Mindset Made Simple Tip #312 - Watch or listen HERE. “Give it away, give it away, give it away now…” We do it all the time. Not our money. Not our stuff. Our agency. The Red Hot Chili Peppers sang it…and we hand it to the coach. The boss. The official. The circumstances. The person making the decision. The result. And most of the time, we don’t even realize we gave it away. “I’m not playing, so there’s really nothing I can do.” “My boss already made up their mind, so there’s

You won’t always have all the information when the pressure is on. FIFA referee Tori Penso’s incredible World Cup handball story shows why great performers don’t wait for certainty—they prepare, trust their experience, make the call and get the next one right.

Julia #18 Mindset Made Simple Tip #310 – Watch or listen HERE! I have a soccer-loving niece named Julia. If you’re wondering, she is named after me! So cool …I know! Obviously, I’m not Julia…but you can’t get much closer. The real story is that when my sister was pregnant for the first time, she told me she was naming the baby Julia…and I was so touched. What she didn’t know was that I was pregnant, too. Talk about pressure! If we were going to have a Julia in the fam

Copley Marching Band Mindset Made Simple Tip #309 - Watch or listen HERE! It’s high school football season, and even though I thought maybe I gave birth to a future quarterback, I am just as thrilled that my son LOVES music and is a part of an AMAZING competition marching band at school. Thus…I still get to go to football games (Yeah!) AND I love halftime! As the team played my alma mater, I watched the game…but I also found myself watching the front ensemble, or fromble for

Athletes often believe they must feel calm, confident or energized before they can compete well. But what if the goal of mental training isn’t to eliminate uncomfortable feelings? Learn how to prepare consistently, compete with the state you have and perform even when you don’t feel completely ready.

One mistake often becomes two or three—not because we suddenly lose our ability, but because our attention is still stuck in the last moment. Learn how Notice. Choose. Now. can help you separate one performance “picture” from the next.

The pictures in our heads do not always keep up with how much we have changed. We may improve, gain experience and develop better tools while still imagining ourselves making the same mistakes. Mental imagery can help us replace an outdated performance picture with one that reflects who we are today. Learn how PETTLEP, motivational mastery imagery and one simple picture-update exercise can help athletes, coaches and leaders prepare to respond effectively.

What if, instead of deciding exactly how your season should go, you decided who you’ll be however it goes? Playing time, results, mistakes and momentum will change. Your standards don’t have to. Using lessons from Roger Federer, ACT research and implementation intentions, this Mindset Made Simple Tip shows athletes how to choose an identity, define the behaviors that prove it and build confidence from evidence—before the season gets the chance to decide for them.

When reality doesn’t match the story we created in our heads, it’s easy to assume something went wrong. But different doesn’t always mean wrong. A surprisingly emotional moment selling my son’s mini bike reminded me how expectations shape disappointment—and how easily athletes, coaches, leaders and parents can judge what actually happened against what they imagined would happen. The key? Honor the emotion, evaluate reality, and ask: What is still available to me here?

The season may not have started yet, but the mental game already has. Today’s athletes are managing transfers, changing rosters, comparison, unclear roles and questions about where they stand. Research suggests that the goal is not to eliminate uncertainty, but to keep taking purposeful action before the answers arrive. Athletes may crave certainty, but coaches cannot always provide it. What they can provide is clarity about standards, values and what today requires.

Emotions are part of life, but they don't have to control our next step. In this week's Mindset Made Simple Tip, discover how emotional regulation, attention and resilience can help you acknowledge difficult feelings, return to the present and focus on what matters most. Whether you're grieving, competing, coaching or leading, learn a simple strategy to recover, reset and keep moving forward with purpose.

Mindset Made Simple Tip #301 - Watch or listen HERE! Want to up your team's mental game? Click HERE for information on how we can build a program specifically for your orgainzation! Well...more time I’ll never get back! I have replayed one moment from our league semifinal more times than I care to admit. Yep…you guessed it. We didn’t win! We lost 9 – 8 with bases loaded in the top of the 7th! My play on repeat wasn't the only reason we lost. It wasn't. In a one-run game, the

Mindset Made Simple Tip #300 - Watch or listen HERE. Click HERE for information on working with us in 2026-27! “No thanks!” Four guys, on the world’s biggest stage, said, “No thanks!” I still can’t get it out of my mind. I’m not sure if I’m stunned or fascinated. But the 2026 World Cup gave us one of the most riveting mental performance lessons I've seen in years. In case you missed it, Germany found itself in a shootout against Paraguay with the country’s tournament on the

Mindset Made Simple Tip #299 - Watch or listen HERE. Find information on training with us HERE! This week I had the incredible privilege of working with the 18U Women's National Team at the USA Softball Top Performers Camp at Devon Park…the Softball Capital of the World. It was a real chore 😉! I mean, who wants to work with and watch the best kids in the world all week? As I looked around the room during our first mental performance session, I couldn't help but think... the

Mindset Made Simple Tip #297 - Watch or listen HERE! My friend Nathan LOVES the Knicks. During the final game of the NBA Championship, his wife sent a text that said he wasn’t moving…he was barely breathing as the clock ticked to 00.00. Then…the joy of a long-awaited championship for the East Coast guy who has been a ride-or-die forever! Then…she said, “So many good ideas for Tips this week!” And, boy, was she right! Let’s start with MVP Jalen Brunson! I could write a whole m

Mindset Made Simple Tip #296 - Watch or listen HERE. Have you ever watched an athlete, coach…or anyone for that matter…after a mistake and thought: “Oh no...now they're thinking." You can almost see it happen. The pitcher starts aiming instead of throwing. The point guard looks to pass instead of driving the hole. The golfer stands over the putt a little longer. The speaker starts searching through notes on the lectern at 100 miles an hour as if he’s lost something. This is

Mindset Made Simple Tip #295 - Watch or listen HERE! PRESSURE…as the great philosopher, Billy Joel, put it, “But you will come to a placeWhere the only thing you feelAre loaded guns in your faceAnd you'll have to deal with Pressure!!!! Most of you are probably too young to remember this song (Google it, it’s a good one! 😊), but the premise is…we ALL deal with pressure! As we continue our “pressure theme”, we know that pressure shows up in far more places than championships

Mindset Made Simple Tip #292 - Watch or listen HERE. I LOVE championship season, no matter the sport! I love watching people celebrate. I love the tears, watching grown men and women jump with joy like little kids, the relief, the parents in the stands, the years of work finally paying off. There is something powerful about watching people achieve something that deeply matters to them. And honestly, while I do not enjoy watching people struggle, I am equally fascinated by the

Mindset Made Simple Tip #292 - Watch it HERE!  I can say this because I can’t get fined anymore for disputing calls after games. The Akron Zips were victims of a bad call in the Baton Rouge Regional Softball Tournament on Saturday!!!! And as I write this week’s Tip, I wonder if I could follow my own advice and what science tells us in this situation. I was THOROUGHLY impressed with the responses of the Akron staff…not sure I would have been allowed to remain in the dugout

Mindset Made Simple Tip #292 - Listen or watch HERE. It is that time of year again in coaching and leadership. End of season evaluations. Anonymous feedback forms. Reviews from athletes, employees, clients, students or staff. As I was thinking about this …and thinking back to my experience with our anonymous evaluation process when I was coaching, I was thinking about how I “kept my head” when reading things about myself that weren’t always true. In my head, someone once s