Developing the mental skills to improve performance
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Performance Psychologist Michael Gervais, PhD talks about the mental tools necessary to improve your performance in high pressure situations
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After spending time in the trenches with world class athletes and most particularly those that live on the edge of danger; action and adventure sport athletes. They really helped me to understand something that’s really powerful is that when there isn’t time and there isn’t the luxury of hesitation the ability to be present is at the center of great performance. And there’s two important words whether we pay attention for those that are working to pursue their potential, frameworks and mental skills. And framework is the ability for somebody to have a sense of who they are in the world and the more robust that framework is the more grounded a person is in understanding who they are. The easier it is to go explore once we have roots we can go for reach. And the mental skills that come along with this is that folks that have really pursued and engaged and invited danger in their life that’s what an action sport and adventure athlete is at the center it that they have an idea. They have to have something that’s calling for them and they’re moving towards risk and they’re moving towards danger is that the ability to be focused and present. To be able to be fully engaged in this moment is something that is at the center of the skills, the mental skills that we hope that we’re going to cultivate with other people. Because to be present and to be centered we’re able to adjust accordingly to whatever the demands are of the moment. And world class athletes and adventure athletes those that are living on the edge of what’s possible certainly are teaching us how to be present, how to engage and adjust accordingly. When people are living in high stakes environment, when their sport and their craft are in an environment where there’s great intensity the luxury from a stake is not afforded to them what they reminded us of is the importance of being present. Imagine a surfer who surfing in an 80 foot wave there’s such intensity in that moment that if they’re not present, if they’re not grounded, if they’re not connected to their surfboard, the wave , the environment, how their mind is working in that moment. But the stakes are dangerous, the element of danger is present for them and if they can’t adjust accordingly because things go wrong. There’s unanticipated events that take place and when that takes place for people the ability to be fluid into engage and to adjust accordingly is paramount. And so you can understand very clearly how they’ve been able to teach the importance of being present and grounded on a regular basis.
Performance Psychologist Michael Gervais, PhD talks about the mental tools necessary to improve your performance in high pressure situations
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Michael Gervais, PhDHigh Performance Psychologist
Dr. Michael Gervais, a licensed psychologist and industry visionary, is a founding partner of Pinnacle Performance Center. He focuses most of his time on people at the "top of their game," from NBA players, to Olympians, to military personnel. Dr. Gervais has a clear understanding of how performers become and consistently excel at a world-class level. Spending years in the trenches of high-stakes circumstances, Dr. Gervais has developed clarity for the tools that allow people to "thrive under pressure."
Dr. Gervais is a published, peer-reviewed author and a nationally recognized speaker on issues related to high performance for those who excel on the largest stages in the world.
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