The PrimeLife Podcast Alex Collins

This evening I had a great conversation with Cork's Super Featherweight and Ireland’s youngest ever professional boxer, James Power!

In this episode, we talked about his journey from starting out as a young kid in the boxing world, through his amateur years, and then finally signing his contract with Sheer Sports Management as the youngest ever pro boxer in Ireland.

James's boxing career has been put on hold over the last few months due to the pandemic but this hasn't stopped him from setting out huge physical and mental challenges for himself that have kept both his mental and physical state fresh and ready for his return to boxing shortly.

A man with an old head on young shoulders, James shared some invaluable lessons with me on the mental game and mental performance that he has cultivated and developed over the

many years of boxing and it was a pleasure having him on the show.

No doubt this man will excel in the boxing world and represent Ireland with the Irish people supporting with pride right behind him.

When we practice mental imagery and visualization on a certain skill, we are activating the same neural activity in our brains as if we were carrying out the skill physically.

The more we practice mental imagery and visualization the easier it becomes.

I know some might find it a bit hocus pocus but just try it for 5 to 10 mins before a match, game, or practice and see if it helps with a certain skill set.

I only touch on this skill set briefly in this video but if you would like to learn more or find out how you can work with me on this, please feel free to reach out.

Hello and welcome to another episode of the PrimeLife podcast. I am your host Alex Collins and joining me in today's conversation is Ultra Endurance Athlete and Mental Health Advocate, Conor O’Keeffe.
In this episode, we talk about Conor’s journey from competing in Muay Thai fighting events to winning the Endurman 200, a 200-mile ultra-endurance marathon race, based here in Ireland.
We also dive deeper into his passion for personal development and personal growth and discuss some of his practices and values that he implements on a daily basis that helps him appreciate life more and ultimately live life to the fullest.
So, without further a due. I hope you enjoy my conversation with the gentleman himself. Conor O’Keeffe.

I often get asked, "how do I keep a cool head and stop any negative self-talk in the middle of a game/race?"
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One very effective and quick mental skills tool you can use is ABC.
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A - Awareness
B - Breathe
C - Control
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Get back to the present moment, focus on the task at hand and trust your abilities.

If you want to learn more about mental skills training in sports, feel free to reach out!
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This evening I had a great conversation with one of the world’s leading mental performance coaches, Graham Bethart.

Graham has worked with some of the NBA’s best athletes including Aaron Gordon, Ben Simmons, Karl Anthony Towns, and Andrew Wiggins (to name a few) He has also worked with professional organizations such as True Ventures, Silicon Valley Bank, and the Utah Jazz.

In this episode, we talk about his journey into mental performance coaching and how he ended up working with professionals and some of the top athletes across the USA.

Graham’s work is all about helping athletes play in the present moment and firmly believes that if you can play in the moment and focus on the task at hand, you will ultimately play at your best.

We talk about how important it is for athletes to practice mental performance skills but how a lot of these skills don’t come naturally and take time and hard work to master.

Graham shares with us some mental skills and actions that you can implement and practice in your game to help you bring you back to the present moment and play at your best.

I really enjoyed this episode with Graham and I have no doubt I will be having him back on the show in the near future.

’A man often meets his destiny on the very road he takes to avoid it’’. Jean De La Fontaine

You’re standing over a golf putt & all that’s going through your head is ‘’ don’t miss it, don’t miss it, don’t miss it’’. All your energy & mental focus is on ‘trying not to fail’. Your arms tense up. Your hands start shaking. Your heartbeat starts to rise. And so, most likely, what happens? You miss the shot.

This is called playing in a fear-based state of mind. It’s natural. Your mind & body is tapping into it’s ‘fight or flight’ system. It believes there is a threat and so the body tenses up limiting itself both physically and mentally. We see this in all sports and even in some workplace scenarios like presentations.

How do we stop this? We need to neutralize the fear.

We want to arrive at a place of peace with both outcomes. We want to be ok with either winning or losing. To do this you need to think about the worst-case scenario. Missing the putt. Missing the penalty or losing the game. Visualize yourself in this scenario and sit with it. It may be uncomfortable and feel weird but just sit with it, embrace it and feel it.

The navy seals call this ‘emergency conditioning’. After you have sat with that feeling and feel comfortable with the idea of losing, start focusing your attention and energy on the enjoyment of the game.

Focus on the process. Play for the win. Don't play so as not to lose.

When you do this, you're no longer running away from the ‘fear the failing'.

Now if you miss a shot or mess up, you’re ok with it. You have familiarized yourself with the situation. You won’t overreact and let your ‘fear of failure’ and emotions take over.

We want to be able to play for the win but not by running away from the fear of losing.

Neutralize the fear and then start playing for success.

Let go of any expectations and focus on the process.