High Performance Mindset | Learn from World-Class Leaders, Consultants, Athletes & Coaches about Mindset - 47: Every Moment is a Choice with Sport Psychologist, Dr. Stephen Walker

Episode Date: May 17, 2016

Dr. Stephen Walker is a sport psychologist and consultant in the Denver and Boulder, Colorado area. For the last 34 years, he has been helping Olympians, professional athletes and peak performers compete at the highest level. He is the editor of Podium Sports Journal, a mental training journal that has been recognized as one of the Top Sport Psychology Websites. In this interview, Steve talks about how the best adopt a growth mindset – they understand the only way to grow is to make mistakes. He shares a technique called the Confidence Journal which he uses with his Olympic athletes. Steve shares strategies to stay in the now to increase performance in any field including sports, business, customer service, and public speaking. Towards the end of the interview, Steve talks about his own journey battling cancer. He shares his model for overcoming the odds and how this helped him maintain a positive mindset during chemotherapy and a 12-hour surgery. Every moment is a choice, Steve tells us. It is our choice what we do with that moment! Connect with Steve at drstephenwalker.com or on Twitter @sportpsychcoach.

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, Sindra Kampoff. And today I'm excited that you're ready to listen to an interview with Dr. Steve Walker. Steve Walker talks about how every moment is a choice. And Steve is a sports psychologist and consultant in the Denver-Boulder, Colorado area. And for the last 34 years, he's been helping Olympians, professional athletes, and other peak performers compete at

the highest level and be at their best consistently. He is the editor of the Podium Sports Journal, which you can find at podiumsportsjournal.com. And it's a mental training journal that has been recognized as one of the top sport psychology websites. There's a lot of things I really like about this interview. First, Steve talks about how the best adopt a growth mindset. They understand that the only way to grow is to make mistakes. He shares a technique called the confidence journal,

which he uses with his Olympic athletes. So I'd encourage you to listen for that. And then in the middle of the interview, we start talking about strategies to stay in the now and how that can increase performance in any area, including sports, business. We connected to customer service and public speaking. And in that part of the interview,

Steve asks me quite a few questions about my own marathoning. Steve knows that I train for marathons and really try to compete at the highest level when I'm running them. And it's pretty cool because yesterday I was competing in a half marathon. And throughout my half marathon, I was thinking and reflecting a lot about the strategies we talked about in this interview. And I know that helped me. I started the race in fifth and then just really worked to stay in the moment, kept pushing and kept going and only had

empowering self-talk. And by mile 11, I passed the leader. And so I ended up winning the race, which is a pretty cool experience. So I want to thank Steve for that. And then, you know, towards the end of the interview, Steve talks about his own personal journey battling cancer. He was recently diagnosed with stage four colon cancer. It's a really powerful part of the interview. He shares his model for overcoming the odds and really how that helped him maintain a positive mindset, even during chemotherapy and 12 hour surgery.

So even through all this, Steve is talking about how every moment is a choice, and it is our choice what we do with that moment. So without further ado, let's bring on Steve. Welcome to the High Performance Mindset Podcast. This is your host, Cindra Campoff. And today, I'm delighted to interview Steve Walker. Steve Walker is a sports psychologist from the Denver and Boulder, Colorado area. And so, Steve, I'd like to welcome you to the podcast. Thanks, Cindra. I'm happy to be here.

So, Steve, tell us a little bit about your passion and what you do. Well, my passion is facilitating people moving beyond whatever obstacles that they may experience so that they are able to discover as best as possible their potential. And the range of the folks that I work with go from two-time Olympians to wannabes. And the wannabes, well, the two-time Olympian was a wannabe when we started. So people can go with it and stay with it and stick with it and develop the kind of grit and perseverance in order to be successful at a variety of different levels. Obviously, their talent is going to dictate how far they can go, but there's no substitute for

the strong mental attitude that they would have to be successful. Absolutely. And tell us just briefly how you got to where you are in your career, working with two time Olympians and, you know, other successful athletes and, you know, just people and leaders like that. I was looking for a bathroom. You were looking for a bathroom? Yeah, I was finishing up my coursework and was just about to take my comprehensive exams. And my area of specialization was dealing with anxiety disorders. And again, with particular emphasis for people that were prone to coronary artery disease. And what I used to do to blow off steam was play a couple hours of

full court basketball in a small little gymnasium that had classrooms upstairs, locker room downstairs. And one day I had to go to the bathroom and I'd always gone down to the locker room, but I said, you know, the classroom, there's got to be a restroom upstairs and so I go up there and I'm wandering down this hall and I'm not finding a restroom and I get into this big room and it's got all kinds of treadmills and oscilloscopes and a hot tub with a scale over it and it was just in this guy goes, what are you doing here? And I jumped three feet up into the air, you know, and I go, well, I was looking for a bathroom, but none of them here. What is this place? And it turned out to be the Human Performance Laboratory at the University of Colorado. And the director was a guy by the name of Art Dickinson, who was a professor emeritus. He was a diplomat in the American College of Sports Medicine.

He was one of the brain trusts behind the beginning of the pro football scouting combine. He was a regular consultant at the Olympic Training Center, did some of the original research on fast twitch, slow twitch, muscle fiber, and type of running expertise that people would have. And he ran a community fitness program where fire departments and police departments would go in on a Monday evening, and they would do treadmills, and they'd do nutritional consults, and they'd do lipid profiles. And he wanted to know if I had anything that would be a good stress, stress tool that would be short and easy and something I could get a little prescription for at the end.

So I sent something to him. He liked it. You know, he said, well, what are you doing Monday night? Come on over. We'll give it a trial. And that was the beginning of a 23 year long relationship. And he was a guy that was very active in the CU D1 community and introduced me to the track and field coach. And I started working with track and field athletes. Then I worked with the CU golf team for several years and just, you know, got a lot of experience. Now the athletes, these were all pretty much freebies because they didn't have any money. And the university did compensate me at a very nominal level, 10 bucks an hour, but hey, it was fun. And then from that point, I got involved with ASP and started attending the applied sports psychology conferences and came with people in that organization and learning more and more and more. And now a lot of these athletes are pro and they still are hanging out and they still have stuff that they want to do. And I got a guy competing for the triathlon in Yokohama who's hopeful to make the team.

And, you know, if everybody's dreams come true, I could have four athletes on the Olympic team this this coming summer. So that's if their dreams all come true. Absolutely. And you're helping them to get there. So you caught me, Steve, when you said it started on your way to the bathroom. That was catchy. So, you know, you've had an incredible opportunity to work with some of the best college athletes and now Olympic athletes and those who are competing at the highest level. So what do you really think separates them mentally from others that maybe have the talent, but they don't reach that level? Okay, I love that question. I really do. Because a lot of people seem to think that these elite athletes are, you know, like they're machines.

You know, they have these robot-like qualities that they just do, do, do. And that's not true at all because they are human beings first, and they have relationships that get screwed up. They have troubles with their coaches from time to time. They get injured and then they've got to, you know, manage their own resources for their recovery in the best possible way. But when I look at what it is that separates them from the also-rans, it's the ones that they don't have the staying power. You know, they don't have the grit to persevere. You know, they'll come back to it. They may need to re-look at it, come at it from a different angle, but there's never any doubt that they're committed, that they're going to continue, and that they're going to push the envelope, and they're going to stretch in every way that they can in order to become the best that

they can. And that makes them coachable because when you can offer them ideas, strategies, techniques, give them a toolbox that they can use that are going to help them ease through some of those most difficult times, then they trust you. Then they know that you've got their best interests at heart. And then they're ready. Yeah. You know, two things I heard you just say, Steve, you know, they have perseverance and grit. And so there's no, there's no like doubt that they're going to continue. They're going to stay the course, regardless of an injury or, you know, not getting along well with the coach. But then the second thing I really heard is that they're really open to feedback and learning. So they have a growth

mindset and are willing to work with you to like learn these tools and strategies to better their performance. Yeah. I, you know, Carol Dweck's stuff on growth mindset has really, I think, been one of the most revolutionary discoveries in our field in a long time. You know, people that have a fixed mindset are afraid to make a mistake. And so they would rather not try than try and make a mistake. And so they hold themselves in these positions where they don't grow. And for people that have this growth mindset, they recognize that they're only going to improve if they do make mistakes, that there's only lessons. You know, they're they're going to go out, they may get the outcome that they want, but still there's a lesson in probably what they learned, how it might have been easier for them or how they might have made it a little bit quicker or a little bit with less aggravation. But they are always willing to learn the lessons and embrace those lessons because that's how they get better. Yeah, that's awesome.

And if anyone's interested in learning more about Carol Dweck's work, she has a book called Mindset, The New Science of Success, I believe is the subtitle. Go check it out on Amazon or at Barnes & Noble. Very popular and a much needed book. So, Steve, tell us about what your athletes and your clients struggle with mentally, because even though that they are at the top of their field, they still have some struggles. So what are the things that you really see? Well, confidence, I think, is really, you know, ultimately one of those things that separates the really great from the good. And these folks are really ready, willing, and able to work on the things that they need to do in order to develop their competence. And so one of the first tools that I'm equipping people with right out of the shoots, first or

second session, is that they start keeping a journal of every training session, of every competition that they're in. And, you know, so what is it that they did well in that competition? Maybe they just totally goofed it up. Maybe it was a complete disaster, but they were there on time, you know, or they had the right gear or whatever. They were, you know, they were ready to go, but they just didn't feel confident when the gun went off.

These things I see happening a lot. And so it's the thing about writing down one good thing that happened that day every day. So that at the end of a week, they've got seven of them. At the end of a month, they've got 30 of them. At the end of six months, they've got 180 of them. And what are they doing the night before showtime? You know, they're reviewing everything in their confidence journal. And that also includes struggles that they had and workouts that they came through and succeeded with, where they can anticipate that they're going to have a difficult time at some aspect of, say, a race, for example, that they're running a marathon, which you're about ready to do, that these things will come up to them and they need to rely on those times when they were successful with that,

because that reinforces their confidence going into it. The objective is that they are ready on the starting line and that they belong there. And they may not be so overconfident that they think they're going to win, but they've got a chance. You know, they've got this. They're ready to show what they can do. And that means they're excited to put it out there. And that's a whole different mindset than the person at the end of the row that's throwing up on the side of the course because they're so freaked out that, you know,

how did I get here? And, you know, you know, this is awful. Steve, I think that's an excellent tool to improve confidence, you know, just like reinforcing what you did great that day. I find that even athletes at the highest level, last week I was working with an NFL athlete and, you know, he was just telling me about a terrible practice, but then he went back and looked at the film and it was like, well, you know, actually I did a lot of great things. So our mind can really play tricks on us and we tend to overemphasize what went wrong instead of what went right. You know, the other element to this that I think is really key is that they're willing to put in the time to review these things for themselves and their performance and what they're learning and how they're learning. It's not only exemplary of

that growth mindset, but it's exemplary of that they view their training as not just working out, not just being physically strong or capable of some aspect of their competition, but every aspect of their mental training is a key ingredient to this. So Steve, you've already given us one tool that the people that are listening, doesn't matter if you're an athlete or a coach or a business person, you can continue to use something like Steve's talking about, the Confidence Journal. Do you have another signature technique that you use to help your athletes or your clients master their mindset? Yeah, I think one of the things that tends to set me apart is the extent to which I work with people on their breathing. You know, their breathing patterns, their breathing techniques,

both at rest and also with a specific purpose in mind. Anxiety, stress load, these are the things that really sabotage people, and particularly anxiety and their stress load because it tends to project them into a future think and so they are into well what if this happens or what if that happens or oh my god what's going to happen next and just entertaining that nanosecond of uncertainty projecting themselves out of their current state of their body in the now moment to an anticipated or an anticipatory position is the kind of thing that invites anxiety to come in. And it can sabotage and has sabotaged more great athletic performances, not just in me, but in many people that I've worked with.

So the breathing techniques will involve, one, sinking the mind and the body in the now moment so that all of that is working in tandem. I also get people very familiar with what their autonomic nervous system is doing. The autonomic nervous system is usually referred to as that automatic pilot. You know, it's, hey, I haven't thought about breathing since I was, you know, somebody paddling me on the behind and I was just, you know, minutes old. And then there are a lot of people that they don't pay attention to their breathing at any point in time, much less start to use their breathing for some specific purposes and intentions that they want. So for every athlete to be successful, they have to be able to control their stress loads.

And for athletes that are involved in certain events, swimming, running, you know, racing of any kind, they've got to be really focused in that nanosecond of the now moment where they're controlling their arousal level at the start of the event. You know, if they're running a marathon, they're not going to win the marathon in the first hundred yards. No way. If they're on a starting line and their teeth are gritted and they've got fists in there, they're wasting all this neuromuscular energy and it's going to places in the body that are only going to help you lock up and interfere with what your endurance is going to bring you at the end of the race, you'd be smart to learn how these techniques can really help you in the long haul. So, Steve, do you have a strategy that you could share with us? And, you know, how do you sink your body and your mind into the now? I'll ask three questions. So the first thing I would ask

you is, do you want to be in control of your life? Yes. Which, of course, you do. Of course. All right. And so would you agree that you have to be conscious if you're going to be in control of your life? Yes, I need to be aware for sure. All right.

So I have an operational definition of conscious, and that is that your mind and your body are synced up together in the now moment. And that's all that's required for being conscious. Nice. All right. Now, the mind, I'll ask people, so where were you yesterday at this time? And I know you were giving a keynote address. All right. Well, where are you going to be tomorrow at this time and I know you were giving a keynote address. All right. Well, where are you going to be tomorrow at this time? You'll probably be on a training run where you're going to want to get some long mileage in. All right. Well, I'm asking you that and you're able to go inside of five seconds from where you were yesterday to where you're going to be tomorrow.

And you just traveled 48 hours and five seconds. How long does it take the body to go that same distance? 48 hours. Okay? Absolutely. So if we are not synced up with our body and we don't stay effectively in the now moment, then we're not going to be conscious and we're not going to get the gains that we want to get. And the other thing, because the mind moves faster than the body, the mind must go to the breathing. You know, the mind has to make the adjustment to be in the body in the now moment.

And that's a commitment. And for people that get easily distracted, people that have ADD issues, people that have some concerns surrounding that, they have to work harder at it than other people. And what's the third question you were going to ask me, Steve? Well, the third question is, you know, so how long does it take for the body? Oh, of course. Distance, and that would be 48 hours. So it syncs you up when your mind connects to your body. You're using your breathing because it is always happening in the now. And you're in that position to bring yourself to that. And, you know, I'm thinking about there's so many applications to what you're talking about,

Steve. You don't have to be an athlete to benefit from breathing and helping you to stay in the moment. I'm thinking about public speaking and how so many people just fear it. It's a number one fear. And I was doing a lot of deep breathing before my keynote yesterday. So I walked up there and I felt very, very comfortable. Or during a job interview or a time that you really want to perform at your best, the breathing can really be beneficial. Job interview is a really good example or a situation where you're dealing with someone who's a really tough customer. They've got an attitude,

they're angry, you know, and you need to keep your wits about you in order to be able to manage that situation with a degree of composure. Yeah. So, you know, it's composure is huge. And there are a lot of things that we'll work on, not just breathing in order to be able to maintain that, but just managing strong emotions. Mad, sad, glad, scared and confused. And a lot of times, if you don't break those emotions down into those component parts, you don't really know what to do. And it can get confusing and it can make for a problem. Absolutely. So, Steve, let's shift a little a minute for the interview and and tell us a little bit about yourself and yourself as a performer. And we talk a lot about at the High Performance Mindset, how you need to keep your why front and center, you know, so that you stay fueled and motivated and excited for what you do. So,

gosh, tell us why you do what you do. How far back do you want me to go? Just tell us, why do you do it right now? Well, I've been gifted as an athlete. And in high school, you know, I was a designated high school All-American swimmer. And I did another sport, which was more of a kinesis macho kind of thing, where I played football and swimming and they were in successive seasons. And so I was never in shape for swimming until just about when the state meet was coming around.

And football was one of those things. If you got injured, then, you know, it could cause more problems. But in retrospect, I probably would have played golf. And neither one of those sports were so compelling to me that they were my why. You know, I did them because I was good at them. People relied on me to do them. You know, I was, you know, the fastest guy in the relay or whatever it was. And these were the reasons. But I didn't really get a point

where I was into my why until I started playing golf in my 30s. And then and I would do other things to cross train like I've done 35 boulder boulders and, you know, I, you know, would would run just in order to keep a certain level of fitness up. But this this changed for me. And then my why, the more I would meditate on it, the more it gravitated toward a certain kind of focus, a certain kind of athlete that I wanted to work with, a certain type of situation that I wanted to be able to assist with. And that's been pretty much what drives me since then. And so I like that you're saying that your why changed over time and that you use meditation to really better understand why you do what you do. Yeah. Yeah. There are a couple of really good meditation. I use I use recordings, you know, and they they will help. They'll help direct me.

Recently, I came across a very, very good one that I used in this recent battle I was with. And it was created by a woman by the name of Carol Robin, who's on the East Coast. And the meditation is called the four ways to center. And it is beautifully done. It's I used to think that these recordings had to be, you know, if they were 30 minutes, they were too long. This is 48 minutes and I'm barely, you know, grasping everything that I can get out of it.

Yeah. And where could we find that Steve, if we wanted to check out that resource? Go to carolrobin.com and she's got a store and she has several different recordings. The one that I was using was one that was helping me deal with an illness. So Steve, let's go to the top 10 traits of high performers. So which of these traits do you feel like you exhibit the most? That I exhibit the most? Yes. I tend to really focus a lot on controlling the controllables. When I look at an athlete, they're really only in control of three things.

You know, they're in control of their preparation. They're in control of the effort that they bring to whatever the task is. And they are in control of their attitude. Now, attitude will largely set them up for being successful in those other two. And preparation will likely set them up for the proper attitude, as you know, in your mindset work. And you're an expert on that aspect of it. So I think that it's really key, the elemental connection between that preparation and that attitude that they bring to whatever their event is. It's also one of those things where, as you're looking at a marathon or even a soccer game, where you've got variable exertion levels that you can bring out during a game or

during a particular race. You can't go 100% the entire race. You've got to be able to modulate what your effort level is, and that's got to fit with your preparation, and that's got to fit with your attitude so that you're keeping yourself focused on the things that are doable. Keep yourself focused on the things that you do have control over. So that is one of those that I really like a lot. I also, in terms of master of their thinking patterns, probably the area I work with the most with the athletes that I'm dealing with is their self-talk. You know, what's the chatter that's going on in their mind that either sabotages them or sets them up for success? And how do they make those adjustments? Just like you were making those adjustments in your marathon.

Oh, gee, I can't be thinking about this. I got to bring myself back into the now moment. And that self-talk during a marathon, there's a lot of talking going on. It's a long race. So that's the other area that I think is really critical for them to be able to master. And they have to like themselves. They have to have a fundamental positive relationship with themselves that they deserve to do well, that they, because they're putting forth the effort, because people believe in them, because they believe in their coaching, they believe in what they're doing. They do way better at that than a lot of athletes. And so since we all are a work in progress, Steve,

which of those on the top 10 traits would you say you're still working on? I've been working on, I've had a major significant event in the last few months of my life. So I was diagnosed with a colon cancer and I had to do chemotherapy and I have recently undergone a 12 and a half hour marathon surgery with three different surgeons to try and remedy my gut. I ended up with some complications. So got a blood infection, then got another blood infection the port that i was had to be taken out surgically removed they're using cultures to try and get the control over the infections i am just in the most miserable physical condition that i've ever been, having experienced an episode of what's called bacteriaemia, which is nothing but convulsions that go on and on and on, 40 minutes of convulsions. I figured

I can't endure this. This is not, you know, it's not going to happen. Then I went into atrial fibrillation. So with an arrhythmia on top of the infections, on top of all of this, it took a while for them to get control over what was going on. And it required me every day, every moment of every day to bring myself into that positive notion of what can I do? What do I have control over? How can I alter and modify this situation? And one of these things really played out. For example, when I went into atrial fibrillation, which is an arrhythmia. And basically what that means is your heart rate is in this staccatic, irregular, goofy place. And so I've done a lot of biofeedback work in my background. And so I asked one of the docs, can I borrow your stethoscope?

And so he gives me a stethoscope. So I've got this stethoscope for two, three hours. And I'm sitting here listening to this kerplunk. You know, it's what the heck is that? And got to some degree familiar with what this atrial fibrillation was all about. And then I'm also monitoring on the electrocardiogram that's right above my bed what's going on in the sinus rhythm of the heart. And then I took my trusty little phone and I went straight to YouTube and I started looking at normal sinus rhythm, listening to normal sinus rhythm, and I started using biofeedback technique going back and forth between one to the other to do the very best that I could to mimic that love dub, love dub, that love dub of a normal

sinus rhythm. And so they were taking me for a walk that afternoon. I stood up to go for the walk and I converted back into a normal sinus rhythm. Now, whether the biofeed. But all I know that I had to keep my focus on something that I had control over. I had to keep my focus on something that was a positive move, a positive gesture that I could remedy some aspect of what was ailing me physically. So that's one of probably 25 lessons that I learned in the hospital. But just the same, you know, the learning lab is always open. You know, Steve, thank you so much for sharing that with us. I just had an aha moment. And you were just talking about how, you know, when you focused on the controllables, that allowed you to be more self-aware and understand yourself and understand your body.

And that also helped you stay in the now. And that was a connection I made because as I heard you talking, you kept on, you know, you're saying things that really I just thought, gosh, you're talking about really staying in the now. So you weren't thinking about the future and what was going to happen with your body or your cancer. You know, the biofeedback and the techniques really helped you stay in the moment. You know, whenever I was texting you or, you know, seeing how you were doing, you always had this incredible positive reaction to me. You know, it's just like, I'm going to be back stronger. I'm back, you know, I'm here. And tell us how in the heck did you do

that? I mean, given what you know about sports psychology and mental skills, like what did you do? How can you help us learn just how to get through, especially a difficulty like that? and that power of choice enables me to look at it this way or to look at it that way and there were times when you know it wasn't all that pretty and it didn't feel all that good and you know was i nervous was i scared was i yeah absolutely and yet when it comes down to making the choice, you know, I'm envisioning what it is that I'm wanting to have happen with my body. I'm envisioning the direction that I'm going to be moving toward. I'm envisioning, you know, all of these things. And are they controllable? Well, the one thing that is controllable is my making the choice. The other thing that is controllable is that by choosing a positive interpretation of that and by focusing on those things that I can do and that are the optimal outcome for what I'm going toward, I tend to create a reality for myself as all the choices I'm making and how I'm executing what I do minute by minute by minute by minute.

And so to that end, you know, do I have control over all these controllables? Well, I'm controlling the ones that I can view. And also the positive, when I deliver a positive message to you, you know, even though maybe something didn't happen so good that was in the hospital room that moment, you know, I'm projecting for myself an interpretation that I want to be able to use going forward. And when that's positive, when that is encouraging, when that is focused in a desirable direction, then I'm going to get the most from it. What do I got to lose? I got nothing to lose. So it's the only way.

It's the only way. Wow, that's powerful. And I think another powerful thing you said was every moment is a choice. Yeah, definitely. Some really good news came out of the surgery and that all of the margins that were sent to pathology were clean and 23 lymph nodes came out clear. And so fundamentally, I had a surgical outcome that was like optimal. Now, I'm probably going to have to do some adjuvant care, do a little bit of chemo on the back end, take care of whatever might be microscopic. And I've got a couple other parts of my body I need to fix up that, you know, I can see myself being back, you know, in a really strong state of mind in just as little as three to six months. Yeah, you're really seeing that vision in the future. You're imagining yourself being strong.

Steve, what advice do you have for people who are struggling right now, struggling with some kind of physical ailment, maybe cancer, you know, maybe a disease like I think of chronic pain, how that can be really difficult and very similar to something you experience. Like what advice would you have for those people who are listening? OK. You know, I tend to there was a some folks called Woolfolk and Richardson that had a stress model that goes way back. But, you know, they would look at an individual who might be experiencing stress. And so this would be the character. And by putting a triangle around them, you have an opportunity to be able to look at sizing up their situation. Well, number one, they're going to see things in their environment. They're going to have people in their environment that are going to trigger in them a certain reaction. So number one thing is I would be very, very conscientious about surrounding yourself with positive-minded people.

The selection that you make in terms of the doctors that you're going to be working with is hugely important. And there's no substitute for research in order to find the right, not only the right specialization, but the right personality of the docs that are working with you. And I had an absolute A team. They were rock stars. Three of them. One of them was a vascular guy. One of them was a urologist. And the other one was a colorectal surgeon. And so when I look at those things in my environment, every time I could see them,

the experience I was going to get was going to be a positive one because I surrounded myself in the environment with those people that were positive, that were focused, that were oriented toward what this healing process was all about. That's number one. The other thing I think that is really kind of key is that we have our belief system or the BS that we tell ourselves. That's funny. Where we are in control of how is it we're setting up these questions and how we chatter to ourselves. And is that productive?

Is that useful? Is that not? If we're prone to depression, then we've got to be reading things. We've got to be exposing our belief system to antidotes that might be stories of miracles that people have experienced. It might be their best friend that survived and had a really good experience with something that they needed to do. And then the other aspect of this is the physical reaction of what happens with the stress, which can tie them up in knots, or it can be one of those things where at any degree you can separate yourself from the environment that's toxic, or you can take what's toxic in your environment and remove it from you, from your exposure.

You can alter your your thought patterns and your belief systems in ways that, you know, those things that are possible, those things that are the potential miracles that that make up life are the things that in support groups are huge. You know, I don't like the fact that CaringBridge does so much solicitation to support their own website. I don't like that. But there was a there was a colon recovery, you know, Blue Haven margin, Blue Haven group. I'm not saying that right anyway, but that I would go to and find really positive things with. And then the other aspects that are the physical pieces, you know, you know, being medicated properly and communicating about what that medication is doing and how is it helping and is it not for the docs themselves? Because if you're not a good communicator, you're ripe for all kinds of misunderstandings. And the docs are there to treat the disease, but the nurses that were there in the ICU for me were the ones that were treating me. So I had great rapport with those nurses.

I love your model there, Steve. You know, you're talking about surrounding yourself with positive people, not toxic people. And you're talking about your belief system and your physical reaction. I mean, I can see how that can apply to all of us, you know, regardless of what we're going through. So I just want to, you know, thank you so much for sharing that story with us and sharing something that's happening to you right now so we can learn from your experiences. So let's go to the speed round, Steve. So if you could recommend a book for us to read or a resource, what would you recommend? Well, it's a textbook, but, you know, it's a book by a woman named Robin Vealy, who's faculty at the University of Miami of Ohio, and it's on coaching. And, you know, coaching the athlete, coaching the inner athlete, coaching all aspects of the athlete, and using those particular, all the elements that are involved in coaching.

She has something for everybody in every aspect of this arena. So that's really one of my favorite books. Awesome. And what's one word that people would describe you as, Steve? Positive. I can see that. What's the best advice that you've ever received? Listen more than you talk.

That's good. And what's a quote that you live by or that you notice yourself saying a lot or using a lot? Well, it's a Ralph Waldo Emerson quote, and it goes something like this. What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us. And so when we're working those things that are within us and we're developing our own capabilities, that ultimately determines the outcome of where we're going. And final question for you, Steve. You know, there's so many people listening, athletes, coaches, entrepreneurs, leaders, business leaders.

What advice do you have to those people who are really interested in working to reach their greater potential and that are interested in mindset? They wouldn't be listening to this interview if they weren't interested in working to reach their greater potential and that are interested in mindset. They wouldn't be listening to this interview if they weren't interested in mindset. So what advice do you have for those people who are listening? Well, you know, I think it's something that every day you immerse yourself a little bit into it. You know, the things that you read, the things that you listen to. I have an online applied sports psychology magazine called PodiumSportsJournal.com. And there are all kinds of articles here that are focused on mindset, what Teddy Roosevelt taught us about process versus outcome goals, you know, athletes recovering fast from all kinds of different issues, building team cohesion, coaching youth hockey with Larry Lauer.

I mean, there are a lot of people that are in our group that are just amazing. And so I've been mining them, you know, and use a lot of their material and put them up in podium. And so for people who want to just comb over this stuff, there's something there for everybody. Awesome. So you can find that at Sporty Podium Sports Journal dot com. I definitely would recommend that resource. I've looked at it many, many times. I'm going to check out the article you just said about Teddy Roosevelt. Sounds very intriguing. And I know your website is Dr. Stephen Walker dot com with a watch with a pH. There we go.

Make sure we got that right now. I'll link that up to the show notes as well. What are other ways that we can connect with you, Stephen? Well, I like to do public speaking. I love, you know, I love doing, you know, teamwork. I, you know, individually, I've got people all over the country that I do Zoom or Skype sessions with, kind of moving the platform to Zoom because it's HIPAA compliant. But the bottom line is it's just fun doing what I do. And we would love to hear what's out to you about this interview on Twitter. So I would encourage you to post something, share this interview with somebody who you think could benefit. Steve is on Twitter at Sports Psych Coach.

That's his Twitter handle. Mine is Mentally underscore Strong. Steve is on Twitter at sports psych coach. That's his Twitter handle. Mine is mentally underscore strong. And Steve, I just want to commend you for giving yourself today to all those who are listening. There were so many things that you said that I think could help us really improve ourselves and help us reach our greater potential. I want to point a few things out to you because I was taking some notes on some things that really stood out to me. I loved what you said about really being in the now and how that's

really, really important in terms of just us reaching our potential. You talked about breathing and how breathing can help us really stay in the now. And you provided so many incredible examples of why staying in the now could be really important. You shared with us your confidence building tool, which is to use confidence journal and write something that you did well every single day and then remind yourself of that before you're ready to perform. You talked about your incredible journey with cancer and colon cancer and really shared some amazing advice about helping us understand what we can control and surrounding ourselves with positive people and having a belief system that's really going to help us move through whatever we're going through right now. So, Steve, from my heart, thank you so much for spending some time with us, for us to all get mentally stronger.

I really appreciate it. Thanks, Indra. Thank you for listening to High Performance Mindset. If you like 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.