Latest / The Gill Athletics Track and Field Connections Podcast / #73: Gill1918 Presents Katie Follett “The Power of a Purpose Driven Mindset” Powered by Coach O

Transcript

#73: Gill1918 Presents Katie Follett “The Power of a Purpose Driven Mindset” Powered by Coach O · The Gill Athletics Track and Field Connections Podcast

• 0:00
  Welcome to the Gill 1918 Project, a podcast series by
• 0:03
  coaches for coaches, powered by Gill Athletics.
• 0:05
  Think of it as the Ted Talks of track and field coaching.
• 0:08
  Short, insightful, and packed with valuable strategies to help
• 0:11
  you grow as a coach. This episode is part of the
• 0:13
  Youth and Beginner Series, brought to you by Coach O.
• 0:16
  In this series, we focus on topics relating to coaching
• 0:19
  youth athletes, coaching beginner athletes of any age,
• 0:21
  and supporting brand new coaches as they find their way.
• 0:24
  With that in mind, let's grow. Hi, my name is Katie Follett.
• 0:29
  I ran at the high school level, at the collegiate level, and
• 0:33
  then professionally for Brooks for over a decade.
• 0:35
  And now I am a trained counselor.
• 0:37
  And today I wanted to talk a little bit more about the
• 0:41
  importance of a purpose driven mindset.
• 0:44
  If you've been following along in this series at all.
• 0:46
  I started off by talking about what is resilience and why is it
• 0:49
  important? And then I talked about one of
• 0:52
  my favorite tools in the last podcast episode, which was how
• 0:56
  to address any sort of negative self talk or self doubt that
• 1:00
  might show up and hinder performance.
• 1:03
  And so I think that sometimes we the boogeyman, which is this
• 1:10
  concept that we talked about, that negative self talk that
• 1:12
  shows up might be called the boogeyman.
• 1:15
  I think sometimes the boogeyman can show up and it can sound
• 1:17
  like what's the point? It might sound like I'm not
• 1:23
  hitting my goal today. This person passed me, I'm
• 1:27
  having a terrible day, I don't feel good.
• 1:30
  This hurts. All of those things that kind of
• 1:35
  make us give in or give up in the moment.
• 1:38
  And then afterwards we're like, why did I do that?
• 1:40
  That's not what I want to do. So like I talked about the
• 1:45
  boogie pack and show up in a lot of different ways and that you
• 1:49
  might need a lot of different mantras to combat the boogeyman
• 1:53
  in these different situations. So if you want to learn more
• 1:56
  about that, hop over and catch up in the previous podcast.
• 1:59
  But today I'm going to take a look at what kind of mantras
• 2:04
  help us address that underlying fear of not meeting
• 2:10
  expectations. And what's the point?
• 2:15
  Because it's helpful to take a look at how we're defining
• 2:17
  success for ourselves. How would you know if you had a
• 2:21
  successful season if you didn't win or set up a personal best or
• 2:25
  hit one of your performance goals?
• 2:27
  Because as an athlete, we all have performance goals.
• 2:30
  Those are the things that are really easy to have.
• 2:32
  Running can be very black and white.
• 2:33
  Either you hit your goal or you don't hit your goal.
• 2:36
  But what happens if you have a really high goal for yourself
• 2:42
  that you never actually meet? And this was the case for me.
• 2:45
  I shared a little bit in the first podcast about how, and a
• 2:48
  really impactful question was when Coach Dan Path asked me,
• 2:51
  why do you run after I missed making the Olympic team by one
• 2:55
  spot? And the question that followed
• 2:58
  really closely on the heels of that was how would you know if
• 3:03
  you had a successful career if you're never an Olympian?
• 3:07
  And so this is a completely different way of looking at
• 3:10
  success. You're no longer just looking
• 3:13
  through a performance lens. You also start looking through a
• 3:17
  purpose driven lens. And this is really important to
• 3:21
  combat that fear of failure or that thought that all of this is
• 3:25
  a waste if I don't achieve XY or Z in my case, my career is a
• 3:29
  waste if I'm never an Olympian. And the first step was just kind
• 3:34
  of taking a step back and realizing that I had started to
• 3:36
  believe that and then broadening my definition of success.
• 3:41
  So what other metrics was I going to use for success?
• 3:45
  Because you could either not meet a big goal or you could and
• 3:50
  you could do everything right and not meet a big goal.
• 3:54
  You could have positive self talk.
• 3:55
  You can manage distractions so your purpose goals go with you
• 4:01
  and are more about who you are. Because if your definition of
• 4:05
  success is limited to APR or winning a race or any other form
• 4:08
  of external validation like making a parent or a coach or a
• 4:12
  sponsor happy, you are like a puppet on a string.
• 4:16
  Because you are letting things that are largely outside of your
• 4:18
  control determine your value. So your actions can become
• 4:22
  really easily motivated by fear or anxiety.
• 4:26
  But in contrast, when your definition of success comes more
• 4:28
  from your purpose, you're free to take risks because the fear
• 4:32
  of a specific outcome isn't driving you.
• 4:34
  The pursuit of becoming the best version of yourself is what's
• 4:37
  driving you. So instead of being like a
• 4:39
  puppet on a string, you are more like Pinocchio when he becomes a
• 4:43
  real boy and your action is coming from a genuine place
• 4:46
  that's not controlled as much by outside factors.
• 4:50
  So what are some clues that you can use to decipher if you are
• 4:55
  in more of a purpose mindset or if you're in more of a
• 4:58
  performance mindset? Well, if you're in a performance
• 5:02
  mindset, some of your self talk might sound like my performance
• 5:09
  determines my value versus when you're in a purpose mindset, it
• 5:14
  sounds like I'm valuable, win or lose.
• 5:18
  And if you're in a performance mindset, things like loss or
• 5:22
  injury might cause you to feel devastated or discouraged or
• 5:26
  depressed or anxious or like you want to quit.
• 5:29
  Like was in my case, the whole reason I called Coach Diane is
• 5:33
  because I'd like I missed making the team.
• 5:35
  I think I'm going to quit. The last four years of my life
• 5:37
  was a complete waste. It's a pretty dark place to be
• 5:42
  versus if you have loss or injury, you look at that as an
• 5:46
  opportunity to become the more resilient version of yourself,
• 5:50
  bounce back stronger to grow, look for new opportunities and
• 5:53
  come back to your why or what are these deeper things that are
• 5:58
  driving you? What makes it worth it for you?
• 6:04
  And performance Goals aren't bad.
• 6:06
  We just need to create balance that acts as a solid foundation
• 6:11
  on the things that are important to us.
• 6:13
  And because these deeper reasons are going to act as a compass
• 6:15
  that are going to guide how we're going to spend our time
• 6:18
  and clarify our roles and define what success is for you.
• 6:24
  So the goal is to kind of start to look at your season through
• 6:28
  the lens of how would you know if you had a successful season
• 6:31
  if you didn't win or use a personal best?
• 6:33
  What other metrics will you use for success and what does that
• 6:38
  look like at school, at practice, at competitions and
• 6:41
  your relationships? So an example of a purpose goal
• 6:48
  that I like is being a good teammate.
• 6:53
  A lot of athletes want to see not only themselves succeed, but
• 6:57
  to see their team succeed. And so they oftentimes can put a
• 6:59
  lot of pressure on themselves of I need to perform a certain way,
• 7:03
  otherwise I'm going to let myself down.
• 7:04
  I'm going to let my team down. I'm going to let my coaches
• 7:06
  down. And so what's underneath that is
• 7:09
  actually a really good thing. They value being a good
• 7:11
  teammate. They value contributing.
• 7:13
  They can value working their hardest and giving 100%.
• 7:17
  So what does that actually look like?
• 7:21
  Are you authentically connecting to others?
• 7:23
  Are you encouraging them? Are you creating a safe space?
• 7:26
  Are you putting your time and energy into being available to
• 7:30
  be a resource and just really listen and be invested in others
• 7:33
  on your team's journeys? Because you can do that whether
• 7:37
  you're sidelined with an injury, whether you're one of the
• 7:40
  scoring members on your team or not.
• 7:44
  So that's something that lasts a lifetime.
• 7:48
  It's a broader definition of success than just how you're
• 7:52
  contributing with time and place and you're coming back to what
• 7:56
  makes you valuable, win or lose. So it's really good to think in
• 8:02
  specifics. Specifically, how will you know
• 8:05
  if it's a successful meet or a successful season based on what
• 8:10
  you value outside of those performance goals?
• 8:12
  So one of the things Coach Path asked me was, and when I said my
• 8:17
  purpose goal was to make the world a little bit of a better
• 8:20
  place through running because I felt like it was something that
• 8:22
  God made me get at. He's like, well, are you doing
• 8:26
  that? How will you know if you're
• 8:28
  doing that? And so I had to really take a
• 8:31
  look at my goals and how I was spending my time and how I was
• 8:35
  defining success. And I had to think, well, I
• 8:37
  don't know, if somebody looked at my life, how would they know
• 8:40
  if I was doing that or not? And so that's what led to the
• 8:42
  creation of my kicking with Katie's girls camps that I put
• 8:46
  on. And then also led to my why it,
• 8:51
  which is what I'm doing now as working with athletes on mindset
• 8:55
  skills and anxiety and knowing their deeper purpose and
• 8:58
  managing distraction with all these skills that we get to
• 9:02
  practice in sport, but we really just bring to who we are in
• 9:07
  life. Because once I knew my why
• 9:10
  outside of being an Olympian, I made more of an impact.
• 9:14
  And then I felt like I had a successful career because I was
• 9:17
  reconnected to serving others. And so I'll just end with this
• 9:21
  quote from Viktor Frankel. It's from a man search for
• 9:25
  meeting, which is actually an awesome place to start if you
• 9:28
  want to read a book that's going to get you thinking about some
• 9:30
  of these things. And he said he who has a why to
• 9:34
  live for can endure almost anyhow.
• 9:38
  And I think that's why it's important to be connected to
• 9:41
  your deeper purpose and your why because it helps you know what's
• 9:44
  worth it when the going gets tough.
• 9:47
  So when the boogeyman shows up and it sounds like what's the
• 9:49
  point? You know, you're like, well, if
• 9:53
  I am showing up, this is not a waste.
• 9:57
  If I'm giving 100%, this is not a waste.
• 10:00
  If I'm being a good teammate, this is not a waste.
• 10:03
  If I'm having fun, this is not a waste.
• 10:08
  It's an anchor that keeps you from drifting when the storm
• 10:12
  hits and it keeps you on course. It keeps you in a growth
• 10:16
  mindset. You're focused on becoming a
• 10:17
  better version of yourself and continuing to show up.
• 10:21
  So thank you for listening. If you're interested in learning
• 10:26
  more, you can find me on Instagram ball at KB.
• 10:30
  You can e-mail me at Katie elevated performance dot RUN.
• 10:38
  My website is also going to be included in a show notes and you
• 10:41
  can learn more about all of the topics that I have that I'm
• 10:45
  would love to go over with you either individually one-on-one
• 10:49
  or talk to your team or I also have an online recorded version
• 10:53
  of the course that you can check out.
• 10:56
  There also should be a freebie in the show notes if you just
• 10:59
  want to dig a little bit more into some of these exercises
• 11:02
  because like I just said, my why is helping athletes perform
• 11:06
  their best and focus under pressure, be connected to their
• 11:11
  deeper purpose and feel more confident.
• 11:13
  So thank you to Gil Athletics for everything that they're
• 11:18
  doing to elevate coaches, and I'm really grateful to take part
• 11:22
  in it. Hope you're having a great day.
• 11:24
  Thanks for listening. Hey gang, Mike Cunningham here.
• 11:27
  Thanks for joining us for this episode in the Youth and
• 11:29
  beginner series Powered by Coach O Powered by Coach O is more
• 11:33
  than a platform. It's a movement to benefit track
• 11:35
  and field by supporting coaches, athletes, parents, officials and
• 11:39
  event directors in countless ways.
• 11:41
  Find out more and get yourself plugged in to the Powered by
• 11:44
  Coach O by visiting coacho.com today.