Becoming My Stronger Me

Coach Nassim Ebrahimi, PhD, Developmental Psychologist and Mental Performance Coach

"Becoming My Stronger Me” is a podcast designed to help you become stronger in mind, body, and heart and is hosted by Coach Nassim Ebrahimi, PhD.Season 1 - Like 47 million other Americans, I voluntarily left my successful full-time career to pursue, well, whatever was next. We’ll call this “my great resignation.” As you get to know me, you’ll see that I’m a type-A planner. So to make a life choice without some grand detailed master plan on the other side was unheard of. But now, 2 years later, it was the best decision of my life. Join me as I share my story, questions I asked myself (or wish I had), missteps I made (and how to avoid them), the effect this had on me and everyone around me, and other musings that helped me to become my stronger me.Season 2 - The Mental Performance Series is dedicated to exploring the intricate relationship between mental performance, sports excellence, leadership, and personal growth. We’ll dive deep into the psychology behind peak performance in athletics, leadership roles, and everyday life. Whether you're an athlete looking to optimize your mental game on the field, a leader seeking to inspire and motivate your team, or an individual striving for personal growth and success, this series provides practical tips, actionable strategies, and inspiring stories to help you unlock your full potential and become your stronger you. Season 3 - The Science of Mental Performance Series explores the science behind mental performance—how the mind learns, adapts, and performs under pressure. Grounded in sport psychology, neuroscience, and human development, this season translates research into practical tools that athletes, coaches, parents, and performers can use every day. The focus moves beyond motivation to intentional, evidence-based training of the mind to support consistent performance and growth.Check out additional resources online: https://www.becomingmystrongerme.com and IG @strongerme!

  1. Sep 7

    Conversation with Josh Smith

    Text me your thoughts! What can one unforgettable moment in sport teach us about pressure, preparation, failure, and being ready when our opportunity comes? In this episode of the Becoming My Stronger Me podcast, Coach Nassim sits down with Josh Smith—former Division I baseball player, entrepreneur, and founder of Wits End Group, LLC. Josh played four seasons of baseball at William & Mary, where his collegiate career included plenty of adversity, growth, and ultimately an extraordinary postseason run. His final season culminated in a CAA Championship, an NCAA Tournament appearance, and Josh being named the CAA Tournament's Most Outstanding Player. But the story of how he got there—and what happened when Josh found himself in one of the biggest moments of his playing career—is one you'll want to hear him tell. Today, Josh brings many of the lessons he learned through baseball into his work as an entrepreneur and business owner. Throughout our conversation, we explore how experiences that were shaped on the field continue to influence the way he thinks about performance, leadership, relationships, and life. We talk about the mental side of baseball, learning to navigate failure in a sport where failure is inevitable, staying prepared when you don't know when your opportunity will come, handling high-pressure moments, and what happens when the identity you've built around being an athlete begins to change. We also explore Josh's transition from athlete to entrepreneur and why resilience, adaptability, curiosity, and a willingness to keep learning matter just as much in business and life as they do in competition. Josh's story is a powerful reminder that we don't always get to choose when our moment arrives—but we can choose how we prepare for it. Connect with Josh Smith: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-smith-84b8b0132/ Support the show Website: https://www.becomingmystrongerme.com/ IG: @strongerme TikTok: @becomingmystrongerme

    Conversation with Josh Smith
  2. Aug 31

    The Emotional Environment: How Coaches Shape Performance

    Text me your thoughts! Athletes don't experience emotions in isolation. They experience them in environments. The same athlete can look confident with one coach and hesitant with another. They can feel free to make mistakes on one team and afraid to take risks on another. Their skills may not have changed, but something around them has. In the final episode of the Emotions & Regulation mini-series, Coach Nassim shifts the conversation from what happens inside the athlete to what happens around them, exploring how coaches, teammates, parents, and leaders help shape the emotional environments where people learn, develop, and perform. Drawing from research on coach-athlete relationships, motivational climates, psychological safety, belonging, emotional contagion, and human development, this episode explores an important reality: the environment is always coaching. Every response to a mistake, interaction with an athlete, expression of frustration, moment of encouragement, and opportunity to contribute communicates something about what is valued, what is expected, and what it means to belong. Coach Nassim examines why high challenge and high support can and should coexist, how belonging influences confidence and motivation, why psychological safety doesn't mean lowering standards, and how coaches' own emotional responses can spread throughout a team. The conversation also goes beyond coaches. Athletes contribute to the emotional experiences of their teammates. Parents extend the performance environment into the car ride home. And the same principles that shape healthy sport environments apply to classrooms, workplaces, families, and organizations. Every environment is developing people. The question is whether we're doing it intentionally. Support the show Website: https://www.becomingmystrongerme.com/ IG: @strongerme TikTok: @becomingmystrongerme

    The Emotional Environment: How Coaches Shape Performance
  3. Aug 17

    Emotions are Data, Not Problems

    Text me your thoughts! What if the emotion isn’t the problem? What if the way we interpret it is? In the first episode of the Emotions & Regulation mini-series, Coach Nassim challenges one of the most common assumptions in sport: that certain emotions help us perform while others need to be controlled, hidden, or eliminated. Drawing from emotion science, affective neuroscience, developmental psychology, and research on emotional granularity, this episode explores a foundational idea in Coach Nassim’s approach to mental performance: emotions are data. Nervousness, frustration, disappointment, fear, excitement, and even anger can provide valuable information about what matters to us, what feels uncertain, and how we’re interpreting the situation in front of us. The goal isn’t to become emotionless. It’s to become better at recognizing what we feel, understanding what that emotion may be communicating, and choosing what to do with that information. High performance doesn’t require emotions to disappear. It requires learning how to perform with them. In this episode, you’ll explore why emotions are information rather than obstacles, how the brain makes meaning of emotional experiences, why accurately naming emotions matters, how emotions interact with attention and performance, and how curiosity can replace judgment when difficult feelings arise. Support the show Website: https://www.becomingmystrongerme.com/ IG: @strongerme TikTok: @becomingmystrongerme

    Emotions are Data, Not Problems
  4. Aug 10

    Conversation with Juelle Love

    Text me your thoughts! What does it take to pursue your dream of playing professional soccer while staying grounded in your purpose along the way? In this episode of the Becoming My Stronger Me podcast, Coach Nassim sits down with Juelle Love—a professional soccer player, Puerto Rico Women's National Team player, and leader dedicated to growing the game for the next generation. Originally from Philadelphia, Juelle's soccer journey took her from elite youth competition and the Olympic Development Program to standout collegiate careers at the University of Pittsburgh and Creighton University. After earning both her bachelor's degree in Finance and Business Analytics and her master's degree in Finance, she continued pursuing her passion for the game at the professional level while representing Puerto Rico on the international stage. Today, Juelle is not only competing professionally but also investing in the future of women's soccer through her work with Love City FC, where she is passionate about creating opportunities for young athletes to grow as confident leaders both on and off the field. Juelle's story is one of perseverance, humility, and purpose—a reminder that success isn't just measured by the level you reach, but by the impact you have on others along the way. Connect with Juelle and Love City FC: https://www.instagram.com/juellelove/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/juelle-love-703784183/ https://www.instagram.com/lovecityfc/ https://www.lovecityfc.com/ If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe, leave a review, and share it with an athlete, coach, or parent who believes the lessons learned through sport can shape a lifetime. Support the show Website: https://www.becomingmystrongerme.com/ IG: @strongerme TikTok: @becomingmystrongerme

    Conversation with Juelle Love
  5. Aug 3

    Conversation with Tony Medrano

    Text me your thoughts! What if the key to performing at your highest level isn't just training harder—but understanding your body better? In this episode, Coach Nassim sits down with Tony Medrano—a former U.S. Navy officer, three-time Ironman triathlete, serial technology entrepreneur, and the CEO and Co-Founder of LongevityPlan.AI. Tony's journey has taken him from military service to endurance sports to building innovative technology companies. Along the way, he's become passionate about helping people optimize not only how they perform today, but how they live for decades to come. Through LongevityPlan.AI, Tony and his team are transforming the way people approach health by combining artificial intelligence, wearable technology, biomarker testing, physician-guided care, and personalized insights to help individuals improve their performance, healthspan, and longevity. Whether you're an athlete striving for peak performance, a leader looking to sustain high performance over time, or simply someone who wants to live a healthier, more intentional life, this conversation offers valuable insights into maximizing both performance and longevity. Connect with Tony: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tonymedrano/ https://longevityplan.ai/ If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe, leave a review, and share it with someone who wants to perform better, recover smarter, and live longer. Support the show Website: https://www.becomingmystrongerme.com/ IG: @strongerme TikTok: @becomingmystrongerme

    Conversation with Tony Medrano
5
out of 5
17 Ratings

About

"Becoming My Stronger Me” is a podcast designed to help you become stronger in mind, body, and heart and is hosted by Coach Nassim Ebrahimi, PhD.Season 1 - Like 47 million other Americans, I voluntarily left my successful full-time career to pursue, well, whatever was next. We’ll call this “my great resignation.” As you get to know me, you’ll see that I’m a type-A planner. So to make a life choice without some grand detailed master plan on the other side was unheard of. But now, 2 years later, it was the best decision of my life. Join me as I share my story, questions I asked myself (or wish I had), missteps I made (and how to avoid them), the effect this had on me and everyone around me, and other musings that helped me to become my stronger me.Season 2 - The Mental Performance Series is dedicated to exploring the intricate relationship between mental performance, sports excellence, leadership, and personal growth. We’ll dive deep into the psychology behind peak performance in athletics, leadership roles, and everyday life. Whether you're an athlete looking to optimize your mental game on the field, a leader seeking to inspire and motivate your team, or an individual striving for personal growth and success, this series provides practical tips, actionable strategies, and inspiring stories to help you unlock your full potential and become your stronger you. Season 3 - The Science of Mental Performance Series explores the science behind mental performance—how the mind learns, adapts, and performs under pressure. Grounded in sport psychology, neuroscience, and human development, this season translates research into practical tools that athletes, coaches, parents, and performers can use every day. The focus moves beyond motivation to intentional, evidence-based training of the mind to support consistent performance and growth.Check out additional resources online: https://www.becomingmystrongerme.com and IG @strongerme!