Michael Gervais: Master Your Mindset and Stop Worrying About What Other People Think

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Michael Gervais
Master Your Mindset and Stop Worrying About What Other People Think

Dr. Michael Gervais is one of the world’s top high-performance psychologists and leading experts on the relationship between the mind and human performance. He has spent his career helping the best of the best across the worlds of business, sports, the arts, and science when they need to achieve the extraordinary. His clients include world record holders, Olympians, internationally acclaimed artists and musicians, MVPs from every major sport and Fortune 100 CEOs.

He is the founder of Finding Mastery, a high-performance psychology consulting agency that helps individuals and innovative companies solve the most dynamic human performance challenges through mindset training. Dr. Gervais is also the host of the Finding Mastery Podcast and the co-creator of the Performance Science Institute at USC.

We’ve had tons of experts on the podcast talking about the physical aspects of sport, but this episode is focused on the mindset piece of high performance which is a critical aspect whether you want to excel in sport, business, or any type of activity. Michael joins us to talk about mastering your mindset and the importance of not worrying about what others think.

For more info on Michael, check out the Finding Mastery Podcast, his website and follow him on Instagram.

Points of interest in the episode: 

02:58  Kelly + Michael =  Bromance
04:15  Failing to progress in competitive surfing gave Michael his first intro into why mindset matters
12:15  The really great coaches understood the mental part of the game; John Wooden
15:36  What tools are working?
17:11  The intersection between high performance and wellbeing – the skills; Rickson Gracie
19:20  Mindset work distilled down to the family unit
23:12  Controllable Goals
25:20  Ever contact matters
27:30  Covid Pandemic
31:15  Coaching example: technical skills, physical skills, mental skills training
37:19  Delivering mental skills training
39:30  The Haka; Nic Gill
41:40  Sport is a working laboratory to understand how individuals and relationships work
51:45  Michael’s new book, The First Rule of Mastery, came out November, 2023
52:15  The first rule of mastery defined; FOPO [fear of other people’s opinions] 55:20  Kaillie Humphries; Alex Honnold
56:40  David Foster Wallace, This is Water
58:30  The only difference between game day and practice is that more people are watching
59:00  FOPO – ‘stop worrying’ is different than ‘stop caring’
62:10  How do you know if your FOPO is problematic; FOPO assessment
63:20  Awareness practice: mindfulness and meditation, journaling, and conversations with people of wisdom
64:00  Onramps and offramps
68:45  The art of curiosity
70:50  Setting intention for the year
73:45  Mike’s socials

Sponsors

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This episode of The Ready State Podcast is brought to you by Momentous, a leading high performance lifestyle company making the best supplements and sports nutrition products for individuals looking to optimize all parts of their lives. Juliet is not great at fueling before working out in the morning. So on mornings when she doesn’t eat, she makes sure to take the Momentous Vital Aminos which are critical for muscle repair, growth, and overall performance. Bonus, they taste great. Go to livemomentous.com/TRS and use code TRS for 20% OFF your first purchase.