The Adversity Advantage with Doug Bopst Dr. Michael Gervais - The Advice You Need to Conquer Your Biggest Fears and Struggles
The Advice You Need to Conquer Your Biggest Fears and Struggles!!!
Life has taught us it’s hard to suppress feelings of anxiety, apprehension and fear of the unknown. Undoubtedly, these emotions are what make us human, fallible, vulnerable. How we manage these 'so called' negative feelings and ultimately transform them into fuel for success is a skill worth mastering.
Which is why my guest today, Dr. Michael Gervais, a world-renowned high performance sports psychologist and industry visionary, is bringing to us the technique of developing a psychological framework that allows you thrive and succeed in pressure-packed environments.
In 2010, Gervais helped Austrian skydiver and BASE jumper, Felix Baumgardner complete an unimaginable, record-breaking free dive for Red Bull while Felix was struggling with claustrophobia and massive anxiety.
Dr. Gervais is the host of the popular Finding Mastery podcast that explores the psychology of some of the world’s most extraordinary thinkers and doers.
Gervais alongside Pete Carroll also co-authored an Audible Original, Compete to Create; a brilliant guide to mastering groundbreaking mindset trainings which will help readers unlock their authentic self, explore the edges of their potentials, and live a life of purpose and meaning.
Today Dr. Gervais provides a masterclass on dealing with fear and anxiety and how to stop it in it’s tracks before it takes you down that dark scary rabbit hole many of us know all too well. We discuss how to bridge the gap between inspiration and action and how to train the mind so that you can respond to situations with logic and not emotion and so much more!
Stay tuned in today’s episode for an incredible course giveaway that Dr. Gervais is doing for our listeners.
Let's dive into the details of this insightful podcast
Dr. Michael Gervais' two types of Anxiety:
Cognitive Anxiety: This happens when you're ruminating about all the bad things that could go wrong and the excessive worry about later or what could happen and how we would respond. It's about trying to solve something that isn't yet happening. It is a massive asset to project forward based on everything you've ever experienced in life with an assessment of your internal capabilities matched up against what you think the future demand is going to be. That's cool and part of the prerequisite to enter into exploring your potential high performance living as well as the nuances of how you line up your thoughts, words and actions.
Clinical Anxiety: The second part of anxiety is that your heart doesn't quite beat at the same rhythm of being relaxed. Your state of breathing changes. There’s muscle tension, digestive disorder and even ulcers because the system is in an edgy kind of irritability soup. It feels like you're shoving 10 pounds of stuff into a five pound bag.
How do we avoid diving into the rabbit hole of fear and anxiety?
Being anxious is a normal human experience. The excessiveness of it is where it becomes problematic. Your train of thought should be able to take you to places that are free and open and deeply engaging. If you accidentally get on the wrong train and that train of thought has taken you somewhere kind of scary and dark, get off that train quickly. That's the practice!
However, if you find yourself on the wrong train and you want to get off, here's are pretty simple steps to take.
- Name the fear. Don't try to avoid it.
- Taking simple breaths sends signals to the ancient brain that the gorilla (trouble) has left
- Use your thoughts, come back to the now and guard your thoughts
- Look for opportunities to challenge your inner resolve.
This then brings us to the importance of knowing your purpose in the first place...
Dr. Michael Gervais on the importance of purpose:
Not understanding purpose is one of the reasons people stop halfway during training. Without purpose, it's really hard to do the hard work and what you and I are talking about (facing fears and anxiety) is hard work. Get clear on your purpose and if that feels daunting, be clear on your purpose for the end of the year or for the end of the week.
Dr. Michael Gervais on responding to situations based on logic not emotions:
It's so important to be self-aware and to also take action based on logic and not emotions. To achieve that, learn to do some stuff on your mental training so that you can respond eloquently in more stressful environment. Take breathing trainings, practice gratitude, use your imagination more often project your future, be where your body is and work on your physical carriage.
Dr. Gervais on bridging the gap between inspiration and action:
There are 3 basic components to taking action. There is the Social Component, the Psychological Component and the Behavioral Component
- The Social Component requires you getting a companion to achieve success. It could be a gym buddy, or someone committed to winning with you.
- The Psychological Component demands that you get in touch with your humanity or suffering. That's the pain to create change.
- The Behavioral Component getting connected with what you want to do and building a habit around it.
Never forget to celebrate when you record small wins or successes. Success isn't all about bank accounts or score boards. It's measured by how many times a day you can be alive to have a sense of awe. If you have a bunch of those moments, score boards will take care of themselves.
Failure is the unwillingness or inability to get on the edge and go for it while mastery is getting up to the nuances in the edge and exploring that!
Connect with Dr. Michael Gervais:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/michaelgervais/
Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/finding-mastery/id1025326955
Course: https://competetocreate.net/
Connect with Doug
Instagram: www.instagram.com/dougbopst
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dougbopst
Website: www.dougbopst.com/
Private Facebook Group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/690686891674188
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