From the Ground Up Athletic Performance Podcast Wendy Posillico Episode 57 "Honing in on a high performance mindset, Balancing internal & external thoughts & processes"
On episode 57, I sat down with Wendy Posillico Founder of Live your June. Wendy has a background in competitive sports and has been involved with the LPGA, Wendy currently focuses on helping individuals and groups find a high performance mindset. How we frame and rationalize things really paints our understanding of a given situation and our capacity to truly perform. The starting point as the conversation gets underway focuses on firstly identifying the things that in Wendy's experience often keep individuals from achieving great things or having a productive mindset. Wendy states that one of the biggest challenges to an optimal, healthy, or high performance mindset is the inability to know self and celebrate self. People often bring in old patterns of beliefs that will shield them from their potential or new more beneficial habits or beliefs. Language is one of our most powerful tools of expression. Language is important , Wendy states that we all have two voices in our head and how we choose to speak to ourselves and to others really frames and gives context to the situation and our capabilities.
Wendy believes that its very important to celebrate the things that make each of us unique. Models and frameworks are important, however, Wendy shares some of the dangers of projecting models onto every situation. We have to facilitate and help people realize their own vision, potential, and modes of expression. Wendy's starting point for developing a high performance mindset is firstly establishing your own ethos. This word really stood out to me as I have often discussed this term with many of my students and ethos most often equates to ones morals or credibility. For Wendy knowing self allows for us to identify and fortify our strengths in hopes that they may be projected towards a grander vision.
After establishing a sense of self and projecting ourselves towards a vision its important to reflect on the gap that exist between ones current situation and where their vision leads them. Why does this discrepancy or gap exist? We discuss the importance of short term focus and long term focus. In my own experience individuals tend to be either process and detail orientated only focusing on those things that are near, Or completely on the other end always looking towards the horizon for land all the while hitting the iceberg that's in plain sight. Wendy shares that its not natural for most to think big and by thinking big she doesn't mean ridiculous. Wendy is more or less referencing the power of disruption here, a push, a shift, a stretch that will make you do things that are out of the ordinary for you typically. Wendy also shares that its important to not miss the trees for the forest, make sure the foundation is right. what moves your needle most? You may be surprised how some of the smaller or more basic habits and choices such as sleep and am/pm bookends which is referenced later in the conversation will lead to a better mindset and greater productivity.
Mindfulness is very important, it calls attention to processes, but it can also completely freeze and inhibit the ability to perform in some instances. Wendy shares how mindfulness can be empowering and how to balance mindfulness or consciousness with detachment and seeking external feedback. As we discuss high performance in the second half of the conversation being open and curious are two different characteristics that seem to foster and build high performance cultures.