Anthony J. Klarica - The Performance Mindset

1 COVER

2 TITLE PAGE

3 COPYRIGHT First published in 2022 by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd 42 McDougall St, Milton Qld 4064 Office also in Melbourne © John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd 2022 The moral rights of the author have been asserted. ISBN: 978‐0‐730‐39468‐6 All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the Australian Copyright Act 1968 (for example, a fair dealing for the purposes of study, research, criticism or review), no part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, communicated or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written permission. All inquiries should be made to the publisher at the address above. Cover design by Wiley Cover Image: © Supersmario/Getty Images Disclaimer The material in this publication is of the nature of general comment only, and does not represent professional advice. It is not intended to provide specific guidance for particular circumstances and it should not be relied on as the basis for any decision to take action or not take action on any matter which it covers. Readers should obtain professional advice where appropriate, before making any such decision. To the maximum extent permitted by law, the author and publisher disclaim all responsibility and liability to any person, arising directly or indirectly from any person taking or not taking action based on the information in this publication.

4 ABOUT THE AUTHOR ABOUT THE AUTHOR Anthony J Klarica is passionate about people and their performance and wellbeing. He has been heavily involved in sport all his life, starting at a young age. He has competed in athletics, tennis, cricket, Australian rules football, triathlon, endurance events and many other sports from social to high level. He has also been a track and field coach and coached a running squad, The Nail, with athletes who achieved high performance levels and became lifelong friends. Professionally, Anthony has worked for over 30 years as a psychologist, coach and high‐performance manager in a wide variety of sports. He has worked with AFL teams, including Melbourne, Carlton as well as Hawthorn during their Grand Final three‐peat, the AFL umpiring squad, a wide variety of motorsports including V8 Supercar drivers, road and off‐road motorbike riders, tennis players and a wide variety of Olympic sport organisations and individual athletes. He has travelled extensively to work with individual athletes and teams at state and national events, world championships and Olympics. He has sat in coaches boxes and been on the interchange with players at football matches, attended Grand Slams and spent time in the pit lane to apply his trade. This has involved consulting and coaching in leadership, culture, wellbeing, performance and one‐on‐one counselling over many years, mainly through his Melbourne‐based business, Elite Performance. He is a lifelong learner with an undergraduate degree in education and master's degrees in psychology and business, and has attended many short courses and workshops along the way. He has consulted on and delivered many workshops and presentations in the education and corporate sectors as well as sport. This work was built on the foundation of being a teacher and psychologist in a variety of settings, including working as a psychologist in schools, in industrial rehabilitation and a hospital setting. Through his extensive work in education, he also founded the Six‐Star Wellbeing and Engagement Survey, which has been used by more than 45 000 students and teachers in primary and secondary schools across Australia and workers in corporate settings, and is now distributed by the Australian Council for Education Research (ACER). Anthony still engages in a range of sports. He is an avid runner and trains regularly in the pool, at the gym and on the bike. The Performance Mindset is a summation of his education, passion for learning and experience participating and working in many sports and other fields.

5 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

6 PREFACE

7 INTRODUCTION: MADE NOT BORN Laying a mindset foundation Early success does not guarantee future success The mindset to keep going Attitude nurtures talent You grow in the direction of your focus Is talent overrated? Assessing mindset variables Enjoyment matters How much practice? Many different paths Patience and persistence Early bolters and late bloomers Reasons for leaving Tough transition McDonald's to Olympics Maintaining discipline Environments that help performance Talent doesn't coach you Summary

8 STEP 1: HARNESS YOUR MOTIVATION The seven summits Action ignites motivation Intrinsic and extrinsic drivers Multiple motivators Competence, autonomy and relatedness Engagement Choices and sacrifices No one is superhuman Goal setting Benchmarking Expectation and motivation Rewards and positive feedback Self‐positivity and celebration Motivational dynamics Environment and culture Task and ego Managing motivational challenges Passion, meaning and purpose Summary

9 STEP 2: BOOST YOUR RESILIENCE Mat's mantra: Always keep riding Aim to be resilient Break it down into smaller parts Ride the roller‐coaster with multiple resilience strategies Resilience grows with an open mind A learning approach to building resilience Keep going: injuries, disappointments and setbacks Learning to lose Life challenges Explanatory style Optimism helps resilience Reflecting, reviewing, debriefing and feedback Team resilience Navigating transition and other vulnerable times Adaptive perfectionism and flexibility Summary

10 STEP 3: SHARPEN YOUR FOCUS Self‐talk: you are what you think ‘The little voice’ Technical, tactical and emotional self‐talk Positive, negative or neutral and curious self‐talk Mantras Internal or external focus Narrow or broad: switching focus Getting in the zone or flow Self‐regulation Secondary errors Being in the present Attention to detail Focus on what you can control Visual and physical cues Body language Use of time Chunking and race plans Routines and clarity Summary

11 STEP 4: CHAMPION YOUR LEADERSHIP Diamonds: leadership by example Influence The what and the how of leadership Leading self Leading culture Leading others Leading situations Leading structure and systems Leadership growth Formal and informal leadership Leadership density Leadership groups Captain class Leadership qualities Summary

12 STEP 5: FOSTER YOUR CULTURE Culture in practice Thinking, decisions and behaviour High‐performance environments Individual athlete and coach influence on culture Cultural consistency Psychological safety Learn and grow Emotional intelligence Relationships and communication Mastery climate The New Zealand All Blacks Building culture Challenges to culture Building a good culture is hard; keeping a good culture is harder Summary

13 STEP 6: PROTECT YOUR WELLBEING No one is immune Find the positive Person first, athlete second Athlete‐centred environments Look beyond the behaviour Wellbeing and mental health Destigmatising wellbeing and mental health Incidence of wellbeing and mental health concerns in sport Prevention is better than cure Self‐appreciation, self‐permission, self‐acceptance and self‐compassion Gratitude and kindness Journaling Sport relationship and identity Taking action Help‐seeking The journey and narrative Recovery, rest and sleep Cognitive behaviour therapy and thinking traps Environment, thinking and doing Mindfulness and ACT Diaphragmatic breathing Supports and mentors Wellbeing programs and data Wellbeing checklist Summary

14 STEP 7: EXECUTE YOUR PERFORMANCE Behind the scenes in Rome Psychological characteristics and personality Mental skills of high performers Individual mindset plans Lifestyle Performance platform Confidence and competence Imagery and visualisation Mental skills programs Mental skills for juniors Learn competitiveness Maximising effort: intrinsic and extrinsic strategies Clutch and flow Set up for sub‐two‐hour marathon speed Create and execute a simple plan Great performances Embracing new situations and challenges Meaning contributes to performance Strengths win battles Managing performance anxiety and nerves Managing nerves through reframing Taking control of nerves Optimism and positivity Many paths to high performance Summary