76. Developing a Competitive Mindset with Sports Psychiatrist Dr. T
Dr. Arman Taghizadeh, aka Dr. T, is a Board Certified Psychiatrist who specializes in sports psychiatry, and today he joins Laura on the podcast to discuss the significance of developing a positive mindset for athletes to become confident competitors. Together, they explore how the mindset of an athlete affects their attitude, perspective, and responses, and review The Confidence Journal, a guided journal that helps athletes develop a positive mindset, move closer to achieving their goals, and grow their confidence along the way. Dr. T also shares his journey into psychiatry, beginning as a former athlete himself, and how he found his passion for building meaningful connections with patients, similar to the relationships built in sports.
He notes that the lack of understanding around mental health challenges in sports motivated him to focus on this area, and he highlights the importance of relatability and understanding in the mental health field. He and Laura also discuss the importance of simplifying life to improve mental health, especially for young athletes and those struggling after the pandemic, and emphasize how focusing on three areas of their lives each day can help individuals identify and achieve small goals that add up over time. The significance of coaches in helping athletes with mental health challenges is also discussed, including the need for them to engage in active listening to create a collaborative approach to problem-solving. Join Laura and Dr. T here today for yet another ‘must listen’ episode of the Pursuit of Gold podcast, and gain valuable insights into the significance of mindset, communication, and collaboration in sports and mental health.
Episode Highlights:
Dr. T's background as an athlete growing up
The importance of mindset in sports
How your attitude, perspective, and responses come from you and you alone
Developing a competitive mindset
The Confidence Journal and its benefits
The importance of focusing on your own mindset rather than others'
The lack of understanding around mental health challenges faced by athletes
Dr. T’s journey to becoming a psychiatrist
Building ongoing relationships with patients in psychiatry
Working to revolutionize the mental health field
The underserved athletic population in mental health
Simplifying life to improve mental health
Breaking each day down into three areas of focus
Coaches helping athletes with mental health
The importance of knowing your athlete and engaging in active listening
A collaborative approach to problem-solving
Creating a safe and supportive environment for athletes
Empowering athletes to take ownership of their performance
The importance of communication between parents and children
The role family dynamics can play in mental health issues in sports
Caring about athletes as people
Contextualizing the athlete's environment
The need for coaches and parents to recognize and address mental health issues
Quotes:
"Becoming a confident competitor begins and ends with your mindset."
"Through simple guided journaling, your focus and thought process will begin to shift."
"The Confidence Journal will begin to show you the beauty of your journey and just how tangible your goals really are."
"It's one thing to sort of understand psychology and the brain. It's another thing to understand the grit and the determination and the work ethic and the discipline and the sacrifice that comes with really trying to be an elite athlete."
"The competitions and the challenges are just sort of little benchmarks that are part of it. But when we really look at it, the meaningful experience is all the other stuff."
"Simplifying is really important... and even writing it down... starts to build those synapses and those connections, and again, starts to build that confidence."
"Small victories, small achievements, they all add up."
"The best way to win is to have your athlete perform at their best. And the best way to help them perform at their best is to have them be the most confident and motivated and self driven individual."
"I have been so blessed to be under a coach for like 30 years that is one of the best in the world. And he has exemplified all of these things that I've seen in the greatest coaches in the world. And he knows every single one of us on our own level."
"Helping coaches understand the appropriate language and when to use it and how that impacts an athlete is so important because they may say something, intending one thing, but the athlete may be hearing it differently and processing it differently."
“The reality is today's athlete, in a lot of ways, is probably tougher because they're managing so much more and navigating so much more and have more expectations and more pressures, but their brain development is the same.”
"If you give athletes the opportunity, even the younger ones will sort of figure out what works best for them."
"Ask them what they think, what they saw, give them an opportunity, because number one, you get a sense of where their head's at and what they were thinking."
"I want to get to know you as a person, as an athlete, I'm going to ask a lot of different questions."
"I also think you show them that I care about you as a person, not just an athlete."
"It takes a lot of courage to say, ‘I'm struggling and I don't know why.’"
Links:
The Confidence Journal (25% off with coupon code: TOPDOC)
Laura’s Social Media:
Dr. T’s Links:
57. Be in the Moment with Olympic Champion Wrestler Tamyra Mensah-Stock
Today’s guest is Tamyra Mensah-Stock, an American freestyle wrestler who won Olympic gold for the USA, becoming the first African-American and second American female athlete to win a gold in 68 kgs freestyle wrestling in the Olympics. In her journey to this remarkable level of success, Tamyra has also encountered and persevered through a number of difficulties and today she shares her inspiring story with us all.
She opens up the episode by describing her transition from life as a sprinter into that of a wrestler. While Tamyra didn’t love the sport at first, it became a big part of her life that stayed with her through bouts of loss and depression. She goes on to talk about meeting her husband and their decision to move to Colorado to train for the Olympics. Some rough patches followed her through 2016, but she notes that these tough times really taught her the importance of faith and compartmentalization. Tamyra also notes that COVID gave her a much needed breather that allowed her to prepare for the Olympics. She was incredibly successful in the 2021 Olympic Games, and in the wake of vaccine mandates, she’s become a key supporter for Athletes for Medical Freedom. She makes it clear that she isn’t anti vaccine, she’s anti mandate, and, to close out this week’s episode, she expresses gratitude for Athletes for Medical Freedom, because it taught her how to use her voice.
Episode Highlights:
Transitioning from sprinting to wrestling
Tamyra’s experience confronting the death of family and friends
How she met her husband
Making the decision to move to Colorado Springs for Olympic training
Learning to compartmentalize and trust in her faith
Why COVID was a breath of fresh air
Tamyra in the 2020 Olympic Games
Athletes for Medical Freedom
Quotes:
“For some reason, back in the day, I was an early riser, and I loved going to school when it was dark and there was nobody around. There was just some kind of freedom about that.”
“I don't blame wrestling now because it has given me the platform to identify with people who have dealt with the struggle.”
“You cannot succeed without a little loss.”
“Some people in college had asked me why am I dating a white man. And I went, ‘You never asked me out. You never showed me any consideration that you wanted to date me. Jacob took the initiative.’”
“When you are wrestling for one of the biggest tournaments ever, stay in the moment and leave the mat with no regrets.”
“COVID was a blessing. I just had time to breathe. I came up with a great win. And I could just relax and it was awesome. And once the Olympics came around, I came to destroy.”
“When you go to the Olympics, you're going to represent whatever country you are representing, and I'm proud to be an American. And I got up on that stage, I represented America, and I was extremely happy. I've been doing this since 2008 - wanting to go on that stage - nobody was gonna take that away from me.”
“They're just trying to mandate the vaccine. And I'm fine with vaccinations. But when you force people to do things, that's where the line gets really skewed.”
Links:
Life at 10 Meters: Lessons from an Olympic Champion
Laura’s Social Media:
Tamyra’s Links: