High Performance Mindset | Learn from World-Class Leaders, Consultants, Athletes & Coaches about Mindset - 277: How to Focus on the Right Thing at the Right Time with Hannah Huesman, Mental Skills Coach for the Philadelphia Phillies

Episode Date: September 23, 2019

Hannah Huesman, M.S., is a Mental Skills Coach with the Philadelphia Phillies. She is a Certified Mental Performance Consultant with the Association for Applied Sport Psychology. Before joining the Phillies, she was a Mental Performance Coach with Sport Strata, a New York based firm focuses on teaching skills and techniques proven to increase characteristics of peak mental performance. Hannah received her Master’s degree in Sport Psychology and Motor Learning from the University of Tennessee, and played Division I softball and basketball at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. She has a series on Instagram and LinkedIn called “Mental Sweat Mondays.”  In this podcast, Hannah and Cindra talk about: How she developed her own confidence What’s it is like working in professional baseball as a female Why confidence is up to you How mental skills need to be practiced proactively not reactively What it means to focus on the right thing at the right time And how self-awareness is “the” foundational skill You can find a full description of the Podcast at cindrakamphoff.com/hannah. You can find Hannah at https://www.instagram.com/hannahhuesman.

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. This is your host, Dr. Sindra Kampoff. And thank you so much for joining me here today. I am a speaker, author, and mental performance consultant. And today I interview a fellow mental performance consultant that I'm really excited to introduce you to. Her name is Hannah Huseman. And if you

know that mindset is essential to your success, then this is the podcast for you. So make sure you subscribe. You can head over to iTunes or Stitcher Radio, iHeart Radio, wherever you're listening to this and hit the subscribe button so you don't miss an episode. Today's episode is 277 with Hannah Huseman. So Hannah Huseman is a mental skills coach with the Philadelphia Phillies. She's also a certified mental performance consultant with the Association for Applied Sports Ecology. And before joining the Phillies, she was a mental performance coach with Sportstrakka, a New York-based firm focusing on teaching skills and techniques proven to increase characteristics of peak mental performance. So Hannah received her master's degree in sports psychology and motor learning

from the University of Tennessee. She also played division one softball and basketball at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, which we talk about in this interview. And she has a series on Instagram and she also posts on LinkedIn called Mental Sweat Mondays. I love her posts and before interviewing her I binge watched on many of them so I'd head over to Instagram and check her out at Hannah Huseman. Now in this podcast Hannah and I talk about various things related to mental performance in the mental game. We talk about how she developed her own confidence and how she works to continue to develop that particularly because she is a female working in professional baseball. And so we talk a little bit about that.

She describes why confidence is really up to you, how mental skills need to be practiced proactively, not reactively, what it means to focus on the right thing at the right time. And she also talks about how self-awareness is the foundational mental skill. I know you're gonna enjoy today's episode. If you enjoyed this, screenshot it wherever you're listening and post it

anywhere you'd like on social media, like Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and we'll make sure we interact with you and give you some love there. And to find the full show notes and description, you can head over to cindracampoff.com slash Hannah. Let's go. Here's Hannah.

Welcome to the podcast today, Hannah Huseman. Thank you so much for being on here today, Hannah. Yeah, Cindra. Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited. I'm really excited too. I have been following you on Instagram and love your Mental Sweat Mondays and the videos that you post on there. So that's one thing that we're going to talk a little bit about. Awesome. Yeah, yeah. Before we do, I just want to want you to

give the listeners a little bit of background in terms of your passion and what you do right now. Yeah, so originally born and raised in Nashville, Tennessee, and then love sports and have played sports my whole life. And so that's definitely something that I wanted to hold on to and actually went and played softball in college at the University of Tennessee in Chattanooga. And from there, you know, had all kinds of trials and tribulations and goods and bads and highs and lows and ended up taking a sports psychology class my senior year and was like, what the heck is this? And why have I never heard of this? In trying to find my career path and what I was going to do after school, you know, I knew I wanted to stay somehow involved

in sport and in athletics. And I thought I was going to be a strength trainer. I thought I was going to be a coach. And little did I know I was going to be a coach, but on the other side of things, on the mental side of things. And so I took a class and loved it and did a lot of research and found a grad school program and ended up going to the University of Tennessee, where I got my master's. And then from there, did a few internships and had a, my second internship was with the Pittsburgh Pirates. So I actually worked with that baseball team right out of, I got out of grad school and then went to New York and worked for a private practice for about a year and a half. And I am just now wrapping up my second season with the Philadelphia Phillies as a mental skills

coach for them. Yeah, that's great. And why did you choose baseball? Like, was there anything specific, you know, just right away from getting out of grad school and doing your internship with the Pirates? Anything specific about baseball that made you excited about it? I don't think so. I was really keeping my eyes open, you know, and opportunities open of whatever the best opportunity was. And I did an internship with a golf academy, which was amazing. And I had never even played golf. So it was both challenging mentally and physically to learn the sport while teaching these athletes how to be mentally prepared for it. But baseball's one of the professional sports that is really, really latching on to the mental game and really becoming accepting of it. And I think one of the leaders of

opportunities in it. And so I think it was just an opportunity that was available for an internship there. And to be totally honest, like I did not think I was equipped to go do it. And I heard other people were applying and I was like, you know what, what the heck, why not? And then it led to a few interviews and then it just was the best fit. And I went to the private practice and worked with a lot of different performers and loved it and got experience working with firefighters and surgeons and VPs of companies and sales and from, you know, middle school athletes to professional athletes. And I just really, it's really cool to be a part of a team and a part of an organization bigger than you. And so I was like, you know, I really want to try to get back

into that team atmosphere. And that's when I, I did a few interviews and got the call with the Phillies and it's been awesome ever since. It's just, it's really neat when you get to walk that journey with people instead of just kind of sporadic meetings. But when you get to talk to them and see them and then see their progress and daily conversations, it just creates a lot of rapport and, and just that camaraderie of a team and bigger than me and bigger than this. And it's really cool. And it's, it's makes the true passion really fire and light up for sure. Yeah, that's awesome. I can hear the passion in your voice. That's wonderful. You know, I think, Hannah, especially maybe right when we're getting out of graduate school, you know, I think some people might not have the confidence to go work with pro athletes,

you know, just because of the age. So how did you kind of overcome that barrier? And maybe that's still a barrier that, you know, you might still have to overcome now? Yeah, that's such a good question. And I think it definitely comes down to your personality. I have people ask me a lot, like, what do I need to do to be in baseball and females too? And I'm like, you know, the two biggest pieces of advice that I got about why I got the job that I did was one, your confidence, you know, you can't, if we're teaching confidence, and if you don't have confidence, it's like this whole hypocrisy that's happening. And so it's like, you got to go in with confidence and knowing that you are going to be able to figure it out, you're going to belong, like you can belong here, like,

you do fit and not doubt that for a second. And, and that's harder, a lot easier said than done. Um, but I would say confidence. And then like you said, enthusiasm. I think if you come to your job every single morning with a smile on your face and pumped to be here, like there's nowhere else better to be right now. Like you're going to fit in and they want you to be passionate because the guys here, you know, this is their whole life. It's their career. And they're putting everything else on life on hold for this and for their career. And they want to know that you're there to help them and that you're just as dedicated as they are and as competitive as

they are and as confident as they want to be and all that. So I think confidence and enthusiasm are two really big pieces to what got me here. And I also think like having a voice too I think it's I think it's something that goes overlooked especially you know as females but like I I don't believe like a shy super shy super quiet I think it'd be really challenging to make it in this world just because everything's so loud and boisterous and like constantly going and you will just like get run over in here and so it's like kind of having to stand up for things that maybe you didn't know you had to stand up for or wearing guys uniforms, you know,

like we were like dry fit shirts and basketball shorts and like being okay with it. And like going with the flow is also a big one too. But it was definitely intimidating and there still are intimidating moments working with all guys and being around guys constantly, but you really get used to it and I think it's also looking yourself in the mirror and knowing that this

isn't my world like this is their world and you're coming into their world so how can I acclimate to that world to a certain extent you know how can I how can I fit in when I know I'm standing out constantly um just by having long hair you know and it's just, how can you fit in and get on their level and be in their world, but still bring your level of expertise and not, you know, get rid of anything that you could potentially be bringing to the table. Yeah, that's really good. I think the belief that, you know, you do fit in and you will fit in is really important because I think if you're, and I know this working with the Vikings for the last four years and, you know, working with a lot of high school football teams, college football teams, NFL teams, you know, like if you're constantly figuring out or noticing the ways that you stand

out, like, I don't think that's really helpful either to fit in, you know, if you're looking at differences instead of similarities. Yes. Yeah. So Hannah, what would be, you know, maybe your top two tips on just like how did you cultivate that confidence I know this is something that we teach athletes right and performers is like confidence but you know we also have to practice it ourselves so what what's allowed you to be confident in your skills and your knowledge yeah I think that's a really great question um I think you know a lot of it is literally coming from self talk, like, I will absolutely look myself in the mirror and be like, you can freaking

do this, like you deserve to be here. Like you didn't get this from luck, you didn't get this, because so and so made a call. I didn't know anybody at my first internship, people like, who did you know? What did you I didn't know anybody. Like I literally sent in my resume and was hoping and praying that something would happen, you know? And so I think self-talk is a huge piece for me, especially because there are definitely times of doubt, honestly, on a daily basis of, am I good enough? What would I do? How do you do this? And, and I think it's constantly reassuring myself that you belong here and that you absolutely can do this. And I think another thing that feeds that is being a female because it's not normal. It's not expected. And I remember the first time I ever asked for a raise, I was freaking out, you know, it wasn't

here. It was like one of my first jobs. It wasn't here. And I was like, I can't do this. I'm so scared. And I actually Googled, how do you ask for a raise? And the first article that popped up was the most common person to not ask for a raise is blank. And so I was like, oh, that's weird. And I clicked on it and it was literally young female professionals, which is what I was. And I was like, absolutely not like that, like lit the fire under me to no you're going for this like you absolutely deserve this you work your tail off um so I think that's a really important part it's just self-talk and constantly reminding yourself and

I think I say all the time is you have to be your biggest critic but you also have to be your biggest fan and that's taken a lot of practice for me for sure is making sure that when I do a good job I'm able to pat myself on the back. And I'm telling players that constantly, like, we always have these high expectations. And when we reach them, we're like, good. And it's like, no, like, you actually have to reward yourself and pat yourself on the back and notice when you do something well. So that's the first thing I would say of how I cultivate confidence. I like what you said about in terms of just like even doubting yourself on a daily basis. And, you know, I've been in the field for goodness, I don't know,

it might be 20 years now, it seems like a long time, you know, like, how can I be that old? But you know, there are times where I'm like, you know, I hear that that negative Nelly or the, you know, the inner critic or our gremlin or whatever we want to call it. And I really have to talk back to myself too. So it's, it's great to hear, you know, that that's normal and natural. And for everyone's listening, you know, I think it's, it's just how you respond and how do you talk to yourself after those moments of doubt? Absolutely. And I'm trying to think, you know, a second part, which I was kind of going to talk about later, but when I played softball, I, I had a lot of confidence in high school. And when I went to college, all that confidence kind of went away because it was, you know, everybody was really

good and I wasn't all of a sudden the best player on the team. And I lost that for a while. And I remember constantly trying to seek that confidence from other people. Yeah. I could never find it, but I didn't know then that that's what I was doing. And now, you know, going back to school constantly trying to seek that confidence from other people. Yeah, I could never find it. But I didn't know then that that's what I was doing. And now, you know, going back to school and researching all this and learning this is that it's very easy and obvious for me to see that my entire college career, I was searching for those confidence boosts from other people. And the whole time, it had to be me. And it had to come from within, it had to be myself. And it wasn't in college. And that

was one of the hardest things I ever had to learn. And I didn't learn it till I left. And so now like that's definitely a big message that I'm constantly talking to athletes, especially college, high school, even professional athletes. It's like, you are going to look down that third baseline. You're going to look over at the bench. You're going to look at your mom. You're going to look at your coach and you're going to hope to see that confidence in you. And sometimes you're not going to see it. And you got to be prepared for that. And you have to know, how do I find this within myself? What do I need to say to myself, like you were talking about self talk, what do I need to do? What actions do I need to take to create that confidence in myself without needing anybody else to feel the way I

want to feel or to perform the way I want to perform. So I think that's another thing that really drives my confidence is that it's not coming from anybody else. So if I'm not confident in myself, no shot anybody else is going to be. And so it's that daily reminder of you create your own confidence for sure. Awesome. Yeah, I wrote in my notes as we're talking like confidence is up to us, right? And it's really our responsibility. I think that's powerful. And I'm also hearing, you know, some similarities in our stories. I think one of the reasons I got interested in performance psychology work is like my own experience as a college athlete.

I wasn't very mentally tough and definitely was looking at my coach for confidence or my teammates for confidence. Didn't necessarily realize that it was up to me kind of like what you're saying and I think my performance decreased because of that and you know definitely have some regrets but I've seen that those have really helped me and kind of what that is like I think about like these difficult moments happening for us not to us right like they're there to teach us something for me it, it led me to this career, which it sounds like perhaps it led you to the career too. Your own struggles led you to for sure be passionate about what you do. Absolutely. I kind of laugh and like, most of

what the guys or athletes or performers go through, like I've either gone through it or one of my best friends has gone through and I've walked them through that. And so I absolutely don't think without those experiences that I would be a mental skills coach whatsoever. Yeah, that's great to know. You know, and I think that's helpful for people who are listening that, you know, these difficulties you can frame into opportunities. And you know, there's a reason why you're struggling with that because it's maybe going to lead you to pursuing something in the future. So Hannah, talk about struggles. So I ask everybody to share with us a time that you failed and what you learned from it as a way for us to learn something from a difficulty you had, but then also for us to kind of see what the opportunities are. So could you take us back to a time that didn't go so great for you and what you learned from it? Yeah, for sure. So funny story, I actually went to college to play basketball. And it was at the same college, it was the University of Tennessee, Chattanooga.

In my freshman year, I actually went and played basketball for that coach. I was recruited, I played both basketball and softball very heavily, um, AU and travel softball growing up. And, and I really could never make up my mind, um, of what I wanted to do. And I always knew softball was definitely where my heart was, but basketball was a super challenging sport for me. And I just really felt passionate about chasing that challenge and going for it. And so I went for it. And I played my freshman year, I played basketball and to chalk that whole year up as a failure, I think is a little harsh. But there was a lot of aspects of that that I failed in. And whether it was, you know, actual performance and the outcomes and all of those things, or whether it was relationships with coaches, or whatever it was,

I definitely failed big time and like truly felt like I was at rock bottom, didn't know what I was going to do. Was I going to keep playing? Was I going to transfer and play somewhere else? Was I going to stay at that school and not play anything? Was I going to transfer and play softball? And trying to figure that out and obviously ended up deciding to stay at the same school and play softball. But before that happened, and even after that happened, and still to this day, like, I view that as a part of me that failed. And I always, my mom is so amazing. She has her master's in psychology, also, not sports psychology, but just clinical psychology. And she's always like, well, what comes out of it? You know, what did you get out of that? And so I think about it a lot. And I truly believe that some of the things I got

out of this have literally shaped me and molded me to the female that I am today. You know, it, it forced me to have hard conversations. It forced me to decide on my career early in life when maybe I wasn't ready to make that decision. It forced me to look myself in the mirror and have an accountability mirror and really hold myself accountable when I was like 18, 19 years old and didn't know, I thought the world was ending and really trying to force me to see all the negatives. And I, it really took a lot of challenge to find the good and the positive. And for a while it wasn't, you know, for a while I couldn't see it, but looking back now, it's like no better decision was made. Like the fact that I stayed there, the fact that I could still play softball there and the coach was open and willing to let me come play on the team and

that I do still you know that basketball failure quote-unquote is still in my head like almost every day but the adversity that I had to go through without a doubt like created my personality and and who I am and you know you're in college and it was my freshman year and so mom and dad aren't there and it's the first time you really got to stick up for yourself and say things that may be hard or have conversations that are difficult. And, but you do those, and it just shapes you for life. And it without a doubt has shaped me who I am. And that's probably where a lot of my confidence and my boldness comes from. And also my realness, just because I don't believe in, you know, just sunshines and

rainbows all the time or being super negative all the time. I believe in realism with an optimistic cherry on top. It's kind of how I call it. You know, we're going to look at the situation as it is and we're going to try to find some positive from it. And we're going to try to spin this and have that objective optimism viewpoint of whatever is going on. But it was super hard. And during it, I did not think I was going to come out alive. Like it was super hard. And during it, I did not think I was going to come out alive. Like it was awful tears, sadness, all of that good stuff. And it did and it without a doubt has made me stronger than probably I ever would have been had I just gone to a school and played softball for years and had a breeze of an experience. It wasn't like that at

all. And then it kind of, you know, put me behind the eight ball for softball. Now you've been playing basketball for a year and you've been out of the sport. So it took me a while to get back into the swing of softball, literally and figuratively. And so it was, it was such a challenge and I hate to view it as a failure, but you know, so, but that's, that's my failure story. But I, without a doubt, believe that it's, it has 100% made me a large part of who I am today. Absolutely. Well, it sounds like it was a really like critical moment in your life where you could have just kind of stuck with the, you know, how you were recruited, but you're really like found things inside you. And I like what you said is like it shaped your personality. So wow,

talk about a critical moment that has allowed you to really thrive now, right? It's difficult in the moment, but there's always a way that we can find the silver lining, right? Or the cherry on top. It's not always easy, but it's the way that we really frame it and our mindset related to our difficulties, however you define it. For sure. And it was so hard to see it then you know but it's so easy to look back and be like oh yeah it was great you know but in that moment it was extremely extremely difficult for sure for sure so Hannah tell us a little bit about your mental sweat Mondays and when did you start those and how long have you been doing them yes so mental sweat Monday is a

one-minute video I posted on LinkedIn and Instagram and I actually started it the first Monday of this year. I actually started it in January because I really wanted to try and do something different on social media and really try to let people in on a little bit of what I do on a daily basis. And so it's every Monday. It's a one minute video. And it's like, different tips and tricks and, and tools and things that you could use and need for your mental skills. And, you know, we named it mental sweat Monday, because the best way to describe it is to compare it to

physical strength. And every day, you know, we hear we should be working out physically, we should be doing yoga, we should be walking, we should be doing all this breaking a physical sweat every day, we know it's good. But what sometimes get neglected, and most of the time gets neglected is the mental sweating and the mental health and checking in on your mental skills and your mental game. And so it's almost just to kind of serve as a reminder to you probably got that physical sweat in, but did you mentally sweat sweat today did you check in internally on on how your head's doing and how your heart is doing and I just got really passionate about it and so we started and my husband helped me come up with a name that's why I keep saying we um I love it um but uh came up with it and just have been

running with it and it's it's definitely been challenging but we've gotten some awesome feedback just impacting you know everyone from from professional athletes to 10 year old athletes to not even athletes to moms that's probably been one of the coolest feedbacks I've gotten is um I have a lot of young moms you know in my age group they have new babies and they're like this applies to moms too and I'm like I love that like keep using it and so it's just been really cool to because that's a big part and what I think life is like life is mental skills. Like if you're alive and you are breathing, you're performing, you are performing in relationships. You're performing at your job. You are performing being a mom, being a sister, being a daughter, whatever it is like you are performing. And which means you need to be checking in on your mental skills too.

And not just your physical self. And, and I think it's cool that the mental side of things is really starting to become a lot more talked about on social media. And I think the latest little meme I've seen going around is like, you can be physically healthy, you can be physically fit and all these things. But if you're not mentally healthy, it doesn't matter. I think that's so cool. And so true. So it's just to serve as a reminder and maybe even give you a few little tips to try and, and see what works best for you because just like physical workouts, not everything's going to be for you, but hopefully you can find one thing that you're like, wow, yes, I need this. I want this. I want to do it every day and go for it. I love it. Well, I follow Hannah on Instagram. So it's Hannah Huseman.

Are you Hannah Huseman on LinkedIn too, for people who want to go and check it out and follow you? Yep. That same thing. Okay, good. And so I was telling Hannah before we hit record that I like binge watched on like six of her videos again this morning. I've been following along and I think it's really fun to see you do that. And you did say something to me at the beginning that it's a little bit out of your comfort zone or you really haven't have courage to do it. So tell us a little bit about, you know, maybe even how you prepare for it, or even though

it feels uncomfortable, you know, where does your inspiration come in terms of why do you keep posting? Yeah, absolutely. So at the very beginning, I like made an announcement that I was going to do this for a whole year on every Monday and so I'm like really trying hard to stick to it and some days like a breeze and like there's been a couple days where I've filmed like two or three and then there's days like today where I haven't filmed it yet you know and so it's it's it's making sure you are still staying true to that and I think I think the inspiration comes from wanting to be

real. And again, like that realism is really, really, really important to me. And that it's, it's like, sometimes it's situations that I'm going through. It's, you know, training for half marathon right now. And, and something that has challenged me and could potentially challenge you. So my inspiration comes from like daily things that I hear or see, or maybe a quote on Facebook reminds me of like, Oh yes, that's normal. Let's talk about this. Like, let's make a point to review this on Mental Sweat Monday and bring attention to this instead of, you know, just quotes and which all of these social media is filled

with quotes nowadays, which there's nothing wrong with quotes. But wanting to give people a different way to tune in you know and and not just read long quotes or read a lot just tune in one minute watch this little video it's their short suite and pretty to the point you know they're not very in-depth because you can't go a lot in depth for a minute which I think challenges me too but it's definitely been awkward and weird at first because it's hard to sit in front of a camera you gotta like first of all make sure you don't look like you just rolled out of bed um and and then it takes a few tries and so like my process is coming up with an idea which like I said it's pretty organically comes to mind like whether it's a conversation I have with somebody or I see

something online and I'm like this is my inspo or it's a personal thing that I'm going through um and then I write down a lot of ideas and then I write out a script and I practice the script a million and a half times. And then I take a deep breath and then I start recording. And don't worry, there are plenty of outtakes that I'm probably gonna do at the end of the year

and just put a whole thing together on bloopers of the Mental Sweat Mondays. But, and then it takes, you know, sometimes it takes three or four tries. Sometimes it takes 15 to 20 times. And it's just a matter of really making it all flow smoothly because I don't stop it and edit it. I just try to flow straight through because I really want it to be more of a conversation versus this like too scripted out thing. I really want it to feel authentic because it is authentic. and the ideas do come from real people and real

experiences, real life experiences. So it's been fun. It's definitely been challenging and we're almost to the end. So always looking for more ideas on what to talk about on Mental Stuff Monday. I love that you're talking about how it's not easy, right? And sometimes we can see these polished versions of whatever people are posting and think, wow, that was really good. You know, maybe assume it just took you a minute to think of the message and then deliver it. Yeah, not even close. It takes a lot of work for sure. So one question I have, so I have a few questions about some of the content that you've posted there. And I think this would be great for people who are listening. So tell us what you mean by mental skills can be best practiced proactively, not reactively. Can you give us an example?

Yeah. So the best way I like to talk about that is think about the dentist, right? Like way back when nobody went to the dentist until their teeth were falling out. And then somebody was like, hey, maybe we should go before our teeth fall out. That way they won't fall out. And so now we have to go to the dentist twice or every year, right? It's the same as mental skills. It's like, why wait until all the, you know, what's hitting the fan? Why wait until we're in the lowest point? Why not practice it beforehand? And, and to me, if you can do that, again, just like physical skills, what we're trying to do with mental skills is equip you and give you the skills that you need. So when you hit a certain situation or rock bottom or whatever it is, you know how to handle it instead of something bad happens or throws you off your routine or who knows what.

And you just downward spiral instead of being like, OK, I knew I was prepared for this. Let me reach into my little toolbox and take something out and use this and see if that'll work for this. We want to make sure we're actively giving you things before anything could happen instead of reacting because we know that typically reactions are negative and harsh on ourselves and too critical, especially in the heat of the moment. And so it's like, what if we could practice a response to whatever that is, whatever's happening. And obviously we can't predict everything that's going to happen, but we can get pretty close and we can, we can equip you with

enough skills that no matter what you're faced with, you've got something you can pull out of and practice instead of just letting it, you know, letting one bad at bat affect the entire game or one bad game affect the entire month or one bad game affect the entire month or one bad month affect the entire season. You know, that's what we're constantly trying to do is shorten that amount of quote unquote struggle or downward spiral. So it's being equipped before anything even happens is the proactive versus reactive. Awesome. Love it. Love it. Can you give us an example of a mental skill that, you know, when you think about your work there with the Phillies or just with other pro athletes or high

level athletes, is there a specific mental skill that, you know, you find that if athletes really practice more proactively, it makes a big difference? Oh, I love that question. I would have to say the answer to that is either breathing like proper breathing techniques or visualization and I think I think visualization because obviously we're trying to put people in situations before they get there and if we can get those same neurons firing in your brain as if you've actually already physically been there then when you're there your heart rate you're able to control your heart rate and able to control your breathing a little bit more than maybe if you've never been there before um and then breathing also because it's very common to hear just relax take a deep breath but like what does that actually mean and how do you actually do it um i think is the most important part and so it's like really teaching

teaching everybody to why why are you taking this breath And how do you actually do it? What's the proper form? Because just by taking a breath with no meaning behind it, you know, that doesn't do anything. So I think breathing and visualization are the best for working on proactively instead of reactively. Love it. Awesome. And I know, you know, several of your posts have been about like awareness and self-awareness. So one of the things that you said was like, you can't grow if you don't know, everything starts with awareness. So tell us why like self awareness is really essential to, at least in your opinion, into practicing mental skills and being mentally strong. I love that you asked that because awareness is my foundation. You know, people ask like, what is your philosophy?

What do you teach? And I'm like, a hundred percent awareness because exactly what you just said. If you do not know what's going on upstairs, there's no way you can change it. So, you know, if, if you give an awesome presentation or, or a speech or you have a really good game or performance and I'm like, Hey, how'd it go? What were you thinking? And you're like, I don't know. Like, how are we going to replicate that? How or the reverse, right? When things aren't going well, well, what happened? I don't know. We have to become aware

of what's going on upstairs so that we can, you know, utilize the good and try to replicate that and then take out and delegate the bad. And, and I think that's so important. And obviously I can't jump inside your brain. You have to be able to tell me what's going on so we can talk about it and try to figure out what's going on. But if a lot of guys, you get in the heat of the moment, you know, and you're just like, I don't know what happened. I don't know what happened. It's like, I'm trying really hard to remember. And so I think that again, goes back to the proactive. If you're just being reactive and not noticing what your thoughts are, then you're not going to know. But if you know, going into it, I really want to focus on what I'm thinking about in this moment. And then when I pitch it well, or when I hit it well, or when I perform well, or whatever it is, why did I do that? Why? How did that happen? How did I create that? Not only physically, right, where you can go back and watch film, but also mentally, like those two things go hand in hand. So I firmly believe without awareness, you're really not going to be able to practice any other mental skills. I mean, you think about even goal setting, you've got to know where you

are before you know where you want to go. It doesn't matter where you want to go. If you don't know where you are right now, it's the old analogy of you walk into a mall and you walk up to the mall map, you know, and the first thing you look for is what, you know, where are you? And that's the number one, where are you in life? Where are you physically? Where are you mentally? And then you can start talking about where you want to be or what you want to do and how you're going to get there. But step number one is always, where are you right now? Nice. Good. I love it. And I think about so much of my work is kind of similar in terms of helping athletes understand themselves a little more and what leads to their best and what doesn't. I find especially young athletes would respond with like, I don't know. I don't know what I was thinking. I can't

remember my last performance, you know. So I love that, you know, when people ask you, it's like that you see awareness as the foundation. Absolutely. So Hannah, one of the things that you talked about was like what mental toughness is to you. So tell us what mental toughness means to you and how have you defined it? So this is something I've worked on for a while because I've heard so many different opinions on what mental toughness actually is. And they all kind of come down to similar things, you know, persevering, doing that, doing this. But I think my definition of mental toughness is focusing on the right thing at the right time. It sounds super simple and super easy, but it's not, you know, it's think of the heat of the moment. You're in the heat of the moment and the game speeds up on

you or whatever. Are you able to still focus on what you know you need to be focusing on? And this goes for both when you're performing really well and you're like, okay, everything's going well. I'm feeling really good. Are you still able to focus and lock in on what you need to be focused on? Or when things aren't going well and you're struggling and you're trying to search for anything and grab any straws, are you still able to be like, you know what? Things aren't going well, but I'm going to stick to my plan. I'm going to keep focusing on what I know I need to do and what I know I need to focus on instead of maybe even trying too hard or doing too much or not enough. You know, it's, I truly believe the most mentally

tough people are able to focus on what they're supposed to focus on, which is typically a plan that you've put in place before you even started performing when they're supposed to focus on, which is typically a plan that you've put in place before you even started performing, when they're supposed to focus on it. And like I said, like most mental skills, pretty simple concepts, but pretty difficult to do, especially under pressure and when game's on the line or heart's racing and you can't even catch your own breath and not even aware of your own thoughts.

But it's really being able to lock in on what you know you need to be focusing on in that moment. Absolutely. And I also think about how it's like, you know, to me, it's like mental skills as a practice. It's not something that you're born with. We have to practice it every day, you know, and even if you're mentally tough one day, I have to practice it every day. So I like that it's, you know, it's simple. And I think of all the research that's done on mental toughness and the definitions are probably more complicated than simple. So yeah. So I think about that one article written by Graham Jones and it's like mental toughness is,

and then they list all these things, right? Like being confident under pressure and outperforming your opponent, being more determined and we can keep on going on and on. But let's apply like your definition to sport and then kind of like everyday life just so people can like really understand what you're saying. So focusing on the right thing at the right time. What would be an example in baseball? So an example in baseball would be, let's say a pitcher is pitching and all of a sudden he gives up a home run. Okay.

And naturally you freak out, you're mad, you're upset, you react, you do all these things. And then you get back on the mound and maybe all of a sudden your focus is like, well, now I have to get this guy out or I can't let anybody else score or I can't let the team lose or whatever those natural thoughts are. When reality, his focus should still be on his same plan before that guy hit the home run, right? It should still be on pitch execution, or external focus, or location, or whatever it is that his plan is. And that's really hard, especially when you just got rocked, right, off of a pitch. And so it's being able to be like, okay, I know my brain is automatically focusing on that home run and I'm mad and I'm upset about it, but I also am going

to take a deep breath. I'm going to gain control of my thoughts and I'm going to focus on this one thing that I know I'm supposed to be focusing on. That's my baseball example. Good. How do you have one in life or, you know, in your job or kind of outside of baseball? Yeah. So let me think. I think like outside of baseball, mentally tough. I think it's just, I mean, obviously the same thing. So it's, let's say you're presenting for a job or you have an interview or something happens and, and right before the interview or right before the presentation or right before the speech or, or scary conversation that you're about to have, you kind of freak out, right? And you've done all your

preparation. You've thought about it. You've written everything out, but then two minutes before you're absolutely freaking out, right? And your stomach's hurting all this and you just don't know what to do. You're freaking out. You're yelling, you're sweating, your heart's racing and all this stuff. And I think the mentally tough person in that moment can say, right, starts with awareness. Okay, I'm aware that all this is going on and that this is an intimidating meeting or presentation or public speaking event or whatever it is. But I know the one thing I need to focus on is X, Y, and Z, right? Whatever my goal is that I need to make eye contact or get my main point across or just believe in myself or that confidence level, whatever that reminder is, which you kind of, you need to figure that out before you go do it.

But you're reminding yourself that that is the one thing you need to be focusing on right now. It's not fear of failing. It's not fear of messing up or whatever could potentially be popping into our brains because we know when, when everything's going crazy and we're excited and nervous and all that, some, we potentially have the time and those worst, worst thoughts come in, you know, the worst thoughts you can think of come into your head and it's being able to, you know, lock it in and being like, okay, this is what I have to focus on. This is what I know I have to focus on. And I think another cool way to describe it is, uh, it's like you're driving over a bridge, right? With a lot of water underneath it right a big bridge like in florida or something and and the natural thoughts that could pop into our head are you know i don't want to drive off it or what would happen if this

collapsed right there's just naturally popping your head and then you're like okay wait let me actually focus on what i need to be focusing on and that's that if this bridge was unsturdy we probably wouldn't be on it or whoever built built this bridge was probably a genius and a great engineer. And so I think we're fine. And I just need to focus on driving and staying in my lane being alert, instead of focusing on all of the other crazy things that potentially be coming into my head. Yeah, I like it. Well, I was thinking, Hannah, the example that we talked about, of being like a female in male pro sport, right? Like you could be focusing on how you don't fit and how you're different, or you could be focusing on how you do fit and,

and kind of what you're saying about your self talk of I belong here and I deserve to be here. And I've worked really hard to be here. All those really empowering thoughts. And I think that's an example of focusing on the right thing at the right time. Absolutely. Allowing those like automatic negative thoughts to, you know, kind of take over your mind, your actions, and allowing yourself to really decide to think

differently, even though that they might just be thoughts popping in your mind. Absolutely, and choosing to focus on that instead of the opposite, or instead of the other, like, and that's a choice, like, and that's a mental skill, right? that's something you practice on can I take my focus from this and focus on that even in the heat of the moment and and absolutely couldn't agree more awesome so one of the other things you talked about on your mental sweat mondays is how comparison is fatal to performance so talk us talk to us a little bit about like your perception of that and how you see people, even in the pros, compare themselves to others. going or quicker she's losing weight or he's making money whatever it is you know it's taking time away from you and figuring out what you are doing and what you need to do it's wasted energy on other things and that thought actually came to me when I first started training for my half

marathon and immediately literally I really like two runs and then I started looking up everything and anything about anyone who's ever run a half marathon and I'm like well what is she finishing well what shoes is he wearing well what race should I run like and I was like what am I doing and why like I have never run a half marathon you know I ran track in high school short mostly short distance and sprint work obviously with basketball and softball but I was like what doing? Like, I'm talking like an hour, maybe even two hours of like trying to figure out what they did and when they finished and what, what I should be doing. And it was just like unbelievable. And I couldn't believe how

fast I fell into that trap. And I was like, you know what, how often are we as people comparing ourselves to others? And it's constantly in, in a, in the social media day and age of, well, how does she have that job and have kids? You know, how does he do that? How do I get that job? You know, I get messages all the time. How did you get your job? Sure.

It's not about that. It's what are you doing every day on a daily basis to make yourself the best version of yourself? And I love going back, about Ken revisit, you know, I was sitting in one of his talks in ask at our annual conference one year and all, you know, all these students are so eager to hear what he's going to say. Cause everybody wants to be just like Ken revisit. And I remember he said, you want to be like me? And he goes, you can't, you haven't failed enough. And I just loved that because it's like, we all did want to be like him, you know, and we do want to be like him still. And it's, it's like, you're never, it's like,

stop doing that and just keep focusing on what you're good at and, and learn from the people around you, but don't give them so much energy that you're literally taking energy away from your own progress and your own forward movement. And that's absolutely what I was doing when I was training for the marathon. So that's where that thought came in. But I mean, you think about it, we're all constantly comparing ourselves to others and that's truly just wasted energy. Absolutely. And I like what Ken Revisa said. I would probably, it was in the audience too, because I would never miss, you know, hearing Ken speak. For sure. One of the things I really like what you said about you haven't failed enough.

You can't be me. So what's your perspective on failure or setbacks? And what are the best, most mentally tough ways that you've seen? Maybe you can give us an example of somebody you've worked with in terms of when they have failed, how have they rebounded? And what are the ways that they move forward after the mistake or failure? Yeah. So I am a really big fan of turning failure of shifting the perspective on failure into a challenge. So like really dissecting, like, why did you fail in this moment? What happened? What, what did you feel physically?

What did you feel mentally, emotionally? What did it happen before it? Like, were you, were you already behind before you got into it? Um, but it's really figuring out what that failure is and then viewing it as a challenge. Okay. So how can we do the same thing, but be successful next time? Um, and not fail and what adjustments do we need to make? Um, and just like reframing this idea of what failure is, you know, and, and kind of going back to my failure story of, you know, I hate to even call it a failure, but it's okay to admit that it is a failure, but maybe not viewing it as a negative light, right? We have to fail to grow. And most people know that, like, if I'm going to be pushing myself and I'm going to be growing, I'm going to be failing because I'm, I'm pushing my body. I'm pushing my mind. I'm pushing my emotions to as

far as I can possibly get them. And that's sometimes going to get me a little out of control or a little out of pace and, and potentially fail. But did I get closer to my goal? Was I focusing on the process instead of just the outcome? Like, okay, the outcome is failure, but what did we do right? What do we need to fix for the next time? And view it as a challenge. Like, okay, let's put our, let's put our grind hats on. Let's bite down, have some grit and figure out what exactly do we need to do to get through this and to achieve it? Or maybe it's a small adjustment and we're over-exaggerating it. Maybe it's a big adjustment and we're under-exaggerating it. You know, that kind of goes back to that awareness.

Why did we fail? What went wrong, but also what went well, what do we need to keep doing? And what do we need to alter a little bit, but view it as a challenge, like, okay, cool. We failed. That means we're growing. We're getting better. Let's make sure we actually grow from it instead of not grow from it, you know, and move in the right direction, which is to me viewing it as a challenge. Okay, let's get this. Let's see how we can get better instead of I failed. I'm never going to be able to do it. And, and almost falling backwards and moving further away from our goals. Absolutely. So the way that you really see that failure is key. And I like that just the idea of seeing it as a challenge, right? It's something that you can really learn and grow from. And if you're right, it's easy to say that we all

know that, but it's really more difficult to practice. So that's where the mental toughness comes in. Absolutely. So Hannah, tell us again where we can find you and follow your Mental Sweat Mondays and how we can contact you if we're interested. Yeah. So the fastest way is probably through Instagram, which is just my first and last name. It's just Hannah Huseman. And then I'm also on LinkedIn and you can feel free to message me there, ask any questions or, or feel free to give me a request that I could potentially turn into a mental sweat Monday. That would be awesome. Ah, I love it. Love it. That's great. And then you can reach out to me. I'm on Instagram too, at cindracampoff. And I spend a lot of time on Twitter. Hannah, that's kind of where I I'm spending my time, but I'm at mentally underscore strong. So as we finish up, Hannah, is there any advice or, you know, final thoughts that you have to share with people? I would just say, remember that mental skills should be practiced just like

physical skills and that we have to have constant reminders daily to make sure we're checking in on ourselves and how we're doing, not just physically, but mentally too. And that could potentially be the key to your success. And that maybe it's not always trying harder physically, but maybe it's just being aware of what's going on mentally. I love it. Awesome. Well, here's some of the things I got from the interview today, Hannah, four things I want to summarize as a way to wrap up the interview, but also to remind people of the great things and the wise things that you said today. So number one, I thought it was great that you were talking about your own confidence

and how, you know, even in college you are seeking the confidence from other people, but just the idea that confidence is really up to us and we need to be our own biggest critic, our own biggest fan. And I think the biggest fan might be the thing that most people struggle with, right? Like really holding themselves up. So I appreciate you talked about that. And just the specific examples of like you're even telling yourself you deserve to be here. You can do it. You belong here.

I thought that was really powerful. Second, I thought a powerful thing we talked about was being proactive with your mental skills, sort of like being, going to a dentist, right? You go there to make sure that there's no issues later on with your teeth. Yeah. Kind of thing is like being proactive with these mental skills and some examples you gave us were like breathing and visualization. And I love what we, that we talked about mental toughness and just the idea of like focusing on the right thing at the right time. I thought that was really powerful because I think people could really understand it really simply and hopefully people were listening and

thinking about themselves as they were listening. And then the last one is just about how you can really view failure as a challenge, that it doesn't always have to be something that you're frustrated about or you beat yourself up about. So I'm so grateful that you were on the podcast today sharing your wisdom. And thank you so much again for being here. Yes, thank you so much for having me, Cyndra. I really had a good time.

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.