TAYLOR STADEN - MENTAL SKILLS

Hello and welcome to Upgrade Thought! Today, I will be talking with Taylor Stadden, a certified mental performance consultant. Taylor works with athletes of all levels, helping them improve their minds, in the service of elite performance. Taylor is the founder of Upper Mentality, a company that he started in 2019, which provides these services to athletes. In this conversation, we discuss what mental performance is, how youth sports can start to feel like a job, how athletes (and others) can cultivate a growth mindset, athletes’ misconceptions about mindset, what healing imagery is, mindfulness, client/consultant relationships, and more.  Enjoy the show!  Timestamps 0:00 - Intro 0:50 - What is mental performance? 1:40 - Relearning to love sport 9:00 - Misconceptions about mindset  15:00 - My favorite interview ever 17:50 - Mental struggles of injury  20:30 - Client/consultant relationship  23:40 - What is healing imagery? 25:00 - Growth mindset  31:00 - Is there a stigma?  34:30 - Tools for dealing with risk aversion  43:00 - Mental skills in entrepreneurship  45:00 - Multi-sport vs specialization in youth athletics  48:40 - Transition from HS to College sports  51:00 - Mindfulness/meditation thoughts  1:00:00 - Do our beliefs influence reality?