High Performance Mindset | Learn from World-Class Leaders, Consultants, Athletes & Coaches about Mindset - 95: What the Best Do with Dr. Gloria Balague, Sport Psychologist with the Chicago Bears & USA Track & Field

Episode Date: March 21, 2017

Gloria Balague is a sport psychologist who currently works with the elite athletes and teams including the Chicago Bears, USA Gymnastics and USA Track and Field. She taught at the University of Illinois, Chicago starting in 1988 and retired just a few short years ago. Gloria has attended several Olympic and World Championships helping athletes with the mental game.  She says that the world’s best have two distinguishing characteristics: 1) they have a clear picture of where they are right now and 2) have an unshakeable belief in themselves and belief they can get there. She describes the unique environment of the NFL and how this creates difficulties in helping athletes with the mental game. The NFL is the only environment where new athletes can be signed throughout the season. She also talks about her experiences as a female working in the NFL. You can find a full description and summary at Cindrakamphoff.com/gloria.

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 I'm grateful that you're here ready to listen to an interview with Gloria Balague. The goal of these interviews is to learn from the world's best, the world's best leaders, athletes, coaches, and consultants. All of the interviews are related to a topic, and the topic is mindset and what it means to perform at the highest level in our sport or in

our field, in our business. We perform every single day. So the goal of these interviews is to help us reach our potential or be high performers in our field by learning from some of the best. And today I'm going to start off with a tweet. This was posted by Cassie this week and she said this. She said, this is one of my favorite podcasts ever. I still can't believe this stuff is free. Check it out. Hashtag pure gold.

So I just want to give a shout out to Cassie for tweeting that message. And I also want to share with you a goal that I have. So I have a big audacious goal of doubling the downloads in this podcast in 100 days. And I think it can be done. I decided to write down this goal and start tracking it because every time that I get done with an interview, I pinch myself. And I'm kind of like Cassie, blown away that some of the best are sharing their secrets and doing it here. So these interviews are gems. They provide us with so many practical tools and strategies for us to improve our performance.

So I'm wondering if you could help me to help me reach the goal of doubling the downloads in 100 days. And so I'm wondering if you could do one of three things this week. First, could you tweet about the podcast or post it on social media? Perhaps share an episode that you found useful or maybe your favorite if you listen to it frequently. And then next week, I will read your tweet, just like I read Cassie's. So you could post it on social media.

Another thing that you could do, a second thing you could do is head over to iTunes and provide us a comment or a rating. And believe it or not, those actually help us get higher on the iTunes rankings, which just pops up in more people's feed. And then so that allows us to reach more and more people each week. Or number three, tell a friend about the podcast.

So I'm wondering if you could, again, help me in this journey of doubling the downloads. Again, one of three things this week, post it on social media, head over to iTunes or tell a friend. That would be incredible. So again, another incredible interview this week. I interviewed Gloria Balagay. She's a sports psychologist who currently works with elite athletes and teams, including, listen to this, the Chicago Bears, USA Gymnastics, and USA Track and Field. She also has taught at the University of Illinois, Chicago, starting in 1988 and just retired a few years ago. So Gloria has attended several Olympic and World Championships, helping athletes implement the mental game. And in this interview, she talks about how the world's best have two distinguishing

factors. She also describes the unique environment of the NFL and how this unique environment creates some difficulties with implementing the mental game. She talks about being a female working in the NFL, and we share a little bit of our experiences in that since I do some work with the Minnesota Vikings. She also describes her biggest failure, how all outcomes should be approached as feedback, the importance of how athletes need to be more than just athletes.

So again, super incredible podcast. You can also find a description and summary on my website, cindracampoff.com slash Gloria. And we'd love to hear from you. Send us a tweet. You can tag me at mentally underscore strong with one thing that you found helpful from this podcast. And I will make sure I read it at the beginning of the next interview. So without further ado, let's bring on Gloria. So I'm excited that you're

joining us here today in the High Performance Mindset. I have Dr. Gloria Balagay on the podcast and I'm excited to talk to you, Gloria, about your work. I know you are over in Illinois, have worked with USA Track and Field, and I know you do some work with Chicago Bears. So just kind of start us off the podcast and tell us a little bit about your passion and how you got to where you are now. You know, I was born in Barcelona, Spain. And so my path is probably a little bit different than that of many people because when I started, even psychology was starting in Spain so sports psychology was definitely not very much in anybody's radar but my family was very sports oriented my dad introduced sports medicine in Spain and so I you know right away had an opportunity to work at the Olympic Training

Center I mean I did a little bit of everything. I helped with oxygen consumption tests and run the library. And eventually, when I learned a little bit more, did some of the sports psychology work. In Spain, you don't need a doctorate to work in sports psychology. And when I came to the States over 30 years ago, I got my doctorate here. But my degree in Spanish was in psychology and so my PhD was in clinical.

Actually, I have a dual, clinical and social psychology. My choice, I couldn't see clinical without social. But I always loved sport and during my my training I did a lot of work in the area of health psychology which I thought in clinical was the one that matched the best the things that I end up doing in sport and I loved it I thought it was it was very good I work at Cook County Hospital, which is a really unique place, the only public hospital in Illinois, basically. It was a really interesting place.

And I liked it, but I didn't have the passion that I had for sport. And I realized that any time that I would go back to working with athletes, doing something with track and field or gymnastics, my level of energy was so much higher. And I think it's, you know, it is nice to work and help people go from whatever level they're functioning back to normal. But working with people who are going from good to working great, it's so different. And I love that. I love the idea also of figuring out things that maybe nobody's done. I mean, having an athlete say, I know I can get a world record.

I don't know for sure how. Well, I don't know for sure how either. I realize I am better at it for that reason, I think. And I like what you're saying. I think an important message for the listeners is that you followed what you're passionate about and what gave you energy. And you could tell that you felt different when you were with high-level athletes. And that gave you more energy and excitement and passion.

Absolutely. And I think that even in that moment, you think like, well, you know, this is a sure path. Yeah, it's sure, but you're sure to be doing something that is just okay. And I don't want to compromise myself

like always, you know, I want to do something I really, really love. Yeah, I think that's similar to myself where I've always, not always, but especially recently, really followed what gives me excitement and, you know, what I'm jacked about afterwards. And then I'm going to do more of that. because sometimes I think all that we could do and I can't. So I think sometimes it goes in both ends of the spectrum, but it's worth it for me. For sure.

So tell us a little bit about how you became involved in USA Track and Field. When I was at the Olympic Training Center in Spain, I worked very, very much with Track and Field because the national coach was someone who was very psychologically minded and he was particularly excellent at hurdles and I watched practices with him. He would ask my help in things that again I didn't know how to do but we figured it out together like switching the lead leg from right to left for a hurdler, a hurdler who ended up competing on the world level. And so I, you know, I had, I did what I could.

But then when I came to the States and I was finishing my doctorate, there was one sports psychology conference in Washington, D.C. And I went and there was a group, you know, they give a case and a discussion for each group. And the case that was assigned to my group was a hurdler. And I talk, in general, I talk a lot. But in that case, I also knew so much about hurdlers that, you know, I probably talked more in that group than I would have otherwise. And the story is about the fact that the head of sports medicine for USA Track and Field was in that table.

I didn't know him. And at the end of the session, he made a big line for me and said, who are you? Why do you know so much about hurdles and track and you know and so we started talking and she asked you know invited me to work with USA Track and Field and I'm like oh my gosh really do I need to think about that of course I'd love to do it so it was really in some ways being at the right place at the right time but everything that I had done until then even if I would have thought it had no connection ended up being relevant. Right, exactly. And I like the idea that you never know who's listening and to bring value and over-deliver whenever you're speaking so you never know who's in the audience.

How many years ago was that that you started working with USA Track and Field? I was introduced right at the right at the meeting for trials for 88. 88 awesome so then you've been involved with how many Olympics then? Yeah because I went in 92 I was I went to the to the Olympics with the team but of course the Olympics were in my hometown. Oh Barcelona. Except course, I went to Barcelona with a U.S. team, and so the Spanish newspapers labeled me a traitor, but other than that,

a lot of fun. Actually, in 96, I went to Atlanta with USA Rhythmic Gymnastics. I mean, I've always worked with track, so but we try, I mean, I've always worked with track. So, but we try, I mean, the experience of going to the Olympics is so unique that, and it's a volunteer job for USA Track and Field.

So we try to get other people to go. So I, I mean, I went all the way to the training camp, same thing in 2000. Yeah. So, I mean, just working with some of the nation's best the world's best athletes Gloria what do you see separates them from the rest what do they do mentally I think two things one is what I would say an unshakable belief in themselves and and by that I don't mean that they think I'm the best they think i can get there

because i the other thing the really tough ones have is a really clear picture of you can call the ugly reality sometimes that is where am i right now what is actually happening and then the strong strong belief that they can get whatever they are right now they eventually can get whatever they want and they have both of those I think and do you see that that's something that is just innate within them or do you think it's the confidence and their unshakable belief and that they can get there is something that's developed over time you know in terms of maybe their experience in sport obviously that there's maybe some you know some predisposition to to be more optimistic or more confident but i think people who have had to overcome more

difficulty yes actually have uh an easier time of it. Those athletes who have always been the most gifted, the best, I think those do great as long as they remain always number one. If they have an obstacle, I don't think they have a chance to develop what we would call grit. Yeah, can you give us an example? Because I agree with you in terms of what I'm thinking about, especially the pro athletes that I worked with who really struggled, maybe they grew up in a single parent home or they had a tragedy when they were growing up.

They're so much, they're sort of really mentally strong and kind of can handle anything in the moment because they've had to handle anything in the moment as they've grown up. So tell us a little bit more about that. Like, can you give us an example? Yeah, I mean, I think that I mean, I can think of several of those where people have had to really from and it can be many different things from coaches and other people not believing in them and having to prove themselves at every level and making it to the next level and then you know people around saying oh well yeah you're never gonna make it to the next one and making it um in some cases it's been um athletes who have

actually grown late in adolescence and so they were the you know smaller and didn't look like the most athletic and all of a sudden uh you know they felt they could they grew and all of a sudden everybody else supported it but they had developed this i will make it um to others who have had and really major life it doesn't even have to be the score sometimes major life uh difficulties difficulties where they have had to really prove themselves and work hard to overcome that. And I think that gives an amazing basis for handling life. I'll tell you that for me, performance skills are life skills. And so that transfer goes both ways. Yeah, performance

skills are life skills. So those, when you have those life skills, it's a little bit easier, it's a lot easier to do it in the performance. What do you see, Gloria, in terms of, you know, even the best, right? They struggle sometimes. So what are the best struggle with mentally? What do you see? Do you see any trends? Perhaps the thing I see the most, so much so that sometimes I question myself, is it just me that I see in everybody? Or is it really that much out there? It's the fear of making mistakes, the perfectionism. Yeah. I think that that is very common. And at the same time, that angle makes them really good and win really hard. But if they cannot turn it off at the time of competition, it ends up damaging their self-confidence. Because even if they have 95% good, they look at the 5% they're missing. And if that's all they do, it ends up being a problem.

So this is one of the most common. The other one that I've seen more lately, maybe that is in these past years with professional sports, knowing who to surround themselves with. And I've seen a number of people struggling, trying to really surround themselves with people who are going to help them get where they want to be, rather than people who constantly want something from them and pull them down.

And what do you see in terms of how do they come to making the decisions on who they should surround themselves with? I think it's actually, it's not an easy process as I've realized. In part, I mean, many things get complicated. Sometimes the sense of growing up precisely in very difficult conditions and being the one who has made it out. And that sometimes carries a sense of I owe them something, which the others exploit tremendously. And they use those things. I mean, I've had athletes, even in track and field, tell me, you know, an African-American man say,

all of a sudden, now I am supposed to be the representative of the black man because I've done this major athletic accomplishment um but it's a huge way and so so allowing the discussion to see really um it's not just that they want something from you but are those people really your friends are those people really uh people who uh really want are gonna make you better the same way that you're trying to make them better it's not a financial thing and once we can separate this um and and see listen you know um or if these people are going to interfere with us out of selfishness what does that say but it's not an easy discussion and it takes time.

Yeah, it takes time. Well, let's jump back to the one issue you talked about where you see, you know, even high level athletes fear of making mistakes. And you said, you got to learn to turn that off during competition. Tell us a little bit more, you know, what advice or strategies or strategy that you might help athletes with in terms of how do you turn that off during competition? Yeah, I think actually that we need to start that in practice, obviously. And one of the things that I do is earlier, I mean, when we're still away from competitions, talk about, okay, let's redefine success. right now success is doing something that you're bad at because the tendency is often to choose to do the things that they're really good at everybody likes to do um and at times redefining success going for the things that you know you're not good at

that you know you're not going to look all that good. And actually keeping track of how many have you done, how much have you volunteered to demonstrate something the first time you hear about it. Taking risks in situations in practice, like, okay, I'm going to go for this. And getting through that discomfort, because it's uncomfortable. And so we start with this, talking about success.

Then success is going for it once you're learning maybe a new technique or a new way of doing it success is not doing it well success is doing it trying the new way then we'll get to doing it well so you know kind of breaking it down and then once we get and i haven't kept track of those. Because once we get to the competition, then it's like, okay, I talk about switching the radio station in your head. The closer we get to the competition, the more the station has to tune into the strengths. And the strengths are not what you do perfect,

but what have you improved? And what is it that you have? And if you don't have, you know, this is something that I think Kendra Visa always says. If you only have 80% today, you've got to use 100% of that 80%. And so it's a little bit of that. You may be missing something, but if you keep focusing on what you're missing today,

you're not going to use all that you have. So again, let's look at what are you going to use today and look at what is it that you know you have. So I hate trying to do that right before a competition because you cannot dislodge that. And the underlying fear is always, and I always start saying okay um in on a scale from zero to a hundred and i do a i draw a a visual scale with a hundred being totally aiming

for perfection all the time and zero being a wet noodle i don't care um where are you and the ones who are 1995-97 I have to ask them okay what would be for you because otherwise they think I expect them to be and they are not average you're not gonna be average but is it reasonable to stay at 98% because then you feel you fail all the time. Right, right. What is reasonable for you? And even if they say 80, 85, I don't think I'd let them go higher than 85. But okay, let's go for that.

So that they understand that I'm not talking going to the other extreme because many athletes don't say that, but they fear if I turn off that intense drive for perfection, I'm going to lose my strength. I'm going to lose my ability to be really good. And I want to clarify with them, no, what I'm talking about is being your best coach to yourself. So what would you call that, Gloria, like a perfectionism scale? So, you know, if they're at 100% or they beat themselves up after a mistake versus, you know, and you're trying to get them to be more 85 to show a little bit more compassion, is that kind of what you're saying? You know, I would not use that word because they misinterpret it. Yeah. Perfection?

No, compassion. Oh, compassion. Oh, of course they they think like i'm saying it's okay and i say listen having uh very high goals that's fine that is you know that is good because most of them those are goals that at some point will be achievable what is not okay is to really beat themselves up um if they don't do it that is the piece that need to change because that is not helpful and it's not accurate and if I ask them you know if you want one one of your teammates really the best he or she can and you see them they have this goal and they make this mistake or they have this outcome, what would you tell them?

And usually the response is, remember, you want them to really be as responsible. What would you say? And of course, what they say is appropriate. Now, what do you tell yourself? Right. So that's why it's not accurate and it's not effective. So that's why you wouldn't tell it the other person, but you have it to yourself. Because I understand that I cannot convince them to change.

Yeah. Yeah. And my sense is, as I'm listening to you talk, I'm thinking about perhaps your work in the NFL. And I know most recently you've done some work with the Chicago Bears. And at least my experience in pro football is that the athletes have very high standards for themselves. And if they don't perform well, that has really high consequences for their career, right? I guess to shift gears a little bit, Gloria, tell us about how you got involved with the Bears and then we can connect this discussion to that. the new general manager wanted a sports sciences department and brought someone with him who does nutrition and I think exercise physiology and as any is a woman as well and asked her to put

together a sports sciences department. And she came from the Olympic movement. So she contacted the USOC. I mean, it's, you know, in Chicago, there weren't that many of us. But I know they interviewed three people. So I was asked to interview. And it was a lot of fun, actually, because I was interviewed. My interviews initially were with several players.

Oh, that's great. So you got to interview with the players before you even started. Actually, those were the first interviews I had. Oh, that's awesome. That's awesome. So tell us a little bit about how the discussion we've been having so far about perfectionism and not beating yourself up how do you see that connecting to pro football or do you see any examples in that i see many i i was surprised at how many i see and and it's true the environment reinforces that in and you know

they constantly have to be looking over their shoulders frankly I think it's the only sport football where they keep bringing new people in throughout the whole season yeah never have okay this is the team and and it's pretty amazing but they once they understand that it's not that it doesn't matter what the other thing on how it looks but that the only thing that can be solved is what are you going to do now. Otherwise it's like having major leaks in energy sources. If you're looking

out at what are the others thinking, what does that look like? Who else is there? And so actually reducing making of what's manageable here? What can we do? And also the idea of all outcomes are feedback. And so if something didn't go well, it's actually extremely helpful information

that's going to allow you to get better next time. Look at it this way. You've got to be able to answer, what did I learn from you? But it's complicated because you do totally swim against the current, much more so than at the Olympic movement. Right, because they can be replaced at any moment in time or they can bring new players in. So it is high pressure.

I like what you just said, Gloria, like all outcomes are feedback. So it's really like, what can you learn from that outcome? Instead of beating yourself up that the outcome didn't go exactly the way that you wanted to. So tell us a little bit, and I'm thinking that listeners might be interested in hearing your perspective on this as well. Tell us a little bit about your experiences

working in the NFL as a female. And I think we can both relate to this because of my work with the Minnesota Vikings, but I'm curious on what your experience has been like so far start us off with that you know um for me I mean obviously the most the the the thing that is most different is are the organizational aspects of the NFL frankly and and the clubs um the players themselves maybe because I've had so much experience with track and field I look at them and I think, oh, the throwers, the sprinters. And the same thing with racial mixture and everything.

So in one sense, I am and field, I found that many of the players have an easier time talking to me. I think the competitive nature would come through. It would be harder to tell me a weakness. They would try to present a I got it all together kind of picture, which is what the environment reinforces. But with me, they can say I hate this and I don't know what I'll do and it's making me nervous and I worry constantly. They can tell me that. So I actually think it's easy, but I am also very comfortable.

And I think also at this point in my life, my age, I think it also helps, frankly. So all together, I think it works well. Yeah, that's great. I do see it as an advantage on my end too, just because I agree that I don't have any ego, right? And so it is a lot easier for players to be open and honest. Yeah, I think that's really what you're getting at.

So, Gloria, when I think about your work and helping these athletes in USA Track and Field or USA Gymnastics or in the NFL just be at their best more often, is there a topic that you always cover with your clients? Like, is there a topic that, say, you might work with somebody individually or you're working with a group or a team? What's kind of like your go-to or the foundation of your work is another maybe way to think about it? To me, probably the most important psychological skill is self-awareness. And the one thing that I always try to go, and I do that with the group as well, is emphasizing

that all of the strength is already inside and that they got to look at that. If it's inside the team, let's look at that. If it's either inside the team, let's look at each other. What do we have here? And not look so much outside. And also the individuals, you know, okay, where does your strength come from? And sometimes, you know,

it comes not just from the workouts you've done and the speed and the strength, but also the huge family support that you have, the fact that you're very smart, that sometimes you may overthink things, but that's a huge strength as well. So I try to make sure they put together and own all of the richness that they have.

And then we can tolerate a lot of other things and manage difficulties. But as long as they look outside, what do I need? What is this going to take away from me or give me? They lose a little bit of a sense of their own agency. And so that is something that individually as a group, I think I always have as a core point. Self-awareness, the most important psychological skill.

Really good. Is there an example of a signature technique that you use? Kind of what I'm thinking there is, you know, something that you always might teach them, or it could be related to self-awareness or just something more general or a different topic. In terms of self-awareness, I often, you know, I did one of those videos with Judy, you know, I did one of those videos with Judy,

you know, the sports psychology videos. And I mention it because sometimes people come and say, oh, I saw you doing this in the video. Because it is something that I actually do. Usually the first times I talk to an athlete, a player, I ask them, I just draw a pie, a circle, and I ask to divide it into as many pieces as rolls and things that are important to you.

And I see how big the sport piece is, and what are the others? Are those other pieces pieces that are a drain? What are those pieces that are a support and a strength? And it gives me an idea, but it gives them an idea as well and sometimes they come back and say i think i need to change that and i think that's a great way to be thinking about it so that's one thing in terms of the awareness the other thing that i realized i do quite a bit just because somebody said that's weird and I thought really I always do this more about the the mindfulness the being present with many of the athletes

I ask them you know when we talk about the breath I have them breathe all the way into their feet feel the ground and feel stable and well balanced and planted. Because a lot of the times they overemphasize their arms and hands anyway. And so making sure that they focus on being balanced and feeling the strength and the connection with the ground, that's actually a more solid way of starting any movement. And so I realize I do that a lot and also that helps because sometimes if they're a little anxious they're leaning forward so if you focus on feeling balanced it makes you stay in the right position more. Nice so do you

actually have them feel the breath go to their feet or tell us a bit more about how you might do I have them do a couple of deep breaths and then after that and i always say take a deep breath hold it now let it out very slowly and start you know letting the shoulders down and after a couple of those i say okay now this next time i want you to breathe all the way into your feet and for that just pay attention just feel you know the ground feel and and I do a couple of those and at the first they always like okay what but they get it and and and often they say you know that I can do that on the field that's excellent well tell us a little bit about the wheel moving back up to you kind of shared two signature techniques and I've actually seen that video Gloria I think it's by virtual athletics

yes and I think you know the title Athletics. Yes. And I think, I don't even know the title. Is it called Three Approaches to Sports Psychology? No, I don't think so. I think that mine, it was like, as if it were a whole season, beginning, middle, and end. Yes. Nice. Okay. So let's just walk the exercise through with the audience so that if they wanted to replicate this, they could. And so what I remember from the exercises, you had the person write out. So you actually draw a pie, right? And then you have them write out their roles in different components of that pie. So let's say my role, 30% I'm a mother, 20% I'm a marathon know, 50% I'm a consultant, right? And then you keep on going with that. And so the big questions you're going to ask somebody after that are, are their percentages the way that you'd like them to be? Well, exactly. I mean, I often have them do it twice. And one say, okay, what is the percentage of time that it takes? And that's one. And the other one is what's the importance that the role have?

And sometimes what's more important and what I value the most has a really small percentage. And so it's like, okay, this is a huge imbalance. You can do this for a while, but this is not sustainable. So I use it this way. It depends on the age. I mean, if it's somebody really young, I'll just do one. An older athlete, I'll probably do one. An older athlete, I'll

probably do two, and I'll keep checking. Has that changed? Is this different? At certain points in the season or if somebody is like a month before the Olympics, okay, it is not going to be balanced. It can't. But after the Olympics,

are we changing this? Are we making it a little bit? Because, you know, it's a give and take, you know? Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Can you give us an example of a client that you worked with who maybe perhaps had an aha moment just by doing this? And maybe the changes they made after going through this exercise with you? You know, I had, and it's something that, you know, sometimes people try to make

decisions based on what somebody else did. So there was this one athlete who came and said, you know, I've been pretty busy and now I'm preparing for the Olympics. So I think that what I'm going to do is I'm just going to dedicate myself to, and I'm not going to go to take classes. I'm going to take a year off of school. And I thought, ooh, what a bad idea, but to myself. But I had, so with it, you know, what are the things that are important? And that was someone who being an athlete was important, but it was like maybe 30%.

Somebody needed a lot more intellectual activity. And after we went through this, and, you know, I just put it out there, and I said, and what you're trying to do now is we just did one, and it had athlete and family, a small slice, and a couple of things. And I said, oh, that one kind of makes me sad. I said, you know, listen to that. That's not a life that goes for you. I don't mean to say take 12 credits,

but can you do something? You want to meet someone online or go to a community college, take something because, you know, your mind needs something else. But that was already what he had described. So, and it was, and it made to him a lot of sense. So, you know, sometimes some of these decisions, it's like all I'm going to do is sports because the Olympics are closed or because that may not be what's going to make you the most productive.

Absolutely. And it has to, to with respect your own complexity who are you if if we only take care of the athlete it's like just a facade there is nothing behind and eventually it crumbles and so the whole person you cannot take care of everything equally at the same time but eventually you're going to take care of everything equally at the same time. But eventually you're going to take care of everything. So the spouse or the mother or the, you know, the one who... I had an athlete who had a world record. And we had done this. And one huge piece in his life was music. After the world record, looking towards the olympic gold which was the

next uh reasonable goal um we met and and i said okay what's happening to the music well i don't have time whoa you don't have time what else you don't have time for because what's happening and it was all of these changes in life all of these agent manager and activities and things um and and his performance was not very good so he had to get back to to being you know in the music world um to really feel like oh i remember who i am you know what i'm hearing you talk about gloria is the importance of being balanced understanding who you are but I think that goes back to when I asked you about what's one topic related to mental training you cover with all all your clients and it's self-awareness and so I think

your signature technique directly connects with that so Gloria let's move on and talk a little bit about you for a little while and tell us a little bit about why you do what you do. You know, we know understanding your why and understanding the reasons you do what you do can help you just stay excited and passionate for your work. So why do you keep on doing this work in the field with high level performers like you do? You know, I was actually ready to retire. I've been teaching at the university for many years and I love teaching by the way. It was not a side job. It's something that I really like. I retired from the university two years ago and I was thinking about going to Spain and doing some consulting there but I know it wasn't very clear and I thought that you know I would miss the sport performance part,

but I thought, well, I'll do some in Spain for sure because I kept my connections there. And then the opportunity with the Bears came up, and I thought, ooh, that's something I haven't done. I haven't really won the professional level. It's a challenge. That's something I haven't done. I haven't really worked at the professional level. I saw it as an opportunity to learn more about myself, to grow. And I felt, again, the excitement. I thought, oh, yes.

And so, again, I postponed and I told my family in Spain, no, I'm not coming back yet. I'm staying here. In a sense, it's because I really love it. At the same time, I'm very clear that the moment that I think, this is not what I thought it was going to be in the sense that I don't think I can do what I could or it's not worth it. I don't think I can do what I could or it's not worth it.

I don't think I would have much problem letting go of it. But I think I will continue again because I think you're looking for excellence in whatever area you are. It's something that is pretty unique. Excellent, excellent. Well, I can tell that you love it just because I'm seeing your face. I see you smile. So one of the questions I always ask all of our podcast guests is to tell us about a time that they failed. And the reason I ask you that is because, you know, people might be listening and be thinking, man, Gloria, so much

experience, 30 years in the field, you know, with all these Olympic athletes, these pro athletes, but, but I'm sure there's been a time that hasn't gone perfectly for you. And so I'd like to share that. So, you know, we can, we can see that, that failure is a part of learning and growing. Tell us about a moment and how we can take that and learn something from your experience. I actually have so many to choose from. But in general, because I mean, I had to write a chapter once about this. So it's something that I've thought about. In general, it's when I don't listen and I think about what is it that they need and I kind of try to provide that answer and that never goes very far and so I you know was asked by a coach to work with the team and I went in and I observed practice and I observed how the coach coach and then I came back

with a number of ideas of what they could do but I neglected to stop and say what do you want and and so it was like oh yeah gee I gave all these ideas well thank you very much that was the last I heard from them but even even you know in you know in terms of understanding the fact that what somebody could do is not necessarily what they should do at the moment. That is meeting them where they are, not dragging them where I think they could go. I think that in general, all of the times that I fail is when I impose, in a sense, my own idea of where they should go and what they should do. Just because I think they could, because I think they would be great or whatever, but they are not there yet.

I've neglected to either listen enough or understand exactly what else is there. Sometimes people have competing goals, and they give you one, but they don't give you the other, but it's right there. And when techniques don't work, rather than changing the technique, I try to figure out, okay, what's happening here? Why isn't this working? What information have I neglected to get here? Because again, you know, listening to what is not said is also something that I've learned.

Yeah. Yeah. So what I hear is just the importance of being where you are as a consultant, listening and not necessarily posing your ideas or your thoughts, your goals of where they should be, but being there with them. Sometimes in terms of sports psychology, we think, oh, it would be so great if they just did this or they changed that. But that's my goal, not theirs. And I have to use their language and I have to use their goals.

And when I've been too psychological, it hasn't worked. Yeah, for sure, for sure. Well, tell us about an example of an aha moment that you've had in your career. Is there a time where you can think back where you really learned something important about your work or your clients? Again, of those I have a lot but sometimes i think in theoretically i've always understood that you have to be who you are and that you have to be genuine but i remember once traveling with with the u.s track and field team we were in japan and we were at a training camp. Everything, the TV was in Japanese. There was a 24-hour buffet, which was not the best idea for, you know, before world championships.

And somehow we got a film in a DVD. So everybody, the whole team got together watching that movie. And it was some spy film of some sort. And we're watching this and there's one scene where the good guy of the movie is hiding in some bushes and all of a sudden you see a pit of shoes that he's been discovered.

And one of the athletes who had never talked to me, sitting next to me, turns around and says, hey, sports psych, what is he thinking? And I just said, he's thinking holy cow I didn't say cow um and uh and he started laughing and he said hey you're okay and the next day he

came talk to me and I thought at the moment that I just answered what I just blurted what I was thinking and I thought I should think those things through a little bit more but the reality is that if I had tried to give a psychological explanation it would have been the worst possible thing you know and sometimes I've learned that you know

I'm just watching practice and somebody will say so what were you thinking about when I did and I'll say sorry you caught me on a break because I wasn't watching you. And rather than try to BS. And I've learned that sometimes they may not like that at the moment, but they know they can trust me. And what I hear you saying, you know, to that athlete in that moment is like, just you're being real, you weren't getting too theoretical, you're meeting them where they really are. So Gloria,

I have a few quick questions before you before we wrap up. So is there a book or a resource that you'd recommend to the audience? And why might you recommend that one? It depends who the audience is like for coaches. I mean, right now, there is a book that I've recommended quite a bit because of the perfectionism issue, which is Mindset, which a lot of people are reading and have read, even though I think only the first chapters are really, the rest is all repetitive, but whatever.

The book, the concepts are really good. And I think Mindset is very helpful, both for coaches and for athletes. And that's Mindset by Carol Dweck? Yes. Yes. Okay. Yes.

So I like that one. Sometimes for coaches, there is a book that is very short and I like and I've recommended it. That's called Wale Done but whale spelled W-A-L-E like the whales in the zoo Wale Done and it's it's co-written by a guy who trains the killer whales in the San Diego Zoo and it's really about catch them doing something well catch them doing something good and it's really about catch them doing something well. Catch them doing something good. And it's very simple, very brief, but really clear. And since coaches often seem to think that their job is to tell athletes what they do wrong,

this book provides in a very clear way a total contrast. How about you tell them what they do right and and and I find it very simple very clear I like it. Excellent excellent and Gloria is there a quote or a phrase that you see yourself saying often or you know something that you you use often in your work? I guess one of the things that I do say often is you're much more than an athlete. Yeah. And how do you see yourself using that? People, sometimes the athletes get tunnel vision about the future, about what they're doing, about what they're doing well. And so some of them are really great dads, are great husbands.

And all of a sudden they're feeling like I have a bad game. So it's horrible. It's like, okay, let's see. You're much more than an athlete. Let's open that Zoom and look at what's going well. And then we'll also look at what is not. Excellent. Excellent, Gloria.

Well, what advice do you have for those high performers who are listening? So people that are listening who are working to reach their best more often, they might be athletes, coaches, entrepreneurs, leaders. What would be the final message you could give people? I think it would be that same thing of why don't you start looking back and realizing what are the things that you actually are good at and you enjoy? And start increasing those, following those, trying to do them more. Increase the space they have in your life.

Follow them a little bit more. I mean, very often people think, okay, I'm going to make a list of things I need to change, I need to improve. And so they end up making a list of things I need to change, I need to improve. And so they end up making a list of faults. And, okay, so fine, you're going to do that. At least do the other one as well and make a list of, okay, what are your strengths? What are you good at? What are things that sometimes you catch yourself thinking,

wow, that was really, I learned that really fast, or I did that really well. Keep talking those things because that is really what's going that really fast, or I did that really well. Keep talking those things, because that is really what's going to allow you to improve the other. Nice. And I know listeners are going to want to reach out to you, Gloria. Are you on social media, or what's the best way that people can reach out to you?

Probably email. I'm pretty good on email. All right. Excellent. So my email is gbalague at gmail.com. Okay. gbalague at gmail.com. Well, Gloria, I want to thank you so much for your time and energy and all the opportunities that you've helped create in the field

and all those athletes and high performers that you've worked with. There's many things that stand out to me from your interview. I will tell you a few. I thought our discussion about the fear of making mistakes and working to turn that off during competition was important. And helping athletes find successes instead different. And I know that people can take that kind of a tangible skill. And then the last thing that you talked about was really like who you are and understanding who you are. And I like the example that you provided in terms of the pie. And I think that's a tangible strategy that people could use that they could really take

from your interview. So I just want to thank you so much for your time and your attention and your passion for the field of performance psychology. Thank you very much. I hope to see you at ASP, see if we can have a presentation. It'll be fun. Yeah, you know it. All right. Thank you for listening to High Performance Mindset.

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