High Performance Mindset | Learn from World-Class Leaders, Consultants, Athletes & Coaches about Mindset - 743: Elite by Choice: How Your Daily Decisions Shape High Performance with Lauren Johnson, Mental Performance Coach & Keynote Speaker

Episode Date: April 16, 2026

In this episode of The High Performance Mindset, Dr. Cindra Kamphoff sits down with mental performance coach, keynote speaker, and founder of Lauren Johnson & Co, Lauren Johnson, to explore what it really means to become elite by choice. Lauren shares the pivotal story that shaped her career. After a job opportunity fell through, she found herself working at Starbucks, questioning her direction and waiting for something to change. A blunt interaction with a customer became the turning point. It forced her to recognize that she was waiting for opportunities instead of creating them. From that moment, everything shifted. Lauren began taking ownership of her path, building her own consulting work from the ground up, which eventually led to working with the New York Yankees and some of the highest-performing athletes in the world. At the center of this conversation is a simple but powerful idea. People don't become average because of their ability. They become average because of their actions. Lauren explains how daily decisions shape long-term performance, especially in moments of adversity. She breaks down why high performers don't wait for perfect conditions, how they respond when things don't go as planned, and what it looks like to take full responsibility for your growth. This episode is a direct reminder that elite performance isn't random or reserved for a few. It's built through consistent, intentional decisions over time. You'll Learn: • What "elite by choice" really means and how to apply it daily • Why average results come from average actions, not lack of talent • The moment that can shift you from waiting to taking control • How to respond to adversity instead of backing away from it • Why creating your own opportunities is critical for growth • How small, consistent decisions compound into long-term success • The mindset shift that separates high performers from everyone else Lauren is also a featured speaker at the upcoming Mental Performance Summit, where she'll expand on these ideas and share practical strategies to help you take ownership of your performance and raise your standards. 👉 Learn more and register here: www.mentalperformancesummit.org     Episode Resources & Links Learn more about the Mentally Strong Institute: https://mentallystronginstitute.com/ Register for the Mental Performance Summit: www.mentalperformancesummit.org Learn more about Lauren here: www.laurenjohnsonandco.com Request a Free Mental Breakthrough Call with Dr. Cindra or her team: https://freementalbreakthroughcall.com/ Download our Confidence Research Study: https://confidencestudy.com/

Are you ready to perform at your best, especially when the pressure is the highest? That's exactly why I created a mentor performance summit. This is a fast-paced virtual experience on Friday, April 17th, where you'll learn the exact mental tools elite athletes use to stay focused, confident, and resilient when it matters the most. Now, we're bringing together world-class mentor performance coaches who don't just talk about mindset. They train it every day. They've worked with the Chicago Cubs, the Arizona Diamondbacks, the New York Yankees, the Minnesota Vikings, the Boston Celtics, and the Tampa Bay arrays.

And here's what's different. You won't just feel inspired, but you walk away with practical tools that you can use immediately. So if you want to build confidence, strengthen your mindset, and gain the competitive edge, then this is for you. Save your spot right now at mentalperformance summit.org. That's mentalperformance summit.org. And guess what? Registration is only $39, and you're going to get a copy of my upcoming book called The Confidence Habit delivered to your door when it launches. Again, that's mentalperformance summit.org. I can't wait to see you there. Today on the high performance mindset, I'm excited to welcome Lauren Johnson.

Lauren is a mental performance coach, a keynote speaker, and founder of her own consulting practice called Lauren Johnson & Co. where she helps the lead performers from professional athletes to executives reform at their best under pressure. She previously served as the Mental Conditioning Coordinator for the New York Yankees, pretty awesome, Lauren, working with some of the best athletes in the world on their mindset and performance. And now she brings the same expertise to leaders and teams across industries, such as Google, Mass Mutual, the U.S. women's national soccer team, Johnson & Johnson, and the FBI, helping them build confidence,

raise their standards and choose their mindset on purpose. Today we are talking about what it really means to be elite by choice. So Lauren, I'm so excited to have you here. Thank you so much for joining us. Oh, I'm stoked to be here. Thanks for having me. You bet. Well, first, I wanted to start and tell us what elite by choice means. What does this really mean to you and when did this first idea click for you? Well, I think we have to go back in the archives for this one. All right, I love it. So, I think it starts, for me, it's a bigger story that kind of summarizes you become elite by choice, not by chance. And it started when I graduated with my master's degree. And so I graduated.

I had two job offers on the line. And, you know, one job was going to take six months to be placed, which was super normal for that job. And the other, I turned down. And so I take this job, six months goes by, I hear nothing. So I reach out and I said, hey, just checking to see when I should expect to be placed. And that's when I received the email that said, we're sorry, the job is no longer available. No way. So if we back up six months prior, I was on like cloud nine, right?

I had these two job offers right out of grad school. And now I have none. Because the other job, it's been six months. filled the role so they don't need anybody. So I called everybody I knew in the industry and I was like, you know, do you have anything? Is there anything available? And I kept hearing the same thing. They said, Lauren, you just need experience. And here I am thinking to myself like, what do you think I'm trying to do? Like that's like, it's my attempt. Yeah. And so I realized, well, my student loans are coming up. I need to make money somehow. So I got a job at Starbucks. And one day when I,

I was working the drive-through my entire life changed. So I'm working the drive-thru, and if you have ever been to Starbucks, you may have noticed this. If not, you will not go through Starbucks and not think of this. Okay. The person that you are actually giving, handing your money to or your credit card to, it's not their job to make your coffee. It's their job to entertain you or have discussion with you, keep you busy while your

drink is being made. So this guy's drinks taking a while, so I start chatting it up. And he asked me, he's like, so are you in school, which was a fair question because most people were. And I said, no, actually, I just graduated. And he goes, great, what did you get your degree in? And I had this moment, syndrome, where I was like, finally, someone who cared. It's like, nobody asked me questions about myself. And so I was so excited, I proudly told him, I got my degree in performance psychology.

And he just starts laughing. Okay. And I'm like waiting for him to finish. And I finally, he catches his breath. And I'm like, what's so funny? And he said, oh, you got one of those degrees you'll never use. Oh, no. I disagree with that.

Well, I don't know what my face looks like. I can only imagine. But I will have you know that I wanted to throw his coffee in his face. did not. I walked away. I couldn't even hand him his drink. But you know when somebody says something to you? And then it plays like a broken record in your head over and over again. And then every time you play it, you refill all the feelings all over again. Yeah. So that happened to me throughout the rest of my shift. And then I get back home and I have this like movie moment where I'm like looking in the mirror and I'm like pissed because I'm pissed. I'm like, this guy doesn't even know you

like, why are you giving him so much power over you? And that's when I had that aha moment. And I realized, I wasn't mad because he was rude. I was mad because he was partially right. Here I was wanting to go into this field and change everybody and help them overcome their adversity and what states, ending in their way and I'm sitting at Starbucks waiting for someone to hand me something, waiting for another job to fall in my lap.

And so that's what I realized you're not going to get very far if you turn around at your first side of adversity. And so I realized that instead of sitting and waiting for a job to come to be, I needed to go find my opportunity. So that evening I Googled how to start your own consulting company, started my own consulting company. And it reached out to five to ten people a day, got a lot of noes, a lot of no answers, but everyone's small, I got a yes and I would capitalize. And after a year's time, I built up a resume worthy of the Yankees. And they gave me the opportunity to interview for a position

and I got the job. Awesome. I share that with you because Because when you really zoom out, the difference between Starbucks Lauren and Yankee Lauren came down to the choices that I made. My ability was no different. It was the choices. A lot of people believe they become average because of average ability, but they actually become average because of average actions. And when I decided I was no longer going to take the average action, that's when I started to see the results. And so I really believe when you look at a professional athlete that is an MVP, when you look at an executive who has sold off their company,

when you see people that have this success or this elite capability, it's not because they, a lot of times it's not because, I should say, they have something so much far greater than the rest of us. It's because they've made choices that have led them to that direction. Now, of course, I'm not going to be LeBron James ever. You know, I'm not going to. There are some limits to our capacity, but at the same time, we all have such great ability beyond sometimes what we allow ourselves to have.

And so really, when you zoom out from all of that, the truth is that we become elite by choice, not by chance. Elite doesn't find you. You have to go and see it. Awesome. You know, what I love about that story, Lauren, is you could have listened to him and you could have just said, yeah, you're right. you know, this is the kind of degree that people don't get a job from or, you know,

but you decided to like respond positively and take it as like, you know, I see this in the NFL and in professional sports a lot where it's like they, this different mentality when they're faced with adversity, they just say like, watch me, you know? And that's the, and sometimes I call it that like the watch me mentality. And that's what I heard you do was like you took this stranger and you were like, watch me. I'll show you that I can make something from this. Yeah. Thank you.

Yes. It didn't feel like that in the moment, but it's like at some point you have to make a choice. Right. And it's like I can be a victim of this or I can use it to fuel me. And I chose the latter. So before we really dive into what elite by choice means, one of the things I'm really excited about is this Friday. You and I are part of a mental performance summit that we are rejoined by four of our other colleagues in to performance. And it's going to be awesome because we have some of the best mental performance

coaches joining us. And everyone gets a copy of my free book is only 39 bucks. Okay. So even if you're, oh, I know, even if you're listening to this after Friday, April 17th, you can still join and listen to the recording, which you can find at mental performance summit.org. But why are you excited about it? And you're talking about leap by choice. I feel, first of all, honored that you would ask me to be a part of it, because the lineup is just. just so incredible. There are just, I mean, people that I think are absolutely amazing at this work are going to be there.

And so I feel just honored to be a part of it. But also, I think that there is something so unique about getting people in the same world in the same. Because I believe that you're going to find something different from everybody. And you can take little bits that apply to you. And that's the beauty of it, is that you're going to hear, is it a five or six of us that are Yeah, six of us. Different perspectives of a similar field, but in a way that you can apply it.

So I just find that being able to get the applied version of the science is really valuable because that's really where you can take and apply to yourself. Yeah. So Lauren and I are going to be crashing in on Friday. So please check it out at Mental Performance. Summit.org. And I love to know far we've talked about a leap by choice. And I know you have three Cs that you kind of mismodel the lead by choice. Tell us more about what that actually means to you. Yeah. So the three Cs are clarity, choices, and consistency. So number one,

if you want it, we have to have clarity over a direction, what we want, what we don't want, what's working, what's not working. And so this first kind of pillar is really diving into understanding our situation and where we want to go from there. Okay. The second C is choices. It's really aligning underneath what we've discovered with clarity. But in between those two is a third pillar that kind of sticks out, which is your decision filter. So once you understand and you become clear, it actually filters your decision making.

It's like I believe the example was from Trevor Moad. He used to say that if you want to be playing the NFL, there's no choice between chips and an apple. it makes it really clear. And so once you have clarity, your choices start to filter. And so you don't really have as many choices as you think. And so that gets to the choices pillar. And then between choices and consistency is systems. You can make a choice once.

But in order to see a shift in behavior and to really benefit from the compounding effect of good decision making or elite decision making, I should say, is that you have to create a system around it. And so when you see people that are winning time and time again, it's typically because there's a system in place. And so we want to build a system around our decision making so that it becomes repeatable. Cool. And that establishes consistency. But what we know about consistency is you can also be consistent in the wrong direction.

And so between consistency and clarity, which kind of brings us back to that first C is evaluation. And we have to understand. We have to make sure we're evaluating. Are we still rowing in the direction we want to be rowing? Are we still having the outcomes or results that we're looking to have? Because without knowing it, something that used to serve you way back when may not serve you the same today. And so we need to make sure that we're on top of that because if the answers, no, this is not serving me the way I want, then we come back to see the first C, which is clarity. And then the continuum continues.

Do you think that the first place to start is like with that clarity and like thinking about what you want in the few? future and okay can you give us an example of I mean you work with a lot of professional athletes and executives and of course don't break confidentiality or anything you know but when you're working with somebody on these three Cs how might you do that and I'm asking you this question because as people are listening they can be thinking about okay well how can I actually you know apply this system yeah yeah so the first thing to ask a simple place to start I'm going to give a very simple example is like hey what is our goal what is our goal here because when somebody comes to see me me, there's typically a goal they're looking to achieve.

Maybe it's, hey, I want to increase my mental strength, or I want to improve this part of my performance, or, hey, I'm struggling here and I don't quite know how to solve it. And so we first want to understand what that goal is. And so I'll give you an example of somebody I worked with way back in the day. His goal was to be able to shrink the gap between a mistake and getting back in the game. Yeah. Because one mistake would then affect him for, you know, a couple innings. quite honestly. And so instead of getting back in three innings, our goal was to get back in two,

then to get back in one and to really shrink that gap little at a time. So if that's the goal, then we have to understand, okay, well, what's getting in the way? And that is also going to be a part of clarity. Like what's happening? What's getting in the way? And then we decide what tool are we going to put in place in those moments? What is our choice? Once that mistake happens, we put our tools in place, and then we create a system or a habit around it. Okay, when this happens, if this happens, then this is how I'm going to respond and behave. Nice. Yeah. And that's how we then create consistency and then we evaluate and how that's working.

And then we come back to the beginning. Okay. That sounds awesome. And I was also thinking about like this consistency piece. And I was curious like what kind of systems do you, are you meaning here? And like maybe give us an example of a system you use in your life that you think helps you be elite by choice. Yeah. I think systems can be as simple as a habit.

or a decision. It can also be a routine that you put in place. So I know for myself in the mornings, the thing that helps me really get my brain moving. I need like a warm up period is I have a journal. And so I do journaling exercise and I use these prompts. And so every morning I have my routine that kind of gets me ready for the day. But it gives me also me time. Because my day is very much focused on serving others. But in order to do that appropriately, I also need to make sure that I'm, you know, filling my tank as well. And so that's what helps me fill my tank. It's one of the things that I do in the morning. And so I have a routine that helps prep me for that. And so that's an example of a system is like, okay, this is what gets me ready so I can show up

the best version of me here. Awesome. Awesome. I'm curious, you know, you've worked with so many elite performers. I think about your time with the Yankees and then also, you know, now in your private practice, Lauren Johnson and co. And I'm just curious when you think about pressure, what do you think it actually looks like to choose elite in that moment of pressure? I think what's interesting about pressure is that pressure is one of those things where it gives you the opportunity to practice remaining consistent when your circumstances around you aren't. They're a really fascinating study that was done about players being clutch. And what they found is that they took people like Michael Jordan and Mr. October and like Serena

Williams, like some of the best of the best. And they looked at their stats between like a normal season game versus a postseason. game or like a championship level game. And they looked at their stats to see, like, did they change when they were under pressure? And what they learned is that their stats were either about equal, sometimes a little bit above, but about equal or less than their average throughout a normal season game. So what that showed, what that proved is that there was no such thing as like clutch in the moment.

They were able to remain consistent even a fracture rose. And so what that tells me is they became, they were more disciplined in their decision making even when maybe their emotions were heightened, even when the emotions of others around them were heightened, when the crowd was louder. So when things started to shift, they were able to remain the same. And that put them in the best position for success. And so the idea is not that we are going to magically will ourselves to win or that we have this magic formula that's going to guarantee success. We're playing a game of probability. And so how can we improve our probability in a high-pressure situation? And for these players and for most players and professionals that I work with,

it's not shifting the basics under pressure. It's mastering them so that they remain consistent under pressure. Excellent. I love that because I think about the consistency. And most people, I think, like, feel like they have to change things. up on a big game or a big moment. You know, I was talking to a chalk and field coach yesterday. And he, I was like, hey, how was nationals?

And he said, well, you know, our top runner at indoor nationals, like, felt like he had to change everything right before nationals. He started doing imagery the day before. And then, you know, he did a different routine, kind of pre-performance routine. And he said, it threw him off, you know, instead of just like going back to like what's been working for him. So I think that's a good example of what you're saying there. pressure moments. Yeah, and it's so true. The, the, sometimes the trigger or the cue is like,

oh, like there's high pressure, something's different. Therefore, we have to be different. But we really don't. We just need the best of the best remain consistent. And so when we're talking about elite decision making under pressure, we're talking about training it way before you need it. And that, that actually doubles down on ensuring that you can remain disciplined when that happens. we've all heard that phrase in our field, which is like you don't rise to the occasion, you fall back onto the habits you've trained the most. And that's what your brain does. Your brain defaults to what you have trained the most because your brain is looking for the path of least resistance. And if you have a neuro pathway that is really well trained,

that means it requires less effort to execute it. And so when pressure is high, your brain's looking for low effort pathways. And so if we can, if we can train, those pathways to be really, really strong. When you're under pressure, you've got something to fall back on. When you think about just, you know, your time with the Yankees and also, again, the athletes you work with, what do you think separates the best of the best? I mean, I could imagine you're going to say, like, okay, these three Cs and the habits that you create, but what do you think is the differentiating factor from a mindset perspective? Yeah, it's a mix. Number one, I think that the best athletes, they do not fall into the trap of playing victim.

And so they don't fall down. If something's unfair, not like, oh my gosh, it's unfair. Like, and they harp on it. They go, the world's unfair. Now what? And so instead of a why me mentality, there are what now mentality. And so I, number one is that without a doubt. Yeah.

Number two is they are dangerously optimistic. They are able to find the opportunity in the struggle. And so I often, I say this to my son all the time. I'm like, what's the opportunity in disguise? And so, you know, when you ask for patients, you don't ask for moments that, you don't ask for moments of ease. You ask for moments that test it. And so I've noticed that the best athletes in the world, the best performers, they're the ones

that are able to find the opportunity in the struggle. So instead of, I can't believe I'm going through this right now, the question is, what skill might I be developing as a result of going through it? I like what you said about, like, not why me, but what now? Yeah. And I think like the why me is very much like a victim. You know, and I've had times in my life where, particularly when I was in college, I was a college cross country and track runner where I had the victim mentality way too much.

And that actually kept me stuck. I didn't really progress and get better because it was like, well, you know, why am I the only one that feels the self-doubt or why am I the only one not performing up to my potential? But it wasn't actually the case there. I just wasn't watching everyone else. You know, and there's just like feeling so sorry for myself. How is that different than what now? Well, what now? It doesn't mean that the YB doesn't exist.

And so I like to say like, oh, why question isn't a bad. question. It becomes bad when we stay there. It's kind of like fire. Fire is is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is it can be really good. It helps us cook. It keeps us warm, but fire can also burn down thousands of acres of forest. The difference between fire being productive versus unproductive is the boundary. And so I always eat a bonfire, not the wildfire. Like every strength and also have a weakness. And so when it comes to like asking why can be very beneficial to go, oh, well, because of this or maybe because of this. But if you stay there the whole time, you stay stuck in this circle. You never get out of it. And I think it feels, sometimes it feels like progress because it's like we're moving, right? We're on a stationary bike. We're moving, but we're not moving forward. In order to move forward, you've got to ask something like, what now? And that's like, okay, now what am I going to do about it? What's that next step? And so I think that's the biggest difference is why keeps you in one position, but what helps you move forward? And I think the what is very like strategic, you know, gets you unstuck. It gets you thinking about like what's one step you can take forward, whereas the victim is more like, you know, why me. I read a book by Skip Downey a long time ago. And he talked about it as like Victor versus creator language. Which I really, that's how I think about as you say that, you know, it's really easy to get in that victim mode. Maybe that's our default as humans. What do you think about that? Yeah, well, I think the default is like your brain is a threat detection system. And so why questions they light up that system? Because they're constantly looking for things that are out to get you or that could hurt you or that can threaten your current position.

And so there's a lot of value to having a threat detection system. But the problem with your brain is it's powerful, but it's not always accurate. And so if we stick there, what we know about your brain is that when our emotions heightened our prefrontal cortex, our access to our prefrontal cortex, which is the logical part of your brain, starts to turn off, and we have less access to it. And so when you're in that heightened state, like, it's really hard to move out of it because your brain is, again, it's looking, it's wired to look for that threat. So when you're in it, it feels more comfortable to stay there. But at some point, we have to look at that logical next step, and that's when we're really using our prefrontal

cortex and you're right, that's where that's our planning part of our brain. That's the pausing part part of our brain. That's a part of our brain that's really good logical and rational thinking, but it's really hard to access it when we're so in that emotional state. Yeah, absolutely. And as you think about just this whole idea of being elite by choice and everything that you've said so far, people might be thinking, hey, this is just reserved for like the top 1% of elite athletes, right? but obviously, you know, I think about you work with executives and everyday leaders. So how could everyday leaders apply what we've talked about so far? Oh my gosh.

There's so much here. How much time you got? Exactly. No, I actually, I had a call with a client of mine and I was, I'm doing a speaking engagement for her. And I was going over my curriculum or what I created for her. And she said, okay, but like, and I gave, there was these three reflect. questions I shared that we were going to dive into to begin. And she goes, okay, but do you have

something that like only the athletes do? And I like paused and I looked at her. I said, this is what they do. Yeah. It's amazing because you think that it's unaccessible to people that are not in it. But the difference between elite performers is the fact that they do these simple things really, really well. They become excellent at the basics. They become obsessed with what they can control. These are the things that they do. They're not doing things that are superhuman. They just do those simple things. I'm not saying it's easy. Like discipline is not easy. Leaning into your fear is not easy. Facing the things that you struggle is not easy. Noticing your faults is not easy. Like, evaluating your mistakes is not easy.

Not falling into complacency is not easy. Like, all of those things are what they do exceptionally well. And each and every one of us have those same choices every day. And a lot in the biggest difference is that they choose differently than the average. That's awesome. And they choose to do the hard thing. Like, what do you see? They choose to be disciplined.

They choose not to eat the chocolate or the pizza or the chips or the beer. They choose to push their bodies. They choose to train their minds to give into the fear and the self-doubt. But even if they do choose the cake, they choose it on purpose. Like they don't make choices without purpose. I think that's the biggest piece is that they make very purposeful choices. And I think that that to your point is that the biggest difference is that it just comes down to the choices. that they make consistently and routinely.

Because again, you can make a good choice one day, but then if you stop there, it's not going to do much for you, right? It's like, okay, I read for 20 minutes today, but if I don't read again, it's not going to do much for me. The value of the book is by reading it consistently 20 minutes every day. The value of warming up my brain before I work is the value of that is when I do that consistently. I expand my knowledge base.

I then have to digest it by writing it down. Me doing that, my goal beyond warming my brain up, is also to never lose my depth of knowledge and to not lose my own depth of thought. Because AI is so easy. Like, oh, hey, create this for me using this. Well, I don't want to lose my voice. And so that's my practice I do every day to ensure that doesn't happen. And I think about the self-talk that needs to be, you know, like chosen to be disciplined, you know, and it's like I think the self-talk is things like I can do hard things or I'm not going to back down or kind of what we said with your Starbucks story that it's like, okay, kind of watch me instead of like, yeah, they're right, you know.

What are your thoughts on just self-talk in general and how that relates to confidence and what you see some of the best of the best do? When you were asking what some of the best, the best do, the last thing I was going to say was they are, they are incredible coaches to themselves. I just think that they talk to themselves relentlessly. They fill themselves with the things that they need to hear. I do think that, you know, there's, it's great to have people around you, right? It's great. It's really important to have a good support system. And you should be a part of that. you should be a part of your own support system because, yes, your brain will come up with all sorts of things. It'll come up with your fears. It'll highlight your doubts. It'll highlight the what-ifs of a situation. And I think it was John Gordon who said it, is you need to focus on talking to yourself and not listening to yourself. Yes. And I find that to be one of the most powerful principles because your brain, again, it's a threat detection system. It is meant to look. We have a

negativity bias as a result of it. It is trained and built to look for those things in your environment. But can you do the opposite? If that is true, what are the chances of the other side being true? I actually had a call with an executive client the other day and she said, my director is not sharing this information with me. And it seems like he doesn't trust us. Okay. And I said, okay. So that's a, that's an option. What if you say that? Yeah, what if you assumed positive intent? Because if you think that's true, let's play the opposite. And I said, if you were assuming positive intent, what might that look like?

She does, maybe our CEO told him you can't share it. And I was like, that could be true. She's like, maybe it's not finalized. So he doesn't want to share. That's not true. I was like, that could be true. And I said, just tell me how each one of those things, feel in your body.

And she's like, yeah, feeling like he doesn't trust me feels really bad. I feel like almost like this like something in my throat. And she goes, when I feel, when I think about how, you know, our CEO told him not to say anything or it's not true yet. And so he's trying to protect us. It actually feels really good, like light. And I said it's interesting because just by shifting the narrative you tell yourself and the story you tell yourself, you shift your relationship with it, don't you?

And you shift your experience within it. And so I think that's the same thing with self-talk, is that we can be in a fearful situation and we can speak powerfully to ourselves and shift how we show up. And because we know that our brain is that filter to how our body will respond. If you say this is a threat,

your brain will tell the body, let's respond. There's a threat in the environment. If you say this is a challenge, your body will respond as if it's a challenge to help you meet the moment. So I believe, and I know, how powerful self-talk can be so when you can speak to yourself powerfully and purposefully,

a lot of things can rise as a result of that. I was recently watching Lauren this Instagram video on Tom Brady's page, and he pulls out his binder from the 2018 Super Bowl. And I remember watching that Super Bowl because I was at my friend's Kristen's house, And I was sitting there with my husband, and I was like, I don't think the Patriots are going to win. And he goes, okay, bet me. And I was like, okay, I don't think they're going to, they were down by like, let's say, 34 or something like that. And so we bet each other.

I don't remember what I said I was what I was going to get if he won, or if I won. I don't remember that. But I said, I'm going to bet you a mountain bike because he had been talking to me about getting a mountain bike. and then the Patriots come behind and win. Of course you didn't forget that one. No, of course not. So we have this like mountain bike. Every time I see this mountain bike, I'm like,

don't bet against Tom Brady, you know. But in this video, Tom Brady was saying, like, what he had written down, like pre-planned phrases that he had written down. And it was things like, you're blank, blank, blank, blank, Tom Brady, five times Super Bowl champion, right? And like all these powerful things.

And at the end he says, you love the biggest moments. And I'm like, that's why he was able to perform in those biggest moments, right, when the, you know, the odds were against him. And he was able to say, like, this is who I am because that was who is identity, you know, how we define himself as. I think that's just a great example of like, sure, we might not be Tom Brady or football players, but we can keep on like leveling up the belief about ourselves. Heck, yeah. Oh, yeah. So, so much.

It kind of fires me up, right? Because I'm just like, yeah, you can put. yourself in those shoes. And yeah, the way you speak to yourself matters. I have the things, I'm not going to share them on here because, you know, there are a few bleeps, but there are things that I say to myself in those moments. And I think that it's important because it can drive the narrative. And that narrative is powerful. That story is powerful. And you may not be able to control your situation, but you can control how you speak to yourself within it. Nice. I love that. So you have a fun adventure coming up called Mental Reps.

I know you can't tell us all about it, but I can't wait to see what happens for you next. But tell us a bit about mental reps and what we can look forward to as we follow you. Yeah, so Mental Reps Co, we are the first toy line that teaches mental skills to toddlers, starting at ages three and above. And we believe that the same skills that are used by world class performers, professional athletes, business leaders are the same skills that kids need when they don't feel like starting, when they make a mistake, when they face something difficult. And so I believe that mental skills belong in childhood and we can't wait to be the first

to bring it to families all across the world. That's amazing. And all the mental performance world are going to be like behind you buying all the products. I can't wait. It should be a lot of fun. And it's also an easy way for parents to start to teach. mental strength. I think, I don't know, a parent I've spoken to that doesn't want a mentally strong kid. And, you know, you can read all the books, but how do you translate that for a child?

Well, we've made it really easy so that we can help build future generations stronger from the inside out. Amazing. Amazing. So as we wrap up today in our conversation about elite by choice, tell us what's one or two things that people can take from our conversation today, maybe daily behaviors or habits that they should commit to, you know, from our conversation today. What do you think? I think the number one is that you have no power over yesterday and you have no business predicting tomorrow. And the only time that we have any control over is the current moment that we're in. So I love it. Question to you. If you feel like, yeah, there's a choice I've been wanting to make or I've been holding back here or I'm limited there. My question to you is what now? Amazing. Awesome. So you better

come and check out our mental performance summit. It is Friday, April 17th. You can check it out at mental performance summit.org. We'd love to have you there. Even if you can't join live, it's going to be recorded. And obviously you can get the recording after. But you'll hear more from Lauren there. And tell us, Lauren, like, where can we follow you? I love watching you on Instagram and social media and I love your videos. So how can we follow along with like your mental performance work? Maybe we want to hire you as a speaker or coach or like learn more about mental reps as it launches.

Yeah, the best place to go is my website, which is Lauren Johnson and co, all spelled out, A-N-D-C-O dot com. There's a lot of Lauren Johnson's in the world. So all of my handles are different. So if you go to my website, all of my social media is on there. You can follow along. You can sign up for my newsletter. And I throw out a minute long clip every week and then an action plan that goes with it so you can apply it to yourself.

I love it. Definitely go check her out and follow along with her. And I love today what we talked about, Lauren, these three Cs, choice, consistency and clarity as being elite by choice. I love what you talked about the Starbucks, Lauren, versus the Yankee Lauren and just like the different ways that you might respond. And I love how you responded to the guy in Starbucks. Do you even know his name or anything like that? No, but if I saw him today, I would hug him. I hated him that day, but I love him. And the way that you were just like, you know, watch me and it helped you develop your career and the story you talked about that. I love when we are talking about clutch performance and pressure and just the importance of the falling to the habits that you've really practiced.

So being consistent in those moments of pressure, I thought was really powerful. and instead of saying like why me say what now. And at the end when we were talking about how the best of the best have incredible coaches and that's themselves. Boom. Awesome. I knew this is going to be amazing time with you. So much value you provided. So thank you, Lauren.

I appreciate you coming on the high performance mindset and I appreciate you. Thank you so much for having me. Way to go for finishing another episode of the high performance mindset. I'm giving you a virtual fist pump. Holy cow, did that go by way too fast for anyone else? If you want more, remember to subscribe. And you can head over to Dr. Sindra for show notes and enjoy my exclusive community for high performers

where you get access to videos about mindset each week. So again, you can add over to Dr. Sindra. That's d R-C-I-N-D-R-A.com. See you next week.