The "4 Selves" 1) Self-Awareness: your GPS.

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Hello. Hello and welcome back to another episode of let's go Mental.

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This is the podcast where we explore mental strategies

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to equip young athletes, parents and coaches

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with the tools they need to gain that intentional advantage

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that will accelerate their growth in sport

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and life. I'm your host, Barbara family and

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mental coach with a gentle reminder, I'm italian so love

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my accent because I know you will. And embrace my mistakes

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because I know I will do many September is here.

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It brings a fresh start, a new year

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resolution moment. I like the fresh start.

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We can set our minds for the season ahead,

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whether in sports, academics or any other areas of our

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life. This is why this month we will talk about the four

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seasons self awareness,

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self talk, self control and self

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confidence. Yes, these are very important

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like foundational skills, just different

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part of the same metal. Bound together, they will allow us to

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see the all big picture. As you

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know, I am a big fan of assessment.

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In the last episode we did the self assessment for

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starting the new season. There is nothing quite

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like knowing where you are right now to help you become

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more self aware of who you are and what you need to

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go and to do to achieve your goals.

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You will find the link in the show notes for the episode and the assessment.

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Self awareness is like a gps for the mind, a powerful

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tool that shows you where you are and how

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to best reach your destination. It means understanding

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your emotion, behaviors and thought so

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you can better direct yourself toward the goal that

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you want to achieve. It's like being

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able to pause and to

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see yourself in the moment. This is really

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very important. Being self aware means you can recognize

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why you react in a certain way to particular

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situation and understand where

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you can improve. It is the ability to reflect

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and ask yourself why you are feeling a certain way

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and how these feelings are impacting your performance.

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It's not easy. It's not easy to find the moment,

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to find the space in your mind, to pause, to be

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conscious. That you need these 5 seconds

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to just stop, breathe and

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reset and restart. There are two types

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of self awareness. We are going a little bit more in

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the educational part, the internal self awareness

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and the external one. The internal deals

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with how you perceive your values,

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desire, thought, emotion and behavior, and how you

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react to the environment.

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Responding like question very simple question

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like what am I thinking? How am I feeling?

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How are my thought and feeling impacting my performance? This is the internal

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part, what you have inside your emotions.

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And then there is the external awareness. This involves more

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understanding how others view you and how

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your thought, behavior and emotion affect the words

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around you. So this is a little bit more complex. They are

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part of the same awareness,

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but one is toward ourself and

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the other one is more toward the external part.

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We are focusing on the self, on the internal part

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for this episode, developing self awareness.

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Oh, the benefits are so vast, I'm just mentioning. But it's

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increasing confidence, reduce sport anxiety,

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decrease the fear of failure, any kind of fear.

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Lower the perfectionism in sport, the level

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that we need to feel perfect to start to

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do something, being a little bit more strong in the mind.

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The focus will improve. How we talk

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to ourselves, the motivation. A lot of things,

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even to many, might feel overwhelming.

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It's like seeing a perfect athlete,

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perfect person. And it's not easy to think about being

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aware and realize that there are skills that

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we can work on in order to become better.

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Remember, we don't have to be even those

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athletes who seems to have it all together, or person or

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friends, they are still working on it. They just pretend.

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Maybe they are a little bit ahead of you and they can be

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your guiding line. Small steps that lead to

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bigger, bigger mental result.

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You don't need to have everything mastered right away,

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but you need to start somewhere. And here I want to introduce

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a tool. It's a very simple one and

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very visual. It calls traffic light tools,

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and it's a strategy developed by Ken Ravitza that is

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one of the most important sports psychology consultant in the

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world. This is a tool to learn how to recognize

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your internal signal. Imagine when you are driving

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or when you are driving with your mom.

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When you see a traffic light, you know you can keep going.

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Everything is in control. It's okay. You are confident

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and you are on the right path. There are no cars on

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the way because it's your green light.

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Yellow light means be careful. And in the emotional

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part, it means you are starting to lose focus or control.

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Just pay attention of what is going on. And then

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there is the red light. Okay, this means really stop.

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You are out of control. We are talking about the emotional life or the car.

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You have to stop, out of control, feeling negative,

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not performing at your best. If you can

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visualize these traffic lights and see

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the red, like, stop, you really need

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to refocus the yellow,

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like, okay, maybe there

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is something that I have to pay attention on. Or the

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green light. It's very easy to

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understand how to work on you.

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And here is how you can use this tool. Take five

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minutes at the end of each day and answer these three questions.

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Did I encounter any yellow or red light? Situation today.

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Moments where I didn't behave as I usually

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do, felt tension in my body or mind, or experienced

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something I didn't like. Listen, sometimes we feel

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something is not right, but we don't pay attention to it.

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Just start paying attention to what's going

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on inside your mind, your brain.

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You have signals in your body that can

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help you understanding that there is a yellow light or a

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red light. Second question, what caused this challenge to

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arise? So what triggered you? What was

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the situation, the words what

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happened that make you feel that

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there is a yellow light there? And then what

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can I do next time to stay alert,

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prevent it, or even shift the yellow and

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the red back to green. So these are

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three very important questions. You will find them in the show

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notes in the link. I prepare a small

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worksheet for you, starting with this simple exercise.

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If done consistently, you'll notice a significant

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improvement. Improvement, sorry. In your self awareness.

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Remember, self awareness is like a muscle. You can improve it

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and and train it over time. The more you practice, the stronger

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it becomes and the more effectively you'll be able to navigate

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your emotions, thought and behaviors. This is

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not only for sport. Try to think in

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your classroom when there is something that happens and your emotion just

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start to be very,

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very strong and you need

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to pay attention to that. It's a process.

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But self awareness doesn't stop here. We need the other three selves

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in order to finish strong. In the meantime,

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I love to hear from you. What challenges have you faced in

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becoming self aware? So, after you've done this exercise

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for a couple of days or one week, share your

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stories and question with me.

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Write me an email, shoot me a message, whatever, it works for

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you. I'm really curious to see and to help you in this

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understanding and how to be more aware. And if you want to know more

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about the traffic lights tool, I have a lot of other

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advice. And if you need some guidance in developing

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your self awareness, don't hesitate to reach out.

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Together we can really build your framework to start

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the process. The more you practice, the more you'll see

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your confidence and performance improve, not just in sport, but in

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every area of your life. Now, I am talking

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directly to the athlete, but it's the same

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concept if I talk to a coach or if

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I talk to a parent. This is life skills.

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How many times we lose it and we could be

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a little bit more aware and we could really see our yellow

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and red lights coming. It's a process.

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I can't be too tired to, to repeat it.

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Thank you so much for listening. Hope you enjoyed

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this episode and you consider sharing, leaving a review and

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subscribing to ensure you dont miss anything.

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A special reminder, you are my co editor. Without your

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input, the podcast would miss a significant part.

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Ask questions, explain your challenges and doubt by

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filling out the form that you find in the show notes.

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In this way, you'll help me ship the podcast

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and get your struggle solved. Until next time,

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embrace the challenges, conquer the doubts, and always remember

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let's go Mendel together.