Training the Brain | Dr. Michael Gervais

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Your brain is the tissue that sits in your skull, and your mind is the software that controls that tissue. Little tweaks in thinking can completely transform how you approach life. Training the brain is about understanding what kind of tweaks you need.

WELCOME TO THE DARIN OLIEN SHOW

Dr. Michael Gervais is a sport and performance psychologist that helps world-class athletes train their brains.

There is a direct relationship between the mind and elite performance. As one of the world’s leading experts on this relationship, Dr. Gervais knows how to train the brain. Throughout his 20-year career, he has worked with Olympians, NFL players, MVPs from every major sport, famous music artists, and high-profile CEOs. But training your brain is not just for the rich and famous. We all could benefit from understanding how our minds affect our performance in life. The framework of mental skills Dr. Gervais has created is beneficial for anyone that has to deal with pressure-packed environments. (So basically all of us.)

I met Michael through a mutual athlete friend, and he definitely speaks my language. I talk a lot about nutrition and exercise on this show, but I was so excited to spotlight another vitally important aspect of health: the brain. Whether you’re an Olympian or an accountant, we all face stressful situations where your mind can either make or break you. Simple tweaks in thinking and creating new brain patterns can make all the difference. Dr. Gervais had some pretty amazing stories of working with his clients to illustrate this point.

One of the main themes of this conversation was confidence. What is confidence, and how do you get it? Like me, Michael is not a proponent of the “fake it till you make it” mentality. Faking anything is not being honest. And honesty and confidence go hand in hand. He had some great points on how being honest in every aspect of your life inevitably breeds confidence. We could have gone for hours. And when you’re talking about the brain and mindsets, it’s hard not to. If you’re fascinated with the psychology of why we are the way we are, you’re going to love this episode.