Stewie, Rafi and three in between....

As new books, new research and more podcasts pop up, there are even more great quotes from people way smarter than us. Take a look at what grabbed our attention the last couple of weeks.

Dr. Michael Gervais is a successful author, podcaster, speaker and of course high performance sports psychologist. Here, Dr. Mike talks about the five psychological skills he works with his athletes and clients on.

"So there's a whole process to better understand who you are. What is the vision of a compelling future? What are your first principles? Can you articulate your purpose? And so there's a self discovery process that's the first thing, The second is there are very clear mental skills that you can train, just like you train your physical body. You can train your these mental skills. It's kind of sets and reps, if you will. So, deep focus, being calm, confident. Those are a handful of the big ones that we would train. Then there's the third component, the third factor, if you will, which is psychological frameworks. So developing your psychological framework, are you optimistic or pessimistic? Do you approach success or avoid failure? Do you see things as an opportunity or a threat? Have you mastered or are you mastering the ability to control what's in your control? Have you a deep framework to understand how to live with passion in any environment, not just the ones that are easy? I love playing the guitar, but I also need to have passion in other parts of my life as well. So understanding how to do that with a sense of resilience or grit. And and then there's a whole set of recovery practices. Those are also skills that you can build, and it's the basic ones everyone knows, but it's just making sure that they hold a seat at the table of high performance. And then the last is the concept of mindfulness. So mindfulness is the golden thread that runs through everything. It is a skill, it is a state of being, and over time, it is an enduring trait. And mindfulness is the practice of being a bit more aware so that you can live in the present moment more often. And the present moment is where all the psychological skills are trained and expressed and that's where everything amazing takes place."

New York Liberty All Star Breanna Stewart had her chances in game one of the WNBA finals v. the Minnesota Lynx. But in the closing minutes, Stewie missed a couple of open shots and a free throw which would have put the Liberty up late in the game. 

Stewart said after the game, “I want to be taking these shots. I feel like knowing my teammates and that everyone has confidence in me is important. It’s kind of like on to the next and still making sure I’m aggressive any time on the court. Obviously as a player, it’s very frustrating. But bounce back for Game 2.”

It's a standard athlete trope, bounce back for game two. But the reality is, what good is it to dwell on what has happened in the past? Learn from it, be better going forward. Sports writers and pundits eviscerated Stewart but she is at the elite end of her sport for a reason. Sometimes they go in, sometimes they don't. Winning and losing is random and your job, as an athlete, is to be ready the next time you are put into that situation with your body, mind and heart. While no one here is a prognosticator, don't be surprised to see Stewart rise to the occasion in game two.

"I think that feeling is that idea to trust your discomfort. I'm in this situation right now and I'm uncomfortable, and I've just got to find a way to articulate for myself why it's making me uncomfortable and why I need to make a change, and hopefully, the act of making change is the antidote to that discomfort and anxiety. Now, do you know that that change will be successful? you have no idea. But the act of doing it teaches you in some respect, that you are not a prisoner of your circumstance, your situation, any of those things. Your fate has not been written."

Actor, comedian John Stewart explains on a podcast how he deals with the idea of handling adversity. His idea of trusting discomfort is a staple of what great coaches ask of their athletes.

Dr. Keith Davids is a pioneer in Motor Learning and Skill Acquisition circles and he was asked about how weight lifters learn technique using Ecological Dynamics.

One of the things I'm really interested in now is that understanding has important implications for the way that we practice. Practice is not blind repetition, automatization of a movement or a technique that's been handed down. I saw somebody perform that way and it was great, and I want to replicate that. That's not how athletes should function. It's really about getting them to understand, how do they achieve their intended task goal which is to lift the bar with a certain weight above their head and the elbow joints have to reveal a certain angle, but they've just sort of slipped a bit of the conscious move so the way they address the environment is different when you're just repeating, rehearsing and complying with a movement pattern that you've got in your mind, compared to you actively engaging with the environment and interacting with these weights."

And finally, this week one of tennis' legends announced his retirement at the end of the 2024 season. Rafael Nadal has been at the top of his sport for 20 years and in this quote from USOC Sport Psychologist Peter Haberl, you might understand why Nadal was so consistently good for so long.

"When you hear him after the first round, and he's being asked about his opponent the next round, in the second round, his answer is very consistent. 'It's a test and will be the toughest match ever.' And in a third round, 'This should be the toughest match ever.' And to a fourth round, 'Toughest match ever.' In qualifying, 'Toughest match ever.' He's trying to find the toughest match ever. And what that tells me is, by approaching it that way, he never falls into the trap of thinking things will be easy. And then when they're hard, not being able to adjust to that. So, once he expects things to be difficult, he'll come fully prepared. And that way, he's never surprised by an opponent."