High Performance Mindset | Learn from World-Class Leaders, Consultants, Athletes & Coaches about Mindset - 166: Inside Your Ride with Tonya Johnston, Mental Skills Coach & Author

Episode Date: March 17, 2018

Tonya Johnston is an equestrian mental skills coach, author, and hunter-jumper A-circuit competitor with a master’s degree in sport psychology. Tonya travels to give mental skills workshops and works individually with clients and teams all over the world. Tonya’s clients include riders and trainers at top A-circuit, regional and local barns; international grand prix riders; national medal final winners; NCAA Division I athletes; teams such as the Stanford and USC equestrian teams; and IEA teams throughout the country. Tonya has a monthly “Inside Your Ride” podcast. Her book, “Inside Your Ride: Mental Skills for Being Happy and Successful with Your Horse” is available on Amazon in paperback and e-book formats. In this interview, Tonya and Cindra talk about: The uniqueness of equestrian sport psychology Her “Two Positive Rule” What she sees separates the world’s best from the rest How to review your highlights as part of your “Post Ride Notes” Why and how you can write your own Motivational Statement You can find a full description of the Podcast and contact information for Tonya at cindrakamphoff.com/tonya.

Welcome to High Performance Mindset with Dr. Sindra Kampoff. Do you want to reach your full potential, live a life of passion, go after your dreams? Each week we bring you strategies and interviews to help you ignite your mindset. Let's bring on Sindra. Welcome to the High Performance Mindset Podcast. My name is Sindra Kampoff. I'm the founder and host of the podcast, and I'm excited today that you're here to listen to episode 166. Now, today's episode is brought to you by the Beyond Grit Workbook. I'm not going to say too much about the workbook because I really just want to get into the guest expert, but I do want to let you know it's really helping people learn the mental tools

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And Cloris said, you know, create the life you've always wanted. Dr. Cinder's show is so full of energy and inspiration and what you need to become empowered to create the kind of life you've always wanted. Five stars. Thank you so much, Cloris, for heading over to iTunes. I really appreciate it.

And I really appreciate your comment that it's helping you create the kind of life you've always wanted. Love it. Now, if you enjoyed today's episode, I'd encourage you to head over to iTunes or sit your radio and provide a comment or rating over there like Cloris did. Or you can post your favorite quote from the podcast on social media. You can tag myself at mentally underscore strong or you can head over to Facebook and you can tag me there at Dr. Sindra Kampoff or tell a friend or a colleague about the podcast. You would help keep these incredible interviews free. All right, so once again, we're talking about something today to help you gain the high performance edge and keep you thinking about what you love about your work or your sport.

And Tanya Johnston is an equestrian mental skills coach, author, and hunter jumper, a circuit competitor with a master's degree in sports psychology. So Tanya travels to give mental skills workshops and works individually with clients and teams all over the world. Tanya's clients include riders and trainers at Top A Circuit, regional and local barns, international Grand Prix riders, national medal final winners, Division I athletes, and teams such as Stanford and USC's equestrian teams. So Tanya has a monthly Inside Your Ride podcast and her book Inside Your Ride,

Mental Skills for Being Happy and Successful with Your Horse is available on Amazon in paperback and ebook formats. Now, you know what I really loved about this interview and really what Tanya and I talked quite a bit about is like the uniqueness of equestrian sports ecology. I thought that's just really fascinating and how you really need to be one with your horse. She talks about her two positive rule that you can apply to any part of your life. What she sees separates the world's best from the rest. How you can review your highlights

as part of your post-ride notes. I liked the highlights part in particular. And then how you can write your own motivational statement. So there's two quotes that I really loved from this interview, so I'd encourage you to listen for these. So she said, quote, love what you're doing is your starting point, and this will give you extra energy and strength. You need to keep your tank full, end quote. And then she also talks about developing a motivational statement or a motivation statement. And she encourages us to ask, quote, why do I do this? What do I love about this? And what

kind of blank do I want to be? And as you can see, you don't have to be an equestrian athlete to get something out of today's podcast. So thank you again so much for joining me. And without further ado, let's bring on Tanya. Welcome to the High Performance Mindset Podcast. I am excited today to bring you a guest, Tanya Johnston, who is an equestrian mental skills coach. Tanya, welcome to the podcast. Thank you so much, Cinder. I'm happy to be here. I'm looking forward to talking to you more about your work, how you got into equestrian mental skills,

but also how it applies to other areas. Because I know that as we're talking and even after reviewing your book, which is Inside Your Ride, you know, there's a lot of things that we can apply to what you do, even though we don't ride horses. So to kind of start us off, just tell us a little bit about your passion and what you do right now. Yeah. So I work with riders and I work with riders in a variety of disciplines. Although I will say that in the last probably three to five years, I've really, really just dialed in and really just work with riders who do the discipline of show jumping. So that's the hunter jumper world. That's, you know, in an arena, you're jumping courses. You don't know what the course will be until that day. So you're having

to memorize different courses and then navigate the jumps with your horse. And so I specialize with those riders, with professionals, amateurs, juniors. I have kids as young as eight or nine or 10 that work with me. And I really, my goal is to help people support themselves, to be confident, to be more consistent with their riding, to really be able to be in the moment with their horse. So that while they're in the ring, they are completely present and completely able to access all of their physical skills. So that, you know, they can create a great partnership and have great communication with their horse. That sounds really fascinating. You know, so when you think about where you are now to where you started in the field, just kind of tell us, you know, briefly how you got to where

you are now. Because I know you, you know, you haven't always exclusively just worked with equestrians, but more so just kind of more recently. So tell us, tell us about your journey. Yeah. So I, I definitely knew that I wanted to work in psychology and was a psychology major in college. And at that time in the, you know, late eights, sports psychology was really pretty young in our country, and there wasn't a whole lot of programs. Not a lot of people talked about it, I would say. And I found out about it and was like, oh, clearly that's what I want to do because I'm a lifelong rider.

I compete and show horses myself and have done that my whole life. And it just worked to be such a great fit and was so excited to help other people kind of find their way and understand themselves better. And it seemed like such a positive use of my psychology training. So I have a master's in sports psychology and started working with athletes in a variety of sports because at that time in nine, let's see, I finished my master's in 93. So the internet wasn't in full swing at all. And I needed to have opened a practice. And so, you know, worked with tennis players and some golfers and some surfers and, you know, a wide array of sports and definitely, you know, with an aim to focus on

on riders, because that's where my heart is. And then as the internet came on, and I was able to have a website and talk to people further afield from just the Bay Area, where I live here in California, I was able to really devote my practice to equestrian athletes. So that as my word of mouth spread, people heard about me. I did a lot of writing for a lot of different magazines and, you know, just tried to sort of get people to know sort of what I'm about and, and my philosophy. And so that just sort of grew and spread. And I'd say the last 15 years, I've really just specialized with riders, which is such

a blessing to be able to be involved in my sport in this way and help people develop their confidence and poise and preparation strategies and just all of it. I just love working with people that are new. I work with professionals going to the Olympic trials. You know, it's just the wide range is so fascinating to me. So I really consider it to be so lucky that my sort of path, you know, like sometimes it just sort of lights up in front of you. It's like, oh, that's what you're doing. And it was clear.

So I know that not everyone has that experience in their professional life. But for me, I just came out of school and was like, well, that's what I'm doing. Here we go. So it's been a great ride. Yeah. Well, I can tell your passion just by the way you're talking about it, that your, you know, your heart is there. And obviously that's one of the reasons that you've been successful.

Tell us about like your own journey in terms of, you know, what was your experience like riding and when did you start? Yeah. So I started at a very young, I started like lessons when I was about five and just passionate and wanted to ride as whenever I could, just took lessons and would have, you know, a little bit of support from my family, but you know, it's an expensive sport and I had to work my way through and I would work off my lessons or clean tack or clean stalls or, you know, help exercise horses where I could. And grew up showing in California and spending summers on the East Coast. post as well, which was fantastic growing up and really noticed a pattern, which I actually talk about in the book a little bit of that. I would start, you know, usually in what we do in the

hunter jumper world, the horses will get to a horse show, you know, Tuesday, Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday. And then the professor professionals will show the horses for a couple of days and then the amateurs and the juniors will show more on the weekend so I would notice this trend where I would start off on Friday this is like in my teen years start off on Friday really struggle like feel nervous and just so excited to be there but over try and then get a get better more comfortable on a Saturday and then on, I really was always had found my groove and was really successful on Sundays to the point where it became sort of this running joke in my barn of like, okay, look out for Tanya on Sunday. And in those days too,

there was usually like a classic or a steak class, they called it, which had a little bit of money. And so I was like, okay, well, you know, I started believing in myself and I started believing in that pattern. And then I started getting really curious, like, well, why can't I ride that way on Friday? Like, what is so, what, why can't I access that kind of confidence and strength and consistency on Fridays and Saturdays. So that's kind of, it was sort of a, just an interest. And, uh, um, like I said, just a curiosity of like, why, why am I like that? And always found it interesting to talk to other people. And in, even in my teen years, like would watch the warmup ring and watch riders that I admired,

you know, at the back gate talking to their, you know, whoever their ground help was and getting, you know, getting whatever support they had. I loved behind the scenes stuff and was, was very curious what other people did to sort of create that level of consistency. And, and so that's how it, that's how it kind of started. Right. So that psychology, like I said, I knew that was sort of where I wanted to go had a great experience in my psychology program. I went to UC Santa Cruz, a lot of great great, let me go understand, let me go figure out what are some ideas of, you know, how I could have helped myself, how I could help other people, just, you know, a lot of times people will say, well, I ride so well at home, and then I get to the show, and things feel different, and so, you know, that's sort of was the basis at the very beginning

of like, yeah, let's understand that, Let's understand what happens and how to help that not be the case, how to, you know, really be able to rise to the occasion and bring your best in that kind of a setting. Excellent. I can hear how like all of these experiences early on, you know, you string them together and it's like you clearly followed what you're passionate about and what you're interested in. So pretty cool hearing that story. Before we kind of dive into your work, and Tanya, I always have a question at the beginning about a conversation like this, people can be like, oh, wow, you know, she's been so successful. But you know, there are times even as, you know, professionals that we don't always make the right choice or we make a mistake. So tell us about a time that didn't go so great for you and what you learned from it. Yeah, well, I'm glad you emailed me that question yesterday because it definitely took me a little while to think about. What would I share? You know, I think because I've been doing this work for so long, I'm so quick to, I find failure to be a word that's very sort of like dead and on the floor. Like, you know what I'm saying? Like, I make mistakes all the time, but I always look at, I frame them so quickly as learning opportunities that I was like, gosh, what do I see as a failure of something that

I just tried to do and it just laid the, you know what I'm saying? So anyway, I get the tone of the question for sure. I think, I mean, again, so many, I think in my professional life, a failure early on for sure was just being so chock full of so many great ideas that I would do too much, you know, like in a group setting when I would work with a team or I go to barns and do workshops, I would just try to cram so much stuff into a short space of time that I'd end up talking really quickly. And I'd have all these notes and like I'd written this fantastic outline, which was great on paper. But, you know, it's really about when you're working with people, it's really so much more about the connection. And for me, in my style, is so much more about

me understanding you or the group than them understanding sort of me in my style is so much more about me understanding you or the group than them understanding sort of me or my philosophy necessarily. So, you know, certainly the framework of my training of, you know, the research that I've read of the theories that I've, you know, all of that is, is there, but I think it's so much more important to always frame everything with questions and to come at it with this belief that everyone holds their own answers. And my job is really more of a facilitator or at least is balanced between facilitator and educator. Do you know what I mean?

Absolutely. That's at least 50-50, if not more skewed to the facilitator part. Because if given the right opportunity and the right education and tools, I think majority of people are going to know how to help themselves. And they know what to choose and they know what to add, you know, to their routine. Absolutely. Well, you just said something I think that was really powerful. And you said, you know, failure is a word that's dead in the water for you. And you frame it so quickly as an opportunity that you don't even really see failure. And I think that's what our ultimate goal is, is that we're just moving on so quickly.

We're taking the lessons and then moving on. So we're not letting ourselves, you know, experience the self-doubt. Or even what you said is like as a writer, you started believing in the pattern that you weren't great on Fridays, right? Instead of realizing that you could change it around. So, so cool. So when you think about, you know, the psychology of equestrian sport, how is that different? How do you see that different and maybe even similar to other sports? Yeah, it's, it's an interesting, it's very unique, I think, in that way, that you have a teammate that you don't, that doesn't speak a verbal language necessarily. I mean, sure, horses understand some words and that kind of thing,

but for sure, you're not going to have like a big hour long discussion the night before a big, you know, match like you might with your volleyball team or what have you. So it is a team sport, but it's really the way it functions is through you being able to be really a clear channel of what your focus is and, and having a two way communication with your horse that's constantly open because you're both performing. Do you know what I mean? At the same time and needing to sort of relate to each other throughout. And the thing I would say about riding is for horses, they are so in the present and they are so sensitive. You can't, you're not going to bluff your way through. Oh my gosh, I'm so nervous and I'm so scared and I'm just going to try and first and able to know how you feel, where your focus is, so that when you're communicating with your horse,

they can see what you see. So there's not a lot of interference. Right? So as you explain, like, hey, we need to turn left here. There's no ambiguity. It's all very clear. It's very fluid. It's very in the moment. So I'd say that it is quite unique in that way and is a relationship that you feel with your spirit and your heart in the, and I know that happens for people in team sports as well. I think though, for us, it's just that much more pure because you don't have complication of social dynamics, verbal, like the way people talk, you know, you know what I'm saying? Like someone chooses some vocabulary, talking to a teammate and they react badly to it. You know what I mean? There's just, I think there's potential there for miscommunication on a variety of different levels.

And I think with riding, we have an ability to be a little bit more clear if you're open to that, if you're able to access that in yourself, first and foremost. So I think the key that I heard you say is like you have to be really genuine and authentic with yourself. That's why I'm hearing you're saying like it starts, right? Understanding yourself. Right. And you can't fake it with your horse. Like they can feel you. They can feel your energy.

If you're really nervous, it's not like they're going to be able to read you differently. So, you know, when you're working with someone, where do you start with that? Like in terms of like being genuine and authentic with yourself? Well, it really takes, you know, a lot around, and I know you talk about this too, of just being really aware. So you want to kind of be so aware of where your energy is, what your belief system is, what you're saying to yourself, like all of those things are contributing to how you are in the moment,

right. And where you're at. So for me, it's when I start working with someone, we start by talking about what are the things they do already? They already have mental skills. So what are they doing to support themselves currently? And how can I help them deepen that awareness and so a couple

of things we'll do is start by really assessing the things that are in and out of our control yes and so that they quickly can realize if they start spending mental energy you know doing the hamster wheel on, oh, the weather's getting bad, it's getting windy and cold, my horse is going to be wild, this isn't going to be a good lesson. Like if they start doing that, they're able to catch themselves like, hey, wait a second, the weather's out of my control, how I respond to it is in my control. So that's for sure a starting point. And also, I want them right away to start giving themselves credit and taking stock of the things they do well. Because I think that a lot of times

people come to me wanting to improve in a variety of different ways, which is great. But let's make sure one of our jobs is to enhance what they're doing already. Right. And in the sense of they for sure will be able to tell me about a great day. Right. So it's sort of like, all right, let's really be curious about that great day. Let's, let's add, you know, what were you doing before that ride? Where was your mind? What were you focused on? What were you saying to yourself? And really helping them, like I said, take ownership of some of those skills

so that they're coming to the equation feeling more empowered and more hopeful and more optimistic about, wait, I do have some of this. And so, yeah, we're going to grow it and we're going to add tools to the toolbox, but I just want them coming in feeling I'm thinking that that would be one way that the clients that you're working with can help, can stay focused on what has gone well. You know, what could they celebrate? Tell us about that and how you think that connects with embracing, you know, what you're doing great. Yeah. Yeah.

So two positives rule has to do with a lot of times in our sport, people will finish a course, you know, that takes about anywhere from 80 seconds to 120 seconds, uh, approximately. So they're in the ring, they jump their course, they come out and often they first focus on where their mistakes were like, Oh gosh, that's, I'm so bummed. I can't believe I did that. You know, I had that deep distance there to that jump, or he didn't finish the lead change or, you know, they, they immediately go to what the problems were. And so the two positives rule is when anytime finishing an exercise or a course that they are first going to either say out loud to their trainer. That's what we call our coaches in our sport.

We call them our trainer because it's the horse trainer, basically. Whether they'll say it out loud depends on the relationship or at least say in their mind, okay, here are two things I did well. Here are two ways that I was effective with my horse. I kept my leg out of the turn. And I really made sure I looked early out of that corner. So I got made sure looked early, got him off my outside leg and got really straight into that last line. So there, I'm not just Oh, you know, the, the white ox are worked out really beautifully. So that're not just, oh, you know, the white ox are worked out really beautifully. So that's not enough, right?

It has to be connected to something they did, some way they were thinking, some way they used their position or their body that helped them be effective and successful in the moment. So they have to come up with two of those first. So it trains them then, you know, if you would think about it, if you did that for a few weeks, you know, what starts to happen? You start to finish your round already celebrating some of those successes. Then you even start going into the ring going, oh, I wonder what my two positives are going to be. Like you're already starting to look forward when you know you're going to be asking yourself that, right? You know you're going to be accountable for that. You start paying attention more to

what you're doing well. And lo and behold, you start building more solid positive habits. That's good. And I'm thinking about how it can apply to any of us. Let's say you're a salesperson, you get done off the sales call and you're thinking about two things that went well, you know, two things that you did that's connected to something that you did, which you mentioned, or we get done with a speech or let's say a talk with a team, right? We're going to be thinking about two things that went well. And, you know, I find if you don't train yourself to do this, you're focusing on the things that didn't go well. And then, you know, right away, you're putting yourself in a deficit. You're not building yourself up and you're beating

yourself up more. Right. And for sure, there's going to be things that you could have done better. I'm not saying that. What I'm saying is let's make sure you're orchestrating your own positive sandwich, right? So starting from that place of strength of a couple of things that you really like, then maybe you're thinking about what you worked on. And then hopefully you're finishing with like, overall, here's what I'm taking into my next ride. And if you come out of the ring, constantly looking at what didn't work, it just creates such a damaging roller coaster for your confidence, right? You create this situation where you go into the ring each time with optimism and hope and like, hey, I hope this goes well. And you come out and it's like, oh, no, it didn't. It's

just way too volatile, right? And I think that that takes a long-term toll on your belief in yourself and your overall confidence and ultimately how far you're going to go in the sport. Absolutely. And so we can apply that to like how far we're going to go in our sport or how far we're going to go in our career and how we're going to get there. So awesome. You know, since you get to work with, you know, so many high level equestrians, you know, and athletes, what do you see them do differently? Like, how do you think some of the world's best in this sport differ from the rest? I don't know about how this sport, I would say there's more similarities at the high levels than anything, but a couple of things come quickly to mind. One of them is a lifelong curiosity about them, themselves and how they tick and what works for them. And, you know, being interested in ways and new ideas to keep them motivated and constantly learning.

So that's, and I think that's a cross sport for sure. We see that, you know. Luckily, you know, the nice thing in our sport also is that you can peak at age 50 you know what i mean like it's not it's something that there are serious very accomplished riders both amateurs and professionals who compete well into their 50s and 60s and do you know what i'm saying on on a big stage on a national stage on international, there's people who've been on like five, six Olympic teams. We're fortunate in that way. But again, like I said, what you see is just that lifelong curiosity and constantly developing themselves, both physically and mentally. I think that's one thing. I think another thing is that ability to quickly go into what I call a solution oriented mindset, right? So if faced with a challenge or a problem,

they're quick to, okay, here's what we can do about it. That's awesome. Here's how I can recover. Here's how we're going to strategize, you know, that they don't get stuck in a frustrated emotional place very often. They're, you know, they're quite talented at switching gears and, and making something work. So I think those are a couple of things. And the other piece I would say for sure is just the ability to be in the moment, not thinking too far ahead or too far behind themselves. But while they're certainly with their horse or on their horse, they're really able to just ride the horse they have on that day. Absolutely.

And those are four things that we can all develop within ourselves, right? Like number one, you know, that this lifelong commitment to yourself and understanding of what makes you tick and self-awareness really, ourselves, right? Like, number one, you know, that this lifelong commitment to yourself and understanding of what makes you tick and, you know, just self-awareness really, but at a high level, you know, constantly developing yourself, physical skills and mental skills. The third thing, the solution mindset, and then you said the ability to stay in the moment. You know, one thing I'm curious about is like, tell us about how the world's best, like, how are they connected to their horse? You know, you kind of said like they're in the present and you know, they're, they're making sure that

the connection is there, but tell us about that connection. And I'm assuming like in some of the world's best have like this deep connection with their horse. Tell us about what that looks like and feels like. Yeah. Well, it's, it's really just that wonderful simpatico where you're almost thinking, you're almost like, it almost feels like your minds are one, right? Where you think something and your horse does it. It's that fluidity between you that is so, especially for high level riders who have had a relationship with their horse for some time it really is a sense of such oneness that it's just truly inspiring and and magnificent to experience because it's it's a it's it's something you just don't get in any other sport for sure

of just feeling this oneness with another being in that way. And so it's really beautiful and it's really so powerful. And, and sometimes you'll have a rider who can develop that in it really, really quickly. But I think for, for everyone, they would say that, you know, as they get to know a horse or as they compete with them. And sometimes these are long relationships that it just gets so deep and, and so poetic in that way. Like I said, there's obviously not necessarily words, but the communication is just so clear and so minute, right? It's just the mere thought of a transition or like here we're going to turn or

here we're going to turn or here we're going to halt or, you know, that kind of thing is just the subtlety that you can communicate with is really exciting. And that, and that oneness is really exciting. So there's a lot to be said for being able to experience something like that. I mean, most people don't really get to, you know, have that kind of, it's similar, like people that have animals, like you start, you be able to think like your dog, like, oh, he needs such and such, or he's trying to tell me this, like, so it's, you get similarity, but when you're on the horse, it takes on a whole different, a whole different,

a whole different experience, because it's sort of like your legs are now their legs. For sure. And you're having to perform at the same time like they're having to perform, right? And you're, yes, I could see how that connection is like really essential. So tell us, and the trust, and the trust So when, when you, when you think about your work with the athletes and then come maybe ultimately with the horse, right. Cause that's who they're impacting. Can you give us like an example of a signature technique that you use with, you know, your clients to really help them them track their rides. So really noticing, okay, how did I prepare? And this is something, I mean, for sure, if you're, you know, in business, like giving a presentation, like how, how do you prepare? Right. So just understanding what are

some of the things I do already, right? Maybe you always make sure you eat a certain kind of breakfast, or you like getting somewhere a little bit early, so you can get comfortable with the environment. So just asking themselves, okay, what did I do before that ride that went, that I feel contributed to my success in that ride? And then what were some of the goals that I accomplished? You know, what, where was progress made? So I really try to help people see the gray area in between, you know, a perfectionist thinks in really black and white language, like it was terrible, it was perfect, it was great, it was awful. And really to look at each ride as there was definitely there were there were things that

happened within that ride that show progress and where were they? What were you doing? How did you think about that? How did you create that progress? And where was it? And then also, I have them, I have them think about what was a highlight. A highlight to me is a little bit different than progress of a goal, in that it's more of a snapshot. It's more of a moment that really just got them in the heart. Like, oh, that felt amazing. Like that particular jump or that transition was so smooth and soft and we were so together just because I feel like it gives you that little jolt of this is why I do this. This is this was a moment that got at my motivation to be in this sport, period. Because in every ride, you will find a moment like that if you put your mind to it. And that is just like it creates more fuel. It creates more perseverance. It creates more motivation.

It's sort of like, it's like those engines that as they run, they, they're charging themselves. You know what I mean? Like, absolutely. And so it's a really important thing to look at. And I think so often we, again, looking, it's a little bit cultural, I think, of just looking at mistakes first. And so often those mistakes get charged with emotion and become so much larger than they need to be or larger than life almost. And we don't necessarily have the same practice around doing that for our highlights. highlights so we need to consciously like notice them and and elevate them in a way by recognizing them each ride so that we are it like it almost gives us more heart right to break to our next challenge so i have them think of one or two or three of those. And then also, then they jot down things to work on. So what's one or two things, and maybe it was born out of a mistake that you

made that day. But how are you going to work on it? If you see that same challenge tomorrow, you see that same line tomorrow in a course, and you didn't ride it well today, and you worked on it, you thought about it like, okay, well, I really needed more, you know, I needed to close my leg sooner when we landed off of that jump into the line. Like I really need to land and go forward for three strides. So instead of writing down, oh my gosh, I can't believe I added a stride in that line. I'm so embarrassed. You're writing down land in the line away from the gate, land and go forward first. So we were already framing it with the solution. And then the only other thing, yeah. And so the other thing I have them do in these post-ride

notes, which I talk about in the book, for sure, you can make your own template of them, is to actually draw out the course or exercise they did that day because you access a different part of your memory when you're drawing versus when you're writing. So I like for them to practice, you know, visually going back, okay, where was that jump? How was that? You know, what was my track there? What was that course like?

And they actually have to draw it out. And it also allows them to make a little note, like, you know, you make a little note, a little X in the corner of the diagram, you say, oh, that's where I closed my leg, or that's where I remembered to look early. So they kind of walk through the memory in a way that can strengthen their visualization skill. I like the, all the details that, you know, you're encouraging them to write down in their post-ride notes because I think so many times we just get done with performing and then we just move on.

We think about what we need to do next instead of really take time to debrief that. And my favorite part of what you just said was these highlights that you're really having them think about what were one, two, or three times or moments where, you know, you're like, oh, this is why I do this. And I think that there's ways that we can apply that. You know, I was thinking about myself as you were talking and Saturday I gave this three-hour workshop kind of keynote to preschool teachers. So it was actually, it was over my book Beyond Grit and it was so fun, but I got done and I was tired. It was 200 people for three hours, right? So just the energy that I needed to command their attention for three hours, you know? And so I got in my car and I'm just like, oh my

gosh, I can't, I'm so tired. But I thought, gosh, what if I would have used this and thought, what were, you know, two or three moments that were like, sort of like these, aha, like, oh, this is why I do this. Right. And I like what you said about, you know, that's what gives you the heart or like, you know, fuels that engine. Yeah. Yeah. Tell us why you think that's really important, like in terms of, you know, fueling you and being intentional with that. Well, just because in any sport, in any endeavor, there's going to be challenges. There's going to be ups and downs and and really keeping sort of why you do it sort of a part of every day is so heartening and helps, I think,

maintain a sense of optimism. Like, oh yeah, I paid attention to this aspect and gosh, look at this amazing way that we perform today. You know, it's, it's optimism. It's that positive energy of joy, bringing that into the daily. Like making sure that you're touching base with what brought me joy in that workout, in that practice, in that lesson, or in that round at the horse show. Because that's, when you get right down to it, you know, our passion for being involved in our sport or whatever endeavor we are pursuing, boy, we've got to, you know, if that's not present and really right front of mind, you can get really lost in sort of the little niggly things, the little daily, you know, sort of, you know, annoyances or challenges that you didn't ask for, or, you know, things that are unexpected, like

those create a lot of noise. So you have to be extra mindful to find that those joyful moments because they don't make quite as much noise. It can be quiet, right? Yeah, for sure. Love that. Love that. You know what? There's one other thing, Tanya, that I really liked in your book, Inside Your Ride, that I thought we could make sure that we talked about today was this idea of like a motivational statement where you have people think about like, what do you love? What type of ride would that be? What positive feelings do you get? Tell us about that, the exercise and if you could apply it to

riders and then, you know, how we might use that. Yeah. So for anything that you're engaged with or working on or, you know, whatever, you know, for, for, for for riders when i work with them what i have them do is um either they put riding in a circle about a quarter size circle in the middle of a piece of paper uh or the name of their horse you could if you were an actor you could put acting you know you could be anything in the middle of that circle and the idea is that you sit and you sort of brainstorm in a very free way. So this technique called clustering, which is nonlinear. So it's not like you're writing a list. It's much more anything that comes up, you're just going to jot it down anywhere on the page. And then let's, so let's say for a rider, they come up with, you know, love of horses, right? So that becomes a piece for them that's motivating. Or someone else might have the challenge of it,

and that's really motivating. So they'll jot that down. They're really just going to think about and meditate, why do I do this? What do I enjoy about it? What do I love about this sport? What kind of rider do i want to be you know asking yourself it's sort of like in in the best possible world how would you how would you perform how would you conduct yourself what kind of rider would you be what do you enjoy most and and then so like i said

for these factors that you come up with so you're jotting those down and like like when you're in second grade and you drew a sun right you have lines coming out of that middle circle and they go to all these different factors so you're going to end up with a page just chock full of all these different reasons that you are involved. And they might be intertwined, the challenge might be related to shore showing. So you might have a little arrow between those two factors, right? So it might end up actually, this page might start looking like a huge giant spider web, which is great. And then you're going to let it sit. So you give yourself like 20 or 30 minutes to do that brainstorming, just really thinking of all the different reasons

that you're drawn to and love that sport or that endeavor that you're involved with. And then you sit it, you walk away from it for a day or two. And you come back, and you look at all those different factors, and you give yourself two or three votes. And those two or three votes are for noticing what are the two or three factors that you came there, you, what the idea is, is that you make them sort of accessible, you kind of get something sticky, and you kind of glue them together, whether that's an acronym, whether that's a short motto, whether it's a short sentence about what what are these things that you love so much, right? So an example would be, I think the example I use in the book is someone came up with, they had a motivation statement when it was finished that was C to the third. So it was literally a C with that little three up in the corner right and so that for them symbolized confidence consistency and composure

so those were the things the confidence and the consistency and the composure that's the rider they wanted to be that's when they were able to achieve that that's when they felt the most powerful and strong and like they could go tackle any course with their horse. And just like that was a boom, kind of nailed it reminder for them. Right. So that was something so they could, you could even like little write it on their hand, they could have it in their coat bag when they're at a horse show. So they'd sort of run into it and see it or in their tack trunk, where we keep our equipment or our boots or our helmet, that kind of thing. It was just sort of a touchstone. That's what a motivation statement becomes, is a touchstone for that core passion that's burning inside of you of why you're putting

yourself in those challenging situations or in that competitive situation or in front of those 300 people, you know, that's sort of, that's, it's sort of, and you have a nice, you, Cinder, have one in your book, your why. Well, you talk about it like your why. Right, exactly. And like owning it and thinking of all the reasons you do it. What I think is cool about this is like, you're asking them to not only just, what is your why, right? Like, why do you do this? But like, what do you love about it? Right. And, and what kind of blank do you want to be? Right. So like, we can even apply this to in any activity, what kind of actor do we want to be?

What kind of coach do we want to be? What kind of coach do we want to be? What kind of sports psychologist do we want to be, right? What do you see like this exercise doing? How does it help people gain more clarity or more heart or more energy? Kind of what you were talking about before. Yeah. Well, you know, this is where all of your best intention and strength comes from is your love of what you're doing. So to me, this is sort of a core way to sort of fuel whatever, you know, to fuel the goal. Like if the goal is to, you know, qualify for something or, or having even for an outcome goal,

like how are you going to get there? You know, obviously in sports psychology and in my work, we stress, you know, process and performance goals, but for sure there's outcome goals there too. But it basically has to do with, you know, why do you think those goals are important? Well, they're important because you love what you're doing. And so that's got

to be your starting point. And having access to that, like I said, as sort of your bedrock is so empowering and just provides extra energy and strength to do the hard things well, do the little things well. You need, gosh, you need as much fuel in the tank as you can possibly get, right? Because as we know, there's just so many factors that go into peak performance. And so starting with the hottest fire that burns inside of you just provides that much more energy to the task. I love it. I think we can apply to every single thing that we do, you know, and, and our work, our sport, you know, even parenting. Yeah. What we love about it. I have two boys. So, you know, I'm even thinking about how can I be a better mom today? So yeah. Awesome. Tanya,

you gave us so much to think about. I can hear that the heart of your work as this like understanding of why you're doing it and getting really clear on that so that kind of your fire is always burning. Is there anything else that you want to share with us today about your work or how you do it? I just encourage everyone. I think the main thing I always sort of stress is just encourage everyone to be curious and be creative, you know, just helping themselves constantly be on the lookout for things that you feel could help you and that you could add to your routine that you could add to the way you prepare. I think that there's so much out there so much

available to us these days, people are talking about sports psychology so much more. I loved how much they were talking about it during the Winter Olympics. You know, I just think that if you have, you sort of put your attention there, there's a lot to find and there's a lot to know about yourself. So I just encourage everyone to really be curious

and go out and sort of craft as best they can, just these great ways to support themselves. Awesome. I'm so grateful that you joined us today and that you're able to find time in your busy schedule. Tanya, this is what I heard, like the most important stuff I'm getting from it. I loved just this conversation about equestrian sport and how, you know, your horse really reads you. So it's so important to be present and really in tune with how you're feeling. You can't fake it with your horse. I think that's the uniqueness of the sport. That's maybe different than other sports. I loved your two positive rule and helping us think about what went well and two things that we did well that we were like a part of. And then really enjoyed what you described in terms of staying fueled,

finding your highlights that you talked about in your post, post ride notes and finding the things that give you energy that are hard. And then the way we ended with this motivational statement. So I'm grateful that you spent some time sharing your expertise with us today. Yeah, well, thank you. Thank you so much for having me. Yeah, tell us how we can reach out to you. Tell us about your social media channels and obviously your book, Inside Your Ride, Mental Skills for Being Happy and Successful with Your Horse is available on Amazon, paperback and ebook. So I just bought the ebook version. Tell us how we can reach out to Tanya. Yeah, thanks. Yeah. So my website is just

my name. So it's Tanya Johnston.com. And I'm on all the different channels. I'm on Instagram, Instagram, I'd say is my, I put a lot of different ideas on there, hopefully inspiring, hopefully motivating. And my Instagram is Inside Your Ride. And I'm on Facebook at Tanya Johnston Mental Skills Coach. You can follow me there. I have my own podcast that's a monthly podcast. Cinder, you're really impressive. I think you do this weekly.

This is amazing. Mine is monthly and it's also called Inside Your Ride, a little bit of a theme there with the book title. And that's available on iTunes. You search for the plaid cast, which is one word, plaid cast. And then my show is a monthly show on the plaid cast and that's available on Horse Radio Network. So that's a, that's available on horse radio network so that's a that's one way to check out sort of what i talk to same same as you i talk to sort of but in the riding world so top trainers and riders and coaches um and then i also try to have some sports psychology professionals on or people who i think have something to offer as far as potentially ideas

for adding to someone's routine, someone's mental skills. So it's really fun. I really enjoy it. So yeah, a lot of different ways to stay in touch these days, but thank you so much for having me. Thank you so much for joining us, Tanya.

Thank you so much for joining me today on the High Performance Mindset. If you'd like to learn more about the mental game in business, sport, and in life, you can pick up your own copy of the Beyond Grit book and workbook at beyondgrit.com. You know, the book and workbook covers 10 practices to help you gain the high performance edge and provides practical strategies and tools that work. Adam Thielen, a Pro Bowl wide receiver for the Minnesota Vikings, wrote the foreword, and you can learn his insights on how he implements the mental game. And a special

offer for the listeners of the podcast, you can use the code FREESHIP, that's capital letters and all one word, FREESHIP, to get free shipping of the book and workbook at beyondgrit.com. Have an outstanding day, my friends, and be mentally strong. Thank you for listening to High Performance Mindset. If you liked today's podcast, make a comment, share it with a friend, and join the conversation on Twitter at mentally underscore strong. For more inspiration and to receive Sindra's free weekly videos, check out drsindra.com.