Why life’s a pitch: Beating the Odds with 9 Gold Medals – Triumph over Adversity

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It was a great pleasure to have this conversation with Dominic Colenso; I’ve got to know him over the last few years and he is an outstanding communication coach and former professional actor. He believes that whatever our job role and in life, we’re always pitching and looking for buy-in, and the stories that we tell ourselves and others play a huge role in our success.

I couldn’t agree more. There is a narrative playing out in our heads all of the time and sometimes it serves us and probably more often than not it doesn’t serve us. The trick is to first notice what that narrative is and identify what is actually a fact and what is an interpretation. For example:

“You messed up in the last race (FACT), you’ll probably mess it up again (INTERPRETATION)”

“We lost that client (FACT), we’re bound to lose all our clients (INTERPRETATION)”

This awareness alone helps us to recognise that the stories we tell ourselves are not always true. It is also the first step towards reframing our perspective so that we can replace that thought with one that is more helpful and supportive. Reframing is a powerful tool that encourages us to explore new perspectives and gives us both the strength and clarity to take control of the situation and shape our own outcomes. In the face of adversity it’s a powerful tool that will help you to keep moving ahead no matter what the obstacles.

This is a topic that we discussed along with these other fascinating subjects:

• The importance of surrounding yourself with the right people (You are the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with)
• Intrinsic motivation vs extrinsic motivation – when the shiny gold medal in 12 months times is not enough
• How I used visualisation to quieten the voice of doubt
• How to stay focused when there’s not enough hours in the day, as well as competing priorities
• How I built my confidence after a debilitating illness and 2 years out of my sport and went on to become World Champion again

Listen here to uncover these insights to high performance and more.

These are common themes that I discuss in my keynote speeches, if you’d like to discuss how I could add value and support your next event, please get in touch.

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