admin, Author at Headstrong Mindset LLC

Relational Cultural Theory

The American Counseling Association (ACA) defines heterosexism as, “the system of oppression that privileges heterosexual or cisgender identities, whereas LGBTQ+ people experience oppression based upon on their sexual orientation and/or gender identity and gender expression.” The implications of heterosexism on the mental health of the LGBTQ+ community is far-reaching and immeasurable. Heterosexist oppression is often experienced on both societal and interpersonal relational levels (Singh & Moss, 2016). For members of the LGBTQ+ community seeking to overcome internalized oppression rooted in heterosexism, it can often feel like a life-long journey to deconstruct legacy narratives, implicit bias, and social expectations about sexual orientation and gender identity.

Relational-cultural theory provides a rationale to guide therapeutic practice at the same time that it creates a basis for the pursuit of social justice.- Judith Jordan

[Read more…]

How to Control Your Energy Level in Competition

Flow & Playing in the Zone, Imagery, Self-care

Got players that are feeling anxious and stressed? There’s certainly no shortage of things to be stressed out about in today’s world, but sports should be a stress outlet rather than a stress trigger – especially for young players. Unfortunately, that’s often not the case. Now more than ever before, we are seeing a rise in rates of anxiety, depression, suicide, and self-harm among teenagers. The New York Times has coined the term “the inner pandemic” to describe today’s mental health crisis among youth and adolescents.

Athletes and coaches alike experience a fight-or-flight response when their sympathetic nervous system is activated. Physical symptoms of stress can include increased heart rate, stomach nausea, shortness of breath, muscle tension, and unwanted arousal. There are evidence-based muscle-to-mind techniques that you can use to help athletes reduce their levels of performance anxiety and stress.

[Read more…]

Why You Cannot Afford to Ignore Positive Psychology

Confidence, Growth Mindset

When it comes to the field of positive psychology, there’s a ton of information and misunderstanding. Many coaches feel resistant to the idea of shifting their coaching philosophy from a deficit mentality to a strength-based one. The most common question that comes up is how will players improve their weaknesses if we only focus on their strengths? In this post, I’ll answer that question, along with the other most common questions about what positive psychology is and why it’s so important to understand.

What exactly is positive psychology?

Positive psychology is a framework based in scientific research that contains formal strength assessments to help athletes reach their optimal potential (Biswas-Diener, 2010). Martin Seligman is considered the father of positive psychology because his research on resilience, happiness, wellbeing, and strengths laid the foundation for a shift from focusing on mental illness, trauma, suffering, and pain to focusing on happiness, wellbeing, flourishing, flow, and strengths (Ackerman, 2022). Positive psychology ultimately asks what’s right with people, instead of what’s wrong with them. (Ackerman, 2022).

Positive psychology is the scientific study of what makes life most worth living.” (Peterson, 2008).

[Read more…]

Mindful Awareness: It’s All About Where Your Mind’s At

Concentration, Flow & Playing in the Zone

It is widely known that Michael Jordan, the greatest NBA basketball player of all-time, had a devoted mindfulness practice influenced by Phil Jackson and George Mumford.

One of my favorite quotes about MJ, is from the documentary The Last Dance, in which Mark Vancil, the editor of Rare Air, describes Michael Jordan’s mind… “Michael is a mystic. He was never anywhere else. His gift wasn’t that he could jump high, run fast, shoot a basketball. His gift was that he was completely present.”

So, how did Michael do it? And how can you can learn to block out distractions and focus completely on the present moment? To answer these questions, I want to first define the term Mindful Awareness.

What is Mindful Awareness?

My favorite definition of mindful awareness or mindfulness was coined by Jon Kabat Zinn. Mindfulness is awareness that arises through paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgementally.

Mindfulness is awareness that arises through paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgmentally.”
Jon Kabat Zinn

[Read more…]

How to Make Better and More Effective Individual and Team Goals

Growth Mindset

Do you ever feel like you’re running on a treadmill, but not gaining any ground in life? Do you know where you want to go, but you’re unsure of how to get there? Have you ever given thought to what makes a good goal?

Goal setting is a powerful strategy to get and stay motivated on the journey towards your dreams. Goal setting is the road map to the future that you want. Goal setting is the process by which you can achieve your accomplishments if you stay disciplined and continue to put forth the effort. Goal setting is the key to adopting a growth mindset. In the words of the late great basketball Coach John Wooden, “Do not let what you can not do interfere with what you can do.”

Do not let what you can not do interfere with what you can do. – John Wooden

However, there is more to goal setting, then just writing lofty dreams down on a piece of paper. Goal setting is an ongoing process that needs to be reflected upon, measured, monitored, assessed, and reassessed. When done well, both individual and team goal setting can be a powerful motivator and play a critical role in achieving desired success.

Here’s 5 tips to making better and more effective individual and team goals.

[Read more…]

3 Key Reminders About Having a Growth Mindset

Growth Mindset, Teamwork & Team building

At Headstrong, we believe your mindset is the difference maker. Your mindset can either hurt or help your performance.

A fixed mindset focuses on how good you are right now instead of your potential. A fixed mindset takes feedback personally and gets defensive. A fixed mindset avoids working on your weakest skills and does not believe that improvement is possible. A growth mindset focuses on measuring improvement and learns from a tough loss. A growth mindset accepts feedback and views criticism as constructive. A growth mindset targets your weakest skills in training and truly believes improvement is the reward of a hard work ethic.

Having belief in your ability to improve with practice is essential to succeeding throughout your career. It is critical you trust in the potential of your ability to improve and your teammates ability to get better during the course of a season. Here’s 4 key reminders about having a growth mindset.

[Read more…]