Dr. Michael Gervais is one of the world’s leading high-performance psychologists with an obsession about the relationship between the mind and human performance. His clients include the US Olympic beach volleyball team, Olympic athletes, NBA players, Formula 1 racing, Felix Baumgartner (jumping from space as part of Red Bull Stratos) and for 9 years he partnered with Coach Pete Carroll at the Seattle Seahawks, helping them to an NFL Superbowl Championship in 2014.
Michael’s Business, Finding Mastery, consults to Fortune 500 CEOs and leading organisations. As host of the Finding Mastery Podcast, Michael takes you inside the minds of the world’s most extraordinary thinkers and doers. And on a personal note, Michael has been extremely generous with his time, mentoring Jon Clarke (JC) and I behind the scenes with some of the frameworks we are introducing with the Manly Sea Eagles. JC joined me behind the mic for this rich, robust and raw discussion about all things performance psychology and stepping up when it matters.
In this episode Andrew, JC and Dr Michael discuss:
2:30 How Michael feels about his bio being read out, growing up being obsessed with wanting to be better and feeling very grateful for where he is now.
6:00 How Michael was hit with imposter syndrome before going on stage at a global conference, how he managed to calm himself down through a form of mindfulness, and how that has led to his 27 year long mindfulness and presence practise.
12:50 "Did I do my best to prepare for this moment?" When something really matters, you do what it takes to make it happen and how Michael leveraged some parts of his sometimes challenging upbringing.
18:20 Michael’s purpose is unlocking the potential that lies dormant within people, how to unlock your personal purpose and its cousins (vision and values) and the importance of having clarity.
24:05 Hacks are for hacks, confidence in your skills takes time to grow, and working with the head coach of the Seattle Seahawks, Pete Carrol, for 9 years.
31:55 Why Michael loves working in sport, avoiding having corridor conversations, and the 3 rules that kept the culture going at Seattle Seahawks.
39:15 Releasing the magic of players and how good coaching is as simple as letting someone know what they did right and speaking the language of high performance "that, yes that!"
44:35 The 3 types of skills to get better at, the learnings from losing a Super Bowl, better preparing players and teams to deal with loss, and the "longbody" concept rooted in that Native American tradition of tribal members being connected.
53:50 Vulnerability and courage are cousins, what JC is afraid of, and Michael’s story about saving his marriage with intensive therapy and working on himself.
1:07:15 Why Andrew loves working in the mental skills field and why JC loves working in sport.
You can find Dr Michael at his LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drmichaelgervais/
Listen to the Finding Mastery Podcast: https://findingmastery.com/
Listen to the podcast with John Schneider: https://findingmastery.com/podcasts/john-schneider/
Watch the Interview with Willie McGinest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtS2w6XRKrY
You can find JC at his LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jon-clarke-1152a065/?originalSubdomain=au
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Learn more about Andrew and Performance Intelligence: https://performanceintelligence.com/
Find out more about Andrew's Keynotes : https://performanceintelligence.com/keynotes/
Follow Andrew May: https://www.instagram.com/andrewmay/
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Performance Intelligence Podcast 