Demystifying Mental Toughness David Charlton

In this BITE-SIZED episode of the Demystifying Mental Toughness Podcast, Dr. Bob Winters, an internationally recognised sport psychologist who has supported US Men’s and Women’s Open Golf Champions and many other elite professional athletes across a variety of sports joins me.  He goes on to tell me about how champions think and cultivating a limitless mindset by the way that you think.
Key Learning Points:
How good would you be if you didn’t know how good you could be?  How good would you be if you were unrealistic in your thinking? Champions are great at not thinking realistically. Conditional confidence comes from outcomes and results not deep internal confidence. Do you still walk, talk and act like a champion when you play like a chump? Connect with Dr Bob Winters
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To Listen to Golf Related Podcasts
Ep017: Gio Valiante - How to Play Fearless Golf
Ep101: Compilation – 25 Mental Game Secrets to Improve Your Golf
Ep118: Dr Bob Winters – How to Help Golfers Overcome their Mental Game Challenges
To Listen to Other Podcasts to Help You Create a Limitless Mindset
Ep213: Sandro Forte – How To Set Yourself Up For Success In 2024?
Ep215: Fenwick Ridley – How Ice Swimming And Cold Immersion Can Help You Take Control Of Your Destiny
Ep217: Chris Cook - How A Marginal Gains Approach Can Help You Perform Better #BITESIZE
For More Resources so You Can Shoot Lower Scores on The Golf Course
10 Mental Game Tips from Leading Experts to Improve Your Golf
Do you try too hard on the golf course?
Psychology of Golf Library
Other helpful resources to help you learn how to perform better
Handout: Marginal Gains Refining Your Approach
Blog: 12 Reasons Why You Won’t Achieve Your Potential
Blog: 9 Tips for Children from Olympians

Why do athletes work with a Sports Psychologist? One of the biggest reasons is that they struggle to transfer their skills from training to competitive situations.  Which provides the topic for today’s episode of the Demystifying Mental Toughness podcast.
Former professional basketball player and author Dre Baldwin goes on to tell me his thoughts on why athletes can struggle to compete as well as they practice.  We also share some useful ideas and strategies to help you.
Enjoy tuning in!
Key Takeaways include:
Getting used to trusting your skills in live uncontrolled situations is crucial for success. Understanding that you must respond instinctively to the randomness that sport throws at you is important too. You will get beaten and fail often, this is ok, you’ll survive and will learn as a result. Any amount of thinking is overthinking when you are performing.    Fear of trying to be perfect breeds tension and causes your rhythm and timing to go out of sync.  Consider the key ingredients of a great performance, aspects that are within your control and strive to repeat them time and again. Connect with Dre Baldwin:
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Connect with David Charlton:
Sign Up to The Mental Edge
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Helpful Podcast Episodes
Ep 039: John Fletcher – How to Develop Fearless Athletes
Ep088: Dre Baldwin – How To Play As Well As You Practice
Ep093: Dan Abrahams – How to Overcome Mental Blocks in Football
Ep209: Felix Lehmann - How To Create Better Decision Makers On The Football Pitch
Ep221: Jeremy Snape - How To Use Pre Performance Routines When The Pressure Is On #BITESIZE

Cricket is a unique sport where despite being a team sport it can also be argued to be an individual sport.  One of the biggest challenges is batting and dealing with the aftermath of low scores and the walk of shame.  In this BITE-SIZED episode, Tom Jones, a highly qualified youth cricket coach and owner of Cricket Coach 365 and I discuss mental toughness when batting and offer you advice on how to deal with the pressures that you will likely face.
Key Learning Points:
As a batter the walk to and from the wicket can be difficult for youngsters especially when they haven’t performed well. The ability to come to recognise that you will fail more than you will succeed can help you. When batting understanding what is within your control and what is outside of your control is useful. The closest parallel to batting when you get out, is missing a penalty in football, in a penalty shootout. Catastrophizing as a batter when you perform poorly is very easy – why not ask yourself the question how can I have a positive influence on the rest of the game? Connect with Tom Jones
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Connect with David Charlton
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Relevant podcasts with a focus in cricket
Ep072: Tom Jones – Mastering the Mental Side of Cricket
Ep091: Jarrod Leathem – How to Transfer Your Cricket Skills to Matches
Ep221: Jeremy Snape – How To Use Pre Performance Routines When The Pressure Is On #BITESIZE
Relevant podcasts to help you deal with pressure
Ep169: Professor Adam Nicholls - How To Perform Under Pressure Close To Your Best #BITESIZE
Ep219: Brian Hemmings - Golfers: How To Improve Your Putting With A Quiet Eye Approach #BITESIZE
Ep224: Aaron Walsh – How To Help Professional Rugby Players Perform Better Under Pressure #BITESIZE
For More Resources for Cricketers
Blog - Make Bowling Simple by Avoiding these 3 Common Mental Game Errors
Blog - Being an Intelligent Batsman can be a Problem
Blog - Batting with a Quiet Mind

Penny Mallory was the first woman to drive in the world rally championships.  On her way to do so she showed immense commitment to her craft and made lots of sacrifices in pursuit of success.  In this bite-sized episode she goes on to share her secrets and the mentality that took her to the top of her sport. Enjoy tuning in!
Key Takeaways:
Ambition requires personal sacrifices. Taking risks are necessary to achieve your dreams. There is often a price to pay for committing yourself to your craft. If you set aside 10 minutes each day to work on a particular area in 5 years you would accumulate over 304 hours worth of practice. Where do you waste time when you don’t need to? How do you stay energised and refreshed? Connect with Penny Mallory
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Penny’s Book - World Class Thinking, World Class Behaviour: Adopt a winning mindset to get what you want
Connect with David Charlton
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Useful Podcast Episodes To Improve Your Commitment Levels
Ep037: Penny Mallory – World Class Thinking, World Class Behaviour
Ep042: Mark Bennett MBE – Characteristics of High Performance Athletes
Ep138: Nick Littlehales – Why do the Mentally Tough see Sleep and Recovery as Important
Ep214: Ellen McDermott – How To Create Helpful Eating Habits To Benefit Your Sport Performance
Ep215: Fenwick Ridley – How Ice Swimming And Cold Immersion Can Help You Take Control Of Your Destiny

Do you ever believe you are your thoughts? Do you often take your thoughts way too seriously?  If so you’ll enjoy today's podcast episode as my guest, Keagen Hadley author of Torn: Overcoming the Psychological Challenges Post-ACL Injury talks about using Acceptance Commitment Therapy (ACT) as a potentially helpful solution.  Specifically we discuss cognitive defusion as a way to help you create distance from your thoughts.
Key Learning Points:
Cognitive Fusion is concerned with the mess our thoughts in relation to our identity can have where our thoughts can often dominate our reality. Examples include; “I am broken”, “I am rubbish…” Mastering cognitive defusion can help you create distance from your thoughts and see things from a fresh perspective. Cognitive defusion goes on to promote psychological flexibility and empowers you to relate to your situation and thought processes with greater openness and adaptability.  One approach you could take to help you is to smile at yourself and your situation as it can help you make peace and shift your perspective. When you perform and see red mist, slowing down, taking a slow walk can also be a useful way to take the sting out of the situation.  Connect with Keagan Hadley
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BOOK: Torn Overcoming Psychological Challenges Post ACL
Connect with David Charlton
Sign Up to The Mental Edge
Join David @ The Sports Psychology Hub
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To Listen to the Full Podcast Episodes
Ep092: Dr James Hegarty – ACT in Sport, Improving Performance through Mindfulness
Ep124: Dr Keagan Hadley – Long Term Injuries: How to Confront Difficult Thoughts and Emotions
Ep205: Dr Carl Bescoby – Rehabilitation And Returning To Sport: How To Support Injured Athletes
Ep235: Trevor Jones - How To Use ACT To Improve Your Coaching In Sport #BITESIZE
Ep236: Dr James Hegarty - How To Use ACT and Mindfulness When You’ve Got Lots Of Time To Think #BITESIZE

In different sports such as golf and cricket, athletes can be placed in situations where they have a lot of thinking time. Too much thinking time for some!  Due to their high level of motivation, focus of attention, fatigue, emotions and many other factors this thinking time can create havoc in their minds. As a result, indecision, fear and self-doubt can take over.
In today’s episode, Dr James Hegarty, co-author of the book ACT in Sport: Mindfulness, Acceptance and Commitment shares some ideas on how athletes can help themselves so that they don’t view this thinking time as a negative and are effective in how they get mentally ready. Psychological flexibility is at the heart of our discussion.   
Key Learning Points:
All athletes can get caught out thinking ahead predicting future events. As humans, athletes also can easily dwell on past mistakes. Developing psychological flexibility is a hugely beneficial skill to have in your armoury as an athlete. Athletes should practice basic mindfulness of the breath to build a foundation. Cricketers can focus on sensations of the sun or cold wind on their face after dropping a catch to refocus. Mindfulness allows athletes to step away from over-analysing mistakes and get their head back in the game. My challenge for May 2024 is to see if I can dial in and be mindful at least 100 times per golf round of golf I play! I’ll report on how I get on. Connect with Dr James Hegarty
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Email: james@hegartyconsulting.co.nz
Book – ACT in Sport: Mindfulness, Acceptance and Commitment
Connect with David Charlton
Sign Up to The Mental Edge
Join David @ The Sports Psychology Hub
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Podcasts Episodes Connect to ACT and Mindfulness
Ep092: Dr James Hegarty – ACT in Sport, Improving Performance through Mindfulness
Ep099: Trevor Jones – How to Deal with Overthinking on the Golf Course
Ep124: Dr Keagan Hadley – Long Term Injuries: How to Confront Difficult Thoughts and Emotions
Ep205: Dr Carl Bescoby – Rehabilitation And Returning To Sport: How To Support Injured Athletes
Ep235: Trevor Jones - How To Use ACT To Improve Your Coaching In Sport #BITESIZE