NEXT LEVEL SKIING S4: E5 | GET OUT OF YOUR OWN WAY FEATURING ALEX COHEN

ALEX COHEN

I learned a lot in this talk with Alex Cohen, the senior sports psychologist for the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee who works mostly with athletes on the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Team .. Cohen’s insights not only can help us improve our skiing with mental strategies and mindfulness, but those skills so easily transfer over to our daily lives. One of the cool things about skiing … the skills we learn on the snow can deliver all kinds of help beyond the mountain … and Alex really brings that home with decades of experience helping the greatest athletes in skiing not only excel, but stay great. Listen in and glean some tips from Alex .. he’s got a wealth of insight for us.

 


 

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Show Notes

2:10 - Psychological flexibility
3:20 - Performance readiness
5:00 - How to hold focus when mind wanders, worries
5:25 - The difference between awareness and attention
6:00 - Blocking out negative thoughts is not always the best strategy
6:45 - The goal is to avoid avoiding
8:20 - Rethinking positive thinking  
10:20 - Internal and external focus. The difference between thinking and attention
11:10 - Adopt an external focus
13:00 - Executing good technique without getting tangled up in it
13:30 - The further away the focus, the more effortless it is
16:15 - Train with external focus
18:00 - The trouble with chasing “flow”
18:20 - Have a plan for the 90% of your time you are not in a flow state
20:05 - Make a plan ahead of time for your mind
23:10 - Injury recovery tips
25:30 - Mindfulness and the value of actions
27:50 - Accept and commit therapy
30:00 - Best advice: plan ahead. Planning is a genuine form of control
31:40 - Get out of your own way



Resources


Alex Cohen Twitter: @alexcohenphd
“Rethinking Positive Thinking: Inside the New Science of Motivation” by Gabriele Oettingen
Wagner Custom Skis

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 --Next Level Skiing Recorded by Jason Blevins

 

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