusing processor
00:15:35
orientation with performance and outcome
00:15:39
tend to create environments where
00:15:41
there's more psychological safety
00:15:43
Athletes and kids and learners and
00:15:45
performers are more likely to try even
00:15:47
though they may not see success right
00:15:49
away And so it's not just for the elite
00:15:52
performers We have to think of this in
00:15:54
the greater context of our youth as well
00:15:56
because developing that over time will
00:15:58
mean that it is going to be that that
00:16:01
look like that for the rest of their
00:16:03
lives So I'm going to leave you with
00:16:05
this The process is not the journey It
00:16:08
creates the foundation for the
00:16:10
destination And at the risk of throwing
00:16:12
yet another metaphor and image to kind
00:16:15
of help illustrate my point I'm going to
00:16:16
do it anyway The next time you perform
00:16:18
or you're watching a performance here's
00:16:20
what I want you to do I want you to
00:16:21
picture an iceberg And this is something
00:16:23
that we in the performance psychology
00:16:24
world use quite a bit because the
00:16:27
performance is but a glimpse a small
00:16:30
portion of something greater When you
00:16:32
look at an iceberg you see the tip You
00:16:34
see a small proportion of what's
00:16:36
actually happening under the water But
00:16:39
the truth is without what's happening
00:16:41
beneath the surface the tip sinks
00:16:45
without what you see what you don't see
00:16:47
behind the scenes the actual performance
00:16:50
that's supposed to happen on camera in
00:16:52
that Olympic final that 10 seconds it
00:16:54
take from takes from somebody to go from
00:16:56
the starting blocks to the finish line
00:16:58
doesn't actually
00:16:59
exist So big performances are a
00:17:03
compilation of tiny pieces Embrace the
00:17:07
process trust the work find balance and
00:17:11
let the results speak for themselves
00:17:13
Thank you
