The Mindset Experience®

Bennett Jackson’s love for football came from watching games on TV or going to Giants/Jets games with family or friends. As a youth player, he was motivated by the opportunity to expand his circle of friends.  At Notre Dame, his dedication to Sports, School and Sleep created a process to, “focus on now and prepare for tomorrow.” His commitment to making his mother proud instilled the discipline to consistently push himself past any limits allowing him to hear his name being called on draft day watching TV surrounded by family and friends. This 7 year NFL veteran has experienced his share of successes and hardships including major injuries and changing multiple teams. In every case, his mindset of “So What, What now?’ and “dealing with outcomes as they come” have helped him to consistently readjust and refocus preparing him for perhaps his biggest challenge of all; the transition out of football. @b_jax2  

Natalie Coughlin is one the most the accomplished female swimmers in the world. She was a 3X Olympian, 12X Olympic Medalist and has won 60 medals in international competition. She has been voted the World Swimmer of the year, American swimmer of the year 3 times, NCAA swimmer of the year and Sports Illustrated collegiate female athlete of the year. Her continued success is not just due to setting goals and creating a process  but also her ability to be present and remind herself in the most intense situations that she is just, “swimming up and down a silly pool!” While she has won more awards than most of us can imagine, she is most grateful for the setbacks that have helped her grow. Natalie discusses her ability to keep growing by setting goals high enough to fail. She also shares how her learned skill set of discipline, hard work, patience, and letting go of things out of her control have led to more incredible experiences such as competing on Dancing with the Stars and directly impacted her success as the co-founder and vintner of Gaderian wines. @nataliecoughlin, @gaderianwines

2023 PLL Champion Grant Ament is no stranger to success at every level he has played. As a professional lacrosse player, he was the Number 1 overall pick in 2020 PLL draft. He was also an All-Star game captain in 2021, 2021 Attackman of the year, and member Team USA 2021 Fall Classic. While at Penn State, he was the 2019 Attackman of the Year, Big Ten Offensive Player of the year, three-time All American, four-time All-Big Ten and a captain of the Nittany Lions Lacrosse Team. While Grant’s vision was very clear from an early age, his path was not so linear. However, he chose to put consistent effort into his preparation identifying a process or pillars including knowing yourself, knowing your obstacles, visualization, and reflection. By investing more time and energy into these key elements of his mindset, he has been able to grow as a player on the field and more importantly as a person off the field.   As a big believer in mindset training, he has frequently said “I wish I had this info and support when I was in HS or college, I would have been so much better!” @grantament

As a child of Christian Iraqi immigrants who escaped an oppressive society, Dan “Zia” Joseph was very familiar with being a minority and the concept of intergenerational trauma. Despite being taught not to “go back to the nightmare he came from”; he felt a calling to join the US military post 9/11 at the age of 32 years old. His life changed when one of his fellow soldier's survived a suicide attempt while at the same time, his best friend in the military lost 13 men from his unit to suicide. Working closely and sparring Jiu-Jitsu with several combat Veterans brought deeper awareness about the psychological weight they carried each day while helping him uncover and work through his own trauma, navigate his own spiritual journey and reframe his perspective on helping others. After obtaining a master’s degree in organizational psychology, Dan combined his education, research and life experiences to write, "Backpack to Rucksack: Insight Into Leadership & Resilience By Military Experts" which honors the struggles that his fellow military brothers and sisters still face while highlighting the importance of strong leadership in providing much needed support. @combatpsychology, www.combatpsych.com  

At the age of 9, Anastasia Pagonis began losing her vision progressively until the age of 14 when she was diagnosed with autoimmune retinopathy. With only light perception but no central vision, she not only lost her usable vision but also lost her relationship with sports and her positive outlook on life. With the compassion of her providers and the strong encouragement of her parents, a 5-minute walk/day turned into a walk in the park which became anxiety provoked by swimming in the pool which ultimately led to a 3 world championships, a world record and gold and bronze medal in the 2020 Paralympics.  Anastasia embraces the fact that she is perfectly imperfect and uses her platform to bring her trauma to comedy with the goal of changing how the world sees the visually impaired. Her vision may be limited, her mindset is limitless.  @anastasia_k_p  

Greg Louganis is considered the greatest diver in history. As a 3x Olympian, he is the only male to win gold medals on both 3 meter springboard and 10 meter platform in consecutive Olympic Games (1984, 1988). With a total of 5 Olympic medals, 5 World Championship titles, 6 Pan American titles and 47 national titles, his records remain unbroken. His legacy was built through a life of adversity including his adoption, learning differences, a victim of bullying given his skin color, and almost walking away from his defining sport at the age of 11. His mindset to choose his own destiny, never give up and smile through it all was made possible by the ultimate belief of his mother, his coach, and his mental training. This process culminated in one of the most memorable Olympic performances of all time in which he hit the platform, split his head open, suffered a concussion then came back to win the gold! Today, as a coach, speaker, author, actor, activist, humanitarian and GOAT of mindset he continues his tradition of excellence. @greglouganis, greglouganis.com

Approaching the fall season, many athletes have done the work by preparing physically and mentally. With the start of competition, it’s common to experience anxiety, fears and doubts. This anxiety can lead to frustration, fear of more worries and can ultimately impact confidence. Dr. T has created a 5-step process designed to address the fears, focus on growth, build upon past successes, and  appreciate the privilege to play at a high level. You are going to love listening to this episode over and over to stay motivated  and keep building that confidence. @dr.t_sportspsych

At the age of 4, Cory Camp fell into a pool almost drowning before being saved by his father, an elite swimmer which sparked his own interest in the sport. At age 17, he collapsed and hit his head due to an  electrical malfunction in his heart, but a coach showed him the power of psychological safety allowing him the freedom to keep pursuing his dream. After his elite swim career ended, his sense of identity foreclosure led to severe alcohol use, depression, weight gamin and body image struggles.  Cory’s story is one of continuous vulnerability leading to being saved leading to the mindset of nothing to lose leading to strength and success. He has chosen to use his experiences by becoming a Life Optimization Coach and Community Builder for former athletes to find themselves beyond sport and access the “zone” into daily life. His company “Forever Athlete” embodies a mission to help athletes feel less alone after that last whistle while helping them realize their calling isn’t over because they don’t play their sport like they once did. @corycamp, www.forever-athlete.com

Brandon “Soul Cole” Coleman’s life story is all about defining, refining then redefining himself. As a redshirt freshman on the Rutgers football team, he chose the mindset to show up every day in practice and make himself so valuable that he could not be overlooked. He used the exact same blueprint as an undrafted rookie to earn a spot on the New Orleans Saints. After suffering a career ending injury in 2018, he was faced with the reality that he while he had mastered the physical part of training, he had overlooked the most important part, the mental part. As such, he committed to transition into the health and wellness space by achieving a Health and Wellness Coaching Certificate at Georgetown University as well as completing the MBSR program from the Mindfulness Center at Brown University, School of Public Health. As a Flow Facilitator, Mental Performance Coach, Certified Breath Coach and Sound Healing Practitioner, Soul Cole breaks down his non negotiables into actionable items that allow him to always “Be Curious” while helping others attain balance, intention, and wellness. @b_cole16, soulcolethebrand.com

As a 9th grader, Jon Gordon witnessed first-hand the power of positivity and transferred belief when a coach talked him out of quitting lacrosse and into the process of ultimately playing in the Ivy League. Later, his challenges of depression and anxiety guided him towards the power of prayer, gratitude and, “talking to himself vs listening to himself.” He is now the author of 28 books including 15 best sellers and 5 children’s books. His books include the timeless classic The Energy Bus which has sold over 3 million copies, The Carpenter which was a top 5 business book of the year and his newest release The One Truth to name a few. His clients include The Los Angeles Dodgers, In-N-Out Burger, The Los Angeles Rams, Campbell Soup, Dell, Publix, Southwest Airlines, The Chicago Bulls, Miami Heat, The Colorado Rockies, Truist Bank, Clemson Football, Northwestern Mutual, Bayer, West Point Academy and more. Jon creates leaders and champions by helping them understand, “We are not positive because life is easy. We are positive because life is hard.” @jongordon11, jongordon.com