Sian Phipps- Performance Psychology Consultancy

‘They just don’t get nervous’ …is the biggest myth when it comes to high performance👀

Performance anxiety happens to athletes at every level and, it isn’t something you can just ‘get rid of’.

Nerves, anxiety, butterflies … whatever you want to call it… are all completely NORMAL!

They are your brains reaction to stepping out of your comfort zone.

The problem is your brain doesn’t actually know the difference between you jumping a clear round for a major championship and…
well getting chased by a lion. 🙈

That’s if you leave your thoughts and your mind unmanaged because, if you let your dominant thoughts become nerves, fear, anxiety, worry…
You end up in flight, fright or freeze mode.

The wrong part of your brain is in control,
The wrong thoughts are dominating,
And then the wrong outcome happens…

The goal isn’t to get rid of nerves- that’s impossible.

The control is to learn to control your thoughts, manage your mind and enable to dominant part of your brain to be the part that allows you to perform at your best.

A simple way to work towards this is to simply begin tracking your thoughts…
✨When are negative thoughts dominating?
✨When do they start? The day before? In the ring?
✨When are they not there?

Tracking your patterns allows you to develop a system to take back control 💪

3 lessons you NEED to know if you have big goals..

The pathway to success and achieving big goals is rarely linear.

So what traits do those at the top have to get there, and stay there…

As I navigated my way through the last 3 years I was lucky enough to be living in the midst of these lessons, as well as researching some of the best athletes, business owners and science there is.

And 3 lessons kept coming up, regardless of where I looked.

✨1) You have to take accountability for everything.

It’s so easy to blame someone else, your team, your horse, your kit, the weather.
It’s so easy to dwell on the sh*t life throws your way… and trust me I know some of it will literally shatter you.
You can’t control any of that. But, you can control what you do next.
How do you react, what’s your response, what’s your next move… do you let victim mentality rule the script or, do you take accountability of the story.

✨2) Resilience and mental toughness don’t grow when you’re winning.
And both are non-negotiable if you want to reach the top.
You have to be able bounce back, after a bad performance, a bad day, a bad season. You have to be able dig that little bit deeper, and push through in the moment when your brain is telling you ‘you can’t do it’… because you can.

✨3) Habits are key.
It’s easier to stay and get back on track if you’ve built a system to work with you not against you.
What you do in the morning when you first wake up, what you eat, what you think? Are you setting yourself up for success or making yourself swim against the current.
The 1%’s compound.
They build success and they build self-belief.

I haven’t pulled these out of the sky.
It’s in the research.
You can look at 99% of pro athletes and business owners and see how important these are.

And I’ve been there. I’ve lived it.

So wherever you are on your journey right now,
How can you implement these lessons into your life?👀

Something new is coming 🎙️

If you’ve been here a while you’ll have seen many chapters to this story… from starting my business all the way back when I was at uni ‘The Equestrian Confidence Coach’ all the way to now.

I’ve had a few re brands.
I’ve had some incredible highs and some incredible lows.
I’ve learnt a lot from life, from experience and from the qualifications I’ve been lucky enough to take including my Performance Psychology Masters.

So I thought it’s time for a new chapter to this story.

….PODCAST RETURN PENDING 🎙️

Watch this space for Episode 1! 👀

The route to success is NOT linear … 😬

And this is what catches most people out.

They think because something hasn’t gone to plan, they’ve had a set back… or they’ve failed
That this means they can’t do it.

But that’s just what your chimp brain wants you to think. 🙊🙈

Your chimp brain is negatively bias … which mean when something goes wrong it LOVES to use it at evidence to ‘prove’ you can’t do something.

But, there is a massive flaw with your chimp brain…
It has no logic, no critical thinking and no ability to look at that moment at feedback.

It works in all or nothing thinking.
Outcome, ego driven thinking.
It does not consider the process.

And the truth is that process is going to have some bumps in the road. That route to success is going to be continuous progression.

You ARE going to have days that are 2 steps forward and 10 steps back.
You ARE going to have messy middles, hard beginnings and have to keep going again and again when it gets tough
You ARE going to be nervous sometimes.
You ARE going to doubt yourself.

And that’s all normal.
And has nothing to do with whether you can do something or not.

Embrace the highs and learn from the lows.
Keep going.
Because that bumpy path is the right one 💛

Are you a cup half full or cup half empty kind of person ? ☕️

What if I told you ‘just being positive’ will only get you so far … because we have to be able to manage our thoughts, emotions and actions whatever the external situations.

We have to be able to manage frustration, disappointment, and failure.

We have to be able to manage whatever is in our cup.

And to do that, it starts with learning to manage your thoughts, habits and reactions….

Creating better systems that allow you to be in control of your cup 🥂☕️

My 3 top tips to controlling your cup …

1) awareness - become more aware of what is taking up space in your cup/your mind! Is it helpful? Is it true?

2) drain your cup- what can you get rid of? The quickest and easiest way is write down everything that is taking up space!

3) keep some space- writing down the simple things that are taking up brain space … like your to do’s is a really easy way to keep some space

I’ll feel more confident when…
…*insert outcome goal*🤦‍♀️

I hear this so much… and I’ve been guilty of this too, it is such an easy trap to fall into!

When I’ve got to ‘insert level’, I will feel more confident.
When I’ve achieve ‘insert goal’ then I will feel more confident.

But, here’s the thing.
Outcome goals on their own don’t actually build True confidence.

Why?
Because they don’t build the systems, foundations or habits that help you sustain confidence regardless of the outcome.

They don’t give you the tools to keep adding 1% to your confidence bank.

And they don’t give your brain consistent reassurance, they put you in ‘all or nothing’ thinking!

If you want to build TRUE CONFIDENCE in yourself…
Do one thing DAILY that the confident version of you would do?

How would she show up?
What would her thoughts be?
What would she focus on?

And repeat that thing, again and again and again until it becomes a habit.

Process. Systems. Habits.
They shape who you are.
They are how you become more confident!

If you’re a rider and want to feel more confident messaged about the next live dates this month for The Confident Competition Rider Blueprint workshop series! 💛💪