Don’t call me a sports sports psychologist!
On a few occasions recently I've mistakenly been called a Sports Psychologist. Perhaps it's an easy mistake to make, I work mostly with sports people, I work in psychology but I can't stress this enough, I'm NOT a Sports Psychologist.
Why does this matter? Well it's two-fold. One out of respect for all of the hard work that Sports Psychologists have done to get into their position, but most of all because it doesn't do justice to the coaching work that I do. You see a Sports Psychologist will mostly look to intervene and deal with various mental and behavioural issues with strategies, tools and techniques. With the greatest respect I would propose that whilst this is well meaning and some may find a benefit, this isn't where real change occurs.
When it appears that the only option is to deal with the Tiger then of course we'll gratefully look for and try every possible intervention that claims to help. We literally cannot see another option. This is the difference between operating at ground level compared to 10,000ft, one offers a completely different perspective. And this is what I see again and again, when we elevate our perspective away from the individual personal view and look at what is universal, what is true for all humans.
And it is at this elevation where we discover our own truth about how our mind works - that's what creates the ultimate impact!
This is the difference between;
Coping and thriving.
Mediocre and excelling.
Stagnation and growth.
So until I discover something with greater impact I'll be spending as much time as possible at 10,000 ft. This is where I coach from. And that is my "title", a coach. In my coaching there is no hierarchy between you and I, I'm not here to teach you or tell you what to do. This is because I know that beyond everything we think we are fundamentally the same, we have the same operating system. From here we'll explore what's true for you and me and everyone else, this is where change happens.
Until next time,
Matt
