The Freedom Project

Do you catch yourself Instagram stalking to check up on how other athletes are doing? Scrolling through the leaderboard to check your placings when really you should be in bed? Watching other athletes in workouts when you could be in your own lane? Comparison has never been easier. Instead of strawmanning this argument let’s take the side of comparison. Let’s listen to the voice in your head that says “just check the leaderboard one more time… let’s see what so and so did in that qualifier or how their training is going.” I mean, surely it provides some benefit, right? When watching others you can identify things you can do better and even character skills to aim at. You may see the exact key that you need to unlock your next level. But listen carefully. Is that voice saying things like “ah man, I admire so and so’s grit and determination, and here’s how I can work toward that.” or, is it saying things like “shit, I’m not good enough, I’m not strong enough, I’m too slow.” What’s more, what does this do to your self belief? Improve it or lessen it? It probably will give you a boost of motivation, but fear driven motivation is quick to disappear and can cause long term mindset challenges. When you are deciding whether your comparison is useful or not, consider these three questions? Does it make me feel more like or less like the person I want to be? Does this help me create a relationship with myself which helps me? And most importantly, what’s the story I’m telling myself? In this episode with Brent Fikowski, we go into great length to discuss comparison and how to stop it. One thing we can all take from this interview is Brent’s ability not to double down on his emotionally disruptive states by getting upset at himself. He’s aware enough not to let his anxiety make him anxious or stress make him more stressed. This is one thing we can all be careful about: not becoming frustrated by our frustration or sad about our sadness. Experiencing the emotion once is enough. Alongside comparison, we also discuss: Dealing with doubt Self-generated confidence Overcoming self-criticism How to handle online qualifiers And incorporating fun into training If you enjoy this episode with Brent Fikowski AKA The Professor, make sure you subscribe so you don’t miss upcoming episodes.

Maybe the pressure is what drives you forward. Unerringly. Ceaselessly, toward your best. Could you have done what you have done without that pressure; forcing you, pushing you? But you recognise the times that the pressure has got too much. When will I snatch Xkg? When will I reach the semis? When will I be good enough? Pressure creates diamonds, they say. But pressure has also been your downfall. The pressure certainly wasn’t creating diamonds when I didn’t sleep for three days straight, not because I was busy, but because I couldn’t. It wasn’t good for me when, at 3am, I was a nervous ball of energy, unable to get a break from the constant criticism & judgment in my head, and unable to get more than 5 minutes of sleep. The pressure was making life miserable. And I know it makes the life of so many athletes miserable too. Maybe that’s you. Maybe the pressure and the force and the stress you’re putting yourself under is not needed in order to be successful. Maybe you could do all of this without the pressure. Maybe the pressure has become something you’ve grown attached to, because who would you be without it? What if you weren’t good enough without the pressure? I’m asking you honestly now, are you attached to the pressure? The very same pressure that is a stone in your shoe every time you workout or compete. What would happen if you dropped this pressure? Sure, you’ve proven to yourself that you can run a mile with a stone in your shoe. You could probably run a mile without that stone too. Think back to your best performances - in training or elsewhere. What did they feel like? Did they feel forced and stressed and full of pressure? Or did they feel open, free and effortless despite their difficulty? No one is asking you to shy away from difficult things, or to quit holding yourself to a high standard. Quite the opposite. I’m saying free up the space to perform your best by dropping the energy you’re currently devoting to fighting this self-imposed pressure. The podcast you’re about to listen to with CrossFit athlete Lucy Campbell goes into this subject of pressure. She speaks candidly about pressure to perform and to conform & how that affects our identity. Her background in sports psychology which makes for a really informative opinion. We also discuss body image, the role of identity, overthinking, comparison and dealing with injury. If you enjoy the show, please head to Spotify, Apple Podcasts or YouTube and subscribe.

You are not your emotions. But you can’t discount them either. In those moments of fear, rage, love, or side-splitting hilarity, you can’t deny those emotions are as real as the headphones you’re listening to this podcast through, or whatever is in your visual field. You feel emotions whether you like it or not, and emotions sway you whether you like it or not. We often get into mindset training because our emotions have too much of a say in your life. Your fear of standing out prevents you from truly committing to training, or leaving it all on the floor in a workout. Your anxiety prevents social connection. Your nerves ruin your competition or qualifier performance. Due to its popularity and its effectiveness, the Stoic framework provides a great starting point to getting a handle on these emotions. Quotes like “if you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment” are often misinterpreted in a way that suggest we should be removing our emotions. Your emotions serve a purpose though. Disgust means you probably shouldn’t eat that food. Doubt is a good sign not to trust someone. Awe creates gratitude. If we dismiss our emotions entirely, we lose sight of a highly evolved skill set which gives us a unique advantage. Subtle emotions give subtle clues to what we need. Left to run amok though, emotions destroy us. There’s a middle ground to seek then. This middle ground is one from which we can observe emotions without becoming immersed in emotion. The goal is to get to a point where frustration doesn’t ruin any more of your workout than it needs to, and where confidence doesn’t lead you to blindness of your weaknesses. You want to be able to use your emotions as indicators of truth. Your emotions are telling you something the reptilian part of your mind knows to be true, but your more recently evolved brain structure hasn’t caught up with yet. Viewed through a purely evolutionary lens, your emotions exist because they serve a purpose. Otherwise they would have been wiped out of existence long ago. Your job is to see them for what they are - indicators which may or may not be trustworthy. In this conversation with Logan Gelbrich, we discuss the limitation and nuance of emotions, as well as: How to hold the standard of success Logan’s journey of mindset and what he’s learned along the way Psychological safety and self-expression Developing awareness The 5 different perspectives you can view any scenario through What great culture looks like & how to develop it And why the Sphinx may be thousands of years older than the experts think. Logan is one of those people who connects me to a deeper level of awareness, and I thoroughly hope you’ll enjoy this conversation.

2500 years ago, Socrates bought the Greek aphorism, Know Thyself into the forefront of philosophy. His point was that before you can claim to know anything, you must know yourself. Human wisdom, he said, begins with the recognition of one’s own ignorance. You and I, as athletes and as humans, are ignorant. We see the world through our narrow perceptive bubble. Our beliefs filter out information which could help us in pursuit of our goals. Our confirmation bias dismisses anything too uncomfortable to digest. Our own personal experience fashions a lens which distorts the colour of the world. What does this mean for us as athletes? We turn away from the information which is the exact data which would highlight a path of growth - the thing we say we want. We hide from the uncomfortable truth of weakness. We avoid situations, conversations and tests which may bring our limitations to light. All of this results in what Justin Cotler calls the worst thing an athlete can have: doubt. Am I fast enough? Am I strong enough? Will I miss this rep? What if I get sick again? Or, more to the point: Am I good enough? Do I deserve to be here? Will people still like me? Will I be happy? Doubt is the antithesis to what athletes truly require: confidence. In this conversation, Justin Cotler and I discuss the path athletes, coaches, and humans alike can take to becoming more confident. We also discuss: The role of ego in sports The testing of your mindset Why not being talented may be your greatest advantage Generating self-knowledge And creating turning points in your life

The wonderful Kari Pearce joins Coach Tom today to discuss what it truly means to fully commit to being the best version of you you possibly can be. Kari not only exemplifies this as an athlete, but a businesswoman too. Kari is all in on her potential as a human. Expect to learn how you can go all in on your potential too. Alongside this, we'll also discuss how to deal with bad luck (withdrawing from the CrossFit Games in 21 and being medically withdrawn prior), how Kari changes her mindset for different events, how she keeps training fun, and the book she recommends to everyone. Make sure you subscribe to Limitless Athlete wherever you get your podcasts.

Today, Coach Tom is joined by Nessa Carey, author of Epigenetics Revolution to discuss how epigenetics plays a role in your mindset, both from a performance perspective and a mental health perspective.

In the final part of the series, Coaches Rachel and Tom show you how to train your mindset so that you can get your mindset out of your way.

Today, Coaches Rachel and Tom explore the biggest mindset issues coaches face. This is why burnout, losing the love of training, and financial challenges happen, from a mindset perspective. You'll discover how your mindset has been created and what challenges it may present.

You see the world through the lens of the story you believe. What you consider your truth distorts the information you take in, to fit in with your narrative. Believe the world is flat, and you’ll only see, hear, and feel things which confirm that opinion.   You’ll dismiss the very real evidence in order to prevent your inner world’s certainty from being disrupted. Experts become shills, friends become distant, and you become ever more convinced of your opinion despite the world telling you otherwise.   Of course, the world being flat is a extreme example, but for how long did the world believe that women shouldn’t lift weights, smoking had no impact on your health, and that our race denoted our worth?   Beliefs have real world consequences; Societally and personally.   Do you believe that you’re always going to be the victim? Do you believe the world has missed your genius and in fact owes you something? Do you believe you’ll never succeed, you’re worthless, you don’t deserve love, or you’re inherently weak?   And more importantly, are you blind to the bountiful truth which proves otherwise, just because some inner part of you seeks the certainty of your confirmation bias?   Your beliefs aren’t shaping your world in a metaphysical or hypothetical way. They’re shaping your world through filtering out aspects of reality, selecting your thoughts, crafting your emotions, choosing your behaviours, and dictating your success.   You are the only person who has the power to see through your internal bullshit and realise your potential, and that begins with making conscious decisions about how you’re going to interpret the world.   In this interview with the mindset coach to some of the best CrossFit athletes around, Brett Piperni, we’re going to explore the way you can consciously choose your interpretation of reality and therefore set yourself free from your limits.

Today on the Limitless Athlete Podcast, you’ll be listening to a conversation I had with Dr. David Spiegel. Dr. Spiegel is one of the United States’ most respected experts in the clinical uses of hypnosis. He is associate chair of psychiatry and behavioural studies at Stanford University. He has over 40 years of clinical research. This conversation is all about hypnosis for two kinds of athletes, those who want to address their baseline mental health - so addressing sleep, stress, anxiety and the like - and those who want to unlock new levels of performance. What I discovered through researching this podcast and having this conversation is that many of the tools we dismiss instantly are hugely valuable assets. I had always considered hypnosis as some form of trickery. In Dr. Spiegel's words though, all we’re doing is accessing a different state of consciousness of intense absorption. You can use this pliable state of consciousness to enhance your mindset in ways that wouldn’t normally be accessible to you. We’ll also cover some of the foundations of hypnosis and what to look for in a good practitioner, as well as how to utilise self-hypnosis